A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 01

Finally, she began to understand what he was saying, that he'd brought someone to help. But she knew that no one could help. She looked at the bandages on her arm, soaked through again, and they were almost the last of the ones that she'd boiled clean.

She struggled to a sitting position with a lot of difficulty. "I told you never to --"

Her voice faded as she stared at the shape in the doorway.

He tried to put on his best smile, ignoring the smell of her festering wounds. "I was passing by," he said with a shrug.

The nearest village was days away, over pathways which were once paved roads, long ago reclaimed by the forest. He didn't know if there was still even a doctor there.

The boy looked from one to the other and had a strong sense that they knew each other.

In the silence, once she knew that he was no illusion brought to her by the fever, Rachel Wannamaker stared at her brother and finally burst into tears.

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Asia Minor

She opened her eyes in total darkness. It took her several minutes to know anything. All that she had were fragments - shards and remnants of memories.

So many memories.

She lay on her side, blinking in the small space where she'd been hidden long centuries before. It required some thought to plan her small experimental movements, until at last, she lay on her back.

She sought for the most recent events that she could recall, but things seemed to come to her in the reverse order of what she wanted.

It had begun in the heart of the Alborz Mountains. A visionary cleric had sent for aid in helping to establish his empire. She knew little of the philosophy at the time, but then she hadn't really cared. It wasn't her business to care. She'd only been the emissary who had been sent.

As always, she was only the weapon.

She recalled journeying back there. She'd been there once before, helping the Deylamites resist against the influx of the Islamic hordes. They'd been defeated, but their defeat was certainly sweeter than the bitter and costly victory won by the Arabs. They left the field in an orderly way and held their heads high. When they returned much later, armed with her teachings and assistance, they'd captured Baghdad itself.

After that, she'd trained and taught the fighters of the Deylamite warlords until they alone could withstand and repel the Varingian Vikings. Her pupils were in high demand as mercenaries all over the Caspian region and fought as far off as Turkey, Egypt and even Spain. The Deylamites had by then slowly converted to a flavor of Shi'ism, though some of the well-known warlords among them were Zoroastrian in their beliefs. None of this mattered to her.

When she met the cleric at the ancient stronghold of Alamut, he told her of his vision. He was a widely known Isma'ili scholar and missionary who had taken Alamut as his own and was busy building his influence throughout the region. She'd tried to look enthusiastic, and she was, though she was not in it for the same reasons as he was. He was founding his empire, after all.

She was following orders.

He wanted superb and fanatical soldiers -- and she created them out of the hopeful warriors that he provided to her for the purpose.

It would have been correct to use the term Fedayin -- The Men Who Accept Death. It was a five-tiered secret society with the cleric in the top position of Grand Master.

With Salamut captured and a great library begun there, she could plan from a military perspective while he studied palmistry, mathematics and alchemy. Her new students were carefully selected. They were the only ones who saw her if she allowed it at all. She often trained naked or very nearly so, and that required a rather strong sense of their faith if it was to be effective. Any who could not devote themselves to anything other than staring at her or trying to seduce her were simply never seen again.

But no one ever saw her face, since she wore a dark blue shawl wrapped tightly over her head, showing only her eyes.

He remained at Salamut for the next thirty-five years. He aged in that time.

She didn't.

Though the Persians who were in effective control over the populace were Sunni in their religion, the fighters were a threat, and they were Nizan Ismailis. One after another, the warriors took many mountain fortresses and held them for their own purposes, their influence spreading throughout the area. These fighters were as new weapons to their leader, who used them to order assassinations of influential individuals as he saw fit, from powerful generals to politicians.

None of them were thugs, and they all had to take the time to know their target and his or her language and customs as though they were their own.

There were reasons which suited singular, often public murders better to their cause than military operations. The region was already fractious enough for one, and armies were expensive. As well, the sudden death of someone important in a public place added a rather intimidating effect, and of course, that was where she had fit in. By the time of their zenith, any quiet and successful murder with political overtones was attributed to the group, who weren't averse to taking contracts on both sides of disputes or wars, as long as the gold was pure enough.

When the cleric died, they carried on stronger than ever, and a new Grand Master emerged. Some of the operations were moved to their stronghold at a different fortress and she went along, moving her operations with them. As their star had faded over time, she'd done as she'd been instructed and hidden herself away to rest and wait.

The Grand Masters and the rest of the warriors were long gone now, defeated long ago. But she was still there, in a tomb deep within the walls of the fortress.

She became aware of a pebble which was bothering her bare shoulder blade and she shifted inside the crypt. She wasn't dead and never had been.

She'd only been resting on the instructions of her master in faraway Palmyra. She was not needed for the time, she'd been told, and was to hide herself away until she was called once more.

Well, she decided, as the rest of the tiny bits of her recollections fell into place, she was being called now. She rather hoped that she was needed.

It felt good to her to be needed.

It took a bit of time, but she sought for the tiny fissures and cracks in the stonework which surrounded her. Time was something which she had a great store of, after all. When she found what she sought, she began to pass through the tiny fissures as a mist until at last she stood in the ruined passageway in the middle of a long dead fortress.

She wondered a little about it, but it had been over a thousand years, so she expected that much would have changed. She walked to where she knew that her weapons were hidden and spent the next hours excavating a little carefully. What she found left to her by the passage of time wasn't worth her effort. The noises of it attracted a few individuals. It seemed that a band of thieves now used the fortress as a hideout.

She killed most of them quietly and held the last two of them against one of the walls with her mind while she sifted through their thoughts as she worked. There wasn't much of value to be gained by it, other than learning their speech, but the clothing of the smaller one might be of some use.

They stared at her lovely nakedness, but could say nothing.

When she had what she'd come for, disappointed in the rusty pitted things that she'd found, she turned to face them, allowing them to speak if they desired it.

"You," she said, indicating the smaller man, "Remove your clothing and lie down on your back."

The other one said, "Go on, lad. It's not as though you'd get the chance at a beauty like her ever again. Remember what I taught you."

"Forget what he taught you," she said with a little annoyance in her voice, "He knows less than you, and has only known the love of his own fist because he cannot afford a whore in the town. Just do as you have done before with other girls for me, and I will thank you for it."

The blustery one against the wall felt the insult and planned to make her pay for it if he got the chance. "She probably wants you to warm her up for me afterward," he said to cover how he felt.

She knelt down and smiled at the young man while she reached to take him in her hand, stroking and kneading a little. She half-turned her head toward the other one, "Oh, probably, ..."

She looked up as she wet her lips and began to lick and suck a little to get him harder for her. When she saw that he was as ready for her as he'd ever be, she just moved herself and mounted him. As she rode him, he saw only her and did his best for her, wanting to please a woman such as this one. He was too far in his own pleasure and bliss to notice it when she finished the thought that she'd only paused.

"Not," she sighed as she felt him harden even more and knew that his seed would be hers in another moment. She had no use or need of it, wanting only to feel it come to her and feeling thankful that this man could give it to her.

His companion stood still pressed against the wall with little trickles of his blood oozing from his ears and his eyes. His mouth hung open in a twisted way and his tongue lolled out of his mindless head.

She gave her temporary lover a night that he'd never forget, and in the dim light of the pre-dawn, they stood together, looking out over the plain below.

"Rashid," she said, and it startled him, since he couldn't remember telling her his name, "I wish to thank you for this loving between us. It may be some embarrassment to you, but I require your clothes. Hide yourself away and come back tonight. In the hall where we lay together, there is a hidden place across from where you saw me working. Seek there carefully with a small pick, and you will find enough riches for the rest of your life. Hide it, since it is not large, and go then to the village there and past it to the one two villages beyond on that road. There is a pathway to a hillside on the right. It leads to a wooded hill."

"I think that I know this hill," he said.

She pulled his head close and kissed him softly once for a moment, "Good. On the far side of that hill, you will find a family of herders. They have several daughters, but you should ignore the thoughts and words of them all and go to the next hillside.

There, you will see a young woman. Her name is Fatimah, and she is for you. She is the youngest and has no prospects of inheritance and is looked on by her sisters jealously for her beauty. You do not even know her, but this does not matter. Take her hand and ask her to marry you. She will be astonished, but she will agree. Go back to her family and give them a third of what you have, but have it ready before so that they do not see the rest. Tell them that you are from far away and that you are taking Fatimah to your home.

She will be upset, but not overly so for she is not stupid and will be smitten with you. It will not be the thought of her leaving with regret which upsets her. It will be that her family would agree so quickly and this will drive her farther into your arms. Her family will offer you their oldest daughters in Fatimah's place, thinking that you might pay more. You should look gracious, but a little insulted. Take Fatimah and be on your way then, and you must go to where you were born. Everyone is gone there now, but if you do all of this and live there as an honest man, you and Fatimah will be happy there and grow old together."

Rashid nodded and thanked her. "But who are you and why do you do all of this for me?"

"I am no one that you would know or have heard about, and I wish that you do not tell of what we did, for it would not do you any good at all. You are one of very few who have ever seen my face, so take it as a quiet honor which I do not give often.

I like you," she smiled, "and I needed a male. You need to know nothing more. I am not giving Fatimah to you. I only know of her. You will earn her love yourself. You should go now, before there is too much light to see you by. You are naked, after all."

"Thank you," he said with a polite bow, "I have never known such joy. Thank you and bless you."

She smiled and kissed him one last time, before she reached down and when her fingers came up again, he could see the wetness of their fluids. He watched as she sucked her fingers, licking them carefully until they were clean.

"You already have," she smirked a little as she ignored the way that he's hardened again as he'd watched her. "Go now."

He left her and began to walk. She put on his clothing and with a beckoning motion, her other belongings were engulfed in a dusty gust of swirling wind and disappeared. She smiled as she turned in another direction and began to walk toward where the ancient city of Palmyra once stood.

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She stood in the red glow of the dusk as she surveyed the ruined cityscape. She could have been here in a minute, but she'd wanted to walk and learn of what had passed and what was happening now. She'd heard much in her travels. Everywhere that she looked, all that she could see were collapsed buildings and rubble where once a busy city thrived. What still stood were only corners of buildings or lonely archways leading to nothing where once there were lush gardens and neat and efficient causeways. Even she was a little shocked to see what wondrous Palmyra had become as she picked her way through the ruined streets and made her way to the temple.

It still stood, but she couldn't say what still held the stones up as she searched in the gathering darkness. Finding what she sought, she slipped into an alcove and passed through into the stones as a mist, leaving Rashid's clothing outside where it had fallen.

The watcher raised his head and stood as she approached along the passageway and descended the steps. She'd always liked this one, though he was the one that she knew the least, and had trouble now remembering anything about him, other than her recollection of admiring his body long ago. That had not changed, at least. She decided to play it as though her memory of him was spotty, which of course, it was.

"The greatest servant has returned, "he smiled benevolently.

"Who are you?" She asked in Aramaic, "I know you not."

"Nor I you, very much," he sighed a little wearily, "Time wears us and everything around us to dust."

"I was summoned," she said.

"Yes," he said, "I was the one."

"Where is --"

"Passed, from this earth," he said, "long ago. There were several of us here waiting as you slept. We watched and discussed the signs which we saw. The others have gone. But now it is the time for some answers for you," he said as he indicated a seat in the chamber. At a thought from him, the dust slid off onto the floor and though the stone was no longer shiny and gleaming, it was at least clean. The pair sat opposite one another in nakedness.

"I am all that is left," he said, "and I have long waited for this day. What has happened is that mankind rose to greatness several times in many places each and fell once more. Each time, they rose a little higher, until they reached to each other across the world itself."

"I have not seen this," she said, "It is much as it once was, though the buildings have changed."

"True," he nodded, "a heavenly body passed by the world and it changed much. A sickness ran its deadly tentacles around the globe. Man is diminished and returns slowly. They may never come back to where they were.

This happened four hundred years ago, and it became clear to us all that we are no longer needed. There are no great civilizations among them. While they are like this, there is nothing that we wish to do anymore, and nothing to help or raise for them. As well, there are now other creatures here, and we have no wish to see who it will be who rules. Everything has been for naught. We have grown tired."

She sat with the images running into her mind from his and wondered about the strange creatures that she saw, these winged things which often killed humans when they came into contact with them. Oddly enough, as she watched, she became aware that they did not consider humans as enemies. She'd have to think it through later.

"Just tell me who it is that I must slay and I will begin to set things rightly once more for you," she said after a moment, "You are my master and I will obey."

He looked a little uncomfortable then. "That is the other matter and the main reason for my call to you. For you to begin it now, it would take even you some long time to begin to make an impact. There is only me here, and I have no wish to wait. I seek only my own passage into my destiny and have no interest in remaining here any longer.

You were taken as a young one of what you are and we have taught you and provided for you as we could. In return, you have always served us well. But there is nothing to serve anymore."

He swept his arm around the chamber, and she saw all manner of weapons. "Take what you will and then leave. You are no longer needed by us. What you do not take will vanish into the nothingness from whence it came."

"I have desires," she said.

"Speak then, loyal servant," he smiled.

"I wish to know everything," she said, "After so long, I wish to finally know what this was all over and why. If I am to be left here to wander, I wish for more abilities, and, ... " She looked down for a moment, and hesitated

.

There would never be another time to ask if she didn't do it now, she thought.

"I was mated by my first master and it gave me more strength for my tasks. Over the time, I received this from him and the others several times. It may have meant little to ones so powerful, but to me, it often made all the difference. You are the last and most powerful, yet you have never mated me. I humbly ask to have you place your essence inside of me this last time while I have the chance, so that I may wander lost, but not feeling it so much."

"A reasonable last request from our greatest servant," he said, indicating the bed.

Over the next three days, she took all that she could from him. She knew that he couldn't impregnate her, but she wanted it anyway for the ability which always came to her from this. The knowledge that she sought came to her whenever they were slow about it.

She felt cheapened to hear it. She had always thought that the purpose that she served was to help mankind to rise. She was used as a teacher or if necessary, she swept aside the armies of one nation so that another would flourish. She wasn't human, not completely anyway, she'd been told, but she felt some empathy toward them, and she was not what her masters were.

Now after ages, she learned the reason for their aid. It was to cause man to multiply. They had been treating the Earth as though it was a gigantic barn full of fat cows. They ate little of man's flesh, but his blood was another matter. Man was to be little more than a supply to slake the thirst of their kind at some point in the future. It was nothing more than prudent planning on their part and there were other worlds like Earth where they did the same things. What had happened to man was that his cataclysms had taken longer for him to recover from than the attention span of those who she'd worked for and they'd gone elsewhere.

He told her once in the middle of it that she would never feel this diminish if she took someone for herself to love, if she could find someone like that fairly soon.

She'd objected then, saying that it would only cause her pain to see this person grow old and die, but he told her that there were ways to prevent it. "Only have a care in your choice, "he told her, "I do not know if it would be for better or worse on this world anymore, but a man taken as a mate by you may have secret desires to rule. It would be up to you to decide then."