Blood and Majesty

Chapter Four

- Mula

Aside from passing glances no one took much notice of Mula when she arrived at the valley peoples' capitol a few weeks ago in a parade of flesh and other hopefuls praying to win the eye of the new Basil.

Word had it that he was looking to move the women who once shared his fathers' bed to his sisters' harem in the Second City and fill the halls of his own with fresh, new blood. Young women poured into the serpentine halls with anticipation and lined its marble floors with loud smiles and fluttering lashes hoping to be seen when his majesty passed to and from throughout the palace.

The girls were typical, Mula noted, though they all wore something different, were pretty enough and styled their hair in various ways, they were all plain in her eyes.

One could flay the skin off one, staple it to another and there would be little knowing the difference.

Dark hair, Dark eyes, slim waist, midriffs exposed, small mounds of what little cleavage they had on full display and black kohl to rim their eyes like every creature that walked these sands with a womb.

They were boring, Mula thought. It was no wonder the men of this world were willing to topple dynasties for a taste of the golden eyed serpent women that are birthed here.

Every now and again you may see some half breed desert child with bronze skin and green eyes, but for most, simple browns. That's it.

Mulas own eyes were brown.

Shit brown, her father would tell her.

And like other females she rimmed them with kohl. But Mula wasn't one of these serpent worshipping valley people. Mula was of the Mol 'Li. A clan of mountain dwellers that lurked about in caves near Scorpion Ridge and the Death Crawl to raid merchants and caravans.

The men were murderers, sell swords, thieves, spies and brigands. They are built like most other desert peoples, lean and neither too tall nor too short. But the Mol 'Li are pale, and cream skinned. They slept during the day or toiled away in their caves making poisons, harvesting venom, grinding roots, herbs and toxins. They kept toads, serpents, rodents and any creepy crawly that had any alchemical or hallucinogenic value that could be extracted and used for ingredients.

The women were not so different than the men. The only true difference was when someone from a town or village saw one of her clansmen, they whispered: Murderer.

When they saw her or one of her many cousins, the word was: Witch.

Mula had a wild look to her when compared to the other tribes and peoples of the cities. As do most who live their lives away from such places.

She may have had plain, shit brown eyes but her flesh was like that of milk, which made her stand out in any gathering among any peoples this far south.

Mula was one of the prettier among her cousins, so she was typically sent into town to trade, steal or barter for things that were needed but impossible to acquire in the wilds.

She became accustomed to the common tongues used among the Shan 'ti and Ursari peoples. She had learned that how you dress and smell in the cities, for some odd reason, determined how people would treat and speak to you.

She discovered that bathing as often as you could somehow made people more welcoming and offer a better price at the market.

Her hair was long and dark, like everyone else, but Mula had a remedy for that.

The white chalky substance used in palaces to clean the fine white linens comes from a dried out, chopped up, ground chunk of Goya Cactus that you boil down in hot water. She knew this because she grew up watching her cousins take chunks of the cactus, wet it, and then quickly run it down a lock of their hair to leave behind bone white streaks. The palms of their hands were always stained and whitewashed.