Part VI: The Great Escape
Chapter 1: The Lovers
Timeline: AO 295
Let’s take a break from politics. How about we look at the king’s other famous past time – women.
I know what you’re thinking – how cliche, right? Human kings the world over have fallen victim to this vice ad infinitim so why bother to report on it?
You are correct there, my friend. In fact, it’s a temptation I have used many times to my advantage when influencing my pawns, yet this chapter isn’t about the vice itself, but instead an important ‘trigger event’ that occurred for King Baldur whilst he was with his lover – an event that would spell his doom..
“…I love looking at you.” Baldur whispered to his lover Gawain.
The king and his favorite queen were alone in his bedchambers. The hour was late and a blackwood fire in the hearth cast dancing shadows as witnesses to their intimacy. Although the king’s room wasn’t grand, it was well appointed — giant skins covered stone floors, tapestries showing the exploits of legendary Drokka warriors covered the walls, and a wardrobe and writing desk sat opposite the granite frame bed. A handful of parchments were laying unrolled on a nearby table – representing miscellaneous trade agreements that the king was pondering. Yet Baldur paid little attention to those matters of state as he had other affairs on his mind now — specifically the sight of Gawain’s body.
She is simply exquisite.
The derkka woman shed her clothing and lay on her back as the king moved closer beside her. Gawain was unlike any other woman in Baldur’s harem. Whenever Gawain lay beside Baldur, there were fleeting moments when her eyes seemed distant, as if she was aware of something deeper, a shadow she could never voice. This vulnerability in a women so beautiful had always fascinated the king – which is perhaps one reason why she was the king’s favorite and practically the only woman he ever invited to bed any more. It wasn’t that Gawain was the youngest — at twenty-two, there were a dozen girls younger than her in the Kon-Herr’s stable. And she wasn’t the only non-Drokka either — Baldur had used marriage-diplomacy with the overworld for decades now and had thus collected a dozen or so women from out there, as Hecla liked to say. But there was just something different about Gawain that Baldur couldn’t explain – and it was something that attracted him to her with an insatiable lust. [What can I say? My magic is just that good].
Although Baldur had repeatedly offered to visit Gawain in her own bedroom, his lover usually preferred to consort with the king in his chambers. That was just as well for Baldur, since he’d always found Gawain’s room odd — the Derrka princess’s boudoir was filled with silks and unusual finery that Gawain had imported from her personal treasures back home in Babel. Baldur was certain that drokkina would have found Gawain’s tastes quite extreme — the four-poster bed was a needless monstrosity, the corner board covered by colored rock powders and various facial creams a curiosity, and the Gawain’s humongous wardrobe, overstuffed with gowns she never wore, an absurdity — well perhaps some of the drokkinas would at least appreciate the clothes.
Gawain’s eyes were half-closed as Baldur ran his hands through Gawain’s long blonde hair, then he bent over to kiss her. Although Gawain was nearly five and a half feet tall and might tower over him if they stood together in public, here in the bedroom their size difference didn’t matter.
“I need you now.” Gawain moaned in a husky voice, pulling her lover closer. “Let’s drink deep of love all night, my king.”
Baldur happily obliged his queen’s command and eagerly began to enjoy all the pleasures that Gawain’s body had to offer.
Their lovemaking continued as Gawain rolled over to lay on her stomach. Then it was that the king remembered the surprise he’d planned for his sweet. Glancing over into the corner he saw the large velvet shroud that covered a present he’d had one of his valets bring in earlier.
Oh Gawain, my passion, I can’t wait for you to see us together in this mirror!
For many moons, Baldur had become obsessed with the idea of gifting Gawain the grandest mirror in all the land. He’d heard whispers about the magical mirrors of Mersia, said to reveal one’s true essence. When Malchior Der Naves learned of the king’s desire, the austere cleric had cautioned the king about the dangers of foreign vessels, but Baldur’s fascination with Gawain’s beauty overrode that warnings. [I may have had a hand in pushing him, a bit].
For a moment Baldur briefly pondered the mystery of why it was that his lover had never wanted any mirrors in her own bed chambers. How does she put all that color on her face without a looking glass? Well, worry not, my dear, for Baldur is about to give you the grandest mirror in all the land. They say the mirrors of Mersia are magical and will always show you in your best light.
For his part, Baldur could never get enough of Gawain — in any sense of the word. When he wasn’t with her, he was thinking about her. Asleep or awake, the Derrka goddess was always on his mind. Although their lovemaking was the finest he had ever known — better even than the many professionals he’d tried — Baldur always wanted more.
At first this led him to the idea to have an artist draw pictures of Gawain. She’d demurred initially but he was ao persistent in his praise of her beauty and the joy it would give to him to be able to see it at any time that in the end she acquiesced. The portraits showed Gawain in various provocative poses from all around the king’s room. In the beginning all the pictures featured Gawain with her clothes on; soon enough though he’d convinced her to pose for the artist with her clothes off too. But eventually that was not enough for Baldur.
The king secretly began to invite multiple artists to hide at various locations within the alcoves throughout his walls so that they could draw pictures of the intimate moments the king shared with Gawain. At first he’d kept these new pictures to himself, but one day he took a risk and showed them to Gawain. It took a little doing to get her over the initial shock, and the words betrayed and dirty came out during Gawain’s protests, but Baldur was the king after all and they both knew that what he wanted was what would happen. As a result, Gawain gave in to Baldur’s temptations.
Ah, but this will be the best yet. Better than any picture could ever be! Gawain, you’re about to see yourself coupled with a king in that glass! And as Gawain buried her head in the pillows, Baldur reached over to his side of the bed where he’d placed a cord which ran all the way to the mirror’s shroud; with a tug he yanked on the rope, pulling the velvet cover away to reveal…
…the sight of a king making love to a mound of saggy flesh!
Baldur’s initial joy at revealing the mirror turned into creeping unease as he saw the grotesque reflection. His mind grappled with the impossible sight, his lust giving way to a chilling horror. The mirror, once a symbol of his love, now reflected a twisted nightmare. The king’s heart raced, his breathing shallow as he struggled to reconcile the beautiful reality of Gawain beneath him with the monstrosity in the glass.
Aghast, Baldur pulled away from Gawain. His lover was immediately confused and tried to raise her head but the king pushed it back into the pillows; yet when he looked down upon her, Gawain was as beautiful as ever. What in the eight kingdoms is going on?
Baldur cautiously looked over to the mirror — to his great dismay he saw the deformed woman again. Eyes wide in horror, he looked at Gawain’s body beneath him — yet again she was the object of his every desire. When she tried to squirm, Bladur angrily kept her in place. Forcing himself to look only at Gawain’s real body, the king worked hard to finish the now unenjoyable task before him and as soon as he finished, Baldur reached over to a bedside table, picked up a vase, and threw the object at the mirror — smashing the priceless treasure into a thousand pieces and causing the frame to fall forward onto the ground with a loud crash. May Rhokki destroy whosoever’s hand crafted that demon glass!
Gawain shrieked at the frightenings sounds and tried to look around, but Baldur held her close, “Hush, my lover. It’s my fault. I destroyed your gift — for once I saw it I realized it was not good enough for you, dear sweet.”
“Gift?” Gawain wriggled. “My king, the only gift I’ll ever need is y–.” Yet then it was that Gawain managed to raise her head off the king’s chest and see that which Baldur had destroyed. When she saw it was a mirror and then looked into the king’s eyes, Baldur saw a fear in Gawain’s visage he’d never seen in any woman before. More importantly he realized that she knew that he knew. And now I know that she knows I know. Baldur’s eyes were wide in fright as he beheld his lover, stricken to the core. But what exactly do I know?
The moment hung in the balance but a few seconds more, yet then Gawain began to scream uncontrollably. Pushing Baldur away, she scrambled off the bed, all the while shrieking in fright as she ran in despair back towards her apartments.
Baldur lay in his bed, staring at the shattered remnants of the mirror. His mind was a maelstrom of confusion and dread. Gawain’s terrified screams echoed in his ears, a haunting reminder of the night’s horrors. He knew this incident would have repercussions, but the full extent of his doom was yet to unfold.
Like the mirror, Baldur’s own delusions were shattered. The thin veil between reality and illusion that you humans never seem to notice until it’s too late, was a boundary that, once crossed, would expose the king to the harsh truths he had long sought to avoid – but which I now needed him to confront. For the time had come to propel events rapidly forward!
As it turned out, this was the last time Baldur and Gawain would ever be together.
As it turned out, this was also the signing of the king’s death sentence.
The Apocrypha of Azazel 