The Tale Accordingly So...

As Part of the new initiative to make sure that "Amaretto's Tale" stays with teh new blog over at wordpress, and that I am able to do it in a more timely manner, this month will see the begining of teh Sunday Post. Every sunday, Amaretto's Tale shall receive a new grain, rather than a post every day that are clumped together at some point in time.

Thank you for your patience.

In teh meantime, today, enjoy an extra long grain for pleasure's sake to try to finish up the country of Pesok...

Grain... The Country of Pesok... The Bazarr...

Amaretto continued to run behind her aunt, trying not to run into anyone. As when they first ran from Sharazad's guards, they needed to escape and not be caught. Amaretto heard a battle cry from behind her and there was a sudden whoosh beside her head as a long piece of steel rushed past her head. At that moment, Amaretto let out a shriek and then jerked away from the blade. Amaretto heard Katherine's voice ring out in a strange staccato and then Amaretto saw the blade shimmer in the middle of the air. The man wielding the blade said something in a guttural tone that she didn't understand and the blade turned into molten metal that melted off in large gobbets.
 
Katherine grabbed Amaretto by the arm and then yelled, “Don't stop moving! They could catch you!” Amaretto whirled and continued to run after her aunt. They ran into a small hallway where they ran into a servant who held a large platter with fruits on it. Katherine threw her hands out and upset the trey almost instantly and then rushed past. The servant screamed out in terror and then huddled at the side of the hall. Amaretto pushed her way past the clattering platter and continued running.

Katherine pushed her way past several other people and motioned to Amaretto. “The door is over there!”
Amaretto jerked her body towards the door that her aunt had pointed out and hurtled herself through it. The sun poured through the cracks of the streets and ignited her vision in a nimbus of brightness. Amaretto felt her arm being grabbed and then she was rushed into the streets. Amaretto heard the yelling from behind her as the men tried to get out of the house into the street. She darted a look at Katherine who pulled her down the main thoroughfare and towards an area that seemed to be covered in large tapestries and cloths to cover the street from the sun.

“We have to keep moving,” yelled Katherine.

“What did you do to that one man's sword?” Amaretto felt breathless and her words puffed forth.

“It was a little bit of magic. I wasn't expecting it to answer so readily though. It just flowed from my lips!”

Amaretto felt a small bit of surprise. “You know magic? Why do I feel like I should have already known that?”

They ran past a stall where a man was hawking his wares. The smell of fresh bread from a large bakery was floating past and Amaretto felt her mouth water. As they rushed past it, Amaretto could fell her stomach gurgle. There was a moment where Amaretto felt the sudden urge to pull out of her aunt's grasp, but she knew that if she did that, she would more than likely be in more trouble than when she was in what she now liked to think of as "Alternate Britain".

They continued to wander through the bazaar and Amaretto was surprised by the amount of stuff that she saw. She couldn't help but listen to what the people were saying as they ran past.

"Fresh dates! Fresh figs! Fresh fruit! You want them I've got them!"

"Jewels from the other side of the sands! Precious jems and stones!"

"Come see the silks that I have here, the finest silks in all of Pesok!"

"Spices! Spices! Your freshest spices as seen all over the land!"

Amaretto was amazed at the stuff that she saw in the market. It was almost overwhelming. It was better than any of the malls that she had ever been to in her own world. She marveled at the colors and the people that swirled around them.

"Where exactly are we going?" Amaretto spoke with a breathless tone.

Katherine frowned and then said, "We are going to hide. Fist however, we have to find Tempus."

Amaretto rolled her eyes and then she said in a huffy voice with a little irritation, "The ring won't work. It's like there is a massive amount of static."

Katherine huffed. "I assume that there is somewhere where we can get a better signal. Maybe the ring works like a cell phone."

Amaretto smirked. "A magical ring that works as a cell phone? That is something that you don't see everyday."

Country of Pesok...

Amaretto blanched and looked at Katherine. “Why is she smiling like that? I thought only the bad guys smiled like that.” As she said it, she began to slowly move backwards towards the exit, or what she thought of as the exit. A bead of sweat began to appear on her forehead as she thought of all the horrible things that could be just about to happen in one moment. Sharazad took one step forwards and continued to smile.

Katherine had a pensive look on her face. One hand was slowly reaching towards Amaretto, and the other was within her pocket. Her god mother was at the ready and Amaretto was afraid of what the woman might pull out of her magical purse that she was hiding.

Sharazad raised a single hand and Amaretto turned behind her to see several men dressed in vests and baggy trousers. The silks that the clothes were made from were indeed colorful. The vests were threaded in an elegant style that had gold trim around the edges.  The sirwal that they all were wearing ended just below their knees and cinched with golden threads as well. On their feet were golden slippers that silently moved across the tiled marble floors. In each of the men’s hands was a single curved scimitar. Sharazad’s smile turned into a grim smirk.

“I did say that I need your help, you who are the daughters of the Sky Father.  I never said that you would have to be alive in order to give me that help." Sharazad's cold smile seemed to crawl over Amaretto's skin and she grimaced and began to run for the door only to remember the other men that were there at the last minute. She shrieked and tried to turn but there just wasn't enough time.

From behind her Katherine threw her hands up into the air and screamed something that sounded like a foreign language. Amaretto tried to slow down, but found that she didn't need to and gasped when she realized that her aunt had turned the strange men who were there into a set of monkeys. the monkeys shrieked and ran around the room. Sharazad shrieked in rage and Amaretto and Katherine ran into the hallway in order to escape.

Amaretto dragged down the hallway, her clothing swirling around her ankles and Katherine followed in her large harem-styled pants. Their slippered feet pounded against the marble in soft slams against the unyielding marble. They ran down a flight of stairs as soon as they found it and continued to rush their way down out of the strange house they were in. Servants quickly dodged out of their way, avoiding looking at them. It was almost surreal. As they ran past them Amaretto noticed that each one of them was a lot darker than she was. Most of them were exotic browns, tanned and light. Amaretto realized that she and her aunt were more than likely the lightest people in the building.


Katherine was not having any of it though. She muttered something under her breath and then began to yell at the people that were in front of her.


"Move! Get out of the way! Flee in terror!" Katherine's voice was a torrent of abuse and orders in glorious surround stereo vocals.


"Aunt Katherine is that really neccessary?"


Katherine paused a moment and then said, "Everything is necessary."

Country of Pesok.... Sharazad's Solar.

“So let me get this straight then,” Amaretto began. “You want us to help you to get a crown, to rule this country, that the only way to achieve it is in a race.” Amaretto looked at Sharazad with a raised eyebrow.

Sharazad nodded her head slowly as if working with a small child and this irritated Amaretto, but she did nothing. One did not correct someone else if they were in the process of venerating you like a god. Katherine reached into her pocket and pulled out a small silver flask and Amaretto frowned. She had wondered what happened to her purse, but chances were her god mother had shrunk it and fit it into her pocket. Almost as if by second thought, she passed her eyes over her aunt’s shoes and secretly grinned at herself. Very carefully, she noted that while the shoe looked like nothing, the soles of the shoes were done in a bright red. That could only mean that her aunt was currently wearing Official Christian Louboutin slippers.

As if sensing what she was thinking, Katherine slowly smiled and shifted her feet ever so carefully. Katherine looked at the woman in front of them. “So you are going to run in the Crown Chase I take it then?”

Sharazad smiled. “Of course. What else would I be doing?” The answer seemed so obvious that Amaretto felt a twinge go down her back. She wanted to reach out and say, ‘enough’, but she knew that it would not happen. This whole situation was messed up. First it was a strange world of drab whites and dark grays and a frantic cry for help that she had been suckered into. Then it was a trip to the little steam punk Britain that had never been. Now it was being stuck in a bad Disney version of the Arabian Nights. When was it going to end?


All Amaretto wanted was it to all be over. She wanted to go home, maybe perhaps slack off on her homework and watch television instead. Instead, she was being held hostage by a strange group of people who wanted her to do things for them all because of a simple gift that she had gotten when she was younger. It was madness and infuriating, and a little scary. Amaretto looked at Katherine who was trying to covertly sneak a sip from her flask on the sly. As Sharazad blinked, Katherine took a lightnign swig and then put the flask back into her pocket and made herself the perfect picture of serenity as she settles back down.

"Sharazad, I believe that you wish to win the Crown, but why?" Katherine stared intently at the woman who had called them and waited for her to answer.

Sharazad closed her eyes for a moment and then nodded her head slowly. She opened them once more and a slight smile came across her face.

“The ability to rule is not a hereditary one, but the power that comes with it is. The ability to rule is not a gift that you are expected to know; it is a duty you are expected to uphold. The last few rulers that we have had here in Pesok have been frivolous and rude and uncaring. I wish to rectify that and use the crown as it was meant to be used.”

Amaretto was surprised by the answer. She had been expecting something a little more vapid, perhaps self centric even. This woman however, was more than willing to take matters into her own hands it seemed.

Katherine continued to push however. “Why do you think you would be a better ruler than anyone else?”

“What better person to rule than someone who was originally from the streets and has now managed to make a life for themselves in this most harsh of climates?” Sharazad’s eyes were dancing with intelligence and Amaretto thought that this woman indeed had the guts to take control of a country. Though as for how long she would rule, Amaretto wasn’t sure.

Katherine smiled and then said, “Alright then. Here is the deal. The Sky-Father indeed sent us to help you out,” At this Amaretto tried to say something, but Katherine only cut her off with a wave of her hand. “We shall endeavor to do so.”

“Amaretto looked a little concerned. “We know next to nothing about this Crown chase though. We need more information.”

Sharazad smiled and said, “I have told you all that I could possibly know. What more could you want?”

Katherine smiled a wicked smile. “One favor to be determined in the future; and to be of our choosing as we wish. That is all that we are asking for in the name of the Sky-Father.”

Amaretto looked at her aunt with curiosity. There was something about what her aunt had asked that seemed a little strange. It was as if Katherine knew something that she didn’t. Amaretto was determined to find out what it was. She smiled lightly next to her aunt and then looked over at Sharazad.

“I think that we should take a look at the city before we determine how it is that she is going to win. “ Amaretto was all but bursting to get out of this small solar and see if she could contact Tempus. Since it was all but impossible to hear him within this strange woman’s house, perhaps the ring functioned like a cell phone; maybe all she needed was a place to get better reception. Katherine looked at her god-daughter with a quirked eyebrow.

“If you insist dear,” Katherine smiled and stood up from where she had been sitting and nodded towards Sharazad.

Sharazad made a polite nod back and then said, “If you wish to explore the city, then by all means, you must. Allow me to have someone show you around thought the…” Amaretto cut her off at that moment.

“That is quite all right. We are able to find our way around.” She smiled as beneficially as she could, but she was sure that the smile felt false. Katherine nodded her head as well and then began to walk towards the hallway with Amaretto in tow. Amaretto wasn’t sure, but something seemed wrong about this whole set up.

Sharazad stood up and then smiled a rather cold smile.

Country of Pesok

Sharazad looked at Amaretto and then smiled and said, "The Crown Chase. I should have realized that as servants of the Sky Father, you would not be interested in the mortal realm below. Forgive me for my presumption."

Katherine smiled as benevolently as she could and Amaretto tried to stifle a giggle. "It is alright. We have been admonished only recently for not paying attention. Surely though, you did not need our help to do this Crown Chase do you?"

Sharazad smiled only briefly and then frowned. "The Crown Chase is not necessarily needful of any help or of any divine intervention. I simply cannot participate if I do not have a coordinator to help me with the run."

Amaretto raised an eyebrow. "The run?"

Sharazad pursed her lips tightly and then said, "The Crown Chase, where we choose the new ruler. It is tradition that the crown is hidden within the tallest building in the City of Pesok and from there, we run to capture the crown. Whoever reaches the crown first is able to become the new ruler for the next five years. The previous ruler can run as well, but it is generally frowned upon."

Amaretto tried to cover the shock that had come over her at this revealing. "You mean it is not passed from generation to generation by blood?"

Sharazad laughed and then said, "No. We choose not to do that, for what if a ruler's child or progeny or heir apparent is cruel. The Crown Chase allows only those who are crafty and wise to be able to get to the Crown."

Katherine nodded her head and then said, "I see what you are referring to, but I also take it to mean that this is not just some run from start to finish. There must be traps and other such things?"

Sharazad nodded her head in enthusiasm. "Indeed there are. Last year there was a rope bridge that was only a three pieces of rope and half way through it would shake violently due to the wind. Many people did not make it across." Sharazad paused for a moment and looked downwards, and then looked back at the two 'Bright Ones' in front of her. "Surely you can help me this year. After all, no one says that it is forbidden for you to help."

Amaretto looked at her Aunt and Aunt Katherine shrugged her shoulders. "Any sign of Tempus yet?"

Amaretto shook her head. She was a little worried.

Grain... Country of Pesok

Amaretto crossed her arms across her chest and frowned at her aunt. "No. I don't think so. No hiding behind curtains and not paying attention to the people behind them. I want to know who it is that is helping us this time."

A strange voice answered her and spoke in a rather throaty voice, "And so you shall."

Amaretto turned to the sound of the voice and saw a tall woman standing there. Her skin was bronzed form many a day in the sun and was all but a golden color that sparkled in the sun. Her hair was a black tangled and curly wave that had been tied only slightly at the base of her spine to show how much there actually was in a strange and elaborate braiding technique. She too was wearing a shortened blouse in a a color almost like a plum, with pants to match as well. A shawl had been wrapped around her waist and then tied off to the end of her hands where large bangles clinked together in golden obscurity. Large rings of gold dangled from her ears and from them, several small red gemstones and in between it all, a single black onyx stone.

The woman's eyes were intense however and were a deep shade of indigo. This shade was hardly common from where Amaretto came from and as she stared at the woman's eyes, she also noticed that there were flecks of red in them as well. The woman smiled and then said, "Illustrious omens that you fell out of the sky when you did. I assume that you are here to answer my prayers? I know that I prayed to the Sky, but to have you here so soon makes me very happy."

Amaretto stared at the woman and tried to hide the confusion on her face. Her aunt however, did nothing of the sort, she raised her chin high and then said. "Even if we deign to answer your questions, we have still not been told as to what we have been summoned for." Katherine looked over at Amaretto and winked and then looked back imperiously at the woman in front of them.

The woman seemed taken aback and then said, "Forgive me Bright Ones. I did not mean to offend. Blessings of the Bright upon thee and allow me to introduce myself as Sharazad. I have called up into the heavens and Skies for help in my bid this week."

Amaretto broke in a that moment. "Your bid?" The questioning tone in her voice was made to sound imperious too, almost like her aunt's, and Katherine smiled just slightly.

Sharazad smiled and then said, "I am hoping that you are here to help me in becoming the next queen of Pesok."

Amaretto looked at Sharazad who had a twinkle in her eye. Almost like a robot, she allowed her head to spin slowly and face her aunt and she could feel the twitch in the left corner of her left eye. "Aunt Katherine," she said in as sickeningly sweet a voice as she could manage, "Whatever does she mean?"

After she had said it, she watched her aunt's face very closely. She felt almost outraged when she was graced with her aunt's surprise that was all over her face. Katherine looked appalled and then said, "I have no idea what you are referring to. I really must say that I had no idea of where we would be going less, mush less what the Sky Father would require of us. So you think I could have chosen this path for us?"

Amaretto was shocked and surprised at what her aunt had said. Not once had she ever had she heard her aunt talk like this. However, she had never before been in a place that seemed to have more sand than the beach. This was ridiculous. She frowned and then went over the facts in her head. It was only a few moments before she realized that her aunt knew where they were and was trying to play the part. She smacked herself internally and vowed to trust her aunt a little more.

Grain... Country of Pesok...

Amaretto let herself be led from the rooftop, down a flight of stone steps that deposited them all into a long hallway. The hallway was stone as well, but many archways had been cut into the call, showing Amaretto that she was at least four stories up. She looked out the massive stone arches and looked out to a sprawling city below her. A metropolis unlike any she had ever seen before. hundreds of thousands of buildings were everywhere. Adobe white walls glistened in the hot and sweltering sun. Domes of gold and other materials blazed like beacons and the sounds of people could be heard everywhere. It was a sprawling city and just at the edge of the city, Amaretto could see large white walls. Beyond the walls, she saw nothing but sand.

Sand stretched from beyond the walls all the way to the line of the horizon. She stopped and could not help but stare. She looked to her aunt and Katherine slowly nodded. "I do think there are other places here, but not for a very far off ways. This country only has the once city and the next closest city is weeks away, if not months through the sands."

Amaretto turned back around to look once again over the sprawling city and shook her head. "It looks like something out of the Arabian Nights," she whispered softly.

Katherine nodded. "It very well could be. However, I still think you will thank me for the bath you are about to receive."

Amaretto perked up at that. "I think I would like that, if only to stop sweating for a moment." She smiled and Katherine smiled back as she grabbed her hand and continued to lead her down the hallway. Up ahead of them , Isarra had stopped and looked back at them without any expression on her face. A coolness that Amaretto would expect from a monk was what she was seeing. Amaretto thought for a moment and then realized that Isarra was probably a servant, and the question came to her of whose she could be, but before she could ask, Katherine whisked her into the room that Isarra was standing outside of at the moment. As soon as she did, she almost gasped in amazement.

The whole room was circular all the way around and had been made out of large slabs of marble of three different kinds. Black, white, and green , the whole of the room was pillared and centered around a small pool which was at least waist high on Amaretto. The large pool had to be almost six feet in diameter and above it, a large canopy had been erected over the top of the bath. Steam rolled off the top of the bath and Amaretto looked at it with eyes that seemed to almost crave the water.

At that moment she saw several women dressed as skimpily as possible and then she felt hands all over herself and then the dress that she had been wearing was slowly taken off, button for button till all she had left on was her skin. The heat was bearable by that time, but there was nothing to be said for the sweat that immediately began to bead on her skin. Amaretto soon found herself being led to the pool and immersed with gentle care. The half nude women who were around her began massaging and needing her skin with in their powerful hands and soon, Amaretto felt like she was in heaven. They gently washed her hair and caressed her skin with soft oils. It was almost a good half hour before she was even let go out of the tub.


While she was being washed, her aunt chattered idly about this and that, the need for a colorful wardrobe, the fifteen uses of a hairbrush in self defense, and also the ingenious uses of beautification products in the modern woman. Even through out all of that nattering however, Amaretto did catch her aunt Katherine talking about odd things like the joys of proper running shoes, the uses of peroxide as a chemical accelerate... it made Amaretto think that her aunt was more than a little crazy.

The bath continued on however, without so mush as a bent fingernail. After the women were done bathing her, they sprayed her with perfumed oils that Amaretto swore smelled like jasmine and lilacs. She was a little surprised that they would have such flowers, but she realized that it would have had to come from trading with someone. That meant there had to be someone else in the world. That was not something that needed to be discussed at the moment as Amaretto was soon dressed in a costume much akin to her aunts, only hers were in deep yellows that made her a little giddy. They also made her eyes swim a little. She was also draped with a head covering that was made out of cream colored silk that was see through and had it draped in place like a veil and two long combs to trap it and keep it in place.

Her aunt beamed and then smiled once more at her and pointed to her new costume. "It looks stunning on you."

Amaretto blushed just a little and then nodded to the surroundings. "Pesok? Don't you mean "Kingdom of perpetual beach? Have they ever even heard of the ocean here?"

"Oh come now Amaretto, we know we are in the right place. We just have to somehow make contact with Tempus."

"That may be so, but who the are these people? They are treating us as if we are royalty?" At the mention of this, Amaretto's voice went from panicked to incredulous.

Katherine smiled. "We did fall from the sky you know," she said wryly.

"Through no fault of our own that was!" At that Amaretto expressed a gasp. "Listen to me! I sound like one of the people from New Machina!" The last came out a hiss.

Katherine chuckled. "Perhaps Johanna had more of an effect on you than you thought?"

Amaretto glared at her aunt for a moment. "I still think this whole idea was a set up."

"Perhaps it was, but I am determined that at some point, you will enjoy yourself. As for the treating us like royalty, that is impossible, because we fell from the sky, we are simply good omens. Now, if you would kindly tell me what happened to the ring, perhaps we can get Tempus."

Amaretto sighed. "We can't get to Tempus. All i get is static."

Katherine frowned and then shook her head. "That is not good at all. Who knows what will happen next without the proper knowledge..." she trailed off for a moment and continued to look perplexed.

"You still didn't answer my question," Amaretto said.

Katherine answered rather distractedly. "What question was that?"

"How was all of this possible? This doesn't belong to you, so who does it belong to."

Katherine smiled again and this time, her smile seemed a little off. "Oh you shall see."