Isabella Awakening Ch. 07

Refreshed, he resumed the tale. "For several months, Marisa and Serena traveled the coast of the Mediterranean, stopping with patrons or other sympathizers and distributing the order's holy relics and manuscripts along the way. These houses of safety had long been established for the protection of our members on their travels and they now became important repositories for the order's wealth and valuables. Eventually, Serena and Marisa reached Naples. You probably know most of the story from that point. They melded into society and kept their own counsel on matters relating to the order. They each married and established themselves. By the time the order had recovered, nearly ten years later, Serena had died and your mother had...other responsibilities. The Order's investigators had, by that time, found almost all the relics and manuscripts and the order's wealth was re-established. But one important object remained lost. Marisa confirmed that she and Serena had taken it with them, but she had no record of which safe house Serena had left it in. A search of Serena's possessions turned up a number of important texts, but not the relic." Thomas looked to Isabella to complete the story for Gabrielle.

Isabella cleared her throat and turned to Gabrielle, "Serena's husband, Anton, presented me with the Horn of Keira as gift ten years ago. I had no idea of its history or its importance."

Gabrielle was struck dumb and her jaw dropped open. She looked from Isabella to Thomas and back again several times before she could speak. "You ...you...have the horn? Keira's whalehorn dildo? The Horn of Joy?" Isabella nodded and put her hand on Gabrielle's, pushing it between her thighs. "You have it with you? It is here?" Again she looked from one to other for confirmation. They both nodded. "Oh, holy mother!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "May I...see it?"

Thomas laughed at her earnest excitement. "Gabrielle, poor girl, I understand that your love life may be a little quiet here, but don't fret so. I'm sure that Isabella would be happy to...show...you the horn a little later."

Gabrielle picked up a pastry from the tray and threw it at Thomas. "I'll have you know, Magus," she spat, "that my love life, as you so quaintly call it, is as full as it has ever been. I am seriously interested in the horn...as relic, I mean!" She stuck out her lower lip like a pouty child. The three of them laughed.

Just at that moment the Bey, flanked by two broad-shouldered Arab men in white pants and shirts, strode across the park-like plaza and hailed the group on the portico.

"Thomas! Isabella! Good morning! I am glad to see that Gabrielle has you laughing." Gabrielle rose to greet him, extracting her hand from between Isabella's legs. She kissed him on the cheek and took his arm. He in turn, took Isabella's hand, bowed and kissed it. "I hope you slept well, Signora."

"Better than I have in weeks, thank you Bey," she smiled.

"And Thomas, how is your arm today? Will you be fit for our ride this evening?"

"I am fully recovered, Bishan," he said. "Gabrielle is pushing back the boundaries of medical science, I believe." He caught Gabrielle's eye and she acknowledged the compliment with a nod of her head.

The Bey also acknowledged Gabrielle but turned again to Thomas, "I am loathe to interrupt your breakfast, but I am afraid we have a few matters to discuss before I make final arrangements for our journey to Beja. Can you spare half an hour, Thomas?"

"I am sure that Isabella will excuse me," he responded, looking to Isabella for confirmation . Isabella nodded and smiled. She could not recall a man asking her permission before departing on business.

"Before you do go, Thomas, can I ask one question?" It was Gabrielle who spoke.

"Of course, sister, we have no secrets."

"I was wondering how long you and Isabella intend to stay with us."

Thomas thought for a moment and replied, "I cannot say precisely, I'm afraid. Sure, we were headed to Spain, and possibly on to France, but the King, or more precisely, his political advisor Cardinal Fleury, has ships patrolling his southern waters -- privateers mostly. We avoided them by coming south from Sicily rather than chance the waters around Corsica. I would not like our chances before autumn or winter. Isabella herself is of course free to choose where she would like to go. Of course, the Bey may have views of his own."

The Bey shook his head vigorously. "Thomas, you will stay here until a safe passage can be guaranteed. Isabella, you must make yourself at home here, I'm afraid. Please consider yourself a member of the household."

Thomas rose and imitated the Bey by taking Isabella's hand and kissing it. "I will return as soon as I can," he said. He then turned and left with the Bey towards the main building, the two guards falling in behind them.

Gabrielle returned to the table but stood beside Isabella rather than resuming her seat. "I am sorry, Isabella, if I offended you with my question about your fucking a Magus before. I like to shock and sometimes forget that others are not so accustomed to our ways."

"On the contrary Gabrielle. Yes, you did shock me, but I am very much taken with the frankness of the conversation here. It will take me some time to get used to it, but I do enjoy being able to discuss things freely. It is so..."

"Liberating?" smiled Gabrielle.

"Exactly!" said Isabella. "Now you tell me something, Gabrielle. Have you fucked my Magus?"

Gabriella laughed and bent to kiss Isabella's cheek. "You are certainly catching the mood, my dear, and yes, Thomas and I were lovers when we were young and occasional bedmates since then. He is a wonderful lover, is he not?"

"Oh yes," enthused Isabella, "So gentle, yet powerful and passionate. And his control is prodigious! I've never had better." The women smiled at each other, sharing their thoughts silently for a moment.

"But you must tell me, Gabrielle, what does the name Magus signify? I have not heard it before."

"Magus is a title or rank in our order," she began. "It is within the gift of our senior committee to bestow it on men of excellent character and learning who have pledged to serve the order. Thomas is only one of three Magi currently alive. They undertake missions and tasks of great importance to the order."

"What sort of missions and tasks?" asked Isabella, wanting to know as much about her lover as she could.

"It is widely varied," replied Gabrielle. "Carrying important messages and money, escorting novices to the schools and graduates to their new homes, political negotiations, transporting manuscripts between the libraries, and more...dangerous tasks that come up from time to time. They have the responsibilities of a magistrate and can settle disputes between members or exact justice where agreements have been broken."

"I understand," said Isabella, wondering whether Thomas's mission tonight fell into the category of exacting justice.

"You talk of the school. What is it?"

"Just that, really, a school for girls and young women," said Gabrielle. "I will explain more later -- it seems we will have plenty of time to talk. Would you like me to show you around the compound?"

"Indeed yes," said Isabella rising. "But my head is so full of new information, you might take it slowly if you would," she smiled.

As Gabrielle guided Isabella on a circuit of the plaza she talked of the architecture and particular design elements of the buildings and of the significance of the different symbols and patterns in the paths and fountains and mosaics. The building work had been started by the Bey's paternal grandfather, a Frenchman who had turned to pirating after an unsuccessful attempt to woo the wife a prince. His daughter, the present Bey's mother, had inherited the compound, its lands and the family business. She had, according to Gabrielle, civilized the conduct of her crews, forbidding murder and rape and renouncing the use of slaves as oarsmen. She was responsible for many innovations in the management of her crews, including the setting aside of a percentage of their booty to provide for the widows and children of pirates killed in action. Hers was one of the first of the Barbary pirate clans to adopt the French designed Caravels over the traditional galleys, and her use of these maneuverable and capacious sailing ships gave her an advantage throughout the Mediterranean. She was a patron of Keira's order and had sheltered many refugees from The Exodus, transporting them across the sea to safety in Ghar el Melh. It was at that time, to house the women, that the building called The Sanctuary was added to the compound, closing the square.

It was Bishan Bey, her eldest son and Isabella's host, who had laid out the current plaza and who had diversified the family business, extending his trading empire south into Africa and as far east as Turkey. Gabrielle thought his current fleet, mostly Caravels or captured two-masted Sloops, to number around seven, but she wasn't sure, the Bey keeping his business to himself. His second home and trading hub was inland, at Beja, an ancient city of the Persians, and it was to Beja that he and Thomas would travel tonight.

Gabrielle was an enthusiastic and articulate tour guide and Isabella was fascinated by the stories she told. But the sun was now high and the heat was becoming unbearable. Gabrielle noticed Isabella's discomfort and guided her to relative comfort of the east portico. "Let me show you my workshop and then I'll let you rest", she said, taking Isabella's hand.

Gabrielle guided her to a door and ushered her into to large room full of high benches covered in glass and metal receptacles of different shapes and sizes. Jars and bottles lined the shelves along two walls and a large steel apparatus in the corner was steaming and being attended to by a tall young Arab who turned to them as the entered. He greeted Gabrielle in Arabic and she responded in kind, putting an arm around Isabella's waist and saying, "Isabella, this is Ahmed, one of my assistants." Isabella smiled and bowed her head to Ahmed, who blushed. He was really only a boy, tall and lean and pretty, rather than handsome. The start of a boyish mustache feathered his upper lip. Gabrielle explained that the machine he was tending was her still. This was where she was preparing her pain reducing liquor. "It is a long process, she explained, and the yield is small. It will take a ton or more of the plant to produce the few liters I need to send to Vienna."

Isabella showed genuine interest in this and in Gabrielle's other projects, most involving the separation and analysis of plant extracts. Gabrielle explained that she spent time with local women, healers and midwives, documenting their procedures and the cures, salves and poultices they used. She then used this knowledge to conduct experiments on the local plants and to prepare her own, more refined and concentrated, medicines. "The natural world is my first love," she said, "but I put my skills and knowledge to use in this way," she said, dropping her hand to Isabella's bottom and gently squeezing her mounds through the silk.

Isabella was both fascinated and mildly aroused and asked Gabrielle about her education. Keira's school, of course, was the answer. Gabrielle had been a proficient student in the natural sciences and had been apprenticed to a healer in Vienna when she was eighteen. Isabella was impressed and excited by the idea that a woman could become so well educated and develop such skills in a profession she had always thought the exclusive domain of men.

"But enough for now, I think," said Gabrielle, turning to face Isabella. "Would you like to see The Sanctuary? Or perhaps we could just rest in your room for a while?" Gabrielle's hands were on Isabella's hips, gently squeezing and kneading her flesh, and she had moved so close that their breasts were touching through their robes. Gabrielle put her mouth to the base of Isabella's neck and kissed her tenderly. Isabella could smell the perfumes and fragrant oils of their bodies intermingling with the musky odors of their shared heat. She stroked Gabrielle's hair and sighed.

But Isabella drew back. "I'm not...I mean...oh God, Gabrielle, I'm so confused!" She bowed and shook her head, trying to sort out the very mixed feelings that Gabrielle had aroused in her. Her body said yes, but her mind kept saying "Thomas."

"I do understand, dear Isabella," said Gabrielle softly. "It is wrong of me to put you in this position and I do apologize. If it is the thought of Thomas that worries you, we should discuss it." She leaned forward and kissed Isabella softly on the lips.

"Yes," replied Isabella, now looking up. "This has all happened so quickly, Gabrielle. I am overwhelmed by everything here, by you and by this place. I have strong feelings for Thomas -- apart from lust, I mean --and he said earlier that he was sleeping with me exclusively. I don't know what that signifies to...your people, but to me..." Gabrielle checked her with a smile and a finger to her lips.

"I do understand, Isabella. I know of your feelings for Thomas. Your eyes betray what looks to me like it could be true love. That is wonderful, truly wonderful. In Thomas too, I see a raging inferno within his heart. His pledge of fidelity at breakfast this morning was an expression of his code, Keira's code. If a man and a woman of our faith become lovers and they feel true love rising, the man must forgo the comforts of other women until he is sure of his heart's desire and can express his love in words. For us, this is a holy time. There is no such code for women, I must add. Keira taught that a woman's heart is sounder, more sure, and is less easily distracted by seeking and enjoying her release with others while her love blooms. I can assure you Isabella, my lovely, that your Magus, of all people, understands these things." Gabrielle spoke quietly and reverentially and Isabella listened with her mind and with her heart.

"You must be guided by your inner woman," continued Gabrielle. "She must guide you to where your passion lies."

The mention of her inner woman startled Isabella. How did Gabrielle know? She looked into Gabrielle's eyes and said quietly, "Gabrielle, tell me this, what color were Keira's eyes?"

Gabrielle was a little confused by the question but answered "They were green, Isabella, emerald green."

Isabella nodded. "And how was her hair?"

"I think that 'wild' is the word usually used to describe Keira's mane," she replied. "I have seen paintings; yes, dark and wild."

Isabella smiled and nodded again. "Then we shall make love," she said. The two beautiful women moved together, Gabrielle loosening her robe and let it fall open, exposing her body completely to Isabella. Isabella did the same and they pressed themselves together while kissing passionately and seeking each other with their hands. Gabrielle broke away suddenly, remembering that Ahmed was still there, stoking the little fire under the boiler on the far side of the room.

"I am sorry, Ahmed!" she called to him. "We will leave now and let you continue with your work." She was blushing slightly and turned back to Isabella. "We shouldn't inflame the poor boy," she whispered. "Although I strongly suspect that Ahmed is not so interested in women." She smiled and led Isabella by the hand to a door at the very back of the workshop.

She opened it with a strange key she retrieved from an urn nearby and ushered Isabella through into a dark corridor lined with hanging carpets and other fabrics. It smelled of spices and honey. "This is the rear entrance to The Sanctuary," said Gabrielle. "I thought you might like to see it, on our way to your room," she smiled and touched Isabella's bottom. Gabrielle loosely tied her robe and Isabella did likewise as they walked along the corridor. Gabrielle parted a curtain here and there to show Isabella some of the small rooms along each side of the corridor. "We rarely use these now," she said. "They were designed like this for when there were more women staying here."

At the end of the corridor they came to a locked wooden door. Gabrielle knocked on it three times in rapid succession and they heard a key turn in the lock and it was opened. After the darkness of the corridor, it took Isabella's eyes a moment to adjust to brightness of the room in front of her. Gabrielle took her hand and said, "Thank you, Arness" to the person who had opened the door. Isabella was surprised to see that it was a man, a huge bald man, with a smooth face and almost childish features. He bowed to Gabrielle and smiled at Isabella as they passed.

The room, like the main building's entrance foyer was huge. It had a high ceiling and columns supporting it rose from four points around the room. Isabella saw that the floor had several levels, including a sunken central area where she found Thomas and a tall blond woman talking on couches arranged in a corner. Isabella was surprised to find him there and she saw that he had changed out of the robe he wore to breakfast into the white trousers and shirt she had seen on the guards accompanying the Bey. He turned to the women.

"Here they are now, we are in luck!" he said. "Isabella, come and meet Jacqueline. I have been bringing her up to date with our story."

"Yes, Isabella," said Jacqueline, her voice deeper than Isabella had expected and a little croaky. "I am honored to meet a daughter of the great Marisa Alatonni." She held out her hand to Isabella and smiled. "Forgive my voice, Isabella, I had a long and difficult assignment last evening and my throat is a little sore."

Isabella sat next to Thomas, keeping Gabriel close and not releasing her hand.

Thomas said, "Jax is a great admirer of your mother's work, Isabella. She will no doubt have many questions for you in the days to come."

Isabella tried not to show her puzzlement. "My mother's work, Thomas?"

"Her political work, intelligence and such. I know that was before your time, but Jax will no doubt insist on interrogating you anyway, " he smiled.

"Only gently, my dear," said Jax, "I don't leave marks and any screams will be of unbearable pleasure, not pain." She winked at Isabella. "And I see you have already met the quack. How goes the snake oil business, Gabrielle?"

Gabrielle rolled her eyes to Isabella and responded immediately with "Well, with a customer like you, my darling, it is the pox ointments that keep me in business these days. Would you like some for your throat, Jax?" She squeezed Isabella's hand.

"Ladies!" exclaimed Thomas. "Isabella, you will have to forgive these two. They are really very close friends, sisters you could say, but they have a strange way of showing their affection."

Isabella smiled. She actually found she was enjoying the interplay between these confident and intelligent women.

Thomas continued, "I am sorry I did not rush back to you, Isabella, but the Bey wanted me to consult with Jax on political developments in Tunis and Algiers. She has also given me much new information on the deployment of the French Fleet and has, unfortunately, confirmed my suspicions about their intentions with regard to the Order. I'm afraid that Jax is not at all happy about our choice of transport yesterday. She has grave concerns about Murad Bajhim."

"Gabrielle has been keeping me well entertained and has continued my education," said Isabella. "We were on our way to my room when we found you here." She squeezed Gabrielle's hand.

"I am pleased to hear it," said Thomas, smiling at them both. "It is after midday and Jax and I have a little more work to do with some new maps and papers from our people in Corsica. I promise I will be with you in no more than half and hour. I am sure that Gabrielle will keep you well entertained till then." He leant to her and they kissed.