Surprise Sunday

A combination of Art+Excerpt, how’s that for a surprise? Let’s start with last weekend’s procrastination technique: Smeraldo and Kyrio.

These two are the real protagonists of The Death of Queen Amazonia, and even if it’s still in WiP stage, I thought I’d put an excerpt here – a new scene that wasn’t in draft one, so it’s a surprise even for the beta-readers! 😉 This drawing should illustrate the scene – sort of.

Smeraldo was born in what will be known as the Amazons Country. As the first queen, Amazonia, is still alive, it’s called only Queendom of Maadre and its inhabitants Daughters of Amazonia. Kyrio is a foreign merchant who bought him from his owner, as men are properties in the Queendom of Maadre. Smeraldo is traumatized, but Kyrio has managed to unblock something, albeit not completely, and they’re now lovers.

Warning: snippet not edited for typos/grammar/etc! 🙂

Then it was time to go back to sea. Kyrio, Smeraldo and Jack headed back for the coast and reached the harbor where the ship was berthed. Kyrio sent a call to his crew who quickly reported to him.

Smeraldo could understand what the other said now, so he decided he could be part of the crew instead of sitting in the cabin with nothing to do all day. His eyes pleaded Jack to teach him something about sailing, so he became a ship-boy.

At night he slept with the captain, and on deck they pretended there was nothing between them. But when they locked the cabin’s door, Kyrio’s tenderness enveloped Smeraldo like a blanket.

The dancer was also more curious about the places they visited – Ixos, capital of the Tattoo country; Inessa in the Kaden Kingdom; Akulina on the coast of the Kingdom of Akkora; smaller towns on the shores of the Black Empire – where men had skins so dark they were invisible at night – and then the ocean, where the islands that had given birth to Kyrio’s mother lay.

They reached the archipelago and landed on a sandy white beach, welcomed by half-naked natives with tribal tattoos and big grins. Smeraldo couldn’t understand their language, but deduced where Kyrio had gotten his features from – slightly exotic even in his ignorant, untraveled eyes. Kyrio must have taken more than traditions from his mother.

The island had only a village of huts inhabited by fishermen and pearl gatherers. Kyrio took him to dive in the blue waters, looking for shells, corals and other treasures. At fist Smeraldo was a little afraid of all that water, but he trusted Kyrio, so he held his breath and followed him to the most amazing underwater world.

They were given a small hut apart from the rest, so at night they could make love to each other on the ground, as there was no furniture anywhere on the island, except some hammocks hanging from trees.

Smeraldo was grateful for the discovery of a new place that looked very much like a garden of heaven, and wished they could stay there forever. But his voice didn’t come out as he fell asleep in Kyrio’s arms.

Have a wonderful Sunday! 🙂