Timeless Love

[Sweetp4u]

Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Winter 1206 AD

* This is a a 'what-if' or what could have happened *

The story of Brote and her secret love Jamuka.


The Story

As the 'Enlightened One' many responcibilities fell onto my shoulders. Being the first wife, I had done my duty and produced a male heir to Khan. Now I was left alone, respected, but left to my own recourses. The other wives were brought to him nightly now, he wished to have many children, it had always been his desire. I respected that choice, and was thankful he left me alone to raise our son.
I had been married to him young, and as my family had desired I had married him. At first there was no love between us, but as the time went by I began to love my husband very deeply. He was wise beyond his years and loyal.. Or so I thought. He had developed many enemies lately and the world around us was no warring.
I began to see a different side of him, he began to distance himself greatly from me. And with time, I had fallen out of love for my husband. I knew it was wrong and I prayed for guidance, but no answers came to me.
The past few months I had begun to notice Jamuka, his kindness to me, his easy smile. Feelings began to develope between us, at least on my part. It was against the laws to think such thoughts, but I could not help myself. In my mind, his many wives was no different than my interest in another.
Torn, uncertain where i could go, I retired myself to my own little house in the corner of the palace grounds and lived there with my son. I could spend my days taking care of my babe, and spend my nights praying for guidance.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

Business kept me at the court of Khan. Business that kept peace between our two klans and made it profitable as well.

I had no fear of the "mighty Khan" I respected his cunning mind and his abilities to wage war, but a growing distaste in my stomach each time we met was there as well.

I am Jamuka, One of Khan's few and true friends. I grew up with him as a lad and sided him in the first of his battles, guarnteeing him success in becoming the warlord he was destinied to be.

My Mongol mind told me he owed me nothing, but his growing arrogance and power warned me of another battle to come....the battle between his clan and mine...

One of the few things that stopped me at this time was the shame and regret I felt for Brote...Brote, Khan's first wife who he now ignored in hes bedchambers, Brote the alluring young woman I met few times but felt an uncommon draw towards. Brote the sweet and erotic featured young woman who invaded my dreams each night.

Don't take it wrong, there was lust for her...But it was not the uncontrollable lust of a young man and woman, it was something deeper, more undiscernable. The dreams and the feeling I felt when seeing her gentle curves made it quite obvious. It was a matter of the spirits that we curtowed to, consulted before each major war or move of life...

I would visit my own consul, then appear in the great garden of Khans's court, to see Borte and confirm what they told me.

I would sleep in peace tonight then, tomorrow I would meet and face my own destiny...

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

Sitting in the gardens I listened to the slaves speak quietly of my son. He was resting for the night and would no longer need attention until later.
nodding quietly, I sat looking through the trees towards the main palace. Somewhere in there Khan and his new bride were enjoying each other's company. And here I was sitting here alone.
Odd the things life tosses our way when least expected.
Khan respected me as a woman and his first wife but so much so in respect he did not come near me now that his son was conceived and born.
It had been a lonely six months, I felt as if I had displeased him was why I was sent away? It did not matter, I held no real deep binding love for him, arranged marriages seldom did.
Now I was left to my own resources for entertainment as long as I abided by the laws he set forth.
The slaves returned to the palace and left me alone. Staring into the night sky I longed for something more. I felt as if a piece of me was missing and I had yet to find it?
What was missing from me soul, i did not know, but I wanted to find it.
I heard Jamuka was in residence and visiting with my husband, An ally in many ways to my husband I had met him only once, and even now he intrigued me greatly. Perhaps I would find a way to speak with him, find out how things fare for the both of us?
Turning I stood and moved amoung the heavy folige, searching for some solitude and perhaps a clearer mind to see things rationally.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

Perhaps it was not honorable but I stood in the heavy tresses of the garden and watched Borte.

THe shadows played tricks on her face but despite thier cloaking hands her mood was apparent to me.

A longing was there, a longing for something...someone perhaps that would comfort her...fill the hole that was within her.

I shook my head...How was it that I knew that? It was if I had gained insight to her, a feeling of being connected...somehow.

The motion of my head had disturbed the many interlaid layers of vine overhead, the leaves rustling on the vines and she moved trying to track the sound and it's origin.

I shook my head again and smiled carefully, this time Borte tracked the noise easily and turned facing me, her eyes meeting mine.

"Forgive my impudence, Borte" I apologized and moved from the shadows that covered me. "Was not my intention to disturb your private time"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

I glanced around, looking for the unseen eyes staring at me. I had heard the breathing, I felt the chill and just knew.
I turned and spotted Jamula in the shadows. A soft smile came over my face, he was always a kind man to me. Even indulging me at times with conversation when those around me would never ask.
"All is well Jamuka. Come? Sit with me a moment? how was your journey?" I perched back on the stone seat, my back to the water fall. I watched him approach and smiled to myself. Here was a great warrior, and a fair man, why was he not wed? That was something I wasn't to ask aloud, but I always wondered.
He stepped from the shadows and moved stealthly towards me.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

"All is not well, fair Borte, We prepare for war again"

Khan had once again decreed a neighboring clan to be against his beliefs and that we must over run their boundries and conquer them, freeing the slaved inhabitnats to "see the light". It had become an old joke round the night fires. There was no "light" except for the light of insanity that grew each day in the the eyes of Khan. But I had sworn alliance to Khan, and in return he granted my own lands free from invasion and free as well to tend to thier homes and animals. If there were any men left to return from this campaign, I thought grimly...

"I have come from seeing the ancient ones in my own village, Borte, Seeking council and wisdom as to what to do. They sent me back with answers that have created more confusion then before. In truth they directed me to seek my future and that of my lands in another."

As I now had...The future of my house was within another.

"But enough of war and strategies fair Borte. I am interested in what troubles you, you wear strain on your face that is not becoming one of such beauty and fair age. Perhaps sharing your burden would ease that strain?"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

I glanced down at my folded hands, trying to think of what to say to ease his troubled mind?
"It is not fitting to air our woes, I was told." I offered a small smile but couldn't meet his gaze.
I glanced up at the palace in the distance and sighed, "I do not love him. I have been set aside so that his newest wife may have the time she needs to concieve him a child. And yet he has made no move to know our son. I feel exiled out here, put on a shelf. It is arranged marriages that I still see as unfair to both parties." I turned my eyes back down to the water lillies floating in the fountain.
"War, always war. Can't one be satisfied with what they have? Why do men seek more? Always more than what they have?" I fell quiet again, my eyes closing momentarily to ease some of the fires burning inside. It would not do to vent out the anger and condemnation in my soul.
"I feel cheated." And it was true, I did feel cheated. As if I was meant for greater things than that of a whore to a would-be king.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

Honesty. It was an unusal quality in these lands and times. Our people had become as skilled in the slippery ways of the "court" as they had war. With Khan it had become a necessary talent to guarntee life...

"Some men seek greatness as others look for air, it is what makes them truly alive" I tried to explain and defend Khan.

"Others value smaller events to give thier life meaning, say the love of a beautiful woman..."

I wanted to use Borte as the example, but decoram and a small amount of lingering loyalty held me back.

"Khan has visions that exceed the abilities of most to see, but with that extended vision he has lost the ability to appreciate the beauty before him"

It was not enough, But it was all I dared do...Perhaps Borte was a messenger of Khan's sent here to test my loyalty? I owed more to my own people than to dare let my own personal wants and dared not make a mistake that would cost them thier lands and lives.

"If I had the honor of having you as my bethrothed, you would never be made to feel less than a lady, nor believe you were cheated" I offered "If only we different people in a different land"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

"You are kind Jamuka, and understanding.* I fell silent my mind still mulling over some of the decrees Khan had placed recently.
"I do not understand.. How can A man have more than one wife and it is not adultery.. but a woman glances to long apon someone other than relative and it is adultery? worse if she has intiment knowledge with that man? Where does this come from?"
I rose from the bench and began to pace.
"I am put aside for a new wife, expected to live here as what?" I stopped pacing and glanced at him.
"Another time and place?" I smiled faintly.
"Such things are not possible and i shouldn't be talking to you here alone. if Khan found out." I shuddered visibly, not wanting to know his wrath for such a thing as that.
I had to remain loyal to a husband who did not want me, it was the proper and right things to do.
"I must bid you good night Jamuka, perhaps some eve when you have returned to visit? we may speak again?" an offered courtsey, it was what was expected of me. Though i did long for some adult conversations, I could not let it be known I really did wish for him to return to me.
I stopped and gazed down at him, "sleep well." And bowed slightly as due his station as lord of his lands.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

I accepted Borte's gentle dismissal and bowed in defference to her title and station...Mulling her words over and acknowledging the wisdom in them as I nodded.

"There are lands where the women are not granted the prialage of being even listened to, or even thought of as individuals...merely possessions, still that does not dismiss the wrong done to you. Time will change all of that hopefully and we may see each other as in the daylight as I do you in my heart"

War waited for me...death and the destruction of innocent lives and property, all in the name of a greater vision...a greater ideal of life...
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The year was 1202 A.D. and Ghengis Khan made one of the greatest moves in his career to expand his Empire. He turned on his old and trusted allies and defeated them in a bloody carnage, a move designed to exterminate as much as to defeat… Jamuka and a small band of warriors survived, swearing vengeance against their old leader and ally, they had nothing left except revenge…Their family, friends and lands were all gone, burned to the ground…

Jamuka had four years of life left…His time was coming as he pushed himself to return to Khan’s court and exact vengeance on him as custom and right decreed…To kill Khan’s entire family and then the ruler himself…It had become a matter of honor, if Jamuka died Khan would become the undisputed ruler of Mongolia, if Khan died peace might return to a the country..

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

"Renegades are coming!" The shouts went up through the torn up palace. People began running. I stood alone in the house that was my home, watching with terror written clearly in my eyes. Khan had taken the children and went into hiding late last night. He knew who was coming for him and why.
All I could do was tremble in my stance as I watched people franticly running to get out of this place. Khan had left all of his wives behind, taking only his best guardsmen and his children to safety.
"M'Lady? You must leave!" Someone was tugging on my hand, urgently trying to get me to do something more than stand but my feet would not obey my mind.
I stood rooted to the spot as a group of very large war horses came through the courtyard. Swords swinging high they started taking down all the servants and wives of Khan. My eyes widened in horror of the carnage around me, so much in so little time. How could we ever survive?
Someone was bellowing Khan's name, calling him out to face his death but they didn't know did they? Khan was gone until his army was rounded up. He wouldn't stay and fight for his palace, wives or people, not without an army backing him.
"Please M'Lady? Move, come hurry!" The English woman tugged on my hand urging me to move, but the gods must be angry with me because my feet stood rooted to that very spot. Just watching.
I glanced at the fairhaired beauty tugging on my hand and shook my head. "No, it is no good to run. We would only bring their attention to ourselves." For now they were indeed fighting their way through servants, some guardsmen and wives. The men kept pouring into the open gates. Hundreds of them, following the leader I could not see.
"Take them! Take them all!" He pointed at the wives fleeing around in circles, trying to get out. One particular man, not the leader, spotted me and came riding hell bent straight at me.
"MOVE!" She tugged.
"I can't" I replied
"HE'LL KILL YOU!" I brushed her off, shaking her struggling hands from my own wrists, I didn't watch as she landed on her bottom in the dirt, just watched the approaching rider. He reared the horse up before me, intending on making me cower, and yet I didn't. I raised my chin up a notch and stared him down.
"You will die!" His words faint but reached my ears through his mask he wore.
"So be it." I was living in a lie anyways, why not face death instead of flee like a babe? He moved along side me, a friend of his riding up as well.
"Take the fair one, this one is mine!" Those words told me a different sort of death was in store for me and my friend, but I was only a woman, never trained in the arts of war. I couldn't fight back with weapons. Perhaps brains?
He bent down and grabbed me, tossing me over his horse just as his friend hauled up the screaming english woman. He turned his horse and trotted towards the main group. I heard words exchanged about Khan and that he wasn't here. Heard someone swear and order them to camp. They would return or wait for Khan to ask for his wives back.
Turning the horses took off, my body bruising quickly from the jarring position over the horse and rider. I worried on what would happen when we got there? The man's hands kept romaning familiarly over my body and bottom, now and then caressing. When I put up and arguement he swatted my backside and ordered me to be still.
I heard another voice arguing with the one I rode with.
"She is not for you. You will turn her over to me when we reach camp."
"She is mine, spoils of war." He said gruffly.
"You can have any you want, but not that one! She is the first wife, very valuable. Do not argue with me on this, I am leader here!"
The man I was flung over stopped all arguement and groping. Instead choosing to ride in silence. Who were these people? I knew they were one of Khan's enemies, but he had many. Who had come for us? Who could possibly know where I was?
"We're almost to camp." The other rode off ahead, I heard him leave. He sounded so much like Jamuka, but rumors said Jamuka was dead... Who was this leader? When would I be safe again? So many thoughts, so much anger boiled up inside at my husband and his abandonment of me.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

tHE "BATTLE" was a dissapointment. The royal guards left behind were old men and women. Khan's ruthlessness was showing thru even now. Rather than leave one good man behind and weaken his own offense he robbed them all from even here and sacrificed his own harem.

They tried, it was true...Weapons were abundant and the men formed a line, shouting Mongollian chants and insults even as they died beneatht the hooves of out horses. The noise grew, then suddenly quit as the last perished, his blood flowing on the courtyard brick, turning the sun faded brick to a bright red once again...

The women were rounded up, spoils of war, the reward to a clan that no longer protected a land and took only what it could carry...

Children were of no value to us...They were left behind in a squalling, irritable group, crying for their mothers as the old woman pushed them into the small building, a eunuch barring the doors.

"She is mine, bring her to my tent!" I finished it, asserting myself and glaring...feeling no remorse for the harsh words. I pushed open the heavy flaps of the tent and moved inside, stripping the blood coated leather padding off my chest and shoulders, placing my sword next to me as I pulled the leggings away.

With a grunt the disheveled woman was thrust into the tent, falling to the floor by the violence of the action...But not complaining, not voicing a word after the initail cry of pain.

"I had thought of you many nights, Borte" I growled thru my heavy beard "Of how we might be lovers, how I could spirit you away from your misery to a happier place...my place, my land"

The thought angered me and I splashed the water viciously, slapping it to my chest and arms as I washed away the stink...the stink of weak and worthless enemies.

"But now I have no place...no lands and because of your cowardly husband I will rape you instead. And you will allow it to happen, willingly...or I will order the childrens building to be fired"

I glowered at her as she raised her head at the last words, repulsion and recognition coming to her eyes at the same time.

"And you will see to it I enjoy it, or I will make sure your child is the first to die"

I would not kill her, she would be a symbol that Khan would value...if not for sentiment than for meaning of WHO she was and the fact I now possessed her.

"Alive you will be, but how alive is up to me" I threatened her, anger at the thought of Khan coming again "You will please me then obey me as I exact my revenge on your husband next"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

Trembling in fear I was uprighted from the steed and shoved violently into a tent. I had no idea who held me, why I was taken and singled out from the crowd. No one would really know I was the first wife, unless someone who knew Khan was attacking us.
Crying out in pain from the impact on the ground, I bit back anything else that rose in my throat to speak.
I glanced up at the sweaty bedeviled man above me. He was shedding his armoury and speaking to me as if he knew me? Then it dawned on me as he spoke, Jamuka?
"Jamuka?" I interrupted his long speach, unable to understand why he would wish to harm me of all people? I bit back another comment when he glared down at me and threatened to kill my child.
Stifling a sob of horror with the images that arose in my mind, I nodded my head meekly and rose to stand, head down, before him.
"As you wish." I would never fight him, I would never cause anyone bodily harm, and deep down I did not think him capable of hurting me as he proclaimed.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

"damn you, Borte" I cursed her softly as she assented to my demands, her head bowed "Have you no fire left in you? No remorse for what your great and wise husband has done? Surely as his counsel you were aware of his horrendous plans for my clan? Would not honor dictate you make us aware and prevent the slaughter that followed?"

Rage, frustration, Anger all came out in the words I hurled at her. The destruction of an entire clan on a whim of a power hungry, scheming war lord...

And then the personal pain came as well...

"Was not what I saw in your eyes, what I felt in your heart...true?"

It was what I had felt as I returned to my own home and people, we were linked in a way beyond understanding. One that had run out of time to ever be discovered.

I raised my battle scarred and still bloody sword, ramming it's point into the ground below.

"Tell me before I decide whose breast to run this abomination thru"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

I flinched back from his anger, my body tensing slightly at his words.
"I was not given the freedom of being in his graces to cousel him apon his decision. His third wife is the one who aided him in this. You know Jamuka I was cast out. you knew months ago." I glanced up and met his eyes, my own igniting with fire at his accusations.
"I was imprissoned for two weeks for attempting to alert the guardsmen that came in your stead the last visit. By the time I was released it was too late to stop the actions he set forth." My hands clenched in fists as my anger welled up inside me.
"I am being tried for treason against my husband but your attack halted that..." We both knew what that meant for me.
Death.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

I stood dumbfounded. I had spent months convincing myself of her guilt and her involvement with Khan's plot and her value to the deranged leader as well.

"If what you say is true, then you hold no value to me" I told her roughly "I can not draw Khan to me, nor use the knowledge his consort should possess to stop his further actions"

It was true, Borte fit no plan for revenge, her death would be meaningless.

I was out for blood, but the blood of my enemies...not of the innocent.

"You are free to go Borte, I have no use for you. I will get you a horse and send you back to where the children are being held."

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

"NO!" I moved to him, gripped his hand in my own tightly as my eyes searched his beseachingly.
"Please don't send me away!" I flushed slightly as I thought of what it would be like to die there in that broken palace.
"I am of value because I am his first wife.. He will come for me, even if it is to exact his revenge for my tresspass. I will do anything you wish of me Jamuka! Just don't send me away." I pleaded with him, holding his gaze, trying to keep my own from tearing up.
I would do anything to stay away from there, I would do anything to stay by his side, but I could not voice that allowed or be damned.
"Wait.. I lied! I set it all up!" It was worth a shot wasn't it? Raped or not, He would keep me here by his side for awhile until I could find a way to escape to my homeland.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

"Leave Borte" I barked at her, watching her shoulders jump but her eyes remain defiant. I softened the tone and knelt next to her, remembering a time long ago...a time where I dreamed of this very thing.

"You should not lie, you don't do it well Borte" I chastised her gently "I will find his third with your help and then arrange for your safe departure. The eunuch will obey my words to free all the children, they will need a leader to care and take them home as well.

A touch to her tear stained and dirty cheek and I reflected on the differences between us, the fate that seperated and pulled us together at a whim...and spoke quietly.

"I had only dreamed we might be lovers. But you are a mother and I am a warrior headed for one final battle. There will be no one to tell me what is right or wrong, no one to punish me for what I might do, except for myself..."

I took her hand and kissed it, then placed it in her lap again....It was over, a time to plan for death, not life...

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

He barked an order at me, causing me to jump nervously in fright. Shaking and tearing up I watched as he knelt by my side. He was leaving and would not come back to me.
Why did I feel as if this was a viscious cycle repeating itself over and over again?
"Lovers?" Oh I longed for the same things, I craved his embrace and tender touch, how I knew he would be tender I did not know but I knew in his arms I would soar.
"Please, do not send me away just yet? Give me just one night?" I couldn't believe what I had said?! that was adultery and punishable with death as well.
I did not care now, the time had come to give in or die inside. I reached for him, my hand coming up and cupping his face. Battle scars, dirt and worn out, he still looked beautiful to me.
"Please Jamuka?" I pleaded softly, my body bending forward as I reached out to him. Just once was all I prayed for. Before he was gone from me forever, let me have him just once?
He turned from me, readying himself to rise and leave, I did the only thing I could do to retain him. My hand gripped his tightly and I moved forward, my lips barely brushing against his own.
Time stood still, even my heart ceased it's beating pattern in my breast. The spark ignited between us and I felt a large surge of energy come, forcing my heart to beat hard in my breast and my limbs tremble.
"Please?" I asked once more.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

Gentle lips touched mine as she pleaded with me and I tasted mint...Mint, the leaf a lady would chew to cleanse her breath...the leaf of which grew on a plant that thrived in only one area...The land of my clan, now gone forever...


"Borte...." I moaned, my flesh turning to fire as she pressed her frame to mine, her hands touching my bare chest...

Instead of a response Borte raised her slim. cool hands and brushed the dregs of hair back from my face, pressing her lips against mine again...

And then reason and duty ended...My wish was in my arms...my dream had become reality as I used my hands to unwrap her clothing and press it off her shoulders, revealing nothing save her beauty, the skin as unblemished and pure as her soul.

We knelt...My own clothing disappered and our bodies once again pressed to each other, cool flesh against heated, desire against raging lust....the need for love against the need for a final pleasure before death.

Time slowed, the folds of the tent closed around us, our world shrinking to the distance of an arms reach as we molded ourselves together...body to body...soul against soul....

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

We flew to heaven and slowly sank back down in each other's arms. Forgotten was all around us, the war, the turbilations of life in general and all those other things raging outside the doors of this tent.
The biting chill of winter never crept it's way inside this room, our combined heat more than enough to keep us warm. Tender smiles, kisses and intertwined fingers grasping for what seemed like hours.
And in the early light of dawn a cry went up in the air.
"KHAN IS COMING!" The loud clanking of armous haphazardly being tossed on soon roused us from our dream like states.
Fear climbed into my eyes as I clutched the robes and watched Jamuka dress for a final battle.
"Be well my love." I knew nothing I could say would keep him at my side. A man must die with honor, never as a coward. He would face Khan just outside these tent walls and I.. Well I would await the outcome before deciding what more I could do.
I rose from the bed, mindless to the cold and fear trembling my body. "I ....." I had nothing to say, and so I stood face to face and just before he placed his helmet on his head, I kissed him tenderly. "For luck" Backing away I watched his eyes, watched him turn and walk out.
Sitting hard on the bed, I knew this would be the final descision to make. To die or live? I would await word on the outcome and then, only then, would I leave this tent.

 

[BLACK BART]

Jamuka

The horde came down, down off the hill and into the spikes we had planted into the ground...The horses rearing as they impaled themselves, whinnying as the sharp wooden tips tore into legs, chests...bucking off the riders above them and then crushing them with their own bodies...And still they came...came as my own men moved from the tents and dressed silently, looking to their weapons...

We all knew it was coming...We had only our honor left..Nothing else...We would die tonight, taking as many of our enemies with us as we could, calling upon our inner strength until we breathed no more...

And die we did...One by one we fell, until with a final rush the horsemen rode against me...My sword taking the first in his chest...and then lodging in it and being pulled from my hands. I filled them quickly with a spear, driving it into the second...turning too late as the third drove his own into me from behind...I cursed him loudly, on my knees...Bleeding and yelling the name of the coward who sat on the hill above...watching....

"Khan...."

And as my blood filled the ground between my knees I felt the presence of another...Knowing before death I had found life...in the arms of

"Borte....Until we meet again, my love"

 

[Sweetp4u]

Borte

I was carted out of the tent that afternoon, head hanging low as Khan approached me. he said nothing for the longest time before his fist raised and struck me hard across the face.
"Betrayal! Adulterer! Her sentence is death!" A cheer went up in the crowd as I was moved to the flat stump of a tree. I would be beheaded for my crimes, and strangely I felt nothing but elation at finally being free.
Everyone watched as the axe lifted high into the air, "Jamuka.. my love.. Until we meet again.." my eyes fell closed as my heart sored with a bright warming love I felt down inside myself.
The axe fell and the excitement was over. Unbeknown to the men who buried the dead, they place all in a pile into a huge hole and began filling it. In the top in the center was Jamuka on his back, and the last tto be tossed in was Borte, laying across his chest...



ooc: ty BB for joining in this one, I think for now it is time to call it quits until another era pops into my head, or just let it rest here. I do need a break from this one.. it takes alot more planning for each step. Again thank you hun
Sp