Cain Read online

  Like everything else, words have their whys and wherefores. Some call to us solemnly, arrogantly, giving themselves airs, as if they were destined for great things, and then it turns out that they were nothing more than a breeze too light even to set the sail of a windmill moving, whereas other ordinary, habitual words, the sort you use every day, end up having consequences no one would have dared predict, they weren't born for that and yet they shook the world. The overseer said, Enter, and it was as if he were saying, In you go and tread that mud and earn your daily bread, but weeks later, lilith will pronounce that very same word, letter for letter, when she summons the man whose name she has been told is abel, Enter. In a woman with a reputation for being very prompt when it came to satisfying her desires, it might seem strange that it had taken her weeks to open the door to her bedroom, but even this has an explanation, as will become clear. During that time, cain could not have imagined the ideas fermenting in the mind of that woman when she began visiting the treading pit, accompanied by an entourage of guards, slaves and other servants. She was like one of those jolly landowners who goes to the harvest to see for himself how hard his people are working, hoping to encourage them with his visit and offering a cheery word and even a comradely joke which, whether intentionally or not, will make everyone laugh. Lilith, however, didn't speak, or, rather, only to the overseer, whom she questioned about how work was progressing and asked repeatedly, seemingly just to make conversation, where the various workmen came from, those not originally from the city, that one over there, for example, I don't know, madam, when I asked him, because if you don't ask you don't know who you're dealing with, he just pointed over towards the west and said three words, no more, What three words, He said, from over there, madam, Did he mention why he left his homeland, No, madam, And what is his name, Abel, madam, he told me his name was abel, Is he a good worker, Yes, madam, he's the sort who talks little and works hard, And what's that mark on his forehead, Oh, I asked him that too and he says it's a birthmark, So we know nothing about this man called abel who came from the west, He's not the only one, madam, apart from those men who come from around here and whom we more or less know, the others are all untold stories, wanderers, fugitives, and men of few words, they might open up to each other a bit, but I can't even be sure of that, And the man with the mark, how does he behave, In my opinion, he acts as if he wanted to go unnoticed, Well, I've noticed him, murmured lilith to herself. A few days later, a palace envoy came to the treading pit and asked cain if he had a skill. Cain replied that he had once been a farmer, but had had to leave his lands because of the bad harvests. The envoy took that information away with him and three days later returned with an order for the treader abel to present himself immediately at the palace. Cain followed the envoy just as he was, in his filthy old tunic now little more than a rag, and having cleaned off as much mud from his legs as he could. They entered the palace via a small side door that gave on to a hallway where two women were waiting. The envoy withdrew to report that abel, the treader of mud, had arrived and was in the care of the slave-women. Cain was led by them into a separate room, his clothes were removed and he was then washed with warm water from head to toe.

  The insistent, probing touch of the women's hands provoked in him an erection he could do nothing to repress, always supposing such a thing is possible. They laughed and, in response, redoubled their efforts on his erect organ, which, amidst much laughter, they referred to as a silent flute, and which suddenly leapt from their hands, as supple as a snake. The result, given the circumstances, was all too predictable, the man suddenly ejaculated, in several spurts, which the slaves, kneeling down as they were, received on their faces and in their mouths. Cain experienced a sudden flash of insight, this was why they had come to fetch him from the treading pit, but not to give pleasure to mere slave-women, who must enjoy satisfactions more appropriate to their station. The overseer's prudent warning had gone unheeded, cain had walked straight into the trap towards which the owner of the palace had been gently, unhurriedly propelling him, as if unintentionally, as if distracted by a passing cloud and with her mind on other things. She had deliberately delayed delivering the final blow in order to allow time for the seed cast apparently at random on the ground to germinate and flower. As for the fruit, it was clear that he would not have to wait long to be picked. The slave-women appeared to be in no hurry and were concentrating now on extracting the last drops from cain's penis, which they took turns to raise greedily to their lips with the tip of one finger. Everything has an end, however, everything has its conclusion, a freshly washed tunic now covered the man's nakedness, and the hour, a most anachronistic word in this biblical story, has come for him to be led into the presence of the owner of the palace, who will tell him what is to be done with him. The envoy was waiting in the hallway, and one look was enough for him to guess what had gone on in that bathroom, not that he was shocked, well, in the course of their work, envoys see so many things that nothing can surprise them. Besides, people knew then as they do now that the flesh is supinely weak, which is not entirely its fault, for the spirit, whose duty, in principle, should be to raise a barrier against all temptations, is always the first to give in and wave the white flag of surrender. The envoy knew where he was taking the mud treader abel, where and why, but he didn't envy him, although he did envy him that lubricious episode with the slave-women, which had stirred his blood. This time, they entered the palace by the main door, because here nothing is done in secret, if lilith has found herself a new lover, then it's best that people should know about it right away, to avoid all the whispering and the rumours, all the giggles and the gossip, as would, of course, happen in other cultures and civilisations. The envoy said to a slave-woman waiting outside the antechamber, Go and tell your mistress that we're here. The slave duly went and returned with a message, Come with me, she said to cain, and then, to the envoy, You can go, you're not needed now. That's the way things are, never feel flattered at being entrusted with a delicate mission, for once the work is done, you will inevitably be told, You can go, you're not needed now, as envoys know all too well. Lilith was sitting on a carved wooden stool, she was wearing a robe that must have cost a fortune, a dress with a décolletage that revealed, with a minimum of modesty, the initial curve of her breasts, leaving the rest to the viewer's imagination. The slave-woman had withdrawn, they were alone. Lilith gave the man an appreciative look, appeared to like what she saw and said, You will be here in this antechamber, day and night, there is your bed and a bench to sit on, you will, until I decide otherwise, be my guard and allow no one, whoever they may be, to enter my room, apart from the slave-women who come to clean and tidy. Whoever they may be, madam, asked cain with apparent innocence, You have a quick mind, I see, if you're thinking of my husband, no, he is not authorised to enter either, but he knows that already, so there's no need for you to tell him, And what if he were to try to force his way in, You're a strong man, you'll be able to stop him, But I can't restrain with force someone who, being the lord of the city, is also lord of my life, You can if I order you to, Sooner or later I will have to pay for the consequences, Well, that, my young friend, is something no one in this world can avoid, but if you're a coward, if you feel unsure or afraid, the remedy is easy, you can go straight back to the mud, Well, I never considered treading mud to be my destiny, And I can't promise that you will always be a guard at lilith's bedroom door, It's enough that I am your guard for the moment, madam, Well said, you deserve a kiss for those words. Cain did not respond, he was listening to the voice of the overseer, Be careful, they say she's a witch, that she can drive a man mad with her spells. What are you thinking, asked lilith, Oh, nothing, madam, in your presence I am incapable of thought, I look at you and am amazed, Perhaps you deserve a second kiss, I am here, madam, But I am not, guard. She got up and smoothed her dress, slowly running her hands over her body, as if caressing, first, her breasts, then her belly, and finally her thighs, where her hands lingered, and while sh
e did this she stared hard at the man, her face as expressionless as a statue's. The slave-women, free of moral constraints, had laughed in pure contentment, almost innocence, while they were amusing themselves manipulating the man's body, they had taken part in an erotic game of which they knew all the rules and regulations, whereas here, in this antechamber where no sound from outside can penetrate, lilith and cain are like two swordsmen sharpening their blades for a duel to the death. Lilith was no longer there, she had gone into her bedroom and closed the door, cain looked around him and his only refuge was the bench reserved for him. He sat down, suddenly frightened by what the next few days might hold. He felt like a prisoner, and she herself had said, You will be here day and night, although she had not added, You will, when I so decide, be my bull to cover me, a term that would seem not just vulgar but inappropriate, since covering is something that quadrupeds do, not human beings, but in a way it's very apt, because we human beings were quadrupeds once, and we know that what we now call arms and legs were, for a long time, only legs, until someone thought to say to those men-to-be, It's time you stood up. Cain is wondering if he shouldn't run away before it's too late, but what's the point, he knows perfectly well that he won't run away, inside that room is a woman who appears to enjoy giving him the brush-off, but who will one day say to him, Enter, and he will and in doing so, he will pass from one prison to another. I wasn't born for this, thinks cain. He wasn't born to kill his own brother, and yet he had left abel's corpse in the middle of the field with his eyes and mouth covered in flies, a fate for which abel had not been born either. Cain considers life and can find no explanation for it, there is that woman, who although clearly sick with desire, is enjoying postponing the moment of surrender, which is not at all the right word, because lilith, when she does finally open her legs to allow herself to be penetrated, will not be surrendering, but trying to devour the man to whom she said, Enter.

  Chapter 5

  Cain has now done as ordered and slept in lilith's bed and, incredible though it may seem, it was precisely his lack of sexual experience that saved him from drowning in the vortex of lust that gripped the woman and, in an instant, made her explode into screams like one possessed. She ground her teeth, bit the pillow and then his shoulder, even drinking his blood. Cain laboured determinedly away on top of her, bewildered by her wild, brazen movements and cries, but, at the same time, another cain who was not him was observing the scene curiously, almost coldly, the flailing limbs, the bodily contortions, the postures that copulation itself demanded or imposed until the acme of orgasm was reached. The two lovers did not sleep much on that first night. Nor on the second or third or all the other nights that followed. Lilith was as insatiable as cain was inexhaustible, the interval between two erections and their respective ejaculations insignificant, almost non-existent, you might even say that they had both reached the future paradise of allah. On one such night, noah, the lord of the city and lilith's husband, entered the antechamber, having been informed by a trusted slave that something extraordinary was going on. This was not the first time he had done so. Noah was the most indulgent of husbands, and during all their so-called life in common, he had been incapable of getting his wife with child, and it was his awareness of this continual failure, and perhaps also the hope that lilith might end up becoming pregnant by one of her occasional lovers and finally give him a son he could call his heir, that had led him to adopt, almost without realising it, the attitude of conjugal permissiveness, which, over time, had become a comfortable modus vivendi, disturbed only by the very rare occasions on which lilith, moved by what we imagine must be that much-vaunted thing female compassion, decided to go to her husband's bedroom for a brief, unsatisfactory encounter that compromised neither of them, for he then felt under no obligation to demand more than he was given and she could not be accused of denying him his rights. Lilith, however, never allowed noah into her own bedroom. At that precise moment, and even though the door was closed, the vehemence of the two lovers' erotic enthusiasm was like a series of slaps in the poor man's face, giving rise to a feeling he had not experienced before, an intense hatred of the horseman currently mounting the mare lilith and making her whinny as never before. I'll kill him, noah said to himself, without considering the consequences of that action, for example, how lilith would react if her favourite lover was slain. I'll kill them both, thought noah, broadening out his plan, I'll kill him and her. These were mere dreams, fantasies, deliriums, noah will kill no one and he himself will have the good fortune to escape death without having to do a thing to avoid it. Not a sound emerges from the room now, but this does not mean that the corporeal party is over, the musicians are merely resting, and the orchestra will soon launch into the next dance, the one whose final violent paroxysm will be followed by exhaustion, at least until the following night. Noah has withdrawn, carrying with him his plan for vengeance, which he caresses as if he were stroking lilith's inaccessible body. We will see how it all ends.

  Given what we have described, it's only natural that it will occur to someone to ask if cain isn't tired out, squeezed dry by his insatiable lover. He is tired out and squeezed dry, and as pale as death. His pallor is due simply to a lack of sunlight and exposure to the fresh air that makes plants flourish and people's skin turn brown. But anyone who had known this man before he entered lilith's bedroom, where his time is divided between the antechamber and sex, would be sure unknowingly to repeat the overseer's words, He's a ghost, a spectre, as the person chiefly responsible for his condition finally realised. You don't look well, she said, I'm fine, replied cain, Maybe, but your face says otherwise, It doesn't matter, Yes, it does, from now on you will go for a walk every day, you can take a slave with you so that no one bothers you, I want to see you with the face you had when I saw you at the treading pit, Your wish is my command, madam. The accompanying slave was chosen by lilith herself, what she didn't know, however, was that he was a double agent, who took his orders from noah, even though he was, for administrative purposes, her servant. Let us, therefore, fear the worst. On the first few occasions, the walks passed off without incident, the slave always walking one pace behind, listening attentively to whatever cain said and suggesting what he thought would be the best route to follow outside the city walls. There was no apparent reason for concern. Then, one day, concern arrived in the guise of three men waiting to ambush them and with whom, as cain quickly realised, the treacherous slave was in cahoots. What do you want, asked cain. The men did not answer. They were all armed, the apparent leader with a sword and the other two with knives. What do you want, cain asked again. The answer came in the form of a sword suddenly unsheathed and pointed at his chest, To kill you, said the man, stepping forward, Why, asked cain, Because your time is up, You can't kill me, said cain, the mark on my forehead will not allow you to, What mark, asked the man who was, it seems, somewhat shortsighted, This one here, said cain, Oh, yes, I can see it now, what I can't see is why a blemish would prevent me from killing you, It's not a blemish, it's a mark, And who put it there, did you do it yourself, asked the man, No, the lord put it there, What lord, The lord god. The man burst out laughing and the others, including the unfaithful slave, provided a gleeful chorus. Better the last smile than the first laugh, said cain, and then, addressing the gang's leader, Do you have family, he asked, Why do you want to know, Do you have children, a wife, a father and mother still alive, other relatives, Yes, but, You will not need to kill me for them to be punished, said cain, interrupting him, the sword in your hand has already condemned them, the lord's word on it,