Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (10 page)

You name it, they had it. The place was
huge, it was bustling and from the horses (with rickety, primitive
wagons and without) and what looked like oxen (not that I’d ever
seen oxen, I was guessing) tied to basic wooden fences outside the
marketplace, it wasn’t just there for whenever the Daxshee set up
at the dais but it stood there always and people came from other
places to purchase what they needed.

I was wandering and taking it all in but I
was also in my head. This was because I was wondering about
Diandra. She seemed kind. She seemed friendly. She seemed to want
to be my friend, to want to help.

And I needed help.

Like,
a lot
of it.

I just didn’t know where to start.

“The whispers are fading, Dahksahna Circe,”
she told me, lifting a bolt of silver fabric shot with crimson and
violet.

I stopped fingering a heavy cream silk and
looked at her. “Sorry?”

She turned to me and dropped her hand.
“The whispers are fading.” Her grin turned wicked and knowing. “The
warrior king and his warrior queen battled on last night, I hear.”
She leaned in and raised her brows as I sucked in breath. “I also
heard…
he
won.”

“What?” I breathed and she laughed softly,
getting closer.

“
Something else you need to get used to, my
dear,” she bumped me with her hip then looked down at the fabric,
her lips twitching, “the walls of tents are thin. And, especially
with the Dax, people
listen.
”

Oh my
God.

“People heard us?” I breathed (yes,
again!).

“
You
were
shouting,” she answered on another wicked grin.

Oh my God!

“Then you were moaning and crying out,” she
chuckled as I stared at her in mortification, “the spoils of
victory for King Lahn, I’m sure.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered, she threw back her
head and laughed then she wrapped an arm around my waist and guided
me away from the fabric stall, still chuckling as I noticed Sheena
grinning unabashedly at me.

She knew too.

And
she
was
twelve!

The horror!

“
Settle, my dear,” Diandra urged on a
squeeze of my waist when the look of mortification stayed rooted on
my face, “this is good,” her face dipped to mine,
“
very
good. His people could not know
his words of the wedding rite were true. But last night, you proved
them true. Shouting at a king?” She shook her head in mock
disapproval all the while tsk tsking and I knew it was mock because
she was grinning the whole time. “That’s not done, Dahksahna Circe.
Only the bravest heart and fiercest spirit in the soul of a woman
would risk challenging a mighty warrior king.” She gave me another
squeeze, looked away and murmured, “Well done, my dear.”

Okay, shit, I was in trouble.

“Um… Diandra?” I called as she moved us to a
trinket stand filled with bangles, earrings, delicate chain
bracelets and necklaces and all sorts of cool shit for hair, Sheena
trailing and stopping around the side of the table where the wares
were laid out.

Diandra fingered a silver hair pin with what
looked like a garnet in it and murmured, “Mm?”

“
What does
trahyoo
mean?” I asked and her eyes came to me.

“
It means,
sleep
, in the imperative. As in
ahnoo
, which is imperative,
ahnay
would be used if you were to say,” she picked up the pin,
“‘I like this’ or in Korwahk, ‘Kay ahnay sah’ But if you were to
want to put emphasis on it, say, if you were a king… or a queen,
where you expect your merest whim obeyed, you would say, ‘I
like
this.’ Or ‘Kay
ahnoo
sah.’ Therefore, if you are
ordering someone to sleep, you wouldn’t say, ‘
trahyay
’ you would
order,
‘
trahyoo
’.”

“
Oh,” I whispered and she put the pin down.
Then I asked softly, “And
mayoo?
”

I watched her profile smile a smile I knew
was knowing even getting only half of it. “An order again.
Faster.
”

Shit. Well, I was right about that one.

“
You would say
mayay
if you were not commanding it,” she explained
further.

“Right,” I said softly then I mumbled, “Um…”
I picked up a set of gold bangles inlaid with tiny seed pearls and
continued, “and, uh… what does… lapah meer-something kah lira anahl
mean?”

I felt her eyes on me. “Lapah meer… kah lira
anahl?”

I looked to her. “Um… I think so.”

Her head tipped to the side in confusion
and Sheena piped up to suggest, “Lapoo meera kah liros anah. Anah,
Loola.
Anah,
” she
finished with emphasis, my eyes swung back to Diandra and I saw
light had dawned.

“Yes, lapoo meera kah liros anah. This means
‘is between my legs tonight’.” Diandra explained and I felt the
blood rush to my cheeks as my stomach clenched, Diandra saw the
pink instantly, smiled gently and got close. “Not what you’re
thinking,” she said softly. “The men gather tonight. Tomorrow, the
Dax is choosing his new warriors. Tonight, the men will celebrate
as only men can – being loud, drinking a lot and watching warriors
beat each other half to death.”

I felt the blood that rushed to my face
drain away and Diandra caught that too so she shook her head.

“
No, Dahksahna Circe, it isn’t like that.
It’s sport. Or, they think it is. It’s harmless. That isn’t to say
warriors don’t get beaten bloody but they
want
it and
like
it. They train for it. A test of strength, endurance. They
like to show off and it helps to settle the order of things, who is
strongest, who needs to get stronger, who is faster, who needs to
get faster, who is more tactical, who needs to learn strategy. And
the others who do not participate enjoy it with much enthusiasm.
That said, Seerim has long since stopped taking me. I, on the other
hand, don’t enjoy it. The warrior wives don’t.” She got closer.
“And, my dear, the good thing is, not many men allow their women
in, wanting their wives to be with them while they commune with
their brethren.” Her eyes got bright. “And it is very rare
indeed,
so
rare I have
never heard of it, that a new warrior husband would honor his bride
with wanting her attendance. It usually takes months, even years
and sometimes doesn’t happen at all.” My heart skipped a beat but
then it stopped altogether when she finished, “And when you attend,
you sit on the ground between his legs.”

I stared at her.

Great. Just great.

“
I sit on the
ground?
” I asked and she nodded. “Between his
legs?
” I went on
to clarify and she smiled.

“It isn’t what you think,” she told me and I
looked to the bangles.

“Oh yes it is,” I mumbled and her hand came
to my chin, pulling it up so I would look into her understanding
eyes.

“It is for some of the warriors, my dear,
just what you think,” she said quietly. “For others, it is a way of
being close to a loved one while enjoying something he likes very
much.” She leaned in. “For a king and his long awaited bride,
taking her to the games just five short days after he claimed her,
my guess is, it’s the latter.”

I stared at her again and breathed, “He
doesn’t love me.”

Her head tipped to the side and her lips
tipped up.

“It is said, throughout history, that many a
great warrior, in fact, the strongest and fiercest, have fallen in
love with their brides simply by gazing upon them in the parade.”
Her hand slid over my cheek and she suggested, “Perhaps this has
happened to you.”

I thought about that morning. I thought
about the last four days. I thought she was very wrong.

Then I stated, “I don’t think so.”

Her hand dropped, she stepped away and
turned back to the trinkets. Then she said to the trinkets, “Many a
Wife Hunt has gone by where King Lahn has watched the parade and
let it pass him by. His people have waited for years for him to
claim his bride. A warrior, any warrior but a warrior like King
Lahn especially, has not developed a vast array of feelings. They
war. They pillage. They plunder. They fight. They train. They do
not form close alliances with their brethren for there are many
opportunities for them to fall. They are rarely, in some
cases
never
touched by
kindness, a soft hand, a warm gaze and most certainly not before
they’re wed.” Her eyes turned to me and locked on mine. “Many
humans do not need that, can live their entire lives without it,
but some cannot and fewer still of those are warriors.” She paused.
“But they exist.”

At that, to cover how what she said made me
feel, I blurted, “What does Lahnahsahna mean?”

She smiled. “It means ‘tigress’, my
dear.”

“Tigress?”

She nodded and went on. “And ‘Lahn’ means
‘tiger’. He was named ‘tiger’ by his warrior father, who was,
incidentally, also a Dax. Before he challenged and bested the Dax
who bested his father, and even now, King Lahn was and is known as
The Tiger because he is ferocious, clever and strong in battle. He
declared
you
at the
wedding rite, as his
tigress.
Obviously the perfect mate for the tiger and, I will say,
it seemed quite clear with the way he said it that it meant little
to him that you were claimed as his Dahksahna, even his rahna
Dahksahna. But far,
far
more that he
claimed you as his Lahnahsahna. He was not always the Dax but he
was born The Tiger, it is who he is, it is who he will always
be.”

Okay, I had to admit she was right. It
definitely was clear that meant a lot to him. More than a
lot.
A
lot,
a lot.

“
And
kah
Lahnahsahna?” I asked quietly.

“
My
tigress,” she answered quietly.

Oh my.

I looked away and changed the subject
quickly before my heart could beat out-of-control.

“And rahna Dahksahna? What does ‘rahna’
mean?”

“Golden.”

“
So
kah
rahna Dahksahna…?” I trailed off.

“
My
golden queen,” she answered.

“Mm hmm,” I muttered, still fingering the
pearl bangles and I heard her chuckle.

The vendor said something eagerly to me, my
head lifted and I saw his excited eyes go from me to the bangles
and back again.

“Oh no, sorry, I don’t have any money,” I
told him, smiling at the same time shaking my head and putting the
bangles down.

His face fell.

“Take them,” Diandra urged and my head shot
around to look at her.

“I don’t have any –” I started and she shook
her head.

“He will send a messenger to the Dax, the
Dax will give him coin or bestow a favor on him. If you want them,
take them.” She grinned at the vendor then back at me. “You do, you
do him a great honor. The queen has visited many stalls but has not
offered her custom. They are all hoping you will shine your golden
light on them so take them.”

“I’m not sure I want Lahn to –”

“
My dear, he has much coin. The proof is
covering you head-to-toe.
Take them.
He won’t blink. He will
expect
you to take your custom to his vendors. It keeps them
happy. It feeds their coffers, puts food in their bellies and he
needs their allegiance. Take them. Trust me.”

I studied her and she tipped her chin at me
encouragingly.

“Take them, Dahksahna Circe,” Sheena urged
then tipped her head and smiled a white smile. “Pretty!” Then she
giggled.

I looked at the bangles, picked them up
and turned them in my hands. They were roughly made but they
were
pretty. There were five of them
and they’d go great with my outfit. Heck, those pearls would go
great with
any
outfit.

I slid them on my wrist.

“Ah! Suh rahna Dahksahna fahnay ta kay! Rah
fahnay ta kay! Shahsha, kah Dahksahna, shahsha! Shahsha!” the
vendor cried, ending with his hands in prayer position, smiling at
me like a lunatic and bowing repeatedly.

“He says the golden queen smiles on him.
Thank you,” Diandra translated, grinning.

“How do I say, ‘you’re welcome’?” I
asked.

“Nahrahka,” she answered and I turned to the
vendor, bowed my head and smiled.

“Nahrahka,” I said to him.

“Suh rahna Dahksahna lapay sahna! Shahsha
fahnay ta kay. Shahsha, kah Dahksahna!” he yelled, I laughed and
looked at Diandra.

“He says the golden queen is beautiful.
Thank you for smiling at him,” she explained and I nodded to her,
to him and smiled again.

“Shahsha, uh… good sir,” I muttered.

He bowed, shaking his clasped hands in
front of him then turned to the next stall and shouted, “Suh rahna
Dahksahna fahnay ta kay!
Fahnay ta kay!
” Then he bent his torso back, looked to the clear blue sky
and shook his clasped hands at the heavens.