Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (14 page)

My mind was bouncing around too.

One, I kept waking up in this world. Two,
I had no idea how I got here. Three, I had no idea when I’d be sent
home. Four, I had no idea
if
I’d
be sent home. Five, I now had no idea how I felt about
that.

Two days ago, I would have begged, borrowed,
stole or killed to get home. No joke. Anything, anything to get
away from this place.

But now, I’d spent time with Diandra, Sheena
and my girls. I had Ghost, a white baby tiger who freaking called
me Loolah. The marketplace was interesting. My clothes were
kickass. The warriors approved of me. I was a queen which,
seriously, had its perks.

And then there was Lahn.

As freaking crazy as it sounded, the man
was getting to me – smiling at me, carrying me around on his back
in that sweet way, letting me have Ghost, being everything he
had
not
been in bed
those first three days and, in fact, being the best lover by far
I’d ever had
in my life.

Not to mention he was beautiful.

And I was starting to feel a weird
connection to him that didn’t make sense but I knew it was there, I
felt it, that connection, a fierce pull. And it scared me because I
didn’t get it; it made no sense so I decided to bury it, deep.

At the same time I watched him carve into a
man without blinking, then stick him with a blade. He’d hunted me.
He’d had no problems raping me and then taking me repeatedly when
he knew I did not want it and was nowhere near ready to receive
him.

He still scared me at the same time he
fascinated me, drew me in.

And I had seen my husband smile. I had seen
him laugh. And both looked good.

I
had
a
husband, which in itself was bizarre.

But my husband had still not (even last
night) kissed me.

And bizarrest of the bizarre, I really
wanted my husband to kiss me. I wanted that intimacy; I wanted it a
lot, too much. So much, I freaking ached for it.

Totally…
whacked!

And lying there in our bed, waking up
without him for the first time, I had to admit, I was disappointed
he wasn’t there.

Crap.

I didn’t want to be stuck in this world. It
frightened me; not only the culture I’d been thrown into but
whatever power might be out there that took me to it. I had to
admit some parts of it were interesting and some parts even cool.
But the rest scared the shit out of me.

And I worried about my Pop. I worried that
he was frantic, wondering where I was.

My Pop lost a wife and now his daughter had
gone missing. He’d loved Mom; he’d told me time and again they were
the perfect match, made for each other. He’d dated, he was a
good-looking guy, but he never got even close to serious with any
of the women he’d had in his life. No one could replace Mom, I
knew. He’d never said that but I knew it.

And he loved me, totally and completely, and
he’d be sick with worry that I’d disappeared.

I also worried about my friends who I knew
would worry about me. And I worried about the state of the office
because, Lord knew, those guys didn’t know where anything was,
they’d mess everything up and they’d do it in a way where it would
take me a year to get it back the way I liked it.

I didn’t know what to do but, even so, I
felt guilt that I wasn’t doing anything. And more guilt that I had
laughed here, cheered here, smiled here, had sex I enjoyed with a
man here and got myself a freaking pet.

“What am I doing?” I whispered to the tent
and Ghost jumped up, all four paws landing on my chest and belly. I
grunted, then giggled, then wrapped my arms around Ghost who
squirmed and I heard the tent flap slap back.

I looked to see the girls streaming through,
Teetru coming straight to me, Jacanda dragging the tub, Gaal,
Beetus and Packa all following her with buckets of steaming water.
Their faces were smiling but their manner was urgent.

Oh well.

One step at a time.

Teetru came to me, snatched Ghost off my
chest and dropped her on her feet on the ground. Then she tugged at
the sheet once, smiled at me and scurried off, coming back in
seconds with my robe.

First step, get up.

I was sitting at the table taking my next
step which was eating the breakfast Teetru served of passionfruit
and grain mixed with a thick, velvety, sweetened cream cheese
(totally delicious) and coffee when I heard a call of, “Poyah!”,
the tent flap slapped back and Diandra and Sheena were there
dressed, for the Korwahks, to the nines.

“Hey,” I smiled at them, taking in their
cool-as-shit fancy duds.

“
You will not believe what’s happened,
Dahksahna Circe!” Diandra cried then didn’t wait for me to respond,
she clapped her hands together in front of her and semi-yelled,
“The Dax sent word to Seerim! He wants me to act as your
translator! Isn’t that
wonderful?
”

I stared at her, Sheena grinned with
pleasure for her Mom and then Diandra grabbed her daughter’s hand
and dashed over to the trunks, all the while babbling.

“
We must hurry. The ceremony is fast
approaching and there is much to do to prepare you,” she
straightened from the trunks and whirled to me, eyes bright,
“and
I
get to stand
on the
dais
next
to
my
queen
and translate!”
She clapped her hands again and whirled back to the trunks,
dropping to her knees where Sheena already was digging through. “I
must tell you, Dahksahna Circe, this pleases me greatly. For years,
my boys have been gone, in training. And Sheena, she’s not a baby
anymore. She’s off and about with her friends, at her studies.
Seerim is busy with training his warriors so I rarely see him. I’m
alone a lot, too much and sometimes, it’s difficult to find
things
to
do.
” Her head twisted to
me. “And now I have something
to do
and it is an
important
something being interpreter to
our queen!
”

She smiled and I smiled back at her. I
couldn’t help it. Her excitement was catching.

Then Jacanda came forward, took my hand and
pulled gently. I stood, grabbing my coffee cup and taking the last
sip before I put the cup down and allowed her to lead me to the
bath.

“Uh…” I started as I moved through the tent,
“speaking of interpreting. Some things happened last night.”

“
Oh I know!” Diandra cried, still digging
through the trunks, Sheena at her side holding a sarong up and
studying it. “It’s all over the camp. Well done you
again!
”

“Well done me?” I asked, allowing Jacanda to
take away my robe and I quickly stepped into the warm, milky,
fragrant bath.

“More proof you are the rahna Dahksahna,”
Diandra answered, slipping the sarong Sheena was holding from her
fingers then carrying a bunch of stuff in her arms to the bed and
dumping it there. She turned to me and put her hands to her hips
and I was pleased the milky water and floating flower blossoms
covered me up to my chest. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?” I asked as I tipped my head back
and Gaal poured fragrant, warm water over my hair.

“Consume the zakah?” she asked.

I blinked water out of my eyes and turned to
Diandra.

“Zakah?” I asked back.

“
The distilled spirit they drink.” Her face
twisted. “I do not know a woman who can abide it. It’s a man’s
drink and not even that, it’s so strong and foul, it’s a
warrior’s
drink. Tales sweeping the camp
say you didn’t even make a face.”

“
Uh… in my, um…
land
, we drink shots like that all the time. Not that
raw but –”

“Unusual,” she muttered, interrupting me and
whirled back to the bed where Sheena was separating clothing.
“Well, even young warriors cannot drink it for the first time
without gasping for breath or spitting it out. Learning to consume
it in vast quantities is part of being a warrior.”

There it was. Guys were guys in this
world, my world, probably
every
world.

“You honored a warrior with your accolades
too,” she went on. “It is said you watched with avid interest.
Another thing wives do not do. They were deeply impressed.”

I definitely got that.

“Diandra?” I called and changed the subject,
“Lahn and Dortak fought last night –”

She turned to me and announced, “This, too,
is sweeping the camp.”

I had no doubt.

“It was…” I made a face but didn’t go
on.

“
Not less than he deserved,” she declared,
her expression going slightly hard. “Seerim told me he dishonored
the games. Unlike in my land or, I am sensing, in yours, these acts
amongst men and women are not as guarded, they do not happen always
behind cham flaps. If there is a celebration or the men come back
from war or plunder, it often gets quite,” she paused to search for
a word, “
sordid
, as we
would see it in our lands. And, I will say, there are other times
too. They do not hide these things. But the games are a gathering
of warriors, it is about men, strength, fortitude, cunning. It was
not looked upon positively he did that to his bride, it was not
looked upon positively that he even brought her considering it is
clear he carries no feelings for her. And it was even less
agreeable that he challenged the Dax to a match and did it armed.
You do not fight in the games armed. That is
not
done.”

I got that last night too.

Gaal lathered my hair as I caught Diandra’s
eyes and whispered, “But that’s not what I’m talking about. I’m
talking about Lahn killing him.”

She waved a hand in front of her face and
breathed out, “Oh posh! He left his mark on him and Seerim told me
it was a short blade. A flesh wound. Dortak, unfortunately, will be
up and about in a few days. Dax Lahn knew what he was doing. Dortak
is attended by healers and he’ll be just fine.” She leaned toward
me. “But he’ll carry the Dax’s marks for all to see until he’s
foolish enough to extend the true challenge and his headless body
will burn carrying the marks of the Dax.
This
was the Dax’s intention.
This
was his punishment for dishonoring the games, a
punishment I heard the Dax seemed not to intend to carry out,
likely because you were in attendance but Dortak, in all his
wisdom, essentially
asked
for it.
And the Dax, given the opportunity, as you witnessed last night,
does not hesitate in meting out punishment.”

Oh yes. I witnessed that last night.

Gaal whispered something to me, I’d heard
it before, it included the word
linas,
which I’d figured out was eyes, so I closed my eyes and she
rinsed my hair with another jug of warm water.

Diandra said something to Sheena and I
opened my eyes, wiped the water from them and Gaal massaged what I
suspected was a kind of conditioner in my hair for this was what
she did the last two mornings. It didn’t lather but when my hair
was dry, it left it shiny and soft. Or maybe the gunk they put into
it did that. I saw Sheena move to Teetru who was sorting through
the smaller trunks that held my jewelry. Sheena smiled at Teetru
and they carried on digging through the trunks.

My eyes went to Diandra to see her pouring
herself a cup of coffee.

“Diandra?” I called.

“Yes, my dear,” she replied, dripping some
milk in her cup.

“
What does
hahla
mean?”

She turned to me and sipped, smiling as
Jacanda rinsed the soap from one of my arms. “It means ‘true’,
‘pure’, the word means both. This, too,” her voice had dropped, “is
sweeping the camp. After last night at the games, you are no longer
rahna Dahksahna or Lahnahsahna but rahna Dahksahna
hahla
and Lahnahsahna
hahla.
This means, Dahksahna Circe,
the warriors believe you are the true golden warrior queen, a pure
tigress.” Her smile got bigger. “This is good.”

No. No. It was bad for they believed this
and they believed Dax was the mighty warrior of legend, and, from
what I’d seen,
that
could be
true.

But I was a girl from Seattle. And I was
likely a girl who would go back to Seattle. Not a queen who, with
her king, legend tells begins a dynasty.

Shit.

I shook that off and, after Gaal rinsed my
hair again, I asked Diandra, “What does kah fauna mean?”

Her body gave a start causing her head to
jerk. Then she stared at me. Then her eyes warmed, her face got
soft and her lips smiled big.

“Kah fauna?” she whispered, her warm eyes
beginning to light.

“Uh…” I stared into her eyes, feeling my
stomach dip and my heart beat faster, “yes, kah fauna.”

“Did your king call you that?” Diandra asked
and I felt that it wasn’t only Diandra’s eyes but every female’s
eyes in that tent were on me.

A quick glance proved this to be true.

I swallowed and looked back at Diandra.

“Yes, uh, twice,” I whispered.

Diandra’s eyes closed slowly. She opened
them, turned her head to her daughter and lifted up two
fingers.

Sheena beamed.

“
What?” I asked and Diandra looked back at
me, still grinning. “
What?
”
I asked more urgently.