Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (33 page)

“Holy crap,” I whispered. That was a good
comeback too, perhaps a little on the personal side, but a good
one.

“I don’t even know what that means and I’ll
say you can say that again,” Narinda whispered.

Diandra translated Dortak shouting, “I take
your head tomorrow!”

To which Lahn replied, “No, I want you fit
before we toss your headless carcass on the pyre. You’ve got two
weeks, Dortak. Then our steel clashes.”

Dortak glared at Lahn a second before he
swung his angry gaze to Bohtan who was still close.

Diandra interpreted. “Before I claim the
Dax,
you,
” and he
jerked a finger at Bohtan, “watch yourself and keep your mind off
my bride.”

“
You,
” Bohtan returned, “treat her like a bride and I
will. You keep treating her like a dog I’ll be forced to put her
down like one to put her out of her misery.”

I pulled in breath at Bohtan’s words (words
I hoped he didn’t mean) as Dortak’s face got so red I thought his
head would explode then Lahn entered the conversation.

“Bohtan, enough, your point is made.”

The king spoke so Bohtan took a step back
but his eyes didn’t unlock from Dortak.

Then Diandra translated Bohtan saying,
“After the Dax cuts your tail from your lifeless head and it falls
from his saddle, I will be the first to seize it and present it to
your
bride
as my
wedding gift.”

Then he turned and walked away, his eyes
coming to me briefly before he bowed his head for a second and then
he stormed out of sight.

“What’s a tail?” Narinda asked softly while
I tried to catch my breath but instead caught my husband’s
eyes.

“It is their hair.” I heard Diandra answer.
“After a challenge, the victor ties the head of the vanquished to
his saddle and rides through the Daxshee. When he’s done
celebrating, however long that takes, he releases the head from his
saddle by slicing it off at their tail. After that, the head is at
the mercy of whoever grabs it, they can do whatever they wish with
it and the warrior’s body is burned headless on his pyre. It is
important to anyone to have their pyre so their ashes can drift to
the heavens, body joining spirit. The Korwahk, Maroo, any person
from the Southlands has this same belief and any body not fired is
thought to roam this realm as an unseen, unheard, powerless
phantom. Not burning the head is a final indignity for a warrior’s
defeat for they will wander eternity headless, a reminder of their
humiliation.”

I was listening but I was also, weirdly,
communicating with my husband. As Diandra talked, his eyes stayed
on mine then he jerked his chin up, slightly, once. I knew he meant
to ask if I was all right so I nodded. Once I did, he turned
away.

And that was when I remembered I had the
boy’s instrument, my body jerked and then I turned to him and
smiled, offering it up to him and saying, “Shahsha.” Boy and mother
were both clearly shaken by the events that took place and he
swiftly took it back as I asked Diandra to tell him to come see me
again, with his instrument, so we could play and sing together. The
mother’s face beamed but the boy looked like he wanted to do this
about as much as he wanted to be forced to run naked through the
Daxshee with his hair on fire. So I decided when he came, I would
play and he could take off and have fun with his friends.

They wandered away as Narinda asked, “Do
these… erm, confrontations amongst warriors happen often?”

“No, sweet Narinda, it happens, they are
men, so it is bound to. But it isn’t frequent. Though Dortak is not
a favorite of anyone and I have seen warriors get impatient with
him or he says things that force them to have words. Bohtan is a
good man, a good father, Seerim says he is a good warrior. He and
Nahka didn’t leave their cham for nearly two weeks after her
claiming; he was that taken with her. The Horde rode after the
selection, leaving them behind. He is a good husband and cares for
his wife.” Diandra smiled gently at Narinda, a smile that spoke
volumes about the warrior who had claimed her. “There are some men,
no matter what blood flows in their veins or what teachings were
drilled in their heads, who are just good men.”

Narinda smiled back and there was nothing
small or weird about it.

Gaal came forward and set a plate of candied
fruits on our hides. I smiled at her and she smiled back then
scuttled away.

I watched her go thinking that Teetru was a
little distant because she was older, she seemed to take her duties
very seriously and I’d learned yesterday that part of her duties
were keeping an eye on me. But Jacanda, Beetus and Packa were
younger, friendlier and more talkative. As the days passed, even
Packa was coming out of her timidity and becoming more outgoing.
Our conversation was halting but, even with Teetru, I felt like we
were all forming a bond.

But Gaal remained distant and watchful and
after what Diandra said to me yesterday, I hated to do it, but I
wondered about it.

Shit, I was going to have to keep an eye on
my girls, especially Gaal.

Then I heard it, a rumble like distant
thunder. It was familiar and yet seemed strange. It hit me what it
was the minute the horizon filled with horses. It was the sounds of
the hooves of a vast number of horses beating the earth. I’d heard
it for the last six days but this was different and it was
different because the horses coming our way didn’t number in the
hundreds.

I stared as more and more came visible.

Holy fuck! There had to be thousands of
them!

I tensed, my first thought was to run to
Lahn when Diandra said calmly, “Oh look, The Horde
arrives.”

My head snapped to her and I asked, “The
Horde?”

She was reaching for some candied fruit; she
popped a piece in her mouth and looked at me while she chewed. She
swallowed then she said, “The Horde.”

“
But,” I blinked, “I thought we were
with
The Horde.”

“We are my dear, some of them. Warriors who
attended the Hunt, others whose sons were up for selection,
trainers who’ll need to take charge of new warriors, others who
enjoy or their wife enjoys the celebrations. But the rest are out
patrolling or on campaign.”

I looked to the horses moving our way and
the wagons, vast numbers of them, could now be seen coming up the
rear.

“The rest?” I whispered.

“Circe, my beautiful friend, a few hundred
warriors cannot keep an entire nation safe. The Horde numbers at a
little over seventy-five thousand, the last I heard. It could be
more.”

My mouth dropped open and I stared at
her.

My husband commanded an army of seventy-five
thousand men?

Oh my God!

“That isn’t even all of them,” Diandra
tipped her head to the approaching procession. “Not even half. Just
the warriors who ride with the Dax. While he was presiding over
ceremonies, they were taking care of business. They always join the
Dax when he’s done with official matters. Further, there will be
other large squads off on patrol throughout Korwahk or others
executing campaigns the Dax has ordered. Why do you think he
attends his warriors all day and into the night? Being a Dax,
there’s a lot to do.”

I looked to Lahn who now had five warriors
huddled with him and he had his hands planted on his hips, his eyes
on the horizon, watching his warriors draw near. The men were
talking to him and I saw that he was watching and listening when he
nodded once to something one of them was saying. Then he crossed
his arms on his chest, moved his gaze from the vista and turned his
attention to the man who was speaking to him.

I had no idea. None. In fact, a savage,
primitive horde of just a few hundred seemed enough for a savage,
primitive horde, in fact, too many. I had absolutely no idea he
commanded such a legion.

“Circe?” Narinda called, I shook my head,
tore my gaze from my husband and aimed it at my friend. “Are you
all right?” she asked.

“Yes, yes,” I said distractedly then looked
to the horses getting ever closer. “I’m fine.”

“
I see it is now penetrating,” Diandra said
softly and my dazed eyes swung to her to see hers, not dazed but
understanding on me. “I kept telling you, my dear, you are a queen.
I see you now understand you are a
queen.
A queen of a vast number of men, their wives, their
children and the nation of people who they protect…” she paused,
“all of whom serve you.”

“Yes, Diandra,” I whispered, “it’s
penetrating.”

She leaned into me. “You have saved a
child’s life, and your people witnessed it; you have sung a
beautiful song to a woman whose spirit has been tramped to death
inside of her, giving her mind a brief moment of harmony and your
people witnessed it. You make your husband’s laughter,
something
never
heard
before by those other than his brothers, as well as the sounds of
his pleasure ring out from your cham and your people hear it. I
tell you there are whispers and these whispers are soaring, Circe,
with a speed that would astonish you. You don’t know it but your
actions have already built strong bonds of loyalty in the hearts of
people you’ve never even met and you’ve been our Dahksahna
for two
weeks.
Your king builds
loyalty through providing riches, safety and cunning; you, my
beautiful Circe, are building yours, and therefore his, through
matters of the heart. This makes you strong and it makes you weak.
There will be those who will seek to target those weaknesses. Use
caution, be watchful and
stay safe.
”

I swallowed and nodded, my eyes flitting to
Narinda who was looking on, her own eyes wide and her face slightly
pale.

Then I turned to the advancing procession
and watched part of my husband’s ginormous army arrive.

* * * * *

“Linas, rah,” he whispered before his lips
moved over both of my eyes.

I was in trouble.

My king had just made love to me…
yes,
made
love to me
, slow, sweet,
gentle, tender. It was, no other words to describe it,
beautiful.
And I liked it,
a lot.
So much, I didn’t think I’d
ever forget it, not a touch, not a taste, not a stroke, not a
second, not any of it.

And now he was lying on top of me, his
weight on a forearm in the bed beside me, his other hand curled
around my neck, thumb gently stroking my jaw and he was whispering
to me.

Man, he was good.

“Yeah, I guess you could say that, but
really, my eyes are more a very light brown,” I muttered to try to
break the mood.

His chin tipped down, his eyes locked on
mine and at the look in his, my belly melted.

Okay, message received, Lahn didn’t want the
mood broken.

“
Eyes,
rah
,” he whispered then his hand slid up my cheek, fingers
sifting through my hair at the side of my head and down before he
bunched a length of it against my neck. “Lipa, rah,” he muttered,
his thumb back to stroking my jaw.

“In my world, we don’t call it gold, we call
it blonde,” I whispered, his eyes caught mine, that warm, sweet,
contented look was still in the depths of his and my heart
skipped.

Then his head dipped, I braced and his lips
skimmed the skin on my cheek. “Leeka, rah,” he rumbled in my
ear.

I wasn’t going to argue with that. That
was true, with all the sun I was getting, my skin
was
gold.

His head came back up as his thumb swept
over my lips, his fingers moving so his hand could cup my jaw,
“Lapay nahna lisa rahna, kah Lahnahsahna?”

I knew what he was asking.
Is your mouth
golden, my tigress?

My heart skipped another beat.

Shit.

“Lahn,” I whispered then closed my lips as
his head dipped again and he brushed his against mine.

Okay, he might not have kissed a woman
before, but he did
that
really
freaking well.

“Mm, kah rahna fauna?” he urged quietly, his
mouth moving against my lips.

Oh yeah, he was good.

I just stared in his eyes which were all I
could see and did my best to keep my mouth shut.

What I wanted to do was kiss him.

And I wanted it
bad.

He stared back.

“
Lapay tee?” he whispered,
Is it?

I shook my head and watched up close as his
eyes smiled at the same time I felt his lips do the same.

Then, his eyes never leaving mine, his
tongue traced my lips.

I shivered and my limbs, all four of which
were wrapped around him, tensed.

Oh shit,
yeah,
he wasn’t good. He was
good.

“Yes it is, Circe,” he whispered against my
lips, his tongue slid along them again and then he murmured, “rahna
honey.”

Okay, I’d had some nice compliments in my
life. One, I had to admit, was Lahn telling me I had rare beauty
the like he’d never seen. Another was, of course, him telling me
the spirit that shone from my eyes was the most beautiful thing
he’d ever seen.

But his telling me my mouth was golden honey
just notched itself right smack in the middle of that list.

“Sahnahsoo kay neenkah,” he whispered.

I knew that too.
Let me inside.

My belly dipped, my heart surged and the
area between my legs tingled.

Shit!