Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (35 page)

Then he hurried away.

It could be said I didn’t like how that went
and when Bain touched my arm to move us forward again I knew by his
continued unhappy vibe he didn’t either.

Then he spoke in Korwahk and used easy words
so I could understand. “I do not like that man.”

Uh-oh.

Then he went on to warn, “Be cautious,
Dahksahna Circe.”

I pretty much got that.

“Okay,” I whispered.

At that point, an almighty scream pierced
the air, so hideous it sent ice shards tearing through my
veins.

Instantly, one of Bain’s arms lifted high,
his hand going behind his neck where he smoothly and swiftly
unsheathed his sword while the other arm went around my waist and
he pulled me to him, inching back even as people all around were
running to a cham three tents down.

Bain barked a question at someone who was
running the other direction, got an answer and the man spoke so
fast, the only words I could make out where “Dortak” and “zak
bahsah”,
his
wife.

Oh shit.

Then another scream split the air.

Oh shit!

Bain’s body went solid at the answer and
then he tried to pull me back but I planted my feet and twisted my
neck to look up at him.

In Korwahk, I did my best to shout, “We need
to go to her!”

“Me, kah rahna Dahksahna,” he denied.

“
Bain!
We need to go to her!
” He kept pulling me back so I screeched,
“Nahna Dahksahna tahnoo tee!”
Your Queen commands it!

He stared me in the eyes for a heartbeat,
clearly read something then muttered, “Tooyay kay.”

Diandra had told me what “tooyo” meant and
it didn’t have a literal translation but the description made it
sound like it meant “fuck” which meant Bain just muttered, “fuck
me” which would have been funny any other time but obviously not
then.

Then he let me go but took my hand, kept his
sword unsheathed and we jogged to the tent. He shouted orders at
the people surrounding it, they turned, saw me, parted and then we
got to the front of the cham and I beheld a nightmare.

Dortak had his wife on her knees in front
of him, his hand fisted in her hair, he was bent to her, the blade
of a knife at her throat and blood dripping from a huge, gaping
gash at his shoulder. His face was red and twisted with rage, she
had clearly been recently beaten about the face and we weren’t
talking a little slapping around, which would be bad enough,
but
fists
, her
cheeks were awash in a river of tears and I knew he was about to
slit her throat.

So without a single thought, I whirled,
gripped the hilt of one of the knives in Bain’s belt, pulled it out
of its sheath, whirled back and advanced like a shot until I had
the knifepoint at Dortak’s jugular.

“Stop,” I commanded in Korwahk.

He glared hatred up at me and then the blade
sliced her flesh, blood immediately dripping from the shallow slash
but she screamed her terror in a way it crawled along my skin.

I pressed the point of my blade in his
neck. “
Stop!
”

“Kah rahna Dahksahna,” Bain said softly, he
was close.

“Your queen commands it!” I shouted in
Korwahk at Dortak, ignoring Bain, my eyes glued to the dark, cruel
ones of a monster.

He slid his blade in deeper and another
scream rent the air, she twisted in his arms (not the smartest
thing to do, I thought vaguely, considering his blade had opened
her skin) and tears dropped off her chin.

“
Your queen commands
it!
” I shrieked, pushing
my knifepoint in deeper and a bead of blood surrounded the
point.

He stilled and glared at me and I held his
eyes. We were in a stare down. I was breathing heavily, my chest
expanding deep and falling so hard I could feel every breath.

“Your queen commands it, Dortak, drop your
blade,” Bain said in Korwahk from behind me and Dortak’s eyes slid
to him.

“
Your queen commands it,
drop… your…
blade.
” Another voice
came from a little further away, one that was familiar but I was
concentrating on not shoving my blade in his throat and/or passing
out so I didn’t have the capacity to place it.

Dortak’s gaze came back to me and I held
it.

“
Drop your
blade!
” Bain
thundered.

Dortak’s eyes moved over my shoulder and up
again then slid across me to take in something else then his lip
curled in a sneer and he dropped his blade but shoved his wife so
she fell face first in the dirt in front of their cham.

I started to move to her but I didn’t even
get a step. Bain’s hand curled around mine and he took off,
dragging me with him. When he pulled me through the crowd of people
I caught a glimpse of several warriors including Zahnin who was the
voice I couldn’t put my finger on (mostly because he’d never said
much to me, most of what he said was monosyllabic and all of that
was grunted).

I was surprised he took my back.

I was also running through the Daxshee to
keep up with Bain’s quick, determined, urgent strides and I was
shaking like a leaf.

When we got to my cham, he shoved me inside,
snatched his blade out of my hand, sheathed it then bent, put a
finger in my face and growled in Korwahk, “Do not leave.”

His face was scary but there was also
something else there.

Concern.

Oh shit. I’d fucked up.

As he stalked out, he barked something at
Teetru who was standing just inside the flaps. Her eyes went wide
but she nodded, he prowled out, she called to the girls and they
all came dashing in. Then they all listened to Teetru talk. Then
they all nodded and stood at the flaps.

I looked at my girls lined across the
flaps.

I guess I wasn’t going anywhere.

And I had a feeling I hadn’t fucked up,
I’d
fucked
up.

* * * * *

“
What possessed
you?
” Diandra
cried.

I was right. I hadn’t fucked up.
I’d
fucked
up.

“I don’t… I… I don’t… I don’t even know
where to begin!” she yelled.

It was at least two hours later but it felt
like two years. My girls were no longer at the flaps. No, they’d
disappeared. In their place were two, large, scary looking warriors
standing inside the cham at the flaps.

I was definitely not going anywhere.

Diandra had arrived fifteen minutes ago
already in the know about what went on mainly because it was
spreading through the Daxshee like wildfire.

She was pacing.

I was sitting cross-legged on the bed
silently panicking.

“
Did I
not
tell you what happens in a warrior’s cham is nobody’s
business?” she shouted.

“They were outside the cham, Diandra,” I
said softly, she stopped mid-pace and whirled on me.

“
This is not amusing, my dear,
nothing
about this is amusing,” she
hissed even though I wasn’t trying to be amusing, just informative
but I didn’t share that when she took two quick steps to me, bent
and snapped, “You held a weapon to a warrior.”

“Yes, but –”

“
You are a
woman
and you held a
weapon
to a Korwahk Horde
warrior!
” she bit out.

“Diandra –”

“
It matters not that you are queen, you are
a
woman
and he is
a
warrior!
” she
clipped.

I lifted a hand. “Sweetheart,” I whispered,
“please.”

“
He was not trying to force himself on you.
He was not looting your cham. He was not mishandling your slaves
without your permission and refusing to stop at your request. He
was with
his
wife!
” she
shouted.

“But he was –” I tried again, dropping my
hand.

“
What he
was
or what he
wasn’t
is
not
your concern!” she
yelled.

“He was going to kill her!” I exclaimed.

“
And if he did he would face the Dax for
that, not
you
. Not you,
Circe.
The
Dax.
”

“
Two members of The Horde took my back,” I
told her quietly.

She straightened and snapped, “What?”

“Bain and Zahnin both backed me up, they
supported me,” I explained.

“
Yes, I heard that too. And you can only
hope that the Dax, who never but
never
in all the years I’ve known him as Dax been tolerant, today
feels tolerant, for he could order their heads for standing against
their brother.”

I sucked in breath, felt my throat close and
my eyes widen all at the exact same time.

She saw my look and nodded once. Then she
said softly with strained calm and more than a little fear, “Yes,
he could do that, Circe.” She paused before finishing, “And, he
could order yours.”

“Oh my God,” I whispered.

“That’s a good idea, my friend, pray to your
God. I fear you will need Him right now,” she whispered back and I
saw fear had saturated her eyes and her hands were shaking.

Yep, I’d seriously fucked up.

The tent flaps slapped opened, my eyes
snapped in that direction to see the warriors tense then step aside
and then Lahn bent and entered.

I stopped breathing.

Bain, Zahnin and Seerim followed him but I
only had eyes for Lahn.

I took him in, trying to read him but his
face was blank as he took four steps toward me, stopped and crossed
his arms on his chest. He was watching me the whole time but giving
nothing away.

When he stopped moving he kept watching
me.

I didn’t know if I should bow before him,
ask him if I could explain, plead for my life (and Bain and
Zahnin’s) or burst into the terrified tears that threatened to
singe my throat.

So I just sat there, staring up at him.

This lasted awhile.

Then he turned his head and jerked a chin at
Diandra which I didn’t know what that meant until he immediately
turned back to me and started talking.

Diandra, catching his drift, translated.

“My tigress, it seems, unsheathes more than
her claws.”

Oh fuck. I didn’t think that was a good
start.

I felt it prudent to stay silent.

Lahn spoke. “You drew a warrior’s blood, my
queen.”

I pressed my lips together and stayed
quiet.

“You were the second woman today to draw his
blood. He caught steel from his wife before you.”

The wound in his shoulder. She fought
back.

There was something tragically beautiful
about that.

I didn’t share this with Lahn. I kept my
mouth shut.

He stared at me. I withstood it and kept my
peace.

Then he said softly with Diandra
interpreting, “I see it, even from here, shining in your eyes.”

I sucked in a breath that I dearly needed
and ventured softly, “Linay tela?”
See what?

“Your spirit, my warrior queen,” he replied
just as softly using my language.

Okay, was that good?

He kept talking softy but reverted to
Korwahk with Diandra translating.

“I have passed judgment, my tigress, and it
will not be a decision you will like. But I am your king and it is
my ruling so it will be done.”

“Wh… what is your decision?” I whispered
when he didn’t go on.

“My warriors stood by their queen; they are
not to be punished. They have been assigned as your personal guard
and were doing what I commanded. They have vowed to take a blade
should they need to do so in order to save your life. The situation
you placed them in was grave, Dortak’s intention was to end his
wife’s life and your intervention meant once he’d used his blade on
her, he would have turned that steel on you. In order to keep you
safe, they acted on their vows to me. They did what they were
expected to do therefore they will not feel my censure.”

Well, that was good.

“Oh… okay.” I whispered.

“You, my Circe, should not have put them in
the position to have to choose between their queen and their
brother. It was not them but you who made a bad decision.”

Oh shit.

He stared at me again. My mouth went
dry.

Then as his gaze stayed locked on mine, I
watched as something I didn’t get flashed in his eyes before he
murmured, “Kah teenkah rahna tunakanahsa.”

Diandra whispered, “My little golden
warrior.”

Okay, I didn’t know. Was that
good?

Lahn fell silent. I swallowed.

Then he spoke with Diandra translating. “I
ask, in future, my tigress, that if you intend to
be
a warrior, you
think
like a warrior and that would
mean, before you bare your claws or unsheathe your steel, you…
actually…
think.
”

Okay, he said “in future” which would
intimate I had one.

“Lahn,” I whispered.

He spoke over me (as did Diandra). “I must
have her life, Circe.”

I blinked.

Then I asked, “What?”

“She took steel to her husband, this is
forbidden. I must have her life.”

My lungs contracted.

Then I repeated, softer this time,
“What?”

“This is my judgment,” he declared.

He couldn’t be serious.