Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (49 page)

Furthermore, they didn’t have a word for
germs, because they didn’t know what germs were, so my explanation
of why I would waste good zakah cleansing Zahnin’s wound fell on
deaf ears.

Luckily, I was queen so they had no choice
but to give into my commands and they did.

Though Bain and Zahnin did it obviously
humoring me.

However, when I commanded a clearly
squeamish Gaal (Jacanda told me she was a very gifted seamstress
when I demanded she find the best one in the Daxshee) to sew
together the edges of Zahnin’s wound, the healer, standing and
observing, saw the wisdom of this.

“Very clever,” she muttered as Gaal,
swallowing with nerves and aversion but still game, started to use
the needle I’d further sterilized in a candle flame and thread that
Jacanda had boiled in a pot over the fire and I’d soaked in zakah
to sew Zahnin’s wound together.

Gaal looked like she was about to heave a
couple of times (and I was right there with her, talk about
gross
) but she
stuck with it mainly because I stayed close for moral support. Her
eyes kept lifting to me, I nodded to encourage her and eventually
she lost her distaste for it and did, from my extremely limited
experience, what looked like a very good job.

For Zahnin’s part, he didn’t even wince but
lay on my bed with pillows I’d shoved under his head, one arm bent,
hand behind his head, chatting amiably through the whole thing to
Bain who was standing at the head of the bed, arms crossed on his
chest and one ankle crossed over the other in a casual warrior pose
which didn’t fit with what had become a minor medical procedure in
a primitive examination room.

Once closed, I cleansed the wound again with
zakah when Gaal moved away, the healer gooped him up with some
salve she promised aided healing (after I made her wash her hands
with soap and rinse them in zakah) and then he sat up so she could
press a long bandage down his front then roll a clean gauze tight
around and around his torso, tying it expertly at the end.

The bodies, by the way, had been removed by
young trainee warriors and Packa and Beetus, faces pale, had
grabbed the sheet and pillows and pulled up the rugs to take them
out as Jacanda went to work wiping down furniture and trunks.

Boy, I needed to go back to the market and
buy my girls more gifts. They already went beyond the call of duty
and got nothing for it except food, cham and minimal clothing.
Wiping up blood went so beyond the call of duty, it wasn’t
funny.

Ghost, by the way, was lying on her side at
the foot of the bed, napping in a dead to the world fashion and I
knew this because, even with all the people and activity around,
she didn’t even twitch.

When I put pressure on Zahnin’s shoulder to
press him back, he went without complaint but he looked at me when
he was fully reclining.

“Can I have some zakah now?”

I studied him. He was not pale. He had never
been faint. And his eyes held no pain. None at all. In fact, he
looked totally normal.

Boy, they trained these boys to within an
inch of their life.

Literally.

I sucked in a calming breath and answered,
“Yes, my protector, you can have –”

I stopped speaking when the cham flaps
slapped and I was turning toward them when I heard a soft, feminine
intake of breath.

Sabine was standing inside my cham and
Diandra and Claudine were entering the flaps at her back. And
Sabine was staring at her husband and his bandage, her eyes wide,
her face pale, her mouth soft. I watched those eyes drift up his
chest to his face then I stared as they got bright with unshed
tears.

They slid to me. “Circe?” she whispered.

“He’s fine, sweetheart, we’ve fixed him up,”
I assured her.

She held my gaze for several moments before
she nodded. Her eyes went back to Zahnin who I noticed had not
moved and he was watching her silently. Then they swiftly came back
to me.

It hit me that she didn’t know what to
do.

I was sitting on my knees in the middle of
the bed next to her husband and I extended my arm to her.

“It’s okay, you can come to him. He’s fine
and you won’t hurt him,” I called softly, her body jerked slightly
then she bit her lip.

I held my breath.

Then slowly, foot in front of foot, she
walked to the bed. When she made it to the end, she put a knee to
it and crawled on all fours to me.

Zahnin watched without a word.

I scuttled back and she stopped when she
took my place, sitting ass to calves, knees an inch from his
hip.

My feet hit stone at the side of the bed
when I heard her whisper, “You are all right, husband?”

“Meena,” Zahnin replied instantly.

A pause then from Sabine, “Are you in
pain?”

“Me,” Zahnin answered again instantly.

I heard her soft intake of breath and let
out my own when her hand tentatively lifted, then settled lightly
on the bandage at his stomach as she whispered, “Dohno.”

At her word and touch, with his gaze warm on
his wife, his face soft, Zahnin lifted his hand and her body didn’t
move or even tense as she allowed her husband to cup her cheek.

Then she did something that proved I was
right about how sweet Sabine was.

She slowly and carefully dropped gracefully
to her side and curled up next to him, her head on his shoulder,
her hand light on his bandage. As she moved, Zahnin’s fingers slid
through her hair so when she was settled, they cupped the back of
her head.

My eyes went to his to see his were on
me.

And they were communicating.

I nodded, getting the message loud and
clear.

His fingers started sifting through his
wife’s hair.

“Everybody out,” I ordered softly and I
didn’t need to ask twice.

Jacanda quit wiping, grabbed her bucket and
scurried. The healer and Bain moved to the tent flaps that Claudine
had exited and Diandra was currently moving through. Gaal was
already gone.

I wanted to look back but didn’t, it wasn’t
right, but I really, really wanted to.

I didn’t need to.

I heard Zahnin mutter, “Thank you for coming
to me, my beautiful one.”

Before I dropped the flaps behind me, I
heard Sabine’s soft sigh.

And as the flaps settled, I heard Sabine
ask with cute, quiet surprise, “Oh my, Zahnin, is that a
tiger?
”

This was followed by a quiet manly
chuckle.

Hmm. It seemed I never shared about Ghost
with Sabine and it occurred to me I’d never hosted her at my
cham.

I walked toward Diandra and Claudine
thinking I was going to have to do that. I’d had lunch or dinner at
all my posse’s chams. I was falling down. It was
way
my turn.

These thoughts were wiped from my brain when
Diandra’s eyes came to me then drifted the length of me.

Then they filled with tears.

“Oh, my Circe,” she breathed, I stopped
moving, looked down and saw I had blood all over me.

I hadn’t even noticed.

I looked up to assure her I was fine when
suddenly the air changed and I heard the thunder of hooves.

My head turned to my left just in time to
see Lahn on Lahkan clear the cham closest to us. I had no time to
experience shock at his early return, or delight. I didn’t because
he was coming at a full gallop and he wasn’t slowing.

I registered vaguely he was followed by a
number of other horses but I didn’t pay much attention because
suddenly his body was swinging off his horse
while Lahkan kept
galloping!

“Lahn!” I cried, frozen stiff in panic when
his feet solidly hit ground and Lahkan zoomed by me so close, I
felt the breeze of motion and a whisper of touch from his tail but
I couldn’t concentrate on that either.

Lahn was on me.

Or, his hands were. Travelling over my
limbs, my shoulders, my breasts, my belly, my waist, drifting over
the dried blood, he jerked me so my back was to him and did the
same.

It finally hit me what he was doing and I
tried to turn back, saying, “Lahn, I’m okay.”

I didn’t turn around. He
jerked
me back around and my body
swayed with the force of it and only remained standing because his
hands clamped on either side of my jaw.

Then he stared into my eyes and I held my
breath because his spirit was there, right there, right at the
surface, burning golden, bright and brutal more than it had even
after Dortak called out his threats.

He was not pissed. He was not angry.

His spirit was filled with wrath.

Oh shit.

“I’m okay, honey,” I whispered, my hands
lifting to curl my fingers around his wrists and his fingers
pressed in so hard they caused pain. “Honestly, I’m –”

I didn’t finish because he released me but
threw back his head and roared with rage. No words, just a primal
shout he thundered to the heavens that came straight from his gut
and was filled with a fury unsurpassed. I took a step back in shock
and surprise at this uninhibited, savage display as he dropped his
chin and roared again, thumping his fist on his chest and turning
his massive body toward the phalanx of warriors on their horses who
had crowded thigh to thigh in the limited space.

He thumped his fist on his chest again and
roared, “We ride on Maroo!”

Oh shit!

The warriors on horses, those standing
around, others standing sentry and all of those guarding our cham
roared in response, punching fists in the air or thumping their own
chests.

“
The blood of our enemy stains the gold of
my queen!” Lahn kept bellowing, thumping his chest on the word “my”
then swinging a powerful arm around to point at me. “They closed on
her in
my
cham,”
another thump, “shattering the safety
I
provide her,” another thump, “and spilling the blood of our
brother!” He beat at his chest with both fists. “In return, we will
create
rivers
of Maroo
blood. The stone of our earth will
weep
with it and we will know
vengeance!
” Another thump and another returning roar from
his warriors, now, their numbers were growing as more were joining
or closing in.

I felt Diandra and Claudine move in on my
sides, Diandra’s hand finding mine as Lahn turned but he didn’t
look at me.

He looked beyond me and ordered, “Bathe
their blood from her golden skin. Remove our possessions and burn
this cham,
now
. Order a new
one made, I want it up and sheltering my golden bride in a week.”
He paused, leaned forward, I turned my head and saw Gaal and Beetus
staring at him, frozen, and he roared, “
Move!
”

They moved and they did it fast.

Lahn again didn’t look at me when he
turned back to his warriors and kept thundering, “My seed has been
planted in her womb and she carries my child. They attacked
my tigress
and
your golden warrior queen.
They attacked all that is the
beauty of Suh Tunak
and
my unborn.
They will know a vengeance that their
grandchildren
will understand and knowing it through the
ages to come they will
still
quake
in their beds!
”

Okay, he wasn’t calming down, like… at
all.

“Lahn,” I whispered, for some reason my
voice not able to get any louder but Diandra squeezed my hand.

“
No, Circe, not now. Not at all,” she
murmured in my ear. “Even a normal warrior’s wife is off limits and
the enemy knows it. The Daxshee is never penetrated,
ever.
In times far past, this
happened and in that past, Suh Tunak has ridden just like our Dax
now describes and the brutality of their vengeance has not been
forgotten… until now.” I looked up at her and she finished quickly.
“To invade a cham is akin to them taking you by force. It is
symbolic. It is the safety he offers you as your husband and it was
violated. He will taste vengeance and the Maroo will bleed for
it.”

Oh God.

My eyes snapped to Lahn when I heard him
ask, “She is taken?”

I saw he was glowering at a warrior who
jerked up a chin.

Then Lahn ordered, “Bring me the
traitor.”

Oh no. No.

No.

My body got tight.

He wanted Teetru.

“Still, my friend, still. Be strong. He will
know vengeance,” Diandra murmured, her arm going around me and
Claudine, at my other side, did the same.

I was glad for it for I was suddenly shaking
and not just a little.

“Send messengers, my brother,” Lahn barked
at another warrior. “They ride out tonight. Suh Tunak amasses.”

That warrior nodded, turned and stalked
through his brethren, quickly disappearing.

Lahn suddenly turned and again looked beyond
me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Zahnin outside the tent, his
arm around his wife who looked tiny next to him and was visibly
shaking at his side. He had her turned, front to his side, and held
close with his arm around her shoulder but his eyes were on his
king.

She’d seen, heard and understood and she was
pressing her lips together probably in the effort not to
whimper.

That was my girl.

Her eyes darted to me and I smiled at her. I
knew it trembled. Hers trembled too when she returned it.

Yep, that was my girl.

We weren’t Korwahk but we sure as hell were
learning to be.

Fast.

Then Lahn spoke and I turned back to him.
“Your blood will be avenged.”