Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (50 page)

From behind me, Zahnin replied, “Yes, my
king.”

He jerked his head my way. “It will also be
rewarded.”

“Yes, my king,” Zahnin repeated and Lahn’s
gaze cut to Bain who was standing several feet from him.

“The stains on your steel will be rewarded,”
Lahn stated.

Bain jerked up his chin.

Then horses sidled, a pathway cleared and I
sucked in breath.

Diandra and Claudine held on tight.

Thinking quickly, knowing in my heart what
would happen, I twisted and caught Zahnin’s gaze.

“Hide her eyes,” I called, he grunted
unintelligibly but his big hand lifted, covering Sabine’s eyes as
he turned her to his front, burying her face in his bandaged
chest.

He bent to her and said gently, “Cover your
ears, close your eyes. I will tell you when it is done.”

I turned back when I heard a pained cry and
then winced when I saw that Teetru had been tossed to the stone
ground.

She’d also been mishandled, gravely. She
wore no clothes, bruises had already formed around her arms, her
wrists, her hips, her knees, her throat and there was a dried,
white substance liberally splattered everywhere on her body
including her face and I knew what that was.

My knees gave out but Diandra and Claudine
closed in, holding me up until I forced my legs to stand strong
again under me.

Teetru’s body was on its side but down, only
her head lifted up and her eyes came to me then they travelled
through the blood on my body.

They were full of pain but, to my shock, it
was not just the pain she felt in her body. Mingled with it was a
different kind of pain.

Then I heard her whisper, “You should not
have been kind to me.”

My body jolted and tears filled my eyes.

“Prepare her,” Lahn barked.

Her gaze stayed locked to mine as Bain
strode forward and, using her hair causing her to cry out but she
still didn’t break her connection to me, he pulled her to her
knees.

The wet streamed down my cheeks and pain
burned my throat.

With a hiss of steel, Lahn unsheathed his
sword.

“I wish you hadn’t been kind to me.”

Those were her last words before Bain
stepped free and Lahn severed her head from her body with a vicious
swing of his sword.

I turned into Diandra’s arms and shoved my
face in her neck so I missed the flash of lightning that rent the
sky, trailing down the cliff five hundred yards behind me.

“Throw it off the cliff. Return the head to
the Maroo king with one of their warriors you captured. Unman him
before you free him. Her head and his balls, my gift to their king
before we lock steel,” Lahn ordered.

I stifled a painful sob by swallowing and
that hurt even more.

“
Bathe my fucking
bride!
” Lahn bellowed, I felt Diandra nod and then she
and Claudine gently guided me toward my girls’ cham and I heard
Zahnin’s soft, “Attend your queen,” as I went.

But I heard no more and felt no more and
this was because I slunk into my head to sort it out.

I was Korwahk, Queen of Korwahk and we were
at war.

I was Korwahk, I repeated to myself, Queen
of Korwahk and we were at war.

I had to find some way to get my shit
together.

Somehow.

* * * * *

“You must eat, my golden queen.”

I turned and looked down at Jacanda.

I was in her tent. Whatever belongings she
and the girls had were gone, whereabouts unknown (to me). Our bed
with a clean silk sheet had been moved in, our scrubbed trunks and
our cleaned furniture. The tent was smaller, the stuff crammed in
the space.

I was bathed, my hair washed and the skin
behind my ears and at my wrists had been anointed with perfumed
oil. I was wearing my robe of blue.

Incense Teetru had sourced weeks ago at my
request burned, smelling of berries.

Packa set this to burning because she knew I
liked it and probably thought it would soothe me. But I would find
the stash and get rid of it later, when they weren’t around. It
reminded me of Teetru whose actions could have killed me, or harmed
me, they did harm Zahnin, but at the same time she did what she
could to save me. A paradox I would never understand because she
was no longer breathing for me to ask.

“You sleep with Diandra’s girls tonight?” I
asked and Jacanda nodded.

“Yes, my true queen. But we will be here
before the dawn in case you need us.”

“Sleep in, my doe, today has been busy. You
and my girls need your rest. I will get on,” I assured her.

“We will be here,” she replied firmly.

“I will –”

She cut me off. “The king will expect
it.”

I stopped talking and nodded because this
was true, Lahn would expect it.

Then I lifted two hands and put them on her
cheeks, dipping my face to hers.

“I’m so sorry about Teetru,” I whispered and
I watched with surprise as her eyes went hard.

“
She is a traitor,” she hissed, pulled
away, turned her head to the side and then made a spitting sound
with her mouth though no spit came out before she turned back to
me. “I was born slave. I was lucky to have good masters, like
Beetus. Packa and Gaal were not. This makes Packa timid and Gaal
guarded. But we have talked many nights of you, our golden queen,
who laughs with us and speaks kindly, touches kindly, whose warrior
provides us with plentiful food better than we’ve ever had. You are
our true golden queen and she was of Maroo but she knew the gold of
your touch, just like us all. Slaves are normally commanded, not
asked and not included; we do not exist, even though we serve. We
exist for you. It feels
good
to
exist. She nearly took you away from us. This is unforgivable and
this will not be forgiven, not by warrior, not by warrior bride,
not by free man or woman, not by slave, not by anyone Korwahk and
most especially not by what you call us, Your Girls. She was
honored to be among us and now her headless body rots at the bottom
of a cliff, a body that will never join her spirit in the next
realm. We will not miss her, not one of us. Your Dax was too good
to her. He should have turned her over to the warriors to do what
they are forbidden to do even to the Xacto instead of taking her
head.”

Okay, mental note, do not get on Jacanda’s
bad side.

This was what I thought. What I said was a
whispered, “All right, sweetheart.”

She nodded and moved to the cham flaps but
stopped and turned back.

“I burned her bolt of fabric with your cham
as well as her other belongings and Beetus threw her bangle over
the cliff. She no longer exists.”

I nodded. I got the message. I was not to
speak of her again.

She nodded back.

“Goodnight, Jacanda,” I whispered.

“Eat something,” she tipped her head to the
table where she’d put food. “Then sleep well, my golden queen,” she
whispered back then exited the cham.

I sucked in breath. Then I lifted my hands
to my cheeks and pressed in.

Then I felt the tears and shakes come again
and I struggled to keep them in check.

I won this fight as the tent flaps slapped
back, my eyes flew there and I watched my husband bend low and
enter, accompanied by Ghost.

I stared at him as he took a step in and
stopped. Ghost didn’t stop. She ambled to me so I bent in a knees
to chest squat and she kept coming until I had her head in my
hands. When I had a hold on her, I started to scratch behind her
ears.

“The animal sprung to your aid,” Lahn
declared and I kept scratching as I tipped my head back to look at
him. “From now on, she sleeps with us.”

I nodded and studied his face.

He still looked pissed.

I bit my lip.

This made him look more pissed.

I stopped biting my lip.

His eyes dropped to Ghost and he looked even
more pissed.

What on earth?

He looked back at me and ordered tersely,
“Rise, wife, and come to me.”

I didn’t want to, mainly because he looked
pissed, but I did. I gave Ghost’s head a rub, straightened and
walked to him.

I stopped a few inches away.

“Put your hands on me,” he commanded and I
felt it prudent in the face of his continued anger to keep quiet
and do what he said so I lifted my hands and rested them on his
chest.

The minute they touched, his hands came up
and, as they did earlier, they clamped on either side of my jaw but
this time he pulled me roughly in and up so I was on my toes as he
bent toward me.

“
No one,” he ground out, his eyes an inch
from my own, “
no one
touches
my queen.”

“Okay, baby,” I whispered.

“No one threatens her with steel.” He kept
grinding out his words between his teeth.

My hands drifted up to his neck. “All
right,” I said softly.

“
No one betrays her,” he kept going.
“
No
one
and especially not
one she’s shown generosity and kindness, who has felt her golden
touch.”

I nodded as best I could with his hands on
me. “Yes, honey.”

He scowled into my face. Then he asked, “You
have no words for the collaborator?”

“I…” I started, shook my head, again as best
I could with his hands on me, then went on. “Honey, I promised you
before you left that I wouldn’t again question who you are and what
you do and I’m keeping that promise.” His burning eyes didn’t leave
mine and I continued. “It’s hard, of course, because, you know me,
I have something to say about every –”

I didn’t finish. His hands left my jaw, his
arms locked around me, one hand at the back of my head, he tilted
it to the side, slanted his the other way and his mouth crushed
down on mine.

I held onto his neck as his mouth and tongue
took their fill and then he tore his lips from mine. Then he shoved
my face in his chest, I turned it so my cheek was pressed there and
I pushed my hands under his arms and wrapped them around him.

“You came home early,” I noted (a little
breathlessly) in order to take our conversation to the mundane.

“Zahnin says you felled a Maroo,” Lahn
returned, not, obviously, in the mood for mundane.

“Tee…” I hesitated then went on cautiously,
“she knew the attack was imminent and left my dagger that Bohtan
gave me out for me. I had a moment to prepare.”

“
That
kut*
did not save your life, Circe, Zahnin, Bain, Ghost
and
you
did,” he
growled on a squeeze of his arms. “I’ll listen to no talk of her
giving you a moment to prepare.”

“Uh… okay,” I whispered.

Another mental note, don’t mention Teetru
around Lahn either.

He was silent. This lasted awhile.

Then he said quietly, “I give thanks to my
god you are warrior.”

I nodded. I gave it to mine too, on several
occasions the last few hours. I had no idea I had it in me but I
sure as hell was glad I did.

Then he went on. “And I give more thanks you
hold magic. As you were battling, your lightning filled the sky.
Warriors and everyone in the Daxshee knew the lightning storm was
not natural but something to do with their queen. This gave warning
and meant the traitor did not escape and other Maroo warriors lying
in wait for the return of their brethren were also captured.”

Whoa.

Wow.

I didn’t know that. Any of it.

“Yes, magic is good,” I agreed, the light
pressure he was exerting on my head relaxed and I tilted it back to
look at him. Then I changed the subject. “Why are you home
early?”

“Early this morning, we had a messenger from
Keenhak. Keenhak spies close to the Maroo king heard of the plot
and came to me. This decision was smart. They build alliances while
Maroo seeks to end the Golden Dynasty. Keenhak will be rewarded for
this act.” I nodded and he finished. “We rode hard to return to the
Daxshee but we were too late.”

“I’m okay,” I said quietly.

“All day, I rode blind, the only thing I
saw, visions of my golden queen covered in blood.”

Oh God. That had to suck.

“I’m okay,” I repeated.

“And I ride into the Daxshee only to see you
covered in blood.”

My arms gave him a squeeze. “Honey,
I’m
okay.
”

“I can see that and feel it, my doe, but I
do not care. Vengeance –”

I pulled an arm from around him and lifted
my hand to touch my fingers to his mouth.

“
I know, Lahn. Rivers of blood. I
know
. It freaks
me out and scares me and I don’t want you or anyone to be hurt but
I know. This is what you must do. So you will do it but now can I
ask a favor and can you be quiet for just long enough so that I can
give you a welcome home kiss to add to your, ‘thank God my golden
queen is all right’ kiss? Then you can rant all you want about
vengeance.”

He stared down at me. Then he said against
my fingers, “Remove your fingers, Circe, you can hardly kiss me
with your hand over my mouth.”

I smiled up at him as my body relaxed in his
arms and I moved my hand. Then I went up on tiptoe, he bent his
neck and I gave my husband a welcome home kiss that was, I was
guessing, pretty damned good. I guessed this because he lifted me
up in the middle of it, my legs wrapped around his hips and he
strode to the bed and I went down, him on top of me.

Ghost growled with irritation and jumped off
her perch.

Eventually, Lahn’s mouth left mine and he
buried his face in my neck as my limbs tightened around him.

There he was. So big. So strong. My husband.
There with me. In our bed.

Then it hit me and I couldn’t hold it back
so my breath hitched.