Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (54 page)

Lahn told me they did it with pride.

I was amazed and touched by this too.

So much, I burst into tears.

Lahn held me until I cried myself out.

When I was done, I explained it was
hormones. Then I explained what hormones were.

He looked at me like I was crazy.

Then, wisely, he let it go.

Zahnin was their commander. Bain, Feetak,
Bohtan, Tark and Yoonan his lieutenants.

Narinda told me Feetak, a young warrior
who’d only made his first kill nine years ago (which meant at
sixteen years of age, um… yikes!) was very pleased at this huge
jump in rank.

It meant more sarongs for her for Lahn was
paying them all out of his own coin and it was more than they made
raiding or warring (seriously, my man had to be loaded… I mean,
five hundred warriors?).

It also made her happy.

So I was happy too.

* * * * *

Yes. I was happy. Korwahn was good. Life was
good. The only thing that wasn’t good was morning sickness but that
only lasted until around ten.

Everything else was good.

And would be for one more day.

Then my husband went to war.

* * * * *

“Kah Lahnahsahna, kah lipa,” Lahn muttered,
I blinked and looked up at him.

It was time to do his hair.

He sat on the bed beside me and planted his
hand in it on my other side.

“Do you feel well enough to do it?” he
asked, his eyes on my (probably pale) face.

I did but I probably wouldn’t once I sat
up.

But there was no way I was giving up the
chance to have my fingers in his beautiful hair. Not now. Not when
the day after tomorrow brought Lahkan to our door, Lahn on Lahkan’s
back and my king riding off to war to avenge a wrong done me.

“Yeah,” I whispered, sucked in breath, got
up and walked to the small trunk that held his gold bands. “How do
you want it?”

“Bunched,” he stated, I nodded, grabbed what
I needed and returned to the bed.

He moved to sit cross-legged on the floor by
the side of the bed. I sat on the bed cross-legged behind him,
gathered his hair and memorized the feel of it as I bunched it.

When I’d put the last band in, I circled his
shoulders with my arms and rested my chin on one.

“You know I love you,” I whispered in his
ear.

“I know,” he whispered back, turned, I
pulled my arms away and he got on his knees in front of me, his
hands framing my face.

I looked in his dark eyes.

“Do you know how much?” I kept
whispering.

“How much, baby?” Lahn kept whispering
too.

I bent my forehead to his and told him the
truth. “More than my world.”

I watched his eyes smile. Then I felt his
fingers press in my scalp. Then I felt the touch of his lips.

Then he gained his feet and he was gone.

*
Translation:
“Yes, I will.”

**
Translation:
“Give my queen a tour, now. The others will be here soon
enough for you to boss around.”

***
Translation:
“Yes, my king, I live for your command.”

****
Translation:
“As you command.”

Affairs of State

I was lounging on the mats and cushions with
Sabine and Narinda watching the sun set over Korwahn. Ghost was
lying on her belly on the mats by my feet, front legs stretched out
before her, head up, blinking and sniffing the air.

From my vantage point, I could see the
weakening rays of the sun striking deep pink, gold and vermillion
through the sky, the last shimmers striking the gold on the statues
of the Avenue of the Gods.

My eyes moved from the breathtaking view to
slide across the roof where I saw my girls gathered around the
table at the opposite corner. I saw the sun twinkling off the
bangles at their wrists and their earrings.

Gaal was on her knees draping a bolt of
fabric around a standing Quixa’s hips. Vibrant swathes of different
colored cuts of fabric were strewn everywhere around the table, the
bolts of fabric I bought my girls in the marketplace that day.

I had decided some weeks ago that a queen’s
girls did not wander around in drab, threadbare sarongs and
bandeaus but they wore jewelry, makeup and brightly colored,
fashionable clothing. To their delight, they each had received four
pieces of fabric since the first one I bought so many weeks ago and
a new piece today as well as their jewelry and pots of makeup for
their own. They also had more than one candlestick by their bed and
each had mirrors in their rooms as well as small pieces of art and
brightly colored quilts on their beds to break up the monotony of
cream adobe in their quarters.

Movement caught my eye, I looked to the
winding, black, wrought iron staircase that led to the roof and I
saw Twinka was arriving.

Twinka disapproved of me outfitting my girls
and made this very clear nonverbally, as she was doing now with a
tight-lipped look in their direction.

I ignored it and so did my girls but I
watched as she made her way to me.

She stopped two feet from our mats.

“
Does my queen actually need a slave
to
do
something?
” she
enquired.

We’d already had dinner and I looked down at
the plate of carob drops, candied fruits, honeyed almonds, the jug
of wine, the jug of mango juice and Sabine, Narinda and my silver
chalices that were littering the mats, all of which my girls had
brought to us before they’d settled with their fabric.

Then I looked up at Twinka and replied,
“Me.”

Her lips got tighter and she inclined her
head.

Then she turned and walked three feet
away.

That was when I called, “Twinka?”

She sighed visibly, audibly and heavily and
turned back then she lifted her brows.

“I bought three bolts of fabric for you
today. Gaal will make you dresses,” I told her for she didn’t wear
sarongs around her hips and bandeaus or halter tops to cover her
breasts but a long, wrap of material she crossed under her neck and
tied at the back.

She had one. It was always clean but also
threadbare.

“Your kindness is extraordinary, my queen,”
she lied about her opinion with obviousness, “but my clothing is
fine.”

“I disagree,” I returned.

“The old Dahksahna gave me this fabric,” she
informed me.

“Well, the new Dahksahna is giving you
more,” I replied, she opened her mouth to retort but I got there
before her. “Fine, if you want to wear that in the house, that’s
your choice. You leave this house; you do it representing your Dax
and Dahksahna and wear your new sarongs.”

She glared at me. Then she inclined her
head. Then she turned and moved quickly off the roof.

My girls watched her and waited before they
emitted their low giggles, doing so only after she was well out of
sight.

I smiled down at the mats, picked up my
chalice of juice and took a sip.

“You’re very hard on her,” Narinda muttered,
I put my chalice down and looked at her in surprise.

“Sorry?” I asked and her eyes went from the
top of the stairs to me.

“She is old and she is stubborn, set in her
ways. She has the running of this house for months and lives alone,
clearly liking it that way,” Narinda replied. “She is a slave and
this is rightfully your home with your husband but you must
understand the way she feels.”

I made no response for this was true.

Narinda carried on. “And my father taught
me the best way to handle someone who is stubborn is to let
them
be
stubborn and
live with their decisions. If she wishes to wear shabby sarongs,
then she denies herself kindness and beauty. That is her choice,
Circe, and it is the wrong one but it won’t hurt
you
to allow her to live with
it.”

I still made no reply for this was true
too.

“You can’t force kindness, my lovely,”
Narinda said softly.

And this was true too.

“All right, sweet Narinda,” I replied, “I’ll
ask Gaal to make them and I’ll tell Twinka it’s her choice whether
or not she wishes to wear them.”

Narinda smiled at me. I smiled back thinking
it was good, having wise friends.

Then I said quietly, “Your father was very
wise.”

She nodded and took a sip from her own
chalice before her eyes drifted away and she said quietly back,
“Indeed, he was.”

She was smiling her small, weird smile so I
left her to her thoughts and looked back at the view. The pinks
were disappearing, the gold was gone and stripes of vermillion and
midnight blue slashed the sky as stars started to come out. I heard
one of my girls moving around and, as the roof illuminated, I knew
she was lighting the torches that were stuck in holders around the
edge of the roof.

I felt my leg nudged, looked down at it and
saw that Narinda had given me a light prod with her toe. I looked
at her to see she wasn’t smiling small and weird but knowing and
amused. Her eyes were on Sabine who I noticed belatedly had been
completely silent for at least the last ten minutes.

I looked to my friend who was lounging
across the top of the mats at Narinda and my heads to see she was
gazing at the vista as well, her face soft, her lips tipped up, her
eyes, though, were heated.

Someone was thinking good thoughts.

I pressed my lips together and bugged my
eyes out at Narinda.

She smiled big, tipped her head back and
called in Korwahk, “Sabine? My lovely, are you with us?”

Sabine started and her head jerked to us.
“Sorry, so sorry, I was miles away,” she replied in Korwahk.

“No you weren’t, you were in bed with your
savage brute,” I teased, watched her face flush then her eyes light
then she scooted her cushions closer to us and asked, “Can I be
forthright?”

This was familiar, and therefore was likely
to get good, so Narinda and I closed into each other and Sabine as
Narinda replied, “What you can do, my lovely, is not ask if you can
be forthright every time you want to be forthright. I think you can
take it as given you can be forthright.”

I stifled a giggle for this was true. Sabine
always asked if she could be forthright before talking about what
she got up to with Zahnin. And after breaking the seal on it the
day I was attacked, she talked about this a lot. We never demurred
so she had to know she could be forthright.

Sabine nodded then she leaned deeper into
us and whispered, “Did you… did… erm, you know… did you know you
can…
do it
on top?
”

“On top?” Narinda asked mock innocently and
I nudged her shin with my foot as I stifled a giggle.

Sabine’s eyes danced and her body gave a
slight excited jump. “Oh yes, Narinda,
on top.
See, you know when… before, well, I told you how,
after Zahnin got injured, I was hesitant to, you know… move things
forward for before, erm… when we… um… when
he
… well, it seemed with all that grunting and groaning it
took a lot of effort. I didn’t want him to aggravate his
wound.”

“Yes, sweetheart, we know, you told us,” I
muttered not able to hide the amusement in my voice.

Sabine nodded again and went on. “So, as I
told you, I didn’t… erm… move things forward. But he, um… continued
to use his hands in that way I like.”

“We know that too,” Narinda mumbled and we
did, she’d told us, sometimes in some detail and it wasn’t only his
hands but his mouth that he used in ways Sabine liked.

Sabine kept talking. “But, I was… well,
something was, I don’t know. I liked it, you know, quite a bit.
Erm…
a
lot,
really
.
But… something
was missing.”

I knew what was missing. Zahnin’s savage
brute sword was missing.

Narinda and I kept quiet.

Sabine kept talking. “I didn’t know what
but, it was good… I mean,
beautiful
but, I wanted
more.
”

“Yes?” Narinda prompted.

“But I didn’t know what,” Sabine
repeated.

I pushed closer to tell her what she wanted
but she continued before I could.

“So, I asked Zahnin.”

I blinked.

One could say that things were
progressing…
slowly…
between
Zahnin and Sabine. When he said he could be a patient teacher, he
didn’t lie. He had been very solicitous with her and this included
him doing things with his mouth and hands that she enjoyed very
much but that he had to find very frustrating since she didn’t
return the favor.

There was a poetic justice in this, I felt,
for Zahnin had twice the amount of time giving and not receiving
after he took and didn’t give. Not to mention his month of
courting.

But I was beginning to feel sorry for Zahnin
and that it might be time to intervene. At my request, the healer
had long since visited his house to remove the stitches and even
before that he was not wearing the bandages. The gash was still
pink but it was mostly healed. But he was a warrior; he could
survive a little somethin’ somethin’. But weeks had passed and he
was giving, a lot, but he wasn’t getting anything.

And Sabine was still timid about it. I was
shocked she asked him.

“You asked him?” I whispered, my voice
filled with the shock I felt and she nodded again.

“
Yes, we were, I was… erm,
close.
But I made him stop and told
him what I felt and that I was worried I would hurt him and then…
then…
then...
” her
eyes got round and Narinda and I leaned in, “then he rolled to his
back, picking me up as he did so and planting me
astride
him.
” Her eyes drifted
faraway and before I could lift my hand and snap in her face to
regain her attention since she was definitely in hot sex la-la land
her body jerked and she came back to us. “He said, that way, I
could do all the work and he wouldn’t get hurt.”