Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (56 page)

Okay, cutting someone’s tongue out
was
harsh but Lahn was not wrong.
You know the rules, you play the game, you lose, you pay the
price.

Still. Yikes!

“
Your actions are barbaric,
including
you seizing women and forcing
them to be slaves to your cocks, one of these women being
mine
and she sits by your side. If
you wish to keep her at your side, I will have restitution!” King
Baldur yelled.

“Do you threaten to steal my queen?” Lahn
asked.

“
You do not pay then you must be prepared
for what happens,
all
that will
happen, when my soldiers ride,” King Baldur shot back, the armored
men at his back straightened attentively and Lahn sat
back.

What he didn’t do was speak.

This silence lasted a long time and was
clearly more than King Baldur could endure for his eyes flashed to
me.

“
Circe, come to your king this instant!” he
ordered. “You serve
me.
”

“
I’m telling you, sir, I do not
know
you,” I replied, he jumped out
of his seat and the instant he did, Ghost gained all four of hers
and started growling.

“
Do not lie, you stupid
bitch!
” he boomed. “Come to your
king!
”

“Sit,” Lahn ordered in English and King
Baldur’s gaze snapped to him with both anger and obvious surprise
at his use of Baldur’s tongue.

“
Do not, you stinking, savage
animal,
dare
to
command
me!
” King Baldur
clipped.

“You sit or I’ll force you to sit by cutting
your legs off at the knees,” Lahn told him in English again and I
tensed because I knew he could do this and would. He was not armed
but I suspected he could be, if he wanted, in less than a
second.

“The insolence!” King Baldur shouted. “You
cannot attack a king during a state visit!”

“
You are in the Southlands, fat man, I can
do what I wish. Now sit on your fat ass or your nation will lose
its king. Your son, who is weak and prefers to have his cock
stroked while he accepts his lover’s through his ass, will succeed
your throne. Which means, since he is weak,
his lover
will rule your nation.”

King Baldur snapped his mouth shut, a
telling sign that this was true. His eyes widening told the tale
that he was surprised Lahn had this information.

“It is unfortunate,” Lahn went on, “as there
are many men who prefer this, that your son is not the kind who is
strong. But you know, fat man, that he isn’t and his lover is
greedy, manipulative and foolish. If your son sits on your throne
and allows his lover to pull his strings, your own people will
revolt to reunite with their sisterland of Lunwyn or Fleuridia or
even Hawkvale as well as Prince Noctorno will ride on Middleland to
seek vengeance for your years of gluttonous follies and they will
succeed. Middleland will cease to exist as they cut up pieces as
their glory.”

King Baldur glared at him then proclaimed,
“We are done. We will ride,” and he started to lift his hand but
Lahn warned, “I would not do that.”

At Lahn’s low, rumbling, severe tone, King
Baldur’s hand arrested in mid-air and he continued to glare at
Lahn.

When he did, Lahn shared, “You know of our
plans to ride on Maroo. You know
when
we plan to ride on Maroo. I would hope you are not foolish
enough to think you and your soldiers have crossed my land without
my knowledge so you also know I would prepare to ride against you
to defend Korwahn.”

King Baldur said not a word so I guessed
Lahn was right, he came through Korwahk fully knowing Lahn knew he
was coming which was a bizarre thing to do.

Lahn went on. “What I know is, to have
your tantrum and try your hand at taking our treasure, for, do not
think, fat man, that I suspect for one moment you wish more to have
your magical one back but instead you wish to return to your throne
with trunks of our riches. Your play centers around increasing the
wealth of your throne, not your nation. Your throne. So you think
that, if I were to refuse your demands, while I am otherwise
engaged in defending my city, you will unleash a plot to kidnap my
queen. This means you would sacrifice thirty thousand of your
soldiers to my warrior’s steel for a tantrum and for greed.
Nevertheless, you undoubtedly have an escape plan so, as your
warriors fall,
you
can safely
return to your homeland and continue your tyranny at the same time
demand ransom in return for my golden bride.”

He paused, King Baldur made no sound or move
and Lahn continued.

“
What you do not know is that we have
allied with Keenhak. They have sent forty thousand of their
warriors to aid in our campaign against Maroo. And as you blustered
before me, feeling safe in the knowledge that your soldiers are
lined behind you, Keenhak warriors took formation behind
them.
You lift that hand, I lift mine
and your soldiers would be cut down before they took their first
breath of Korwahn air and I, fat man, nor my brethren, would have
to lift a blade except to cut down the metal men at your
back.”

King Baldur’s hand stayed lifted, his lips
started to curl and Lahn finished.

“And, you should know, your archers who took
their positions an hour ago were dispatched before my queen reached
Korwahn’s Majestic Rim. Not one of them lives.”

Geoffrey took a step back. King Baldur’s
face paled and his hand dropped. I tried hard not to smile. Ghost
sat down on her ass.

“
Now,” Lahn went on, “you will leave with
no trunks filled with Korwahk’s bounty in your greedy, fat hands.
What you
will
leave with
is your life
and
the
knowledge that if you
ever
carry forth a plot that threatens my golden queen, you will
die choking on your own balls and you’ll do it while staring in my
eyes.”

King Baldur visibly swallowed. Geoffrey took
another step back.

Lahn grew impatient. “I am savage so you
must recognize I am being generous with this offer. Therefore you
also must know your continued presence is making me impatient.”

Geoffrey shuffled back quickly, losing
himself in the sea of Korwahk warriors behind him.

King Baldur gave Lahn one last, long glare
then shifted his substantial bulk around and barked at the men
behind him. “Bring me my mount!”

And I sat silent beside a silent Lahn as his
mount was brought to him and we watched as it took two tries for
him to heft his substantial weight in the saddle while his armored
soldiers deftly mounted their own steeds and then, with some haste,
they were away.

When I lost sight of them, I turned to Lahn
to see his head tipped back and his eyes were on Zahnin.

“Take her to our rooms. Lock her in. She is
attended by no slave and no wife and keep the animal from her. Do
it now,” Lahn ordered, stood and stalked down the steps while I
blinked after him.

“Come, my golden queen, now,” Zahnin
demanded firmly and slowly, dazedly, my head turned to him.

His arm was extended to me.

I looked back where Lahn had disappeared and
I felt my chest rise and fall with my rapid, deep breaths.

Whatever was wrong wasn’t over. And I had
the distinct feeling, even as bad as that was, the worst was yet to
come.

So I stood without the aid of Zahnin,
straightened my shoulders, kept my head held high and I walked to
Zephyr.

The Reveal

I paced Lahn and my bedroom, my sarong
flying behind me and I did this for a long time. It could have been
an hour or it could have been five of them.

It felt like five.

I didn’t even have Ghost with me and as the
time slid by, my adrenalin surged, as did my agitation. I was so
freaking out, I was stuck in my head and I didn’t cleanse my face
or even take off my crown of feathers.

I just paced or walked to one of the four
windows and tried to see what I could see in the torchlit
streets.

I could see nothing.

So I paced more.

Lahn had locked me in our rooms.

Locked me in our rooms.

He didn’t look at me, he didn’t speak to me,
in fact, although he said he believed me and made threats to defend
me; he didn’t look or speak to me at all during his confrontation
with King Baldur.

He could do this, and had before, when he
was in king mode but with where I was now, I knew this was
something else. Something not good. In fact, so not good, it was
bad.

And that King Baldur had known me. He’d said
he’d known me since I was six.

What was
that
all about?

But I had a feeling I knew. I knew about
pirate ships and kings. It was all coming together.

I was in a parallel universe and there was
another Circe here, one who looked just like me, one who was not
here now.

And King Baldur had called her his
enchantress.

So maybe she held magic, knew she did,
could manipulate it and maybe it was
her
who had transported herself out of this world and to mine,
sending me here.

If she knew how, after being seized by
pirates and then Korwahk scouts, she would. If she knew of their
practices in Korwahk and what awaited her while she waited in that
corral, she’d do it. I knew it.

Sending me here.

Good God.

And knowing this, she’d never want to come
back. She could have no clue that Lahn would be who and how he was.
She would only think she’d escaped a nightmare.

Which meant, since my magic wasn’t at my
command but at the whims of my emotions,
I
couldn’t get back to explain things to my father, my
friends, to say good-bye and certainly there would be no visits
back and forth.

I was stuck here forever and now I wasn’t
certain that was good.

The door opened and Lahn walked in. It
closed behind him and I heard the bolt thrown home, just as it did
when the silent Zahnin had escorted me in; just as the doors to the
bathing pool had been bolted seconds later. There were no doors
that led to the balcony around the courtyard from our dressing room
and bathroom-ish type room.

I’d been imprisoned.

“Lahn –” I began as I started toward
him.

I stopped when he lifted a hand palm out and
growled, “Do not near me, my queen.”

Uh-oh.

My heart squeezed and my stomach clenched
and both hurt… a
lot.

“Lahn,” I whispered.

“I will fill you in on the parts you
missed,” Lahn stated, crossing his arms on his wide chest and
planting his feet apart. “After my punishment was delivered on this
Geoffrey for his insolence at attending a selection and talking to
my queen without my leave, he returned with haste to his king. Once
there, he reported that the Dax had installed his golden Dahksahna
at his side, heralding the rise of The Golden Dynasty.”

I nodded when he stopped so he
continued.

“
Upon reading the description of my queen,
King Baldur recognized her as his own personal sorceress. A woman
who had been born displaying great powers therefore as a child she
was seized by Baldur so she could be at his command. A child who
grew into great beauty. Therefore, he used her magic
and
her body at his
whim.”

Oh God. Poor other Circe now in my
world.

Lahn went on, cutting into my thoughts.
“Clearly, his sorceress did not enjoy his attentions or her forced
service. Some time ago, she escaped. She sought to put distance
between herself and her king but her vessel was set upon by pirates
in the Green Sea and she was later apprehended by Korwahk scouts.
Nevertheless, when Baldur heard you were here, he spared not a
second in amassing his soldiers and he moved on Korwahk.”

He was calling her “she” which meant he knew
she was not me.

“Lahn –” I started.

“Quiet,” he whispered.

“But –”

“
Quiet!
” he thundered, leaning into me, his raw energy
filling the room and I instantly had trouble breathing.

I also got quiet.

He stared at me and I held his stare. I did
it fighting back the tremors that threatened to consume my frame
but I did it.

Finally, he spoke and he did it quietly.
“You are not she.”

It took me a second to get the courage to
shake my head but I did.

He stared at me again. Then he whispered,
“I do not know
what
you
are.”

I held my breath as the pain sliced through
me because he said that like not only did he not know what I was,
he questioned whatever that was and he suspected he would abhor it
when he found out.

I didn’t hear it, my focus was in that room,
but outside a light rain started to fall.

When he spoke again, the pain came back,
tenfold.

“
What I do know is that you are far more
powerful than I suspected. You have bewitched me with your beauty.
You have manipulated me through months of deception. You have
tricked me with your skilful mouth and body to siring a child on
you,
you
, a creature
unknown. A changeling.”