Rapture's Etesian (13 page)

“Well, such lascivious thoughts I sensed from that child would unsettle any grown man lest he be one who likes to diddle children,” Krull said.

“Have you met the Amazeen queens?” Kratos inquired.

“No, and I don’t care to,” Krull said, draining his goblet.

“For the life of me,” Leksi said, “I do not understand why they need two queens.”

“One is for defense and the other for domestic issues,” Krull commented. “It seems strange to us but seems to work for them. Queen Deianeira is the defense queen. Her twin sister, Antianeira, is the domestic queen. I have heard they are beauties with hair of flame but with only one breast.”

“Legend has it that at puberty the Amazeens have their right breasts removed,” Kratos explained. “Unless she is left-handed and then it’s her left breast.”

“Why?” Leksi asked, his forehead crinkled.

“The better to pull a bowstring,” Krull answered for Kratos.

“Oh,” Leksi said.

“So your lady thinks she can bring both the Daughters of the Night and the Amazeen to be our allies,” Krull stated. “Do you think she can pull it off, Helios?”

“She told me both the Daughters and the Amazeen have reason to hate the Pleiadesians.”

“You know why, don’t you?” Krull queried.

Both Leksi and Kratos shook their heads.

Krull leaned back in his chair and put his booted feet on the top of his desk then crossed his ankles. Lacing his fingers together, he put them behind his head. “I found out about it from Queen Mona, herself,” he said. “She was in Akkadia asking for help from those sons-of-bitches but King Asshole refused.”

Leksi and Kratos exchanged an amused glance. They knew with what contempt their commander held King Ashbrolen of Akkadia.

“Back around the time King Jordyle took the throne of Ventura there was a squadron of Hell Hags escorting a group of novitiates to the Abbey of Marpesia in Bandar. In route, they were attacked by a party of Nebullian storm troopers.”

“They were a long way from the border,” Leksi said.

“Obviously they were looking for trouble and found it with the Witches of Bandar. The Hell Hags acquitted themselves well enough—slaying all but three of the fifteen storm troopers—but all save one of the novitiates was killed during the melee. The one who remained was Queen Mona’s niece and the surviving storm troopers made off with her.”

“That had to have infuriated the Witches,” Leksi said.

“For the most part, the Daughters of the Night were not warrior women back then. They were mystics, healers, the teachers of children. So, Queen Mona asked the Amazeens for help. Their defense queen sent a force of women to try to catch the storm troopers before they crossed back into Pleiades, but there was an ambush and not one of the Amazeen survived the attack. The bastards raped the women as they lay dying then took their remaining breasts as trophies.

“Left with having to bed King Abalam for her niece’s return, Queen Mona sent word to him. As you can imagine, he laughed at the note and sent word back that he had every intention of keeping the girl there for his own amusement. She was but twelve at the time.”

“Bastard,” Kratos snarled.

“So Queen Mona went to the Akkadians. I was there as a representative of our new King and listened to her petition before the Akkadian High Council. When they turned her down, I followed her outside and offered my assistance.”

Leksi and Kratos sat straighter in their chairs. “Did King Jordyle know you had done this?” Leksi asked.

Krull shook his head, a half-smile on his darkly tanned face. “Nay, and if he had it wouldn’t have stayed my offer. At the time, my youngest daughter had just turned twelve.”

“Did you go to Nebul?”

“I was almost to the border when a lone rider came galloping toward me. She was an emissary from Queen Mona. She gave me a handwritten note from the Queen. In the note, she bid me return to Tasjorn for her niece had been returned to Bandar.”

“Dead?” Leksi asked quietly.

“Aye and mutilated beyond belief except for her face. Abalam had left that intact so the child could be recognized.”

Kratos narrowed his eyes. “You went on to Nebul anyway, didn’t you?”

“I knew I’d never get near enough to Abalam to take him, but our spies in Nebul found out who the men were who had taken the child,” Krull replied. His smile widened. “I sent their heads—intact, so they would be recognized—to Queen Mona.”

Leksi whistled. “So she owes you now.”

Krull shook his head. “She doesn’t owe me anything, Helios. What I did, I did for the child. She needed to be avenged.”

“Nevertheless, she should help us get that psychotic demon. If ever a man deserves to die an agonizing death, it is Abalam Robeus!” Leksi growled.

“Bring him to the dungeons here at the keep and I’ll make that death last a long, long time,” Kratos stated.

The Lord High Commander looked at his lieutenant. “I’ll hold you to that, Kratos Hesar.”

“Consider it done, Your Grace!”

* * * * *

Queen Mona of Bandar listened quietly as the Council of Elders heard the petition from Galatea Atredides. She sat primly—as befitted her station—and when angry voices were raised in protest to helping the Venturians, stood slowly, drawing the eyes of each woman there.

“As you know,” she said, “I have reason to be grateful for the assistance of Lord Konan Krull, Lord High Commander of the Venturian Forces. I did not ask for his help when my niece Jeinna was taken. He offered and I accepted. When her…” Queen Mona stopped, momentarily overcome with grief, “…when her body was returned to us, I sent word to Lord Krull to relieve him of his vow to find and kill the men who took Jeinna.” She looked around her, meeting every Councilwoman’s eye. “Nevertheless, he continued on to Nebul—at the risk of his own life—found the men and avenged my family.”

“Such is the way of a man with six daughters of his own,” Galatea Atredides commented.

“True, and Konan Krull is an honorable man who strives to do the right thing,” Queen Mona agreed.

“And because of his boon to you, we are to risk our warrioresses?” Flavia Pantasriste, the Abbess of Education, smirked.

“What he did for Mona, he did for us,” Queen Deianeira, the defense queen of the Amazeen said. “It could just have well been one of ours those Nebullian pigs murdered. We all have kin at the Abbey.”

“Does Lady Isabell know you slept with her husband, Queen Mona?” Flavia asked.

“For shame, Flavia!” Queen Antianeira, the Amazeen domestic queen said, her eyes wide. “We do not bring personalities to the Council of Elders!”

There was low rumbling among those gathered, but none turned their eyes to Queen Mona. Flavia shrugged, crossed her legs and arms, and looked away. Her manner was of one being bored at the proceedings.

Queen Mona could feel the stare of her young daughter scalding her but refused to look down at Lilit. It was bad enough that the child knew of that ill-favored affair of so long ago. To have her be a witness to her mother’s shame before the assemblage of the Council brought fresh pain to the Queen’s heart.

“If my vote counts here,” Queen Mona said, her head high, “I vote we help the Venturians.” With that, she sat down again, her hands folded gracefully in her lap.

“Your vote most assuredly does count here,” Queen Antianeira stated. “We must, however, have a majority. Do we call for the vote now or shall we discuss this matter further?”

“I say let us vote and be done with it,” Flavia snapped. “I vote no.”

“I vote no, as well,” Okypous, one of the other Councilwomen—the Abbess of Healing and Flavia’s only friend—piped up.

“Well, I vote to help Lord Krull,” Queen Deianeira responded.

“Since I brought this matter before the Council, I vote to help,” Galatea said.

Kynthia was there—not as a member of the Council—but as an observer. She knew it would be necessary to have at least seven of the thirteen Councilwomen vote in agreement in order for the motion to carry to help Ventura. Five of the Councilwomen were Amazeens, five were Daughters of the Night and two—Galatea and Celadina, from the Daughters of the Multitude. The remaining member—and the one whose vote would break a tie—was the Mother Superior of the Abbey at Marpesia.

“Lord Krull has been a stalwart ally over the years. He has never made war on us as the Akkadian once did,” Lysippe Iphito remarked. “I vote to help the Venturians.”

“It is to our advantage to be rid of Abalam Robeus and have his daughter take the throne. Though she is not of our assemblage, she is a Daughter, I am told,” Queen Antianeira said.

“She is a Daughter of the Multitude, aye,” Galatea offered. “Her practice of the arts must be kept secret for her sire is a mad dog, as we all know, and would surely put her to the stake if he felt like it.”

“I vote yes,” Queen Antianeira said.

“Six votes to two,” Celadina, Kynthia’s sister announced, “for my vote is to help.”

“I vote no,” Eurybe, Abbess of Agriculture put in. “I’ve no love for the Venturians any more than the Akkadians and Pleiadesians. What help have any of them ever given us when there was famine or drought?”

“Lord Krull sent water wagons to Bandar when there was a drought four years ago,” Queen Mona said softly. “And as I remember, he also sent flour and grains to you a year before that.”

“Because you lay with him,” Flavia spat.

“That is enough!” Queen Antianeira shouted. “I will have no more of your wicked tongue. If you can not be civil in this assembly, take yourself from it!”

“I vote no, as well,” another Councilwoman spoke up. “I have no beef with Krull but I do not like sending our women to a war that is not of our making.”

“Six to four, then,” Flavia’s friend Okypous said smugly. She turned to the woman beside her. “What say you, Harmothoe?”

“I vote no,” the Abbess of Womanly Arts replied.

“Six to five,” Okypous said. “That leaves Antiopeia and the Mother Superior.”

“I vote no,” Antiopeia, the Abbess of Sporting said.

“We have a tie,” Queen Antianeira said with a sigh. “Mother Superior, how do you vote?”

Mother Tecmessa swept her gaze around the room. She studied Galatea, Kynthia then finally Queen Mona. Known for her impartiality and her wisdom, she had been the Mother Superior at the Abbey for over thirty years. Each of the women seated on the Council of Elders had studied their letters under Tecmessa and she knew them all well.

The Councilwomen and those who had been allowed to sit in on the discussion and vote locked their gazes on Mother Tecmessa, and waited breathlessly for her to cast the deciding vote.

“Krull,” Mother Tecmessa finally said, “has proven himself a friend to both the Amazeen and the Daughters of the Night. What—if anything—he has done for the Multitude remains to be seen, but should not enter into the decision here. As we have been reminded, it is to our advantage to be rid of Abalam Robeus. He is an evil man who preys on young children and for that alone, he should be cast into the lowest depths of the Abyss.”

The women nodded and voiced their agreement to that statement.

“To turn aside when we are asked to help a man who has gone out of his way to help us, who, in fact, risked his life to avenge the brutal death of one of our own, would make us no better than the thieving Pleiades or the arrogant Akkadians. Therefore, my vote is yes.”

Applause broke out among those who voted and those who could not but were behind the plan.

“But…” Mother Tecmessa said, holding up her hand for silence. “If the Lord High Commander of the Venturian Forces and his Captain of the Guard wish our help, they must come and ask for it. They must come alone—without escort—to prove they trust us if we are to trust them. Only then will we agree to ride beside them—not behind them—into battle.”

Galatea turned and looked at Kynthia. “Will they do it?”

Kynthia shrugged. “I don’t know. I would think so, but I will have to ask Leksi.” On impulse, she stood up. “If,” she said, drawing all eyes to her. “If they agree to come, will their safety be guaranteed?” She turned her stare to Flavia.

“Why? Are the little boy soldiers afraid of us?” Flavia asked with a chuckle. “They should be. I’ve the right eye and thumb of many a man pickled in brine and lined up neatly on a shelf over my desk.”

A few of those gathered laughed at the boast, but Queen Antianeira had had enough and stood up, her arm straight out in front of her, finger pointing. “Leave this room, Flavia Pantasriste. We have endured enough of your venom and spite for one evening!”

Flavia shot to her feet, swept her gown aside and flounced from the room, Okypous like a little puppy following a few steps behind.

“You’d better watch that one, Kynni,” Celadina whispered. “I don’t trust her or that smarmy little toad who hopped away behind her.”

“Will the warriors’ safety be guaranteed?” Kynthia asked again.

“No woman’s hand will be lifted against them,” Queen Antianeira vowed. “This I swear for all the Amazeen.”

* * * * *

Flavia cursed viciously as she swept into her quarters. So angry was she, she forgot Okypous was behind her and slammed the door in the other woman’s surprised face. A timid knock on the door brought instantaneous fury to the face of the Abbess of Education and when she threw the door open, was only mildly appeased to find her only friend and supporter standing there.