Fantasyland 02 The Golden Dynasty (62 page)

What I didn’t do was speak.

“
After…” he paused a moment before going
on, “what happened to me, it was not my manhood I missed.” He
waited and when I made no reply (though I had to say I was pretty
surprised at this news), he went on, “It was my Horde. Since I
could remember, my father spoke to me about my future as warrior
and since I could move my limbs at my command, he started training
me to
be
warrior. He
was warrior. It was in his blood, passed down to me. There was no
day more beautiful to me than when the Dax pressed his palm to the
earth and at five years of age I took my knee for the first time in
service to The Horde.”

Wow. Interesting.

He kept speaking. “Therefore, there was no
day worse for me than when I was cast out of it.”

“I’m sorry,” I whispered because, really, I
needed to be cautious with this guy but I felt I had to say
something mainly because his voice shook with emotion I could not
believe was fake.

He inclined his head again. “So, I would
hope you could imagine my joy when the new Dax sought me out and
requested my service to return to my brethren. I was not able to
fight, my strength was not the same. But I could be of service
using other skills. This new Dax was the mightiest I ever saw but
mightier because he used more than his muscle to command. He knew
the strength of any warrior was not in their steel but elsewhere.
And he allowed me to use that, a power I could wield which was
still at my command and strong as ever, to provide service to my
nation. He asked for me not only to provide service for the Hunt,
the selections and the Daxshee but to be his eyes and ears and to
act for him in matters of crucial import. And this I was, I am, I
did and I do, serving my Horde proudly but more, serving the mighty
Dax who begins The Golden Dynasty.”

I nodded when he stopped talking and he
continued.

“It is my duty to know all and see all. It
is my duty to protect Suh Tunak, my Dax and doing thus, my Korwahk.
And therefore, after she was claimed, it was my duty to watch and
then seek out my queen, a foreigner, and put her to the test.” He
paused then smiled a small smile. “She asked me my name, a name
only her husband calls me and even though our ways were strange to
her, she held firm and true to her husband.” His eyes held mine and
he whispered, “She passed the test.”

I blinked at him.

Oh my God!

Karrim didn’t give me time to freak out, he
kept speaking. “And therefore, I now have grave concerns of news
that she, our warrior queen, the golden one, has had her spirit
broken. She hides her glory from her husband. She sheathes her
claws that he enjoys challenging with his steel.”

Oh man.

I kept quiet and kept my eyes glued to him
even as Diandra shifted.

I knew what that shift meant. It meant my
girls were talking, Diandra was listening and now she was
meddling.

Shit.

“His roar of grief was heard far in Korwahn
that day you disappeared,” Karrim said softly and I felt my body go
completely still. “With the violence of the storm, its abrupt halt,
all knew you commanded it and many thought he had lost his child,
and, the sound was so tortured, perhaps even you. All were pleased
to hear you had simply taken a turn, you were well but
resting.”

I pressed my lips together to deny his
words bouncing around in my brain. Good words.
Great
words.

Dangerous words. Dangerous to my peace of
mind and my heart.

“
And that day, I was summoned,” Karrim
pressed on. “The Horde was off to war and I usually attended my
king, made certain his messages and commands were sent and received
to and from warriors who fought on different fronts. But he ordered
that I would not ride with The Horde when they rode on Maroo. He
told me under strictest confidence that there was another world,
you, his goddess, had come to him from it and in the night, he had
lost you as you had returned to it. And then he ordered me to
search this earth to find a witch who could bring you home and bind
you here. He commanded that no expense was to be spared. If I had
to scour the icy depths of Lunwyn, I would do so. If I had to cross
the entirety of the Green Sea to search faraway lands, I would do
so. I would not stop until I found the magic to bring you back home
and
keep you
here.
” He nodded once.
“And this I did.”

I was now breathing heavily.

Lahn had done this the day I disappeared.
Lahn had ordered this instantly. Lahn hadn’t decided to believe me
sometime in the last five months and Lahn hadn’t gone about his
business.

Lahn had immediately launched plans to bring
me back.

Oh
God.

“Fortunately, I was able to provide this
service to my king. I rode hard, lathered many horses, exchanged
many riches. And I not only found the witch who brought you back
but I also found a frost-haired princess of the north who graces
her Raider husband’s ship, where I discovered her, a ship she
dwells on when she is not gracing one of his wintry homes in Lunwyn
and she confided in me that she, too, comes from your world.”

Holy crap!

“Really?” I whispered, leaning forward.

He nodded and again smiled. “Really. She and
her husband are very interested in you for she has never heard of
another like her. They requested no payment for the long
conversations she had with me, telling me of your world, asking
about you. They only requested that I send a messenger to find them
when you returned. They travel widely and I have no idea when my
message will be received but when it is, she intends to visit you,
my golden queen.”

Wow. Wow.
Wow.

“
Wow,
” I breathed, his smile widened and I heard
Diandra stifle a laugh so I looked to her. Forgetting I had been a
total bitch, I smiled at her and asked, “Diandra, sweetheart, isn’t
that
cool?
”

Her mouth went soft, her eyes grew bright
and she whispered, “Indeed it is, my love, very…
cool.
”

I held her gaze and felt my eyes grow bright
too.

Then I felt another tight pain in my belly,
my brows drew together and I looked down at it but Karrim again
spoke.

“I tell you all this, my true, golden queen,
because I cannot know what happened with you and our Dax to
understand why this rift continues. But I wish you to know –”

He stopped talking when I groaned as the
pain came back, tighter, deeper and I bent forward reflexively,
taking my hand from Ghost and wrapping it around my swollen
stomach.

“Circe?” Diandra called and I stopped
clenching my teeth as the pain faded away.

I pulled in a breath and let it out through
my lips that I formed in a tight “O”.

Then I looked at my friend. “I’m okay, it’s
just a –”

I stopped talking and Karrim shot out of his
chair, Ghost shot to her four paws and Diandra shot toward me.

This was because my water broke.

Oh man.

I looked at Diandra and finished. “I’m okay;
it’s just that I’m having a baby.”

She smiled into my face.

Karrim rushed to the steps and shouted down,
“Call the Dax immediately! His child comes!”

Great.

Karrim had a big mouth.

Diandra pulled me carefully out of the
lounge chair, murmuring, “Let’s get you down those stairs while we
still can.”

This, I thought, was a good idea. So I
followed her after I got to my feet and Karrim rushed back to us.
They walked me to the stairs, one on each side holding my arms
tightly like I was an invalid, not just pregnant.

I ignored this and turned to Diandra. “We
must talk.”

“Yes, my dear,” she nodded, “but perhaps not
now.”

We made it to the top of the stairs. “I need
to explain.”

“I’m sure you do,” she let me go, took a
step down then turned and grabbed my hand, starting to lead me down
as Karrim spotted me from behind, “but later.”

“There was a reason I was –” I started, she
stopped halfway down the stairs and gripped my hand tight.

“
Circe, can you please concentrate on
getting down the stairs, successfully delivering the warrior who
will succeed the Dax and
then
we’ll chat about why you locked yourself away to lick your
wounds, grieve your lost world, consider your future… all of which
I, and all your friends, already
understand.
Does that sound good to you?”

I grinned. “Yeah, sweetheart, that sounds
good to me.”

She nodded smartly, muttered, “Dohno,” and
she and Karrim finished leading me down the stairs were all my
girls, save Twinka, were waiting, bouncing on their toes with
ill-concealed excitement.

Shit.

The God and Goddess

“Push, my golden queen,” the healer,
standing behind me in the bathing pool supporting my torso with her
arms wrapped under my armpits, hands curled around my shoulders,
urged in my ear.

My eyes stayed locked to Lahn’s as I
breathed, “Right.”

It was official. I was never having
another child. And I wasn’t because this shit hurt like
a
mother.

And I wasn’t all fired up about how the
Korwahk delivered babies. That was, me in a Korwahk-style nightgown
in the pool, the healer holding me up at my back, one of her
(three! like I needed that much fucking company!) assistants
holding me on one side, another on the other, the third outside the
pool for some reason I did not ask and, best of all (not!), my
ankles resting on Lahn’s broad shoulders. This was, by the way, a
Lahn who was in his hides, kneeling in the pool ready to catch the
kid should he ever deign to make an appearance.

Apparently I was wrong. Kah teenkah tunakan
wasn’t peeved he didn’t have enough room to move. He liked it in
there and he was staying.

My body just was done with him being
there.

The problem was, as hard as I tried, as deep
as I pushed, I couldn’t get the kid out.

And this had been going on a long time. Too
long. I was worn right the fuck out.

I pushed with all I had left, which really
wasn’t a lot, then gave up, my head falling back on the healer’s
shoulder because I couldn’t hold it up anymore, my eyes losing
contact with Lahn’s for the first time since this shit started
(except, of course, when I closed them to push).

“
Circe, my dear, please, please,
push,
” Diandra
encouraged.

She was wandering the side of the bathing
pool with Ghost prowling at her side, watching, wringing her hands
and as the minutes passed, visibly moving from excitement, to minor
freak out, to major freak out and now she was not hiding out and
out panic.

“I can’t,” I whispered, the pain ripping
through me, I couldn’t push and fight the pain at the same time. It
just wasn’t happening.

“I must cut, my Dax,” the healer said
quietly.

“Me,” Lahn growled fiercely.

“He is not coming,” the healer continued
quietly, stating the obvious.

“
Me!
” Lahn barked and her arms tightened around
me.

“
My queen, please, you must
push,
” she
whispered in my ear.

I nodded weakly, lifted my head and tried
again. I had little left, I gave it all I could, squeezing my eyes
tight and digging my heels in Lahn’s shoulders but nothing
doing.

I collapsed back into the arms supporting
me.

“
My Dax,” the healer hissed urgently, “I
must
cut
.”

“You cut, I lose my queen,” Lahn growled and
I closed my already closed eyes tighter.

“Maybe I can sew her together, like she did
the warrior,” the healer suggested.

Oh man. Primitive experimental surgery.

Fucking great.

“
You will
not cut,
” Lahn growled again and I felt his fingers wrap
tight around my ankles. “My doe,” he called, his voice soft, “give
me your eyes.”

I fought the pain, pulled in breath and with
effort lifted my head.

Then I stared at what I saw. It was a hazy
stare but I saw it.

Yes, I definitely saw it. Clear and
unhidden.

Lahn was scared.

“My tigress does not admit defeat,” he told
me, his fingers tightening around my ankles. “My golden warrior
never admits defeat.” My eyes closed slowly and his fingers gave me
a squeeze so I opened them. “Push, baby,” he whispered.

He held my eyes and just like that day in
our cham, something came over me, something I didn’t know I had, it
surged through me, taking over and I gritted my teeth, nodded my
head, closed my eyes, dug my heels in my husband’s shoulders and I
pushed.

Hard.

Then again.

And again.

And a-fucking-gain.

“He crowns,” an assistant whispered.

“Praise the True Mother,” the healer
breathed.

Then I pushed again.

And again.

“That’s it, my Circe,” Lahn encouraged, his
fingers not curled around my ankles anymore but stroking deep into
the flesh of my inner thighs, his arms wrapped around to do it.

So I pushed again and Lahn’s hands moved
from me to between my legs as I felt him come.

“Oh Circe!” Diandra cried with delight.

“The king’s blade!” the healer called
quickly.

I collapsed into my supporting arms as water
splashed around me.

Hallelujah. He was
out!