Author’s Note: Anokii needed to see a bit more of the potential that Agache does when it comes to their new ally the queen.

“I do not know why I agreed to this,” the queen said, and Anokii almost smiled as she helped her into her dress, smoothing down the skirt before tightening the laces in the back. The woman’s finery was unequaled in the land, as it should be, since that befitted a queen, but it was still a nuisance to get her into and out of, more trouble that neither of them needed.

Still, she could not blame the queen for questioning this choice and what she was supposed to do. Anokii would not want to be in her place. No one would. Agache’s request would make her situation that much more dangerous. Many in the queen’s position would have refused his request, and they would be right to do so.

Anokii did not know what to think of the fact that the queen had agreed. She did admire it, to a point, but on the other hand, she didn’t. Agache trusted the queen, or at least he wanted to use her, but Anokii continued to struggle with her understanding of the other woman.

She studied the dress, reminded of the one that had been soaked in Omamhi’s blood—a fight the queen should not have won. Agache was right—the queen was more than she seemed. “You agreed because you would do it anyway. This is your role, it is what you need to do, and you are a woman who fulfills her duty.”

The queen grimaced. “I should rather not be. Are you certain that these bruises do not show? If anyone asks me about them, I do not know what I can say. I have not managed to create a story where I explain them to any sort of satisfaction. I have not heard that Omamhi’s body has been found, but if it is and they see me…”

“They will not be noticed,” Anokii told her, coming back around to face her. “You will be in the suns, and this jewel of yours should catch the light and reflect everything away from your neck. Keeping these curls here will create shadows that they will not be able to distinguish from the bruises, even if they were looking for them, and no one should be.”

The queen nodded, closing her eyes. “I wish that made it so that I felt confident in what I was about to do. Malzhi has had me at a disadvantage too many times.”

“He has, but Agache believes you are capable of this.”

“I do not know why.”

“You were able to kill Omamhi. That should not have been possible.”

The queen’s eyes opened, and the look in them rather worried Anookii again, especially when combined with that strange smile she had. “Oh? Am I so frail and helpless in your opinion? Or was Omamhi truly so fearsome?”

“Omamhi was not much of a threat. Malzhi is and always has been the greater one.” Anokii stepped back. “You… I do not know what you are.”

“I do not know what I am, either.” The queen turned to adjust her skirt. “Would you check to see if Malzhi is here? I believe he would want to escort me, as much as I don’t want to be in his company any longer than I must.”

“I will see. Is there anything else you want or need before you meet him?”

“A set of wings,” the queen said, laughing. She shook her head, her hand on her forehead. Anokii almost offered her something for the ache, but she was not certain that it was necessary. “I would rather not go anywhere with Malzhi again, and were it possible, I think I should like to see my homeland again. I despise the lack of night, the heat, and the infernal suns.”

“As do we.”

“Perhaps if our peoples had been allies before yours were conquered…

Anokii nodded. “Yes, I do think that would have been better for us all.”

Author’s Note: I ended up taking an impromptu break from writing and posting, so… I didn’t make the stand-in cover art and categories for the newer serials yet. It was not the weekend I had planned, that was for sure. At any rate, I’m trying to move forward again.

I had thought that I wouldn’t be doing Three Word Wednesday for this story since I’d already drafted this scene, but I found a way to work in the words (surprising, I thought, given what they were) in to what I’d already done. It worked rather well, I thought.

The words this week: crave, putrid, and shudder.

“The king is back.”

Anokii stilled, looking behind her and wanting that to be some kind of a joke. Since it was Agache who’d said it, it should not be possible, since he was supposed to be dead, but he was not a man who spoke with a great deal of humor, not before his “death,” and even less so after. Ever since he’d revealed himself to the queen, their interactions had shown him to be lacking in the spirit and humor that had sustained him before the king turned on him.

His voice was recognizable, impossible to deny, but at the same time, she did not think he was recognizable. Whatever the king had done to him before he escaped had changed him.

“This… Malzhi has not returned, and the queen is not healed—”

“The queen will be fine.”

Anokii frowned. “Why do you trust her so much? She is a stranger, and she killed Omamhi. She is not someone we know anything about, and yet you… You have been watching her?”

“As I recovered, there was little to do but watch. I have seen enough of the queen’s behavior to judge as I might. I think that she can and will be useful. I have suspected as much since the days when I escorted her to the castle. She is not what anyone thinks.”

Anokii sighed. “I do not care for your tone. There is something in it and your words that alarms me, cousin, and I fear for you.”

“You have since I was a child. As, I must admit, have I. He had all my siblings murdered, after all. I do not know why he allowed me to live. Perhaps he feared me less than my sisters and the offspring they might create—no, that cannot be it. I do not know. It troubles me. He has always been… elusive, for all his cruelty, and the difficulty of predicting when he would turn on me and when he would not was a constant burden. In many ways, it is a relief to be dead.”

“You are not dead.”

“In body, perhaps. The rest of me has not seemed to be present since they dragged me away.”

“Do I dare ask what he did?”

“No.”

Anokii stepped forward to touch his arm. He flinched, shuddering as he withdrew from her, and she cursed as she realized he was still hurting. “Why have you not let any healers look at you? Did he leave you so scarred that you are ashamed to let us see it? Why did you take Omamhi’s body if you are in this state?”

“I refuse to be useless. We have little time, and I am not one to be idle. I am not in so terrible a condition, not as I was when I first escaped. Some of the wounds are still a bit raw, but I can move and as long as I can move, that is enough for me.”

She shook her head. “I think you must somehow crave death. Why else would you take these risks to return to the castle? If you speak, your voice will let everyone know that you did not die as we were told. Does the king know that you survived?”

“He may suspect it. I do not know how much he believes that we can burn so much in the dual suns as to leave no trace behind, no corpse to turn putrid as theirs do, but he has let everyone think that I was dead. I do not know that it matters. He is back—or he will be quite soon. I can feel it. Malzhi should be forced to overstep his bounds. Tell the queen to bait him. He wants her, and she can use that.”

“Are you planning on having her killed?”

“No, but I will use what I have.”

Anokii closed her eyes. She did not like when he spoke this way. Sometimes there was too much darkness in him, and that had followed since he was a child, the last surviving heir of the betrayed princess. She pushed back his hood and placed her hands on his bare skin. “I know that you have always felt it your responsibility to act in our people’s interests regardless of what it might mean for you, but even you must realize that you need more. You need something that makes you feel alive—a reason to keep yourself alive.”

“Gekin is your reason.”

“Yes.”

“You are his.”

“That, too.”

Agache covered her hands with his. “You are fortunate that you have him, but that option has never been possible for me. Even if I were not dead, my position never allowed for… attachment.”

“Your reason does not have to be a person.”

He nodded, lowering her hands. “I will give it consideration. I am tired, and I have other things I must see to. Gekin will know what to do if you tell him of the king’s return, but you must relay the message to the queen, and give her instructions for when Malzhi returns.”

“Of course.”

Author’s Note: Another part of the story that I was really looking forward to, so much so that I actually wrote it ahead of time. 😛

“No. Wait. We couldn’t be having this conversation if you were. You… you’re not dead.”

Her words made him laugh, and she thought it was a strange sound, one that suited him somehow despite everything, as did that half-smile of his. “No, I am not.”

She put a hand to her head, feeling foolish, but then at the same time, what about this would make her feel in balance or control? She had not expected to see him, and even before then, she’d been shaken by the sudden appearance of someone in her bedchamber. She had thought it was Malzhi, trying to come take what she had been trying to avoid giving him, and that had her tense long before she’d almost fought with the man in the cloak and confirmed his identity.

“I did not think anyone ever survived the king’s wrath. From all I have heard, you should not have done so,” she said, trying to recover some of her dignity. She let out a breath. “Unless, of course, you are in collusion with him and—”

“I am not,” he said, his words bordering on angry, taking offense to the suggestion. She was glad to hear it. The last thing she wanted to do now was learn that he was, in fact, the king’s spy and had been all along. She could not let him leave the room alive if that were the case, and yet she doubted that she could harm him.

He gestured to the curtain blocking the window. “I will not go into detail about all that happened after my… arrest, but I can tell you some of it, the important part. You see, it has long been believed that if my people stay in the light of the double sun for long enough, we burn with no trace at all. I exploited that myth and made a rather painful escape—it did burn, but I did not die—and I took up a position that was truly mine in the first place.”

“The leader of the resistance?”

He smiled at her, and she thought she’d perhaps impressed him a little by that observation. She sat down across from him. “It was not hard to guess. The activity has increased since your death, and while one could blame that on your martyrdom, your ‘death’ made it possible for you to do what you had not dared before when you were being watched.”

“Yes. You are quite correct. Then again, I had the sense that you had been underestimated when we traveled together. I do believe that I have figured you out at last—you have already confirmed what I suspected.”

“Have you? And did I? How is that?”

“You are esibani, aren’t you? That is your people’s name for the bodyguards of the royal house, isn’t it? You were raised to defend the princesses, even taking their place at times when the risk was too great. That was one of your duties. I do believe the king is indeed your father, but you are not the queen’s daughter.”

She did not know that she could say anything to refute his claim. She could deny it, but what was the point of such a lie? “You learned much when you were in my land.”

“As much as I could, combined with what our people have learned since we starting sending those we could across the border into your land.”

“Your people are in our land? Since—I have heard nothing of this.”

“I doubt you would have. We are quite capable of avoiding notice, even looking the way we do when we are not covered in cloaks. We do not sleep at night as your people do. Do you know why we were all exiled here to this place of terrible sunlight? Because at night, the moonlight and darkness gives us incomparable strength and stamina. We could become like monsters, free to prey upon those we will. The only way to conquer us was to force daylight upon us. Here, in constant daylight, we wither away. If we were not trapped here…”

She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what would happen then. Still, his people had the right to their freedom as well. “Then you should take all your people far from here.”

“We are not the only subjects of this land. Would you suggest abandoning them to the king and men like Malzhi?”

“No.”

“I believe it is time we worked together. Your position is precarious, and having held something like it in the past, I do not envy you it,” he said, and she grimaced. He would know the sort of discomfort this role was, living one misstep from execution—he’d fallen and suffered for it. “I know why you are here. You are supposed to stop the king. That is, you are supposed to kill him.”

She winced. “I am, but I do not think I can kill him. I was always trained for defense. Being sent in as an assassin—”

“I am not asking you to kill the king. Were it that simple, one of us would have done it a long time ago. Malzhi and others like him would tear this kingdom apart in order to have the power the king had and more. The king is cruel, but he cannot rule the way he does without help. There are those loyal to him or in competition with him or just as cruel as he is. They are all in collusion, whether they know it or not. The king thinks he is all powerful. He isn’t.”

She looked at Agache, studying him. “Then what is it you want from me?”

“I want you to do what you are already doing. Malzhi has already shown himself weak to you, and you can use him.”

She shook her head. “I’m not going to seduce him or let him think he can have me.”

“That would be a foolish thing to ask you to do. The king may not have exercised his rights to you, but you are his. Do not mistake his indifference for permission. If you are unfaithful to him, he will kill you. It is that simple.”

She closed her eyes. “I am not his.”

“I am not surprised to hear you say that, but remember that you must consider how he thinks if you are to survive. You are in a dangerous position. The court is the least safe area there is.”

“You would know.”

“I do,” he said, and she opened her eyes to see him standing close to her. “You are more than I’d hoped for, Esibani.”

“Jis.”

“That is your name? The real one?”

She nodded, uncertain why she had told him that. She had not used it, not even before she became queen. “What about yours?”

He grinned, lifting up the hood and covering his face. He turned toward the balcony, and she could only watch as the cloak disappeared from view. She could not help the smile that twisted her lips as she leaned over the edge. He was gone, but for the first time since she’d come here, she had hope.

Author’s Note: So… I decided not to prolong the pick-a-serial thing as the website’s overhaul might not be done for a while due to recent upheaval in both my life and the programmer/artist’s. So… I’ll get organized by the weekend and give both serials their own categories and pages with summaries and all that fun.

In the meantime, it is time for Three Word Wednesday and a twist I mentioned before.

The words today were: endure, destruction, and trust. They worked rather seamlessly into this one. 🙂

If she could endure being queen, she could endure a bit of pain in her ankle. She forced herself from her bed, testing her ability to walk unassisted, first doing nothing more than a short circuit from her bed to the balcony and back again, then a wider circle until she had made several laps around the room without faltering. She did not imagine that the herbs Anokii had given her had undone all the damage that Omamhi had done, but she did feel much better—not only in the physical state of her ankle but also in her mood.

That might also have something to do with the fact that the second sun had set, and she preferred the times before it rose or after it set, without the oppressive heat. She had never thought about how much influence the night had upon her—in her moods and her sleep and more—but having no night here made her exile that much worse.

“I miss the night,” she said, stopping in the middle of her room. She could pull down the curtain, but she wasn’t about to sleep after so long in bed after Omamhi’s body was removed. She closed her eyes, and somehow she found herself wanting to drift into the steps of her footwork, that old comforting ritual. She shook her head. That was a foolish thing to do after that fight with Omamhi—and yet her trainers would have said it was what she should do, even what she must do.

She could ignore it. The trainers were not here, some of them had already passed on and would never know that she had failed to follow their instructions, not just now but also with Omamhi.

She let out a breath. She should not let that happen again, not a fight that sloppy. She had no desire to kill, and she needed to know that no one else bent on her destruction—and perhaps that of both lands and the king—would be able to get close to her as Omamhi had done. Her ankle was a weakness that she could not allow to hinder her.

She crossed over to curtain, pulling the cord to drop it down, and after it had fallen, she closed her eyes again, drawing in a breath. She let it out and took a step to the left first. Double back, side to side, one careful placement after another, feeling her way through the steps. The motion was soothing, though her ankle started to protest after she started in to the more complicated part. She stopped, cursing as she did.

“Do you always dance alone?”

Her head jerked up, and she whirled to face the voice, shaking her head in disbelief. She would have said it was Malzhi, back from the north to torture her again, but she did not think Malzhi would ever wear a cloak like one of those he called worms. Nor would the king. Omamhi was dead. This should not be happening. “What did Anokii give me?”

The man under the hood shook his head, pushing himself away from the wall. She watched him come closer, her throat dry. She could not be seeing him. She had to be confused again. It must have been the herbs Anokii gave her. They were making her see things—hear things.

“To my knowledge, nothing. I do find it curious that you never do these exercises with a partner. Oh, it is, in some sense more beautiful to watch that way, but I think it does not accomplish what it is supposed to do without an opponent.”

“I think I’m dreaming,” she said, though her ankle was trying to say otherwise. “This isn’t possible. You are not here. I’m going to wake up in my bed cursing my maid and myself because I got tricked again.”

“Being so suspicious all the time must be a great burden,” the cloaked man said, now standing facing her. “You didn’t seem so startled the last time we spoke, though you were injured at the time. Perhaps that accounts for this sudden fear. You trusted me then. Is now so different?”

“Now I am supposedly lucid, and yet I cannot be,” she whispered, backing away. She knew that voice, but no, it could not be the man she thought she heard. She was either dreaming or drugged or perhaps even both.

He followed her, point and counterpoint, and she realized that she’d started in on a defensive form, ready with all but the blade—only to have him match it step for step. Oh, this must be a dream, but why should she do this to herself?

She feinted right, stepped left instead, and while the move was supposed to be finished with a flourish that ended her opponent’s life, she thought the moment where her hand yanked off his hood was more than enough. She frowned. “I’m not sure what I expected. I don’t think I ever saw your face before.”

He gave her a slight smile, almost bringing some color into his otherwise pale face. “No, I don’t believe you did. You would have, if you’d been at the negotiations, but that wasn’t you, was it?”

She shook her head. “No. Still… How can this be you? You’re Agache. You’re the king’s cousin. You’re… I don’t understand. They said you were… dead.”

Author’s Note: So… I’m posting an extra one today because I’ll do Three Word Wednesday and this one doesn’t fit with the words (I wasn’t going to try and edit them in, that just wasn’t a good idea.)

It’s okay, though, I’ve been enjoying working on this story more than I should.

“How is your ankle?”

“What do you care?” The queen asked, disliking how much like a petulant child she sounded. She was not in a great deal of pain, but the difficulty posed in putting weight on her ankle had confined her to the bed ever since her bath, leaving her alone with nothing to do but think. All of her thoughts soured her mood, and she was not fit to be in anyone’s company.

Anokii stopped at the bottom of the bed. “You are the queen. You were injured. I am your servant. It is my duty to care and to see to your needs.”

The queen put her hands in her lap. Of course. She was an obligation. She was a tool to be manipulated and used by all sides or she was someone’s duty. She was alone here, and that was not about to change. Her people would not send anyone to her, and the most she could hope for here was to find an alliance that she felt would benefit her. She would not go so far as to say it would be one that she could trust. At this point, with one man already dead, she did not think that would be possible.

“I do not need anything at present. My ankle is fine unless I try to walk on it, and the marks on my face and neck do seem to be fading. Earlier, I thought they were worse. Now they seem improved. I no longer know what to think.”

“Perhaps that is due to the changes of the light. The bruises should be worse now than at first, and they will improve later,” Anokii said, sitting down and taking hold of the queen’s foot. She studied it, shaking her hood as she did. “I will get you some herbs to help with the swelling and the pain.”

“This will not effect me like Malzhi’s, will it?”

“No, my lady. I am not trying to influence you, only to help you heal. The longer you withdraw from society, the less likely it is that our ruse with Omamhi will succeed.”

The queen grimaced. She did not know why she had let them take the body. She did not know that she would have survived, even if Malzhi’s obsession with using her might have saved her from repercussion from him or the treaty could keep her alive, but why had she trusted Anokii? The woman had not even wanted to share her name.

“Are you a part of it?”

“A part of what?”

“The resistance.”

Anokii stilled. After a moment, the shoulders of the cloak slumped. “I should tell you that there is no resistance. There is no opposition to the king. No one is that organized or that brave.”

“That is a lie. You have people who are both, don’t you? What about the man who took Omamhi?”

“He is a fool, but that could make him seem quite brave, I suppose,” Anokii said. She rose and walked to the other side of the room, pouring water from the pitcher into the bowl. “There are those who think you could be an ally for the resistance, if there was one.”

The queen almost smiled. The maid was still reluctant to speak, but this was more than what she had gotten from the other woman before. Now would seem to be the time to ask all the questions she’d thought would never get an answer to, but she did not know where to begin. She had too many questions after so long a time spent in silence and ignorance.

“Tell me about your land. Do you know what it was like before the king conquered it and took your people away?”

Anokii carried the bowl over, setting it beside the queen’s foot. “I do not remember it—none of us are that old. It is said we lived longer before the days of the twin suns, but I do not know if that is true or not. Legends say that we came from the ground, but legends are legends because no one can prove their truth.”

“It is said my people could fly. I want it to be true because I want to fly, but I do not think it is.”

Anokii put the cloth to the queen’s ankle, wiping it down. “You must want that even more now.”

“I do. Then again, were I capable of flight, I think I would have flown far from here.” The queen’s eyes went toward the window. She sighed. “They can train you for the role that you must have, they can tell you what your duty is, but no one can tell you what it will be like when you are supposed to fill it. I knew girls when I was younger who thought they wanted to be queen. They thought I was lucky to be the king’s daughter. I never thought I would be the one bartered away for a treaty, and if I had known what this would be like…”

“Yet… You knew your people feared our king. You knew he would be cruel. You must have known these things or your people would not have made a treaty with his.”

“Yes, I knew what I would face at the king’s hands. It was the others I was not prepared for. Malzhi. Omamhi. Even the man who took Omamhi’s body. You are a servant, and you must know what it is like to be used. Does it come with the same fear for you?”

“I doubt it. You have to fear for your body as well as your life. I do not.”

The queen closed her eyes. “I do not understand Malzhi’s actions. Or Omamhi’s. Why would they risk the king’s wrath and war with my people? It seems so foolish, and yet that is what they have done.”

“Perhaps they want war. Perhaps they want a coup. I do not know.”

“What does the resistance want from me?”

“I do not know that, either.”

Author’s Note: So I was thinking it’s not very fair of me to link to a story already in progress because this doesn’t stand alone and would make a lot more sense if a person has read the part (or all the parts) before it.

Still, I did have Carry On Tuesday‘s prompt in the back of my head as I wrote it, so… I’ll link anyway.

Here’s to another part of pick-a-serial, another moment with the queen. Almost ironic since the prompt was from a Queen song, “the show must go on.”

Incidentally, I think I’m wrong calling this fantasy. It doesn’t have magic, so… Um…

Anokii entered the queen’s chamber, wondering at her absence when Malzhi had not come for her this morning. When the first sun rose, he had gone north, determined to end the disruption of the troops before the king returned, and the court had been quiet. The queen would have been able to go out among them again without fear of Malzhi using the herbs against her.

Then again, Anokii did not know that the queen was aware of Malzhi’s absence. Omamhi had not reacted well to Malzhi passing his authority to someone else while he was gone, of course, but otherwise, the court was calm.

“My lady, I came to tell you that Malzhi has gone north, and if you would like to—” Anokii stopped, staring at the floor. She was not alone in doing so. She did not think that the queen’s eyes left the man in front of her—or perhaps the blade jutting out from him—and she did not believe the other woman had heard anything since he’d fallen.

She knelt next to the other woman, checking what she could see for any signs of injury. The fabric of her dress had been shredded in places, stained with blood in others, but Anokii did not believe that it was hers. The former avians bled in rivers almost as blue as the sky, or so she’d heard, though she did not know if there was any truth to it. The people of this land bled red as the fires in the sky, and that red had pooled near his body and on parts of her clothing.

Anokii lifted the other woman’s hand, turning it over to see small marks where the blade had nicked her fingers, but they had already stopped bleeding, if they had bled at all. The queen stirred, looking up at her.

“Which one are you?”

“It is I, my lady. Your maid.”

“Oh.” The queen pulled her hand back. She tried to rise and stumbled, almost toppling into the vomit behind her. Anokii caught her, guiding her away from it. The dress was already ruined, but she did not want the other woman making a mess, either.

“Are you hurt?”

“In pride, in body, or in spirit?” The queen asked, blinking, and then she laughed, collapsing on the ground again. “In all, I suppose, though some worse than others.”

“My lady—”

“My ankle was twisted. I cannot keep my weight upon it. I do believe that is the worst of it, besides the bruises. He… It was sloppy. He had no skill and I…”

Anokii moved to take hold of the other woman’s ankle, pushing up her skirt as she did. Her eyes went to the queen. The other woman shook her head. “He didn’t. I’m not sure he would have tried, but everything is so… confused. I don’t understand how I… I killed him. I did. Shouldn’t have, but did.”

“He tried to kill you.”

The queen’s eyes met hers. “Is that an excuse for what I have done? Does it give me any sort of immunity?”

When the king heard of this, there would be no mercy. True, an attack on the queen should mean the man’s death, but it did not mean that the queen was allowed to end his life. Anokii could give her no such reassurance. Defending herself might mean that the queen would die anyway.

“This looks to be swollen,” Anokii said, touching the woman’s ankle and getting a curse from her. “I will get something to reduce the swelling and help with the pain. The bruises on your neck and face, they are all of the rest of it?”

“A poor trade for what he got,” the queen said, looking over at Omamhi. She crawled forward, ignoring her ankle. Yanking the blade from the man’s body, she wiped it on the tatters of her skirt. Anokii frowned, wondering if the other woman meant to keep it for some reason. Why would she want the knife that had almost killed her?

“Yes, my lady, it was, but you should be glad it was all he did.”

The queen shuddered, and Anokii felt some pity for her, this stranger who confused her and had even frightened her at times. The other woman was only seen a tool, and because she was a tool, she had been caught in the rivalry between Malzhi and Omamhi. She should not have survived it.

“Will you draw a bath for me?” The other woman seemed gripped by a sudden need to rip at her own dress, tearing more of it off. “I should like to be clean when I face Malzhi.”

Anokii put a hand over the queen’s, stopping her from doing anything more to the dress. She went around to the back, untying the laces. “He has gone north to deal with the troops.”

“No wonder Omamhi grew bold,” the queen said, her eyes going back to the body. She did not seem to notice that she had lifted the blade. “Who must I face, then?”

“We will remove the body.”

Anokii jerked, turning behind her in shock, not certain she believed what she was hearing from the man in the cloak. The queen did not, either. She started that insane laughter again, shaking her head. This could not be possible. Oh, it might be, Anokii supposed, but it should not be. Such foolishness. He must be a leader of the revolution, but to show himself here, now, of all times? He was as crazy as the queen was. Anokii moved to take the dagger from her before she did herself harm.

“Don’t,” the queen said, drawing back with the blade, her eyes dark but very lucid despite her behavior a moment before. “This is mine. What it has done—what I have done—I will accept the consequences of my actions.”

“There is no need for that as well as no salvation in it. You cannot tell them that you acted to save yourself. It will not matter. You will still die.”

The queen pointed her blade at the man. “I do not know that I do not want that at this point. I am besieged on all sides—first Malzhi now Omamhi, and let us not forget what fate awaits me when my husband returns. What point is there in prolonging this process?”

He forced her hand down, making no move to take the dagger from her. “We will take Omamhi’s body. It will not be found until there is no way for Malzhi to prove he was not a part of the man’s death. They were rivals for many seasons. If Omamhi is dead, people will believe that Malzhi was responsible, and that is what we want. Do not tell anyone he came here. He did not speak to you. He did not touch you. You never saw him this day.”

“You want to use me, too.”

“Yes. I will not deny it, but the way I intend to use you will save your life, at least for now.”

The queen sighed. “Very well. Take the body. You have my silence. I’d like a name, though.”

“A name?”

“Why should I trust someone who will not even give me a name?”

He laughed. “Ah, yes, very true. A wise question indeed. Of course, you would not realize that we were denied names long ago, another of the king’s minor oppressions, and most of us have forgotten how to use them. He would prefer us to be… invisible, hidden away under our cloaks without even a name to distinguish us from one another.”

“He is a fool. How is he to know which one of you is serving him? You could change places amongst those cloaks with ease. You’d always be eluding him and his guards and causing a great deal of trouble as you did.”

“Yes, we learned long ago to use his own choice against him, as I will now, in fact.”

“You will take Omamhi out in one of your cloaks,” the queen said, more lucid by the moment. She sat back as Anokii moved in to help the man dress Omamhi in a cloak. No one would think he was anyone important, nor would they care why he was being carried out of the castle.

“Since you asked…” The man stopped to pick up his burden, shifting Omamhi onto his back. The queen frowned, and he pointed to the maid. “Her name is Anokii, though you should not use it in anyone else’s company.”

“I was asking for your name, not hers.”

“You did not specify, and now if you will excuse me, this is rather a heavy load, and I have some distance to go before the second sun rises.”

“Bagquin,” the queen cursed, and Anokii almost laughed, for she had thought the same thing of the man just then.

“Come, my lady. We will get all of this cleaned up, starting with you. We all must continue on.”

The queen nodded. “Of course. Giwament doiseta conannike.”*

*Loosely translated: the show must go on.

Author’s Note: Yes, I am doing Sunday Scribblings for both possible serials again.

Though it’s a bit scary that a prompt of the apology gave me this.

She could not keep herself locked inside her chamber forever. She could not hide here, could not avoid Malzhi. She could not let herself act as a coward would. She was a queen. She was not an ordinary one, either. She had training and skills. She should not be afraid. She should be able to face any of her opponents—king or minister or anything of the sort. She was not going to be frightened or intimidated. She could not let that happen.

She just wished that she had someone, anyone, that she could trust. She hated being so alone. While she had always been prepared to put her life at risk, had always been ready to die if necessary, but she had not realized how hard that would be when she was left alone. She had not known how much she had depended upon the community that she’d been a part of, how much stronger she had been when she was with them.

Being alone was the worst part of being queen.

She heard her door open, and she turned back, half-prepared to beg her maid to stay, half-ready to yell and scream at her to go away and never return. She found herself frowning as she saw the minister that had entered. Tall, thin, he had not the same physical presence as Malzhi, but she knew him to be of the same sort as his rival. Cruel, both of them, as though spawned from the same pool of hatred as the king. She swallowed.

“I do not recall inviting you to enter,” she said, her instincts screaming at her to run. She did not need any sort of magic or sorcery to know the man’s intent. He was more obvious than Malzhi or the king, both of whom had made no secret of how little value her life had to either of them.

“Why would I wait for an invitation? I’m not like Malzhi. I have no interest in pretending to charm you,” Omamhi said, his lips setting in a tight line. “I have given the situation consideration, and I see only one course at this point. Malzhi intends to use you. I don’t know how. I don’t much care. The only thing that matters is that I will not allow him to have what he wants.”

“I think whether or not Malzhi gets what he wants is not for you to decide. If you would like the satisfaction of telling him I would never consent to his… suggestion, then you may have it and go,” she said, trying to appear calm, though she knew her words would not work. If Omamhi had come to her room, he would not turn back from his decision. If he had lacked courage enough to do this, he would have retreated before now.

Omamhi lunged for her, and she stepped to the side, almost avoiding him. He caught her hair and yanked her back with it, causing her to cry out when she would have wanted silence. She knew no one would come to her aid, not even her servants, and she needed quiet for what she must do.

He wrapped his fingers around her neck as the other hand held tight to her hair. “Malzhi doesn’t get to win.”

“Don’t be a fool,” she said, clawing at his hand. “I am still the king’s wife, and he will punish you for this. Is his wrath worth defeating Malzhi temporarily? Is war with my homeland worth it? You will break the treaty if you do this. Think. Stop now. Go.”

“I tire of your voice,” Omamhi said, and her vision wavered as he increased the pressure on her throat. Her hand fell from her useless attempts to pull it free, loosening the blade from her dress instead. She knew what she should do with it—lodge it inside his gut and end this fight now—but she had no interest in killing him.

She swiped the blade across his hand, causing him to cry out and let her go. She stumbled forward, knowing that she’d left plenty of her hair behind in his other hand. She forced herself to her feet, pointing the blade at him. “Get out.”

“You cut me.”

“Yes, and I will do so again.”

“No one does that. No one would dare.”

She thought Malzhi would have, were he here, and perhaps others as well, but Omamhi was lost. He would hear no reason at this point. He snarled, going for the knife, his hand twisting her wrist to make her let it go. She used his momentum against him, letting go and stepping back. He fell, and she jumped over him, rolling toward the dagger. He caught her foot, pulling her back with enough force to make her think she would not be walking for a while.

He hit her with the back of his hand, right across the face, and she could not see for a moment, dazed and unable to think. The hand closed on her throat again, and she almost laughed as she did what her trainers had always said was a sign of a weak fighter—one who had to resort to kicking a man in his most sensitive region.

She knew they would have been disappointed with every part of her performance. They had trained her better than this, and they would never have let her stop at cutting the man’s hand. He should already be dead. That was what she’d learned to do, after all, defend herself and others to the point of killing.

She heard her dress rip as she went for the blade, her fingers almost closing on it when he managed to get hold of more than her ruined skirt. He pushed her leg down, crushing it and her under him, and she was forced to contort herself in order to get the dagger, smiling in relief despite cutting her fingers on its edge. He went to take it from her, and they struggled for control, but he’d made a mistake. His position left him poised over the blade, and he no longer held her in place as he had before. She forced herself to the side, and he went forward.

The blade should have scraped him at the most, but he’d actually twisted it around enough to where he impaled himself on it when he fell. She stared at him, waiting for him to move again. She did not think it could have been that grievous a wound, not at that distance, but he did not stir.

“Omamhi?”

She leaned over him, hearing nothing, not even an intake of breath, and she shook her head. No. She knew she’d been trained, but that had been a sloppy fight that she should not have won. She looked at the man on the ground, at the blade inside him, and she turned away to vomit.

She did not know what to think, could not accept what she’d done. “I’m sorry.”

Author’s Note: Since the pick-a-serial will continue until at least Tuesday, enjoy some more fic. I’m getting closer to a revelation with this one, but I don’t know that it will beat the optimistic deadline for the website on Tuesday. We’ll see.

“How is the queen?”

Anokii frowned. “What makes you so anxious?”

“She was with Malzhi. He used those herbs on her, and I thought she would collapse in the hall. If there hadn’t been a conflict amongst the ministers—something I suspect was the doing of one of ours—he might have hurt her.”

“He is too bold. She is still the king’s wife, and any crime against her will be punished not only by him but also by her people. It could mean war. I do not understand. Why would Malzhi be so foolish? She is not that beautiful. In fact, to his standards, she should be revolting. She’s foreign, and she betrays her people’s avian ancestry.”

“I don’t think that is what matters, not to him.”

Anokii grimaced. She did not like this. The catacombs could offer no comfort when facing knowledge of this sort. She did not think that Malzhi was attracted to the queen. He either wanted her because he couldn’t have her or he wanted war.

He could be planning a coup of his own. If he did, if he succeeded, he might be worse than the king. The only thing stopping his cruelty was his awareness of the reprisal he’d face at the hands of the king, but if he had had a way to overthrow the king, he would use it. Could that be what he wanted the queen for?

“Do you think that he wants war?”

Gekin rubbed his head, moving his hand down to his neck. “I don’t know. Malzhi has never been one that anyone could predict. Agache would know better, if he were still here to say one way or another, but there is a reason why the others lead and I follow orders.”

She nodded, though she had long thought her husband was smarter than he wanted to believe, braver and more capable of leading than he would admit. He wanted to be the one following orders, did not want the burden or the responsibility, not wanting to send others to their deaths. He would risk his own life, but he would not ask others to do so.

“I cannot help worrying about this obsession Malzhi has with the queen.”

“I think someone else is worried, too.”

“Someone else?”

Gekin nodded. “He intervened, taking her away himself. I think we know why she was asleep yesterday.”

“Malzhi’s herbs,” Anokii said. She should have thought of that before, but she had not believed that the cause for the queen’s slumber, not when she was alone and still dressed. If Malzhi had gotten what he wanted, that would have been different. She should not have been in her own chamber, but then again, what exactly was Malzhi after? It did not seem possible that all he wanted was the woman. Malzhi knew better than that, had more ambition and more cruelty in him than that.

The queen was a tool, one everyone intended to use, but the question was who would be able to use her—and how they would do it.

“You think I should watch her with greater diligence.”

“If the queen is to be anyone’s ally, we want her to be ours. If she is to be used, we want to be the ones to use her. Yes, you should watch her. You should encourage her to share confidences with you. You should do as much as you can that will not put you at risk. I am not asking you to intervene between her and Malzhi—no one should, and I do not doubt that if he knew who I was, he’d have my head for interrupting him earlier—but as much as you feel is safe, do it. We cannot allow Malzhi to use her—whether it is for war or other reasons. She must be our weapon, not his.”

Anokii nodded. She could not argue with that assessment. “I will stay closer to her, then. I will not be able to stop her if she does something foolish, but I can help limit his access to her, perhaps.”

“I think that is what she needs.”

“She asked for information in the past. Should I tell her everything?”

“Tell her as much as is necessary. Answer her questions if you think it wise. Do not tell her anything that would compromise you or our work.”

Anokii placed a hand on his cheek. “You would be a better leader than you think, my ninaimant. Why do you think I am always asking your opinion and advice? Surely not because I am incapable of thinking for myself.”

“I would never think that of you,” he told her, pressing his lips to her forehead. “I must go. I want to know if they’ll tell me who else is watching the queen and why. I doubt I will get answers, but if we do not work together, we will aid our enemies instead of each other.”

“Be careful. Sometimes it is not good to ask these things. You might gather too much suspicion among our people, and that is not something that you want.”

“I am always careful, ninamant. I have you to come back to.”

Author’s Note: So I find this story easier to work on at the moment. It’s been a bit of a rough week. I’m not going to be unfair to my other possible serial, but it may take me a while tonight to get the next part for it written and posted.

In the meantime, here’s more with the queen. 🙂

“We must do something to keep you from suffering in this heat. You seem to be ill far too often for my liking,” Malzhi said, his hand gripping her arm as they walked through the halls. She knew her skin would carry the impression of his fingers after he left her, and she did not know that she could survive him much longer. He had decided that it was his duty to escort her to the court every day, and when she’d tried to refuse, he’d latched on to her arm with a grip that she could only free herself of if she betrayed all of her training to him. If she did that, though, all she hoped to achieve while she was trapped here in the castle would be lost.

“I do not think it was the heat that bothered me yesterday.” She was still trying to recover—and understand—what had had happened to her after the ceremony. She did not know who had been in her room, did not know if they had known about the esibani or if that was her confused mind, and had the water been drugged? Was that what happened, or was it something else?

“Are you suggesting that it was the nitage? We can have it banned, you know. That would outrage the worms, but no one cares what the worms think. Right, my bird?”

She glared at him. She hated him so much, perhaps more than she did the king, and he was the man they all feared. “I am not your bird. Perhaps that is all a legend anyway, some stupid tale of origin that is only a fantasy. We want to be greater than we are, and the truth is that we are nothing.”

Malzhi’s eyes swept over her, and laughter rang against the wall as they did. “We are far from nothing, my queen, and I should very much like to prove that to you. How would you like to see a demonstration of my power? While the king is away, I have the authority to do as I see fit.”

She was, she thought, the one exception to that, and she did not think he would always limit himself in that regard. He grew bolder in his treatment of her by the day—perhaps by the night if he was behind what had happened to her after the nitage, but if he knew about the esibani, why wasn’t she dead? She should be, if he knew, but perhaps he wanted to torture her, leave her wondering if he did know and waiting for the moment when he used it against her.

“Tell me what you would like to see,” he said, tracing a finger along her collarbone. She surprised herself by not shuddering. “I can do whatever you want.”

She snorted. “You would have me give you orders? How much are you longing to indulge your vanity? It is not my will you’d be doing, and you would hardly want it to be. You’re not the sort of man who allows himself to be used.”

“For the right purpose, I assure you that I am.”

She shook her head. She did not know why he kept talking this way. She did not know why he would not leave her alone. She was not that desirable, even if she was a queen. “You and I disagree on what is right and what is not.”

He smiled at her, and her stomach rolled, making her feel that her last meal would return to her. He moved his finger up to her forehead, trailing it down along her nose as he had done the day before, and she felt weak. Had Malzhi done something to her when he did this yesterday, then? Why did she feel like she was about to fall asleep when she had only recently risen?

“Lord Malzhi—”

“What are you doing here, worm? How dare you interrupt me?”

The figure in the cloak lowered his head. “There is a disturbance in the great hall, my lord. I was told to tell you.”

She heard Malzhi curse, and he stalked away from her, snarling as he did. She leaned against the wall, feeling sick, so exhausted that she might collapse on the spot. Was this the man in the cloak the same one who had been in her room? She didn’t know. She needed to hear his voice again.

She wasn’t sure she was capable of listening at the moment, though. She felt a hand on her arm, and she looked for Malzhi, but it was not Malzhi. “Come, my lady. You do not look well.”

“What did he do to me?”

“Malzhi has the advice of an herbalist. Once it is combined in the right way, he can apply the mixture to your skin and influence you. How much influence it has is determined by the individual. For some it is like having had too much of the zhavin—wine—though for you perhaps worse because you are not of his people.”

She groaned, hearing his voice from behind her, and now she was more disoriented than before. She’d have to be even more careful not to let Malzhi touch her. She had not wanted that in the first place, but she could not allow it to happen again, not if he was using her own skin against her. “I think I need to lie down again.”

“Do so, and you will sleep the day away.” The cloaked man’s hand fell from her arm, and she frowned as she saw two of them. Wait. What wast this? She rested against the wall, trying to get her body back under control. She had not felt like this yesterday, and she did not remember seeing double, either. “Go. I will see to her.”

“But—”

“Do not argue, Gekin. You know you do not belong here,” the second cloak said, and she was almost relieved to know that there were, in fact, two of them. “You have your orders. Go. Now.”

The one cloak nodded, withdrawing, and she focused on the one that remained, trying to calm herself and fight against whatever herbs she’d been exposed to. “There are herbs to counter his, aren’t there? This is not going to… to be permanent or fatal, is it?”

“No.”

“It seems worse than yesterday.”

“I would say he was disappointed by your ability to elude him yesterday, and so he changed the mixture,” the cloak said, moving an arm around her waist. “You will feel weak, but it should pass. Where did he touch you?”

“Mostly on my face. Why?”

“We should apply something to dilute what he did, get you some water and keep you walking. It is not pleasant, but it is the best way.”

“Why is sleeping is not the best? It seems simpler, and I do not feel like walking.”

“If you were to sleep, someone should have to guard you, unless you wanted Malzhi to come in while you were in that state.”

“Did someone guard me yesterday? Did you?”

He did not answer. She did not know what to think of that. If Malzhi had come to her room—no, she should not let herself think that she would not have awoken. She had training. She had instincts. She would have protected herself. She would not let Malzhi have this kind of advantage ever again. “Tell me what I should do to stop him. Is there something I can take before I am in his company? I do not know that I can always avoid him or his touch. He is… determined.”

“Why would you ask me?”

“I know that I cannot trust Malzhi. That gives me little alternative. You would seem to be it.” She pulled herself away from him. She put a hand on the wall, trying to be sure she could walk without assistance. “However, as you have reminded me that I can trust no one, I shall return to my chamber. Excuse me.”

Author’s Note: Just a bit more of the fantasy one, since I have a certain point in this story that I’d like to reach, even if I’m not sure if it’s a serial that’s staying on the site or not yet.

The overhaul and release will be later than anticipated, but if people are enjoying these stories, that means they’ll get more of them before that whole thing happens.

“The queen is an ally.”

Anokii frowned, not sure she had heard her husband right. She could not have. This decision was made too soon. They had not seen enough of what the queen was doing, and Anokii knew that she had not recommended such a course. She was the one closest to the other woman, and if she had her doubts, then everyone else should hold them as well. “When was this determined? You—they—know she was with Malzhi during the nitage. She has not proved trustworthy. Why would you decide that?”

This time it was Gekin who frowned. “Why would you say that it was my decision? That is not my place, and you know it. I have told them what you observed, no more and no less. There has been a shift of late, one that makes me think that the leaders are either desperate or… reckless. I do not know that I have ever seen them taking so many risks or doing so much at once. We harass the fortifications in the south, we slip refugees east, and we have others that are occupied in the north, disrupting the king’s troops as they train. We spy in the castle. We do too much, I fear.”

She did not know that anything could be considered too much, not in the face of what they were up against. If the king managed to conquer the queen’s homeland, then all was lost. They could not afford to let that happen. “Perhaps. I worry for you.”

Gekin smiled, his hand caressing her cheek. “No more than I worry for you.”

“Do you think we can trust the queen?”

“You know her better than I.”

Anokii did, and she knew how conflicted she was about the other woman. She knew that the queen was not what she seemed. She had secrets, and she had moments where Anokii swore she feared that woman more than the king or any of his ministers, even Malzhi. That side of the queen was dangerous. That was not something they could control or predict. That meant that they could not trust her. “She asked me if I knew what an esibani was.”

“That mean something in her language? It seems familiar to me, but I don’t know why. I might have heard it near her borders, but what it means to her, that is not known to me. I can ask one of the others with a better memory. They would know what I have forgotten.”

Gekin’s memory could not fail. He needed it for the hidden paths and the secrets he must always conceal. “Do not say you are becoming forgetful.”

“It is possible. If I could remember why I know that word…”

“She seemed bothered by it, but I don’t know why. She slept during the day today, which should not have been possible, but perhaps she was ill after that time in the heat. Most of us were. I do not understand why Malzhi bothered letting us proceed with the nitage.”

“He wanted to see us suffer through it.”

“I hate him.”

“The king would have denied us it. He would have known the one that most were thinking of during our remembrance was Agache, and he would not want us to do that. He does not want his cousin a martyr for our cause, though that is what he made him.”

“Malzhi is a fool.”

“A fool distracted by the queen.”

“Is that why they call her an ally? She will be killed if the king thinks that Malzhi was able to seduce her. If she is compromised in any way, it will mean her death and war with her people.”

“I do not know what made them choose that. I only know that it has been decided.” Gekin wrapped his arms around Anokii, his head leaning against hers, breath on her neck. “I think these are the most uncertain times we have ever faced. They have always been hard, but now that Agache is dead, there is this… rush to everything. As if it comes to an end.”

“Some ends can be good. If it is the end of the king’s tyranny, that is for the best.”

“He will not die easily.”

She nodded. His line stretched back to those said to have defeated dragons, to have taken their lifeblood to extend their own existence, to use their flames to curse the sky into a second sun. She had never believed those legends, but she did know there was a cruelty to his bloodline that needed to end. He was the last, let that hatred die with him. “Still, even he is mortal.”

“Yes. His end will come.”

“Did they have orders or a task for the queen? Am I to tell her anything?”

Gekin shook his head. “No. They did not give me anything to relay to her. I think, while they want to use her, they do not know how. They are waiting. Some things they rush, but she cannot be one of them. We are not ready for open war.”

“No one is ever ready for war.”