by Suz deMello
“I noted it also. What is it?”
“That pyramide is a fortress, heavily armed and guarded. I believe it contains their weapons. The smithies…I don’t know. No manufacturing goes on in New Medina, where the nobles live.”
We continued to make our way deeper into the souq, passing leatherworkers’ stalls and robe merchants plying their wares, pale, ghostly swaths of fabric billowing in the breeze. “Perhaps the heavy manufacturing does not take place nearby. But the weapons stores…” I mused.
The hand on my arm tightened.
“The army and weaponry must be in or near this city,” Storne said. “That pyramide is the most likely place. Let’s go.”
“How will we make it past the gates?” I asked.
“Now is our best chance, when the guards are distracted by the eclipse.”
And distracted they were, sharing wineskins in a group while watching naked girls dancing in the street to the reedy tune of oud and drum. We slunk behind them out of the gate, unnoticed.
* * * * *
The violet-tipped pyramide was unexpectedly far away, appearing to be close due to its sheer size, and was surrounded by a cluster of smaller huts. We slipped between them unremarked. Although the smaller and faster of our three moons had continued in its orbit, two still obscured the sun. The sky had lightened, but the work I imagined that was usual seemed to have been suspended in favor of a general holiday, for the area was deserted.
We eyed the fortress from a safe distance in the lee of a nearby unoccupied hut. “Four entrances,” Storne said. “One on each side.”
“This is surely their stronghold,” I said. “Look at the sentries.” Despite the eclipse slackening Lightside security, the guard was tight at this pyramide, emphasizing its importance.
“I can slip through one of those slits.” Maia pointed at dark gaps between the stone blocks that occasionally interrupted the smooth monotony of the pyramide’s sides.
“They’re for ventilation, I trow.” I gazed at them with narrowed eyes. The slits seemed to be perhaps a few handspans wide and the height of a man. “But how would we get in?”
“You don’t need to.”
“I don’t want to be separated,” I said. “The last time we were apart, Storne and I nearly died. Separating is a bad idea.”
“I could get in and cause a diversion. The guards would leave a gate unprotected, and you could sneak in.”
“But we don’t want them to think that anything is amiss inside… How about creating a disturbance in one of the huts?”
“How?”
“A fight between the soldiers about a gambling debt or a woman?” I wondered aloud.
“An explosion or a fire would be easier and less dangerous,” Storne said.
“Um, yes. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.” I tapped on the side of the hut. “But the walls are mud bricks and the roof metal. What is there to burn?”
“Something inside.”
I peeked into the deserted hut, spying pallets and cots. All were of Lightsider stone, but uniforms were folded upon each, the robes that were common attire. “I’ll leave you to it,” I told Maia.
“One moment.” Storne slipped into the hut and grabbed one of the robes. He shed his filthy garb to assume the clothing and weapons of a Child of Light, including a belted scabbard sheathing a wickedly curved blade. He handed me his hammer.
Maia dropped to her feet and transformed into a shadowy, snakelike form, leaving me to take her clothing as Storne and I retreated to the far side of the next hut. Soon, startled shouts from the hut’s interior as well as a curl of smoke told me that she had done her work. When she slithered forth, I slapped my foot on the ground to draw her attention. As she approached, I leaned over and let her coil around my left arm. The guards from the nearest portal of the pyramide deserted their post to help put out the fire, and we slipped inside unimpeded.
The pyramide was quiet, its vast interior mercifully free of any busy folk who could get in our way. I again blessed our moons for their fortunate conjunction across the sun this day, for without the eclipse, I felt certain we would have been swiftly discovered.
Zigzagging staircases dominated each of its four interior walls, constructed of the same large stone blocks that built the pyramides. In the center, another oblong rock rested, behind which a young guard lazed against a stone chair. He sported grubby robes, pimples and a bored expression.
“Anything to report?” Storne asked him.
He leaped to his feet and performed the semblance of a salute. “All quiet, sir.”
Storne affected a casual mien. “Abovestairs?”
“The communications spire continues to broadcast on all frequencies, calling to the Progenitors to return. Weapons stores are secure and ready.”
“Go enjoy yourself with the others.” Storne flipped a Lightsider coin in the youngling’s direction.
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir!” He trotted out without a backward look.
Maia slithered to the yellow stone floor, stretched and reassumed her normal guise. “That was a stroke of luck.”
“Bless the three moons, it was.” I strode toward the broad stone staircase, the others following.
Maia quickly overtook me, transforming as she ran into a four-footed reptilian creature, sinuous and swift. Dark leathery wings remained tucked by her side, and her long claws scraped the sandstone stairs as she climbed. An elongated snout belched sulfurous flames as she rushed up the stairs.
Her fiery breath made short work of the Lightsider armory, unguarded as it was. I caught only the briefest look at a square room, with shelves arrayed with scimitars, whips, knives, and the Lightsider boxes, neatly stacked. Before I could snatch even one of the boxlike weapons, she had incinerated them all.
Damn. I had wanted one to study, possibly to imitate. But Maia in her impetuous fury seemed determined to destroy the entire contents of the fortress. The place would have been an inferno but for the pyramide’s stone walls and floor.
With an inarticulate roar, she ran on those sharp, fearsome talons up the next flight of stairs to the upper level, following the fire streaming from her jaws.
We dashed after her to gain a brief glance at an angular room filled with the same unnatural, purplish light we’d seen tipping the pyramide. It seemed to be generated from a machine in the center of the floor beneath the spire, which was open to the sky. The machine steadily pulsed violet rays into the heavens.
I wanted to look more, but Maia didn’t give me the chance. Fire blasted from her open, massive jaws, melting everything in the room.
We retreated to the relative safety of the stony stairwell while she vented her rage. What had ignited her temper? I had never seen her angry, not even irritated. But now, one sweep of her tail smashed the remains of the light machine to flinders before she stretched black, scaled wings and leaped into the sky.
Coughing, we fled down the stairs to escape the foul reek of the flames she’d belched. Back on the lower level, Storne and I stared at each other, open-mouthed. I finally said, “I had no idea she could do that.”
“There are legends,” he said. “Legends that the primal forms of the Chimaerae are great, dark dragons.”
“Dragons,” I repeated thoughtfully. “I have heard of them. Old Terran myths. Discredited, I believe.”
“But widespread, so much so that one wonders if there is not a germ of truth hidden somewhere back in the mists of time.”
“Can you imagine? The sky of Janus dark with flocks of Chimaerae?” I shivered. “Why does she not hate us?”
“That’s not her nature,” he said.
“But what she just did…”
“I understand why she would not want the return of the Progenitors. They destroyed the natural order of things on Janus, which dispossessed her species.”
An aching hollowness surrounded my heart. “I hope she returns.”
“Even if she doesn’t, we must continue.” Storne sounded brisk. “Let’
s go.”
“What about Maia?” I nodded upward.
“I think she’ll find us if she wants to.”
I breathed into the hollow place in my chest. “I hope she wants to. I wish Maia would return. We could ride on her to the Lands of Shadow. I feel great urgency to return.”
He glanced at me thoughtfully. “I also noticed the empty chrysalis. The idea that a clone is even now attempting to supplant you on the Golden Throne is…disquieting.”
“Disquieting?” I raised a brow.
“Disquieting, but by no means truly troublesome. We will retake Castle Remarck, by force if necessary.”
The aching weight in my chest increased. “We have known peace for many generations.”
“Not anymore.” Storne was both grim and definite. “These acts of the Lightsiders cannot remain unanswered. They mean to dominate Janus by any means, fair or no.”
“I know.” I shivered, foreseeing doom, then straightened my back. “Very well, then. Let us seek food, water and transportation.”
Upon hearing an odd scraping from the outside of the pyramide, I wrinkled my brow and ran up to the topmost room again. Though dust hung in the air, which reeked, I could see that Maia had returned. Still in the form of a great dragon, she poked her head through the open ceiling. Great claws clung to the blocks rimming the angular hole; she left huge gouges in the stones, producing the noise.
Her voice sounded in my mind. Hello. She sounded hesitant, as though unsure of her welcome.
I smiled, greatly relieved. “Hello.” I reached my arms up toward her, beckoning. She fitted herself through the gap and dropped to the floor.
I crossed the room and leaned against her dark bulk. She felt both familiar and strange.
An odd chittering noise, almost like a purr, emanated from her throat.
It was a purr. She was glad to see me. I relaxed, allowing tears of relief to flood my eyes.
Are you ready to go?
“Yes,” I said.
“I wish someone would let me in on the conversation.” Fortunately, Storne sounded amused, not annoyed.
“It is time to go home.” I smiled at him.
Maia stretched her wings. A grating voice emanated from her throat. “Climb on.”
“Can you carry both of us?” he asked her.
“Yes. I am quite strong in this, my natural form.” She beat her tail against the floor and danced with impatience. Her talons scored the pale tiles.
Storne had been right. Maia was a dragon. I beheld her with admiration and astonishment, but before I could fully absorb her grandeur, she said, “Get on,” and extended her wings.
“Wh-where?” I stuttered.
“Me. Hold on to my neck, in front of my wing joints. Now. There is no time to waste.”
I exchanged a worried glance with Storne and obeyed.
Chapter Seventeen
As Maia flew, the moons shifted, and the sun again ignited Lightside’s deserts with a brilliant golden glow. For my part I wished never to see this hellhole again, and my heart lifted to see the land quickly shift and darken into the cool greens of the WestMarch.
She landed near a still pond, and after allowing us to dismount, waded into the water up to her sinuous neck, drinking greedily. I stripped and followed her. Though she’d stirred up the muddy bottom, the warm water was cleansing and refreshing.
Storne was not so hasty. He remained on the bank as a lookout, weapons at the ready. When I returned, I reached for my robes, but he stopped me with one sinewy hand on my arm. “Don’t bother,” he said.
I looked into his face. Dust had settled into the creases near his gray eyes, so evident when he smiled. And he was smiling, an intimate smile that promised bliss.
My breath came short. How much time had passed since we’d joined? Since I could not remember, ’twas too long, I decided.
I found a flat, dry spot near the water and spread out our robes while he bathed. When he returned to me, Maia still was in the middle of the mere, delighting in the water. She flung great jawfuls of it onto her wide, scaly back and rolled around in the pond, catching the glittering spray she splashed in her talons.
I was sprawled out on the robes, resting, when Storne approached me. His flesh was darker than I remembered, for the Lightside sun had bronzed him while lightening his hair just a bit. I liked the effect, especially with shining water sluicing off the carved planes of his golden body. He was already hard, his erection vertical, the round dark cap of his cock head shining with viscous liquid.
I wanted him inside me more than I could express. My desire robbed me of words. I lay gaping stupidly at his beauty.
He sat next to me and ran a hand over my belly. “Warm and soft,” he murmured into my ear. He stretched out, laying his long lean body close to mine. His warmth engulfed me, his heat feeding mine. I felt moisture bedewing me, softening my labia, readying for him.
He leaned over and kissed me. He was as sweet and gentle as I remembered, first tenderly caressing my lips with his, then easing in his tongue to pleasure us both. His hand slid down to my delta, his fingers stroking my stubbly muff. He tugged softly as we continued to exchange deep soul-kisses. This time, he did not tarry, but rolled on top of me and swung his hips to and fro, encouraging me to open to him.
I complied, my excitement and need equaling his. I grasped his cock and encircled his rod before swirling my finger in the thick liquid at the tip, spreading it. He stroked up my body, plucking my nipples to tingling points.
I gasped. “Careful.”
He stopped. “Sensitive today?”
“Yes. I think I may be increasing.”
“Already?” Pleasure infused his voice. “Yours is indeed a fertile house.”
“I’ve got a stud on my side.” I grinned at him.
“Ah, Audryn.” He sighed and framed my face in his hands. “Audryn.” His voice was husky.
“What?”
“Nothing…just Audryn. I like to say your name.”
“Storne.” I pushed his hair behind his ears and lifted my head to caress his cheek with mine. He was rough and stubbly…wonderful. I kissed his cheek, then down, then along his jaw, glorying in the roughness of his stubble on my lips, the contrast with his soft mouth and tongue.
We kissed, the touch of his tongue against mine enticing, enchanting. When my breath came short, he reached down to rub the head of his penis against my clitoris. Ahhh… Heat enveloped me as he pushed down and inside.
The sensation of being opened, pierced, taken, overtook me and I cried out, lifting my knees to wrap my legs around him. He thrust deeper until I felt his balls touch my flesh.
In and out, in and out…the rhythm lovely and familiar, but so intense because Storne and I were still new lovers. I breathed deeply, inhaling the sweet scents of greenery, the freshness of water, the aroma of his hair as he loved me.
A deep chuckled rumbled in my ear. “Moonrise sex,” said Storne.
“What?”
“You have a reputation for preferring all manner of exotic sex acts and positions. And now you seem quite happy with just an ordinary fuck. We call that moonrise sex—a quick bout at dawn.”
His manner of speaking was different from ours, straightforward and refreshing. I replied, “It’s us. You and me. Everything feels good.”
Thrumming with energy, I stretched, enjoying the pull of muscle and sinew. As Storne continued making love, a hot, delicious languor overtook me, wrapping me in sultry bliss as we rocked against each other. Our rhythm slowed until we were barely moving, locked together, one being united in love. Long, low moans came from deep within my soul as I came, his seed bathing my womb.
* * * * *
I wanted to fly immediately to Castle Remarck, but Storne, backed by Maia, prevailed. So after our peaceful interlude in the WestMarch, we flew high over the lands, finding our forces and gathering them at Windrush. Storne’s experienced warriors were combined with my personal guard. Our toughest and staunchest troops, they we
re swiftly outfitted for a quick-march to Remarck.
Storne, Maia and I rested at Windrush, engaging in many a discussion of tactics and strategy. One day, seated around a table in the Dining Hall after a late-evening sup, I said to her, “We owe you much.”
She smiled before shaking her head. “Audryn, what I have done, I have done for love. Long has your family sheltered me and enabled my people to occupy the Marches without interference.” She glanced at Storne.
“Ah,” he said. “Well, I am prepared to continue the Shadowlander policy of non-interference in the Marches and will inform the FireMountain Clan thereof.”
“That is satisfactory,” Maia said.
“We shall make it official once we have ascended the Golden Throne together.” I smiled at her.
“Um, what does that entail?” Storne asked.
“Just what you fear.” I laughed.
“Public sex.” He winced.
“There’s more.” I grinned at him. After I told him what he’d have to endure, his eyes widened.
* * * * *
We flew reconnaissance daily, but of Kaldir and the other Children of Light there was no sign, and I worried. I thought surely he would take the clone to Castle Remarck, the seat of government, and ascend the throne.
How they’d eluded us I had no idea.
* * * * *
As we flew through the cool, beautiful skies of the Shadowlands toward Remarck, I noted with curiosity and growing alarm that my country appeared to be deserted. Fields that should have been busy with yoked oxen working the land were tilled, though quiet. Roads that should have been jammed with foot-traffic, horses and carts, were empty.
We descended toward Castle Remarck, my stronghold. Joy filled my heart at the thought of home before I noticed crowds filling the lawns between the castle walls and my home. What were they watching?
A roar burst from Maia’s maw as she belched angry fire. She dropped precipitously out of the sky and I clutched her neck to stay aboard. Then I saw to my horror that a great bed had been set up on the same terrace where Frayn had taken my virginity on that long-ago Exhibition Day. We flew closer and something gleaming seized my attention, a personage whose glow rivaled the Lightside sun. Torchlight glinted off the flowing, dark-blonde hair and elaborate attire of a woman. She—it was seated on the Golden Throne, my Golden Throne, wearing one of my finest gowns, a heavy white brocade embroidered with gold thread, bearing a jeweled crown on its head and a scepter in its hand.