by Aja James
But no, it was not because she’d taken her vengeance upon him last night. It was because he’d given himself to her despite the fury and hate within her.
So caught up was she in her inner turmoil that she didn’t notice until she’d all but mowed down a little boy near the entrance of the tower.
“I’m sorry—” she began, but was cut off by an excited squeal.
“Look, Sophie, look! It’s Mama Bear! She’s here!”
Sophia pulled Benji closer to her and put her hands on his shoulders.
“Benji, don’t be silly, how can this lady possibly be Mama Bear? She’s much too young and pretty, don’t you think?”
“Not that Mama Bear isn’t pretty,” Sophia hastened to add, “but—”
“She is,” Benji insisted while Ishtar stood there flummoxed, “she’s always looked like Arwen from Lord of the Rings, except prettier. I told Mommy and Daddy before but they didn’t believe me.”
“Well…” Sophia was at a loss for words and could only look at Ishtar apologetically, a look that said “sorry to be a bother, you know how it is, kids and their flights of fancy.”
Ishtar bent down and balanced on her haunches in front of the little boy.
“Have you always been able to see my true self, Benji?” she asked quietly, absurdly relieved to be known, “Do you know who I am?”
Benji nodded enthusiastically while Sophia’s head went back in shock.
“You’re Mommy’s friend from the treasure store. You’re Uncle Tal’s lost love.”
Now both females stared at Benji like he’d grown two heads.
Sophia was the first to recover.
“Benjamin Larkin D’Angelo, what on earth are you talking about?”
Unperturbed, Benji asked instead of answering, “Are we going to walk around Copley Square and get ice-cream at Ben and Jerry’s when it opens or are we going to stand here and talk all day? I want to get back soon to sit with Uncle Tal some more.”
“Benji, forget the ice-cream. I’ll get you a whole tub of chocolate chip cookie dough if you tell me what’s going on!” Sophia demanded a little shrilly.
“Benji,” Ishtar said in a softer voice, “How do you know…how do you know about your Uncle Tal’s lost love?”
Ishtar really didn’t want to hear about it; she only knew that Tal had never loved her. He’d told her so explicitly:
I have never, nor ever will, love you. Everything between us has been pretense. I only let you…have me…because I needed to help my people defeat yours.
How else can I release into the body of a Dark One? If I loved you, I would suffer the Decline, for a Dark One can never provide the Sustenance a Pure One needs.
No, Ishtar really didn’t want to hear Benji’s revelations about his Uncle Tal and Tal’s long lost love. But if Benji knew something that could help save Tal from his present torment, then Ishtar was going to listen very closely.
Benji leaned back against Sophia as if resigned to the chat versus a brisk walk around the block and across the street to the ice-cream shop.
“He tells me stories sometimes at bedtime. I like his stories a lot, because he can describe the bestest battles and awesomest lands and cities and empires. Did you know he used to live near a place called Akkad? And he had a pet leopard?”
Benji rolled his eyes skyward, the better to sift through his memory bank.
“Actually, he said the pet leopard had him, whatever that means. Anyway, he also told me about this beautiful princess—I asked if she’s like Arwen from Lord of the Rings, and he said she’s prettier, which is weird since he’s never seen the Lord of the Rings…”
“Benji,” Sophia interjected, reminding the boy to stay on track.
“Anyway,” Benji drew out the word with exaggerated annoyance at being interrupted, “He said that he fell in love with the princess who was actually the pet leopard in disguise. Isn’t that so cool?”
Ishtar had ceased to breathe. She didn’t think her heart was even beating.
I can’t be true!
“Almost as cool as vampire-elves, which is what Mommy and Daddy are,” Benji confided with a puff of his chest, making sure everyone knew that he thought his parents were the coolest of all.
“But how do you know that Mama Bear—I mean—this nice, yet stranger of a lady, is the princess Uncle Tal talked about?” Sophia hastened to ask.
Benji’s grin was one-part mischief, two-parts shyness, as if he was certain no one would believe his next words.
“Because I can see the leopard in you, Mama Bear,” he told Ishtar directly, holding her gaze.
“She has a furry white coat, brown and black spots, a long, fluffy, curling tail and light purple eyes.”
“Half tame, half wild, the Dark One sleeps, while the Other grows like a reaching tree. Until the time comes when she begins to stir, when old beliefs are challenged and boundaries blur.”
—From the Ecliptic Prophesies, buried and forgotten
Chapter Six
Third millennium BC. Capital City of Akkad. The Ivory Palace.
Ishtar took her place on the throne to the left of her mother, Queen Ashlu.
She didn’t know why she was suddenly summoned for this impromptu and apparently rather formal meeting, for all of the noble Dark families gathered in the Great Hall, a few steps beneath where the royal thrones sat upon a raised platform carved out of amethyst, obsidian and gold.
Ishtar slanted her eyes toward her mother, but the Queen neither looked back nor acknowledged her younger daughter’s presence, her eyes focused on the limestone floor below.
Upon further observation, Ishtar noticed that Enlil’s shadow warriors were stationed around the somewhat organized throng of Dark noblemen and several Provincial Ensis and their entourage.
Why so much security? She wondered.
As if conjured by her thoughts, the most fearsome and powerful Dark warrior himself, her sister’s betrothed, appeared on the right side of Queen Ashlu, just behind Anunit’s empty seat.
A muscle visibly ticked in his jaw. He did not look pleased about the proceedings.
Where was Anunit anyway? Why hadn’t she been summoned to this massively important event?
Thundering hoof beats sounded in the courtyard beyond the twenty-foot arched doors of the palace entrance. Amid the whinnies of high-spirited stallions, heavy footsteps and clanging of weapons and shields, the royal herald announced in a booming voice:
“The Conquering Princess has returned victorious!”
With a rolling rumble, the giant doors of the palace were pulled open on thick iron chains by six human servants on each side, admitting a troop of a dozen Dark warriors, a few of whom belonging to Enlil’s command.
All Dark warriors dressed in head-to-toe black. But whereas warriors in the Dark legions wore hardened leather armors and boots, Enlil’s shadow force wore only shirts, trousers and sandals.
Ishtar had often wondered whether it was because their dress afforded ease of movement or because they were so lethal they didn’t require the protection of armors. Probably both.
The soldiers split into two lines on each side as they entered the hall, opening a path for Anunit to emerge from the rear.
Ishtar smiled with pride as she beheld her awe-inspiring twin in full battle gear, her long dark hair pulled into a thick braid that draped over her left shoulder down the front, her brow encircled by a band of gold with yellow amethysts, her arms and legs encased in gold cuffs and knee-high boots.
Most dazzling of all was the look of triumph on her face as she approached the throne in measured strides, as if proclaiming with each step: “this will all be mine one day, for I am the Chosen Princess to rule this land.”
Ishtar beamed at her sister, blind to all else.
Perhaps this was Anunit’s Declaration Ceremony? Perhaps Queen Ashlu meant to formally announce her succession? If so, Ishtar would be the first to leap from the throne to honor her twin.
And then Ishtar noticed the
chain that Anunit held in her right hand, the end wrapped around her forearm.
A chain that dragged in a slinking, clinking sound behind her, connected to the neck of a male whose arms were bound behind his back, his long, pale hair glinting like rays of sun in the torch-lit hall.
Ishtar’s smile abruptly died.
Tal.
“Queen Mother, I bring you the leader of the Pure Resistance,” Anunit said as she stopped within three feet of the steps to the throne.
With a vicious tug, she jerked her prisoner to her side and pushed him brusquely to his knees.
“Tal-Telal,” Anunit said with both relish and derision, reaching down to grasp his chin and tilting it sharply so that those on the throne could have a better look at her prize.
Ishtar gripped the arms of her seat until her knuckles turned white.
No! Please, Dark Goddess, no! Not Tal!
“Well done, my child,” the Queen said without inflection, her expression unreadable. “With its head cut off, the Resistance will die a quick death. Tell me, what do you desire as your reward for this heroic deed?”
Anunit’s full, sensuous lips spread into a gruesome smile as Ishtar’s breath seized in her lungs.
“I Claim him as my Blood Slave forevermore,” she hissed darkly, her hand still holding the prisoner’s chin, her sharp red nails breaking his skin.
Leaning down, she extended her tongue and licked him slowly from neck to cheek, taking the few drops of blood from the wound she inflicted into her body, marking her possession.
“Then so be—”
Before the Queen could complete her pronouncement, Ishtar leapt down from the platform, landing in a coiled crouch, and growled in a voice she’d never heard:
“NO! He is mine.”
For several moments, Anunit, along with the rest of their silent and forgotten audience, stared at her in utter disbelief.
And then her favorite sister said under her breath, meant for Ishtar’s ears only, “Don’t be ridiculous, you know you can never defeat me one-on-one. You don’t even have prior cl—”
“I have prior Blood Claim on this male,” Ishtar declared for all to hear. “Taste him again if you don’t believe me.”
Taking a breath to harness patience, Anunit pierced the skin of Tal’s jaw with her nail and brought it to her mouth, tasting slowly this time to humor her delusional twin’s request.
As the truth of what Ishtar said dawned upon Anunit, her expression changing from one of ire to one of shock and fury, the Queen stirred above them on the throne.
“Ishtar,” she began, her voice full of warning. This was not the indulgent stern tone, nor the exasperated, chastising tone. There was real threat underlining her next words.
“Once you issue a Challenge, you cannot recall it. You will battle your sister until one of you submits or one of you dies.”
Think carefully before you act, Ishtar, the Queen communicated telepathically. This is not a game. The consequences will be very real.
Ishtar knew this well. She held her mother’s stare and communicated her resolve wordlessly.
Then she turned back to her sister and said in a voice clear with conviction:
“I, Ishtar Anshar, Challenge you, Anunit Salamu, to Claim Tal-Telal as Blood Slave here and now, by my right of First Blood.”
Stupid girl! Anunit hissed in Ishtar’s head.
Out loud she growled, “So be it. Choose your weapons.”
As she said this, she threw the chains to a nearby soldier who reeled her prisoner to the sidelines, drew cross swords from her back and assumed a fighting stance, spinning the swords slowly in both hands, testing their blades for sharpness.
Ishtar pulled a long sword out of a Dark warrior’s scabbard and took his shield as well, rounding upon her sister with grim determination.
With a roar, Anunit attacked, her swords beating with deafening might upon Ishtar’s shield, one after another in rapid sequence, beating Ishtar relentlessly back towards the steps of the throne.
As Ishtar’s right heel caught the edge of one step, she forward somersaulted into the air a foot above Anunit’s head, and deftly exchanged places with her opponent, who now had less room to maneuver.
But Anunit did not need room when the strength of her blows and stabs and jabs forced Ishtar to continue retreating, slowly but steadily down the length of the Great Hall.
One jab slashed across Ishtar’s left arm, drawing first blood. Given that it was inches deep, it would not heal immediately. Blood gushed from the wound, covering her forearm and hand in the thick, slippery fluid.
Ishtar threw the shield to the ground; her hand wouldn’t hold it properly now anyway with the slickness from her blood. It was more hindrance than help.
Give up, you little fool, Anunit’s voice sounded in her head. You can never defeat me, you know that. I don’t want to hurt you more.
Ishtar gave a small shake of her head and stared straight into her sister’s eyes.
No, she would not back down. She would fight for Tal until her last breath.
She shifted her feet and went on the offensive, slashing toward Anunit with measured, deadly strokes, pushing her surprised twin back towards the throne again, gaining ground—
Until her discarded shield slammed into the back of her head, knocking her off balance and making her see stars.
Before she could even catch a breath, the shield came at her again, this time like a discus thrown with a violent spin, gauging into the back of her knees, bringing her down to all fours, her sword clattering to the ground.
I can do this all day, Anunit taunted in her head. Don’t make me take this too far. Admit defeat!
There was a note of manic frustration in Anunit’s command, as if she loved her sister and hated to hurt her but wanted to win even more.
Even the Queen came halfway off her throne with dismay, seeing her younger daughter fall in imminent defeat.
Heaving with labored breath, bloody and sweaty from the exertion, Ishtar closed her eyes against the pain of her wounds for a fraction of a moment, enough to take a breath to center herself, focusing all of her power on her goal—to Claim Tal for her very own.
When she looked up again at her opponent, it was through light purple eyes, glowing red at the center, fangs fully extended in a feral growl.
Stunned motionless for a heartbeat, Anunit stared back at her as if she didn’t recognize her, as if suddenly, she were facing an altogether different adversary.
One who had the potential to defeat her.
And then Anunit launched another lightning-fast attack, advancing on Ishtar with twin blades whirling like wheels of death in her hands, crisscrossing back and forth and bearing down upon Ishtar until there was no retreat, nowhere to run or hide.
Against the slashing onslaught, Ishtar fended off the most lethal strikes but sustained one deep cut after another to both her arms, shoulders, thighs, calves, until she was coated from head to toe in her own blood.
Give up now and I will show you mercy, Anunit’s voice almost begged her, but there was an undertone of rage, as if she couldn’t believe Ishtar had the gall to continue this losing fight.
Stand down, sister, you are no match for me. And you never will be. He is just a Pure whore. The lowest of all living beings. He is not worth this insanity. You can have him when I’ve had my fill. We can—
A thunderous roar boomed through the Great Hall, all but shaking it loose of its foundations, effectively cutting off Anunit’s telepathy and rendering her speechless with awe and fear.
Before the congregation’s eyes, Ishtar shifted into a giant snow leopard, twice the size of the largest tiger and infinitely more ferocious.
With a swipe of her massive paw, Anunit’s double swords went flying out of her hands, almost taking the arm off a Dark nobleman who’d been standing too close on the sidelines.
Anunit screamed at the pain, the flesh of her right arm hanging by a thread from her exposed bones. She clutched it with her
left and backed away from the incensed predator, who bared canines as thick as her calves, sharper than daggers, dripping with saliva.
Frantically, Anunit tried to use her telekinesis to send the leopard crashing against a wall or raise the weapons and shields of surrounding soldiers to attack it, but nothing moved to her will. Either she was too wounded to harness her power properly or the leopard was wielding powers of its own to counteract her.
The leopard prowled slowly toward her, its purple amethyst eyes glinting with a wild wrath.
Out of her peripheral vision, Anunit saw her prisoner being held by two Dark warriors and made a dive for him, intending to use him for a shield or kill him so that no one would be able to Claim him.
But before she could get within a foot of him, the leopard launched itself at her, pinning her flat on her back to the ground with bone crushing force.
The breath knocked out of her, Anunit couldn’t even give voice to the blinding pain that jarred her whole body until she thought her internal organs had shaken loose.
Both her shoulders had been dislocated, as well as one of her hips. She should consider herself lucky that her spine remained intact.
But she had no time to celebrate, because that enormous leopard head drew closer to her face, jaws wide open, teeth closing around her neck. It could snap her head right off her shoulders like a wildcat with a tiny bird.
For the first time Anunit felt real terror.
Desperately she tried to reach out to her sister, somewhere in that monstrous form, but her telepathy was no use either. The creature was immune to all of her powers.
Just when the pressure of those giant teeth around her neck became unbearable, the sharp points sinking into her flesh, a soft but commanding voice filled the hall.
“Enough,” Queen Ashlu said, standing with fists clenched on the platform, shaken as she’d never been before.
“You have won the Challenge, my daughter,” she continued in that same soft voice, as if afraid to further incite the beast.
“Tal-Telal is yours and no other’s. Let her go now. She is your sister, Ishtar.”
For a truly terrifying moment, Anunit thought the leopard wouldn’t heed her mother’s words, the points of its teeth sinking even deeper into her neck.