A Queen Among Crows: Book One of Empire's End
Page 22
"Let us let the air clear" Julie staggered back, waving her hands in front of her face. "Is this a tomb?"
"Likely. What people lived here?" The room was long, and the light did not go in all the way, at least not from outside. The statues I could see where strange; stone, and weathered, but almost realistic in style, not the usual exaggerated the ancient peoples liked.
"The Koryaks, I think? I am not sure where we are. They do worship giant ravens, Quikil they call them, as gods, but they never built anything like this. Wooden villages and nomadic groups, mostly." Julie said.
"That." I muttered "was a better answer than I was expecting."
"The coastal tribes like to rebel every now and then. It is the cavalry's job to hunt them down when they do. I like to know who I am hunting; I always assumed their religion was primitive, but if there really are giant talking ravens in the mountains, it makes more sense." Julie shrugged. "Grab my arm, it is time to go in."
We staggered- or I staggered, and Julie marched- through the doors. I was right, they were statues, life size, carved of white stone. The first two had broken to the point of unaccountability, but the third, the third was a woman, taller than me, in a strange suit of armor holding what looked like a diving helmet. Her face was finely etched, and clear.
"It is Catherine." Julie gasped.
"No, the height is wrong, and the face is too long." Some quiet inner voice told me the truth "It is Anna. Or it will be, when she grows up."
"There was a placard of some kind on the statue base, but I cannot read it." Lois said from our feet. "We may wish to check the others."
"Hey!" James yelled " I found Julie! And I see why you like her, too."
"What?" I yelled back.
"Over here, other side. It is a nude, very detailed in all the wrong places. If anything she is even more athletic, holding a lance, and standing beside a lioness." Well James had his sense of humor back, at least.
Julie dragged me over, and sure enough, there was a statue of my leopardess. Fierce face, toothy smile, head turned to the sky, lioness at her feet. "This was sculpted from life" I said. "Or by someone who knew you very, very well."
"Are you sure?" Julie bent down to read the inscription.
I looked at the details. "Yes." I coughed.
"What does B&stt mean? Is the inscription bad?" Julie asked.
"Bast" Lois said softly "Lower Egyptian goddess of war, the hunt, lions, and women who keep other women warm at night."
"So... Can I worship myself?" Julie laughed "Let me guess ... She has a pyramid somewhere."
"An entire city full, in Bubastis, I believe." Lois clattered her beak for a minute "This is most confusing."
"Right. Let's head to the end of the hall. According to Rasputin I am around there someplace. Say goodbye to yourself, Julie."
"Goodbye, me." Julie carried me along the row. We passed more statutes, some I thought I knew, others bizarre and strange. Some wore ancient outfits, others clothes or armor I had never seen before. There was one that may have been Catherine herself, wearing what looked like a diving suit; the inscription read Zeus, which would have come as a shock to any proper classical believer.
The end of the hall was a flat stone wall, and before that, a dais, and upon the dais, a throne of chiseled white stone, with the name Athena inscribed on the base in bold block letters. The figure in the throne was collapsed, crumpled and skeletal; I thought at first the statue had shattered, but the old smell told me the truth, this was a corpse, mummified by the centuries and the cold. The cadaver was tall but thin, a woman I thought, dressed in ornate robes and ropes of gold. A sword, a modern saber rested beside the throne, beside a bronze age shield. On the other armrest, a smaller mummy laid rest, a raven, in eternal repose beside her human. I knew those feathers, I knew that pose.
"Lois" I sobbed.
"It is us." Lois finished.
"Great queen. Wise queen. Ancient Queen. True Queen." The Maphnk croaked from the door behind us "Now you have seen. Now you understand. Now we shall carry you."
"To where?" I faced him.
"To your fate." The Maphnk was laughing
"And if we do not wish to go?" Julie clutched her hand, reaching for her absent sword.
"Then you die here." Outside more Maphnk began to screech. “This is your fate, not ours. Our part is to deliver you, and be done."
"Then." I looked at Julie, silently, she nodded. "Let us fly."
#
Here Ends Book One of ‘Empire’s End’.
I hope you enjoyed it, if you did, please leave a review, thank you.
Eryma and the Caw Lonial Marines will return in.
A Queen Among Clouds
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Back Cover Text:
In 1908, the world is at the brink of a war unlike any other. Immortal Princess Catherine of Imperial Russia, absolute ruler of two continents, prepares her mighty air navy to crush her last worthy foe, the British Empire.
In the Colonial Americas, torn and bloody from forty years of rebellion, freedom fighters stagger out for one last rebellion…
All it will take to destroy fragile peace is one rough shove.
The Finger of the Gods has been seen.
Whoever finds its secrets first may well win the war.
Good thing Colonial Master Spy Eryma Soteira has her boots on.
Contains: Alternate History, Zeppelins, Super Villains, Insane Plots, Mad Science, LGBT Themes, and Dinosaurs.