by Y. M. Roger
Rafal held up his hand to silence his brother’s question as they made their way around the towering stacks of crates and enormous shrink-wrapped machinery. He followed the path that increased the sensations on his skin until they reached a dead end in the labyrinth, and those same sensations told him that his Chiyoto was just beyond – just on the other side of the wall of crates in front of them.
Runa is not here, Rafal. That would mean she is there in presence with you.
Rafal did not even acknowledge the comment as he determinedly turned to go around the obstacle.
“Shioliah! We need to talk …,” his words trailed off as a thin film of magenta mist drifted down into their path from high above them. Rafal recognized the manifestation – it was the same as the much smaller wisp that had escaped his Chiyoto’s nostril that first night he had held her.
Rafal’s skin felt as though it was on fire, and he could sense the large presence that must be Runa just beyond and above him. He breathed deeply as he immediately halted and stiff-armed Hondo’s forward progress as well. As the two brothers backed away from the towering wall of crates – their gazes fixed high above the rim of such – Runa’s brilliant magenta-sprinkled-with chartreuse mane rose slowly to reveal the dragoness’ huge multi-toothed snout. She was so much more than any of the paintings had portrayed an Empress – she was incredible! Simply her breath rolling down the stacks of crates and over the two of them was close to over-whelming.
Is she magnificent, Rafal?
Rafal tried to convey without words the indescribable beauty and incalculable threat that the Empress before him imbued.
“Rafal …?” Hondo’s voice could not mask the tremor that ran through his body.
But the feel of the breath that had enveloped them was nothing like the manner in which the ethereal dragoness spat her first word.
“Sa-a-a-di-i-i-i-i-d.”
In fact, Rafal was pretty sure the hiss of his sir name was a lethal threat in and of itself. But Rafal knew he could not let her intimidate him any more than he had when she was a simple unknown to him.
His shioliah’s hidden altre.
Rafal stopped his backward steps as Runa effortlessly pushed the long row of crates quite unceremoniously out of her way as her gorgeous yet lethal body stepped ominously in front of the brothers.
Rafal took in the iridescent skin and spectacular wings that encompassed the almost ethereal and obviously deadly creature before him – her mane literally radiated her emotions which were quite obviously unsettled at the moment. But Rafal could not help but marvel at the chartreuse highlights in it – he had never read nor seen pictorial evidence of such in all of the records of which he was familiar.
The two stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity to Hondo who did not know even where to begin now that he was actually confronted with the monstrous creature – a kahrolasi Bohrean Empress, no less! – standing before them.
Finally, it was Runa who broke the silence – disdain dripping on every word that flowed from her mouth. Her eyes only jerking to Hondo’s position once to assure herself he was no threat.
“Did you come here in hopes to finish the job your worthless assassins could not, Sadid?”
Rafal felt his temper spike, but he held it – this was no time for an argument.
At least, not yet.
“Empress, it is, yes?”
Runa squinted her glowing eyes at Rafal’s question as another rumble rolled around the bay – her lip curling in apparent disgust over teeth that were nearly as tall as he was. But she did not interrupt him so, Rafal continued, “Empress Runa, I present my brother, Prince Hondo.”
Hondo bowed calmly in reverence – using every ounce of his training to stand firm and not draw a weapon … . oh, wait. They had no weapons! Rafal knew …? Hondo shook his head; he was confounded, however, to sense that his wartrige simply raised its head in submission and growled long and low in welcome to the beautifully dangerous beast.
Well, when Rafal finally decided to choose a female, he sure went ‘all out’ as some of his younger guards and staff would say. Hondo mentally shook his head and took a deep breath.
Runa sensed Hondo’s fear as well as his predator’s deference and breathed both in greedily.
“Birader, I give you Empress Runa, my shioliah’s altre and the reigning Empress of the Bohrean Empire.”
Suddenly, Runa’s sneer turned into what could only be interpreted as a smile as her head rose away from them and a snarling laughter echoed around the bay.
On guard, Rafal, Runa is anything but conversational right now – I can feel it in my gut.
“Shioliah indeed,” Runa adjusted her weight and shook her main, “Enough pretending, hmmm?” The threatening dragoness preened just a bit before continuing as Rafal held his tongue once again. “Do you know, Sadid, that my Treasure and I were a virgin birth?” Her glistening talons scraped against the metal floor in apprehension as she curled her long, serpentine tail behind her up and around in small contrived acrobatics, “That would be the reason for this asinine green in our mane – we broke Mamere’s virgin wall on the way out.”
Both Rafal and Hondo frowned although Rafal found himself almost wanting to smile at her sardonic wit – even pissed as he knew Runa was, he could now see a little of his shioliah shining forth here.
Runa finally stopped flipping her tail in agitation to lean back on her haunches just a bit as she raised one of her muscular front legs and began to sharpen the talons thereon against each other. A look of introspection and then hatred passed over her face – her focus only on those intimidating talons – as she continued, “So often, have I cursed the Makers for prolonging the suffering of the Blood-bornes at the hands of your own – the pain, the death, too much for one alone to stop,” Runa almost looked at a loss with a pause in her speech, but before either of the brothers could ascertain such, she continued, “Because all of it would have simply ended with Mamere and Junko’s choice to produce no Heir.”
She may appear calm, Rafal, but her seething is growing – can you not feel it? Be careful.
“But, now, the Makers present me with the two living heirs to the murderous family, and, finally, it is quite clear why my Treasure and I have had to endure what we have these many cycles,” Runa’s skin irridesced even more brilliantly as her mane practically glowed and danced with her anger – the vengeful air that surrounded her gaze sending chills down Rafal’s spine. He could even feel his beast shudder with their reaction.
Rafal saw all too well where her line of reasoning was headed – perhaps he should not have brought Hondo along with him. But he was still determined to attempt a civilized conversation …
“Empress Runa, you must know that we …” Rafal calmly and respectfully started to interject – he wanted to yell, but he fought once again for a calm exterior.
His beast was definitely correct about her mood, but his own temper was about to snap free.
Interrupting his words, Runa unpredictably dove and snapped just shy of the two of them – her growls rolling over him and Hondo with a violent air. Hondo fell backward, but Rafal stood his ground even though he could feel cycles shaved off his lifespan with his efforts to do so.
“What must I know, Sa-a-a-ad-i-i-id?” her spittle spattered against him – the hatred burning in her words, “That you wear your name well, oh Prime Magistrate? That you lie and deceive just as your name portends? That, like all the Sadids before you, you murder in the name of blood color?”
Rafal refused to hold his temper any longer even though he felt his beast push against him.
No Rafal! Do not incite her to …
“I am no murderer, and I am not the deceiver here, oh Empress Runa, you are!” Rafal knew that he was now in a fight for his Chiyoto – in fact, for his and Hondo’s very lives – and he would not back down. Hondo looked up at him as if he ha
d lost his mind as Rafal began yelling … yelling confrontationally at a real Bohrean Empress, for the all gods’ sake!
Runa hissed at his accusation, but Rafal continued.
“Who dyed their hair Runa?” Rafal’s voice may not have been as large as Runa’s, but it was certainly just as angry – in fact, Rafal even stepped toward her in confrontation as he shouted accusingly, “Who did not reveal the truth of their identity even though I made my intentions clear from the first night I held my shioliah?”
Rafal, you must calm yourself! His beast pushed harder to get out. She could end us at any moment. Let me …
But Rafal ignored him. Completely.
And held firmly against the beast’s pushes – this was his and Runa’s fight.
A fight that needed to be had.
“How absolutely absurd, Sadid!” The tip of Runa’s tail curled around her muscular body and landed like an oversized whip immediately in front of Rafal as emphasis to her declaration – Hondo sprang to his feet with the action. “We both know what would have happened to my Treasure had she worn her mane for all to see!” Runa glowered and curled her lips over her teeth, “You and your Crimson Raksasas would have hunted her down like some lowly animal!”
Rafal wanted to launch – his ire rising faster than ever.
“Ru-u-u-una-a-a-a-a!” Her name echoed around the bay, “I! Am not! My sire!” Rafal’s words were seethed in such anger that Hondo took a single step away in fear that his brother might explode, “Do not pretend to know me, and do not display your ignorance, my Empress,” Hondo was not sure if Rafal could have put more disdain into that title address or not, but he did note Rafal’s use of ‘my’.
Huh.
And Hondo was certainly still in complete awe that Rafal was vehemently arguing with such a powerful behemoth, “With false accusations that have! No! Kahrolasi! Foundation! I have never sanctioned hunts or executions or –”
Runa growled threateningly and interrupted while she repositioned her massive front paws and raised her large tail to twitch nervously behind her once again.
Rafal, you really must halt this madness! It seemed that Rafal battled one strong beast physically and another verbally – the conflict only adding to his overall resolve. No one yells at an Empress the way …
“You! Lie! Crowned Prince Sadid!” Runa rose to full four-legged stance as her wings flurried in agitation with her twitching tail – the magenta mist puffing from her nostrils as that radiating mane danced with each pulsing syllable, “You ordered the execution of my Treas –”
Now, it was Rafal’s turn to roar in aggravation.
And roar he did – even Runa paused in her confrontational stance – pulling back her head if only in the slightest – to eye him introspectively as he tore his shirt in two with the rage that ran through him now. Even Runa’s wisps of energy that had to this point begun to increase with her accusations subsided as Rafal shouted.
Rafal! You need to kahrolasi calm dow-. . .
“I ordered no kahrolasi execution, Runa – she is my mate! My life!” Although he spat the words with a loud, angry growl, Rafal’s voice finally began to falter somewhat – he was so kahrolasi tired of being labeled as something he was not – of being accused of doing that which he did not do. He simply wanted to hold his shioliah, but this … her kahrolasi animal … was preventing it! Rafal’s anger surged once again, “And I am no one’s kahrolasi prince, you self-absorbed, kichigai, overly-posses–”
Stop! Holy Makers, Rafal! I do not want to die today, do you?!
Just as Rafal was launching his full-blown tirade against the one thing standing between him and his hearts – no, his kahrolasi life, dammit – the heaviness of the air surrounding the two seemed to lighten somewhat as the contentious dragoness put her face right up to Rafal – forcefully slapping her tail behind her, effectively halting Rafal’s angry listing of the powerful Empress’ perceived personality flaws – and demanded,
“What did you just say, Sadid?!”
Both his beast and Hondo held their breath as Rafal and the questioning dragoness stood glaring at each other only a hairsbreadth from each other in the deafening silence – Rafal’s tense body almost completely wrapped in the magenta mist that flowed from Runa’s flaring nostrils – muscular stress twitches evident along the humongous body that defined the powerful dragoness.
Although a smirk tried like godsfall to curve Hondo’s lips – his brother had just called the reigning Empress of the Bohrean Empire kichigai!
“You know, we could communicate a lot easier if you would let Kilgar present,” Balstir had decided to hold a one-sided conversation to lighten things for him and his hydenna.
The huge demercriere simply growled somewhat in annoyance and raised his lip in the slightest to reveal those dangerous canines as he continued to stare daggers through the front windshield of the light transport. The powerful beast’s only distraction from the road was to glance at the GPS to ascertain their progress toward their destination.
Conversation seemed like the best way to pass time since the situation was beyond imagination already so, why not, right? His hydenna had shrugged in approval as it continued to stand at full ready – prepared to present without call if the huge predator in the passenger seat were to attack. Not that Balstir was all that concerned since they had gotten on the road – somehow, Balstir was quite sure the demercriere knew that a strike at this speed would kill them both.
“And, just in case you are listening, Kilgar,” Balstir raised his voice a bit as the over-sized beast turned and glared at him, “I told Hyndaus that you would pay for the disaster you made of the kitchen with your etkencomp,” The animal’s reaction convinced Balstir that the beast and Kilgar were both functioning well, the beast nodded and turned back toward the front.
They rode in silence for another while.
“So-o-o-o, Eniyi,” the beast immediately turned back to face Balstir and cocked its large head in question at the name. Balstir could not help but smile at the almost innocence he sensed in the deadly face with that threatening horn protruding from its center, “Well, I thought a name would make our quasi-conversation a lot less awkward, heh?”
The beast chuffed in agreement? Indifference? Balstir was not quite sure as a long string of drool made its way from the demercriere’s parted jaw to the seat beside its large rear paw. The rear two paws barely fit into the seat while the beast’s two large front paws were perched on the front dashboard to hold it upright. Balstir had actually opened the skyroof after the beast refused to let him make the vehicle a convertible, but the large demercriere seemed awkwardly resigned to his current position. Balstir guessed it was because the position put the beast close to the screen of the GPS that its large head kept angling towards.
Obviously, it could read or comprehend the screen thereof.
“So, Eniyi,” Balstir paused just to be sure the name was not going to piss off the demercriere, “I am guessing Kilgar is still too weak in his recovery process to push for presence again for now?”
Eniyi nearly inaudibly chuffed again, although this time the breath was definitely tinged with what could best be interpreted as aggravation or even disgust. That followed by a series of low rumbles that almost seemed like an attempt at speech.
“But you know he will push again, right?” Balstir felt it his duty to make it clear to the daunting demercriere that his usurpation of Kilgar’s presence would not be tolerated for an extended period, “And when he does, I will be …”
Balstir did not have a chance to discuss the tranqblast he had in his close-carry holster before the demercriere turned and looked at him almost longingly this time – a whine rolling up from the large beast’s chest. Eniyi then shifted its gaze to the GPS again and leaned forward to nuzzle the screen and scrape it with that ominous-looking horn.
Balstir stopped in his sentence to observe the giant pr
edator’s actions – the beast definitely wanted to get to their destination which was Balstir’s house.
It was his second trip there today – once early this morning before sunrise so that his Mysstree could get home as soon as possible and, of course, now. During that first trip, Mysstree had been so very distant – so unlike her usual talkative self on their drive in a few days earlier. The hydenna within Balstir whined thinking of their Mysstree as she was this morning – and the most irritating thing to them was that Mysstree would not share with them why she was so despondent. It was hurs before starrise, and she had demanded her kardesh bring her home that moment – godsfall! She had even said that she was a grown female and that she did not need her kardesh “putting his predator nose where it did not belong!” Where had that even come from?!
His hydenna whined again at the memory of their unhappy Mysstree and the hurt that had flowed from their hediya, and the demercriere’s head machine-gunned in their direction, its eyes squinting as if trying to decipher a puzzle of sorts. Balstir instinctively raised his head just in the slightest in a show of deference to the beast as he continued – the beast seeming to relax somewhat at his action.
“Well, Eniyi, I do not know what your issue is with Mysstree,” Balstir chuckled as he had a feeling what had been bothering his sister – maybe not specifically, but he could give it good guess knowing Kilgar as he did, “But I would put money on the fact that she sure as godsfall does not want to talk to your cognate.”
The demercriere growled long and low and his eyes narrowed again, the demand for more information almost clearly written on its face.
“I am guessing that Kilgar somehow treated Mysstree like a young or helpless little female or even brushed her off because of her appearance one too many times? Or maybe he had a conjugal female visitor or something of the like?”
The beast’s lips fully curled to reveal his entire deadly set of fanged and razor-sharp teeth as a threatening growl filled the light transport. Balstir felt his hydenna bristle.