by Guin Archer
Queue happy face for her expression of horror.
“Do not leave me here!”
“You set them on me, did you not, Uptip?” I leaned over my tummy, which had only just begun to grow big from the child I now carried inside me. A boy. Little Mackenzie, my heart screamed. Knowing he was there, one in spirit and one in body, made this easier for me. “You fooled the Ohmber into slaying me as you did to others like me. Admit the truth.”
She didn’t. She held strong until the first wave of snow rocketed from the emerging pack over the next knoll. After that, after the first clack of spines rattling, she broke.
“I did! I did! You were not supposed to live! I beg, uum Innintani, I beg mercy! Do not leave me here!” She was crying openly, her darker tanned skin – as she’d been forced out into the sun during her long absence – turning ashen with her terror.
“Was that so difficult? Dashka. I thank you for the plead of guilt. I must be away now. This shimi is quite restless. He needs his sires near as much as I do.”
“Wait! O-others like You…I-I-I know where to find them. I will aid You!”
My chuckle was evil. I have no remorse or kindness to offer her.
“You foolish biis’a. You think I do not know where my kind are? Three others, aichi? This is how many you know of?” If possible, her eyes widened more. Her jaw gaped. That was the sign I was waiting for. Proof that I’d found them all. And the death knell in Uptip’s frozen coffin. “They are safe, nuiji. Safe and under my wing where they will never be hurt again.”
Flapping higher, I saw the lithe, long bodies of the Hiijak scrambling Uptip’s way. I pumped my wrists, purposely agitating the alligator-mongoose-porcupine beasts’ sensitive hearing with my serah. The female screamed so loud I heard the first break of snow from one of the mountains, triggering an avalanche.
“Run, run, run as fast as you can,” I sing-songed while encapsulating myself once more in my wings.
I wasn’t there to hear it, but even over the rapid quake of snow and croaking craws of the Hiijak, my final jeer to Uptip rang and rang until her final, dying cry washed it out.
The traitor was gone and all was as it should be.
Finally.
Glossary
Ahteht – awake/arise
Aichi – yes
Aris – potent liquor like absinthe
Ashati – string-instrument similar to a lyre in appearance
Auum/auumat – our/ours
Bakal – mated collar/jewelry
Biis – she
Biis’a - female
Bishtak – sinner-against-the-One; worst curse word in The Tongue
Brago – brother
Brah – good
Caddin fronds – steel-grey plants that grow in the Southlands; resembles bamboo of Earth
Chise – help/aid
Cohcrahk – a person who is contrary
Dashka – thank you
Dorai – mated spouse; male variant
Drake – sworn lover/protector of Innintani; born with a certain ‘knowing’ for their future bonded-one
Drogba – Intau’s breed of ‘dog’
Eefan – vicious
Ekt – shit; curse word
Es – is
Es’a – I am
Et – and
Gishtak – freemen of the Lubrei; middle-class
Goran – fierce
Hiijak – hybrid alligator-mongoose-porcupine, scavengers of the snowy wastes of the North
Hiskt – fight
Ido – come
Innintani – The One’s blessed ‘child’; an ‘angel’
Intau – the world/plane of existence ‘equivalent’ to Earth
Irah – ‘Captains’ of the seafolk of Drydan’s Sea
Itchto – (un)covered wagons; varying sizes and purposes
Jiktau – rite of passage to full-Zikta
Jupango – breakfast flatbread; mushroom, varying meat, and spices
Kii – warrior’s sword; double meaning of a male’s penis
Kisa-uu – one-of-all; greatest endearment for a lover/partner
Kistak – eternal flame
Kut – slave
Lo – no
Lo’to – do not
Lopou – sit
Lorun – mole-aardvark-lizard beast of burden; size of a bison
Los – he
Los’kah – male
Lubrei – Luintak’s ‘orc’ natives
Luintak – primary southern continent
Lune – night
Mahzri – native sentient of Luintak; steeds, companions, and battlers; protectors of the Innintani
Miri – The Mother; the name of Intau’s moon
Muir – ‘voice’ of the Innintani; head of their court
Namintak – Udon’s tribute
Nuije – whore/cunt; derogatory term for a female bought for sex
Ohmber – tribe of thieves and the worst of Tauren
Omma – palanquin; basket-shaped, covered by hides, filled with blankets
The One – the deity of Intau
Ooroo – mating scent emitted by a male for his chosen female
Opari – beautiful/pure/perfect
Pasha – mated spouse; female variant
Piiore – drink
Pillau – hut
Rahvashti – females who are extremely fair in appearance and thought to be the epitome of perfection as they are embodiments of the exalted Innintani; secluded and elevated above all others
Rocho – greetings
S’a – I
Saluumotu – Intau’s version of Hell
Serah – bells adorning an Innintani’s bakal; they only ring when in presence of an Innintani’s magic
Seshani – calm/rest
Shimi – children
Shura – ghost/spirit
Skol – warrior marks/tattoos/parasitic organism
Skyvryn – the ‘heavens’ or realm of The One
Sol – day
Soli – the sun
Solieta – radiance; brightness of soul
Southlands – general lands below the Northlands; everything below equator and across the Dark Sea
Tauren – ‘orc’ people of Intau; equivalent of humans
Taytani – Queen/matriarch
Tepet – eat
Tersti/Titi – sister/pet-name for sister
Tohtahk – Warlord/High-Consort of an Innintani; leader of the Udon
Tyk’rok – the ‘Exiled’; banished Tauren from both continents
Udon – ‘the Horde’ of Luintak
Udonak – Camp of the Udon
Uropa – highly expensive fruit that grows in the Southlands; primary diet of the Mahzri
Utakta – scars/honor marks
Uum/uumat – my/mine
Vashti – Chosen One
Villup – Captain’s quarters
Visivi – the ‘Trinity’ of the Innintani; Drake, Xerbai, and Muir
Xerbai – usually hermaphrodite; a being sworn into eternal service of another; caretaker of Innintani
Xxyx – matriarch/alpha female of the Mahzri
Yakpa – speak
Yist – sleeping shroud
Yuum/yuumat – you/yours
Zikta – warrior of the Lubrei