Calliope's Wings

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