Spear of Destiny by James Baldwin (little bear else holmelund minarik .TXT) 📕

“The Deceivers?” The Maiden studied me for a few moments, her tail lashing. “They have not been heard of for five thousand years. A myth, save for the stories written onto the skin of the Avatar, and every Avatar before him. He is who you must seek, not our Queen. However...”

“However?” Suri waved a hand.

“Our Queen must assess your intentions,” the woman continued. “And if you are who you say you are, I suppose you may seek an audience. If you wish to meet her, you must be stripped of your armor and weapons and given more appropriate attire.”

“Let’s do it.” I shrugged, looking to the others.

The guard captain—I was pretty sure she was the captain—looked down at the city guard who’d escorted us. “Thank you, guardians. You may release them and go about your business, free from taboo.”

“Thank you, Hwa’nehh.” The leader of the guards squinted at her, then stood and pressed her hands together, palm to palm. All the others did the same, bowing from the chest, then turned to us and untied our ceremonial cuffs.

“I am Hwa’nehh Tahan, first among the sacred guard,” the Battle Maiden uttered. “Come. We will prepare you to enter the temple.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, the six of us were all stripped down, dressed in plain sarongs and not much else. No shoes, no weapons, definitely no armor. We’d been instructed to place our inventory into guest lockboxes and put on what amounted to a large silk sheet. The sarongs could be tied over the chest or wrapped around the waist—it was our choice. Suri and Rin had theirs up higher, so that the sarong looked more like a dress, but Gar and I wore ours down low. Thus stripped, we were taken through the pavilion to the great temple at the end of the complex.

Tahan ushered us into a great round hall. Pillars held up a tall, conical ceiling. In the center of the building was a fighting ring, while all around it, Meewfolk women talked, laughed, fanned themselves, and dozed in the sunlight that strayed through the windows, watching indulgently as two young girls sparred on the sands. They had the big paws and gangly limbs of teenagers, and fought with wooden spears that clacked as they struck, whirled, and parried one another. Now and then, one would let out a piercing yowl, or hiss, faces contorting with simulated rage.

On the other side of the chamber, raised on a dais and surrounded by ladies-in-waiting, was the Priest-Queen of Ru Waat. She was a sight to behold, tall and lean and extremely fit. Most of her coat was as white and silky as polished pearl, darkening to dark red points on her extremities. She had an especially fine tail with a plume of long, lustrous fur. It lay draped around her thighs like a fan of scarlet feathers.

When she caught sight of us, her ears pricked, and she pushed herself up to her hands. The crowd of servants and slaves around her scattered as the flame-pointed woman got to her feet. She was dressed all in gold: a filmy gold sari, a golden headdress styled like the rays of the sun, and stacks of gold bracelets, rings, and chokers. Like Tahan, she wore an earring connected to a nose ring by slender chains, though hers was larger and fancier.

Tahan motioned us down. “Kneel for the Priest-Queen of Ru Waat, Pranang Prashini Solai Maaw, Chosen of the Sun, First Warrior among our people.”

Suri, Rin and I all bowed from the waist. Gar folded his arms and stood back, only sketching a brief, awkward dip of his torso.

Tahan went to her knees and bowed to the floor. “These manlings have come to our land seeking a favor of you, my queen. They request that you humor them with audience.”

The queen with the very long name studied us, gazing at each person with obvious delight. She had starling eyes, a blue so pale they were like chips of ice against the brilliant red fur of her muzzle.

“Humans? And a Mercurion? How unusual.” She trilled, sashaying forward. She moved like a panther, all muscle and grace, and wove around and through the group of us. Her tail slid under my nose on the way past, her arm brushing mine. “What a strange scent you have, human. The perfume of the dark forest at night, heavy with the smell of the hunt. You smell like a predator worthy of the title. But this one...”

The Priest-Queen came to a stop in front of Rin, looking the nervous Mercurion up and down. “You, lovely one, are not a predator at all, even though your kind were crafted for war. Your people are nothing but stories in our land.”

“N-No,” Rin stuttered. “I’m really not.”

The Queen’s curly mouth lifted into a sly smirk at the corners, and she reached out to press the pads of her fingers against Rin’s breastbone, giving her a small, playful shove before sauntering over to Suri. Suri tensed as the Queen ghosted around her, sniffing curiously.

“And here we have a woman who smells like old blood, carrying the heat of the desert storms with her like a cloak,” the Priest-Queen sighed. “So beautiful, you are, and with the bearing of a queen. Are these two your favorite males?”

She flashed Gar and I both a wicked, knowing smile.

“I’d say one of them’s currently my favorite male, and the other one’s a fixer-upper I picked up off the street,” Suri replied wryly. “He’s got a long way to go before he’s my favorite anything.”

Gar’s cheeks flushed. “Hey! What’s your damn problem?”

Suri flashed him a look of disbelief over her shoulder. “You shot my damn hookwing, mate.”

The Priest-Queen laughed with delight at the banter, but then abruptly sobered. The light left her eyes, and her ears pinned back. “Regardless, it is against law for males