A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 43

Nasira desired to cast her human subjects out, seeing them as weak by nature of what they were, merely human. With a little oppression, they were leaving her in droves, straight to the open arms of Dakhete, who welcomed them, though with some alarm after hearing their tales.

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Dakhete stood on a hilltop with Saddiq and Sha-sha, her constant companions these days, it seemed. The influx of people had made a few changes clear in her way of doing things. She now wore clothes more often, and always when she was in public, though what she and Yasmin wore when they trained was still likely considered scanty. Dakhete didn't care. The ability to move freely was the most important thing, and when any had come to her to mention it, she told them that she didn't sit in a council chamber and send others off if there was anything which required her attention. There had been a few times when the wagons containing all of the earthly possessions of a family of hopeful settlers had been threatened by bandits on the way.

Dakhete and Yasmin, along with Khyan, Piankh and a few others had appeared walking out of a swirling cloud of dust to help most often, and it was worse for the bandits if she only sent her troops, since the dead fighters killed all of the bandits every single time. At least when Dakhete appeared, she gave them a chance to explain. She'd learned that sending troops alone tended to put the settlers off as well so she avoided it if she could.

Her mind drifted back to the last time that it had happened. She'd had no idea at the time that so much would come from that day.

They were just walking toward the palace, still wearing the dirt of the afternoon's training and looking forward to a bath and the evening meal when Dakhete paused. She just knew somehow, every time. The only way that she could explain it to herself was that it related to her strong desire to resurrect the kingdom and to do that, it had to be repopulated, all of which made those journeying there with a hope in their hearts for a new beginning very important to Dakhete. The cats had grown used to this already, but Yasmin and Khyan needed to be told.

"I am needed," she said, and the others stood near her. As the breeze turned into a wind around them, Yasmin groaned, "I really wanted to get –"

They faded into the swirl of the wind and in a moment, they stood in an open place not many miles from Meroe, above the fifth cataract of the Nile and the ruins of the ancient Kush town of Dangeil.

" –some of this dust off me."

Yasmin looked around after finishing her statement. A pair of wagons stood beside the road and next to them, stood the terrified owners, a group of people with children who watched and hoped that they might get away with their lives as a gang of thieves rifled through their belongings. Yasmin's teeth ground together and she drew her sword as she began to take a step, but Dakhete held her back and when the girl looked over, Dakhete pointed off toward a hillside.

None of the players in the little scene below had noticed yet, being pre-occupied with their issues on both sides of this, but Dakhete stared at a large serpent with a human torso. Even to her, this was something out of a legend. The thing was female, from one of the oldest of Djinn families. She was dark in coloring and wearing leather armor, holding a bow in her left hand. By the leather strap over her shoulder, Dakhete surmised that there must also be a quiver of arrows on her back. After a moment, Shank saw that the creature was as much a spectator here as they were at the moment.

She turned to the cats, "Go around toward the people. Stay hidden in the grass there."

Sha-sha and Saddiq were gone the next instant and Khyan nocked an arrow to his bow. "It looks as though no one has been harmed yet," Dakhete said, "Both of you go and try to talk. Yasmin in front, Khyan back and to the side for a shot if needed."

They nodded and began to walk as Dakhete sifted away toward the creature on the hillside in a swirl of fine sand that faded from sight as though the breeze had stopped.

She stood about seven feet from the thing as it stared down below, shifting a little from side to side. Dakhete wondered about a lot of things here, one of them being why, if one felt they needed to wear a thick leather cuirass, they needed cut-outs over the breasts. It made no sense to her. The body of the impala on the ground next to her did make sense. The creature needed to eat like everyone else, she supposed. She watched in a little fascination as the female weaved, sniffing. Dakhete knew what would happen in a moment.

The snake woman froze for an instant and then turned suddenly to draw back. Dakhete faded into view and hoped that they might be able to speak somehow. That possibility faded as soon as she saw the expression. The thing hissed in alarm and the eyes glowed in a malicious sort of way as she reached for an arrow, drawing back a little more. Dakhete faded slightly and stepped forward slowly to pick up the carcass of the impala and hold it out, partly to show that this was no effort to her and hopefully to show that she meant no harm.

The snakewoman stopped then and moved the arrow to her bow hand to reach out and take the carcass. She slid backwards a little and nodded once. "You are the Djinn queen of the old human place," she said, "You have our prince with you. It pleases me.

Take care of him for us and keep him safe. We will remove his mother soon. What remains is the issue of the princesses. Help the prince to bring his sisters away from the queen. If he does this and succeeds – and that is if they do not need killing as the way to free them from Nasira, the people will follow the prince after the queen is gone.

You need this," she nodded, "for if the Djinn do not follow him, some will wish to follow you, since you have Djinn blood and you already rule here. Others will not, and it will be a dangerous time then for all. You must know better than most how perilous it would be to have Djinn warring inside your lands. Only one of us could undo all that you have done. It is no threat from me, but you must know this. All that stays our hand are the cats that she has allied herself with, for we do not know what they would do once it begins. We would know where their loyalty lies.

You travel with the last of the ones which we were commanded to kill by Nasira's twisted mother. We should have risen then and not allowed what happened. Use her when you act. All of us are fearful of harming the last of them. Nasira herself may be the only threat to that one, though what the princesses will do can never be predicted. But without that one's aid, you will have trouble even passing the gates – even with the prince at your side. He is young, and what needs doing is likely more than he can manage alone. You must help or he will fail and his line will end with his death, for the princesses do not hold enough Djinn blood for us to follow."

Dakhete was startled, but she thanked the snake woman, knowing now what she was beyond any doubt. Many Djinn can take any form, and unless they are touched by another Djinn, their true nature is often hard to determine.

"I hear what you say," Dakhete said quietly, "just as I hear what is not said. To place your mind at ease, I wish to say that aside from the peace in my land, I have no desire to claim the jebel kingdom for myself. What would you wish for out of this?" she asked respectfully.

The serpent smiled, "It is said that you are wise and I see it now. For me, I would wish for peace and no more madness from a ruler," she hissed, "I would wish to trust you, but I know what passed between you and our diseased queen. It remains to be seen if you would act in our favor.

I have told you what you need to hear," she nodded, "What you do with it will be watched.

I must go," she said, "Our people are oppressed and kept inside the jebel ourselves, mostly. I am here today to hunt. Nasira has forgotten how it is when one is not a queen and has young who must eat." She slid out of sight quickly after one backward glance and Dakhete disappeared to join the others.

The men had stopped going through everything and now stood grinning at Yasmin. Apparently the appearance of a girl wearing little other than enough leather to cover her chest and groin as it held a few weapons had the effect of blinding them to the sword in her hand and the archer a few yards away. Dakhete sighed and appeared behind Yasmin, striding forward with her own sword in her hand.

The grins tuned wider, but they looked a little less certain now. One of them asked what they wanted and Dakhete decided that he was the largest and toughest looking, so he would do. She changed direction toward him and he held up his knife. Dakhete heard the Najdi Arabic that he used to speak in and wondered briefly; she'd have expected to hear the Nubian language here.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "these people are not wealthy."

"They are wealthy enough for us," the man laughed, "What game do you pla-"

His companions stared for a moment at the man's face as he gasped in shock from where the upper part of him lay in the dirt, but he had no way to do even that. Dakhete had cut him through from his shoulder to his hip in a single stroke, flesh, bones, cartilage and all.

"I am showing you why you should leave travelers alone," she said.

There had been four of them. The others turned and ran, but the nearest fell groaning with an arrow in his back. Yasmin ran after the pair as Dakhete went to speak to the travellers.

Yasmin was gaining on the one closest to her as she tore through the grasses which grew under the trees here, but the man was swept out of her view as Saddiq took him. Yasmin kept running, looking at the back of the last one, but he disappeared from sight as he was tripped by a mottled flash from out of his rear quarter. When she got to where the dust was clearing, Sha-sha had already doubled back and she watched Yasmin's approach from where she lay on her front with the dying man's throat in her jaws and her paw on his chest to hold him down. His struggles ended as he suffocated.

Yasmin knelt down and went through his clothing, but found nothing of interest. Walking back, she found Sha-sha beside her looking up. "I'm not angry," she said, guessing that was the reason for the look, "It's just that I've just run all afternoon, come here to run some more and ... "

She thought about it and smiled, reaching out to rub the Cheetah's head, "I'm only complaining. Don't mind me, Sha-sha. You did rightly."

They recovered a few bits of inexpensive jewelry from the body of the one killed by Saddiq. It didn't look like it was worth the effort to Dakhete, but she knew that it might mean something to the victims. Not every woman can be a queen, she told herself, but that doesn't mean anything when she seeks to look her best, the wives of settlers included. After everything had been returned to the two families near the carts, they told them that they were not more than a day and a half at the outside away from Meroe.

"You could spend this night in Dangeil," Dakhete said, "I do not suggest remaining here. We will help you get your things together and guide you there. There is little there but sand and a few ruins, I am afraid, but you will be safe there. It is the next place on my long list to be rebuilt."

They'd guided the shaken-up people to Dangeil , arriving there in darkness and being asked to share their humble evening meal. To Dakhete, it was fine and she enjoyed it because it was a heartfelt thing to have been offered it, and the travelers only learned who it had been who had appeared to help them when they arrived at Meroe the next day.

What bothered Dakhete more than anything were the words of the Djinn that she'd seen. She asked Saddiq and he said that he knew of the instability of the Djinn. From his travels, he'd learned that Nasira now used his kind to threaten her own people, foolishly mistaking their submission for fear in her increasingly deranged state.

"But those ones that she uses are only following their own orders from their own king reluctantly, most of them," Saddiq thought to them. "I wanted to say that the time for my appearance draws near at hand, though it now looks as though the fate of one kingdom now hangs on the actions of another," He looked at Khyan, and sent his thoughts to them all. "You must free your sisters somehow."

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A few days later, Dakhete walked in a procession through Napata toward Jebel Barkal. As it went, it grew in number as many Djinn gathered, appearing as pale figures inside moving tongues of flame, their most natural form. It was unexpected, but many came to walk near to Sha-sha, and when asked, some only said that they wished to see one of the Forgotten Ones for him or herself, and others saying regretfully that their monarch was insane, and that they wished to be on hand in case they might be needed to protect her if they could.

Sha-sha herself said little, though she smiled and nodded, and it caused many to wonder why anyone would want to harm one like her.

They stopped briefly at a small tomb near to the ruined temple of Amun. It was hidden, but a pair of the Djinn came forward to lead Sha-sha to it. She knelt there in quiet thought for a few moments before she rose and thanked them. She'd never known that her people had rulers of their own at one time. The tomb had been prepared by the Djinn to mark the resting place of the king and his queen after their murder at the hands of Nasira's mother herself.

To Dakhete's surprise, the serpent woman that she'd met came forward bearing a shield, covered in cheetah skin and a spear. She held other articles and presented them to Sha-sha with a bow, "You are the last, and so you have the right to the symbols of your people."

After she handed the spear to Sha-sha, she placed an amulet around her neck which glowed brightly as soon as it touched the dark skin over her heart. With that in place, she slid down to fit others around the girl's ankles and finally her wrists.

"These were caused to be taken by our dead queen in a ruse. Your people have always been a little like children, too trusting of us, their kin. There was always peace between us until the first murders – when your king and queen were tricked and led to their doom. It began our shame and our curse. We cannot return the dead to you, but we hope for kindness in your thoughts. Queen Nasira does not speak for all of the Djinn. These were given to my mother to destroy, but she hid them instead, telling me when I was old enough that this day would come."

Sha-sha spread her arms wide and though the amulet and the thongs on her limbs remained, the spear and the shield disappeared and she stood empty-handed before the Djinn.

The serpent was a little shocked, "You know of these things? You know what they are?"

Sha-sha nodded, "My mother says to me. I hear them. I hear them all, "she pointed at her breast. "All know, my people say. All know what to do. I hear them in me. Djinn have thanks from Sha-sha."

The two bowed to each other before the snake woman turned to Saddiq, "It is as you said when you came to us at night, your royal kin are in the jebel to visit Nasira."

Saddiq nodded silently and Sha-sha spoke for him. "Saddiq is Ninth Prince, prince of truth. Saddiq say this day will free many."

They walked toward the mountain and as they came nearer to it, a gate appeared out of the ancient living rock and what must have been a thousand Djinn appeared, commanded by Queen Nasira herself.

She was furious as she looked at what to her was a rebellion of a few of her subjects. "I should have known that your words to me were treachery, Dakhete. I did as I said, and you reward me with an insignificant uprising."

"I do nothing of the sort, Nasira," Dakhete said, "I am only here with the hope of learning the truth. I have heard of late that you are not the benevolent ruler that I had been led to believe by your words. I hear the words of the people who come to me seeking freedom and peace and not the fear that drove them out.

From your own son, I have been told that his attempts to see his sisters were refused, and that the girl that he loves – my loved friend and pupil – was threatened indirectly. I hear of the unrest and oppression of the Djinn themselves – as it was told to me by Djinn. I am not here with my army today, Nasira. I only want to know what is going on."

The Djinn queen seethed, "What goes on in my realm is no business or concern of my barefooted and impoverished beggar queen neighbor," Nasira shouted, "Get you gone or there will be war between us!"

Dakhete shook her head, "You forget that your tiny realm stands surrounded by mine. Your prince desires to see his sisters," Dakhete said quietly, and her voice carried clearly across the distance between the pair of queens, "It is rumored that they are kept as prisoners by their own mother – just as she was once kept herself. Is this a strange custom among the rulers of your once-noble house? Little wonder that you all lose your minds.

I am here to learn the truth. That you imprison your own flesh and blood and use a race of cats who oppress their own to oppress a people like me and others is reason enough for me to come."

With subtle motions of her hands, a pair of swords appeared out of the air. They flashed and glittered as she flicked them effortlessly in overhand motions twice. She stood now in well-used studded leather armor as she tilted her head and smiled coldly, "If they were not Djinn who would die needlessly for their mad queen, I could kill everything standing between you and I now and not even lose my breath as I take your head.

I came with open hands and I left my army at home. But now I warm to your hateful words to me and if you wish to talk of war now, ..."

The space from the foot of the jebel all the way to the ruins of Napata grew dark before Nasira's eyes as thousands of Dakhete's troops appeared in blocks, each one comprising the ranks of the fighters. The renowned and deadly female archers of Kas chanted their haunting calls as they trotted to take up their positions, their dark skin shining with sweat once again in the bright sunlight. Chariots wheeled into place, and behind her, Dakhete's mighty war elephants stamped as they plodded out of the air to walk to the fore.

There were a thousand or so Djinn with Nasira, all living and powerful, but they all felt despair to see that they faced over thirty fighters each who would not falter or grow weary if their mad queen held to her foolishness, for not one of the ones that they faced could die,...

Because long ago, they already had.

There was a subtle shift in Dakhete's voice as it dropped a little, the edge in it being quite clear in what was implied, "Do not speak empty threats of war to me, Nasira. You forget once again who you speak with. You could study the book on war and never begin to understand the parts which I have written there myself.

The wetness of the pages would stain your fine robe."

Nasira almost screeched in rage. She turned and Saddiq's family stood near her, listening as she asked for their aid. She commanded her subjects to destroy Dakhete and those who stood with her, and after that was done, she commanded, she wanted Medewi to be razed to the dust once more so that it could never rise again. They looked from her to Dakhete's troops and back, wondering if she'd gone blind suddenly.

But nothing happened.

No one moved after Sha-sha and Saddiq stepped forward, the lithe girl and the large coal-black leopard. For a moment, there was stillness near the lower slopes of the jebel. Sha-sha threw her arms out from her sides and the shield and spear appeared in her hands.