A Big Shiny Blue Marble Ch. 16

"Piankh! Piankh, the Guardian. Piankh the Mighty. I remind you of your oath to me. Come! I have need."

Nothing happened for a moment, and then there were sounds, soft groaning whispers which Yasmin could not hear clearly enough to understand. Even if she could hear them, she thought, she doubted that she'd understand any of it. She looked away down the hillside and wondered about the place. She could see pyramids off in the distance. She had no idea where this was, but in its glory, it sure must have been something to see.

When she turned toward Dakhete again, she was startled to see her speaking to a large man who listened attentively. Without turning her head, Dakhete beckoned Yasmin to her. She took Najmah's lead in her hand and they walked.

After a moment, Yasmin was astounded to hear that she could indeed understand what was being said as she listened.

"I cannot," he said with obvious reluctance and much regret, "I was sworn to Tanyi's eternal service after you left. I had no say in it, Kandake."

"Stand here but a moment," Dakhete said, a little angrily. She turned and howled down toward the pyramids. "Tanyi! Tanyi, rise and come to me, I command it, and you will obey."

Yasmin looked at the man. He was obviously at his peak as some sort of warrior. He wore sandals and some ornate leggings. Above that, he wore some form of short kilt which glittered in the late sunlight. She saw that he was very powerfully built and wore a symbol of his office around his neck. He bore many scars on his body, obviously from warfare. She wondered where he'd come from and how it was that he stood here when there had been nobody there only a few seconds before.

"He comes, Kandake," the deep voice said as the man nodded.

"Are there still foot-soldiers?" she asked, "Are there archers?"

"Yes, Kandake, many. " He looked at her with a grin, "Thousands still, there are."

She smiled a little, "And are there still my war elephants? What of them?"

"I can say there are at least one hundred fifty, perhaps a few more than that. Sad for me to say that it is not the thousand that you knew."

"Then we wait until Tanyi can drag his bones up here," she said, "I will deal with this. He has much to answer for."

A man walked up the path along with a woman, obviously his queen by their dress, plus some which may have been their offspring and many advisers. He stopped before her and said nothing.

"Do you know me, Tanyi?" she asked him.

He nodded, but said nothing.

"Who am I then?" she asked.

"I am King Tanyi, King of Armak," he began until Dakhete raised her hand and all of them screamed out in agony. Yasmin stared as she watched it along with Piankh for a moment.

"I did not ask you who you were," Dakhete scowled. "I asked you if you knew who I am and not liking it, you sought to twist it as you have always done. You are a presumptuous little weasel and you always were," Dakhete said as she spit on him.

"I handed you a lush and proud kingdom, Tanyi, and look at what you did with it. This is a dustbowl. This is unforgivable. You still need lessons in respect, I see. Piankh here tells me that you overrode his oath to me, is that so?"

"He lies," the apparition said, "He- "

The rest was lost in his screams as Dakhete held up her hand again.

"You had no right, Tanyi, for I was not dead, was I? I only had to leave for a time. Well I have returned. The rule of you and those after you is ended and I rule here once more.

If you insist on telling me mis-truths," she said, "I will summon all of the kings and queens of this place and they will do as they wish to you and your little mob of defilers for what has been done here. We know who carries the blood and who does not. We know the truth without a thought. There are no lies among the dead, Tanyi, though I am not one of you.

Before that even happens, I will allow Piankh his revenge for what you have just said to me, and we both know who is the mighty fighter and who has never lifted anything heavier than his sister-wife's tit in his life."

She turned away and Yasmin saw tears in her friend's eyes. "I am sorry that I ever left," she said to herself, "I turned an empire over to a worthless rat." She wiped her eyes and spun on Tanyi.

"On your KNEES!" she howled in his face, "All of you usurpers! NOW!"

The king's party dropped instantly and Dakhete's voice grew cold.

"Hear me well, Tanyi and obey, or by Amun , Sekhmet, Bast, and Apedemak himself, I will shatter all of your family into dust and burn it and before I do that, I will let everyone see how well a TRUE queen can stand and piss into the mouth of a worthless man."

And you will drink it before the lowest foot-soldier to see," she said with an evil tone, "Do you understand?"

"Yes, my Queen," he said fearfully.

Yasmin wondered how it was that one who was already dead would have something to fear, though it was rather obvious that this one did -- at least from Dakhete.

"I am not your queen, you idiot," she said, "Your queen kneels behind you. I was never your queen, and I grow tired of your insolence and stupidity. I am Kandake here, more than just a queen. The name is still famed in places so far removed from here that you know nothing of them. Three thousand years have passed and the name lives on still, though it is changed a little and people still name their girl-children Candace after me and all of the other RULING queens.

But no one, Tanyi, no one has ever named their boy-children after even one king of Armak, other than another Armakkan. Now this will be your last chance to get this rightly.

Who am I?"

They bowed their heads. "You are Dakhete, Kandake of Medewi, Queen of Armak" he said.

"I was never the queen of any king," she said, reminding him. "I am Queen Regnant. I rule alone and I take back what I left in your worthless care. Now, release Piankh from his oath and ask that worthy one for his forgiveness, or by the gods, I can feel my bladder in need of relief into your mouth. I have had precious little to laugh about of late and for what I see that has happened around me I wish to do far worse than that."

The king jabbered at the warrior who nodded his thanks to Dakhete.

"Before you go back to your dusty boxes, "she smiled to Tanyi, "and seek solace in the sandy slit of your sister-wife, I wish for you to see something."

She turned to Piankh. "My old friend, it is so good to see you once again. Can you help me to bring a little of this place back once more?"

He smiled warmly as he slapped his fist against his muscled chest, "After so long, there is nothing that I want more, Kandake. I want to weep my own tears of happiness only to see you again. My oath to you stands once more and I have never felt such pride. Only tell me your wish and I will have it done."

Dakhete smiled, "This place was built on might and power. I have the power and the right to wield it. Now Piankh, trusted friend, I give you the ability in my name.

Show me the might."

He grinned and it changed into a laugh as he turned and held out his arms. "Our Queen is returned to us!" he called out to the dusty hills, "Dakhete is our Queen once more! All hail Dakhete, Kandake of Armak!"

"HAIL!" the hills resounded with the roaring call of thousands of voices, "HAIL DAKHETE!" It went on and on.

Yasmin almost fell over. She'd seen no one on those hillsides, and now she couldn't see the ground of those hillsides. Everywhere that she looked, she saw troops, thousands of them. There were foot-soldiers, ranks and ranks of them standing and clashing their spears and swords against their shields as they chanted. The din was incredible and the whole valley rang with it. She saw charioteers and thousands of bowmen, or more correctly, bow-women who sang haunting chants in strange rhythms and every few seconds, they cheered wildly and held their bows aloft to the queen.

Yasmin looked at Dakhete who smiled, "Armak has always been famous for our girl archers, the best in the world. They have always sung their chants as they move - for they always move, looking for the best ground to shoot toward and shifting like sand as they do. The chanting draws the ear and causes foes to look. To look for more than a moment is too long, and that is well before the fight."

The ground shook a little and Yasmin spun and gaped at over a hundred war elephants as they paraded and began to line up as though for Dakhete's inspection.

The ground was flat near to the river, but not far off, it was more rolling hills. There was only really one higher feature, a single large piece of kharst which rose out of the ground. On the back side, away from the city, it sloped down until it disappeared into the deep forest which also covered it, but on the side facing Medewi, it rose to a peak. About three-quarters of the way up the steep side, there was a bit of a ledge, a little overgrown with the large twisting roots of the huge trees which grew above it.

At this moment, as the river valley echoed with the cheers of a long-dead, but newly arisen army, as the ground shook from the rumble of many elephants striding to walk in cadence as one, no one looked at the mountain, no one saw what crouched a little on that ledge.

A large cat stood there, not large for his kind, but then he was not at his peak yet. He watched, panting a little through his open mouth. He only looked with mild interest. His companion, the one whom he was there to guard, it was he who looked with keen eyes.

The young man stood bent a little so as not to present much of an identifiable human shape to anyone's eye who might be looking in their direction. The only clothing that he wore was more of a belt fashioned from a thong of leather from which hung scraps of animal fur. The thong also provided a place for his short sword. Beyond that, he was nude, other than a thong of leather around one bicep.

In his right hand, he clutched the shaft of a spear, the butt of which was against the ground between him and his guard. To a keen eye, the spear itself might be of as much interest as the pair of watchers, for it was well-made, forged out of a long billet of steel. Though it now served its owner as more of a walking stick at the moment, it was long and balanced for use as a pike or a throwing spear. The tip was a little leaf-shaped, about seven or eight inches long, and in cross section, the tip was forged in a diamond shape.

The other remarkable feature was the boy himself, for his skin was paler than that usually seen this far away from the trade routes, and he bore few of the African features of the majority of the people who might have settled here after the passing of the nation of Armak and the eclipse of the kingdom of Medewi. But then, none had wanted to settle in such a place.

He was a little tall, and his build reflected a life lived outside, for the most part. He still wore some of the lankiness of a youth, though the musculature of the man that he would be one day soon was beginning to make its appearance. He had the height and the form. The muscles were there. Now he needed the pounds.

It had begun at puberty and really, it was near to its completion, the magical change from the boy to the man, though there still remained more strength to be gained as more of the build that his life demanded of him appeared. He still had a way to go, but then he was only nineteen.

His skin appeared -- depending on the light, to be either a dark golden color or a light chocolate brown. His features were a slight mix, though he leaned toward the features of a Caucasian, from his father. His hair looked a little wild and hung far down his back in light brown and blonde curls, and at the moment as he gazed down on the scene below, his eyes sparkled in an azure blue.

He watched for a little longer before he trailed his fingers over the back of the long-toothed cat, who looked up and back to the youth. Seeing him nod and his subtle hand motion, he turned after him as they entered the gloom of the forest on the mountain unseen.

"I have forgotten how this feels, to stand here and see the might of Armak, "Dakhete smiled as she placed her hand on Piankh's massive bicep, "Thank you, my friend.

I wish for you to meet Yasmin," she said, "A young friend of mine and my student -- yours as well at some point. She is here to learn the craft and the art of war. And this is her ass, Najmah. Please see to it that they come to no harm here and that all know of them. There is much to do, but I ache to see the city restored at least some. Please help as you can, Piankh."

"My honor, Kandake," he smiled, "It shall be so."

"I will leave much of the restoration to you, but first, there is one thing."

"Ask it," Piankh smiled, "The smallest thing shall be my life's work. The largest as well."

"Tamyi still has nasty thoughts, but nothing like those of his sister-wife, Yumn. I remember how she gloated when I left. She has always had envy and hatred in her heart for me, " she smiled, "all of his family do, I can hear them, and they see one here who means much to me, so they have caused my wrath to fall on them.

Take their heads, and tell all who see them that these headless ones are reviled. What is left of them will turn to dust, since I forbid that they return to their boxes. This girl and her donkey are to be protected above all else. The heads are to go into the river and they will never be whole again."

Yasmin was sure that she'd seen no sword on Piankh, but she heard his sword ring as he drew it with a grin and she saw it gleaming wickedly as he walked toward the ex-king.