Five weeks after Moriah’s resurrection, Klorachamol’s masters summoned him topside. Jenna sulked in Moriah’s cavern listening to Corko give one of his language lessons, Jenjen absent somewhere. Moriah sat with Shaskie and Radar draped over her legs. Xian and Jonal were not present, but one of the girl’s guardians always escorted her unless she entered the mine sensors.
Moriah glanced over at Jenna, disturbed by the woman’s depression. Once Corko wrapped up his current discussion of the three hundred and seventy-one different words for earth used in Gnarly, Moriah moved over to sit next to her.
“Jenna, is Klorachamol alright?”
Jenna snorted out her nose. “You’re the observant one.” Deserts would be rainforests in comparison to the dryness of her reply. Moriah glanced away and waited. Jenna softened her next words, “He’ll be alright, but I always worry. They only summon him to eliminate someone their normal assassins can’t handle, so I worry.” She shrugged her helplessness. “And he always comes back in a foul mood. He can get rather rough.”
“Eliminate?” Moriah said, cocking her head sideways puzzled by the strange word, at least in context. “What do you mean, eliminate?”
Corko answered, having come over to the two humans. “The death master. Klorachamol be death bringer, for payment.”
Jenna glared at the dwarf. Corko grunted at the force of the gaze. “Ease to you Jenna. The Ker must need understanding of knowledge, companions to be. Earlier known, easier known, or not.”
“You didn’t have to be so blunt,” Jenna muttered, flipping her hair over one shoulder and playing with its mass.
Corko dismissed the objection, addressing Moriah again. “Complex be Klorachamol. History nor purpose, exile be unknown to we gnarly. ‘Tis strange, a fault in the earth. The death master be of death, yes. Yet. Same death master protects the weak and condones not the abuse of power. According to unique precepts, the Klorachamol acts in harmony and discord of expectations. Mayhaps conflict with those who control his imprisonment?” Corko shook his head and shrugged. “It is supposition.”
“Too much supposition, Master Corko,” Jenna said, back straight.
“Klorachamol’s an assassin?” Moriah words overlapped Jenna’s, her eyes wide in surprise.
Jenna redoubled her glare at the dwarf, but then all expression vanished and she shifted her unwavering gaze to Moriah. In an emotionless voice, she simply said, “Yes.”
Moriah quirked her mouth to one side in an expression of perplexed thought. “I did not know that.” Neither Jenna nor Corko made reply, waiting. And then Moriah’s eyes widened and she blurted out, “Oh no!” as she stood up and dumped both Shaskie and Radar to the ground and bolted across the cavern. Radar recovered in an instant and raced after here in hot pursuit.
“Ker!” Jenna yelled as the girl and her peer fled. Before the echoes of her cry faded, Moriah vanished into one of the smaller tunnels, worming out of sight on toe and elbow. Turning to Shaskie, Jenna snapped, “What are you doing! Get after her.”
Shaskie, who was standing up from being abruptly dumped to the ground, blinked at the woman. “Huh?”
Jenna’s hair flared and the after image of wings sparkled behind her for the briefest of moments. “Go. After. Her. Now.”
Shaskie’s fur stood on end and she bolted as if pursued by a daemon.
Moriah raced as if her life were on the line, ignoring the ripping of tough fabric and delicate skin alike on rocky protrusions. Apparently, Xian and Jonal had truly stumbled into serious trouble, the implications of which still bubbled up in Moriah’s memories. But the implications aside, the one thing her memories declared with complete certainty was that if she delayed reaching them, they would die. Praying for all she was worth for time, Moriah chose branching passages without hesitation, never slowing for even a heartbeat.
Approaching a dead end, Moriah pulled out her old lesion knife and blasted the thin wall to the chamber beyond out of her way. On the other side of the wall a war raged, a war of crystal ferrets. The boys had in fact stumbled into another queen’s territory and been attacked. The new ferrets had herded her two peers into a corner of their nest and currently held them hostage, attacking in small waves. While injured, Moriah’s peers still held their own for the moment. Fortunately, the crystal venom did not affect the ferrets themselves, else they would have become zombies a long time hence.
With Moriah’s arrival, all fighting ceased. When queens met, worker and warrior alike stood aside. Only the queens and peers would contest now.
Turning in one mass unison, the hostile ferrets stared at this new intruder, of a sudden uncertain and confused. A foreign queen had entered. They knew it. They sensed it. The flavor of the link of peers lay unmistakable upon it.
Yet not a queen. Her personal flavor tasted other upon their senses than memory declared ought to be. Beyond this strangeness, she looked to be one of the predator-prey who hunted them, whom they hunted in turn.
The territory’s queen flowed into view, hissing at her strange adversary, arching her back and baring her fangs. The cavern’s mass of naturally armored ferrets opened up a passage, allowing Moriah’s peers to scurry to her. The bristling queen moved to within twenty yards, her five peers ranged behind her. She glowered at the intruders. Moriah shuddered. Those five peers were the size of large otters, as compared to her own small-weasel sized peers.
And they were unscathed, unlike the boys who were oozing from numerous wounds ripped into their tough, crystal hard hides. Moriah took a deep breath to quell the emptiness she felt in her chest and stomach. Sweat tickled down her face and drenched her coveralls. She had to calm down and tend her peers, or else she would have no chance of winning the coming conflict. Extending her hands out slow and careful, she whispered soft words of encouragement, willing health to her peers. Her silvery length of hair rippled as if water washed over it in streams. Streaks of color faded and brightened within its strands, the lighting affect bright enough to shimmer amidst the faint light from the crystal saturated cavern.
The queen ferret and her peers watched unmoving. Strict protocols existed in ferret society concerning queen conflicts, and to attack while a queen healed her peers did not so much as cross their minds. The purpose of such conflicts was not one of death, but of sovereignty and territory. Whichever queen lost would serve the other and the peers of the victorious queen would mate with the loser, thus intermingling the nest memories.
Moriah did not want to lose. Aside from the fact that biting was a fair action in the coming battle, and she lacked any natural immunity to their venom, the thought of the other matter scared her no end. She pulled out her lesion knife, thinking that she was going to have one shot at this. She had to force the rival queen to submit immediately.
Something, a shift in pressure, a change of intent, maybe a noise, made her aware of Shaskie behind her, but she dared not turn to look. That would precipitate the queen’s attack. Softly she said, “Shaskie, get out of here.”
Shaskie stood outside the sea of glowing ferrets, scared beyond reason. “I, I cannot leave you.”
“You can only die in this place. Wait for me at home.”
“Vut . . . .”
“This is my affair and my responsibility. You cannot interfere. Please.” Moriah watched the other queen, her gaze never wavering. Hardening her voice, Moriah said, “Shaskie, I cannot win with you distracting me. Leave. Now.”
Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.
“ Y, yes.” Shaskie spun around and fled. If she could get to Corko, maybe he could do something to help her newest friend.
With Shaskie gone, all Moriah could do was wait. For an intruding queen to attack first was not allowed. It just did not happen in ferret culture.
The queen clicked her jaws and her five peers flowed forward. Moriah’s three peers responded and battle joined. Metal bodies clashed, the three weasel sized peers meeting the five otter sized peers in a mighty clash of armored bodies. Fortunately, the three managed to stop the five dead in their tracks, two flying sideways into two others. The queen charged her rival, fangs bared.
Moriah shot a bolt of non-lethal force energy at the queen, non-lethal to a creature of metal and crystal at least. The queen’s forward charge abruptly reversed and she flew all the way across the bubble to slam into the far wall. Moriah then shot each of the rival peers, trying to be careful. She knew how important peers were and did not want to kill them accidentally.
Both the queen and her peers recovered quickly, but did not charge again. The queen arched her back and began circling, two of her peers moving to flank her protectively. Moriah advanced. Leveling the knife again, she staggered her rival and her two guards with rapid bolts of energy. Praying her opponents had been stunned enough and relying on her own peers to stop the remaining three, the strangest of ferret queens rushed forward, ducking under her opponent’s chin. She placed her mouth on the queen’s throat in the ritual of submission, holding the lesion knife ready in case the other queen did not submit. The queen lowered to the ground, rolling over in the position of submission.
Moriah sighed, relief washing over her and leaving a wave of weakness. That had gone better than she thought possible. The peers stopped their fight, separating into separate camps, the two stunned peers staggering to their feet again. Now Moriah had a choice to make. This could be a hostile takeover, in which case she would take the full spoils which were her due and enslave the other queen; or it could be a cooperative takeover, the establishment of an alliance of sort. In that case, Moriah would be the senior of equals.
Moriah was all for the alliance option. Enslaved queens often rechallenged and won the second time around, but according to her memories alliances usually held firm over time. She pulled away from the queen and withdrew to the destroyed section of wall. The boys came over to her and she crouched to stroke them, much to their pleasure. They knew they had done well.
Moriah grinned at them with fond adoration and sent them to do their duty. They advanced on the prostrate queen. Moriah thought it was a good thing, but she had forgotten about the link she had with her peers and gasped as she experience the process with them.
“I’m so mortified,” she whispered, burying her face in her hands and trying to force the sensations away. Once matters were settled according to ferret tradition, Moriah took just enough ore so the subjugated queen would not think her weak and then departed. Because she only had a single sack with her, she forced all five of the subjugated peers as well as several of the other queen’s children to help her carry her spoils. However, she did leave Xian with the other queen for the moment.
Standing in the entrance she had created, she stared at the other queen for a long moment. “I cannot call you ‘the other queen.’ That won’t do at all. I hereby name you Lessi.” The entire cavern stiffened as the naming sank into the queen, her peers and her children, the glow from their bodies brightening a notch. Moriah gave a decisive nod. “I think we will get along fine.” Her eyes narrowed and her voice sharpened. “Don’t ever bite me.”
Shaskie sprang into the cave where Corko and Jenna waited. “Corko! Corko, Ker is in trouvle! Ferrets, lots and lots of ferrets. Hundreds. Thousand, no villions ,everywhere.” Shaskie sprang into the dwarf’s arms and planted her paws on his chest. “Villions of them!”
Jenna grabbed the kytosine by the scruff and yanked her around so they were nose to nose. “Stop.” The single word dropped like an axe, cutting the tirade off. Jenna released the young kyt back into Corko’s arms and then said. “Calmly. There cannot be millions of them. Just tell us what’s happened.”
Shaskie took a deep breath. “When I found her, she was surrounded vy a cave full of ferrets, she and her three. I did not know what to do. I couldn’t do anything.” Tears threatened to overwhelm the young kyt. In a soft voice, “She . . . she ordered ve to leave. She said I would ve in her way, that I could not helv her at all.” More loudly, “Corko, you have to help her.”
Corko grunted and shook his head. “Nay. I cannot fight so many earth eaters within their own nest, nor to arrive before conclusion.”
“Vut we have to helv her,” Shaskie wailed.
Jenna stood looking at the hole where Moriah had gone. “Are we going to lose her again?” She played with her hair absently while adding in a quiet voice, “At least she did not abandon us though.”
Corko put his hand upon Shaskie’s head. “Correct decision made, young Shaskie. Nothing could you have done. Of all, Ker know the earth eaters best.” He hummed for a moment, then asked, “Speak to her you did. Not fighting at time?”
“Er, no? No, they were not fighting,” Shaskie said, her eyes glancing back at the hole in the wall.
“Then hope be allowed,” Corko said and settled into a squat. “We shall wait.”
Shaskie lowered her head dejected. “Surely Klorachavol could have gotten her free of them.”
“He would not,” Jenna said with a sardonic smile. “She went there of her own will, for some reason or other. He might have watched the encounter, but he would not have intervened even if she died because of it.” Jenna crossed her arms and pursed her lips. “Probably. He might have. Hard to say with Ker.” She too looked at the small hole in the tunnel wall and then up at the tunnel ceiling. “Besides, it would only take one bite of those things and Klorachamol would be as dead as you or I.”
“Why did she tell ve to leave?” Shaskie muttered, jumping from the crook of Corko’s arm.
Jenna sighed and sat on a rock. “I don’t know. As Corko said, we can but wait.” She fixed Shaskie with her eyes, “Unless you want to go check on her right now?”
“No,” Shaskie shivered. “I don’t want to vecome a zomvie.”
Three hours later, Shaskie’s curiosity trumped her fear. “Going to check on her,” she declared without preamble and sprang into the hole. “I’ll ve careful,” she called over her shoulder in anticipation of Jenna’s opened mouth. Jenna glowered at the hole for a long moment. Corko laughed at her.
Shaskie prowled through the tunnel, pausing every few steps to listen. Her curiosity had driven her back into the tunnel, but now her fear made her cautious. Pausing once again, she stiffened at a distant scrabbling. Shaskie backed up until she could turn around without problem and waited.
Minutes ticked by as the walls of the tunnel closed in on the kyt. Shaskie licked her lips and ran her tongue over her sharp teeth. The noise grew louder and louder until its thunder echoed in the cavern of Shaskie’s mind.
“Shaskie?” The Kytosine jumped, spun in place and took three steps before the meaning registered.
“K, Ker?”
“Yep. Shaskie, everything’s been resolved so you don’t have to be scared anymore,” Moriah said. She had sensed Shaskie’s mixture of fear and curiosity before ever seeing the miner’s light. “By the way, could you dim that light of yours? It’s hard to crawl with my eyes shut.” Moriah continued down the tunnel, coming into view of the miniature panther girl. “I’m heading back to the cave, but could you go and warn Corko and Jenna that there are going to be a few extra ferrets coming into the cave?”
“What havvened? Er, what occurred?”
“Long story. If I tell you now, I will have to do it again for Corko and Jenna. Patience, please.”
“Why do I have to be patient?” Shaskie grumped. “I came back into the tunnel to find out what occurred and everything.” Despite the complaint, Shaskie scampered down the tunnel to warn the cave.
Moriah snickered under her breath and continued down the tunnel herself, bumping her head on the ceiling once as she crawled on her belly. “Wish I could move in these tunnels as easily as Shaskie,” she muttered to herself as a rock protrusion once again dug into her side.
Several minutes later Moriah struggled out of the hole into her home cavern where the others waited. Lessi’s peers and children swarmed down the wall to the floor and deposited the ore they carried in piles, then stood around the cavern in an ever-growing sea of glowing crystal embedded in metallic bodies. Moriah sensed their curiosity as they watched Corko, Jenna and Shaskie, but sent Lessi’s ferrets away as soon as the last one deposited its load. She did not want an accidental nipping this late in the game. Both Jonal and Radar remained with her.
Just after the last of the conquered queen’s peers vanished, Jenjen entered the cave. He spared the piles of ore and crystal lying around the cavern a glance, but then ignored them. He could feel the stone of the cavern resonate the after image of ferret essence.
“Greetings cousin,” Corko greeted him.
“Greetings Corko, Jenna, Shaskie, Ker.” Jenjen speared Moriah with his eyes. “Ker, explain to this one. Sense earth eaters of different flavor.” He nodded at the two peers. Corko, Jenna and Shaskie looked at Moriah, nodding their curiosity for a full explanation.
Moriah sighed, sat down and began explaining what had happened as best she could, finishing with her understanding of her current position. “So now I’m their over-queen or something. I can sense Lessi right now, kind of like I sense the peers, but not as strongly. I even know where her peers are, though not her children at this distance. I can communicate with the children if I’m close enough, but otherwise it’s more like a hazy impression I receive through my contact with Lessi.”
“So, you have expanded your authority,” Jenna said over her still crossed arms, giving the child a critical look. “You’re turning into an empress instead of a queen.”
“No, not at all. This is normal,” Moriah protested. “I remember it happening many times in the past. Sometimes I have been the victor and sometimes the loser.”
“You remember? Conflict happened afore?” Corko asked.
Moriah blinked and shook her head vigorously, clearing the images in her mind. “No, not to me. To previous queens. I think . . . I think I remember things that Xian, Radar and Jonal remember sometimes.” Moriah’s laugh shook unsteadily. “Sometimes it’s hard to remember who I am, which memories are mine and which are theirs.”