Page 75 of Queen Takes Checkmate
I found a fallen skeleton soldier, his bones scattered across the road like he’d been plowed over by a tank. Hopefully a queen had succeeded in escaping, though the bones were so old and brittle that I couldn’t tell if it’d been recent, and the skeleton was simply that old, or if it’d been lying here, drying out like sticks for centuries. He’d carried a fine set of blades. Golden chainmail made me wince at the ridiculous opulence, but even malleable rings were a better protection than bare skin. Though I’d give up my favorite spine sheath for some plain, tightly woven steel chainmail.
I crawled the last few feet to a low wall that marked the outer boundary of the temple grounds. There was no shadow. No place to hide. My skin felt tight, my nerves jittery. I hated being out in the open like this unprotected. It felt like eyes watched my every move, though I saw and sensed nothing.
Carefully, I peered over the top of the wall. My eyes watered trying to make sense of it all. Glittering lights flashed in all directions, painfully bright. Blinking tears away, I finally realized I had indeed found the Soldiers of Light, dressed in their shining armor and armed with every sword, shield, and gold-tipped mace imaginable. They lined the columned aisle at least five deep. Easily one hundred dead, expert soldiers.
Not something I could fight singlehandedly.
A flash brighter than ever made me duck down. Even through clenched eyelids, the light roasted my eyeballs. I winced, waiting until I was sure the brilliance had faded, before I carefully peeked over the top of the wall.
My queen. Bloody. Apparently dead. Her eyes stared sightlessly up at the burning ball of light in the sky without a single tear.
Huitzilopochtli still gripped her wrist against his mouth, feeding on her blood. He’d doubled in size from when I’d seen him not even an hour ago at the plane. Our queen’s blood had worked a miracle in him, bringing him back closer to his former glory as a god of sun. He rivaled even Tepeyollotl now, the biggest man I’d ever seen.
Clutching her wrist in both hands to his mouth, he snarled at the soldiers, whirling away from them, a starving wolf fighting to keep his kill. He dragged Shara like she was a lifeless rag doll.
And I quivered. Enraged. At the dishonor.
My hands ached on the sword hilts.
My head throbbed with the fury of my heartbeat.
Yet my queen’s command rolled through my head. She hadn’t commanded me directly, only Rik, but my alpha carried her authority and had directed me to approach only once she was close enough to Ra to ensure the red serpent would kill him.
I hadn’t even seen the motherfucker yet and I wanted to kill them all. I wanted to gallop between the columns screaming a challenge and trample them all into the dust.
Panting and fighting myself, I almost missed Huitzilopochtli’s words.
“Tell him Huitzilopochtli brings a sacrifice worthy of Lord of Sun.”
Typical soldiers. They milled around, unable to make a decision for themselves. Maybe Huitzilopochtli knew that, or maybe he was just lucky, trying to buy us all time to approach. At least the soldiers were all focused on him, now, which allowed me to work my way along the wall to the side of the temple.
Vivian said there was a small niche on either side of the temple for observers. Nothing fed Ra’s vanity like having people watch his atrocities. If he still held any living queens captive, they might be commanded to watch, though Vivian thought it unlikely.
Finally, a ranking officer marched back down the aisle toward the main temple. I heard the heavy thud of his boots and the jingle of spurs. Former knight, I thought. He sounded like he carried a full set of armor.
I was close enough to hear him call out, “Greatest of Seers, one of the Lord’s conquests has returned with a sacrifice he claims worthy of Lord of Sun.”
A man stuck his head out from a royal purple curtain. He wore pristine white robes and a heavy gold and lapis lazuli collar around his throat. “Which conquest? What sacrifice?”
Huitzilopochtli heard the man and raised his voice, “Behold, Tenochtitlan shall rise once more! Hummingbird on the Left returns with a queen descended from Isis herself!”
Dragging Shara by her arm, Huitzilopochtli pushed through the soldiers with the ego of a former sun god. Miracle of miracles, they allowed him to pass unscathed. Or maybe they were too stunned by the dreaded word.
Isis.
The Great One’s name seemed to hang in the air like a massive charge of lightning, building until the hairs prickled up and down my arms.
“Who dares utter her vile name in my presence?” A deep voice bellowed through the curtains, making them dance and shimmer as if a mighty wind had blown through the temple.
I started to creep forward again, but something sharp jabbed me between my shoulder blades.
“You have too much meat on your bones to wear the golden wings of Ra.” The sword jabbed harder, ready to slip between my vertebra. A quick twist of the blade, and my spine would be a jumbled mess. Shara could heal it, sure, but not if she was dead.
With a sigh, I let the weapons fall from my hands and stretched out on the blistering gold stone.
Perhaps she could still make use of me yet.
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