Page 43 of A Game of Queens
Suddenly unsure,I hesitated. How many of the gods and goddesses were still aware and breathing? Or had they long ago succumbed to slumber as I had done?
When I had decided to sleep in the Mother’s embrace, few of my kin still walked the earth. Our time of renown and respect among the peoples of the world had ended long ago, and some of the ancient ones had adjusted better to the changing centuries than others.
The voice who’d woken me. She Who Was and Is and Always Will Be. Isis, the Egyptian mother, had always been more interested in the various bloodlines and courts our children had established in the world of men. She’d once had many daughters of her line, but the old blood faded. Magic died. Though it did not surprise me in the slightest that Isis’ line might still walk this earth. Her queens had always been stronger than most.
Who else still breathed to work their magic? Too few, even in my day.
I retreated to the darkest corner of the cavern and lay back among the cushions and furs thelampadeshad brought from the depths of hell. My children of venom immediately covered me, drawn by my hunger. Poison dripped from their fangs and barbs, casting a green light on my skin. I soaked in each drop, adding to my power, but I needed so much more.
Bowers of glowing flowers hung around me, but I yearned for the midnight sky. Sister moon, shining silver and pure in the sky. I could feel the pulse of moonlight through layer upon layer of stone and soil, pulling me like a ceaseless tide.
Not yet, I reminded myself.Soon, I will reclaim the night and braid my magic with the power of the moon. Once I’m stronger.
Closing my eyes, I drifted into uneasy slumber. Hunger burned in me. This new body wanted the warmth of another pressed against her. Many others.
It has been too long.
2
QUINTUS
Only a handful of tall columns and jumbled stones remained from the temple once known as the Sanctuary of the Great Gods. White stone gleamed beneath the crescent moon. Samothraki might be a tiny island in the Aegean Sea, but forbidding dark mountains loomed over the ruins, offering protection from the wild sea.
I couldn't say why I came back to this island hundreds of times over the centuries. This place called to something in my blood. I'd always thought my queen must have once walked these hallowed grounds, but she'd been lost ages ago. Long before she'd been able to call me to her side.
I was old enough to remember the fall of the Roman Empire. I had walked across Europe dozens of times. Sometimes a soldier, a scholar, even a bard. Sometimes I managed to avoid Samothraki for years, forgetting what might have been. Dulling the hollow wound inside me.
I had never served a queen. I never would. I had resigned to my fate long ago. I watched young Aima rise up and serve the last precious queens of our kind. Many fell. Many more rose to take their place.
But not me. My place was here. A long-forgotten ruin that no longer carried any meaning or relevance, much like me. Once, I'd certainly been bitter and angry. Why me? Why must I live so very long, if I was never to serve? Never give myself to anyone? I'd fought in the crusades, hoping I might meet a glorious end, only to walk away unscathed from every battlefield. For whatever reason, I could not seem to die.
Even the Great Mother didn't want me. Not yet, at least.
What use was a queenless, miserable old Aima like me? I still didn't know, but I'd resigned myself to this unending life long ago.
Ironically, I became stronger every year that I lived and breathed on this earth. Perhaps I inherited the strength of every other unBlooded Aima of my line. Or, more likely, we Aima simply grew stronger the closer we came to returning to the Mother. If so, my time must be near. Goddess, I hoped so.Please, Mother, bring me home to Your loving embrace.
Even the temple ruins hadn't been immune to the passing of time. More ancient stones had crumbled away each time I visited. This year, even part of the mountain had fallen away, revealing a dark hole.
A hole that crawled with snakes, scorpions, and spiders, as if a giant nest had exploded out into the courtyard.
I stared at the new cavern a moment before I realized what bothered me. They weren't crawlingout. They were goingin. A steady stream of creatures glided past me. Slithering and crawling over my boots. Ignoring me completely, as if I was merely an obstacle rather than a threat that could stomp them into a bloody smear
In all my endless years, I'd never seen anything like it. The crawling, slithering tide pulled me closer to the dark crack in the rocky hillside. Something inside me stirred. Something that hadlain silent in every court. Before every queen. In every nest. After thousands of years of waiting...
I heard the Call.
3
QUINTUS
Running down the rough tunnel, I dragged my shirt over my head and tossed it aside. I paused long enough to kick off my boots and strip off my pants. A snake fell down across my back while I was bent over, as desperate as me. She called. We must answer.
I didn't stop to think about what kind of queen might call cobras, tarantulas, and scorpions. I didn't fucking care. I didn't care if she shapeshifted into a giant black widow or spit cobra venom. I would serve. Wholeheartedly. My heart pounded so hard my ribs creaked and ached, barely able to contain its frantic thumps. I'd throw myself off the top of the mountain to reach her. A few snakes wouldn't keep me from her.
As I went deeper into the cave, the slithering creatures grew thicker, inching up my legs. The stone walls writhed, covered so thickly they brushed my head and shoulders as I passed. Scratchy legs and the rasp of scales crawled over my bare skin. I couldn't help but step on some of them, though I didn't try to hurt them. Most of them seemed to slide out of my way as soon as I neared with some sixth sense warning of my descending feet.
I couldn't guess how deeply the tunnel cut into the earth. The snakes were bigger now, some as thick as my thigh. Serpents lined the walls and hung from the ceiling, forcing me to push and tear my way through with my bare hands. I shoved through large coils and almost tumbled headfirst into a writhing, twisted mass. Maybe it had once been an underground lake, but the water had been replaced with a living, seething mass. Scorpions and spiders the size of dogs. Writhing snakes too large and tangled to find their heads.
