Amazonia - Ishi

I spent a boring morning in armor guarding Timur, dressed like a lord in a new blue tunic and black leggings tucked into his boots, while he made a tour of Bukhara as his chief adviser, Porthos, dictated to his scribes all the problems needing to be fixed. Fortunately, Timur ended the tour at the Dancing Direwolf, which he then gave to me as a reward for faithful service. So, what was I going to do with an inn? Drink good wine, of course, and let someone else run it.

Which was what we were doing as we sat on cushions in the private room. The Nomads were cleaning my armor while Dancer and Troll remained on guard in the common room. Meanwhile, Timur and Porthos discussed which problems need fixing first, with occasional advice from Lys, who was nestled against Karl. A strange feeling tickled the back of my mind, and I turned my head as a grey shimmer appeared in the air beside me.

Before I could open my mouth to give warning, Fox stepped through the gateway. She wore gauzy clothing that left her belly exposed and not the Artifact armor she'd worn when she'd left. The shimmer vanished as she said, "Apologies, Domina." Then Fox dropped to one knee as everyone else flinched in surprise before relaxing, as she added, "I come bearing news."

Timur leaned back against the wall as he reached for the wine cup on the sideboard beside him. "Has the betrothal taken place?"

"It has, my prince," Fox replied as I handed her my wine cup. She took a small sip and gave it back with murmured thanks. "However, it was a close thing."

Fox knelt on the cushion I pulled out so everyone could see her, and began telling us everything that happened in the encampment the previous night.

Timur laughed when she described how the women of the White Horde mobbed the defenders trying to help Greywolf. But then he sobered as Fox talked about Asena and Ghostdog. He listened intently as she summarized Khan Khingla's speech, and as Fox mentioned the threat to bring in the Black Dragon clan into the White Horde, Timur shook his head. "He must be truly desperate."

"My prince," Fox said, "most of your people were outraged at the suggestion."

Porthos added, "Bukhara remembers the Black Dragon raids. They were fearsome fighters with a grim reputation."

"A reputation well deserved." Timur took a swallow of wine before staring into the cup. "The Black Dragon clan is what the People of the Eternal Sky used to be, back when the worship of Tengri was just beginning to take root and we were little better than brigands. Their clan sees us as traitors to the true path Tengri means for us to take, and fought us for many years before peace was forged by my father, who took a Black Dragon woman as his wife." He looked up at me. "This wager between Titan and Asena, can the Ogri win?"

I shrugged. "I'd say it depends on Asena's skill," draining the wine cup and giving it to Fox, who rose to refill it from the ceramic jug. "When Titan's opponent is something he hates, like a Daemo monster, his ferocity's a scary thing. I wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of it."

"But he and Asena are old friends," Fox said as she handed the wine cup back.

"Exactly. Titan's not going to want to hurt her, and I'm wondering if he won't hold back some like he did when we were fighting human opponents in the arena."

"If I might throw in my silver piece's worth," Porthos said, "Asena and Greywolf were guards on the last caravan trip I made. Twice when we were attacked by bandits, she fought them with an inhuman viciousness I would never wish to go against. When I spoke to Greywolf about it later, he told me she fights every fight that way unless it is a training bout... and even then shows no mercy. If Titan goes in holding back, he may regret it."

"I win either way," Timur said as he finished his own wine. Fox stood and put her hand next to the jug while making an inviting motion with the other; Timur nodded, and she brought the jug over to him, kneeling close to the prince as she poured. "Asena and her cub are chaos made flesh," he went on, "and the People of the Eternal sky saw that last night. Once I'm burned in effigy and can establish my own Khanate here, neither one of them will ever be a problem again."

Lys got to her feet. "You are the master of a city with a vault full of blood corn," she said, hands set on her tiny hips, "because of what Greywolf did. I fail to understand why you are so against him."

Timur regarded her a moment as Fox stood and returned the jug to the side table. "It all has to do with that time long ago when my people were little better than brigands," he finally said, leaning back against the wall. "Yadghu was the eldest son of the warlord, and as part of a peace treaty, had become a royal hostage in the Xian empire's imperial court.

“The legend tells that the warlord hated his son so much he broke the treaty so Yadghu would die. But instead of execution, the emperor had him educated, and eventually returned him to his people."

Timur took a swallow of wine. "Yadghu had already embraced Tengri, bringing with him the first Keeper of the Spirits, and the religion swept through the People, taking hold in many, especially the young. Yadghu clashed with his father, who still worshiped the spirits of his ancestors, leading to the warlord having his son declared dead.

“Now, Yadghu also had with him a disgraced Etruscan general, who suggested Yadghu hold his own funeral games as the Etruscans did, and invite the warlord to attend as a way of establishing peace between the two tribes. Both father and son agreed and the split happened peacefully.

Timur chuckled. "However, if the warlord had known how many would follow Yadghu, he might have changed his mind."

Karl said, "And now you've become the new Yadghu."

"So it would seem." Timur stared into his wine cup as his voice grew thoughtful. "This is why I want Greywolf and his mother as far away from us as possible. My father believes he does the right thing with this idea of settling down, yet all I see is a return to the days of the warlord, with a wolf-monster as Avitohol's Bloodguard and savage, Black Dragon clan barbarians swaying his ideas."

"Order versus chaos." Timur looked at me and I nodded. "Titan used to talk about it, but I've never really understood what he meant until now. You want to preserve order among your people by unleashing chaos on the Sasnayams, yet by using Lys, you're doing it in the most orderly way possible."

Timur frowned. "How so?"

Lys was giving me a sly smile of understanding as I motioned at her. "This isn't Hel's hordes running around eating people, but the most orderly army that's ever existed."

"As long as you are leading it," Lys said." I grimaced, looking down into my own wine cup until Lys walked over and laid her small hand on my arm. "I know it is not the pain you fear, but the way the transformation changes you."

The front door opened. It’s probably more messages for Timur. I ignored the sound as I sighed. "Lys, I can't shake the feeling that someday I'm going to do something I'll never be able to forgive myself for doing."

She patted my arm. "You listened to me the night of the raid, and I promise-"

"My prince, I bring tidings." The bead curtain chimed wildly as the Daemo priestess Sybil walked into the room, followed by the sickly looking priestess and the stout one who I remembered smoked cigars, all of them wearing robes.

Then a fourth woman in robes walked in behind them. "Ishi?" I sat up straight on my cushion. "I thought you'd been killed for betraying us."

Sybil gave me a cold look. "My lady only pretended to betray you. In truth, my lady Ishtar was vital for our plan to succeed."

Timur raised his eyebrows. "You are telling me that the minor-mage who used to do my laundry is actually the Celestial Ishtar in disguise?"

Ishi placed her hand on the Daemo's narrow shoulder. "Sybil, let me show them so we can move on."

"But my lady, your mana supply-"

"Greywolf renewed a good portion of it when he replenished the Firestone in my belly. I promise: only a brief taste so they understand, and no more." Ishi held Sybil's gaze, who sighed and nodded once as Ishi removed her hand and turned towards us. My skin crawled as her face begins to ripple...

Into a Maiden. I'd never in my life wanted to be a man who lusts after women, but at that moment, I wanted to be one with all my heart. I wanted to lust after this woman. It wasn’t the exotic way she looked, her hair silky and luxurious with flawless brown skin soft as goose down, but the aura she gave off. She would be the bed-slave I'd always wanted, giving herself to me in total submission, her body the altar I'd worship at for the rest of my life.

Timur, Porthos and Karl felt this aura too, because their faces became as hungry as mine, while Lys grinned at us with jagged teeth like shards of black ice. Ishtar smiled as her face rippled again...

Into a Mother. My real mother was a thousand leagues away and probably dead, but it didn't matter, for she never loved me the way Ishtar could. At that moment, I was a child again in a way I didn't remember ever feeling. I knew I could run to her anytime and always be comforted. I’d never disobey her wishes, as I did to my real mother by joining the Javelin Corps, I would always listen when she spoke, I'd... No, her face's rippling again...

Into a Crone. I drew back and the men did as well, Ishtar now wise as a dragon of Xian but more frightening than a legion of ghosts. I dared not cross her, nor displease her in any way, for to do so would risk being cursed until death and beyond. She looked at me and her eyes seared straight into my soul as her face rippled once more...

Back into Ishi's gentle features. I was panting as if I'd just fought a combat, Timur sharing my stunned expression as Porthos threw himself at Ishi's feet. "Ishtar, forgive me. I swear to you that if I had any inkling of who you were, I would never-"

"Porthos, stop," Ishi said, interrupting him as she placed her hand on his head. "Yes, you could be condescending, but you were always kind, and never tried to take liberties with my body as others did." She raised him back up to his feet, then motioned for him to sit again. He did so as Ishi took a deep breath. "Akbal," her hand motioning towards the sickly priestess, "found Inanna's body in the charnel pits and asked if it was possible for her to be raised."

"If it can be done," Akbal said, "then I will serve her more faithfully than I served the Sasnayams. When I was banished here, I found Inanna's sacred books, which I kept to myself instead of turning them over to the temple." She bowed to Ishi. "However, once the truth of the lady was revealed to me, I showed them to her."

"My sister was a warrior born," Ishi said, "and not a necromancer. But she had found Necromantic texts in one of the strongholds of the last Daemo prince, and rather than destroy it, kept it hidden." She turned towards Lys. "I would have brought it to you, but I wanted to read it first, as I have read Necromantic lore books before."

Lys asked, "Was it the same as what you had read?"

Ishi shook her head. "The first part was, and I skimmed through the contents, but the second half was totally new. Evil practices, such as the creation of Shades, which are strong spirits sundered from traveling on to their next existence, and can possess the dead, to transforming living Celestials not just into a Revenant, but into a true Lich. Worst of all, though, is a complete description of how to turn humans into Shadowmen. Why she did not burn those books, I will never know, and I would like you to raise her just long enough for me to find out."

Timur asked, "Has anyone ever raised a Celestial before?"

"Not to my knowledge," Lys replied. "Ishi," her voice becoming sharp, "is it possible that Inanna used this spell to transform herself? Because if she is a Lich in truth, there is no way anyone can control her."

Ishi was already shaking her head. "Even if she had wanted to, there was no time. When the Sasnayams came, it was like a whirlwind, and Inanna fought in battle after battle, defeat after defeat, until the final battle here. The process, according to the lore, takes weeks with a dedicated priesthood assisting in the transition." She hesitated. "However, there was something strange. Someone cast a preservation spell over her body right after she died."

"Any idea who?" Karl asked.

Ishi shook her head again. "I am guessing she had a secret priestess who knew something about the practice, but as to what happened to her?"

Ishi trailed off as Timur stroked his beard. "Instead of just raising Inanna long enough to talk, what about using her as part of the army? She is what, eight, nine feet tall?"

"Seven foot," Ishi replied. "We tend to shrink after the first couple thousand years, when our body's production of mana slows down." Her face grew thoughtful. "Inanna lived for battle, and though part of me is heartsick at the thought of my sister's corpse being used in such a way, were she with us, she would want to carry on the fight."

"Let's all take a breath and think about this," the stout priestess with the broad face said. "Leaving aside the ethics of building an army of Shamblers, you're going to need more of your power to keep Inanna's body going. Am I right?"

Lys shrugged. "According to Cermet, the greater the amount of flesh and bone, the greater the amount of power needed to keep them going. But being larger they can hold more, so we do not have to replenish the Shadow mana they use as fast." She frowned. "I do not know you."

"Xaman the Traveler," the woman replied, "banished to the backwater of the empire, and now loyal priestess of Ishtar."

"Why were you banished?" I asked.

She gave me a broad smile. "For calling the priesthood of Tesiphon a pack of jackals, to start. Any road, if you want this Shambler army to actually be effective, you need to start thinking about its logistics."

I blinked. "Logistics?"

Xaman rolled her eyes. "Logistics rule the world, and that includes magic. Now, I understand that Lys produces this... what did you call it?"

"Shadow mana," Lys replied. "The mana nodes in my body produce it naturally, while normal necromancers and Revenants need to draw it from the grey trees where the walls between the worlds are weak."

"Exactly my point. Think of it this way: if you're taking an army through the Khitian waste, you need to know exactly where every oasis and well is along the way, or else the soldiers in your army will start dropping from thirst."

Timur snapped his fingers. "Logistics. Lys, how long can a Shambler march before they need to have their Shadow mana replenished?"

Lys stared at him for a few moments. "I have no idea. In the past, all I would do is raise a corpse to speak with it, or use a body to accomplish some task, then let it go." She looked away, nodding to herself. "I need to do experiments, not only how long can they march, but also fight, and do other tasks like moving earth and stone."

"We need to map out all the grey trees," Timur said, "not just around Bukhara, but all through the satrapies and the Sasnayam lands themselves."

"Sift through the legends and places the merchants avoid," Porthos said. "Then send your outriders to confirm their location without giving their purpose away."

"Excellent," Xaman said with a grin. "We've already begun recruiting prophets, and along with spreading the word, they can look for these locations as well-"

The door to the inn banged open. "Where is Lady Ishi and Sybil," a young woman's breathless voice panted. "We have a crisis on our hands."

"Here," Ishi called out. The bead curtain's bells jangled wildly as a robed figure rushed through. Ishi grabbed the girl by her shoulders. "What crisis?"

The young woman took a sobbing breath. "It is Cermet. She ripped the spear out of the guard's hand and killed him with it, then chased the rest of us away so she could raise Inanna herself. But then Cermet dropped like a puppet with its strings cut as Inanna got to her feet and grabbed the spear." The girl clutched Ishi's hand. "My lady, Inanna is demanding you attend her at once and make her queen of Bukhara."