The cabin and the ship around it had disappeared. Fuzzy images flowed in turmoil until I sat at the courtyard of my home. The fortified house sprawled much wider and taller than I remembered, and the doors were fit for giants.
"Our conversation was interrupted." Air ignited like gunpowder. The stench of burning wood and brimstone filled my lungs.
"Go away, Umu," I willed without words.
"You can't shoo away yourself."
I concentrated on rexing, but the increase of thought only made my surroundings firmer. My heart ached from the sight of my home in fmes, and with every one of its molten beats, the illusion tightened its taloned grip over my faculties. Before the nightmare could overtake me, I willed the world and myself into a wet fog.
From the haze formed my body. The scaled belly under my eyes was immense, yet not bloated or corpulent. Its size existed for a reason.
I tried to move, but I found myself too heavy. After a moment of struggling, I decided there in fact was no need to move. By merely existing, I fulfilled my purpose. I was a womb, and a bosom and limbs to nurse the young.
The cycle of fecundity would repeat. I needed not to be anything else. I could be nothing more.
My ribcage crushed the frantic heart inside. The dim cabin of the galley rocked gently. I mouthed Sulme's name, but he wasn't in the room.
Cmmy moisture stuck into my skin. I threw the bnket off me and examined my body. Nothing had visibly changed, though my nails were getting long.
The morning was about to die, when I got out of the cabin. Men, seeking my attention, coerced me into the role of their leader. I listened to their troubles and went around praising their courage. I led a ritual to hallow the ke as a resting pce for the heroic dead.
Sulme expined the pns he had made with the Attisan leaders. Despite his reticence, the Nilkoan had succeeded in herding our disparate band remarkably well.
We had lost half of our men to battle, disease and desertion, but gained in exchange confidence, vital experience, better ships and a hoard of equipment. All of the bck ships had sunken, closing a dread epoch, which had lingered far beyond its allotted time. Just like the reign of the Vonir princes.
My ardent personal devotees --the serpentists, the best of handgunners and lucky remnants of the zealots-- had become a fire-hardened lot. Their eyes gleamed with determination, a surety approaching madness. Men like them lived to follow the whim of their leader. Doing otherwise would be the same as the death of the person they had become.
I made them kneel in front of me and had them swear a fell oath of loyalty by my Father. When they stood at my behest, they rose as my oathbound retainers. From now on their conduct wouldn't be compared to that of mere mortal men, but to that of the companions of ancestral heroes.
The damaged ships that still floated were sent back to Attisa with an impressive collection of trophies to boast our victory.
"What do we do with the captives?" Sulme asked.
It was the question I had avoided to answer. Umu's words filled my mind. Most of my men would happily sacrifice the Tamsi wretches in the name of their dy. My spirit could grow turgid on their souls.
I looked up into the cloudless sky. The lightning bolt might have been a warning. The kindly gods would not tolerate another forceful intrusion into their scheme.
Burning the essence of others to ward the soul of my child would make the unborn an accomplice to the crime. A life, which hadn't yet even began, would be tainted from the start, at least according to the ws, which gods had given to mankind.
"Free the Ekrans," I said. "Give them the choice of joining us or going ashore. As for the Tamsi, they will remain our guests until a ransom is paid. Make them row, if you can, but motivate them with proper rations, not the whip."
On the second ke that day, we met a group of ships. At first I assumed they were a te group of the Tamsi looking for the glory in a quick death. Yet their crews swung their arms and fgs at us in a welcome instead of hostility.
Both sides sent a small boat for a parley. It turned out they were Ekrans, who had deserted the Tamsi fleet, after they had heard about our revolt. Though their attitudes were mercenary and loyalties fickle, I welcomed them to our fleet.
Nevertheless, I was no fool. I insisted that my trusted men were pced as 'advisors' on the fresh ships. To my surprise, their crews welcomed this. Most of their officers had disagreed with their decision to desert, and they had been left figuratively rudderless. A sliver of remorse gnawed me from doubting my allies, but it was overshadowed by the good fortune of ready reinforcements.
I picked men from my followers that possessed a way with words and fiery natures. They I named my heralds. I bound them to me with their blood and gave them horses and arms, so they might spread the word of the end to Tamsi heresy in the nd of us Ekrans.
We made our way through sprawling kes. After we torched a few more manors, all the Tamsi fled from our way or hid in the woods. The Ekran cns were convinced to open their fortress gates and join our cause, either out of self-preservation or genuine desire to shed the Vonir yoke.
No town offered us any resistance, as my reputation preceded me in a twisted form. Many were surprised that the beast, which had scorched Attisa and eaten its people, was nowhere to be seen. To maintain the spectre of dread, I let my soldiers spread their wild tales about me. Soon townspeople prayed to the gods at the sight of their unburnt houses.
In the rumours, I was Mistress of Kauku, Lady Serpentine, the Deathless Fme. All sorts of overly grandiose epithets. I paid them little heed, except when I was named the firstborn of Luiheki. That was false. The first daughter of my Father was the terror, which fire struck into the hearts of monsters in the night. Through a shared Mother Numma, those nocturnal horrors were my kin.
