Chapter 128 - The Voice of the Queen

  The midnighter captain watched the goings on with some interest as the majority of the armed goblins moved to the southern edge of the bluff to man their positions.

  “You are under attack?” he asked.

  “Every day, like clockwork,” I said. “Light-sensitive reptiles from the badlands.”

  “Clok-kwork.” he sounded out. The palanquin curtain fluttered again, and the captain leaned back. I couldn’t hear the exchange that passed between them, but the captain straightened and trilled out a series of high-frequency notes.

  Several of his soldiers stepped up in a rank.

  “My warriors. Spend them.”

  I looked up at Sourtooth. He shrugged down at me.

  “A spear is a spear, and only a fool turns down one to be at his foes pointed. Especially one so skilled as the midnighter elites,” he said. “At your own peril, turn up at gifts offered by the Queen and her servants.”

  “Fair enough. Armstrong, get ‘em sorted on the wall,” I said. When the scrapper chief hesitated, I patted him on the arm. “I’ll be fine. They’re here to talk, not fight.” I considered. “Except for the ones who want to get stuck in with the lizards.”

  “Arms’strong,” the captain sounded out. “A good name. Power name.” He gestured to his warriors. “Take them. The priestess gives.”

  “C’mon, lads, I’ll get you sorted,” said the scrapper chief, all trepidation gone. More than anything else, he loved a good fight, so it wasn’t a whole lot of arm twisting to jump into one with new hands at his side. The handful of warriors trotted off with the scrapper chief and the rest of the defenders as the sun crept slowly toward Raphina’s horizon and I waited to get my first look at this priestess.

  As the sun slipped behind the moon, the attendants carefully lowered the palanquin. One of them removed the cloth from his shoulder and laid it on the ground while another opened the door and dropped to his knees.

  The priestess didn’t so much stand up as she unfolded from the palanquin. She was at least half again as tall as a person, spindly carapace wrapped in hanging silks of teal and orange, with a veil that matched. What I could see above the veil was… almost human—though not so much so that I’d ever mistake the priestess for one. Cheekbones too wide, skin too hard, she was smack dab in the middle of the uncanny valley, and the human side of me had to suppress a shudder.

  She held out her arms—two of them, that is, of the four I could see, and a pair of her attendants carefully folded back her sleeves to reveal alabaster chitinous limbs fringed with delicate white hairs. When she rubbed them together, it created a polytonal facsimile of a woman’s voice, closer to human than even the orc women. When I heard it, I really did shudder.

  “I greet you, chieftain. I am Priestess Clathn, voice of the Midnight Queen, reader of stars, blessed under the sea, and seeker of hidden truths.”

  “King Apollo. Charmed,” I said. “I heard your folks don’t come around here much. What brings you to my little stretch of Lanclova?”

  If she was surprised at my title, she didn’t show it. Instead, the priestess made a sign with two of her fingers, like two peace signs touching tips. Below that, her second set of hands made a circle, then brought them together in the shape of an eye. “The watchful eye is changing. We wish to study it from close afield. You have noticed this, yes?”

  I glanced up. “I have. It’s got less ocean than it did a couple months ago. Deeper canyons. You came for a closer look?”

  This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

  “An observatory, upon high ground. We should like to construct one. You know the high ground in Lanclova. Perhaps you know a place like this that you are not using. Heard, have you, of the art of star-tracking?”

  She waved for one of her attendants, who brought forth a wooden case, and withdrew a silk band around it so that it could be opened. Inside, a beautifully worked brass telescope. This wasn’t the bent brass tube with crudely ground lenses that I used to peer out of the bi-glider. This was the real deal, handmade, ornate, inlaid with geometric patterns and marked with strange constellations. It sat on a navy-blue cushion, secured with a silk band.

  “I…” I stammered. “I may have heard of it.”

  Another of the priestess’ supplicants produced a tripod, and the first gently placed the telescope upon it.

  “We use artifice of curved glass to make a thing appear to be many times closer. Details are revealed, and stars that one could not see with eyes alone shine brightly. These we track. These we measure—and in them, find truths.”

  When Sourtooth had described the Midnight Queen to me, he had called them astrologers. But they were also astronomers. I approached the telescope carefully. The tubes were sectioned off, and I could clearly see both a zoom ring and a focal ring. I ran my hands over the length.

  “If you’d like, King Apollo, I can show you the…. oh.”

  I gently positioned the aperture towards Raphina. Though the side facing us was in shadow, it still received some bounced light from the parts of Rava not under eclipse, and there was plenty to see. I carefully adjusted the focus until I brought sweeping pink plains into view, and deep, amber canyons spotted with vegetation.

  I won’t lie. I gasped. This was my first look, real look, at Raphina’s surface. This was the next best thing to walking on it myself. And as much as I hate to say it, Raphina was a lot more interesting, geographically, than our own moon—which I’d spent a lot of summer nights looking up at. This wasn’t just a moon worth going to. This was a moon worth staying on. And it was waiting for me. I stepped away from the viewport, eyes beginning to well. The priestess took my place and peered through the aperture, then tilted her head at me, but said nothing.

  “Your star tracking doesn’t do much good here, I imagine. Too much light reflected off Raphina washes out the sky.”

  “Our skills are diminished, yes. This is why I have my captain.”

  Toward the south end of the bluff I began to hear the staccato of rifle fire as the lizards swarmed the canyon wall. I could see the Priestess’ guards, as well, standing side by side with my goblins, thrusting their heavy spears downward. Several Ifrit hovered nearby, watching, while yet others possessed trap mechanisms or recoilless rifles. Goblins, orcs, fire spirits. Heck, why not add bug people to the mix? Especially ones that produced fine metalwork and lenses? So what if I had to endure a little fortune telling? I didn’t want this telescope to ever leave. At least, not until I could build my own.

  “Whatever you need,” I said. “Anything. High ground, materials, builders. Put your observatory here.”

  “Truly?” asked the priestess. “You would permit such an installation?”

  “I welcome it with open arms,” I said honestly. “Just promise me that I’ll be able to use whatever you build to look at the sky.”

  The priestess dipped at the waist, bowing low. Her supplicants straight up prostrated themselves on the dust of the bluff. Even her captain, after a brief moment of shock, got down on one knee and lowered his head.

  “I shall send word to my queen that I have perhaps found what she seeks,” said Clathn. “But there are other locations to survey. Other priestesses with whom I must confer. For now, allow me to meditate and rest. I have journeyed long.”

  The priestess bowed again and I watched jealously as the telescope was broken down and returned to its protective case. Priestess Clathn once again returned to her palanquin—though I have no idea how the thing could be comfortable for her since it was about a third as tall as she was. The elite captain moved against the door and took position.

  I looked up at the captain. “Do you have a name?”

  The captain tilted his head. “Instrument. Drone. Protector. No name. Tool. Useful.”

  “That’s depressing,” I said. I could hear Taquoho’s voice in the back of my head as I said it. Crude and reductive. I wished the Ifrit was here so that I could get his perspective on the midnighters. “Well, nice chat. Talk later.” I waved to the captain, and he tilted his head the other direction before looking at his own palm and replicating the gesture. I turned and headed for the airstrip.

  Sourfang hobbled after me. “Hope, I, that this little brother knows of what he is doing. The Midnighters are not lightly to be taken.” He spat. “Nor would you, I thought, to be won over by trinkets and baubles.”

  “It wasn’t the trinket, Sourtooth. Heck, a few more weeks refinement in lens-grinding and I’ll be able to make a telescope just as powerful.” I shook my head. “No. It was the fact that the first friggen people I’ve met that were interested in any kind of space science just knocked on my door and asked to crash on the couch.”

  I looked over at the guards and attendants beginning to unpack their freight from the bug-drawn wagons, and at the high-level soldiers now manning the wall. “I’m not inclined to send them away.”