Dutchess of the End

The morning after was by far the slowest in the expedition’s history. I awoke late as I had on multiple occasions before, and upon exiting the wagon found that only a few women were awake. Two were still nude, poking around in a small area looking for clothing that ostensibly belonged to them as the five or so others worked to tear down the one tent they surrounded.

 

Prinna’s magical protection was still present over the campground, a circle of kindness against an unforgiving landscape. I walked over to them, my feet never having to touch the ground despite being bare, and greeted them.

 

“Grand Archivist.” A pair of them said in unison. I shook my head at that. If I was going to have a better relationship with the people I’d hired, last night was a good start. But it was just that- a start.

 

“Carla. My name’s Carla.” All five women around me froze, heads whipping, hair flying, breath stopped in their haste to look at me. I stood there, body exposed, hands on my hips, smiling at them. I was shorter than most women, which many people thought to add a layer of the natural intimidation I always wore.

 

“Are you sure?” One of them asked. I had half a mind to throw out a quip at the question, but thought better of it.

 

“I’m sure. I’m your employer, not your taskmaster.” I said. A few mutters of acceptance later and most of the crew were back to taking down the tent. It was the first of many, but we did need to be going soon. Our destination was still days away and I had word we were running low on food. 

 

“So Carla, then,” A tall woman addressed me, standing head and shoulders above my height. She was lean, muscular, her body looked as though she could carry a horse on her back. Yet her face was sweet and innocent. An odd combination. “What you said last night, did you mean it?”

 

“About what?” I asked. I had said a great many things last night. There had already been one shift in the camp’s attitude, and last night had surely been another. The ruckus I caused, I didn’t know if it would be repeated.

 

“About opening up to us. So many know you as the smart, fearsome recluse that only comes out of hiding for food.” The woman said. “Will that change?”

 

“Yes.” I said. “This isn’t about me. This is about all of us. We’re on this trip together, are we not?”

 

“We are. Your answer is satisfactory, Carla. I am Melis, my wife is Tanya, the Quartermaster.” She said. Melis? The name didn’t sound familiar, though Tanya did speak of having a wife. “I am glad you can trust us. Do you?”

 

Do I?

 

“I trust you.” I said without thinking. Was it true? I sure hoped it was. There was a lot of valuable information I was travelling with, and I did need to show it to somebody at some point. It had to be. I thought for a moment about how to phrase my next question. “If you have time today, would you pass on a message to Tanya?”

 

“Is that a request?” Melis said. I gave her a quick answer ‘yes,’ and explained my query. She spoke again. “Very well. I’ll let Tanya know you wish to speak with her. Thank you for requesting rather than demanding.”

 

“You’re welcome.” I said, and Melis bowed before turning to the other four women. They had finished taking the tent down, and were folding it up. Melis turned to join them. I turned away to see that the camp was now alive with activity. Not as much as it usually was, still, but bustling all the same. Clothing was being picked up and put on, the nude bodies disappearing in favour of modest ones. I had a sneaking suspicion that it wasn’t their first choice. Prinna’s bubble would likely pop soon.

 

As the camp began to pack up, I wandered the tents, looking for two women in particular. If I trusted these women, then surely I could trust Prinna and Renai. I found the two of them- as well as Alana and a trio of Telbian women- sleeping in one of the larger tents. Sleeping was a loose description of what Alana and one of the Telbians were doing, but located them all the same I had.

 

“Alana?”

 

“Yes?” She asked, having to move her mouth away from a brunette woman’s neck in order to reply. 

 

“Wake your lovers- if you please- I need to discuss an important matter with them.” I said. The brunette sighed, turning back to the more tanned flesh of her fellow Telbians to rest.

 

Prinna and Renai woke quickly, and followed me nude to my wagon, where I sat them on my bed. Stephanie was awake, cuddled up next to me with her head on my shoulder as I introduced my query.

 

“I may not have been entirely honest with the two of you when I hired you. I brought you into this camp on the pretence of travelling back to Castle Telbud to translate for me. I…” I paused for a moment, taking a deep breath. This was it. The moment I’d been putting off for so long. As soon as I fetched my notebook and let them read the contents of the Prophecy, it was all over. They’d know what I’d uncovered. They needed to eventually, I thought. This wasn’t about me anymore. This was about Stephanie, about our child. I’d soon have a daughter, and the last thing I wanted was my child to grow up in the end times. “I actually have it translated already. Here. Read, and I’ll explain.”

 

I ripped the page out of my notebook and handed it to Prinna. She read slowly, as though unfamiliar with Telbian script, nodding, mouthing words occasionally, before handing it to Renai. Unlike Prinna, Renai read quickly, handing the paper back to me in a matter of seconds.

 

“What do you need to know?” Prinna asked once Renai was done.

 

“Where the ‘Race of Myn’ are slumbering. I intend on going with arms and destroying them.” I said. Prinna sighed, and Renai spoke up.

 

“The Race of Myn are not to be trifled with. They sleep. They have slept, they will sleep if we do not disturb them.”

 

“But it says here they can awaken. Clearly you knew about them, and about what they are capable of.” I said. I got myself three nods from that comment- Alana too agreed. “You knew about this?”

 

“It’s an Alihjn story. The Race of Myn dominated all races of women, subjugated them, enslaved them. Then, Ylona the Liberator rose up and overthrew them. They can’t be killed easily, but most were. The rest were driven underground, legends say ten thousand of them. They sleep now.”

 

“I agree with Renai, Carla. We cannot awaken them.” Prinna said. I detected a hint of pleading in her tone. Stephanie grabbed the paper from my hands, and I let her read it to stay in the loop.

 

“We can defeat them now, we wouldn’t even have to fight! All we’d need to do is collapse the chamber they lay asleep in and crush them to death.” I said. Stephanie nodded.

 

“Carla just wants to protect our baby, right?” Stephanie asked, and I agreed. “So why can’t we give it a try?”

 

“We have six women here who can fight. Six.” Alana said. “Ten thousand Myn would run over the six of them and kill the rest of us with them!”

 

“Don’t become the woman of the Prophecy, Carla. From how the women in camp spoke of you, there are too many similarities.” Prinna said. 

 

“She’s not like that at all! She’s kind and sweet and she obviously cares about us.” Stephanie was the one to voice a protest now. A finger was pointed accusingly at Prinna, her mouth turned downwards in a scowl.

 

“She cares for us. That she has exudes that care to the rest of our company? I have my doubts.” 

 

“But, but-” Stephanie began to argue again, but I placed a hand on her shoulder.

 

“It’s okay, Steph.” I said, breathing a defeated sigh. “She’s right. I don’t like it, but this is probably me. Especially if you’re pregnant.”

 

“But it says mother of many, you’ve only sired two, and neither are born yet!”

 

“Mother in ancient Alihjn could also refer to a Sire.” Renai said. Now it was Stephanie’s turn to sigh and hunch forward a bit.

 

“Okay, so Carla’s gonna end the world.”

 

“Not if we stop it. Not if we go to the source and prevent it from ever happening.” I said, gritting my teeth, leaning forward to the three albino women. This had to work. What else could?

 

A long moment of silence passed, even the commotion outside dulled to a still quiet. I felt the wagon lurch forward- it seemed packing had been completed. I was thankful that they were able to get moving without me, on days like today it was brutally necessary.

 

“No.” Prinna said. “It’s too dangerous.”

 

“Please,” I said, pleading with them now. “Please let me try. I want to raise this child without fear that she won’t make it past two years.”

 

They huddled amongst themselves, whispering, making various hand gestures. Even if I wanted to listen in, they were speaking in the Alihjn tongue. I knew some of it, but most was gibberish, and what I could understand was too fast to be of any use to me.

 

“What are they saying?” Stephanie whispered.

 

“I don’t know.” I said back. They talked for a few minutes more before nodding in agreement. Their faces were glum, downcast, defeated. I feared the worst.

 

“Carla Clarke of Telbud, we recognize that you are Prova’s Nightmare. We are powerless to stop you from doing as you please. We’ll tell you the location of the chamber on one condition.”

 

“That is?” I asked. Next to me, Stephanie tensed, and I held my breath.

 

“You allow us to leave your envoy. If you do this thing, we would like to see our families one last time.”

 

“You speak as though I’ll fail, Alana. Have you no faith in me?”

 

“We do, that is our concern.” Prinna said.

 

“We have faith you’ll prove Prova right.” Renai said. I nodded slowly. Logically, it made sense. They were asleep. Ten thousand though they were, I could slit ten thousand throats to protect Stephanie, my children, my parents. I could do it.

 

I turned to Stephanie.

 

“Up to you.” I said.

 

“Can you promise our baby will be safe?” Stephanie asked. I shook my head.

 

“No, but I can promise I’ll do what I think is best to protect her.” There was a risk of failure here, a risk that this prophecy had some weight to it. Day by day, I had both proved it more right and more wrong, but there had to be a breaking point. Either I was Prova’s Nightmare or I wasn’t.

 

“Alana…” Stephanie said. She leaned forward to give the woman a kiss. It was returned, wet and heavy, breaking apart with sorrow in Alana’s eyes. Stephanie had to blink back tears of her own. “I love you.”

 

The words pained me, but not so much as to inspire jealousy. A part of me did love Alana as well. She’d been a good friend, though I know that Stephanie’s feelings for her ran deeper than mine. Renai had ten sister wives, I could be at peace with Stephanie’s Alihjn romance.

 

“I love you, too.” Alana said. “Take care of yourself, okay?”

 

“I will. When this is all over, I’ll send for you, we’ll be together, yet.” Stephanie whispered. A tear fell down her cheek. I held her close while using my other hand to grab a quill out of a nearby drawer, handing it and a bottle of ink to the three of them. Together, they drew a simple map for us, and explained how to get there.

 

It was two days’ ride north.