WIEDERGEBURT Act IV Chapter 15

No one spoke as Queen Medusa appeared before our group. The woman stared at Jahin with a small frown, golden eyes flashing in the sun, then looked at Aliya, but it was only for a moment. As if her eyes were inexplicably drawn to our group, the queen of the lamia turned toward us… and then her eyes finally landed on Lin.

A flash of recognition passed through her eyes. Her lips trembled. She looked like she was just barely controlling herself. Even from this distance, I could see the water glistening unshed in her eyes.

“Lin…”

“Momma…”

Barely a moment passed before Lin was darting forward, lunging at Queen Medusa and burying her face into the woman’s naked chest. Loud wails echoed from Lin as she cried. Her shoulders shook. Her tail writhed on the ground. It looked like all the emotions she’d been holding in, emotions that perhaps even she herself was unaware of, were spilling out of her right now.

“Momma! Momma! This princess… this princess is sorry! She’s sorry she didn’t listen to you! She’s sorry for leaving you! She’s sorry for getting angry at you! This princess never should have been so belligerent!”

I’d never seen Lin release such a torrent of emotions before. This was the first time for the others as well. Kari, Lin, and Siv all looked startled by the lamia’s flood of tears. I could not blame them for being shocked.

The woman I had met so long ago, who kidnapped me so she could turn me into a nourishment for her unborn child, was nowhere to be seen. Queen Medusa’s eyes were soft. The motherly smile on her lips was one I had seen every day for the past month on the faces of Kari, Lin, Fay, and Siv. She wrapped her daughter in a hug with both her arms and her entire tail. I knew that was a sign of affection. Lin always wrapped me and her sisters up like that.

“My daughter… this queen is so happy to see that you are safe.”

“Momma!”

This touching scene appeared to move the other lamia around us to tears. More than a few of them were crying. Several had buried their faces in their hands, water leaking from between their fingers. A few were even crying so hard snot was coming out. Even Aliya, who had not cried even after meeting Lin again, was shedding tears.

“This is so touching…”

I glanced at Fay, who was also crying. She was staring at the scene with red eyes and a few tears leaking down her face. Kari wasn’t shedding any tears, but the warm smile she wore as she gazed at Lin told me what her feelings were on this matter. She was happy for her cherished younger sister. Siv was the only one who didn’t seem emotional. No, rather, it looked like she was merely confused.

“Ma? Ma…?”

Still sitting on my shoulders, Raul grabbed two handfuls of my hair, which he fortunately didn’t pull on. That would have hurt. He might be a baby, but he had a strong grip.

I wasn’t sure how much time passed, but the sun was beginning to set. Many of the lamia had moved off to do their own thing. The only ones who remained were Aliya and her group, and Jahin and his group.

“Lin, this queen is very happy to see that you have returned,” Queen Medusa said. “This queen believes we should celebrate your return with a feast.”

“She really is Lin’s mom, isn’t she?” Kari said in a whisper.

I tried not to snort.

“However…” Queen Medusa finally looked at me, Kari, Fay… and then paused on Siv. Her eyes widened a little when she noticed the dragon wings and tail growing from the woman’s back and tailbone respectively, but she kept an outward calm as she addressed us. “It seems there is a lot we should speak about. You and these humans should come with this queen to her palace, where you can tell this queen about everything that has happened to you.”

“This princess can do that,” Lin said, nodding. “There is a lot this princess has to tell you.”

Since the queen had spoken, no one dared to disobey her. Even Jahin, who looked like he might shit a brick, was unwilling to go against this woman’s command.

We had to leave the Giga Monster where it was. Since we didn’t want it impeding traffic, Aliya made us lead it to a small oasis located behind one of the houses. After that, we traveled with the lamia up to the ruins that served as Queen Medusa’s palace. I handed Raul off to Fay. She cradled our son in her arms and began cooing at him, which caused the baby to giggle, completely unaware of the situation we were in.

Ignorance truly was bliss.

Lin fell back and slithered alongside me as we followed after Queen Medusa, something her mother didn’t fail to notice. The woman stared at me with golden eyes so similar to Lin’s it was startling. What was she thinking when she saw Lin taking my hand in hers? I couldn’t even begin to fathom what sort of thoughts were going through her mind.

The palace was stacked into several tiers like an extravagant cake, but it didn’t have steps and instead featured a series of ramps that we walked up. A large archway loomed before us. Once we reached it, Jahin barked out several orders to his underlings.

“Guard the entrance and do not let anyone through!”

Aliya rolled her eyes at the man as she ordered her four lamia to do the same thing. Now it was just us, Aliya, Jahin, and Queen Medusa.

The hallways of the palace was typical of dwoerg architecture. It was much bigger than it had any need to be, and like always, there were many depictions of one species battling against the Sekbeist. This one featured dragons. Many types of dragons, from the kinds with four legs and massive wings to the kinds that had no legs and long bodies, were soaring through the mural as they breathed fire, shot lightning from whiskers, and blasted a host of other attacks into hordes of Sekbeists.

Among these dragons, one of them stood out the most.

This dragon looked far larger than the others, with a wingspan that seemed to extend two or even three times more than the others. Its wings alone could engulf the other dragons. It had four muscular legs, a body rippling with muscle, and a long neck with spikes on it. The horns sprouting from its head had a similar curve to Siv’s, but they looked more like serrated blades.

I was not the only one fascinated by the murals.

“These ruins were definitely made by the dweorg,” Kari exclaimed as excitement overcame her. “Look at these murals. This is clearly depicting the Drakvar fighting against the Sekbeists. That big one right there must be the Great Overlord of the Eighth Plain.”

“You know of the Great Overlords?” Queen Medusa asked curiously.

“Of course we do.” Kari puffed out her chest in pride. “Eryk and I have actually been to Niðavellir and met with the dweorg.”

“I had not realized humans could travel between realms.”

“They can’t if they aren’t with someone from a higher realm,” I said to Queen Medusa’s comment.

“Is that so?”

The queen of the lamia looked at me as though expecting me to elucidate on my answer, but I did not speak anymore, and she eventually turned back to the front and continued on her way.

We were eventually led to a throne room. The large space was typical of a meeting hall. In  fact, it was bigger than any throne room or meeting hall I’d ever seen. Now that I was thinking on it, this structure was actually a lot larger than even a typical dweorg structure. That must have been because this place was built for the Drakvar. The dragon race had massive bodies and would need a bigger place to move freely.

That said, I suspected a lot of them changed into their human forms when they were not in combat. I was basing my assumptions on Siv. She preferred her human form over her dragon one, claiming it was more convenient.

Queen Medusa slithered up a dais and sat down on an ancient throne made of stone. Runes lined the throne. I recognized all of them. However, it seemed the Runes no longer worked. Disuse for thousands of years had turned them into nothing but useless decoration now.

“Jahin, go and inform the elders that this queen’s daughter has returned.”

I could tell right away that Jahin was not pleased with this order. Anger flashed across his eyes, though it was gone so quickly most people wouldn’t have seen it.

“Of course, my queen.”

With a bow, Jahin slithered off, disappearing through the archway we had arrived in.

Once Jahin was gone, Queen Medusa looked back at us--specifically, at mine and Lin’s conjoined hands.

“It seems you have experienced much since we have been apart. This queen would like to hear of it.”

I would never get over the way these two spoke.

“This princess will tell you what happened after she was attacked and forced to flee.”

Lin released my hand, came forward, and began speaking, telling Queen Medusa about all that had happened to her. She told her mother about how she was injured and how her body reverted to that of a snake, how she had wound up in Nevaria, was almost killed by a pack of wild boars, and then how I saved her.

Almost an hour passed by the time Lin finished speaking. Raul had fallen asleep in Fay’s arms and was now resting with his face on her bosom. Kari was still next to me, but I could tell from how she tapped her foot against the ground that she impatient to explore these ruins. Siv was behind me. She’d been there for awhile now. I imagine she did not like being surrounded by so many strangers.

“The ability to transform into a snake is actually one that all lamia possess,” Queen Medusa announced, much to my shock. “However, it is not something you can do without a lot of training. Many of our people have forgotten how to do it. This queen can only take a guess, but she believes the stress and fear from almost dying made you force your body to transform as an act of self defense. Once you felt like you were out of danger, your body automatically reverted back to your lamia form.”

Lin had once told me she did not know how she’d turned into a snake and could not transform back at will. I had believed that to mean it was impossible, that what happened was some kind of freak accident, but it seemed this transformation was simply something Lin herself knew nothing about. I looked at the dark-skinned beauty next to me and saw that she was equally shocked.

“Huh, this princess did not know that.”

“Currently, only a few of us among the lamia can transform like that. This queen will teach you how to transform at will, if you want.” Queen Medusa shrugged, then looked at my hand, the one with the Ring of Marji displayed proudly on it. “More importantly, this queen wants to know more about the man you have decided to give yourself to.”

“This is Darling--um, his name is Eryk! He’s this princess’ husband!” Lin exclaimed with an excited smile, tail thumping on the ground.

Queen Medusa must have been well-versed in her daughter’s mannerisms, for an indulgent but aggrieved smile appeared on her face.

“Eryk, this queen would have you tell her more about yourself when time permits.”

“I would be happy to tell you whatever you wish to know,” I said.

It seemed the situation was winding down now. I was surprised by how accepting Queen Medusa appeared to be about my marriage to Lin, but I suppose she understood better than anyone that nothing could be done now. A lamia could only give the Ring of Marji to one person in their entire life. Whether she approved of our marriage or not, there was literally nothing she could do about it, so accepting what happened would be better than getting into an argument with her daughter.

As the conversation wound down, several more lamia came in through the archway--seven of them. One was Jahin. However, the other six were all older lamia. There were three men and three women. Each of them had hair with varying shades of black and gray. Their dark skin was growing wrinkles. One of them, the oldest I presume, was even so old that his dick looked like a shriveled cucumber.

I’d never wished these people wear clothes more than I did now.

“We have heard the joyous news,” the old one spoke with exaggerated joy. “It seems your prodigal daughter has finally returned. What a blessed occasion.”

I couldn’t help but feel like this old lamia was being sarcastic. If Queen Medusa felt the same way, she didn’t show it.

“Yes, it is indeed a wonderful occasion. This queen was even thinking about holding a feast to celebrate the return of her daughter.”

“That is a fine idea,” one of the women said. “Before we do that, however, might we know who these humans are?”

“Yes, of course.” Queen Medusa gestured to myself, Kari, Fay, and Siv. “These four are Eryk, Kari, Fay, and Siv. They are Lin’s traveling companions and family.”

“Family?” The woman blinked several times.

“Eryk is married to this queen’s daughter and these three women,” Queen Medusa explained.

The six lamia sucked in a breath as they looked from me to Lin, to Queen Medusa, and then back again. None of them seemed able to take this calmly. The oldest among them even started laughing.

“That is quite the joke, My Queen. A human marrying a lamia? These past hundred years have caused your sense of humor to rise. Why would a lamia ever marry a human?”

“This queen assures you what she has said is no joke.” Queen Medusa gestured to my hand. “Or have you not noticed the Ring of Marji on Eryk’s hand yet.”

At that, the six once again looked at me, or more like my hand, where the Ring of Marji was perfectly visible creeping along my index finger.

“I cannot believe it,” one of the women muttered.

“A lamia granting a human the right to marry her?” another said as though astounded.

“This is… an outrage!” the oldest roared in anger. He glared at Lin. “You impudent girl! What could have possibly possessed you to give that man the Ring of Marji! Do you mean to disgrace our people?!”

Lin’s face turned red as the tip of her tail shook. She clenched her hands, arms shaking as well, and narrowed her eyes in anger. When she peeled back her lips, her fangs became visible. She was seconds away from snapping at this old codger.

“Hold your tongue!” Queen Medusa snapped before Lin could express her anger.

“Q-Queen Medusa…” The old man reeled as though struck.

“Do you think this queen would let you insult her daughter like this? This queen does not care if you disapprove or not! You are not allowed to say whatever you please! Insult this queen’s daughter again, and she will strip you of your position has elder!”

This caused the old man’s face to grow pale as all the blood drained from it. “You… you cannot do that…”

Queen Medusa narrowed her golden eyes. “You may feel free to test this queen’s patience and see whether or not she can strip you of your rank.”

Tension mounted within the room as the queen glared at the elder lamia, who looked like he was trying to decide whether fighting with her over this issue was truly worth it. After a moment, he seemed to decide otherwise. With a huff, he turned around and slithered off.

“I will abide by your words… for now,” he said before disappearing.

Jahin looked around uncertainly for a second before following after him. He disappeared through the large, arched entryway.

With the two gone, the tension in the room disappeared, allowing the other five elders and Aliya to breathe easier.

“You five, introduce yourselves to these humans. They are important members of Lin’s family,” Queen Medusa ordered the five elders.

The remaining elders looked at each other as though unsure, but this was an order from their queen. Unlike the old man, who seemed petulant like most old men were, they did not have the same stubborn pride getting in their way.

“My name is Aida,” said one of the women.

The woman next to her also introduced herself. “I am Nawal.”

“Saffron.”

Aida, Nawal, and Saffron, the women who were part of the elder council, all introduced themselves. I took note of their distinct features to remember who they were. Aida did not have scales on her pointed ears, Nawal had streaks of gray in her hair, and Saffron had boyishly short hair and earrings--something none of the other lamia had.

“I suppose I should introduce myself next,” a man said as he slithered forward and placed a hand against his chest. “You may call me Kassim.”

“I am known as Heydar,” said the other.

These two were even more distinguishable from each other. Kassim was older and had a beard to go along with his nearly white hair. On the other hand, Heydar looked much younger, with no graying hair and a more muscular body. They would be easy to remember.

“The one who left this room in a huff is called Muhammad,” Queen Medusa said. “He is the oldest living lamia among us. He is also the most stubborn. That old codger is the kind of man who refuses to bend or rethink his beliefs no matter the cost, so set in his ways he’d probably see our people burn before doing something that went against them.”

“That is a rather harsh way of looking at it, Your Majesty,” said Kassim.

“And it is no less true,” Aida added in the queen’s defense.

Saffron nodded. “We all know what kind of man Muhammad is.”

It seemed like Muhammad was not that well liked among his fellow elders. Well, it wasn’t like I couldn’t see why. Even though I had only just met the man for a few minutes, I could already tell he was a disagreeable fellow.

“Let us not speak of Muhammad anymore.” Queen Medusa clapped her hands. “This queen’s daughter has returned home after being thought dead. That is a joyous occasion and deserves to be celebrated. We shall prepare a feast in honor of her return.” The queen looked at the four of us. “You all shall be invited as well. It may be a little awkward for everyone, but you are important family members of Lin’s, so we will not mistreat you.”

“We should have Eryk prepare our food,” Aliya added, suddenly speaking up even though she wasn’t an elder.

Queen Medusa turned to her with a frown. “Why do you say that?”

“Because Darling’s food is delicious,” Lin exclaimed.

When Lin proclaimed my food delicious, the five elders and Queen Medusa looked at me as if silently asking whether I’d help prepare the meals, or maybe they were just wondering if her words had any truth to them. I couldn’t say.

“I certainly don’t mind helping cook the meals, but I can’t do it alone.” I looked at my wives. “Will you help me?”

“Of course I will,” Kari said.

Fay nodded as Raul shifted against her chest. “You may count on me as well.”

“I will help too,” Siv said in a soft voice.

“This princess will also--”

“Since this event is in celebration of your safe return, this queen would prefer if you remain with her during the festivities.” Those words caused Lin’s cheeks to swell like a squirrel with acorns in them, but Queen Medusa just smiled. “Do not worry. During the celebration, this queen will introduce Eryk as your husband and explain the circumstances behind your marriage.”

“This princess still doesn’t like it… but she supposes there is no other choice.” Lin sighed as her tail and shoulders slumped. “Very well. This princess will abide by your decision, Momma.”

“In that case, this queen believes there is nothing more that needs to be discussed for now. We will begin preparations for the celebration tomorrow. In the meantime, you five--pardon this queen. She supposes it should be ‘you six,’ should it not? In any case, you should all get some rest. Aliya will show you to the quarters where you will be staying.”

“Would it be possible to explore these ruins?” asked Kari.

Queen Medusa looked at the blonde woman, her expression unreadable. There was a strange pressure in her gaze. I was sure anyone else would have been cowed, but while Kari had not reached the Fourth State of Spiritualism yet, she was still every bit as powerful as this woman. Something simple like a stern and unwavering gaze would not be enough to make her cower.

“This queen will allow you to look around some other time. It is late right now, so you should all get some sleep.”

While Kari seemed disappointed, I couldn’t help but feel relieved. If given the opportunity, I was sure my wife would turn the entire palace inside out, and that was not something we should be doing until after these people were more comfortable with us. The last thing we needed was Kari’s inquisitiveness causing an international incident.

Aliya led us out of the throne room. I tried to keep track of where she was taking us, but I gave up after passing through a number of identical halls. Everything looked the same here. About the only thing I could figure out was that we were being led deeper into the palace.

“This will be your bedroom during the duration of your time here,” Aliya said.

The bedroom did not contain much in the way of creature comforts. There was no furniture, no bath, nothing except for a bed. This bed appeared to have been built into the floor rather unlike most beds. Fortunately, the bed was big enough that I was sure all six of us could fit on it. I judged it to be close to the size of the bed we were using in our wagon.

“I’ll have some guards stationed outside. Let them know if you need anything.” Aliya paused here for a moment, eyes landing on Lin. “Also, I know I have already said this, but I’m very happy to see that you are safe, Princess Lin.”

Aliya left after saying those parting words, leaving our group more or less alone, save the pair of lamia guards who now stood on either side of the doorway. Speaking of, I noticed this palace did not have any doors. I didn’t know if the doors had simply rotted away or if this was a design choice. Either way, the idea of not having a door or something we could use to get some privacy bothered me.

Because it really was late, we decided to get some sleep. I found myself once again surrounded by women. Lin was nestled snugly between me and Kari. While my Primary Wife spooned Lin, the lamia was burrowed in my side, hugging my arm as she curled her tail around my legs. Siv was simply sleeping on my chest. She slept on her stomach because of her wings, so this was her normal position. The only one not cuddling with me was Fay. However, that wasn’t because she didn’t want to. Our son was sleeping on the pillow right by my head, and Fay was on his other side.

The girls had already gone to sleep. I found that despite being tired, I was a bit too hyped for rest. Closing my eyes, I activated Spiritual Perception and stretched out my awareness as far as it could go.

There were a number of bright flames within this palace, all of them a dark purple. The strongest flame after mine and my wives’ was located far beneath us. That made me frown. I assumed Queen Medusa was the strongest, but she was still within the throne room. The five flames belonging to who I assumed were the elders remained with her. About twenty other flames were present within this palace. All of them ranged from purple flames that flickered like small candles to raging bonfires. Out of all the Spiritual Signatures I saw, the one that interested me the most was the most powerful flame among them.

Could that flame belong to the elder who had stormed out of the throne room in such a huff?

***

SLAM!

Jahin winced as Muhammad slammed his fist into a wooden table, which shattered underneath the assault. Splinters scattered across the ground.

“Damn that insolent queen! Damn that princess! Who do they think they are?! Medusa might be the queen now, but she is merely an impudent child who has no concept of tradition! I am the one who held our people together until she was coronated! Without me, there wouldn’t even be a lamia kingdom at all!”

They were deep within the palace, located in a secret room not even Queen Medusa knew about. It looked like a study. There were shelves filled with books and scrolls along the walls. Jahin did not know the content of these books, but he knew Muhammad had been studying everything in here for some time.

Muhammad took several deep breaths as if to calm himself. He placed a hand against his face and quivered with what seemed like rage. Jahin remained by the door. He was too afraid to even go in.

“I had not planned for this situation at all,” Muhammad mumbled to himself as he dragged his hands down his face. “The return of the princess was completely unforeseen and throws a wrench into all my plans. Now that she is here, there is no way to convince Queen Medusa to sire a child with you, and if she does not do that, I won’t have any means with which to manipulate her.”

Jahin shifted against the wall. “I too am rather displeased by the situation.”

It went without saying that Jahin had long desired to make Queen Medusa his own. It wasn’t just her beauty that he craved. She was, of course, the most stunning lamia in the entire kingdom. That went without saying. However, what Jahin really wanted to do was break Queen Medusa. How glorious would it be to crush the spirit of such a strong woman? The very thought made Jahin shiver with desire.

Muhammad did not seem to hear him.

“Our original plan was to have you marry the princess, then raise her child to overthrow the matriarchy… but that fell through when that impudent brat rejected your advances. We couldn’t even force her into compliance because the queen wouldn’t allow it. I wonder if she suspected me…”

Muhammad grew silent and pensive. Jahin dared not interrupt this man when he was thinking. However, as the silence continued, growing longer and more stifling by the second, he found himself squirming.

Finally…

“It seems we will need to readjust our plans even more,” Muhammad said with a frown.

He wandered over to a bookshelf and grabbed a sheet of papyrus, a stick of charcoal, and went back to the shattered table. Muhammad studied the fragments for a moment, then swept them into a pile with his tail. After that, he placed a hand against the fragments.

Jahin did not know how Muhammad did it, but the splinters quivered before slowly being pieced back together. Little by little, the table reformed as if time was being reversed. With the table back, Muhammad put the papyrus on the table and began writing something on it. When he finished, he rolled the scroll back up and handed it to Jahin.

“Deliver this to our friends in the Endless Desert. With luck, it will arrive before the festivities begin.”

“Yes, Father.”

Jahin reached out and grabbed the rolled up papyrus. Before he could pull it from Muhammad’s hands, however, the man spoke with a threatening tone.

“Do not fail me, Jahin. We are running out of time, and I am running out of patience.”

Jahin gulped but nodded. “I understand, Father. You can count on me.”

“Good. It is nice to know I have such a capable son.”

Jahin was able to detect the sarcasm in Muhammad’s voice, which caused him to flinch, but he did everything he could to ignore it. After receiving the papyrus scroll, he left the room and began traveling through the secret passage toward an exit that would take him outside of the city.

He needed to hurry up and deliver this scroll.