"We will not rehash this argument again, Rusa. In any case, the Red Queen stole something of great value from the temple--well, sentimental value, that is. It isn't like she stole a piece of jewelry! She stole the mummy whose tomb we are standing in! Who does such a disrespectful thing?"
"I don't know, she sounds kind of fun," I said. "I mean, I wouldn't go that far, because of curses and stuff, but..."
"Where do you put a mummy?" Ansel asked. "Once you've taken it? Just...in the spare room?"
"Viktor, did you teach your queen any manners?" the bird woman asked.
"I don't think that is my job," Viktor said. "I brought her here to learn her history, as requested. In fact, I'm not sure how polite we really want our queens to be."
He was defending me now? I couldn't figure him out. "I do want to know my history," I said. "I just really want to meet the Red Queen."
"Don't listen to Linette," Rusa said. "The Red Queen was quite young. She'll come around. But we have failed to find her, once she fled. Her mentor is a great sorceress who I'm sure took her side and helped her elude us."
"Too bad, because the Red Queen sure sounds prepared," I muttered. "Well, I would very much like to hear the history."
"Maybe you should introduce yourself before chattering on," said a very withered but sharp looking little woman in black sitting to Linette's right.
"I am Linette, of the Order of Horus. This is Samorn, of the Order of Bastet. And this is Rusa, of the Order of Anubis."
"Oh! So it's a shifter thing with Egyptian gods! That makes so much sense with the statues and everything!"
"Yes, it is, indeed, a shifter 'thing'. Of course, we come from all over the world. We come at great risk to what was once a place we were safe. A long time ago, in this region, shifter queens lived in peace with humans. They were gifted in magic and known for their benevolence but also their strength. They were protected by royal consorts who also gained strength from their queens. This golden age lasted for hundreds of years! But, all good things must come to an end."
"So this was a shifter temple?" I asked."For Horus?"
"Yes, dear," Samorn said. She was a small, weathered Asian woman with a very cat-like face. I had a feeling she was even older than she looked. "And the man buried here was once a beloved consort, and a bird. Sadly, this is the only place we have left to bask in the air our ancestors once breathed."
"Shifters weren't even known to the world for a long time," Ansel said. "I wasn't even aware that the Egyptians knew about them."
"Well, look at their gods! Shifters and humans even worshipped many of the same gods. But...of course, there were many wars and conflicts all across the region. Tribes scattered. Villages were sacked. Like many civilizations before them, shifters lost what they had, and were forced into the shadows. Many humans feared the idea of people who could turn into animals," Lucille said. "But the shifter sorcerers and queens were said to have set up one ray of hope. Faced with death at the sacking of the great city of An’naru, they instead pooled their powers and sacrificed themselves to make this prophecy, and the three great queens in the future."
"What? Thousands of years ago, they sacrificed themselves so I could be born with these powers now?"
"You have the powers bestowed to you by many, many sorcerers," Rusa said. "Isn't that something?" She sounded impressed that she had lived to see the day, but that didn't answer my question.
"Why now?" I asked. "So much later?"
"I'm sure they consulted the stars and determined that this would be the right time," Linette said.
"And then they died so shifters could be happy in the twenty-first century?"
"Yes," Linette said. "So please take it seriously."
"These are ancient people, Mina," Ansel said. "They spent hundreds of years moving rocks around to make fancy rock structures, all over the world, so I don't think we can understand their priorities."
"Your consort is correct," Linette said. "Our ancestors’ motives will always be a mystery, but we are grateful to them for it. We have a chance to know the world as they once did. A world of peace and safety for shifters."
I had to admit that even just the faintest idea of a shifter kingdom of powerful queens, chilling at some oasis or something with their consorts, respected by and trading peacefully with the humans, sounded amazing. I had grown up in a world where I never had power, and didn't see any way out. I thought Alistair was human. I thought he would own me forever. I thought I'd have to marry him and have human babies and deal with all the little degradations of being a pet-wife.
Everything had changed so fast my head was spinning, and it was exciting.
Of all the girls in the world, for some reason I was the one to inherit this power. The fear of it that I had when I damaged the guard’s brain? I still felt that, but maybe it had to be that way.
I wanted to help all the girls like me, and the boys like Ansel, whose story I didn't really know, but could easily guess. It was the same old story.
"I'm ready," I said. "I want to live up to the hopes of our ancestors. I really do. I just don't know how."
"Only you and your fellow queens can truly decide that," Rusa said.
"Oh no. Don't say that."
"What little we have of the ancient texts are copies of copies," Linette said. "All we truly know is that you have the tools you will need--at least, one hopes.And that there are always two paths. Light and dark. Pleasure or pain. Peace or war."
"And," Samorn said. "Too much of either is not good! You will think, at first, that you must be a good girl, all peace and love. Sometimes, you will have to take the other path. But use it wisely."
Linette frowned. "The path of peace is the path of peace. It's always the right choice, Mina. Yes, sometimes you will have to kill or harm, but don't forget that peace is always the way."
Behind her, Rusa shook her head. "Peace just gets us killed, in the end."
"So...none of you agree," I said. "Cool." I smiled crookedly. "I mean, do you at least have any magical items to help a girl out? Useful old books? Swords of power?"
"Yes, of course," Lucille said smoothly. "We have fashioned pendants to help you to train. If you wear them, it will hold back your power, so you can practice."
That isn't nearly as good as a sword of power, I thought. Then again, if I had a sword I'd have to learn sword-fighting, and that was probably a lot of work.
Samorn came hobbling forward, using a cane, and held out a pendant to me. It was a pearlescent stone with a pink sheen, set in gold, and quite pretty. I reached for it eagerly. "It's gorgeous! Thank you! So, I just wear it and I can use my powers without actually hurting anyone? Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure,” Samorn said, with a wicked little grin. She handed the other two pendants to Viktor. "How are you, tiger?"
"I'm excellent," he said. "I have waited all my life for this." He pocketed the stones.
"Hey, why does Viktor get to keep the other queen's stones?" I asked. "I'm the only queen here. I think I should keep them."