Eleven Ancestor Spirit Knights
Chapter One: I Just Can't Wait To Be Queen
Hok
As usual, I was meditating under the careful watch of my best friend Saulong's mother Won Sou, or cloud hand in Cantonese, queen of Mars, and my mother, Queen Serenity, queen of the Moon and the Silver Millennium, which included the whole solar system, even the sun. I did this every day, though why I didn't know. My only comfort was that Saulong had to do it too, and he was even less patient than me. And that's really saying something. Unless forced or bribed to, Saulong never sat still. Even when he was sitting through the dull meetings his father made him attend, he'd fidget and shift in his seat. Everything just went in one ear and out the other. However, my meditation was interrupted when Saulong himself skidded to a halt in front me. "Hey Hok-chan, come on, I just heard about this really cool place."
Won Sou raised an eyebrow at her son. "And just where is this 'really cool place?'"
Saulong ducked his head, fidgeting under his mother's stern gaze. "Oh, um, just some place near the courtyard." He said nervously.
"The courtyard?" I protested indignantly. "What's so great about the courtyard?"
"I'll show you when we get there." My best friend hissed through clenched teeth.
"Oh. Um, Mother, Won Sou-sensei, may I go with Saulong?" I asked hopefully.
"Hm," Won Sou debated. "What do you think Serenity?" Mother and Won Sou were old friends, so Won Sou never bothered calling Mother 'Your Majesty' or anything stupid like that.
"Well," Mother seemed to enjoy tormenting us. "It's alright with me." She relented at last.
"Yes!" Saulong and I cheered.
"As long as Zazzu goes with you." She added.
"Aw, not Zazzu!" Neither of us liked Zazzu, at all. He hardly paid attention to anything other than Mother and the latest gossip. On top of that, he was entirely too much of a stick in the mud. However, half an hour later, the ruling stood and we were on our way to the courtyard, Zazzu the talking bird, or as I liked to call him, the Dodo, flying above us.
"Step lively." Zazzu instructed. "The sooner we get to the courtyard, the sooner we can leave."
"He's such a stick in the mud." I complained aloud.
"So what are you going to do about it?" Saulong asked. That was what I liked about Saulong and most Martians in general: while Lunarians would shush me, scold me, complain back, or tell me to hush, Saulong and almost all Martians would just ask what I was going to do about it.
I didn't have an answer yet. So instead, I changed the subject. "So where are we really going?"
"The Maze of Bones." He whispered excitedly. The Maze of Bones was a place where the bodies and bones of scholars were buried. It was called the Maze of Bones because it was quite literally a maze. I didn't care, but it made for a fun exploration.
"Wow!" I exclaimed, a little too loudly. The Maze of Bones was a place hedge maze where the bodies of some of the moon's greatest scholars had been buried, and it was rumored that anyone who entered would be driven insane if they weren't strong or smart enough.
"Shh! Zazzu!" Saulong reminded.
"Right. So how are we gonna ditch the Dodo?" We began whispering to ourselves, forming a plan for how we were going to go about losing him. He thought we were just going to the courtyard and there was no way he'd let us get anywhere near the Maze of Bones. So if we wanted to go, and we certainly did, we'd have to lose him somehow.
"Oh just look at you two," The object our plans revolved around ditching simpered happily as he landed in front of us. "Little seeds of romance blossoming in the gardens. Your parents will be thrilled, what with you being betrothed and all."
"Be-what?" Saulong and I repeated in unison.
"Betrothed. Affianced. Intended." He used more words I didn't know the meaning of. So I had a big vocabulary for being nine. That didn't mean I knew what the words he was using meant.
"Meaning . . .?"
"One day you two are going to be married!" He said happily.
"Ew, yuck!" I exclaimed.
"I can't marry her. She's my friend." Saulong protested.
"Yeah, it'd be too weird." I agreed.
"Well sorry to bust your bubble, but you two turtledoves have no choice." Zazzu said, causing me to mimic the words he said next. He only said them about a zillion things equally many times a day. "It's a tradition going back generations."
I rolled my eyes. "Well when I'm queen, that'll be the first thing to go." I announced, counting on Zazzu's notoriously poor memory. Chances were he wouldn't remember that Serena, my older sister, was the future queen. Though if what he said was true, I'd be the queen of Mars.
"Not so long as I'm around." Zazzu retorted.
"Well in that case you're fired." I informed him matter of factly.
"Hm, nice try but only the queen can do that." He said primly.
"Well, she's the future queen." Saulong pointed out.
I shot him a grateful glance. "Yeah." I agreed. "So you have to do what I tell you."
"Not yet I don't, and with an attitude like that you're shaping up to be a pretty pathetic queen indeed." Zazzu snapped. Ooh, did I touch a nerve? I certainly hoped so. The Dodo was normally clam and composed, and not much could really get him mad. I wanted to be the first to do so.
"Not the way I see it." Saulong said and I began singing.
"I'm gonna be a mighty queen,
So enemies beware.
(Well I've never seen a queen of beasts
With quite so little hair).
I'm gonna be the main event,
Like no queen was before.
I'm brushing up on looking down,
I'm working on my ROAR!
(Thus far a rather . . .
Uninspiring thing)."
I wasn't sure what Zazzu was talking about. I had quite a bit of hair, which went down to my shoulders. Maybe he was just blind or something. And just what, precisely, did he mean by 'queen of beasts?' This was the first I'd ever heard of it. Was he smoking something?
"Oh I just can't wait to be queen.
(You've got a long way to go young mistress,
If you think—)
No one sayin' do this.
(Now when I said that I—)
No one sayin' be there.
(Now what I meant was—)
No one sayin' stop that.
(Look what you don't realize—)
No one sayin' see here.
(Now see here!)
Free to run around all day,
(Well that's definitely out)
Free to do it all my way."
Every other kid we found we'd whisper our plan to, and most of them agreed on the condition that we tell them what the Maze of Bones was like; everyone had heard about it, but like with us, had been told it was too dangerous by their parents. That did little to satisfy our curiosity.
"I think it's time that you and I,
Arranged a heart to heart.
(Queens don't need advice,
From little hornbills for a start).
If this is where the monarchy is headed,
Count me out.
Out of service, out of Corus,
I wouldn't hang about.
These children are getting wildly out of wing.
(Oh I just can't wait to be queen)."
We were almost to the Maze of Bones, but now the question was how to go in without the Dodo following us. This would be much easier I were a Wizard and could just make us unnoticeable. I nearly banged my head against the nearest hard vertical surface. Reaching into my shirt, I pulled out a Dyne Sefa, or heartstone and spoke the word that would allow me to convert a bit of my Warrior magic to Wizard magic so that Saulong and I could become invisible.
"Everybody look left.
Everybody look right.
Everywhere you look I'm,
Standing spotlight!
(Not yet!).
Let every creature go for broke and sing.
Let's hear it in the heard and on the wing.
It's gonna be Queen Hok's finest fling.
Oh I just can't wait to be king.
Oh I just can't wait . . .
To be queen."