The Griffian and Her Unicorn

Epona stood on tiptoes to see out of the porthole. She was on her second month at sea and she was beyond stir crazy. She fidgeted with chestnut hair and chewing on a pail rose lip. Her tiny cell on the ship was not technically a prison, but it was closing in on her like one. It was four plain plank walls with a high port in the left hand corner was a cot on the right was her trunk and that was it. What was worse was that the Captain quote didn't trust the men with her unquote and refused to let her up on deck. She had commented she could handle them but to no avail.

She was stuck in her cell with barely any sight of the outside world. Damn she thought. She had wanted to see the world that had been her biggest reason for Volunteering in the first place. So far she had seen nothing but waves and a sliver of one port they had resupplied at. She felt one of her rare despondent spells coming on and shook her head to dislodge it. No she refused to regret her choice, She would be at the great port of Acresh the empire's capital city on the morrow.

There would be plenty to see then it's not like they would blindfold her right... right they had better not she thought bitterly. Legs shaking from hours on her toes she turned and stretched. Moving to her modest trunk she opened it taking out the dress she would have worn on her wedding if the Empire had not come to conquer her people. Her mother Aine had started it on her fourteenth birthday and taken a whole year to finish it. The base was fine knit lace worked with the tiniest green gem beads that matched her soft eyes. The green shown against the white of the lace, it was in sort exquisite, fit for any queen. She laid it out on the trunk lid to don in the morning when she would ready herself to be presented to the Emperor Adair along with all the other tribute her father had sent.

The surrender would bother her till the day she died, but she understood that her Father Abir the Chief of the Yuirdath horse people had done what he had to. Theirs was not the only tribe to fall; all seven had succumbed to the invaders, hers last. She bemoaned that if they had been able to put aside their differences, as her Abir had tried to get then to, but that had proven an impossible task. Together their numbers were too strong even for the disciplined lines of the Gasian empire's forces.

However the tribes strife was too deep to be overcome in time. She sat down thinking of the past few years since the empire had arrived on their shores. Some had gone straight to war with the invading forces others had looked for peace and trade. In the end it was all the same, subjugation or death. The seven tribes' bitter rivalries, and century's uncounted of strife, was used by the empire's tacticians to great effect.

She ran a hand over the dress to sooth her temper. Part of her wanted to kill the emperor when she was presented but that would cause massive retaliation back home. She could not be the cause of more misery and death. If she was honest she was also excited to be going to a new place. The center of the empire was home to many different peoples and she wanted to meet them, and learn from them. She wanted to see new things and while they would not likely let her roam free, even in the palace she could see so much she never could have dreamed of back home.

She sighed wondering about home she would never see again. How was mother and father doing, was her brother ready to forgive her yet for volunteering as tribute? Had her sister Dara stopped crying? Epona hated that the conquering general lined all the eligible women up and picked one to take whether she liked it or not. On so many levels it made sense for her to go. She was the chief's eldest daughter unpromised to anyone in marriage, despite her mother's best efforts. Most of all she wanted to go to see this figure that brought ruin to her people.

Epona stood and paced full of nervous energy and not much space to vent it in. Finally she settled into her favorite meditation form adjusted slightly to accommodate the tight quarters. It cleared her mind and brought her some peace before she tried to sleep.

Sleep did not come easily to her that night, and twice she awoke thinking it was morning. When dawn did brake through her porthole she had done her morning exercises and washed. Now she put on a slight white shift and donned her dress. She braided small sections of her hair and curled them onto her head leaving most of her chestnut hair to fall long, as her mother had done for her on festival days. She was ready long before they came for her and was obliged to sit patiently to be let out.

The captain descended into the hold himself to fetch her along with a bony sailor to get her trunk. She was led out onto the deck for the first time since setting sail. She revealed to have the sky overhead. Her cool stately demeanor cracked a little as she looked out at the city of Acresh.

It dwarfed her wildest imagination of what was ahead of her. She caught herself trembling with anticipation and steadied her body. Nothing she did could be construed as fearful she would not allow it. She was a chieftain's daughter, nothing frightened her. Epona felt the weight of representing her entire people settle on her like her father's mantle when she was young. The small boat that would take her to shore was waiting.

She narrowed her eyes at the apporatice they expected her to step on to. In the end she obliged and allowed herself to be carefully lowered to the dingy bellow. I am like so many trade goods she thought a little bitterly. It was no sodden boat; the inside was lined with a type of cloth she had never seen before. Everything seemed to be embroidered with gold and as she sat for the ride to the palace jetties she ideally stroked the new material, it was like very short kitten fuzz.

She kept her head forward and up but out of the corners of her eyes she took in everything she could. Massive building rose all around her as the dingy turned on to a wide canal. She had thought the long house of her father was the biggest building in the world. She thought back on its oak timber construction in dismay as it became dwarfed in her mind against the splendor of this city. She soon laughed inwardly at her initial wonder at the rough building by the sea, as she got further into Acresh.

The houses in the area around the palace were beyond imagining. They swept magnificently against the hillside that rose from the canal. They were all surrounded by gardens filled with plants and animals she had never seen. She desperately wanted to gawk to swing her head left and right to drink in the sights. Pride however would not allow her to act the country fool. Before she knew it they were pulling up to the jetty where she could see all her father's material tribute had been loaded onto low carts and were preparing to go to presentation.

She would go with all the other tributes from the other seven tribes. It was a damn parade! She was not sure exactly what she had expected but this was intense. The way up the hill was lined with people of all sizes and colors and the outfits were extraordinary. She could feel her eyes going big and desperately forced herself into a warrior state of calm. The kind reserved for last stands. She was amazed and to see many of the other women selected for tribute were looking around like frightened animals.

She wanted to chastise them 'we are people we are proud, act it' but they were too far away and she would have had to have shouted ruining her own proud demeanor. At least Miriam of the Danyth tribe was comporting herself with dignity. They locked eyes for a moment as the older beauty disembarked from her boat. Epona took courage from that and hoped Miriam did too. Now it was her turn to disembark and she managed it with grace.

Walking to her designated litter she sat careful that her dress lay perfectly without having to be awkwardly adjusted. It was a long slow perception up the hill to the emperor's palace music played petals were thrown by the crowd at the returning "heroes" interspersed with the tribute. It was a damned holy day at the tributes expense meant to shame them and glorify the empire's forces. She was cold with anger but too her body thrilled at the experience and the sites. It was damn confusing.

She kept hearing shouts and jeers behind her and grimaced inwardly to think of the slaves she knew were being marched along as part of the entertainment. She imagined herself raiding the slave quarters and raising a cue but it was all fantasy her family and friends back home were held ransom against her behavior here. She had to behave as best she could make herself for them for sweet William. She wished they had had a better goodbye.

But a long pained stare was all she had been given time for after she had volunteered. The moment she had strode up to the general Markus and demanded to be taken she had been marched off to his camp and sequestered. Her family had barely gotten to say goodbye as they had brought her a trunk of her prized possessions.

She watched in awe as the Palace rose before her, it was of the same white stone she had seen ordain some of the houses along the canal but this was a place much grander dwarfing them as they had dwarfed her family home. This was it the moment she had waited the whole loathsome voyage for, now she would be presented to Emperor Adair. She checked her poster and held on to her calm as she stepped from her litter.

She was last to be brought to the dies where emperor Adair sat nodding in stately approval as each tribute was presented to him. He would look the women over then wave his hand for the next. As she stepped up she locked eyes with him. He was younger than she expected and couldn't be over forty. Even sitting and covered in rich robes she could tell he had the form of a tall warrior.

He was handsome in a peculiar way. His face was lean with a hooked nose and piercing gray eye that looked back into her green ones with a hint of surprise as he gazed back at her. He then gave her a once over nodded his approval as he had with the others and waved her away. That was it he was done with her. She felt she should say something but what. What did you say to such a person at such a time? So she let herself be led away to the harem where the royal concubines were housed some how deflated.

Once they were all inside servants walked them into a massive boarding room. Their trunks were already at the foot of their beds. She felt odd almost deflated now that the presentation was over. Her mind wandered as a servant talked to them in the odd language of the empire. How would she spend her time? What would she even be allowed to do? Already the big room started to close in as her tiny cell on the ship had done. She was jerked back to the moment when she heard her own language being spoken to them it was a different dialect but she could understand it.

"You are, as I am sure, all aware you are the official property of his most exalted emperor Adair. You are to comport your selves as such at all times. It is understood you are all ignorant but that is no excuse for foul behavior. Before you are worthy of time with the emperor you will be trained in proper etiquette and taught to speak in a proper language." she seethed but started back at this pompous man in icy silence.

She thought to herself that it was better to know the rules before breaking them. He continued to drown on about how proud they should be and what a privilege they had. Compared to the slaves destined for work they had a more comfortable deal but "privilege?!" She wanted to make him eat that word. Then a woman who introduced herself as Isabella spoke it seemed they would each get a night with the emperor but if they did not please him he might not ask for them again.

It was implied this was a mark of shame. "Those fortunate enough to give our most exalted Emperor a child will be moved to her own house to raise the little prince or princess. Those blessed with a son will then see to his place in the succession." This Isabella who turned out to be a sort of den mother went on to explain at great length the work and study that was expected of the women of the harem. It turned out most of the imperial family got their textiles and even clothing from the harem and it was a way to win favor. There were other jobs like apothecary, and healers down to washerwoman. The ins and outs of the pecking order did not interest her but it was good to have work. Though it sounded like the lesions never really ended.

When the orientation was over which felt like forever they were mixed with the other women who seemed to think little enough of them for the most part. A few had patient or empathetic looks for them as they all sat down to the mid day meal laid out for them. It was exotic fair for her though she guessed it was par for the course here. It was lamb in a thick-spiced stew over rice that had its own delightful seasoning. This was accompanied with fruit and cold water. After months on the ship she was in heaven.

The women around them talked an endless stream of bird song in the language of the empire. She turned to Miriam and asked how she was doing but no sooner had she opened her mouth she was struck smartly on the shoulder. Not hard just enough to get her undivided attention. It worked. She was halfway to ripping the offending stick out of its owner's hand when she managed to stop herself. It was the pompous man from earlier looking disapprovingly down on her.

"Do not speak in the vulgar here," he chirped in his odd high voice. She stared shut her mouth and stood up making him look up at her now and stared at him coldly. He shrank a little despite himself hers was a presence to be reckoned with when she wanted it to be.

"You mean to tell me I can not speak until I learn your language?" He brought himself up to his insignificant full height and said,

"yes you will start lesions on the morrow." then as if to reinstate his authority he demanded, "Now sit down and clean your plate, you're too skinny." She ran some scenarios through her head and discarded them immediately. Instead she sat down and finished her meal. they got the grand tour after that there were study halls, work rooms and best of all a garden. It was spacious but still felt like a gilded prison