Sulme's kiss still warmed my forehead, as I rode through the street towards the only hill in town. The crowds split from my way. Many a head bowed to me, as they should. My courser's frame rippled with strength. The armour --my skin-- was impervious to both blows and malicious gazes. I was high above even the tallest man.

  Between buildings was a gap to view over the ke. In the harbour floated a familiar galley with its rust-coloured sails. The ship of Lord Mulkava.

  My first instinct was to kick the mare into gallop. But ploughing through the townsfolk was hardly conducive to my goals. I told my page to run in front and shoo people out of my way.

  Outside the townhall entrance, loitered a group of Vonir knights and their sergeants. Based on the presence of fully equipped town militia, Attisa hadn't been handed off yet. Tension simmered between the armed men, and to my delight Attisan militia weren't the only ones shuddering with dread. My page stayed with my horse, as I strode inside without gncing at the Tamsi. To my brave Attisans, I offered a benedictive if nonchant gesture.

  The council members had spread at the sides of the circur main hall. In front of the symbolical throne, stood lord Mulkava cd in full steel harness. He was speaking with two of the local officials, and belly-ugh filled the room. Nobody else shared the Tamsi lord's jovial mood.

  My hand slipped to the butt of my pistol. I hesitated. Even with the force of Aanu, the bullet might not punch through the sigil-warded pte. Mulkava knew what to expect from me and would thus be prepared. Besides, a cowardly shot wouldn't do good for my prestige, especially if I missed.

  Still, the hound of the Tamsi had none of his men with him. Overt violence remained an option.

  "Lord Mulkava!" I yelled. The steel in front of my mouth did not mute my voice. "I see you have decided to visit this splendid city."

  "Ah, there you are." Mulkava walked in the middle of the room. His movements were slow, almost wary, and he had trimmed his beard. "Though I was commanded otherwise, I offer you the chance to surrender. Your spirit can still be purified of your corruption, that I believe."

  "Nothing has corrupted me." I gauged the Attisans around me and Mulkava. They had been willing enough to go along with my schemes, but an Ekran nobleman might sway them into deadly hesitation.

  "Why are you acting as a woman then?" Mulkava asked. His smile was wide and kind. "No matter. You have fooled these innocent folk as you have fooled yourself. It is not your fault. They do not understand the danger in your art. Truly, I want to save your soul, or at least what is left of it. It is not too te for you, my old friend."

  I wasn't Ryymi. Nor mad. My soul was not false, even if it was tainted. I might be a damnable fool, but I would be weak no more.

  Kkki slithered out of its sheath like water despite the length of the bde.

  Mulkava took a step back. "Even should you kill me, it would do your 'cause' no good. Already the Prince's fleet comes forth to ensure the Marches are pacified. You would know this, had you participated at the feast of peace!"

  "Coward," I growled. "I spit on our kinship. You are naught but a Tamsi pdog."

  "Yes, I am loyal to my Prince. I have sworn the same oaths to our lord as you. Oaths which you have unwfully broken." Mulkava lifted the lower part of his helmet to cover his face. He uncsped his scabbard, pulled his longsword out and threw the sheath away. "However, never have I been craven."

  Mulkava was half wider than Sulme and a hand's breath taller. Even at my masculine peak, he had been able to overpower me with little difficulty. However, my sword was the better one for killing fully armoured opponents, so I wasn't without advantages.

  Calling on forces to aid me was out of question. Mulkava was a forceful singer, and there was no knowing, how the powers in that ancient structure might react to songs of struggle.

  Ironically enough, had I been unarmoured, I might have been able to tire out the man-giant. But fleeing across the town hardly suited my dignity, and prolonging the fight would have come with its own risks. Besides, Mulkava was too experienced to fall for such a ploy. No matter. A short fight was as safe as a fight could be.

  I strode forward, lifted my sword to shoulder level and swung it into thrust at Mulkava's eyes. He merely parried my bde aside and took a pace back.

  He thought I wasn't dangerous enough to take seriously. I stepped forward. Instead of using his longer reach to stop me, he countered my strike without making an effort to attack back.

  "This is a farce," Mulkava said. "If I wanted you dead, I'd--"

  "Then kill me!"

  I rushed forward. Armour cttered in a flurry of shifting grips. We struggled for an advantageous position, until both us held our sword with an off-hand on the bde. The tip of Kkki came exasperatingly close to chinks in Mulkava's armour, but he wasn't unskilled enough to grant me an easy kill.

  The man used his weight to gouge with his sword. After a brief test of brute strength, Mulkava had twisted his bde under my shoulder, where the pte did not protect.

  I froze. Kkki was so close to man's gring eyes, yet a thrust from me would let him slice into my armpit.

  "Let go of your sword," Mulkava said. "My offer still stands."

  I was feeble. If I had retained even a shred of dignity, I would have gone for the kill. Perhaps I didn't want Mulkava dead. After all, even a weak swordsman should have been able to defeat an opponent, who didn't try to kill them in earnest.

  It had been a mistake to embrace the female visage. I didn't even have the strengths of womanhood, the ability to entice and create and nurture and love. I had only had the weakness of thews. The weakness of mind was all mine.

  "Let me," a soothing, intense, womanly voice boomed inside my ear.

  True weakness was of the spirit. The feebleness of my body was just an excuse. I relinquished control of my mind, yet my hands did not let go of the sword.

  "Aanu," I seethed.

  The petty spirit did not need words to understand the bidding of her master. The fmes poured from the gun and the holster and turned my clothes into a bze.

  Fear lit in Mulkava's eyes. He tried to step back, but I contorted to keep his sword in our mutual hold, even if Kkki shifted away from his eyes. He'd have to drop his sword to get away.

  The cloth padding underneath my armour caught fire. Aanu was a hungry fme, but she couldn't burn my flesh. Her fire only melted away the sg in my soul.

  Mulkava couldn't escape the wrath of fire. His momentary hesitation was enough: I drove my sword through the chainmail protecting the inside of his elbow.

  The man grunted in pain, and swung his sword at my arm, but the bde couldn't cut through the rigid steel of my armour.

  Relieved from the grapple, I retreated a step and flourished my bde, even though my sword arm throbbed from the impact. It was important to show that I wasn't bothered by the fire, which wreathed me like the mantle of monarchy.

  The dog of the Tamsi tried to grip his sword in both arms, but his whole body flinched. Instead of giving up, he lunged at me in brash one-handed thrust.

  Though Mulkava was strong enough to handle his bde with one arm, he couldn't match the leverage and control of two.

  Soon I had pricked his armpit and sliced the back of his thigh. Though the wounds were shallow, they made him hesitate his movements. Mulkava did not follow, when I walked a few paces backwards.

  "You..." Mulkava panted. Blood trickled on the polished steel covering him. "You are not Ryymi."

  "Now you noticed?" It was a shame that he couldn't see my grin. "Take off your helmet, and your agony shall stay short."

  Mulkava's whole body shifted with overly deep breaths. He must have dived deep into his mind to numb the pain and bring forth the power of his essence.

  Though the Tamsi dog was wounded, he could still bite. One slip would give him a change to overpower me. The stress of our short struggle numbed my lithe limbs. I needed strength, so I lifted my hand. "Aanu, to my palm."

  The spirit obeyed its better, and the fires left the scorched shreds of my garments. I squeezed my fist and forced Aanu into my hand. Its fire spread into my veins. It burned me, but did not consume my flesh.

  Terror moved across the onlooking faces. Even if they had no personal experience with possession, they knew they would be dead, if I was not in control. I ughed a clear tone of brass.

  "This..." Mulkava gestured at me for the benefit of our audience. "...is what you have chosen to lead you."

  "Yes," I agreed. "This is what the Tamsi fear. Power and will to defy tyrants." I strode to Mulkava.

  He made a valiant attempt at fighting back, but after a brief struggle I had forced him to kneel in front of his victor. His longsword y on the floor, as impotent as the strength of his flesh.

  I pulled the helmet off his face.

  "Sun's curse on you, worm," Mulkava spit.

  I guffawed. "My dear aunt will not hurt me."

  Mulkava's gaze fell. "Finish me already."

  "No. The coming Tamsi fleet gives you a purpose." I turned towards the door and yelled: "Servants! Come strip this rabid hound and bind him tight."

  I gnced down at myself. My garments had burned thoroughly, to the point that it was apparent I was a woman. The sight of finished transformation tingled the part of my soul left unburned, even though the shift was accompanied by the spread of my serpentine aspect.

  "Bring me a comb and something to wear like a skirt," I said. "Not that my virtue is threatened by your gazes, but I assume this sight might distract men of manners."

  After tying a shred of velvet curtain around my hips, I rose to the throne. For a moment, I wondered if anyone save mischievous night servants had sat on the oversized dark chair. It suited my rump well and even had a hole in the back to stick my tail into.

  While I watched the humiliation of Mulkava, I took off the cramped steel overshoes and wiggled my newly spyed toes. Though they had bck talons, the feet still retained the general human shape. Both feet were completely covered by the grey scales, which reached to halfway my thighs.

  I removed my helmet and neck protection and began to comb my disorderly hair.

  "Will you let this creature rule you?" Mulkava cried. "Instead of the kindly, worshipful and righteous Fulgurite Prince? You are not beyond his mercy, yet."

  "Oh, I do not rule." I clicked a talon on the stone dais. "I only make immacute suggestions, which are followed by anyone deeming themselves wise. Cut off his bsphemous tongue."

  My suggestion was followed, quite wisely indeed. The following suggestion that all of the council members genuflect in front of me was duteously heeded.

  The people in the room had plenty of frantic questions. They required a lot of firm suggestions, until they found a resembnce of the calm suitable to their station.

  "Make no mistake, my friends." I stood up. "None of you shall be spared from the Prince's wrath, should we fail."