A Game of Chi Book III: A Sword of Dust

Chapter 20: Eris III

ERIS

Having just visited the Forever Sun earlier in the day, Eris chose not to access her firedreams and spend the night sleeping normally. She was thankful that unlike two weeks ago, Eris was able to fully control when she would firedream, and when she would sleep dreamlessly. While she would have appreciated more knowledge about this Foltrax and Trakkar — namely, if they were really who they purported to be — she didn't want to confront Fluminox again. It's not that I don't trust him, she remembered thinking before going to sleep, but I need to be able to think for myself. I won't be able to speak to him while I'm talking to other people. In truth, Eris didn't want to consider the fact that some of what the powerful phoenix had told her was inconsistent, at best. Do I really trust that he'll lead me to the best future? she had wondered. Or what if his "best future" is different from mine? With no easy answers to these questions, Eris had decided to put them aside and just sleep, and after a relatively restful slumber, she awoke when the sun had just risen over the horizon. Yawning and stretching, Eris emerged from her tent, which had been set up by her troops the previous night. Despite the fabric's original colour being some sort of green, it had been dyed red and gold to match Eris' fiery armour, and she quite liked the colour. As she expected, Tormak, Lundor and Li'ella were already up, along with some of the Outlandish troops. Someone had started a fire, and they were eating around it. Upon seeing Eris approach, the Cat Guides quickly stood up. "Good morning, Eris," Li'ella said, handing her a skewer. "We saved this for you." Nodding in thanks, Eris sat down and roasted the cubes of meat over the fire, and the Cat Guides soon sat down once again.

"We're heading into the Web today, right?" Lundor asked, chewing on some meat of his own. "To speak with Spinlyn, Trakkar and Foltrax?" Eris nodded, making sure her meat was adequately brown before shearing into it with her beak. "Don't you seem excited," Li'ella remarked. "I am!" Lundor exclaimed. "Trakkar was a friend of mine back in the Citadel. I mean, who wouldn't be friends with someone who could kick Tormak's ass?" Li'ella and Lundor laughed while Tormak grumbled, and Eris smiled. "And don't forget Foltrax. Who would have thought we'd meet the Prince of the Phoenix Tribe?" Realizing what he had said, Lundor quickly glanced at Eris and cleared his throat. "Sorry, Eris. I didn't mean—"

"It's alright," she assured him. "I'm just as eager to meet him as you are. I've never met a fully-developed phoenix in my life, and I'd like to know anything he has to share." A brief silence descended on the group. "Aren't you worried?" Tormak asked. "He may not be our ally. He may want to take Chima for himself, meaning that we'd be in his way. Plus, if he really is fully-developed, maybe they'll..." he looked around at the Outlandish soldiers, who were beginning to wake up. "You know."

"They won't," Eris said firmly. "Even if Foltrax looks like a proper phoenix, I'm the Queen of Fire. It's in the name, isn't it? Queen. It can't be him. So I'm safe!" Tormak looked at Lundor uneasily. Li'ella, who was seated next to Eris, let out an exasperated sigh. "More secrets you're keeping from us girls?" she demanded. "Well, not quite," Lundor replied sheepishly. "This never seemed relevant, because Flinx was a girl, so..." The leopard trailed off, making Eris more interested and more suspicious. "What is it?" she asked them. "Tell us."

"The Golden Book wasn't written entirely in Chi," Tormak answered. "Some of it, especially the earlier parts, much of it written by Fluminox I, had to be translated from the Old Dialect." Li'ella shot Eris a glance of confusion. "I studied a little bit of the Old Dialect back in the Great Library," Eris began, "and I remember that despite it being a pictorial language, it has been mostly deciphered and translated into Chi. After all, the Golden Book isn't the only literature the Phoenix Tribe left behind." Tormak nodded in agreement. "Translation isn't the problem," he said. "Well, not exactly. The Old Dialect character for 'Queen' used in the prophecy about the Queen of Fire is just the character for 'ruler' with a component which suggests femininity. For example, the characters for 'tigress' and 'lioness' share that part as well, whereas 'tiger' and 'lion' do not. However, the problem is that while a female ruler would imply a queen, there are several instances of that character, that of a female ruler, being used in place of a king or an emperor as well. For example, the Black King, Rozalar, was referred to with that character."