Her husband sat beneath her on the soil in the midst of the great city, surrounded by their people whom stayed behind the drawn circle, and as they watched, the king's bare onyx flesh was exposed for all to see with nothing but a garment of straw from his waist to his knees, he spread his arms like a falcon as Lotara took from her bowl a red gem and placed it in between his lips, and once she moved backwards, the maidens of their hall came with bowls of liquid and rags, and they would soon begin the ritual to prepare the king for his quest.

  They dipped the the rags into the bowls, and began washing his body down from corner to corner, as he kept his arms spread, the gem in his lips, and his eyes up into the sky, as the maidens finished washing him, one came from Lotara side, an iron sword in her hands with a moldy substance of a pale color upon it, the queen took it on the tips of her fingers, and carefully applied it under the king's eyes, on his cheek and on his chest, the substance contrasted his skin, and clenched tightly to his flesh as it merged with the liquid that was yet to dry.

  Once Lotara moved aside, the shamans came ahead, both men and women, they clinged into their bone staffs, over their heads were crowns of straw adorned with spiky thorns, over their bodies they had nothing but leather that covered their chests and their waists, over their faces they wore skulls of humans, they were the only one to be allowed to ever touch the remains of another human, for it was a great violation in the eyes of the all creator and the sand gods.

  "Under the eye of the all creator..." the elder shaman declared, her voice as weathered as her ebony skin. "And by the blessings of the sand gods... " She made her way towards him as she pressed her cane into the ground then behind his head, she rose it the sky and bobbed it over his head. "Tao the sand whisperer, Nao the sky keeper, Ezul the gate holder... "

  The elder shaman lowered her staff until it touched Roegan's forehead, and thus she added. "By Igrith hand, the god of iron, war and glory, this king shall be protected from all harm and Zator spirits on his journey... And from the anvil of Krya, she will grant him a boon to slay the beasts."

  As the elder shaman finished her words, she retreated back towards the rest of the shamans, and together they began dancing around the circle, whispering words of the Tatarim tongue and spitting fire into the air, and as the crowds watched in awe, the queen hand maiden Solya arrived with her wagon and dragged it into the circle in front of Roegan, here began Lotara final part of the ritual.

  With the help of Solya, Lotara picked the armor from the wagon, crimson molded plate bone, heavier than any metal and much denser as well, while Solya held up Roegan long braided grey hair, Lotara placed the bone plate around her husband's body, carefully tying each piece to one another, with Solya's help it did not take long for him to be in his armor, and that silenced the shamans as they froze in their places, and so did the crowd, the queen, and every maiden in the circle.

  Roegan stood up, his feline amythest pupils studying the faces of those around him, his onyx flesh shinning under the paint and liquid, his braided half black half grey hair hanging down his back, he turned and walked towards the altar, step by step his armor clanked, and the ground seemingly shook under his weight and the armor's, he reached the altar and there he picked up the sword, a great sword the same as his height crafted with bone ancient metals, though one end was dull, the other was sharpened to a fault and carved into what would seem to be the teeth of a beast, Roegan gave the weapon a quick look and strapped it to his back.

  "Roegan, Roegan, Roegan." The queen, the crowd and the shamans repeated as they followed Roegan while he made his way through through their city and into the gates, and once they were out in the fields of sand and dust, none but the queen was allowed to follow him further than that point, she was glad for their traditions, his people were allowed to say their blessings and so did she, in private, or at least away from preying ears.

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  They paced forward until they reached the tree and the well where he often spent his time of solitude, their youngest daughter awaited there cladded in her pale bone plate and armed with her Tatar long saber, Roegan halted and so did the queen as he stood next to his daughter, the queen smiled to herself, they were gorgeous, father and daughter, king and princess, they looked alike far too much, and the queen took pride in that, though she did give Malynn the color of her eyes.

  "Long ago when we had no heirs, under the same tree, we spoke before you headed east to battle the Gahrak with your father." The queen softly spoke. "You returned victorious to your queen and your newborn daughter... I will not say my words again, for there is nothing I would say that you do not already know, King Roegan."

  He nodded his head with a smile and responded. "The queen speaks well, I will return victorious same as before, we will return victorious, I trust that Asaroth will be in good hands."

  Lotara smiled as well, her eyes meeting with his, she would embrace him, she would kiss, she would whisper to him words of love, affection and trust, but her king needn't more burdens than he already carried, for he had a long path ahead, she broke her gaze and turned her sight to her daughter, she could swear only a day ago she was but a small youngling suckling at her breast, but they grow fast, far too fast, as would be the case with her twin children soon enough, and now her daughter stood armored and armed in bone, prepared for her first journey out of the sands of their city.

  "Mother?" Malynn uttered as she tilted her head.

  Lotara had been staring at her daughter for a long second, she recalled that it was her suggestion that Malynn accompanied her father, decisions are easier said than done, but her pain was not to be shared, she would endure, as she always had, she smiled and moved closer to her youngest daughter then rested her hand on her shoulder, her hand gripping firmly into the bone plate. "Malynn, your journey would be difficult, the quest your father is partaking have not been done in centuries, but learn, dear daughter, you would be a bulwark to your sister's back in the future, the same as you would be to your father in what is about to come... Take care of yourself, and of him, princess Malynn. "

  "Yes your highness." She replied. "I will make sure that no harm comes to the king and... I will be alright, mother."

  Lotara nodded in approval then pressed her forehead against her daughter's, their noses softly bumping into one another, it was how Asarothian mothers showed their affection to their children, and while they were royalty, their hearts were no different than that of the common folk.

  Once all goodbyes concluded, the queen took a few steps back and she watched same as the three thousand who lived in their city, they would not dare miss the marvel which was gifted to her husband, Pak is what the nameless men from ages long ago called it, she felt it in her bones, and soon enough the ground began shaking until the sand ahead broke up into smaller pieces spreading into the sky, and as the winds howled and carried it away further into the desert, Pak was revealed for all eyes to see, a gigantic centipede, it was so tall that it could wrap itself around the walls of their city, and so fast that it would pass from the east of Asaroth to the west in two days, and from north to south in a day, though it listened to no one but her husband, it crawled quick and swiftly, until it reached the king and the princess, and once they climbed into its back and gripped into its scales, its hundreds limbs began scaling the desert and crawled to the horizon in an instant, leaving nothing but a trial of dust and sand that would soon be washed away by the winds.

  She was alone, with no more than the company of her hand maidens, her brother and brother in law, and all would look her way for what they sought, it dawned on her, the responsibility she carried on her back, but the weight did not lower her to her knees, she would always stay firm and stand tall and proud, she was queen after all, and she ruled alone before, she will continue to do so, however as she turned, out of all of her people, she noticed a stranger, or rather a man who did not belong yet did not leave, Valerius, one of the many princes of Osward empire, his pale skin contrasted with the many folk he stood amongst, and she could feel his eyes studying her carefully, and if the boy prince do not come to his senses and soon leave, she would soon give him a reason to do so, for Asaroth was not for the faint or weak of heart.