Falco Invictus: On the Forge of War by Rodney C. Johnson

dangled from her earlobes and had been all
the jewelry she elected to wear. A small handbag, little more than
a black pouch which contained a brush, lip liner and a small
vaporizer of perfume dangled from her wrist.
    “Who are those golden armored women that
wait upon the Drakorian?” Frederika asked Mia. She had already
learned of the fierce Drakorian elite guard who served the Shotar.
Their distinctive angled blood red and black armor disturbingly
familiar to her from her persistent visions.
    “The Valküri.”
    The German girl wondered if that had been
intentional. “Valküri? Like Wotan's warrior maidens?”
    “Supposedly, these women have mystical
powers. They tend the Rishaak trees when not garbed for war. The
Queen herself is their Reverend Mother.”
    Frederika made a soundless “O”, while she
watched the warrior women pour a milky yellow liquid into goblets
fashioned like inverted pyramids, clutched by tri-claw talons. The
female claw-boot she noticed were slightly different from what she
had seen male Falcanians sport. Instead of remaining apart like the
male claws the forward talons met at a point and the rear talon
were like that of a high-heeled shoe which added height to the
noble-looking women.
    “His Imperial Excellency, the Padishah
Shotar Sharr Khan Mingh Drakonis!” Chancellor Shreik Trakan
announced amid the pounding of drums which signaled the Imperial
families' entrance into the hall. All stood to greet their
Padishah. Enormous egg-shaped emerald doors slid into the wall to
allow the Imperial presence to enter the audience chamber. They
were preceded by a group of Drakorian Guard that marched in
triangle formation, the Shotar soon ascended to his mighty throne
which had been mounted on a dais. Beside him his Queen and their
daughter walked. All held hands.
    Behind them were the other princesses and
their mothers, the Imperial Concubines.
    Frederika's eyes went wide as the entourage
moved past.
    Garbed in a red and black version of his
normal jodtok, as much everyday clothing as they were battle togs,
Sharr’s regalia recalled to one a 1930’s aviator jacket worn with
jodhpurs. The notion of flight stitched into its make, with its
high fur collar. The outfit looked snug, yet comfy. Sharr Khan
marched toward his royal seat. On his belt he wore the compass that
Sitara had given him. A heavy golden “Phoenix" emblem hung from a
chain off the white fur collar of his uniform and shined in the
firelight. As promised, he wore Jaikra secured at his side, his
gloved hand resting easily on the weapon.
    Proud, alight with fiery intelligence, the
Valküri Reverend Mother and Falcanian Queen wore a blueberry-hued,
off the shoulder outfit with simple gold armbands. Nadia’s dark
hair reached in sumptuous layers down her bare back, a delicate
tiara on her head. The jeweled crown sparkled under the bright
light of the hall. Sheathed in a jeweled scabbard that hung from a
belly chain, her curved Valkris dagger remained in close reach.
    Princess Sitara had chosen an ensemble which
reflected both her social standing and one that would convey a
religious subtext. From a hair ornament, a golden eight-pointed
Tarik compass star dangled. It was set with an octagonal ruby, a
guiding symbol of the Tarik Way. Her outfit, Imperial blood-red and
gold, just as her father wore. Her attire minimal, meant to show
off the tops of her breasts which were decorated with henna in the
form of Kaliburn characters and a complex geometric pattern that
numerically spoke of threes and its multiples. An OM symbol rested
on a thin gold chain between the cleft of her generous breasts.
Sitara wore the OM not only to acknowledge her Hindu heritage, but
also because it served as a symbol of the Tarik Way. She had put a
diamond stud in her nose, twisted wire bands were clasped to her
upper arms, an iridescent opal placed in each. The Tarik symbol
also decorated her navel and radiated outward from her bellybutton.
Like her mother, a Valkris