Tangle in the Dark - Kassidor

e sweating in there. Together they addressed the crowd. Shewished Yellelle was close enough to translate, but one othergirl was between them, so Ava had to go thru this clueless.The first bull and its keepers approached the stairway. Thehigh priestess or queen or whatever she was barked acommand. The girl near the rear of the bull barked anotherand the bull began backing up with his head lowered. Theking, or whatever he was, called out some sentences, pointingat the bull as it backed away. The other girl walked toward thesteps where the royals were standing, bowed to them andturned toward the bull. The other girl barked anothercommand and the bull charged. The crowd roared and Avascreamed. The imagery of the nubile young maiden sacrificedto this animal was too savage for her to withstand.The girl lunged toward the bull and certain death and thebull lowered his head. The girl leapt, grabbing the bull by thehorns. The bull yanked his head back, launching the girl highin the air where she did a somersault with a full twist, landingon the bull’s back, doing a handspring and launching backinto the air, where she did another full twist and landed on herfeet. The crowd thundered and the queen nodded regally.Ava almost fainted and Imada had to grab her to keep heron her feet. “Bekiki buru,” she said, “Tedda nema pu tloma.”“Yes, whatever,” Ava said, trying to regain hercomposure. What had the symbolism turned into? That a mereslip of a girl could manage the most potent beast?“Besi!” the queen/high priestess called out. The first444