Mantivore Prey

by S. J. Higbee

  At least Seth and Damita weren’t there to witness my shame. Or Onice. And those who were there more than rose to the occasion. Beneth Healer immediately snapped into professional mode, taking my temperature, checking my nails and hair and insisting I stick out my tongue, which I did after a drink of water. Eventually, she agreed with my own explanation that Vrox’s sudden intrusion on top of too much food was the cause, rather than my being poisoned.

  Of course, Ellern was another matter. Once she was called, I was whisked off to my sleeproom while she checked samples, took my blood and consulted her meditab before announcing that it was a simple case of having overeaten. Which didn’t stop her slapping yet another medi-patch on my neck.

  While showering, I dialled the water to cold, knowing the skin-pimpling blast would keep Vrox right away from my headspace as I slathered on highly perfumed soap – anything to shift the memory of my disgrace which brought Felina’s party to such an abrupt end. I changed into a work tunic, knowing it was past time I returned to the Nodery to check on the ailing tanks.

  At least Felina didn’t have the slog of clearing up after the feast, as my household were on hand to perform those chores and before I left for the Nodery, Mr Steward quietly said, “There’s a pot of porridge just the way you like, waiting on the stove, Your Ladyship. Just send word and we’ll get a bowl of it to you. Chef will be ready to cook – er – brekkie for you and the other ladies at daybreak.”

  “Thank you. Muchly appreciated.”

  “My pleasure, Your Ladyship.” He sounded as if he meant it.

  *

  No one raised a cheer as I marched through the Nodery gates with my escort, but neither did anyone jeer or throw rocks, either. And after the evening I’d had, I was prepared to accept that as a win. Although I was surprised that none of Mai’s followers were holding vigil as they’d been so far throughout my stay, until I approached the Nodery steps and heard the shouting.

  Not more trouble…

  I stayed outside, while two of my guards bounded up the steps and slipped in through the half-open door, before quickly emerging again and giving me the All-clear signal.

  I entered the Nodery in the middle of yet another quarrel as everyone, busy watching the confrontation, hadn’t noticed my entrance.

  “…think you are, Kaila Player? You’re the one that’s messed up her Node! Why’d Mother Mai send messages through you?” demanded Idaline Ferry, hands on hips and glaring up at the taller woman.

  “Cos I was her favourite, that’s why!” retorted Kaila, tossing her hair.

  Idaline snorted. “What she said ʼbout you when you wasn’t hugging her hem didn’t sound like you were her favourite!”

  A mutter of agreement rustled through the women crowded into the small space, all watching the confrontation.

  “You lying witchbitch!” shrieked Kaila.

  Gazing at the tanks and checking the readouts, worried all this anger would harm the organi-packs’ recovery, I noticed most of the tanks were bubbling slightly, while the healthiest actually flickered in response to the yelling.

  They’re enjoying this!

  “Mother Mai reckons we need to do a ritual cleansing of the Node,” said Kaila. “She came to me in a vision during my siesta. Clear as you are now.”

  “Nope,” said Idaline, before I’d had a chance to open my mouth. “Not happening. Not while the Node’s so sick. We’ll wait till it’s better, then we’ll perform a Memorial ritual to Mother Mai, may she stay forever shady.”

  “No!” Kaila stamped her foot. Her yell rang around the walls, causing the tanks to flash with more energy than I’d seen since we opened the Node.

  “Do that again.” As everyone spun round and started bobbing curtseys, I pointed at Kaila. “Yell and stamp your foot again.”

  “Why?” Her face slid into mulish resentment.

  “Mostly cos the Node likes it. But the other reason…” I gave her a Vrox grin, showing too many teeth. “Cos I said so.”

  “No!” screeched Kaila, stamping her foot even harder.

  And this time, even the poorly Keeper tank managed a bubble.

  “Jer believe that Mother Mai would channel all her psychic energy to visit Kaila?” I asked the other women crammed in the room.

  “No!” they roared back, as the stacked tanks responded with flickering splashes of bioluminescent light, which played over the tense crowd.

  “Wouldn’t she’ve told us who offed her?” shouted Idaline.

  “Yeah!” they all roared. Some were weeping.

  While the tanks were starting to bubble again, looking more like the Node I remembered.

  Mother used to shut herself in here for long periods with instructions that she wasn’t to be disturbed. She wasn’t using the Node, she didn’t know how. Did she rage and weep at being trapped in Cnicus as the Brarian, when she’d wanted to move to Reseda to grow flowers and plants, instead?

  “If you’re sad or mad or plain sick of everyone and anyone – let it out. Cos the tanks can take your hurts and help you,” I said, pushing my way to the struggling Keeper tank, still cloudy and least responsive. Instead of crooning my loving feelings for the Node at it, I offered it something else. My hurt at losing Onice as a friend… the constant ache of not having Seth alongside… my jealousy at Vrox tossing me aside like a used snotrag for Felina… my fury at his shoddy treatment, summed up by my shameful behaviour at the party. It was a struggle not to weep, but I’d already cried today and I hadn’t put in my eye drops yet, either. Another source of fear and sorrow – I didn’t want to go blind, or continue to suffer the terrible pain that often had me wishing I was dead… All these emotions I pushed at the organi-pack, even thumping on the tank with my fists, I think. It was something of a blur…

  While the others yelled, wept and cursed until the walls rang.

  Vrox briefly surfaces to investigate, before abruptly recoiling with a snarl.

  Until Captain Crayler appeared by my side, yelling to make himself heard, “These women – they’re all loonier than a spacesick naut.”

  “It’s smooth,” I shouted over the noise. “They need this and so does the Node. Check on the patrol outside and don’t return till it’s a whole lot quieter.”

  Clearly twitched at the scenes around him, Crayler left, while I wondered what I’d unleashed. Some of the wailing women scratched their faces, leaving bloody furrows, and Merion Washer was banging her head against a tank, howling as loudly as Vrox on a bad day. Meanwhile the Node was sucking up all this grief like a sweetie-starved toddler. Some of the tanks were now bubbling, gusting with the familiar sweet smell that indicated fully functioning organi-packs.

  I shivered, despite the heavy humid heat that had my clothes sticking to me. So though the Node likes our love well enough, it thrives on our misery and anger. Is that what Vrox is offering, when he scores the tanks with his claws? Because I suddenly realised that when regularly alongside him in the Prime Nodery, I never caught a wisp of his Sendings to the tanks.

  I gotta keep this tucked between my teeth. It was one thing harnessing the grief and outrage of Mother’s followers to help heal the Nodery they’d unintentionally nearly starved to death. But I could imagine only too clearly how a nemmet-hearted roacher like Adurn Brarian might justify terrifying or hurting some poor innocent in order to nourish an ailing Nodery.

  By now, most of the women around me were quietly sobbing, exhausted by their outpouring of emotion. Merion was being comforted by Idaline and Arissa Nova.

  “I’ll get some ointment and silkskin dressings,” said Esne Carrier, Larold’s mother, while I tried to imagine this calm, practical woman in love with Osmar and couldn’t.

  “No. We need to show the world that we’ve shed our very blood for Mother Mai,” rasped Kaila, her voice raw from screaming.

  “You show the world all you want, but I’m not wandering around with an infestation of woundlice eggs hanging off my face just cos I miss Mother Mai,” replied Esne, as she threaded her wa
y through the women slumped on the floor, heading for the door.

  Using the basic first aid kit stored under the console, I treated minor scratches on the likes of Borina Harvester, until Beneth Healer turned up with Ellern. While Beneth took over treating the more serious cases, Ellern tutted over me ‘opening myself up to the risk of infection’. Apparently. Never mind that I’d nursed a paralysed, brain-damaged old man from the time I was nine until his death eight years later – now I was the Overload, I seemed to be made of glass. Indeed, since I’d arrived in Cnicus, Ellern had become increasingly shrill in her insistence that I take her potions and treatments, despite my needing to be elsewhere. I pasted a smile on my face, assuring her that I was solid and instead pointed her in the direction of Merion, who had a lump on the side of her head the size of a nemmetnub.

  While women were being treated or comforted, I returned to the tanks and checked the readings, again which showed the organi-packs were now significantly improved across every measurable parameter.

  I put my hands on the Keeper tank, before suddenly hesitating. Do the organi-packs find my MindLinking endearments boring? Because if what happened earlier is anything to go by, they’d rather I slammed my head against the tanks and howled in despair…

  Is that what you’d prefer, my beauties? That I yelled and screamed at you? I Sent to them, getting only a small ripple in response. Certainly nothing on the scale of their reaction when I’d hammered on the tanks with my fists and turned my pain loose at them. I swallowed the brick forming in my throat, finding it unexpectedly upsetting to think they’d rather see me at the end of my airline than receive my love. Just like Vrox, these days.

  I’d intended to spend the night in the Nodery, but as it wasn’t necessary, I returned to Felina’s, relieved to be leaving Ellern busy treating a string of minor injuries, instead of fussing over me back at the Keeper’s house. Though I had a badly broken night’s sleep, punctuated with nightmares and woke up more than once with burning eyes and tears running down my face.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I surfaced the following morning as grumpy as a cold mantivore, knowing I’d overslept, while my head thudded hard enough to roll off my neck. My temper wasn’t improved by the news of Kestor’s imprisonment splashed across all the journo-spots.

  I dug into my bowl of porridge, which was exactly as I liked it, which was something the roaching Gloriosans seemed unable to manage. But as I listened to the lies squawking from my tab – I’d apparently had Kestor arrested and charged because he rejected my demands for sex – my appetite vanished.

  Felina swept into the dining room, flinging herself into a chair, which groaned, making me tempted to join in. “A rainy morning to you, Raindrop. Damita is all but foaming at the mouth cos she can’t raise Reseda. At all. Any kinda coms blackout going on with your people we should know about?”

  “No, not at all. Especially…” I flicked on my com. “Helston, what is the ETA of the flyer delivering Denzel Brarian?”

  “We’re not sure, Your Ladyship. There’s some sort of communication outage at present,” he said, tightly. “I’m in the process of initiating an Amber security alert throughout Cnicus and the surrounding area while we get to the bottom of this. Please stay within the building.”

  In other words, leave me in peace till I’ve got everything secured.

  I licked my lips with a dry tongue. “Carry on, Captain.” We could be under attack.

  “Your Ladyship.” His com snapped off as I heard his raised voice outside, along with booted feet pounding along the hard-packed earth and pathways cris-crossing the square.

  “Your Ladyship!” Mr Steward rushed into the dining room as if a vore horde were chasing him. “Apologies for the inconvenience, but I’ve been instructed to activate the blast shields.”

  I stared at Felina, shocked. “You’ve got blast shields?”

  She shrugged. “Had ʼem since forever. Osmar insisted, way back when he cared. Your lot overhauled them and fitted all the main buildings surrounding The Square with more of the same.”

  The room darkened as heavy-duty shutters slid across all the windows, blocking out the light and muffling the yelling that had broken out.

  “Reckon I should eat this up.” Despite being stone cold, that porridge tasted wonderful. My headache had lifted, leaving me pin-sharp and ready for whatever was coming.

  It might have been my sudden excitement, but the thick weight of Vrox’s awareness snagged the edge of my mind as he slowly surfaced from his deep sleep. He stretched, groaning at the aches and pains he’d collected after crashing around The Arids the previous evening. A grumbling snarl gathered at the back of his throat as he slowly got to his feet, wincing as he thumped a sore spot on his tail, deciding to go for a wander before it got too hot…

  Go back to sleep. I’ll let you know if you’re needed. Felina’s Sending was laced with that spiky energy of hers.

  Vrox scents possible danger… His excited anticipation surged through me, upping my heartbeat and greasing my skin, while I struggled to surface from his bloodthirsty imaginings of disembowelments, decapitation and wrenching limbs off black-clad enemies, who looked far too like Helston’s security team for comfort.

  You heard Felina. We’ll tell you if there’s any real problem, I Sent, willing the porridge to stay put.

  “Your Ladyship,” called Helston on our secure channel. “We have a flyer approaching, claiming it is on schedule. Though it refuses to give details of its passenger consignment.”

  I checked the time. “It could well be Master Brarian’s flyer. And no – before you ask, I’ve no clue why Denzel Brarian’s flyer would break security protocol.”

  “We won’t shoot it out of the sky, then,” said Helston, as if he blew flyers apart on a daily basis. “But we’ll redirect it to land outside the village walls and surround it. We’ll transmit the landing to you, if you wouldn’t mind, Your Ladyship, and if you don’t identify Master Brarian, we’ll incapacitate the passengers and pilot, secure them and subject them to a MindTrawl.”

  “I’d be happy to identify the passenger,” I said.

  “Four,” said Helston. “There are four passengers in the flyer.”

  Denzel didn’t say anything about bringing anyone else! “Understood,” I said, reaching for my tablet and opening it up.

  “Initialising the camerabot – three, two, one…”

  After a momentary blare of light and sound – the camera focuses on the flyer, dark against the vivid blue of the morning sky. It looks sleek and expensive.

  “That’s not one of the usual flyers that ferry passengers to and from Reseda, is it?” I asked Felina, tilting the screen so she could see.

  Vrox yawns, deciding he needs more sleep if the danger is still high in the sky, and closes his eyes.

  “Nah. It’s far more high-end than the flyers normally landing here,” said Felina. “And it’s coming in a whole lot faster.”

  It is! Why is the pilot circling like that? “Can you see any weapons?” My stomach tightened at the thought of my security detail being mown down by a flying gunship. “You have my permission to fire if there is a wisp of threat,” I told Helston.

  “Cnicus, Cnicus, Cnicus! This is flyer alpha niner zero out of Reseda. Don’t shoot! Please… I was expressly asked to fly dark, but I’d no idea you’d…” pleaded the pilot.

  “Alpha niner zero, explain why you’ve approached running dark. Surely you knew we’d be on maximum security alert with the Brarian Overlord in residence!” snapped Damita on the official com, sounding every bit as angry as I was. “You any notion of the chaos you’ve caused?”

  “I tried to say, but certain parties on board weren’t in the mood to listen. Request permission to land, Cnicus.”

  “You circle around one more time and I’ll release the landing beam to lock on. But you so much as look as though you’re getting ready to fire, then you’ll be blown out’ve the sky. Understand?”

  “U-understood, Cnicus. My r
epentances,” said the pilot.

  “Your Ladyship, does that sound like the kind of stunt your Brarian would pull?” asked Helston on our private channel.

  “No, not remotely.” Who in roaching hells is on board with enough pull to override the pilot?

  We watched in silence as the flyer was grabbed by the landing beam and guided onto the shiny new landing pad just outside the village wall. It seemed to take an eon for the flyer to finally settle and the docking spurs to engage, which was when the waiting soldiers raised their weapons as Captain Helston’s amped voice echoed around the landing pad, “We have this craft completely surrounded. No one is to alight until expressly asked to do so. Any departure from my instructions will result in the use of force. First, the pilot is to leave. Hold your hands above your head and kneel on the ground once you’re clear of the flyer.”

  The pilot edged out of the cockpit. “Don’t shoot. Please… I-I mean no harm.” He was shaking so much as he climbed down the ladder, the fringing on his uniform was trembling. He immediately sank to the ground and was at once cuffed and hauled away by a group of soldiers.

  “Master Denzel Brarian, if you are aboard, please open the passenger door, roll out the gangtube and debark from the flyer with your hands raised,” continued Helston.

  Relief rolled through me as Denzel’s terrified face appeared at the open doorway. “That’s Master Denzel Brarian.”

  As soon as Denzel was on the ground, Captain Helston rushed across to him. “Who on the flyer caused this whole mess?”