Mantivore Prey

by S. J. Higbee

  “Good to see you,” I said, wishing I could share the rich delight swirling through my head with him.

  “It’s surely good to see you, too,” he replied, before adding in a low growl only I could hear, “Missed you muchly.” His face lit up in one of those smiles of his that liquefied my innards.

  It seemed the most natural thing in the world to lean into him and slide my arm around his waist as we headed back to Felina’s house, as he told me about his journey… asked after the Node… wanted to know where Vrox was… He was a different person from the disapproving, sour stranger I’d left behind in Gloriosa. As I bathed in the bliss of having the man I'd fallen in love with back with me, I realised just how much my misery in Gloriosa had been bound up with my increasing estrangement from Seth.

  Of course, it couldn’t last. After making our way into Felina’s Reception Room and removing our sunscreens, I was about to ask Seth if he knew the whereabout of that destination in The Arids, when there was a loud commotion at the door.

  Helston, about to discreetly step away, immediately moved forward putting himself between us and the door. I muttered a series of curses as I recognised the crawling, entitled accent of the roacher who’d seen fit to burst in on my precious privacy with the love of my life.

  “Don’t you worry, Your Ladyship, I’ve given instructions that Master Gator is to be banned—” Helston started to say.

  Clete Gator burst into the room, flanked by a couple of my household guards who clearly hadn’t got Helston’s instructions, or chose to ignore them. Though he was almost unrecognisable as the upswept, citified article who had swaggered into Cnicus. His coiffed hair was hanging in lank strands, his face – despite his makeup – was clearly burnt. Or he was beet-red with fury as he pointed a shaking finger at me. “How dare you make such a thorough-going fool of me!”

  “And how dare you crash into my private residence without my yayso?” I snapped, aping the stiffly offended demeanour of Gloriosans at their chilliest.

  “I came all this way. Told you my feelings for you! And this is how you repay my love and respect for you. Cavorting in public with this waste of skin and sinew.” He was all but frothing at the mouth.

  Has the noonblast slagged him? “And as I told you, when you saw fit to babble unconvincingly of your undying affection, I am a happily married woman. And this ‘skin and sinew’ is my husband. As for cavorting – really?” I would have rolled my eyes, but for the fact that he couldn’t see them behind the goggles.

  Seth stirred at my side. “What you don’t know – because I’m sure Clete, here, wouldn’t have told you – is that he’s on the losing end of a power struggle. His uncle has agreed to support our cause on The Council and has expressly instructed Clete to desist in his efforts to court you.”

  “So he hasn’t the backing of his Family, then?” I asked.

  “Oh, if he succeeds in sweeping you off your feet to the extent that you agree to marry him, I’m sure his uncle will forgive Clete’s transgression. Otherwise…” Seth shook his head. “I wouldn’t want to be standing in his variweave facing the old man. Hector Gator is a formidable operator.”

  I shivered at the naked hatred on Clete’s face as he replied, “You’ll be smirking on the other side of that smarmy Priest face of yours soon enough, you stinking little dust-tic! You might have honeytalked The Council to fall in with your wafty schemes, while babbling of Command Codes and using our inherited wealth of information for the good of all, but you don’t fool me. You talked the girl into marrying you, with all those rolling Priestly words of yours, but you don’t look so shiny against the best Bridgedeck society has to offer!”

  I stared at his sweating, reddened face, his tousled hair and bloodshot eyes. “Have to say, Master Gator, you’re looking more fit for a hole in the ground than anything else, right now.”

  I gritted my teeth as he looked me up and down like a piece of spoiled meat. “Unlike many, I’m not overfond of redheads. Too much temper and entitlement, in my experience. But I’m prepared to make an exception for you. And if you come to me willingly, I’ll spare his life.” His gaze fleetingly took in Seth at my shoulder. “But if you don’t – if I have to come and get you, then he’ll be dead. And you’ll be wishing you’d been nicer to me when you had the chance.”

  Who does he think he is, to threaten me? Before I had a chance to respond, he’d whirled around in a flurry of writhing variweave and marched out.

  Helston, his face blacker than a moonless night, turned to both of us. “Engage your privacy screens and raise the blast shields after I’ve left. Only let in those folks you know you can trust, and only guards I’ve personally vouched for. Our security is leakier than a rotting sieve, cos Gator shouldn’t have been able to get in. And he did. I’m going to sort this out. If I’m not back within two hours, wander to your personal flyer as if you’re off on a jaunt and head for Pistacia. You’ll be safer there than here.” With that, he rushed out.

  A shaken Jerick Steward scampered into the room as I triggered the blast shields and the metal shutters rattled into place. While the ordinary slatted shutters diffused the hard noonblast brightness into scattered slashes of light around the room, these heavy security shields completely blocked it out.

  “So what happened at the door, Jerick?” I demanded.

  “My profound apologies, Your Ladyship,” he stammered. “But as I told Master Gator that you weren’t at home, the wretched guard raised his gun and pointed it at me. Told me to step back and allow Lord Gator. Lord, mark you! And I happen to know that he’s nothing but a younger son of a younger son. Lord, indeed!”

  I looked across at Seth’s set face. “Reckon Clete’s making a powerplay.”

  “It’s an attempted coup,” he said grimly. “Looks as if he’s managed to infiltrate our guards with his own people. And out here, in the middle of The Arids, he might just succeed.”

  “Where’s Felina and Vrox? Clete hates her and must know that he’ll need to flatten the fight out of the mantivore if he’s a chance of succeeding.” Dread snaked in my gut, even as I scrambled to catch up. How did my home village – fortified against intruders and rebels – suddenly become a knife-lined trap?

  There was another disturbance outside. Someone was calling and then there was hammering at the door. Though no one was getting in with the blast shields in place.

  And ashen-faced Jerick Steward reappeared. “It’s Master Adurn. He is requesting the presence of Master Trask and Denzel Brarian in the Node. Says it’s time for them to choose sides.”

  Master Trask immediately stepped forward. “Yes, well – I was thinking it was past time we did so, anyway. Come on, my boy. Overlords come and go, but the Nodery is what’s important. Let’s go and protect the planet’s precious knowledge from those weapon-waving brutes.” Without so much as glancing in our direction, he headed for the door.

  Denzel didn’t move, looking at his mentor as if he’d been jaspered. “But… what about our allegiance to Overlord Kyrillia? And her being a Nodemaster?”

  “What about it?”

  “Surely she is the one we should be supporting?” faltered Denzel.

  “And how d’you suppose we do that? Know of any way in which you can single-handedly stop these armed barbarians stomping around the village? No? I thought not.” Master Trask flicked a look in my direction, his voice softening, “For what it’s worth, I’m truly sorry. I’d have been honoured to serve under you, Your Ladyship. But to be honest, it’s a miracle the pair of you have lasted as long as you have.” He turned back to Denzel, all business. “In the meantime we have to do our duty. Which is to protect that Node from the sun-singed idiot now calling the shots.”

  I took a shaking breath. “He’s absolutely right, Denzel. Go – both of you. And stay safe.”

  As they scurried away, Seth stared at me. “Don’t know if I’d have been so smooth with them switching sides.”

  I flung my hands in the air. “What choice do they have? Trask is righ
t. His priority is to keep the Node safe. Especially as we’ll need to use it.”

  Seth frowned. “Thought Kestor had nixed it by shutting it down.”

  “Oh, you’re right. He nearly wiped it out. Though we’ve managed to heal it faster than anyone else really knows.”

  As Seth raised his eyebrows, I moved closer and lowered my voice, even though the privacy screens were still on. “Adurn is used to dealing with organi-packs where the info-stems are regularly harvested, so they’re weaker than our Node is, anyway. Which means he’s underestimated the speed at which our tanks are recovering. And… I found some new ways to boost the Node’s energy.” Giving them contact with anger, pain and grief, which they suck up like sugar-water. Something I was still finding difficult to come to terms with.

  Seth nodded. He pulled me to him and I slid my arms around him, finding comfort in holding and being held by him, even in the middle of this skelping mess.

  He spoke into my hair. “Just so we’re clear. I’m not going to be shunted off somewhere safe, while you and that scaly beast of yours go charging into the middle of whatever trouble you’ll get into. I’m staying right alongside.”

  I pulled away to look up into his face. “But they’ll use you against me! Threaten to do all sorts of horrible things to you.”

  He gently lifted a stray curl off my forehead. “They’ll do that anyway, Libby. If they win, I’ll be deader than last night’s supper in no time flat.”

  “No! I’ll make them promise—”

  He hugged me to him, murmuring, “Whatever they say, they’ll find a way to end me. Probably arrange an accident, just like your roaching uncle had planned for us.”

  I gulped back a sob, suddenly desperate. “I can’t bear it! Not to lose you – not now. What can we do?”

  Seth continued holding me. “We win. Like we’ve done every other time since the roachers tried to off us. And this time, they’ll find it harder. We now have support back in Gloriosa – journos that want to see us prevail… Bridgedeckers tired of constantly looking over their shoulder for the next internecine squabble…”

  My fear abruptly eased as I laid my head on his shoulder, grinning. “Don’t know another person on the planet who’d use the word internecine while waiting to see if he’s gonna be chopped off at the knees.”

  I could feel Seth’s answering smile as he kissed the top of my head. “Word power – yeah we’ve got that, too. As well as The Council. And they won’t be happy with Clete Gator’s move. Not at all. So don’t you give up on us. Get that oh-so-clever brain of yours into go mode. Cos it’s time to make plans.”

  I reached up and kissed him full on the lips. A long lingering kiss full of passion that spun my senses, leaving me flushed and yearning for more. I locked looks with him, drowning in those brown eyes, darkened and urgent. And reluctantly sucked in a deep breath, before stepping back. “You’re right. Time to make plans. So we get a chance to finish what we just started.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Vrox suddenly fills my head, snarling angrily at Cub’s wet-wittedness in losing the support of her horde.

  His disappointed contempt raised my hackles. No, merely a disorderly rump who have battened onto this disobedient lord like blowflies on a corpse. In the meantime, stay calm and don’t challenge them. They probably won’t shoot you, but I can’t guarantee your safety, right now. I might as well not have bothered to waste my air. I sensed his rising fury as he gathered himself, all set to confront the guard—

  RAINDROP? CAN YOU HEAR ME?

  Sinking to my knees, I cried out, “Felina! Please turn it down. You’re deafening me.” As I took a couple of gasping breaths and mopped my burning eyes, which had watered in sympathy, Vrox’s swelling ferocity suddenly imploded.

  Instead he freezes, chastened by Felina’s anger, as she Sends at him, ‘You carry on roaring in their faces, you scaly old fool, they’ll zap you deader than that old maw shark we just offed’…

  Meanwhile I could pick up her response to the guards jabbing.

  “What? You want us to go where? The Security Suite? Oh, alright. About time I had a chat with Cupert and Damita Peaceman, anyhow. C’mon, Vrox. Let’s go.” Meanwhile, she Sends to Vrox, ‘Don’t you so much as look at them – you hear me? You fix your eyes down on the ground in front of you and shorten those long mantivore strides to keep pace with poor old, cripped-up me’…

  I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding as they trooped into the Security Suite – not exactly quietly, but peacefully enough. Though I didn’t want to think what would happen if they tried to shut Vrox up in one of those small holding cells.

  Seth reached for my hand.

  I squeezed his strong, warm fingers, glad for the comfort.

  “I’m guessing the beast just crashed into your head,” he said quietly.

  I started to nod, then winced. “Mm. He and Felina have been rounded up and taken to the Security Suite.”

  “Any trouble?”

  “Not yet, though…” I broke off as Felina’s argument that Vrox won’t tolerate being shut in the cell was in the process of being ignored.

  “Get in the sodding cell!” yells the guard.

  No, it’s not just any guard – it’s Captain Crayler.

  Sick at the extent of the betrayal going on around me, I had to put it on the backburner as the situation continued to slither out of control.

  “…I shoot one of her hands off!” Crayler threatens, grabbing hold of Felina’s wrist and bending it painfully across the barrel of his gun.

  “By the Mothership – don’t do that!” drawls Damita, deigning to swing around and take her feet off the console in front of her. “You any idea just how much trouble she’ll be if she’s injured? And she’s the village Storekeeper. She takes it into her sorry head to die on us, then we’re reamed hollower than a sandblasted skull. No one else knows the Codings for the fridges and suchlike. Specially not her nano-brained apprentice.

  “And I should care because?” snaps Crayler.

  “Cos by all accounts we’ve been instructed to do this nice and easy. No shooting on the street… keep our voices down and our hands to ourselves regarding the civis. Play nice. Hard to do if everyone’s going hungry.” Damita jerks her head in the direction of Vrox, rumbling and flickering in full threat mode. “’Sides, she’s the only one whose got any control over ol’ Vrox. And you let him unleash that mantivore temper of his, then that’s our instructions blowing away on the wind.”

  “So what d’you suggest, then?”

  Damita scratches her head. “It’s not for me to say, is it? Me some village Peacekeeper who spends most of her time flicking dust out of her belly button…”

  Crayler’s gun swivels around to her unprotected head. “Imagine I’ve bothered to ask for your advice.”

  Damita’s face doesn’t change by so much as a flicker. If she’s daunted or frightened, I can’t tell. “Well if it were me – and it isn’t, of course, I’d have both of them in the cells, but keep the doors open.”

  Crayler’s bray of laughter has Vrox growling in response. “That’s not securing them!”

  Damita shrugs. “As good as. If it all goes blistered, we can slam the doors shut quickly enough. Leastways this way we’ll still have doors. Whereas if ol’ Vrox here gets all hot’n cross, there’s a high likelihood we won’t have a Security Suite left. Any notion what a full-grown mantivore lord can do when he gets going? And you’ll lose guards for sure. Cos you can’t kill him, can you?”

  “Whose side are you on, Raindrop?” asks Felina.

  “The side of law and order, Mistress Keeper. Same as always,” answers Damita. “Now, if I get you some of Ajene’s food served for your meals, fix the shower and get the bog-box swapped out for an empty one – you reckon to sit yourself down with the mantivore nice and peaceful in this cell?”

  Felina leans hard on Vrox’s mind as she answers, “Yeah, I reckon we can do that. Though I want honey on my porridge in the mornings
. None of that shoddy sugar-syrup you been watering down.”

  Damita turns to Captain Crayler, rolling her eyes. “You see? Nothing but a roaching nuisance.”

  Crayler stares at her, his lip wrinkling with distaste. “Fine, keep the sodding door open. You’re all madder than a hexed housebot. Must be the bloody heat.” He suddenly leans forward, coiled and dangerous as a striking snake. “You better not be jerking my airline, girlie. Or I’ll be braiding that pretty red hair of yours with your own gizzards.”

  I shivered, wishing I could somehow protect them from the nastiness that is Captain Crayler. “When this is over, I’m gonna be sieving through the records of my security personnel, one by one.”

  “As will I, Your Ladyship,” announced Captain Helston striding into the room. “I’ve given orders that no one should offer up any resistance to an overwhelming show of arms. As far as I can tell – worst case scenario – we have the solid loyalty of around 60% of the troops. But the catch is that there is another force out in The Arids, waiting to swoop in and roll over our people.” Helston rubbed his eyes. “If half of what my informants have been telling me, then Gator has been throwing three fortunes at our people in the form of bribes and promises. Don’t reckon he can fulfil half of what he’s undertaken to do.”

  “Which means he doesn’t expect our people to leave here upright and breathing,” I said, adding a string of curses as I tried to work out how to save them.

  Captain Helston stared at me, wide-eyed. “Where’d you learn to swear like that?”

  Seth raised his hands. “Wasn’t me who taught her.”

  I shrugged, a tad embarrassed. “Osmar used to curse, somewhat.”

  “I’ll say,” commented Helston. “There’s sergeants I’ve served with who haven’t that range of ripe language, Your Ladyship.”

  However, I’d finally started to use my brain for something other than panicking and swearing. “I reckon I know where those troops are holed up.” I pulled up the map on my tab that we’d been poring over during our journey back to Cnicus, pleased to see that it was easier than breathing to fire it up using a backdoor Command Code. Which meant that Master Trask and Denzel now had the Node functional to some degree.