Mantivore Prey

by S. J. Higbee

  “Good thing the dust tics’ brains are every bit as sunbroiled as reported. No one in the village seems aware. And the Nodery is still slagged, so the journos can’t jabber to anyone other than themselves, unless they use the Bullits we’ll provide for them.” Clete was starting to calm down. “The Priest – when will he be conscious again?”

  “In another half-hour or so,” replied Ellern.

  “I have to say, Madam Healer Prime, I find your vagueness in the status of your patients less than impressive,” snapped Clete.

  “My apologies, Your Lordship,” she declared, frostily. “But I wasn’t given sufficient time to fully tailor the dosages and Master Priest went down hard. I believe he may have sustained a head injury in the process.”

  Head injury? Oh nooo… oh Seth!

  “You believe? Why don’t you know?”

  “I was also tasked with bringing Her Ladyship under control. Once her Priest was drugged, she started fighting back and she’s stronger than she looks.”

  “Go and check on him. I don’t want him dying on me, yet. He needs to make that retraction they married,” announced Clete.

  And then you’ll kill him! You won’t risk letting him walk away from any of this. I shut my eyes behind my goggles, fighting back tears of fear and fury. We thwarted Uncle Trislen’s murderous intentions… we overcame several coup attempts… we survived the nemmets… It seemed too cruel that after all that, I’d lose Seth to Clete Gator’s skelping ambition.

  I’m not gonna let that happen. I gritted my teeth, forced back the feeb-brained tears and tried to figure out how we could get ourselves out of this mess. We’d survived enough tight spots to last several lifetimes, which meant we were good at it. I began considering all this intel I’d been given, to see if there was some kind of plan I could put together—

  Waking with my siblings curled around me, when the monsters attacked. Hissing sound, eye-piercing flashes, smell of seared flesh, Mother bellowing… wounded – howling her fury and defiance...

  I’m small and naked – my scales have been plucked from my smooth, thin skin… I’m… not… Vrox… I was howling, my mouth stretched so wide it hurt. My head kept battering against Helston’s armour as I shook and spasmed. Vrox! Nooo…

  VROX! RAINDROP, YOU SHADY? COURSE YOU’RE NOT. I’LL TRY AND FIX IT…

  Hot splashes of blood coat my small, soft scales as one by one, my brothers and sisters are slaughtered. Each bright life nested within my head fades and dies, one after the other until there is only a single cry of a lone cub wailing for his lost family – mine…

  A monster is gripping my head, jabbering in that ugly, stupid manner, over and over.

  “Ah, no – not again! Not again, you poor child. You poor, poor girlie,” the voice croons. Like my poor dead Mama…

  No! Not like Mother. She didn’t croon anything to me. She snapped orders and slapped when I didn’t move fast enough… I pulled free of Vrox’s desperate, heartbreaking flashback of when he was taken prisoner. And found myself lying on the floor gazing up at Ellern’s face. I didn’t have much choice, given that she’d forced something in my mouth to stop me from biting my tongue.

  “There, there… Hold on. Just – hold on, dear child,” she repeated, soft-voiced and caring. As if she hadn’t betrayed my trust and was about to hand me over to my worst enemy.

  It was almost a relief when I was suddenly, once more, swallowed up by Vrox’s consuming terror.

  Blood coats my scales, making them itch. Where’s Mama’s Groomdrool to wash away the stench and horror?

  VROX! PULL IT TOGETHER, YOU’RE NOT A CUB. YOU’RE IN THE STINKY SECURITY SUITE COMING AROUND AFTER SOME DROSSER DRUGGED YOU.

  Felina’s mental bellow hammered across Vrox’s panic, flattening it under the sheer power of her strength. But doing nothing for my pummelled brain, still reeling as I tried to work out who I was... where I was…

  Ah… I did wonder why it was that you had MindFucked with so many of us unscaled. You are merely a broken cub within a lord’s body. Squealing an’ pushing your pain into your own Cub with no more restraint than a jaspered nemmetnub.

  I shivered in shock at the contempt saturating Jessob’s Sending.

  No, no! It was terrible – what happened to him… You must understand! I Sent.

  AND NOW LOOK WHAT YOU’VE DONE! SOME DESERT-SCUFFED FOUNDLING IS LOOKING DOWN HIS POINTY NOSE AT YOU, YOU SCALY OLD FOOL!

  Ahh! Felina, you’re too loud again. Gritting my teeth against the agony knifing through my head, I tried reaching out. Vrox? It’s okay, I’m so sorry—

  Go. Away.

  He savagely dumped me out of his head so hard, I retched with the pain of it.

  Nice one, Cublord! Slash an’ claw at those who want nothing more than to help. Even while she’s mourning her fallen mate an’ her own downfall, she has the grace/wit to pull away an’ tend to you an’ your untutored Sendings. You shame your poor slaughtered Mama.

  I was whimpering. Not while trapped in Vrox’s backbrain as he relived his capture once more. No, this time it was simply finding the pain surging inside my skull too much to bear.

  It didn’t help that once I surfaced back in my own body, Ellern was still clucking at my side like a bothered hen and Clete was staring down at me in open disgust.

  “What in godding hells was that all about? I know Brarians can be on the weirder side of odd, but you didn’t mention she’s an out and out gape-brained dribbler.”

  “Because she’s not!” snapped Ellern. “Her unique powers also make her uniquely sensitive. She needs looking after! She needs understanding.” The roaching Healer actually stroked my cheek as she spouted this slurry.

  Clete was still staring down at me as if I’d just crawled out of his bottom. “You’d better get her cleaned up. And put a nappy on her. I don’t want her pissing herself when we do the pic parade for the journos. Though it’ll be a mighty effort to make them believe I want to marry that.”

  Which was when I realised that at some stage during Vrox’s fugue, I’d wet myself.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  I was still giddy from the effects of the stuff that she’d drugged me with, so couldn’t even cross the room without Ellern’s arm around my shoulder. While Vrox had clearly managed to flush some of whatever-it-was out of my system, his devastating flashback had hoed me flat again.

  Though not to the extent of that first time. Am I becoming toughened to his Sendings? Or is he getting weaker? I chose to think I was getting tougher, as I gritted my teeth and submitted to Ellern’s unwanted help.

  “Here we go, kitten,” she crooned, wrapping a waterproof binding around my nemmet wound, hauling me to my feet and helping me into the shower.

  Kitten? I’m the Brarian Overlord – I have the Codes. Some of them anyway… She’s no business calling me pet names!

  While showers in Cnicus had timers to conserve water, they had the same soap dispensing and dryer options as their Gloriosan versions. Not that you’d know it with Ellern fussing over my naked body. She insisted on patting me dry with a towel and fussing over every little nick and cut I’d collected the previous night, and there were a lot of them. It made my flesh crawl to have her smooth hands touching me as she tutted over them, smearing some medicated-smelling lotion over every minor wound.

  Is it pulsing her to touch and stroke me? I inwardly shuddered at the notion, even as I forced myself to simper at her attentions, hoping to lull her into a false sense of security.

  “There we are, all those nasty little wounds protected. Now, let’s get you dressed, shall we? And never mind about that nappy. We both know a monster trampling around inside your poor little head would make anyone lose control of their bladder, don’t we, chicken?”

  She’s in major mama-mode. Not that Mother ever acted like that towards me, but Aunty Hester did when I was ill, or upset. Meanwhile, I continued staggering about like a blixed housebot, wishing it was more of an act and hoping to regain enough strength to be able to fi
ght back sometime soon. Or even manage to stand unaided. Because there were several sharp pointy weapons secreted in this room, as per Helston’s instructions and if I could only manage to access one of them… Which was little more than a distant dream, when I couldn’t dress myself without her help.

  Once dressed, I reached for Vrox. But while I could feel him, he was focusing elsewhere – worried. Which probably means they’re using Felina to ensure his good behaviour. I was on my own, distantly aware that only a year ago that would have devastated me. Now, there wasn’t any space to be devastated – I was on my own.

  I was pulled from my grim thoughts when Ellern leant in and lifted my goggles away without any warning.

  Despite the room being security shuttered, the room was flooded with solar lighting and as it burst onto my unprotected eyes, the sudden shock had me flinging up arms up and screaming. Waiting for the knifing agony to start… the dull ache that had turned every day into a dreary trudge to begin once more… I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.

  “Ah.” Ellern sounded sad. “Open your eyes for me, will you, my lamb?”

  Lamb… She wants me weak and pliant. Let’s give her what she wants until I’m strong enough to do otherwise. Gritting my teeth, I opened my eyelids a crack, expecting the pain to explode through my silvered eyeballs. But it didn’t. A curtain came down, dimming everything once more to manageable light levels so I could see clearly again. Without any pain at all. Opening my eyes wider, I caught sight of my reflection in the large mirrored wall. My glowing silver eyes looked flat and grey. Just like Vrox’s nictitating membrane, when it flicks down to protect his eyes from daylight levels. Do I have one of those, too? Is that what Ellern’s drops were doing – growing me a nictitating membrane? Is that what all the pain was about? Just as I was about to feel a bit kindlier towards her, she leant forward, staring at my eyes.

  “Hm. It looks like your optic nerve has finally been compromised,” she muttered. “That, and the continual damage caused by the ultra-sensitisation.”

  “You blinded me? Is that what your drops were doing?” Though if that’s what you were aiming for, you’ve failed. Now I’ve stopped taking your roaching drops, my eyes feel just fine. Better than fine. I can see in far more detail than before. And the pain’s gone.

  “What can you see – details? Colours? Shapes?”

  “Everything’s a blur… some colours… outlines…” I lied, though my outrage was real enough. “All the pain – you caused that?”

  She sighed. “Those wretched Codes, and the monster you insist on keeping around, don’t you see? It makes you far too powerful for those paranoid Bridgedeckers to consider letting you live, once they prise those Codes from your head. I had to offer some way of weakening you, so you can survive this.”

  Speaking of monster, you there, Vrox? I had a sense that he was in hunting mode… Hiding somewhere close… waiting for someone.

  “Blinded and broken,” I said, flatly.

  My Healer Prime shrugged, as if it didn’t matter. “But alive.”

  “With you looking after me?”

  “Of course.” She stroked my cheek, while I struggled against the impulse to punch that smug look from her roaching face. “And now we don’t have to use those nasty old drops anymore, now you can’t see. Let’s put these goggles back, shall we? Don’t you worry, I’ll be your eyes from now on.”

  And that’s why she hates Seth so much. When we’re together, I’m happy and strong. She wants me broken and hurting, which is why she’s happy to see me married off to Clete. And blind. I swallowed back the burst of panic-stricken terror at the prospect of losing Seth and ending up in Clete’s clutches, with Ellern as a constant companion. Panicking won’t get me out of this mess.

  So I moaned about the pain, winced and yelped. Even submitted to one of her roaching massages. While I was being pummelled, I reached out again to Vrox, who was definitely stalking someone. I got a sense that Felina was alongside, moving quietly. They’re in the laundry! Why are they in the laundry at a time like this?

  Please leave them to hunt in peace, My Queen.

  Jessob?

  Even so an’ at your service.

  Are you shady?

  I felt, rather than heard, his amused contempt. It would take warriors with greater skill than these dun-coloured dullards to capture such as I.

  Stay safe.

  An’ you, My Queen.

  I broke the link, feeling braver and stronger. Somehow Felina and Vrox had managed to evade capture, even though he should have stood out like a supernova on a moonless night. I continued playing along with Ellern’s nasty little performance, hoping for an opportunity to also escape.

  None presented itself before Madam Stylist was ushered in to make me look the glowing bride-to-be. Madam Stylist clearly knew that something was wrong. Instead of her stream of bright chatter and nuggets of gossip about all the pairings within my entourage – I was always awed at how much she knew about their personal lives – she arranged my hair and applied my make-up in pent silence. Although she sighed and shook her head over my broken nails, more like her usual self. “And just look at these hands. All my hard work undone! Four broken nails… did you actually claw those nasty nemmety things to death, Your Ladyship?”

  “Her Ladyship doesn’t want to hear what you’ve got to say. Your task is to ready her for a very important announcement,” announced Ellern.

  It was a struggle to flinch at the Healer Prime’s reply as if I was too timid to face my own shadow and merely offer a half-smile to Madam Stylist as I held out my other hand.

  Madam Stylist was clearly twitched, because she dropped the pointed file she’d been using, something I couldn’t recall her ever doing before. She mumbled an apology and swooped down to pick it up, dropping it into her makeup box, before rootling around for her buffer. And while she was busy rubbing it across my nails, holding onto my hand to steady it, I felt the cold edge of the metallic file slide up my sleeve.

  “Thank you,” I murmured, when she finally gathered up all her equipment.

  “Always a pleasure, Your Ladyship,” she replied in that drawling Gloriosan accent, which I used to find so comical.

  “Come on, Kyrillia, dear,” said Ellern, grasping my arm in a familiar manner unthinkable only a handful of hours ago. “Your husband-to-be is waiting.” She giggled, as if this was an exciting occasion where two people who loved each other wanted to share their feelings to the world.

  Cub! We have discovered those who murdered your mother. Vrox’s neck crest is raised, even though he is crouched, covered in…

  Sheets? You’re in the laundry? Why are you covered in sheets?

  Peace, Cub – and listen! My eyes pricked at the kindness in his Sending. It had been a long time since the old mantivore had Sent any message with such warmth, and I realised how much I’d missed it. Suddenly I wasn’t in the corridor, anymore…

  I’m in the soap-scented laundry, listening to two villagers, crouched by one of the large washtubs. I immediately recognise Leodan Washer, the blond-haired lad who spent the last two years I’d lived in Cnicus chasing after Onice, in between bedding any other willing girl…

  “No! They’re not looking for us, they’re rounding up everyone. Why’d they come through the whole roaching village if they were just looking for us, Uncle?” Leodan puts his hands on the shoulders of the older man.

  I gaze at the pinched features of the grey-faced man jittering on the edge of panic, trying to remember who he is, before it comes to me. Burch. Burch Washer, uncle to Leodan and Eswin’s younger brother. “That’s what they want you to think!” he gabbles. “Puking, twisty-minded lot, they are. Remember – I know how they work. I was caught before…”

  Yes, he was, wasn’t he? Collared for a couple of years and made to work in the fields for stabbing Hathan Harvester over a game of cards. He’d have been Collared for life if Hathan had died.

  “They didn’t send a whole platoon of soldiers to round you up then, did
they?” asks Leodan, giving him a shake.

  Burch suddenly shoves him, causing Leodan to sprawl across the floor. “You keep your hands off me, you hear? I reckon major slurry’s gonna hit the coolant. And I’m not gonna be around to get spattered.”

  “If you run now, they’ll know it was us!”

  “Then come with me.”

  “Where? An’ don’t say Piss-town cos that’s the first place they’ll look.”

  “You’re not thinking straight!” yells Burch. “She was the roaching Overlord’s ma. Jer any idea what they’ll do if they catch us?”

  “She was the Overlord’s ma when you squeezed the life outta her.” I can almost taste Leodan’s bitterness. “You were s’posed to frighten her, not roaching kill her!”

  “She didn’t get frightened, remember? Just kept talking back. Wouldn’t agree not to marry Eswin. I hate it when women keep yabbering, they should learn to seal it shut. And then, when your roaching mask fell off I had no choice!”

  Vrox shifts, trembling with the effort of not leaping upon them and tearing them to pieces – and I’m…

  Tipped out of his head.

  I was still walking down the corridor. More like stumbling as if I’d downed a whole pint of mushmouth, as Ellern steered me to the front door, constantly muttering affectionate-sounding phrases about how pretty I looked… how it was going to be all right… how Clete was actually a kind, understanding man once I got to know him better… how pleased she was that I had the grace and good sense to accept the situation and make the best of it… how all I now had to do was hand over those wretched Codes…

  The door opened. Sunlight, fierce and bright, flooded into the shuttered foyer and my eyes didn’t so much as twinge. Ellern moved closer, her hated scent prickling my nose as she put an arm around me, while a familiar-looking black-uniformed escort surrounded us.