“What?”
“They should smell like soap, but they don’t,” she cackled uncontrollably. The trees shuddered at her laugh.
Chapter Thirty
“I have a surprise for you,” Athel announced as she disappeared into the kitchen. Alder looked decidedly nervous as he sat down.
Athel returned, not as her usual bounding self, but composed, poised, and balanced. Her movements were elegant and flawlessly ladylike as she set down a tray and gracefully and poured him a cup of tea. The tableware was rough, but the presentation was flawless, and wouldn’t have been out of place at any of the finest restaurants. Everyone present watched in amazement. They had forgotten how dignified Athel could be when she wanted to.
“Mallai'i hou sei'i pai mah,” Alder thanked her formally and brought the cup to his lips. When he set it back down, he could barely contain his enthusiasm.
“It’s wonderful, my Lady,” he said sincerely.
“I knew you'd like it,” Athel enthused, clapping her hands together and jumping up and down, effectively dispelling her cultured façade.
“I do,” he praised, taking another sip and smacking his lips thoughtfully. “A hint of ginger, some orange zest, and...a few other things I cannot identify. Where did you get the recipe?”
“No recipe, I invented it myself,” Athel beamed.
“Did you really?”
“Hey, you aren’t the only one around here who can improvise, you know.” Athel’s lips were smiling, but her eyes were somber. She could feel the minutes ticking away, as if an enormous clock hung over her, following her wherever she went. It wouldn’t be long now...
“I just...wanted to do something nice for you...while I still have the chance,” she said softly, barely a whisper.
“Well, I am acutely impressed. But where did you get the tea leaves? We've been out of tea for weeks,” Alder brought up the cup for another sip.
“Oh, I just used some of Deutzia’s leaves.”
Alder gagged, spilling tea all over himself. “my Lady, using Nallorn leaves for a tea is...is...well, sacrilege.”
“Why? I asked her first; she said it was okay,” Athel defended.
“But, Deutzia is your twin, so it’s kind of like you are eating a piece of your sister,” Dr. Griffin observed as he ate his porridge.
A large thump caught everyone’s attention. In the corner of the room, Margaret had dropped her notebook, and pointed at them, her body trembling with energy. “I knew it!” she shouted. “I knew it, you Wysterians are cannibals, after all!”
“No, we're not!” Athel protested.
Margaret scooped up her notebook and began scribbling.
“Stop writing!” Athel hollered as she worked toward her. Margaret squeaked and ran away, writing as she went.
“Don’t you dare put that down in your stupid book!” Athel threatened as she chased Margaret out of the room.
“Land-ho!” Captain Evere called out, waving his hat around. Ryin sounded the bell and everyone came up on deck.
The Kingdom of Sutor was built inside a large crater, formed from some dormant volcano exploding in the ancient past. The edges of the crater rose up high out of the seas and featured many private airship docks for foreigners, while the kingdom itself was built in the center of the crater.
As Margaret guided them down to a landing pad, Ryin picked up a rope ladder, revealing one of the tiny model golems, which shrieked and scampered off, looking for a new place to hide.
“Ugh, I found another one,” Ryin called out as he unrolled the ladder. “Things are like roaches.”
“This is the last stop before Wysteria,” Privet announced, “so everyone make sure to use the bathroom before we leave.”
Setsuna appeared atop a crate in front of Privet, jumping up and down. “But daddy,” she complained in a little kid’s voice, “I don’t wanna use the potties here. They're so small and cold.”
“Stop doing that little girl thing,” Privet complained, jumping down to the platform and securing the dock line to the loop. “It’s uber creepy when you do that. You're like, twenty-seven.”
Setsuna appeared atop a water barrel. She leaned back luxiouriously, as if she were reclining on a soft bed. “Aw, you loved it when I did it last night. Don’t pretend that you didn’t.”
Privet’s mouth dropped open.
“Wait, what happened last night?” Athel piped up as she climbed down to the landing pad.
Setsuna giggled and rolled over, as if wrapping herself in a blanket. “Oh, you should have been there, the earth moved.”
Athel crossed her arms and glared at Privet. “Did it, now?”
Privet put up his hands. “Hey, she appeared in my quarters in the middle of the night like a bloody assassin, nearly scared me to death trying to put her stupid ring on my finger.”
Athel raised an eyebrow. “And you didn’t kick her out?”
Privet threw up his hands. “You can’t kick her out! Nobody can. Watch.”
Privet grabbed Setsuna by the collar and pulled backwards. She was yanked with a yelp as he rolled on his back and kicked with his legs, using his momentum to launch her over the side of the landing platform and plummeting down towards the sea, thousands of feet below. Her screams grew farther and farther away as she fell.
Privet stood up and dusted himself off, only to have Setsuna reappear right next to him, straightening her hair.
“You see?” Privet asserted.
“Ooh, I like my men forceful like that,” Setsuna purred, slinking up alongside him.
Alder furrowed his brow in confusion. “Why would you prefer that? He just threw you off a cliff without the slightest hesitation.”
“But he did it with love,” Setsuna affirmed.
Privet pointed a finger at Athel. “Nothing happened between me and her, you've gotta believe me,” he said.
Athel looked him over coldly. “I believe you.”
“You shouldn’t...wait, you do?”
“Yes, if something had happened she would have bragged about it first thing.”
“Maybe I’m just a lady and I never kiss and tell,” Setsuna winked playfully.
“Ship is secure, Captain,” Ryin reported as he climbed down.
Hanner jumped down, cracking the rock as he landed. Cupping his massive hands over his mouth, he shouted back up to Odger, who looked utterly befuddled as he held Strenner.
“Now, remember to feed him as much black root as you can force down him, and after his nap see if you can get him to finish off his cigar from earlier.”
Odger looked at the baby, then looked down at Hanner. “Who are you?”
“Forgive me for saying so, but I question the safety of leaving your baby with Odger,” Alder warned.
Strenner burped a little blast of flame, catching Odger’s scarf on fire. Odger didn’t seem to notice as he looked around, trying to figure out where he was.
Hanner put his hands on his hips. “Ah, don’t worry, Strenner is a good kid, he won’t hurt Odger too bad while we’re gone.” Hanner wiped a manly tear from his cheek and walked past Alder. “They grow up so fast.”
Alder put his hand out to stop him. “Wait, that isn’t what I meant.”
“So, what kind of magic do they do around here?” Privet asked as they walked across the landing pad, checking his sight-lines and surveying the crowds for potential threats.
“This,” Athel said, plucking a tile off the ground and handing it to him. It looked like glass, but it had no weight, and kind of hummed and vibrated where his fingers touched it. Along the edge, it glowed a faint yellow, like sunlight.
“What is this?” Privet asked, handing it back.
“Manoi,” Alder recited, reading from a tourist pamphlet. “In the local tongue, it means ‘hard-light.’“
“It’s a material made from pure magical energy,” Athel mentioned as she replaced the tile.
“Stronger than iron, but never rusts,” Alder read.
“I bet you could m
ake some wicked armor outta stuff like that,” Hanner groused as they walked through the tunnel of rock.
“Sure you can,” Captain Evere explained. “So long as you don’t mind people seeing you naked underneath.”
“That could be fun,” Setsuna teased, grabbing Privet by the arm.
“Does she have to paw at him all the time?” Athel grumbled to herself.
“You wouldn’t have to be naked,” Mina speculated. “You could have like a uniform underneath or something.”
They reached the other end of the tunnel, which dropped off into a sheer cliff. No stairs or bridges extended from there, just a two-thousand foot plummet to the base of the crater, and an unusual carved symbol in the floor.
“Um, so what do we do now?” Privet asked, peeking over the edge.
A Sutorian businessman walked past them, looking very dapper in his finely tailored suit and heavily oiled hair. Sutorians were one of the smaller races, normally standing about three and a half feet fully grown. Hanner and Ryin looked at each other in amusement, but Mina silenced them with a glance before they could say anything that would get them in trouble with the locals.
The businessman stepped on the symbol and a platform of solid light appeared beneath him and carried him forward through the air.
“I’d say that answers that,” Athel chuckled as she grabbed Privet and pulled him over to the symbol. A platform appeared beneath the two of them and they floated out into the crater valley.
“Hey, I wanted to ride with him,” Setsuna whined, stomping her foot.
“Sorry, only enough room for two,” Athel taunted back towards her.
Setsuna stuck out her green-painted lip and pouted.
Dr. Griffin walked up behind her and grabbed her shoulder. “You can ride with me,” he offered, licking his wrinkled lips.
Suddenly, Dr. Griffin fell as if there was no floor beneath him. Instinctively, he reached out and managed to lay hold of the ground around him, but by then he was armpit deep in the gate Setsuna had conjured beneath him. He grunted and struggled, his aged arms without the strength to pull himself back up. Out beyond the edge of the cliff, the other end of the gate hung in the air, with Dr. Griffin’s lower body dangling out.
The rest of the Dreadnaught crew shrugged and stepped on the symbol one at a time, riding floating platforms of light out into the crater.
“Um, a little help here, I’m slipping,” Dr. Griffin called, as they floated farther and farther away.
Athel clung tighter than necessary to Privet as they glided through the air. Her chest felt tight. They had less than a day now before reaching Wysteria. She felt choked, like a dog that has run to the end of his leash and snapped his own head back. Without thinking about it, she wrapped a hand around Privet’s muscular waist.
To her surprise he didn’t resist. Instead, he placed a warm hand around her shoulder, and his reassurance helped her calm her heart. After being married to short little Alder for so long, it was odd to be embraced by a man taller than she was. Her heart was full of so many conflicting emotions she felt it would burst. She feared the future, as one fears an upcoming test they haven’t prepared for, but she also felt excited. Her blossoming relationship with Privet was something she had wanted for years, and now it was really happening. It made her feel all girly and silly inside.
What she felt for Privet was different than what she felt for Alder. Alder was her rock, her emotional anchor. She trusted him as she did no one else. He knew every corner of her heart, and cherished who she really was without condition. He had so much inner strength, and she had come to rely on him completely. Just being around him made her a better person. She had grown thanks to him, and she could scarcely imagine a single day without him by her side. Her feelings for him were tender and sacred, something she wanted to wrap her arms around and hold close forever, a secret to swallow and keep safe from the eyes of the world.
Her feelings for Privet, on the other hand, were more raw and primal. She felt like jumping on top of him and kissing him forever. She felt like embracing him in front the whole world. The thrill of his presence felt like flying on the back of a dragon.
He had always been physically strong, but he had changed from the way he was before. He was now emotionally strong as well, and that strength was irresistibly attractive. She knew he would stand between her and the storm. She knew he would give his life to save hers. Her trainers had always taught her that it was shameful to rely on a man for protection, and there was a time when she would have agreed with them. But not anymore. When Privet had stepped forward to fight for her in the vault, she hadn’t felt shame at all. She felt cherished, she felt safe, she felt loved.
I wonder, should I propose to him again, or should I wait for him to come to me and change his answer?
Athel bit on her knuckle and let out a girlish little squeak.
“Hey, what are you daydreaming about?” Privet asked, looking down at her.
“N-nothing,” she stammered and she stood up. She grinned stupidly, and couldn’t make herself stop.
“You feeling all right? You look a little flushed.”
“I’m fine,” she insisted.
Athel shook herself out of her thoughts and looked forward. Before them was a sprawling metropolis, constructed from manoi. Hundreds of skyscrapers of light and glass rose up into the sky, connected by bridges and walkways. Trains and shuttles sped about on tracks of hard-light that wove between and through the skyscrapers, taking groups of Sutorians from their offices in one building to their residences in another. No music or laughter filled the air, just the clicking of tracks, the shuffling of feet, and the ticking of clockwork.
Awed, Athel and Privet could not help but stare. They had never seen anything like it.
The businessman ahead of them rolled his eyes. “Humph, tourists.”
It was as if the entire city were made out of glass. One could look directly into a skyscraper and see into each perfectly square office, each containing a single perfectly square desk and perfectly square filing cabinet.
“Eesh, don’t they believe in privacy around here?” Ryin commented from his platform.
“Only those with something to hide concern themselves with privacy,” the businessman called back from his platform far ahead.
Hanner scratched his thick jaw. “Wow, he has good hearing for a little guy.”
“Greater size does not impart greater hearing,” the businessman called back, leaning on his umbrella cane. “Nor greater intelligence, it would seem.”
Their platforms came to a rest at a train station junction which hovered at the edge of the city. Signs spun rapidly in the local language, as groups of smartly dressed Sutorians move in square blocks of nine, exiting the trains from one side as another group of nine entered from another. No director or officer guided their movements. They moved in unison without compulsion, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Athel hardened her resolve. I am going to enjoy today, even if I have to force myself.
“Oh, look at that,” Athel gushed, squeezing Privet’s muscular arm. “They have trains that move up and down the outside of the buildings. We have to try that.”
“Try to remember, my Lady, we are on a very tight schedule,” Alder reproved her gently.
“No, we're not,” Setsuna corrected, taking Privet’s other arm. “Margaret said she needs twelve hours to sleep before we head out again. It won’t take that long to find this mushroom Athel wants. That gives us plenty of time for Privet to take me out to dinner.”
Athel and Setsuna shot daggers at each other with their eyes. Privet sighed to himself.
“Our first goal should be to locate the Temple of Kohta, that is where they cultivate the fungus,” Alder suggested.
Hanner noticed the businessman they had ridden behind waiting in formation to enter the next train. “Hang on, I got this.”
Hanner stomped up and plucked the small man off his feet with a giant ogre-like hand.
/> “I say, let go of me, you savage! Barbarian ogre, put me down this instant!” the man insisted as the other Sutorians scattered in terror.
Hanner walked back over with the struggling man while Mina ran up. “Sorry about that,” she apologized. Hanner is Iberian, you know how they are.”
“I’m beginning to,” the man complained.
“Wait, how are we?” Hanner asked, scratching his bald head.
“Could you please direct us to the temple of Kohta,” Alder asked politely.
The man’s expression fell. “I’m an accountant, not a tour-guide,” he grumbled.
“I mean it, what do you mean all Iberians are like what?” Hanner insisted, shaking the man.
“Eighlo,” the man said, his hair and suit disheveled.
“Wha?”
“My name is Eighlo,” he repeated, straightening his oiled hair. “And if you look at that sign right over there, you can see that you take the B-line down to the fifth station. Then from there the D-trolley to the temple.”
Mina looked at the large sign covered with bizarre scrawlings. “Um, if you say so.”
Eighlo was set down. He straightened his suit before handing Mina a little slip of paper.
“What is this?” Mina asked, looking it over.
“If you need any help, just go to this office,” Eighlo explained as he walked away.
“Oh, is this the office where you work?” Athel asked.
“No, they are my competitors,” Eighlo called back. “Be sure to tell them I sent you.”
The Sutorians riding the B-line were visibly upset to see so many foreigners board their train. A couple of tiny children pointed and asked questions to their mothers who hushed them in their tongue. Most of the Sutorian language was outside the normal range of hearing, but Mina seemed to be able to hear it just fine, and it appeared to be giving her a headache.
Athel yanked Privet to the back of the car and made him sit with her in a pair of seats.
“Sorry, both of these seats are taken,” Athel baited Setsuna when she approached. “I think I see some seats down there at the other end.”
Isle of Wysteria: The Reluctant Queen Page 42