by Ryan Muree
“But, Brynn!” Drathella pouted, her eyebrows stitched together.
“Kitchens, now. Nida, move him to where we discussed. I’ll send food to the human’s new room immediately.” Brynn turned toward her guard and began giving orders.
The human? Brynn wanted to pretend she’d have a romantic meeting with Rowec and possibly fall in love with him, but he was just the human? What did that make her? Brynn hadn’t corrected Drathella when she’d called her mutant, either.
And he had a name. Brynn didn’t even use it. She didn’t even care.
Nida headed for Rowec’s cell.
Why was she so upset? It didn’t matter. It wasn’t as though he’d fall in love with Brynn. There wasn’t enough time, and those things took time, right? He wouldn’t fall in love with any of them, so her sister had better get that silly thought out of her head.
But he would be happy she’d gotten him a new room, real food, and some sort of meeting with the queen. Probably not what he had been expecting, but at least he had the chance to meet Brynn and discuss helping her sisters.
She darted through the halls, down the stairs, and toward the dungeon.
The best she could hope for was that he was pleased enough that he wouldn’t try to run away again. Drathella just had to stay very far away, and she’d do that now that Brynn had ordered her, wouldn’t she?
CHAPTER 8
Gentle. Soft. Her hand had been soft…
“Nida. Nida.” It rolled off his tongue.
I’ll be back as soon as I can, she had said.
He had told her she wasn’t like her sisters. He had meant it. She had warmth, for one. Eyes that didn’t make him feel like a meal, for another.
He shook his head.
Whatever he felt about her, he had to focus on his possible negotiation with the queen. Nida was right. If he could meet this queen, he could possibly reason with her. He’d agree to stay for the ceremony, and then she’d have to release him because she didn’t need him anymore. None of them would.
He sighed. It might work.
But after taking him back to his cell, Nida hadn’t returned. It had been over a day since he’d seen her. She had mentioned needing to recover, and he’d encouraged it. But he’d also be lying to himself if he didn’t admit he was getting nervous. Sleeping that long? Recovering that long? Maybe, but maybe not.
Images of her hair and shimmering scales lingered in his memory.
A guard twice Nida’s height with crimson scales had been delivering him water. More like she threw it at him through the metal, leaving him and Raz to lap up the remains with their hands.
Apparently, word had gotten out about Drathella getting too close. He smirked.
The crimson guard had also slid a plate of dripping wet slugs through the bars. Most were belly up. Some were obviously not slugs because they had legs that twitched.
His stomach ached for food. Real food. Not this mush for birds. He ate what they gave him—tried to anyway—between gags and heaves. Anything to stifle the ache in his gut.
When the sunlight burned orange and fell out of view from the holes in his ceiling, he scratched a second line into the floor with a pebble he’d found.
The plate of slug parts had crusted over.
He closed his eyes and hummed an old song from his village. One the elders sang to the children about a spirit who’d drifted over the mountains, blowing the clouds into shape.
“You fight, you escape, you sing. You’re proving to be quite the mate for Brynn.”
Nida.
He jerked his head and jumped up, hands around the bars. “Where have you been?”
She stepped from the shadows under a dark brown cloak. “Dealing with my sisters. I’m sorry I took so long. I slept most of the time and met with my sister as soon as I could.”
“And do you have good news or bad news?”
She handed him a dark brown cloak through the bars. “Good, I think?”
“Will the queen still meet with me?”
“Eh, yes. But she still is a little nervous about coming out. She has some ideas for meeting you.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. The few scales at her temples glistened in the retreating sunlight.
“Ideas?”
“Some good, some not so good.” She waved him off. “Nothing terrible, I promise. But I did steer her toward the better choice of just meeting and talking with you.”
What else had the queen wanted to do that Nida felt it important enough to divert her? “Will it work?”
She lifted both eyebrows. “Maybe.”
He held the brown cloak she’d given him to his chest and measured it against himself. It was wide enough, and long, too. It’d cover him completely. “What is this for?”
“We’re going to look like we’re going to pray.”
“Is there a reason I need to hide?”
“It’s so we’re not hounded as we walk through the halls. You’ve become quite famous.”
He slid his arms through the cloak, adjusting it on his shoulders a few times. “I doubt it. Have you seen what they’ve been feeding me?”
She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry about that. Brynn is sending more food, and today, I officially took over as your caretaker. So, if there’s anything you require or need, I am the one to make sure you’re happy.”
He lifted both eyebrows and thinned his lips, the corners turning up in a grin. “Anything?”
Her cheeks flushed.
He swallowed with a dry tongue and placed the hood over his head. Raz stirred in his pocket, and he patted it gently. “Stay clear, Raz. We’re changing scenery.”
Nida removed a triangular-shaped stone from a pocket in her robe and pressed it against the door. The mechanism clicked, the door creaked open, and she stepped aside.
He poked his head out and glanced down the dark hall.
“If you run, I’ll let the drosera eat you this time,” she said. “You’re not worth the trouble.”
He snickered and stepped out. “Well, am I disguised?”
She stood back and glanced at him head to toe as he lifted his arms and spun a little for her. “You’ll do. Let’s set some rules just in case. My sisters are everywhere. This really is the worst time to take you to your new room, but I’ve kept you waiting long enough. It’s just better safe than sorry.”
He’d do whatever he needed to get a better place than the muddy cell. Ideally, he wanted out, but he’d promised to do this diplomatically.
“So, keep your head down. If you have to say anything, don’t. Just stay silent.”
He nodded.
“Stay right behind me, and don’t make me regret this.”
“Why would I make you regret this?”
“I know we’re joking, but seriously, if you try to run, your life will be infinitely harder, and they’ll pull me from caring for you.”
He understood, and he didn’t want that. “I’ll behave.”
She led him down the dark hallway and through yellow corridor after yellow corridor, checking around corners first.
“I was meaning to tell you that you guys have really limited decor,” he whispered. “There are more colors than gold, you know.”
She shushed him with a hand up for him to stop while she peered around yet another corner.
Some of Nida’s sisters passed by in neighboring halls, but their heads were down as well. None of them made an effort to speak to her—
“Nida! Oh, thank goodness, there you are.”
Every muscle in his body froze. He kept his head down, eyes trained to the bottom of Nida’s cloak in front of him, and hunched a little to appear shorter than he was. He hoped, between the hood and Nida’s body, he wasn’t that obvious.
“Ascara, get out of here right now,” Nida hissed.
“Okay, okay. But we need to talk. You’ve been out cold since that human brought you back. Which we need to talk about—”
“Ascara, seriously—”
“No, I know, but he br
ought you back. That’s textbook—”
“Whatever you’re about to say, don’t. I don’t have time for make-believe or the things you imagine in your head when you should be praying.”
Ascara snorted. “Oh, sweetheart, fairytales are not what I’m thinking about when I should be praying. You should know that.”
“Ascara, really, this isn’t the time—”
“Okay, fine. Fine. But I should let you know, I heard a rumor. He’s being moved… from his cell… to the room near the hatchery! You’ll get to see him a lot more often!”
He nearly lifted his head but caught himself. It wasn’t the fact that she’d said hatchery that sparked him, though it probably should have. He’d have to consider that later.
What caught his attention was the tone. Nida’s sister said it teasing, light, like it was good news for Nida. Like her sister thought that maybe Nida wanted to see him more often.
“I hear you’re going to get to take care of him,” Ascara whispered. “If you bring him new clothes, tell me what his—Ow! Ow! Okay! You don’t have to pinch me.”
He gasp-coughed. Had she just suggested…?
“Who’s that?”
“Ascara, go. Walk away, please,” Nida whispered.
“Wait. Is that—”
“Ascara, please!” Nida’s pitch lifted when she begged. “Don’t draw any more attention.”
The whispering from the neighboring halls had stopped. Had Ascara been heard and noticed by the others? What happens when a group of… Tialans… realize the only male in their entire complex is out walking around?
He itched to get to his new room.
“Okay, okay. I get it,” Ascara said.
There was a long pause, and he got the sense they were mouthing to one another.
“Bye, Nida. See you later.”
It was forced, over-dramatized. He nearly laughed.
Nida sighed and whispered, “All right. Let’s go. We’re nearly there.”
He smiled and followed the tail of her cloak.
Eventually, she slowed, and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Okay, you can look up.”
The yellow stone was still present, of course, but his new room was clean with vibrant, barely-used furniture. The entire space was bathed in a gold glow of firelight from Tialan sconces. Lounge chairs, pillows, and blankets in every color of every silken fabric—some extremely rare.
“Is this…?” He approached a deep violet-colored pillow, stamped with its design instead of sewed. “This is from Black Harbor. You trade with the ports there?”
She raised her eyebrows. “Trade? Not really. Sometimes sailors get lost in the jungle… Sometimes they leave really nice stuff behind.”
He shook his head and cocked an eyebrow at her. “Because some thing scares them off?”
She giggled and shrugged. “Maybe? Is this better than the cell?”
He wandered through the center, running his fingers over several pieces of fabrics. “A little.”
“A little?”
“You really like yellow.” He looked up and found the ceiling had been arranged into an intricate geometric pattern.
“It’s plentiful here.” She removed her cloak and rested it on a nearby chaise.
He did the same and sunk into one of the great long benches with a fur covering. “So, this room is near the hatchery?”
Her color faded, her eyes widened. Her fingers ran over the fabric of a chair near her. “Yeah, uh, yes. It’s right around the corner…”
He didn’t catch that last part. “The hatchery is where your new sisters are, or will be, right?”
She nodded, the lines in her forehead deepening. But why?
“Can I see it sometime? The hatchery? I mean before the ceremony or whatever.”
She scratched her forehead, moved a lock of hair behind her ear. “Um, maybe. It’s pretty sacred. Probably shouldn’t test Brynn by going in there.”
No hatchery. Got it.
She crossed her arms and tucked her chin into her shoulder, withdrawing into herself.
What was wrong with her? Had he made her uncomfortable? Was she not feeling safe? Before, the bars had separated them. Now, nothing did.
He tilted his head and leaned forward on his chair. “What’s wrong? If you’d rather me go back to the cell or—”
“No!” she blurted, hands out toward him. She was all the way across the room, but she had retracted them quickly as if she’d touched him.
“That conversation with Ascara—”
“Hah! It’s just Ascara. She has no idea what she’s talking about. She’s sort of immature and thinks human men should be pets…” Her eyes bulged wider after she’d said it. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
He chuckled.
“I-I don’t think you’re a pet or anything. I mean, I wouldn’t… treat you like that. Brynn… Brynn wouldn’t treat you like that.”
He stood, and she took another step back. “I never thanked you for getting my sorry backside out of that plant.”
She bit her bottom lip. “You-you sorta did.”
“I mean, sure, I carried you through the jungle, practically at a sprint, raced back into a temple of Tialans just to get you help…”
Her hand drew up to her neck as she smiled. Her neck was pink, like her cheeks. He was teasing, but maybe it was too far.
Silence permeated the room.
She tapped the wall beside her and gazed anywhere but at him. “Drathella claimed I’m working with you. Helping you, somehow, more than I should.”
That’s rich. Had Drathella been captured in his village, she’d get a taste of her own medicine. “Yes, but she hates humans and me… so anything not torturous would be helping me.”
She half-laughed. “You’re probably right.”
The crimson guard from earlier entered the room with a gold platter. “Your food,” she said, placing a tray on a table near the door with a clank. The food on it bounced.
“Thank you, Crilla,” Nida said.
After Crilla left, they headed for the platter together.
“Well, what do you think?” Nida asked.
The tray was covered in the same slugs he had been served in his cell, some rotting fruit pieces, and the legs of something spindly and… furry . He put his hands on his hips. “Well, if your queen is trying to kill me, then it looks great.”
She groaned.
Raz crawled out of his pocket, sniffing the air. But as soon as he got near enough to the “food,” he jerked back and slid deeper into his pocket.
“Yup, it’s official. She’s trying to kill me. Raz knows.” He chuckled.
She waved her hands and placed a palm on his shoulder. “No, I promise. She just doesn’t understand humans. I’m sorry. How can I fix this?”
His stomach growled loudly, and they both laughed.
She straightened. “What do you want to eat?”
Several things floated in his head— fresh cheese, roasted bird, ripe paratils, salted river fish. “Fruits. Vegetables. Meat from large game?”
“Large game?”
“Red meat.”
“We don’t hunt like that.”
He shook his head and bit back a laugh. “The irony in that.”
“The irony in what?”
“I thought you ate people. I thought you ate whatever you could kill, and you don’t even eat red meat.”
“Oh.” She smiled, probably out of courtesy. “I have an idea.” She floated past him to stand below the three small holes in the ceiling showing the night sky. “Want to head to the kitchens?”
He drew up his eyebrows. “Are the kitchens outside on your roof?”
She laughed. “No, but everyone should be back in their rooms by now. We could hurry and sneak you down there. You can have whatever we have in there.” She headed for the door.
“Will you get in trouble for taking me, though?”
She shrugged one shoulder and smirked. “Only if Drathella catches us.”
; “What about your other sisters?”
She poked her head out. “If any are still walking around, we’ll just sneak. If this isn’t food you can eat, I have to get you real food. Brynn will have to understand.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him into the hallway.