by Hickory Mack
From the unimpressed look on his face as he studied her, she came up lacking.
“You would do well to learn to address Lord Makkai with more respect. He is a good master, and those of us who serve him consider themselves fortunate to do so,” he spoke clearly, unhindered by his tusks. Alice couldn’t stop staring at him. “I don’t know what purpose his Lordship believes you will serve, but he sees something in you to keep you around. You smell like a human.” He covered his nose with his long sleeve demonstratively as if her scent was offensive.
“The hunters told me I stink of demon,” Alice replied softly, but her voice hardened “I’m not one of your Lord’s servants. There’s no way he was serious, I won’t be staying. I’m a race traitor. If I stay it’ll bring trouble, more hunters will come, just to make sure I’m brought to justice.”
“You seem to think an awful lot of those who would pursue you, and a lot of yourself to think you’d be worth the trouble. Staying here is the wisest decision you could make, the humans who’d label you traitor wouldn’t be able to reach you behind his barrier. Even if they managed, they’d never survive the encounter. You have been offered the protection of the most powerful being on the continent! No one can best Lord Makkai!” Fen declared passionately.
“Lord Makkai, hmm.” Alice looked thoughtful.
“Let’s get you taken care of, I wouldn’t want to vex his Lordship on your first day, if I were you. Even a pet can come to disfavor if it's disobedient. He wants you to look pleasing.” Fen glared at her and shook his head as though she were a lost cause he’d rather give up on. “I’ll do what I can. Try not to screw it up by looking so plain.”
“Why?” Alice asked. “What does it matter what I look like if we’re just going to go watch his slaughter? They’re sending a full squad of hunters, you know. They’re going to kill your master.”
“Because he ordered me to and it’s not my place to question M’Lord. It isn’t yours, either. Honestly, you have the audacity to doubt him. If I thought you weren’t too ignorant to know what you’re talking about I’d have you beaten. You will not witness a slaughter. You’re attending a small massacre,” Fen answered firmly, grasping Alice’s wrist, above the obvious cuff marks, pulling her along.
“Please don’t touch me.” Alice recoiled, pulling back. It was like trying to pull a tank. There was no point in resisting. He wasn’t hurting her, but he was terribly strong. She got the feeling that he’d just pick her up and drag her to wherever they were going if she didn’t come along willingly. Alice breathed and took in their surroundings, anything to keep her mind off his hand encircling her wrist.
“I didn’t know demons lived together like this. I didn’t even know they had real homes,” Alice said, more uncomfortable with the silence and his touch than worried about his threats.
Everywhere she looked she saw manicured topography; the meticulously planned landscape was harmonious and peaceful. There were beautiful, hand-picked and well-groomed trees, many bearing fruits, and plants with varied shapes, sizes and colors, with and without flowers. Each plant was different and interesting on its own but complimenting the whole aesthetic.
“Humans don’t know much of anything, it seems,” Fen commented without looking back at her. Alice could barely keep up with his quick pace, she had to trot to match his stride. She looked at his stout legs and he seemed to be gliding rather than really walking, like he had skates on. All she saw were his feet.
“How are you doing that?” Alice asked, out of breath. If he heard, he did not bother answering. They came to a building about thirty feet wide with a beautifully sloped roof. It was well worn, and the wooden tiles had taken on a grey color. The beams on each side were painted a dark red, and the frames on the white rice paper wall were painted green. Alice was instantly curious and enchanted, thinking it the most interesting building she’d ever seen.
Fen pulled her up the three steps and onto the porch that wrapped all the way around the building, the same grey as the roof. He released her wrist and slid the doors into the wall, leaving the space open to the outside.
“Hurry along you troublesome child,” he demanded impatiently. “This is no time for gawking.”
Alice’s eyebrows raised in appreciation when she saw the shallow pool of steaming water inside. The floor was a gray basalt, sloping and grooved and polished with time. Smooth, worn stairs led into the water. There was a drain off to the side with a low wooden bench. Behind there was a beautifully painted dressing screen, a pair of foxes frolicking on the edges of an enchanted forest.
“What is this place?” Alice asked in quiet awe. Fen sneered at her ignorance.
“It’s a bathhouse you little idiot,” he answered gruffly. “Fill that bucket with water. Choose a soap over there.” He pointed to a hutch she had previously missed. “Cloths as well. Wet yourself, scrub yourself thoroughly and rinse with the water in the bucket. There’s no time for a bath right now, we need to hurry and get you ready. While you wash I will find something for you to wear and something quick to eat. Move quickly. I will call out when I return, go behind the screen at that time.”
Alice blinked at him. Her stomach gurgled. Her body was honest. It didn’t care what a strange situation she was in.
“Do you understand what I’ve just told you? Reply with a yes or a no, I have no time for questions,” Fen said impatiently.
“Yes.”
“Thank the goddess for this favor. Get to it,” he turned and left, leaving the doors wide open when he did.
Alice tried to close them, wasting precious minutes looking for the mechanism that would allow the doors to spring free of the wall, but nothing revealed itself to her. Fen’s sense of urgency spurred on her fumbling. Frustrated she looked around outside furtively. Seeing nobody around she hurried across the room to grab her soaps and sponge. There were so many to choose from she wasn’t sure how to decide. The soaps were laid out in even rows, seven wide and seven deep.
“Forty-nine soaps,” she muttered, wondering why on Earth anyone would ever need more than one soap. Alice picked one up, a light purple colored one with flowers pressed into it. She breathed it in and it smelled like the lavender her mother had kept under her pillow before she’d died. Setting it down she lifted a milky white one, it smelled like sweet cream. Another white one was grittier and smelled of coconut.
Alice mentally jolted out of her exploration, remembering her strange situation and her time limits, and she picked one at random, a green one with little leaves pressed inside. She grabbed the closest cloth and made for the screen, dropping her finds off at the bench. Behind the screen there was a coat rack to hold her clothes, a second bench and two big, fluffy white towels.
Alice undressed quickly and peeked, red-faced, around the screen. She hadn’t filled the bucket and wasn’t sure if she was supposed to use the water from the pool. Looking around she saw no other readily available options, so she scurried over and dipped the wooden bucket in, grunting at the weight of it when it was full. Water was surprisingly heavy. She set it on the floor and got it over to her bench little bits at a time, panting heavily. Alice was already exhausted from her overnight hike through the woods. She hadn’t slept properly in weeks and not at all in the last 48 hours.
Sitting on the bench Alice soaked the cloth and used it to wet herself, wincing and hissing through her teeth when the hot water sloshed over the wounds that were still open. Unsure of how to use it, she rubbed the soap onto the cloth to work it into a lather, breathing in its minty scent and then scrubbed her body. She had no idea how to clean her hair, and she couldn’t lift the bucket over her head anyway, so she left it dry. She had a new problem. If she put the cloth back into the water to get the soap off of it, she couldn’t use the water to rinse off with.
Fen could be back any moment. Alice kneeled on the floor and used her cupped hands to rinse herself off. It took longer than she would have liked and sloshed over her bandages, but it got the job done. She used what little w
ater was left to clear the cloth of as much soap as she could, then set the soap and cloth on the bench.
The wrap hiding the mutilation of her forearm had been damaged during her run through the forest. The tears had let water seep in, and it wouldn’t stick anymore. Wanting to cry she peeled it the rest of the way off, revealing the words etched into her skin. Alice bit her lower lip; parts of the carvings were beginning to look infected. She heard footsteps outside and hurried to empty the bucket before scurrying behind the screen.
“Human-borne, I’ve returned,” he called, paused a moment and then entered. Furiously toweling off, Alice heard him groan. “I presumed too much in assuming you could handle cleaning yourself. You’d better be spotless, child.” She heard the threat in his voice.
“I am,” she answered, wrapping herself quickly in one of the towels in the nick of time. Fen came around the screen, a summery dress in his hand, white and lacy with a pattern of tiny white flowers. Alice looked at it with a red face, crossing her arms over her chest. The dress was pretty. Fen looked furious.
“You didn’t wash your hair!” he exclaimed angrily.
“I wasn’t sure how, I’ve never been in a bathhouse before, and I showered last night,” she defended herself, her tone every bit as angry as his. She was too tired to continue putting up with his attitude and she didn’t like him ordering her around.
“There’s no time. He’s going to kill me,” Fen muttered to himself angrily. “How was I supposed to know the idiot child didn’t know how to clean itself?”
“I know perfectly well how to clean myself. We have showers where I’m from. Running water, in pipes,” Alice said but he kept muttering to himself as though she hadn’t spoken.
He hung the dress up on the coat rack and flung her clothes into a heap near the door. A small bag had been under the dress and he hung that up, too.
“Put it all on. Your shoes are outside. I’ll see if there’s time to do anything about that rat’s nest on your head out there.” He spun on his heels and glided away. Alice touched her hair, nobody had ever called it a rat’s nest before. She wondered if her demon would actually hurt him for her ignorance. She didn’t think he would, he’d seemed so serene, but Fen certainly seemed to think so.
She quickly opened the bag and flushed even deeper. Inside were a pair of panties and a soft tube she did not know what to do with. She put the panties on, they fit perfect, but she left the tube in the bag. Slipping into the dress she felt like a princess. It floated around her knees with every movement, so lightweight. She did a quick twirl, her ribs protesting, then stopped immediately, shoving the dress back down. These clothes were not made for play, this was a grown-up dress, she decided, walking demurely into the bright light outside.
Fen studied her critically and nodded approval, handing her a roll of bread that fit in the palm of her hand, and a small cup of warm liquid. Alice sniffed it questioningly while he walked a circle around her.
“Good, it suits you. Its innocent simplicity is the exact contrast needed for the gore of your body. The point will be made. They hurt you, a child. M’Lord has taken personal offense to your treatment. The hair isn’t a total loss, we can do something with this.” Fen did the vanishing thing and Alice cursed. He popped back in and she almost fainted. “I’ll not have that language from you,” he admonished, a handful of white flowers in his hand.
The tusked demon made her sit on the step and she ate the dense, surprisingly sweet bread while he braided her hair into a thick, whimsical braid, flowers artfully placed throughout. He then crafted her a crown of flowers. Fen studied her, tilting her chin this way and that, before allowing her to finish her drink. It was such a foreign flavor she couldn’t decide if she liked or hated it. It left a strange taste in her mouth.
“It’ll have to do. At least you won’t be a complete embarrassment. The mint was a good choice. It’s strong enough to cover the human stink,” he said and Alice wondered if it was supposed to be a compliment. The demon pushed the hair out of his eyes and looked up at the sun. “Your shoes. He’ll be here any minute now.”
He handed Alice a pair of sandals, a creamy color. She slid them onto her feet and stood unsteadily, her exhaustion showing in the dark circles under her eyes. The shoes were more comfortable than she’d expected, she was grateful for that.
“This is the weirdest experience, you have no idea how strange this is,” Alice muttered.
“I’m sure it can’t be any stranger than a human raised halfling walking through our Lord’s barrier without invitation,” Fen growled back.
“How did you know all of this would fit?” she asked, unfazed by his comments and Fen looked at her as though she’d insulted him.
“It’s his job to know everything I need him to know. And he’s very good at it,” Makkai said. Fen was tucked down into a deep bow again. Alice glanced at him then looked at the handsome creature before her. Fen’s behavior made her want to follow his example, but she stood stubbornly erect. She wasn’t his subject. He looked her over, and twirled his finger, indicating that she should turn around. Alice did as bidden, careful not to swirl too quickly so the fabric would stay where it belonged.
“Very good, Fen. A vast improvement in her attire. It serves my purpose,” he complimented the smaller man then spoke to Alice. “You look older when clothed properly. How many years are you?”
“I’m twelve, almost thirteen.” She did the math in her head, roughly guessing what the date might be if it had been three and a half weeks. “In a little less than a month.”
“Hmmm,” was all the Fox said. “Shall we go? It would be impolite to allow our guests to arrive before we do.”
“Do I have to be there? I don’t want to watch you die,” Alice said, her words were straight forward, but her voice was timid. “They probably aren’t even the same people that did this to me. Those people were scientists, they don’t do much actual hunting.”
“Yes, Little One, you have to be there. If you are going to make a decision on staying here, among my people, or running off to live among the feral humans where you will never reach your full potential, you must see the truth of what I am. You’re under the unfortunate delusion that I am kind,” he said, an odd look on his face. “Fen. You take her.”
The Fox disappeared, and Alice felt light-headed again. She looked at Fen, the panic rising in her chest. He looked back at her with distinct displeasure.
“Please don’t make me go,” she pleaded.
“It isn’t my choice to make,” he replied, once again grasping her wrist.
Fen pulled her hard and Alice fell into brilliant white light.
Chapter 8
Alice lay with her cheek pressed to the ground, her head swimming, the world refusing to stand still. The demons were nearby, Alice could hear their voices, but she couldn't see them or anything else. She blinked hard but nothing changed. She lifted her hands to her eyes and cried out and their voices stopped. Alice sat up and cried out again, terror stealing over her.
“I can’t see, what happened?!” panic seized her and she started to sob but took in a gasp before the first cry could fully leave her lips. A small hard point touched the bottom of her chin. Alice knew that feeling, she already had it memorized. It was the touch of the demon’s sculpted fingernail. Alice heard Fen’s deep voice, muttering something from nearby.
“You’re going to be calm now, so we can speak. You’ve experienced a complication with the jump. Did this happen when I sent you to the human’s nest?” he asked, his soft voice was so close.
“No. Well, yes, but not this bad,” Alice whispered.
“Perhaps the weaknesses in your physical and mental state have caused difficulty processing spatial magic, bringing up past traumas. I assure you, little Halfling, you can see,” he said.
“I can?” she was doubtful. She’d never heard of spatial magic before, but she already didn’t like it.
“Open your eyes and see for yourself.”
Alice d
id. He was so close she could count the tiny flecks of red in his black eyes. So she did. There were five. Two in one eye, three in the other. She shuddered and he quirked an eyebrow at her.
“Mind over matter,” he said. “Why don’t you rest while we await your hunter friends, hmm? Fen, stay with her.”
“Yes M’Lord,” Fen agreed. Makkai looked up, chose a branch and jumped.
“Oooh!” Alice exclaimed. He’d landed neatly on his feet, on a branch thirty feet above them. “Was that more magic?”
“You say that as if the Lord would need magic for that puny height!” Fen looked disgusted. Alice made a rude face at him in return.
“How does that qualify as a ‘puny’ height? I bet you couldn’t jump that high without magic,” she said. It was his turn to make an ugly face. Alice wondered if Fen would have eaten her if she’d found him instead of his Master. She sat at the bottom of the tree, leaning her head back, hoping to catch a glimpse of his fluffy tails, but she couldn’t see him.
Exhausted as she was, Alice wasn’t tired anymore. She felt sick, thinking of what was to come. Squads were made up of nine people. A captain, a medic, a geographer, who was basically a walking GPS, an assassin and five warriors. They rarely did missions as a full team, most threats only needed two, possibly three members of the squad at a time. Every one of them were deadly fighters, even the medic. Alice did not believe Makkai would be able to kill them. She’d been raised among them. She knew how hard they trained; how much schooling went into making them the best.