“What’s going on?” Her voice sounded high and annoyed. “What’s the matter with the lot of you? Why are you running around like a bunch of ninnies?”
“Amalthia!” Brynn tried to shout but somehow her voice came out in a whisper instead. “Amalthia duck! Run!” she cried a little louder.
She herself was crouching on the ground now, although she didn’t remember how she had gotten there. She had a vague, terrified idea that if she laid low and didn’t move, she might present less of a target.
“Run?” Amalthia frowned at her. “What are you tal—” The long, wickedly barbed stinger of the thing diving down on her suddenly struck.
Brynn crammed her fist into her mouth to keep from screaming when she saw it thrust into Amalthia’s back and come out the other side, protruding through her chest, directly beside her right shoulder. It’s barbed tip was bloody but there was something else dripping from it as well, some kind of green venom that burned and hissed when it fell on the grass, withering the dark blue stalks of vegetation to smoking black husks.
Only then did Lady Amalthia seem to understand that something terrible had happened. Brynn saw her stare at the barbed stinger protruding from her chest, her green eyes wide in something like amazement.
“What—” she began and then the many, hairy, chitinous legs of the thing that had stung her gripped her by the lovely pale green morning gown she was wearing and began to lift her off the ground.
Amalthia’s eyes went even wider and she began to scream—long, ragged breathless shrieks that echoed through the gardens like alarm bells, pealing and pealing in a never- ending flow of horror.
Brynn wasn’t shrieking but she did feel strangely unreal as she watched Amalthia flailing in the grip of the huge insect thing. It was beating its many pairs of veined, translucent wings now, rising into the sky and taking Amalthia with it.
“No! No! Put me down!” Amalthia shrieked as her feet—clad in dainty green slippers—left the ground.
Taking her—it’s taking her away! Brynn realized with horror. She thought of the skull in her dream, speaking with Amalthia’s voice. “Kill me…we are all dead anyway…Kill me!”
“No!” she shouted and jumped up, running to grab one of Amalthia’s legs through her voluminous skirts to try and yank her back down. For a moment she was in a tug of war with the huge insect with Amalthia shrieking between them, a living rope. But the insect was strong—it ducked its head and gnashed its mandibles at Brynn, catching some strands of her long, black hair in its serrated jaws.
Brynn batted at it in a panic, feeling the small, sharp pain of the hair ripping out of her crown as she lost her grip on Amalthia’s leg. The other girl rose immediately into the air, still shrieking as the thing which had grabbed her beat its wings harder, gaining traction.
“No!” Brynn gasped. She jumped up to reach Amalthia again but all she managed to do was grab her foot. The other girl kicked and her little green slipper came off in Brynn’s hand.
“Princess—get down!” a familiar voice shouted.
Brynn turned to see Varin charging through the garden, sword in hand heedless of the plants and bushes he trampled along the way. He pushed Brynn behind him and swung at the giant stinging thing, still hovering in the air.
Because of his longer reach, he was able to chop off at least one of the beast’s legs. It fell to the ground with a meaty thud and lay there twitching in the blue grass. Like a dry black stick that had somehow come alive, Brynn thought numbly.
But despite the loss of its limb, the creature kept flying, carrying Amalthia higher and higher into the sky, still shrieking as she went. Varin jumped for it but couldn’t reach it again. He swore aloud and shouted for back-up.
More men came running—guards this time which been patrolling at the other end of the gardens. Because they weren’t slaves, they were armed with blasters. They took aim and shot and shot again but none of them could hit the target, though Brynn was fairly sure at least one blast did hit Lady Amalthia. At least, if the huge black hole burned into the skirt of her green gown was any indication.
“Give me that!” Varin growled at the guard who had hit Amalthia instead of the insect. He reached for the man’s blaster but the guard tried to keep it out of reach.
“You’re a slave!” he protested.
“And you’re a fucking horrible shot,” Varin snapped back. He grabbed the blaster anyway, took aim, and fired at the insect thing.
His shot hit home—the insect dipped and it looked like one of its wings was disabled.
But it has so many wings, Brynn thought despairingly. And sure enough, the thing was able to compensate. Though its flight became more erratic, it kept going, taking Amalthia with it, well out of range of the guards’ blasters.
“Goddess damn it to the Seven Hells!” Varin roared. He thrust the blaster back at the startled guard and shouted, “Go get the Master of the Ships! Tell him what happened! Tell him he needs to deploy an armed scout cruiser immediately before that girl is gone beyond our reach. Go!”
The guards gave him a startled look but several of them, including the one Varin had shouted at, went running off, presumably to do what he had ordered.
Only then did the big Kindred turn to Brynn. Taking her by the shoulders, he ducked his head and looked anxiously into her face.
“You okay, little one? It didn’t hurt you, did it?”
“It…it got some of my hair.” Brynn put a hand to the crown of her head. She could still feel the small stinging pain where the hairs had been ripped out. “It…it came out of no where,” she whispered, shaking her head. “It wasn’t there and then…then it was!” She felt numb…shocked. “How…how did you know to come to me?” she asked Varin. “Did you hear my shouting?”
He shook his head. “I felt your fear and came looking for you. I told you to be careful! How could you come out in the gardens after that dream I had about you?”
“I…I didn’t want to,” Brynn whispered. “But Amalthia made me. She…” She dropped her voice. “She saw us hugging last night,” she murmured. “And she threatened to tell the King. It made me so angry…” She clenched her hands into fists—there was a knot forming somewhere in her throat but she couldn’t seem to stop talking. “I…I was just wishing that something awful would happen to her—that…that she would be…would be st-stung…But I didn’t want…I never meant…”
The last word ended in a sob, though she tried to hold it back. Suddenly her vision was blurry and the gardens were swimming around her, just a lot of brightly colored blobs where the flowers should be.
My fault, she thought. It’s my fault she’s gone—I wished it on her!
“Of course it’s not your fault, little one,” Varin said softly and Brynn realized she must have said the words aloud.
The big Kindred gathered her close and held her to his massive chest. He smelled like leather and spice and clean sweat and Brynn guessed he must have been practicing at the Arena when he’d felt something was wrong with her. She hoped none of her bare skin was touching his—she didn’t want to hurt him. But at the moment she felt so overwhelmed she couldn’t do anything but sob as guilt and fear and pain came rushing in.
“It’s okay, little one—get it out,” she heard Varin rumble.
Some of the ladies in waiting had come back now and they and the guards were milling around aimlessly, looking at him and Brynn uncertainly. The ladies looked both shocked by what had happened to Amalthia and scandalized by what was taking place between the Princess and her slave.
“Stop staring and go back inside the palace,” Varin told them, glaring. “You ladies get under cover and stay out of the open. Guards—keep a watch and make sure there aren’t any more of those fucking things—whatever they are—around.”
“And what will you be doing, slave?” asked one guard, who appeared to be the captain—at least if the trim on his uniform was anything to go by. Clearly he resented being given orders by the big Kindred.
&nbs
p; “I’m going to do my Goddess damned job and tend to the Princess,” Varin snapped. “Which is what the lot of you were supposed to be doing when she was attacked and nearly killed”
With that, he put an arm around Brynn’s still shaking shoulders and led her back into the palace, heedless of the whispers behind them.
“All right now, it’s all right. You’re safe,” he told her when they finally reached the door to her chamber. “No thanks to those idiotic guards! They’re supposed to be closer to you than that—supposed to be watching you all the time when I’m not there!” His face was as dark as a thundercloud. “Gods damn their eyes—the King is going to hear about this!”
“Will he listen to you?” Brynn asked, swiping at her eyes and trying to get control of herself.
“When it comes to your safety, he’d better,” Varin said darkly. He frowned at her. “Not that you’re much better at listening than your father. I saw you out there—what were you doing, trying to fight that thing off? You could have been killed!”
“I was just trying to pull Amalthia back down,” Brynn explained. She took a deep breath, still trying to calm down. “What was that thing?” she asked Varin in a shaking voice.
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “Some kind of fucking alien from off-planet is my guess. I’ve never heard that Galen has huge flying insects big enough to carry someone off.”
“It was like your dream,” Brynn told him. “She was just standing there and then its shadow fell over her. And then it…it dived down and stung her—Its stinger pierced all the way through her back and came out the other side—out of her chest!”
She was shaking again and she felt sick, remembering how the barbed tip had protruded from Amalthia’s chest, dripping venom on the grass below.
“All right. Everything is going to be all right,” Varin reassured her. He started to hug her again but Brynn pulled away.
“No.” She swiped at her eyes and looked up and down the hallway. It looked deserted, but how could she be sure? Had Amalthia been the only one watching her? She didn’t know. And they had already put on enough of a show for her nosy, gossipy ladies in waiting out in the gardens. “We have to be careful—remember what I told you about Amalthia seeing us last night?” she whispered to Varin.
The big Kindred frowned. “I was mostly concerned with making sure you weren’t hurt. You said that’s how she got you out in the garden?”
Brynn nodded. “She wanted to go out and pick bloomies but I didn’t. Then she started being nasty, making jokes about ‘deflowering’ whatever that means—”
“Deflowering?” Varin’s eyes narrowed. “Why in the Seven Hells was she talking about that?”
“I don’t know.” Brynn shrugged. “I don’t even know what it is—do you? Is it some kind of ritual? Something I have to do before I get joined with the husband my father picks for me?”
“More like something that gets done to you,” Varin growled, frowning. “It’s a barbaric old custom they used to have before a royal got married. Something about easing the way for the husband to be, so that the female getting married would be extra fertile. But they don’t do it anymore. Don’t even think they still have the equipment.”
“Equipment for what?” Brynn asked, puzzled. “What kind of equipment has to do with picking flowers?”
“You really are innocent, aren’t you, little one?” Varin sighed. “I pray to the Goddess you can stay that way. But never mind. It’s not something you have to worry about.” He shook his head. “So going back to the attack—Amalthia got you all out in the gardens and then that thing swooped down on her?”
“Just like in your dream,” Brynn said again. Only now she remembered that in the big Kindred’s dream it hadn’t been just Amalthia under the shadow.
Me—I was there too, she thought and shivered. Thank goodness that part of Varin’s dream hadn’t come true! But then she thought again of her own dream—Amalthia as a skull, begging for death.
“Ugh, this is horrible,” she exclaimed and put a hand to her cheek. “Poor Amalthia! She was awful but not awful enough to deserve that.” She looked up at Varin hopefully. “Do you think they’ll get to her in time? To save her, I mean?”
He sighed and rubbed the back of his neck.
“You want the truth or do you want to be comforted? Should I speak to you as a friend…or as a slave to his Mistress?”
“Be…be my friend,” Brynn whispered. “Always my friend, Varin.”
She wished she could lean into him and hug him, wished she could draw comfort from his big, warm body but she didn’t dare. She wasn’t sure who might be watching…listening.
“All right.” He nodded grimly. “My best guess? There’ll be no saving her because she’s already dead.”
“You really think so?” Brynn felt her stomach roll over and she had to close her eyes and take a deep breath to keep from being sick.
Varin nodded. “Animal like that is clearly a predator,” he growled. “It saw something it wanted for lunch and took it. Unfortunately for Amalthia, it happened to be her.”
“But…isn’t there any other alternative? Some way she might be all right?” Brynn pleaded.
She’d been wishing harm on the other girl but not harm like this! It made her feel guilty to remember the mean thoughts she’d been thinking just before Amalthia was taken.
“I don’t think there’s any way she could be all right, no,” Varin said shortly. “And the only other alternative is not a good one.”
“What’s that?” Brynn whispered.
“That the thing that took Amalthia isn’t just a predator from another planet—it’s a scout from another planet. And it’s going to go home letting everyone know that the people of Galen are easy prey.”
Chapter Eleven
“No. Absolutely not—a slave is never armed with a blaster. I’ve made exception enough allowing you to train with swords.” The King glared down his hooked nose at Varin, clearly tremendously displeased with the brazen request.
Varin clenched his hands into fists at his sides but tried to keep his expression calm. He’d been waiting days to get this audience with the ruler of Galen—the male who had bought him—and he didn’t want to waste his opportunity with rash words.
“Your Majesty, I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t of utmost importance. This is your daughter’s life we’re talking about here! You bought me to protect her—I’m just trying to do my job. And if I’d had a blaster on me the day she was attacked, I could have knocked that damn insect-thing out of the sky and saved the Lady Amalthia too.”
Of the Lady Amalthia there was still no sign though scouting parties had been dispersed in every direction. Not so much as a splash of her blood or a strand of her hair had been found.
To Varin’s way of thinking, that was very bad news. An off-planet creature who had somehow made its way across the void of space just to hunt and feed likely would have finished its meal and left some traces behind. Whereas, a creature who had come to scout, would certainly have taken the hapless Amalthia with it, back to its ship and home planet.
Yet, despite the strange and horrifying attack, nothing had changed. The King, as far as Varin could see, wasn’t fortifying the palace’s defenses or ordering a more alert patrol around the planet. No alarm had been sounded—no citizens had been warned. Quite the opposite—the incident was being hushed up and everyone had strict orders not to spread any gossip about it. It was almost as though the King was deliberately covering it up for some reason—but why?
Varin thought it was probably for the same reason Brynn had been left to grow up in a convent for the first eighteen years of her life. The King and Queen didn’t like to deal with anything they considered onerous or unpleasant—like raising a child or facing the possibility that their world might soon be under attack. Problems ignored were problems defeated—at least in their royal Majesties’ point of view.
“The incident with the Lady Amalthia was…regrettable,” the King said
now, breaking Varin’s train of thought. “But I hardly think that breaking protocol and giving a forbidden weapon to a slave is the answer.”
Varin gritted his teeth. “Very well then, your Majesty,” he said through a clenched jaw. “In that case, please allow me to be stationed near the Princess at all times. I know she is most vulnerable at night but it appears that being outside the grounds of the palace in daytime is not safe either.”
“I think not.” The King frowned. “Some rather disturbing reports have come to me, Kindred—some indications that you are already too…shall we say connected to the Princess. I think it would be wise to have her less in your company rather than more.”
“What?” Varin burst out. “Of course I’m connected to Brynn—I’m bonded to her! You saw to that yourself! I would give my life for her but I can’t do that if you don’t let me guard her!”
“That is enough!” the King rapped out, sitting up straighter on his throne and glaring down at Varin. “How dare you speak of the Princess by name? You have been trained and indulged all your life—allowed to become a kind of ‘hero of the realm’ with all your victories in the Arena. But at the end of the day you are still a slave—my slave. Don’t forget who holds the key to your life—I believe your slave chip needs to be changed quite soon, does it not?”
“It does,” Varin acknowledged, his voice a low growl. “But your Majesty, I’m not here on my own account. I just want to see that the Princess is well and safe.”
“I think she’ll do a great deal better if you don’t interfere, slave” the Queen snapped, speaking up for the first time. She looked at her husband. “Honestly, I don’t even know why you granted this interview! It’s so obviously a waste of time.”
“Your Majesties…” Varin took a deep breath. “If you won’t allow me to guard the Princess more closely, then please consider having someone else do it. Someone more conscientious than the guards who allowed her to be attacked in the gardens, which should be considered unsafe until we find out what happened to the Lady Amalthia once and for all.”
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