Chapter 2 #2
they moved forward, her feet barely touching the ground. Together, they weren’t as silent as Mekos would have been alone,
but they made less noise than a human would.
When they reached the wall, Mekos soared upward with her so they were sitting on the top. They were so engulfed by tree leaves that they couldn’t be seen.
Below them were two women, one of them the beautiful Valona.
Aradella, her back against Mekos’s front, looked at him and he nodded. Yes, she was who he’d known was near them.
He swiped his hair back to expose his ears and listened.
With Valona was a very old woman. She walked slowly, bent over, and she was holding a silver pot.
They watched Valona sit down on a wooden stool, then turn her face to the sun.
The old woman, who seemed to be the maid, opened the pot and began to spread a thick pink lotion on Valona’s lovely face.
“The cream is almost gone,” the maid said.
“I’ll make a new batch from that princess Olina sent me. She’s big so there’ll be a lot of it.”
The maid frowned, which deepened the creases on her face. “She’s not pretty so maybe it won’t work. To keep your looks, you
must take true beauty.”
“She’s royal. That’s a different kind of radiance.”
The maid paused, seeming to be worried. “Her status will make people miss her.”
“Olina arranged that. There’ll be proof that the two men killed the bland princess.”
“What men?” The maid sounded alarmed, then calmed. “Oh. You mean the swansman and his son. That’s good. They have no worth
or importance, so no one will notice that they’re gone.” She nodded in approval. “Yes, that is a very good plan.”
When Mekos tightened his grip on Aradella, she knew he was warning her.
Of Valona? But no, he nudged her to see a huge green lizard silently and stealthily walking toward them on top of the wall.
It was the size of a bear cub, heavy and strong—and she knew it could spit fire.
They had been exterminated on the rest of the island since they tended to kill livestock—and a few humans.
Aradella held her breath, waiting for the creature to come for them. Of course Mekos would take them to safety. But he didn’t
move, and the lizard stopped to just above where Valona was sitting. Did it mean to jump on her?
Mekos kept holding Aradella tightly and she thought maybe it was his scent of fox that made them uninteresting to the creature.
Because her attention was on the lizard—or “little dragon” as some people called them—she didn’t see the light that appeared
near Valona.
“Yes! I know she’s here,” Valona said angrily. “Does Olina think I’m as stupid as she is? Must she remind me of what I’m to
do?”
Aradella slid her eyes to the side, too afraid to move her body and alert the lizard. The light near Valona surrounded a little
man with wings of gold and red. He was a handsome Never in his green trousers and sleeveless brown top. As small as he was,
he was quite muscular.
Valona swiped her hand at him. “I don’t want to hear any more.”
To escape her hand, the little man flew backward toward the wall. In a lightning movement, the lizard’s long tongue shot out.
It hit the man and made him tumble through the air.
“Borel! No!” Valona snapped, then made a grab for the Never. She caught it, but then she sneered. “It’s ruined! Now it’s ugly.”
In disgust, she threw the Never over the wall.
He went flying past Aradella and Mekos, but they didn’t dare move from their hiding place.
Valona held up her hand. “It got blood on me! Filthy creature.”
“That thing was useful to Queen Olina,” the maid said. “She won’t like losing it, and you know how she likes to give punishment.”
“This is bad.” Valona sounded exasperated. “Where can I get another one to replace it?”
“I believe that swansman has one, a female. I’ll get her for you.”
Valona smiled. “I’ll miss you when you die.” As the two of them went inside, the lizard slid down their side of the wall and
followed them into the house.
Immediately, Mekos held Aradella and they soared to the ground.
“We have to find him,” Aradella said.
“Yes.” Mekos’s ears twitched, he breathed deeply, and he squinted his eyes as he looked about.
Aradella saw three birds in a tree. “Help us find him. Please,” she said urgently.
The birds swooped down, went under low-hanging leaves, then to the ground.
Mekos pulled the plants aside to expose a thick spider’s web. In the center was the tiny, unconscious man. The lower half
of his left leg was gone and the stump was thickly coated in webbing silk. The bleeding had been stopped. To the side was
a large black spider, hiding and watching.
“Thank you,” Aradella said to the spider, then she reached down and carefully lifted the little man.
“He’s a Never,” Mekos said. “He—”
“I know. We must tell Arit. She’ll know what to do.”
“How do you know—?” he began but stopped, then said, “Arit! I need you.” There was no response. He grit his teeth. “She is
bonded to my father and she thinks I’m useless, so she rarely obeys me.” He spoke more urgently. “I know you’re not needed
by my father right now, and I’ve found a Never who needs help.” They waited but nothing happened.
Aradella said, “He’s a male Never.”
Instantly, the air fluttered and tiny Arit appeared. This time, she had on a pink dress, her long hair glistening. She stared at the man lying on Aradella’s open palm as though seeing something she didn’t believe existed.
“Is there something that can heal him?” Mekos asked. “If it’s here, Aradella can find it.”
“Toris berries,” Arit said.
“I saw them!” Aradella slipped the man into Mekos’s hand, then ran deeper into the garden. In seconds, she returned with a
handful of the black berries.
“Are they poisonous?” he asked.
“Not to touch, but for humans to eat, yes.” She looked at Arit, who was standing on a foxglove flower with its bell shape.
“Would you mash them?” Arit asked.
Aradella didn’t trust any plant in that garden not to kill whatever it touched. Her dress had been repeatedly snagged so she
tore away a strip and rolled the berries inside it.
“Put him on the cloth.” Arit looked at Mekos. “Can you call the birds?” She sounded doubtful.
Mekos gave a quick eye roll. “I’m not my father but I believe I can manage that. Come,” he said as he gently placed the man
on the big berries on the fabric. Four birds arrived. He and Aradella watched as Arit mounted a bird and the other three carried
away the wounded Never in the package.
When they were alone, Mekos looked at Aradella. They didn’t need to speak to know that they wanted to get out of that garden.
He clasped her to him and they soared over the wall.
They’d barely touched the ground when Mekos said, “She wants to make a magic cream out of you.”
Aradella shrugged. “The very definition of a princess is that someone is always trying to kill us. But it’s usually after we marry them.”
Mekos frowned. “This is not a joke. We need to stop this. We have to tell people what’s going on.”
“Tell them that the old legend is true? That Valona is making a beauty cream that keeps her young forever? You don’t know women. They’d probably offer their daughters in exchange for a pot of that cream.” She turned away, walking rapidly, and Mekos followed her.
“Kaley might know about this,” he said. “She knows stories that happen here. I think maybe they’ve already happened on Earth,
but I’m not sure. Get down!”
The two of them flattened themselves on the ground. Aradella heard nothing, but Mekos’s ears were alert.
“It’s that lizard,” he said. “He’s searching for the Never and he smells it on us.” They wiped their hands on the grass but
they knew it wouldn’t be enough. “That thing will stalk us. I’d like to catch it, but those claws are too much to deal with.
Oh, for a bow and arrow. If only I had something to throw over it, I could get it.”
They watched as the lizard turned away, then Aradella sat up. She reached under her skirt.
“What are you doing?” he asked, eyes wide.
She untied the lower pad around her waist and handed it to him. It was big since it had been made to cover her from waist
to knees. “Will this work?” She took a breath. “That feels wonderful!”
Mekos was looking at her in speculation. “Is this like your eyebrows? To protect you from the queen’s wrath?”
“Yes.” She smiled at his perception.
He nodded to the large upper half of her. “Is that more?”
It was harder to remove the upper pad and pull it out of the big dress.
Mekos gave a crooked smile. “I didn’t mind that part of you being large. It—”
“Get that lizard!” she ordered, her face turning red. She stayed back and watched as Mekos wrestled the lizard, deftly escaping
the claws. He can certainly move well, she thought. Finally, he wrapped the pads around it. Once the creature was encased, it stopped moving about.
Looking like a cave dweller who’d just conquered a marauding beast, Mekos went back to her, all fifty pounds of the mini dragon held by one arm on his hip. “We need to tell Kaley this story,” he said. “Maybe she’ll know a solution.”
“But if we tell your parents what we heard, won’t they take us away?”
“Definitely! They’ll get us out of here so fast we’ll disappear. But then you’d be in danger from Valona for the rest of your
life. I don’t think that woman will let distance stop her.”
“So how can an earthling help?” She sounded as bewildered as she felt.
“I don’t know, but I have this monster to use as a bribe. If we can get Kaley to, uh, stop with my father long enough, she
might tell us what to do about this woman’s murders. Maybe there’s some ancient spell or potion.” He looked into the distance.
“I wonder where the woman does it?”
“And your earthling stepmother might know this? And she would like that thing?” She nodded to the lizard.
He pushed in a foot of the lizard. “Yes. Kaley walks up to the most dangerous animals and they become tame. She might trade
my father for this creature. She—” He broke off, seeming to be waiting for Aradella to make a joke, but she was silent. “Go
on,” he said, “you can say it.”
“I wouldn’t trade your father for all the dragons on Earth.”
“That’s mild. You can do better.”
Aradella thought. “I’d trade it for one night of ecstasy with him? I would let him rule Pithan if I could be his queen?”
“That’s better.”
Aradella laughed, then gasped. The lizard had just burned a hole in the padded wraps. “It might hurt her.”
“Not Kaley. Wait until you see what she does.”
“I’ve already seen too much of what she does.” Her sarcasm was heavy. “The question is, how do we find them? Search every
waterfall and cave? Swim the rivers and look at duck feet?”
“Good point.” Mekos gave a low whistle and the large black bird that had given warning about the fruit flew to a tree branch.
“Find Papá and tell him I have a special animal to show Kaley. Alone.” He gave the bird a warning look.
“Don’t even hint at poisonous plants or the evil plans of Valona. Understand?”
The bird gave a body dip, then flew off.
“It’s convenient that they can talk to your father that way.”
“Ha!” Mekos said. “When I was a kid, the birds told on me wherever I was. I’d fall asleep with my cousins and Papá would come
and get me and carry me home.”
“He doesn’t like your relatives?”
“They’re foxes and there are predators after them.”
Aradella nodded in understanding. A little boy curled up with a litter of kits was a sweet vision, but dangerous.
The bird returned and gave chirping noises that made Mekos smile. “Kaley is at the house and Papá is going to take a nap.
He seems to be very tired.”
Mekos and Aradella looked at each other, then burst into laughter.