Chapter 20
The next day was busy with Ifer and Ul meeting with councilors and arranging food supplies, which left Dawson to sit in the library and stare at the stained-glass window while listening to the librarian talk like he was magically going to learn Ul’s language.
Sometimes he thought he almost understood, but not enough to make words…
because then he tried to find the words and there were none.
He didn’t understand how Ul went from feeling the vibes of the words to making words.
And he couldn’t ask the librarian because they hadn’t spoken enough for him to speak English.
The librarian must have been told to talk to him, because the chatter was never-ending. He brought out what Dawson assumed were his favorite books and seemed to be discussing the illustrations of plants and animals within them.
Dawson shook his head after the librarian turned the page to what looked like the ugliest mermaid Dawson had ever seen. Is that what they really looked like? “Krakke?”
“Krakke.” The librarian pointed at himself.
“Krakke.” Dawson tapped the book. Where were the krakke in the book? He needed to know more about the blue-skinned tentacled king.
The librarian shuffled off and returned with two more books, and happily explained the difference between them to Dawson, as though he’d be able to make an informed choice. Whichever one had the most pictures and explained more about them in a biological way was going to be the most useful.
Dawson rocked his arms the way Ul had.
The librarian gave him a sly smile and flicked through the pages of the smaller book.
There were a lot of pictures that he skipped past before stopping on one that was an underwater scene.
At first, he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, but then it became clear that the pale blobs with a blue shadow inside were eggs.
The krakke laid eggs underwater.
He pointed at the picture, and then the librarian, trying to look more confused than usual—he was not sure how good his acting abilities were—but the librarian gave him that smile again and flicked back a few pages.
This must be an anatomy book or something because the diagram was very well labelled.
On one page there was something that resembled a skeleton of sorts, though it had far too few bones to be human, and the bones weren’t in the right places or even in the right shapes.
Because it was a krakke skeleton, and they were not human.
So how the hell did they breed with humans?
It didn’t make sense.
He’d never heard of anything like it. But just because he didn’t understand it didn’t make it less real. There was no avoiding the massive window in front of him.
The librarian was still talking, pointing to parts of the drawing, including what appeared to be a curled penis protruding out of an opening. He did not need to understand words when the librarian pointed at him and then at the opening.
Dawson’s cheeks heated as he realized the elderly librarian was giving him the birds and the bees talk rather too enthusiastically. Had word gotten around about Ul’s pink freckles and the rock pool incident?
Did everyone think he was the king’s new…lover? Was that even the right word?
The librarian narrowed his eyes as if appraising him.
Ul’s name was mentioned, so the librarian was definitely discussing the situation.
In that moment, Dawson wished that he could suddenly understand every word, if only to correct assumptions.
Even Ul didn’t know what he wanted, or at least that’s what he claimed.
As a king, though, wasn’t it part of his duty to have heirs?
Was it the right thing to agree and give him that, since it appeared no one else could?
It was a lot to think about, and far more than a fling he had thought it was becoming…
yet at the same time, he was glad Ul had told him the truth, when it would’ve been so easy to lie and he would’ve never known.
He wasn’t even sure what bothered him the most, or if they were even things he should be bothered by.
There was the biology thing, which was different as he had never met somebody who was male and female and laid eggs.
He’d never met someone with tentacles before, either, but somehow that was less of a jump in his mind.
Which probably said more about him, as well as his own beliefs, prejudices, and lack of education.
And since he didn’t consider himself one of those ignorant, loudmouth, bigots who hung out in pubs and complained about the weather and immigrants in the same sentence, he needed to wrap his head around the fact that the krakke only had one gender.
And even though he considered himself gay… maybe he was less gay than he thought?
Which was fine. He could deal with that, since he was definitely attracted to Ul.
The other issue was the idea of having children and then leaving them.
Children that hatched out of eggs. He didn’t know how to raise children like…
Well, he didn’t know how to raise any children.
Children of any kind were not something he’d ever expected.
Having grown up in a house where there were too many of them and not enough bedrooms or food or money, all he knew was he didn’t want that kind of life for his kids.
But if he did have children with Ul, they would grow up in a palace and be the future rulers of this island.
That was a trip to even consider.
His father would tell him he was getting too big for his britches and that he needed to pull his head in and keep his ego in check.
The librarian tapped the book and then wandered off. He probably had real work to do instead of babysitting him. The soldier stood off to the side, acting as though he hadn’t heard a word of the gossip, but then he was probably paid very well not to hear.
Every doubt that Dawson had circled back and pointed at him. His life experiences and his assumptions about himself. Was he a dickhead?
He was pretty sure that amongst the guys he’d gone to school with, those who were the biggest dickheads never paused to wonder if they were.
So maybe he wasn’t. He flipped through the pages of the book looking for the pictures.
There were more detailed pictures of anatomy, much like the science books at school.
He remembered everybody laughing and being awkward when they did reproduction and looked at the pictures of male and female anatomy, all labeled and colored to make it easy to tell which part was which. In real life, it wasn’t that easy.
He found the pictures of the eggs again and then kept going.
On the next page, there were fewer of them, but inside each one was a limbed being.
He wanted to be able to read the text on the opposite page, instead of just relying on the pictures.
On the next page, there was one egg, and it was hatching.
Had the artist just not bothered to draw the rest?
The librarian returned with that sly smile and dropped another book on the table. This one was fancy with a dark red cover that had been well handled. The soldier laughed.
Dawson glanced at him. “What kind of trouble am I in?”
If Ul could speak English, the soldier must be getting close, given that he had been with Dawson every single day.
Dawson picked up the book, hoping it was full of pictures. “Thanks.”
The soldier waited until the librarian shuffled away. “Book about pleasure…satyr wrote it.”
“A book about pleasure?” Dawson opened the book to a random page and was greeted with a very graphic depiction of what he assumed was a female ogre enjoying a reverse cowgirl with another ogre. “Oh.”
It was that kind of book.
The soldier stepped forward. “Not ogre…find krakke pages.”
So it seemed the soldier had been listening to the gossip and figured Dawson needed all the help he could get. His cheeks burned, and he wanted to get up and walk out…but the soldier would just follow.
He did not need everyone knowing his business.
It wasn’t only his business, as it concerned their king.
“I can’t read, so you find them.” He pushed the book toward the soldier. There he was admitting that he needed help...and he was a little curious about what the satyr had written and drawn.
The soldier went to the front of the book, scanned what Dawson assumed was the index, and then flipped to the correct section.
He’d watched porn and had his favorite things, but that had not prepared him for the things those tentacles were doing to the human man. Was that the krakke’s entire hand in his ass? Not that it was a bony hand like his, but still…
He flicked to the next page, which involved what appeared to be less of a tentacle job and more of a sucker job, while another one disappeared what appeared to be quite deeply into the man’s ass, and a third was in his mouth.
His dick twitched as though finding these pictures more interesting than educational. Because that’s why he was looking, right? Just to find out more about hooking up with a krakke?
Was this too much more?
The next two pages were far more standard, with a 69 and the human also enjoying a reverse cowgirl, and a tentacle down the throat. The satyr author must have a favorite position.
His dick throbbed as though this was an instruction manual he should definitely work through. He turned the page filled with an uncomfortable arousal and curiosity.
This page was different. The human and the krakke lay side-by-side, but the krakke had pink freckles, and the human man was fucking the opening the krakke’s cock poked out of. There was more text on this page, and it felt like something he should know. “What does it say?”
The soldier read it softly in his own language. He took a moment, then grabbed the biology book and turned back to the picture of eggs in the watery cave. “Warning, chance of eggs.”
“Right.” Dawson nodded. Then he shook his head. “How many eggs?”
The human soldier held up both his hands and shrugged.
Approximately ten eggs. Dawson turned the pages of the biology book to the one that showed the one hatching baby. “Did the artist forget to draw the others?”
The soldier stared at him. “No. Many eggs.” He held up one finger. “Baby…or none.”
“What? What happens to them?”
The soldier sighed, his forehead furrowed. “Words. Eggs eat eggs?”
Eggs eat eggs? What the fuck did that mean? But even as he repeated it to himself, the horrible realization swelled in his gut.
“Strong egg eat small egg,” the soldier tried again.
“Oh.” He pointed at the stained-glass window. “And that tells the story of the krakke?”
“Yes.”
“And only humans…” Dawson pointed at the eggs.
“Yes, you are lucky. Many try—he turn them all away,” the soldier said with reverence. Except he hadn’t been trying. All he’d been trying to do was make sure people on the platform got food and water. He’d also wanted to get off the platform and see more of the island.
He didn’t know what he expected, but it wasn’t this. He wanted to get to know Ul, and now that they could talk, that would be so much easier. Except words were what had created all these doubts.
Ul’s honesty about the situation.
By his own admission, this was unexpected and something he needed to think about. But with gossip already creeping through the corridors…how much longer would they have before a decision needed to be made?
Was there even a right answer?
Or was it a case of simply trying to do the right thing and hoping for the best? Of course, that was much easier when he knew what the right thing was. He should’ve known getting tangled with the king was going to be complicated.