Chapter 10 #2
“In here!” directed the male with a hint of orange on his scales; so far the single voice of reason among the crowd.
He swung open the door to a small wooden home, sturdily built but with a low ceiling.
“You’ll have to wait until the King returns and he can see you.
” His eyes were orange starbursts. A startling sight, considering how bright they were.
They edged toward gold like my own. The male dared to glance down from my face to Cosima in my arms.
“I can’t believe there’s another one. And this one can, you know…
walk?” he asked in a much quieter tone. He even leaned in and plunked a lantern down just inside the door.
I spotted a nest with a sparse few furs on one side, a bucket in a corner and that was it.
Not the worst kind of prison I’d found myself locked up in, and this time I had my mate with me.
My mate, and a bed, those were pretty good conditions.
“What’s it to you?” I asked. I did not want to scare him off when he held an interest in Cosima that wasn’t homicidal, like what I’d witnessed in the others.
Now that I was not filled with the blood lust that had raged through me when I hunted Scar’at, I could draw on my other skills.
The skills that had gotten me chosen for the spying mission at Outcast Haven by Serqethos’ Queen.
The red and orange male rolled a shoulder in a casual shrug, glancing uneasily over his shoulder at the warriors still crowded on the narrow path with him.
They were listening to every word we said; this male wasn’t going to talk unless we had privacy.
Interesting. What did he want to know, and why was he feeling less hostile than the others?
The door shut before I had any answers, but that would come.
They had not killed us on sight, we had time.
I carried Cosima to the nest which I carefully inspected with my tail.
I did not put her down on the furs until I was satisfied that they were clean and fresh, and the bedding beneath them was dry and clean.
When I put her down, I relished the fact that I could now openly fling my tail around her hips to keep holding her.
She didn’t object but clutched her fingers into my scales to press me to her body, the leather of her dress the only thing separating us.
“What now?” she asked, “Do you know how we can get out of here?” I glanced around the small hut, forced to stay lowered on my tail so my horns did not brush the ceiling.
I didn’t like how small and cramped it was, and it made my scales rattle along my back when I considered the weight of the mountain suspended above our heads.
What if those rock walls broke and crumbled? We’d be crushed beneath all that stone.
“Now we wait until this ‘King’ can see us. What do you know of the Bitter Storm Clan? Did Krashe and Naomi tell you about them?” Mentioning Naomi’s name out loud made me realize why this orange-hued male had asked me the question he had.
He had met Naomi, and he was surprised to discover that Cosima walked, and then confused because I’d carried her for the last portion of our journey.
I wanted to pace across the small space, restless despite my calm assurance that all we could do was wait.
I’d been underground for so long already, I hated it.
My scales itched to feel the thrum of the wind, I longed to sail through the open skies on Ses’ back.
Now that Cosima and I were talking, I couldn’t wait to show her all the wonders of Serant.
Forcing myself to sit still was only hard until I realized that it was the perfect excuse to curl up with my mate in the nest. I settled at her side, flinging my arm around her shoulder, and I was filled with elation when she sighed and cuddled into me.
What a change from two weeks ago, what a change even compared to this morning.
“I know they hate technology and anything different than them. Krashe told us of the revenants that roam beyond their mountain range, which they have kept from entering the lands of the other Clans.” Cosima spoke quietly though she didn’t need to, I was the only one who could understand what she said around here.
I liked how it made the atmosphere inside more intimate, and it distracted me further from my dislike of being underground.
I’d heard the stories of the revenants too, and I’d even seen them when I’d flown with Ses far and wide in other directions. They had been walking monstrosities that roamed lands abandoned by any living being, but the revenants here threatened to encroach on Bitter Storm land every cold season.
“What else,” I murmured, trying to tally what information we had on this Clan. Any knowledge could work to our advantage. There should have been a Queen, but evidently this Clan had done the unthinkable and gotten themselves a King in the time that Krashe had left.
Cosima tapped her luscious bottom lip as she thought about it.
“Krashe was still communicating with them in some way, right? Trying to help them solve their food issues.” She turned in my arms to meet my eyes and I loved how open and relaxed she looked.
We were in pretty dire straits but she was calm, cool-headed.
“He had me look over some plans he’d come up with, with Naomi last week, on how to build mountain terraces suitable for crops. ”
“What I want to know,” I said, “Is how they went from having a Queen, to a King. What happened?” The day I’d made my entrance at Outcast Haven, Bitter Storm warriors had approached, led by a male called Aser. He and Krashe had talked for a long time and then the warriors had disappeared.
This Aser had been a strange male, an unusual figure to be in a position of authority, considering he was slight and did not carry himself as a warrior.
I eyed the door as I wondered if this Aser was the one they had made into a King.
In times of great unrest like this famine the Bitter Storm Clan was experiencing, it would not surprise me if a new figure took the chance to wrest control.
Not only that, but I believe Naomi and Krashe had talked about how the Queen had banished many good warriors after her failed attempt to attack the Thunder Rock village.
This Aser had assured Krashe on his visit that he’d welcomed all those warriors back into the Clan.
We should have realized right then that meant the Queen was no longer in control.
When I mentioned all of that to Cosima her eyes started to sparkle.
“Maybe this is all good, Zsekhet. Think about it! Krashe said Aser was the best assistant he ever had. And they’ve been in talks, trying to open trade with Haven as a conduit for Bitter Storm toward the other Clans.
Surely, this Aser wouldn’t want to see us killed, he can’t risk Krashe’s help falling through. ”
She was right, we had leverage. My mate was a clever female and she was far better at dealing with being locked up in here than I was.
Which surprised me, as I wasn’t the one that had been held captive for a long time before.
Just thinking about my tiny, adorable mate locked up in a prison somewhere made my chest ache and rage simmered through my veins.
“You are right, Zsekhet. All we need to do is wait. And maybe eat… Do you have any food left in that bag?” She rubbed her flat stomach with a grin and I instantly yanked the satchel closer to pull out our options.
It was a good thing they hadn’t even bothered to take my weapons or belongings.
They counted on their numbers to keep us in check, I wasn’t sure if that was placidness or an oversight.
We ate the wrapped ration cakes of dried meat, fruits, and cereals packaged in fat to help them stick together.
It was a common traveling staple everywhere, though each Clan tended to use slightly different recipes.
The Shaman had made them with herbs that added spice which tingled across the tongue and left a pleasant, savory aftertaste.
Cosima didn’t complain about having to eat meat but I still felt bad that she had no other options.
Once our stomachs were filled and we’d drank sips from the waterskin, I counted the remaining handful of rations to count out how many days it would last us. A few days should be alright, unless Bitter Storm decided to feed us, but I doubted that.
“Hey, what’s happening with you? You are so restless.
Zsekhet, talk to me?” Cosima’s gray eyes were far too insightful as she ran them over my face.
I rubbed my hands over my left horn, caught myself fidgeting, and curled my fingers into fists at my sides.
Maybe I needed a distraction, like my mate but that thought fled me when I saw the look in her eyes.
She was trusting me to keep her safe. She had finally opened herself up to the possibility of being my mate.
After all the tears she’d shed the past months, hiding herself inside Haven, she had taken that leap of faith to brave the world once more.
I couldn’t be anything but honest with her, even if that meant sharing something that felt like a weakness.
“I know it’s silly, but I keep fearing that the cave roof will collapse on top of us.
I am not used to being inside so much, back at Serqethos, it has always been open skies and endless sand dunes.
” But I didn’t really miss that place or my Clan either, I missed the skies and soaring through them on Sesethul’s back.
I didn’t like it when I couldn’t just give in to whatever mood struck me and go for a flight.
She reached up to pat my cheek, her fingers lingering along my scales, stroking along my jawline, and teasing down the black horn on my chin.
“That’s not silly. I understand that. You’ve always lived outside while Thunder Rock and Bitter Storm spend a lot of time underground, using these tunnels as homes and to travel.
But Ses doesn’t fit in here, of course you hate it. ”
Technically, Ses would totally fit inside this cave, but her point stood.
I was relieved she didn’t think it stupid and now that I’d shared it with her, I felt a little more settled.
Then she smiled and indicated the roof above us.
“I can assure you though, that the cave looks man-made. It was carved out and from just a glance, I can tell that they carved supporting arches to make this domed area inside the mountain extra strong. I doubt this place will ever collapse.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed out loud. Endlessly amused to hear that a Clan so afraid of technology and the relics most other Clans scavenged to use, lived in an ancestral cave.
To most Clans, they were the ones breaking the laws.
Both Copper Tooth and Thunder Rock for instance had rules in place that disallowed anyone but Shamans to go into ancestral caves to explore.
Cosima talked through my laughter, her eyes warm and excited as she spouted off on the virtues of arches.
I had not been prepared for a ten-minute long lecture on this architectural feature but I loved seeing her passion as she explained, even if some of the unfamiliar words she used made my eyes glaze over.
Then my eyes caught on Cosima’s pretty pink mouth and I couldn’t help myself, I leaned in and covered her lips with my own.
My spine tingled, my senses flooded with her taste, and all I wanted was to sip at her for as long as she let me.
Her mouth, or the delicious well I could scent between her legs.