23. Darcy
23
DARCY
O utgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: Hey. Some big blue guy named Garrek just arrived. He’s apparently travelling Oaken’s way and he’s going to bring Magnolia along. They’re leaving tomorrow morning if you want to come and say goodbye.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: No way! I bet Magnolia is happy! She seemed so sad about not getting to meet Oaken.
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: She’s over the moon. Or, moons, I guess.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: I’ll let Silar know. We’ll be there.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: How are things going with you and Fallon?
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: …
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: ???
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: You could have warned me about the tiny dick tail situation.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: OH MY GOD I’M SORRY!!!!!!
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: Wait. Does this mean you guys have had sexy times??? Omg you’ve probably made Fallon’s whole life.
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: If you define sexy times as a guilt/sympathy/apology blow job after I nearly ripped his cock tail off, then yes.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: NO!!! Nearly ripped if off???
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: I thought it was a deadly snake. I thought he was going to die or his dick would fall off. Or both.
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: I blame you.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: Awww. Sounds like you’re starting to care about your big, burly, orange simp. Charging in and trying to save him from his own venomous dicktacle without a care in the world for your own safety :’)
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: Oh God. Don’t call it a dicktacle.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: Fine. How about dick lasso? Has he used it like a lasso yet?
Outgoing Tablet Communication Darcy Dubois: Tell me you’re joking.
Incoming Tablet Communication Cherry Dawson: Be glad that I’m not. You’re going to see fucking stars.
After messaging with Cherry to make sure she didn’t miss the send-off tomorrow, I returned to the others to find Magnolia just finishing up giving Killian a tour. They were coming out of her bedroom, followed by a very tense-looking Garrek. His eyes weren’t bright white anymore, at least. Don’t think I didn’t notice that little detail, Sir.
But he still didn’t look chilled-out or relaxed. The dark blue-skinned, black-haired rider was watching the kid like he expected him to try to shank somebody. Which, considering why the child was here in this world at all, maybe wasn’t that much of a reach.
“And that’s about it!” Magnolia was saying. “And now, if you don’t mind, I need to visit the very exciting outhouse! You’re welcome to come along if you need to go, too. We’ll take turns.”
The kid, Killian, who was still gripping Magnolia’s hand like it was some sort of lifeline, went with her outside. Garrek followed closely behind. Not sure where Fallon was and not ready to let Magnolia disappear alone with these two quite yet, I went as well.
As Magnolia took Killian over to the outhouse, Garrek picked up a small pile of stuff he’d unstrapped from the shuldu earlier. I watched him as he brought it over to the side of the house, right below the window to Magnolia’s room, and started unpacking what looked like bedrolls.
“You won’t sleep inside?” I inquired.
“No,” Garrek answered, a gruff chop of a syllable. Between him and Silar, we seemed to have a lot of grumbly, grumpy cowboys ’round these parts. Apparently, I’d been paired up with the only one who made any attempt at civility or exercising any sort of social skills, no matter how rusty.
If you could call trying to get naked and bang me on the wedding altar of the warden’s desk social skills, anyway.
It was actually kind of amazing how not insane Fallon, or any of them, were after bring ripped away from their world as children and brought here. My gaze went to Killian, who was waiting outside the outhouse for Magnolia to finish. His white hair was a dusty, matted mess, as if he hadn’t combed or washed it or let anyone near it in… ever. He was disconcertingly big for a kid, at least by my human standards, but he had a distinctly child-like face with those big, white eyes. It was a gaunt face, though. Not a chubby, happy kiddo face.
“Have you seen Fallon?” I asked, turning my attention to Garrek once more.
“He went to check on a calf before turning in for the night,” Garrek said.
Ah. That was probably the one who’d gotten loose last night. I couldn’t help but smile a little, thinking about how thorough, caring, and devoted Fallon was. He’d already told me the calf was fine. But he was going to check on it again, anyway.
Garrek didn’t say anything else. He stared broodingly in the direction of the outhouse. The man appeared angry and exhausted, his eyes tight and his brow furrowed. He looked like he was trying to do a bunch of mental math, and no matter how he came at it, he couldn’t solve for the value of X.
I thought about my sunshiney sweetheart of a friend Magnolia travelling for days or even weeks with this moody slab of muscle, and protectiveness rose.
“You don’t seem too interested in small talk, so I’ll cut to the chase,” I said bluntly.
Garrek turned his head towards me, his frown deepening.
“Who are you going to chase?” he asked, his eyes going to my legs then back to my face. “Can you ride?”
“No. I just mean, I’m not going to beat around the bush anymore.”
“Is this… after the chase? You chase and beat a bush?” He looked at me like I was a brainless fucking idiot. “You can’t chase a bush,” he said flatly, as if even just explaining that obvious little fact to me took a huge amount of energy he’d rather not expend. “They don’t move.”
“Yeah, well. On Terratribe II, they do,” I bullshitted, irritation rising. “They just pick up and run all over the fucking place.” I sighed tightly. “Look. I just want to make sure that Magnolia is going to be safe. Can you do that? Are you going to take care of her?”
Garrek’s eyes flashed white.
“Didn’t know I was coming here to be interrogated by Fallon’s female,” he growled.
“I’m not his female , I’m his wife ,” I shot back instantly, surprising myself. I’d never wanted to be somebody’s wife before. And now I was throwing the word out there like some kind of badge of honour. Like I was proud of it. “And when I ask a question, I expect an answer.”
Woo doggies. Annoying your husband’s acquaintances was definitely a no-no in the Being a Good Wife Book. My mom had absolutely mastered the art of simpering and smiling at the wealthy and political elite my father surrounded himself with, despite how odious she might have found any of those individuals.
But I wasn’t about to back down when Magnolia’s safety was on the line.
Garrek wasn’t having any of it. He flexed his claws and then rested his hands on his belt, his blue tail flicking about in an agitated fashion that suddenly made me think of a cat.
“You think I want to bring her along? Or him?” he said in a furious, low voice, stabbing his twitchy tail towards Killian. “I didn’t ask to drag some soft, unprepared female into the mountains alongside my beasts and convict-ward. It’s the last blasted thing I need and it’s exactly why I chose not to take a bride of my own.” He scrubbed his hand viciously against his jaw.
Yeah. About that…
“Don’t think I didn’t see how white your eyes got when you looked at her,” I reminded him, crossing my arms. “She’s Oaken’s fiancée and she is beside herself with excitement at meeting him. So don’t get in the way of that.”
“I… They went white with surprise at her appearance,” he said after a tense moment of hesitation.
I snorted.
“Yeah, right. You didn’t get all white-eyed when you looked at me, and I’m just as weird-looking and human as she is.”
“She isn’t weird-looking.”
No. She was absolutely freaking gorgeous and he obviously knew it, based on those glowy goo-goo eyes he was giving her earlier.
This conversation wasn’t getting us anywhere. I was probably being too argumentative. Garrek hadn’t given me a reason not to trust him. I was just feeling protective of Magnolia. I was going to miss her like hell, and I was channelling that feeling into combativeness towards him. You’re always so abrasive , my mom would tell me.
Frigid fucking bitch, as Massimo would say.
Well, I wasn’t going to be fake right now and pretend I was all happy-go-lucky about this situation. But maybe I could be a tiny bit nicer.
“Look. Magnolia is my best friend. Other than during a very brief period in childhood where I didn’t know any better and I adored my crazy narcissist mother, she’s the only woman I’ve ever loved like family. I care for her like a sister, way more than I care about my actual blood sisters.”
Both of us looked at the outhouse, which Magnolia was now exiting, aiming her cute, gap-toothed smile at Killian.
“She may not be some experienced cowgirl ready to take on the hardships of this planet,” I went on. “But she’s kind. She’s helpful. She’s smart as fuck and she won’t get in your way. She’s sweet and romantic and all she wants to do is fall in love and I just-” My throat ached. “I just need to make sure she’ll be alright.”
The anger seemed to seep out of Garrek’s expression, but the exhaustion remained.
“There are no guarantees,” he said at length. “There weren’t any guarantees in what I’d thought was the safe world of Zabria and there are even fewer here. Travelling to meet Oaken will be hard. It will be dangerous. I can’t promise completely safe passage for any of us.”
I took in a breath to interrupt him, but he ploughed on.
“All I can promise is that I will put her life and safety above my own.”
Well, that shut me up for a good ten seconds.
“You… You’re saying you’d put her life before your own? You’d die to protect her?” I asked in astonishment, wanting to make sure he hadn’t used some phrase that had translated poorly and really meant something else.
There was no boasting or hint of bullshit in his reply when he answered, “Yes.” His gaze was on Killian as the boy went into the outhouse. “For either of them.”
With a sigh that made it sound like he carried the whole world on his shoulders, he added, “Foolish as it probably makes me, it’s the truth. Are you satisfied?”
Oddly… I was.
It didn’t seem like there was anything left to say. At least, not tonight. I nodded and then walked away.