Chapter 51
The whooshing sound behind the wall, a sound that had been absent for several days, was back again.
Alex stood up and walked over to the smooth wall to rest her hand against its surface.
Using her hand to steady herself, she slowly flattened herself against the wall, resting the weight of her body against it as she placed her ear to the smooth surface.
Yes... something was definitely moving out there. Now she was certain of it.
Was it possible that a massive body of water lay on the other side of the wall?
It hadn’t initially struck her as odd that there was no balcony in the queen’s nest, but after seeing the other wings, and hearing the sounds of movement, it seemed likely.
Especially given the way that water was accessed by the nest and flowed from that uppermost point through the rest of the palace.
It seemed that the queen’s nest had to open access at all except for the tunnel that led upward.
But that may have very well been a later addition—or an escape route created out of necessity.
Her mate’s eyes followed her, his gavo rising with curiosity as he watched her. “What are you doing, hithana?”
“Shh,” she waved him off with a rapid flap of one hand—which was met with an amused look from the male—as she pressed her ear more firmly to the wall. “Don’t tell me you can’t hear that? There’s something moving.”
His gavo inching higher, Therxian tipped his head, her ears fanning as he too listened.
After a moment, he slowly rose and joined her beside the wall, a thoughtful expression on his face.
“You are right. I had not paid much attention as fresh water flows freely through hidden channels between the upper and elder shinara, and it is nearly impossible to determine direction of water flow or how much water flows behind a cavern wall just by listening. But this is more than water flow through a channel. For something to be swimming on the other side, there must be a significant-sized pool of water at the very least.”
“That’s what I’m saying,” she mumbled. “It’s just so weird. Why would they literally build the palace against a cavern filled with water?”
Therxian flicked his ears casually as he too rested his hand against the wall.
“Perhaps it provided an advantage. The elder shinara would have existed for several generations before a palace was ever erected. And it may not have originally been so grand. When my people lived on the surface, it is unlikely we would have dwelled in nests carved from rock, unless they dwelled along the mountain cliffs. Perhaps by the time of the palace’s current incarnation, the Uralial were already an established offshoot from the Seshanamitesh. ”
“Do you think it is an Uralial?” she whispered, and again his ears flicked before he also lowered his head and rested it against the wall to listen.
“The aquatic creatures that dwell in the caverns can easily rival those that dwell in the sands,” he replied quietly.
“It could be a giant swimming megnosh—they are massive but also slow-swimming and have sweet flesh. Or it could be a gilap, a deadly finned predator nearly equal in size to an adult male that swims along the waterways, hunting prey.”
“Memo to me: do not swim anywhere on this planet,” Alex mumbled to herself. She frowned as she slowly became aware of an isolated sound. “Is that... tapping? I something trying to communicate?”
Therxian abruptly gathered her up into his arms and quickly propelled them back away from the wall with a massive snap of his wings. Alex squealed in surprise at being propelled so quickly back from the wall.
“Therxian, what the fuck?” she hissed back at him.
“It is wise to be cautious,” he grumbled.
“Do not respond to it. Do not even speak too loudly so close to it. That tapping would not be made by any mere sea beast. There is intelligence behind it. This is hunting behavior—and cunning at that. Therefore, we need to take precautions so that we do not give it any information that might help it. The cavern barrier is thin enough that our voices will carry. Even if our words are distorted, whatever is on the other side will be able to listen to us.”
Her eyes widened, and she dropped her voice to a whisper. “Do you think that was an intentional construct, too?”
She watched tension tighten her mate’s face as he regarded the wall. “It is possible. It would have been a convenient way for a queen to send secret messages, perhaps. But how many would know of it?”
“An Uralial?”
“Possibly.” He hesitated, a look of uncertainty crossing his face.
“But that is not what worries me. There was one possibility that we did not consider while we have been considering the implications that might arise with the proximity of the Uralial to the shinara... one that might be detrimental to your safety.”
Her brows beetled in puzzlement. “Which is?”
Therxian’s expression grew grim. “It has bothered me that the meat offering was left, but that there is no other evidence of the male returning. If he was foolish once in his attempt to lure you, why would he give up so easily? But it is unlikely to be a trap made by an Uralial as Uralial cannot fly. Not unless the male made his way through the palace to deposit it rather than flying down through the tunnel—”
She shook her head. “He wouldn’t have gotten past Buosoa.”
He inclined his head in agreement. “Precisely. An Uralial cannot fly, but a Seshanamitesh can swim.”
Alex gaped at her mate. “You are saying that this could all be a huge trap?”
“It seems wise to consider. It is unlikely that anyone realizes that the Uralial could still have access to the elder palace, but the noble families could be aware of certain features of the palace that a male could be capitalizing on. Maybe even in the hope of pleasing a matriarch. After all,” he murmured, “a love-lorn male seeking a mate can be persistent—which this one is not when it comes to courtship behavior—but a male seeking to please a matriarch would go to great lengths.”
“Crap,” she whispered.
His mouth twitched with amusement. “Indeed. It seems that we are in dire need of more information. Information that the library seems not to have. It lacks many things, unfortunately.”
“Like what?” This was the first that she was hearing of it. He had never spoken of having any difficulty finding something in particular that he was looking for.
He blinked, as if startled, and then hissed quietly to himself. “With everything... I did not tell you.”
“Tell me what? Don’t keep me in suspense here. Did something happen?”
“My mother... she was poisoned along with several other females among the noble families,” he rumbled quietly in reply.
“And what is worse, there is no antidote. The healer has been searching for information. She recognized the symptoms, and that it is treated with poisons by the Uralial, but not even the palace library could provide more information.”
Uralials certainly seemed to be a specialized bunch.
It was no wonder that the primary nest within the western wing looked like it doubled for a workstation.
If she had the space in her quarters at the colony, she too would have lugged her personal projects home with her.
Hell, whoever lived there might have been the palace healer for all she knew—
“Oh, shit!”
Alex gasped and twisted her body sharply, fighting to get out of her mate’s grip. Therxian released her in surprise, a look of hurt crossing his face, but it didn’t linger long and instead shifted to curiosity as she began to babble.
“I can’t believe I totally forgot! But I found something tucked away in the primary nest when I was scouting around.
Something that you’ve just got to see. You just reminded me of it,” she said in a breathless rush as she hurried over the table and picked up the aged scroll she found and thrust it at her mate.
“I don’t know if it will have anything useful, but you need to take a look at this. ”
Her mate peered at her curiously as he accepted the scroll and slowly began to unroll it.
Alex waited, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet with anxiety and excitement as his gaze slipped over the contents.
She was really going to need to learn to read if she was staying.
She would have been a hundred times more help if she had been able to examine the contents of the scroll while she waited for him to return.
Therxian gavo suddenly snapped up and his deep red eyes widened.
“This... this is it,” he whispered, a sharp laugh of disbelief escaping him.
“I have never even heard of these plants, and apparently in requires the fresh leaves and fruits from a number of them. But at least this gives us a starting point with which to look.”
“But it’s not enough. Here I thought I had perhaps helped, but it’s not going to magically solve the problem with her poisoning. There were jars with all kinds of herbs in the western wing, but the contents didn’t exactly look hopeful,” she muttered unhappily. “Especially if needs to be fresh.”
She gasped in surprise as her mate’s tail whipped forward and wrapped around her, drawing her abruptly back into his embrace.
His wings closed around her, and he held her for a long moment.
He didn’t sing, but the beat of his hearts created its own steady melody of reassurance and love as he held her.
“This alone is of tremendous help,” he murmured. “You have done enough. The healer may be able to make use of it. I will deliver it to her when I see my mother.”
Alex nodded against his chest. She hoped that they would be able to make use of it soon.
Zathexa was a complicated female and queen who had been dealt a bad hand in trying to change the established system of the shinara.
As someone who had always been a member of a social class that had always been the butt of the system on Earth, Alex respected that.
“Speaking of my mother, there is another thing,” he hissed slowly. She tipped her head back, resting her chin against his chest so that she could look up at the sharp angles of his face, and raised her eyebrows inquiringly. “She knows. She knows everything.”
Hol-y Shi-it. “How did she take it?”
An odd look crossed his face. “Surprisingly well. She actually seemed more concerned that I left you in the elder palace defenseless more than she was about my mating choice. Though she was certainly surprised.”
“Whoa. Didn’t have that on my bingo sheet,” she mumbled.
Who would have thought? If she hadn’t hoped for the queen’s recovery before, she certainly did now. To feel otherwise would be downright uncharitable.
“Alex... what is a Bingo sheet?” her mate whispered.
“A game of chance,” she replied absently. “Though I think some of the more morbid among us have had ‘this is the end of life as we know it’ sheet to check off for centuries now. It is how you deal with the cesspool that the system hands you.”
Therxian sighed. “You humans are so odd.”
Alex gave her mate a flirty grin. “But quite lovable.”
“Fortunately,” he agreed with a laugh as he hugged her to him again.
She could get used to that. She would have been happy to keep him there, holding her, but the world wasn’t going to wait. He would be returning soon. She didn’t want to be ungracious, but she hoped that they would save the shinara soon. She needed a vacation.
She had never had one, but she definitely needed one.