Chapter 7 #2
Betrayed! I’d known it. Known. It. Yet I’d worked with her, anyway. Fool! Never trust a water maiden. Never, never.
Gerald stood, propelled by excitement. “Another monstra?”
“Yes and no,” the other driver said, clearly confused. “It’s some kind of hybrid. Half-monstra, half-human.”
“He isn’t to be harmed,” I stated, using my most authoritative voice. Difficult to do while my teeth were chattering.
Gerald turned pensive.
The same shadow I’d seen in the farmhouse bathroom entered the hut, sucking up all the oxygen. Despite the fire, a wave of cold swept over me. My knees quaked. Be my imagination. Just be my imagination.
A slow grin spread over Gerald’s face. Did he not see the shadow?
“A he-beast to pit against the beast-beast. Excellent.” He rubbed his hands together.
“Prepare the arena. Have the women cook whatever morsels you managed to scavenge. Tonight we celebrate the death of our next meal and the arrival of our oracle. She’ll see what others can’t.
Hidden burrows. Migrating herds. Caches left behind.
She’ll show us where to find vast resources of food for months. Years!”
The drivers released me, dropped the pack and strode from the hut, passing through the shadow with a shudder. They might not see it, but they definitely felt it.
Not just my imagination. I gulped.
“You go and clean up, Thomas. We’ll finish your studies later.” Gerald motioned for the boy to stand. “As my son, you’ll host the festivities and teach the people to love you.”
Thomas. The name echoed inside my head, a hammer against rock. “Does anyone call you Tommy?” I rasped. If he was who I thought he was—or would grow to be—he would one day butcher humans limb by limb and feed them to his people.
I’d tangled with Tommy. Jasher had killed him.
“Only my friends.” The boy rushed off, passing through the shadow and shuddering as well.
Mind spinning. I had time-traveled again. I was in a trapper village. The same trapper village. Only, they hadn’t descended into cannibalism. Not yet.
A bitter laugh bubbled from me. Words followed, spilling out, unstoppable. “You’ll be thrilled to know your people do, in fact, grow to love Tommy. Especially when he brings in bounties of fresh meat.” Humans, young and old.
Perhaps Elowen’s memory serum was also a truth serum.
Gerald closed the distance. He was a little taller than me and as gaunt as his followers. Excitement danced in his dark eyes. “Fresh meat is exactly what we seek.”
The monstrous shadow moved too, coming closer. Tension stole through me.
Gerald clasped my arms and peered down at me. Earnest. Eager.
The shadow whooshed over to rest hands tipped with smoky claws on his shoulders.
Don’t stare, don’t stare.
Gerald must have sensed the intruder at last; his pupils blew wide, as if death itself had whispered directly into his skull. He released me in a hurry.
The shadow removed its hands, too, and I breathed easier.
My companion relaxed enough to say, “Your queen says you bite. Is that true?”
Ignore the shadow. Ignore, ignore, ignore.
I didn’t want it to know that I saw it. “I bite, yes. But only when threatened. And she isn’t my queen.
” Deep breath. “You mentioned my…friend.” I wouldn’t call him a pet.
“He’s not a monstra, not really. He’s a man.
If I’m to find you a vast supply of food, he must be kept safe. And at my side.”
Best course of action: Play along. I had what Gerald wanted. Well, I didn’t have what he wanted, but he thought I did, and that was what mattered. Although, yes, I did wish I had the ability to help him save this village from its terrible fate.
His features hardened. “His safety is up to him. We need him to slay a beast we captured weeks ago. It fell from the sky like a gift from above and injured its wings. We’ve contained it, but we’ve been unable to kill it.
” He closed his eyes and licked dry lips.
“We tried to cook it alive, but its scales protected it. When your friend kills it, we can skin it. Unless you can provide us with a different feast of meat tonight?”
My shoulders drooped.
“The battle takes place in a matter of hours, then,” he said.
My stomach churned. “And if I refuse to use my…oracle abilities if you pit Jasher against your beast?”
He regarded me through slit lids, and in that moment, I glimpsed the ruthlessness inside him, carved out by hunger’s cruelty.
The shadow shifted again, gliding behind me. To shield? To hurt? My back went ramrod straight. I sensed its nearness. A cold, stalking presence, hovering nearby without actually touching.
A lump grew in my throat. Was it Jasher? Ian? Another monstra? A new type of creature?
Gerald finally shrugged. “You are valuable to me, Oracle, but in this, you have no sway. Either your beast kills mine or he dies trying like so many others, and we’ll eat him instead. Either way, you’ll do what I ask of you.”
Shudders rained over me. He didn’t threaten, but he didn’t need to. The implication was far worse.
“But let’s think positively, yes? Once he succeeds, I’ll let you speak with him.” Giddiness crackled in Gerald’s tone. “What a wonderful day this is. Just wonderful.”
Not one to give up, I tried another route. “My friend is shackled, and he needs to stay that way. But bound as he is, he’s in no condition to defeat a monstra.”
The shadow moved, pressing against my back, colder than ice. Air hissed between my teeth. Then its—his?—fingers seemed to stroke my hair. I licked my lips, nervous, confused... comforted?
“I’ll cut the link between his wrists, ensuring he’s able to fight with all his might. All right? This will make you happy?” Gerald didn’t give me an opportunity to respond. “Now, I’ll release you from your bonds, if you do as your queen says and promise not to run from me.”
A promise rose in my throat before I could stop it, as hot as fire. “I will not run from you.” What? No. I tried to snatch back the words, but I felt them fuse with my cells, as if I’d just bound myself with invisible chains.
Why would I do such a thing? Why did the shadow sweep from the hut, disappearing as quickly as he had appeared? And why, why, why did I wish he had stayed?
Gerald unsheathed a dagger, moved behind me, and cut the rope. My shoulders screamed with relief.
“Thank you,” I moaned, rubbing the raw spots on my wrists.
“What’s your name?” he asked, motioning for me to sit before the fire.
I complied, saying, “I’m M—Rye.” The book he and his son had been reading lay open at my side. My blood iced over. A hand-drawn sketch pointing out the best places to cut into a human body.
“Welcome to your new home, Rye.” He draped a fur over my shoulders. “Better?”
Heat enveloped me, and I soaked it in with a sigh. “So much better. Thank you,” I repeated. But this? My home? No. I would escape with Jasher at the first opportunity. “What do you know about the Ember of Everlight?”
The color drained from his cheeks, and he looked left, right. Voice the barest whisper, he admitted, “Only that any who seek it die in monstra fire. Please don’t speak of it again.”
Mmm. Was Ahav’s search what led to his death? But why had no one else reacted this way? Not my mother, Emma, or Elowen.
Gerald sat across from me and placed the pack before him. I stiffened when he attempted to open it. But he couldn’t work the zipper…or cut through the fabric. He couldn’t even remove the journal from the side pocket. A surprise to us both.
Hoping to distract him and also desperate for information, I asked, “What year is this?”
If he found the question odd, he didn’t show it. “The eighth year of King Ahav’s reign.”
Not an exact time, but close enough. Satisfaction tangled with anticipation. Both my mother and father lived.
Gerald pushed the pack aside and smiled, all eagerness. “Tell me where we find this bounty of fresh meat. It doesn’t matter what kind. Deer, beastie, snake, rabbit. We’ll take whatever you offer.”
“Oh. Um. Well.” I squirmed, uncomfortable in more ways than one. Way to put me on the spot. “I need some time to figure that out.”
Disappointment honed his eagerness to a sharper edge. “I beg you to hurry.”
“Of course.” I jumped to another topic. “How did you capture Elowen’s daughter?”
“She snuck into our village and attempted to free the monstra. We captured her straight away.”
Another mystery. Water maidens hated Ian and his monsters. Why try to free one beast?
Earnest, Gerald told me, “I don’t want you to feel trapped here, Rye. You are a welcome part of my family. The oracle who will lead us to abundance, out of lack.”
My shoulders rolled in. “But no pressure, right?” I muttered.
“Oh, there’s pressure. Lots and lots of pressure.
Good families are hungry,” he said, leaning toward me.
“We’ve done more starving than eating since the monstra arrived.
They’ve burned our crops, stolen our animals, and killed our strongest soldiers.
We grow weaker every day, barely subsisting on whatever we can scavenge.
So take whatever time you need, but I suggest you be quick about it.
” He raked his gaze over me a little too slowly for my liking.
“Other options have started to look quite…tasty.”