Mantivore Prey

by S. J. Higbee

  Though I now see why tyranny is such a popular option.

  We turned the final corner along the dusty path, my escort picking up the pace with the prospect of relief from the relentless heat only several dozen yards away, when the door ahead of us slid open as Felina’s voice sawed through the soup-thick air, “No! I already said you can’t come. And don’t even think to slink along behind me. If I sense your scaly old carcass trailing in my wake, you’ll wish you were standing in a Gloriosan rainstorm!”

  I winced at her tone, Sending a jolt of comfort to the old mantivore. She’s clearly stirred up about something. She doesn’t mean—

  Vrox snarls a rebuff to the know-nothing Cub.

  “Oh, there you are, Raindrop. We gotta problem.” Felina gestured to Larold Carrier, who was beside her. “Larold, here, came to say that your roaching Detective has been stomping around the village, hauling off various bods to the Security Suite for questioning. He didn’t stop for the noonblast and right now he’s got Larold’s ma in there. As he marched her off, he was blathering about how her group was responsible for the wanton damage to the Node and threatening to charge the lot of them with malicious endangerment.”

  “They’ll end up Collared alongside Kestor!” Never mind about the village losing some of their brightest and best, this isn’t gonna play well across Acinos, cos Mother still has a strong following throughout the province. “Has anyone told Mr Detective about the siesta?”

  “I did try. But then, I’m the tainted vore-stunned former suspect, so he gave himself permission to ignore me.” Felina tapped her sandal on the flag, a sign she was on her way to losing her temper. “Meantime he’s as likely to find your ma’s killer as make it rain. So it’s gonna be down to us to find out who strangled Mai in her sleep, cos whoever murdered your mother…”

  I flinched, wishing she’d stop saying that.

  “…is likely one of us – Cnican born and bred. And if we don’t catch the roacher, sooner or later they’re likely to do it again. He went for a woman who had a lot to say for herself. Speaking as another woman with something of a mouth, I’m not happy shutting my eyes in my own bed with him still out there.”

  “How d’you know it’s a man?”

  “I saw your ma’s body, remember?” She swung around to confront Helston, who was clearly about to demand that she show more respect. “Yeah, yeah, I know she’s Her Ladyship and all of that. But she’s also a daughter whose ma was offed by a nemmet-hearted murderer, so she needs to hear the truth without it being lace-lined into a Gloriosan mouth trinket.”

  I was shaken when my trusted captain bowed to Felina and pointedly stepped aside, indicating that the escort also withdraw to let her get closer.

  She nodded her thanks, as if it was her due.

  No wonder Vrox thinks of her as a queen. Wish I had a quarter of her self-possession.

  She lowered her voice, which meant she was now talking loudly, instead of a near-bellow,

  “Jer know that Adurn also had a cosy chat with your Mr Detective? And that he’s staying with Lupita Honey for the duration?”

  “I’ve just had a conversation with Adurn, which ended with him begging me on his knees to pardon Kestor. I figured he’d return to Reseda.”

  Felina raised her eyebrows. “And you said?”

  I shook my head. “I can’t do it. Not with the way he left the Node.”

  “Then watch your back. Adurn wants it otherwise. And generally, what Adurn wants, Adurn gets. He was one of the few folks around here that Osmar was mindful of, cos your pa reckoned he was dangerous.”

  Another flinch. I didn’t think of Osmar as my father. “D’you want me along while you’re dealing with Mr Detective?”

  “Not this time around.” Felina speared me with one of her stares, now more silver-flecked than it used to be. “Though I’ll be needing you alongside from time to time. Either as the Uppiest Overlord we’ve ever been saddled with, or as Mai’s grieving daughter.”

  My laugh came out harsh. “No one from around here will believe that one!” Everyone in Cnicus knew she’d plotted to have me Collared for a crime I didn’t commit.

  Felina sighed. “You couldn’t have known, but since you’d been running things, especially when the improvements started trickling through, Mai talked about you as if you’d been a solid team. Sometimes wept over missing you.”

  I burst out laughing again, grateful for Felina’s sense of humour to ease this uncomfortable conversation. Until I realised she wasn’t laughing along with me, or even smiling. “This isn’t some joke?”

  She rubbed her eyes. “Wish it was, Raindrop. I did try to get her to call you. Gave her your address. But she wouldn’t. That roaching pride of hers always was her worst enemy.”

  Other than her murderer. I shivered, wondering how I’d have reacted if Mother’s face had popped up on my tab. I’ll never know, now.

  Larold shifted, just a little, his expression strained.

  Felina caught the cue. “We’d better get going. Esne is one of the good ones. Now if Mr Detective had scooped up Kaila Player… Till later, Raindrop.”

  “Later,” I replied, as she stomped off down the path with Larold having to stride out to keep up.

  It wasn’t until Helston gave a little bow to her retreating back, that I realised he hadn’t objected to her calling me Raindrop. Not once.

  Stepping through the inner door was a solid relief from the airless heat. I shivered appreciatively as I deactivated my sunscreen and removed it, all set to put it down, when Jerick Steward appeared at my elbow. Taking the sunscreen from me, he proffered a waterpack and an embossed envelope in a smooth, practised movement. “This was delivered in your absence, Your Ladyship. And Master Seth tabbed you. Asked you to contact him soonest.”

  My heart sank. There was no way that I could see this conversation going well. Is this when Seth finally admits it’s an impossible task and walks away from the doomy job of being the Overlord’s husband? Mumbling my thanks and shoving Clete’s note in the pocket of my robe, I wandered to my sleeproom and numbly turned on my tab.

  There are many better fitted to be Cub’s mate. Vrox could help the queenling decide.

  Or Vrox could keep his snout out of my business! I snarled. Yes, actually snarled at him. I could feel his shock and expectation. Seconds passed, before I realised he was waiting for me to apologise, or at least feel guilty for being so angry. Which only fuelled my fury.

  When I want your opinion on who I mate with, I’ll ask! And without giving him a chance to so much as form a horrible image in my head, – I imagined standing under an icy blast of water.

  Vrox yelps, withdrawing hurriedly.

  Sudden light-headedness told me that he’d been looming quietly in the back of my mind for a while without announcing himself – a habit of his. It’s past time he stopped. It’s not as though he ever offers me the same access to his mind. And he no longer has the excuse that he needs to hitch a mental lift out of the stinking prison where he was incarcerated. Felina’s right. He takes far too many liberties.

  I flipped the tab on, and after snagging a shielded transmission via Reseda, took a deep breath, bracing myself for whatever slurry Seth was about to flick my way.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  “Kyrillia?”

  I shivered at the sound of his voice. I’d forgotten how beautiful it was. How fine he looked these days with his deep-set brown eyes glowing with purpose, his long hair now clean and curling. So different to the bone-thin outcast I used to know, covered in dirt and scabs, with hair snarled into a tousled mess…

  “Kyrillia? You shady?”

  I was pulled out of my wet-witted daydream by his concerned expression. “Uh… my repentances. Just stimmed at the sight of you.” Which isn’t probably what he wants to hear, if he’s going to give me the flickoff. Need to stop letting my feelings and thoughts drop out of my mouth just cos it’s Seth.

  His grin tied my stomach into knots. “Missing you more than I can say,
angel.”

  He wouldn’t say that if he was about to end our farcical marriage, would he? Unless he’s being kind, and that would be Seth all over, wouldn’t it? The only person he’s ever wanted to hurt is himself.

  “I wanted you to hear it from me, rather than via a wordwinding journo-spot which would twist all the details, anyhow. I’ve done it. Established a viable powerbase here in Gloriosa for us!” He leaned forward, his thin face lit up, clearly expecting me to be equally thrilled.

  “That’s good,” I said.

  “And it’s down to you!”

  “It is?”

  “Yeah. I’d had a number of meetings with various heads of the Priest Family and while they’d been polite, they hadn’t wanted to commit.” He looked over his shoulder and lowered his voice before continuing, “After our last chat, I realised that if you’d heard about… what I’d done, then it wouldn’t be long before it would reach Gloriosa.” He took a breath. “So I met all my contacts in the Priest Family – the ones I trust – and told them about my shoddiness involving Demri.”

  “You did?” What d’you go and do a wet-witted thing like that for?

  That glorious smile lit up his face, once more. “And they were solid about it. Apparently, they already knew how Father and I were being treated in Cnicus and they were concerned. Couldn’t see how I managed to walk away from such slurry unscathed, therefore they reckoned that I wasn’t being honest. So when I confessed how I’d manipulated Demri into hurting me, they weren’t only glad to offer me counselling, but happy I put my trust in them. And they took the decision to trust us both right back!”

  “I’m really glad that you’re now tight with the Priest Family and that they understand what you were wading through.”

  “This changes everything!”

  Don’t see how. Most of the Bridgedeckers we rub shoulders with in Gloriosa will still look down their pointy noses at us. “That’s great,” I said encouragingly.

  Seth’s smile slid off his face as he gazed at me. “You do see what this means, don’t you?”

  “The Priest Family are now snug with you, which is shady.”

  “What d’you think a powerbase is, Kyrillia?”

  “A safe place, like a lair in a mantivore horde.”

  “I keep forgetting you left school at nine,” he muttered.

  “I’m no wet-wit!”

  “You’re one of the smartest people I know. But what this means – and my humble repentances for not fully explaining it – is the Priest Family will finally take the seats on The Council due to them. And given there are also more Brarians on The Council than any other Family, it means we’ll have an automatic majority on most of the important votes. No matter what the roaching Gators, Tacs and Jineers do.”

  “For sure?” That’s the best news I’ve heard since… We’ll finally be able to release all that music, art and books my roaching ancestors have kept locked away since forever! And the answer to a question I’d been puzzling over suddenly fell into place. “So that’s why Clete Gator arrived today, babbling undying love while looking like a vore horde is on his trail. He must’ve caught wind of this and wanted to cause trouble between us.”

  Seth raised an eyebrow. “Then I’m to expect a torrent of journo-spots jabbering about your passion for each other, complete with jinxed pics?”

  I winced. “Probably. Though they’ll have to work hard to get the pics. I spent most of the time with a table between us and Felina acting as chaperone.”

  Seth laughed and I joined in, happier than I’d felt since… well – the longest time.

  I can face most of the slurry coming our way, so long as I’ve got you alongside.

  “So I’m gonna be on a flyer headed to Reseda this evening. Should be with you tomorrow.”

  I jumped up, squealing with delight. “Oh, thank you! I’m so… I’ve missed you.”

  “Missed you, too. Till tomorrow.” He leaned forward and blew me a kiss. “Oh, and I’m keeping it quiet this end that I’m travelling. The Bridgedeckers are getting desperate, so there’s no point in making myself a target.”

  My joy froze in a chilly blast of fear. “Will they really try and off you?”

  Seth’s grin had me smiling back at him, despite my worries. “Probably not, but I’m a Priest, remember. We bookish types don’t go looking for trouble. See you soonest, Libby.”

  It had been a while since he’d called me by his own pet name for me. Apparently Brarians used to be called Librarians, so Seth coined the name Libby for me. Not that he’d used it in a while. Till today.

  “And you, handsome.” I blew him another kiss, giddy with excitement and the prospect of seeing him the very next day.

  *

  Jerick Steward was waiting for me as I skipped out of my sleeproom, still grinning at the thought of seeing Seth again. “Your Ladyship, Mistress Keeper, accompanied by Apprentice Keeper urgently requests a meeting with you in her reception room.”

  My grin shrivelled. Felina formally asking for a chat couldn’t mean anything other than bad news. Even Jerick’s continued insistence on calling Felina’s cosy seating space a reception room didn’t make me smile, as I took a deep breath and swept into the sitting room.

  “Your Ladyship. And you’ll need that privacy screen thingy going, I reckon.” Felina stood and bowed. So did Onice, who had clearly been crying.

  I bowed back, aware that Felina would have a solid reason for making this formal. “Please be seated.” I gestured to the chairs, feeling more than a bit awkward giving permission to the Keeper to sit in her own home, while I closed the window shutters, then took a few fiddling minutes to erect the privacy bubble.

  Is that my imagination, or can I hear someone sigh and move away in the corridor outside? Mentally shrugging as the mantivore-enhanced sense faded, I finally sat in the best seat facing my visitors. “What can I do for you, Mistress Keeper?” My gaze slid across to Onice, who stifled a sob.

  “And you can stop that, right now!” snapped Felina, as she flung herself back into her chair with even more force than usual. “I warned you he was a split-tongued wordwinder – and did you listen? Nah, you let your wits go wandering south of your waistband and now he’s up to his sorry neck in this roaching business, you’re still not thinking straight! Go on, tell Her Ladyship what you told me. And if you go on snivelling, I’ll swear I’ll have you scrubbing the whole of Chillroom One on your roaching hands and knees!”

  I blinked, wondering what Onice had done to merit such a response from Felina. Until she – between sobs and a fair amount of prompting from Felina – finally told the whole sorry tale. And it was every bit as bad as I’d feared. Right after it was announced I was visiting, Cnicus, Adurn had instructed Kestor to disable the Nodery at any cost. Which is what he’d finally admitted when Onice tried to get him to see reason over his quarrel with Mai’s followers. Then he’d fed her a pile of roachbait that the command had come from Gloriosa. And although she hadn’t really believed it, she’d gone along with the snake-talking nonsense because she didn’t want to face the alternative – that both Adurn and Kestor were traitors.

  As she wound down, still weeping and hiccupping, I stared at her, torn between wanting to shake some sense into her feeb-witted head, and dump Adurn into the River Salamander for the maw sharks to snack on. “D’you bother to think what this would do to all your friends, your family – the rest of the village, even?”

  She stared at me piteously, tears still trickling from her swollen eyes. “He was o-only following orders. Yet now his pa is gonna compost him, leaving him to take all the blame and get Collared.” She dabbed at her eyes with a soaked nosewipe, still looking more beautiful than she had any right to, given how hard she was crying.

  “Don’t care if he had a roaching gun to his head. Being a Brarian means he should’ve died, rather than seen the Nodery hurt. That’s what it means.”

  Onice glared at me, tossing her head. “You’d do that, would jer? Die for those roaching boxes
of fancy lights?”

  “In a heartbeat.”

  Her eyes widened as she sucked in a sobbing breath. “Reckon yer would, too.”

  “It’s not just me. All Brarians I know in Gloriosa plough the same furrow. Like you and Mistress Keeper, you’d protect the Stores with your last breath.”

  “Don’t know ʼbout that,” she muttered, looking down at the floor.

  “You’d better!” snapped Felina. “Or you can step away and leave the Apprenticeship to someone worthy of the Keeper name.”

  I glared at Onice in disgust. How dare she whine and mope over losing Kestor and not even think about her responsibilities as Keeper? Even now, she’s not giving a thought to what happens to everyone else living in Cnicus. Just her own little tragedy. I drew breath to tell her exactly what I thought of her shoddy attitude. Before letting it out as the notion struck me like a charging mantivore.

  And I’m no better! I live in one of the best houses on the planet, waited on hand, foot and finger. Fussed over by the likes of Ellern. Do I try my hardest to get to grips with being the best Overlord I can be? Nah, I spend my days moping around and wishing I was back here. Where I never fitted in anyhow. I’ve not bothered to find out how to support Seth while he’s been building us a powerbase thingy. Haven’t properly reined in Vrox, though Felina’s been on at me to do so ever since I let him out of that roaching prison.

  “You trancing off on your own, Raindrop? Cos it’s not Vrox in your head, I can tell,” said Felina, peering anxiously at me.

  “Yeah, Node stuff,” I lied. It’s past time I earnt the right to be swishing around in these fancy robes, otherwise I’m no better than Uncle Trislen. I turned back to Onice. “You’ve done the right thing in telling us, even if you should’ve done it a whole lot sooner. Want to help put it right? And if it all goes smoothly, you might get a chance to get outta here.”