Shifters, Beasts, and Monsters

by Aya Fukunishi, Linda Barlow, Elixa Everett, Virginia Wade, Savannah Reardon, Skye Eagleday, Giselle Renarde, Jessi Bond, Natalie Deschain, Audrey Grace, Francis Ashe, J. E.

  As I sit here, I’m terrified. All that grinning and smiling I did for you is just an act. I do it all the time, and this is probably the first I’ve ever admitted to myself, much less to someone else. I can’t keep it inside anymore. I just can’t. You said you were going back to Zor at the end of winter. I don’t know what that means, but I hope it’s soon. I’m running out of cloth so I have to go now, but if nothing else, know that just talking to me made everything easier. I’m going to a place where I don’t know anyone, with no friends and no one I can talk to. I’ve never been away from home. Never, not once. This is the first time. You made it a little easier.

  Your friend,

  Jovena

  Thinking about it now, you do have a very nice beard.”

  I blew on the cloth to make sure all the ink soaked in, and then I rolled it up just like the note he gave me, and stuck it in the top of my shoe. Outside, dawn was just beginning to peek through the night.

  All I could think was that in a few minutes when I was packed up and pushed out into the wagon, that Shingo would be out there, wandering around.

  Gods above did I hope.

  ***

  Shingo was not anywhere to be found the next morning, so I wrote his name on another piece of cloth, tied it around the one on which I wrote my message, and stuck it in a crack near the wall where he’d been standing the day before. I don’t know why that seemed the best idea, but nothing else came to mind. With a heavy heart, I turned toward the wagon and, helped by another bronze-skinned man, whose forearms were thickly laid with muscle and scars, stepped up into it.

  Our little rolling prison had been on the road for scarcely half a day. It had been only a week since I left my papa and my mama and ran off to the big city hoping to save them. The eighty-two senti that selling myself to this mysterious king from the East made would go in part to my papa, after my lodging and housing at the market was paid. Still, the seventy-something senti that he’d get is more than he’d make in years. Two years, three years, even four the way things were lately. As the little buggy bumped and heaved and lurched over every rock and crack in the road, I thought about him, and a tear ran down each cheek.

  “Where did you come from that you’re so sad about leaving?” A girl to my left – a pretty one with curling blonde hair – said. She spoke Lotanese with a thick accent that I thought was from Guar, the land far to the south of mine. It was a strange accent, but then Lotan was the furthest I’d ever traveled, so most accents sound to me curious. Her voice was small but even then, after only hearing a couple of words, I knew there was strength inside her. “We’ve been sold to Morzan, the richest man in the Eastern Kingdoms. And besides the money, have you heard about his cock?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh a little.

  “I hear it’s big, if that is that what you mean.”

  It was her turn to laugh.

  “Good,” she said. “You’ve got to keep your spirits up. Outside from rumors about his prick, no one has ever been to Morzan’s castle and come back. It’s said that he either is the king of the richest country in all the world, and the wonders are such that once you’re there, you can’t imagine leaving...”

  “What’s the other possibility?” I was beginning to like this girl with the strange accent.

  “Well, I’ve also heard the he goes through women like he goes through wine. He lies with all his slaves, but only keeps the ones he likes best. The others he throws to his men.”

  I gulped and ran a hand down the front of my throat. “Lie with the king? How do you mean?”

  “Ahhh, you’re a fresh-faced one, aren’t you? How did you end up in this wagon? Rest of us are hard-nosed and weary. You’re different though. Most certainly fresher than the likes of me.”

  “What’s your name?” I said.

  “Alix.” She stuck out her hand, grasped mine and shook. “Nice to meet ya.”

  “Likewise.”

  “Anyways, as I was saying, this Morzan, no one really knows what he’s like. No one I’ve talked to anyhow. Only that he’s wealthy and has a taste for variety in his women. It’s all rumors. None of us knows the truth.”

  “Will you tell me the rumors? I don’t know the first thing about any of this.”

  “First one I heard is that he likes to take his women rough. I mean, he likes to tug ‘em around and pull their hair and such-not. I also hear he likes lots at once. But then what man wouldn’t? And he can do what he wants. He’s the king. But there are other rumors. Much stranger ones.”

  “Stranger ones? Does he enjoy wearing costumes?”

  “Ha! No, no, although he might. I mean rumors about what Morzan is, more than what sort of tickling he likes in bed. Strange things, I’ve heard. Dark things. I doubt any of them are true, but then, none of the girls, nor the drivers, nor the auctioneers at the market have ever seen him if they’re to be believed. Some even doubt he’s real.”

  “Oh but that’s ridiculous,” I said. “He must be real.”

  “Probably. I’ve heard one that he can change shape, that he’s some kind of-”

  “A magician? There’s one of those in my village, but he doesn’t turn into anything, he just eats toads.”

  “No, no,” she laughed, “not a magician. That he’s so secretive and such a recluse because he can’t stay out at nighttime, for he changes into something. That’s as much as I know. Can you imagine such a thing? A man the turns into a beast by night? I wonder if the whole kingdom is full of them. I hear that warriors from Zor are the mightiest in the whole world. Imagine having one of them pull your hair, kiss your throat, drag his teeth down between your tits and then, right when he’s about to...right then, he turns into a huge wolf. That’s gotta be something to have between your legs, huh?”

  A bit of jealousy kicked up every time Alix spoke so freely about her body or about what she liked, or men, or anything of the sort. I’d never so much as seen a man naked, although I’d wanted to plenty of times.

  “I’ve never had a man...uh...touch me.” Even as I spoke, I couldn’t believe I was being so open with her.

  “That’s a fairly obvious thing.” She said. “I dare say that will change soon. A pretty little thing like you bought and paid for? If it’s the king that takes a liking to you though, you might be in for a rather more memorable experience than mine was.”

  “What was it like for you? Did some handsome boy tell you he loved you and-”

  “Not exactly.” She laughed, but there was hurt in her eyes. “There was a boy that I loved, but he was out of reach. My ma was a housekeeper, the kind that lives in a lord’s house and takes care of his children. A nanny.”

  I nodded.

  “Anyways, I grew up in his house, and fell in love with the oldest of his boys. It was stupid. The whole thing was. Little Alix, in love with a lordling. I tried talking to him, and he was nice enough, but he would never consider me for anything. Me being the daughter of the help and all.” She smiled one of those fond memory smiles. The corner of her mouth twitched and for a moment, her hard exterior cracked. Alix’s eye got a little wet in the corner and she sniffed, then she laughed again.

  “Are you okay? I’m sorry if I brought up old pain.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” She sniffed again and smiled, like she was trying to convince herself it really was alright.

  “But wait, you said he changes by night?”

  “The lordling?” Alix blinked and then furrowed her brow. Somehow, she was still pretty with a wrinkled forehead. For all her talk about being weary and tired, Alix sure didn’t show it very much.

  “No,” I laughed, “Morzan. You said he turns into some kind of wolf at night?”

  “Some nights. Full moons, I hear. But, again, that’s probably just the rambling of bored slave girls. He’s likely just another fat lordling with strange perversions. Nothing any of us haven’t dealt with before, eh? Okay, maybe except for you. That brings me to something else.” She stared out the barred window behind me for a m
oment and seemed lost.

  “What is it, Alix?”

  “Oh, I saw a shaggy cow. My Gran always told me seeing those silly things is a sign of good fortune. Of course, she lived to be a hundred and six, and lost all her teeth. Doesn’t sound like good luck to me. Anyway, sorry, what?”

  “You said there was-”

  “Right, right. Something I wanted to ask you. You’re not like the rest of us. How did you end up here?”

  I began to relate the story about my papa losing his farm, and my resolve to sell myself to pay his debts and keep the family afloat. I talked about Meribeth and my village, and my mama and everything else. She listened so closely that even if she wasn’t interested, she certainly convinced me she was. Maybe I was just better company than anyone else in the wagon, but then again, maybe not. Maybe she really did care.

  The journey to King Morzan’s sprawling castle took neigh on a month. By the time we reached the front gate of his keep, I had seen more of the world through the bouncing window of a wagon cart than I ever dreamed.

  And more importantly, I made another friend.

  “No matter what happens, I’ll look out for you and you for me. Alright?” Alix said as the driver grunted, slid the heavy oak timber out of the door and swung it open. “Alright?”

  “Yes, of course. Of course.”

  When the round-shouldered man dragged us out the back of the wagon and shuffled us through snow drifts, into the huge castle gate, we held hands. Hers were shaking, I noticed. Mine were not.

  “How is it that you’re not afraid, Jo?” She’d started calling me that about halfway there. “I’m terrified.”

  “I think I’m scared too, but we’ve spent so long trying to figure out exactly what sort of man this King Morzan is that my curiosity is so great that it’s overwhelmed my fear.”

  “You really are a curious thing, Jo. I hope nothing happens to us.”

  I just smiled and squeezed her hand.

  ***

  If all of the talk about winter didn’t make me realize how cold Vor was going to be, I should have known by the days we spent climbing up mountains, then down into valleys and back up again. By the time we were let out into the castle’s courtyard, we had gone straight up for more than a day, along a slow, gentle incline.

  As we walked through the great portcullis, I couldn’t help but kick a big pile of white fluff. I’d never seen anything like that before. Glee struck me as the powder sprayed all over the place in a twinkling arc off the toe of my boot.

  “What are you doing, girl? Get through the gate. Damned cold out here,” said a man who stood sentinel by the entrance, clad in a leather jerkin, black bands around either of his biceps and a pair of heavy, woolen leggings. “Move along.”

  Everything was just so strange. I stuck my hand in another drift and squished the stuff into a ball.

  “Have you never seen snow before?”

  “Well, is that what you call it? No, I suppose I haven’t. Lotan is rather warmer than it is here.”

  A tug on the rope between us reminded me that I should be quiet. I lowered my head and only kicked the snow drifts close enough for my toes to reach without veering too much off the path.

  “Alix, do you remember that man from back at the camp, where we were sold? The big one, with the huge arms and bronze skin? He talked to me for a while. I wonder where he went.”

  “No, I wasn’t paying much attention to any of the toughs milling around. They usually end up spitting on you instead of talking.” My friend looked preoccupied.

  “This way, girls, this way.” A burly guard was reading names off a list and assigning people to a number of bunkhouses that looked more like stables than a place for a person to stay. “You two,” he said with a finger pointed at Alix and I. “You are?”

  “Alix and she’s Jovena,” Alix said.

  “Lucky pair, you get the king’s best suite. Special note from Shingo. How’d you manage that?” He squinted at Alix, then me. Back and forth. “Shingo’s not one to take girls before they’re sent. Which one of you was it? Well anyway, drop off your things and get changed. King Morzan will receive you shortly.”

  “What did you do?” Alix said as we arrived outside our cottage-to-be.

  For a moment, I didn’t hear her. Straw lined the cobble floor of our little hut, and we each had a bed. Not big, not particularly comfortable, but there weren’t any fleas, and we didn’t have to sleep together. That’s something, anyway. A chill blowing through the window slit took me and sent a shiver up to the back of my head.

  “Jo? Are you seeing this?” Alix’s voice snapped me out of my stupor. “This is certainly not what I expected to be wearing as a king’s whore. Who is Shingo and what did you do with him to get all of this? While we’re at it, why am I being given all this stuff?”

  She swooped around the room clutching a rustic, but beautiful gown around her slim body. Her red hair fluttered just a bit in the draft whistling through the window, but she was so fascinated with digging through the wardrobe full of finery that she paid it no mind.

  “I...don’t know. I just talked to him the once, and I guess I wrote him a letter but I don’t know if he got it. Shingo, he’s the one I asked you about. The man with the wavy, dark hair that I spoke to right after the auction that you said you didn’t remember.”

  I thought of the tiny slip of paper he had secreted away during our brief chat.

  “He gave me this. While he talked to me, he touched me. His hands were like coals that burned inside my skin. Made me feel...well, anyway, he got called away. A bit later I found this note.”

  “Where’d you find it?”

  “Between my breasts.”

  That got Alix giggling.

  “But you didn’t do anything with him? I mean, you didn’t rub him, or let him take you? Did you kiss him? You know, around the cock?”

  I couldn’t help but laugh at her matter-of-fact way of speaking.

  “No, no, nothing of the sort. Although I wouldn’t have minded much, if the truth be told. He was a beautiful thing. But, no, he just touched my face, and my neck. He fiddled with my hair a little. Alix, here, look.” I handed her the tiny note that was never far from hand. For some reason, it brought me comfort.

  “Did you read this?” She held it close to her face.

  “Well of course, I’ve had it since we left Lotan.”

  “Right, I mean did you really read it.” She held the slip of paper up to the window, remembered we were in eternal dusk, and then dangled it in front of a candle. “Do you see this? Jo, who is this guy again?”

  “I haven’t a clue. He said his name was Shingo, and from the sound of it, he was some kind of right-hand to the king. Maybe on his council. Does King Morzan have a council?”

  “Well I don’t know much about politics, but he certainly has a second.”

  “A second? What do you mean?”

  “A stand-in, I guess. Someone who deals with his work when he’s not around. A representative.”

  “Oh, like someone who speaks for him when he’s indisposed? That makes sense. But, Alix, why are you talking about all this? I didn’t know you were interested in Zoran politics.”

  “I’m not. But here. What is that, do you think?” She pulled me close and used both hands to stretch out my note. “Look. You might have to squint, but...”

  “Are you talking about this little circle? What is this?”

  “There’s a seal, looks very regal, and then some letters, but my eyesight isn’t what it used to be,” Alix laughed. “Okay, it was never any good. Can you make it out?”

  “Oh, my,” I said and drew a breath.

  “What? What is it?” Alix slapped me on the back four or five times. “Tell me what it is!”

  “As best I can tell, it says ‘royal court of Zor’ and then has something below it in a language I can’t read.”

  “So, it would seem that your friend is just as important as he said.”

  “Seems like it. But he
could have just stolen a royal seal or something like that.”

  Sounds outside the door made me instinctively roll up the note and shove it back in my little bundle. A knock, hard and fast, came.

  “You ready in there? King Morzan, first of his name, emperor of the Eastern Kingdoms, son of the Wolf, demands your presence in his great hall. Are you ready for an escort?”

  “Ah, sorry, not quite yet. Still dressing.” I said with my face pressed against the heavy wooden door. “Give us a moment.”

  As Alix and I compared clothes, rooted around in the trunks for jewels and other riches the likes of which I’d never seen before, we exchanged a glance and looked outside. The others from our wagon were going somewhere as well, but they were bound at the wrists and being dragged along behind a bronze-skinned Zoran who seemed tired of the whole thing. He grunted, tugged the rope and a couple of the women fell, and then scrambled back to their feet.

  “What’s happening to them?” I said with my hand on my chest.

  “Exactly what I thought was going to happen to us,” Alix said in a low voice. “I’ve been there. Dragged around and prodded. Whoever you are, Jovena, you seem to have a sort of luck about you. Hopefully it sticks around.”

  We dressed in silence. A time later, the knocks came again, and so did the voice.

  “Ready in there? The king’s not one for waiting. Hurry it up!”

  Alix and I exchanged a glance, and both took a deep breath.

  “Well,” she said, “its dark out. I guess we’ll find out if he walks upright, or if he’s covered in hair and howls at the moon.”

  ***

  “This is-”

  “Wow.” Alix said, mirroring my thoughts.

  Paulit, the guard who escorted us through the strange glow of dusk that hung eternally over the kingdom, pushed the door open the rest of the way. The noise, so great, so wild, and almost unsettlingly jubilant, spilled out in full force, striking me in the chest. Alix and I turned to one another in unison, wide-eyed.