“My father wrote this,” I mindspeak.
“I know. My grandmother said he wrote in it every day he was among us. She hid this in Dryndl’s Tomb when she left. It was a safehold your father had never been shown.”
“I don’t understand. If he married your grandmother, why would he turn on her?”
The Pelk sighs. “Like you, Undrae, we are not a numerous people. But we also suffer having mostly female offspring. Without occasionally adding outside male blood we would become too ingrown and wither away in only a few generations. It is our tradition to get that blood by luring others in—the way Lorrel has done with you and the way Dalhanna did with your father.”
“But I’m already mated,” I mindspeak.
“True,” Mowdar mindspeaks. “Your father was not. Gedalia said that Dalhanna told him Don Henri’s first wife had died and he was lonely. He came here willingly with her and laid with her without protest. It was only after he was told that he could not leave that his anger grew.”
“My father was very powerful. How did they think they could hold him?”
Mowdar looks to his daughter. “Lorrel, has he felt the poison?”
Lorrel nods.
He stares directly into my eyes. “Then you know how we were certain we could hold him.”
A chill goes through me. I look around the semicircle. More Pelk have drifted over, some taking up all the remaining sitting space, and the rest standing behind. Glancing back, I see that two males have taken positions behind me. Both hold tridents like Mowdar’s.
“But either you neutralized the poison and let him leave or my father found a way to do it himself,” I mindspeak.
“No one knows how Don Henri overcame the poison. Certainly no Pelk helped him.”
I attempt to stand up, but tridents are pushed against my sides, just hard enough to let me know how sharp they are. “Relax, Peter. You are our guest. Life can be very pleasant among the Pelk. Can it not, Derek?” Mowdar mindspeaks.
Derek nods. “I’ve no complaints. Really, Peter . . . except for having to eat all the bloody fish. I’d do almost anything for a bite of fresh meat again. . . . But besides that, things couldn’t be much better. No one expects me to do anything but boff their women. I’ve three mates now, each one sweeter and more willing than the next. They might not be Undrae, but so what? It beats mucking about with human females and searching all over hell and gone for a mate.”
Shaking my head, I mindspeak, “If that’s all you want, then good for you, Derek. But don’t forget I’m married to your sister. We have two kids.” I look at Mowdar. “My wife will be in Miami in a few days. I need to be there.”
“We all have needs,” Mowdar mindspeaks. “I need to eat soon. Lorrel needs to heal. You will be needing another sip of antidote soon, won’t you?”
I turn to Lorrel and she mindspeaks, “Tomorrow night.”
Looking back to Mowdar, I mindspeak, “Not until then.”
“Good,” Mowdar mindspeaks. “So for tonight, let us tend to our immediate needs. We can all worry about our futures later.”
“I have a wife and children!” I jump up and remain standing, ignoring the two Pelk males, their tridents pressed against my scales.
Mowdar walks forward, until he stands within a trident’s distance from me. He thrusts his at me, stopping just centimeters from my chest. “My people found during the Great War that we could not prevail against Undrae without weapons. We learned to make these from ironwood. We found tiger shark’s teeth to be especially hard. We inset them at each point. They are most sharp.”
He presses the trident against me, pushing it forward. I gasp as the trident’s three points each penetrate my armored scales as easily as if they were piercing cardboard. Mowdar mindspeaks, “You are our guest now. It would be a shame if you insisted on being our prisoner instead.”
Pulling back his spear, each tip now red with my blood, he motions with it, and other Pelk come forward with gold and silver platters stacked with fish and lobster. Two Pelk males drag a large dolphin up to Mowdar and leave it at his feet. A female cuts a slice of meat from it and offers it to the Pelk leader. He shakes his head and motions for her to go to me.
“Please share our feast with us,” he mindspeaks as she brings the meat to me.
After the meal, Mowdar retires to his nest, and most of the Pelk drift off to theirs. Lorrel mindspeaks, “I promised to make a nest for you,” and wanders off too, leaving just Derek and me sitting on the seaweed seats.
“You really like it here?” I mindspeak.
The creature thinks for a few moments before answering. “You know me, old man. A full belly, a warm and willing female and no chores gets as close to paradise as I can imagine. At home Pa and Mum were always going on about my responsibilities and what I had to do to help them maintain Morgan’s Hole. Here I only have to worry about which wife I want to take to bed.”
“So you joined them willingly?”
“Don’t be daft, man. I knew Pelk existed, but I didn’t know any lived anywhere near Jamaica. I was just out prowling late at night, on the beach in my human form. You’d be surprised how many tourists, single women, go off wandering down the sand in the dark by themselves.
“All I wanted was a bit of a roll with one, and of course a meal. But I ran into this most extraordinary girl, tiny really, not a lick of hair on her body, white as ocean foam. She didn’t say a word, just laid down for me and spread her arms and legs and let me do whatever.”
Derek stretches and sighs. “It was magnificent. I wish I could go back and experience it for the first time again.” He pauses and looks at me. “But you know what I mean, don’t you, old man?”
I shake my head. “Chloe and I are mated. I refused Lorrel.”
“So you haven’t had her yet?”
“Nor will I,” I mindspeak.
Derek guffaws. “You have much to learn about Pelk females,” he mindspeaks.
I think about saying that I don’t want to learn any more about any Pelk. I just want to go home. But instead I just shrug. “What I’d like to know,” I mindspeak, “is how you ended up joining their srrynn and how they learned enough to come after me?”
“I didn’t join anything. It was awkward after I finished with Sybyli—that’s her name. I mean, she had been extraordinary, and I wasn’t sure I wanted to lose out on any more of that by eating her. I still thought she was human then. No, I didn’t notice her eyes, old man. There were better things than that to stare at. But she knew what I was. And while I was lying there mulling over what to do, she stabbed me with this thing. You know all about how it works, don’t you?”
I nod.
“Anyway, after I calmed down, Sybyli explained that she’d seen me shift shape at the beach months before and had been waiting to meet me. She said I could choose either to have a painful death or to return to her srrynn with her.” Derek huffs out a laugh. “Not much of a choice for a creature like me. I went right to her syyrrn with her that night. I couldn’t believe it! They had a safehold in this huge cavern underneath one of the islands off Port Royale. They’ve been living just next to Jamaica for over two hundred years, and none of us have ever known.”
“And why did you mention me?”
“Don’t flatter yourself, old man. You are not on my mind all that much. I was lying with Sybyli a few nights after I came to their srrynn. It was after sex and we were just having a sleepy conversation before we both drifted off. I asked if any of the Pelk had a problem with my being different, and she told me that she wasn’t the first Pelk to take an Undrae lover—that their leader Gedalia was half Undrae himself.’
“She said Gedalia’s father was a monster who had killed many of the Pelk, that Gedalia cursed the day his mother met Don Henri DelaSangre and wished each night for his death. All I said was that Don Henri had been dead for years. The next morning, I was called before a council of the srrynn’s leaders, including Mowdar and Gedalia himself. They demanded to hear everything I knew about y
our family.”
Derek stretches and rises. “And that was that, old man. Now I think I’ll go back to my nest to rest a bit. It’s Tantra’s turn to be with me tonight. I’ll need all the energy I can muster for that.”
I rise too and look at the creature. He stands a good half foot taller than I, and he measures at least that much wider—all in muscle. We’ve fought before and I’ve beaten him, but I respect his strength if not his character and intellect. I wonder if I could find any way to enlist him as an ally if the need arises. And I wonder if it would be worth the bother.
“I’m sorry my words got you into this fix. Believe me, I had no idea what their plan was,” Derek mindspeaks. “If you decide to leave I wish you luck. But take care with how you go about it. These Pelk are more than they appear to be.”
I watch him walk away, weaving his way through the scattered nests and piles, the dull green glow of each pond growing and shrinking his shadow on the stone floor as he passes. Wondering about my brother-in-law’s words, his cryptic warning, I look around the safehold.
The seaweed drapes over Mowdar’s nest have been closed and now block any view of any activities within it. Most of the other Pelk have erected tents over their nests, ensuring their privacy too. Four females bustle in an alcove to the right of Mowdar’s, raising drapes that look like his. One turns and looks at me and I realize it’s Lorrel.
“Hi,” I mindspeak, walking toward her.
She turns her back, busies herself helping one of the other females. “We’re almost ready,” she mindspeaks. “The nest is finished. You can lie down if you wish.”
The other females look away as I pass. I enter the nest, circling a few times to work out a comfortable place and then settling onto the bed of seaweed. It gives a little beneath me, surprising me with its silky, soft texture. I stretch out and then curl my body, my tail curling to the outside of that, my head resting on top of my front claws.
I sigh and let my eyes partly close. The day has been a long one, and my body aches for me to let it drop off into sleep. But I’m unwilling to yield to slumber just yet. Eyeing each female as they bustle around me—one adding phosphorescence to the small glowpool next to my nest, another bringing yet more seaweed to plump up the far corner of my nest, Lorrel and the other one finishing hanging the seaweed drapes and drawing them closed—I find myself feeling like the turkey who was invited for Thanksgiving dinner.
The other females withdraw and Lorrel joins me in the nest, lying down beside me, snuggling close. I shift away a few inches. “Why must you be like that?” Lorrel mindspeaks.
“Why don’t we have separate nests?”
“I have just now finished this one. I am weary and my wounds ache. Are you going to force me to leave and spend hours more building another nest?”
I sit up. “I can go.”
She reaches up and pulls me back. “You cannot. Mowdar will lose respect for me. I will not bother you for anything you do not care to give. We have slept side by side before, Peter. Please do not make me go.”
“I want no one but Chloe,” I mindspeak.
“Yes, Peter, I know that well.” Lorrel sidles closer. “Your warmth comforts me. That is all. Did you not find it comfortable to sleep beside me last night?”
I nod and the Pelk girl snuggles against me. In truth, I like the feel of her body pressing against mine. Her warmth relaxes me. If it stirs nothing in my loins, if it brings no thoughts of desire to my mind, what harm can it bring? Closing my eyes, I listen to her breathing and start to drift away.
Something rustles outside the drapes and I open one eye. Soon more rustling sounds come and I open my other eye and raise my head. “Calm yourself, Peter. It is just the healing circle gathering. Remember? Father promised to send them to me?”
“Am I in the way? Is there something I should do?” I mindspeak.
“Just stay where you are. Let me lie with you like this. As soon as they have a li-srrynn, a gathering of fifteen Pelk females, they will start.”
“What are they going to do?”
“Shhh, just sleep,” she mindspeaks.
I close my eyes again, sleep creeping over my body, making my limbs heavy and my breathing slow. Outside the drapes one of the Pelk begins to sing a single note. Unlike Lorrel’s humming, this note rings high and clear, a delicate, slight sound that somehow seems to penetrate every molecule around and inside me.
Another Pelk joins in, singing a lower note in such perfect harmony that I sigh. Then another starts singing and another, their notes rising and falling, slowly weaving over and under each other, more Pelk singing, their song forming a blanket of sound that settles over Lorrel and me.
Opening my eyes, I glance at the Pelk girl. Her eyes closed, her breathing slow, she looks as if sleep has taken her. The angry red puncture wounds on her neck have already shrunk to mere pinpricks. The last of the Pelk outside joins in and the song wells up around us. Lorrel sighs and presses against me, her tail wrapping over mine.
The rhythm of the tune speeds and slows and Lorrel sighs again and begins to undulate her body against me in time to the tune. I try to pull back, try to concentrate on Chloe, but the notes invade my mind and pulse through my body, vibrating through each cell.
I sigh too, my body beginning to move in rhythm with the tune, in counterpoint to Lorrel’s. Congestion grows in my loins and I feel the first stirrings of desire. “I do not want this!” I mindspeak, as the music swells and Lorrel thrusts herself hard against me again. I press back and moan, as much with grief as with desire.
Lorrel opens her eyes and pulls away for a moment, her breathing ragged now, her motion smooth, almost snakelike as she moves her body. She makes no display of herself the way an Undrae female would, nor does she offer herself to me. Rather she pushes her snout under my jaw and begins to hum the same tune as the Pelk outside the drapes.
Their tune grows quieter, one voice after another dropping out, a few Pelk at a time rustling off until only Lorrel’s humming fills the air. If anything it penetrates me even more. I have no will to push her away. I want whatever she plans, my body throbbing, pulsing with her rhythm, my heart pounding.
“I have wanted you since I first saw you,” Lorrel mindspeaks.
I mindpeak, “No! Please stop!” but she touches her tail between my legs and my body betrays me. Stroking down the inside of my legs and back up, she guides her tail over mine, running it up and down a little further each time until she arrives back at the space between my legs and touches there too. I gasp as her feather-light strokes bring me to full rigidity, quivering at each stroke, my chest heaving as I gasp my breaths.
Still humming, her notes still coursing through me, Lorrel pushes against me and guides me onto my back. I concentrate on Chloe. I want only her. I try to picture her in my mind, but find I can’t summon her image. When Lorrel lies on top of me I manage to repeat, “I do not want this,” but can offer no resistance.
She slides her body down mine until I feel the wet warmth of her resting at the tip of my cock. Digging her claws into my chest, Lorrel changes her tune, low notes vibrating through me as she lowers herself onto me ever so slowly.
The tune and the hot, tight pleasure of her contact drive all thoughts of Chloe out of my mind. I try to writhe, try to press up against her, but even the slightest tightening of my muscles brings a warning, “No!” and the sharp pain of her claws digging into me.
When the Pelk girl has taken all of me inside her, she trills out a laugh and quickens her song, the notes coming between ragged breaths, the tune rising and falling in ever quickening cycles. I lie still beneath her, gasping, dying to grab her, mount her and ram into her, but amazed at the tight hold her body has on me, as if the Pelk girl has fingers inside of her.
I lose all sense of time, pay attention only to the sounds and sensations of our coupling, Lorrel’s song becoming just a succession of high and low notes, her tail slapping on top of mine, her body beginning to move, her claws digging into me as she bi
tes down on my throat with her teeth, piercing my scales, drawing blood.
“Now!” she mindspeaks and I thrust against her, her grip inside almost unbearably tight, her body thrusting back, her song turning to a single note droning on and on until it suddenly turns into a high-pitched growl. Lorrel’s body freezes and goes rigid, pulsing from tight to loose inside, shuddering as she orgasms, shrieking out an almost inaudible note as I orgasm too.
Lorrel’s song slows but doesn’t stop, her body still spasming inside, her contractions slower now, less powerful. I find the tune still impossible to resist, glad to let it lull me toward sleep, glad to let it keep my mind away from Chloe and from anger and my shame.
When the last of Lorrel’s spasms comes and goes and I shrink away from her, she rolls to my side and presses herself against me. As we both drift into sleep she mindspeaks, “Now we shall have a son. His name will be Dela, and one day he will rule this srrynn.”
24
A distant splash wakes me. Opening my eyes, I stare into darkness and wonder whether morning’s come, or late afternoon, or if I’ve only slept a few hours. I curl my lip. I am no stranger to caves. I’ve spent time underground before. I dislike most the lack of the natural pattern of darkness and light.
The bed of seaweed beside me smells of Lorrel, but she no longer lies beside me. Sitting up, I listen for her breathing and hear only the slight rustle of the drapes as they move with the sighing of the cave air. I’m just as glad to find myself alone. The Pelk girl has brought little good into my life.
Stretching, I wince at the wounds Lorrel inflicted upon me the night before, the tightness of my sex-sore muscles. I frown at the memories the pain brings, wish I could wipe them from my mind. But I can forget them no more than I can ignore the hard-used ache in my loins.
The Seadragon's Daughter Page 16
