Читать книгу Protector of the Flight - Robin D. Owens - Страница 16

They walked up to a shabby, narrow stone building with a sign that changed magically from black letters on a white background to white letters on a black background.

This was the place that held monster trophies. Calli didn’t think she was ready, but it would be better getting used to dead monsters hanging on walls than live ones attacking.

Alexa said, “Acclimatizing you, Calli. The Nom de Nom is one of the main hangouts for the Chevaliers, so you’ll probably be spending plenty of time here. The trophies are in the upper third of the room. You might want to look up after we’ve settled in a booth.” She hesitated. “This place isn’t as bad as the Assayer’s Office. If you need to, uh, get more of an idea what you’ll be facing, you can go there.” She opened the door to the scent of smoke and food and liquor. “And there’s a back room you should see.”

The moment Calli walked in, conversation stopped. The place wasn’t packed, but the bar on her right was full, with Chevaliers leaning or sitting on stools. Of the five booths, two were taken. Alexa scowled at the couple in the last booth against the wall and they got up and moved to one closer to the door. A waitress hurried over to wipe the table.

All the Chevaliers watched Calli with considering gazes. Well, they were getting an eyeful of the Exotique they might want to mate with. Calli wondered if she’d find more or fewer tokens on the Choosing table after this visit.

A woman at the bar flinched, slipped from her seat and left.

Feeling self-conscious and wanting to get this “trophy” ordeal over with, Calli glanced up. Time seemed to stop and fear bubbled up her throat.

The first thing she saw was the torso of a snarling beast with spines on its arms. She tried to swallow but couldn’t pull her gaze away from the fierce glass eyes, the open muzzle that showed sharp, deadly teeth. Its fur was yellow, as was the underside of its digited paws. Yellow skin, yellow fur. Slayer.

Marian picked up one of Calli’s hands and curved her fingers around a mug handle. Her spit had dried, so she took a gulp, and cold, yeasty ale slid down her throat. She tore her gaze away to Marian who was gesturing for her to slide into the bench opposite Alexa, who faced the room. Calli decided that having people stare into the back of her head—her blond head—would feel better than meeting a stream of brown-eyed stares. She managed to pick one foot up after the other to get to the table and slide in on what seemed to be a red leather bench. Leather made from cows or something—not monster hide.

“I ordered burgers for lunch,” Alexa said.

Marian took the outside seat and Calli closed her eyes a moment in thanks that these two women were so protective.

At least for now. They seemed to think that she’d go out and fight monsters like the slayer, or the larger beast next to it. This one snarled, too, its fangs as sharp as the slayers, its black furred head more massive. On either side of the head were huge paws with long, curved, sharply pointed claws that looked more like blades than anything else.

“Render,” Alexa said, and removed a little woven basket of tea leaves from her mug, placing it on a saucer.

Calli forced herself to savor the ale. It was perfect. Rich, mellow, just to her taste, already warming her stomach. She’d settled enough from shock to glance up at the next mounted trophy of a horror—another torso. Gray, lizard-like skin, bony head with no nose, two arms with two suckered tentacles in front and behind each arm, a soul-sucker.

When she turned her gaze back to the table, she saw the other women watching her with understanding in their eyes. “Is that it?” she croaked.

“There are dreeths,” Alexa said.

“Of course, how could I forget dreeths? What are they?”

“Quetzalcoatlus,” Marian said.

“The Aztec plumed-serpent god?”

Alex huffed out a breath. “According to Marian, the biggest pterodactyl-type dinosaur on Earth is called a quetzalcoatlus.”

“Oh.”

“It has a bigger belly, though.”

“Sorta bat winged?” asked Calli, trying to imagine the thing.

“Yes. Clawed front legs and spurred, too.”

“Huh.”

“Marian?” Alexa held both hands out, palms up.

“Oh, very well,” Marian said. She linked fingers with Alexa and to Calli’s amazement a 3-D image formed above the table of a flying reptile.

“Not a dragon,” Calli said, looking at the hideous thing.

“No,” Marian and Alexa said in unison.

Its beak was long and curved. “More sharp teeth. Everything around here has sharp teeth except us and volarans.”

“The teeth are poison, like slayer spines,” Alexa said.

“Of course they are,” muttered Calli. “Regular teeth would be too easy. How big?”

“About the size of a bungalow,” Alexa said.

A short shriek and the clatter of plates toppling onto their table caused Marian and Alexa to break apart. They snatched two meals. Calli saw one plate overturn. “No!” The burger and bun stopped in midair, the plate turned right side up and the food slid back onto the thick pottery. Marian reached out and nabbed it, smiling at Calli. “You saved it.”

She’d used magic! Instinctively she’d stopped the mouthwatering food from falling. She’d even repiled the strange white fries. She looked at one dubiously. “What are these?”

“Turnip fries,” Alexa said, biting into her burger.

“Turnip?”

“They don’t have potatoes,” Marian explained sadly.

“I taught the cook burgers and buns, and they’re all the rage, of course, but without fries…” Alexa shrugged.

“What kind of meat?” Calli bit off the end of a turnip fry. Not even hot oil and salt could make it good. She dropped the fry onto the plate.

“Cow,” Marian said.

“Okay,” Calli said. “We got mustard and ketchup?”

“Something that might barely pass for about a gold coin more,” Alexa said.

“Shoot.”

“I’m working on that,” Marian said.

Since she was working on so many other projects, Calli didn’t think she’d be seeing the condiments soon.

“Ketchup is easier than mustard. They grow plenty of tomatoes here.” Marian peeled off her bun and showed lettuce and tomato.

The burger was plump and juicy and had Calli forgetting about everything except eating. The lettuce and tomato actually had taste, unlike most of the standard stuff she’d had in diners. She bit, swallowed. Breakfast seemed days instead of hours ago.

A man cleared his throat.

Calli looked up to see a tall, somber-looking guy wearing brown cotton trousers and shirt with a sleeveless tunic of dark gray over it. His left temple showed a streak of silver—that indicated he had magical powers, she remembered.

He made a little half bow to Alexa, then Marian, addressing them by name. Alexa gestured that he could join them and scooted over so he could sit next to her. He raised a hand and the waitress hurried over. Calli heard “burger,” and smiled. By the time Alexa, Marian and she were done with Lladrana, the people would sure have some Americanizations in their language.

Alexa put her sandwich down. Calli noticed she’d only eaten a couple of fries. “Calli, this is Sevair Masif, Representative of the Cities and Towns to the Marshalls.”

Another new face. Another guy looking her over coolly. “Tell him I’m pleased to meet him.” Though she really wasn’t much, she inclined her head. “What cities?”

Marian muffled a snort beside her.

“They just aren’t as urban as we are,” Alexa said.

“Castleton is, like, the main city, right? And it doesn’t have mustard and ketchup?”

Alexa sighed.

Marian said, “We did tell you that people would give you presents. This man did me a wonderful favor by sending my teacher and me and Jaquar an excellent cook.”

“He had a spice master send me a gift of tea. Expensive here. You want to ask him for mustard?”

Marian frowned. “Have you asked about mustard, Alexa? I think the southern part of Lladrana might make it, or the country south of here.”

“Haven’t asked,” Alexa said. “How important is mustard to you, Calli? Enough to ask for it as a gift instead of anything else? Tea’s important to me.”

“And let me tell you, that cook has been a lifesaver…or at least made my crotchety old mentor into a reasonable human being,” Marian said.

The waitress set down Masif’s plate and curtsied.

“Gifts. No strings attached?” Calli asked.

Alexa said something apologetic to Masif. He nodded and began eating, a little awkwardly, as if he wasn’t used to eating with his hands, concentrating on making sure the bun’s contents didn’t slip. For some reason Calli found that endearing.

“No strings attached.” Alexa grinned. “The thing is, everyone wants to get on our good sides, and since we’re virtually inexplicable, no one expects anything in return…at least not for the first gift.”

“Huh,” Calli said. “No strings? Ask the guy if he intends to put something on my Choosing table.”

Eyes dancing, Alexa did. All three Exotiques stared at him. A faint redness appeared on his cheekbones under his golden skin. He seemed to grit his teeth around his bite of burger. Glancing at her, then away, he swallowed and said something that sounded flowery.

Alexa coughed. Marian turned to Calli and said, “He asked if you’d be unhappy if he did so.”

“Unhappy.” She looked at Marian. “What’s the word for ‘no’?”

Alexa laughed. “I learned the word for ‘no’ within an hour here!”

Calli could believe that.

“Ttho,” said Marian.

Stomach fluttering with butterflies, Calli met Masif’s gaze and said, “Ttho.”

His eyes went big and he looked as if he was having second thoughts. Since she sensed he was a very serious man, she liked the fact she made him nervous. She didn’t see that they had much in common, but he looked like a stand-up guy, and the more choices she had, the better.

They all ate in silence. When they were done, Marian said, “Speaking of the Choosing and Bonding, we’d better get back.”

“There’re hours until evening,” Alexa grumbled. “Marian—”

“Back,” Marian said firmly. “You can’t prepare for something this life altering too early.”

Calli’s burger turned to lead in her stomach.

“Just gonna dump Sevair?” asked Alexa.

“If he’s going to put a token on the Choosing table, he’ll have to prepare, too,” Marian said. She gestured around them. “The place is almost empty. Most of the Chevaliers are probably up in Horseshoe Hall meditating and bathing and Singing.”

“Singing?” asked Calli.

“Praying,” Marian said.

“Oh.” It would probably be a good thing to do a bit of that herself. Calli didn’t consider herself a very spiritual person. Her dad certainly didn’t truck with any sort of religion, so she wasn’t quite sure who she’d pray to. The closest she’d come to a spiritual experience lately was flying on Thunder. That decided her. “I’d like to see the volarans again.”

“Shoot,” Marian said, digging into a pocket of her gown and dropping a couple of gold coins into Alexa’s outstretched hand.

Alexa winked at Calli. “I won the bet that you’d want to fly again before this evening.”

Calli stared at Marian. “You’re the one who was there when I took off and landed yesterday. You like volarans better than Alexa, why would you think I wouldn’t want to fly today?”

“You fell off yesterday. You don’t have the tack you like. You should be thinking of the Choosing and Bonding ritual and preparing for it.”

“I won’t fall off. Thunder wouldn’t let me. Bastien’s bringing a variety of tack for me to examine, so I’ll find something acceptable. As for preparing for the Choosing and Bonding, I’d rather keep my mind and hands occupied. Furthermore, I think the most spiritual experience I’ve had in my life was on the back of that volaran yesterday.”

Marian’s expression softened. “I understand.”

“So do I,” Alexa said, smiling.

“I am the volarans’ Exotique,” Calli said.

Masif wiped his mouth and hands with a napkin, then stood. He’d eaten very efficiently. All his turnip fries were gone. Without ketchup. There was no hope they’d link up together. He stood and slid from the table, offered Alexa a hand.

Alexa opened her fingers and picked out a gold coin. Masif curled her fingers back over the money and said something. He nodded to Marian and Calli.

On the other hand, the guy was obviously treating them. A gentleman. She could go for a gentleman.

Alexa and Marian murmured thanks in Lladranan. Calli waited and said, “Thank you,” matching his serious expression.

He set several gleaming silver coins on the table, bowed once more and walked away.

“Nice guy,” Alexa said.

“Very serious,” Marian said.

“Yes, we seem to prefer the rogue and charmer types, huh? How about you, Calli?”

“I’d like a man who’d love me.”

Again those warm smiles. “That’s what’s important,” Marian said. She stood and Calli followed her, glancing around the place, not looking at the trophies. Not many people lingered. Two gay couples, one male, one female, all of whom smiled at her, and a grizzled old man, stood at the bar. The other booths were empty.

“One moment,” Alexa said. She went toward a door on the wall.

“I’ve never been in there,” Marian said, following.

Feet slow, Calli asked, “More trophies?”

“Not exactly.” Alexa pushed open the door. The room was dark but the minute she walked in, light came on. She waved to roughly faceted quartz crystals sitting in brackets.

“An older lighting system, interesting,” Marian said. She stopped and looked up.

Calli entered the room and looked up, too. It wasn’t a large room, but it was high-ceilinged and held hundreds of flags in several rows from the top of the room to just above a tall Lladranan man’s head.

“Heraldic banners of Chevaliers and Marshalls who’ve died the last two and a half years fighting the Dark,” Alexa said.

Looking closer, Calli saw many were ripped and torn, showed brown stains of earth and blood. A couple were burnt and eaten away as if acid had spilled on them. Other colored stains, green, yellow or black, also decorated the flags.

Calli gulped.

Alexa stared at a big maroon banner edged in gold except where a chunk was burnt. Her expression was inscrutable. “That one belonged to Lord Knight Swordmarshall Reynard Vauxveau, Bastien and Luthan’s father.”

Swordmarshall Thealia held that title, Calli knew, the greatest title in all the land. So the most powerful man in the country had died.

Marian said, “We must return to the Castle.” She walked back into the barroom. Alexa did, too, leaving Calli alone.

Calli stared at the flags, hanging still and solemn. Her heart tightened in awe and fear. All these people had fought against the monsters displayed in the other room, and lost. Died.

Soon Calli would bind herself to a man who’d fight. She’d be expected to fight, too. Or defend with magic, Shield to the man’s Sword. Risk limb and life and volaran. Volarans must have died, too. She put a hand to her throat.

She wanted a husband and a family and a ranch and beautiful volarans.

This was the price.