Heir of Beasts

Ch. 3.3- Remedy and Return

                   

I wake up on the floor, sticky with dried sweat. The room is dark, so I've slept a while. I sit up and rub my eyes, then use the moonlight filtering in through the window to look around. Halima must have come while I was sleeping because there's a platter of food cooling on the table.

         I devour it in a matter of minutes, sucking down the meat and vegetables with relish. I can't remember enjoying food so much in a long time. Honestly, after how hard I pushed my body, I'd probably enjoy anything short of old leather.

         She also brought me Isoveri root tea, just like she promised. I swallow it in two gulps, grimacing at the bitter taste, and hope it will help me get to a dreamless sleep.

         I use a warm rag to clean the residual sweat from my body and pull on my nightdress. I wish Halima had woken me; not only will I not see her until morning now, but now I won't be able to get back to sleep for hours.

         I'm too alert to even get into bed, so I pull out a book and try to read by the moonlight. I'm considered too dangerous to be given any sort of fire, from candlestick to oil lamp, so the words bleed together into black scribbles it hurts my eyes to decipher.

         I close the book and read the cover, tracing the elaborate embossed script with my finger. A History of the Known World, written by the famous explorer Jovinia Shimaya. As a child Shira and I would sit side by side and read it, discussing all of the foreign places we would go when we were old enough.

         He talked about visiting Kalko and seeing the Royal Archives and the ruins of the Yoran civilization. He wanted to sail all the way across the Karithian Sea to see the ice cliffs at Imgyonstarn and watch the strange lights that danced across the sky there. Then, he said, we would take our ship south to Seramich, to taste their wine right off of the vine, and to visit a library rumored to rival our own.

         I would agree with him enthusiastically, adding that when we went to Kalko I would buy one of their knives, famous for being perfectly balanced for throwing. In Imgyonstarn, we would hike the ice cliffs. In Seramich, we would hire a guide and slash our way through the jungle, and sleep under the stars while exotic birds and primate slept in the trees above us.

         I flip through the book, looking at the illustrations even if the text is unreadable in the low light, waiting for the Isoveri tea to make me tired. The familiarity of the book, the weight of it in my lap, calms me.

         I hear the shuffling of footsteps outside my door. I still, then remind myself it's just the guards changing shifts. Until I notice the high lilt of a familiar voice that carries through the wood.

         What is Halima doing here? I quickly close the book and walk to the door so I can hear more clearly.       

         "... need to bring ... tea, sir. It will only take..."

         "You're not supposed to... back tomorrow."

         I feel my chest tighten. Tea? She already brought me tea; I can feel its soporific effects already. So what is she really doing here? I press my ear against the door. The voices are still muffled, but I can make out their words.

         "Please," Halima pleads. "It will only take a minute. I would've brought it with her dinner but I couldn't find any Isoveri."

         "Get out of here," the guard says gruffly. "Bring it by in the morning."

         "She needs it tonight, Sir."

         "Needs it?" He sneers. "It's fucking tea. Your lady isn't royalty any more, you know. She's lucky she's being fed at all."