Ageless

Chapter 32

The lift lurched to a stop at the second floor, the double-grated gates rattling open with a shake and a clatter. "Second Floor," said the lift operator. "King's Residence."

The hall was lined with maroon velvet carpets and drapes, simple and dark. All the time I spent exploring the palace, and Malcolm had not invited me to visit his personal floor once. The hall was much more sober than the gaudy decorations of the Queen's residence with all its frilly tapestries and tall windows looking out into the sky. The view from the windows here was blocked by the low, dark buildings of the the city, that is, the few that were not covered completely by curtains.

Mia hesitated before rolling me out onto the second floor landing. "Lady Highburn has taken residence here, for negotiations with our King. Soon we come upon her guard. Sir Cayno Belin, a hero from the Southlands." The trajectory of my chair wobbled as she shivered. "Carries no weapon, yet he is the only guard that Nadia takes as an escort. This man, he scares me."

"What is he, like a ninja or some shit?" The hall was dark and the torches extinguished, my wheelchair moving through the thick padded carpet laboriously as if it was quicksand, so I talked to keep the hall from falling into an unpleasant silence, unsure if the word ninja meant anything to Mia. I found that Residents in the palace were quite skilled in ignoring the bits of my Outside vocabulary that they did not understand.

"Lady Highburn scares me too," she whispered.

"I'm sure she can't be that bad," I said, but the waver in my voice betrayed my true feelings. "Gorgeous women like her, they always get a bad rap for coming off as cold and intimidating. Once you reach out to them though, usually they're not so bad. My best friend Em is like that to strangers, but after she gets to know you a bit, she won't stop talking even if you take out her batteries."

"As you say, my queen, but it would be wise to leave Nadia's 'batteries' alone. It is known that Southland maidens are protective of their possessions."

"Sorry, she doesn't actually have batteries, it's a figure of speech that means...oh never mind." A faint flickering light was glowing from behind the turn at the end of the hall. "Anyways, put yourself in her shoes. Imagine being stuck alone in this castle, surrounded by crazies like Alynsa, Caollin, and...and..." I had to stop myself from saying Malcolm. Instead I said, "Maybe she could use a new friend."

Or maybe I could use one, I thought. Hurry up and get here Ko'sa...and please find it in your heart to forgive me.

We turned the corner in the corridor and followed the source of the dim, soft light. A single shadow parted a cluster of torches, which illuminated a patch of carpet at the end of the hall. Between the torches sat a solitary oak door, framed with dark velvet curtains like the windows.

"There is Sir Cayno," she pointed at the source of the shadow, a red-robed figure leaning against the wall next to the doorway. He was bald with pale pasty skin, and dark purple tattoos where one might expect to find hair. As we approached him, he appeared to be puffing into what looked like a clear glass pipe. "We'll stay our distance," she said matter-of-factly.

"Why?"

"So we can breathe. Cayno is selfish with oxygen. He wears the mask to ration his breath."

As we neared, it became clear that the pipe was some type of breathing apparatus, a glass tube that emerged from the neck of his red robes and ended in a cup around his mouth and nose, like an oxygen mask that an elderly might wear in an assisted living home. The man breathing into the mask looked young and fit though, with thin, sinewy arms poking out from his baggy sleeves. His left hand remained buried in the deep pouch pocket of his robes, but I could see the rustling outline of his fingers flexing and clenching through the fabric. He surveyed us through a pair of calm dark eyes set under a heavy brow. Everything about the man was calm and static...except for the left hand, which continued to twitch spastically from within the pocket.