Page 17 of Wingless Crow: Part 1

Tossing aside the covers, I climbed out of bed, dressed in the long, light nightgown Brebie gave me last night.

The rug was dry now. The tub was gone. The fireplace stood unlit. I crouched in front of it, wondering if I could start the fire. A few neatly trimmed logs lay on a wrought-iron stand inside, but I couldn’t find any lighters or matches to ignite them with.

My stomach pinched with hunger, and I had a slight headache, probably from dehydration. I hadn’t eaten or drunk anything since that last fateful drink with Trez back in the nameless bar. But I couldn’t stay away from food and water for much longer. If I ever wanted to leave this place, it had to be soon.

Other than the nightshirt I was wearing, there were no clothes in either the bedroom or the adjacent wardrobe room.

Before leaving last night, Brebie had told me to pull the wide silver ribbon hanging by the door to call a maid if I needed anything. I tugged at the ribbon. It didn’t feel like it was connected to anything. But a soft knock came on the door soon after.

“Come in.” I stepped back, giving room for the door to open.

A woman walked in, carrying a tray.

No… the woman didn’t walk. Sheslithered.

Keeping her torso upright, she used her long, thick tail to propel herself forward. Like the two maids who had prepared my bath last night, she had no legs. Her tail was almost as wide as her body, being an extension of her torso.

She wore a pale purple blouse and a crisp white apron. Her backside remained exposed from her waist down, and it was all tail, like a giant snake. The deep green color of her tail turned to pastel beige on her face and arms.

“Breakfast, my lady?” the fantastic creature asked, setting her tray on the glass table by the fireplace.

The haze of thecamytedrink had worn off overnight. The world around me was clear and crisp again, which made it even more incredible. Things looked real when my mind told me they couldn’t be.

“What…um.” I wanted to ask what this person was. A half-snake, half-woman. How did she even exist? But that would be rude. So I asked, “What’s your name?” instead.

“I’m Alacine, my lady.” She lifted a cover from the tray on the table. “The High General insists you eat today.”

Brebie must have briefed him on my skipping dinner last night.

“The High General can bite me,” I snapped.

Alacine blinked at me in shock with her eyelids trimmed with thick green eyelashes.

“I won’t tell him you said that. High General Voron is not a man you wish to anger,” she warned gently.

I didn’t care if she told him. I would tell it to his face if he were here. What would he do to me? Send me back to where I came from?

But I didn’t want to shock the poor woman any more than she already was. She seemed extremely disturbed by my lack of respect for their High General.

“Thanks,” I said instead.

She returned her attention to the tray. “Following the orders of the High General, these are all simple foods and clear water.”

Less likely to have been tampered with, I realized. Despite his demeanor of cool indifference, Voron must be worried about me starving myself before he’d had the pleasure to “present” me to their king.

There was no point in saying any of that to Alacine, whose serene expression had returned to her face. She seemed nice. Not as talkative as Brebie, but I hadn’t gotten much info from Brebie last night either, despite all her chatting. Maybe I’d have better luck with Alacine?

“Do you know anything about getting one’s memory back?” I asked.

She looked confused. “Getting it back from where?”

I decided to tell her the truth. What did I have to lose at this point?

“The High General took my memories. I don’t remember anything about my past.”

“Hetookthem?” She kept staring at me, clearly dumbfounded. “But how?”

“I’m not sure… He just looked at me and breathed in.” It sounded silly, but that was exactly how it’d happened.

---