Page 102 of The Princesses of Ruin
Ten are bright red. They swim forward and Jasper surges away. He wraps Vek’ihr in his grasp and we move close to the exit—the shit hole.
“We mustn’t go this way. It is as good as death,” Vek’ihr says.
I pull Jasper’s rubbery limb off my mouth. “What else can we do? I won’t let them have you.”
Vek’ihr pulses with light, and the advancing ga’hanoi halt in their tracks, their colors blurring into off-greens and pinks.
“You are risking your chances of cooperation for the thing you need, most desperately, for my life. I don’t understand.”
“Jasper would say I’m being a heroic idiot. I think I’m being fair.”
The confused ten upfront turn and gesture to the crowd. Another ripple of confusion moves through them en masse. The delegates put themselves in front and begin communicating a rapid message.
An argument ensues, one that gets brighter with every passing moment.
“Vek’ihr, what’s happening?”
“They are demanding answers. Why is my life valued by you? The delegates refuse to give them one.”
“How do they not know?”
“My people do not understand the customs of yours. Valuing life beyond its use is unheard of.”
The crowd gets rowdy, puffing themselves up as I saw the procreation delegate do last night. They move, herding the delegates, and anyone on that side of the argument, closer to us.
“Fascinating. You seem to have upended the government,” Vek’ihr says with a bit of whimsy. “They are asking you to kill the leaders.”
“What?” My voice is sharp and shrill.
“We are bound by the pact of our forefathers, the broodmasters who forced every lineage into magical servitude. We cannot kill or maim one another—except when the majority agrees it is for the best of the community. They are a few short of a majority, but if you kill some, they’ll have a quorum.”
My blood is hot, pumping furiously through my veins. “I didnotcome here to cause an uprising. I can’t kill them!”
Jasper’s snatches the delegate of procreation in two limbs and tears him in half as easily as shredding a piece of paper. I gasp, the water heavy in my mouth. He does it again, and again, collecting whichever red ga’hanoi get too close.
Several in the group see this happen, change colors, and move into the larger crowd of blue and green.
“Jasper, stop!”
I heat my hands to painful levels, but he doesn’t let me go. He grabs one more and pulls it apart. The water around us is thick with purple blood. It tastes bitter and burns my clear third eyelid.
The majority swarm upon the remaining delegates and a brutal tug of war begins. Limbs are ripped, bodies split, blood seeps. A magical glow encircles the mass as they murder the delegates of their government, and then all at once, it fizzles out and disappears.
Vek’ihr pulses and glows beside me. Flashes of replies come from beyond the carnage. The water is so clouded from the obliteration of the delegates, it’s unclear how many of the ga’hanoi are left. There’d been several hundred, maybe even a thousand, in attendance to watch this execution.
More replies become visible as the sundered water is sucked through the tunnel out of the arena. Eventually, the area is clear, and the victors remain. Many of them have been seriously maimed, but several hundred are still in good condition.
Realization hits me all at once that Vek’ihr is the only way we can communicate with the ga’hanoi. My heart thunders in anticipation and fear. Their government has just been shredded before our very eyes, and nothing is certain. The unknown looms before us, and we are out of our depth, depending on a creature we’ve only made a tentative acquaintance with.
A massive string of light in my periphery draws my gaze. The crystal dome that protects the city comes alive with color in a rippling wave as something swims overhead.
Something huge.
Chapter thirty-seven
Jasper
It’s the serpent.
