Page 75 of The Gilded Ones

Ixa? I think, my thoughts distant and airy.

And that’s all I have time to ask before I fall into the gilded sleep.

When I wake, it’s fully dark and I’m nestled inside a warm, soft blanket. I stretch, luxuriating inside it. I haven’t felt this comfortable in ages.

“She’s waking up!” a voice gasps. “Deka, Deka – can you hear me?”

Britta? I think. It’s difficult to push past the darkness surrounding me, and honestly, I don’t want to. I like it here in the darkness. It’s so snug.

“Why don’t we just lure the creature down – or shoot it,” an annoyed voice suggests. Gazal’s.

“Oh, yes, that sounds very reasonable,” another voice returns, sharp with sarcasm. I immediately recognize it as Adwapa’s. “Shoot down the one thing protecting us if those deathshrieks return.”

“It’s not protecting us, it’s protecting her.” This voice belongs to Li, and it doesn’t sound at all cheerful, as it usually does.

The blanket around me rustles as footsteps draw near, squelching loudly through the mud. “Deka, please wake.” This voice is Keita’s, and he sounds concerned. “We can’t leave here until you do.”

Keita! The very thought jolts through me, shattering my darkness.

“Keita?” I rasp, blinking awake. “You’re alive!”

Relief swells within me as I remember when I last saw him, his body shielding me from the deathshrieks gathering near. But he’s alive and well. I look around, trying to get my bearings. To my surprise, I’m surrounded by soft, shimmering blue scales covered in a light sprinkling of blue fur. When I glance up, a massive feline face with reptilian black eyes meets mine.

Deka… Ixa coos, nuzzling me with his gigantic snout.

“Ixa?” I gasp, shocked. “You’re so big!”

He’s never shifted into such a large drakos form before.

“He transformed when you died,” Keita’s voice says.

He’s standing on the ground below me, his eyes filled with worry. I’m lying on a tree, I realize belatedly, and what I first thought a blanket is actually Ixa’s body coiled all around me. Protecting me…

Now I take in the surrounding area. It’s littered with deathshriek corpses, their body parts scattered across the marsh with macabre abandon. The familiar musky sweetness of their blood fills the air, causing me to gag. Even after all these months, I still haven’t gotten used to it.

Keita tiptoes closer. “He killed all the deathshrieks attacking you. We took care of the rest, but he took you up there before we could get to you.”

I finally realize that the others are gathered a safe distance away in a makeshift camp, watching me, Keita and Ixa. Everyone has seen him in this form. Everyone.

The stern look in Captain Kelechi’s eyes when I meet them strikes fear into my heart. He’s never been one to tolerate anything he thinks is irregular. He points accusingly at Ixa. “Now that you’re awake, Deka,” he says quietly, “you will tell me what that creature is.”

Ixa sniffs dismissively, turning his nose up. He’s never thought much of the captain.

“He’s my pet,” I say quickly, trying not to look at all the deathshriek corpses littering the ground. The corpses that Ixa made all by himself, if what I heard is true. I try not to let my unease show as I turn to the captain. “Whatever he’s done, it’s to protect me.”

“That doesn’t answer my question,” Captain Kelechi returns, seeming every inch the jatu commander he is as he again asks, “What exactly is that thing?”

I look at Ixa, trying to find an answer. How do I explain a horned creature that looks feline half the time but occasionally transforms into a gigantic monstrosity when the need arises?

“Just a pet,” I repeat, at a loss for how to explain.

“Does your pet have a specific breed?” Captain Kelechi grinds out, aristocratic face even darker with impatience now.

“I don’t know…exactly…”

“You don’t know?” The captain takes a step closer but stops when Ixa hisses at him.

“Enough, Ixa,” I say, tapping him. Let me down.

---