Servitude: The Hydrangea Chapters

Chp 9: The Enigmatic Veteran

Mordecai nodded, grabbing Marlina's arm and taking her away from Aurea and towards the barracks, which happened to be the tunnel that led underground that Marlina discovered earlier. Once they had reached the barracks, Mordecai would have her be still while he checked the gaps in her body. The gaps did get bigger than before, but the frost was gone and things seemed to be holding together. With him inspecting the gaps, he could see into Marlina's body, making Mordecai sick to his stomach. That something that was like armor having what could only be a human soul trapped within it. Urushians are spiritual people, and the soul's integrity is paramount in their beliefs. She was a creation within an unforgivable boundary that no noble Urushian would ever attempt. Have the Colonies been pushing such boundaries?

"Is everything alright? Did it stop?" Marlina asks, Mordecai being pulled from his thoughts.

Despite his distaste for her form and what would have possibly been done to make it, he wasn't going to make her feel shame when she seemed like just a curious one overall who didn't know much about the world. To him, she seemed like a child though she looked to be the same age as the twins. "Looks like it. Might have to keep a little distance between you and Aurea."

"That was happening... because of her?"

For a moment, Mordecai was silent with a brow raised. Did she not realize how cold it was getting from being around Aurea? To test a thought that crossed Mordecai's mind, he would tap on Marlina's chest with a knuckle, the knock making a light metallic thud. "Did you feel that?"

Marlina shakes her head. "I've been told that I lack quite a few senses that others usually have."

Mordecai can only guess due to this lifeless form of hers. At least she should know why she shouldn't stick too close to her. "Aurea isn't exactly a human like the rest of us. She's from a tribe of ice dwellers that live on a glacier far from Urushian coasts. And they always let out this cold air from themselves. And you have these... flower petals for a body? Maybe her cold was having them die?"

But what about earlier? "When she spoke to me in the infirmary, that didn't happen."

"Most likely the heat around here prevented that."

"The cold harms people too, doesn't it harm any of you to be around her?"

"Only at night really, without a fire nearby. I'm unsure if you can tell, but that desert is a heat trap. From how intense it is during the day, a man without water out there will die within hours. We can only be outside because of that cold from her. Once the sun is down, there isn't anything to keep it from spreading, on top of the desert becoming pretty cold at night. That's why we stay the night in these." Mordecai then gestures to the chamber itself. There was a pause, Marlina not sure what made these chambers significant to what he was explaining. This girl didn't know a whole lot, did she? Granted, she doesn't look like the adventuring type. He wondered how she got this far into the wastes without supplies, maps, sled, or water. Most likely the answer is her obvious dispositions. "These were underground hot springs a long time ago apparently. Guess there was some earthquake at some point and the water drained. But the sandstone and geothermal areas beneath keep us warm at night."

Letting her into his room next to the twins' room she peeked in before, he'd let her in. About the same size as theirs, the man who seemed to be the 'captain' of their guard would have a room for himself. A bed instead of a hammock, and a large table with plenty of tools and parts to make more crossbow bolts. What drew Marlina's attention that was bizarre to her was a pair of shackles secured high on a wall with a table leaning beneath them. Did he keep unruly people in this room with him when they needed to be incarcerated? Besides that, the rest of the walls were mostly covered in many territory maps surrounding another of the entire continent. While the map in Elek and Tessa's room seemed to concentrate on information about the desert, Mordecai's map seemed to document more on the two civilizations at the edges, especially The Colonies. Plenty of cities had 'X's crossed over them, along with drawings of people Marlina did not recognize with where they may reside.