Indentured (Book 2 of the Dana Halliday series)

BEWARE AND BEHAVE. STOCKHOLM SYNDROME. LICENSED TO KILL.

"Beware!"

"Gah!" I nearly jumped out of my skin. The voice was a raspy growl coming from the tangle of rosebushes—rosebushes?—to the left of the cottage steps. "Um, hello?"

A wrinkled lump of a gray-skinned Sturv emerged from its thorny lair. This one was stooped and moved like the Tin Man after a rain, so I guessed it was elderly, maybe older than Kez. In one of its hands it wielded a hedge trimmer of some kind.

"Beware and behave," it exhaled at me. "He will sell you to the monsters...in the mountains...and they will eat you."

"Oh...really?" I wasn't sure whether to be disturbed or dismissive. My emotions settled on a mix of both. "What kind of monsters?"

"Fid, do your job. Dana, ignore him." Wys barely looked at the owner of the voice as she headed toward the sidewalk. "Come along."

I spared Fid the Gardener an appeasing smile and skipped to catch up to Wys. "What's he talking about? What monsters?"

She waved a hand. "There are various groups living in the mountains—he'll go on and on about it if you pay attention to him. No monsters, so far as I know. He is...not playing with a full deck, yes?"

"If you say so."

We walked at a brisk marching pace on the path that led to the center of the compound and Castle Kez. I drank my coffee and relished the cool of the morning. 

The Qir child was the only one outside in his enclosure, and I waved to him as we passed.  He hesitated before shinnying halfway up the fence like a monkey and waving back. From inside the dwelling, which appeared to be made of something like bamboo and palm fronds, I heard the warning tone of Mum's voice. 

The Nessians were sunbathing—they rolled lethargic eyes in our direction but didn't speak; maybe they were cold-blooded.

I was about to ask Wys about them, when three Sturv intercepted us, gabbling and pointing. These were clearly tourists, well-dressed, staring avidly at me. To my further incredulity, they surrounded me and started poking and prodding with their stubby hands. I had to stop or risk stepping on some toes, literally and figuratively, and one of them took a picture. For real, it took a damned selfie with me.

Wys made an unimpressed growl and barked out a series of orders at them. My Earwig condensed her words to, "Don't be disgusting. Move along, this Earther will be available later."

It got them to disperse, anyway. 

"I'll be available later?"

"You are...an attraction. Don't worry, no one will cause you physical harm."

I mulled that over for about two seconds before my mind decided we didn't need to ponder it anymore. "Okay. So, how is your back? Really?"

Wys sighed. "Healed."

"Looked like you had some old wounds that weren't sutured."

"A few, yes."

"Did Kez do all that?"

"Why do you care?"

We were now striding down a lovely little boulevard, shops and restaurants on either side. The smell of real food made my stomach grumble sullenly. Wys stopped to bark at two more Sturv patrons, who were disgracefully inebriated, especially for the time of day. They stared at me, burst out into discordant hooting laughter, then we moved on.

"Well, maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome, but I think I'm just curious," I continued. "Why didn't you want your brother to know about it?"

"Brother? Oh, you mean Maz?" She gave a short laugh. "We used to serve together. Surely you're aware we use the terms in a symbolic way?"