On Thin Ice (Prequel to Guild)

Chapter Twenty-Eight: Death God's Feast

               For the second time in spirits-knew how many days, lashes moist with tears opened to reveal a once splendid room empty of all but its prisoner. Boarded windows blocked the sun, barred the rainforest's song and forbade any whisper of a breeze from entering. Any murmurs from rescuers crouched and waiting to pounce outside.

Still, Yuina closed her eyes and listened.

Listened to the rhythmic padding of footsteps through the hall, the Kopere greetings exchanged every once in awhile. She listened for the sounds of a struggle, for any sign, any omen that she might be rescued soon.

Yuina Mongonai Kimsura wanted to go home. Either of them would do.

She wanted her father to rage for an hour, then join her mother in offering a tearstained thanks to the spirits for her safe return before shouting at her again for making Dai take her to Kopere while she suspected she was with child. She wanted Nuân to sigh in exasperation and ask permission to hug her tightly. She wanted Yuki to bring her some bizarre charm made of broken terracotta and nail polish to make her feel better.

She wanted Dai. Just by himself.

But guards lurked outside the door, and breaking apart those boarded windows would come at the price of noise. Of capture. So for a little while longer, Yuina would just have to wait.

She'd have to listen. Concentrate. Stop singing and humming to make herself feel less alone. Less afraid. Listen. Swallow shallow breaths that landed heavily in her belly, like pebbles dropped into the sea. Be quiet and listen for the faintest of whispers.

The smallest of tappings on the boarded windows.

Yuina startled in her chair. The little jump drove its legs into the ground with a small creak.

Hearing things. She had to be hearing things, convincing herself that the time had come. That someone, anyone had come for her. But when she held her breath, the sound remained, repeating over and over again until a plank crashed to the ground and Salkhi flung the evening sun into the room with her powerful wings.

Crimson and coral bathed her prison in light, setting the polished sandstone aglow and her heart with it. Warmth ignited her soul like a fire.

Salkhi's triumphant squawk doused it in water.

Her beak against her feeble bindings put it out. Without a hint of smoke or embers, Yuina's bindings turned to ash.

"Shhhhh, no Salkhi, don't. Don't! They need to find me bound, I can't-"

Khasan's bird chirped at her in confusion, cocking her head to the side to show her the concern in her amber eyes. The hurt that flashed there when Yuina nudged her away with a shoulder. Salkhi clicked her beak, then fell still.

Ruffling her feathers, Salkhi turned towards the window.

Towards the multicoloured fog quickly taking the form of a girl. The last of it settled in a black cloud around her head. Small. Slender. Kopere. Wearing a scrap of red fabric that fell halfway down her calves.

"Found some clothes, have you, spirit? You look lovely."

A sharp-toothed smile. "I could wear Bayarlagaa for you, but I have been told dresses better suit bodies like this delicate creature's, and you need not meet the child I have chosen. I tire of her skin and you will not live long enough to recognize it."

"If you would just help me escape-"

That same, impish smile. A different shaking head. "I have-"

"Done too much already. Then why are you here?"

Like a snake through the grass, the spirit glided to her chair and laid a hand on the Phoenix's shoulder that smarted and burned. "While mortal affairs merit no interference, we do still owe our loves adherence..."