The Sky Demons Part Two: Quest

Chapter Six- Let sleeping lions lay

Ketsuo- Let sleeping lions lay

“You’re out!” called Tigre.

“Oops, you got me,” laughed Maria, getting up off of the floor and stretching out, “Well, that was fun, even if I’d only intended to pop over from the workshop because it was my turn to fetch lunch.”

“If you want an apology you’re not getting one. If you really didn’t want to play you could have just moved on purpose.”

Maria laughed and sauntered past me on the way to the food cupboards. I was sitting at the table with a drink of water, watching my younger siblings and their friends and familiars play sleeping lions, some sort of human world game that Tigre had wrangled them into during their break from training and research. A game where you had to lie still- it didn’t sound very interesting, more like something parents would invent to keep kids quiet.

So far Alex, Ridere, Gensan, Asher and Amber had been seen moving and caught out, as well as Maria, who had stumbled upon everyone playing and somehow ended up part of the game. The others now sat at the table with me, watching Tigre and Nightshade patrol the floor of the kitchen, examining the various bodies lying still all over it.

Tigre paused and bent down next to Serry, staring at her intently.

“Serry, I can see you breathing.”

Serefk’na sat up, looking slightly irritated, “Fine, next time we play I’ll try to remember not to breathe.”

“Excellent, you do that.”

Serry got up and plucked Amber off of the table, “I’m going to go back to the library to help Jia with research,” she said as she left.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair; there was still time left until the end of my break. There were more important things we should be doing than this, things to worry about. I had heard only once from Tenmar and Kay since they left for the Capital, Zreikta. As I’d been waiting for intel about goings on there- especially about the Palace Guards- I was at a loss as to how to make myself useful in the long wait for news from them, how to get any of those important things done. So far all I’d had from them was one letter from Tenmar, shortly after their arrival:

“Hey Kets,

Just arrived in Zreikta three days ago. So far our intel on the Palace Guards is that they’re still all asses, so you’ll probably fit right in.

We’ve been sent on an emergency mission- very important and dangerous- so we’ll have to concentrate our efforts on that until it’s completed. It may be a while before we can get you any useful news.

So long,

Tenmar.”

 

It wasn’t exactly the most useful letter in the world; it was more like an insulting post card really, but at least it was news. I could just hope that the fact I hadn’t heard anything further simply meant there was nothing to send.

“Francis! FRANCIS! You’re out!” Tigre’s yelling brought my attention back to the little game everyone had been playing. Only Caelestis and Francis were still on the floor, but it seemed Francis wasn’t listening to Tigre’s shouting that she’d lost.

“Tigre,” said Senka quietly, “I think she’s asleep.”

“Oh,” said Tigre, “Does- does that means she’s won?”

Caelestis sat up and squawked indignantly.

“The objective of the game is not to move,” Senka reminded her.