Escape From Roksamur Mark Shepherd(1)

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."I will translate for the queen.She doesnot speak your filthy human tongue, and she never will." The words came out smooth and languid, morepolished than Su'Villtor's had been.Where in the worlds did he learn to speak Althean? This queen is starting to sound hostilealready, and she hasn't even said anything, Alaire observed.He did his best to keep his face asolemn, emotionless mask.The translator chittered something to the queen, who chittered something back."You are a prisoner of Queen Saurboar of Roksa-mur," the translator said."You will refer to her as'My Queen.' Is that understood?""Yes, your." Alaire said."Who did you say you were?""My name is not important," the translator replied.He sounded, despite his awkward accent, a bitannoyed.Kai stepped forward a step and spoke directly at the queen, whom he had to look up to."MyQueen," Kai said, his words soaked in sarcasm."I demand to know why you have invaded our landwithout a formal declaration of war! And why, my Queen, we have been taken hostage in thisgodsforsaken place!""Silence!" the translator said, stepping forward.He slapped Kai back with the flat of his claw.Alaire caught him as Kai stumbled back and whispered frantically, "Kai, this is not the time to assertyour authority!""Speak for yourself," Kai said softly, standing upright.The translator said, "You will speak only when spoken to.And when you speak it is to be with theutmost respect.""As much as I've been afforded, I'm sure," Kai said under his breath, but the translator apparentlydidn't hear him."Kai, I think you should reconsider your attitude," Alaire whispered, but the words didn't seem to behaving any effect.Kai seemed determined to get them in deeper than they already were, if that waspossible.The two Arachnias chittered briefly."Which of you is the king of the humans?" the translator finally said.The two humans looked at each other."What?" Kai asked."Which of you is king?" the translator repeated.Kai stepped forward, cautiously."I am Kainemonen, King of Suinomen, the country which you haveso rudely invaded.The humans don't have a king.""Yes, we do," Alaire interrupted."Kai, trust me," he whispered, out of the corner of his mouth."Ourking is rather modest," he continued."He rules us all with such wisdom, he hesitates before taking fullcredit for his accomplishments.""So," the Arachnia said."You are the king.I might have known, given your lack of respect."Kai shrugged, "If you had arranged a diplomatic visit instead of this absurd invasion and kidnapping,my behavior might have been a little different."Alaire observed the queen, uncertain what kind of reactions, if any, he was looking for.Her large,bulbous head tilted, but with distinction and grace."The queen admires your bravery.May I remind you that you are here on our terms, not yours," thetranslator said, after a series of sharp clicks from the queen."What terms would those be?" Kai shot back."Ransom, of course," the translator said."What are you asking?" Alaire asked."What is the ransom?"If the Arachnia was pausing for effect, he could not have timed it better."Your kingdom, of course."Kai and Alaire looked at each other."Our queen is the hive mother.From her all life comes.We require a great deal of vegetation which,on our rocky land, is becoming scarce.We have multiplied fourfold in the times I remember and are inneed of more land.""Is that all?" Kai said incredulously, sounding a little relieved.At what, Alaire didn't know."Well, inthat case, we can work something out, I'm sure.""Most excellent," the translator said."Will you instruct your subjects to hand over your kingdom?"Kai replied evenly, "No, I will not, but certainly.""It would seem," Alaire said conversationally."That this race has not yet mastered the concept ofsharing.""To the contrary," the translator replied."We understand the concept of cooperation, but only withbeings of equal stature.You humans," he said, in an acid tone, "are mere animals."Alaire saw Kai's face turn red, but was grateful he didn't act on his anger.Thankfully, the king saidnothing in reply."We have two more females of bearing age," the translator continued."We intend to establish morehives.We will swarm throughout this world."Two more egg layers? Good gods, Alaire thought.We'd better stop this now, before they getreally populated.Unless it's too late for that."We will send you to the human colony on Roksa-mur," the translator said, and started moving themback away from the queen, towards the entrance."There you will find food to your liking.Here, in theroyal section of the island, we stock only for the hive.""More humans?" Kai said."Who do you.""The ships," Alaire reminded him."The ones that have wrecked over the years.I knew they must besomewhere." Kai didn't reply."Some of the humans have become good slaves," the translator said."The rest, we have eaten.""That's good to know," Alaire said.Kai had turned white.Perhaps he's finally seeing the depth ofthe trouble we are in."The only path off Roksamur is by wingrat, and they will obey only us.If you attempt to escape, wewill kill you.But I don't think you will have that opportunity."I get the idea, Alaire thought.The other two guards appeared and directed them to yet another setof tunnels.These, Alaire noted hopefully, tended to angle up.Fresh air was the first sign of liberation, at least so far as being kept underground was concerned.They left the royal "palace" from a completely different exit, this one opening on a small valley, with nosign of the vast plain of granite in sight.The sky was overcast with storm clouds, which was just as well,as his eyes were sensitive to the light.If it rained, it might even give them an informal shower.The Bardhad noticed a ripe smell coming from them both, and a bath of any kind would be likely to help theirmorale.Waiting for them was a crude cage on wheels, made of bars of the same stout timbers as theirunderground cell.The wheels were hewn from a solid piece of wood and mounted on an equally simpleaxle.Alaire groaned, anticipating an extremely bumpy ride.The two Arach-nian drivers, each withoutarmor but still formidable in appearance, instructed them to climb in through a door facing the front of thewagon.Before complying with this last command, Alaire studied the two beasts of burden who would bepulling this monstrosity.Giant rats, similar to a wingrat, but without wings.They were harnessed to thewagon with a crude yoke.Next to the driver's seat was a long pole with a sharp point on the end.To getthe rats moving, Alaire figured.The Arachnians said nothing more as they secured the door, and the driver prodded the beasts infront of them sharply, as anticipated.The wagon lurched forward, and both Alaire and Kai tumbled tothe back of the cage.What might have been Arachnian laughter chittered from the translator, who stoodin the road, watching them pull away."That knot doesn't look too hard to undo," Kai said.The Arachnians had tied the door shut with alength of rope.Alaire considered."They would see us the second we jumped out.I don't think we'd have a chanceto get away."Kai looked grim, and in that moment suddenly seemed ten years older."Besides, there's food and other people where we're going [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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