Chapter 26
The iron grip the six-foot Mantid had on Mia’s arm was on the brink of pain. The Mantid’s prayer-like foreleg felt like giant steel scissors wrapped about her biceps, ready to sever her arm like pruning shears on a small twig. She was afraid to move even the slightest amount.
Xyledes confronted the guard who had subdued Carameth. "Not the elf! Guard. Release him. Escort Prince Carameth to our guest suite. Give him anything he wants except for their release." She motioned toward Finnegaff, Mia and Romessee. "Remove them from my sight! The rest of you, get out of here!" She waved a foreleg at the audience. She stormed off in a huff, after the fashion that Mantids huff, Riccid trailing.
"Mother!" Riccid demanded. "I'm not going to be the representative? Why?"
"Shut up, Riccid!" Xyledes continued to storm off. She did not even face her child when she retaliated.
"You promised, mother!" Riccid struck back. "You said..." They certainly had the undivided attention of their guests. All present watched in silence.
"Shut up, Riccid!" Xyledes yelled. "You and I will speak now." They yelled at each other at the same time as they stomped down the large corridor that led to Xyledes' chamber.
"...That I could go and you let her push you around! I can't believe you, mother..."
"...In my chambers. You don't talk to me that way! I am not only your mother. I'm you're queen! And...."
"...You're the queen! Tell her she has to do what you say or you'll kill the Centaur and the Fairy..."
"...You are under my authority for both! If you are to some day heir the throne, you need to...no! You know we don't kill without good reason..."
"...If they don't mind you! I am going! I am! And...it is a good reason..."
The Great Queen Xyledes would someday die. The crown of Mantadia would then pass to the arrogant, spoiled Princess Riccid. For reason unknown, Mia knew that she needed to bear witness to this confrontation and let it burn into her memory forever. She had paid close attention as the royal family departed, and was unable to take her eyes from them until they exited through the doorway to the queen's chambers.
"I'm disappointed," Finnegaff said as the queen disappeared with the princess, "that we have to forgo the honor to the great Mantadian tradition of having..." He was cut off in mid sentence when a guard ushered him along.
Mia and the others were also shaken back to reality as the arresting guards showed the way out of the palace, if not a bit roughly. They did not disarm the three; they knew better than to try to take a wizard's staff from its owner. Mantids were very strong for their size, five times the strength of a strong man. The guards half carried their captives across the gardens of the palace, down into a large hole in the ground- it was not much more than that, a hole in the ground, but big enough for a good sized wagon to pass through- hidden in a mass of dense rain forest undergrowth. Downward they went into the cave, a naturally formed cavern that was lined with caged cutouts in the light brown sandstone that acted as prison cells. The oval cavern had a slow natural stream flowing through it, shallow, three feet wide, little more than a coating of water. More water trickled from the sandstone walls of the prison as it leaked through the porous stone of the entire dungeon. The evaporation of the water caused a cooling effect, humidifying the mildewed air. There were so many trickles of water running in the natural cave that the floor was entirely wet.
Several Mantids were posted to the prison. Wardens, jailers. It was not until the Mantid guards squealed the steel-barred door of the cell closed that Finnegaff, Mia and Romessee realized that Strongwind and Belemeriath had been imprisoned in the adjoining cell. The same bars that formed the jail door separated the two sets of prisoners, and they could see each other dimly. It took some time for their eyes to adjust, for indeed the few torches offered little light.
Belemeriath sat upon Strongwind's back cross-legged with hands behind, holding him in a reclined position. He sprang to his feet and took to flight to the bars separating the two cells. "I can get out any time I want!" he said. He flew to Finnegaff. "I can pick these locks easy!"
"No, no," Finnegaff held up a hand palm out. "We'll be getting out soon."
It was the first time since they had arrived in Rass that Mia felt she could speak her mind. "What is the matter with that stupid insect?!" she threw her arms into the air. "What a bunch of crap! 'I'm the chief advisor to the Wizard's Council!' "She positioned her arms as a dog does when begging and buzzed the words through her teeth in mock of Mantid speech." 'Alas! I don't interfere with Saa!' Right!" Romessee was laughing at her. Mia had not intended her impersonation to be a humorous one. "Did you hear her? She called me an incompetent human!"
"No," corrected Finnegaff. "She called you an ignorant human!"
"Whatever!" Mia held her arms out with palms up. She dropped them. "We better be out of here soon!" She looked to the old wizard. "So how long do you think?"
"Not long." Finnegaff sat on the bench that ran the length of the rocky back wall. He lit his pipe with a stick he had snapped from the so-called furniture.
"Right. Not long. But how do you know?" she spat. “What’s 'not long’ mean to someone who’s over three thousand years old, anyway? Twenty years?!”
Romessee laughed at her again. Mia glared at her. “I'm sorry,” Romessee said, a hand covering her smile.
"I am certain because I know Queen Xyledes. She won't interfere with the Carrying. And she knows all about the rules that Saa mandates.” Finnegaff was really irritating Mia. He was entirely too relaxed for her mood.
"Might she, yet she be Mantid none the less," Strongwind sneered, shaking a fist. He clenched his teeth. "They be vile creatures without heart."
"At least we'll get some good sleep tonight." Finnegaff leaned back on the bench.
"Yes, that's true," Romessee said. "As another stands guard."
"What do you mean, good sleep?!" Mia said. "We're in jail, you guys! Man! That queen is totally jacked!" Finnegaff gave her the look he reserved for her when she used outworlder slang that he didn't understand. "You know what I mean! Jacked!" she shook her head and snorted, then dropped onto a stone bench. Her face met her hands. "I’m sorry, you guys,” she said without looking up. “She really ticked me off!"
"She has that effect on all of us, dear," Finnegaff smiled. "You got a good lesson about the nature of the great Queen Xyledes."
"She sure thinks she's great!" Romessee volunteered.
"In all actuality," Finnegaff tightened his lips, "she is."
"There be not great Mantids!" Strongwind cursed the race. "They all be despicable and..."
"I wouldn't be so hasty, friend manhorse. We're soon gonna keep company with one for a considerable amount of time." The reclined Finnegaff pulled his hat over his eyes and puffed gently on his pipe.
"I shall do me duty to Saa, and no more!" Strongwind humbled his attitude but a little. He abruptly turned his head to the door of his cell. He caught the slight movement of the torch-lit face of a little Mantid jailer that had been listening in on their conversation. Mia followed his startled gaze, then in turn stared at the eavesdropper. Something looked different about her, something physical that she could not place. The Mantid just stood there, unresponsive to the attention she had drawn from the prisoners.
Mia strode to the front of the cell. "What do you want?"
The Mantid emitted chirping sounds, pitiful little peeps. Finnegaff had silently come up behind Mia. He placed a hand on her shoulder. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. Even the whispers echoed. "She's crying,” he said. Only the drip, drip, drip of water could be heard with the small Mantid's chirping. "It's the way Mantids express their sorrow."
Mia’s heart went out to the creature. Indeed, it was a most pitiful sound. She grasped the jail bars in her hands. "What's wrong, dear?"
The Mantid chirped a few more times before turning her bulging eyes to Strongwind. "Not all Mantids are haters of Centaurs!" She chirped a few short bursts. "I do not hate you for
who you are. I know what it feels like!" Her speech was difficult to understand, as if she spoke with a heavy accent.
Strongwind pointed a finger at the little insect. "You cannot know me humiliation, me dishonor!" He was gruff with her. "If you were to be in me place, you would think not as you do!"
"I am in your place, manhorse!" the Mantid rasped. "I have lived most of my life in this dungeon!"
"You be not behind bars, bulbeyes!" Strongwind gritted his teeth.
"Strongwind, I want to hear this one.” Finnegaff, having returned to his reclined position, pointed with his pipe as he pulled his hat over his face. “What is your name, jailer?"
"I am Zimmictreckt," she swiveled her head slightly.
"Yes. Well, Zimm," Finnegaff shortened the hard to pronounce name, "tell us why you feel like you do."
Zimm was quiet for a moment, and seemed quite emotional, at least in the manner of Mantids."I, too, am different." One had to pay close attention, for her accent was thick. "Not as you, Centaur. Centaurs are many. My kind are few."
"Is it your accent?" Mia guessed. "Are you from some other place?"
"There are no dialects among the Mantids. Dialects happen only in Upper Morrah. And of other races. It is the shape of my head that makes me speak as I do. It's what makes me different."
Mia began to understand. She remembered children in her past that she herself had harassed. One that came to mind was a shy girl with a cleft pallet named Whitney. Whitney was really very nice, very bright, had a good sense of humor, and was an interesting person. Despite this, Mia had taunted her. For years she felt guilt for her inaction, unable to make amends due to pressure peers placed upon her. As she grew older, her taunts to the unfortunate girl metamorphosed into ignorance, Mia's choice being to ignore Whitney's difference for the sake of acceptance in other more popular circles. And even for this Mia felt guilt. "And the other kids teased you," she concluded.
"No...yes," Zimm corrected herself. "Not only the young, but all. My mother would not let me sleep in the same trees as my sisters or eat with them, and I could not go to schools the same time they did."
"All because of the way you talk?"
"Our language is beautiful and flowing." Zimm proclaimed it as a well-known fact. Mia didn't share the glorifying view of the buzzing, rasping sounds of the Mantid race. "I destroy its beauty when I speak. It is dishonor to our kind."
"You are scorned because of harmless differences you have no control of," Romessee said. She was using her talent for 'feeling' others emotions, the gift of Pirasaa. Within herself, she was excited for the opportunity to practice such with a Mantid, a rare opportunity for her. She was encouraged by her success. "It's prejudice and rejection that you feel."
"And more. It's total, and it's lifelong. I'm different, and though my assignment is one that nobody else wants, I at least am still alive. I thank Saa for that."
"Do you know Saa?" Mia said in a rising tone.
"Yes; I know Saa."
"No, I mean do you..."
"Yes, she does," Finnegaff interrupted. "She knows Saa as you mean, dear. Now please let Zimm finish. I think this is kind of important."
"I have a condition called a double clypeus. It's a defect of birth." She touched a fore claw to one of the plates on her head. "It makes my speech wrong. All my life I have been avoided and shunned. Few have anything to do with me. Skallagaff the Sorceress is my friend, and Karthich. Karthich has a double clypeus, too. She guards the door. There." Zimm pointed with her antennae to the doorway where a lone Mantid stood. "She and I are the only ones in Rass like this.
"What has this to do with me?" the Centaur demanded.
Zimm was the more aggressive. "I am as you, manhorse. In my country I am imprisoned for what I am, as you are, not for who I am, but for things that are not of my choice. In most other lands, neither of us are treated like this." She allowed for her last line to absorb into Strongwind. Obvious was his taking of her words from the change of his expression. She was quiet, yet remained confident. "I came over here to see who you are, to learn what you are. What are you called?"
Strongwind looked to the ground, in shame or in thought no one knew, much less he. "I am called Strongwind of Blackmane's Point."
Zimm had years to prepare for this conversation. She held a life-long yearning to find others who were cast out as was she, for the chance to voice her powerful beliefs. "I think that truth is what should win. Do you think that, Strongwind of Blackmane's Point?"
"Yes, it should be so. But it...."
"But it does not, not every time. I think that peace and agreement are fruitful. Do you think this way, Strongwind?"
"Well, of course, but..."
"But we have wars, do we not, Strongwind, which are not agreement, and are not fruitful. Yet that is the way of the races. Is one of your kind born with hair that is light in color an evil? An outcast?"
Blond hair was quite uncommon among the Centaurs. He thought of the nearly white haired Starrelocke. His head shot up and his eyes opened wide. "No! Of course not!"
"I think someone should be judged on what they stand for and what actions they take, not how they appear or sound. Do you not also think this, Strongwind?"
"That is just, Mantid." His hatred, at least for this little Mantid, was receding.
"I think you may be a good and kind being, Strongwind. As am I. I care to not see you as half-horse and half-man. I see a heart that cares, a mind that strives to do right, an honor that serves duty. Is that what you are?"
Strongwind slowly lowered his still clenched fists. "Yes." He nodded his head. "Yes, it be for what I stand."
"As do I, Strongwind. I do not hate you for what you appear to be. I admire you for what you truly are. Here." Zimm reached behind her and produced a half-full burlap sack. "I know how they treat outsiders. I brought you this." She handed the sack to Strongwind, who slowly took it. He opened it, reached inside, and removed fruit and vegetables, some of those he had earlier declared to be his favorites. He was very hungry, as vegetarians his size require a great deal of sustenance. He eyed the contents of the bag suspiciously. "Don't worry,” Zimm said. “I didn't poison it."
"I thought that not!" Strongwind snapped his head erect in protest. He replaced the items to the sack except an apple, which he ate in two bites.
Zimm sat as Mantids do and spoke to Mia. "You are the honored Carrier," she said in a different tone.
"Yes. They call me that," Mia smiled tightly.
"Mantid!" Strongwind called. "I do mean to say, Zimm!" He softened his voice as he lowered his head. "I do thank you for this meal. I be famished!" He looked at the Mantid with grateful eyes. "I do mean to apologize." He lifted his head, jutting his black beard forward in pride. He was a Centaur, after all, and as it was well known, Centaurs are strong in honor and pride. He pointed a finger at Zimm. "But it be not for your condition that I apologize! It be because I do stand on those principles!"
Zimm softly mumbled something. She touched the twig she had been holding to the ground. Mia felt a small, gentle warm rush of Saa overcome her. As the clean power of Saa pinnacled, the Centaur Strongwind shook his head slightly. He probed his inner ear with his right fourth finger, having developed a tickling sensation there, yet knew he not of its true source.
Mia was reminded of her stay at Marigaff's Farm, of when she would practice Saa with other novice wizards. She felt their Saa: bumpy, rough, and often misdirected. Zimm's Saa was smooth, as expertly controlled as any she'd felt before. In her last few days of training at Marigaff's Farm, Mia had learned, by the stern insistence from her mentor, that she must know how to identify to what degree wizards were able to control Saa. What Zimm had exhibited was years past novice. Mia was impressed. "Wow!" she gasped. "That was good! Very good!"
Except for a single small high-pitched chirp, Zimm made not a sound. She stood nearly still, stationary but for her slightly quaking head and the tremble of her left second tarsus. Mia correctly interpreted the noise as Z
imm's attempt to not cry. Her compassionate heart went out to the Mantid, though Mia could not imagine why one would feel sad when invoking Saa. A sudden warm breeze crept through the dungeon. Mia then became aware of the fungal mildewed odors as they were replaced with fresher air. She reached between the jail cell bars and laid a hand upon Zimm's warm, hard shoulder. "What?" she pleaded with genuine concern. "What is it?"
Zimm said nothing at first as she fought away chirps. The oppression had been too much for too long. "I am even shunned for that to which I am most loyal." She chirped a tiny noise.
"Take your time," Mia said, using the line Marigaff had used on her when she had taken turn to have been comforted by a sorceress. Mia's tone changed to sarcasm. "We probably have all night."
Zimm laughed the nervous rapid laughter typical of Mantids. Mia laughed with her, caught in a moment when a reality might require humor to relieve stress, as certainly, Mia had learned, it sometimes does.
Zimm went on. "They do not like me invoking Saa. I get in trouble when they find out, and it all comes from my deformity. Very few are the Mantids born with the gift of Saa, about one every hundred years. It is for this reason that Skallagaff befriends me. Wizards do not oppress Saa in any way. And she graces me by being blind to my deformity."
"That was good, Zimm!" Mia continued her praise. "I mean your invocation. I wish I could be so smooth! You should go to Marigaff's Farm."
"I'm going to!" She brightened.
"When? I mean, you should have been there a long time ago!"
"I know. But I go in two and a half months. One hundred and nine days." Mia noted that she knew exactly how many days she had. She probably knew the exact time as well. "And I will leave and never return. I'm taking Karthich with me, but she's not of age to leave Mantadia on her own consent. That is what I wait for."
“You mean you could already be there, but you’re waiting for Karthich?”
“Yes.”
Mia admired the fierce loyalty in this Mantid. "Does Karthich know Saa?"
"No, she doesn't,” Zimm said, "but she will leave with me. It is worse for her than it is for me."
"Hey," Mia smiled. She lowered her voice to a whisper. "What did you do to Strongwind?"
The little Mantid twittered happily. "I gave him peaceful rest! He, I think, needs it. Today was hard for him." Mia was moved by Zimm's gift to what might, under other conditions, had been her adversary.
Strongwind lay on the stony floor as Centaurs do, half asleep as he finished the last of the groceries given him by Zimm. His head would fall, then he would jerk himself upright to take a bite of a piece of fruit. His chewing would slow down as his head again would nod. Again he would jerk to awake. Mia laughed to herself. He was cute like that, appearing as a huge bearded child trying unsuccessfully to stay awake in a high chair. Finnegaff and Romessee were both sound asleep on benches along the back of the cell. Mia visited with Zimm for a short time but soon Zimm and Karthich had their posts relieved by the next shift of jailers. Mia found a carved out section of rock adjoining a bench that wasn't dripping water. She curled up into it and promptly fell asleep and into a vivid dream.