Perpetual Winter

CHAPTER THREE-2

I reached deep inside my consciousness and felt for the colony at the edge of the Outer. The fingers of my right hand edged nearer my left arm. “Help me, Sonora!” my inner voice called. Doubt burgeoned at the queen’s resistance. My skin prickled and the fine hairs on my arms rose as the hive repelled my distress signal, deflecting it and letting it drift into a whisper. A strange dizziness assailed my head and I reeled. My fingers grabbed my wrist instead of the soft skin of my elbow. Panic set in as the gap between worlds widened and the thin thread which bound me to the hive twisted out of reach.

With a valiant effort, I dug my index finger into the crook of my arm. Detaching my mind from the Outer, I left my body standing. It took greater concentration not to appear absent and I fixed a wooden smile on my lips. Kuiti argued with the negotiator, their voices a distant, rumbling echo. He didn’t notice my fingers gripping the flesh beneath my puffed sleeve.

As if an unseen hand had snatched me, my consciousness hovered between worlds in a darkness which tugged at the fringes of my resolve. I sought the hive’s soft glow and the hum of its activity and its resistance weakened. Darker than usual and much quieter, it radiated the same peculiar sense of unease. A sharp pinch to my thigh forced me back into my body with a jolt, a muted squeal issuing from my lips.

Bliss glared a warning. “Don’t!” she hissed. The men’s heated dispute covered her caution.

I swallowed, shock and dismay conveyed in the expression of surprise which swept across my face. She’d spent a lifetime mocking my fascination with the hive, but the apprehension in her eyes betrayed her belief. She knew everything. I shook myself free and took a step back, confusion striking me dumb. The hive slipped away from the delicate tendrils of my mind and I swallowed. Exhaustion attacked the muscles in my legs and I faltered. Accessing the hive had never been this difficult. I doubted I could summon the energy for another attempt.

Kuiti debated my worth as though arguing over a sack of flour. He seemed determined to convey me to his battleship with immediate effect but wanted compensation for not disclosing the location of the island. The sea licked the rocks below our path, singing its familiar song. For once, it brought no comfort. Beneath the gentle, regular lapping of the water, I sensed the vibration of the turbines which fuelled the palace kitchen. Steam pillared in a jet of white from the chimney and my desire to escape the men grew more pressing. Their turbulent arguing churned my stomach and a sense of nausea rose into my chest. It felt as though everything was ruined, innocence stripped from the cornflower blue sky like a blanket lifted out of my reach.

Catching up my skirts, I turned. Bliss snatched for me again and I sent her such a look of displeasure, she recoiled. “Debate as you wish,” I said to the men. “You’ll find me in my chamber when you’re finished discussing ownership of my person.” Bliss took a step towards me and I jerked away, anger budding at her betrayal. “Never speak to me again,” I hissed, forcing inflection into my voice. She had known this day approached and done nothing to help me.

Kuiti’s arm shot out and strong fingers clamped around my wrist. My skin paled beneath his grip. I tugged but couldn’t free it. My lips parted to unleash a string of vitriolic protests but he dragged me towards him, his chest hard and unyielding against the softness of my cheek. “Silence,” he growled, fixing his other hand around the back of my neck. “Or I will throw you to the underwater beasties.” He returned to his debate and ignored me, his fingers digging a welt into my tender skin. The unexpectedness of my situation forced itself home as I listened to his words. He was leaving on the next high tide and taking me with him.

A distant movement caught my attention as Kuiti’s grip pinned me to his side. A flash of yellow flared in my peripheral vision and I searched harder for its source. I scoured the area to the right of the path, narrowing my eyes to distinguish between the lime green foliage and the mixture of other forest colours. Keeping my head lowered in feigned deference to Kuiti as he bartered my value against gold coins, I tracked another flash of movement from beneath my lashes. A tantalising spark of yellow moved and then rested. Moved and then rested. It crept closer and I allowed myself a flicker of hope.

A man’s face became discernible through the camouflage of late daffodils and undergrowth. My breath caught in my chest with a burst of victory. He wore the black and yellow uniform of my guards and I watched as he halted his steady crawl towards the path. When he peered beneath the fronds of a fern, I inwardly rejoiced. His presence promised rescue. He’d changed his mind and jubilation budded in my chest.

His face proved as familiar as a painting on the palace wall. He’d rescued me from many foolish scrapes and I knew his look of disdain well. Muscular and capable, he’d pulled me from a disused well after a misspent afternoon before his last absence. Chastising me for my stupidity, he’d hauled me from the drain and berated me the entire ride home. Sinews bulged in his forearms as he held me tight, my soaked dress flapping around his boots and the legs of his horse. The bruises from his coarse leather gloves marked my wrists for ages, but he’d averted danger as always. “How many more times will you make the same mistakes?” he’d growled.

I’d leaned against him with the motion of his horse and smirked, unable to think of a smart retort. But I’d got a reaction from him and considered my mission a success, bruises and all. Boredom meant my exploits knew no boundaries. The constant need burned within me to take risks. I’d broken my arm the previous time. But death held no dread in my quest for admittance to the hive. Yet nothing I tried proved effective. I could not shift into Bee-form. Not then. And not now, when I really needed the gift of shifting.

I swallowed and whispered the childhood mantra taught to me by my mother. “Fly higher, fall faster, test your limits.” My lips moved without a sound, but Kuiti stiffened.

“What did you say?” he barked. “Who do you whisper to, girl?” Suspicion back-lit his eyes. His grip revolted me as he flexed his fingers around my forearm. He dared to squash my face into his armoured breast plate and I wriggled to break free. A spiteful jab in the ribs from his finger made me gasp. “Stand still!” Kuiti growled beneath his breath. “If you show signs of transforming into one of those awful, mythical Bee-creatures, I’ll kill you before you’ve finished.”

I exhaled at the irony of his words. Superstition made him wary of me, even though I only dreamed of achieving what he accused. “They don’t exist,” I retorted. “I have never seen one.” I narrowed my eyes and it seemed he believed me. The truth struck me hard in the stomach. I wanted something that didn’t exist. I’d never seen one. Kuiti returned to his debate over my worth.

“She’s no longer for sale. I think.” The negotiator lurched for my arm with a half-hearted effort, his pupils still dilated with the remnants of lust. He shook his head from side to side as it wore off, leaving him confused with the argument. “Is she? Perhaps she is.”

“I’m taking her today,” Kuiti maintained. “I’ll give whatever you ask in return.”

The Melitto negotiator shucked the effect of the pheromones with more ease than the Forlornn Men and his former mission revived. Unfortunately for me. “Yes, that’s a splendid idea,” he concluded, rubbing his eyes. “The strange weather approaches and the channel will become impassable after today.” He glanced back towards the dome of the palace turrets. “Her possessions are packed and ready to sail.”

My gaze tracked to my bodyguard in the undergrowth. I held my breath and waited. I’d seen him spar, sneaking onto the roof garden to watch him train the spindly palace boys. He’d make a decent single-handed match for Kuiti’s armed company. My lips pursed with expectation as he crawled closer.

“Woman, I asked you a question!” Kuiti gave my hair a rough tug and I gasped in shock. He leaned sideways to follow my gaze and I panicked, forcing myself to switch it to stare at his men as though enraptured. They studied me in return, a sea of brown and hazel irises. Kuiti’s brow narrowed as jealousy spread its vibrant green hue through his soul. His upper lip twitched as the nearest guard’s fingers fluttered as though he wished to touch the delicate silk of my sleeve. Kuiti snorted and dragged me across his body to the other side. My feet stumbled over one another. He postured, slipping one hand around my slender waist. The bodice buckled against his grip and pinched my flesh. Kuiti puffed out his chest, resembling one of the cawing black hawks which circled the island. Leaning sideways to whisper in my ear, his breath tickled my neck and made my flesh crawl. “Keep your eyes and your devotion on me,” he warned.

Kuiti’s personal guard kept his gaze on my face as his prince concluded negotiations with Father’s young negotiator. My heart sank as I learnt my true value in foodstuffs and metal weaponry during the last of the exchange. Bliss remained silent, keeping her head bowed in deference, though her fingers writhed in front of her apron. Kuiti released my waist as he relaxed and I edged nearer my nurse. “Who is this prince?” I whispered. “Why is he taking me?”

Bliss swallowed and shot a covert look at Kuiti’s personal guard. His dark eyes never left my face and he showed no sign of suffering from the bewitching pheromones. “Hush,” Bliss replied. “Or they will kill us.” The guard c****d his head as though trying to lip read and I covered my mouth with my hand.

“But why must I leave? This isn’t fair.”

“The Forlornn Men have allied with the Melitto Clan.” Bliss pursed her lips and her eyes widened in warning. “You are the price of peace.”

I jerked my head back as though struck. I’d heard of the realm of Forlornn from the palace boys. They told stories of wars and round castle turrets, though none had ever visited the strange land. It sounded like a dark, miserable kingdom where the subjects strived for their own satisfaction and cared nothing for the natural world. I didn’t want to journey there, least of all with its foolish prince.

My gaze strayed back to my bodyguard, seeking comfort in his dark irises through the shroud of the undergrowth. He watched from a position on his belly, his gaze attentive and his body stiff and poised. I screwed up my face in a silent plea for aid. For the first time in my life, I wished I’d learned his name. His constant presence fuelled irritation in the past where now it promised hope. I could count on one hand the number of times he’d spoken to me, filing away the rare sound of his voice in my memory. A hawk cackled from the sky overhead and the Forlornn Men started.

“Help me,” I mouthed, using their distraction to communicate with my bodyguard. He held my gaze and gave an urgent shake of his head. The slow denial filtered through my brain and turned my legs to a jumble of trembling bones. My fingers curled into fists. He couldn’t mean that. He couldn’t mean he wouldn’t help me. I’d misunderstood.