The wind was gentle tonight, and carried the scents of fresh water and flowers– the bright pink flowers that pleased Aterat. Azaleas. It was not the season for those blossoms now, but Aterat was not one to wait when there was something she wanted, so Tsu Lai had erected a glass house to grow them in, so that her garden always had a few of these shrubs in bloom. Tsu Lai sighed, a faint hint of a smile settling on his long, oval face. Those flowers suited her, no matter how he thought about it. The thinking-of-home bush. Bright and beautiful and deadly toxic, the little flowers craved warmth but thrived best in shadows.
Tsu Lai followed the winding garden path to the small pond, slipped his shoes off, and sat on the grass at the edge, letting his feet dip into the cool water. He tilted his head back and gazed up at the stars, his smooth, straight, knee-length black hair splayed on the grass behind him. He remembered the stars as they had been, when all of them were visible. Those days were long past. Even here, hours away from the nearest city, he couldn’t see them all. The lights from Aterat’s compound shone just brightly enough that only the strongest stars would dare show themselves.
He was just starting to fall asleep in his tranquil meditations on the brightness of stars when his heart suddenly began to beat faster. Something has excited her, he thought as he observed the surge of adrenaline racing through his veins, causing a nervous energy to build in his stomach. He sighed and glanced back toward the main house, waiting to see if she would need him.
And there it was. The little tug in his chest, the instinctive desire to go to her.
Tsu Lai slowly stood up and brushed the grass from the backs of his long legs and the ends of his hair, then took his time pulling his shoes back onto his feet. It was interesting, he thought, how strongly his soul felt the need to go now. He often hesitated like this, testing the limits of his obedience, not out of any kind of rebellion, but simply to taste the thrill it gave him deep inside, and to see how strong he was. The longer he took in coming to her, the more intensely he felt the pull, until he felt he couldn’t control himself anymore and he wanted to break into a run. He had done that once. He’d waited until he could no longer hold himself back and then had sprinted to her side. Aterat had been disgusted with him and had told him that he looked ridiculous, flushed and out of breath as he was. Since then he’d not pushed himself quite that hard.
Tonight he restrained himself only a little. He took slow, smooth steps, but because of his height his stride was still so long that he moved more quickly than most men would at that pace. He didn’t allow himself to cut across the grassy lawns and flowerbeds, but instead forced himself to follow the lazy trail of stone pavers that meandered through Aterat’s garden. He paused to wipe the dirt and grass from his garden slippers before he entered the sun-room, then stopped again to exchange them for the soft shoes that Aterat preferred he wear when in the main house. He calmly made his way through the corridors that led to her private study, where he instinctively knew her to be. When he arrived at the door, he knocked and waited for her to respond before he quietly entered the room.
Aterat was at her desk, her petite frame sitting perfectly straight as always, her hands clasped atop the polished wood desktop. She was smiling, a smug look of victory glistening in her large brown eyes. She was magnificent and glorious– Tsu Lai could feel the power radiating from her. He bowed briefly and moved to her side.
"I have him," she declared triumphantly. "That cave troll he’s bound himself to has allowed herself to be weakened and exposed at a time when I am in full power and he is not even here!"
This was good news. Tsu Lai allowed the shadow of a smile to ripple across his placid features. Perhaps now this fight will finally come to an end, he thought to himself.
"The brainless oaf managed to get her name mentioned on a police report, of all things!"
He knelt beside her chair, almost bringing himself down to her eye level. "What will you have me do?" he asked softly.
"I want him destroyed," she replied. She handed him a piece of paper with an address on it. "Go. Kill the troll. Then return immediately."
Tsu Lai closed his eyes and bowed his head, clutching the paper to his chest. "As you wish," he whispered, then he stood and quietly left the room.
No comments:
Post a Comment