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Mounting the Whale

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Colleen McCarty

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“Thank you." After rounding the couch, the young queen sat her hip on the cushy armrest. Her thoughts went back to the impromptu party in the commissary the night before. “I assume no Mishmorats or Viiduns are missing. Do you know if any real mischief took place last night after we left?” “None you need to worry about,” Ian told her. She could see he was hiding something by the twinkle in his eye. “What happened?” she asked, certain he had a story to tell. “Let’s just say there may be an influx of soldiers visiting your garden.” Her eyes scrunched, unable to guess what he was talking about. “Okay, and why?” Ian’s shoulders jostled with a snicker. “Efren showed off your garden to Kira last night. She discovered the warm pond. You know how your sisters have a fondness for swimming in their underclothes.” “Oh great,” Eena groaned. “But don’t worry about it too much, Queenie, there is a deterrent.” Ian let go a laugh he couldn’t quite stifle. “What deterrent?” she asked, grinning at his amusement. “Shanks likes to swim too.” “Oh?” “Actually, he prefers skinny dipping.” “Ew! Ew, Ian, like I need that image in my head!” (Now you know how I feel on a regular basis,) he said, cracking up. After a moment of grossing out, Eena all but begged Ian, “Please, can we change the subject.”

“You are part of our sisterhood, girl, which means for life. We rely on you, and we need you to rely on us. We’re sisters, trusting in each other always. If I don’t know what’s happening in your life, there’s no way I can help. And if I can’t help, then I’m of no value. Don’t do that to me.”

“I’ve worn Niki’s pants for two days now. I thought a third day in the same clothes might be pushing it.” Ian shrugged with indifference. “It might send Derian through the roof, but it doesn’t bother me. Wear what you want to wear.” Eena wrinkled her nose at him. “Do you really feel that way or are you trying to appear more laissez-faire than Derian?” “More laissez-faire?” “Yes. That’s a real word.” “Two words actually,” he grinned. “Laissez faire et laissez passer, le monde va de lui même!" He coated the words with a heavy French accent. Eena gawked at him. “Since when do you speak French?” “I don’t.” Ian chuckled. “But I did do some research in world history the year I followed you around on Earth. Physics was a joke, but history—that I found fascinating.” Slapping a hand against her chest, Eena exclaimed, “I can’t believe it! Unbeknownst to me, Ian actually studied something in high school other than the library’s collection of sci-fi paperbacks!” He grimaced at her exaggerated performance before defending his preferred choice of reading material. “Hey, popular literature is a valuable and enlightening form of world history. You would know that if you read a book or two.” She ignored his reproach and asked with curiosity, “What exactly did you say?” “In French?” “Duh, yes.” “Don’t ‘duh’ me, you could easily have been referring to my remark about enlightening literature. I know the value of a good book is hard for you to comprehend.” He grinned crookedly at her look of offense and then moved into an English translation of his French quote. “Let it do and let it pass, the world goes on by itself.” “Hmm. And where did that saying come from?” Ian delivered his answer with a surprisingly straight face. “That is what the French Monarch said when his queen began dressing casually. The French revolution started one week following that famous declaration, right after the queen was beheaded by the rest of the aristocracy in her favorite pair of scroungy jeans.” “You are such a brazen-tongued liar!”

“Rescuing Derian would mean suffering the wrath of the immortal governing body. It would mean breaking their abiding rules, facing another trial where her fate would be determined by beings compassionless to the mortal effects of time. It would quite possibly mean a dire sentence for Eena, and worse, the fulfilling of Ascultone’s prediction about her. Even so, there was no way she could abandon Derian, not now that she knew for certain he was alive. She could not turn her back on the man who had sacrificed every bit of his life for her, the man who had done nothing but remain loyal and undaunted in pursuing and protecting her since the day she was born.”

“Nightfall was the best part of everyday life. When the sun began to sink behind a rolling horizon, everything came to a halt. If Ian didn’t ride up the hill with Sevenah and Paka, he would be there waiting when she arrived. There they sat and watched the sunset, a ritual shared faithfully every night, settled side-by-side below the drooping branches of her favorite weeping willow tree. Sometimes they discussed the day. Sometimes they simply stared out at a fiery sky and said nothing at all. Regardless, Ian was always at her side. Always. Except for today. “Where are you, Ian? I could really use you now.”

“It was adrenaline that took over, giving her the ability to continue. Her feet automatically obeyed his command, sprinting ahead despite how bleak their hope of escape appeared. There seemed no logic in believing the hill would offer any protection. Surrender looked like the only realistic hope for survival. Even if it was temporary survival.”

“The instant the rear door slid open, a monstrous-looking furball sprang out and jumped up on the captain’s chest. On hind legs the animal stood near identical to the man’s height. One sniff at the air turned the creature’s attention to Sevenah. The beast went right after her, bounding to the table on lion-like paws. She screamed and scrambled to the top of her chair. The animal had a body shaped something like an earthly buffalo—a bulky chest, heavily-hunched shoulders, a thick neck—but on a smaller scale. The frightened girl screamed again, climbing onto the tabletop just as the hairy creature perched its front paws on her empty chair. It stretched its neck to examine her. With nose in the air, it made a loud, awful howl. “Hhhrrroowwww!” Dark eyes as big as saucers stared up from a face that was nothing but a thick mass of fur. The same long hair draped over the creature’s entire body, patched in browns and ivory with shadows of black and maroon. From the top of its head protruded two tiny horns positioned behind ears that spiked rigid with every curious sound. An oversized mouth spanned the width of its face, baring a lion's share of sharp teeth. The creature howled once again and then scrambled after its target, following her right onto the table.”