Page 39 of The Princesses of Ruin (The Princesses of Ruin #5)

Chapter thirty-six

Reina

T here was no sleep to be had in the ga’hanoi city. Despite the glowing crystal buildings—which are used for communication—calming down significantly at the time the city called tide-rest, it was too alien for either of us to relax. So today, we swim to the open end of the crater weary and drained.

I haven’t seen the sun since we dove off the deck of our ship some thirty hours ago. I’m scared to use my magic in the water. If there isn’t enough for a speedy return journey like Jasper and I agreed on, we’ll be at much greater risk. Unless the ga’hanoi escort us back as well.

Vek’ihr doesn’t come to collect us from the tiny dwelling filled with sand. Instead, the delegate of procreation escorts us with another six I don’t recognize. They all speak their light-color-dance language to one another as we go.

The city empties into the massive arena set up at the edge of the crater. There’s another tunnel that looks much like the one we entered through, except it flows out. I can sense the pull of the water.

Several ga’hanoi move past the opening and…

Take a shit.

It’s their shit hole .

Of course they need a way to expel waste from the city. This is a controlled space and a controlled population. That’s why there’s a delegate of waste, I suppose. I wish I could remember all of them. I’ll need Kazimir to craft me some kind of waterproof paper for note-taking in the future.

The inhabitants of the crater gather in droves, blocking out the quiet city behind us. Nothing flashes or glows. Everyone is still.

Our escort moves into the open space and addresses the masses. The color and light dance is a mystery to me. I lean closer to Jasper.

“Do you know what’s going on?”

“Unfortunately, I’ve only gleaned small things. Certain colors’ meaning, speed of flashing indicating excitement or irritation. Easy things to grasp that I’m sure you have too,” he says.

But I haven’t. I’ve been swept up in what’s happening, worried about what’s going on at home and the dead tired blanketing my weary body. Swimming for hours on end was exhausting, and the small food rations we brought were little help when combined with insomnia.

The ga’hanoi around us glow brightly, most of them a soft pink color, but some of them an off-blue. The delegate of procreation turns and gestures.

Vek’ihr emerges from the crowd with another ga’hanoi.

“What’s happening?”

Jasper’s spines stand straight up. “He’s been sentenced to death for his outburst last night.”

“How do you know?”

“I’m guessing. It’s likely. The way he stood up to the delegate…the way he spoke after. How he distanced himself from the clan.”

“But why?” I ask, fear pumping through my heart .

The ga’hanoi slowly all shift to the soft pink color, and the delegate of procreation leaves the arena.

“You may proceed,” he says, the eerie grind of his voice turning my stomach.

“I’m not killing Vek’ihr,” I say, not sure to whom, but I need to say it out loud. “He’s been our guide, or translator. We need him.”

“He is no longer useful to us,” the delegate says.

Vek’ihr and the other singled-out ga’hanoi move. They grip their protective arms in stronger tentacles and—

Rip them out!

I scream, the sound slow in the heavy water.

Ga’hanoi from the audience come forward and collect the bits they’ve ripped off themselves and push them up under their limbs.

Eating them.

“Vek’ihr, please, there must be some misunderstanding,” I say, swimming forward.

“Do not approach, princess.”

He holds up two of his tentacles, his coloration changing to dark blue like the water behind him. He’s almost invisible.

“We are going to fight for our lives now.”

“No, you won’t.”

I turn to the audience.

“We will not kill him. He is still useful.”

Blips and flashes of light move through the crowd like murmurs. They don’t understand me.

“Vek’ihr, translate please,” I say, looking over my shoulder at the camouflaged creature. The other sentenced has disappeared entirely.

Jasper stays close to me, his pupils dilated as his gaze darts around the water behind me. Tracking the other ga’hanoi, maybe? It doesn’t matter.

“Vek’ihr is useful to me. If you want an alliance with the people of Fynren, he will not be killed,” I say, looking between him and the delegate of procreation, who is still and dark.

“He understands,” Jasper says. “He just refuses to change his mind.”

“The Conclave of the Currents has held the vote with the city. The majority has agreed,” Vek’ihr says.

Something grips my wrist and suddenly the water explodes beside me.

Jasper is in his massive octopus form and the other ga’hanoi yanks on my arm, hard.

I yelp, pulling on my wrist. Jasper grapples the ga’hanoi by the legs in one limb, and another squeezes its body cavity.

The creature reaches for me with all its might, eyes pleading. Sunlight. Show me sunlight, they beg.

I let my skin glow, heating the water around us. The ga’hanoi goes limp in Jasper’s grasp all at once, and he rips them in half.

The audience glows and flashes. I can’t tell if it’s approval or disdain, but I don’t feel good about what just happened. Jasper reacted to protect me, but it makes me sick.

I look at the delegate of procreation. “No more.”

The space is quiet and dark again.

“Vek’ihr, come to my side,” I say.

“I cannot,” he says. “I have been deemed unworthy.”

“And that’s a lie!”

My skin glows and the ga’hanoi shimmer in response. They move closer, their large eyes trained on me. Jasper wraps a limb around me and pulls me into him. He’s probably trying to tell me to shut up. Bastard. I will not shut up.

“I don’t care what you think he’s done wrong, or why he deserves to die. His usefulness to you, or lack thereof, does not mean you can kill him,” I say, looking directly at the delegate of procreation .

“You would deny our authority in our city?” he asks, his skin illuminating with zips of red.

Red like last night when he was angry with Vek’ihr.

“I know I’ve overstepped, but for Zephrom’s sake, how is this just? Murdering because someone ceases to be useful…it’s barbaric!”

“Princess.” Vek’ihr clicks like he’s tsking at me. “I questioned his judgement. I fought the rule of our law. I overstepped . And I have done it many times. My excuse of youth is well expended now that I am four tide-cycles. My death is deserved.”

I shake my head. “No. We wouldn’t kill someone for questioning the law. It’s not right. It’s too cruel. I refuse to kill you, Vek’ihr. And anyone who tries to harm you will have to face me.”

Jasper’s grip on me tightens, and this time he does cover my mouth.

Too late. It’s been said, and I mean it.

The delegate of procreation gestures wildly to the others, and a ripple of color bursts through the crowd. Most of it is somewhere from blue to purple. Some is pink and orange.

Ten are bright red. They swim forward and Jasper surges away. He wraps Vek’ihr in his grasp and we move close to the exit—the shit hole.

“We mustn’t go this way. It is as good as death,” Vek’ihr says.

I pull Jasper’s rubbery limb off my mouth. “What else can we do? I won’t let them have you.”

Vek’ihr pulses with light, and the advancing ga’hanoi halt in their tracks, their colors blurring into off-greens and pinks.

“You are risking your chances of cooperation for the thing you need, most desperately, for my life. I don’t understand.”

“Jasper would say I’m being a heroic idiot. I think I’m being fair.”

The confused ten up front turn and gesture to the crowd. Another ripple of confusion moves through them en masse. The delegates put themselves in front and begin communicating a rapid message.

An argument ensues, one that gets brighter with every passing moment.

“Vek’ihr, what’s happening?”

“They are demanding answers. Why is my life valued by you? The delegates refuse to give them one.”

“How do they not know?”

“My people do not understand the customs of yours. Valuing life beyond its use is unheard of.”

The crowd gets rowdy, puffing themselves up as I saw the procreation delegate do last night. They move, herding the delegates, and anyone on that side of the argument, closer to us.

“Fascinating. You seem to have upended the government,” Vek’ihr says with a bit of whimsy. “They are asking you to kill the leaders.”

“What?” My voice is sharp and shrill.

“We are bound by the pact of our forefathers, the broodmasters who forced every lineage into magical servitude. We cannot kill or maim one another—except when the majority agrees it is for the best of the community. They are a few short of a majority, but if you kill some, they’ll have a quorum.”

My blood is hot, pumping furiously through my veins. “I did not come here to cause an uprising. I can’t kill them!”

Jasper’s snatches the delegate of procreation in two limbs and tears him in half as easily as shredding a piece of paper. I gasp, the water heavy in my mouth. He does it again, and again, collecting whichever red ga’hanoi get too close .

Several in the group see this happen, change colors, and move into the larger crowd of blue and green.

“Jasper, stop!”

I heat my hands to painful levels, but he doesn’t let me go. He grabs one more and pulls it apart. The water around us is thick with purple blood. It tastes bitter and burns my clear third eyelid.

The majority swarm upon the remaining delegates and a brutal tug of war begins. Limbs are ripped, bodies split, blood seeps. A magical glow encircles the mass as they murder the delegates of their government, and then all at once, it fizzles out and disappears.

Vek’ihr pulses and glows beside me. Flashes of replies come from beyond the carnage. The water is so clouded from the obliteration of the delegates, it’s unclear how many of the ga’hanoi are left. There’d been several hundred, maybe even a thousand, in attendance to watch this execution.

More replies become visible as the sundered water is sucked through the tunnel out of the arena. Eventually, the area is clear, and the victors remain. Many of them have been seriously maimed, but several hundred are still in good condition.

Realization hits me all at once that Vek’ihr is the only way we can communicate with the ga’hanoi.

My heart thunders in anticipation and fear.

Their government has just been shredded before our very eyes, and nothing is certain.

The unknown looms before us, and we are out of our depth, depending on a creature we’ve only made a tentative acquaintance with.

A massive string of light in my periphery draws my gaze. The crystal dome that protects the city comes alive with color in a rippling wave as something swims overhead.

Something huge.