Moon Crusher by Susan Kite

Author:Susan Kite
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: World Castle Publishing, LLC
Published: 2020-05-05T16:38:38+00:00

Chapter Thirteen

“I’ll take you,” a smaller being with an otter shaped head and sleek fur told him. His guide headed down the corridor at a brisk walk. He looked behind to make sure Diego was following him. “You certainly let Jesk have a taste of his own medicine.” The speech had a slight lisping quality that Diego had to listen to intently in order to understand.

“He does that to everyone?”

“No, unless they do something to annoy him.” That statement was followed by breathy laughter.

Diego instantly liked this bouncy, exuberant creature. “Who are you?”

“Bress. You are the one that was demoted, aren’t you?”

“Yes. I was a squire.”

“I’m sorry, but Commander Ziron must have liked you a little.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he didn’t kill you outright.”

“He’s killed squires before?”

“In his younger days, he killed sub-commanders he thought were not good enough. What’s a squire compared to a commander?”

Diego shook his head. He didn’t really understand it either. Again, he wondered about the treaty. If Ziron wanted to seal a treaty or partnership with the Koressians, why hadn’t the commander handed him over and been done with it?

Bress took him through several hatches, up a ladder and down a large corridor to a dim eating area. The aromas that wafted from the kitchen were not as enticing as what he had smelled in the squires’ mess, but his stomach still growled. That Koressian meal was the last he had eaten, and it had been a while since that one.

Bress pointed toward the eating utensils, and Diego grabbed a bowl and spoon. As usual, they had the local equivalent of corn porridge that he had been accustomed to eating back on the rancho. He added fruit and sweetener and headed toward an empty table.

“No, over there,” Bress pointed out. There were several others like the little otter-man at a table on the other side of the room.

“You sure they won’t mind?”

“Oh, no. My brothers and sisters would love to meet you.”

“They are your family?”

“Big family!” Bress boasted. “Mother is very hardy.”

“So you were captured as a family? At the same time?”

“No, born on the ship. I am from the next to last litter.”

So Bress’s kind procreated like cats or dogs. “How many are in your family?” Diego asked, his curiosity piqued.

Bress’s brow furrowed. “Have to think.”

“And aren’t you going to have breakfast?”

“Oh, yes! Almost forgot.” Bress dashed back to the serving line, grabbed a bowl, and had the server pour some kind of soup into it. Diego could have sworn he saw a fish head in the mixture.

“Two hundred eighty four.”

“Two hundred eighty four what?” Diego asked, still wondering what his new friend had in his bowl. “Oh! That’s how many are in your family?”

“Yes!” Bress crowed, puffing out his chest.

Diego could understand why Bress was in the communal sleeping room with a family that large. He could also see how a master would love to capture a pair like Bress’s mother and father. Slaves without effort. The members of Bress’s family who were in the eating room gazed at him, twenty-two pairs of dark eyes staring intently at him.

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