Twisted Monarch by Athene Z. Adam

Author:Athene Z. Adam
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Athene Z. Adam Publishing Inc.
Published: 2023-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

10 Hunting

482 Years After Arrival

Thud.

Dazed, Sergen rubbed his forehead where he had hit the ceiling, and tried to comprehend his surroundings. He had gone to bed early the night before, after returning from a four-day journey to Caalor. Although it had been a much-needed trip where he could distract himself with work and time spent gardening in his greenhouse, he had been itching to get back and make it up with Elestria. He’d already apologized, and now he wanted to make sure they were still friends. He also hoped she would have another message from Arina.

The stable wasn’t completely dark, due to the lanterns he kept in the corners so he didn’t blindly tumble out of the loft. He rubbed his eyes and craned his neck to see through the horizontal planks to the floor below.

Too far. He’d have to get up to see what had interrupted his slumber. Sergen half-rolled off his mattress, crawled the small distance along the floor, and snuck a peek through the planks. His loft was hidden from anyone below except for the veeloxes, who had good night vision.

All was quiet. Most of the veeloxes were asleep, except for one near the door that had his head down, exploring his pen. Another veelox on the opposite side was idly observing his mate and young offspring. They were curled up, asleep, on the floor.

What does one do with the curse of Antisension? Sergen thought for the thousandth time, as the mother veelox stirred in her sleep. Nothing. Night turns to day, day to night. All I do is sleep. Waking up is the one constant I can rely on to tell me that I’m still alive. That, and that dumb ceiling. And how do I get back to sleep?

He heard but didn’t register right away the quick, singsong melody of a syottling bird. Sergen had set up this distress signal in the stables. It meant that one of his allies in Mesidus was calling him because they needed his help.

Grabbing the ledge, he climbed down his ladder to ground level. He hadn’t been able to see all the nooks from his high loft. He checked the shadows and determined that he was alone with the veeloxes. Directly below his loft, there was a door with a reinforced window leading to the adjacent stable. Collecting a lantern from the corner, he went through two stables until he was in the chicken coop. The glitter of their colourful feathers was muted in the dark, and some of the fowls clucked in annoyance at the intrusion. Sergen entered the storage room. A line of tools hung on one wall, and he retrieved a slotted screwdriver. Using the blade, he loosened a panel in the wall opposite the door. He pushed the panel back, slid through the narrow opening, and set it back in place.

He was in a narrow closet. He lifted a trap door, revealing a set of stairs that led to a tunnel below. Sergen hung the screwdriver from his belt loop and descended.

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