Ignotus by Kevin Hardman

Author:Kevin Hardman [Hardman, Kevin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781937666491
Publisher: I&H Recherche Publishing
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 55

There was stunned silence for a moment (aside from Erlen softly growling), and then Maker practically shouted, “What?”

“The female is mine,” the grizzly-pede continued. “She was a fracg’l in my household before running away two weeks ago.”

“Fracg’l?” Browing repeated in a hushed tone to Skullcap, seeming to get the pronunciation correct.

“A pet,” the Vacran explained.

“Are you kidding?” Maker uttered.

“Unfortunately, no,” Skullcap replied, then turned his attention back to the grizzly-pede. “Great Xnjda–”

“Kpntel,” it interjected. “You may address me as Kpntel.”

“Thank you, great Kpntel,” Skullcap said. “With all due respect, I think you must be mistaken. This female and her male counterparts are my traveling companions. They are neither pets nor property.”

“Then I would counter that they must not have journeyed with you for long,” Kpntel stated, “for she only recently ran off.”

“I appreciate your position,” Skullcap retorted, “but – while it distresses me to do so – I must ask if you have proof of ownership?”

Kpntel nodded at one of his fellows standing to the side of Maker’s group, who stepped forward and pointed some type of device in their direction. Maker’s initial fear that it was a weapon vanished as the object suddenly broadcast a broad beam of bright light that immediately crystallized into an image.

Hologram projector, Maker realized.

The image it showed was of a young woman – obviously human – dressed in drab clothing and sitting at the feet of Kpntel. (At least, Maker presumed it was Kpntel in the hologram, but truth be told he wasn’t sure he could tell one member of the species from another.) The grizzly-pede was stroking the woman’s hair, essentially petting her.

Maker felt himself growing angry as he watched the scene. The notion of human beings as pets was something he hadn’t really considered before, and the thought of it disgusted him.

“That’s not Diviana,” Browing whispered to Skullcap. “They look nothing alike.”

It was indeed a true statement. They both had dark hair, but that was about the extent to which Diviana and the woman in the hologram were similar. For instance, whereas Diviana was exotically beautiful, the woman being shown was incredibly plain.

“You need to understand,” Skullcap explained. “To most other species, all humans look alike.”

Maker was rather taken aback by this, but didn’t have time to comment as Kpntel started speaking.

“As you can see,” the grizzly-pede said, pointing to the hologram, “the female is a fracg’l that belongs to me. Moreover, they are rare creatures, so it is unlikely that this one” – he gestured towards Diviana – “is not the one I owned. Moreover, she is half of a breeding pair, whose offspring command enormous prices.”

Maker’s eyes went wide at Kpntel’s last statement; it was all he could do not to have Erlen cough up the gun again so he could shoot the grizzly-pede dead. More to the point, it was looking like things might head in that direction anyway, as some of Kpntel’s cohorts were now holding daggers of some sort, and Maker – still holding the tracker

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