The Feather on My Scale: Ch 20
Outside in the courtyard, I found Ptolemy with Seth and Wash. Guards were making their way toward us. “What’s going on?” I demanded over the cacophony. Servants rushed in and out looking for fires, moving precious furnishings into safe rooms, and pulling cowering individuals out of other rooms.
“I don’t have a clue, Henu! I’ve never heard these alarms before, even on drills.” Ptolemy shouted to be heard.
“Can we get them to stop?” I asked.
“I don’t even know where to look for these ones. Security called to say they couldn’t find the breaker for it.” He flinched at the crackle of the com on his shoulder. “Speak!” He yelled at the offending machine.
Static and a muffled voice I couldn’t make out chattered at him. Ptolemy turned suddenly to the south end of the building as if to look past it. Staring at the dome panels, he bolted.
“What happened!” I called after him. I couldn’t leave Nebra in this noise. “Come on. Let’s see if we can find you somewhere quieter.”
We worked our way out of the building to be met in the exterior courtyard by our Easimal guests, all similarly confused by the egregious noise. “Sir!” Nour greeted our group. “The Sweeps Alarm! We have to get to the shore. Where are the Mariners stationed?”
I stared at him in bafflement. “Sweeps alarm? Stationed?”
“Yes, sir.” He noted my confusion. “You’ve never heard this alarm?”
I shook my head and forced us to move out of the safety of the compound toward the protected hunting grounds that bordered a private beach. Twelve guards kept pace with us, watching carefully for signs of danger from all sides. No matter the distance, I couldn’t find anywhere that the alarm was quieter. “Can we turn it off? I don’t want this stressing Nebra.” I turned to the guards, hoping at least one of them would have earplugs, but to no avail.
Nour pulled Cortex out of the group and plopped him in front of my concubine. The brunette flicked a questioning glance between all of us before Sanctus laid a hand on bare skin. Raising a questioning brow, Cortex built up a semicircular turquoise shell of fire around Nebra and me. The alarm was still annoying, but the dampened sound made it bearable. My own heart rate finally came down out of my throat. I stared at the man, impressed. “How’d you know that would work?”
“Couple of skirmishes with other groups.”
The guards panicked, drawing swords to point at Cortex.
“Stand down. He will protect my concubine. If you make to attack him, you will threaten both a diplomatic group from Easimal and declare yourself a traitor to the throne!” I was not going to tolerate both noise and knives in the same breath.
I paused, unsure if I wanted to leave Nebra to the Easimal man. Sucking in a breath, I grimaced. “Nour, as the last member of the House of Thoth, can I trust you to protect my family with your life? Protect the High Husband as the keeper of my soul and my concubines?”
The guards, having put away their swords, shifted at this sudden news. I had not taken the time to reveal the last son of the House of Thoth, what would have been the noble equivalent of Adom’s position.
“Not as House of Thoth, but just as one good human to the next,” his smile was disarming and had me wondering about him. Nour pulled his shirt off, the ibis headdress and brand marking him as the top-most ranked individual in that knot of grass save for Wash as High Husband. Swallowing my trepidation, I nodded as Nour explained to his group and they closed rank around my family.
“Your man ran towards the seashore. The Sweeper Alarms are reachable by the Mariners. They know where it is. Find out from them.” Nour pointed me down towards the Bay, a two-mile run from my private beach. I cursed.
Nour turned to Lunam and made a quick succession of demands. Lunam nodded and ran in the other direction toward the stables.
“You can ride, yes?” Nour asked.
“Of course I ride.”
“Then the cursing?”
“Ptolemy is going to break the screws in his leg again running that length on uneven terrain.”
“Can you call him back?”
“No, he took off with the one com. I didn’t have one on me after the evening ceremonies. How did you know those were the Sweeps Alarm? I’ve never heard it before.”
“As a child, I had gone with father to the bayside and a meteorite bombardment pelleted the dome panels. A particularly large one fell close outside the sweeps and raised the water level such that the sweeps malfunctioned and the Mariners had to suit up to fix it.
“I never noticed it.”
“You wouldn’t have, sir. If you’re who I think you are, relative to my age, you were already into your first or second battle out in the mountains. You wouldn’t have been anywhere near the bay when the Sweeps Alarm last went off since I’ve been gone.”
Lunam came back with an alert, but docile enough looking horse. He told me something I couldn’t make out.
“He said this was the only one that looked safe. The rest were too nervous by the noise. Said to have its hearing checked when all is said and done to see if it’s deaf. He didn’t want you trying to get your man back and a skittish prancer bucking him into next week.”
“Tell him thank you,” I cleanly leapt onto the back of the grey gelding. The tack had been expertly assembled, to my honest surprise. Pressing in on the beast’s sides, I encouraged him to get me toward the bay.
Chapel Orahamm (C) 2022-2023. All Rights Reserved.
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