Skull Dansuer: Chapter 6

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“If you aren’t gonna work, get out. Don’t come back!” Vessa hissed at Farrow as she yanked away the bowl in front of Rowan.

I scrambled to my feet, heart racing in fear at dealing with a confrontation. Rowan sighed, like he was used to it. Farrow regarded Vessa with an unamused frown.

“Sit down, Tanywyn. No need to light the place on fire.” Rowan chewed on his last bite of food while regarding the furious woman. Her gaze swung to me and sallowed at the blue drops falling from my fingers to fizzle in the straw. Farrow shrugged and rose, dropping his apron and towel on the table.

“It’s not worth the fight, Rowan. Come on. Sick of this dump anyway. Can’t keep the skivvers out of the backroom.” He said the last part loud enough to alert the patrons who were watching the confrontation. Some pushed their plates away. I guess rats in the kitchen were a universal issue.

“Get out before you burn us to death, Yuvat!” Vessa pointed me to the door.

Farrow clapped a hand on my shoulder and steered me out with Rowan following on his heels. With the door closed behind us, we were confronted with the night and a neon-colored dark sky pinpricked with angry red dots.

“Sorry about that, Farrow. Figured I’d been able to eat there enough times that I was accepted. Looks like she finally just snapped.”

The redhead shrugged, a smile broad on his lips. “Nothing to apologize for, Rowan. Her husband left her this morning for a young slip in the next village. He’s the only thing that kept her from tossing you out to begin with. He liked Rugoshi folk. Said they were just like any other and coin was the same coming from your palm as the next guy.”

“Thanks,” Rowan gave a sheepish, lopsided smile, but it didn’t touch his eyes.

“Sorry about her,” Farrow turned to me. “Calling you that was uncalled for.”

“A yuvat? What is that?” I caught his eye and he discovered I had a hard stare.

He swallowed nervously, his smirk dropping. “A-uh. A, um…”

“What do you know of creatures of curses? Things that live in darkness and leave behind maladies and sickness. Beings that are persecuted by the church for creating lasting evil.”

“A demon?” I guessed.

“Still need that scroll. But if the word fits. It’s not something to be randomly calling people, let alone saying out loud like that. You might as well summon one, calling it that.”

“Do you use a different word to reference one of these beasts?”

“A froast. A fire-host. She probably just said it because of your fire drops. That’s probably all it was,” Rowan offered.

“Just fire drops. Rowan, you’re blind if you think that was all. We’ve had fire-drop weilders. Do any of their eyes glow gold?” His tone was friendly, but he had twisted around and put himself in Rowans face. It felt like a threat. “Wanna tell me really, who’s your friend here, Rowan? And let’s not make it too many words, yeah?” His personality had shifted from friendly busboy to civil rage.

“Tanywyn. I already introduced you.” Rowan’s smile had more teeth than necessary.

“Eh-huh, and I eat laplace as a delicacy. You wanted that intel on that mole in your garrison, you cough up who this fella is or else I believe you’re in on it too.”

“Mole? In on it?” I asked.

Rowan grabbed Farrow around the back of the neck, clamped a hand over his mouth, and hauled him behind The Inkwell and kept walking. Farrow didn’t put up much of a fight, but watched the man carefully as I tagged along behind. A man in a black robe behind one of the crystal trees and another lying on top of a roof watched our progress. “You wanna be flayed alive, huh, Sparrow? Shut up,” Rowan growled.

“Don’t stop here if this is supposed to be kept quiet.” I nodded toward the tree. Rowan waited on me to elaborate. “Everything is see-through and there’s a guy behind the tree and one on the roof there.” I pointed. A subtle movement had the man dropping behind the ridge line, but I could still see him spread across the slate.

He nodded and pressed the redhead through the shadows. The forest at the end of the field swallowed us into its dull kaleidoscopic hues. “You’re an idiot, Farrow. That is exactly how you get yourself killed. If not for Tanywyn here, you and me would both be dead.”

“That’s just it, Rowan. Until today, you’ve never spoke about this fella, and here you are taking his word for it. You can’t possibly trust him. This is dangerous. He’s probably hiding something.” Farrow’s rage was escaping civility in tone.

Rowan let out a fed-up sigh. “Tanywyn. Got any Manders?”

I raised an eyebrow and looked around at the trees. They were less prevalent in this section of the forest. “Nope, but you could tell me what this thing is,” I reached into the heart of a massive amethyst tree that contained a gold-glowing egg-shaped rock. Pulling it out, the tree leaves shrivelled and dropped on me. The amethyst shade seeped out its roots and turned murky, smoky quarts.

Rowan and Farrow stared at me in horror. “I’m guessing that was the heart of the tree then. Well, um, here,” I shoved it back into the tree and the colour, like molasses, slowly crept back up the trunk.

Farrow and Rowan both drew in a steadying breath and exchanged the same raised eyebrow with each other. Farrow was the first to speak. “You-,” he coughed, “You found yourself a sorcerer?”

“Were the fire drops not enough to convince you back there?” Rowan asked.

“He bloody well just yanked a core out of a fezah ancient and you ask about fire drops? Are you sure he’s not a froast?” Farrow’s voice cracked.

“That’s what this tree is called? A fezah ancient. Hopefully, I didn’t kill the poor thing. There are a few more around here, but not all of them have, you called it a core, right?” I asked.

“Allow me torevise that. You found a sorcerer who sounds like he dropped out of the sky.”

“Well…” Rowan gave him a look that said he wasn’t far off.

“He’s a froast,” Farrow concluded.

“I beg your pardon, I’m not a demon. I’m confused. But not a demon. This is what happens when you get soul-swapped in the middle of a dance routine,” I grouched.

Farrow blinked as he parsed what I’d said. “Soul swap?”

“Uh, yeah. So, Farrow, you remember my younger step-brother, right?”

“Wallace, the bedridden prince. No one’s seen him since he was eight or something. Why?”

“So, this is my stepbrother’s body. He sort of soul swapped with a woman from,” he turned to me, “where’d you say you were from again?”

“New York, Earth.” I folded my arms across my chest to stare the pair down.

“Right, soul swapped this woman from New York, and now he’s there in her body, and she’s here in his body.”

“No she about it. Was genderqueer then, still genderqueer now. I prefer he/him, but I will take they. Nothing sets the dysphoria off worse than calling me ma’am,” I seethed.

“Gold eyes. Gold eyes, Rowan,” Farrow dragged Rowan away to point at my face.

“Huh. Well, that’s interesting. Going to scare a good deal of people with that look, Tanywyn.” Rowan dislodged the redhead clinging to his shoulder.

“Are you sure this isn’t your stepbrother pranking you?” Farrow chirped.

“Pretty positive. Had a nice conversation with him in a mirror earlier. Definitely him. So, Farrow, let’s try this again. Tanywyn, this is one of my retainers, Farrow Sisxuh. Farrow, this is Tanywyn, probably going to be the most powerful sorcerer of our time.”

“Powerful?” Farrow and I both stammered.

“You didn’t see what he did earlier, Farrow, but he commands Manders,”

“Oh, no, I just saw him pull a core out of an ancient and put it back like taking a book off a shelf. I do believe powerful. I’m just not sure you understand. Are you sure he’s not some reincarnated Froast Lord? Was he like this in his other world?”

Rowan turned that quest to me.

I shook my head vigorously. “I couldn’t even be a lead dancer. I barely got my shot at being a backup.”

“Dancer?” If Farrow raised his eyebrow any higher it might fly away.

“Dancer,” Rowan nodded.

“Ballet!” I quipped.

Farrow frowned, looking me up and down. “The most powerful sorcerer to randomly appear in our world was a dancer?” His tone on that last word sent chills down my spine.

“What, are dancers a bad thing?” I hissed.

“At least you probably don’t have anything communicable if you just hopped into the bedridden prince’s body,” Farrow let his disgust show.

I slugged him. He fell back on his butt, startled. Blinking up at me, his mouth gaped open as he struggled to formulate a reply. “Fuck you.” I walked into the forest.

Chapel Orahamm (C) 2022-2024. All Rights Reserved.

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Chapel Orahamm (C) 2022-2024. All Rights Reserved.

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