Field Mice
7. Hands of a Keeper
"So the betrayer has come to us for help."
She dared him to disagree. Not that he could, not openly. Hein stared at the visage of the dead until it melted away, and the woman faced him as herself. He wondered, briefly, why she appeared human, and not alike to the retainers he had seen so far. He concluded that if she wanted to tear his innards through his nose, she would do so without the need for talons or claws. Thanks to that imagery, the shadow of doubt crept further over him as he tried to think of something he could say.
The commander could not recognize her, but there was something about her eyes that reminded him of the little girl he walked away from. Maybe in some sense of the word, she was still human. And so long as she was, there was a sliver of a chance to appeal to her humanity.
"It's not like we had anywhere else to go," the truth didn't exactly come out as he wanted it, and he hoped that nervous twitch he felt hadn't happened for real. He decided to throw the pining and appeal to fair trade, "And it's not like we want your help for free. I've got news, and someone as beautiful and gracious and intelligent as you know... uh, the value of good information, and also that I'm not lying."
Tyler squeaked in surprise, "What are you doing?"
"Shut up, kid," Hein hissed, as though in conspiracy that the room did not hear, "Can't you see I'm making an ass out of myself?"
Tyler was left most confused, though Sara giggled. Llorin stepped forward at a gesture.
"I think you might want to know that someone is pilfering your technology," Hein continued, now with the prop to back himself up. "I suspect these weapons were made by your people, not to mention the things we killed to get them seemed like they would only fit in your menagerie."
"And you don't even need to try it to see what it does," he added as she took the weapon and studied it, then him, followed by it again, "I have a boy here you can have, if you can keep him alive."
"If you think that forced righteousness is enough to get me to revoke the curse," Nova said, "You are sadly mistaken."
"I tried that," Hein replied, "For a number of years. Nothing worked, so I don't see the point in bothering anymore."
"You could have tried suicide. I never said you were truly immortal," her mouth curled meagerly; he was lowly, and did not merit the contempt, "Then again, you might be. I never said you weren't."
A creature crept from the shadows, and Tyler was caught unaware as Elijah's dead weight was lifted from his shoulders by misleadingly spindly tentacles. The monstrosity towered over him, and he gaped, awestruck, at his first sight of a creature that, as he always understood it, only plagued the nightmares of the elderly. Where his people cringed at the sight of the alien, Hein grimaced, shooting Nova a withering stare.
"You're full of surprises aren't you?" Hein growled. Nova ignored him, dramatizing a sigh as she stared at the door.
"In the future, leave your issues at the Labyrinth. And in the meanwhile, don't move."
The weapon in her hand vanished first, and then did Hein.
---
Auberon disliked the Lunar Circle. He imagined them pompous and arrogant; for aliens masquerading as humans, they acted like they owned the planet.
At once, he feared and coveted their power. He frequently wished Hein had killed the brat when he had the chance. It would have left them aimless, easy to dominate and use for his purposes. Then, all the diplomacy wouldn't have been necessary. The world would have been his years ago.
Auberon's annoyance increased when he and his were led to an empty room, and the woman that did not bother masking her contempt.
"No pleasantries, no small talk," he insisted, which went over easily, "You have a man I want – he came through the Serpent Way, and this is the only place he could have gotten to."
"Serpent Road," Nova corrected, disinterested, "and what do you expect me to do about it?"
"It's this or the desert, and he isn't in the desert," the councilman snorted, "And I'll search this place myself if you don't give him to me."
"No," the woman replied.
"What?"
"No."
Councilman Auberon was at a loss – very few people ever dared refuse him.