A Secret Is Revealed

 

Alithea tucked her legs and closed the two bamboo doors so that she was protected from the barbs of the Sprint’s legs as the chair swung below the beast’s belly. Hoping she remembered the trigger nerve spot, she flicked her finger at one of Erthen’s upper teeth, then paused. It was the location of his egg tooth when he cracked the inner chamber of his shell. He took a breath, his head lurched forward as though to crack open his egg and his eyes opened. Her gamble had worked. She put his head against her neck as she sang the ancient lullaby of her grandmothers. She felt the boy relax in her arms.

Hearing the raking of the Sprint’s deadly barbs the chair enclosure, she looked out the webbing at the beach. Minutes later she caught her breath as the beast turned uphill toward the queen’s compound. When the beast crested the sloping cliff, the chair swung forward and she held onto the doors, afraid that they would open and expose her and Erthen to the slashing barbs.

She let out a breath when the beast stilled. She heard a noise outside, then the doors opened, and the Fae warrior gestured for her to get out. She followed the warrior, focusing on the deadly waving barbs that came so close to her.

They were led through the same door she had left the day before. The voice of the queen greeted her. Pointing to Erthen, she made a face then pointed to her arm. Alithea guessed that she was asking whether Erthen was wounded. Alithea shook her head, then went into a sudden slump with her shoulders. The queen motioned the two of them to the examination table.

Alithea conducted an examination of her son, checking his eyes, nose, ears, and reflexes. She signaled to the queen that the boy was OK, and the queen said something. Erthen piped up “I see you” to the queen, who put her hands together with glee and answered Erthen with the same phrase.

Alithea hoped she would not regret what she did next. Motioning to her mouth and speaking, she pointed to Erthen’s mouth and stood tall and made her shoulders look big to mimic Fallon. She made a chopping motion, hoping that the queen remembered yesterday when the guard came down on Fallon’s arm. After a few attempts, the queen seemed to understand and waved down toward the beach, then motioned to Alithea to bring Fallon here. Their secret would be out, she thought.