Alien Chronicles 1 - The Golden One (9 page)

Its leafy scent grew stronger, and she understood that it was a creature devoted only to food—the gathering and the consumption of it.

Laughing to herself, Ampris sniffed the leaves of the flower and forever isolated the scent of flower worm in her memory.

“Ampris!”

Startled, Ampris looked up and saw a thin-armed silhouette looming over her with clear impatience.

“I have called you and called you,” Israi said. “You are supposed to come when I call you. Don’t you remember? I explained everything to you before we started.”

Ampris rose to her feet, wobbling a little before she found her balance. It was still a new experience to walk upright, but it made her feel very grown up, a chune like Israi and no longer a helpless infant. When she’d ceased to crawl last week, Israi had praised her lavishly. They had celebrated with a party in the garden, just the two of them and Israi’s favorite court of dolls. Servants had brought them savory dishes and served them banquet style. Ampris had been the guest of honor, and for a gift she had been given a new, very pretty ownership ring for her ear, one fashioned of real gold. From it dangled an elaborate cartouche of Israi’s name, enameled in jewel-bright colors.

But now no approval showed on Israi’s beautiful face. Her vibrant green eyes flashed with annoyance.

Dismay sank through Ampris. She hated it when Israi lost her temper. She could not bear to disappoint her beloved friend. “I am sorry,” she said, bowing her head.

Already she understood that at court one did not make excuses for bad behavior. One apologized and took one’s punishment. It was the brave way, the honorable way, the Viis way, according to Israi.

But Ampris’s simple apology did not wipe the anger from Israi’s face. Above her jeweled collar, her rill had turned a smudgy, dark hue. “Was I not clear?” Israi asked. “Must I explain the procedure
again
?”

“No, Israi,” Ampris said hastily. “I remember the game.”

“It is
not
a game,” Israi said. “And you do not act like you remember anything. What are you doing?”

Ampris panted, eager to share her discoveries. “Sniffing.”

“Again?” Israi asked, aghast. “Why?”

“It’s important.”

Israi glared at her. “Not as important as learning to come when you are called. Lord Fazhmind has told the whole court that you are a stupid Aaroun, impossible to train. I intend to show everyone how smart you are.”

Ampris drew herself up, willing to please. “Yes, Israi.”

“But I can’t if you don’t learn to do this! I have boasted about you. Will you now prove the sri-Kaa a liar?”

Ampris’s ears flattened. She dared not meet Israi’s eyes. This was real anger, not just a scolding because Israi liked to be bossy. Ampris realized she had made a serious error in disappointing her beloved friend. She wanted to weep. She would do anything to make amends.

“Please don’t be angry,” she said, throwing herself at Israi’s feet. She pressed her face against the delicate enameled straps of Israi’s sandals. They smelled of finely worked leather and the perfumed oil rubbed daily into Israi’s golden skin. “I will learn all the games. I will make you proud of me. I promise.”

“That’s what you said when we started. Now the sun is getting hot, and I am tired,” Israi said.

Ampris rubbed the side of her muzzle against Israi’s foot. She knew that the feel of her soft fur usually pleased Israi. “Please don’t pout,” she said softly. “I promise I will be good.”

“You promise, but then you
forget
.” Israi pulled her foot back from Ampris’s grasp. “And stop groveling.”

Ampris sat up. “What’s groveling?”

“It means licking my foot when you want me to like you. Fazhmind flatters my father for the same reason, and he’s nasty. I don’t like him at all.”

Ampris blinked up at Israi, her heart sinking inside her. “And you don’t like me anymore either?” she asked.

“Silly.” Israi swooped down and gave her a quick hug. “Of course I like you, except when you act stupid. Stand up.”

Flooded with joy and relief, Ampris obeyed.

Israi clasped her hands behind her back, imitating her father, and circled Ampris for an inspection. “You have dirt on your clothes.”

Ampris glanced down at herself and swiftly slapped at the streaks of dust on her fur. She wore no clothes, nor did Israi. During the hot summers, young Viis chunen of all ranks went unclothed within the privacy of their garden walls. It saved much unnecessary wear and tear on garments. Less laundry had to be done, and chunen could grow as they pleased without having to be refitted as often. But both Israi and Ampris loved to pretend they were wearing elaborate court attire.

If Israi was back to pretending, that meant Ampris really was forgiven. Tipping back her head, she squinted against the bright sunshine and lifted her palms to its warmth.

“Pay attention,” Israi commanded.

Ampris lowered her arms and watched her beloved friend with concentration.

“I am going to leave you here in the flowers,” Israi ordered. “Don’t start sniffing them again.”

“Yes, Israi,” Ampris said.

“I will wait a few minutes and then I will call you. When I do, you are to come to me at once. Understand?”

“Yes, Israi.”

“Good.” Israi smiled at her and gave her a quick rub between the ears. “Now—”

“Israi!” called a female voice. “Israi! It is time for refreshments. Come indoors before you burn your skin.”

Israi whirled around and waved to show that she’d heard. Then she turned back to Ampris and bent close. “Lenith is watching. Now you have to do this correctly.
Will you
?”

“Yes, Israi,” Ampris said.

“You won’t forget? Even if I don’t call you for a while?”

“I won’t forget,” Ampris promised. But even as she spoke, she couldn’t help but look out of the corner of her eye to see if the worm was still eating his leaf. If Israi delayed calling her for a few minutes, she would have time to play with the flower worm a short while longer.

“Ampris?” Israi said doubtfully, letting her long slim tongue flicker past her lips.

Ampris looked right at her, eyes wide with sincerity. “I promise.”

“Israi!” the lady in waiting called again. “Please. The sun is too hot for you.”

“Yes, Lady Lenith,” Israi said. She turned away to go, but not before she gave Ampris one last look over her shoulder.

Ampris smiled and crouched among the flowers again. They were slightly trampled now, but she didn’t mind. The flower worm had vanished, and she could not find him, not even when she sniffed for him among the leaves. Perhaps he had gone into the dirt.

Dropping to her stomach, she burrowed among the flowers, sniffing the ground. In the process she discovered an entire new range of scents. The flowers were growing in loose, dark loam, and it smelled far different from the compacted soil of the—

“Ampris!” Israi called. “Come, Ampris.”

Jolted from her thoughts, Ampris looked up. Israi was calling. She had to go.

But just as she started to climb to her feet, she smelled a scent so exquisite, so enticing, she reeled from it. Heady, intoxicating, it overwhelmed her senses and nearly suffocated her with its sweet perfume. Forgetting everything else, she crawled forward through the last of the white bell flowers and found a bush loaded with heavy bright blue racemes. Bees swarmed the bush, and its perfume filled the sunlit air.

“Ampris!” Israi called once more, then fell silent.

Torn, Ampris glanced over her shoulder, but she could not see her beloved friend anywhere in the garden. She knew Israi must have gone inside. Israi would think she had forgotten her promise, but Ampris couldn’t bear to leave the bush without touching it. It might never smell this fragrant again. Israi said that many of the flowers bloomed for a short time, once a year.

Ampris did not completely understand how long a year could be yet, but Israi said it was a very long time, much longer than between breakfast and dinner.

But the garden was suddenly very quiet, except for the busy humming of the bees. Ampris looked around again and climbed to her feet. She felt lonely, isolated, strange.

Never had she been alone before. Not like this. For even the guards who always shadowed Israi had vanished from their place by the wall.

The sun blazed down, and Ampris felt suddenly pinned by its heat, pressing her toward the ground. She was small, and not very fast yet. If danger came, she could not outrun it.

And danger might come, for she did not have her beloved friend to protect her. Israi had called her, and Ampris had not obeyed.

She opened her mouth and began to whimper, then stopped herself. She would not fail her beloved friend.

Quickly Ampris jerked a handful of the blue flowers from the bush, then turned and ran on her short, awkward legs for the portico. At the steps she stopped, frowning. She could not do steps upright yet. She had tried yesterday and fallen, bumping all the way down and scaring herself. But to crawl meant leaving the flowers behind.

After a moment, she put the flowers in her mouth and swiftly scrambled up the steps to the column. Leaning against it, she found her balance, dropped some of her flowers and had to pick them up, then hurried inside.

The quiet coolness of the interior surrounded her. Her dirty feet padded silently on the polished stone floors. She skirted the atrium with its softly splashing fountain and bright, darting fish and headed down the broad corridor that led to Israi’s apartments.

The tall doors of heavily carved bronze stood open. As Ampris approached, she could hear Fazhmind’s arrogant voice:

“I have always felt the sri-Kaa should have a more elegant pet, something suitable for the Imperial Daughter’s—”

“Here I am, Israi,” Ampris said proudly as she pushed her way inside. She held the flowers aloft, and the room filled instantly with their fragrance. They were so beautiful, although they had already started to wilt, and she was pleased to offer Israi a gift worthy of her beauty.

She laid them on the table next to where Israi was sitting and smiled. “I am sorry to keep the sri-Kaa waiting,” she said without stumbling over the formal words. She started to tell Israi that she’d found the bush and had wanted to experience it, but she glanced up at Fazhmind, who was glaring at her, and fell silent.

Israi sat up taller in her chair and extended her rill. When she looked at Fazhmind, her eyes held triumph. “You were saying my pet cannot be trained?”

His face looked as though he had eaten sour fruit, and his tongue flicked once into sight. “Well, perhaps some training can be achieved with this creature, your highness, if you call this straggling in
trained
.”

Israi’s face turned to stone.

Lady Lenith tried to intervene. “My lord,” she said with a placating gesture. “Remember that the Aaroun is very young. Only this week has it been determined that she is reaching the age of accountability, when training can begin. Do not expect too much too quickly. I think she has done very well. She is far more intelligent than most of her kind. Otherwise, she could never have learned our language. That alone is quite an accomplishment.”

Ampris swelled with pride, but Fazhmind only looked at her as though she were something to be stepped on with his sandal.

He flicked out his tongue. “Accomplishment? It is an abomination. Never should it have been permitted.”

Lady Lenith lifted her rill and glanced at Israi as though to warn him to mind what he said, but Fazhmind’s tirade went on, unchecked.

“She comes to her mistress, covered with dirt, as befouled as a street urchin, and dragging in these hideous flowers which are an offense to the imperial eye.”

Ampris opened her mouth to defend her beautiful bouquet, but to her dismay the blossoms were wilted and curling up. Their bright blue color had already faded, and their delicious fragrance was gone.

“What happened to them?” she cried.

“They cannot be picked, for their blooms will not keep more than a few minutes,” Fazhmind said spitefully. “You stupid creature, you have destroyed the symmetry of that shrub for no purpose, thus creating a double offense.” He glanced across the room at a slave and flicked his fingers in summons. “Take this mess from the Imperial Daughter’s sight at once.”

The slave hastened to obey.

Fazhmind pointed at Ampris. “Remove that as well. Wash it. Clean what it has touched.”

Ampris growled low in her throat. “I am not an it. I am—”

“Ampris, hush,” Lady Lenith said.

Backing her ears, Ampris obeyed.

Fazhmind gestured again at the slave. “Take it away.”

Bowing deeply, the slave reached for Ampris’s hand.

“Leave her here,” Israi commanded.

The slave released Ampris’s fingers as though burned and backed away, bowing.

Israi glared at Fazhmind. Her half-extended rill had darkened. “You may not dismiss my pet without my permission.”

“Say my
lord
,” Lady Lenith advised her softly. “Your imperial highness must be polite.”

“My lord,” Israi said coldly. She went on glaring at Fazhmind.

He sighed and bowed to the sri-Kaa. “The Imperial Daughter surely does not wish the company of a creature who is dirty. It will be a more pleasant companion if it is clean.”

“I’m not an it!” Ampris shouted angrily.

Israi whirled on her and gestured for silence. Shame washed over Ampris, and she obeyed.

“Yes, Lord Fazhmind,” Israi said. “
My
Ampris is dirty.
She
was wrong to enter my presence with dirt on her nose. But
I
will correct her, not you.” She glanced at Lady Lenith and added reluctantly, “My lord.”

Fazhmind flicked out his tongue. “The Imperial Daughter has made herself very clear. May I be excused from her presence?”

“Yes,” Israi said coldly. “You may go.”

She turned her back on Fazhmind, who bowed, extended his rill disrespectfully, and departed.

Silence fell over them, then Lady Lenith said, “Will you now drink your refreshment?”

Israi pouted, her rill rising and falling. She would not look at Lady Lenith. She would not look at Ampris.