Read Online The Nightwind's Woman by Charlotte Boyett-Compo - Free Book Online Page B

“Fascinating.”
    “Let me introduce you to our resident fantine ,”
the Supervisor told her. He moved down five doors and knocked politely.
    “Come!”
    He opened the door and stepped inside. “How
are you today, Reglan?”
    “Fair to partly cloudy,” was the reply.
    Kenzi shyly poked her head into the room
and smiled.
    This creature was dressed in a red-and-white
plaid shirt, faded overalls, work boots and had a straw hat sitting jauntily on
its slightly oversized head.
    “Pardon my attire, milady, but I have been
in the hydroponic gardens tending the vegetables. I like to dress the part for
it amuses the technicians on that floor.” He bowed respectfully but kept his
distance.
    “Reglan is a fantine ,” the
Supervisor explained. “He is a Swiss faery who brings good weather to
farmers—for whom all fantine have a fondness. Reg, this is Dr. Delaney.
She may be joining us.”
    “Ah, the Nightwind’s woman,” Reglan said. “No
maybe about it if that one is involved.” He sighed dramatically. “You have my
condolences on being the Chosen of that demon.”
    “Why?” she asked.
    “Too possessive,” Reglan said. “And he can
be as mean as a cornered ghoret.”
    “A what?”
    “Ghorets are the most venomous vipers in
the Megaverse,” the Supervisor told her. “Think a Fer-de-Lance on steroids.”
    “With a Fer-de-Lance a victim can take two
steps,” Reglan said. “The ghoret’s bite is a thousand times more potent.”
    “Do you have ghorets here?” she asked.
    “Mercy no!” Reglan answered for the
Supervisor. “We have a few cricks , a dipsa —second cousin to the
ghoret, and that cursed mamlambo no one can tolerate since it glows in
the dark. Those are the only snake-like beings here at Tearmann.”
    “We’ve got a minhocão arriving next
week,” the Supervisor stated.
    “Oh, the gods help us. Those things are
nasty!” Reglan groaned. “And they positively reek.”
    “It will be in its own tank.”
    “It will still stink,” Reglan complained. “There
goes the neighborhood.”
    “When it’s time for you to take an
assistant,” the Supervisor said. “Reglan is the man to seek out to help you
find one. You can trust what he tells you.”
    “As you can all weathermen,” Reglan said
with a grin.
    “I’ll bear that in mind,” Kenzi replied.
    Though the fantine had appeared
human albeit a smaller, thinner version of human, there were several more
creatures Kenzi was introduced to as trustworthy who were so exotic-looking her
head was spinning by the time she and the Supervisor headed back to the
elevator.
    “What do you think?” he asked her.
    “Had I not seen them with my own eyes, I
would not have believed you,” she responded.
    “Level Six is what we call the Holding
Level. It is housing for Classes I through V residents. You’ll learn more about
the different class designations during orientation. No need to go there now.
Level Seven is the Containment Level for Classes VI through IX. The inhabitants
of that level are considered dangerous but containable.”
    “I understand.”
    “Now I want to show you some of the bad
ones,” he said. “They are in maximum security, which is on the lowest level. We
call it the Incarceration Level and…” He stopped, stiffened then released a
long sigh. “It seems he does not trust me to protect you down there.” He looked
beyond her shoulder.
    Kenzi turned in time to see what she
thought at first was a dark shadow but then the shadow shimmered and she
recognized the Nightwind. He came toward them with a stride she would describe
as a swagger and for some reason that reassured her.
    “It was the estrie who let the baginis out of her cell,” he told the Supervisor.
    “Did she say why?”
    “Because she could,” Randon said with a
twist of his lips. “I have ordered Sustenance withheld for a few days as
punishment.”
    “Isn’t that rather cruel?” Kenzi asked.
    “Sustenance is blood,” the Supervisor put
in. “Not