Read Online Zenn Scarlett by Christian Schoon - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Christian Schoon
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But we don’t get much real news from Earth, so we don’t really know what the balance of power is like right now. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
A low, distant rumble could be heard then, echoing off the cliffs from the direction of the cloister.
“Sounds like Otha’s on his way,” Zenn said. She went to the boulder where she’d left the shotgun and picked it up. “Good thing I was armed. Those kids could’ve stolen our whalehound.”
“But why would…” Hamish said. “Ah. You jest with me.”
“Yes. Just kidding,” Zenn said. But she thought then of what might have happened if adult towners, and not those boys, had discovered her and the helpless hound. She hefted the gun in her hands and decided not to pursue that line of thought.
FIVE
Early the next morning Zenn woke to the sound of voices echoing up the stairwell outside her dormitory room. She rose and draped her robe around her shoulders. Katie, curled up in her usual sleeping spot at the head of the bed, looked up and blinked at Zenn.
Zenn made sure the little rikkaset was watching her, then raised her hands and made the sign for “Good morning, Katie.” The rikkaset responded with a luxurious stretch and a yawn that showed off a set of needle-sharp teeth. Then, she sat up on her haunches and, dexterously using her long-fingered, raccoon-like front paws, signed “Katie hungry. Hungry Katie eat?”
Zenn signed back “Yes. Come on,” and Katie hopped down from the bed and followed her out into the hall.
Eleven other doors lined the hallway on this floor, all closed, all the rooms empty, except for Hild’s and Hamish’s. The ground floor held another twelve identical rooms – rooms that once housed paying students.
Hamish’s door opened, and he ambled into view, ducking through the doorway before standing up to his full height. He came down the hall, adjusting his chainmail vest with two claws while grooming one of his antennae with the specially adapted claw on his upper left arm. His straw hat hung down on his back, its leather chinstrap looped around what passed for his neck. Otha had only recently convinced the coleopt to vacate the sleeping burrow he’d dug into the hillside next to the cloister’s physic garden. Her uncle had made it clear to Hamish that he needed to move into the dorm, explaining it simply wasn’t proper for the cloister sexton to live in a hole in the ground. Coleopts only required two to three hours of sleep at night. In order to wake up when everyone else did, Hamish had adjusted his sleep periods so that he went to bed around four in the morning. This let him synchronize his schedule with the waking hours of the cloister’s human residents.
“Good morning, novice Zenn,” he said, his hard hind claws scraping on the floorboards. “Hello, mammal-rikkaset.” He leaned down to pet Katie, but then straightened back up immediately.
“I would stroke the animal. Do I have your approval for this act?”
“Yes, of course,” Zenn smiled up at him. He bent down again, but the rikkaset shied away, hiding behind Zenn’s legs.
“She doesn’t quite know what to make of you.”
“I’m still peculiar and outlandish to her.”
“Here,” Zenn said, picking Katie up and setting her down again between her and the towering insect. “We’ll show you what she’s learned to do. She likes to show off.” Zenn signed, and also spoke the words aloud so Hamish could follow: “Katie, sit.”
Katie sat.
“Very impressive,” Hamish said. “Good mammal.”
“No, no,” Zenn said. “That’s not the trick. Watch.”
She signed and spoke: “Katie?”
The rikkaset’s golden eyes followed Zenn’s hands, keen for whatever was coming. “Katieeee… blend.”
The rikkaset instantly crouched low, froze in position, and stared straight ahead. Then, her violet-and-cream fur began to move. For a second or two, the fur rose and fell in ripples from head to tail, then the rikkaset’s entire body seemed
A low, distant rumble could be heard then, echoing off the cliffs from the direction of the cloister.
“Sounds like Otha’s on his way,” Zenn said. She went to the boulder where she’d left the shotgun and picked it up. “Good thing I was armed. Those kids could’ve stolen our whalehound.”
“But why would…” Hamish said. “Ah. You jest with me.”
“Yes. Just kidding,” Zenn said. But she thought then of what might have happened if adult towners, and not those boys, had discovered her and the helpless hound. She hefted the gun in her hands and decided not to pursue that line of thought.
FIVE
Early the next morning Zenn woke to the sound of voices echoing up the stairwell outside her dormitory room. She rose and draped her robe around her shoulders. Katie, curled up in her usual sleeping spot at the head of the bed, looked up and blinked at Zenn.
Zenn made sure the little rikkaset was watching her, then raised her hands and made the sign for “Good morning, Katie.” The rikkaset responded with a luxurious stretch and a yawn that showed off a set of needle-sharp teeth. Then, she sat up on her haunches and, dexterously using her long-fingered, raccoon-like front paws, signed “Katie hungry. Hungry Katie eat?”
Zenn signed back “Yes. Come on,” and Katie hopped down from the bed and followed her out into the hall.
Eleven other doors lined the hallway on this floor, all closed, all the rooms empty, except for Hild’s and Hamish’s. The ground floor held another twelve identical rooms – rooms that once housed paying students.
Hamish’s door opened, and he ambled into view, ducking through the doorway before standing up to his full height. He came down the hall, adjusting his chainmail vest with two claws while grooming one of his antennae with the specially adapted claw on his upper left arm. His straw hat hung down on his back, its leather chinstrap looped around what passed for his neck. Otha had only recently convinced the coleopt to vacate the sleeping burrow he’d dug into the hillside next to the cloister’s physic garden. Her uncle had made it clear to Hamish that he needed to move into the dorm, explaining it simply wasn’t proper for the cloister sexton to live in a hole in the ground. Coleopts only required two to three hours of sleep at night. In order to wake up when everyone else did, Hamish had adjusted his sleep periods so that he went to bed around four in the morning. This let him synchronize his schedule with the waking hours of the cloister’s human residents.
“Good morning, novice Zenn,” he said, his hard hind claws scraping on the floorboards. “Hello, mammal-rikkaset.” He leaned down to pet Katie, but then straightened back up immediately.
“I would stroke the animal. Do I have your approval for this act?”
“Yes, of course,” Zenn smiled up at him. He bent down again, but the rikkaset shied away, hiding behind Zenn’s legs.
“She doesn’t quite know what to make of you.”
“I’m still peculiar and outlandish to her.”
“Here,” Zenn said, picking Katie up and setting her down again between her and the towering insect. “We’ll show you what she’s learned to do. She likes to show off.” Zenn signed, and also spoke the words aloud so Hamish could follow: “Katie, sit.”
Katie sat.
“Very impressive,” Hamish said. “Good mammal.”
“No, no,” Zenn said. “That’s not the trick. Watch.”
She signed and spoke: “Katie?”
The rikkaset’s golden eyes followed Zenn’s hands, keen for whatever was coming. “Katieeee… blend.”
The rikkaset instantly crouched low, froze in position, and stared straight ahead. Then, her violet-and-cream fur began to move. For a second or two, the fur rose and fell in ripples from head to tail, then the rikkaset’s entire body seemed
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