The Monster's Caress - S.E. Smith Page 0,73

trying to understand where the conversation was heading.

Ashure smiled. “It is said that only the worthy can even see this old volcano. Everyone else passes by without even wondering what is here. I certainly wasn’t looking for a mountain. I had stolen a boat from a changeling along the lake—I wanted to pretend I was captain of all the oceans, you see—and I was puttering around with little direction when I saw it: a mysterious mountain shrouded in the thickest fog I’d ever seen. I just knew I had to climb to the top. Of course, I had to get to the damn thing first,” Ashure mused.

“How did you manage it?” Asahi curiously asked. “The Water Sirens nearly pulled me off the boat.”

Ashure chuckled. “I stuffed cotton in my ears. I am, after all, half Sprite, so I knew a thing or two about their tricks. They pushed me around a bit and finally decided to let the mountain do with me what it willed. It is alive, you know, the mountain. The sirens believed a child as naughty as I would certainly be crushed by it. Those slippery beauties love their death and destruction, but who would ever like dealing with the decaying bodies afterward? No one, that’s who,” he said with a flashing grin. “So, they decided I was more trouble than I was worth, and they let me pass.”

“But—the mountain didn’t crush you,” Asahi replied.

Ashure shook his head. “No, the mountain didn’t crush me,” he replied in a low voice.

“Why didn’t it?” Asahi asked, intrigued by the tale of a young boy on a magical adventure.

“Who knows? I talked to it the entire time. Nali says the mountain didn’t know what to do with me,” Ashure chuckled.

“Why did you do it? Why did you climb the mountain? This mountain?” he pressed.

Ashure slowed down until he came to a complete stop in the middle of the path. He idly looked around the forest. Asahi studied the pirate’s expression, trying to discern why the man was telling him this.

“I wanted to find where the Goddess lived,” Ashure finally replied with a shrug, looking back at him.

“And did you?” Asahi quietly asked.

“I like to think I did,” Ashure replied.

He was about to ask Ashure what he meant when he heard a soft snort to his right. He twisted around, automatically pulling Mr. Gryphon from his sheath, and gaped in surprise when he saw a group of animals emerging from the shadows.

Dozens of unicorns stood silently watching them. The alien inside him immediately reacted to the creatures. Asahi recoiled in alarm when the edge of his vision darkened as if he were looking through a spyglass. The entity’s black tendrils beneath his skin snaked up his throat and feathered outward across his cheeks. He groaned and sank to his knees.

“What is going on?” Mr. Gryphon demanded.

Asahi clenched his teeth and took a deep breath as he fought for control. Ashure pressed his sword’s glowing tip against Asahi’s throat. The entity, sensing the danger, retreated. Asahi tilted his head back, locked eyes with Ashure, and waited.

“You still have control over it—good,” Ashure commented, pulling the sword away from his throat.

Asahi grunted. “You could’ve just asked,” he muttered.

“When did the alien infect you? Why didn’t you tell me?” Mr. Gryphon snapped, whipping his tail back and forth in his agitation.

Asahi slid the dagger back into the sheath without answering. He wasn’t up to dealing with the irritating lion at the moment. His attention moved back to the woods. The unicorns were gone.

“Were they real?” he quietly asked.

Ashure nodded. “Yes.”

He stood up and brushed the dirt and leaves off of his trousers. “Why did you bring me here?”

Ashure grimly replied, “Because your connection with the alien may be the thing that saves the Seven Kingdoms—or dooms us all.”

Chapter 24

Nali studied Asahi from afar as he stared out over the lake. She started walking in his direction, only to pause when Pai flew overhead and landed in her path. She softly sighed in resignation when she noticed the gleam in Pai’s eyes. He wanted to talk.

“Pai,” she greeted.

“Empress,” the hippogriff gruffly replied.

“Did you find the alien?” she asked.

Pai grimly nodded. “As your human stated, the alien is no longer in the eel,” he answered.

She frowned and looked at Asahi. Her heart ached for him. He had spent the rest of the day avoiding everyone—except for the brief time he had disappeared with Ashure.

She wrapped her arms around her waist. “The creature needs to inhabit a

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