human.
“What is it, Lady Bright Coat?” she asked gently, daring to lay a hand on the other female’s shoulder. “If you don’t mind me asking,” she added.
The female Fox’en took a deep, shaky breath.
“When I took the Silka spice, I asked it why I haven’t had a litter yet,” she whispered. “We’ve been trying and trying and our physician has said there’s nothing wrong with either of us. I should be able to get pregnant! I should have had five litters by now, with the amount of breedalot I’ve been eating!”
“What’s wrong, then?” Penny asked sympathetically. “Did the Silka tell you?”
Lady Bright Coat nodded.
“It’s this thing.” She pointed to the Eye of Ten’gu which hung around her neck. “The Silka tells me it’s why I can’t conceive.”
“You think it’s hindering your fertility?” Penny asked carefully.
“So the Silka says.” Lady Bright coat made a face. “I’ve hated this damn thing from the moment Swift Tail first gave it to me, but I couldn’t refuse such an important gift from my husband who is also the Chieftain—it would have caused a terrible scandal.”
“So he gave it to you almost as soon as your tribe first moved in here and you’ve been wearing it ever since?” Penny asked.
Lady Bright Coat sighed and nodded her head.
“It feels so heavy around my neck and it makes my head ache all the time! And…and I feel like it clouds my mind with dark thoughts.” She looked up at Penny. “Does that make any sense? I feel like I sound crazy.”
“You’re not crazy,” Penny said firmly. “The artifact you’re wearing…” She paused for a moment, not sure how much to say. But then she remembered the words of the invisible chorus. Follow her now and tell her the truth, the chorus had sung to her.
And though the strange and surreal effects of the Silka seemed to be fading, Penny still remembered the words and had a very strong feeling that she ought to do as the chorus had told her.
“Yes?” Lady Bright Coat was looking at her eagerly.
“The artifact you’re wearing is called the ‘Eye of Ten’gu,’” Penny told her. “It was supposedly created by an evil deity from another universe.”
“An evil deity?” Lady Bright Coat exclaimed. “I have felt an evil presence emanating from it—I would swear it!”
“You haven’t exposed it to direct rays of sunlight, have you?” Penny asked anxiously. “Because that would be bad—really bad.”
“No—no!” Lady Bright Coat shook her head quickly. “It has remained inside the mountain with me because I have never taken it off. And I have never seen the sun since I put it on,” she added mournfully. “But how do you know about it?”
Penny took a deep breath. Tell her the truth, the chorus had said. It was time to take a chance.
“I know about the Eye of Ten’gu because I was sent here to get it by the Kindred High Council,” she said frankly. “It was buried here, under Mount Ra’gar millennia ago by the ancient Kindred in order to keep its evil hidden—in order to keep it asleep. But one of the Kindred priestesses—the Mouthpiece of the Goddess—had a prophecy that it had to be taken and destroyed before it could awaken and cause harm.”
“What will happen if it wakes up?” Lady Bright Coat’s eyes were wide.
Penny shook her head.
“Honestly, I don’t know. I just know I need to get it back to the Kindred High Council without exposing it to any rays of direct sunlight and waking it up so they can destroy it.”
“And to think I’ve been wearing it around my neck for so long!” Lady Bright Coat looked down at the necklace lying against her furry chest and shuddered with revulsion.
“It’s bad news,” Penny told her. “I’m sorry, I should have told you that at once, but we thought it would be better to pose as merchants so we could barter for it. In fact…here.”
She opened her black furry pouch and began pulling out items that V’rex had given her to barter with.
“I can trade you any of these things—or all of them—for the Eye if you want,” she said, spreading out the barter items on the marble counter beside the sink. “I have a golden pen that writes in rainbow ink…a ruby ring that changes colors according to your mood…a—”
But the Fox’en female was shaking her head.
“No, no—I’m sorry, Lady Penelope,” she said sadly. “But since the necklace was a gift from my husband—who is the Chieftain—it would be a serious offense against