Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 66405 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 332(@200wpm)___ 266(@250wpm)___ 221(@300wpm)
There was a small dresser, also made of black wood and white marble, in one corner of the room and a tall, white wardrobe in another corner. In the third corner was…Drago frowned. What was that?
It appeared to be some kind of enclosure or cage made of shiny silver metal. But since the room was so dimly lit by the black crystal chandelier that was floating above their heads, he couldn't quite make out what was inside. Whatever it was, it was hiding in the corner, up near the top of the cage. It seemed to be covered in bristly black hair and it was about the same size as the Earth animal called a "cat" Drago thought.
“Come now—let’s get you a dress,” the short lady-in-waiting—Drago thought her name was either “Spicy” or “Sparki”—was saying to Addison. “You should be about my size—that’s what Lx Sambla told us anyway. That’s why he picked me to be one of your ladies,” she added.
“Er—what’s that? In the cage?” Addison pointed at the creature crouched in the corner.
"Oh, that? It's just a silky." The short lady-in-waiting made a shooing gesture. "It's a feature of all the high-end guest suites here in the Palace. It's supposed to bring good luck if you feed it."
“Feed it? Feed it what?” Addison asked, looking at the thing in the corner apprehensively.
“Here—I’ll show you,” one of the skinny ladies-in-waiting remarked. She gave Drago a look to be sure he was watching her and then stepped forward towards the silver cage. Reaching into a box he hadn’t noticed before, right beside the cage, she pulled out a small animal with silvery fur that squeaked and struggled in her hands.
“Hey, what’s that? It looks kind of like an animal we have on Earth called a guinea pig,” Addison remarked. “Except guinea pigs don’t have long, bushy tails.”
“It’s a squeaker,” the short lady-in-waiting answered. “Er, you might not want to watch if you have a soft heart,” she added and gave Addison’s arm a squeeze.
“Watch what?” Drago demanded, frowning. He didn’t like the direction this was taking.
The skinny lady-in-waiting didn’t answer. Instead, she opened the silver cage and shoved the tiny animal inside.
The squeaker stopped squeaking at once. It crouched low to the floor of the cage, its large, bright eyes rolling nervously. It looked to Drago like the small furry animal was trying to make itself invisible.
At last, the creature in the corner of the cage moved. Slowly at first and then with shocking speed, it skittered on many long, hairy legs from the ceiling, down the wall to the floor.
“Oh my god a spider—it’s a giant spider!” Drago heard Addison gasp.
Before the words completely left her mouth, the spider thing pounced on the hapless squeaker. The small furry animal struggled and squeaked pitifully but it was clearly hopeless. The spider creature spread long, sharp mandibles and bit it, right at the base of its neck, whereupon the squeaker abruptly went limp and stopped struggling, though it did continue to squeak feebly. The spider then began to wrap it rapidly in a cocoon of shimmering white silk.
“See—that’s why they’re called ‘silkies,’” the lady-in-waiting who had fed the squeaker to the spider remarked brightly. “See all the lovely silk they make? We use it for our finest clothing—like the dresses we’ll all wear tonight to the Choosing Ceremony.”
“Ugh!” Addison shuddered and took a step back from the cage. “Please, can I have another room?” she asked, speaking to the short lady-in-waiting. “I don’t mean to be rude or culturally insensitive, but I can’t sleep in a room that has a giant, cat-sized spider in it. I just can’t.”
“What? You don’t want a room with a silky cage in it?” one of the other ladies-in-waiting exclaimed.
“But they’re a status symbol!” another protested.
“Everyone who’s anyone has a silky cage in their room,” the third remarked.
“Be that as it may, my Lady doesn’t want one in her room,” Drago said sternly, frowning at the three of them. “She has a fear of large insects and arachnids and she will be unable to sleep if she has one near her.”
He knew this from experience—Addison had once climbed him like a tree when a pincher bug from Moldove Beta got into their long-range shuttle. He’d had to kill it with her clinging to him—not an easy task. But since he so rarely allowed himself to touch her or hold her, Drago savored the memory.
“I understand how you feel,” the shortest lady-in-waiting said, patting Addison’s arm comfortingly. “But I’m afraid once the room assignments are handed out, nobody can change them—Palace Rules. Otherwise you’d have people endlessly swapping places and nobody could keep track of anybody.”
“But…can it get out?” Addison was still staring fearfully at the silky, which had finished wrapping up the hapless squeaker and was currently dragging it back up the wall to its lair in the corner.