“When the nectar returns
The poison is clear.
Pleasure replaces
The pain that you fear,” sang the voices of the invisible chorus.
Penny looked around uncertainly.
“Did you hear that?” she asked V’rex.
He frowned.
“Hear what, sweetheart?”
“The voices,” Penny said impatiently. “They’re right beside us, singing. Oh, wait—here they go again!”
“When the nectar returns
Then ‘tis time to bond
With the male of your dreams
Of whom you are fond,” the invisible chorus sang.
“But I’m much more than fond of him—I love him,” Penny protested. Still, she guessed it wasn’t easy to find another rhyme for bond. Maybe something about how your love would fit like a glove? But no, that didn’t really work…
“Sweetheart, what are you talking about?” V’rex asked, looking at her intently.
“I’m talking to the chorus,” Penny said impatiently. “The people who are singing to me. I’m surprised you can’t hear them—they’re really loud.”
At that point, the chorus sang in her ear again.
“When the nectar returns
You may accept the sting
Have no fear
Only pleasure it brings.”
“Accept the sting?” Penny asked, feeling a little rush of fear run through her.
“What?” V’rex looked at her even more intently. “What are you talking about? My sting?”
“I…no. I…I’m not sure.” The memory of the awful fiery pain the last time the big Hybrid had stung her was still sharp in her mind. But the voices of the chorus seemed to be telling her…
“Excuse me!” Lady Bright Coat stood up from the table suddenly. If she had been human, Penny thought, she would have looked pale. “I…I must visit the necessary chamber,” the female Fox’en said in a trembling voice.
“Follow her!” sang the chorus in Penny’s ear.
“Go after her now.
“Give her the proof.
Follow her quickly,
And tell her the truth.”
“Um,” I need to use the, uh, necessary chamber too,” she said, rising a bit unsteadily to her feet. Everything still looked a little strange, like when she moved her hand in the air, it left a trail of rainbows swirls behind.
“Whoa—are you sure you’re okay, sweetheart?” V’rex asked her.
“Yes, fine,” Penny said distractedly. “Excuse me.”
And she followed the female Fox’en out of the dining room.
Chapter 103
“Oh dear…oh dear!” Lady Bright Coat was bent over a carved marble basin that looked like a sink. Only instead of a faucet, there was a little fountain in the very middle of the basin that pumped cold, clear water upwards continuously. The fountain rose three or four inches in the air and fall back down to be swallowed by the drain just below it.
The female Fox’en wet her long furry fingers in the water and pressed them to her face. She looked truly shaken to Penny, as though she would be crying if she was 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
