The Mantis Variant - Book One - 11. Chapter 11 - Home

Ilya awoke in shocking pain and unfamiliar surroundings. She moaned aloud and shoved herself to a seated position and the sheet that covered her fell away from her upper body. She was on a padded table in a small cluttered room. Shelves were lined with countless jars and boxes of herbs and shells and dead insects and seedpods. Dried fish hung from the ceiling in one corner and a large clock adorned the wall directly in front of her.

Ilya's head was spinning. She did not remember where she was, but she looked down and saw that her wounds were bandaged professionally, although the hole through her side was agonizing.

"Hello?" she called out in a weak voice.

A man's muffled voice replied, "I hear you, my dear."

The door to the room opened and the little round mystic entered.

"Cake guy," Ilya managed.

"Yes, indeed," he said in a gentle tone, "and I've saved a piece for you, but how are you feeling?"

"Like I died," she groaned.

"Luckily, today was not the day for that. Your friends here have waited for your recovery."

"Friends?"

"Remember us?" Dozi asked as she entered behind the man. "Glad you made it."

"Tophilogin says you can stay here for the night," Agrell commented, and she came through the door as well, "so he can keep watch over you and give you fresh bandages in the morning." She realized Ilya was uncovered, and she looked down.

"Yes, my dear," the man concurred, "if you are alright with it, you really ought to rest and you may stay here. And I already told you," he added, turning to Agrell, "you don't need to call me that."

She furrowed her brow. "But it's on your nameplate out there," and she pointed back towards the main part of his shop.

Dozi interrupted. "That's okay, mystic, we've got a place for her."

"We do?" asked Agrell, and Dozi elbowed her in the ribs.

The mystic turned to Ilya. "If you decide not to stay with me, please come back in the morning and I will re-dress your wound with fresh gauze and ointments, and allow me to loan you a shirt and pair of trousers." The man went through another door and collected some of his clothing from a closet.

Agrell turned her eyes away from Ilya, as she exchanged the sheet for the outfit. She set the garments beside her.

"Sorry about the blood," Ilya groaned, and she swung her legs over the side of the padded table. She gripped the edge of it as a wave of pain and dizziness washed over her.

"Easy!" the mystic said, and he brought a hand to her shoulder for support. "You've lost a lot of blood."

"I'm okay," Ilya managed.

"You most certainly are not," he replied. "Let's get you dressed and get some cake in you. Then we'll discuss your okayness."

Both Dozi and the man helped Ilya gingerly slide the shirt over her arms and head. It was far too wide and a bit short, but she wore it with the collar draped off one shoulder, and she did not mind showing off her midriff.

"These shorts will just have to do," the mystic said in an apologetic tone. "They are going to be much too big. Here's a belt to help." He slid the shorts over her feet and up her legs to her thighs.

Dozi let Ilya lean on her, and aided the injured woman to stand.

Ilya pulled the shorts up the rest of the way, cinched them with the belt, and she groaned at her wounds. Then her hand came to her cheek in an inadvertent and self-comforting gesture.

"Argh!" she squawked. "What the fuck?!"

"Be careful!" the mystic said with deep concern in his voice. "You have a more minor, but still serious wound on your face.

Ilya let out a moan. "I didn't even feel it over the pain in my side." She grimaced, then asked in a low voice, "Do you have a mirror?"

The mystic scurried to the front part of his shop, grabbed a small decorative mirror that hung on the wall behind the counter, and returned. He handed it to Ilya. "Your face is bandaged as well," he warned.

Ilya looked at herself and repeated in a murmur to no one in particular, "What the fuck?" She added, "I almost lost my eye!"

The wound started in the middle of her cheek and traveled up to the edge of her orbital socket, where the arrow ricocheted.

"What the fuck?" she whispered one more time to herself, as she handed the mirror back to the mystic. "Thank you," she added in a dejected tone without looking up at him.

"Now," he said in a calm voice, "how 'bout that cake?"

They helped Ilya hobble out from the back room, and when she was a few bites into the treat, the mystic commented, "Lucky these two found you."

Ilya looked at Dozi and Agrell and tried to remember the details of what happened to her.

"They didn't seem to know how you came to be in such a horrible state."

Ilya scrunched up her face in concentration. "I'm trying to remember, myself." She flinched and caressed the bandage on her side.

"I think she needs to get some rest," Dozi interjected. "We'll take her home and be back tomorrow morning like you said. She'll have her own clothes again and we can return yours back to you."

"That's very kind," the mystic said with a nod, "and you'll be able to take care of her?"

Dozi ignored his question and asked, "You're a Demifae, right?"

"Why, yes, my dear. I received my enhancement back in year 214," he said proudly. "I suspect that's before you youngsters were even born."

"You got that right!" Dozi confirmed. "How old are you?" she asked the little round man.

He flashed her a coy smile. "Don't you know that it's impolite to ask a dame her age?" he teased.

When Ilya finished her cake, the mystic provided her with a proper crutch, and he sent the ladies on their way with a sleeping potion to help Ilya get through the night.

Dozi slowly led the two women through the streets of the Spritehood, with Agrell helping Ilya along. Dozi whispered to herself, "I'm out of my mind." Then she turned back to the other two. "Look," she said to Agrell and Ilya, "I'm going to welcome you into my place, but this is all I own, you understand? I live here, and everything I have in the world is here." She stared at them both for a few silent seconds, then she turned.

In a narrow space behind an old ventilation fan cage, there was a small hidden door set below the street line. One woman after another slunk into the gap behind the fan, and they each ducked through the small entryway. A set of stairs led them down to a dark basement where a single candle was burning. Dozi lit several more, and the room took on an acceptable level of gloom.

She looked at Ilya and then Agrell. "You two are both more than I am. You're a Shift, and you're a Messiah. I know, I know, against your will," Dozi added in a supportive tone. "Just please don't take advantage of me. I'm only a human, and I'm just trying to help."

Dozi pointed towards her cot and assisted Ilya down onto it. "I know my bed ain't much," she said, "but you'll sleep better on it than the floor. I'll prep your potion."

Then she focused on Agrell, and Dozi grabbed the skinny woman's arm. "You," she said, "we need to talk." She shoved Agrell towards the area that served as her kitchen.

"I get it," Dozi whispered to her, "you’re going to experience a lot of new things in the city, but you cannot draw attention to yourself. Every time you're surprised by something, your reaction will call you out."

She continued. "And as much as the mystic has helped, I don't fucking trust him. He's used Shift mantis glands over the years," Dozi stated, and she turned towards Ilya. "In the same way that you need to keep yourself a secret, she's a Shift, and he can't find out what she is. Do you understand?"

Agrell nodded. Her eyes were wide.

"We will need to square away the story of how she was injured, so it doesn't bring attention to the fact that she's a Shift." Dozi's head swirled with mixed emotions. She thrust them to the back of her mind.

"Listen, Agrell," she continued, "I really think you should focus on observing, and try to keep most of your thoughts to yourself; they are going to reveal your secrets. I know there will be things that seem interesting, but keep those thoughts to yourself in order to keep your past hidden."

The two of them returned to the main part of Dozi's home. She put her hands on her hips and stood before them both.

"There's plenty of room down here," she said with a little uncertainty in her voice, "and you're welcome to stay with me as long as you need." She turned to Ilya. "Here, let's find you something that fits for tomorrow. I have a dark shirt that won't show if your wounds bleed a little, and it'll cover the bandages on your side." Dozi placed a pair of shorts onto the cot beside Ilya, then helped her remove the mystic's clothes, and Agrell turned away.

Ilya gasped with the effort, and fresh tears sprang to her eyes. "Potion," she managed through clenched teeth.

"They're in my bag, skinny girl," Dozi said to Agrell. "The mystic gave us two vials that need to be mixed before she takes it. He said to just pour one into the other, and that it doesn't matter which way you mix them. Then shake them up."

Agrell lifted the satchel's flap and the two vials were sitting at the top. They were wrapped together in a cloth and each was sealed with a cork. She tried not to pay attention to the other items in the bag but noticed a wad of cash in a metal clip, a knife, and several tins with handwritten labels. Each of the vials was less than half full of liquid; one was clear red like watered-down wine, and the other held a thicker golden substance with the appearance of honey. Agrell pulled the corks from each, poured the red fluid into the other, then resealed it. She gave the potion a shake.

"Here you go," Agrell said, as she pulled the cork and handed the potion to Ilya, who sucked the concoction down.

"Tastes like oleander," she mumbled.

"What does that even taste like?" Dozi asked.

Ilya replied, "I don't know," and her eyelids fluttered as the potion started to work.

"Let's get you tucked in," Dozi said to her, and she pulled up the blanket. Then she turned to Agrell.

"Come on, skinny girl. Let's let her sleep. Got some food over here, if you're still hungry after that cake."

Agrell followed, and mumbled to herself in a tone of disbelief, "This is my first time to the city."

"You've experienced quite a lot over the past day, haven't you?" Dozi replied.

The two ladies sat together at a small table and Dozi poured them each a glass of dark ale from a large jug.

"You want a meat pie?" she asked, and without awaiting a reply, she unwrapped two of them. "I think it's goat," Dozi said, and she slid one in front of Agrell.

"Thank you," she replied and took a bite.

Dozi nodded with her own mouth full of food.

They ate in silence, and when they finished, Dozi grabbed a few more articles of clothing. "We need to get you out of that cult garb," she stated, and again, she used the word that was unknown to Agrell. "Here's a shirt and proper trousers." Dozi did not turn around.

Agrell stood there holding the clothes, but she did not move.

"Look, skinny girl, I don't know what it was like in the cult where you grew up, but you don't need to worry about me." She added, "It's men you've gotta watch out for."

Dozi peeled off her three bulky shirts and thrust her pants and shorts to her knees. She stood upright, wearing just a burgundy bra and black panties that did not match.

Agrell was surprised to see how curvaceous Dozi's body was; her breasts were large and her hips were round and sensuous below her narrow waist. She was womanly, and Agrell felt boyish beside her.

Dozi slid her trousers the rest of the way down and kicked them from her feet. She then folded and hung up her clothes, and swapped them for a pair of soft sleep pants and a large shirt.

"We can use your cloak as a blanket," Dozi encouraged, and she took the garment from Agrell's shoulders. "We'll spread the sheet you've got onto some extra blankets for a makeshift bed," she added.

Agrell very much wanted to get out of her community's clothing, but she hesitantly began to disrobe. Though she was concerned with being naked in front of another person, Dozi did not once look over at her as she changed.

On the floor, at the foot of her cot, Dozi set up a thick pile of several blankets. She waved at them and whispered, "We're all women here, skinny girl. We've got to look out for each other."

Agrell stretched out and Dozi spread the cloak over her. She then snuggled down onto the pile of blankets next to her.

An emotion that was so commonly tapped into during Agrell's childhood came flooding through her being. She felt guilty, but guilty for the comfort she was experiencing by being beside this other woman. Dozi opened her home to two complete strangers, and Agrell was feeling things that were foreign to her.

She might have used the word friendship or optimism, but those were not ideals of the community. They made her feel uncomfortable, and she liked them. Agrell felt safe with Dozi beside her, as she drifted off into dreamless sleep.

A mere matter of hours later, while it was still dark, the three women were awoken by the terrible sound and reverberations of an explosion★