The Mantis Continuum - Book Four - 22. Chapter 22 - Dozi

It was just after 8am, and Dozi had already done quite a lot of business at her mushroom table, when she noticed Ilya and Olona heading through the crowd toward her stall. She had not seen either of them in several days, and she did not know much of what had transpired. Dozi smiled and waved at them, but she noticed that a man seemed to be walking over with the pair. He looked a bit older, and Dozi guessed he was about Theolan’s age.

“Hey, Dozi,” Ilya said in a voice Dozi could tell was forced. “This is Unadi.”

“Hi,” Dozi said dismissively, focusing on Ilya. She could tell something was bothering her. “Ilya, what’s wrong?”

“It’s Lahari!” she cried out. “Something happened, I don’t know, but she’s in a coma.”

Dozi was shocked. “What?!” she barked.

“It worked,” Olona interjected. “The process worked and Lahari was able to turn off Unadi’s mantis gland, but she passed out and we weren’t able to wake her.”

“I brought Lahari back to her fathers,” Ilya informed Dozi. “Hopefully the mystic can do something.”

Dozi furrowed her brow and looked from Ilya to Olona to Unadi and then back to Ilya. “Okay, why don’t I pack up my mushrooms, and we can all go grab a bite to eat so we can talk some more.”

It took her only a moment to close her vendor table, and the four of them headed through the streets of Gate Town.

“This is Shifton,” Ilya said to Unadi as the quartet passed a little sign indicating the border to the neighborhood. “We’re almost to Red Raven’s.”

A few minutes later, they entered the pub and seated themselves around a table.

Olona asked, “Unadi, what would you like to try and eat?”

He scrunched up his face. “The whole idea of it is so unappealing.”

Dozi asked, “Food?”

Unadi explained, “My curse always made eating unnecessary.”

Dozi pressed him further. “You don’t eat?”

“Never. Even when I was an infant, I apparently couldn’t keep anything down. The midwives eventually stopped trying to feed me, but I was fine. That’s what they told me. I’ve never eaten anything.”

Dozi again looked at Ilya and Olona and then at Unadi.

“You’re probably going to need to eat soon,” Olona said, “since your mantis gland is no longer consuming the energy of other living things.”

One of the regular barkeeps stepped up to their table. “Hello, you three,” he said to Ilya, Dozi, and Olona, and he added, “I see you’ve brought a fella with you today. What can I get for you all?”

“Why don’t you bring us four fizzyreds to get started?” Dozi requested.

“Be right out with them!”

“What’s that?” Unadi asked.

Olona lit a joint, took a puff, and explained, “Fizzyred is a fermented fruit beverage with only a little kick of alcohol.”

“It’s good,” Dozi added. She eyed Unadi uncertainly. She had been trying to be more trusting of new people, but she still thought to herself, I don’t fucking trust this guy, and he better not have hurt Lahari.

Tchama appeared at the door to the tavern, and she saw Dozi, Ilya, and Olona. She was wearing a black and white striped scarf draped over the healed remains of her shoulder. “What are you three doing here so early?” she asked as she approached their table. It took her an extra second to register that a strange man was with them. She focused on him. “Oh, hello.”

“Tchama, this is Unadi,” Ilya said.

“Oi, Tchama!” called a jolly woman from behind the bar, and she waved.

“Nice to meet you, Unadi,” Tchama said quickly. “Be right back!” She skipped over to the woman.

“What’s… wrong… with her?” Unadi asked in a quavering voice.

The three women with him did not know how to answer.

“Do you mean,” Olona ventured, “what happened to her arm? Because there’s nothing wrong with Tchama.”

“She lost it during a battle, less than six months ago,” Dozi added.

“There’s something evil about her,” Unadi stated.

Dozi scoffed.

“No, there isn’t,” Ilya countered. “Tchama’s just missing an arm. What are you talking about, Unadi?”

“She’s…” he started, but he did not finish his thought, as Tchama returned to the table with a bowl of walnuts.

“Oooh,” Dozi cooed, “crack a few of those for me, will you?”

“My pleasure,” Tchama replied, and she grabbed one, crushing it in her bare hand. “Here you go.”

Unadi picked up one of the nuts and pinched it between his thumb and first finger. His fingertips squeezed the stony exterior of the shell, but it was unbreakable.

“I’ll do it!” Tchama said. She snatched it from his hand and crushed it for him.

To the surprise of the four women, Unadi stood up from the table with a start and backed away from Tchama.

“What’s your problem?!” Dozi asked in a tone that was a little harsher than she meant. She was trying to be more understanding of people, but she already did not like Unadi.

“How did you… how is that possible?” Unadi stammered. “How are you so strong?”

“Unadi, you’re a Shift,” Olona replied. “Why is it strange to meet someone who is stronger than you? You’re fully aware of the world we live in, which is full of powerful people. You used to be one of them.”

Tchama eyed Unadi curiously as she popped a shelled walnut into her mouth and crushed another.

Unadi whispered, “Vile demon.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Dozi snapped. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

“She’s some sort of monster,” Unadi said under his breath.

Tchama let out a laugh, did not say a word, and she walked away from the table. Seconds later, she was at the bar again, chatting and joking with the barmaid who had called her over a moment earlier. Unadi’s words seemed not to have bothered her one bit.

“Why would you say that?” Ilya hissed at him.

“There’s something wrong with her,” Unadi declared.

Olona was trying to make sense of the situation. “Okay, Unadi, tell us what’s wrong with her.”

He looked across the pub towards Tchama. “No, no, no,” he began repeating quietly. “No, no…”

“Hey!” Dozi barked, snapping her fingers at him, and he turned back to them.

“Unadi, are you okay?” Ilya asked, but he left the three seated at the table and stormed over toward Tchama.

“Now what?!” Dozi asked the universe at large.

Unadi stepped right up to Tchama, stood with his face a little too close to her face, and he yelled at the top of his lungs, “You should be dead!”

The tavern grew quiet and all eyes turned to Unadi.

Ilya rushed over to him, grabbed his arm, and said through her teeth, “What’s your problem?! Tchama’s our friend!” and she urged him out of the tavern and into the street.

The room full of startled breakfasters got back to their morning meals.

During the commotion, Dozi and Olona did not realize a teenage boy had stepped up and was standing at their table. “Excuse me,” he said.

The two of them turned to him.

He was gawking at Olona✪