The Mantis Variant - Book One - 34. Chapter 34 - Epilogue 4 - The End

Ilya, Auntie Peg, and Lahari were halfway between Brokenpointe and Eckelton when she told them about her encounter the night before with the three men. There were no other travelers on the road to the tiny village, and the scarf she wore to hide her face was pulled down.

"I killed them," Lahari concluded.

"What do you mean? Where were the bodies this morning?" Auntie Peg asked her.

"Their bodies disappeared."

"What do you think they were going to do with us?" Ilya asked.

"And what would they have done with me?" Lahari added, waving a gloved hand by the side of her face and indicating her otherworldly appearance. "They were bad people, right?" she asked. Both Ilya and Auntie Peg made uncertain faces at her, and Lahari added, "Then fuck their redemption story."

"And now they can't harass anyone else," Ilya added to Auntie Peg. She then turned to Lahari. "You should've seen how she sent them on their way last night."

"Yeah," Lahari replied, "but they came back worse. They seemed pretty agro when they got there. Who knows what shit they've done to others before, or what they intended with you two. Fuck their redemption," she repeated, and she pulled her scarf up over her face.

Auntie Peg sighed.

"What is it?" Ilya asked her.

"I'm just thinking," she replied. "It's nothing."

Ilya looked up through the trees. "How much further through these woods do you think this path goes?"

"The sun is still high," Auntie Peg replied. "We aren't supposed to make it to Eckelton until after sunset, so I bet we've got a ways to go still."

They walked for a while in silence, and before long, the pale sun began to set.

"Can't wait to get there," Auntie Peg commented. "They better have rooms for us. Take my hands, girls. Stay close."

Ilya and Lahari walked against Auntie Peg's sides, and she hooked her hands into both of their elbows.

The forest was quiet under the darkening sky.

"I'm sorry," Auntie Peg said to them, "for Agrell. I'm sorry she's gone." She sucked air through her teeth. "Gotta keep it together," she said, and she choked down the lump in her throat. "Don't ruin your makeup," Auntie Peg commanded herself.

"I know that you both spent a lot of time with her during her few days of freedom," she continued. "Thank you for accepting her, even knowing where she came from," and she added, "where I came from."

Then through the blackness ahead of them, a twinkling became visible through the trees.

"Oh, good," Ilya said. "We finally made it. I'm famished."

The path rounded some trees, and the glimpses of light became the old tired town of Eckelton. Torches and lamps burned at the front of both taverns.

The three weary travelers approached one, and Auntie Peg opened the door.

A man with a handlebar mustache greeted them. "Hello there, ladies, and welcome to The Crossed Swords. Will you three be needing rooms, or are you just here for supper?"

"We'd love a room, one for me and my girls," Auntie Peg replied. "We are exhausted and hungry."

The mustachioed man smiled. "I can certainly accommodate you. Why don’t you head up to the room, and I’ll get some food ready for you?"

"That sounds marvelous."

Their host then shouted, "Zilly!"

A burly teenage boy who was built like a stone wall walked out from the back room.

"Take these ladies' bags up to suite four." He turned back to his three guests. "I apologize for the climb, but the rooms for more than one person are on the third floor. Please, follow Zilly."

"Not a problem," Auntie Peg assured him. She handed her bag to the muscular boy with a flirty smile.

Once they were in their room, Auntie Peg opened the door a crack and watched him head back downstairs. "Mama likey," she purred under her breath. "He's gone!" She shut the door.

Lahari started pulling off her excessive clothes and stripped naked to her scaly blue-grey skin. She again flexed all her quills in rippling patterns, and the other two women watched her. When she was satisfied, she looked back at them.

"Sorry!" Auntie Peg blurted out. "We don't mean to stare at you, but child, you are stunning. You really are quite beautiful."

This time, she said the compliment to Lahari without then walking out the door and leaving her alone. She was not accustomed to praise, and Lahari looked down at her hands, as if an explanation for Auntie Peg's kindness was in her palms.

Ilya and Auntie Peg removed their outer layers and headed back to the door.

"I'll bring you up some food in a few minutes," and they were gone.

In the room alone, Agrell entered Lahari’s thoughts. She collapsed to her knees, clutched at her hand to her heart, and tears flooded from her yellow eyes. Her body shook with her sobs. Crying was such a rarity for Lahari that she was overcome and succumbed to her sorrow.

She was still crouched on the floor when Ilya knocked on the door.

"It's me this time," she called out, and she opened it. "Oh, Lahari!" she cried. Ilya quickly placed the plate of food onto the table and dropped down beside the trembling woman. She placed her palm against a bare patch of Lahari's shoulder blade where no spines stuck out of her flesh.

"Don't touch me!" Lahari wailed, and she pulled away.

Ilya screamed out in pain, as her knuckles were sliced open by a few black quills.

Lahari turned, and Ilya cowered away from her. She clutched her bloody hand and looked terrified.

"I'm sorry!" Lahari cried, and she wrapped her arms around Ilya. "I'm sorry, I’m sorry," she repeated over and over. She jumped up and grabbed a towel to tie over Ilya's bloody knuckles. "I'm so sorry," Lahari said again. Tears were pouring from her yellow eyes. "It's just," she paused, and she choked a sob as she said, "Agrell!"

The two young women hugged each other, and they cried for long minutes together. None of Lahari's spines hurt Ilya again.

Eventually, they rose from the floor, and Ilya left Lahari alone. She joined Auntie Peg downstairs, and the three women each ate their dinners.

When the two returned to the room, Auntie Peg knocked and said at the crack of the door, "It's us!" and they entered.

Auntie Peg was wearing a sad expression, and she asked Lahari, "May I hug you?" and the two embraced. "I'm so sorry about Agrell."

Lahari squeezed Auntie Peg tight and growled into her shoulder, "Stop making me cry!"

"It's okay to let it out," Auntie Peg comforted in a gentle voice. "I know that I barely got to know Agrell, but she was lucky to have had you in her life while she was a free woman. Your heart is big, Lahari," Auntie Peg added.

Ilya stood off to one side, and she sniffed hard to fight back her tears.

Auntie Peg looked over at her and said, "Come here, child." She extended one arm and welcomed Ilya into her embrace, and the three women cried for their friend.

"Maybe," Auntie Peg ventured, "this is what all of this was about."✪