Simple Rules

Trembling and scared out of my mind I peer up at this great eldritch woman, too frightened to make direct eye contact yet unable to look away, like a beaten dog to its cruel master. She looks down on my with a placid expression on her creepily not quite human face.

“Spirits below.” She tilts her head. “You truly are a hideous thing.”

I cover my ears again and violently shake my head. I was still trying to wake up from this nightmare but it was finally sinking in that this was not something I could escape so easily. Had I died? Was I in hell? Was this just some final sparking of fading synapses in my otherwise lifeless corpse? Whatever it was I was in it and there was nothing I could do about it.

“You can understand me?” She asks in a coaxing gentle tone. “You hear me, don’t you?”

I give her three rapid nods of my head.

“The fact you responded I will assume that means yes.” She says. “Can you speak?”

“I c-can s-s-speak.” I stutter aloud, breaking the physical silence.

“Mmm. I do not understand you.” She says. “You do not speak directly?”

I shake my head.

“And that means no.” She nods her head. “Yes.” She shakes it is side to side. “No. Is this correct?”

I nod yes.

“Excellent. At least we have that.” She says. “To evolve in the air and in a place without magic…your race must have so many differences from ours.” Her long powerful tentacles begin to writhe and slither over the rough stone floor as she glides closer to me. “So you heard all of that then. Just know that I would have taken no pleasure in killing you human.” She reaches for me with one of her lower limbs and I dart my hand away from her touch. Pausing for a second she slowly withdraws it again. “You do not trust me, and so you shouldn’t. You heard everything. You know the arrangement.”

I peek up at her face and nod.

“Good.” She says bluntly. “It is better this way. You should know the truth. Let’s establish some more truths while we are at it.”

Cautiously I turn and sit up, hugging my knees to my chest as I listen.

“I do not care if you were a criminal where you came from. I do not care about who you were up above. My care is for my people and for my cause so let me be plain. If you try to escape, I will kill you. If you do escape, I will kill you.” Her voice carried no emotion, hostile or otherwise, which made it that much more chilling. “If you harm any of my people, I will kill you. If you attract unwanted notice to yourself, I will kill you. If you disobey me, I will kill you.” She says. “My arrangement with Haali will not save you. You are trouble, human, and I do not enjoy inviting trouble into my home. You will find me firm but fair. If you abide by my rules we will make your stay with us as painless as possible. Do you understand?”

I look up into her golden hourglass eyes and reluctantly nod once more, fearing she may hurt me if I didn’t answer.

“Good.” She places her hands on her hips and studies me. “Do not think of this as a **** sentence. Think of this as a gift. Fate has spared you human, if only for a short time.” Her voice softens. “Find your peace.”

It was hard to see a bright side in any of this but deep down I knew she was right. I ought to be dead right now. If not for an astounding moment serendipity I would be gone. Ever second I continued drawing breath was a blessing.

“My name is Mistress Naneaveanna-Nwyne. You may address me as Mistress or Mistress Nwyne.” She says. “Say it. Say it your way.”

“Um…” I whisper. “…Mistress Nwyne.”

“Such a peculiar noise.” She smiles, a shockingly warm smile given her unearthly appearance. In the short time I had been awake I had seen such contrasts in this woman, from danger and authority to care and even vulnerability when speaking to Ellerie. “Understand human, I sympathize with your situation but I cannot help you. Even if I wanted to. Nobody can.” She glances toward the door. “Except perhaps that fool who brought you here. He really is a genius that boy, though it pains me to admit it.” With a wave of her hand she invites me to stand.

Summoning my courage I reach up behind me and hold onto the edge of the heavy table as I stand. I nod to her to indicate that I understood. On my feet now I see that I was not far off on my guessing the size of this creature in front of me. From hips to head she had the body of some magnificent seven foot tall amazon, though if she ever went up onto the tips of her massive tentacles she would have towered up to close to twenty feet. In her mighty presence I felt so…small.

Looking around the spacious room I am struck with how familiar yet odd it was. At a glance one recognized it as a large private office of some sort but none of the proportions were right. The ceiling vaulted high above, as high as my three story apartment back home. Shelves of books and other strange looking items ran all the way up to the top. About half way up I could see another closed door. It dawns on me that, the creatures here being able to swim, there would be no reason to keep things at ground level. Suspended in the air…no, water…were a half a dozen tear shaped globes glowing with a soft blue-white light. It was these that lit the room. At floor level was a desk and two large tables, there was no furniture for sitting. The table behind me which I had been laying on was clear. The other had a map of some sort spread out on it along with an open book and quill. The book’s pages were very thick, about an eighth of an inch per leaf, and dark green in color. The straight lines and sharp angles of the coral pink lettering on the pages reminded me of the Sumerian cuneiform writing. The desk I could not see very well as it was behind the woman, though I did see an open case with triangular silver coins lined up in neat rows like casino chips.

“Are you a woman?” She asks.

Still looking about the room I nod without even giving it a thought.

“I thought so.”

Just then a knock comes and the door opens. Ellerie slips through and closes the door behind her before zipping across the room to her Mistress’ side with incredible speed. “Haali said we’re keeping it!? For real!?”

“Her, not it.” Nanea gently corrects. “Yes. She will be our guest for awhile. A secret guest.”

“Wow!” Ellerie lights up with an expressive cherubic smile, a big open smile which bears her white teeth. The front four teeth on both top and bottom looked healthy and relatively human, but at the canines this shifted to thick sharp interlocking fang like teeth that looked to run the rest of the way back. “I can’t believe this! A human, an actual human, staying here!? WOW!”

With her nearest tentacle Nanea reaches up to gently stroke Ellerie’s slender shoulder. She looks at the smaller woman with a deep love that was as obvious as the full moon on a clear crisp night. Witnessing the younger woman’s enthusiasm seemed to fill her with life. “Possibly the first living human to ever reach us. It is rather exciting.”

“You bet it is!” Unable to contain her exuberance Ellerie twirls in a circle, her short tentacles whirling out like a ballerina’s tutu. “What is your name human?”

“So far she can only say yes or no.” Nanea demonstrates to Ellerie the two gestures. “She understands us but cannot speak like us otherwise, she has no magic, and we would not understand her writing nor her ours.”

Ellerie practices nodding and shaking her head a few times then zips around to the other side of her Mistress. “Well hello human. I’m Ellerie-Flyre.”

Holding my hand up I wave it at Ellerie. “Hello Ellerie.”

“AH! Ha ha ha ha!” Her arms and tentacles and even her head tendrils all curl inward as she giggles loudly. “That tickles!”

Nanea chuckles. “Yes. She has a strange way of communicating. I think she was saying hello to you my dear.”

“Oh.” Ellerie raises her hand and mirrors my wave back. “Hello.”

“Hello.” I say again with a wave.

“He he he!”

It was really hard to be frightened with Ellerie’s adorable giggles echoing through my mind. I allow my body and spirit to relax a moment and lean back against the table behind me. As I calmed the smaller things started to come through. That disturbing feeling of breathing water, the dull burn in my nose and lungs, the taste of salt, the odd silence to my ears, the floaty feel of being submerged. I felt fine, a bit tired perhaps and breathing was an effort, but otherwise healthy.

Ellerie’s laughter soon fades and a look of sadness comes over her. “Haali said…”

“Yes my dear. She will only be with us for a short time.” Nanea says. “She isn’t of our world my dear. She doesn’t belong here. It is the way things are.”

“Yeah.” Ellerie says softly and in that single word I catch a glimpse a different woman behind the cute ebullient surface. A woman who had known suffering in her life. She might have been a weird octopus woman from a world apart from mine, but the emotions were all too human.

Pushing off of the table I drift toward them. Mistress Nwyne tenses and readies herself to defend them if needed. Ellerie stares with wide surprised eyes as I carefully reach out to take her hand. It was warmer than I expected. Giving it a soft squeeze I offer a small smile to try assure the young woman that I understood my fate as well. Nanea relaxes when she sees I posed no threat. Ellerie stared down at my hand for a time then slowly up until her bright green eyes met mine. Nanea reaches between us to gently separate our hands.

“Do not get too close to her my dear. It will only hurt more later.”

“Yes Mistress.” She rubs her hand with the other, my sudden physical contact had left her a bit stunned.

“Go my dear. Gather the others. They need to know about our guest too.”

“Yes Mistress.” She bows and, after a brief glance back at me, dashes off toward the door.