Encante (7 page)

“Axel is merely observant, and a good judge of character. You are fond of her, it’s true, but you find her rigid, boring, and just a shade stupid for your taste. Besides,”—she leant over the table between us and brushed a fingertip down the cogs of my tattoo—“you will come to resent her soon enough if she truly keeps you from your explorations.”

I stared at her, trying to ignore the sensation her fingers had left upon my skin. “You are very forthright.”

“There is little point in being otherwise when a man knows you know his thoughts.”

“I did not know you knew
that
. I’m not even certain I knew that.”

“Such is often the way with men. You would have realised too late, had I not told you.”

“Then I thank you.” I found myself grinning, then sobered as I realised it made no difference.

“You believe you will marry her regardless, Simeon Escher?” She did not look to me for an answer, but instead consulted the cards before her, turning one over and laying it atop another, forming a cross. “We shall see,”—she smiled—“yes, we shall see.”

Chapter Eight

“A
nd so you see, even though we would be capable of tending these plants, even perhaps doing so reasonably efficiently with the proper breathing apparatus—which I am close to perfecting—the natural affinities the encante have with the water ecosystem is such that the plants and fish are actually
improved
by their presence in the water.”

I leant over Amos Newton’s worktable and examined the two specimens he had growing in twin tanks, one from an environment bereft of encante, the other from their own hydroponics bay. I had to concur, the difference was phenomenal.

“We have actually identified new species of fish in our own bay since beginning this voyage,” Edgar Harrow, Newton’s assistant, added. “I believe this is from the close and constant presence of the farmers in the waters with them.”

I found I liked the Narwhal’s second scientist far better than the captain’s ‘Newt’. “Fascinating,” I murmured.

It truly was. I might not agree with their philosophy on slavery, but I had to admit the encante were well treated, even seeming happy, if a little quiet. I disliked the notion of their mechanical tails, but I had yet to hear of slaves on any world save Illymyrtum who would actually choose to remain in their positions if granted the opportunity to be free. The slaves of that planet led more privileged lives than most of the denizens of every world within the Fifteen Solars, including Howl and Sinfin, and that was saying something. The encante seemed well treated here also, and the scientific discoveries being made as a result of their work and presence were extraordinary. I couldn’t help but wonder what would happen if there were more with Drusilla’s gifts.

“If you find our science so interesting, Escher, I’ll have one of the farmers give you a tour of the tanks. Certainly you already know they’re capable of breathing for you, although if you prefer to rely on technology, I’ll have Newt here fix you up with one of his contraptions.” The captain regarded his scientist with scepticism.

“Thank you, Captain, I should like that very much.”

“Not at all, my dear boy.” He led me by the arm from the laboratory, another previously hidden place he’d suddenly decided I was trustworthy enough to see. “I’ll have Garrett see to it at once.”

“If it isn’t too much trouble, I should prefer Vee as my guide.”

The captain stopped abruptly and rounded on me, suddenly appearing angry.

“I never had a chance to thank her for saving my life,” I tried to explain, “and I’m already familiar . . .”

“You go too far!” he growled.

I took a step back, confused by the abrupt change in demeanour and, I’m not ashamed to say, more than a little intimidated. Everett was no small man.

“I open my ship to you, my home, even allow you secret meetings with my niece . . . oh yes, I see you thought I was unaware of that? There is nothing that goes on aboard this vessel that escapes me, Escher,
nothing!
But for you to presume to take liberties with my personal companion—”

“Companion?” I gaped at him for an instant, truly confounded. “Captain, I believe there’s some confusion here; you said I could have a farmer as a guide, I merely thought to have the one with whom I was already acquainted.”

Silence reigned for one uncomfortably long moment, then Everett issued his now-familiar roar of laughter. “A farmer!”

“Yes.” I turned to Harrow, baffled, only to find the man had fled his captain’s rage.

“You think I keep Vee aboard to
farm?
Oh, son, how naive they breed you on your world! No, my dear boy, she’s not fit to farm the grass between her legs, that one, although I’ll grant you she knows what to do with the quim she keeps beneath.” I stared at him in astonishment. “Vee’s no farmer, boy; she’s a renter.”

“I beg your pardon?”

“You’re forgiven.” He roared with laughed once more. “You weren’t to know, I suppose.”

I’d been asking for explanation, not forgiveness. “Are you saying the girl is a . . .”

“She’s a whore, boy; they don’t have whores where you come from?”

“They do indeed, sir, although . . .” I’d never think to see one aboard a ship, nor hear a gentleman speak so openly of employing such services. “. . . I’d not thought to see a prostitute aboard a submersible,” I finished lamely.

“A prostitute aboard a submersible, he says.” Everett turned to Newton, who stood in his shadow, echoing the man’s uproarious laughter in obvious discomfort. Evidently I was not the only one who found the captain’s disclosure distasteful.

“I’ve close to a hundred men aboard, Escher, how else am I to keep them happy?” he asked. “Besides, the women aren’t good for much else. Occasionally one can cook or wait at table, but mostly they’re worth their bite and not much more. That said, you’ll never find a human pleasurable again once you’ve tried one, you mark my words.”

“Consider them marked.” I tried desperately to think of a means of escaping the situation.

“Forgive my anger, Escher. Vee is a particularly prized specimen, and I won’t have her lie with another. That toffer’s mine and no other’s, you hear me? But there’s more than one fish in the sea, eh, Escher, eh?” He guffawed at his own incredibly poor joke. “Fish in the sea!” He slapped himself on the chest and braced his arm against the wall as he continued to laugh.

“Uncle, there you are!”

I wheeled, more than a little relieved to see Drusilla hurrying around a junction. Her face was flushed and I gathered she had been running. She was dressed half in another suit of crushed velvet and half in the top I had seen her wearing earlier. Her trousers and coat were in place, but the scarlet of the material covering her bosom peeked out beneath the ochre of her coat, which had been buttoned to protect her modesty. The further impression that she’d dressed with haste was given by the fact her buttons were mismatched to their holes, and the flower I’d given her still graced her hair.

“Ah, Drusilla, my lovely.” The captain gave his niece a kiss on the cheek. “Just the girl. Mister Escher here needs seeing to, take him below for me, there’s a good girl.”

I was about to protest at the heinous notion that he would allow his niece to ‘see to me’, when she planted herself firmly between us and took my arm, ushering me back the way she’d come.

“Of course, Uncle.” And without chance to utter another word I was swept away.

Drusilla was certainly swift of foot. I found myself trotting more than once to keep pace. We descended two decks and crossed half the ship before she slowed, and I realised I was in the very belly of the Narwhal, the place Everett had initially ensured was so carefully kept hidden from me.

“Your gallantry is appreciated, Simeon, but you needn’t have been so concerned; my uncle would never allow me to be a night flower. I’m far too valuable to him for other reasons.”

She glanced at me from beneath her eyelashes and I couldn’t help that my gaze slid down to her half-bared breasts, heaving slightly beneath her coat from our escape.

“You must not let him see that!” she warned. “He must never know you find me so attractive.”

I was about to deny it, but realised it would be utterly without point. The only thoughts I had when I was with her were about what it would be like to kiss her, hold her, tangle my fingers in her hair—

“Guard your thoughts!” she scolded. “I may be the only one aboard who can read minds, but I’m not the only one who can see the obvious. If my uncle realises your attraction, it will mean trouble for you.”

“He can’t possibly think I’d take advantage of you?”

“Quite the contrary, he seeks to take advantage of you.” She shook her head. “Cage already has plans to marry us; if he knows you’d be willing, he’d bring those plans forward.”

“Cage?”

“Minerva’s pet name for Uncle Micajah. Rather apt, don’t you think? He keeps us all caged one way or another.”

“He seeks to marry us?”

Marry Drusilla in place of Cecelia?
The prospect was . . . undeniably attractive.

“You think so?” She turned on me. “Have you considered that once we wed, my uncle would never allow you to return home?”

A chill swam through me as her words sank in. My hand strayed to the compass, secure in my pocket, reassuring me I could leave whenever I wished. Perhaps I should simply have left right then, but I had so many questions, such curiosity about this Hollow Earth, such hope for what it could mean to the rebellion, and so little desire to leave Drusilla. Her eyes flickered to me for an instant as the thought crossed my mind, and the barest trace of a frown creased her otherwise smooth complexion. For the first time it occurred to me to wonder if I were truly a guest aboard the Narwhal, or if I was as much a prisoner as Drusilla’s cousins.

Chapter Nine

“P
repare yourself,” Drusilla said, “the covey are unlike any of the girls you’ve known previously.” She pushed open another generic door and we entered a room of similar design to Newton’s laboratories, yet while the labs had been dry, the atmosphere in here was more aquatic than terrestrial—something akin to the hydroponics bay, but with the distinct air of enclosure.

“Watch your step,” Drusilla warned, a few seconds before I stumbled over yet another join in the floor.

She held out her hand, and a small orb began to glow on her palm. It cast enough light that we could see, but not so much that it encroached upon anyone else in the room. And there were many others in the room. Before me lay another walkway. This one was far less elaborate than that in hydroponics. The room was roughly circular, and the platform ran the circumference and the diameter several times, creating a star-like effect. Curtains hung from the ceiling and walls, and people clustered in the shadows, humping on the platforms or cavorting in the water, often on short rafts, or submerged in cradle-like contraptions. The tanks in here were far shallower than those leading to the outside of the ship, and I surmised they went no further than the confines of this room. Moans of ecstasy were clearly audible, and I found myself turning away and focusing on my feet. My eyes fell on Drusilla, however, and her tiny, bare little ankles; my discomfort increased tenfold, not least because I knew she was fully aware of what I was thinking.

Her hand slipped into mine and squeezed gently. “It’s all right, Simeon,” she whispered. “You need never be embarrassed with me.”

She struck out across the closest crossing and I had no choice but follow or relinquish her hand. If anyone marked our passage, they showed no sign of it. I couldn’t help but see a man with his clothes off, lounging in one of the submerged cradles, as a slender encante with hair like Vee’s clasped his mouth and nose with one hand and straddled his tools. Her whole being seemed to vibrate against him as she slid up and down the length of him. Another girl, with eels for fingers, tended to his blind cupid. He looked to be about ready to burst. I was slightly disturbed to notice that while the aquatic features of the girls were very different, their faces were identical.

Twins, I realised—twin doxies.

I hadn’t even noticed the woman at the centre of the room until she rose from a gargantuan chair. “Drusilla,”—she glanced at me—“you’ve brought me a toy,” she remarked. “How kind.”

“He’s not to be played with, Stella. I fear you might break him, even with your gentlest girl.” Drusilla released my hand, stepped forwards and embraced the woman, who was easily as tall as I, heavy breasted and full of curves about the hips. She wore a simple slip dress of indiscernible colour, slashed on one side from breast to ankle. She wore nothing beneath.

“Such a shame,” she cooed, “he looks so much fun. If he’s not to be played with then why did you bring him to me?”

“I was instructed.”

Stella laughed.

“And I wanted to introduce him to you.”

“Me?” She looked me over with renewed curiosity. “Why? Has he never met an abbess before?”

“No, as it happens, he hasn’t. But I had other reasons for bringing him.”

“What’s an abbess?” I whispered into Drusilla’s hair.