Today's excerpt from: Burning Hiraeth (aaayyy we get some Sebastion content today! I wrote this a few months ago, but I'm hoping to continue this story soon since the Sebastion squad is finally talking to me again. I think they went on vacation or summat. ;~; anyhoo enjoy!)
Sebastion flinched a little as the General put his hands down on the table with a bit of a pound, wordlessly demanding the attention of those in the room. He didn’t know the guy’s name. In fact, few people actually did. He was always “The General.” Makes sense. The less you know about your infamous leader, the less you can give away if you’re captured.
“GENTLEMEN,” the General’s voice resounded like a church bell. “There is a third option.” As the General’s glance fell upon him, a skinny, tall man gulped. The following silence settled in about as well as a cat on mousetraps.
“Yo-You can’t be serious!” Sir Lightning Rod spluttered in a light accent. “You want to bring her back?” Sebastion’s quirked, pale blue eyebrows bounced from side to side in the room, his gold eyes trying to study every pallid face. A murmur of reciprocation buzzed through the room to the skinny officer’s sentiments.
“Now, now,” A rather elderly woman in a trim uniform said, raising her hands to quiet them like a group of school children. “As dangerous as she may be, she is unfailingly loyal.”
“But Lady Guinivere!” A rotund officer protested, “We haven’t been able to break her out of jail for the past two years. Can we really afford such a risk?”
“And even if we DID get her out,” The most square man Sebastion had ever seen added with a wagging finger from his ham fist. Or perhaps he was simply a very round Gobkin. “Who’s to say her endeavors might just give more of our positions away?!”
“I’ve heard stories about her. She’s the strangest terror to ever appear in the East!” The most average-looking man Sebastion could imagine shuddered. Probably a Shifter, the boy couldn’t help but think.
“No one knows where she came from…or what she’s capable of.” A Tuarian officer murmured with a swish of her spikey tail. Sebastion almost jumped to avoid its dramatic gesture.
“She’s insubordinate and dangerously feral.” A white haired, frail-looking gentleman agreed with a serene, authoritative wheeze. “Forgive me, Lady Guinivere, but despite your trust in her, I still question her loyalty and perhaps sanity.”
“Regardless…” Lady Guinivere stated above their concerns, “She has proven herself loyal before and I believe it shameful we haven’t gotten a loyal companion out of captivity much sooner. She has intelligence and tech like no other. We still use her private networking systems to remain unseen by the UAC internet monitoring and have been safer because of it. General, I nominate ex-officer Tiz to be Commander of the Engineering Corps.”
“If we do that she’ll be the only member of the Engineering Corps.” The General replied with a wry smirk. “And we have procured bail money. There will be no need for a prison break. However, we will need two volunteers to meet with the Guard.”
This time, Sir Lightning Rod didn’t even have to meet the General’s eyes to know who he had in mind.
“But, SIR!” He exclaimed. Sebastion couldn’t help but wonder why he looked as if he’d been asked to clean a snake ridden latrine…or rather, he wished he’d been asked to clean a snake ridden latrine rather than take the bail money for this apparently valuable ex-officer.
“You are the head of Diplomacy, Colonel Beaufoy.” The General replied to the stutters of protest issuing from the skinny colonel’s goldfish mouth. “It falls under your duty. That said, you are encouraged to take someone with you.”
Colonel Beaufoy mastered himself and gave a nod as weary as if he’d already accomplished cleaning the snake-ridden latrine.
“I-…uh…I can go with you if you wish…uh- Sir Colonel.” Sebastion stuttered out. His wings flicked inward to his shoulders in embarrassment and he prayed his face didn’t look as close to combusting as it felt. The silence that followed, with every eye and eyepatch in the room on him, Sebastion felt only slightly less comfortable than he had at family dinner mere months before. He tugged at his talons in nervous habit as he tried to get his mouth to work again. Not professional…but he had to do something to get his throat to cooperate.
“I know I haven’t been here long,” his voice rattled out, “Only a few months…and you probably don’t trust me yet. Oh, who am I kidding…it’s not even probably…but I…I can accompany you and help. Maybe we can even use my family name as leverage. I mean! Only if you approve, Sir!”
Too many words dropped from his mouth and bounced off the table and to the walls of the room far too quickly and his entire body shook from hair to toe. He shut his shaking jaw and put his arms behind his back in almost too perfect posture that probably only made his tremor more obvious. Stilling his knees at this point was a pointless struggle. He’d just have to pretend he could walk regardless of the officers’ decisions when the meeting closed. Who was he kidding, anyway? The only reason he was even AT this meeting was because he was babysat by Lady Guinivere. Again…of course it made sense since he could easily betray them after all. The less he was left unattended, the less chance there was of being a plant or turncoat of the UAC.
“The boy’s got a point, Olivier,” The square officer sighed with a glance to Beaufoy, but turning to the General. “You should tek ‘im. Who knows, maybe he’ll join you in diplomacy or summat. If he ken get over his stage fright.” He gave a friendly, teasing smirk to Sebastion, who just wanted to slide into the crack in the concrete floor he’d been kicking with his boots for the past fifteen minutes. He was almost surprised…and maybe in the slightest disappointed, to hear murmurs of approval of his offer. Beaufoy sighed.
“Very well. Sebastion and I shall take the bail money to Gesherne Jail and retrieve ex-officer Tiz and offer the position of Commander of the Engineering Corps. You know she won’t come back without her machines.” The General nodded at this.
“Offer her escort wherever she needs to get her machines or parts to make them. And…” The General trailed off with a reluctant sigh as he took a small bag from Lady Guinivere. “If all else fails…offer these.” He handed the bag to Sebastion as he was currently closer to him than the colonel. Sebastion felt something hard and round inside. What’s this? Money? Too brittle feeling…maybe it’s some kind of mechanical part…but that doesn’t make any sense. It feels more like food…
“Any questions?” The General interrupted his analysis. A crisp silence followed. “Very well. Colonel Beaufoy and Sebastion are to be given the money and depart within the hour. Meeting dismissed!”
Two hours later, Sebastion was questioning his existence as he and Colonel Beaufoy approached the Gershene jail in casual clothes. The UAC would never accept a military officer from a military whose existence they refused to acknowledge publicly, so they would just have to pretend they knew Tiz for other reasons.
The guards let them in to a sort of front desk, where a haggard, half-shaven mid-life-crisis aged man blinked up slowly from his folders in his desk drawer below.
“State yer business,” he drawled. His accent would have been pleasant if he were a bit more coherent.
“My name is Antoine Desrosier,” Beaufoy lied, “I have bail money for an inmate here.”
“I see.” The man behind the desk monotoned. “Name?”
“GREAT GONZOR!” His half-shaven face looked even more disproportionate as his mouth gaped to reveal three missing teeth and his left eyebags seemed to deepen. Almost shaking, he turned to the guard to his left with a key. “Get this curse away from us.” He hissed, failing to be as quiet as he thought he was. The man turned back to Beaufoy.
“Very good, sir. Hand over the money and follow my associate down the hall.”
“That’s…that’s it?” Beaufoy asked. “No forms to sign? Nothing at all?”
“THAT’S IT!” The man half-thundered. It seemed everything he ever did was half. “You’ve nothing to fear, my good man! Once you and your companion escort her out everything is finished here.” Beaufoy looked at Sebastion for a beat, then back at the man who wore a half-smile, shrugged, and handed over the sack of coins before beckoning the boy to follow him and the guard down the hall.
The white-washed walls were depressing to say the least. The whole place either stank of reeking waste, sweat and blood or stung of disinfectant and harsh cleaning chemicals. Sebastion shifted uncomfortably in his hoodie as they passed countless creatures of every type sitting in these hellish hovels. The occasional jeer, the clanking of chains, scraping of metal on concrete, every sound echoed painfully off the pristine walls. It felt as if the reeking, stinging air itself was holding all the sounds right by Sebastion’s ears. Even the Resistance orphans don’t have it this bad. He thought, realizing almost every one of these poor souls was probably a political prisoner. Those punished for opposing the UAC, just like he was doing now.
The guard opened a door at the end of the hall and held it for them. As soon as they passed through, Sebastion felt like an anesthetic had been applied to his senses as the sensory overload was cut off quicker than it began once the door slammed shut. It was oddly numbing and disorienting. They turned left as the smell of bleach still stung his nose, but the only sound was their footsteps. He tried to tread lightly. Beaufoy’s steps were light because he was, but spoke of a certain amount of cautious confidence. The guard, a pretty average build, clunked more than either of them simply due to size, but also he seemed as weary as the man at the desk with the way his boots dragged and clunked just a bit harder than those who were fully awake. He opened another door at the end of the hall, exposing the blackness beyond.
“Daugh,” the guard groaned. “They forgot the lights. Please, stay here for a moment while I turn them on.”
“May I ask why the lights are off?” Beaufoy queried with his eyebrows quirked. Does he suspect it’s some form of torture? Sebastion wondered, but not for long.
“It keeps her calmer.” The guard replied, sounding not unlike a mother kept up until three by her child.
Calmer? Why would they have to keep her calmer?
The guard walked off and Sebastion glanced at the door, then back at Beaufoy who was checking his watch and his foot tapped in the slightest irritation. The only clear display about exactly what the colonel thought that Sebastion had yet seen. He looked at the door again.
“Is there a stain on the door?” Beaufoy asked, snapping Sebastion out of his thoughtful stare. Sebastion jumped and looked at him. He had a subtle smirk on his face that somehow made the boy feel a bit better about himself. But still not better enough not to stutter apparently.
“No, sir, I…uh…heheh you see I was just…”
“He never said you couldn’t peek. I just don’t bother because I can’t see. But perhaps you can.” Sebastion sighed in embarrassed relief, his wings flicking outward a little again as he peered into the room. He saw nothing but the steady glow of two eyes in the top right corner of the room, inches below the ceiling. There was a soft crunching, smacking sound and something hard and almost hollow sounding clattered on the ground. A growl from the darkness below the eyes, displeased it had dropped whatever that object was. The crunching continued. Sebastion began to back out of the room, wings poised to take off at any second remembering how unpredictable and feral the other officers had described her. Then the light came on.
In the top corner of the room, a small creature, surely no more than three feet tall…was sticking to the walls, munching on something. Her hair was shaggy and black with a single white streak sticking out. Her skin was pale, reptilian green and yellow, her sclera were also yellow and she had two little fangs peeking out of her mouth and a snake-like tail. Her little outfit was hidden by her tattered black poncho, but Sebastion noticed it was mostly tan and black. If the man at the desk earlier had half eye-bags and definitely less than half energy, this little creature had the full version of both. She detached herself from the ceiling and wall, grabbed the small cardboard cannister she’d dropped and walked up to the door of her cage, ignoring the guard when he returned and glancing back and forth between Beaufoy and Sebastion as she fished out and munched on the crackers in the cannister.
Beaufoy turned to the guard with a baffled expression on his face.
“I see no reason for her to be kept calm.” He commented. “She’s just eating crackers.” The guard sighed.
“We didn’t give anyone crackers today.” He replied. “In fact, we haven’t given anyone crackers in a month. And those aren’t even the usual ones! They’re a different brand we got two days ago and locked in the storeroom!” His tone made it clear that this wasn’t the first or even second time the guards had had a situation like this concerning Tiz. He took a deep breath and straightened his wrinkled uniform as if trying to look official.
“Tiz, these men have paid for your bail and shall escort you out.” He said, unlocking the door. She was silent for a moment.
“Can I keep the crackers?” Her voice sounded like it’d been shredded with a vegetable peeler at a young age, never fully dropped and still had some sandpaper stuck diagonally across her vocal chords. It was oddly fitting for her small, shaggy appearance and wide, lidless stare. The guard just sighed.
“Yeeeeeeeeeees, you can keep the crackers.” He droned with an exasperated sigh and eyeroll. He looked at Beaufoy and Sebastion. “She’s all yours now.” He quickly left. Sebastion hoped he was going to find some coffee.
Sebastion glanced back at the little creature to find her staring at him. He quickly broke eye contact. The next thing he knew, she’d crawled up onto his shoulders and head and was now looking him in the face almost upside-down inches away from his nose.
“A new one? Avixian?” She was addressing her words to Beaufoy, who nodded.
“Tiz, meet Sebastion. Sebastion, Tiz.” The greeting was now official. After a few seconds of the most uncomfortable stare Sebastion had ever endured, Tiz crunched one of her crackers, holding the cannister in her tail.
“I like him.” She rasped, and sat almost like a cat on his shoulder, her tail curled about her cracker cannister efficiently near her hand.
“Uh—Pleased to meet you?” Sebastion faltered, hoping he wasn’t as red as he felt. He scratched beneath his thin ponytail in an attempt to regulate his mild panic about suddenly being the climbing pole of someone the General thought of as a worthy officer before he could even blink.
“NOW!” Tiz said, raising her arm as if to get Sebastion to just give her a ride out. “Let’s go rescue my babies!”
“You…have kids?” Sebastion asked, trying to make conversation as he and Beaufoy walked. Tiz remained riding on his shoulder.
“Oh yes, I have many babies!” She replied. “I made them all myself!”
“I—would assume you did…” Sebastion was almost reduced to a mutter by her bluntness.
“Colonel Beaufoy?” Sebastion asked almost an hour later as they waited for Tiz to “rescue her babies” who were apparently in a high-tech security center of the UAC and she had insisted she go alone.
“I don’t want to be rude or anything,” he started his reply, “But…what IS uh…Tiz? I don’t know how to address her right now…but I’ve been through the Books of Species and travelled all over with my parents before I left and…I’ve never seen anything like her before.” Colonel Beaufoy chuckled.
“Heh, don’t worry about it, kid. Nobody has. Or probably ever will again.”
“What do you mean?” Sebastion shifted to fully face the Colonel.
“Nobody knows what she is.” Beaufoy explained. “And she never talks about it. Even when asked.” Now Sebastion’s brain took an even more disturbing turn.
“Then…how does she…you know…have—”
At that moment, he was cut off by an enormous explosion removing the front of the security building. An attorney on a losing case couldn’t have been more grateful than him to be interrupted by something so unrelated.
The chaos after the blast was only increased by a literal horde of vehicles of varying sizes, shapes and uses charging out of the hole. Front and center was a large, horse-shaped vehicle, and Tiz was perched at the very top.
“MAMA’S HOME SO BAKE COOKIES FOR THE REUNION!!!” She whooped. Sebastion was amazed he could clearly hear her voice over all the pandemonium she had no doubt caused. Despite his initial shock, it suddenly clicked what she meant by “she made all her babies herself.” If possible it was more terrifying than his original understanding of the statement.
“I think it’s time we returned to tell the General our mission was a success.” Colonel Beaufoy suggested, a bit paler than usual if that were even possible.
“But don’t we have to bring her back with us??” Sebastion exclaimed, watching her ride her horse-mobile and cackling above all the shouts and explosions about her. NOW he understood why the other officers had their doubts.
“Do you think we can sneak all those vehicles into the base without being noticed? Let her hide them. She knows where to find us now. Unless you feel up to some experience training in dodging falling debris, I suggest we leave.”
As the two of them ran back through the streets, Sebastion could only sit back in his mind and try to process what just happened…and just what kind of Commander of Engineering Corps the General had just gotten himself.
They slid into the base and typed the correct code in the system to access. Sebastion was dismissed by Colonel Beaufoy with a kind word and the boy returned to his little room, wings drooping. He hadn’t noticed he’d lost a few feathers until now. Oh well. They’d just have to grow back. He flopped in his stained, trashy beanbag chair and was almost asleep before he touched it.
