The Queen of Tentacles Part 5

 

The Queen of Tentacles Part 5:

The Queen and I were still digging through her copious wardrobe. Dresses were now strewn everywhere. "Amathea....Ooof..." I exclaimed, as an ornate gown came flying out of the wardrobe, and hit me in the face.

"What, Dragon dear. " Came the muffled response.

"Is there any way out of the Palace that doesn't involve the lift platform and the guards?"

She backed out of the wardrobe, and gave me a quizzical look.

"Why yes, there is. " She drawled, kicking a pile of rumpled silk out of the way as she flowed towards me.
"In the Observatory, there's a maintenence door. At the very back, behind a tapestry. It opens directly onto the surface, on the far side of the palace. There's a hill near the woods which separates the Palace from the Guard 's barracks and the landing pad. The angle is such that no one can be seen leaving or entering the Palace.   The door is invisible from the outside, you have to know precisely where it is. The cleaners have never discovered it. They just beat the tapestry with brooms to dislodge the dust, they don't look behind it.    The Royal Astronomers have passed by that tapestry thousands of times, and barely glance at it. The maintenence keeper who was entrusted with the knowledge, died of old age. I haven't dedicated a maintenence keeper since the poor old fellow swam the endless sea, and I've made sure that one else has ever been made aware of the door.     I know about it because I used to play in the Observatory, when I was a little one. The keeper caught me there one day, trying to force open the door. He swore me to secrecy, and I always thought it was a very important secret to keep. I did manage to open the door when I got bigger, of course. I used to sneak out and hide in the woods. Palace life can be so...stifling...for a Princess, even moreso for a Queen. I've used that little door many times. I still love those woods, and to sit on the hill, looking at the stars. If things go the way I hope they will, someone will soon sit and watch them with me."

She winked at me and sighed, clasping several tentacles over her heart. 

Instantly,  an idea began to shimmer and  take form.  A hatchling of a  plan had begun to claw its way out of the egg.

I picked up an older gown. It was smaller than some of the others, and a bit tattered along the hem, but it looked as if it would be a better fit. Blue silk with silver trim. Nice colour. Maybe I could figure out a way to keep it intact. "This one." I said. "May I buy this one from you?

"Oh no, that one is too old, it's shabby as you can see. You certainly won't make the right sort of impression wearing that."

"You'd be surprised." I replied, and explained my nascent plan. Which I thought had the makings of becoming a really good plan. Sort of. Considering that I hadn't actually planned anything before she told me about the door, and I was more or less making it up on the fly, so to speak.

The Queen was enthralled. "Brilliant!" She said, and put a friendly tentacle around my shoulders. "In that case, the gown is simply perfect. But I can't take coin for it. It's ragged!"

"Would you be willing to trade it to me for a free reading?" I suggested."Yes, please!" She replied happily.

Hmmmm. Maybe this was going to work after all.

We exited the guest quarters, but not before she had summoned a seamstress to fit my gown, and repair the frayed hem. I didn't complain, even though I really wanted to get on with the mission. It took less time than I thought it would. The seamstress was amazing. Having eight arms really makes a difference, and she knew what she was doing.

"I'm the chief costumer for the Royal Theatre." She said proudly, as she gathered, pinned, and basted the slippery fabric.

"Have you ever made costumes that would sort of, tear away, without actual damage to them, if the actor needed to get out of them quickly?" I asked"

"Oh yes!" she replied.

"Would you make a few alterations on this dress so it will do precisely that?" I enquired.

She looked puzzled, but nodded in assent. 

I was growing quite fond of the gown. When this was all over,  if I was still alive, I wanted to keep it. 

Amathea was delighted to be involved. She had a sense of adventure and daring which I hadn't expected. We silently made our way to the banquet hall, which wasn't far from her chambers, and my room in the guest quarters. 

Servants were bustling about placing dishes, cutlery, and ornate dinner napkins. A florist was setting graceful floral arrangements at each table, her apprentices hanging garlands of seaweed, decorated with sparkling starfish, between marble pillars. An orchestra was rehearsing in a far corner, the conductor's tentacles waving furiously, a baton curled in each one. I had never seen an octopoid orchestra before. There were only four musicians, but the string players were able to play four instruments at once, and there were two who played wind instruments fashioned from large, coiled shells. One shell player also played drums and percussion, and the other was performing counterpoint on two pianos.

I didn't have time to stand around and gawk, though. We made our way into the observatory. The door was locked, but the Queen had the master key. We slipped in unnoticed.

 "It's over here, in the very back, and to the far side of the wall." Amathea said, as we  crept silently through the dark, cavernous observatory. The glass dome had been shuttered.  Royal Astronomers would operate the mechanism which pulled the shutters back into a recess in the roof when it became dark enough to see the night sky. It was dusk now, but darkness was approaching. I needed to move quickly. There was the large tapestry hanging on the back wall, depicting all of the planets, stars, moons, and a couple of comets, too. It was gorgeous. Amathea pushed the edge of it aside, to reveal...a wall.

I couldn't see anything which looked even remotely like a door, until Amathea reached out a tentacle, and tapped a spot which looked like a tiny crack. A small rectangular chunk of marble moved slightly back. She reached in, and pulled a little brass lever. A door creaked open, and a puff of wind blew a few dry leaves and strands of dead grass in from outside.

"There!" she said, a smile of triumph on her face."How much time do you need? "

"I'm not sure." I replied. My ship is fast, and there's someone who can guide me to the place I need to go. I can blast back quickly enough. So, about two hours, maybe?"

"Perfect." replied Amathea. You'll be able to get back in here from outside , I'll leave the door open a crack. Just feel for the release mechanism. It's identical to the one on this side. No one will be coming in here until the end of the banquet, that will be quite late. May your seas be calm, your voyage peaceful." She said, and bowed.

"Thank you." I replied, and returned the bow. "Blessings upon you, your house, and your hoard."

She winked at me as I snuck out into the mist.

Amathea didn't watch me go, which was just as well. I ran up the hill to a line of trees. What she had referred to as a forest, was a small strip of land, thick with trees and dense foliage. Not what I would call a forest, but hey. It offered decent cover. I could see the lights of the guardhouse, too. It was close. And so was my ship. Nobody saw me peel off my flight suit and underwear. Nobody saw me change from a chilly looking human into a large silver dragon. Nobody saw me leap into the air, flap my wings, and glide above the treeline to my ship. Whilst I was airborne, I decided to buzz around the harbour. I wanted to try to spot the boat, with its cargo of impending doom. A dragon's vision is excellent, and sure enough, there was the tragic tub crossing the narrow channel. It was slow, but moving steadily through the choppy water. I flapped a little harder, and got back to my ship as quickly as I could. No guards were there. They thought nobody was on board, and saw no reason to guard an empty ship when they could be in the guardhouse drinking and playing darts.

Once I touched ground, I shifted back into human form. Brrrr. The portal opened, and I stepped into the cozy familiarity of my ship. Home.

A startled Cephlopodian emerged from one of the bunks.

"Silver, meet Yillia." came the thought from Glob.

I bowed. Yillia returned the bow, and averted her eyes.   Oops...  I'd left my clothes back in the woods. Hmmmm.

"Well met Yillia." I said, with an embarrassed grin "This special greeting is traditional among  my people, to prove that we have nothing to hide."

What was that I heard in my thoughts? A snicker? Jellians have a delightful sense of humour, and the uncanny ability to telepathically transmit sounds which they cannot physically produce.

After I had donned my spare flight suit, and engaged the cloaking mode on the ship, we took off. I had a general idea of where we were going, and Yillia provided excellent directions. We blazed across the terrain, and up over the mountains. When we reached the spot where she had hidden the injured Jellian, I lowered a rope ladder. Yes, rope. Some things cannot be improved upon.  Dragons have a fondness for nostalgia. Yo,ho,ho. 

Yillia climbed down. She dug quickly, and found the broken tube.One of the cracks had reached the level of the liquid, which had begun seeping out. We were just in time.

"Glob!" I thought. "Do you think the sea water on Ocea would be similar to  that of the Jellian sea?"

"Without test data it's difficult to tell, but it's saline. If it's clean it should be fine, it's close enough. This is not ideal, but its the only chance we have." Glob's thought felt...grim. I asked Yillia about the cleanliness of the water near the village.
"We fish for food in the sea." She said. "We eat the fish, no one becomes sick. We are careful not to foul the water."

I cloaked the ship once more, and soon we were airborne. It didn't seem as if anyone was around, but I was getting nervous. There was no time for delay. We headed towards the channel.

"Away from the village" Yillia said. "People might be out."

I turned the ship, hovered over the coast, and spotted a sandbar. Some dark shapes bobbed in the water. Several of the things had washed up on the sand. As we got closer, we could see that they were the bloated bodies of beasts. Yillia let out a sharp cry of dismay. "Our animals!" She gasped.

All of them were dead. Drowned and floating in the sea.

"We can't collect water here, it's contaminated." I said.

"No, we cannot."Yillia agreed. " The poor beasts. I know this is per order of the Not King. I've never encountered such an evil person before. Why? Why do this? They were innocent. " She bowed her head, and said something in Cephlaopdian, which sounded like a prayer.

"So are you. My most fervent hope is that you remain so." I muttered, and we sped towards the other side of the channel.

We passed over the slowly moving boat again on the way back. It was much nearer to the dock now, but we still had some time. I landed the ship, and opened the rear portal. Yillia silently flowed out into the night. It had become dark, stars were begining to wink and twinkle in the indigo sky. I had a clean glass bottle that had once been filled with a most delightful drink, a fruit beverage, popular on Earth. I had shared the contents with a lovely human man, in a cafe, ages ago. The man was long gone. The bottle remained. Yillia took it to fill with sea water. It was a large bottle, and I hoped it would hold enough water. I didn't want her to have to make another trip out for more. We were already cutting it close.

Rummaging around in the galley, I found a bowl. When  Yilla returned with the sea water, I poured some into the bowl, and carefully extracted the Jellian from the broken tube, using a soup ladle. I rinsed the little creature to clean it before placing it gently in the bowl, pouring more of the water in to cover it. More dirt washed into the water, as the Jellian floated to the surface. Yillia turned away. The thought came to me that she was reminded of the sight of the beasts.

"Please try not to worry." I said aloud. "Glob would know if this  little one had passed."

"Put them in here, with me." Glob's thought shook me into action. Scooping the unconscious creature into the ladle, I opened the top of Glob's tube and gently tipped the little Jellian into it.

It was  much smaller than Glob. A younger one, perhaps? It drifted slowly down to the bottom of the tube. Glob had moved further up to give it room. It wasn't a tight squeeze in there, Glob's tube was pretty large. The ship's designers had included a luxury tube option, which I had chosen. I wanted Glob to have the very best of everything. I never expected  them to aquire a roommate, but here we were.

 Yillia and I watched, and waited.

Nothing. No dim light glimmered at the bottom of the tube. Tears began to stream down Yillia's cheeks. "I promised I would save it. " She snuffled.

"You did. " I replied. "It's here with us, not dehydrating on a freezing mountain. Give it some more time." Yillia put several tentacles around Glob's tube, near the bottom where the little creature lay. "I'm so sorry, small brave one." came the thought. She bowed her head over the tube.I felt a twinge of remorse, because I wouldn't be able to stay any longer to comfort her.  I needed to get back to the palace. Things were going to be moving very quickly once that boat docked.

"I have to go. " I said, and patted her on the shoulder. She raised a tentacle and gently touched my hand. 

"I can take care of things here, Silver. Our situation is not as dire as it might initially appear."  Glob's thought was comforting. 

"Yillia". I said. "Please stay here. Glob speaks to you. Listen to what they tell you, and do what they say."

Yillia nodded, and curled several more tentacles around Glob's tube.

I wriggled into my bunk, de-flight suited, and opened the portal out into the cold night. Glob uncloaked the ship. I changed form immediately, and was in flight when the Duke's boat hit the dock. And I mean hit. It plowed into the pilings, cracking several timbers. Looking down at my ship, I could see that it looked as if it hadn't moved, and was apparently empty. So over the trees I flew, towards the palace wall. Looking down, I spotted a small pile of crumpled clothing beneath a shrub. My marker!   I landed, shifted back into human form, and got back into my flight suit a lot faster than I'd gotten out of it. I wondered if the meteor showers signalled the beginning of winter on Ocea.

To my surprise, the observatory door opened right in front of me when I got to it.

"Helooo!" Amathea called out. She was bubbly,  cheerful, and really getting into the cloak, uncloak, and dagger thing. She held the blue gown, now carefully folded.

"How long have I been gone? " I asked.

"One and one half hours." replied the Queen. "Our seamstress is the very best, she works quickly. I wanted to make sure you got back in, and this is so exciting!  Here. Out of that flight suit. And we simply must do something about your hair, you have twigs in it! Great Ocean Mother!"

I sighed, took the gown, and absently picking at the twigs in my hair, entered the observatory. I hid behind the tapestry to put the dress on. It fit perfectly. The seamstress had followed my instructions to the letter.  Things were going right. Too right.  When things go too right, it worries me more than when things go too wrong. There's something logical about that. I know. Patho-logical. And things went even more right when the fresh thought from Glob came in.

"Silver. My companion has regained consciousness. It is weak, but  it has a strong life force.  It will  recover. Yillia has given us both some nutrient. We are now engaged in "dinner conversation," as you would say. And  what an interesting tale our new friend has to tell."

 (To be continued)