City of Towers_ The Dreaming Dark - Keith Baker [54]
“Could I get something to drink?” Daine said. “I’m parched.”
“My apologies,” said Teral. “Olalia!” He clapped his hands and the server returned, carrying a clay pitcher. “I’m afraid we only have water, Captain. My table is a humble one.”
“Company matters more than the mead,” said Daine.
The serving girl carefully filled his cup with water. She seemed to be trembling slightly.
“Is something wrong?” he asked.
Teral touched the girl’s arm and she flinched, almost dropping the pitcher. She made no sound.
“Olalia has suffered grievously these last few years. She lived in the village of Callol. Have you heard of it? It was captured by the Darguuls a little over two years ago, and she and her family were taken. After the disaster struck, she escaped into the ruins of Cyre, and I found her there when I was searching for survivors. It’s been hard to tell what was done by the goblins and what happened to her in the Mournland. But I know she had to watch her brothers die, and …” He took her hand, but she kept her eyes down on the floor. “Show them, Olalia,” he said gently.
Slowly, Olalia looked up. She pulled back her lips, and Jode gasped. Olalia’s teeth and gums were sculpted from black marble. The two fair-haired twins sitting across the table laughed, but Greykell glared at them and they fell silent.
“What …?” said Daine.
“Her mouth has been turned to stone,” Teral explained. “Teeth, gums, tongue, and much of the muscle. She can open her mouth just enough to drink. Terrible, I know, but fascinating, don’t you think?”
“How did this happen?” Daine said.
Olalia looked away and kept her silence. Her skin was even paler than Lei’s, and she had short black hair and dark eyes. Strangely, Daine found himself thinking that her teeth matched her eyes.
“I don’t know for certain,” Teral said. “She can’t speak, and as far as I know, she’s illiterate. My thought was some sort of torture—cockatrice blood, activated through sorcery and dripped in the mouth. But it could have just been some effect of the Mournland itself.”
Daine nodded. They had seen strange and terrible things during the time they spent in Cyre—far worse things than a stone tongue. She’d been lucky. “I’m sorry,” he said to her. “But I’m glad that you’re alive.”
Olalia refused to meet his gaze.
“You may go,” Teral said, and she returned to the kitchen without looking back.
There was a moment of silence following Olalia’s departure, then Teral broke one of the loaves of bread and passed it around. “You’ll see far worse sights here, I’m afraid,” he said quietly. “Many of those caught in the wake of the Mourning suffered in some way—either in mind or body.” His eyes dipped toward his injured leg and his scar. “I was one of the lucky ones.”
“I think the Mourning is the best thing that could have happened to us,” said one of the twins.
The two men across the table appeared to be identical. Both were humans, in their late twenties, dressed in identical drab green clothes. Lanky blond hair fell to their shoulders. But what caught Daine’s attention were the speaker’s eyes. They were the palest shade of blue he’d ever seen, and the man never blinked.
“And I think you’re an idiot, Monan,” Greykell said, striking the man above the nose with a well-placed chunk of bread.
“It’s Hugal.”
“No, it’s not. You’re just saying that because you think I can’t tell the difference between you.”
“Can you?” The man’s smirk wavered.
“You’ll never know, will you?”
Lei interrupted. “How could you possibly say that the destruction of our homeland has helped us?” She had grown increasingly moody as they’d pushed through the mobs of refugees to reach Teral’s tent, and her voice was low and hard.
Monan smiled and made a mock bow while seated. “I was beginning to wonder if you could speak or if you were stone-mouthed too. I am Monan Desal, and this is my brother Hugal.”
“I am Lei d—” Lei broke off, catching herself. She had removed her Cannith ring, and her dragonmark was hidden from view.
“Leida? A lovely name.”
“Back off,” Daine growled.
Lei flushed and glared at Daine before turning