CHAPTER#99

He could just barely see the edge of the centaur settlement. There appeared to be no activity from them down below, but he could see most of the trail that had lead them here. A small cluster of centaurs moved along it carrying weapons, but that was all that he could see. He guessed they were maybe an hour out from the tower, if that. Straight down was a sheer drop, and to the left, he could see part of the courtyard. Zel was wandering around, collecting food in a small pile. He had passed through a kitchen on the way up, and wondered if she could bake them something.

To the right was another courtyard, but this one was barren of life. Instead, dozens of statues had been shoved up against the walls, packed in like sardines. They reminded him of the terracotta warriors from china, except they seemed to be far more lifelike. Plus all of them were centaurs, which was kind of weird.

Daisy tugged at his shirt collar, so he went back to following her. They walked into a large bedroom with a four poster bed and a small library against the wall. A chaise lounge near another balcony had an old book on it.

"Is this Yuki's room?" He walked to the balcony and looked out. The view from here was even better, allowing him to see the full length of the valley below. Centaur trails were easy to spot between the trees, and he could watch the sun disappear behind the thin sliver of ocean in the distance. He could just barely make out the sparkle of sunlight on the water, then looked away, blinking spots out of his eye.

Looking around the room, he was grateful that the whole tower had magical torches in the wall that kept the place well lit. An old rug on the floor looked like it had been around to witness the death of Christ, it had been worn down in places to the threads beneath. To its credit, the room was certainly clean, not that there was much to get dirty.

Daisy got his attention and flew over to the bookshelf, pointing at something. He ignored her, instead picking up the book on the table.

It was an old, illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland. The pages were wilted, many of them dog eared. Notes had been written all along the margins in what looked to be japanese.

"Interesting." He set the book down and walked over to where Daisy was pointing. The shelf had a few books on it, but also a chalkboard. When he pulled this out, Daisy blew a handful of glitter onto it.

"Hi," it displayed in glittery, yellow letters. He looked at her and she gave a small wave.

"We can use this to communicate, good idea!" He tucked the slate under an arm and pulled out the books. They were leatherbound journals, and while a few of them were empty, many of them had been written in. These were done in another language as well.

"Are there any other traps I need to worry about?" he asked.

Daisy shook her head yes, and then blew a kiss at the chalkboard. "I can show you."

"Let's bring the others inside and see what we can make of these." He took the books with him and went downstairs. Daisy showed him a few more traps to turn off on the way, and he met Zel out front. She held a small armful of produce.

"Is there a kitchen in there? I can make us a stew." Zel held up a large squash. "I'm starving."

Mike's stomach growled in response. "There sure is. Daisy, can you show her?" The fairy nodded enthusiastically and flew back into the tower, leaving a glitter trail behind her. "There's a lot of stairs, is that gonna be a problem?"

She shrugged. "Only if they're narrow, or made of wood."

"Nope. Wide stone all the way up."

"I figured. This tower is plenty large enough, wouldn't think whoever built it would skimp on materials." She trotted in through the doors and disappeared.

Ratu was still lying on her bench. He sat down on the ground next to her. "Feeling better?"

"A bit." She opened her eyes. "Did I hear something about food?"

He nodded. "Yeah. Night's coming, but the tower is safe enough. It looks like some centaurs are headed our way. Do you think they can get in?"

"Doubt it, but let's check." Sitting up, she rubbed her temples, then looked at his burden. "What do you have there?"

"You tell me." He handed over the books he had grabbed. "Spells or something?"

Ratu sniffed the cover of one and then opened it. "Nope. It appears to be a journal."

"You can read it?"

"Most of it. It's written in japanese." Flipping through the pages, Ratu revealed a few drawings scattered throughout, then set the book down on the bench. "I'll take a look at those after we check the battlements."

"Battlements?"

"Those." She pointed at the walkways near the top of the large wall. "I can promise we're not leaving tonight. I'm exhausted, it's getting dark, and those centaurs are certainly upset with you."

He shrugged. "They were being dicks. Act like a dick, you get fucked." His treatment at their hands had been no different than some of the assholes he had grown up with. It had been bad enough when his mom was still alive, but after the accident had somehow been worse. Orion in particular reminded him of the alpha jock at every school he had bounced around, always going out of their way to ensure the new kid knew his place. He could pretend to understand the centaur culture all he liked, but the fact that they hadn't even wanted to hear him out left him with zero sympathy for their feelings.

"Yeah, well they certainly got fucked. Again and again." Ratu grinned, popping another strawberry in her mouth. "Did you know that was going to happen?"