Page 4 of My Date is a Polymorph
Juro’s colours were fluctuating.“We found them.One had passed.The survivors are all willing to testify.”
“Good.Well, shall we?”
Juro nodded, and they all walked into the council hall, and Cloud faced the faces of the room at large.“Come to order.”
The room quieted.
“Today, we have a special request from a citizen of Aksalla.I have heard her reasoning, and I agree.I yield the floor to Dr.Cloud.”
She stepped up to the podium at the ideal acoustic spot and lifted her head.“Without any diversion from the topic, I was born in the oxygen caverns.”
There was a gasp and a dark murmur.
She rapped her knuckles against the podium and continued.“My genetic sire took a young woman, seduced her, got her pregnant, and then he took her to the oxygen caverns and left her there with rations and supplies.She bore her first child to him in that prison but told him it was dead.So, he waited until his rut struck again, and then he swam to her and got her pregnant...again.This time, he didn’t return.He left her there because he had gotten married, and his wife here in Hyreno was pregnant.”
She let the mist billow out, and Keera, as a small child, was running around and keeping things warm and clean.“Her first daughter had survived and was a polymorph.She fished and hunted but could do nothing about her mother’s atmosphere, so she remained in the water to save the air.”
There was a wave of unease that went through the gathering.
“My mother was suffering from hypoxia when I was born, and she gave me all she knew, and my elder sister took care of me with items stolen from the mainland in preparation.No help was coming from Hyreno.”
“My mother gasped her last, and my sibling buried her under coral and shells she brought.When I was strong enough, she got a bubble for me and swam me to the mainland, where I was put up for adoption.”
“She and I survived our father, but my mother did not.I stand here asking for the witnessing of his just sentence.”
Her father recognized the story, and he had jumped to his feet with his two brothers.Guards moved to capture them.
“So, I have since learned that his brothers also make use of the caverns to keep sex-slaves until they die of oxygen deprivation, slowly and painfully, unless they choose to drown themselves.Therefore, I carry out the sentence of hypoxia to be carried out over four years.Their minds will not register that they are receiving oxygen, and they will go mad and die.”She used her tendrils of fog to grasp the three men, lifted them, and slammed them to the floor.“Lelon Vargen, my genetic donor.You are sentenced to death.Lemur Vargen, for the confinement of Bellora and Neekorla and the death of Ambrielle, I sentence you to death.Amelon Vargen, for your repeated confinement and abuse of Corena, I sentence you to death.Enjoy your suffocation.The caves have been scoured, and the survivors are receiving medical treatment.Queen Ledia has destroyed the caverns.No future generations can continue this cruelty.Of course, in Lelon’s case, all of his children will not touch a Hyreno, so his line died here.A delightful legacy.”
She turned to Juro as he watched the men gasp and try to beg for help.“Don’t worry.Once the panic is over, they will be able to talk and eat and everything else.My mother managed for months.Oh wait.Then she died.”
Juro winced.“This is cruel.”
“Well, put them in a room and let them kill each other.I don’t care.I had to feel what she felt, and it made up my initial memories.It is a hard thing to deal with.”
Renz looked at her.“I can remove the weight if you wish.”
She smiled slightly; she linked her mind to Renz and opened the floodgate.He dropped to the floor.“A child knows nothing but her mother, and if her mother is in agony and a telepath, she feels it, and it is all she knows.”
She cut the connection, and Ledia blinked and helped Renz to his feet.Juro’s eyes flickered.“If someone had done that to my partner, they would be dead already.”
“I have to live with it, so they have to live with it.”She touched her belly.“He will be born into a world with one less monster in his bloodline.”
Juro nodded.“Fair.We will confine them.Together, until they are gone.”
“Good.”
Renz was leaning against Ledia.“What is your link to the dream master?”
“Why?”
“He’s on his way here.He just asked for permission to enter the city.”
She lifted her head.“Yahtana?”
“Yes, Cloud?”
“He’s coming.”
