Page 18 of The King is Dead
I was stunned.
“Or, maybe if I had to stay big, then a horse,” Gall added as a second thought.
I spluttered, but Istral was nodding. “I like horses too. But I think if I was an animal, I’d be a cat. Because they climb trees, and I love sitting in trees. But I’m not good at climbing. I fall down a lot.”
Gall thought about that. “I’m tall. I could lift you up so you could get in the trees.”
Istral brightened and let go of Harris’ arm. “You’d do that for me?”
“Yes,” Gall said seriously. “It would be easy. And then being big would be good… right?”
I had to cover my mouth with my hands because I wanted to smile, but I didn’t want them to notice.
“Yes!” Istral gasped. “Thank you!” she gushed, like he’d already done her a huge favor.
And adorably, Gall blushed. “You’re welcome.”
Istral stepped forward and took his hand, then started tugging him towards the door where the soldiers and Turo all looked on,stunned. “Come. I’ll show you the kitchen. You might have to duck in the servants' hallways though. They’re pretty small and you’re really big.”
“I’m sorry,” Gall said miserably.
“Don’t be sorry. It’s good because of the trees, remember?”
“Oh, right!”
Then they started walking together and I wasoverjoyed.Until Turo muttered something and the soldiers snapped to attention. But I leaned around Gall and locked eyes with Turo, hissing at them all.
“You donotstop either of them or I will have you by the testicles—all of you. That is a… a decree!”
The soldiers stepped aside, clearing the way for the pair to walk through. Turo was a couple seconds behind them, but he reluctantly stepped aside before they reached him and bowed with the others when Istral passed.
Gall eyed them warily, but he was accustomed to being around armed men. And even though it was clear these strangers made him nervous, Istral’s babbling stories and happy demeanor seemed to calm him.
Every time he would see something and frown, he’d look at her and get a little smile again.
Harris and I followed, beckoning Turo to keep the men behind us as they walked out of the barracks and into the sunlight.
Gall squinted and held up a hand to block the sun from his eyes. Istral, accustomed to holding onto whoever she walked with, took his elbow. To my delight, he didn’t seem to mind at all.
“Do you turn into a bat?” she asked him.
“No.”
“Oh.” My sister sounded disappointed.
Gall brightened. “I do have wings though!”
Turo cursed behind me, but I couldn’t stop smiling.
“Wow, can you fly?”
“Yeah, but we’re so big it makes it easy to shoot us, so we don’t do it much.”
Istral sighed and looked up at the sky. “I wish I could fly. Then I could land in any tree I wanted.”
Gall shrugged. “It’s not that great. I wish I was small and pretty.”
Istral giggled. “No, you don’t. You’re a man.”
