“What the fuck is all this?” V’rone muttered raggedly. He sank into one of the furry chairs without waiting for an answer.
“Is this some kind of optical illusion?” Tem asked, frowning anxiously.
“I don’t think so—it seems to be part of the last doorway. A kind of antechamber, maybe,” Rive speculated, looking around. “It must be different because the chamber that houses the Kat-sat-Suum is through the next door.”
The door to the next world was still there, glowing on the wall, but before Terra looked at it, she wanted to examine V’rone. She was worried about the blood she’d felt on her fingers when she touched him earlier.
The big Monstrum was slumped into one of the furry beanbag chairs, his head lolling to one side and he looked very unwell—at least to Terra. Quickly, she walked over to him, noting as she did that the floor under her bare feet was springy and soft, almost like a mattress.
“V’rone? Hey, V’rone—you okay?” She crouched down beside the big Monstrum and put a hand on his cheek. It felt clammy and V’rone shifted restlessly.
“’m okay,” he muttered hoarsely, but he didn’t sound okay to Terra—not a bit.
“Rive, Tem—get over here!” she exclaimed. “Come here and help me find out what’s wrong with V’rone!”
The other two Monstrum came over at once and Rive frowned as he looked over his colony-mate.
“I can’t find anything here—let’s check his back.”
He and Tem pushed V’rone forward, since the big warrior didn’t want to move on his own. Terra gasped when she saw blood staining the shaggy white fur of the low chair V’rone had collapsed in.
“He said that the predator—whatever it was—got him,” Tem murmured.
“It did. Look, he’s been wounded.” Rive pointed at some long shallow gashes on V’rone’s broad back. They didn’t look deep, but they were oozing blood which was a shade darker than his red skin.
“Is there any way to help him?” Terra demanded. “Is there any kind of first aid kit here?”
“I’ll look.” Tem got up at once and began searching the white antechamber. He returned shortly with a damp cloth and some broad, white bandages. “Found these on a table in the corner,” he explained. “I’m not sure if it was there before I looked for it or not.”
Terra took the cloth from him and gently blotted the long wounds on V’rone’s back. The big Monstrum winced and groaned sluggishly.
“Be…fuckin’…careful,” he muttered. “Fuckin’…hurts.”
“I know, baby—I know,” Terra soothed him. She shot Rive a worried look. “These wounds don’t seem deep enough to make him act like this—unless he lost a lot more blood than we thought.”
“I have an idea.” Rive pulled something out of his pocket and Terra saw it was the silver poison indicator he’d used on their food at the feast with the daisies, which seemed like a hundred years ago now.
Rive ran the indicator over V’rone’s broad back and frowned when a little red light at the top blinked on.
“As I feared,” he said. “The creature he fought with must have had neurotoxin in its fangs and claws.”
“What? Then you’re saying he’s poisoned?” Terra exclaimed. “But that’s bad!”
“Very bad, I’m afraid,” Rive said grimly.
“Well, what can we do to save him? There must be something! Tem—go look on that table again and see if there’s anything there—any kind of antidote or something!” Terra ordered.
Tem got up obediently but when he returned, he was empty-handed.
“Sorry, my Lady.” He shrugged unhappily. “This time even the table was gone—it disappeared as quickly as it appeared.”
“Then whoever or whatever controls this space—this antechamber—expects us to deal with this problem ourselves,” “Rive remarked.
“But how?” Terra demanded. “How can we possibly treat a neurotoxin if we don’t have any antidote? What are we going to do?”
“First I’m going to bandage his wounds,” Rive said. He began applying the white bandages to the long, ragged wounds on V’rone’s broad back.
“But just bandaging him up won’t help! That won’t do anything!” Terra exclaimed. There were tears in her eyes now—they couldn’t lose V’rone—they just couldn’t!
“There are still some solutions, my Lady,” Tem said in a low voice. “But none, perhaps, you’d want to entertain. Certain things a Queen may do to heal the members of her colony…”
“What? Tell me!” Terra demanded. “Whatever it is, I’ll do it! Do I need to give him my honey again?”
“I am afraid he is beyond the place where honey can heal him,” Rive said. “But there are other ways.”
“What ways?” Terra demanded. “Just tell me!”
“Well…if we were bonded as a colony, we could all share the poison and dilute it that way.” Rive sounded doubtful.
“But we know you do not wish to bond with us, my Lady,” Tem said quickly.
Terra hesitated, nibbling her lip. She hated herself for pausing even an instant, but all this time she’d been so determined not to bond with them. It was, after all, a lifetime commitment. And—