Mickey Reichert - Flight of the Renshai

Dense as a cat-shaped rock! Tae intentionally stifled the thought.*Imorelda, can you get me to their… their voice level?* *Get you there?* Imorelda considered an instant.*You mean carry your mind to the pitch of their conversation?*

Tae bit back his impatience and forced himself to remain polite.*Please.* *I'll try. But I've never done anything like that before.* *Me either, Imorelda. But it's desperately important.*

Tae could feel the touch of Imorelda's mind, like a wordless whisper, seeping around his thoughts. Then a dizzy sensation gripped him. He seemed to float, mind and body, rising upward as swiftly and easily as a bird in flight. He sensed great effort trickling through Imorelda's thoughts. Sounds reached him, at first as subtle and unfathomable as the creak of trunks and the rattle of leaves in wind. Then, gradually, the noise took form as distinct words punctuated by concept and emotion that made them easier to follow than if someone had spoken them in one of the languages he knew. *-stop feeling guilty. They're animals, Jaxon, with no more understanding than a cow or a dog or a pig.* This came from the larger of the two, the one who had attempted to throttle Tae. *I'm not so sure anymore, Dillion.They make noises at one another.They have expressions.They certainly seem to be communicating. Sometimes.*

Dillion brushed off the observation with a hefty dose of skepticism.*Cows and dogs and pigs make noises at one another, too. They're not words; and they're not talking.* *I can hear they're not words.* The unspoken implication came through as concept. Clearly, wherever the pirates originated, all manner of intelligent creatures used a single language. The possibility of multiple tongues never occurred to them because it went so far beyond the logic of their experience. Communication, whether spoken or mind-sent, came in only one form; and they seemed incapable of considering anything else true speech.*But they look so much like… like us.* *Of course they look like us. Don't you remember what the Kjempemagiska said?* The awe that always accompanied this word came through much more savagely in mental communication, accompanied by a fear bordering on terror.Tae caught a vague image of giants wielding terrible magic.*It's not their true form. They take it, instinctively, from sight of us.They use it to disarm us.*

Jaxon heaved a sigh, clearly unconvinced.*But they use it so well. So naturally. And I've never seen them take other forms.* *Oh, no?* Dillion asserted.*Did you miss that striped beast that tried to take my head off? He fairly shredded my face.* *Of course, I saw it. But I think that might have been an actual… animal. If the takudan between us could shapechange, don't you think he'd take a form that would let him out of that cage?* With the addition of direct emotion and perception, Tae discovered the term they used for him meant "sewer rat."*An actual takudan could fit between those bars and escape.* *We know they're of animal intelligence, that the ships and weapons they use were things left by our Kjempemagiska when they visited centuries earlier and attempted to civilize these savages.*

Jaxon said nothing, clearly unconvinced.

Dillion continued, undaunted,*So, if the Kjempemagiska built these cages, which they must have, they may have placed magical constraints upon them. Perhaps it's impossible to shapechange from the inside.*

Jaxon extended the thought.*So, you're saying the one who ripped up your face changed form outside, came in as a creature that fit between the bars, and was able to go out the same way?* *Exactly.*

Tae concentrated on the conversation, afraid to have any thoughts of his own. He had no idea how much effort Imorelda expended to keep him listening to the exchange, but he did notice that she remained silent, even as the pirates discussed her in an unflattering way. *All right.* Jaxon accepted the premise, though doubt still showed through.*But, Dillion, can you name any other animals that can sail ships, whether or not they can build them? What kind of animals use tools, like axes and shields and swords? And how do animals work together well enough to… to manage a place like this?* Jaxon made a gesture that encompassed the prison.*And even we're not capable of shapechanging; that's magic, the realm of our Masters. Are you saying mere animals have powers we don't?*

Discomfort ground through Dillion's reply. He glanced around, as if worried a Kjempemagiska might overhear.*Fish breathe underwater, deer outrun us, birds actually fly, and, last I checked, jarfr can rip the snot out of most anyone. Aside from that last, all things we can't do and the Kjempemagiska need magic to perform.* The uneasiness grew to the level of clear distress.*So what if these beasts we're fighting have some very rudimentary communication skills and have learned to use left-behind tools in a primitive way, for war.They're still not alsona, Jaxon. At best, they're something in between animal and alsona. Call them creatures, instead of animals, if the word suits you better.The Kjempemagiska…* Real fear entered the sending now.*… refer to them as animals, so animals they are to me.*

Jaxon accepted the explanation.*So what do we do, Dillion?* *Do you want to suffer ernontris?* The word had no translation, but an image came to Tae's mind unbidden. He saw a circle of giants kicking a living, human torso. Limbless and blind, bleeding, the man screamed in agony as they tortured him in some sort of gleeful game. An enormous basket filled with similarly disfigured people lay nearby.

Though he had seen more than his share of horror,Tae found acid in his mouth and drooled it onto the stone floor. Had he swallowed, he would have retched, emptying the contents of his gut on the dungeon floor. He could not risk the pirates knowing he was awake nor the possibility that some of the meal Matrinka had secured for him might come out with the rest.

Jaxon visibly trembled. The fear Tae had noticed in his features when they first met colored his thoughts now.*Of course not.* *Then we finish our mission.We kill as many of these animals… these creatures as possible. And, when the first chance arises, we kill ourselves or one another.*

No reply followed, other than the residual terror. Jaxon rose and paced to the opposite side of his cell, and lay back down.

Tae found his thoughts snapped back so suddenly, he had to fight nausea again. Pain rang through his head, and it took inordinately long to realize Imorelda was speaking. *Did it work?* *Yes, thank you.You're the absolute best.* *At everything,* Imorelda added immodestly.

Tae's head hurt too much to nod.*I heard… it all.* *Me, too,* Imorelda stated.*But I didn't understand a word of it.* That surprised Tae. He had found it so easy to catch every single nuance, he had simply assumed Imorelda did, too.*Is that why you didn't say anything? Or did taking me to their level just require too much focus to speak?* *I could have talked. I didn't have anything to say. I couldn't even understand them.*

That explained a lot to Tae and opened some interesting possibilities. At first, he considered having Imorelda speak for him, but that seemed foolish at best. Even if he could coach her through the language, her catty sensibilities would overrule any control.*Do you think it's possible you could take me to their "voice level" securely enough I could speak to them?* *Why?*

Now that the men had broken off contact, the situation had become less urgent. Imorelda had done a great service and deserved an explanation.*They have some serious misconceptions about us I'd like to fix.* Although not the most important to him or the rest of the world, their impressions about Imorelda would make better examples for the cat.*They think you're a male human, for example.* *What?* Imorelda's reply mixed startlement with offense.*So, they're morons?* *Not necessarily morons. Just… differently experienced. Their world is, apparently-* *Incredibly weird?* *I was going to say more magical, but your words work as well.* Still lying on his side, Tae grinned at the cat.*So, can you help me?* *I don't know? Why don't you just talk to them the regular way?*