Another moment and a fourth monk joined us. He was wearing the same outfit as the others except there was an insignia of some sort on his left shoulder. The others parted for him as he slowly approached the table, and I was pretty sure he was either the head honcho, or as close to it as we were going to meet.
He looked us over, then took a seat opposite. “We welcome you into our temple and bid you rest and eat. But first, we would ask your names.”
He spoke in Calouk, the common tongue. Everyone at the table could understand him, save for Chase. Delilah translated what the monk had said.
I cleared my throat. “We value your offer, and accept. My name is Camille Sepharial te Maria, and these are my comrades. My husband Smoky, my sister Delilah Maria te Maria, her fiancé Shade, Venus the Moonchild, and Chase Johnson, who cannot speak the common tongue.”
The monk nodded to each in turn. When I had finished, he said, “My name is Keth and I am the Speaker. I ask that you direct all your questions to me. I will be at your disposal while you take rest with us. My brethren are only allowed to speak to strangers when there is a need and I am not around. I will have food and drink brought to you. Do you eat animal flesh?”
My stomach rumbled at that moment, and I blushed. “Yes, we do, all of us. Although we have a few animals we will not eat of. Cats and dogs, big cats.” There was no way Delilah and Venus were going to play cannibal.
Keth nodded. “Then we will bring food.” He turned to the monks behind him and gave an order in a language I didn’t recognize—it definitely wasn’t Melosealfôr or Calouk—and they left the hall.
I wanted to dive in and ask him if we could search on the property, but it would break tradition and protocol to do so before eating. Instead, I said, “Your temple is beautiful. We appreciate your gracious invitation. We weren’t sure how you felt about visitors.”
“Generally, we’re wary. But we seldom have dragons visit, and the few times they’ve come in the past, it was a congenial affair. Indeed, for dragons to approach our compound, there must be something important afoot, so we chose to greet you rather than warn you off.”
I realized that of course they knew we had two dragons with us. They had to have sentries watching and they would have seen us land. That they weren’t afraid of dragons and had a favorable view of them boded well for us.
Keth turned to Chase. “You are not from Otherworld, are you? But yet, you are not fully human. Your aura tells a story of mixed parentage from long ago.”
That he spoke in English surprised the hell out of me—and Chase. I kept quiet, though—it wasn’t my question to answer, and since he had directly asked Chase, I figured it better to let the detective answer on his own.
Chase glanced at Delilah, then at me. We both nodded. “Yes, I’m from Earthside. And there is elf in my lineage. I didn’t know about it until recently.”
“You are also going to live a very long time, given the proper circumstances. The Nectar of Life flows through your veins, and your aura as well. There is a story there, but perhaps for a different time.” Keth studied him for a moment and then, seemingly satisfied, turned back to me. “Here is your meal. Eat, and after you finish, we will talk further. Until then, the door to the right will lead you into a chamber where you can clean up and refresh yourselves. I’ll return when you’re ready.” With that, he abruptly stood and left the chamber as two other monks brought in great trays of food and filled the table.
The food was hearty and there was a lot of it. Roast bird—what kind I couldn’t tell, except it had been turkey-size in life given the size of the drumsticks—and a side of ham, cheeses and breads with their yeasty, warm scent, a tureen of vegetable soup, a crock of butter and one of honey, and three large pies that smelled suspiciously like apple all spread across the table. A regular smorgasbord. The monks brought in large pitchers of fresh creamy milk, and ale, so frothy with head that it smelled like yeast and hops.
Chase waited until we were alone again before asking, “Is it safe to eat?”
“You mean are they trying to poison us? I’m going to say no on that. And the food here is bound to be good. You don’t train as hard as they do on empty calories or subpar quality.” I helped myself, stabbing a large slice of the bird breast, a hefty chunk of ham, and a couple of the rolls. The hot food was welcome. Though we’d eaten on the road, there was nothing like a tramp through the woods to stir the appetite, and the altitude may have made me dizzy and lightheaded, but the food seemed to be calming my symptoms.