The Queen's Favorite Pet

I hardly listened to the words of the Tongol woman after that, my focus split between the vivid memory of wind brushing through my fur and the Queen’s hand which gripped the back on my neck and was holding just too tight to be comfortable. The conflicting feelings of freedom and constraint made my heart ache fiercely. But then the Queen’s nails started to dig into my neck, I felt them break skin and my awareness came back in sharp focus.

“Why would you even mention that?” My capturer growled at the Tongol.

“Lady Daeho,” the Tongol had taken a step back and was holding her hands up to try and placate the Queen. I finally knew the queen’s name. “I meant no disrespect. But, a girl with tails... the most obvious connection is the Gumiho.” Queen Daeho forced me to turn.

“And yet this fully formed creature has two tails. Not to mention the last Gumiho was killed hundreds of years ago.” I felt their eyes on my bare back, tails bristled in discomfort and I tried to turn back around. After a moment the Queen let me. “The Gumiho are gone.”

“Yes, my lady.”

The queen growled and my eyes turned to the enraged vampire. Fear gathered in my throat and stomach at the fury in her vision. I had angered her earlier, but even in that moment her face had been calm. My breath caught as my instincts screamed at me both the run but also to not move. The three of us stood there for the longest time. The Queen’s face slowly calming down, the Tongol’s breathing picked up in her panic, and I couldn't stop the whine that slipped out my throat.

The sound seemed to break the moment, as suddenly the queen released my neck and grabbed my upper arm and pulled me from the room. I floundered as I followed her. It only took a moment for me to misstep and fall. The queen had taken two more steps before she realized she was essentially dragging me across the ground by my arm.

Her eyes turned to mine and I knew in that moment I would die. But then I didn’t. Her expression softened into a more neutral look, though her lips were still pulled in a frown. Then she let out a sigh and swept me up into her arms and started walking again.

Once again, I hardly noticed my surroundings, instead keeping my eyes on the queen. I had no way to escape should she change her mind and decide that she would kill me. But as she kept walking, she never looked at me,but I could feel her anger fade away. The scent of rage dissipated. Through it all, the stillness of her chest caused my unease to linger.

When the light around us shifted, I felt just safe enough to look around and noticed that we had returned to the stone hallway with the animal carvings. But the dim light and the speed the Queen was walking made studying them difficult.

Eventually we crossed into an area that was wider. The stone walls were covered with wooden posts and various wall decorations. I saw plants that grew in the dark, and images of scenes pressed against the wall. More and more hallways branched from the one we walked. I saw others walking throughout those areas. Those who spotted the queen would bow their head in deference before continuing on their way. The queen acknowledged none of them.

Not far into the hallway we passed open doors that showed the throne room, and there were still many who were lingering and talking amongst themselves. But the Queen didn’t linger, instead passing by that room and a few others before finally turning down a shorter hallway. At the end were two larger doors, and I thought we were going there, but instead she opened a door on our left. Before I could really take a look around, the queen dropped me on a small bed that was against one of the walls.

I hadn’t expected it, and landed awkwardly on one of my tails, and pain laced up my spine, but I held back my yip of pain as the queen’s gaze was staring at me with intensity once again. I froze and waited.

I saw a question appear in her eyes, and I thought she was going to ask me, but then closed them, and when I saw the blood red eyes again, the question was gone.

“This is your room.” She pointed to a wall opposite the bed where there were two doors. “The one on the left leads to your bathroom.” The word was strange, and I must have made a face because she paused. “A bathroom... a room to relieve yourself...” I worried about angering her, so I nodded, though I didn't really understand why there would be a room of relief. “The other room connects to my chambers. That door as well as the door to the hallway can only be opened by myself and those I’ve given permission. Trying to open them yourself will only cause harm to yourself.” I nodded again. “While you may prefer to be nude, I prefer my company clothed. The next person to enter this room will bring your clothing. I will return when I have need for you.” She reached forward and grabbed at my hair, gently but the threat of pain was there. “Do not try to leave. You are mine until I decide you aren’t.”

“Yes my lady.” She snorted, released me, and walked out of the room. As soon as the door closed, I felt magic wrap around the wood. I quickly moved off my tail and began to message out the pain. As I did so, I looked around the room. It was much smaller than the other rooms I had seen since arriving here. It would only take a few of my two-legged steps to cross it. The bed took up most of the wall it was leaned against.

The walls were in the same dark orange wood as the halls outside, but with a green color on the walls between them. It was brighter than leaves, but didn’t seem to be anything natural. The ground was the same stone as the largest hallway, and other than the bed, bare of anything else.

I also noticed there was no way for me to see the sky outside, and I felt the loss of the sky and wind as a deeper ache than even the pain of my tail. I hoped the relief room might have a view of the sky. I crawled off the bed and crossed. I pressed my hand against the wooden wall and slowly stood back to my two feet so that I could open the door, mimicking the way the queen had opened the door to the hallway.

The relief room was even smaller than the other, and I saw there were only 2 things in the room. The first was a hole in the floor that was surrounded with a white stone, and a similar white stone statue. I ignored the statue, and stared at the hole. My bladder took that moment to scream at me. Normally I would have just let it out against a tree, but I hadn’t seen a real tree since I was caught, no matter the wood on the wall. But as I stared at the hole... could that be its purpose? I had seen or smelled any other area for it.

Slowly I crossed the floor, and the stones beneath my skin felt smoother, and more like crystals. But I kept crossing until I could hover over the hole. When I finished, I moved away and then a great sound like a waterfall echoed from the hole and water rushed across the stone and washed my scent down the drain. My pelt was standing on end and I stared at the hole, but the sound quieted until once again it was just a quiet hole.

After waiting, and seeing nothing else happen I left the small room, but left the door open, just in case something did happen. Then I had the choice of either going atop the bed, or going underneath it like I had the last time. Eventually I climbed on top of the bed, remembering that it had given me no protection before. I curled into a ball with my back in the corner and where I could see all three doors easily.

I wasn’t sure when I had fallen asleep, but I was woken up by someone hitting the door to the hallway. “Lady BoSeokHi, may I come in?”

The voice wasn’t one I knew, but I guess that this was someone sent by the queen so I called out “yes.” The door opened and I found myself looking at an older woman. Her gray hair was piled up on her head, and her face was filled with wrinkles. When she saw me, she let out a shocked noise before pushing into the small room. I noticed that she was holding a small box when she put it on the bed farthest from me.

“My lady said that you were bare, but still.” The woman touched the box and it suddenly grew and I I had to ball myself up tighter to give it room. My tails were curled around my torso and the tips brushed against my chin. The woman opened the box and pulled out some kind of fabric. Her eyes turned to me once again and she smiled, but it was not encouraging. “Let’s get started.

I don’t know how long the woman had me change into different clothes. At first, she had to explain how to put these things on in the first place, as well as taking them off. Most of the clothes were too large for me, but the woman just marked the fabric before giving me something new to try. Each thing had a different feeling, some were softer, some were warmer, and a few felt like they were pelts themselves. I let her do what she wanted, and when I realized that she was mostly talking to herself, didn’t speak either. But she seemed to notice which style and feelings I liked and those I didn’t. One of the first things she had given me, was long and had covered my tails, trapping them against my skin, but even though I saw more of them get pulled out of the box, she never made me try them again. She had called it a dress. I realized she was teaching me the words for the clothes, as in her ramblings, she always made note of what they were called.

Magic was obviously filled in the box, as the amount of clothes she pulled out and put in was impossible, but eventually she reached the end. She smiled at me and left the room without another word, leaving one of things I had tried on the bed. I took that to mean I should wear it. The first were some pants in black that were just tight enough to not hang loose, but didn’t stop me from moving as I wished.The back of the pants had a large hole with a button loop on top. The woman, who never had said her name, had taught me how to feel and button it, as it was painful to try and twist enough to see. She had also left me a shirt with short sleeves and without any other buttons, or decorations. The shirt was in a light purple color that reminded me of flowers in spring.

A chill I didn’t realize I could feel disappeared as my bare skin was covered, and I curled into a ball once more and fell into an uneasy sleep. I had a dream where I was talking to an Inmyeonjo. While I could see the woman’s mouth moving, I couldn’t hear what she said. But I could also feel myself responding, but couldn’t hear that either. It felt like I was trapped in my own body.

The feeling of a cold hand on my wrist woke me from my nightmare and I looked up to see the Queen gazing down at me, the door to her wing open. Once I was awake, she let go and walked out of the room. My heart beat wildly as the vestiges of the nightmare faded away and I began to wonder just why she had come in here. Why she had been kind. Why did she keep me here, and how long I would accept it.