Mekos stepped closer to Aradella. “There’s something not right here.”
Aradella nodded in agreement, but she didn’t know what was making her feel that way.
They left the village and entered the lovely countryside. Tropical forest surrounded them. “We will now see the stupendous home where Valona lives,” the guide said in a voice full of awe.
“Maybe it’s made of gingerbread,” Mekos said, but Aradella didn’t get his meaning.
It was on the path to the great and wondrous Valona’s house that they saw a little girl step out of the greenery at the edge of the road. When she turned, they saw that she had a human face but with dark circles around her eyes, and a little nose. She looked like a raccoon.
“Get out of here!” the guide shouted, then hissed like a snake. “Go!”
The frightened child ran back into the forest.
The guide’s face was red with anger. “You should not have seen that. They’re filthy creatures! But the women will not stop—” She didn’t finish.
“She is a Lely,” Mekos said quietly. “Are there many here?”
“There are too many of those things and they should be destroyed! Monkeys and a wolf. There’s even a bear!” She was almost shouting. “Those things go against all that is good. They—” She broke off at the sound of a horse close by. “Hurry! We might see her.”
The guide ran as fast as she could, Aradella and Mekos behind her, and they came to a crossroads. Not far away, a woman on a horse came into view. She was elegantly beautiful, with long black hair, and a dark dress that showed off her hourglass figure. She was almost out of sight when she abruptly pulled the reins back. The horse reared but the woman didn’t lose her balance. She turned and looked at the three of them standing there. Her eyes were on Aradella—and she frowned. But then she seemed to decide that whatever she didn’t like was all right, and she nodded at Aradella in greeting. In the next instant, she kicked the big horse and was out of sight.
“That was Valona,” the guide said breathlessly. “You are fortunate to have seen her. She is the most beautiful woman on the planet.”
Aradella shrugged. “Actually, I have some cousins who are better looking than—” At the guide’s fierce look, the princess closed her mouth.
The woman angrily walked ahead of them, while Aradella and Mekos stayed behind. “I don’t like her,” she said.
“Nor do I,” he replied, then pulled his long hair back to show his ears. They were pointed. “I am a Lely.” He seemed to expect Aradella to be shocked.
“I know,” she said. “Your mother is half fox, and you were born to your father when he was sixteen. That he could get a fox with child shows his extraordinary strength.”
Mekos blinked at her, then laughed. “It did take strength with my mother. She has claws.” The guide had turned and was frowning at them to come on. “I can’t stand this. Will you be all right if I leave?”
“Perfectly fine,” Aradella said, but her heart sank at the thought of spending time alone with the awful woman.
Dutifully, they followed her down the road that Valona had been on and heard more about the glory of her. Goddesses had fewer good attributes than Valona did.
Aradella slowed with Mekos so they were well behind the woman. “Should we pick up rocks and make a shrine to her?” she asked.
“All hail Valona,” Mekos said. “We can offer prayers to her.”
“And food and flowers.”
Mekos plucked some white flowers from a row of bushes growing by the side of the road. “I’ll offer this and say that it pales beside her beauty.”
“You better say more than that. That’s oleander and it’s deadly poisonous.”
He tossed the flower away. “How do you know that?”
Aradella shrugged. “Just something I heard. Come on, she’s waiting for us.”
“What’s next? We get to kiss the droppings of Valona’s horse?”
She tried to suppress a laugh since the woman was glaring at them, but Aradella’s only thought was that she didn’t want to be left alone with the guide.
The road led alongside a steep drop-off. It was as though the long-ago lava flow had created a gully. There might be a river running at the bottom of it, but there were so many trees with hanging vines and tall bushes that they couldn’t see down.
“What’s that?” Mekos asked loudly. He was moving about to see through the trees.
