But this was the plan, she suspected—the crux of this Trothplight. She seethed inside at Marmeth and stared through tear-blurred vision at the blackness approaching.
“Your anger is palpable,” Mozok said, placing a hand on her head, further humiliating her with his touch. And yet the light force of his hand on her head and the cold, hard floor on her knees delivered at the same time an arousing mix of sensations in her body. “I grant you permission to speak. Would you have agreed to Trothplight if your snake translator had been more forthcoming of the details? Something tells me that you are a Human of great ambition and deep greed. I believe that you would have proceeded in any event. Therefore, your anger at the snake Marmeth is petty and unnecessary.”
Mina stared into the storm and said nothing.
“Speak,” Mozok said.
“I… I… I did not understand!” she stammered. “It’s… unfair.”
The fingers of the alien’s hand closed around a handful of her hair but did not pull it. Still, a shiver ran down her back, borne of the implied threat.
“You have not answered my question. But you shall answer it now. If you believe the Trothplight to be unfair, you have only to say the words to end it. Do you know these words?”
“I won’t be tricked again,” Mina spat. “But yes, I know them.”
Mozok released her hair and patted her on the head. “And yet you do not say them. The conclusion that must be arrived at is that you do not wish to, and therefore that you will continue with Trothplight even though you are now aware of what it is. This is… how do you say it in your language? Ergo, you would have entered into Trothplight whether you had known what it entailed or not.”
Mina stared out at the storm, trying to figure out if she was supposed to speak or not.
But the sight before her eyes made her suck her breath in sharply and attempt to stand up. “Is that…?” she gasped, as Mozok pushed on her head to keep her on her knees.
The water at the shore was moving rapidly back to the sea, as though the ocean was draining. She followed the disturbing sight out to the open water where all was black—but a line of white delineated where the ocean ended and the sky began.
And terrifyingly, this white foam rested atop what seemed to be a wall of water.
“A tsunami,” she breathed in a terrified whisper.
“Tsunami,” Mozok repeated. “That is the word.”
She shuddered. The huge wave was moving toward them fast, and the water before it had been sucked out for what seemed like miles, baring the rocky underwater depths and even a few Draquun ruins and underwater habitats, where lights flickered sporadically before going out.
“The fortress is impenetrable,” Mozok said calmly.
“To tsunamis?!” Mina almost shrieked. She tried again to stand up, but Mozok pushed her down to her knees and gripped her hair. “We have to get out of here!”
“Kneel. Kneel quietly as is your command,” Mozok said evenly. “We are safe.”
He then said something in Draquun, which she understood but wished she had not.
“I am enjoying your fear.”
* * *
When the tsunami reached the shore, it was as tall as the fortress. Mina decided that she was going to die, and so she closed her eyes and prayed. There was no way to escape in time, anyway.
But a distant roar, no louder than thunder far away, was all that she heard, and many minutes passed. She opened her eyes slowly, peeking through her lashes and tears, expecting to see the end of the world rushing at her.
Instead, all she saw was blackness.
She exhaled sharply.
“Wha—?”
“The tsunami has passed over the fortress. We will be in darkness now until the end of the storm.”
In the windows, she could vaguely make out the outlines of churning debris, caught in the light from the interior of the building.
“Bu… but… but…” Mina stammered.
