Red Mist

6. Roaches

Freya exited the front of the house and gasped as she shut the door. The ornate silvery carriage that Lady Raina had taken was waiting there and her groom, another rabbit in a well-to-do suit, sat over the beasts that had transported them. The beasts were two large cockroaches that came up to her waist. Those were expensive to keep and usually hard to breed, and Lady Raina could afford two of them?

Maybe Freya could get into breeding cockroaches?

Bounding over to have a look, the two sniffed her from underneath their harnesses. The groomsman nodded to her, one ear flopped over his right eye. Maybe if she could do the trick that the druid had done earlier she could talk to them. How did the druid do it?

The cockroaches clicked at her impatiently, as if waiting for her to do something.

Freya took a second to take a breath and patted the closest one on the head. She recalled the place where the Druid had taken her. With a sharp intake of breath, she exhaled. Something left her as if she had just run a mile and she was out of breath.

[Friend? Friend Friend Friend? Food? Food Food Food?] The Cockroach said excitedly! [What food new friend have? Friend! Food! Friend!]

Freya was taken aback. The cockroach clicked in nearly a cooing sound.

She turned to the rabbit sitting on the carriage.

"What do these cockroaches eat? They seem hungry," Freya asked the confused rabbit.

"Well usually, we feed them seeds, they seem to like that," he said, flipping his ear back so both lay back over his head. Was he trying to flirt with Freya? No, he probably just thought he was entertaining a little mouse.

She placed her paw on the cockroach.

[Seeds? Do you like seeds?] She tried to form an image in her mind.

[Yes! Yes yes yes! Friend good bring seeds!] It said back to her weakly. She realized that she was not holding onto the cockroach as the voice got quieter.

Jot that down, it helped to be in contact with the being you were trying to speak with, Freya thought. Her mind started working through the possibilities. If she could harness this power, she could bring up a flock of cockroaches that answered her every command.

Absent-mindedly she imagined how much money a breeding pair of cockroaches cost as she tromped to the barn to grab some seeds.

Grandpaw was in the barn grabbing a shovel.

"Well, dear Freya, how was Lady Raina?" he said, putting the tool over his shoulder. He paused as she grabbed an armful of seeds.

"She was definitely lady-like!" Freya said, tromping back out of the barn over to the carriage.

Beatrice sat watching as the fastidious brown mouse fed Raina's cockroaches by a paw. Both had been cantankerous recently and snapped at Lady Rainas' groom whenever they'd tried to feed them. Freya had been able to feed them and both seemed gracious to have received it from her. The child had a skill that would put her above her peers, that was for certain.

Perhaps this child would be a good match for someone with ambition? Beatrice knew that Lady Raina had resolved to give it her best shot.

"Raina?" Beatrice said, "You've been staring off into the distance, is something amiss?"

"Beatrice," Raina said, sipping her tea, "Your granddaughter is quite something and her stock rises the better I get to know her. Look at how she handles herself."

Raina came to join her, at the window.

"Yes, I believe that she will grow to be a force to be reckoned with. Perhaps she could become the Minister of the Exterior one day if she focuses her attention on something besides livestock," Beatrice said.

"But if not," Raina said, fanning herself, "She may have her own Army of cockroaches and those dreadful beasts your husband had been keeping. What did you call them again?"

"Why, Lady Raina, sister in all your travels have you never seen a chicken?"