The Gift of Volkeye by Marque Strickland, Wrinklegus PoisonTongue Read Free Book Online

that?”
    “When we breathe, our bodies take in the oxygen and convert it to carbon dioxide!”
    “Wow. Tell me more,” Zynathian said, lifting her in his arms. He was proud to hear Lyn speak intelligently on topics that would’ve put most kids her age to sleep. Zynathian could listen to her talk like this all day long, no matter how rudimentary the information was to him.
    “Carbon dioxide is poison…but,” she said, frowning in confusion, “if it’s poison, how come you ain’t dead from me breathing on you, Daddy?”
    “Well, first of all, ‘ain’t’ is improper speech, you know that,” he said, tickling her at the armpit.
    She giggled.
    “And, second, the concentration of carbon dioxide has to be extremely high before it becomes dangerous. For instance, we’re not in danger, because we have plenty of oxygen around us, and oxygen absolutely must be replenished as it is consumed. What happens when someone is trapped in closed quarters with no fresh air coming in? I’ll tell you—they’re increasing the carbon dioxide in the air every time they exhale, and therefore the atmosphere becomes all the more dangerous. Remember, they’re breathing in that poison now.”
    “Ooooh,” Lyn Sha remarked with wonder, grasping the ideas. “So when people suffocate, they’re choking to death on their own poison?”
    “Precisely,” he said, smiling.
    “And that’s why people can die in fires even if they’re not burned. Fire kills oxygen!”
    Zynathian’s eyes lit up, as Lyn Sha ceased to amaze him with the versatility of her mind. One moment, she’d be child-like, enjoying fairy tales and other things of that nature. But the next…
    “See, Daddy, I told you I’m gonna’ be smarter than you someday!”
    “Bah!” he mocked, refuting such an impossibility.
    “Oh, yes I am!”
    Lyn mashed her face into his cheek and began kissing him again. Then she stopped abruptly, realizing that something was wrong. It was obvious to her that Khyeryn wasn’t in the house, because his bed was made up, and his window had been open. Also, Jalum, their bird, wasn’t squawking. It was late afternoon, and he was always awake and raising all kinds of hell by now, but she could hear nothing.
    “Daddy, I thought you said we couldn’t go down by ourselves?”
    Zynathian frowned in anger. Lyn Sha had distracted him, and therefore he hadn’t realized that Khye had gone below without her. As young as they were, he wanted them together at all times when outside the quarters of their home—especially with Phyllamon Xyecah in the world! Knowing that Jalum would take good care of Khyeryn put him more at ease, but that still wasn’t the point. It was forbidden to go below without the other. Khyeryn had disobeyed the most important house rule.
    “That’s exactly what I said, sweets, and Khyeryn will hear about this! It may seem that I’m being overprotective, but there are good reasons for me wanting you both to stick together. Do you remember the bad man that Daddy is always talking about?” Zynathian asked, suddenly shocked as he realized how long it had been since checking on Phyllamon and his behaviour—fifteen years, more or less. Though he wasn’t sure of the exact amount of time, it had been an age, nonetheless!
    “Yes.”
    “What does Daddy say?”
    “ Beware the bald man with the unibrow!” Lyn Sha quickly recited.
    Zynathian kissed his obedient daughter on the forehead. Khyeryn, however, seemed to not care about the house rules!
    Someone is due for a nice long punishment, yes sir, he thought.
    As Zynathian paced about with Lyn in his arms, he heard a huge thump and then scratching at the landing dock shield below. Due to the amount of cold air that was allowed in, Zynathian never liked to open that shield, unless he was landing a ship indoors rather than attaching it to the bottom of the complex. Now he was even angrier, because he’d trained Jalum to enter the house by way of his nest from the deck, outback.