I tell you, friends, being a slave was bad but it was nothing compared to what I endured next. There was a creature inside me. I could feel it move around. It was the source of a voice like I heard at Devil’s Rock—a voice I couldn’t hear with my ears, but it was painfully loud.
When I first woke up I found myself bound securely to Sarra’s bed. It was a good thing, too, because for the next few days I sometimes jerked uncontrollably like I was having a fit. During this time Sarra hand-fed me and occasionally she’d turn and touch her side to mine. I noticed I now had a curious mark there, too. When our marks touched, the voice inside me would diminish in strength, but I could hear another voice dimly. I still couldn’t understand either of them.
During those first days Sarra would talk to me and sometimes her spirit through her mouth. In their different ways, they tried to comfort me.
Once Sarra’s spirit told me, “Mikal, you are carrying the spirit that lived in Bassa. It came from Devil’s Rock, just as I did.
“In truth, we both came from much farther away than Devil’s Rock, farther than you can comprehend, and it has been very hard for us to adapt to you. When we first came we knew so little that we drove your forefathers insane when we tried to talk with them. Then they stayed away and that made things even more difficult. Many of our members have not survived the wait.
“But we learned. We worked with animals, trying to adapt to them. Thus we finally learned to make our voices benign so that humans were not driven away. With renewed human contact, we learned more rapidly.
“Finally, Sarra came to us. We learned to talk with her; we learned about her body and we were able to help her overcome her palate deformity. Finally we were ready to become one with humans. I interacted with her best so I was chosen.
“Since then I have been able to help her even more. Together we have become an important person in the village, and we are well on the way to making this village the capital of a kingdom.
“Three years ago, Sarra brought Bassa to us. We united with him and made him into a great warrior. We would have made him into a king if he had lived longer.
“In the future we will be able to do the same for you. Your spirit is investigating your poorly-healed knee, and as the adaptation proceeds he will be able to rebuild it for you. Then he will make you into twice the warrior Bassa was, for your body is better material.”
Just then, I started having another of my fits and Sarra’s spirit fell silent until the jerking stopped.
“You will have to excuse your spirit. The jerking and the other discomforts you are experiencing are the result of his exploring your system too rapidly. Under more usual circumstances we would do this phase of adaptation from the outside and take many weeks at it, as we did with Sarra and Bassa. But your spirit was caught unawares by Bassa’s poisoning and death. The poison was very hard on him and left him quite weak. He could only survive by moving quickly to another host, that is, you.
“Do you want to ask me anything about all of this, Mikal?”
At that point it felt like my spirit was busy trying to adapt by rerouting my intestines, so I was in no mood to ask questions.
After the next couple of days the jerking tapered off and finally stopped.
When Sarra released me she asked gently, “Do you understand your spirit yet?”
“He’s getting clearer. But no, I don’t.”
“Well, soon. It may be another couple of days. As soon as you do, we’ll resume planning our conquests. When that happens I’d like you to move in with me. Go home now but plan your affairs accordingly.”
She kissed me gently and smiled brightly as I left.
Well, that was fine for her, but I’d made my own plans. That creature inside of me still didn’t have control, but I’d seen what had happened to Sarra and I didn’t like the looks of it.