Free Roman by Heather Grothaus

“I wasn’t aware you would be exercising her this morning.”
    â€œThink nothing of it, my brother,” the monk replied, tucking the handle of the whip beneath his rough cincture. “Indeed, this is not our routine, but she has only just finished the last of—” The albino glanced at Isra so quickly that she could almost convince herself that she had imagined it. “Her meal. She’s not been about for several days.”
    Terrible screeching and banging noises erupted behind the trio, causing all three heads to swivel toward the opposite end of the gallery. Isra saw little brown hands reaching through the barred window of one of the doors, a dreadful cacophony behind it.
    â€œWell, blast,” Wynn said. “Better release them before they render us all deaf. They’ll have nothing else but to be let out if Princess is about. Do you stay or go?” Wynn demanded.
    Roman looked at Isra and raised his eyebrows.
    â€œAs you wish,” Isra said, lowering her eyes, but inside she trembled with anticipation.
    â€œWe’ll stay, if we won’t be a hindrance,” Roman told the pale monk. Wynn moved away and she dared a look at Roman. He was watching her. “Are you not frightened of what wild beasts Wynn might next introduce?”
    She shook her head. “There are worse things to be frightened of than animals.”
    Her answer seemed to be punctuated an instant later by the skittering, dashing, screeching brown balls that flew across the stones around their feet, causing Isra’s skirts to sway. The creatures swarmed over the ledge of the fountain, their long tails held erect behind them, and overtook the tiger so suddenly that Princess squealed and went over the side of the fountain into the pool, her big paws swiping in the air, slinging up wide arcs of water.
    The monkeys dashed away, chittering and screaming in what sounded like delight.
    â€œThey torment her so when they know she is too fat to be nimble,” Wynn chortled as he came once more to stand between Isra and Roman. “She behaves as though she would kill each one of them and eat them as raisins, but I can’t help but think she has grown attached to them. They are the only creatures who will come near her. She is getting old. She needs a mate.” His face turned toward Isra. “I don’t suppose you know of anyone with a male tiger, do you?”
    Isra pressed her mouth together into a grim line. “I am sorry. No.”
    The monk turned back to watch the monkeys frolicking in the water. “Ah, well. God’s will be done.”
    â€œIs she tame, then?” Isra asked, finding herself unable to keep from asking after the majestic tiger who had pulled herself out of the pool, shook, and was lying along the stone edge once more, licking one massive paw. “Princess.”
    The albino looked at Isra as if she’d just turned into a monkey herself. “ Tame ? Lady, this is no domestic creature who lurks inside a gentle stable seeking rodents. She is tigris . More specifically, she is a man-eater.”
    Isra’s eyes went over the monk’s head to Roman’s face, as if he would give her some reassurance. But he seemed as enthralled by the albino’s speech as Isra.
    â€œOh, yes,” Wynn continued, looking across the pool at the stunning animal who had turned her attention to grooming her chest. “Tigers can come to have a taste for human flesh. Princess killed and consumed more than a score in her village before she was captured. Why do you think they brought the—”
    â€œWynn,” Roman warned in a low voice.
    The monk quirked his mouth and then continued, hardly skipping a beat in his story. “She was on her way to be used for sport in the south of France, I believe, when I purchased her.”
    Isra didn’t know whether she was horrified or amazed. “You do not fear her? Down here, all alone?”
    Brother Wynn rocked