Monstrous Races Page 4

  ‘Hello Rufus,’ she said in a husky growl. ‘Long time, no see.’

  ‘Josie!’ he exclaimed, suddenly standing very upright. ‘How have you been? You look...sorry, this is Elli. We want to come and stay for a while.’

  A monotone voice from inside the darkened booth said, ‘what is the purpose of your visit?’

  Rufus cleared his throat. ‘We’re here to visit friends of mine. And my Father, DH Maximillian of the Archways, Cannyngs.’

  ‘I see,’ came the monotone voice. ‘Any horses?’

  ‘Two,’ he replied, his mouth turned up as he grinned at Josie. ‘I had to leave in a hurry,’ he whispered, ‘I wanted to say goodbye.’

  ‘Why does a dog-head travel with a human girl?’ came the question, monotone but with slightly more emphasis now. Rufus paused.

  ‘I’m her guardian,’ he said to the darkened booth. ‘Her parents left her in my care.’ Josie coughed and he looked up.

  ‘And your name, girl?’ the voice asked.

  ‘I’m Elli,’ she answered, confused and tired. ‘And you are?’ She heard Rufus and Josie take a sharp intake of breath. The booth wobbled slightly and from it appeared a man-figure that Elli had heard stories about but had never quite believed until then. He was as tall as Rufus but had a smooth, straight line where his neck should connect to his shoulders. His head was positioned in the centre of his chest, as though his head and neck had been pushed into it. His skin was dark and golden and he reminded Elli of a tortoise, craning his neck this way and that and moving his head slowly. His hair (at the front of his head only) was black and cut short, and he peered at her whilst holding his hands together. ‘You’re a blemmyae,’ she stuttered, ‘a real one.’

  He stood with his hands clasped together looking slowly from her to Rufus. ‘Your full name, child.’

  ‘Elspeth Sparrow, of Yewminster,’ she mumbled, ashamed now of her reaction.

  ‘Very well, you may stay on a temporary basis and must report to the Council House at first light tomorrow morning. Any questions?’ They both shook their heads and the blemmyae held out his hand. ‘That will be two groats administration costs please.’ Rufus grumbled and handed over the coins. ‘Next!’ shouted the blemmyae.

  They walked on, and as they left Rufus leant over to Josie. ‘The Dog and Duck on Corn Street, I’ll be in there tomorrow night. Be good to catch up.’

  ‘Come on Rufus,’ said Elli, dragging him away. ‘Let’s just get in.’

  The first thing that hit Elli was the size, a huge mass of noise and splutter and movement. Horses and carts streamed past, and towards the walls vendors of all kinds of food had set up stalls to which both Elli and Rufus were automatically drawn. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, peering into a sizzling cauldron of glistening and exotic vegetables.

  ‘It’s called Chill-he my dear,’ said the large man stirring it with a wooden oar. ‘It comes with a free drink of clean water, boiled and cooled only this morning.’ He was shiny with sweat and had an accent she’d never heard before. Rufus sniffed the cauldron.

  ‘Phew, that’s powerful stuff. Is that the ‘burn your head off’ chill-he they tried to ban a while ago?’

  ‘The very same,’ said the man proudly. ‘A connoisseur I see. Will that be two chill-hes and water?

  ‘How much?’ asked Rufus, as Elli’s stomach flipped with hunger.

  ‘A groat, and I’ll throw in cooling cream with it.’

  ‘My friend, for a groat I’d want the stall. A quart and I’m being generous.’ The man smiled and poured out two steaming hot chill-hes on two flatbreads topped with cream.

  ‘Why are they called chill-hes?’ asked Elli as they sat on a bench to the front of the stall and were about to eat.

  ‘Because when people here first tried them they would throw themselves into a river, a lake, a trough, anything cold and wet to cool down. Hence chill-hes,’ he said, his food in one hand and a tankard of water in the other. Elli bit into hers and very quickly finished her drink, pouring the remaining drops over her head.

  ‘More water for the girl?’ asked the man, already pouring it out.

  They walked around after that, taking in the new smells and sounds. It was larger than anything Elli could have imagined, and she found herself clinging to Rufus and becoming anxious if he stepped out of her sight. Dog-heads and humans walked around together, and blemmyaes would weave in and around them, tending to walk with other blemmyaes. All had short, clipped hair, whether male or female, and wore dulled, plain clothes. In contrast some of the humans and dog-heads wore vibrant colours and gold and silver jewellery, and sometimes they walked with a human or dog-head in a purple jacket and hat behind them.

  ‘Who are they, the ones that follow?’ she whispered.

  ‘They’re personal-guards, privately paid for by those rich types,’ he sniffed. ‘Another idea of the Blemmyae Council. They’re like a private gendarme, and they guard that person and their belongings. When I was here last, some rich Lord or other woke up to find everything, his clothes, money, everything taken by his own guard. He even managed to make it out of the city. You’ve got to hand it to him. Of course, that’s why you pay insurance.’

  ‘Insurance?’

  ‘You pay it to the Blemmyae Council on top of tax, so that if your personal-guard walks off with your stuff they’ll either replace it all or find them and bring them back with all your belongings.’

  ‘And did they find him?’

  ‘Oh yes, they don’t stop until they’ve got what they want. In this case they searched for miles, spent a fortune but got him in the end. He was disguised as a female winkle-picker by the Eastleigh estuary.’

  ‘Um, and who are they?’ she asked, as a group of people covered all over in hair of different shades and colours walked past. On the faces their hair was shorter, and she could see that it was trimmed to be like that. They wore less clothing, she presumed because they were warmer, and they were a little taller than her.

  ‘Gorgades. Do you know I think that’s...hang on,’ he said, and ran over towards them. ‘Billy, is that you?' he asked a fair, plump male towards the back and the hairy group stopped in unison.

  ‘Rufus,’ called out a sing-song voice. ‘What you doin’ back around here? We haven’t seen you for ages.’ He grabbed Rufus’ hand and shook it firmly. ‘You remember my wife Christina? And this is little Elvis,’ he added, gesturing towards a boy covered in very dark hair. ‘He’s in a band. I heard you took holy orders, I couldn’t believe it.' Some of the group sniggered.

  ‘Yes, that’s the reaction I thought I’d get being back here. It’s good to see all of you, you’re looking well. Billy particularly,’ said Rufus, pointing to his rotund belly. ‘How have you been?’

  ‘We’re good, thank you,’ said Billy. ‘We’ve still got the laundry business and the inn, you’ll have to come over and see it. We’ve gone up-market now, only the best. Tiny meals and everything. Goat cuisine, the best goat in Brayston. How about you, did you get chucked out?’ As there was no trace of a smile Elli presumed he meant it.

  ‘No, not quite. This is Elli, and we’re spending some time here, seeing old friends and family. I’m her...guardian.’ There was a long pause.

  ‘You. Her guardian. Oh, right. Well, come on over and have some goat. If you need anything my love, you make sure you find us,’ he said, addressing Elli and taking her by the hand. ‘My wife makes a marvellous apple pie, you’re always welcome.’ Elli couldn’t be sure, but she thought his wife might have blushed beneath her hair.

  Rufus gestured for a cart to stop for them, and after haggling about the price they got in and looked out at the rich tapestry of life in Brayston. The buildings here were higher than any she’d ever seen and crept upwards, tilting towards each other like neglected, yellowing teeth. She saw brightly coloured birds for sale in rusty cages, and they rode past a farmers' market where a creature the size of a horse was being sold. It was jet black, and had one horn pointing forward and the other backwards, penned
in as farmers and butchers scrabbled to make their bids.

  ‘A yale,’ said Rufus lazily. ‘They can move their horns and make good eating.'

  They sped on through imposing alleys and beneath dark bridges, past buildings that were barely more than shacks and converted stables (‘now worth a premium,’ Rufus told her) until they finally reached their destination, a group of houses that seemed to have been dropped into the ground from a great height. The sun had set now, and in the evening darkness Rufus and Elli took their bags and got down from the cart. The road was deserted, and the only sign of life were the few lit candles that twinkled from the small windows. The cart moved on and left them standing alone with their bags.

  ‘Is this the right place?’ whispered Elli, looking around at the tall shadows and feeling the weight of the heavy silence. ‘Only it doesn’t seem too safe.’ Rufus smiled and held up his right hand to which every door in the road opened. People of all shapes and sizes ran out, dog-heads, humans, gorgades and others, all rushing towards them and shaking them by the hand or kissing them on the cheek. There were questions and excited faces from every angle, until at the back of the crowd a loud bark was heard.

  A black labrador dog-head, wider and older than Rufus but unmistakeably his father appeared at the periphery and the group parted as he walked towards his son. He was dressed smartly with crisp, clean clothes and the fur on his face was grey around the muzzle. His left eye had a slight milky sheen to it, and he was powerfully built. He held up his hands towards Rufus and Elli saw a wide gold ring on his chubby finger. He grabbed Rufus and held his face in his hands.

  ‘My boy everyone, he’s back. He’s come home!’

  Chapter Five

  A decent cup of tea

  Elli lay on the sofa that morning and thought back to the night before, feeling the warmth of the stone against her chest as she always did. There was lots of food she remembered, and weak beer for her as well as fresh water. The neighbours had entered the house in a whirlwind, pinching her cheeks and telling her she needed feeding up. Madam Valencia was her favourite, a large buxom woman with hair dyed black and red cheeks, kissing her with red grease smeared on her lips. There were dog-heads and humans with pale skin and dark, and a smaller spaniel dog-head called Uncle Frankie who lifted Rufus into the air when he saw him. There was a family of four gorgades and some large dogs who were barking and running around wagging their tails.

  Elli began to fall asleep in a corner when suddenly the laughter and excited chatter disappeared and everything was cleared away. In a daze she was kissed on the cheek again and felt warm hands stroke her hair. A deep dog-head voice said, ‘welcome to the family,’ and the next thing she remembered she was lying on the chaise longue, covered with soft blankets.

  She stretched out and opened her eyes, looking around the room. There wasn’t a sign that all those people had come inside the night before, and the surfaces gleamed with polish. The room was large and tasteful, with ornate vases and oil paintings on the crimson walls. She looked for a long time at a religious dog-head picture, smiling at the swirls of colours and richness of shades. It depicted a tall, proud wolfhound dog-head appearing to walk towards her, his arms folded over his chest. His cloak was every rich red shade she could imagine, and he wore a jewelled collar that dazzled her with its shine. The silvers and golds, emerald green and amethyst leapt out at her, the detail as real to her as seeing it in the flesh. She hadn’t expected a room like this to be inside the house as there was no clue from the outside, and she moved closer to the painting, deep in thought.

  ‘St Christophe the wise,’ came a deep, powerful voice behind her. ‘It’s one of a kind.’ Elli jumped, shaken as she hadn’t heard Max come in. ‘I’m sorry,’ he continued, ‘I didn’t mean to scare you. Of course it really belongs in a museum, but I’m so very attached to it.’

  ‘It’s lovely,’ she said. ‘I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

  ‘No, you wouldn’t have,’ he replied kindly, his gaze lingering on the painting. ‘Can you see how he has captured that look in the eye, somewhere between pride and regret. And see here, he is looking towards the light but the shadows are creeping in around his back. It drove the artist mad you know, for twenty years he worked on it, day and night. You see the necklace? He used real gold and silver, he wanted to capture them exactly so.’

  ‘It’s breathtaking,’ she said. ‘How long have you owned it?’

  ‘Owned?’ he asked, as though a spell had been broken. ‘Let’s just say I’m loaning it. As I said, it really belongs in a museum.’ She turned to see a glint in his eyes, as though he were judging her reaction. ‘Oh don’t worry, the one they have there is perfectly adequate. That took twenty days to paint but nobody even suspects. The philistines,’ he added, sniffing the air around him. ‘Didn’t even use real gold, it’s shocking.’ He stretched his hands out together and cracked his knuckles. ‘Now my girl, why don’t you make some tea, and then we’ll discuss what you’re really doing with my son.’

  Elli made the tea as slowly as she could, willing Rufus to get his backside downstairs and talk with them. The kitchen was light and spacious, and she made a large bowl of tea for Max and a cup for her. With no way of stalling any longer she carried them in and sat down at the edge of the seat. He thanked her and looked at her closely, making no sound at all. Finally she broke, unable to take the silence any more. ‘We’ve left the Dogheadhood...for an adventure. I wanted to see more of the world and Rufus is my best friend, so he agreed to take me.’ Still nothing, and the silence sat between them like a flatulent guest.

  ‘Why?’ he asked eventually, not taking his gaze from hers. ‘Now why would he do that?’

  ‘We, well Alpha Sawyre I mean...’ She sat perched on the very edge of the seat now. ‘Can I wait for Rufus? He’ll tell you much better than I can.’ Max looked away from her.

  ‘No problem,’ he said, picking up the bowl and bringing it to his lips. ‘But you need to understand that he is my son. If he’s in some kind of trouble I want to know everything. And one of you will tell me.’ He sipped the tea and looked up. ‘And you’re going to have to learn how to make decent tea if you’ll be staying with us.'

  Later on Max showed her to her room, and she marvelled at the shower and heated pump device that she could see from the window.

  ‘But you have your own shower with heat,’ she said. ‘In the garden. Just for you.’

  ‘Yes I do,’ he answered, ‘I believe in being very clean. There’s fresh soap in there every day, and the toilet cubicles are next to it, it means they’re hotter in winter.’ She looked out at the black box that contained a small burning fire. ‘I lit it a while ago so the water should be nice and hot now, I take it you know how to work a heating valve?’

  She nodded and looked around at her room; it was three times as big as her room at the Dogheadhood and her bed was huge, covered in blankets that had been freshly aired. ‘Thank you Sir, I’m really very grateful,’ she said, meaning it.

  ‘Don’t mention it, and none of this Sir business. Just call me Max. After all, you’re part of the family now,’ he said, grinning. He exhaled slowly, looking back at the door. ‘Some things never change I see. Rufus is still a lazy toad, I thought that at least all those years at the Dogheadhood would teach him how to get out of bed in the morning.’

  ‘If you don’t mind Max,’ she said smiling, ‘I know a brilliant way to get him up that he just loves.’

  Rufus walked into the main room shortly afterwards, his wet footprints absorbed into the carpeted floor. He was drying the fur on his head with a towel, and was dressed in clean, smart clothes. ‘They still fit look,’ he said, obviously pleased with himself. ‘The trousers are a bit tighter than I remember, but not bad at all.’ He crashed down into an armchair and looked across at them both. ‘Another lovely walk-up call from Elli then, the bump on my head is really hurting now,’ he moaned, delicately touching the protrusion at the top of his head. ‘Please remember there are be
ams above the bed next time. Any chance of some food?’ he asked, rubbing the inside of his ears with the towel. Max grimaced and looked at the watery prints.

  ‘Well, firstly you’ll need to clear them up. Then you’ll wash that towel and hang it out to dry. Then you can make some food for us all, and clean up after yourself. And after that,’ he said, leaning in closer, ‘you can tell me exactly what's going on.’

  Max stared at the fyrestone for a long, long time, turning it around in his hands and watching how the tiny sparks of light circled and danced around it; he could see the milky opal and blue streams of colour gently move around each other, reflected in his wide eyes as he held it up. ‘It's so beautiful,’ he said, his voice tender and sincere. ‘Such an astonishing thing. I’ve never seen anything quite...’

  ‘Max,’ said Rufus, snatching it back quickly and throwing it over to Elli, ‘listen to what we’re saying. We need to know if Elli's in any kind of danger. We thought you might know.'

  ‘Me?’ asked Max, sitting back into his seat. ‘Well I can ask the right people I suppose, see who's heard what. There can’t be too many of these stones dotted around can there? So that makes them rare and...valuable,’ he added, his eyes shining.

  ‘No,’ said Elli firmly, tucking the necklace back inside her clothes. ‘It’s my stone and I won’t be parted with it. Certainly not for money.’

  ‘It’s not money that worries me, although hold that thought,’ said Rufus. ‘We need to know if there's word on the street about this stone or any others, find out who has the other one if you can. Do it quietly Max, we don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.’