Monstrous Races (2 page)

They made it back to the Dogheadhood as the light was failing, and each was deep in thought as the huge wooden gates swung towards them and they walked inside. In the middle was a large open courtyard, where flowers and herbs grew alongside vegetables and fruits. Peas trailed up along whitewashed walls, and juicy crimson strawberries fell from pots of every shape and colour. A solitary scarecrow stood in the middle of the courtyard, its arms flapping in the twilight. Dogs barked from the shelter of the kennels to the right of them, street dogs who had run away from their cruel or neglectful owners and were given charity and food by the dog-heads. Two louder barks told them to settle down as they were given fresh water for the night.

They walked past them, through the creaking doors and candle-lit corridors until they reached the kitchen. The ever-burning fire lit up the room with a warm red glow as Rufus placed the basket on the table. Elli helped him to unpack, avoiding his eyes as she waited for his response. She sat at the table, her feet dangling off the ground and three cushions placed under her. Finally he poured some water into a pot and placed it over the f
ire
before taking a mug and bowl down from a high shelf.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. ‘H
ow could those people
just move? Are you sure you didn’t touch them? Or that they slipped and you just thought you’d done it?’

‘No,’ she answered
clearly
, ‘I think it was me. It felt like I’d hit them, but I hadn’t. I think I did it, but I don’t know how.’ She paused and looked at her hands, which were grasping each other. ‘Do you think I’m bad?’ she whispered. ‘Only he called me a witch. I don’t think I’m a witch but then I don’t know what they’re like because I’ve never met one.’

Rufus looked at her through the dancing shadows and noted the mud that was still down one side of her face. ‘Doesn’t sound like normal magic to me. The only witch I ever knew learned how to use it over time, it didn’t just happen by itself. She had the best parties...could really get people dancing, well, not that they had a choice.' He paused and looked down at her neck. ‘Is that stone of yours always that colour?’ She followed his gaze and saw that the blue stone in her necklace was glowing very faintly, a ghostly sharp blue and white light surrounding it. She shook her head.

‘Didn’t think so. We’d better speak with Alpha Sawyre in the morning. Cheer up little one, it’ll be alright. But no drop-kicking me or anything else if you don’t mind. I’ll make something to help you sleep.’ He picked up leaves and herbs from all around the kitchen and threw them into the pot. ‘Actually, this’ll help us both to sleep, it’s been a busy day,’ he yawned, scratching behind his ear. 'Do you think it’s safe to keep wearing
that necklace?’ he asked, watching its delicate hue with fascination.

‘I won’t take it off,’ she answered flatly. ‘You know that.’ She pulled her hair away from her face and tucked it behind her ears.

‘You know, you have great big ears for a human,' he said, smiling wolfishly at her. She could see the glow from the stone reflected in his shiny brown eyes and she smiled back at him.

‘All the better to h
ear you with, my dear,’ she replied
. ‘And they’re not big, they’re well in proportion.’

‘Yeah, for a rabbit.' He thought on this for a while. ‘Actually I’m hungry. We’ve got some cold meat somewhere.’

‘I’ll have some,’ she said, as the herbs in the tea began to fill the room with their soft, smoky scent. ‘And I’ll make the tea.’ She went to the fire and gingerly lifted up the pot, pouring the contents into the mug and bowl. ‘You know, those fools today asked if
you ate your meat raw,’ she added, pla
cing so
me cold rabbit onto
some bread.

‘You should’ve told th
em I’d eat them raw,’ he replied
grinning.
‘Plenty of meat
on the
one that
grabbed you.’ He lapped some tea from the bowl and yawned, the scent permeating the kitchen. Rufus bit into the rabbit bones and crushed them beneath his powerful teeth. ‘This tea is good stuff,’ he mumbled as his head rolled fo
rward and slumped onto the table
, landing in a heap of bread and rabbit.

‘
Yes it is,’ she said, finishing her food and tea. ‘See you in the morning.’ She ruffled the fur on his head and walked to her room, feeling the glowing stone pulsing and calling against her chest.

Elli heard the knock on her bedroom door the next morning and rolled over in her bed, pulling the blanket tight over her head. After three gradually more insistent knocks she shouted, ‘alright, I’m up thank
you,’ and rubbed her eyes, muttering
quietly, ‘thank you for waking me up at this ridiculous hour. Thanks so very much.’

‘You’re welcome,’ came the cheerful, sing-song reply. She dragged herself out of the warm blankets and put her feet on the floor, then squealed as the floor was so cold. She dressed quickly and walked to the shower area where she pumped a valve for warm water and used her soap, and then down to the kitchen, yawning and pulling her hair into a knot at the back. Rufus was still asleep wit
h his head lying on the bread and
rabbit, blissfully unaware of the rude awakening that he was now about to receive.

She carefully pulled down two metal pots and held them over his head, watching him sleep peacefully as she crashed them together
above him
. His ears pricked up immediately and he flew into the air to stand up. On finding that he was sitting on a bench he overcompensated, caught his legs under the table and fell down onto his back, his legs resting on the bench. As he lay there in a stupor Elli appeared in his vision, looking down at him from behind so that her face was upside-down.

‘Good morning,’ she said
merrily
, holding both saucepans. ‘You’re late for prayers.’ He scrambled to his feet and ran off, his habit flapping as he went.

Elli began preparing the food for the day ahead and waited for Rufus to join her, busy peeling, scrubbing and baking, her cheeks red with the steam and effort. When he finally reappeared he was wearing a clean habit and towelling his head, pushing his finger into his ear and having a
good
forage around.

‘You know, I don’t think you can beat
a good finger for poking in ears
. We’ve got the best of both worlds; small fingers and big ears,’ he said, turning it around to really delve inside his ear canal.

‘You said mine were big yesterda
y,’ said Elli as she stirred a
vat of mutton stew. 

‘Well they are for a human. Thanks for the wake-up call this morning, and do remind me to do that to you some time. Oh, and next time please tell me that I have bits of rabbit and breadcrumbs stuck to my face. Alpha Sawyre asked
me
if I had the pox and said I’m
a disgrace. Again. I did ask
if we could speak with her today about an important matter. She’ll send for us later.’ He paused and sniffed the air. ‘Is that stew ready? Only I’m starving.’ He picked up the vat and carried it through to the dining area as
Elli
followed behind with
plates made of heavy bread.

They walked into a large, noisy room filled with chatter and expectation, and as he placed the large pot in the centre of the main table all became silent. He carefully ladled some stew onto a bread plate for the Head of the Dogheadhood, Alpha Sawyre.

‘I see you’re cleaner now Rufus, what a pleasant surprise. Please try not to attend prayers again with a face full of food, I’m sure you can wait until afterwards.’ She smiled at him, her sleek greyhound head tilted to one side. Her voice was soft and deep like dripping honey. He saw that her muzzle was mostly grey and her eyes were as knowing as ever, looking for his reaction. He looked down and tried to look humble.

‘Sorry about that, we’d had a busy day
. It won’t happen again,’ he adde
d
quietly
as he placed
the bread
in front of her.

‘Hmm, we’ll see. This smells good, please continue.’ They walked around the tables serving the stew to the hundred or so dog-heads sitting around the room, overhearing odd bits of conversation.

‘Well, I hear there’s all kinds of bad behaviour there, drinking and gambling. You’re not going until you’re older.’

‘But Mum, I just want to see what it’s like, I won’t join in. I’ve heard it’s safe if you go with someone you know, I was going to see if...’

‘No, and that’s an end to it, don’t you agree Elli?’ Gorda and her
son both looked up at Elli as
she stood poised with the ladle in mid-air.

‘Um, I think maybe...’

‘You should listen to your mother,’ interrupted Rufus. ‘After all, it’s not like you ever did anything like that, is it Gorda?’ He smiled showing his strong white teeth. Gorda narrowed her eyes and met his gaze.

‘No it’s not, and I’ll thank you to keep that wet nose of yours out of it Rufus, I was talking to Elli.’

‘Now dear, no need to be rude,’ came the voice of Eric who appeared to have just woken up.
'He does have a point,’ he added,
turning to his son. 'I remember when I first met your mother...’

Elli judged that this would be a good time to move on and she shoved Rufus forward, who was still trying to hear what Eric would say. They moved around quickly after that, giving more stew to the dog-heads newer to the Dogheadhood as they were often the ones who most needed feeding up. The hall was noisy with chatter and laughter and the occasional raised voice or growl. Finally, after a number of return trips to the kitchen they sat at the end of a great
table and served out their food
, the meaty rich aroma finally proving too much for Rufus.

‘I’m starving,’ he said
decidedly.
‘I’m going to run out of drool if you don’t hurry up. Why can’t we eat first?’

‘You know why,’ she answered. 'It’s partly because we’re showing our humility, and mostly because you eat a great mouthful every time we go back inside to refill the serving pot.’

‘What was that?’ asked Gerald, the greying dog-head next to her. ‘Extra food? You great lump Rufus, you need to do more exercise. Look at me, fit as a flea, I don’t look a day over fifty, do I?’ Elli and Rufus looked at each other.

‘Would that be fifty human years or fifty dog years?’ asked Rufus, receiving a great kick on the shin from Elli.

‘What he
meant
to say was no you don’t Gerald, not a day over,' she replied
archly
.

‘Lilly here was just telling me about th
e news from outside. G
o on Lilly tell them.’

‘Well,’ said Lilly, putting her food down
and looking around at her audience.
‘I hear that King Wesley has marched into Westerland, and is demanding that King Harold relinquishes all of his lands i
mmediately, or else.’ She smiled proudly
, her spaniel’s head turned eagerly towards them.

‘Oh, not again,’ said Rufus
lazily. ‘T
hat’s six times already this year. First it’s Harold’s lands, then it’s Wesley's. Why can’t they just divide it up between them, it would be a lot easier.’

‘A
re
n’t they brothers?’ asked Elli.
‘Seems a bit foolish to keep fighting your own brother. What do their parents say about it?’

‘Oh, the old Queen says they’re following in a fine family tradition. She fought with her
sister over and over again to control it in the first place.’

‘So how did they decide which sister would rule it in the end?’ asked Elli, chewing on a
thick
crust.

‘Well
it tends to be a pretty easy decision when one of them is clubbed over the head,’ Gerald answered, looking up from beneath his huge white eyebrows. ‘When she woke up she was hundreds of miles away, banished from ever setting foot back in Westerland. I’m told they still write to each other at birthdays and holidays, but it’s not the same is it? Social exclusion, is there a worse fate?’

‘Well death is probably a bit higher up,’ said Rufus. ‘I mean, I’d imagine for a human.’
Here we go again
, thought Elli,
as though I represent all humans.

‘Elli, is that right?’ asked Lilly, turning towards her. 'Is that what humans think
?’
Elli looked from one to the other and sighed.

‘Look, for the last time, I’ve lived with dog-heads since the age of eight. How am I supposed to know what all humans think?’ She looked at them and saw the bewildered look that she always had at this point in the con
versation. S
ocial rules for dog-heads were very straightforward; for a dog-head to be excluded from the pack was the worst kind of punishment imaginable. That’s why the Dogheadhood worked, a sanctuary that didn’t ask questions and welcomed you with open arms.  And she’d been welcomed, the only human to ever ask to join them. She remembered the shock of seeing the
m all, of their familiar and
frightening forms, and of the strange knowledge that her parents had sent her there to be with them.