Monstrous Races (20 page)

'Rufus,' she said, looking at a drawing of a Blemmyae astride a large dragon. 'I don't remember this from last time, are you sure we're in the right place?' He nodded, flinging a sandwich-half into the air and catching it in his open jaws in one deft
movement.

'Right corridor but different to last time. They rearrange them every couple of days. Another blemmyae code;
don't get complacent
. I see they haven't included anything about abysmal blemmyae art in their codes though, look at this,' he added, peering closer at the picture. 'Now that's a blemmyae with inferiority issues, look at the size of that dragon.' They walked along the corridor in silence apart from their echoing footsteps.

'We can forget all about this if you want to, no harm done,' he said after they'd gone through the entire contents of his bag in the flickering candle-light including the sardine surprise. She shook her head and walked towards the large wooden door in front of them, hearing it groan as she pushed it open.

'Enter,' called an authoritative voice. 'Oh, I see you already have.' The blemmyae sat at his desk, his index fingers pointing towards his chin and his hands clasped in front of him. His dark hair was flecked with grey and he had a short dark beard, with brown eyes that were alert and watchful. He sat back in his chair and appraised them both before picking up a pen and writing some notes that neither Rufus or Elli could see. 'Names,' he commanded, his eyes fixed on the paper in front of him.

'We're here to see Sarah,' blurted out Elli, as Rufus groaned and rolled his eyes.

'And who might that be?' asked the blemmyae behind the desk, his voice smooth and even.

'Sorry about her,' muttered Rufus, taking a seat 'She's new here and doesn't know the right way to ask. But we do need to see Sarah about a matter urgently. About Lord Lansdown in fact, who is I believe within three days of the city walls with a considerable army. As much as I'd like to bandy words with you and play the game, there really isn't the time. We have information for Sarah, and please don't insult either of us by pretending she doesn't exist, there's a good chap.'

The blemmyae looked from Rufus to Elli slowly, his head just above the table top and his shoulders sagging above him. 'Very well,' he said finally, 'please excuse me a moment.' He sat upright and placed his hands in his lap, his eyelids flickering rapidly. Occasionally a facial muscle would twitch or he'd nod slightly, and Elli saw Rufus look down towards the contents of his desk. His eyes opened again with a start and he smiled non-committally. 'You are to follow me Rufus and Elspeth, or Elli as I believe you're known. This way please.'

He swept out of a door at the back of the room and they scurried after him, rushing past ordered old books and well-used filing cabinets. They followed him through doorways and chambers, up dimly-lit stairwells and across an enclosed old courtyard littered with moss and ivy. Elli's sense of direction eventually told her that they were moving down through the earth, like rabbits in a complex and disorientating warren, with the smell of age and withered things permeating the air. 'Here is where I leave you,'
he said finally, as Rufus leant
against a wall and pulled a flask from his bag.

They stood in front of a huge bronze door, its front reflecting and gleaming, distorting their reflections. The walls were slimy
, dark and mossy, and they were
in a huge tunnel, the trickling of water surrounding them from every crevice in the stone.

'Can't move,' managed Rufus, absent-mindedly crunching at a warm toffee. 'He goes like the clappers, I thought I was fit but he's ridiculous.' Elli gave him a sidelong glance and put her hand to her chest, feeling the steady, slow pulse of the stone beneath her clothes. 'But not really one for co
nversation,' continued Rufus. '
Remind me not to tell the joke about the nun and the whipped cream again, at least not in front of somebody with no sense of humour.'

She looked back along the way that had come, an endless tunnel flickering with ghostly green lights. 'We must have left the Blemmyae Council ages ago, so where are we?' she asked, her voice just above a whisper over the droplets falling all around them.

Rufus shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his eyes. 'Somewhere under the city, it's pretty damp in here so I'd guess a river or canal is above us. Or we made it to Floodside, who knows? We walked for long enough. So are you going to knock or what?'

She nodded and walked forward, a small figure facing an expanse of polished brass. She raised her fist and went to knock when Rufus caught her arm. 'This might help,' he said, handing her a large ornate hammer. She nodded and raised it up with difficulty, smashing it into the door and watching her distorted reflection do the same. The noise reverberated around the tunnel, passing through them and making their ears ring. A small hatch opened towards the top of the door and two large dark eyes squinted and then peered down at them. A smaller hatch was pulled acro
ss and they saw a wide dark
grin with two rows of disjointed teeth.

''Alright Rufus?' asked an old, heavy voice, the noise reverberating around the tunnel.

'Alfonse?' squeaked Rufus, his eyes darting up at the two hatches. 'When did you get out? I thought you had at least another five years....'

'Let's just say a new opera-tunity came up,' replied the mouth. 'Which I was unable to turn down, on condition of it being no choice involved. 'ow's your
Dad?'

'Fine thanks,' said Rufus, walking towards the door and pushing his head back further to look up at the eyes. 'He'll be pleased to know you're wor
king down here now.' There was
a quiet sniff from beyond the door.

'Oh, please don't tell 'im Rufus,' came the reply finally. 'It's best that as few people know as is possible. 'e still sends me a Christmas card you know, I get it re-directed. You're 'ere to see Sarah I take it?' The voice was slow and mournful, like a gravestone on a wet day. ''fraid I gotta search you then. You first Miss, there's a female lady here who will check you over. Rufus, you're with me.'

There were some noisy thumps from behind the door, a clanging and ringing that shook through their bodies and caused flecks of masonry to fall and flutter over them. 'Hope he doesn't still hold people upside-down to check them over,' whispered Rufus, standing a step closer to Elli. She nodded and looked up as the vast door shuddered and shook, finally creaking open slowly and momentously into the gloomy tunnel. Behind it stood a large hairy figure, his wide, meaty arms at his sides and a set of ancient metal keys hanging from his brick-like fist. He wore a pressed blue uniform that was struggling to stay on his body, and his sleeves were fully extended to just below his elbows.

''This way,' Alphonse gestured at Rufus, pointing to a smaller wooden door to the side of him. ''I keep askin' 'em to get a bigger door, I get terrible backache...' Rufus gave Elli a long look and was led away. As the expanse that was Alfonse rumbled on Elli made out a smaller figure in the gloomy light, and saw a wall and second large gate separating them from whatever was behind it.

The figure hopped towards her and Elli saw
her uniform was the same as his
. Through the dark shadows she made
out flowing blonde hair and
an efficient smile, but she found it hard to focus with all the movement. As the figure bounced towards her Elli took in a great lungful of air, realising that she had one large leg instead of two with one huge foot at the end of it.

'Just through here,' said the woman, her voice clear and precise in the murky light. Elli ran forward, standing to her side as she
leapt
up and bounced towards the top of the brass gate, her foot clanging loudly into the metal. Elli could just make out some sort of old, gnarled handrail in the corner, and the woman pushed off of the wall with her foot, grunting with the effort and somersaulting backwards to land neatly next to her. The door scraped backwards, and it finally came to rest closed with a reverberating gong.

The woman
leapt
up again, this time to half-way up the door and some distance above Elli's head, where she grasped another hand-rail and slid an ancient-looking bolt across it, her foot resting on a small step. She then produced a set of gleaming keys from her pocket and slid them into three separate locks, one hand still holding on tightly. She
leapt
backwards off of the step and let go of the hand-hold, arcing gracefully over Elli's head and landing just behind her. 'Through here please Madam,' she said, her face composed and calm. Elli realised that her mouth was hanging open and she struggled to close it, feeling a giddy sense of excitement at the acrobatic display she'd just witnessed.

She followed the woman to a door at the opposite side from Rufus and walked
in,
smiling as she heard what she suspected was loose change falling to the ground from a considerable height.

Rufus appeared outside shortly afterwards running his hands through his fur and smoothing down his ears. Elli was waiting for him, her arms crossed and her stone throbbing gently against her chest.

'As you 'ave both been checked, then you are permitted an audience wiv Sarah, on condition that she agrees to see you. Wait 'ere please,' Alphonse boomed as
he
turned t
o a
large knot in the deep dark wood of the second interior door. Two small eyes peered out at them and looked them over one at a time. 'They're clean
. Are they granted an audience m
'Lord?' The door creaked open quickly and smoothly to a large gap. 'Nice to see ya Rufus,' said Alphonse, his words ponderous and heavy in the damp air as they walked on through the door.

The air seemed green in this room, and hot. A humid layer of effervescent green settled over tiles and old seats, over gaudy mirrors and chandeliers. The floor was slippery, with small patches of moss scrabbling for space amongst mosaic tiles.

Sarah watched them from the middle of the vast pool, brightly-coloured fish swimming all around her as she serenely bobbed towards them. There was a glint of her enormous silver tail, the scales shining like diamonds in the warm wet air, and Elli made out large pipes gurgling and sucking water behind a bubbling waterfall. They watched as Sarah's tail skimmed the surface of the water and was suddenly in front of them; she flicked it up into the air again and pulled her head up out of the water, her gills rhythmically opening to reveal blood-red flesh underneath. She watched them for some time, her pale eyes fixed upon them and her greying hair hanging wet from her head.

'Not what you were expecting then girl,' she said through a mouth that smiled but had no humour in it. Elli looked straight into her eyes, never flinching as Sarah moved her head slowly from side to side like a snake being charmed. Her skin was the palest yellow, almost white, and her lips were thin and hard. 'And I see you've brought him with you. My Rufus, how you've grown. I trust you're being a good boy nowadays.'

'You're still as lovely as ever Sarah,' he said, standing rigidly to the side. She narrowed her eyes at him and hissed, pulling herself up out of the water a little further.

'So what brings you to my little lair. Surely not the delightful company. What is it you both want I wonder?' She bobbed backwards in the water, and Elli saw that there were no lines on her face at all, and that her skin was smooth as marble. 'Oh don't tell me, now let me guess..' she said, watching them carefully through narrowed eyes. 'That tiny speck of idiocy Lord Lansdown is marching here with his inconsequential little army, and I believe that he wants you girl, or rather that stone hanging around your neck.' Elli gasped and put her hand to it immediately, clutching it tightly in her fist.

'How did you...' she blurted out whilst Rufus looked on frowning.

'Know? Oh, I know everything. The question you should be asking yourself is why I haven't taken it off of you yet?' Elli suddenly felt very cool and clammy, and jumped as Rufus placed his hand very firmly on her shoulder.

'You'd have done it by now if you'd wanted to,' he said, his voice low and even. 'So the question really is, why don't you want it?' She smiled again, showing white
evenly-spaced teeth that were each graduated into a sharp point.

'Exactly,' she said
finally, bobbing down beneath the water and coming up again. 'He wants a weapon but has no idea how it works or what it can do. I prefer to understand exactly how mine work, and choose them carefully rather than have them choose me. My suspicion is that he'll mount an assault inside and outside the city walls because he is desperately unimaginative, and I'd advise you most strongly to sort this out amongst yourselves.' She floated on her back, her fingers splayed open in the water like limp seaweed as small fish darted between them.

'But...what about Brayston?' asked Elli, illuminated by murky sunlight filtering down from high windows.

Sarah held a small orange fish up by its tail and watche
d as it squirmed and struggled
before tossing it into her open mouth. She chewed it thoughtfully and remained looking at them intently. 'What about it? Do you really think this is the first time we've had an army marching towards us, headed by a feeble-minded fool? So dull. Of course I could deliver you to him and perhaps avoid the inevitable destruction, but I sincerely doubt it. We're the largest place for many miles and he'll want to show off just what he can do.  How positively tiresome. No, I suggest that you take the inevitable melee to a place outside of the city walls and that you deal with him there. If there is significant disruption inside the city walls then you'll both be leaving us, never to return. I trust you can manage that?' she asked archly, her pale eyes fierce in the mangled light. Elli looked up at Rufus, who nodded slowly.