City of Ruin - Mark Charan Newton [17]
Brynd watched him, curious. Years collapsed in Lupus’s face.
‘Beami,’ Lupus spluttered. ‘I thought I’d seen you. I knew it.’
‘Me, too, I . . .’
‘I mean I know you used to live here, but not now. I just caught a glimpse.’
‘Yeah, I saw you,’ the dark-haired woman replied. ‘That’s why I came back.’
Brynd could see Lupus was searching his mind for something suitable to say, but was disorientated, a soldier with no clue of his current location.
‘You might as well smile,’ Beami said. ‘I’ve not changed that much, have I?’
‘Sorry.’ Lupus broke into a genuine laugh. ‘How long’s it been?’
‘Six . . . seven years.’ She touched his arm, a gesture made from instinct rather than thought, from the habit of being close to him. She eyed his black uniform, the neat stitching, then stroked the star on his breast. ‘You’ve done well, I see. You always wanted to be one of the Night Guard.’
‘And you? How . . . are you?’
‘Good. I’m, uh, married now, but I’m good,’ Beami replied. ‘Still working with relics . . . you know me.’
‘Are you happy? I mean . . . sorry, I meant I hope you’re happy.’
Brynd coughed into his fist. Enough of this chat, they were on duty now.
Lupus glanced at him sheepishly. ‘Where are my manners? Bea, this is Commander Brynd Lathraea, Commander of the Night Guard.’
‘Oh, my.’ Beami examined the commander. ‘The leader of the Jamur military. The mysterious albino. I’ve heard a lot about you.’
‘Nothing bad, I hope,’ Brynd smiled. ‘Sele of Jamur, miss.’
‘Sele of Jamur, commander.’ Her voice possessed a slight hesitancy; the usual reaction whenever anyone’s gaze met his red pupils for the first time.
‘Commander, this is Beami Del. We knew each other a few years ago – when I was sixteen.’
‘Nice to meet a friend of the private,’ Brynd said. ‘One of the finest soldiers I’ve worked with, this one. Youngest member of the Night Guard as well.’
Tense smiles were exchanged between them as local people sailed past around them. Some stopped to contemplate these well-dressed men in their black uniforms, standing talking to this beautiful woman. Time seemed to shudder to a standstill.
‘We need to order some meat,’ Brynd reminded Lupus eventually, ‘for the troops. It seems a mastodon’s been brought down, not far off, so I want to put an order in for sufficient cuts to be delivered. I know we have our own supplies already, but we’ll be needing to build up strength.’
‘Right you are, sir,’ Lupus agreed, still observing Beami.
– Faces turned to the sky.
A garuda flew in low, flashes of brown and white and red, creating a downdraught that rattled the canvas awnings of the stalls, then it headed straight out to sea, in skies empty of buildings, before it arced upwards – towards Tineag’l and into the grey.
‘If you’re staying somewhere in the city,’ Beami said, ‘you’ll find me on a street in the Ancient Quarter called the Ru Una. Visit me there. I’m free the day after tomorrow, so we should catch up, if you can find the free time.’
‘I’m not sure of our itinerary . . . commander?’
‘I’ll be in meetings all day, and there’s no training scheduled,’ Brynd replied. ‘Feel free to take a few hours off. Things are just a waiting game at the moment.’
Lupus looked at her again, a new eagerness in his expression. ‘The day after tomorrow, then?’
‘It’s right by the Onyx Wings, the whitewashed house with the red door.’ She made a move as if to kiss him, but glanced away, thinking better of it. As she walked past him she breathed into his ear, ‘I’ve missed you.’
Brynd read it on her lips and it seemed like it hurt her to say it. She moved on through the crowds, soon lost in their mass.
FIVE
Cities were much the same wherever you went in the Archipelago. Jeryd saw the same types of inhabitants no matter who built the buildings or where they were constructed. There were the down-and-outs, the drunkards, people reacting to them in the same way, with disgust. There were always people who wanted things, and those who could and who couldn’t have them.