Menagerie - Martin Day [8]
'Indeed, my lord,' said Defrabax, fidgeting slightly.
'On the other hand,' continued Himesor, 'if you come to the conclusion that the Knights of Kuabris might have a use for the homunculus, then you will always be guaranteed a sympathetic ear.'
'There is no homunculus,' said Defrabax, almost through gritted teeth.
Himesor laughed. 'Oh yes, I forgot. I was only imagining what might happen, were you to have brought forth such a creature from the ground. Please forgive my rudeness.' His smile animated his face for a moment longer, and then he was cold and hard again. The discussion was over. 'Take him away,' said Himesor brusquely.
This time, as Zaitabor led Defrabax from the room, his metal-gloved fist rested firmly on the old man's shoulder.
Cosmae and the young woman slept in each other's arms, her face resting in the crook of his elbow. The girl's hair flowed in glorious disarray over Cosmae's outstretched arm, catching the light from a single candle that flickered by the bed. Their legs were entwined under a rough woollen sheet.
The young man snored gently.
Cosmae's room was small and bare, but had all the intimacy that the main room, with its electric lighting, lacked. Even the young girl, who had trained herself to always look for the potential worst in people, felt content here. Sleep had come to them both easily, adult games giving way to the tiredness of young genderless children.
The girl's eyelids fluttered slightly, her hand half-consciously reaching behind her to rub a purple bruise on her lower back. That had been her reward for the last time she had been taken in: abused, yes, but with not even a penny to show for it. The coins Cosmae had given her were clenched in her other hand.
The dull nagging from the bruise eventually woke her.
She turned her head slowly, staring at the ceiling for a few moments, thinking, and then slipped from the bed.
Cosmae muttered something, rolling onto his side. The girl reached across to pull the sheet over his exposed back and buttocks, and then stood up. Time to go.
Seeking her clothes she gingerly made her way towards the stairs. The house was silent, and dark but for the scant illumination from Cosmae's room. Her hands outstretched, she followed a damp wall until she found the first wooden stair. It creaked as she stood on it, and in the silence it was like a crack of thunder.
Better get out before the mage returns.
She walked down the stairs as quickly as she could, her knuckles almost visibly pale as they gripped the rough wooden poles of the makeshift bannister.
She found a candle in the hallway, and lit it carefully. The main room was just before her, but she didn't want to risk the electric light. Her clothes were a puddle of material near the table. She stepped over to them, and pulled a white blouse across her shoulders.
Her attention was distracted by the charts on the walls. In this light it was almost impossible to read the writing, but the pictures were clear enough: a tree with a man's face, armoured creatures with bulky hands that belched fire, a complex annotated pentangle, a box containing various levers, a troop of huge ape-like animals. She recognized nothing as her eyes scanned the walls: these illustrations might be of the inhabitants and magics of fabulous lands, or were perhaps from only a city or two away, but they were still as distant to the girl as the stars.
As her shadow passed across the table she noticed a cube of what looked like glass, threaded through with a string of tight leather, glinting in the wavering candlelight. She reached for it, and was surprised by its lightness and its warmth. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn't glass. Within it were small gems of varying colours, linked by lines of burnished gold, that blinked on and off with a light of their own. She could not imagine how it had been constructed, and what invocations must have been chanted over it to imbue power, but she liked the way that it warmed her cold fingertips. It must be a talisman, and perhaps she should ...