The Glass Swallow

  ‘What is a fey person?’ Rain asked. She did her own bit of reclamation, taking a kitchen knife that was sticking out of a bundle and tucking it in her belt.

  ‘They are the folk that legend says live in the hillsides. Whole kingdoms they have, deep in the earth. Smaller than us Magharnans,’ his eyes twinkled at her diminutive stature, ‘but they pop out and lure ordinary mortals into their traps. The stories say that if you go on one of their adventures, you are changed for ever: food tastes like ash, the finest sights are pale and uninteresting, all because your appetite has been spoiled by the indescribable riches of the Fey. All nonsense.’

  ‘Sounds good to me.’ Already her mind was imagining new designs for windows depicting the folktales about fey people, capturing the visions that they were said to offer. ‘I could really work with that.’ She then remembered she had no outlet for her talent and frowned. ‘Those looters broke the window.’

  ‘Muttonheads,’ murmured Mikel, not too bothered by the news. ‘But if it hadn’t been them, someone else would’ve done it.’

  ‘I suppose so.’

  The looters had finished with the buildings and headed back for the gates. Rain and Mikel stood in front of the cabin, blocking the doorway.

  ‘What’s in there?’ the leader asked, pointing inside.

  Before Mikel could answer, Rain stepped forward. ‘It’s the entrance to my kingdom, mortal. Do you care to see?’

  Mikel coughed, though it could have been a laugh.

  The leader peered over her shoulder, glimpsing only the bare cabin and its simple furniture, a pallet bed and a straw mattress. ‘Don’t look like no kingdom to me.’

  ‘That’s because we fey folk hide our riches.’ She tugged a curl over her shoulder, playing with it to emphasize its uncanny corkscrew spring compared to the dead straight locks of the Magharnans. ‘Come and find out for yourself.’

  The looter shook his head and backed away. ‘Oh no, mistress, I’m not falling for any of your tricks. I’m not putting a foot in there.’

  ‘Suit yourself,’ she said sweetly.

  Grumbling, the men gathered their spoils and headed out of the gateway. Mikel followed them and banged the doors shut.

  Relieved to have got away with her ploy, Rain trailed behind him to ensure he was all right. ‘You need a sign,’ she said. ‘Nothing left in here or others will come calling.’

  ‘Humph! I can’t write,’ Mikel replied, adding another chain to the existing lock.

  ‘I can—I learnt a little from the cook—and I’ve charcoal and paper.’

  ‘What? In your kingdom?’ He smiled. ‘You can spin a good tale, lovey.’

  Rain returned to the cabin and quickly scrawled a notice. ‘Wasn’t a tale, Mikel. I did hide our riches in here.’

  The old bondsman looked doubtful. ‘You mean, we’ve got something left?’

  ‘Quite a lot really. Have a look under the floorboards.’

  He took a peek, spying the rows of cooking pots. ‘My wonderful girl! Perhaps you do have fey blood; you’ve worked a miracle here! I was worried that we would have to move out to find food.’

  ‘No. We can stay put and hope for better times. Now this is infamous as the entrance to a magical kingdom, I don’t think we’ll be bothered.’

  Shard 8

  Blush Pink

  Peri had spent the days after the collapse of law and order fretting about the fate of his friends within the walls. Against the advice of his father, he had even ventured in on the first night of rioting to search for Rain and found the House of the Indigent abandoned. He was at a loss where to start looking for her, and hoped that perhaps she would come to find him if she had nowhere to go. Returning to the barracks, he worried when she did not turn up that night, his mind imagining all sorts of horrible fates for a stranger alone in a city in chaos. But before he could resume his search, other, much less welcome, people did come looking for the scavengers’ supplies and soon the barracks were under siege. It took a convincing show of force and one nasty scuffle involving rioters and the pack of hunting hounds to dissuade the city dwellers from further attacks.

  Once the immediate threat to his home had passed, Peri begged his father and mother for permission to return into the city.

  ‘Why must you find this girl?’ his mother asked irritably as she stirred their morning porridge. His father leaned over her shoulder and sprinkled in a little cinnamon and dried apple as he carefully measured out the family ration. ‘The city is too dangerous for anyone to go on a foolhardy errand of mercy.’

  ‘I just have to,’ Peri said, sharpening the sword he’d been allocated as part of the barrack guard. ‘I feel responsible.’

  ‘She isn’t our business.’

  ‘Come on, Ma, how would you feel if Bel or Rosie were in her shoes, a foreigner alone in a city gone mad?’

  Katia pursed her lips. ‘I wouldn’t have let them go there on their own in the first place.’

  ‘She wasn’t supposed to be alone, remember? She’s not to blame that everyone she knew was killed by the bandits within hours of landing. It’s Magharna’s fault she’s in the fix she is; we’re Magharnans, so why should we not be the ones to help her?’

  ‘The boy has a point,’ conceded Hern.

  ‘Anyway, I have another friend, the old bondsman I told you about.’ He kept his voice calm, knowing that his mother was more likely to concede if he did not sound too desperate. He had to convince her he had thought this course of action through and anticipated all the pitfalls. ‘No one’s looking out for him either.’

  ‘What have we got to do with bondsmen? They never give us the time of day under normal circumstances.’

  ‘But Mikel’s different. He always talks to Helgis and me, gives us breakfast.’

  Katia clanged the spoon against the rim in irritation. ‘Oh, get the bowls, will you! I suppose I’ll have to cook for two extra tonight.’

  Peri smiled and rose to do her bidding.

  His mother was right about one thing: it was dangerous to venture inside the walls and certainly not to be done alone. So Peri rode into the city with two young men from the barrack guard as added protection. The eldest, Conal, a shaggy-haired huntsman with an easy smile, held his beagle on a leash; Peri carried Rogue; the third, a lanky-limbed butcher called Sly, had enough knives in his belt to skin and bone a bull. Fortunately no one challenged them: this early in the day, the mobs were still sleeping off their drinking from the previous night and no one else on the streets was looking for trouble.

  The change to Rolvint came as a shock to Peri: he saw two unclaimed bodies lying in the gutter, many burnt-out houses, broken windows, shattered doors, fouled drinking troughs. Very few people dared put a foot outside their homes, and if they did it was pure desperation that made them do so. The three riders passed a pinch-faced woman with a child in tow rooting through a pile of refuse. She froze when she saw them. The toddler began to cry. The woman quickly bundled the little girl into her arms and ran back into the roofless shell of the very same bakery Peri had passed a few months before.

  ‘It looks like the end of the world,’ muttered Sly, disgusted that they could terrify a woman just by their presence.

  ‘I hope your friends have fared better than them,’ muttered Conal, jerking his thumb at the bodies dumped by the roadside. ‘Where do you want to start looking?’

  Sickened by what he saw, Peri swallowed the bile that had risen in his throat. He had to remain focused if he was to be any use in the search. ‘I don’t know where my foreigner has got to, but I expect Mikel will still be in his cabin if no one has booted him out yet. Let’s try there first.’

  They reached the building site to find the gate shut against them and a note written in elegant script claiming that there was nothing left in there to steal.

  ‘Looks like someone’s home,’ commented Conal.

  ‘But not Mikel. I doubt his penmanship would be this fine, even if he could write,’ replied Peri. His anxiety increasing, he bange
d on the gate. ‘Open up!’

  A gruff voice called back from the other side:

  ‘Can’t you idiots read the sign? You’re wasting your time coming in here for stuff. It’s all gone, the whole bleeding lot.’

  Peri broke into a grin. ‘Mikel! Open up, you stubborn old badger: there’s a falcon man who wants to make sure you’re still in one piece.’

  The gate eased open a fraction, and was then thrown wide.

  ‘If it isn’t the peregrine himself!’ crowed Mikel. ‘Come in, come in, lads. Not safe to be out on the streets.’

  The three scavengers urged their horses into the building site, dismounted and tethered them under the archway. The beagle trotted obediently at Conal’s heels as they made their way over to the cabin.

  Peri broke with years of training that had taught him his touch was unclean and put his arm around Mikel’s shoulder. ‘How’ve you been?’ he asked, studying his friend for signs of suffering.

  Mikel’s eyes filled with tears at Peri’s display of affection but he tried to disguise it with his usual bluff manner. ‘Had a blooming cold but I’m over that now. In fact, I’ve had a nice few days.’

  Peri rolled his eyes. ‘The city descends into chaos and you are enjoying yourself!’

  ‘Take your pleasures where you can, my friend.’ Mikel halted outside the cabin and coughed. ‘It’s all right, lovey: you can come out now.’

  Peri heard the bar on the door being lifted and the creak as it swung open. A nervous face peered out at them.

  ‘Rain! You’re here too!’ exclaimed Peri, striding to give her a hug before he questioned what he was doing. She was engulfed in the circle of his arms and he felt her give him a slight answering squeeze before pushing him away.

  ‘Master Falconer,’ she said primly. She then noticed his companions and dipped a curtsey. ‘And company.’

  Peri quickly introduced Conal and Sly. They were staring at her with rather more interest than he wished.

  ‘I looked for you at the House of the Indigent that first day but there was no one there,’ he explained, catching her hand as if to reassure himself that she wasn’t going to vanish again.

  ‘Well, it closed.’ She tugged her hand free.

  ‘So I gathered. But don’t worry: I’ve come to rescue you both.’

  Rain shrugged. ‘I don’t think we need saving, do we, Mikel?’

  The bondsman laughed. ‘Not today, but you never know.’

  ‘Would you like some tea?’ Rain asked Peri’s companions politely. Her eyes fell on the beagle and her manner transformed. ‘What a beautiful dog! I’ve so missed seeing animals around Rolvint. Does he have a name?’ She knelt beside the creature and began scratching his neck, drawing whimpers of ecstasy from the hound.

  ‘I think Sniff has fallen in love,’ remarked Conal. ‘Doesn’t Mistress Rain know that only scavengers touch dogs?’

  ‘Rot!’ snorted Rain. ‘Only a really stupid person would think there was anything unclean about this dog.’

  ‘You should see him after he’s rolled in all the puddles between here and the marshes.’

  Rain laughed and stood up. ‘Tea?’

  Peri struggled with a growing sense of annoyance as he watched Rain charm his friends. The fact that Mikel and she had clearly fended well for themselves without his aid added to his bad mood. Mikel had them laughing with the tale of fey folk that Rain had spun—merriment that Peri did not join in because he was calculating the danger she had been in testing a looter like that.

  ‘So you flashed those big blue eyes of yours and invited him to visit the realm of the Fey?’ chuckled Conal. ‘I would have loved to have seen his face.’

  ‘He changed his mind pretty quick.’ Rain passed round the cups. ‘Sorry, I’ve no sugar to offer. Supplies at this establishment are a little limited at present.’

  Pushed beyond what he could bear by her lighthearted manner when he had been having nightmares about her fate, Peri rounded on Mikel. ‘You shouldn’t have let her go up against a thief like that. What would you have done if he had called her bluff?’

  ‘Er, excuse me, falcon man, I am here, you know.’ Rain waved a spoon under his nose, her tone sarcastic. ‘I have a brain and decided that it was the best thing to be done in the circumstances. Don’t turn on Mikel for something that was my choice.’

  ‘So what would you have done, Rain? They could have taken everything—hurt you—’ Peri’s mind whirled with the possibilities for disaster.

  ‘But they didn’t. Besides, I would’ve thought of something else if it had gone wrong.’

  ‘Oh yes? A midge like you take on a grown man—many grown men by the sounds of it. You’re stupid even to think you’re a match for them!’

  ‘Stupid!’ Rain stood up, one hand fisted on her hip as she brandished the spoon at him. The other three fell silent, watching the usually unruffled Peri provoke an argument. Conal raised an eyebrow at Sly. Sniff whined and pushed his nose into Rain’s hand to comfort her. She stroked his head distractedly. ‘How dare you!’

  ‘Yes, stupid. You clearly can’t look after yourself. You’ll have to come back with us.’

  Mikel shook his head, hiding a smile in his tea cup.

  ‘And who made you king? I don’t answer to you, scavenger.’ Rain’s eyes flashed blue fire.

  ‘I’m not listening to this rubbish. Conal, Sly, help Mikel pack; we’re taking them with us.’ He grabbed a bundle of Rain’s clothing from the mattress she had been using.

  Rain took a step forward and rapped him on the back with the spoon. He barely noticed her assault.

  ‘Look, you cloth-eared birdman, I’m not going anywhere I don’t want.’ She kicked his shins for good measure.

  ‘Yes, you are,’ he ground out through gritted teeth.

  ‘No, I’m not! There’s no point. We’re comfortable here; no one’s bothered us, have they, Mikel?’

  The bondsman was looking fixedly out of the door, refusing to enter into the row.

  ‘That won’t last. Fey tales only buy you so much time, Rain. Tell her, Mikel.’

  ‘Looks like it might be showery later,’ observed the old man to no one in particular. Conal grinned and Sly did not bother to disguise his laugh.

  ‘You can’t hide out here for long. And my family is expecting you,’ Peri announced as if this was the clinching argument.

  ‘Well, how nice for them.’ She threw her weapon on the table and folded her arms stubbornly. ‘Don’t get me wrong: I’d be delighted to meet your family, Peri, but not tied up and under armed guard—and that’s the only way you’ll get me to leave here!’

  ‘All right.’ Peri gave a nod to his companions. ‘I’ll see to the first part; you get the stuff.’ He pulled some leather jesses from his falconer’s bag. ‘These will do.’

  ‘What!’ Rain’s cry of anger made Rogue screech and mantle his wings on his perch by the door. Peri made a grab for her, but she slipped free. ‘You wouldn’t!’

  ‘Calm down!’ Peri said heatedly, shaking the jesses in frustration. ‘This shouldn’t be necessary if you saw sense. You made your position clear; well, this is mine: I’m not leaving you here.’ He lunged again, but she evaded him and ran for the door. He pursued her and the pair of them disappeared into the building site, Rain with only a few paces lead.

  Furious at Peri’s highhanded treatment of her, Rain dodged the falconer and dived into a gap left between two walls, hoping it would be too narrow for him to follow her. This had been her back-up plan if the rioters came back: to hide in the building site somewhere a grown man could not reach.

  ‘Rain, you’re wasting my time!’ shouted Peri, thumping on the wall in frustration. He could see her huddled out of reach like a wild creature taking refuge in its den. ‘We’ve got to get back.’

  ‘Wonderful. Go back then.’

  ‘You’re being childish.’

  ‘I’m not the one threatening to tie someone up!’

  ‘It’s for your own good.’

  ??
?I decide what’s good for me, not you.’

  Peri slumped by the entrance to her bolt-hole. ‘How would it be if I promise not to restrain you?’

  ‘I’m not going.’

  He ran his hands through his long hair. It had escaped from its tie in the scramble over the site and flopped annoyingly over his face. She was scared, he reminded himself; he needed to be tactful.

  ‘Look, Rain, I was just joking. Of course, I’m not going to tie you up. I just want you safe. Come out here and we’ll talk.’

  ‘No. You’ll jump me, I know you will. You can’t bear anyone having their own mind.’

  So much for tact.

  ‘Rain Glassmaker, you get out here now and deal with this.’

  Silence.

  ‘I’m taking Mikel. He won’t make such a fuss. Surely even you realize you can’t stay here alone? What’s so attractive about here anyway? Is it because we’re scavengers? Don’t you want to mix with the likes of us?’

  ‘You know that’s not the case.’ Her voice was less defiant now. He could hear the doubt so he drove home his point.

  ‘Think what’s best for Mikel. With us, he’ll have people around to look after him and he won’t have to worry about you. You must know that he’s anxious, wondering what would happen to you if something put him out of action. He might get into a fight to protect you—get hurt. How would you feel if that happened?’

  She didn’t say anything but he could hear her moving around. He hoped it meant she was coming out.

  ‘I’m sorry I went after you like that in the cabin, but I’m worried too. I’ve seen what it’s like outside. I’d hate to think of you coming to harm when I can protect you.’

  ‘But how will they find me if I leave here?’ she asked quietly.

  ‘Who?’ Peri didn’t understand. ‘Someone’s searching for you?’

  ‘My father—maybe. I told the glassmaker I’d be here if Papa came asking. I’ve been gone over half a year and sent no word. He’ll come after me—I’m almost sure of it.’