10. the Quarter
Hidden by trees and shadows, a slight figure crept stealthily after them. Her tiny hands fluttered unceasingly, picking at her face, scratching her scalp and skin. When the others passed through the gate of the Quarter, the girl slunk over to a lonely section of the wall. She leapt easily over it, landing like a cat on the other side. The girl continued to tail the companions. All the while, she sang softly under her breath, at times gulping back a giggle, but more often stifling sobs.
***
Flaming torches had been thrust into the gaping holes where lampposts had once stood. There were no intact buildings. Just skeletal shells and piles of rubble where a dwelling or shop had once existed. This is complete devastation, Tien thought, looking at the debris around her. The King must be insane to make his people exist like this. Open fires blazed all along the centre of the street where they were walking. People stood or crouched around the flames, holding their hands to the warmth. No heads turned to look at the three strangers, but Tien felt like an intruder in their silent world. She averted her eyes as they passed by, and tried to concentrate on stepping around the blankets that chequered the road.
Many children were already asleep in these makeshifts beds. Tien felt a pang of sorrow, wondering if someone loved them here in the Quarter. Fen walked swiftly on, plunging them deep into the core of the Quarter. Everywhere Tien looked, ragged humans filled the streets. Hundreds of faces flickered in the glow of the fires. Every lane and alley seethed quietly with life, like worms in mud. So many of them, Tien thought, but I’m not afraid of them. I feel as if I’m back in jail, looking at the prisoners. Even though there are no bars here, this is one big dungeon.
At last they walked through another set of metal gates, the back entrance of the Quarter, and Fen pointed across the road, to where cheerful lamplight glowed from a rustic building. The sign swinging overhead proclaimed it to be Green Moon Inn.
“Well done, Fen. We truly would have been lost without you as a guide.” Saka didn’t disguise the relief in his voice. He ducked his head to avoid the low beam as they entered the inn.
Its interior was cosy and clean, but empty of patrons. Only a musician sat, waiting for an audience, his motori propped up against his chair. A woman looked up from behind the counter. She was young, but her brow was prematurely furrowed and her mouth had a grim set to it. Saka paid for a room, under the common Tiran name, Tose.
The woman accepted the two coppers he handed her, and turned to pull a key from a rack on the wall. She stared insolently at Fen’s face for a moment. Getting no response from Fen, she dropped her gaze, and handed Saka the key and a lantern that was already lit.
“Up the stairs, first on the right,” she muttered, waving vaguely at a narrow staircase behind her.
The second floor housed six rooms, three on either side of the narrow stuffy corridor. By the time they reached their room, Tien was spent. Her temples throbbed dizzyingly. The nerve endings down her spine felt raw and bruised. She leaned her cheek against the wall, grateful for its cold smoothness, as Saka put the lantern down and bent to unlock the door to their room. My head, Tien thought dimly. I can scarcely think.
Saka pushed the door open with his foot. “Hold on,” he said, letting Misty out of his pack. “I’ll climb onto this stool and put the lamp up.” He hung the lamp from a hook in the ceiling. Their shadows flickered erratically around the walls, as the lantern swung.
Tien sank onto a bed and looked around the cold room with bleary eyes. Four single beds jutted out from one wall. A low table, and two stools stood in the far corner. A frayed rug covered an inadequate area of the floorboards. The fireplace had no wood. Fen perched on the bed next to Tien, patting Misty with absent-minded strokes. “Well,’ she yawned, as the little dog snuggled into her lap. “ Let’s try to get some sleep, while we wait for the others.”
The room spun around Tien. She was barely aware of Fen bending over her. She heard voices that sounded like gentle rainfall on a roof.
“Should have known she needed…”
“…..get some water”
“…no crush it up as best you can, or she’ll choke.”
A spoon was pressed to her lips. Tien choked down a dusty tasting mixture, shaking her head against the offered cup of water. Someone placed a cloth on her forehead, and then Tien’s eyelids shut out Saka and Fen’s blurred shapes. As she drifted into oblivion, Tien’s mind swam with the faces of Mama, Eunaat, Graic, Papa, Renda, and Maligo. Everyone was speaking at the same time, his or her separate voices meshing into one head-splitting drone. Their faces stretched and blurred, like hot candy being pulled for cooling.
© 2006 by Shelly Taylor
***
Flaming torches had been thrust into the gaping holes where lampposts had once stood. There were no intact buildings. Just skeletal shells and piles of rubble where a dwelling or shop had once existed. This is complete devastation, Tien thought, looking at the debris around her. The King must be insane to make his people exist like this. Open fires blazed all along the centre of the street where they were walking. People stood or crouched around the flames, holding their hands to the warmth. No heads turned to look at the three strangers, but Tien felt like an intruder in their silent world. She averted her eyes as they passed by, and tried to concentrate on stepping around the blankets that chequered the road.
Many children were already asleep in these makeshifts beds. Tien felt a pang of sorrow, wondering if someone loved them here in the Quarter. Fen walked swiftly on, plunging them deep into the core of the Quarter. Everywhere Tien looked, ragged humans filled the streets. Hundreds of faces flickered in the glow of the fires. Every lane and alley seethed quietly with life, like worms in mud. So many of them, Tien thought, but I’m not afraid of them. I feel as if I’m back in jail, looking at the prisoners. Even though there are no bars here, this is one big dungeon.
At last they walked through another set of metal gates, the back entrance of the Quarter, and Fen pointed across the road, to where cheerful lamplight glowed from a rustic building. The sign swinging overhead proclaimed it to be Green Moon Inn.
“Well done, Fen. We truly would have been lost without you as a guide.” Saka didn’t disguise the relief in his voice. He ducked his head to avoid the low beam as they entered the inn.
Its interior was cosy and clean, but empty of patrons. Only a musician sat, waiting for an audience, his motori propped up against his chair. A woman looked up from behind the counter. She was young, but her brow was prematurely furrowed and her mouth had a grim set to it. Saka paid for a room, under the common Tiran name, Tose.
The woman accepted the two coppers he handed her, and turned to pull a key from a rack on the wall. She stared insolently at Fen’s face for a moment. Getting no response from Fen, she dropped her gaze, and handed Saka the key and a lantern that was already lit.
“Up the stairs, first on the right,” she muttered, waving vaguely at a narrow staircase behind her.
The second floor housed six rooms, three on either side of the narrow stuffy corridor. By the time they reached their room, Tien was spent. Her temples throbbed dizzyingly. The nerve endings down her spine felt raw and bruised. She leaned her cheek against the wall, grateful for its cold smoothness, as Saka put the lantern down and bent to unlock the door to their room. My head, Tien thought dimly. I can scarcely think.
Saka pushed the door open with his foot. “Hold on,” he said, letting Misty out of his pack. “I’ll climb onto this stool and put the lamp up.” He hung the lamp from a hook in the ceiling. Their shadows flickered erratically around the walls, as the lantern swung.
Tien sank onto a bed and looked around the cold room with bleary eyes. Four single beds jutted out from one wall. A low table, and two stools stood in the far corner. A frayed rug covered an inadequate area of the floorboards. The fireplace had no wood. Fen perched on the bed next to Tien, patting Misty with absent-minded strokes. “Well,’ she yawned, as the little dog snuggled into her lap. “ Let’s try to get some sleep, while we wait for the others.”
The room spun around Tien. She was barely aware of Fen bending over her. She heard voices that sounded like gentle rainfall on a roof.
“Should have known she needed…”
“…..get some water”
“…no crush it up as best you can, or she’ll choke.”
A spoon was pressed to her lips. Tien choked down a dusty tasting mixture, shaking her head against the offered cup of water. Someone placed a cloth on her forehead, and then Tien’s eyelids shut out Saka and Fen’s blurred shapes. As she drifted into oblivion, Tien’s mind swam with the faces of Mama, Eunaat, Graic, Papa, Renda, and Maligo. Everyone was speaking at the same time, his or her separate voices meshing into one head-splitting drone. Their faces stretched and blurred, like hot candy being pulled for cooling.
© 2006 by Shelly Taylor
posted by michelle at 10:03 PM
1 Comments:
Enjoyed a lot!
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