Hyddenworld by William Horwood

Author:William Horwood
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Fiction, Fantasy, C429, Extratorrents, Kat, General
ISBN: 9780230736931
Publisher: Pan
Published: 2010-01-20T22:33:05+00:00

53

INTO THE CITY

These two keepers of the East Gate, who gave Katherine and the Fyrd with her such an intimidating welcome, were Bilgesnipe. They had the pale, greasy look of subterranean waterfolk who get too little sun, but it was their burly size and ironic good cheer that set them apart from the humourless rule-bound Fyrd.

Gatekeeping was not their preferred occupation, but the watery dangers onto which the East Gate led were such that it had been decided by the community of Old Brum that they must, from time to time, do their duty and make sure that newcomers were properly briefed on how to conduct themselves safely through the tunnels.

Streik and the other Fyrd made a show of pushing the protesting Katherine through East Gate very roughly. The Bilgesnipe were not impressed.

One of them loomed near and said, ‘Yer’ll kindly treat that wyfkin with respect, gennelmen, or we’re going to have a falling out.’

Streik was not easily intimidated, but he could see Feld disapproved of his roughness and was not going to start a fight on someone else’s ground. He fell silent at once, and Katherine thought it wise to do the same.

The gates were locked and chained behind them and she knew it was now going to be even harder to escape but that she must still try. But how? She did not know where she was, or where she could go. She knew only that, tired though she was, she must stay alert, learn as much as she could about where they had brought her, and choose her opportunity to escape carefully.

The gate itself led into a high-arched vault which ran beneath the railway lines. The Fyrd stood about for a while waiting for one of the gatekeepers to get something from a room nearby. She couldn’t see what was inside this room, but she felt a blast of fresh air from it, and a strange twittering sound.

The far end of the vault was blocked by a roughly made brick wall about ten feet high, with a gap between its highest part and the ceiling. From over the top of this came deep reverberant sounds of machinery that were painful to the ears. There was a human-scale grey door which had a danger warning in red on it, and a skull and crossbones symbol.

When the gatekeeper reappeared, he was carrying three strange lanterns, from which came the same twittering sound she had heard earlier.

These lanterns were divided into two halves: the top part holding a thick candle surrounded by hinged shutters to block off its light if necessary, while beneath it was a little cage in which, to her amazement, she saw a yellow canary which sang and twittered constantly.

He eyed the group appraisingly and eventually gave one lamp to Feld, with the words, ‘You lead, brother!’ and another to Streik saying, ‘And, brother, you follow!’ The third he gave to the one guarding Katherine and said, ‘Whoever this sister be and though she has prying eyes, she walks free for herself through the tunnels, all else being a danger to herself and everyone.

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