Queen of the Wolves by Tanith Lee

Author:Tanith Lee [LEE, TANITH]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
ISBN: 9781473206304
Publisher: Orion Publishing Group
Published: 2015-12-30T16:00:00+00:00

AN EVENING WITH ENEMIES

The man with red hair pointed at the orchestra. Seven trumpeters stood up and played a fanfare. The vast room-full of people rose to their feet, clapping, cheering, raising glasses and cups. All those smiling, glad faces.

We, all three of us, looked round to see who had come in.

It was us.

‘Too kind – oh, well, too, too … No, no, really—’

Hrald and Yaz bowing and preening.

I was too startled to do anything much. Why was the whole of Raven Tea-House making such a fuss????

We were led by a smart servant woman up to a high platform at the Tea-House’s centre.

Here we were placed at a table with red plush cloth, and flowers in a vase so tall they went up six feet taller than we did when seated.

‘What are the flowers?’ I confusedly asked.

‘Orchids,’ replied the woman.

‘They’re good …’

‘Some shall be sent at once to your room.’

‘No – er – it’s all right—’

She’d gone.

Hrald and Yaz looked properly impressed.

‘We’ve never had treatment like this before,’ said Hrald. ‘It must be because of you, Claidissa.’

The fanfare was still ringing in my ears.

Everyone in the Tea-House had settled down, gone back to their food and drink and friends. But now and then, someone would catch my eye, raise a glass again. To me.

Me?

Why?

What did we eat?

H and Y had some roast thing, a hippopotamus it looked like (hope it wasn’t) from the size, as it rested by the table on a dish longer than the table. I had – what did I have? Tomatoes on toast, I think.

Yaz became very loving to me, in an untrustworthy way. Hrald seemed actually in awe, kept saying, ‘Shut up, Yaz. Can’t you see she really is important here?’ But Yaz only said, ‘Give us a kissy, Claidissy-wissy.’

They drank a lot of wine.

Then the orchestra came up on the platform with us, and played a song just for me. It was in some language I didn’t understand, though everyone else seemed to. I was so self-conscious I poured tea in my glass of wine.

Then, to my utter disbelieving horror, everyone in the Tea-House started doing it. Tea into wine, or wine into tea. Servants were rushing everywhere with extra bottles and tea-pots.

‘A new fashion,’ warbled Hrald. He did it too.

Only Yaz wouldn’t.

I began to prefer Yaz.

‘Perhaps we could go on somewhere,’ I said, as they began to tire of the roast, and the chocolate thing they’d had after (which was nearly as big as the roast, or had been before they ate most of it).

‘Yes, up the Lavender Hill,’ said Yaz. ‘Romantic place. Might even be a moon tonight.’ He smiled grimly.

Hrald, the sightseer, said, ‘The terraces of Lavender Hill are laid with amethysts and planted with lavender trees.’

‘Or the Gold Hill,’ said Yaz, ‘pure gold hardened by silver. A long hard drop to the ground.’

Someone else was walking over.

What now?

‘Oh, Ngarbo!’ yodelled H and Y in happy voices, ‘Come and have some of this chocolate-cream giraffe.’ (It wasn’t, was it?)

Ngarbo flung himself marvellously into a seat, which started to look more attractive itself, simply because he was in it.

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