The Beast of Steaming Forest by S. D. Birkbeck

Author:S. D. Birkbeck
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Adventure, fantasy, mystery, humour, detective, magic, forest, whodunit, anarchy, murder, sausages
ISBN: 9781785385841
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2016
Published: 2016-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Teacakes and Disguises

With the money given to him by Lady Euphansia, Qorm Teasel had rented a room above a shoemaker’s in the scalleys, the twisting winding streets of Artobia’s eastern quarter. Other than telling Frooty, he kept the knowledge of this temporary residence to himself and his landlord - or least he thought he had. From a large, round window he could smoke a pipe, look down and see acquaintances and strangers walk by. He marveled at how seldom city people looked up. All eyes were trained either at the ground or the faces in front of them, eyes went no higher than shop signs. He saw people stop and shake hands, kiss and hug, exchange gooners and swap stories. He saw the hands of pickpockets ease their way into gaping pockets or dart quickly into flapping coats as two bodies collided and apologies given. He heard the whistles of the illuminaties and the shouts of vendors. From the shop below, he breathed in the comforting smell of leather and dozed off to the tap-tap-tap of the shoemaker’s hammer.

Qorm enjoyed being alone. Of course, there was always Huffle to keep him company but growzlers make silent companions and this is the way Qorm liked things. He’d rather enjoyed his tenure in the illuminole, turning the giant discs, living in his compact room carved into the cliff, greeting the odd walker or fellow shiner. He’d enjoyed hearing the trickle of water as it ran down the illuminole’s steep stone circular walls, or cry of swooping bucketbeats as they glided through the misty air. Occasionally, when the conditions and the angles were right, he could look up to the mouth of the illuminole and see through the mist of the tumbling waters around the rim a distance glow of the source of their light in Upoverland and, if he was lucky, a giant rainbow arcing from one side of the gigantic hole to the other. This was a sight few Goneunderlanders had ever seen. To Qorm, the illuminole was not a form of exile, as the authorities hoped when passing sentence for his crime, but rather a place where one might actually find oneself.

However, two days after meeting the Bendergusts at the Singing Stones, Qorm’s idea that he lived a solitary life free from the interference of others was soon put to the challenge. On the second morning, he woke to find a note pinned to his pillow. Qorm opened an eye as saw the note. Slowly, he reached under his pillow, felt the handle of his knife and sprung out of bed, upsetting a cup of cold tea and startling Huffle. But the room was empty.

Qorm put the knife down. Someone had snuck into his room during the night without him knowing. Either Lady Euphansia or Zeno Bendergust had better operatives than he’d given them credit for. He was a light sleeper and wasn’t used to being taken for a nighttime fool. He unpinned and read the note:

Pebbleknock. Tomorrow. The Sack of Seedles.

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