The Inferior by Peadar Ó Guilín

Author:Peadar Ó Guilín
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781409047643
Publisher: RHCB Digital
Published: 2010-09-30T04:00:00+00:00

13.

THE QUIET WALLS

Stopmouth heard a noise on the ground floor. He crouched next to the trapdoor, spear ready, while Indrani snored softly in the background. He smelled Rockface before he saw him; a blast of rotted teeth wafting up the stairs. The young hunter sighed in relief.

His visitor waved him silent before he could utter a greeting.

‘It’s only a tenth of a night before dawn,’ the man whispered, fetid breath right up close to Stopmouth’s ear. Indrani slept on, oblivious. ‘They know where you are now. They know you have another Talker – the Clawfolk you traded with let it slip to Wallbreaker.’ Rockface tried a grin. It didn’t work too well on his sad, filthy face. ‘I can tell you, your brother was very surprised to hear you still lived! Trapsetter said you looked half mauled to death by those Longtongues when he saw you. He was grateful for your advice – says it saved them a few hunters, but he said you were done for.’

‘Rockface, what did …?’ He could feel himself stuttering, but the Talker smothered every mistake with its magic. ‘What did Wallbreaker say when the Clawfolk told him I lived?’

‘The chief? Ah, he just shrugged! Nothing else! But Frownbrow’s wife—’ Rockface stopped and blinked. ‘His wife said she never saw anybody look so sad and so relieved at the same time. However, now that he knows you have such a precious item …’

Stopmouth cursed. Much remained to be done before they could leave this place. Dried and salted sides of meat hung in the back rooms of the house. These would all have to be packed onto the sled. At least his equipment wouldn’t take long to store. There’d been too little time to prepare. Apart from the Armourback-shell knife and spear, Stopmouth’s only other possessions consisted of a bone dagger, some water skins and a crude new tool-belt he’d been working on to replace the one lost in Tongue-Ways.

However, it was too late to worry about these things. He shook Indrani awake and in moments they were packing as much as they could onto the sled while Rockface hopped around in excitement.

By the time they’d slung ropes over their shoulders and begun to drag their burden from the hide, the Roof was already brightening with the early light of dawn. The sled made a lot of noise in the quiet streets, scraping over bare rock, splashing through ancient drains. Rockface ran ahead every few beats to scout out a path. Once he chose to run back the way they’d come instead, and when he rejoined them, he said, ‘They’ve found your house!’

With a bit of luck the hunters wouldn’t discover the fugitives as quickly – the hard surface of the streets made it difficult to track creatures except when they passed over swathes of moss. Even then, Stopmouth hoped that the strange tracks of the sled would confuse their pursuers. Perhaps it would, but it also slowed the runaways, particularly Indrani, still weak from her bout of poisoning.

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