Riverkeep by Martin Stewart

Author:Martin Stewart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Young Readers Group
Published: 2016-06-16T10:37:44+00:00

Canna Bay

Dawn shone pink against the sky, the furrowed clouds stretching out from the horizon, talons grabbing at Canna Bay, boiled purple in their troughs and black where they met the sea. Balanced silently at their focus on the horizon’s edge raged a speck of shattering drama as the matchstick of another splintered mast tumbled into the brine.

Gilt Murdagh was perched languorously on the statue of Mother Demlass, his eyeglass resting on her basket of pickerel. At the base of the statue’s marble plinth were strewn bow-tied pieces of wicker and seaflowers. To his left stood the white tower of the lighthouse, its beam left to die as the fish crews had deserted the port, its guidance no longer required.

Murdagh’s tongue worked over his teeth as he watched how the mormorach swirled, how it tore its way through the sail. He watched as it rose, leading with its buttressed face to smash through the hull, the seas around it threshed into foam by the sinking ship and the frantic strokes of men and women swimming for safety. The shining tip of his whalebone leg tapped idly on the stone of the Mother’s bared feet.

“It’s a fair morning,” said a voice behind him.

Murdagh continued to watch the mormorach.

“I’s quite aware o’ the weather, an’ not one for interruptions,” he said. “Also, you’s wrong—it’s bloody perishin’ and it’s no’ quite mornin’ yet.”

“I’m sorry, Captain Murdagh,” said the voice. “I was told you would be here, and I don’t mean to interrupt—”

“Now if tha’ was true you wouldn’t have interrupted me, would you?” said Murdagh, snapping his eyeglass closed and turning to face the speaker.

A fat man in a fussy wig was knitting his fingers and chewing his lips. His startled owlish face, propped on his collar like a target at a fairground booth, was flushed with cold and confrontation. His clothes, brightly hued and lace-trimmed, were layered velvet, and his shoes gleamed.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, “but I must speak with you.”

“So speak,” said Murdagh. He looked evenly at the man, blinking slowly, allowing the skin of his eyelid to linger on the raised red meat of his injured eye.

“Yes, yes, of course. I am Dayl Seamer. I’m the—”

“You’s the mayor of this town—I knows who you are. What c’n I do for you, Mr. Mayor?”

“Yes,” said Seamer, satisfaction glazing his round face. “I am the mayor, and I . . . I wish to speak with you regarding the creature known as the mormorach.”

Murdagh raised an eyebrow, deepening the lines of grime on his forehead. “‘Known as’?” he said, laughing. “It’s not a crook, Mr. Mayor; beast ’in’t got an alias. It’s known as nothin’ ’cept what it is—a dirty big mormorach, an’ it’s doin’ a grand job on all these boats what’ve gone after it.”

“It is that grim fact that has compelled me to seek your counsel,” said Seamer, nodding. He took a step forward, hesitated, and stepped back. “The mormorach killed Blueloons Emory, our most senior magistrate, and the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.