Sanctuary by Dave Hutchinson

Author:Dave Hutchinson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction / Apocalyptic and Post-Apocalyptic
Publisher: Solaris
Published: 2023-09-20T00:00:00+00:00

Sixteen

“Can you ride a bike?” Mellow asked Adam the next morning, standing in the doorway of his cell.

“Yes,” he said, and he saw that stop her in her tracks for a moment.

“All right,” she said. “Come with me. We’re going for a ride.”

Downstairs, she led him down a corridor to the back of the building and pushed open a door and stepped out into a big walled yard. Three carts were parked neatly; to one side there was a stable block, and on the other side there was a big shed. Mellow opened the door of the shed and Adam saw rows of bicycles.

Mellow pulled her bike out of its rack and gestured towards the other end of the shed. “Those are for communal use,” she told him. “Pick yourself one and let’s go.” Adam thought she sounded tense and brittle, even by her standards.

He took his time selecting a bicycle and wheeled it out into the yard, where Mellow was waiting and looking impatient. They pushed their bikes over to a big gate in the wall, a constable opened it for them and they rode off into the city.

“Where are we going?” Adam asked as they pedalled down the street. It was a little while since he’d last been on a bicycle, and he found himself having to concentrate on not losing his balance.

“I’ve got a meeting with someone,” she said, “and because I’m not supposed to let you out of my sight, you’ll have to come with me.”

“I’m happy to stay in my room,” he told her, although he wasn’t, particularly. They’d stopped locking him in the cell, but there was no handle on the inside, so it didn’t make any difference.

She shook her head. “Let’s follow orders, for the moment,” she said heavily. “We identified yesterday’s murder victim. He was a research assistant at Trinity College, so we’re going to see their head of security. I’ll do all the talking. You just sit there.”

“Okay.”

“Back in the early days after the Sisters, the Colleges fortified themselves,” she said, “but without them we wouldn’t have survived.”

“Your father explained it to me.”

“He did? Okay. Well, even when things improved, they stayed fortified. The Colleges and the Chancellor’s Office make up Chancellery, but otherwise they’re independent. They each have their own little police force and we’re not allowed inside without an invitation. In practice, we get on okay; in fact, I’m currently investigating some burglaries at Trinity because the suspicion is that somebody from outside is responsible, so I’ve been working with their security recently. The bloke we’re going to see is all right, really, as it goes. But seriously, just sit and listen and let me do my job, all right?”

“All right.”

“Who’s Wayland?”

He’s me. “I don’t know,” he said, not wrongfooted by the sudden right-turn in the conversation because he’d spent most of the night sitting on his mattress thinking about it.

“He’s some sort of demon blacksmith in Norse legends,” Mellow said. “Ring any bells?”

Adam didn’t answer.

Mellow sighed. “How about I tell you a secret, and you tell me one?”

Adam thought about that.

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