Monstrous Races (3 page)

‘I’d imagine that it is different,’ she said at last. 'I suppose death would be worse for most people.’ She shuddered as a memory rose up that she didn’t want to recall and she pushed it back and away, putting her hand to the stone around her neck without thinking. There was a very gentle warmth there now, her hand touching the rough cloth that hid the necklace underneath.

‘Well, the other thing I’ve heard from Patch, the dog who lives with the butcher, is that there is trouble coming from the North. Dark trouble, serio
us danger,’ Lilly added with a flourish.

‘And where exactly in the North is this?’ asked Rufus. ‘Only the North is a very big place. North of Mifyn, North of Cowyse...’

‘He didn’t say,’ she said
sharply, bearing her upper teeth. ‘Only that men are coming and that they are looking fo
r something.
And that when they find it we’ll all be in serious danger.’ S
he theatrically crossed her
arms
over her chest, the holy sign adopted by the Dogheadhood.

‘W
ho’s leading these soldiers?’ asked Elli, pouring herself some water. ‘How far away are they
from us
?’

‘He just started to tell me when the butcher whistled for him, and he chose to go to him instead.’ She picked at a shard of mutton that was stuck in her teeth ‘He seemed to think it would be bad for everyone though, not just the humans.’

A
fter washing and clearing away the pots Elli and Rufus took a break and strolled around the outside of the building. The cool wind was becoming stronger, and she enjoyed the feel of it against her tingling cheeks. Rufus kept his head bowed, moaning about it.

‘Honestly,’ he said, ‘my head's toasty, but this habit has lots of drafts.’ He paused and kicked a stone. ‘Sorry for mentioning the whole human thing earlier, I know it must be a real pain always having to explain the same thing. We spend a lot of our time trying to make sense of the human side.’

‘Don’t
worry, I’m used to it,’ she replied
, shrugging. ‘It just reminded me of my parents, that’s all.’ She looked up into the greying sky and Rufus put his hand on her shoulder.

'You don't know how they came to have the stone?' he asked quietly. She shook her head.

'I don't think I ever asked. I didn't have time.' She remembered a small cottage and the smell of baking bread.

Later, as they were chopping vegetables and plucking chickens in the kitchen two large dog-heads appeared and told them it was time to meet with Alpha Sawyre. ‘We’ll carry on here,’ said the larger of the two, moving towards the mountainous pile of carrots.

‘Wel
l don’t let it burn, a
nd no helping yourselves either,’
he added sternly, swiping
a piece of pie he’d been saving and hid
ing
it from view in the folds of his habit. They walked along the dark musty corridors and he chewed
noisily, contemplating
the meeting. ‘She’s a w
ise old thing,’ he added
quietly. ‘J
ust tell her everything and she’ll sort it out.
’
He placed his hand in hers and knocked
on the heavy wooden doors.

Alpha Sawyre called for them to enter and looked at them both, the large dog-head next to the blue-eyed girl. She saw that Elli
's hair was curled and chestnut-
coloured, with streams of copper running through it. And her eyes were afraid, she smelt the fear coming from her. Just underneath the more powerful smell of apple pie.

‘Ah Rufus,’ she said softly, ‘it’s a short walk, you hardly needed a snack.’ He smiled and took his hand from Elli’s.

‘We need some advice Alpha Sawyre. Quite urgently.’

‘Sit down,’ she said, beckoning
them
to the benches that were placed around the table. ‘Elli, Rufus said we needed to speak. Would you prefer to talk on your own?' Elli
shook her head and sat down next to Rufus
.

‘He knows everything anyway. I was in a fight yesterday, they wanted my basket.’ The warm light was relaxing her, and she felt the gentle heat from the stone next to her chest.

‘And you were with her I take it, Rufus?’ Alpha Sawyre asked, as Rufus subtly ad
justed his position on the seat and avoided her gaze
. ‘So where were you?’
she asked flatly.

‘I um, had to leave Elli for just a few minutes, I had a personal errand to attend to,’ he muttered, looking down at the floor. ‘Sorry.’

‘Well, as we’re all here I’m sure we’d both love to know what this errand was that meant you couldn’t protect Elli. Please do share.’ She crossed her legs and gazed at him intently
, her brows furrowed
.

‘It involved a dog-head of
the female persuasion,’ he replied
quietly, still
avoiding her gaze. ‘Is that enough?’

‘Oh no, please do
tell us more,’ Alpha Sawyre answered
brightly. ‘She can’t live close to here so how exactly did you communicate?’

‘Through a dog called Julius,’ he said wretchedly. ‘Through a dog that, er, might also know her husband. If you see what I mean.’

Alpha Sawyre bru
shed some invisible dust off
her habit and looked back up at him. ‘I see
,’ she said slowly, as he
almost
broke into a whimper. ‘And she was the reason you left a young girl helpless, in a place filled with danger? Well, I’m so very glad you brought this to my attention Elli. Please leave us to have a little talk.’

‘No,’ answered
Elli, transfixed by this latest development, ‘it’s not that, it’s something else. We fought but I, um, I mean they attacked me. All three of them. And I almost beat them.’

‘Right,’ said Alpha Sawyre.
‘I’m not quite sure what...’

‘I mean I did something to them. I pushed out my arms and th
is...thing flew from out of me
and knocked them over. I did it twice. Then the biggest one got me but Rufus saved me.’

‘Hoorah for Rufus,’ Alpha Sawyre
said quietly. ‘But how can you be sure that you didn’t touch them? In the spur of the moment, with all the excitement and fear you might have hit them or they might have tripped up themselves. It might not be anything to worry about Elli.’

‘There’s something else. It’s my necklace, something has happened to it.’ She took the stone out from beneath her clothes and held it up for Alpha Sawyre.

‘Let me see,’ she said, a glimmer of concern momentarily behind her wise brown eyes. The glass-blue and white wisps that ran over the surface were gently glowing and a hazy blue effervescent light was weaving itself around the stone. Alpha Sawyre sat quietly for
a moment
, entranced by the dancing swirls. For some time all that could be heard was the cackle of the fire.

'Why do you think my parents gave me this
stone
Alpha Sawyre?' asked Elli, as the warm light flickered around the sparse room.

'Elli,' she said gently, 'they wanted you to have the most precious thing in their possession. The other most precious thing.'

'Do you think it happened because of my stone? It started glowing at about the same time.'

Alpha Sawyre
continued to look
at it intently, her eyes reflecting the twinkling misty lights that surrounded it. 'I know what it is,' she said quietly, looking from Elli to Rufus. 'Am I to take it that neither of you have any idea?' They both shook their heads so she went on. 'It has many names but the most common is
fyrestone
, and it's very, very rare. It looks quite ordinary most of the time, but when a stone glows like this it means that another fyrestone is travelling towards it. Wars have been fought over these things; should the two stones meet it can bring great power to the one who unites them both, hence I would imagine your recent show of strength. When did it begin to glow like this?' she asked, her eyes penetrating into Elli's now.

'A few days ago,' replied Elli, glancing at Rufus who had his head bowed. 'I thought it was an ordinary stone, just a
present from my parents. So does this means that another
one is travelling towards me?'

'Yes it does, but we can't be certain that it is deliberate, or indeed if the holder of the stone means
you any harm.' She sat forward on her seat and spoke
more softly. 'You could of course part with it, give
it to somebody else to work it
out for themselves.' Alpha Sawyre looked into Elli's determined blue eyes and smiled crookedly. 'No, I thought not.'

'Is this why I was sent here?' asked Elli, her blue eyes darkening l
ike thunderclouds
. Alpha Sawyre nodded sadly, her gaze never leaving Elli's.

'I didn't know your parents well, but what I knew of them I liked. They asked me to care for you, they told me about this,' she said, gesturing towards Elli's necklace. 'Their great hope was that it would remain dull, never glowing and leave you in peace. It's a wondrous gift and a terrible burden they said, passed down from parent to child. It was all they had to give you Elli,' she said simply, her voice calm and pure.

Elli sat and held the stone, feeling its gentle warmth tickling her fingers. Rufus cleared
his throa
t next to her
.

'What if we take it somewhere, place it in the ground miles from here?' he asked.

'That's not how it works,' answered Alpha Sawyre. 'The stone has made its connection with Elli now. The best thing we can do is to mo
ve her somewhere away,' she added
, seeing Elli f
linch
. She shrugged, looking from one to the other. 'Perhaps a break, some time away would help to put some distance between you and the other stone. After all, we don't know who has the other one; they could be as surprised as you are.' She paused and tilted her head to o
ne side, watching her closely.
'You've lived with us for so long now that you've gone from being a girl to a young woman, I think we forget that. Perhaps the answer to all this lies outside of the Dogheadhood. With that stone.'

'But where will I go?' asked Elli, suddenly anxious. 'This is all I know.'

'We'll still be here when you return,' she replied, looking over at Rufus who had his head bowed in the shadows. Alp
ha Sawyre
placed her open hands on either side of her muzzle. 'Rufus, your opinion please,' she said. He paused and when he spoke his deep voice was softer, the sharp edges shorn away.

'I know what you're saying Alpha Sawyre, really I do, but why now? Where's she going to go? It's a dangerous world out there, we can't just absolve ourselves of responsibility.'

'Oh I'm suggesting no such thing,' she re
plied lightly as Rufus looked across
at her. 'Of course, what you’ll need is somebody to accompany you whose moral compass is off-centre but whose heart is in the right place. Somebody who gets themselves out of difficult, dangerous situations all the time with an
interesting combination of skilful
cunning and artful luck.’

‘When do we leave?’ asked Rufus, slumped in his seat. ‘I know you’re talking about me.’

'Yes indeed I am,' she said
with a wry smile
, looking from one to the other. 'You can make up for leaving her in a dangerous situation out there. Think of it as an adventure, you've had plenty of those in your time, haven't you Rufus? And I'm sure your Father would be very pleased to see you. It's been such a long time. Do give him my kindest regards, won't you?' Rufus bowed his head, deep in thought.

'Elli, I think the best thing you can do is sleep right now, it's been a very eventful and I'm sure quite unsettling day for you. And a quiet word with you on your own Rufus, if you don't mind,' said Alpha Sawyre, the long shadows dancing over the books behind her.

Elli walked in a daze to the door, glancing backwards once as Alpha Sawyre and Rufus sat mirroring each other, their voices almost a whisper. She clutched the stone in her fist and felt the familiar flagstones under her flimsy leather shoes, stable and strong beneath her feet.

Some days later, after morning prayers, a loud and urgent knocking was heard at the heavy entrance gates to the Dogheadhood. The dog-heads inside had expected it; they’d heard the noisy, tumultuous group of humans as they'd travelled towards them, bickering and hollering
as they walked. They peered out
from the highest levels
of the building
, looking through tiny gaps down at them. Some carried pitchforks or scythes, others walked purposefully with rusting swords. Men, women and children were in the group, all clinging close to one another.

At the head were a man and woman who walked without saying a word to anyone. They wore simple, rough clothes and battered shoes, and the woman carried a leather bag. Alpha Sawyre had seen a similar group when they had first settle
d there when she was a young female
, and she remembered the fire in their eyes and the poised, tightly sprung bodies; one tiny event could unfurl all of their might and weaponry in seconds. She thought back to the sight of children hurling things at them, some holding weapons they could barely lift, screaming ‘
savages
.’