Since staying fed was no longer a pressing concern to her, Jay could put more effort into staying warm. That meant a scavenger operation for lumber and coal and everything that was flammable. As the luck struck, there was an old machine storage being dismantled at the edge of the industrial part of the city. This two-storey, many-gated, long building was made almost completely out of timber that was older than the street it was standing by. During the day it was full of workers, slicing swiftly through the wooden walls with their axes, striking the supports with their sledgehammers and aided in their effort with magic-driven machines, Alloy Men and robo-horses. But in the evening the site would stand abandoned. Sure, the company would post the guards to make sure no one would dare to take from the site but a nail. However those turned out to be lazy and would vastly prefer to sit around the fire at the front, playing dice and swearing like the foul language was to be outlawed the next day. That left the entire back of the building exposed and left for Jay to perform her scavenging operations. With her hands bound tight in thick cloth straps and leather, she hauled the splintered wood back to her little ‘house’ in the alley, sometimes making there to four trips a night. She would pass out in her cot out of sheer exhaustion. But by the time there was nothing left from the building but a bare-stone foundation, she had a supply of wood to burn stacked at the end of the alley. For now, staying warm was not an issue.
The mornings she wasn’t meeting Lethe on the night prior, Jay would wake up early. This day was not so different.
She walked through Spoke Alley, chewing on hot rye bun that she got from a cart on the corner and realized that there isn’t much that she needs to do today. That thought startled her to a standstill, making a few passers-by colliding with her. Nothing that she needs to do…unknowingly to herself, she ran face-first into what people, that can afford it, call a ‘leisure time’.
She looked over her clothes and pondered. Now that she could afford a quick run-around in the public wash/laundryhouse, she no longer had a collection of stains permanently decorating her dress. And besides, she just had a wash three days prior and felt reasonably clean. No, no public washhouse for her today.
Then what?
Jay finished her rye bun standing at the mouth of a side alley, watching the folks of the Drowns minding their business and hurrying alongside the muddy streets that were freshly painted with a new layer of frost.
She could have a walk towards the outskirts and into the Verdants. There were public orchards and gardens that would charge a small fee and let Jay take as much produce as she could carry in her arms. But at this time of the year the only thing that would produce any fruit was the tube pine that the city brought over from the mountainous land of the Nyrah. Its leathery seed pods held edible insides, but Jay always thought that even though the pods tasted quite nice, the expense would vastly outweigh the gains.
Jay walked the city streets, not quite sure what to do with this suddenly-found ocean of time. She turned a few corners and found herself passing behind a long block of tenements. At the end of the passage, between a wall and the corner itself there was a low brick building. Of course she always knew that it was there, but until today she was too busy to even give it a thought. She moved to the front of it and was greeted by a wooden plaque next to the door. She couldn’t read the plaque itself but the symbol etched over the wood was clearly marking the building for what it was- a chapel to the Sacred Pair.
The chapel. Jay was almost sure that she’s been inside at least once, but wouldn’t be able to name when that was even if somebody pushed her back to a wall. Without thinking very much about it, she crossed the threshold.
It was colder inside than outside. The damp brick floor was giving off a chill. It was darker here too, the only window was located at the other-end wall. It was dusty and overgrown with spider webs, further blocking the passage of light through amber-tinted glass. The only pieces of furnishing were a wooden chair with a side-shelf that would serve the lector during the Reading and some low stools stacked under one of the walls. Beyond the chair, a modest altar was set-up right under the window. Jay approached it, only to be greeted with two small stone columns, no taller than her. One bore the sign of the Lady the other of the Lord and between them, red and blue strands of ribbons were strung in the air, connecting both. All around the columns, the offerings were placed straight on the ground. They were numerous but very modest- small bunches of lavender, a few coins, some candles, few plates with pancakes or potatoes, a few pieces of iron ornaments. At the very front, cheap incense smouldered in a small copper bowl.
‘There will be no Reading today, no reading at all.’
Jay turned around, startled. There was a man standing in the shadow of the side door which she failed to notice before. He was old and bent almost in half. His thin white hair barely covered his bald scalp. He wore long robe that once upon a time had to be white, but now was more of a grey colour. A thick woollen overcoat was thrown over the robe, opened at the front to reveal a small magnifying glass hanging from his neck. Jay knew instantly that this must be the Lector responsible for the chapel.
‘Uh…’ mumbled Jay taken by surprise. She didn’t actually think she’ll bump into anyone here ‘Um, I’m not here for the Reading.’
‘That’s good, that’s good since there will be none’ the Lector came closer and looked at her with interest. Now that he was but a few paces away from her she could smell booze vapours coming from the old man.
‘I’ll be going now’ said Jay, unsure what that look was supposed to mean. Was he thinking that she was up to no good? For once in her life that was not true.
‘Oh no need for you to go, no need’ said the Lector. ‘Please stay. All are welcomed in the Chapel. ‘
Jay fidgeted. What was she thinking coming here anyway? And now that strange half-drunk Lector wanted her to stay?
‘Would you like an augury?’ he said. ‘That much I can do when there is no Reading, so I can.’
‘An augury?’ she asked. She knew it had something to do with magic and that it was something that Lectors did, but she drew blank at what exactly that was.
‘Oh yes, yes’ he said. ‘I’ll show you.’
He took one of the low stools from a pile under the wall and brought it over to the chair. He put it down and situated himself in the chair itself.
‘Have a seat, have a seat dear’ he motioned Jay to take the stool. Jay sat down after a moment of hesitation. ‘Give me your hand, child.’
Jay slipped off her hand warmer and extended her hand. The Lector’s hands were rough and calloused, like he was engaged in manual labour all his life. He was holding Jay’s palm, inner side up, and with the other he reached for the magnifier he had around his neck. He looked through the magnifier, like he was examining Jay’s hand for a stray splinter lodged under her skin. As Jay watched, the runes around the magnifier’s handle began to glow. The tiny speck of focused light on her skin suddenly started to grow. Slowly it expanded to cover her entire palm, the light grew from pale cream to golden yellow an then to a bright shade of fiery orange. She felt he skin tingling with warmth of the magical light.
‘Hmm yes, hard life, hard life you have’ the Lector mumbled. ‘And only fifteen too. Oh, you didn’t know your birthday? It was just a few days past, just a few. Twisting path, yours is, goes round and round. The streets are your home, yes. Yes that I see but beyond? So dark in there in the stone. A new home perhaps. A steamed room? Cliffs and sea and moon.’
He muttered and mumbled, staring into the light under the magnifier but whatever words came then made no sense to Jay at all.
‘Little revealed both the Lady and the Lord’ he said finally. The light over Jay’s palm flickered and went out as the lector let go of her hand. ‘But no matter no matter. If you keep your heart pure and you do as the Sacred Pair wishes. Doesn’t the Righteous Verse say: the help is given to those who deserve it? Yes it does.’
Jay scowled. So far she saw very little help that came to her from divine way. Maybe the Sacred Pair never deemed her deserving. But she said nothing, trying her best to hide her disappointment in the augury and the Lector words.
The lector reached into the folds of his overcoat and pulled a flat flask. He uncorked it and the smell of strong booze wafted from the container. He took a few gulps from it, then put it back into the coat.
‘For my health- medicine, you see?’ he said, noticing Jay’s stare.
‘I’m sure’ murmured Jay under her breath.
‘The Sacred Pair has plans, has plans for all of us you see’ he continued, clearly refreshed by the liquid in the flask. ‘Do you think I was always here, a small Chapel Lector? Oh no child, I was serving at the Cathedral. The glorious Cathedral!’
‘The Cathedral?’ Jay wondered. She thought that only the most esteemed Lectors can serve at the central Temple of Arklington and live in the priory next to it, behind the walls and guards so no one can disturb their meditation over the mysteries of the Sacred Pair. Not somebody that would drink their hours between reading the Verse and auguring street children.
‘Oh yes, yes. Have you ever been in? Oh no, of course you haven’t’ the Lector’s face became animated, his eyes shining with booze and fervour. ‘All gold and marble inside, to the true glory of the Lord and Lady. People bring such beautiful things to thank the Sacred Pair for their many blessings. Such beautiful things! Gemstones they place over the Lady’s feet and silver chains over the Lord’s.
‘The Cathedral must be full of armed men then’ mused Jay. ‘Guards everywhere to see that no one takes the gifts for the Lord and Lady.’
The Lector laughed.
‘Who would dare? No, no, even if a thief thought of such blasphemy then there are guards that patrol the outside walls and stay in the vestibule. No sword can be carried into the holy grounds you see?’
Something stirred deep within Jay’s mind. Some thought flickered into the existence, even if it wouldn’t make itself known to her consciousness.
‘What was it like’ she said. ‘To live in the priory?’
In addition to his bright eyes, a sunny smile came over the lector’s face, revealing his toothless gums.
‘Peaceful my child, so peaceful. I was a gardener you know. The beautiful meditative garden was my pride and joy. Hawthorn and rose. Pygmy tube pines and scorpionapples, sweetpeas to climb the cloister columns and goldenmint to smell sweet in the summer. Kept the paths clear so my fellow lectors had no problems getting from the rectory into the Cathedral itself. Kept the wall clean of ivy too, and the doorway, the ivy climbs so fast on the old stones.’
He droned on and on while Jay sat quietly, listening, letting him venture down the path of memories as far as he would.
‘Only the old well-house I didn’t like, the Lady forgive me.’
‘The well-house? Why is that?‘
‘It’s the well, child the well smelled to high heavens. I think it is no well anymore anyway. No water in it. The Cathedral is old, so old. Maybe once there was a river, but the city took it and turned into a sewer. Muck and mud flows under the city streets. Such shame. But this too must be the Sacred Pair wish.’
He sighed and cast down his gaze, remaining silent for a few seconds.
‘No use, child, of such musing. Hmmm’ he said finally. ‘Ah I know, how about a Saint’s charm for you?’
Without waiting for Jay’s response, he picked himself up and rushed through the side door. Jay wanted to use this moment to leave, but as soon as he disappeared he was back again, hauling a thin wooden case. He placed it on the chair and popped open the lid.
‘Just one copper coin child and I’m sure a Saint would say a good word or two to the Lord and Lady on your behalf, just one copper coin.’
Jay looked inside the case. On the faded green fabric, various round beads with a string loop through a drilled hole were pinned up like a collection of strange insects. Each was roughly hewn and marked with symbols for various Saints.
‘I blessed them all myself, yes’ said the lector. ’Hmmm but which one would be best?’
‘Ah, Saint Garret for sure’ he ran his finger alongside the beads and picked the one at the end of the row.’ He was a waif, just like you, he was, before the Order of the Guardians took him in. Here.’
He unpinned the bead and put it in Jay’s hand. Jay, seeing that this was the only way she could extricate herself from the Lector’s attention, gave him a coin. Then she made her excused and hurried to the door.
‘Come to the Reading’ called the lector after her. ‘And don’t forget an offering for the Lord and Lady!’
But Jay paid no more attention to him. She rushed down the streets, chased by something else than just the voice of the old Lector. There was something else residing at the back of her mind. Something that she was reminded constantly wherever she went, with each swing of the St Garret’s charm looped around her wrist. The rich window displays at the Goldsparrow could barely hold her interest. The dresses and the colourful perfume bottles just a pale shadows of the visions of opulence that she now could see as residing in the tall body of the Cathedral. If only they could find a way into it, through that dead well the Lector spoke about…
She spent all day wondering, thinking, debating with herself. Such a thing would not be possible surely? She shouldn’t be even dreaming of coming close to it. Even Lethe would have laughed her out and said it’s nuts. Lethe…
Jay was sitting in her little corner of The Magic Lamp, eating a slice of pie when she finally made her decision. She will run what she knew by him. And if she says it cannot be done, then at least she would be able to put it out of her mind for good and throw that accursed St Garret’s charm into the nearest gutter.
As she left the tavern it was still early but she knew that a walk to The Clockwork Whaler in the Dockyard would be no short walk. As she started walking, the clouds that were gathering all of the afternoon and that were now shining a slight shade of silver against the dark sky, finally gave way. A slight flurry of snow started to come down, covering the hard stones of the streets with a thin cushion of white powder. By the time she found herself within close proximity to the inn, the snow was deep enough to reach to her ankles.
The inn was alive with sound and light. Even outside Jay could hear the muffled sounds of voices, the chairs being moved and the tankards being thumped down the tables. A thin wisp of fiddle music snuck out through the half-open door like a drunken cat. Jay could see lamps burning inside the bar area and the shadows of the crowds milling about.
As she passed through the entrance, she saw that the front room was full of people too. There were some folk occupying benches next to the door, playing dice and jackstraws. The money changed palms fast with players and spectators alike. Other people gathered round a barrel that seemed to have rats in it, fighting tooth and claw by the sound of it, their cheers rising with the louder squeals of the animals trapped in the barrel.
‘Lookie at that on! A killer he is, a killer I tells ya!’ roared a tall man in leather gauntlets, shaking a large rat squirming in his grip. ‘Who to bet? I’d bet my mother against coin it is so sure he’d win!’
The rat managed to turn around in the man’s palm and sink his teeth into the leather gauntlet, only to elicit a roar of laughter from the man.
‘See? Eager to fight! Who to bet?’ he continued as a few folk came over to discuss the betting details.
Few men and women just milled about and in those Jay recognized the potential buyers for the ointments and scents she stole- painted faces, gaudy clothes and ‘come hither’ stares of the flesh peddlers.
Jay looked to the counter, hoping that she wouldn’t catch the eye and scathing tongue of Mort, but he seemed to be busy arguing with two men, both looking the kind of Jay would rather would not argue with- long knives and never-shaven faces put them somewhere between fists-for-hire and thugs.
Since Lethe was not among the people in the front room, she slipped through the side door to the bar. The sounds of voices and the less-than-skilled fiddler became even louder. The atmosphere inside was even thicker than it was when she came here the first time. To the smell of spoiled beer and sweat there was now an addition of a whiff of acrid smell of fresh vomit. Jay wrinkled her nose and pushed through the crowd towards the counter. The lamps all through the bar were turned low except the one next to the counter itself. Ann was illuminated brightly, busying herself with pouring the ale into the pints and sweeping the coin the patrons left after they took their drinks.
Spotting Jay, Ann smiled and waved her over.
‘Um’ said Jay to her, suddenly feeling very conscious of herself. ‘I don’t think…is Lethe here?’
Ann nodded and pointed deeper into the room, towards a sturdy pillar that was holding up the place where the ceiling drooped a little bit.
‘Thanks’ said Jay and wanted to turn around, but Ann reached over the bar and caught her by the sleeve ’ What is it?’
Ann made a motion as if she was picking up a glass in one hand and drinking from it, then repeated the same gesture with the other hand. Then again she did the same with the first.
‘Uh…’ mumbled Jay, not really knowing what Ann wanted.
Ann pointed to the corner of the room where Lethe was supposed to be then swayed as if she lost her balance.
‘You’re saying he’s drunk already?’
Ann nodded then smiled and made a wide gesture around the room.
‘Yeah I get it, we’re in a bar’ said Jay and smiled at Ann.
Jay moved through the crowd towards the wooden pillar. Behind it there was a table and a high backed bench. Two figures were sitting there, a tall woman with curly hair and a smaller person that could not be mistaken for anyone else but Lethe himself. The woman gave Jay a dirty look from the corner of her painted eye, the look that spoke volumes about being interrupted while at work. Jay gave her the widest, nastiest grin she could muster.
Just one look at Lethe’s face told Jay that he was much more than just drunk. His yellow eyes were completely glazed over and unmoving, staring into the glass in front of him. The glass was almost empty and so was the overturned clay flagon next to it. As soon as she spotted a small vial next to the overturned bottle Jay knew for sure there will be no talking shop with him tonight. As she watched, Lethe let go of the glass and reached for the vial. He measured a drop on the top of his finger, brought it to his mouth and rubbed it in the inside of his cheek, then sat back deeper into the bench, adjusting himself to the sudden rush brought by the drug. A second passed before his gaze wandered in front of him, spotting Jay.
‘Hm, what?’ he slurred. ‘It’s not one of our nights is it?’
‘No, I came because of something else.’
‘Oooof-course not.’
He turned his attention to the overturned flagon, leaned over the table, grabbed it and shook. There was no sloshing to be heard, the flagon was indeed empty.
‘Tonight is my break night, school’s out. But then w-hat do you want?’
’I was going to talk business but I guess-‘
‘Business’ he paused. ’No, nononono, I told you- break. No business tonight.’
‘I can see that.’
The woman sitting next to Lethe fidgeted and pursed her lips.
‘Ya, I got no time for this. Find me when you’re done with her Lethe’ she said and stood up. She adjusted her curls and disappeared between the bar’s patrons.
‘Lily don’t be like that’ drawled Lethe, but he was talking to an empty space. ‘Ehhh here goes my company for the night. Do you have aaaaaaa-ny idea how hard it is to get one that is willing to fuck a Kou?’
Jay sighed with exasperation.
‘Kid! Be useful at least. Bring more booze!’
He dug into one of his pouches and flipped a coin over the table. The coin flashed in the light and slid on the table.
‘Lethe!’ Jay rushed forward and covered the coin with her palm. It was a silver coronet, she immediately recognized the unusual shape. And she was sure that whoever was just happen to watch would too. It was a coin not to show at a place like this, with hundreds of hungry eyes ready to spot both large amount of money and people that were not sober enough to keep them hidden.
‘What?’ he shrugged. ‘Can’t you even get me a drink?’ What good are you?’
‘Lethe that was-‘
Lethe waved her away.
‘Piss off kid.’
Jay took a deep breath but before she could speak, she met Lethe’s gaze now solely trained on her and cold like an arctic night.
‘I said piss off. I can’t be arsed.’
Jay let go of her breath and turned around, wondering why she even tried to talk to him tonight. She turned to leave and moved towards the bar. She hid the silver coronet in her inner pocket, hoping that no one actually noticed.
She paused before leaving the bar and thought about the long walk home. Maybe she should buy something for the road. The night would only get colder if the snow wouldn’t stop soon. She approached Ann again and pointed to a small flagon on the side, hoping that it contained something strong enough to keep her warm in the snow. Ann took the bottle, uncorked it and pointed the neck at Jay. Jay sniffed at it and immediately regretted that she did. The fumes themselves burned her nose. She nodded and started putting the coins on the counter one by one until Ann stopped her. Jay grabbed the bottle, and paused.
‘Um…do you…do you ever sleep Ann?’ she asked.
Ann looked at Jay, then drew something with her finger over the counter. It was a shape of a circle with rays protruding from it- a sun.
‘Oh, during the day’ said Jay. She smiled at Ann, waved goodbye and walked towards the exit.
Jay passed the front room where the rat fight must have brought some big winnings to the man in leather gauntlets since he was beaming and shaking the now much fatigued rat in his grip, his bellowing barely getting through the noise and laughter of the betting folk. Soon Jay was back out in the street where the snow was like a stubborn drunk that doesn’t know when to stop.
Jay stepped to the side and took shelter under the awning of a shop stall, now empty but for the smell of fish that still lingered over the worn boards. The air outside, even though it was tinted with the all-present magical vapours and smoke from neighbouring chimneys was at least blessedly free from the odours of unwashed bodies and long-spilled spirits. She uncorked the flagon and took as small sip as possible but still the cheap rotgut burned as if she took a glowing ember in her mouth. She wanted to wait for the booze to fill her hands and feet with warmth before she would set out into the snow.
As she stood there she saw the door opening and somebody stepping out onto the fresh snow. Jay squinted. I wasn’t that dark here, the windows of the inn gave just enough light to see by and she had no problems recognizing the person. It was Lethe. She pushed herself deeper under the awning. She had no desire to talk to him again today. She could as well wait until tomorrow when he had slept off the booze and whatever he was currently on. In the meantime, Lethe turned to the right and followed the wall of the inn, supporting himself against the wooden boards, and disappeared into an alley nearby.
Jay shrugged and was just about to take another sip from the bottle when two more people exited The Clockwork Whaler. Both wore short woollen cloaks, hoods guarded their ears and faces against the falling snow. They paused briefly at the threshold, then followed the same direction Lethe did just a moment ago.
Jay plugged the neck of her bottle with the cork and carefully put it down on the stall’s table. She looked at it- puzzled. Why did she do that just now? It wasn’t as if she was finished with it or ready to walk home yet. But something told her she needs to leave it here now. She’d be wondering about it more but her thoughts were suddenly interrupted.
A scream. A cry of agony rang out from the alley both men and Lethe disappeared in. She felt like a bucket of water was overturned over her head. Not thinking at all, she ran into the alley. It was short and widening at the end. And here she stumbled upon the scene. One of the men was sprawled on the ground. Blood was just started to pool under his body, melting the snow around him. The other had his hand raised, a small club clenched in his fist. In the same moment, the hand went down, striking Lethe. The Kou tumbled backwards with a groan, falling face-first into the snow.
Jay felt the world stop in its track. It was exactly like that day when Ludd the Nosebleed came for her house. Then the world also shrunk. Then there had been her and her rusted pipe and a thug that needed his head caved-in. Now there was Jay, her dagger and a man that needed to suffer. Back then she had been shrieking and howling. Now there would be none of that. She remembered unsheathing her dagger, but not those few steps she took towards the man. The snow muffled her footsteps as she approached, unnoticed.
The man raised his hand and struck Lethe again and again. Jay saw the woollen cloak rising on his back. There it was, the point to strike.
‘Kidneys’ thought Jay as she plunged the blade into the flesh.
The man heard her though. He was just starting to turn and Jay’s dagger missed the target. Instead the kidneys, Jay felt the blade sinking into his gut under a steep angle. Immediately she felt the wet hotness over her hand. Blood, so much blood in an instant. And she knew there will be even more. The man gave a short cry, more of a surprise than of pain. Jay pushed harder. Then as if she remembered what to do next, pulled with all her might. She forced the blade out, widening the deep gash in the process and took a step back. The man didn’t move. The club fell out of his hand as he clasped both his palms over the wound. He looked at her, his eyes still surprised as if he struggled to understand what happened. Then he looked down at the blood trickling between his fingers. Jay thought that he is going to collapse. But instead he started walking, stumbling and swaying, towards the end of the alley. A moment later he turned the corner and disappeared. Minutes. Jay knew he would only have minutes to live with a hole in his gut if he wouldn’t find somebody to help him fast. She almost ran after him, but a groan interrupted her thoughts.
Lethe sat himself up, supported by the wall and was in the process of hauling himself onto his feet.
‘Lethe!’ cried Jay. ‘Are you-‘
‘I’ll live, kid’ he waved his hand. ‘Ehhh, serves me right for being stupid. Seems like you got the bastard good.’
Jay swallowed. The eyes of the mortally wounded man flashing within her mind.
‘I struck with intent’ she said.
‘So you did!’
‘Why did you come here in the first place?’
‘What do you think? I needed to piss.’
‘Oh…’
Lethe snorted.
‘Doooon’t worry. I’m not too high to piss by myself. Why don’t you check if that one had something interesting on him?’
Finally on his feet Lethe turned his face to the wall and fumbled with his breeches.
Jay looked at the man on the ground. She had no doubt that he was dead. The pool of blood he was lying in was now even bigger than a few minutes ago. Big clumps of snow were falling into it, melting immediately. Carefully, she lifted the cloak up. There was a small pouch at the man’s belt, she picked it up, but there were just a few copper coins inside. Just the amount somebody that was interested in silver coronets Lethe was carrying would have had. She took it; the dead man had no need for them anymore. Jay wiped her hands and blade in the cloak and let it fall over the body again.
In the meantime Lethe continued to ‘water’ the brick wall, supporting himself with one arm. He threw his head back and took a deep breath.
‘For whom the bell tolls, for whom it tolls?’ he sang, his normally raspy voice making the song sound like a machine that had gravel thrown into its cogs. ‘No bell will ever toll for meeeeeee…’
Somewhere high above him a window creaked open.
‘Quiet down there, the Saints damn you drunkard! Some decent folk are trying to sleep!’ yelled an irate female voice.
‘Sod off poxy cow’ fired back Lethe adjusting his breeches. ‘You were sleeping just fine when I was being robbed a moment ago!’
The woman poured abuse down on their heads with Lethe returning the favour. Seeing like it might go on for a bit more, Jay gathered snow in her hands and rolled into a ball. She hurled it at the window, missing just by inches. The woman shrieked but finally Jay could hear the window closing shut.
Lethe barked out a laugh.
‘Lethe’ said Jay quietly, trying to forget there is a dead man behind her and another probably just beyond the corner. ‘We should probably go.’
‘Sure, lets’ said Lethe. He took a few steps and swayed, saving himself from falling by grabbing the wall.
Jay sighed with exasperation. She came closer to him and without a word, slung his arm over her shoulders. She embraced his back with her hand, making sure she can grab keep him straight if he sways again.
‘Where to?’ she asked.
‘The monat…the mounita…the rocky kingdom of Nyraha!’ he scoffed. ‘Back to the Whaler of course.’
‘Uh, Lethe wait.’
‘What now?’
‘You’re not going to puke, are you?’
‘Noooooo’ he said with a deadly offence in his voice. ‘I did that beforehand!’
As they approach the door to the inn, to the voices that leaked outside, she realized that no one inside heard what happened in the back alley. And even if someone had heard, they wouldn’t care at all. In the morning the ‘ironhats’ would find the dead man and perhaps his companion too. The bodies would be dragged out into the city’s mortuary, the incident in the alley chalked up to a drunken brawl, forgotten by the next day.
As they crossed the threshold, the warmth blasted into Jay’s face. The cat-torturing fiddler in the next room stopped playing, replaced by a piper that must have been drinking heavily waiting for his turn. But all the rest was the same- the dice and jackstraw players, the rat fight betters and the whores of both sexes- all the same. Jay wasn’t feeling the same.
Lethe pointed to the rickety stairs to the side. Jay half-climbed, half-hauled Lethe up them and they ended up on at the end of a barely-lit corridor. There was a single candle burning at the end.
‘Last one on the left’ he said and Jay steered them toward that direction.
The room was narrow. So narrow that Jay could barely open the door and not hit the bed that was standing opposite the entrance. Apart from the bed, there was a low, tubular woodburner in one corner, its long, steel exhaust pipe was leading to the only window in the room. Then there was just enough room for a small table and a three-legged chair.
‘So this is where you live’ said Jay, wondering if this was right. There was no space to put any gear or a stash to keep ‘walkaround money’.
‘Occasionally’ said Lethe confirming what she thought.
He extricated himself from her grip and climbed atop of the bed, huddling into the corner. He pulled off his shirt soaked throughout from lying in the snow and threw it over the chair. He rolled himself up in a blanket he took off the bed.
In the meantime, Jay directed her attention towards the woodburner. She found some logs stashed under the table and was working hard at making the fire going. When she finally succeeded and the logs began being consumed by the flames, she rose from the floor and sat in the leg-portion of the bed. She huddled her hands close together, suddenly shaking for no reason at all, as if she still had them stuck in the snow back in the alley behind The Clockwork Whaler. She could almost feel the touch of the blood over her skin, still lingering.
‘Lethe, are you asleep?’ hoping that she could hide her shaking hands behind talking.
‘Nooo’ mumbled Lethe from under the blanket. ‘How can I? The bloody room is spinning.’
Jay pulled her legs up to her chest and looked out of the window. The snow kept falling; the white cover on the street, houses and boats upon the river grew thicker by the minute.
‘Lethe’ said Jay, struck by a thought. ‘Why…Why are you not like other Kou?’
An annoyed grunt came from the corner.
‘A wizard did it!’ his voice was full of such a sudden anger. Jay pressed her lips together determined not to utter another word.
‘I guess’ said Lethe after a longer pause, his voice no longer angry ‘I guess it might have been a wizard for all I know. I remember waking up on a lake shore, not knowing anything. All I remembered was that I was Lethe. I wouldn’t even know who named me. Later on I learned that Lethe is a name of a river that you supposed to drink from to forget your life after you die. Or so the story goes. Take it or leave it.’
Jay nodded to herself.
‘I don’t know who named me either’ she said. ‘Was I always Jay? Or did I name myself? I always thought my name fits me too but…’
‘But what?’
‘People think of jays as vermin…’
‘So they do about Kou. So what?’
Jay shook her head. So what indeed?
‘You want what I think kid?’
‘What is it?’
‘I think’ slurred Lethe. ’That you shouldn’t think about that. What good is thinking about past? And the people? Fuck them. You should think ahead. Like, for the future.’
Jay pondered. To her the future was always clear. A hot meal if the day was good. No meal if it was bad. The rain that was to be kept out of her little shelter in the alley. And waiting for the days to get warmer again. What else future there was?
‘Money’ kept on Lethe, suddenly animated. ‘The shiny stuff, the jing-jing. You should save them. And when you collect enough people will stop asking where they come from. Make something of yourself. Marry a noble whose daddy lost the fortune playing dice. Be a baroness or some shit like that.’
‘I don’t want to be a baroness.’
‘Then don’t’ Lethe leaned towards her. ‘But you’d better start using that onion you call your head or this is all you’ll get.’
He spread his hands pointing at the entirety of the room, then pushed himself back into the corner.
Jay didn’t know what to say. She wrinkled her forehead trying to come up with anything that she could possibly do when she had money enough. Why everything hat to be complicated like that, this future business?
Behind the wall of weathered wood, the snow was joined by a howling wind. The furious flurry battered the sole window of the room.
‘I better go’ she said finally, not wanting to look anymore into that silence that was hiding the potential future from her. ‘The snow…’
Lethe laughed.
‘Sure and they’ll have to look for you with Alloy Men and shovels in the morning.’
Jay made a face but knew that Lethe was right. The first snow of the winter might not keep long in the next days, but it seemed like the season started with a bang.
‘Just crash in here’ said Lethe, shifting on the bed so there was more room for her. ‘Tomorrow we’ll talk about…eh, whatever you came to talk about in the first place.’
Jay shuffled herself closer and slipped under the blanket, seeking the warmth of his body.
‘Now this was an eventful evening’ said Lethe after she was all tucked in. Jay mumbled something about never hearing more of an understatement before drifting off, listening to the fire in the burner and the muffled voices seeping through the floor from the bar.
