Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) (45 page)

As the door was shut, suddenly Anna and Thaelique materialised in front of me. Anna still had a firm grasp on our wrists and she propelled us through the bar.

“O’Malley! Lock the doors, there’s something going on outside,” she yelled at the tavern master as we ran past and up the stairs to the private lounge. O’Malley, with more vigour than I would have guessed he had in him, leaped over the bar, darting to the door and barring it firmly. Up in the lounge Anna let us go to reach for one of the tapestries that hung on the back wall beside the fire.

“Anna! What the hell was that? Did you see Thomas, he—”

“Shut up Jaseth,” she ordered tersely, pulling the tapestry aside to reveal a small hidden door. Thaelique and I stood side by side, watching her, as the sounds of panic outside swelled and there was the loud bang of another explosion. Anna opened the door and turned to me.

“Jaseth, you are to take the Queen and leave the city. This will lead you to a tunnel under the streets, take the first right and then keep going until you get to the very end, it exits just outside the Quarter.” Anna spoke quickly, urgency clear in her voice. “You will take her from there to the tunnel through the hills. Has Ϛaioћ told you about the house where Lux was born?” Not trusting myself to speak, I nodded dumbly. “Good. From the exit of the tunnel turn left and take the path into the forest. The house is about a mile in. After Lux’ grandmother died I acquired the property and kept it as a safe-house. It will appear abandoned,
but unlock the back door with Hầұeӣ and go inside. Lock it behind you and don’t open it for anyone except Ϛaioћ or me. There are supplies in there, and the building is light-shielded, so you may use candles, but do not light the fire. You must keep yourself and the Queen invisible at all times, and you must go
now
.” She pulled a tiny glowbe from her pocket and gave it to me.

“You must keep her safe, Jaseth. If neither Ϛaioћ nor I come for you in three days take her back to Jaelshead, keeping out of sight and under cover. Now
go
!” She gestured hurriedly at the door. I started forward but was halted in my tracks by Thaelique.

“No. I am the Queen and I must stay here to take care of my people. There are guards out there to look after me. I will
not
run away.”

Anna took two steps towards Thaelique and towered over her.

“There is something going on that you
must
be kept safe from. Someone is using Psychosolastry out there. You can’t feel it, but if your guards aren’t Nea’thi-Blood they may be a danger to you.”

“What? Someone’s using Hầұeӣ outside?”

Anna jerked her head at me in an impatient nod. “Keep your mind shielded, Jaseth. I don’t know what it is, but Ϛaioћ and I will find them and stop them. You just have to get the Queen away.”

“I’m not going anywhere, Anna!” Thaelique told her firmly, crossing her arms.

“Unfortunately, your majesty, for your own safety I require that you do go, and you go
now
.”

This sparked a righteous fury in the Queen. “It is my duty to be here, I must stay and—”

“Lilbecz forgive me,” Anna muttered, taking a deep breath. Then she pushed Thaelique back against the wall beside the door, pinning her with one arm across her chest. She looked deeply into the Queen’s eyes.

“You must leave the city now. Your safety is paramount. Jaseth will keep you safe, but you must
leave
. Do you understand?” Anna stepped back and released the Queen, who wobbled slightly and blinked twice before giggling.

“Gosh, so that’s what that feels like! Huh, thanks Anna!” Thaelique looked at me and smiled, holding out one hand for me to take. What the hell had Anna just done to her?

“Come on, Jaseth. Time’s a’wasting!” she called merrily. As I took her hand she giggled again and leaned in towards me, whispering loudly. “My safety is paramount, you know,” she told me conspiratorially. I looked up at Anna, who shrugged.

“I’m sorry, Jaseth, I had to. Go now and keep her safe. Lilbecz willing, we’ll come for you soon.” Thaelique squeaked with excitement as I shook the glowbe to get it started.

“Look after Charlie, okay?” I told Anna and she smiled grimly.

“We’ll sort this out, don’t worry about us. Just get the Queen away.” Another explosion rocked the tavern and Thaelique tugged me through the door.

“Thanks Anna, happy hunting!” she called back gaily as Anna swung the door shut behind us, I heard the click of the lock as we were thrust into darkness.

lowly the glowbe came to life and I could see where we were. Thaelique looked at me expectantly, still gripping my hand. We were at the top of a very steep, very narrow circular staircase, built into the wall of the tavern. I carefully led the Queen down, the glowbe held out in the other hand. The stairs twisted down, far below the level of the street and eventually opened to reveal a tunnel. The walls and floor of the tunnel were rough, dry stone, the air was cool but old-smelling, as if no one had come this way for some time. The first right branch of the tunnel was a couple of hundred metres from the bottom of the stairs. Thaelique clung to my hand as we hurried around the corner and straight down the tunnel that twisted and turned reasonably frequently, but led in the general direction of the hills. Every so often we could hear screaming and shouts from the streets above, the thumping of booted feet running past, and the occasional explosion, which made the walls of the tunnel shudder. The Queen squealed and gripped me tighter as dust drifted down from the ceiling.

Our run through the tunnel seemed to take forever, the tiny glowbe illuminating only the barest patch of the way ahead of us, before the tunnel stretched into what seemed like eternal darkness. Finally it twisted around a slight corner and ended abruptly at a solid stone wall. A sort of ladder was carved into the rock on one side, and I looked up to see it led to a grate in the ceiling, cut much higher than the roof the rest of the way. I listened carefully for sounds above us, but the only noise I could hear through the grate were muffled and distant.

“Wait here, I’ll go check it out.” I reluctantly let go of Thaelique’s hand and scaled the stone ladder to the top. Holding the glowbe and the ladder with one hand, I tentatively pushed at the grate above me. To my surprise it lifted easily and fell to the side, sending in a shaft of sunlight that blinded me for a second after the dark of the tunnel. I glanced down quickly at Thaelique, who was looking up at me eagerly, and she grinned and gave me a totally uncharacteristic thumbs-up.

“Wait there, okay?” I called down to her as quietly as I could. Slowly, I pulled myself higher up the ladder and extended my head out of the hole into the sunny afternoon. I looked around and saw that I was peeking out of an old, unused well. I could see the back of a house, built in the Human-style grey slate, that backed on to the outside wall of the Quarter. Grass grew long and untended around the well. Gingerly I placed one foot on either side of the open grate and levered myself up and out of the hole, climbing over the side of the well and dropping down into the grass beside it. I scanned the area and pocketed the glowbe and, satisfied that there was no one else in the back section, stuck my head over the side of the well and called down to Thaelique. Half a minute later her fair head appeared through the grate and I took her arms in mine and helped her over the wall of the well. When she was standing safely on the grass beside me, I reached down and swung the grate closed over the tunnel entrance.

“Ooh, that was fun. Where to now, Lord Jaseth?” Thaelique giggled and leaned into my shoulder. If I wasn’t so shit-scared and sick I would have enjoyed the closeness. As it was, Anna’s
urgency had terrified me, and I barely even registered the press of her body.

“Right, we have to get to the hills and the tunnel to the other side.”

“Another tunnel? Oh, brilliant!” She smiled at me brightly.

I was concentrating too hard to really hear her, listening to the sounds from the streets. I heard angry shouts and the hubbub of voices, it sounded as if a lot of people were moving quickly past the house.

“Your majesty, take my hand, I’m—”

“Please Jaseth, call me Thael, all my friends do,” she interrupted, but took my hand, squeezing it gently.

“Now, I’m going to create a visibility shield around us, so stay close to me, okay?”

“Ooh, that won’t be hard. You’re so
talented
, Jaseth!”

Any other time but this I would have taken great pleasure in the slightly ribald tone to her words, but now I was trying to concentrate and I needed her to stop talking.

“Please Thael, we must be very quiet.”

“Oh, okay Jaseth! My safety is paramount, I’ll be as quiet as a mouse!” She grinned at me before we both disappeared as I completed the shield.

She gripped my hand tightly as we edged our way, invisible, around the side of the house. Out on the street we paused, pressed close to the wall as an angry crowd gathered, pushing past on their way to the Quarter. I felt ill, what the
hell
was happening here?

“Come on!” one man yelled. “Let’s go get the dirty elephant bastards, they’ve killed the Queen!” The crowd roared and I saw the flashes as sharp blades were unsheathed and the furious press of people moved past us.

What the hell? They couldn’t seriously think the Nea’thi had tried to hurt Thaelique! A murderous frenzy rolled off the crowd, as angry shouts urged them forward to attack the Quarter.

She’s fine! I wanted to scream at them. She’s right here! But I knew with terrifying certainly that if Thaelique and I were to
reveal ourselves now that the maddened crowd turn on us and butcher us within seconds.

“Let’s kill all the effing grey sons-of-whores!” a woman screamed close by as more people surged past.

Oh no. Oh sweet Lilbecz
no
. Charlie was in there! Telgeth and Lolitha were in there! And I was helpless to do anything to assist them, to warn them even. Damn it all to hell!

I grasped Thaelique’s invisible hand tighter and we edged down the side of the street, hugging close to the walls. I could feel sweat beginning to bead on my forehead with the concentration of keeping up the visibility shield. We edged round a corner onto a quieter back street and I pulled Thaelique down in the direction of the hills.

If I had thought that the dash underneath the Quarter had taken ages, then the short trip outside to the entrance of the hill tunnel seemed to take hours. Every time there was a shout, or people ran past us, I had to pause and press the Queen against a wall as I concentrated hard. Worse were the sounds of explosions from the Quarter, followed by distant shrieks of terror and pain, as I grimly led Thaelique away from the fighting. After what seemed an interminable period of time we at last ducked around a corner and found ourselves in the shadows of the hills, the open maw of the tunnel through them wide and open. I quickly scanned the area, and seeing no one nearby, pulled the Queen across the street. We dashed into the mouth of the tunnel, pressing up against the sides as I checked back along the street to make sure no one had seen us.

The tracks for the steam-carriage stretched away ahead of us. The whole thing was only dimly lit by large glowbes hanging from the high, rounded ceiling.

“Come on, let’s go,” I whispered to Thaelique. Out of the daylight, I gratefully dropped the visibility cloak, but the Queen still gripped my hand as she came back into view. We half ran, half stumbled into the tunnel. It rounded a gentle bend and the light from outside disappeared behind us. Already out of breath, I grimly pulled Thaelique down the middle of the great steel tracks, trying to listen for the tell-tale vibrations that indicated an oncoming carriage. Up ahead, I could see the tunnel curve away
to the left and then, to my horror, I felt the unmistakeable rumble of the heavy carriage on the tracks. I glanced around wildly, we needed to get off the tracks immediately or the carriage would crush us. I spotted a small natural alcove a short distance ahead as the rumbling of the steam engines grew loud enough for Thaelique to hear.

“Oh shit, Jaseth! Is that a carriage?”