Keeper of the Realms: Crow's Revenge (Book 1) (19 page)

Melita curtsied. ‘Yes, Mistress.’

Aranea turned to Charlie. ‘Working in the vats is grunt work. Something that even a novice can’t get wrong. But if you cross me or cause any mischief, then I’ll have your hide. Understood?’

Charlie nodded.

‘Good. Now be gone.’

Once they turned a corner Melita smiled nervously at Charlie. ‘I’m guessing that you must have upset someone upstairs to be sent down here to work in the vats. But don’t worry, not everyone is as mean as Aranea.’

Charlie returned Melita’s smile, glad to find someone in this tower who was actually nice.

‘We’re in here,’ said Melita. She ducked through a side door into a dimly lit and very, very smelly room.

Charlie looked around in fascination. The room was filled with silk threads and cotton fibres that had been laid to dry on racks that stretched from floor to ceiling. Against the far wall was a row of bubbling vats filled with brightly coloured dyes.

‘This is the dyeing and drying room,’ explained Melita. ‘It’s our job to take the plain threads, dye them the right colours and then hang them to dry on these racks. It’s a simple job but tough. You’ll feel it in your lower back and shoulders by the end of the day.’

‘But what’s that awful smell?’ asked Charlie.

‘That’s the dyes. The blues and oranges are the worst.’

‘Really? What goes into them to make them stink so bad?’

‘Oh, it depends on the colour. Look.’ Melita pointed to a series of shelves that were filled with glass containers and wooden caskets. ‘All the ingredients for the dyes are here. The sea snails and Tygris weed are used for the purple. It’s the Tygris weed that really stinks. And these Hyron stones are crushed and the dust is used in the scarlet dye. They don’t smell now but when you crush them up the stink is outrageous.’

‘What’s this?’ asked Charlie. She pointed at a sealed glass jar that contained a murky brown liquid. The jar had warning signs on it.

‘Oh, that’s the Firehaven Sourlax. We use it in the orange and yellow dyes, but it doesn’t smell bad. In fact, it smells kind of good, like citrus and strawberries.’

‘So why does it have warning signs on it?’

‘Well, it’s not poisonous, but it’s from the Firehaven plant.’

Charlie looked blank. Clearly she was supposed to know what that meant.

Melita suddenly remembered. ‘Oh, sorry, I forgot you’re not from Bellania. It’s a strong sedative,’ she explained. ‘Get it on your skin or breathe in its fumes and you’ll be asleep for two days.’

‘What?’ exclaimed Charlie, taking a step back. ‘Well, I’m not touching the orange or yellow dyes, then!’

Melita laughed. ‘Don’t worry. When it mixes with the other ingredients the toxin is neutralized.’ She rolled up her sleeves and headed towards the stinking, bubbling vats of dye. ‘Come on, enough of the grand tour. I think it’s time we got to work before Aranea finds something else to moan about.’

Charlie nodded and, shaking the Isiris Bracelets in frustration, followed after her.

23

An Agreement

The evening light was fading and Sylvaris was beginning to slow as the night drew in. The markets were packing up after a busy day’s trading and the bridges and walkways, so full of people earlier, were beginning to become quieter. The shadows lengthened and stars twinkled overhead.

One of the shadows detached itself and began to sneak from wall to wall and corner to corner. The Shade easily evaded the inefficient city guards and, slinking over a final bridge, headed towards Narcissa’s tower. But the Alavisian Watchmen that stood on the drawbridge were a far cry from the lazy city guards. They were always alert, always ready to confront trespassers and always ready for a fight.

Yet they did nothing as the Shade approached. They had firm orders to let it pass, so they looked away as it slithered between their ranks. The Shade headed into the tower and squeezed beneath a closed door into a dimly lit room.

‘Welcome,’ said Lady Narcissa. She was seated in a chair with Stix and Stones standing by her side. ‘Are you ready to talk business?’

‘Of course.’ The Shade paused as it looked around the room. ‘Where is the Keeper child?’

‘The girl … is somewhere safe, as is the pendant. You need not worry about that. What should concern you is the price that the Western Menace is prepared to pay for her hide. So come, just how greatly does Bane desire what I have to offer?’

The Shade hissed. ‘You are speaking bluntly. Very well, so shall I. My master has instructed me to offer you a thousand bars of gold, a hundred baskets of rubies, the deeds to the Eron Diamond Mines and the pick of a hundred of the freshest slaves from his cattle pens. Finally he offers to make you one of his land barons and grants you a third of all Deepforest once he has conquered Sylvaris. Is this suitable?’

Lady Narcissa could barely hide her grin. Greed glinted in her eyes and she couldn’t quite prevent her hands from gleefully rubbing together. ‘Oh yes, I think that is a most satisfactory offer.’

‘Excellent. Now, hand over the child.’

‘What? Do you think I’m stupid? First your master must show me some sort of gesture of good faith. I will not simply hand over Charlie Keeper and her pendant without something to show for it!’

‘Yes, I was told you would say something like this. Would the rubies and the gold suffice?’

‘Hmmm. Yes, I believe that would do nicely. But tell me, Shade, how do you plan to bring me all of that into Sylvaris without being detected?’

‘That is not your concern but ours. Have the girl and the pendant ready by midnight tomorrow and I will arrange for the gold and jewels to be delivered,’ hissed the Shade.

Lady Narcissa nodded her agreement and silently the shadowy messenger slunk back the way it came.

Charlie groaned and knuckled her back. The work was as gruelling as Melita has warned. Stirring great tubs of stinky dye and being forced to carry large loads of thread were not Charlie’s idea of a good time. And to make matters worse Aranea would stick her head in every so often to harass and threaten her. If it hadn’t have been for Melita’s kind words and the drinks and snacks that she had thoughtfully sneaked past Aranea’s back, Charlie wasn’t sure how she would have coped.

But Charlie hadn’t just been toiling away. She’d also been thinking of ways to get out of her unfortunate predicament. At one point she had tried to tell Melita about the Isiris Bracelets, but her tongue wouldn’t budge, and when she had attempted to be cunning and write it down, her hand had refused to hold a pen. She had even tried to sneak out of the Spinnery while Aranea disappeared for a tea break, but when she reached the door her feet had seized up and she could only move when she inched her way back towards the vats. She was furious, but still determined to find a way to beat the bracelets.

Sighing, she wiped the worst of the indigo dye off her forearms before it could stain her skin. She wrinkled her nose in disgust. Not only was it slimy to the touch but it stank like dead fish too.

‘Stop daydreaming and do some work or you’ll feel the
bite of my cane on your backside!’ snapped Aranea, who had silently tiptoed in to check on Charlie’s progress.

It was more than Charlie could bear. If she couldn’t give Lady Narcissa a piece of her mind, then at least she could give this spiteful old woman a good talking-to. She opened her mouth, then shut it in surprise when she saw Stones standing by the door.

‘Stones,’ said Aranea when she realized she had company. ‘What can I do for you?’

‘Is she giving you trouble?’ he rumbled.

‘Nothing a beating cannot fix,’ said Aranea, hefting her cane.

‘Well, I’ve no doubt she deserves it but it will have to wait. I have a task for her.’

‘As you wish.’

‘Good. But she needs to be presentable. Girlie, go scrub your arms clean. Aranea, is there anything you can do to disguise the smell? She stinks.’

‘Well, that’s vat work for you.’ Aranea shrugged. ‘A good wash with some lemon juice will remove the worst of it, and if you want we can scent her with some of the fragrance we use on the silks. I don’t think there’s anything I can do for her hair, though. I’ve never seen anything so tangled before.’

Stones waved his hand. ‘Forget the hair but get her smelling clean. I want her outside the Spinnery in five minutes.’

Aranea pulled her mean lips together at the short deadline but nodded in agreement. Melita stared at Charlie, clearly intrigued by the presence of Stones in the Spinnery. Charlie gave her a weak smile. To her his arrival could mean only one thing: her day was going to go from bad to worse.

24

Betrayal on the Bridge

The winged creature hastened through the skies, stopping only when it really had to. The strong need to find its sibling hadn’t decreased over time or distance. Indeed, if anything the closer the creature got to its destination the greater the urge had become. It could feel that its sibling was still in danger.

Pinning its ears closer to its head for greater speed, it bunched its powerful shoulders forward and, with great sweeps of its broad wings, began to hurtle through the sky.

Dipping its wings it banked sharply and flew into a thermal. Slowly but steadily it rose higher and higher as the warm winds aided its ascent. The thermal, spiralling around and around like a great corkscrew, did its work and lifted the streamlined muscular creature to greater heights. The air slowly thinned and the ground dwindled into the distance. Cattle became specks of dirt, the few houses in sight were reduced to dots and the roaring, tumbling river shrank to become a blue, meandering ribbon.

With an inbuilt awareness the creature realized it was high enough. Tilting its wings and arching its long neck, it
left the thermal and began to glide through the air. With slow, steady, thrumming wing-beats, it started the last stage of its journey.

As it began to fly over the beginnings of the golden-green canopy of Deepforest, the creature felt a warm sense of excitement. Sylvaris was close by.

Stones met Charlie outside the Spinnery door.

‘Better, much better.’ He nodded at the sight of her. ‘And at least you no longer smell like something washed up on the beach.’ Opening his clenched hand, he showed Charlie what lay in his palm: the ring that went with the Isiris Bracelets. Charlie groaned at the sight.

‘Listen up. Both your bumbling friends, Jensen and Kelko, are being difficult. This is the third time today that they have come calling for you. First we told them that you were busy settling in and they left. The second time we said that you were jewellery shopping with Mother’s daughter, Constantina, which should provide a suitable explanation if they ask about the Isiris Bracelets. But this time they refuse to leave without speaking to you. They’ve had the cheek to sit themselves down right in the middle of the drawbridge and they say they won’t budge until they see your face. Mother isn’t pleased and I can’t bear to see her unhappy, so it’s time to do something about those two ridiculous idiots.’

Charlie felt a flush of elation. Loyal Jensen and Kelko had come to check on her! Maybe this was her way out. Maybe …

‘Forget it, girlie,’ smirked Stones, as he read the emotions on her face. ‘You won’t be going free, not today, or at least not while I hold this ring. Now come with me and do as I tell you.’

At his command, Charlie’s unwilling feet walked up the long flight of stairs, matching Stones’s massive stride. The two of them marched towards the tower’s entrance and out on to the drawbridge. As they approached, Charlie was delighted to see that Kelko and Jensen had brought along Sic Boy, presumably as insurance against any heavy-handed action from the Alavisian Watchmen. The enormous dog sat at their side lazily licking his chops and gazing with mild interest at the moths that fluttered in the night sky. Next to him, the two Tremen were engrossed in what sounded like a heated card game.

‘Oi! Ya big blubbering ball of lard, stop cheating!’ shouted Jensen. ‘Don’t think I didn’t sees ya try and slip that ace inta the pack.’

‘Wot? Wot ace?’ said Kelko, feigning innocence. ‘Wot are ya going on about?’

‘Wot ace?’ cried Jensen, mimicking Kelko. ‘Dis ace! And here, hang on a minute, wot’s dis, then?’ Jensen leaned over and swiped at Kelko’s lap. A spare, sneakily hidden pack of cards tumbled across the drawbridge. ‘Call yerself a legitimate card player, do ya?’