Sixty-One Nails: Courts of the Feyre (61 page)

    London is, of course, famous for one river, the Thames, but in fact has many. The Fleet river is one of the major tributaries flowing into the Thames and comes out at Blackfriars just near the Mermaid Theatre. The river used to flow openly and was navigable in its lower reaches, but became increasingly silted up and was used more and more as a sewer as London grew. It was eventually built over completely and now runs above ground from its source in Hampstead down to Kings Cross where it is channelled underground. I cannot say whether there is an island with an anvil or not.

    Finally, during the writing of this book, it became necessary to invent a hammer in the story so that the Quick Knife might be remade. You can imagine, therefore, how delighted I was to learn that there are two hammers used in the ceremony of beating of the bounds of the parish of St Clement Danes, just across from the Royal Courts of Justice. They were used to keep order at the feast which is held after the parish bounds had been walked and were presented by Elizabeth I in 1573 and 1598 respectively. Each hammer is mounted with silver, and has a Tudor rose and the letters ER upon it, together with the anchor of St Clement Danes. This is recorded in
Curious Survivals
by Dr George C Williamson (Herbert Jenkins, 1923), along with many other curiosities. The hammers are still used ceremonially today.

    The Quit Rents Ceremony, along with the confirmation of the Sheriffs for the City of London, is conducted every year at the Royal Courts of Justice and members of the public may attend, though the number attending may be limited by space. In 2011 it will celebrate its eight hundredth anniversary.

Mike Shevdon

The Courts of the Feyre vol.II

The Road to Bedlam

Here is a brief extract…

    Kayleigh was running out of places to look. It wasn't like Alex to skip lessons like this. Well OK, just that once, but they'd done it together, scaring each other with the prospect of getting caught in town when they should be at school. This was different. They had arranged to meet before Geography so that they could swap ideas on the homework, so where was she? She went through the outer doors, peeping around the wall in case a teacher lurked there. The playground was empty, no teachers and no Alex. She was about to go back into the building when she heard a noise from the PE block. It was more of a yell than a scream and it wasn't Alex's voice, but there shouldn't be anyone in the PE block at this time.

    She checked the playground again and ran across the tarmac, praying that the teachers in the rooms facing the playground were now engaged with their midmorning classes and too busy to be looking out the windows. She reached the side door to the gym and slipped through, breathing hard. The echo from her school shoes on the wooden floor where outdoor footwear wasn't allowed made her walk around the edge rather than crossing the open space. She stopped and listened. There were raised voices coming from the girl's changing room.

    She tiptoed quickly down the passage and stopped. The voices were louder. She leaned on the door, pushing it open slightly. She recognised Tracy Welham's voice and the unmistakable smell of cigarettes. She was about to ease the door closed again and leave them to coat their lungs with tar when she heard Alex.

    "I won't tell anyone, honest, but you have to let me past."

    "Have to, do I?" challenged Tracy. She was in the year above them and had a bad reputation.

    "You'd better let me go now," Alex asserted, "or something bad is going to happen."

    "Yeah," Tracy said. "Something bad is going to happen. Grab her."

    It was the sound of the scuffle that made Kayleigh push into the changing rooms. Two other girls, mates of Tracy's, were holding Alex, pushing her into one of the cubicles. At the sound of the door, Tracy turned to face Kayleigh.

    "You'd better let her go or I'm gonna get the teachers." Kayleigh raised her voice, keen to make sure the others heard her.

    "Get out of here now, horse-face," said Tracy, "or you're getting the same."

    They crowded Alex into the cubicle and she could hear the grunts and shoves of Alex struggling against the two older girls.

    Tracy tossed the cigarette into one of the sinks and made a grab for Kayleigh's long hair. Kayleigh evaded her, slipping back past the changing room door and pulling it closed behind her. Tracy's arm came around the gap and Kayleigh trapped it in the door. "You little sod!" Tracy's hand grasped for Kayleigh. "I'm gonna rip your hair out."

    "Kayleigh!" Alex's voice sounded hollow in the tiled room. "Tell them to stop, tell them I can't hold it. It's getting free. I can't hold it!"
    Kayleigh's mind raced.

    "You have to let her go!" she shouted through the door at Tracy. "She's not herself. You don't understand. She's really going to lose it."

    "Oh yeah, we're really scared about that." Tracy shouted to her mates, "Drown the little bitch." With a sudden tug, she pulled her arm back and slammed the door closed on Kayleigh.

    Kayleigh pushed at the door, her shoes sliding on the smooth floor as she shoved against Tracy holding it shut from the other side.

    "You don't understand. You have to let her go!"

    From behind the door came the sound of burbling and then coughing and retching. "Drown the bitch!" Tracy urged them.

    The sound of burbling resumed, but underlined by another gurgling sound. Kayleigh hammered on the door, screaming for them to stop. The gurgling deepened to a low rumble, the sound vibrating in Kayleigh bones, making her teeth ache. The temperature dropped suddenly, the chill sending goose bumps down Kayleigh's arms. There was a moment of silence.

    Then the rumbling returned, building to a crescendo until everything burst at once behind the door. Kayleigh hammered on the door, screaming for them to open it before it was too late, pleading with Tracy. Water started streaming out from under the door, pooling around Kayleigh's feet. Suddenly the pressure on the door reversed and it was Tracy trying to pull it open. Water crashed into the gap, the weight of it pressing the door shut. Tracy was screaming for her to push, just push. Her hands were white against the edge of the door as water and sewage from the drains pressed the gap closed. Kayleigh tried to wedge her foot in it but the flow was too strong and it was pushing her aside. The door slammed shut, trapping Tracy's fingers. Kayleigh heard her yank them free with a bone-popping wrench. The screams turned to hammering as the changing room rapidly filled with foul-smelling water. Kayleigh could hear them, shouting and yelling as the water swirled around them. Water streamed under the door, spraying round the edges as the pressure built. She could see the door handle rattle and then jerk as hands were dragged away, screams gulped off as they lost their footing and were swept under. Their cries echoed, rising and fading as the water began to turn, the screams turning to gasps as they tried to swim against the turning current. Her imagination conjured the vortex, tugging at their clothes, pulling them into the centre, dragging them under.

    Kayleigh turned and ran down the passage and out through the gym screaming for someone, anyone, to come and help. She ran across the playground, tears streaming down her face, shouting until her voice cracked, knowing it was already too late.

The story of Rabbit and Blackbird continues...

    Nine months after the events of SIXTY-ONE NAILS, Blackbird is heavily pregnant. They don't know when the baby will come, only that it will be soon. Niall is beginning to adjust to his new life. His daily training as a warder of the High Court of the Feyre leaves him covered in bruises that fade by dawn, only to be replaced with a new set every following day.

    Then he gets the news no parent ever wants to hear.
There's been an accident. It's your daughter.

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