Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Read online

  “I thought you said magic shouldn’t be used for frivolous purposes!” I managed to splutter.

  “Hầұeӣ! And there’s nothing frivolous about curing hangovers!” he cried fervently, sending me into a fit of giggles that quickly turned into unrestrained coughing.

  Taking the the pipe from my hand, Charlie smoked delicate little puffs, drawing the smoke in and holding it before exhaling through his nose, the greyish-blue tendrils not much lighter than his skin.

  “We learn early on that unnecessary use of Hầұeӣ in front of Humans is a very bad idea. It arouses envy, jealousy in people and that in turn makes them angry. We Nea’thi are still very much a minority here Outside, and we have learned from our studies of Human history that it is prudent for minorities not to arouse envy or anger. Humans can do terrible things when they’re angry…” He trailed off, looking thoughtful, then brightened. “It is also prudent to make the use of Hầұeӣ seem much more difficult than it actually is.” He grinned wolfishly. “It makes Humans less willing to covet the ability if it appears to be a bit of a struggle.”

  I had to smile; Charlie sure knew how Humans worked.

  “So all that hand-waving and muttering when you put out the, er, my fire… That was just for my parents’ benefit?”

  “Ha, you’re catching on fast boyo! I mean, words and gestures can help focus your concentration, but for that sort of thing, totally unnecessary.” He handed the pipe back to me and squinted at it again so the moss relit. I realised I was starting to feel much better. In fact, as I sucked on the pipe gently, I was feeling infinitely better. My stomach had calmed, the streaming sunlight no longer burned my eyes and, Lilbecz save me, I was starting to feel hungry. I was beginning to fantasise about a huge breakfast when there was a loud knock at the door.

  “Who is it?” Charlie called politely without the nervousness I suddenly felt. Smoking Nea’thi drugs in an inn room is not something I usually do.

  “It’s me, you big grey layabout” growled Rudi from outside. “And I bet you’re smoking some of that effing Nea’thi White, judging by the state of you when you finally let me get some rest!”

  To my surprise Charlie laughed happily and called out “Yes indeed, Myr Rudi!” as he went to unlock the door for our host.

  Rudi looked a bit of a fright as he waded through our room and sat heavily on the end of the bed. His eyes were slitted against the light and his mop of hair was squashed flat on one side of his head, a fuzzy mess on the other.

  “Gimme a hoon on that eh?” Rudi reached for the pipe that Charlie had refilled upon his entry. He groped in his pockets until he pulled out a small metal sparklight with which he lit the bowl and inhaled deeply without, to my envy, any coughing at all. “Hmph, yeah, that hits the spot, thanks Charlie.” He passed the pipe to me along with, thankfully, his sparklight.

  “You boys near drained my cellars last night!” Rudi exclaimed as I fumbled with the flintcatch. “Here, let me,” as he took it back and struck the flame expertly. “Don’t they teach you little Lordboys anything these days?” he grumbled. I tried to cough politely as this new blast of moss seemed even hotter than before, and the other two laughed at my discomfiture, Rudi whacking me on the back with a meaty fist.

  “Well Rudi,” said Charlie, accepting the pipe and the spark-light, “I’m sure at least one of those merchants here last night will have some interesting vintages in their cargo.”

  “Ha, yeah, they’re all still asleep, lazy buggers.”

  Charlie grinned “And if they feel anything like how I did when I woke up, they won’t be putting up much of a fight when it comes to bargaining.”

  “Indeed they won’t!” Rudi grunted happily. He rose and made his way towards the door, gesturing for us to follow. “I’m bloody hungry now and if I know anything, and I think I do, I bet you boys will be desperate for something to eat too. I managed to get some breakfast on before I came up. We got some leftover pie, toast and eggs. Freshly laid too!”

  My belly was rumbling loud enough for me to hear it. Rudi was right, I was desperate, and judging by the speed with which we tumbled out of the door and down the hallway, the others were too.

  The shutters were drawn and the windows open, letting light and fresh air flood the common room, which last night had been warm and cosy, but decidedly close. Nevertheless, the fire had been banked and was crackling a welcome as Rudi steered us into a booth. He disappeared behind the bar into the room that was presumably the kitchen, and came back laden with a jug of steaming coffee, mugs, and three plates piled high with food balancing precariously on his arms.

  The toast was smothered with butter and perfectly browned so as to not go soggy when I punctured the yolk of my poached eggs with my fork, the brightest yolk I had ever seen dribbling in golden rivulets. I helped myself to the bowl of salt, sprinkling my breakfast liberally.

  “Bloody good stuff that.” Rudi gestured at the bowl with his fork, his mouth already full. “All the way from Allyon!”

  It was possibly the best breakfast I had ever eaten. The pie was even better than it had been the night before, the eggs and toast were salty and delicious, and suddenly I was regarding my empty plate with dismay.

  Rudi laughed and filled a mug from the pitcher of coffee, already milked and sweetened. “Drink your coffee before it gets cold, eh lad? And I’d fill you up with more, but I believe you’ve a long day’s ride ahead of you, don’t want you falling off your horse ‘cause you’re so stuffed!”

  When the other two had finished Rudi called for Sambeth to ready our horses as we went back to our room to repack our saddlebags. Some of the other merchants had surfaced by this stage and they greeted us slowly, the misery of hangovers etched on their faces. I, on the other hand, was feeling positively bubbly, buoyed by the breakfast and two mugs of sweet coffee as well as the marvellous White. We met Rudi and Sambeth by the stables, Rudi fussing over our horses and rechecking the girth straps.

  “We want our favourite guests to be safe on their travels, don’t we Sambeth?” he growled at the boy. “Unless of course,” he turned to Charlie beseechingly, “you would stay another night?”

  Charlie was gracious in his refusal. “Of course we would love to, Myr Rudi, this is the best inn this side of the Jael!” Rudi scratched at his head, pleased and a bit embarrassed by the praise. “But we’re on a bit of a timeframe I’m afraid. We need to get Jaseth to Lille soon, his classes start in a week, you know.”

  “Or course Charlie, Lord Jaseth. All the best with your studies, young sir!”

  Sambeth held our horses for us as we mounted. “Promise you’ll come back soon, Myr Charlie, promise?” the boy called after us as Rudi led us to the highway.

  “Of course Sambeth! You behave for Myr Rudi now, you hear?”

  “Of course!” he cried with a cheeky grin. “I always do!”

  “He’s a good boy, that one,” Charlie told Rudi.

  “Of course he is, but a bit bloody cheeky for my liking!” he grumbled and Charlie laughed.

  “I can only imagine how cheeky you were when you were a boy!”

  Rudi slapped the rump of Charlie’s horse in affirmation as he grinned ruefully at us.

  “You will come back, won’t you? I imagine Lord Jaseth here will have to visit his venerable parents from time to time?”

  “Of course he will, Rudi, and there’s nowhere else we’d rather stay.”

  And with that, Charlie urged his horse to a trot and I followed, heading westward down the beaten dirt road. I turned to see Rudi still standing by the gate, waving his farewell. I waved back before the road curved and a tall grove of poplar trees obscured him from view. I hoped we would be back soon. I had had such a nice time at the small wayside inn, drinking and singing and laughing with regular people, away from the confinement of my parents and the pressures of being the Lord’s heir.

  It was, however, to be a very long time before I saw Sambeth and Myr Rudi again.

  t must have been late morning when Cha
rlie slowed his horse to a walk. The highway at this point had curved around to run alongside the Jael and Charlie led us down a short beaten track to the river to water our horses.

  “Hey Jaseth, there aren’t any Temples that we’ll be passing today, but there’s a nice quiet clearing just further down if you want to go do the Ritual of Gratitude.”

  I was momentarily confused. “The what?”

  “Oh, I just thought with it being Sunday and all you might want to.”

  “Ah, right, no, I’m not particularly religious, so it doesn’t matter. Um, feel free to do it if you want.”

  Charlie chuckled. “No no, don’t worry about me. All that Temple stuff is for Humans, Nea’thi don’t, ah, need it. Do you not go at home?”

  “Well, on the festivals and stuff, yeah, but not every week. My father is a bit… sceptical.” And he thought followers of the Temple were tree-hugging hippies, but I didn’t need to mention that.

  “Huh, I thought Humans were really into the Temple, they are in the Capitols at least. The great Temple of Lille is a rather beautiful place, and the High Priestess really is a lovely woman.”

  “You know the High Priestess of Lille?” This was unexpected.

  “Hanniash? Well, I met her many years ago when she was still an Acolyte. I, er, knew her Mentor.”

  “The High Priestess of Lille is Nea’thi-Blood?” More surprises.

  “Well, yes, of course, they often are! There’s lots of Nea’thi-Bloods in the Capitols, doing a variety of interesting things.”

  “Will I get to meet her?”

  Charlie laughed. “Maybe! But we still have to get there first! If you’re not going to do a ritual, then maybe we should get back on the road.”

  Later that afternoon the vineyards on our right gave way to wide grain fields, almost ready for harvest. To our left, the side of the highway was covered with groves of willow trees, the ground thick with blackberry brambles as the sounds of the Jael became audible from the road. We passed under a stand of elms and rounded a bend and at once we could see the river, washing gracefully past, at least twice the width of the stream that meandered through our forest at home. A huge curved stone bridge crossed the river ahead of us, onto a road that stretched west through trees and fields all the way to Fortesta in the south.

  On the near side of the bridge was a cairn of rocks, piled just higher than a man’s head, and I realised with a start that it signalled the end of the Jaelshead district.

  Charlie saw what had caught my eye and he smiled gently. “This is it Jas, we’re leaving the ancestral home.”

  “Yeah,” I muttered, “Guess we’re in the real world now.”

  I also realised as we rode closer that there were two armed guards on our side of the bridge. They both wore chainmail and open-faced helms that glinted in the sun, and over their chests they wore tabards in the green and white stripe of the national armed force. More worrying were the long pikes they both held upright, but lowered as we approached.

  Surely this was normal? If I remembered my geography lessons properly this was a major intersection. We were now out of the rather sheltered and quiet Jaelshead valley and were getting close to Lille. I hadn’t really considered the possibility, but I suppose there were brigands and highwaymen-types around, I wasn’t that naïve.

  “Let me handle this, okay Jas? And try not to pull rank unless you really have to, we don’t want to antagonise them.” Charlie spoke quietly to me as he slid off his horse and walked up to the guards holding the reins. I did the same as the guards moved up to meet us with more than a hint of belligerence in their swagger.

  Charlie lifted off his hood and nodded politely to the men. “Guardsmen, how fares the road today?”

  To their credit, neither of the men looked surprised to see a Nea’thi traveller, but instead of the usual friendliness that Charlie seemed to elicit from everyone we met, the guards regarded first him and then me with expressions that were distinctly unpleasant.

  One of them twisted a smile. “Not so good today, elephant.” The last bit was muttered, but still loud enough for us to hear. Charlie was unperturbed, but the unease that I had felt was bubbling into something like anger. These two pieces of yokel trash had weapons, for Lilbecz’ sake, and they appeared to be threatening an important Nea’thi emissary and the Lord’s bloody heir! Didn’t they know who we were?

  “Has there been trouble, good sirs?” Charlie was trying to ingratiate himself with his wide-eyed sincerity, but they guards appeared to be almost angry themselves, and I didn’t know why, but it seemed to be aimed at Charlie.

  “They’re going the wrong way,” the other guard muttered to the first and they exchanged glances.

  “Still, what’s he doing with this pretty young thing, eh?” This obviously referred to me, and I was rather appalled by the insinuation. I was about to open my mouth and protest at this disrespectful treatment when I glanced at Charlie. His expression changed from one of concern to gentle encouragement and he squinted almost imperceptibly at the men.

  Suddenly I didn’t feel angry at the guards any more, if anything, I felt a bit sorry for them – standing guard at a rather remote and boring spot. And they must have felt some terrible hurt in the past to be directing such anger at Charlie, a man they had never met before!

  Now they were lowering their weapons, one of them looking thoughtful, the other a bit sad.

  “Please men, we’ve been travelling for some time and would be extremely grateful for any news of the city,” Charlie pleaded quietly, though his big unblinking eyes never left them. The men almost tripped over each other in their eagerness to respond.

  “Well, it’s like this, see—”

  “What we’ve heard is—” They both began at the same time.

  Charlie laughed good-naturedly and they both grinned. This time only one of them spoke.

  “Well we’ve been sent out here to keep an eye on the roads. There been some folk disappearing, mostly them queer half-breeds. Everyone knows it’s Lya Vassalion, but we’ve to keep a look out just the same.” He peered at me more closely. “Are you alright there, sonny? He hasn’t… done anything to you?”

  The suggestion was so completely laughable I giggled a bit as Charlie answered for me. “Jaseth is Nea’thi-Blood and I am his Mentor and we are on our way to the Academy in Lille. Please, tell me why Lya Vassalion would be interested in Mingles?”

  The Nea’thi phrase for ‘the family’ was one of the few that had been absorbed into general Human dialect, but only as a contemptuous reference to a semi-mythical criminal syndicate that operated out of Lille; whispered about as a sort of guild of assassins and held by legend to operate under the protection and guidance of a Nea’thi goddess, referred to as Lya Myn. I was pretty sure Lya Vassalion was little more than a fairy story, but even if they were real, Charlie would hardly be worried about murderers, would he?

  “Well who else would be doing killings in the city? We would know, wouldn’t we? It’s you lot that are going missing, and it has to be something to do with magic…” The guard fell silent as Charlie squinted at him again.

  “If that is all the news from the city gentlemen, we must be on our way.” Charlie was smooth and encouraging. “You two are doing a difficult but important job out here, you should be proud of yourselves.” On cue, the guards straightened and smiled. “Carry that pride with you, kind sirs, and treat those who pass this way with the dignity and respect you expect for yourselves.”

  Charlie turned from the guardsmen and mounted his horse, gesturing that I should do the same. With a salute to the men who were still standing there, grinning proudly, he wheeled around and set off down the road that led to Lille.

  We cantered some way in silence. I thought about the guards. How difficult it would be to guard a bridge that, for all it was a major crossroads, was smack bang in the middle of nowhere. To be sent so far from the city, from the garrison where no doubt most of their friends were still stationed, and surely they had families
to miss. I found I was proud of them, doing their duty and following orders so well. They hadn’t been that bad, really.

  Really? I shook my head, it felt a bit clouded as I remembered the things they had said to Charlie as they had lowered their weapons at us, they had called Charlie an elephant, for Lilbecz’ sake, with voices filled with spite and with rage in their eyes. They were common effing racists and I felt proud of them? What the hell had just happened?

  My horse had slowed to a walk and Charlie looked back, surprised, to see what the holdup was. He waited as I caught up and urged his horse to walk beside mine as I looked straight ahead, thinking.

  Finally I turned to him. “You magicked us,” I managed flatly. My earlier rush of good feeling for the guards had dissipated and I recollected the confrontation with growing bitterness. “You magicked them, and you magicked me. What the hell, Charlie?”

  He sighed and settled uncomfortably in his saddle.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes? That’s all you can say? What the hell happened back there?”

  He sighed again, then collected himself.

  “Yes” he said more firmly. “The Hầұeӣ involved is a form of Psychosolastry, but not particularly complicated. You will learn about it, in time, at the Academy.” I grunted but he continued. “Your Masters will be able to explain it better than I, but you direct the Hầұeӣ to release extra serotonin to lift the mood of the subject, then shift the brain waves so they are more susceptible to suggestion.” He shrugged, embarrassed. “Sounds easy when I put it like that, doesn’t it?”

  “Sounds like you bloody hypnotised them.” My bitterness was welling up. “Yeah, you hypnotised them and you hypnotised me.” I looked him in the eye, suddenly furious. “You can’t do that to me! You’re supposed to be my Mentor, for Lilbecz’ sake, and I can’t even bloody trust you not to magic me when it suits you!”

  Charlie looked hurt, but I didn’t care. I couldn’t even trust him.

  “I’m sorry Jas, I really am. They could have decided to hurt us—“