Bloodkin (Jaseth of Jaelshead) Read online

  This was true, I guess, though it never occurred to me that my father was a racist, even though before Charlie, I had never even met any Nea’thi before.

  “Don’t worry JJ, you’ll find Lille to be much more… cosmopolitan. And the Academy strongly encourages Bloodkin to go to services every week, so you should get used to that.” He caught my grimace and laughed again. “Come on, it’s not that bad! The Temples are nice, and it’s good for you, you’ll see.”

  The highway ran right beside the river now, and up ahead I could see the road cutting between two low green hills and I could make out the distant sparkle as it poured into Lake Nallow.

  “We’re almost there now, it’s just on the other side!” Charlie pointed towards the hills. Squinting, I could just see the towers atop the right-hand hill, the dark grey slate glinting in the afternoon sun. The near slopes were thickly carpeted with orchards of fruit trees and the flat land to the right of the highway was rich and green with intensively farmed vegetables.

  I was suddenly nervous. Here was the city which I had heard so much about, the city that was to be my home for the next two years, but in reality, I knew hardly anything about it. What if it was too different from home? What if I hated it? We had pushed so hard on our journey and I had been so distracted by Charlie’s company that I had hardly imagined what life would be like when we finally got to our destination. My insides clenched with nerves as we passed between the hills and turned north and suddenly, there it was. The Jael spilled into Lake Nallow, which was so long I couldn’t see the far side. Blanketing the north shore of the lake and stretching up onto the hills were row upon row of buildings, the same grey slate of the towers, bathed in golden sunlight. They were punctuated by more towers, spires of the temples and narrow pillars of hearthsmoke. An island in the eastern corner was topped by a huge, ancient castle that looked rather boarded up and was joined to the city by way of a great arched bridge. Further along the shore the wharves of the docks stretched into the lake. I thought Jaelshead had been a big town, but this… This was huge.

  I realised I had stopped to gaze in awe when Charlie pulled up beside me.

  “Pretty cool huh?”

  I could only nod, my throat feeling a bit constricted. Charlie pointed to a group of large, graceful buildings made of darker stone near the bridge to the castle.

  “That’s the Academy, where you’ll be studying. And over there…” He pointed to an area further down the shore, where a large area of tall buildings made in the same dark stone clustered together. “That’s the Nea’thi Quarter, where the Hall is. That’s where we’ll be living for the next two years.”

  I gulped. “Well, we’d best, uh, get a move on if we’re to make it before the sun sets.”

  Charlie cackled and urged his horse to a canter. “Come on Jas, let’s go home!”

  The sun had indeed set by the time we had made it into the city proper. The small cottages that lined the road had given way to grand houses, packed tightly together. And the people! I had never seen so many people in one place at the same time. They walked, or rode, or tended the beasts that pulled their carts, and traffic was busy in both directions. I lost sight of the lake as the buildings grew taller and closer together, and Charlie guided us down what seemed like a maze of streets, all cobbled with the grey slate. Daggers of late sun sliced through gaps in the buildings as it set, and I thought I caught a glimpse of the castle perched atop its rocky island. We pressed on through the main roads as the sky darkened, and it felt as if we were heading back towards the lake. Guardsmen in pairs walked the streets, lighting torches hung from the walls or high posts at the many crossroads.

  Then we turned left at one of the crossroads and faced a huge arch of black marble that stood over the street.

  “Here we are Jas, the Nea’thi district. Home.”

  We dismounted and led our horses underneath the arch and all of a sudden it seemed like we were in a different city altogether. These were the buildings I had seen from the other side of the lake, darker than they had appeared in the afternoon. But what I hadn’t appreciated from a distance was how tall these buildings were, at least four or five storeys high, many topped with towers or spires or achingly tall chimneys. The streets here were narrow indeed, and it was dark. Hung over us on lines stretched between buildings were awnings of beautifully coloured fabric, flapping gently in the evening offshore breeze. Not much sunlight would filter through during the day I figured. Even now, as I craned my head to take in the grandeur of the place, I could only see fragments of the sky, beginning to twinkle with stars. Down on the street the doorways were lit not by torches, but by curious glass globes set in brackets that glowed red and yellow and green. If I had found the rest of the city confusing, the Nea’thi Quarter really was a maze, pathways twisted off like tunnels, and with the high buildings leaning over the road I felt almost claustrophobic, as if we were underground. Turning a final corner we found ourselves in front of a massive door, liberally illuminated with the light globes. I ran my hand over the smooth surface of one, surprised that the glass was cool to the touch.

  “Humans call them glowbes,” Charlie informed me as he handed over his reins and pulled a chain to the side of the door, and I heard the clanking of a bell somewhere inside the massive edifice.

  Slowly the great door creaked open and a huge pair of red eyes blinked out at us.

  “Greeting, my name is Ϛaioћлeжa Ұлeßжa of the Ұiờ Enclave. Mentor to Jaseth of Jaelshead.”

  The other Nea’thi stepped out into the glow and grasped Charlie’s hands firmly. “Ϛaioћ, my dear boy, welcome!”

  The surprise and delight was evident in Charlie’s face as he enveloped the other Nea’thi in a bear hug. “Yұieӣấ! How—”

  “You’ve been a long time away from Lille, boyo, I’m matron of the Hall now.” As she pulled back from the embrace I got a better look at this other person, only the second Nea’thi I had ever seen. She was not as tall as Charlie, but still taller than me. She wore Nea’thi-style robes in a bright, clear blue that draped gracefully around her ample figure. She turned to regard me as she offered her hand.

  “I am Yұieӣấ Endoжeлe of the Hầio enclave, although I understand that Nea’thi is a difficult language for Humans to pronounce, so you may call me Eve.”

  I smiled at the now-familiar Nea’thi greeting and shook her hand as I studied her face. She had the same oversized eyes as Charlie, but her large red irises were perhaps more orange. Her cheeks were plump and deep lines stretched out from her eyes and around her generous mouth. I was surprised to see her skin was a different colour to Charlie’s as well – a slightly purple dove-grey compared to his bluish slate colour.

  “Jaseth dear, welcome to Lille, I trust your studies here will prove fruitful.” She noticed our horses behind us. “You must be bone weary, and hungry too, no doubt! I’ll get one of the boys to tend to your things while I sort you out some dinner.” She stuck her head back inside the door and shouted something in Nea’thi, the volume coming from the motherly woman startling both me and the horses, who stepped nervously behind me. It didn’t take long before I could hear the sound of running feet and a Nea’thi youth appeared beside her.

  “This is Ћtaұoж Hấseлe of Hầio.” The youth dipped his head nervously as Eve introduced him. “Ћtaұoж dear, this is Ϛaioћлeжa and Jaseth. Please take their horses around to the stable and bring their belongings to their room.”

  The youth nodded and took the reins from me, leading the horses around a corner and out of sight. Eve shrugged and sighed.

  “Fresh out of the Enclave, that one, and still quite terrified of Humans.” She shook her head. “You won’t believe the name he chose. Steven!”

  “Steven?” Charlie caught Eve’s eye and they both burst into hoots of laughter.

  “Oh yes, dear boy. He’ll learn.”

  “He sure will!”

  Eve gestured for us to follow her inside. “Now I’ll show you up to your rooms and get you
something to eat, you poor starved boys. Then you can meet the others.” Her eyes twinkled.

  If the narrow streets outside had made me feel claustrophobic, the reception room of the Hall certainly made me feel better. The roof was gloriously high, strung with chandeliers of tiny glowbes, more large ones set into the wall. They gave off a light quite different from the candles I was used to. It wasn’t dark or gloomy inside, but the ambience was gentle, easy on my eyes and perfectly suited to the light-sensitive Nea’thi. The floor was beautiful black and white marble tiles set out in a checkerboard pattern and polished to a high sheen, while in the centre of the room lay a glorious soft rug, woven in intricate patterns of red and blue. A huge fire burned in a hearth opposite a large wooden desk, presumably where Myn Eve did her work and monitored the comings and goings of the students. She led us up a grand marble staircase in the far corner and down a long corridor. More of the beautiful rugs covered the floors and glowbes were recessed into the walls between the doors.

  At the end of the hallway Eve stopped. “You two are the last to arrive of this year’s intake so you get the end room, I’m afraid.” She smiled apologetically. “But you do get an excellent view and I’m sure you’ll find it comfortable enough.” She pushed open the door and bustled through, Charlie and I trailing in her wake.

  We found ourselves in a small sitting room, cosily proportioned. A couch and a couple of armchairs were laid around a fireplace which looked to be freshly lit. Desks and bookcases and a marble-topped workbench lined one wall and our bags had been piled beside two other doors down the far end.

  “Now, your bedrooms are through there, and your bathroom facilities are in here.” Eve pointed to another door I hadn’t noticed in the corner where we had entered from. “I’ll leave you two to get settled, come up to the common room when you’re ready, the stairs are just out in the hall here. Please, make yourselves at home.” And with that she was gone, pulling the door closed behind her, leaving Charlie and me to survey our surroundings.

  The two bedrooms were identical, with just enough room for a large bed and a chest of drawers. The one on the left was closer to the fire, but the one on the right appeared to be in the very corner of the big building and had windows in two of the walls through which I could see the twinkling lights of the low city and further along to where the wharves jutted out into the inky darkness of the lake.

  “You can have this one,” said Charlie, coming in behind me, noticing how I stared out the windows. I started to protest but he cut me off. “The other one will be warmer and I’m Nea’thi, I get cold!”

  Gratefully I demurred and left Charlie to unpack most of his things in his room and went to inspect our bathroom. There was a particularly long and deep bath, Nea’thi-sized I supposed, with peculiar taps protruding from the wall. At the far end was an even more peculiar device. It was the privy, I guessed, with a generously sized wooden seat and a copper-handled chain that hung from the ceiling. Curious, I pulled the chain to see what would happen, and with a loud gush of water the privy filled then emptied again with a gurgle of water through pipes.

  “Bloody hell Charlie!” I yelled, “There’s something wrong with the privy!”

  He bounded in, and then laughed at my confusion.

  “Shit Charlie, I didn’t mean to, but I pulled the chain and it… Well, it just sort of flushed…”

  I was dismayed. I had only been here two minutes and already I had managed to break something.

  But Charlie just laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “Never seen a flush toilet before, I take it?” Mutely I shook my head. “It’s supposed to do that! When you’ve, you know, finished your business you pull the chain and it gets flushed into the sewerage system.”

  Well, that was a relief, but a sewerage system? That seemed hard to fathom.

  Rightly sensing my confusion, Charlie led me out of the bathroom to one of the armchairs.

  “Yep, the whole city has a Nea’thi-designed sewer system. There are pipes that run from every house and they all go underground, through a tunnel in the hill and out to fertilise the fields on the other side.” I vaguely remembered the lush crops in the fields as we had rode into Lille, was it only this afternoon? It felt like weeks ago.

  My confusion abated. The idea of a whole city’s worth of pipes seemed a bit weird, but flushing toilets I could definitely get used to. I sat by the fire and surveyed our quarters. They certainly were cosy, and Charlie would be sleeping in the room right beside me for the next two years. I had accepted the idea of being so close out of necessity while we were on the road, but I had had some thought that once we arrived we would have a bit more space.

  “So JJ, what do you think?” asked Charlie from the doorway to his room.

  “It’s nice,” I offered, “But it’s a bit… intimate, isn’t it?”

  Charlie squeaked in surprise then leapt over, grabbing my head in a fierce headlock and ruffling my hair furiously with his free hand.

  “Intimate?!” he choked with laughter. “Golly gosh Lordboy, you really are a snob! This is more than most families have!”

  “Oh, sod off.” Embarrassed, I tried to push him off. I didn’t think I was being a snob. Charlie finally gave up and stood. He must have noticed my burning cheeks and mercifully didn’t tease me.

  “It’ll be fine, kiddo! And besides, Bloodkin are always getting into trouble. This way I can keep a close eye on you.” He waggled his finger at me and grinned wolfishly. “Anyways, I’m starved; let’s go see what Myn Eve has cooked up for us!”

  “So how do we lock this thing?” Out in the hall I realised Eve hadn’t given us keys or anything, but Charlie glanced at me with a puzzled look.

  “Really? We’re among friends here, no one’s going to steal anything!”

  I thought of the grizzled old watchman in charge of the Manor at Jaelshead and grunted.

  “Remember the three esses!” Charlie raised his eyebrows. “Security, security, security!”

  “I don’t get it.”

  “Uh, there’s nothing much to get.”

  Charlie laughed and shrugged. “I’d forgotten how weird you Humans are, you care so much about stuff!”

  I shrugged too and we turned to go out and up the stairs to the common room when a big robed figure raced around the corner and almost bowled into us.

  “Oof, terribly sorry, I’m—” he broke off. “Ϛaioћ! You made it! Awesome!”

  “Jyѫaж! What are you doing here?” Sounding delighted, Charlie embraced the other Nea’thi.

  “Same thing as you buddy, Mentoring! My first Bloodkin has already Graduated and he’s gone to the Temple to be a Solast. A Solast! Can you believe it? I’m so proud of him!” The other Nea’thi spoke quickly, excited, beaming at Charlie. “And you’ll never guess who I’m Mentoring now. A lesbian! It’s brilliant!”

  I was taken aback by what seemed to be a rather vulgar display of objectification, but the joy on his face and the pride sparkling in his eyes was genuine, and I realised he really did think it was brilliant.

  “She’s terribly sad though, poor dear thing. Had such a rough time at home, teenage sexuality and all that. Honestly, Humans can be so cruel…” He stopped and looked at me closely. “My apologies. I am Jyѫaжa Hấӣaћ of the Ұiờ enclave, although I understand that Nea’thi is a difficult language for Humans to pronounce, so you may call me Jimmy.” I shook his extended hand.

  “I’m Jaseth. Of, er, Jaelshead.” I offered, and he grinned.

  “Jaelshead! Ϛaioћ, do you remember Toѫeneж? His Bloodkin’s from Jaelshead too! His name’s Telgeth, do you know him?”

  Though I figured this was who Rudi had told us about I had to shake my head. I really knew no one my own age from home.

  “Oh well, it’s lucky old Toѫen has him, he’s quite a handful… Look, you guys should go up, Yұieӣấ is putting some dinner out for you. I’ll go get the others, they’ll be dying to meet you, you’re the last to arrive you know!”

  “Yeah, so we
were told. Come on Jas, we’ll see you in a bit Jyѫ.”

  “You sure will!” Jimmy bounded off down the hall and we made our escape up the stairs.

  “Jyѫ was a couple of years ahead of me in the Guild of Education. We spent some time here together when we were Journeymen,” Charlie explained as we climbed.

  The common room was appointed rather like our private quarters but on a much larger scale. It must have taken up most of the third floor of the hall. Two big fires burned at either end of the room, surrounded by couches and chairs. The floor and walls were covered with plush tapestries and dining tables were laid out down the middle. Along one wall stood a number of bookcases, stuffed full with texts, and the opposite wall had windows looking out over the lake. We sat at one of the tables that had been set for a meal and Eve bustled out through a swinging door from what must have been the kitchen, carrying two plates of food and a bottle of wine.

  “Here you go boys.” She looked at me sternly. “Now, we don’t have wine every night, mind, but this is a special occasion – your first night in Lille!” Without waiting for a response she put the plates down in front of us and poured the wine. “Did you see Jyѫaжa on your way up?” She rolled her eyes. “He was so excited you were coming Ϛaioћ. Honestly, the energy of that boy!” She sighed, as if thoroughly wearied. “Well, best eat up before the horde arrives, you’ll get no peace when they do!” And she was off, back into the kitchen to leave us to our meal.

  Turns out I was starving, the light lunch at the temple seemed a million years ago, and I wolfed my food, hardly tasting it. When we finished, Charlie disappeared into the kitchen with our scraped plates, and when he returned he refilled our glasses and we went and sat on a couch by one of the fires. We had hardly made ourselves comfortable when the sounds of loud conversation reached us, and suddenly people started pouring into the room, Jimmy in the lead.

  “Everyone, this is Ϛaioћлeжa – Charlie – and Jaseth. Jaseth and Ϛaioћ, this is, well, everyone!”