Aphri vaulted each of the obstacles keeping her from Caldason. Aphrim ran to skirt them. They came at him head-on and from the side, and the fight resumed.
The floor was making ominous sounds, the room shuddering.
Then the world lurched crazily.
In a neighbouring street, Serrah and Tanalvah were making their way through the mid-town crowds.
‘What’s going on over there?’ Tanalvah said, pointing to the other side of the road.
A skinny, dark-haired man in a dishevelled state was running along the pavement, waving his arms about and shouting.
Serrah shrugged. ‘Don’t know. Can you hear what he’s saying?’
‘Something about the watch, I think. And sandals. It could have been vandals.’
‘Big cities. You get all sorts.’
‘Perhaps he’s one of those poor deluded people you see talking to themselves on the streets sometimes.’
‘Could be.’
They walked on. The shouting man faded into the distance.
‘You don’t think…’
‘What, Tan?’
‘You don’t think that man could have had anything to do with Reeth and Kutch, do you?’
‘Why should he? What possible trouble could they get into visiting a bookshop? Ah, there it is.’
No sooner had they spotted the shop than a sound like thunder came from it. Clouds of dust billowed from its open door.
Caldason and the twins were still fighting when the floor collapsed. It dropped like the deck of a rapidly sinking ship. Timber, masonry, plaster, thousands of books and three hapless figures plummeted through the ceiling of the ground floor. In a chorus of tremendous crashes the tables and unsecured bookcases fell with them.
A blizzard of countless fluttering pages descended, followed by the fusty grime of ages to garnish the chaos.
An after-the-storm silence blanketed the scene, broken only by the sound of an occasional book late in falling.
‘
Whoooaa!
Do it again! Do it again!’ Aphri, still on her feet, was grinning, jubilant as a child just off a fairground ride. Her glamour twin was nearby, sitting incongruously on a heap of books, cross-legged, an impassive expression on its face.
Half covered in debris, Caldason lifted his head. He found he was still clutching his sword. Disentangling himself from the wreckage, he got up.
‘Still alive?’ Aphrim snorted petulantly.
‘We must rectify that, my dear,’ Aphri told him.
They started to move in on the Qalochian.
‘Hey!’
All heads turned. Serrah and Tanalvah were scrambling over the rubble towards them, and Serrah had her sword drawn.
‘Playtime’s over,’ Aphri decided. ‘Come.’ She beckoned Aphrim.
He ran to her, and
in
to her, merging instantly. Aphri twitched ever so slightly as she reabsorbed her twin. Then she turned on her heel and streaked to the door. Tanalvah drew back as she passed, appalled at what she’d just seen. Serrah made to give chase.
‘Let her go!’ Caldason called out, re-sheathing his blade. ‘Chances are she already looks like somebody else.’
‘What happened?’ Tanalvah said.
‘And what the hell
was
that?’ Serrah wanted to know.
Caldason ignored them. ‘Kutch?’ he yelled.
‘Kutch?’
‘Here!’ a muffled voice responded.
It came from the foot of the staircase, which remained standing, just. They set to clearing the debris, and found him curled up under the protective wooden slats. Reeth and Serrah took an arm each and pulled him out.
‘Are you all right?’ Tanalvah inquired anxiously.
‘Yes, I think so.’ He seemed more excited than upset as he dusted himself off. ‘I got a peek, from back there. It was a
meld
, Reeth! I’ve never seen one before. They’re really rare.’
‘And the woman was wearing a masking glamour, pretending to be old,’ Caldason said.
‘Neither sounds cheap,’ Serrah ventured.
‘Far from it.’
‘And they…she was after you?’ Tanalvah asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Looks like you have a complicating factor in your life, Reeth,’ Serrah announced.
‘Just what I needed.’
She saw blood on his sleeve. ‘You’re hurt.’
He hadn’t noticed, and hardly gave it a glance. ‘It doesn’t matter. You know how quickly I heal.’
‘Does that make it less painful?’ Serrah took hold of the fabric and ripped it apart. He had an ugly gash running along the outside of his arm. Tearing off a portion of her own,
much cleaner, shirt sleeve, she proceeded to bind the wound. There was something almost tender about the way she did it.
‘I hate to break this up,’ Tanalvah said, ‘but-’
‘Yes,’ Caldason agreed, finishing the last knot himself, ‘we have to get out of here.’ He caught Serrah’s eyes and added softly, ‘Thanks.’
They headed for the door. Kutch hung back, surveying the mess.
‘Come
on
!’ Serrah chided.
‘But I didn’t even get a book,’ he grumbled, slinking after her.
11
‘A
symbiote
?’
‘
Ssshhh!
I wouldn’t want the children to hear any of this, Kinsel. They’ll have nightmares.’
‘Sorry,’ Rukanis replied in a softer voice, glancing at the half-open bedroom door across the hall. ‘It’s one of the drawbacks of being a singer. I’m always projecting to an audience.’
She smiled. ‘Fool.’
‘Anyway, I think Teg and Lirrin are more resilient than you believe, Tan.’
‘Perhaps. But after what they’ve been through they deserve a break from the world’s harshness.’
‘Absolutely. But we were talking about what
you
went through today.’
‘Oh, I wasn’t that involved, not really. We arrived after it was all over. Except for seeing that…’
‘I think they’re commonly called melds.’
‘Yes. But they’re not common, fortunately.’
‘I always thought they were a myth.’
‘The one we saw was real enough.’
Kinsel sipped his wine. ‘Poor Reeth. He seems to attract trouble wherever he goes.’
In the glow of the glamour orbs, Tanalvah’s face took on a harder set. ‘His sort always does.’
‘His sort? Aren’t
you
…his sort?’
‘No. I’m not talking about the race we share.’
‘Oh.’
‘Don’t look at me that way, Kinsel.’
‘It’s just not like you. You normally show such generosity of spirit to everyone. It’s one of the things I love you for.’ He squeezed her hand. ‘But you seem to have this blind spot when it comes to Reeth.’
‘I’d call it the opposite: I can see all too clearly what he’s capable of.’ She noticed his expression and sighed. ‘All right, maybe I am being unfair. But I’ve never got over feeling uneasy about him, and a bit frightened, if I’m being honest.’
‘I think you misjudge him. Surely you of all people can understand where his combative tendencies come from? It’s your mutual birthright, isn’t it?’
‘I may be of the Qaloch, but I wasn’t brought up the way he was.’
‘Only because circumstances prevented it.’
‘You think blood will out, is that it?’
‘I’m saying that Qalochians have been renowned as warriors for centuries. That kind of legacy goes deep.’
‘I wouldn’t have thought it was one that appealed to a pacifist, dear.’
‘It’s just an observation. I’m not saying it’s good or bad.’
‘It isn’t about Reeth’s heritage,
our
heritage, it’s…A man like that, a maverick, can ruin things for other people.’ She grew more intense. ‘I wouldn’t allow that to happen to us, Kin. Never. Whatever I had to do to prevent it.’
‘He isn’t going to ruin anything for us,’ he told her.
‘Perhaps I do have a bit of Qaloch belligerence in my blood,’ she conceded, grinning.
‘We’re going to be all right. Teg, Lirrin; all of us.’