The Glyph of Truth

The Glyph is Unfurled

With a start, he awoke. It was already mid-morning. He suffered from nausea and a raging headache. He drank what little gin was left in the bottle. Then, he rose, dressed and drank some water from a pitcher on the night table. He opened the window. The air here, half way up Laurel Hill, was a lot better than it was close to the river, but even here it was tainted with the stink of sulphur, coal smoke and sewage. He drew a few deep breaths.

Harcourt did not believe in the Triad. While serving in the Colonial Yeomanry, Harcourt had borne the obligatory services stoically, and had paid lip service to Verbena, the goddess of justice and war, whenever it was required of him. He had committed heinous deeds that went against all laws of men. He had felt soiled and guilty. But this was worse. He felt he had sinned against the very laws of nature.

He vomited in the ornate chamber pot, but felt little relief. His clothes had been removed. A garish purple housecoat was draped over the chair.

Harcourt spent the whole day in a stupor, not once leaving his room. He heard voices in various parts of the house. He recognized Dame Ludmilla's voice, and Demijohn's. The kitchen boy ventured into the garden to harvest some herbs. Later, Valdez strolled around the garden, stretching himself. A maid knocked and brought him a linen shirt, as well as his clothes, cleaned and mended. Even the blood stains were gone. Harcourt drank more water and went to bed early.

He felt a little better the next morning, and joined the others for breakfast. He spoke little and kept his thoughts to himself. Dame Ludmilla could no longer look him in the eye. Ortolan was his usual garrulous self. Valdez and Demijohn were well aware of the tension, but did not know what had occurred. Nor did they make it their business.

In the green room, Harcourt spent some time leafing through volumes on natural history, but his mind wandered. Apart from a few coloured prints of strange sea creatures, he remembered nothing. At supper, Ortolan pestered him until he told a few stories about his life in the army. For some reason Harcourt neither understood nor cared about, Ortolan and Demijohn seemed to get on pretty well.

Dame Ludmilla urged her brother to make discreet inquiries into the current activities of the Constables and the Sharky, but Ortolan bristled at the thought. In his opinion, it was not seemly for a young man about town to be interested in such mundane affairs, and he told his sister so in no uncertain terms.

On the third day, their brief respite was already drawing to an end. They were all nervous and taciturn. Ortolan made some attempts to start a conversation, but soon gave up. Instead, he had his carriage prepared and went to meet some unspecified friends for a bit of unspecified fun. Dame Ludmilla disapproved, but there was nothing she could do about it. So far, her brother had been helpful and generous, and had not pried into their current affairs.

Ortolan had not yet returned when they left his house in the late afternoon. On Arboury Lane, they chanced upon a group of four Constables armed with swords and batons, who paid them no heed, however. Encouraged, they decide to cross St. Tiffin's bridge into Spackery.

Demijohn and Dame Ludmilla went first, posing as a couple. The Constables ignored them. They did not even appear to be particularly alert. Harcourt and Valdez followed separately, after a pause of several minutes.

They made their way through Burndale back to Potter's Mill. With every step they took, poverty and pollution increased. In the worst parts of Potter's Mill Ward, half the population seemed to be sleeping on the streets, sheltered from the elements only by the overhanging upper storeys of the crooked old buildings.

Once, they had to stop for a few minutes when Dame Ludmilla was racked by a coughing fit. Finally, they reached Temple Yard, where the dilapidated old temple of Camelia, the goddess of wisdom and science, had been encircled by cheap tenements almost as high as the temple itself. They split up and waited in the rapidly lengthening shadows.