Abhorrent Practices - Book 1

Chapter 5.3 - Brael (Scene 3: The Tentings)

Perrick and Alyss had been walking the road built alongside Canto's ancient aqueduct for more than twenty minutes when Perrick suddenly motioned for her to turn off the road and take shelter beneath one of the aqueduct's great brick arches. He gripped her upper arm firmly and put a finger to her lips.

"Ssshh!" he said.

He stepped away from her and peered out around the side of the arch. Someone had been following their progress through the town, he was sure of that, and he'd twice caught sight of a short man casually sauntering along behind them. He wore a frock coat, the deep purple colour of a rich plum wine, and a pair of round spectacles, which he would stop and polish furiously whenever Perrick turned to see if he was still there.

Perrick had first spotted the little man just outside the great Memorial Gates at the entrance to the docks. He'd thought little of it at the time but, just to be cautious, he'd taken a less than direct route to the Tentings, stopping twice on the pretext of pointing out a local landmark to Alyss. Both times, the man had stopped too, staring intently at his spectacles, as he rubbed the lenses with a pale blue handkerchief.

He looked along the length of the aqueduct, a massive structure which had stood for over two hundred years, widely acknowledged as the architectural wonder of the city. A series of arches sixty feet high stretched away into the distance, carrying a great river of water from the highlands east of Canto, right into every quarter of the capital city. To the frustration of the Constabulary, it had been impossible to harness that water in the fight against the Great Conflagration but, miraculously, the structure itself had survived virtually untouched by the flames.

Perrick waited a little longer and then, satisfied that they'd lost the little man in the purple coat, he passed under the arch and walked through to the other side. He told himself that the man could have been nothing more than a tourist who'd lost his way or, more likely, a pickpocket, who saw foreigners like Alyss and himself as easy marks. He knew, however, that it was possible he belonged to the Knights of Endurance, looking for evidence of visiting Ferrymen. Sandrine would need to know about this.

As they emerged from the other side of the arch, the area known locally as the Tentings spread out before them, row upon row of makeshift dwellings sprawling in every direction. Alyss screwed up her face in disgust.

"You needn't think you're going to put me in one of those!" she said.

At the time of their construction, it was announced that the huts and tents erected here among the ruins of the old Brightside District were to be temporary, a stop-gap measure to house the thousands made homeless by the war with Tremayne. Thirty years later the residents were still waiting for more permanent homes to be built. A few had even become so settled, they'd planted flowers in pots and boxes set in front of their supposedly temporary homes; sprays of yellow fool's blossom and the occasional cluster of pink heartbloom: tiny spatters of colour, struggling to add a little cheer to the residents' otherwise bleak living conditions.

"Don't worry. I'm just here to see someone." Perrick made no attempt to slow down, his long legs keeping him some distance ahead of Alyss. "I need to get some supplies."

Taking two, sometimes three steps to every one of his, Alyss followed Perrick as he made his way among the living units. Most were constructed of various irregular planks of wood; a few were reinforced with an iron rail or gratings scavenged from buildings destroyed during the Great Conflagration. None were tall enough to stand up in, and they all contained a sheet or two of canvas serving as a roof or a wall. After the destruction of the ships under construction in Brael's pre-war shipyards, sail cloth had been one of the few commodities in ready supply.

"I warn you, Mister Perrick, if you try to trick me -"

"You won't tell us how to perform the Rite of Passing. I know."