A Mix Of Metals

Chapter Seventeen: The Jester's Poem

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WARNING: this chapter contains unsettling scenes which might shock the reader.
Tread carefully !!

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Brom, Henrietta and Mizu carried on east, delving deeper and deeper into the repugnant city that was London. Brom still led the way, a good ten feet ahead of the other two. He was still shaken by the struggle at the hill and needed a moment alone to calm himself down.

The three of them appeared as darker hooded silhouettes still, with all the mud clinging to their clothes that had coloured the brighter colours of their apparel. The Thames was not far off to their right. As they treaded along the narrow street, they would catch glimpses of it every so often in between the amassed houses.

The neighbourhood slowly evolved back to being in a poorly, dilapidated state, overcrowded with houses and shacks of brick and stone, donning smashed windows barely shielded by broken, wooden shutters, that slammed in unison with the breeze.

The oh too familiar smell, more unbearable than ever.

It also became difficult to see. Their eyes stung from the heavy fog mixed with smoke from the chimneys pumping endlessly, day and night. The moon crescent was now a distant halo of light barely shining through the low sky and the constant, annoying drizzle.

As they walked on, they could perceive in the distance, towering above all of the dark, crooked rooves, the blurred outline of a tall whitened building with a large dome. It struck two o'clock, its bells' echo bouncing through the streets in all directions, making the ground vibrate. Brom paused for a moment, letting the other two catch up.

"That's Saint Paul's Cathedral, close to where the exit of the tunnel is. I'll show you," Henrietta muttered through her posey and beckoned them to follow her. When Mizu's eyes met hers momentarily, she quickly looked away.

A flash of her fall with the Japanese man came and went uncontrollably before her eyes as she resumed her walk ahead of the others. She felt a pleasant jolt in the pit of her stomach as she recalled the proximity, the heated contact between both of their bodies. She had felt warm, then overwhelmingly shy, and all of a sudden, the Devil inside had taken over and she had been outrageously daring.

She had noticed that Mizu hadn't really struggled back. It was likely the figment of her imagination, but it seemed as though he had enjoyed her tight, controlling grip somehow. Henrietta blushed at the idea and felt as if the man were looking right through her from behind. She glanced over her shoulder discreetly and caught his eye once again, but it was his turn to look away; she thought she could see his cheeks colour, even beneath his cloak, in the darkness.

Henrietta was quickly snapped out of her thoughts as the streets opened up onto the square where Saint Paul's Cathedral stood, majestic, imposing. Many people were walking, running or praying around it, even at such a late hour.

They circled around the cathedral and reached a very dark side-alley just behind it. Henrietta gestured at it soundlessly and the three of them slipped in. It seemed to stretch on for miles. It was so narrow that both Mizu's shoulders brushed lightly against each wall as she advanced farther and farther through. Brom had to go at it sideways, being broad-shouldered.

The light did not enter this street, neither could it escape from it, the houses on either side being too high and blocking out the sky entirely. And there was not one single door, nor any windows for that matter. Just blank, stone walls stretching upwards infinitely.

They finally got to the dead-end of it. Henrietta crouched down in the dark, feeling for something on the ground. Mizu and Brom leaned in closer but could only distinguish the outline of her silhouette grasping at something below her.