The Lordly Ones

-The Ink Children

Tripping and jostling, the crowd went from stall to stall, their bland, grimy clothes blending in with the murky puddles in which they splashed through. Together the people mixed to form a grey moving blur that spread through Market Square. And it moved like this, a forever forming and re-forming monster with an irregular, lumpy skin, becoming bigger and bigger until its huge grimy head leered over a small child selling dieing flowers on the corner of the plaza. She was scrawny, weak and just as grimy as the others. But there was also something different about her. Maybe it was her glowering eyes. Perhaps it was something to do with the tenderly tied ribbons around each rotting flower. It was too odd. She was too alive. But soon she was swamped by the heavy coats and cloaks and quickly she lost herself, swallowed up, dropping a trail of petals wherever she was dragged by the jostling adults. Looking up to their tall hats and open umbrellas she shrunk away to hide a small tear of fear. All the grubby faces looked the same, their grusome meat heads twisted into grimaces. She wanted to run. Wanted to hide. Caught in the river of people she struggled and pulled, but to no avail. 

She clutched her doll close to her chest and desperately went down to her knees, trying to crawl her way out. But that too seemed a failure. Within seconds, her hands and feet were trodden to the dirt, blasting pain down her nerves to the beat of this army's boots, her favourite dress trodden into the mud and grime of the town's pebbles. But just as she began to give up... Just as the child stopped pushing back, something happened. In a miracle of movement the crowd split and edged away to form a small path. Some stumbled and tripped. At the end of it stood the miracle worker. A sandy blond angel went down on one knee to greet her. If the small girl's heart could have exploded, it would have, in beautiful fireworks, breaking up the dull sky of the small market town. With a child's grin the young man gestured for her to come forward. And she did. At a running pace. She could see the light through those warm eyes of his, even if none of this disgusting crowd could.

"I was lookin' for you!" the young man playfully scolded, raising her up onto his shoulders, smiling to no-one in particular, "Your Aunt has been screamin' up a storm!"

He waded through the waves of people as if they were tiny mice. But even as they cowered away from him in disgust, he still smiled. Almost as if he didn't know. It had been a few years since he had arrived at Kanefete. He had arrived as scrawny and reckless as she was, covered in scratches and bruises. He'd been looking for a better life he had said. His Ma wanted better for him. Not that it helped him here. His good looks and boy charm had got him far with the lower-class ladies and men but the middle-class and above shuffled from him like he had the pox. There were rumours about him. It was said he was dirty and slept around. They said he had 'a piece of machienery to make an elephant blush' - whatever that meant. Whatever it meant, it had shoved his name into the dust. Not that he seemed to care of course. He stood out like a lit oil lamp in the dark among the heavy solemn faces.

Finally he turned into a back alley, turning through twists and corner streets like it was his job. He stopped just outside of the 'Old 'Eadless Rabbit' and put the girl carefully down next to a rather big and grumpy lady who started arguing with the her as soon as she was abandoned with a smile before the lady gestured inside the pub to the man, telling him that he was wanted. He was always wanted. And the girl watched, curiously, with adoration. Once inside a big stocky man rose to his feet and gave the boy a huge meaty hug before dragging him towards a booth. There was only one man inside it and at first glance he looked like all the other men with his grey cloak. But, the strange lump on his back highlighted where his wings had been cleverly hidden, of course, the girl would never have seen this.

"Kanixi," the young man breathed, wondering why his friend looked so troubled.

Kanixi lowered his hood, making him wince at a fresh cut on his cheek. The creature was covered in deep scratched, as if someone, or something, had tried to gorge his very face from his head. He then reached inside a pouch and drew out a folded piece of parchment. Startled, the man rolled it out and saw the faces of three girls on a big 'WANTED' poster. Two of them were fairly ugly, the other stood out the most. She had big eyes and a sweet face with longish hair. Like some of the dead people of his homeland.