Pagewalker (16 page)

“she is beautiful” the girl said looking at
me,

“Um, thank you? I suppose, I don’t really
know what to say?” I awkwardly replied, at a loss of words I
continued “She is my best friend….uh, thank you also for saving me,
I was worried that boar man was going to get me. So thanks”

“No thank you” She replied “ If it were not
for you taking down his partner I would have been killed, and I
most certainly wouldn’t have got’n away with this!” She tossed a
bag from paw to paw, clearly a money purse as coins jingled
inside.

“It was an accident, I didn’t mean to hurt
that man, I was simply trying to….” I began but noticed how Tessa
had taken a shine to our new companion. She had her paws on the
girls shoulders and they were touching foreheads the way she
usually does with me or Sarah. It seemed odd to see her doing it
with another canine. She caught me looking and very clearly I wore
my confusion and fascination of my face like a red nose.

“I’m sorry to stare, its just, we have only
been on Northland for a few days but I have never seen anyone look
like you? Or that, uh, man for that matter. Your faces and hands,
um, pardon me for asking and not harm intended, but, what are you?”
I asked, I did not want to come across ignorant or, well, racist?
Speciest? Trying to be sensitive in a situation I had never been in
before.

The girl laughed and tilted her head to the
right, the way Tessa did if I said something to her that she didn’t
recognise. Well to be honest, basically any time I spoke to her
with a sentence that didn’t include the word `walk?’ or `food?’ or
even `ball?’

“oh the face? Haha right, right.” She put her
hands on the top of her head, behind her pointed ears and pulled
forward, a parting appeared on the top of her fur covered scalp and
grew deeper as she pulled on her face, Red emerged and I cringed
with horror until the red flair became recognisable as hair. Long
ginger hair poured out from the top of her head, as the fur was
puller further forward I could see pink, pale skin from underneath.
She removed the mask and set it down beside her feet. Tessa seemed
un-shaken, she didn’t even acknowledge any change, like someone
removing a hat or a scarf. She had already known, her senses were
much better than mine. I really should have guessed it, I mean I
created this place right? Well, not really, the horrid truth
settled on my mind like birds returning to roost. The only part of
the city of Renir that I had created was the name and a little
squiggle on the map. I had never worked it into Dertrid’s deed. My
lack of knowledge was embarrassing. Like visiting France and
knowing only three phrases in French. I should know more! I cursed
that I hadn’t written more!

“Sorry?” the girl questioned as I muttered to
myself in the darkness like a deranged schizophrenic. I snapped
back to reality, well, this version of reality any way.

“Oh nothing, i’m just a bit taken back, I
honestly believed that was your face, and that thing chasing us had
a face of a pig, come to think about it, I could have sworn I saw
people at the Rebels rest with faces of animals. Am I going crazy?
I began to pace, while crouched, it wasn’t easy, I wanted to pace
back and forth to make sense of it all but doing it underground
doesn’t have the same mind-clearing ability I had hoped. Just a
mind knocking one as my forehead met, and got well acquainted with
every low baring brick in my general area.

The Redhead giggled and folded, stuffed,
pushed and crammed the mask she had removed only moments ago into
crack in the wall. Her voice was so familiar, like something from a
computer game or a movie or something. I just couldn’t put my
finger on it. I got the impression however that I tried to put my
finger on anything, in her general area, I wouldn’t see them
again.

“This really is your first time in Renir
then?”

“Yes I swear, I really am a fish out of water
here.”

“You had me fooled, the way you stuck that
guard! Such a perfect shot, right in the eye. Couldn’t have done it
better myself!”

“God, it was a bloody accident I had no
intention of hurting him, it all just….happened!”

“Ok” She said with a mocking and sarcastic
wink “I Believe you” She started to remove parts of her outer
clothing, folding and stuffing what she could between more cracks
in the stonework.

“So the masks, what is that about then?”
moving slightly closer, Tessa’s fur in hand as she licked my wrist
in acknowledgement that I was holding her.

“Its quite simple really, all the Guilds in
Renir wear masks, it separates us and lets everyone else know who
we belong to. For example, the guards we saw earlier, Pig faces.
The traders usually wear masks of magpies, Fishermen are bears,
farm workers wear masks of goats. Every guild has a mask, you
see?”

“So what are raccoons then?” I snapped
“Rogues, troubadours?” I questioned

“Nah, we just go by thieves.” She flippantly
replied, not phased by my sharp attack.

“A guild of thieves? Oh come on, that’s
ridiculous!” I laughed than thought that it sounded familiar but
from something, or somewhere else entirely. I think I maybe read
Terry Pratchet’s Discworld when I was in school? Could that have
transferred here? I don’t know.

“Well we aren’t an official guild per-say,
more of a group that profits so well we just kind of proclaimed
that ourselves.” She laughed and squeezed the last of her stuff
into the cracks in the walls and clapped her hands cleaning of the
dust. “some of us are here and joined by choice, most of us however
are like you.” She pointed in my direction and waved her finger up
and down at me like she was trying to shake something off her nail.
I Couldn’t help but wonder about what she meant by that? They were
travellers, they had dogs, they had beards or beer bellies? I
decided to go with lost and handsome. I’m sure it was at least one
of those two. I had to ask though, not knowing kills me.

“What do you mean like me?”

“runaways, outlaws and murders!” Her eyes
narrowed on mine after the last description left her lips. There
was no denying, she had me sussed.

“But I’m not a…” I stopped before I continued
with what was now going to be a lie. I may not be a runaway but I
was officially a murderous outlaw. Not even a cool kind like batman
or Robin Hood. It didn’t feel as great as it sounded in the movies
or books, it felt wrong, shameful. The name didn’t fit me. Neither
would tights for that matter. Especially green robin hood ones. Not
worth thinking about really.

The girl smiled at me mid-sentence. “You are
now all of those my friend, but you’re not alone, Come with me, let
me introduce you to the others.”

The girl had finished hiding her belongings in the
cracks and filled up the holes with rubble and dirt. Patting it
flat with the side of her hand and smoothing it with her fingers
she took a step back, inspecting the work from several different
angles. I suppose this is as good an idea as any for someone who
most likely has nowhere permanent to lay her head at night, or as
the case may be, during the day. I looked down just for a quick
moment, looking for Tessa. She kept disappearing into the darkness,
her white tufts of fur were stained black with dirt and soot from
the tumble down into the low celling tunnels we were in now. She
was spending her time patrolling the perimeter of where we stood,
or in my case, crouched. Sniffing every corner, every out of place
brick, every puddle and pretty much anything her nose could reach.
Like a child in a sweet shop pointing at all the confectionery they
wanted, usually all of them at once in a sweeping motion. Tessa was
having the time of her life in this dank, dark, horrid chamber of
new fascinating and unrecognisable scents along with indescribable
and putrid tastes. I kept loosing her as she came in and out of my
depth of vision the darkness swallowed her every few feet away.
There was a moment of silence, I strained my eyes to try and make
out the thin body, close to the wall, I could just about make out
her four legs walking tight against the stonework and moving in my
direction. I made a click with my mouth, the sort of double click
people make when talking to horses. You know the kind? Two quick
clicks, followed by a long kiss sound. We have all done it, don’t
be ashamed. Suddenly with a flick, scrape and woosh a bright light
appeared illuminating the room we were in. My pupils instantly
shrunk from the light, like poking an anemone in a rock pool after
a low tide. I recoiled like a vampire behind undrawn curtains in
the height of the afternoon. Blinded for a moment I covered my eyes
as they adjusted to the firelight. The girl had lit a torch with
some timber and powder. Like a Cliché from a dungeons and dragons
manual cover, it was a large 2x4 style log with a metal grate on
the top with oil soaked rags wrapped around the larger end. I
instantly felt the shallow heat Radiating from it and furthermore
felt it die away and the air cool as the girl began to walk away
from me without a word.

“Hey, hold on, where are we going?” I tripped
over some rubble I had not seen, even in this light my retinas were
still huffing with me for allowing them to be so shocked. “Wait”
Continuing to stumble and trip after her. The residual remnants of
torchlight kept always one corner ahead. Shadows dancing on the
stone as we turned corner after corner, winding deeper and deeper
in to a system of vein like caverns. I only ever managed to catch
glimpses of a cloak of the heel of a boot as I perused the girl
ahead of me at such great speed, she must have known this route so
well to be able to run this fast. I could hear the flame crackle
then the sound fire makes when moved at speed, like sails flapping
in a high wind on a still night. Tessa was barking as she ran,
every time she lost sight of me, she could move so much faster and
with much more ease. I couldn’t understand what the need was to
spring. We were no longer being perused, oat least I hoped we
weren't, and as far as I knew there was no reason to get where we
were going in such a hurry. The farther we continued down the
tunnels the thicker the air got. The aroma of urine and rot was
replaced with stale urine, even older rot but a new scent arrived
on the scene like gentle reminder that civilisation, or at least
some form of it, lay close. The unmistakable and welcoming smell of
bacon, and wood smoke. As I have said many times before, but just
in case you may have forgotten after all this talk of running and
sprinting, I am a big lad. So I know the smell of Bacon pretty
well. This was proper bacon too, thickly sliced, aged and smoked
back bacon. We were most certainly going in the right
direction!

My pace had slowed now to a less that a
stroll. Kicking my feet at the knees as I walked, hands on hips,
eyes closed, leading back every few steps to try and catch some
sort of breath and stop my heart from pounding so fast I could hear
the steady flow of blood pulsing through my ear drums. My sweat was
dripping onto my glasses and I had to keep taking them of to clean.
I turned the last corner to see the girl and Tessa waiting by a
tiny door. The door was black but had a red hand print on the
front. It was a very small doorway, like the entrance to a child’s
playhouse or those tiny doors into the ball pit at Ikea. Supposedly
too small for an adult, but nearly every man in his 20s had tried
to fit through when no one is around.

“Face on that one eh?” a finger pointed in my
direction the girl was speaking to Tessa who sat at her feet
looking up between her and I.

“Jesus Christ love, kept up best I could!
Still made it didn’t I?” I replied, a word a breath. I had to lean
up against the wall to keep my upright, grasping bricks with my
fingertips behind my back so I didn’t faint.

“Look, you are only here because you saved my
life, the people through this door are not good people. Trust me.”
She said, nothing but harsh stares and serious tones.

“Ok, I understand, bad people inside. I’m not
really sure why im here, everything is happening so frigging fast.
One minute I’m arriving in Renir to find me..”

“Feck sake Mr, not looking for the life story
here!” She cut me off with her finger and thumb making a pinching
motion in front of my face, “This Is Rat Bottle pub, the home of
the Scavengers Guild, Everyone here is on the run and no one likes
newcomers. Saying that however the people in here know everything
and everyone, for the right price you can find out whatever
information you need. As of now my debt to you is fulfilled, I’m
sure you have better things to be doing and I don’t need a fat git
following me about alright? So When we go in I will inform the ones
who need to know that you are here on my invitation, but then, your
on your own, ok?” She had pulled her hair back again and fixed
herself with her back turned to me and facing the door. “Ok deaf
lugs?” She snapped,