Episode 16
Shore Leave
Tortoise stopped to take a foggy breath, icy rain dripping from the hood of his raincoat.
The walk to Hildebur’s house was supposedly short, but still involved a lot of stairs. The gas-lit streets were narrow and labyrinthine, defined completely by the three-to-four storey buildings and the deep, narrow drains that lined them. Other than the uniformly solid doors there were no other openings or windows at street level. Above some of the doors hung a single strange character inscribed on a brightly coloured sign, while other doors had white mosaic patterns tiled around the doorway.
Dee waved from a corner as the gang disappeared around it and Tortoise hurried to catch up.
The sky thundered again, and the rain poured down.
The pilot’s daughter proved to be a young, cheerful, foul-mouthed woman of tremendous style.
“Gods, you must’ve frozen your kinkers off out there. Welcome, lovelies! Boots off or wash your hooves please.” Hildebur pushed the door fully closed and gestured to the tap to one side of the dimly lit entrance room they’d all crowded into. “Warm towels just there, and hot soup inside when you’re dry.”
Tortoise was the slowest hanging his gear and drying off, so by the time he pulled aside the bead curtain and stepped up into the living room, the others were all lounging around on thick red rugs and brightly coloured cushions, and Hildebur was passing out giant mugs of soup—brown ones for vegetarian, orange ones for non.
They ate in silence; it had been a long day. Some of them eventually made their way to the kitchen at Hildebur’s invitation and helped themselves to seconds.
Tortoise looked around as he ate. Old tapestries and pelts hung from the walls. Despite the ancient decoration, Hildebur’s home had a friendly, lived-in feeling. As if beautiful tattered tapestries were normal. As for Hildebur, you could sense she was a chatty person, but also that she knew everyone was tired and was holding back from saying too much.
“Oh my god, that was delicious!” Penny said finally, setting down her bowl. “Don’t tell me there’s dessert as well!”
“There isn’t,” Hildebur said cheerfully. But in a little while she’d produced a plate of dried fruits, nuts, and crickets, as well as cups of tea all round, and everyone sat in sated silence enjoying the tea & the warmth of the radiator.
Dee purred.
“Did Theodorus build the palace?” Tortoise asked, taking the bowl from Hildebur and drying it with the green tea towel. He stacked the bowl with the others.
“No, the palace came much later,” Hildebur said. “King Bok the third built it for his second wife Sigrid. The Mermaid Queen.”
“She was a mermaid?”
“Probably not.” Hildebur passed Tortoise a bowl. “Everyone makes out she’s so magical, but most likely she encouraged rumours after her husband died to consolidate power. She did some pretty terrible things. It’s like when you meet someone and you think, oh you’re nice. And then you realise, no. No, actually you’re a bit of a chunter.” Hildebur laughed. “But that’s history, isn’t it? It’s good to know.”
She passed him another bowl.
“Who’s the Queen now?”
“No one. The Boks were overthrown eventually by the Snowfolk, who were overthrown by the Circle of Five.”
“Who were they?”
“Oh more chunters. Rich pirates mostly. But that was the start of democracy, sort of, so that’s important. And Sigrid wasn’t all bad. She handed some power back to the jindra, so even the Circle weren’t able to get rid of them.”
“The jindra?” All the names were making Tortoise’s head spin.
“It means ‘earthworker’. Or something like that. ‘Worker’ isn’t quite right. The sisters and sons of Theodorus. Anyway, they’re very cool. They look after the stones and salmon and things. Well, we all do, but they do other things as well, like healing and choosing your sigil. My friend Aki’s one—you’ll meet her tomorrow night.”
Tortoise finished wiping the pot and placed it face down on the bench. “What should I do with the scraps?” Tortoise asked, picking up the square bowl.
“Just throw them in the worm bin—in the pantry on the right.”
Tortoise went into the pantry, which was large and dim and full of jars and boxes. He turned to the right and found a recess in the wall with what looked like an enclosed wooden bench under one of the shelves, and eventually found the latch and opened it. The worm bin had a slightly musty, earthy smell; it was too dark to see any worms. Tortoise wondered how big they were. He emptied the scraps into the bin and closed the lid.
Hildebur was standing at the sink, thinking about something.
She took the scraps bowl from Tortoise, rinsed it, and placed it back on the bench. She pulled the plug and the drain gurgled. “Well, I’m off to bed. I forgot to tell everyone we have a quiet room at the top of the stairs on the left. It’s also the sunroom in the morning, but get me to turn on the lamp if you want to use it—it’s a little tronky. Just come down and find me when you wake up—I’m a morning squirrel, so.”
Tortoise thanked her and climbed the steep stairs up to the top. Tired. A ladder continued to a hatch in the ceiling, but he turned and felt his way into the room on the right. He could hear someone snoring softly. Eventually he found a free spot among the blankets and sleeping bodies, and lay down.
He lay under the blanket listening to the rain and the wind rattling the windows. Gecko still hadn’t arrived, and he was worried that something had happened. But everyone had assured him that Gecko would be fine, and before long Tortoise had drifted off.
Next episode: The Docks