Bloodrush (Scarlet Star Trilogy #1)

Chapter 28 - "Storm's Coming"

'All quiet on the faerie front. It's been a few months since I last saw anything. I'm starting to think I was wrong. My eyes must be getting old.

Speaking of old, that boy grows up faster and faster every day. He's still got too much of his father in him, but I like to think I've tempered that, just a little bit. I'm teaching him all the troll names. He's got a mind like a blade. Shame he doesn't use it more, and give his heart a break.'

6th June, 1867

Days always move like treacle when you're in a hurry. The sun inched across the sky with a terrible, torpid pace. Morning dragged and the afternoon was lethargic. Merion was painfully aware of each passing second, sat as he was on the roof, with a wooden-cased clock he had pinched from the kitchen. Its ticks and tocks were like the unsteady tapping of a drunken cripple on old crutches and wet cobbles. More than once throughout his vigil on the roof, Merion considered tossing the damned thing over the edge, to be done with its infernal slowness. Night was what he needed, not this blasted day. The day had no opportunities to tempt him with.

The roof was the only place he felt remotely comfortable. The day was stuffy. The house was even more so. Clouds had gathered at the corners of the world, grey fingers groping at the blue sky.

The basement was still awash with corpses, as it had been since yesterday. Lilain had worked through the night. Men had come to take them to the pits and pyres. They had offered him a few silvers to help with the digging, but Merion had politely informed them that he would rather dig out his kidneys with a spoon. He'd had enough of the dead and their cold touch.

His room was soured by the presence of his stubborn faerie. Rhin was busy blackening his armour and putting an even finer edge on his blades. He meant business, and Merion was infuriated it. Rhin's business would ruin his, and yet the faerie refused to empathise. They had argued again that morning, and neither had come away remotely content. 

Merion felt as though he was running out of time, and yet he had plenty to spare. It was a perplexing situation to be stuck in. 

It was halfway through the afternoon when Lilain popped her head out of the window, hollering his name. 'Merion? You out here?'

'I am indeed.'

'Why, might I ask?'

'Nowhere else to be.'

'You're going to get burnt to a crisp.'

Merion reached into his pocket and showed her an empty vial. 'Lungfish,' he said, flicking its label.

Lilain raised an eyebrow. 'You're learning your Sanguine fast. And you've also been sneaking into my store without asking.'

'You were busy with the men. I only took the one vial.'

Lilain shrugged. 'Fair enough.'

'Any word on Lurker?'

'I spoke to the sheriff. He's far from pleased, and demanded a fistful of sil'erbits for the saloon owner. Seems your Calidae put in a word after all. Lurker's going to be kept behind bars for a few days to "teach him a lesson". Nobody's being hanged just yet,' she replied. 'I'd put my trust in the prospector, Merion. He's managed to line many a pocket in this town with gold over the years, payment for this and that. That might count for something.'

Merion breathed a sigh of relief. At least there was some good news to be had today.

His aunt took a moment to look around at the town and the desert. 'What are you looking at?'