The Broken World Book One - Children of Another God by T C Southwell Page B

air. The rush of wind raised a dust cloud, and the sound
of beating wings filled air, then a raven winged away into the blue
sky. Talsy watched until he was a dot against the heavens, picked
up the bag and trudged towards the city.
    Passing through
the gates, she entered a bustling, dirty place charged with vile
smells and raucous noise. After the sweet, clean freedom of the
quiet forest, Talsy resented the pushing people who thronged the
streets and the cries of hawkers who waved their wares at her and
pushed their leering faces close. She shuddered away from the
unsavoury goodies they offered, swept along by the rude crowd.
Puddles of filth made the footing treacherous. Animal dung and
urine mixed with slops thrown from the houses. Beggars clutched her
sleeve and whined, well-dressed people pushed her aside.
    Stopping at a
marketplace set in a garbage dump of rotting unsold wares, she
bought what she needed with a few of her meagre collection of
coins. Her stomach rumbled as she hurried past inns whence the
savoury smells of stew and roasting meat emanated, eager to be free
of the city and reach the far side of the river. For a girl born
and raised in the country, the town was a nightmare of overcrowding
and squalor, a dirty maze of twisted streets lined with dilapidated
houses, skinny children playing in the gutters.
    Arriving at a
broad bridge built from mighty timbers, she started across, then
stepped back in confusion when two spear-toting guards blocked her
path. One leered at her and thrust his unshaven face close.
    "This is a toll
bridge, woman. You got the money?"
    She shook her
head. "How do I cross?"
    He gestured
with his rusty weapon. "Use one of the others. Some are free."
    The narrow
alley he indicated ran upstream beside the river. Her good sense
told her to stay in the busy thoroughfare, however.
    The guard
winked at her. "You could make payment in kind."
    Talsy recoiled
from his revolting invitation and hurried down the alley. Sagging
shanties bordered it, and the stench of urine and human manure made
her queasy. Skinny dogs foraged in the rubbish, and rats squeaked
and scurried along the edges. Crippled, filthy beggars, no more
than bundles of stinking rags with outstretched claw-like hands,
clutched at her as she passed. Feral children watched her with
empty eyes, their ragged clothes revealing swollen bellies and
twisted limbs. She wondered why the city folk, who reviled Mujar
for refusing to help them, did not care if their own people starved
and suffered in this terrible place. Why should Mujar help those
who would not even help each other?
    Reaching a
dilapidated bridge, she headed for it, but a gang of beggars
blocked her way, hands outstretched.
    "Toll! Pay
toll!" they cried, jumping into her path when she tried to sidestep
them.
    Ignoring her
protests, they persisted until she gave up and carried on along the
alley in search of a bridge that neither soldiers nor beggars
claimed. Further on, she came to a rude barricade that forced her
to turn into a side street leading away from the river. At the next
junction, she entered a narrow road running parallel to the spate,
and searched for a way back to the bank. The alleys twisted and
turned in a fiendish maze, and she soon realised that she was lost.
She looked up at the rows of crows that lined the rooftops,
preening and calling harshly. If only she had wings.
    The afternoon
dwindled as the sun sank towards the mountains, out of sight in
this endless warren of foul streets. Dusk would soon fall, and she
still had to pass through the second half of the city, on the other
side of the river, before she was free of its squalor. By now, she
had no idea which direction to take. Tumbledown huts blocked her
view on every side. An old blind beggar squatted beside the road,
rattling a tin cup in which a few stones resided, and she
approached him.
    "Can you tell
me how to get to the river, old man?" she asked.
    He rattled his
cup. "Coin for aid, missy."
    Talsy