Read Monstrous Races for Free Online Page A

and moving his head slowly. His hair (at the front of his head only) was black and cut short, and he peered at her whilst holding his hands together. ‘You’re a blemmyae,’ she stuttered, ‘a real one.’
    He stood with his hands clasped together looking slowly from her to Rufus. ‘Your full name, child.’
    ‘Elspeth Sparrow, of Yewminster,’ she mumbled, ashamed now of her reaction.
    ‘Very well, you may stay on a temporary basis and must report to the Council House at first light tomorrow morning. Any questions?’ They both shook their heads and the blemmyae held out his hand. ‘That will be two groats administration costs please.’ Rufus grumbled and handed over the coins. ‘Next!’ shouted the blemmyae.
    They walked on, and as they left Rufus leant over to Josie. ‘The Dog and Duck on Corn Street, I’ll be in there tomorrow night. Be good to catch up.’
    ‘Come on Rufus,’ said Elli, dragging him away. ‘Let’s just get in.’
    The first thing that hi t Elli was the size, a huge mas s of noise and splutter and movement. Horses and carts streamed past, and towards the walls vendors of all kinds of food had set up stalls to which both Elli and Rufus were automatically drawn. ‘What’s that?’ she asked, peering into a sizzling cauldron of glistening and exotic vegetables.
    ‘It’s called Chill-he my dear,’ said the large man stirring it with a wooden oar. ‘It comes with a free drink of clean water, boiled and cooled only this morning.’ He was shiny with sweat and had an accent she’d never heard before. Rufus sniffed the cauldron.
    ‘Phew, that’s powerful stuff. Is that the ‘burn your head off’ chill-he they tried to ban a while ago?’
    ‘The very same,’ said the man proudly. ‘A connoisseur I see. Will that be two chill-hes and water?
    ‘How much?’ asked Rufus, as Elli’s stomach flipped with hunger.
    ‘A groat, and I’ll throw in cooling cream with it.’
    ‘My friend, for a groat I’d want the stall. A quart and I’m being generous.’ The man smiled and poured out two steaming hot chill-hes on two flatbreads topped with cream.
    ‘Why are they called chill-hes? ’ asked Elli as they sat on a bench to the front of the stall and were about to eat.
    ‘Because when people here first tried them they would throw themselves into a river, a lake, a trough, anything cold and wet to cool down. Hence chill-hes ,’ he said, his food in one hand and a tankard of water in the other. Elli bit into hers and very quickly finished her drink, pouring the remaining drops over her head.
    ‘More water for the girl?’ asked the man, already pouring it out.
     
    They walked around after that, taking in the new smells and sounds. It was larger than anything Elli could have imagined, and she found herself clinging to Rufus and becoming anxious if he stepped out of her sight. Dog-heads and humans walked around together, and blemmyaes would weave in and around them, tending to walk with other blemmyaes. All had short, clipped hair, whether male or female, and wore dulled, plain clothes. In contrast some of the humans and dog-heads wore vibrant colours and gold and silver jewellery, and sometimes they walked with a human or dog-head in a purple jacket and hat behind them.
    ‘Who are they, the ones that follow?’ she whispered.
    ‘They’re personal-guards, privately paid for by those rich types,’ he sniffed. ‘Another idea of the Blemmyae Council. They’re like a private gendarme , and they guard that person and their belongings. When I was here last, some rich Lord or other woke up to find everything, his clothes, money, everything taken by his own guard. He even managed to make it out of the city. You’ve got to hand it to him. Of course, that’s why you pay insurance.’
    ‘Insurance?’
    ‘You pay it to the Blemmyae Council on top of tax, so that if your personal-guard walks off with your stuff they’ll either replace it all or find them and bring them back with all your