The Tales of Aylfenhame Compendium

Chapter Two-2

When they reached a village square—passing numerous houses, small shops and inns along the way—they encountered a market in full swing. Sophy was delighted; everywhere she looked her eager eye discovered ribbons, fabrics, foods and myriad goods, each more riotously coloured than the last. But Thundigle stopped her.

‘Careful, Miss Sophy,’ he said in an undertone. ‘I advise against looking too closely.’

‘But whyever not?’

‘Things aren’t always as they seem in Aylfenhame, remember? For certain you should not eat anything here, for if it does you no other harm, it may oblige you to stay. It changes you.’

Sophy had not time to answer. As they entered the market, only then had it struck her how few other folk she had seen in the streets of Grenlowe. They were all here, bargaining and buying, jostling and pushing each other, and Sophy along with them. She saw goblins and brownies like Thundigle, stocky gnomes in colourful overalls, nymphs and sprites and many other creatures she did not recognise. Some wore rags; others wore finery more splendid than anything Sophy had seen before.

She noticed many folk who looked human, too, except for a slight point to their ears, shades of blue, green and purple in their hair, and eyes coloured like earth and trees and meadows of flowers. Their skin ranged in hue from palest white through to deep, dark brown. These were the Ayliri, she realised: the ruling class of Aylfenhame by right of beauty, and birth, and power.

All seemed equally eager to acquire the proffered wares, rich and raggity alike. As Sophy fought to keep her feet in the crush and to remain near Thundigle, someone thrust an enchanting little cake under her nose. It was the colour of summer sunshine, and it sparkled with flecks of gold as the vendor turned it for her perusal. She smelled honey and nectar and at least a dozen other heavenly things.

‘Sun cakes!’ bawled a scratchety voice immediately next to her ear. ‘Sun cakes, fresh! Going fast! Hurry!’

Mindful of Thundigle’s warning, Sophy tried to turn away, but the beauty of the little cake held her. She inhaled another lungful of the delicious aroma, wondering if she had money enough in her purse for the treat.

‘Sun cakes!’ bawled the vendor again, and the cake was withdrawn. ‘Fine spirits and good moods for a week; that’s a guarantee!’

Dismayed, Sophy looked around for the seller, already reaching into her reticule for her purse.

‘Miss Sophy!’ Thundigle hissed. ‘Remember what I said!’

‘I know, I do truly remember; only it is so very—’ her attention was caught by an array of ribbons fluttering from the awnings of a stall opposite. They were decked with flowers and bells and tiny butterflies with fluttering gossamer wings, and Sophy was enchanted anew. ‘Oh, but look! I must have that lavender ribbon—you must allow me that much, Thundigle, for I assure you I have no intention of eating it.’

‘We need to get away from this market,’ the brownie muttered. With that he took hold of Sophy’s skirt in one small but insistent hand and began to haul her away. He was surprisingly strong for one so small; off-balance as she was, Sophy found herself propelled some distance from the mesmerising ribbons before she could muster any objection.

‘This is too bad of you,’ she protested, really feeling disappointed. ‘I cannot believe a single ribbon could do me any harm.’

Thundigle marched on, implacable. ‘It begins with a ribbon…’ he said grimly.

‘And ends, perhaps, with an entire gown, and a pair of boots to match! I can see no probable outcome any worse than that, so do please be reasonable.’ She finally managed to halt Thundigle’s march, wresting her gown free of his tight grip.

Barely had she caught her breath, however, before someone large and heavy barrelled into her, sending her spinning away. She collided with a disagreeably solid wall, narrowly avoiding knocking her head against the unyielding stone.

‘Well, really!’ she gasped, clutching at her bonnet and reticule. ‘People in Aylfenhame have fully the most disagreeable manners I have ever—’

She broke off, her eye fixed upon the fleeing figure who had almost knocked her over. He was unmistakeably Ayliri, tall and lithe, dressed in pale trousers, a dark blue tunic and a wide-brimmed hat. All she could see was his fleeing back; his dark brown hair was long and loose, flying in the wind.

He was chasing after an enormous purple cat.

The creature was magnificent; easily three times the size of a typical house cat. Its fur was quite, quite purple—the hue of lilacs in bloom—and highlighted with a sheen of silver. Sophy stared until the cat and the man had disappeared around a corner.

Intrigued and outraged by turns, and with confused notions in mind of admiring the cat and berating its pursuer, Sophy started down the street after them. She soon left the market crush behind and found her way clear; breaking into a run, she hastened to catch up.

The corner gave way to another, and another. Turning a third time, Sophy encountered a dead end. Her quarry stood at the end of it, man and cat facing each other in some kind of stand-off. They were both crouched low, ready to spring; were they going to attack each other?

‘Stop!’ she called, hurrying down the narrow street towards them.

The cat flashed golden eyes at her in the briefest of glances. The man chose that moment to pounce; but, even distracted, the cat evaded him with ease and tore away back down the lane towards Sophy.

She had no time to move out of the way before it was upon her. But instead of colliding with her, the cat leaped up into the air and began to run along the side of the building, with as much ease as though it ran on level ground. It missed her by a whisker; as it passed, Sophy had just time to observe that it was carrying something in its mouth.

She watched, astonished, as it ran the full length of the street sideways to the road, and finally vanished from sight.

Her attention was caught by the sound of laughter coming from behind her. Turning, she saw the stranger doubled over with mirth.

‘Very well; you have earned your dinner!’ he called, straightening. His gaze fell on Sophy, and he stopped laughing.

Sophy regarded him in silence, keeping a wary distance. His skin was dark brown; he was much browner than any person she had ever seen before. She could discern little else, for the wide brim of his hat and his unruly hair covered much of his face. Only a single bright brown eye was visible, twinkling with merriment and fixed upon her.

‘Well, madam, you have made a mess of my contest, and given the victory against me. To what do I owe the honour of your interruption?’

His accent was unlike anything she had heard before, either, and very pleasant, full of lilting musicality. He did not sound cross, but Sophy—as the injured party—bridled. ‘A pretty comment, sir, when it is you who has interrupted me! You almost knocked me down a few moments ago.’

‘Ah! I had thought it was a wall I had connected with, but thinking on it, I did find it a little softer than one might expect of a stone structure.’ His one visible eye twinkled at her more merrily than ever, and his tone was full of laughter.

Sophy lifted her chin and stared him down. To be mistaken for a wall! She was taller than most women, this was true, and she was not especially blessed with physical endowments; but still! A wall!

‘An apology is considered customary, under the circumstances!’ she said.

‘And have you really followed me for such a purpose as that?’ he marvelled. ‘Hey! Well, an apology costs nothing. You may have several, madam, if that will please you.’ He proceeded to sweep her a low bow, and said, ‘Apologies once, twice and thrice, and I am delighted to see that I have done you no lasting injury.’

Sophy could hear his smile, even if she couldn’t see it. His peculiar manner began to strike her as charming, and she smiled in return. ‘No injury indeed, though perhaps I had better ascertain the health of the wall. You may not have collided with it, but I did, and rather hard at that.’ Hard enough to bruise, she judged, for she could feel a dull ache in her shoulder and back.

He laughed at that, and held out a hand. ‘Walls are exceptionally good at taking care of themselves, I do find. May I know your name?’

Sophy advanced with a little caution. What manner of introduction was this? No proper one, certainly, for she ought to be introduced by a respectable third party. Moreover, she found he did actually mean to shake her hand, for he continued to hold it out to her.

‘Miss Landon, of Tilby,’ she said, curtseying. Evidently the customs of Grenlowe differed from those of her home town, but still she could not bring herself to actually shake his hand.

‘Miss Landon of Tilby,’ he repeated, withdrawing his hand. To her amusement he mimicked her gesture, and curtseyed very prettily to her. ‘I am Aubranael!’

‘Very well, Mr. Aubranael,’ she began, but he cut her off.

‘Not “Mister”. Just Aubranael.’

Sophy frowned. Proper etiquette required that a lady address a gentleman by his title and his family name; did he really expect her to call him by his first name?

But, she remembered, this was Aylfenhame. Perhaps people here did not have family names. Or titles.

‘Aubranael,’ she repeated, trying it out. The name was so odd that the lack of title did not seem so peculiar after all; but she felt compelled to make up for the deficit in politeness by making another curtsey, which drew a laugh from him.

‘You do not reside in Grenlowe, I think,’ he said. ‘Or even in Aylfenhame, I would judge. This Tilby of yours is situated in…?’

‘England.’

‘Ah! Distant shores! And how came you to be travelling here, Miss Landon of Tilby?’

‘It was not a plan of my own making,’ she replied, and explained the circumstances behind her arrival. To her surprise he appeared to have heard of Balligumph, and on the mention of the troll’s name his manner towards her (already thoroughly friendly) warmed even further. This civil exchange culminated in an invitation to take tea with him: ‘For,’ he said gravely, ‘your kind is famed for love of that particular beverage.’

His offer posed a dilemma, and she paused to consider. It was one thing to converse briefly with a gentleman one had happened to bump into (or vice versa); it was quite another to accept an invitation to tea, and without any other companion! Sophy found that she dearly wished to accept, for there was something about him that charmed her enormously; but she could not bring herself to be so bold.

She was saved by a slight cough from behind her. Turning, she found Thundigle glaring up at her.

‘Oh! True, indeed, I had forgot. I must not eat or drink anything here, my friend assures me,’ she said, turning back to Aubranael. ‘Which is a shame, for I am rather thirsty.’

‘No matter: you may watch me drink tea, and I will endeavour to make it every bit as entertaining an experience as drinking it yourself.’

With Thundigle to go with her, Sophy could see no further objections to this plan, and she smiled her approbation of it.

But then something strange happened.

The great purple cat came leaping back, sailing past Sophy’s head without warning and making her jump with fright. The cat leapt straight at Aubranael’s face, but instead of attacking him—as Sophy’s startled mind expected—the creature collided with his great hat, and sent it tumbling to the floor. At the same time a cloud slipped over the sun and a great gust of wind came howling down the street, blowing back Aubranael’s long hair. For the first time since their meeting, Sophy was afforded a clear view of his face, and she could not help but stare.

He might once have been handsome, but some accident had wrested from him forever the power of being considered even tolerably pleasing. His face was a mess of twisted, scarred flesh; only his eyes, velvet brown and suddenly sad, had escaped unscathed.

His expression changed as hers did. All his sunny merriment drained away, and he looked stricken.