Story of a lost city- Down the river

Down the River

Thaddeus Raven sat at the dining table with his brother and sister, Dune and Isis. The table was not heavily laid; the Raven family were famous for their small appetites. Before them stood a large jug of water, two platters of chicken and vegetables, and a sizeable bowl of rice.
As the oldest person there, Thaddeus had the honour of being able to sit at the head of the table to watch his siblings not eating.
All the Raven siblings had white-blonde hair, grey eyes and pale skin. However, there were differences between the Raven children.
Isis Raven was young and enthusiastic. Like her elder brother, she was slim and tall. She never spoke in anything less in pitch and volume than a shriek, and was too excitable for Thaddeus’s approval.
Dune Raven was the shortest, and by far the most handsome. He knew it. He whored himself delicately around what seemed like everyone in Thenek. He had somehow managed to have most of the richest people in the city, and everyone but his parents knew about his reputation. His actions did not meet completely with his brother’s disapproval, because Thaddeus reasoned that his brother was at least discerning in his choice of partners, and changed them with discretion, grace and style.
Thaddeus himself was thin and tall, with short, curly hair and sharp grey eyes. He was elegant and sarcastic, and the best hunter of the three children. He was neat and was always dressed impeccably in what were generally light coloured, pricey looking clothes.
‘Sun’s setting,’ he commented, looking out of the window. He turned to the girl on his left. ‘Isis, do I need to leave? Are you entertaining friends this evening?’
‘Thaddeus!’ cried Isis. ‘You know you’re perfectly welcome! My friends love the both of you!’
‘I don’t doubt it,’ said Thaddeus. ‘I imagine many of them have the pleasure of loving Dune quite frequently.’ He paused and turned to his younger brother. ‘I assume you are retiring to your bedroom as per usual, my dear, easily tired little brother.’
Dune shot him a dirty look. ‘I am, yes,’ he said. ‘And I hope you’re going out.’
‘Oh, don’t worry. I will be out of your way shortly. As soon as I have finished staring at this sumptuous food, in fact.’
Silence regained her peaceful hold over the table. After a while, Thaddeus stretched his long legs, stood and left the room.
The Raven house was light and beautiful, built entirely of imported marble. Decoration was minimal; it retained the illusion of a space far larger than the Ravens could have afforded when they first split from the Levants. Alethea Levant and Sennus Raven were cousins and it was unfortunate that the two families had separated. Alethea’s aunt had fallen in love with a Silverbone called Raven Cyrus, and had left the city to live with him in Silver Peak. Their three children had returned to Thenek to establish a new family. Their fortunes had grown with the city and now the Ravens were amongst the most influential families in the city.
Thaddeus strode along the corridors to his rooms. Sweeping open the doors, he went straight to his summons box to check the contents. A leather pouch full of money. His longsword, Illumination. Throwing knives. A tinderbox. Everything present. He took a hooded cream cloak out of his wardrobe room and, swinging it round his shoulders, headed for the entrance hall. His light knee high boots made no sound on the marble floors. Opening the tall front doors, he left the house.
If anyone had stopped him and asked, he would have been going hunting. However, his activities that night were not going to be, in reality, quite as noble as that. He was meeting Valentine Lysival and Octavian Levant for a tavern crawl.
He was meeting Valentine first, in the smallest of the official quarter’s plazas. They would then idle around down near the river, waiting for Octavian to finish hunting.
Thaddeus walked quickly and had soon left the marbled construction of the tower quarter behind in favour of the white stone of the official quarter. He liked the night, and was glad of the cloak; the air had a nip of cold that had subversively crept in at sundown.
The plaza ha was headed for was in the less showy part of the official quarter. The streets were paved with grey stone that had been worn smooth by thousands of feet. It was easier than many thought to lose your balance on the paving, especially when rain or ice had made it slippery. Thaddeus placed his feet down with more care than he usually gave to walking.
He reached the plaza and stopped, standing in the shadow of the buildings that lined the square’s perimeter. He surveyed the open space.
Despite the fact that it was not a plaza for showing off to visitors, the white rock that formed the floor glittered slightly, and a gold coloured metal had been poured into grooves in the rock to form a pattern that glinted pleasantly in the orange light. Lamps stood at intervals around the central circle of white rock that formed a wide, low dais.
There in the lamplight stood the unkempt person of Valentine, with what looked liked a small badger clinging to his head.
‘Valentine, my friend, you have something unpleasant attached to your scalp,’ said Thaddeus, stepping into the light.
‘Thaddeus! This is my new travelling hat. Authentic badger skin,’ said Valentine proudly. Thaddeus eyed the hat, which eyed him back. It had two ears, a snout and a pair of beady eyes. The mouth was propped open with a piece of wood.
‘It’s intriguing,’ he said.
‘I bought it very cheaply from an art student called Willson.’
‘Pray tell me what you paid for half a dead badger,’ inquired Thaddeus.
‘You’re just jealous,’ said Valentine, grinning.
‘Of your hat-shaped stuffed badger? Supremely.’
Valentine’s grin widened. ‘Are you ready for a night of drunken revelry? Guess who out of us is paying. I’ll give you a clue; his name is Thaddeus. I had money in my summons box, but then I broke it.’
‘How did you manage to break a technically unbreakable magical object?’ asked Thaddeus, starting to walk. Valentine ambled after him.
‘A lit firework,’ he said, looking sheepish. Thaddeus remained silent.
‘Look, it wasn’t my fault. Me and some of the other MT students were going to give a surprise firework display for the Dean-’
‘-Lovely.’
‘-At about midnight. Then someone came along just when I’d lit the fuse of the largest one, which we were setting off first. I had to get rid of it, so I sent it to my summons box, saving us all.‘ He paused in silent contemplation of his sacrifice.
‘You are truly a hero of our time,’ said Thaddeus, keeping a straight face. They walked in silence for a while.
‘I take it Rafael couldn’t come,’ said Valentine.
‘Tavern crawls aren’t his style. You know how it is. You’re an angry person, you go out and get drunk and lose all your inhibitions, you get even more angry and try to kill your brother-’
‘-Happens all the time,’ said Valentine, half smiling.
‘You’ll see him some other time,’ said Thaddeus.
‘Which bridge are we meeting Octavian at?’
‘The Six Guard Bridge.’
Within a minute, they had rounded a corner and come to the main ceremonial plaza. The shining inlays scrolling delicately across the vast white floor were incredibly intricate and, unlike most of the plaza designs, were made from pure gold. Wide, sweeping stone steps slowly took the walker down to the water’s edge where the glittering river rolled slowly past. It was black in the moonlight.
A large, white stone bridge arched over the water. There were three statues of each end of the bridge- it was said that they would come alive to defend the city if it was attacked. (Description of statues).
The two young men walked on to the bridge and lent against the railing.
‘Cold,’ commented Valentine, his voice petulant.
‘Even with your badger? You sound like my brother when you speak like that.’
Valentine snorted indelicately. ‘Don’t even get me started on the subjects of brothers. There’s something wrong with Gabriel. I picked up too many girls for dinner last week and he refused to take any of them off my hands. Not even one.’
‘Real human girls?’
‘Yes, my taste is impeccable,’ said Valentine resentfully. Thaddeus looked at the shorter man’s hat and smirked. They fell back into silence. The minutes began to stretch out.
‘Where is he?’ asked Valentine.
‘I don’t know.’
Right on cue, Thaddeus heard footfalls, and motioned to Valentine. Seconds later, the younger man nodded; he’d heard them too.
Valentine had no hunter’s Skill. He went out after Estryd occasionally, when he needed money, and only managed to catch them through sheer luck and bloody-minded perseverance.
Two tall figures appeared between two of the statues at the poor end of the bridge. Thaddeus moved forward.
‘Thaddeus?’ quested a voice.
‘Yep.’
‘Is Valentine there?’ asked Octavian, moving closer.
‘Yam,’ said Valentine, stepping out from behind Thaddeus.
‘What have you got on your head?’ exclaimed Octavian when he saw Valentine. ‘Oh gods, hold still, let me load my Blackout. Don’t panic.’
He began to hurriedly fumble with a box of darts and the weapon.
‘Octavian,’ said Lorna, grabbing his arm. ‘Octavian, I think it’s a hat.’
‘Thank Barros, I thought he’d been attacked,’ said Octavian, looking relieved.
‘Would you like to introduce your friend?’ asked Thaddeus. After sizing up Lorna quickly, Valentine stood up straighter and dragged a charming smile onto his face. Lorna smiled back at him.
‘Oh, yes. Lorna, this is Thaddeus and that is Valentine. Thaddeus, Valentine, Lorna.’
‘Charmed,’ said Thaddeus, bending slightly at the waist.
‘Delighted and honoured,’ said Valentine, smiling even wider and smoothly giving a low, sweeping bow. His hat slid forward and threatened to fall off his tousled head. The two men’s manners were old fashioned, but in neither individual did these manners occur by accident. Valentine found flamboyant manners, old or not, better suited to his expressive personality, and Thaddeus just felt that there was more style in the old ways.
Lorna smiled indulgently. ‘Nice to meet you boys too,’ she said. Thaddeus looked closely at her. She would have been considered young in the city, where people so old they looked like little wizened monkeys wheezed their way through their twilight years, but she was certainly older than him. He estimated her to be in her late twenties. What was she doing with Octavian? Not that Octavian couldn’t have attracted her. He was handsome, after all, and Thaddeus had the sneaking suspicion that Dune carried a torch for his friend. It was a disturbing thought at the best of times. He shivered slightly.
‘Where are you from?’ asked Valentine. Then his eyes suddenly got larger. ‘Oh my gods! Thaddeus, Octavian’s panning a Feral!’ Lorna gave a slightly twisted smile at the vulgar slang. ‘You little- why didn’t you tell me sooner? Why didn’t you get her to bring a friend or two?’ demanded Valentine.
‘Well done, my friend,’ said Thaddeus.
‘Er, she’s not- I’m not… We’re- never mind,’ faltered Octavian, looking embarrassed. He studied his left toecap with a sudden intensity.
Somewhere in the distance, a dog yelped in the mist that had rolled in from the river. The fog wrapped its clammy fingers around Thaddeus’s hand and damply caressed his face. I should have brought my gloves he thought. The white ones.
Although he had Silverbone blood in him from only a few generations ago, he still felt the temperature. He generally considered this sensitivity as a disadvantage, and pretended that he was unaffected by the cold and heat. He would often brood on the traits he had not inherited from his ethereal forefathers.
‘Let’s get drinking!’ shouted Valentine suddenly, making Octavian jump and starting Thaddeus out of his reverie.
‘Don’t you mean, let’s get hunting?’ asked Thaddeus, looking pointedly at Valentine. ‘We are going hunting, Valentine.’
‘No, we’re not! The Floating Donkey’s in town. We can’t miss this chance!’
‘We’re hunting, Val-’
‘It’s all right, you know. Lorna won’t be reporting you to your family, Thaddeus,’ said Octavian.
‘They let my brother get on with it. They don’t care. They can’t.’ Thaddeus was unaware of the bitter expression on his face.
‘Right,’ said Octavian, louder than usual. ‘Let’s go.’ He turned to Lorna. ‘Right, here, take this and go home.’ He handed her the slightly soggy package. ‘Keep it, it’s yours.’
‘Estryd heart, still bleeding. Nice,’ said Lorna, looking uncharacteristically sickened.
‘Hear that? She’s so ungrateful. He gave her his heart,’ said Valentine, laughing.
‘You don’t know the half of it,’ muttered Octavian, turning away slightly. Something stirred in Lorna’s green eyes and she too turned, but to walk away in the direction of the old quarter. The three men’s business took them in the opposite direction, and they waited for a moment while Valentine adjusted his hat, which had nearly fallen off during the greetings. Then they set off at a slow pace. Thaddeus loitered behind a bit to walk next to Octavian, who seemed to be sunk in a mood.
‘I plan to throw Valentine’s hat into the Sahd later,’ murmured Thaddeus so only Octavian could hear, in an attempt to elicit a smile. ‘If he’s really drunk, we can send him in to fetch it, too.’
‘Thaddeus, do you remember when I said I hated the water in that bloody river? You know, the time when Valentine, Gabriel and I spent the entire week at your house. That emotion still holds.’
‘So no river for Valentine then?’
‘No,’ said Octavian, giving an apologetic and sad little smile. ‘It’s not safe, I’m sure of it. I’m not just being an idiot, Thaddeus, it’s true.’
Thaddeus remained silent. He didn’t say; no one else has ever said anything about the water. He didn’t say; there is no danger. It’s just a river. However, experience had taught him to value Octavian’s opinion on the supernatural and the dangerous; the younger man was infallible with his warnings. He just had a natural instinct which seemed to come with his hunting Skill.
‘What’s true? Is there something I shouldn’t know about? I want to know,’ interjected Valentine, suddenly appearing at Thaddeus’s elbow.
‘We were discussing the type of things people are willing to buy when they get drunk,’ said Thaddeus. ‘An article of clothing, perhaps, or a dead animal.’
Valentine made no effort to look ashamed. ‘I have impeccable taste,’ he declared. ‘The hat is warm, the hat is entertaining and the hat is extremely stylish.’
Thaddeus was glad to see that Octavian had to smile at that, as he looked at the gaping badger perched on his friend’s head. They walked along in this fashion for quite some time, Thaddeus and Octavian taking it in turns to make some derogatory comment about Valentine’s hat.


‘What time is the Floating Donkey docking?’ asked Octavian later as the three sat in a tavern near the river Sahd. He was still sober, having consumed only two tankards of the best beer in the house. Thaddeus was not affected at all by alcohol, and so had been sipping at a obnoxiously strong, dark blue liquid which was beginning to corrode the inside of the glass. Valentine, who had very little self-control when it came to indulging his vices, was already slurring his words.
‘Twenty minutes past this hour, at the Byway Mooring Point,’ replied Thaddeus. Valentine let out a sudden burst of hysterical laughter at his words.
‘Byway… Mooring… Point,’ he spluttered, finding the words inexplicably funny.
‘Do you think he’s going to choke?’ asked Octavian with some concern.
‘No,’ said Thaddeus, reaching out and catching Valentine as another burst of violent laughter toppled him off his seat.
‘You’re such a good friend to meee, Thaddeus,’ said Valentine, gazing up at the thin man adoringly. The badger also regarded him, its eyes as unfocused as its owner’s.
‘We’d better start moving now,’ said Octavian. ‘What with Valentine in this state and all.’
‘Help me with our inebriated little friend here,’ said Thaddeus. They both heaved Valentine to his unsteady feet. Thaddeus paid the bill with one hand, and the three left the tavern, staggering a little under Valentine’s weight.

‘We have five minutes to get there,’ observed Thaddeus a little while later as he waited for Valentine to finish his close inspection of a streetlamp. ‘We’ll miss the tavern, Valentine.’
Valentine looked horrified. ‘Can’t do that,’ he said, immediately shambling after his two companions. Although the cold air had sobered him up slightly, he was a little unsteady on his feet, and was acting more irrationally than usual.