Free Bloodrush (The Scarlet Star Trilogy Book 1) by Ben Galley Page B

would be a little more sympathetic to my plight! I half-expected this nightmare to end in Fell Falls, not begin anew!’
    Merion suddenly realised he had not taken a breath in quite a while. He decided to remedy that before he passed out. His head swam. Aunt Lilain had crossed her arms about halfway through his tirade, and now she just stood there, staring, a nothing expression on her tanned face. Merion decided to throw caution to the wind and just carry on. ‘Now, if you will point me in the right direction, I would like to find whatever bed you’ve prepared for me, and go to sleep in it. I will be leaving in the morning.’
    Lilain answered so quickly she nearly snipped off the end of his sentence. ‘Is that so?’ she retorted.
    ‘Yes, it is.’
    The two stared at each other for a moment, until Merion realised that his aunt was the sort of person who needed to be asked twice. ‘If you could show me which way to go, please, it would be very much appreciated.’
    Lilain’s only reply was to brush past him and reach for his abandoned rucksack, which was leaning against the side of the barrel. Merion chased after her, but she had a head start. The sack was on her shoulder by the time he could interfere.
    ‘That’s my rucksack …’ he said as he reached out to grab it.
    ‘Oh, no problem. You’ve had a hard couple of weeks. I’ve got it,’ she replied, striding towards the centre of town. Merion had no choice but to hurry along in the wake of her long, loping strides. Rhin winked from under the lip of the rucksack. Merion could see his purple eyes glowing softly.
    ‘Are you taking me to the body, or your house?’ Merion enquired, hoping it was the latter.
    ‘The house,’ his aunt replied. He sighed in relief. ‘Via the body.’
    ‘Did you not hear what …’
    This time, Lilain did cut him off. ‘Oh, I heard just fine, thank you. It’s a left here.’ Lilain swung into a short alleyway, and then out along a hip-high fence that guarded patches of vegetables. A goat bleated somewhere in the shadows.
    ‘Do you live out on the edges of town?’
    ‘Last house in the Runnels. It’s where they always put people like me.’
    ‘People like you?’
    ‘Undertakers. They like our business, but don’t want to see it on their doorstep … especially not in a town like this.’
    Merion wasn’t quite sure he got her meaning, but he mumbled an ‘I see’ all the same. She was leading him up a very gentle rise now. The houses, or shacks in some cases, were thinning out. The road became less defined and more rugged. Soon enough, they came to a long cart, its handles propped up on the arm of a fence so it lay almost flat. On it lay a macabre object covered by a sack. Merion gulped.
    ‘Come on out, Eugin. Boy’s not interested in games,’ Lilain called to the darkness.
    Merion’s heart stopped for a brief moment as the sack moved. A pair of arms groped for air. Lilain grabbed the corner of the sacking and yanked it free, revealing a portly man with a pair of spectacles hanging on his grime-smeared nose. He looked at the boy, then at Lilain.
    ‘What? Why?’
    ‘Tired.’
    ‘Oh. Well, Boston is almost two thousand miles away, as the crow flies. Boy has come a long way.’
    ‘At least somebody realises that,’ Merion said. He had not really meant to say that out loud. Why did that keep happening ?
    ‘Don’t encourage him, Eugin. Go home. I want to see you working on that cooler bright and early. No slacking, you hear?’
    ‘Yes, ma’am.’ Eugin sloped off, waving a hand at Merion as he scuttled away.
    Lilain snapped her fingers and shouted over her shoulder, ‘Oh, and Eugin?’
    ‘Yes, ma’am?’
    ‘Is the body on the table?’
    ‘Both halves, ma’am,’ came the reply.
    Merion’s stomach churned. He looked around him, peering into the darkness, as if he were trying to root out this offensive table. In truth, he was considering whether he could make a break for it, as if running might solve all his