Read Online The Curse of Salamander Street by G.P. Taylor - Free Book Online

of a heavy carriage that was some way ahead. Occasionally, as if carried on the breeze, they could hear the baying of the coach hounds and the call of the horn. Then it would be gone far into the distance as it rattled against the thick cobbles that stuck out of the ground like so many dead men’s skulls.
    It mattered not to Beadle how far he would have to walk. The journey was an opening to a new life, and as he marched on his thoughts of Whitby and fear of Demurral faded. With every word that Raphah spoke of Riathamus, Beadle was taken to a new world. Nothing mattered to Beadle but what was before him. Every concern for the journey ebbed away. It was as if the words of his companion brought hope and comfort and newlife. As they walked they laughed, the byways echoing with their mirth. All was well.
    With each step, the tower of the Minster drew closer. It was old, dark and craggy against the sky, the best efforts of men to mimic their creator. The road twisted back and forth, as hedges gave way to open ground littered with small clumps of birches and islands of thick marsh grass.
    The low sun that had followed their day began to set and shimmer against the shepherd sky. As night drew closer like a blanket, the sound of the coach hounds came again.
    ‘There’s an inn,’ Beadle said, suddenly remembering the purpose of their journey. ‘We can get a coach from there to Peveril and from Peveril to London – that’s if…’ He stopped and looked to the ground, the joy gone from his face.
    ‘If what?’ Raphah asked.
    ‘They may not let you travel inside the carriage. I have the money for two of the best seats. All I have is here, honestly, and I will gladly pay, but …’ He gabbled the words faster and faster, not wanting to get to the truth behind what he spoke of.
    ‘Because of my skin?’ Raphah asked with a smile.
    ‘Not used to it … Different … I know, but they might not …’ Beadle choked on his words, knowing what he meant to say but fearing speaking what was so obvious.
    ‘Then I will travel on the roof, as I have done before,’ Raphah said.
    ‘And I with you … and they will not say a word against you. I will stand for you and speak my mind no matter how gigantic they may be.’
    ‘Brave words, my fellow traveller,’ said a steel-bright voice from behind an upturned cart that lay at the side of the road. ‘I am glad you would stand and be so bold. Who is this knight of the road to whom I now speak?’ the man said as he wrapped a black cloak around his shoulders and stepped towards them.
    Beadle eyed him up and down. He was tall, half a man higher than he and Raphah. He was incredibly thin, as if a layer of translucent skin had been draped across his bones. The thoughts of his mind were barely disguised as they glinted through his deep blue eyes. It was as if a storm raged them as they glinted like the beady stare of a wolf through the throngs and spikes of the pure white hair that jagged across his face.
    ‘And you are?’ Raphah asked as he took a step back from the man, uneasy at his presence.
    ‘Barghast – Cartaphilus Barghast, if a name should matter at all,’ the man said with a hauteur lacking in grace.
    ‘We are …’ Beadle said only to be interrupted by the man’s sharp voice.
    ‘Beadle and Raphah. I am well acquainted with you both, having listened to your ramblings for the last few miles as we travelled together along the highway,’ the man said brusquely, pulling the cloak closer to his chest and looking at them through one eye.
    ‘We were alone in our travels. How can you say you heard what we said?’ Raphah asked as he began to push Beadle slowly from the man.
    ‘Alas, you were engrossed in your laughter. A whole legion of creatures could have walked in your shadow and you would have known them not. Come … It is a mile to the Inn and we should walk together. The sun has departed the world yet again and darkness reigns. I would be found wanting if I were to allow