City of the Falling Sky
Page 17
If things go wrong for us, K, you know it will be bad.
We will have to hide. I’m sure you’ll know what I mean when I say the following:
Refuge under the sign of Silversong.
Those trapped in glass will light your way.
There was a logo at the bottom of the sheet; a figure of a man standing with his arms outstretched inside a bold circle. It was as though he were a human clock, with his left hand pointing to the position of eleven, and his right hand in the position of the three.
Underneath the logo were two small words:
Emrorrim Retneot
“Emrorrim Retneot?” Seckry said slowly, wondering if he was pronouncing the words correctly. “What language is that?”
“It looks like Ancient Klax, doesn’t it?” said Eiya. “Your mum’s got that old dictionary.”
“Good thinking,” Seckry said, and ran off to fetch it.
“Em . . . ror . . . rim,” Seckry said as he ran his finger down the heavily yellowed page.
“Here,” he said excitedly. “Emrorrim, from the southern dialect of Klaxion. Emrorrim: To Love.”
They looked at each other.
“To love what?”
Seckry thumbed through the pages quickly.
“Ret, ret, ret, ret . . . retneot! It means . . .”
Seckry squinted and looked closer at the description.
“It means . . . ‘a rather smelly variation of pig stew.’”
“Oh,” said Eiya.
They both sat in silence for a moment.
“What about Silversong?” Eiya said.
“Refuge under the sign of Silversong . . . I have no idea what that is.”
They didn’t have time to ponder over it that night, though, as they were both absolutely shattered and they couldn’t keep their eyes open for any longer. Before going to bed, they opened up the photo that was on the memory stick and eyed it sleepily. Seckry recognised the face of Kan Darklight immediately as he had seen him on the white chip video message, and there were labels next to the men either side of him that the band must have jotted down stating which was Kayne and which was Sanfarrow. Kayne was standing to Darklight’s left, his eyes dazzlingly dark and his black hair flowing down his shoulders, and Sanfarrow was more of an unconfident looking figure, his smile forced and his posture uncomfortable.
Chapter Fourteen
Tenk’s Sleepover