problem.
Time for a quick subject change. 'Morning, Basset. Nice ears.
'I know,' said Hadley, tipping the points one after another. 'Four points already and I think there's a fifth coming up. Abbot himself only has six points.'
Leon Abbot, the hero of Hybras. The demons' self-proclaimed saviour.
Hadley snapped No.1 again with the towel.
'Don't you get a pain in your face, looking in the mirror, imp? Because you're giving me a pain in mine.'
He put his hands on his hips, threw back his head and laughed. It was all very dramatic. You'd think there was an artist in the wings doing sketches.
'Eh, Basset. You're not wearing any silver.'
The laughing stopped, to be replaced by a froglike gurgle. Shrivelington
Basset bolted down the lodge corridor without pause for more bullying.
No.1 knew scaring people half to death shouldn't give him any satisfaction, and generally it wouldn't. But for Basset, he'd make an exception. Not wearing silver on your person is much more than a fashion disaster for a demon or imp. For them it can be fatal, or worse.
Painful for all eternity. This rule usually only applied by the volcano crater, but luckily Basset was too scared to remember that.
No.1 ducked back into the senior imp dorm, hoping his room-mates were still snoring. No such luck. They were knuckling the sleep from their eyes and already searching for the target of their daily ribbing, which was of course him. He was by far the oldest in the senior dorm — no one else had made it to fourteen without warping. It was getting to the point where he was a permanent fixture. Each night his legs protruded from the foot of the bed, and his blanket barely covered the swirling moon markings on his chest.
'Hey, Runt,' called one. 'Are you going to warp today, do you think? Or will pink flowers grow out of my armpits?'
'I'll check your armpits tomorrow,' sniggered another.
More abuse. This time from a couple of twelve-year-old imps who were so pumped up that they were likely to warp before class. But they were right. He would have gone for the pink flowers option too.
Runt was his imp nickname. They didn't have real names, not until after they warped. Then they would be given a name from the sacred text.
Until that moment, he was stuck with No.1 or Runt.
He smiled good-naturedly. It didn't pay to antagonize his dorm-mates.
Even though they were smaller than him today, they could be a lot bigger tomorrow.
'I'm feeling pumped,' he said, flexing his biceps. 'Today is going to be my day.'
Everyone in the dorm was excited. Tomorrow they could be out of this room for good. Once they warped they were transferred to decent accommodation and nothing in Hybras was off-limits.
'Who do we hate?' shouted one.
'Humans!' came the reply.
The next minute or so was spent howling at the ceiling. Imp No.1 joined in, but he wasn't really feeling it.
It shouldn't be 'who do we hate', he thought. It really should be 'whom'.
But this probably wasn't a good time to bring that up.
Imp school Sometimes No.1 wished he had known his mother. This was not a very demonlike desire, so he kept it to himself. Demons were born equal, and whatever they made of themselves, they did with their claws and teeth. As soon as the female laid an egg, it was tossed in a bucket of mineral-enriched mud and left to hatch. Imps never knew who their families were, and therefore everyone was their family.
But still, some days, when his self-esteem had taken a bit of a pounding, No.1 couldn't help gazing wistfully across at the female compound on his way to school and wondering which one was his mother.
There was one demoness with red markings like his own and a kind face. Often she smiled across the wall at him. She was looking for her son, No.1 suddenly realized. And from that day he smiled back. They could both pretend to have found each other.
No.1 had never experienced a feeling of belonging. He ached for the time when he could wake up and look forward to what lay ahead. That day hadn't come yet, and it wasn't likely to, not for as long as they lived in Limbo. Nothing would change. Nothing could change. Well, that wasn't strictly true. Things could get worse.
Imp School was a low stone building with little ventilation and hardly any light. Perfect for most imps. The stench and the smoky fire made them feel hard done by and warlike.
No.1 longed for light and fresh air. He was uniquely different, a brand-new point on the compass. Or maybe an old one. No.1 often thought that perhaps he could be a warlock. True, there hadn't been a warlock in the demon pride since they lifted out of time, but maybe he was the first, and that was why he felt so differently about almost everything. No.1 had raised his theory with Master Rawley, but the teacher had cuffed his earhole and sent him digging grubs for the other imps.
There was another thing. Why couldn't they, just once, have a cooked meal? What would be so horrible about a soft stew and maybe even a few spices? Why did imps delight in chomping their food down before it stopped wriggling?
As usual, No.1 was the last to school. The other dozen or so imps were already in the hall, revelling in the thoughts of another day spent hunting, skinning, butchering and possibly even warping. No.1 wasn't feeling particularly hopeful. Maybe today would be his day, but he doubted it. The warp spasm was brought on by bloodlust, and No.1 had never felt the slightest urge to hurt any other creature. He even felt bad for the rabbits he ate and sometimes dreamed that their little spirits were haunting him.
Master Rawley sat at his bench sharpening a curved sword. Every now and then he would hack a chunk from the bench and grunt with satisfaction. The desk's surface was littered with various weapons for hacking, sawing and cutting. And, of course, one book. A copy of Lady
Heatherington Smythe's Hedgerow. The book Leon Abbot had brought back from the old world. The book that would save them all, according to Abbot himself.
When Rawley had sharpened the blade to a silver crescent, he banged the hilt of the weapon on his bench.
'Sit down,' he roared at the imps. 'And make it fast, you shower of stinking rabbit droppings. I've got a fresh blade here that I'm just itching to test.'
The imps hurried to their places. Rawley would not cut them, but he was certainly not above strapping their backs with the flat of his sword. And then again, maybe he would cut them.
No.1 squashed in on the end of the fourth row. Look tough, he told himself. Sneer a bit.You're an imp!
Rawley sank his blade into the wood, leaving it there quivering. The other imps grunted. Impressed. All No.1 could think was: Show off. And:
He's ruined that bench.
'So, pig slime,' said Rawley. 'You want to be demons, do you?'
'Yes, Master Rawley!' roared the imps.
'You think you have what it takes?'
'Yes, Master Rawley!'
Rawley spread his muscled arms wide. He threw back a green head and roared. 'Well then, let me hear it!'
The imps screamed and stomped, bashed their desks with weapons and clattered each other on the shoulders. No.1 avoided as much of the consternation as possible while doing his best to seem involved. Not an easy trick.
Finally Rawley settled them down. 'Well, we'll see. This morning is a big morning for some of you, but for others it will be just one more day of dishonour, grub-hunting with the females.' He stared pointedly at No.1.
'But before we get to oozing, we have to do some snoozing.'
Much groaning from the imps.
'That's right, girls. History time. Nothing to kill and nothing to eat, just knowledge for the sake of it.' Rawley shrugged his giant knotted shoulders. 'It's a waste of time, if you ask me. But I'm under orders here.'
'That's right, Master Rawley,' said a voice from the doorway. 'You're under orders.'
