The Inferior by Peadar Ó Guilín Read Free Book Online Page B

brother’s courage. Stopmouth had been sad before the wedding, so Wallbreaker had suggested they go and spy on some beasts. It was a dangerous pass-time, frowned upon as wasteful and, above all, stupid.
    ‘Oh, we’re in no danger,’ Wallbreaker had said. ‘No creature’s ever even spotted us before. And the more we know about our neighbours the better we can hunt them, right?’
    Stopmouth needed the distraction, but he would have gone anyway. He always did.
    They found a nice little tower in Hairbeast-Ways overlooking a square where a party of Hoppers leaped past and even over each other in a complicated dance. Their fur streamed with sweat and their voices squeaked in what Stopmouth imagined to be laughter.
    ‘A game,’ whispered Wallbreaker. ‘It must be. They’re not so unlike us, after all.’
    The dance came to a halt and the grey-furred beasts flopped down in whatever position they’d finished in. All of them looked exhausted and yet again Stopmouth realized how clever his brother was, for Hoppers in a state such as this would be easy meat.
    Then one of the beasts struggled upright and raised long arms above its head. Strange that it should be first to rise: it looked even more exhausted than the others. The rest of the Hoppers turned all at once to fix it with their gaze. Then they rose, one at a time, and approached while the weak-looking one stayed put, trembling. The first Hopper to reach it locked teeth on what would have been the armpit on a human. It seemed to drink from the wound it had made. After a few heartbeats another took its place, sucking at the same gash. Others followed, most to drink, but some to hug. One even offered its own armpit to the wounded one.
    ‘Amazing,’ whispered Wallbreaker. ‘I think they use that dance to choose volunteers.’
    Wallbreaker had been so excited that day, but he was over-eager to get home in time for the ‘Purchase of the Bride’ ceremony. So eager, in fact, that he’d led his brother straight into the midst of an Armourback hunting party.
    He’d been lost ever since.
    Stopmouth turned round to get Wallbreaker moving downstairs. But his brother had forgotten all about the hunt. He’d spotted a pair of battling Globes and was watching them intently as they swerved round each other against the blue glare of the Roof. They weren’t near enough for the pieces to rain down on Man-Ways, but Wallbreaker hadn’t lost his fascination with the things. Stopmouth followed his gaze in time to see a beam of light lancing from one of the spheres into another. The stricken Globe split neatly in two. As the halves separated, something tiny and dark dropped out and plummeted earthwards. It fell a thousand paces. Then a white membrane blossomed in the air above it.
    ‘It’s stopped falling!’ whispered Wallbreaker.
    ‘N-no. S-slower.’
    ‘You’re right, Stopmouth. It’s just falling more slowly. It’s heading for Bloodskin.’
    Wallbreaker was on his feet in an instant and hurtling down the stairs. ‘Let’s go!’ he shouted to his brother. He grabbed two spears, a water skin and a set of knives, and ran out to where the other hunters were waiting. His wife was there too, but he didn’t even take the time to flick her a drop of blood in farewell, and only Stopmouth saw the disappointment and worry on her face.
    ‘A change of plans,’ said Wallbreaker to the other hunters. ‘We’re off to Bloodskin instead. We need to be near that thing when it lands.’
    ‘You’re crazy,’ said Lowsquat, one of the party’s veterans. He was a man with a family to feed and an ailing wife. ‘It’s flesh we want, not more of that useless metal.’
    ‘It’s n-n-not m-met—’
    ‘I’ll get you your flesh,’ said Wallbreaker. He was breathing heavily. He seemed elated, as if the hunt had already been a big success. ‘I’ll get you enough to pay Stopmouth’s bride price for your daughter!’
    Lowsquat was outraged. ‘My Brighttooth won’t marry a