Chapter 7

Another ten minutes and the pair encountered the fringe of a vast outdoor market. The area was swarming with people haggling over prices, warming themselves over electric barrels, yelling out specials, loading and unloading crates of vegetables and fruits. Nathan let out a whistle as he saw all that activity. “You think we could pass through here on the way back and buy some food?” He smiled as he glanced over to the boy.

Sophe caught Nathan’s sleeve and pulled his ear down to his mouth to talk over the din. “We’ll follow this street straight up through the Eastern Quarter.” He grasped the man’s hand and began to weave through the crowd.

“The Eastern Quarter, eh? I’ve been here once or twice. Don’t they have good restaurants?” Nathan asked as they made their way through the crowd. He held the boy’s hand tight, not ready to lose him in the mass of people around them. He was quickly reminded of his dislike for thick crowds, regardless of how useful they might be.

Plump women bantered over each other in deep husky voices, arguing in old dialects and native tongues. Work-worn hands gripped crumpled dollars, batting at each other as one friend insisted on paying for another. More than a few groups of ladies parted with surprised smiles as Sophe excused himself in the local language. He threw over his shoulder to his following companion, “You certainly have food on your mind a lot.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Nathan asked with a grin. He listened carefully to the people talking around him, catching small bits of phrases here and there, hoping to recognize the dialect. He raised an eyebrow when he heard Sophe speak but quickly reminded himself that if the kid was headed home, he should know the tongue.

“The Eastern Quarter specialty isn’t food, though the old women would have your tongue if they heard you say so.” Sophe’s eyes darted to the shops hidden behind the veil of street vendors. The aged storefronts were coated in cracked green paint and milky windowpanes with barely readable lettering. “You can get almost anything in this part of town...”

Nathan followed the boy’s eyes and examined the shops rapidly. “Ah yes...” he said simply. As if he couldn’t resist, he added, “But you know, I did come here to this one little restaurant where the food was really good.”

A suppressed chuckle puffed from between the boy’s lips and was, to his relief, lost in the noise of the market.

Nathan’s head snapped around and he stared at the boy’s back. He could have sworn he had heard something... A smile slowly crept on his face as he started whistling an old upbeat tune. “Do you like to sing Sophe?” he suddenly asked.

A startled blush sprang up over the boy’s cheeks at the question. He continued forward, towing Nathan behind him for a few minutes before answering, “Yes.” The answer was soft.

“Oh?” A bright smile appeared on Nathan’s face as he caught that single word. “I hope I will one day have a chance to hear you sing then.” He soon started whistling again, a calmer tune this time.

The blush refused to fade as the boy stalked ahead, weaving gracefully through the throng, dodging the occasional bicycle or live animal. An hour’s passage did nothing to thin the crowd as he and Nathan pushed northward up the market street. Nathan groaned as they kept fighting the crowd for passage. “Hey Sophe? Any chance we might be able to walk freely anytime soon?” He was starting to grow weary of this crowd and had already needed to protect his pockets more times than he could count.

Much to the elder’s relief, Sophe finally pulled them off the crowded roadway onto the sidewalk. He guided Nathan silently to a narrow opening between two of the old buildings. The street dipped downward unexpectedly, the light growing dim as they descended. Archways of brick and metal spanned the space above them and similar mixtures broke through the pavement. The noise of the market died away almost immediately, a strange hush dominating the corridor. Sophe’s eyes had grown grim again, mirroring his grip on Nathan’s hand. Nathan felt the grip on his hand tighten and sighed ever so softly. His dark eyes suddenly took on a more alert look as he carefully glanced around into the growing shadows. “Nice to finally be out of the crowd.” His tone had lost a bit of its usual cheerfulness. “At least I don’t have a basket poking in ribs every five seconds.” He tried a small grin as he absently rubbed his shoulder.

It was unclear if Sophe had even heard anything Nathan said. His eyes were fixed on the path before them, unblinking. The quiet of their surroundings seemed to swallow Nathan’s rambling and even the click of their shoes on the asphalt. Sophe picked his way through the thickening labyrinth without missing a step. The course he led them through twisted constantly, a lonely route of what seemed to be abandoned buildings. Nathan soon sank into a somber silence, his eyes ever watchful. He tried to listen for any sign that there was more life in these streets, but he felt as though they were walking through a grave. “Or to ours?” he smiled bitterly.

Eventually the darkness began to lighten a bit as the land began to incline upward again. Nathan was surprised to see grass struggling through broken piles of brick and nearly jumped as a stray sunbeam appeared and disappeared in a moment. Water dripped from old rusted pipes, gathering in little pools that reflected the gray clouds above. He looked up as Sophe slowed, eyes widening as he realized they’d come to a narrow dead-end. At the top of a few stairs a single door waited for them on a wooden platform. “Wow...” he breathed as they stopped at the foot of the stairs. He glanced back the way they had come before returning his attention to the door. His anticipation at what was hidden behind it was growing rapidly. He smiled at the boy and waved his hand towards the door. “After you?”

Sophe shook his head and walked over to the right wall. He laid a palm on one of the wooden panels and pushed. The wood moved backward on hidden hinges allowing his hand access to a small compartment. He tugged on the black handle of a chain suspended within. The clank of metal on metal rang through the alleyway as a ladder descended from a high window awning. He released the chain and took a step back to await the ladder, steadying it with one hand as it arrived. Without a word he climbed to a few of the higher rungs and beckoned to Nathan to follow.

Nathan let out an impressed whistle and glanced back at the door. With an interested smile, he examined the hidden mechanism closely before pulling back. “Not bad at all...” he said quietly before looking up at Sophe on the ladder. He soon made his way after the boy. “I take it I don’t want to know where that door leads to then?” he grinned.

“Hold on tight,” was the boy’s flat command. He flicked out a finger over the joint of the ladder, triggering a spring lock and sending the contraption rocketing toward the ribbed metal awning above.

“What the…?” Nathan gripped the ladder tightly as it moved upwards, not at all enjoying this little rollercoaster ride. “You better know what you’re doing kid,” he thought as he saw the metal awning approaching fast. He resisted the urge to close his eyes, keeping them fixed instead on the boy.

Sophe’s face was upturned toward the rapidly approaching awning. He didn’t even flinch as an opening sprang open a split second before the tip of the ladder made impact. The ladder continued its trajectory, stopping with a jolt as the last six feet of it emerged above the awning. Sophe floated high into the air, using the momentum from the stop and landing gracefully onto the metal platform with a light “tap”. Nathan breathed a sigh of relief as the contraption finally came to stop. He couldn’t help but smirk as the boy easily flew off the ladder and onto the platform. “Show off,’ he thought. “Please don’t tell me we have to come back down this way?” Nathan asked hopefully.

Sophe walked over to the trap door and pushed it downward, pressing the ladder back underneath it. “No we don’t.” He straightened and turned to face his guest, hands clasped behind his back. “Welcome, Nathan.” An elaborate network of platforms stretched out before them, recessed in a group between various buildings around them, yet interfacing via various walkways and cables.

Nathan bowed lightly to the boy, his smile never leaving his face. “Thank you for your hospitality,” he said before breaking into a big grin. He walked towards one of the platform railings, his eyes scanning the area with growing curiosity.

Each platform was littered with varying paraphernalia, mechanical scrap, plants of all kinds, an intricate telescope, and on one of the middle platforms, a large bird coup teeming with small brown birds. Nathan stared openly at the sight around him. For someone who had grown so used to technology and bare walls, this sight was truly amazing. He grinned as he spotted the birdcage and pointed a finger towards it. “Niner?” he looked at the boy with a smile.

Sophe nodded, almost smiling. “Would you like to feed them?”

Nathan whirled around, his grin splitting even wider. “I would like that very much actually.”

That musical laugh escaped the boy briefly as he moved past his companion, guiding him down to the centermost platform. He pursed his lips in a series of kissing sounds as he opened the door to the aviary. Nathan followed the boy happily, almost fearing to believe all this was truly real. Sophe was just laughing wasn’t he? The high tweet of the small birds filled the aviary as their master entered, each flitting to and from him briefly, landing on his coat and hat. He murmured to them as they greeted him, assuring them it was time to eat, whispering to them about their new visitor. Nathan hesitated for a second before following the boy into the aviary. He stood there watching the boy with all his birds and smiled warmly. “Where is Niner?” he asked after a while, incapable of discerning the small bird amidst all the others.

“He won’t be back until this afternoon,” Sophe said as he walked back toward his guest. A sack was in one hand and a scoop in the other. “Hold out your hands.”

“Oh, I think he liked me,” Nathan said with a wink as he held his hands out. The birds were flying all around them, apparently having recognized the bag of food.

Sophe filled Nathan’s hands with birdfeed, the birds flocking to it immediately. They danced over the man’s arms and fingers, occasionally landing on his head and tangling in his black hair. Sophe couldn’t help laugh at the sight as he watched them. The laughter was contagious and soon Nathan found himself laughing too as the birds flew to and from him, eagerly nipping at the food. He tried to keep the birds out of his hair, wincing as one started pulling at it. With a wicked grin he decided to toss some of the birdfeed at Sophe.

Sophe shielded himself with one arm as Nathan pelted feed at him, his laughter rising as the birds attacked him. “Nathan!”

“What?” Nathan smiled his best innocent smile before busting out in laughter again, finding himself incapable of stopping as he and the boy fought off the assault of the hungry birds.

With a sly look amidst laughter, Sophe pulled out the slender object he had used earlier and held it high above his head. He clicked the button twice in rapid succession and the birds responded instantly. Each bird fell into a neat line on the various perches about the coup. All at once the boisterous birdcage was quiet again, lines of birds blinking at their master.

Nathan could only blink at the sudden silence that descended upon the cage. He looked from the boy and his little object to the birds with confusion and a bit of sadness at how easily it had ended. He suddenly shook his head and smiled as he stretched his body out with a small grunt. “Thank you for letting me feed them, Sophe.”

Sophe pocketed the device and smiled softly. “You’re welcome, Nathan.” Even as the instrument disappeared from view, the birds began to flit about again, the majority of them gathering on Sophe’s shoulders and hat. The image was almost magical on this unreal rooftop. Sophe ruffled the feathers of one of the nearer birds, touching his nose to its beak. “They are my eyes and ears in this city.”

Nathan looked at the child and his birds, slowly remembering that they were more than what they seemed to be. He nodded his head, his eyes roaming around the birdcage. “I never would have thought of a spying bird before that.” He returned his gaze to Sophe and the birds and watched them for a moment longer, as though trying to engrave the image in his mind. He had never expected to see this child this way and did not want to forget the magic of the moment. Finally he asked, “I can understand how they can be your eyes I think, but as for your ears?”

Sophe lifted a bird on one finger high above his head. “I’ve spent some time studying the communication patterns of this species. People pass them without notice each day, but they are more intelligent than anyone may suspect. That’s why they can live here... in this city… With the aid of the device you saw, they tell me what they hear, and I can give them directions.” Sophe turned back to Nathan with a reserved smile. “It’s a crude system... I don’t really speak their language... But they are good helpers.”

“Wait a second there,” Nathan held up a hand in disbelief. “You mean to tell me you speak... bird?” He regarded the boy with incredulous eyes. “Even with that device of yours and even knowing their communication patterns that is no small feat! Just how…?” The words faded back into silence as he stared at the boy and his bird.

A pleased smile lighted Sophe’s face at Nathan’s reaction. “Would you like me to explain it further?”

Nathan didn’t miss the suppressed excitement in his tone. “That I definitely would, Sophe.” He glanced around the birdcage. “But would it be possible for me to get something to drink first?” he asked apologetically.

Sophe’s expression fell into resigned annoyance. “You really do have a one-track mind.” He nudged his winged friend back to its perch and led his guest out of the coup. “Follow me.”

“I’m sorry; I’ve been walking all morning...” he tried to explain, only adding to his embarrassment. He sighed and followed the boy outside the birdcage.