The Scar

replace me

• “The outer edges of the city were low buildings in porous stone and coral. There were other submarines moving smoothly between the towers and above the roofs. The sunken promenades beneath them climbed their way to the distant ramparts and cathedrals of the city’s core, a mile or so away, seen very faintly through the sea. There at the heart of Salkrikaltor City were taller edifices that loomed all the way out of the waves. They were no less intricate below the surface. The city was convoluted and interconnected.”

• “From below, the city was an archipelago of shadows.It was irregular and sprawling and hugely complex. It displaced currents. Jags of keel contradicted each other in all directions. Anchor chains trailed like hair, snapped and forgotten. From its orifices billowed refuse; fecal matter and particulate, and oil eddying uneasily and rising in small slicks. A constant drool of trash fouled the water and was swallowed by it.Below the city there were a few hundred yards of rapidly thinning light, then miles of dark water.The underside of Armada was crisscrossed with life.”

• The man wore a dark grey suit; the woman a simple blue dress. They were tall and held themselves with immense authority. The man had a trim mustache and an easy arrogance. The woman’s features were heavy and irregular, but the flesh of her mouth was sensual, the cruel cast of her eyes compelling.What had made Bellis stare at them both with fascination and distaste, what commanded her attention, were the scars.Curling down the outside of the woman’s face, from the corner of her left eye to the corner of her mouth. Fine and uninterrupted. Another, thicker and shorter and more jagged, swept from the right side of her nose across her cheek and curled up as if to cup her eye. And others, contoured to her face. They disfigured her ocher skin with esthetic precision.

• We are now in a Dickens novel: I like that library," he said. “I like going there, and not just because of the ice woman, neither.”“There’s a lot worse you could do than settle into some reading, lad,” said Tanner. “We’ve finished Crawfoot’s Chronicles; you could find some other stories. You could read them to me, for a change. How’re your letters?”“I can make them out,” said Shekel vaguely."Well, there you go then. You go and have a word with Miss Coldy, and get her to recommend some reading for you.

• Bellis, thank you again. For… protecting me. When you said nothing about the letter." She watched him tight-faced, and was silent. "I’ll see you again, soon. I hope that’ll be all right."And again she said nothing, conscious of the distance daylight had brought between them, and of the many things he was not telling her. But, still, she did not mind if he came again. It had been a long time since she had conversed as she had that night.