The Jade Boy Read Free Page A

All this time Jem hadn’t realised there was a fourth person in the room, but now an elaborately dressed, turbaned pageboy with the darkest skin Jem had ever seen stepped into the firelight.
    The page simply stared at the monkey for a few seconds before the little creature swung down, almost toppling a Chinese vase as she leapt to settle on his shoulder.
    Eyeing the rocking vase, the duke cleared his throat. “Er, you’ve seen the boy now, Cazalon. Perhaps it would be better if your servant and the animal leave us while we conclude our business? I wish to speak to you in private.”
    Cazalon laughed. It was a cold metallic sound like the cry of a fox. He gestured at his black-skinned servant and the monkey.
    “My servant moor is mute, George. In all the days I have had him he has never spoken a word. He is little more than an animal. But if you are worried about the monkey making a mess in your
exquisite
home, then can I suggest that your boy here, Master Green, should take them both to the kitchens and find them a morsel of food.”
    The duke nodded and glanced at Jem. “Take them to the kitchens.”
    He turned back to the painting. “She really has the most unusual eyes, Cazalon. I think tonight, the king will appreciate my generosity.”
    But Cazalon wasn’t listening to the duke. Instead, he bent his head low so that his masklike face was level with Jem’s, before whispering in his oddly distorted voice, “I do
so
look forward to our next meeting, Master Green.”
    When Cazalon spoke Jem thought, just for a moment, that he caught sight of the man’s tongue flickering between his painted lips. It was, he could swear, black and pointed.
    As the great salon doors closed behind him, Jem felt a rush of relief to be away from the stifling room and the stifling attentions of the duke’s peculiar and unsettling visitor.
    He took a gulp of fresh cold air and stared frankly and curiously across the hallway at the count’s servant. He tried to remember the boy’s odd name. What had Cazalon had called him – Tollymee?
    Jem had never seen anyone like him before. The boy was tall like Jem, with long, lean limbs. He was dressed in fine material like his master, the shadesof red and grey echoing Cazalon’s clothing. But it was the boy’s face that fascinated Jem most. His skin was as dark and luminous as the river at night and his huge eyes seemed to bore into Jem’s soul.
    The monkey on his shoulder began to chatter excitedly. She leaned across the gap between the two of them and playfully grabbed a handful of Jem’s thick hair. The black boy grinned broadly, and Jem decided that he liked the look of him.
    “Cleo likes you.”
    Jem nearly jumped out of his skin. The words had sounded clearly and distinctly in his head like notes of music, but there was no one else in sight. The other boy hadn’t said a thing or even moved his lips – and, anyway, Cazalon said his servant couldn’t speak.
    Jem looked up and down the corridor and then stared suspiciously at the boy and the monkey. The dark boy’s smile stretched even wider as he turned on his red-heeled shoes and set off up the corridor. At first the monkey batted her little paws at the red feather that sprouted from the top of the boy’s turban. Then she twisted herself round on her master’s shoulder and stared back at Jem.
    “
Come on then. Show me the way
,” came the mysterious disembodied voice again. “
I’m very hungry
.”

CHAPTER THREE
     “Will you look at that?” called out one of the servants as the boys and the monkey made their way down the staircase. “Our gypsy lad has found himself a friend.”
    For a moment all the scrubbing, polishing and bustling stopped as twenty pairs of eyes locked onto the trio. Jem kept his head down and led the way across the hall to a small door concealed by a tapestry.
    “Lord preserve us. The moor’s got a rat on ’is back,” hissed one of the maids.
    “That ain’t no rat, ’tis a badger,” said a