Hugh Cook - The Werewolf and the Wormlord

Then Alfric remembered the guard at the Stanch Gates who had fed his horse an apple. A poisoned apple? Or was it just coincidence that his horse had dropped dead?

‘Apples, apples,’ said Alfric. ‘What’s the price of apples?’

He didn’t know.

Why didn’t he know?

For a very simple reason: he never did the shopping.

His wife Vanaletta had always bought in their provisions.

But Alfric guessed that, at this end of the cold weather, the price of apples was likely to be monstrous, even the price of dried-up time-shrivelled apples such as that which had been fed to the horse.

‘They haven’t missed a trick,’ said Alfric bitterly.

What should he do?

— Stop!

— Think, for once.

— What would Grangalet expect me to do?

— Why, walk back to the city, of course. A dead horse is no bar to locomotion.

Suddenly, Alfric realized that his position was somewhat precarious. He was all alone and far from the city.

He had no horse. Also, if he died tonight, there would be nobody in Galsh Ebrek to avenge him. Rather, the Knights would probably think themselves well rid of him.

‘A good time, then, for murder.’

Ursula Major and Guignol Grangalet had dared so much already that they were scarcely likely to shy away from acts of precipitate violence.

They would expect him to head back to the city. And they might well have arranged for an ambush along the way.

— So what should I do?

— Preserve my life.

— But how?

— Well…

— What would they think me least likely to do?

— Why, to stay here and do nothing.

So Alfric did just that, and sat long by the sea, alone with his thoughts and his sorrows.

Time and time again the suthering seas rose from the drenching depths of the ocean, ran up the beach then retreated. And Alfric was almost minded to cast himself into the waters of the Winter Sea and to be swept away by that power which playthinged wrecked ships and rubbled the rocks of sunken cities.

But:

‘I won’t surrender. Not so easily.’

So said Alfric to himself.

‘I am king,’ whispered Alfric.

Thinking that surely true, true, at least in terms of legal entitlement. For he had really and truly gone on the three quests, against dragon, giant and vampires. He had won the three saga swords, Edda, Sulamith’s Grief and Kinskom. He had dared his strength against Herself, and had slaughtered the monster who had for so long afflicted Wen Endex with terror.

All this he had done.

The throne should be his.

So:

‘How dare the woman deny me mine!’

So thought Alfric, then got to his feet. He had lingered here long enough. It was time to be going, whatever the dangers.

‘If she sends murderers, who will they be?’

The most likely assassin was Ciranoush Zaxilian Nom. Alfric had never wished to have the blood of any of the Norn brothers on his hands. He certainly had not wished Pig Norn to die as he had at banquet, strangled by Nappy. But Pig was dead. And Alfric had killed Muscleman Wu himself, and all of Wen Endex knew it. Whether he liked it or not, he was locked into a feud with the surviving Norn brother, Ciranoush Zaxilian.

Ursula Major knew as much, so, if she wanted Alfric dead, her most obvious step was to urge Ciranoush to seize his opportunity.

‘But Ciranoush,’ said Alfric, thinking what he knew of the man, ‘is a city person. I don’t think he’d hunt me through the woods. I think, rather, that he’d wait for my return. In my own house, maybe.’

So thinking, Alfric started back for Galsh Ebrek. And, though he went cautiously indeed, he did not truly expect to be attacked, not in the wilderness.

He only started to look for murderers in earnest when he came in through the Stanch Gates.

The guards at the Gates had been changed, so Alfric asked no questions about apples and the poisoning of horses thereby. Nor did he ask after Ciranoush Nom, for he thought the guards might have been primed with lies. Alfric’s enemies hadn’t missed a trick so far, and he doubted that he had seen the last of their tricks.

— Where now?

— Home?

It would be safer, surely, to go somewhere more populous. His home was dark and empty. It would be easy for Ciranoush to murder him there. More difficult, though, if he sheltered in the Green Cricket.

— Besides, I have to tell Anna Blaume about her horse.

Blaume was not going to be happy to know that another of her mounts was dead, even though Alfric could easily pay for the horseflesh.

— Still, I don’t think I’ll have cause to hire another horse in a hurry.

— Unless it’s to take me in flight from the city.

So thinking, Alfric started out for the Green Cricket, cursing the heavy mud of the city streets. Those streets should by rights be paved with good stone. That would cost money, of course; but money there would be if the wealth of the Bank was properly taxed. The Bank itself taxed everything which moved through the Bank’s part of the Circle; but precious little of the wealth so won came into Galsh Ebrek. Rather, the Bankers invested their wealth in estates in foreign parts, and retired in their old age to Dalar ken Halvar or Chi’ash-lan, spending their fortunes on the cosmopolitan pleasures available in those places.

Such behaviour was only natural when Wen Endex was nothing but a muddy province of swamp and ghosts, but, when Alfric became king, it would change. He would have the streets paved. Or he would move the city from the river, for the lowlands were unhealthy. Or he would at least see the city’s buildings put up on stilts, as was done in foreign places he had heard of, such as Bolfrigalaskaptiko, a famous city in the tropics.

Bolfrigalaskaptiko.

He would like to see that place one day. It lay by the River Ka, did it not? Just upstream from the great lagoon of Manamalargo. There were many worthy places a man could visit if once he…

Alfric sternly counselled himself against thinking such thoughts. They were defeat-thoughts. He was already beginning to imagine defeat and exile.

— Which will not happen!

— The game is not yet played out!

— I will fight.

— I will!

— And I will win!

Thus thinking, Alfric gained the door of the Green Cricket, and was about to knock upon that door when he heard the sound of a boot sklurching out of the mud behind him. He turned, drawing his sword as he turned, and was just in time to meet a blade with his.

Steel clashed with steel, then the door was thrown open and the orks Cod and Morgenstem came shouldering out into the night, with the dwarves Du Deiner and Mich Dir nimbling at their ankles. And Alfric’s assailant panicked, and fled.

‘Who was it?’ said Cod, staring into the dark.

‘I don’t know,’ said Alfric, panting.

He had seen the man clearly enough, but had not recognized him. Which was a bad sign. He had thought Ciranoush Zaxilian Nom to be the only assassin he would have to deal with, but another had been found.

Either Ursula Major had recruited the fellow, or else the man had recruited himself. Either way ‘Come inside,’ said Morgenstem.

And led Alfric inside, and sat him down.

‘Drink this,’ said Anna Blaume, materializing at Alfric’s side.

She pressed a mug into his hands. Alfric thought it was ale, and drank deeply. Brandy flamed down his throat, and he gasped.

‘Brandy,’ said Blaume. ‘A drink for heroes.’

‘Tonight,’ said Alfric, carefully putting down the mug, ‘I’m not feeling quite that heroic.’

A greeding untunchilamon settled upon the side of the mug and dipped its head into the fiery brew. Anna Blaume knocked the dragon away. It took to the air, circled thrice, then settled upon her head.