After The Rabbit (Waldo Rabbit Series)

by Chereta, Nelson

  “Not easily, I’m a stubborn cuss.”

  “I can think of a way to get your obedience.”

  “I am not Charming him,” Alice said.

  “That’s not what I had in mind. Gronk, you can eat one of his fingers, one of the small ones.”

  “Really, Master?”

  “Sure.”

  Gronk grabbed Daring’s left hand and brought it up to his mouth.

  “Now, will you agree to help me? Or do I tell Gronk to go ahead.”

  Cleptus grinned. “This isn’t a very good bluff. Obviously you would never…”

  “Do it, Gronk.”

  CHOMP!

  “Aaaaahhhhhh!!!”

  At Cleptus clutched at the bleeding nub Waldo spoke.

  “One of the many lessons my mother taught me was to never bluff when you make a threat.”

  XXX

  Coming to an intersection in the tunnels they saw the image of a chicken scrawled on the tunnel wall.

  “We turn right here.”

  Cleptus was leading the way with Waldo right behind him, then Gronk holding the torch and finally Alice bringing up the rear. Going down the new tunnel there was the image of a cat.

  “Why do you use animals to mark your tunnels?” Waldo asked.

  “Not all of us can read my lord wizard,” Cleptus sneered.

  “My proper title would be Master Rabbit. You don’t like me very much do you?”

  He held up his bound wrists. On his left hand there was a thumb and three fingers. “Does that surprise you?”

  “I healed your wound. Otherwise, it would have definitely become infected.”

  “You expect me to be grateful? I had my pinky bitten off!”

  “You know, where I come from just speaking to me with that tone would get you your tongue ripped out, if you were lucky. Never mind the fact you stole from me.”

  “Let me guess, stealing is punishable by death.”

  Waldo nodded. “Usually by beheading, though impalement is also an option. Depending when you are caught you might also be forced to fight to the death. You should be thankful that I still intend to let you live once you’ve helped me.”

  “I don’t believe you. Everyone knows White Mages are as hard on criminals as they are on monsters.”

  “You might be surprised, my attitudes are a bit more liberal than my brethren.”

  Cleptus gave a snort and rubbed his wound. “Yes, you are an angel of mercy.”

  “Being insulting is not going to help you. You stole from me, and so I am within my rights to do as I please with you, but I am willing to spare you so long as you help me.”

  “And I’m supposed to believe you?”

  “Of course, I’m a White Mage, doesn’t everyone say we’re trustworthy?”

  “You don’t want to know some of the stories they tell about your kind.” Cleptus shook his head. “Markus and the others were right, I should have just stayed away from you and your friends.”

  “Why didn’t you?”

  “Obviously, I was blinded by your wife’s beauty. I fell in love at first glance, curse my romantic nature.”

  “As if your sort would even know what love is,” Alice said.

  He smiled back at her. “Now there you’re wrong. I can love quite well, if not always wisely.”

  “I’ve known men like you all my life. You only ever love with your eyes, never with your hearts.”

  “Unlike your husband I suppose? He loves you with his whole heart?”

  Alice opened her mouth to answer yes, but hesitated. That Waldo genuinely cared about her she didn’t doubt. Unlike every other man she’d ever met she knew his feelings were more than simple lust. But did he love her with his whole heart? He’d made the point of telling her he trusted her. That made her happy, but trust wasn’t actually the same as love was it? What did his feelings for her really come to? He certainly didn’t act like a normal husband. Most men wouldn’t offer to trade their wives for five sheets of velum, not even as a joke.

  Yet he had put his life in danger to save hers. He’d healed her and protected her, apologized for hurting her. He’d taken her virginity and given her the most soul shattering pleasure. And even if it had been for his own reasons, he had rescued her from Elsa and a future as Lancel’s mistress. In their short time together she’d enjoyed this amazing, if dangerous, life of adventure.

  But did all of that amount to true love? She couldn’t honestly say.

  “What, no answer?”

  “He loves me more truly than any man ever has.” That was definitely true, and felt good to say, but it was not the answer she’d wanted to give.

  “I have a question for you thief,” Waldo said. “Do you know of any Great Monster in or near here?”

  “What, you mean other than goblins?”

  “That’s right.”

  “Well, there’s the story about Willmon’s Tower. Back in the duke’s grandfather’s day he came up with the brilliant idea of building a whole line of fortresses in the marshes to keep an eye on the goblins. Willmon’s Tower was supposed to be the first.”

  “What happened?”

  “About what you’d expect, halfway through building it the thing fell into the marsh. The old duke tried to rebuild it, but there was a fire and it burned down. He tried a third time, and that one burned down and then fell into the marsh. The old duke finally gave up. Now they say the ruins are cursed and some terrible monster lives there.”

  “Is this more than a rumor? Is there any actual proof?”

  “You mean from people? No, the patrols don’t go into the marshes. The goblins though are afraid of the place.”

  “I asked the duke if he knew about any Great Monsters and he didn’t mention this.”

  “Why would he? You think he wants a White Mage to go running off into the marshes on a werbil hunt? I’m sure you see killing monsters as a sport, but the last thing the duke would want is one of your kind dying on his doorstep.” Cleptus had a sly grin. “Course, he might not be so reluctant now.”

  “I have no idea what you mean.”

  “What, you think I didn’t notice you had his sword? Everyone in this city knows what it looks like, kind of hard to miss with the gold thread and all. And you’ve already said you want to sneak out of Norwich. Hah, and people call me a great thief.”

  “The duke lent it to us of his own free will.”

  “Oh, yeah? Did he say you could keep it?”

  In the flickering torchlight there was a coiled snake on the wall just ahead.

  “I have my reasons.”

  Cleptus nodded. “Don’t we all?”

  Passing in front of the snake Cleptus deliberately stepped over a trip wire. Not noticing it Waldo dragged his foot through the wire, releasing it.

  There was a clunk. Cleptus broke into a run just as the floor beneath them gave way. Waldo gasped as he fell. In the firelight he got a clear look at the pit filled with sharpened spikes below.

  “Levitarus!”

  Waldo spoke the spell just in time. He levitated with his face no more than three or four inches from the tip of one of those spikes.

  Cleptus meanwhile was quickly around the nearest intersection and gone from sight. His voice rang out clearly.

  “You should have made a deal with me wizard. Good luck to you finding a way out!”

  Chapter 22

  There Is No Easy Way Out

  “We have a frog, a dog, a rat, and a duck,” Alice said. Beneath the frog and dog were chalked ‘X’ marks.

  “I think it’s a goose,” Gronk said.

  “No, it’s a duck.”

  “Looks too big for a duck.”

  “All the drawings are about the same size, whether they’re horses or snakes.”

  “I still say it looks more like a goose to me.”

  “I don’t care whether it’s a duck or a goose,” Waldo snapped.

  They had been wandering about the sewers for what felt like hours. Their torch had given out and Waldo
was using a fire spell to let him see. Alice and Gronk had both suggested he not bother as they could lead him through the dark. He’d decided to use some of his mana to maintain a small fire on the tip of his wand. He did not want to feel completely helpless.

  “We’ll take the tunnel marked with the rat. We’ve already been through the ones with the dog and frog.”

  “You sure darling? We haven’t been down the one with the duck yet either.”

  “Goose.”

  “We’re going this way,” Waldo took a piece of chalk and drew an X beneath the rat and then left the intersection and started down the tunnel.

  Alice and Gronk were quickly right behind him.

  “Make sure to keep an eye out for snakes on the wall,” Alice said.

  “I know,” he muttered.

  “I am just trying to help, darling.”

  “I know, I know.”

  Waldo did not mean to take his frustration out on her.

  He felt like a complete fool. He had actually let Cleptus outsmart him. It was the mob at the bridge all over again. Waldo had assumed the thief could be no threat and had gotten careless. As a result he had nearly died, again, and he and his familiars were lost in these wretched sewers. He could imagine his mother hanging her head in shame, a look of disappointment in her eye.

  Wasn’t he supposed to be better than this? The quest had started off rather badly, but after escaping Middleton with Gronk things had improved. He still had to worry about his grandfather and possibly that White Mage, Melissa. Yet, he had felt he had gotten better at this whole adventuring thing. He had his brilliant disguise down and was spreading suspicion and doubt about the whites. Slowly he was discovering how to lead Alice and Gronk despite not having proper Contracts with them. Waldo had also made the ingenious decision to rob the duke of his most prized possession before fleeing. Finally, he had chosen to use the thief not only to recover the money but to aid them in their escape. He had even dealt with Cleptus’s defiance in a way his mother would have approved of.

  All those decisions were obviously the right ones. So how had things ended up this way?

  Alice came to his side and placed a hand lightly on his arm.

  “It’s all right, darling, you don’t need to worry. Everything will work out.”

  “I’m not worried.”

  “Darling, there’s no point to lying. I can tell what you’re feeling,” Alice suddenly wrapped her arms around his chest and hugged him. “I’m sorry.”

  Waldo was surprised and a bit uncomfortable, those were not words he’d heard often from people who mattered to him.

  “You don’t have anything to be sorry about Alice.”

  “That’s not so, I let that thief take my purse. Then I made you come to the tavern to try and get it back. If it’s anyone’s fault that we’re here now, it’s mine.”

  Waldo could sense her sorrow. He wasn’t sure how to respond to it. His mother hadn’t much cared about feelings.

  Waldo slid an arm around the small of her back and pulled Alice a little closer.

  “I don’t blame you for losing the purse. Gronk and I were both there and we didn’t prevent it. Going to the tavern wasn’t a mistake. Cleptus stole from me, trying to get the coins back was the right choice. Letting him get away was the only error. I am the master and I am the one who makes the decisions. The responsibility for this is mine and mine alone.”

  Alice lifted an eyebrow. “You’re not going to start saying I’m a familiar again are you?”

  “No.” Though you are.

  “Well, that’s sweet of you to say, but it’s still true that we ended up here because you listened to me.”

  “Does that mean I can ignore what you think from now on?”

  “That’s not really my point.”

  “Will you at least Charm people whenever I tell you to from now on?”

  “No. Look, darling, what I am saying is that I’m sorry I got so obsessive. But I know everything is going to work out fine. I trust you, and I know we will find a way out of here.”

  Hearing that did make him feel better, as did the way she was embracing him. Masters were not supposed to care what their servants thought. Yet, Alice’s words made some of his worries melt away. It gave him the oddest sense that he had done something right, despite the current situation.

  “Alice, I made the choice. I could have said no. Even though you can be rather scary at times.”

  “Hey!”

  “Oh come now, we both know it’s true. But the fact is that despite your morals and silly notions, sometimes, you are right.”

  “Only sometimes?”

  “I still think you should Charm people whenever I say.”

  “That would be wrong.”

  “So you keep telling me. Still, I couldn’t do without you. I am very glad to have you at my side.”

  He noticed her cheeks blush and a sense of happiness spilled over through the bond. She slowly rubbed herself against him.

  “Thank you, darling,” she whispered in his ear. “When we get out of here I promise to make it up to you.”

  “Does that mean you’ll give me one Charm?”

  “Ah, I had something else in mind.”

  “You mean that thing you do with your tongue that I like so much?”

  She gaped at him and looked back to where Gronk was. The ogre was standing there grinning.

  “He means the way I kiss!”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Yes, you do,” she growled.

  “Why are you angry all of a sudden?”

  “I am NOT angry!”

  “Yes, you are. In any case, I wasn’t referring to kissing. I meant how you take your mouth and…”

  Smack!

  “Don’t you dare say that where anyone else can hear! I’ll die of embarrassment.”

  “Oh please sweetheart,” Gronk chuckled. “Like that should embarrass you. I mean you did pleasure me with your feet once.”

  “WE NEVER SPEAK OF THAT AGAIN!!!”

  XXX

  Daring was in the meeting room. A single torch provided light. He was seated at a table with an empty mug in his hand. Across from him was his friend Markus. At other tables sat several others, sipping at their own mugs and looking on. Since his escape he’d managed to empty about half a keg of brown ale. Daring was still gazing at his left hand.

  “There’s skin over the wound. It’s not even red or scarred. How’d he do that? You’d think it was from years ago.”

  Markus answered him with one word. “Magic.”

  “Never knew a wizard could do that.”

  “Yeah, they’re amazing.”

  He kept staring at the nub where his pinky used to be.

  “Do you think if I cut his hands off he’d be able to heal them?”

  “Who knows? It’s not something I’d want to test.”

  “That’s what I should do you know. Cut his hands off and leave him as a beggar in the streets.”

  “I’m sure he’d hate it,” Markus took a sip from his mug. “You should have never gone anywhere near that White Mage. No matter how much gold he had it wasn’t worth it. “You never try to shear the wolves.” You’re the guildmaster, you’re the one who taught us that.”

  “Don’t remind me,” he muttered. “I never would have if it weren’t for her. You saw her, she was worth the risk.”

  “Still feel that way, Nine Fingers?”

  “Funny man.”

  Markus paused and leaned forward in his chair. “You know we can’t let this White Mage go. Sooner or later he’s going to find his way out. Then what? We’ve all heard how ruthless they are with our sort. You think this one is just going to forget about you? And if he returns for you none of us will be safe.”

  “He won’t be back. He took the duke’s sword.”

  “You think it’s any better if he sends one of his friends to do us in instead?”

  “I get it. We’ll end him. Him and his savage. My red haired beauty though… he
r I don’t want hurt. Not a bruise, not a scratch.”

  “You want us to bring down a wizard and someone who can lift a wagon with one hand and be gentle with her while we’re at it? That’s asking a whole lot.”