After The Rabbit (Waldo Rabbit Series)

by Chereta, Nelson

  “It’s the duke’s orders. No White Mages are permitted to enter Norwich.”

  Melissa’s eyes widened. “You are barring us? My entire order? Does your lord understand how offensive that is?”

  “Not as offensive as stealing his ancestral blade or summoning an army of undead to attack us.”

  “What?”

  “One of your sort was here and was the duke’s guest, him and his two women. He summoned a horde of evil abominations and stole our lord’s magical sword before they arrived.”

  “That is ridiculous and beyond insulting! We are not common thieves and summoning undead is an act of blasphemy! No White Mage would ever do such a thing!”

  “We all saw him with his red haired woman and savage. The lich even admitted to being summoned by him, I heard it with my own ears.”

  The soldiers all nodded.

  With the mention of a red haired woman Melissa got a sickening feeling in the pit of her stomach.

  “The person who did all this, his name wouldn’t have been Waldo Rabbit would it?”

  “So you know him.”

  Melissa looked at the bonfires being fed bodies, the ruined section of wall, and at the smoke still rising above the city. How could one man cause so much harm? It’s been less than two weeks! When word of this spread it would cause more damage to her order than a hundred false rumors. She was sorely tempted to tell the sergeant the truth, Waldo was not really a White Mage. But she could not, her instructions from Minster Barrows were explicit on that point. It wasn’t likely the truth would be believed anyway, under the circumstances it would sound too much like a lie of convenience.

  “I know him, though I am beginning to suspect I know even less than I thought.”

  “Then you should know that Duke Griffinheart has declared that until Waldo Rabbit is returned to face trial for his crimes no White Mage will be permitted to step inside Norwich.”

  “You cannot put a member of my order on trial. Local lords have no authority over us.” It was bizarre to be defending someone she knew was not actually a White Mage. The principle was what needed to be defended though.

  “Maybe it’s time for that to change. You whites act like small gods, you should answer for your crimes like anyone else.”

  Melissa’s back stiffened. She was not used to being spoken to this way. “We serve a higher purpose, we cannot be constrained by archaic laws or petty local authorities.”

  “Yeah, you do whatever you please.” One of the soldiers said. “That’s why no one trusts your kind.”

  “Everyone knows you keep secrets.” Another soldier said.

  It was the same problem as always. Her order fought for the greater good, which often required committing small evils. People couldn’t understand because they could never see beyond their own selfish desires.

  “Whatever your duke believes he is making a horrible mistake. Kings and queens welcome us, we can travel anywhere we please in the Shattered Lands except to Alteroth. If he truly means to bar us from his city there will be consequences.”

  The sergeant raised his sword a few inches and widened his stance. Unspoken his men spread out a bit. “If you want to try and ignore my lord’s order you will regret it white.”

  Melissa shook her head. “I will not. If it is your duke’s will that I be turned away I shall go, but please inform him that his decision will not be forgotten.”

  Melissa had no choice but to leave.

  XXX

  Lancel and his men arrived two days later.

  On his way he’d come across some villagers who’d been fleeing south. The story they’d told had been ridiculous. Liches and skeletons and walking corpses were the stuff of children’s stories. Maybe they existed beyond the border where the black wizards ruled, but not here. Passing through his first empty village with desecrated graves he began to wonder. When he saw his third he put his horse into a gallop.

  Unlike Melissa, he and his men were welcomed when they finally arrived. The soldiers at the gate cheered him and were quick to tell him that his father was wounded, but not severely. They also told him that yes, they really had been attacked by an army of undead led by a lich. There was also something about a White Mage who’d stolen Lawgiver and been the one to summon the abominations in the first place. That sounded even more outlandish than the tale of an army of undead storming through the countryside.

  The sight of the broken wall was hard to accept. Like everyone else in Norwich he’d never doubted the strength of these walls. Seeing a section of them ripped down made him wonder what other false assumptions he’d had. Almost as unsettling were the pair of bonfires and the wagonload of rotting corpses being carted out to them. The dead were supposed to be buried, not burned up like trash. The sergeant in charge had told him that it was his father’s orders. They did not know exactly how many had been killed, but the number was staggering, perhaps as high as three thousand. Some of the old stories said that those killed by the dead would rise as well. His father could not know for certain, but would take no chances. The departed who had not been consumed when Norwich burned would go into these fires. All the corpses were to be destroyed.

  As Lancel and his men rode in through the gate a couple families were leaving. There were two women and a total of seven children of different ages. They carried nothing but the clothes on their back. They were returning to their village and would try to rebuild it and bring in some crops. That would be very hard for them, especially with no men to help.

  He felt some sympathy for them until he entered the city.

  Half of it was nothing but charred ruin. Entire miles were piles of blackened wood and stone. The smell of smoke and rot flavored every breath. He could see people going through the destruction, searching for something to salvage or perhaps for the remains of loved ones. Along the street many hungry faces covered in soot called out begging for alms. He reached into his purse and tossed out some silver coins. Lancel was careful not to waste any of the gold.

  How many years would it take to repair all this? Would they still be recovering when he was duke? How much would it cost? He was just glad this wasn’t his worry. That responsibility fell squarely on his father. Lancel would help in any way he could, this was home after all, but hopefully his services would not be needed too long.

  The keep was untouched and exactly as he remembered it, except for the number of guards surrounding it. All the soldiers recognized him and looked pleased at his return. Lancel had his men stable the horses and then find rooms for themselves, as he went to seek out his father. Sir Lancel found him in his quarters, most of his right arm was wrapped in cloth dressings.

  “Father.” Lancel immediately went and embraced him.

  “Son.” Theos lightly patted him with one arm.

  Lancel was surprised as both his father’s tone and expression were a bit distant. Given the recent events he’d expected a much warmer welcome.

  “Are you all right father?”

  Theos took a couple steps away from him. “If you mean this I am fine.” The duke bent and unbent the arm. “If you mean the city I am anything but. Many have lost everything and have nowhere to sleep. Most of the food stores are lost. I have ordered all those who came here from the countryside back. The fields were burned and the farm animals slaughtered, I don’t know what sort of crop they will be able to bring in. With them gone there are fewer mouths, but how are we to feed them all? Many of the ones who are still alive will starve come the winter. That is if we are still alive come the winter. As soon as the goblins know our walls are broken they are going to march out and attack us, nothing surer.”

  Theos stared out a window at his ruined city.

  “Maybe I am cursed,” he muttered under his breath. Just loud enough for Lancel to hear. “Maybe the wizard really did steal my luck.”

  “A wizard?” A few came through on occasion, usually hedge wizards selling potions or offering to make it rain. The powerful ones never had a reason to visit such an out o
f the way place. “I heard some bizarre story about a White Mage who stole Lawgiver and summoned the lich and his army.”

  “Sadly it’s a true tale my son. Lawgiver was stolen from me by a cowardly white named Waldo Rabbit.”

  Waldo? “Why would a White Mage do something like that?”

  “Who can guess? They are full of secrets and deceptions. But there is more you might like to know my son. He didn’t come here alone. He brought two women with him, and one of them was yours.”

  “He had Lucilla with him?”

  “No! Not your useless wife! He had your woman, the barmaid Alice.”

  Lancel sucked in a breath and had to bite back the urge to yell a denial. Since burning down that damned whorehouse he had wanted to forget Alice ever existed. “You must be mistaken father. It had to be some other wench with the same name.”

  “There was no mistake, it would be hard to confuse her with anyone else. Long red hair, violet eyes, and tits big enough to use as a pillow, she even admitted to knowing you.”

  Alice coming here and actually meeting his father was the worst possible scenario. If his father learned the truth Lancel would be disgraced and disowned. “Whatever she told you was a damned lie. She’s nothing but a common whore and I have never lain with her or wanted to.”

  “That’s not what you used to say. You went on and on about her, that’s how I knew who she was at first sight. And I’ll admit she is quite a woman. I can understand why you wanted her so badly.”

  “Perhaps I did want her once, but I lost interest. She is nothing special to me at all.”

  His father gave him a condescending look. “What? Does it bother you that this wizard snapped her up before you could? He actually married her you know, or so they said, he had her and an ugly brute of a woman too.”

  This doesn’t make any sense. Alice came here with a White Mage? How is that even possible? She’s a monster and she was even in the company of a dark wizard before he was killed.

  The answer to that was obvious, and it came to him as soon as the initial shock passed. Was it really possible that the same Dark Mage who originally met her back in Stratford somehow didn’t drown and had actually come here as a guest? The idea of not only a monster but a black wizard staying here and fooling his father was sickening. The only thing worse was if his father realized that. He was connected to Alice in the duke’s eyes. Any sort of tie between him and a monster or dark mage would be enough to ruin him.

  “It was Alice who actually took Lawgiver from me.” His father was trying to sound stern, but there was a touch of longing in his voice. “She bewitched me. She was waiting at my door and pleaded with me to give her my sword. I could not refuse her.”

  Theos shook his head as if to banish the image.

  “It must have been her idea to come here. Why else would a White Mage visit? If you had never encountered that woman none of this would ever have happened.”

  “Father you can’t blame me for what she or this wizard did.”

  “Maybe not directly, but your actions still brought all this misfortune down on us. Perhaps the gods are punishing me for my pride or you for yours, but one thing is clear to me. From the moment I lost possession of Lawgiver our family’s luck has been poisoned. I am sure the only way to get our luck back is for you to go on a quest to recover our ancestral sword.”

  “How am I to do that when they have disappeared with no trace?”

  “You will have to track them down or plead with the gods for a sign. In any case my son you will go on this quest, and you will not return without Lawgiver. If you can return Waldo here to face my judgment, he and his order will answer for his crimes. But returning the blade is what truly matters.”

  Lancel could have told his father that the White Mages had nothing to do with any of it. But that would have required him to explain and the truth was the last thing he needed.

  “What happens if I cannot find Alice or this Waldo?”

  “Then you will never return home, never become duke, and never take my place. Set your mind to it Lancel, you succeed on your quest or you lose everything.”

  This was completely and utterly unjust, but Lancel could not refuse.

  “I understand father.”

  XXX

  It was three days following their encounter with the troll. The four of them had finally made it out of the marshes and were walking through the green hill country of Umbria. They’d spotted a few shepherds and flocks of sheep in the distance but had yet to actually run into any of the natives. The four of them had, had protective wards placed on themselves. Gronk was Belle again and he, Alice, and Waldo were all completely healed.

  As they went Waldo reached into one of the many hidden pockets of his robe and took out a hunk of blackish brown meat. He held it to his mouth and worked to bite off a piece, then slowly chewed.

  “How can you stand to eat that?” Cleptus asked.

  Waldo swallowed. “You don’t like jerky?”

  “Not when it came off of a goblin.”

  “It’s a little chewy but not bad.”

  “I agree with Master. Anyway you should never waste food.” Gronk was munching on a porcupine.

  Cleptus shook his head.

  Alice walked up to her husband’s side and placed a hand on his arm. “I’m sorry we weren’t able to capture the troll for you darling. I know how important it was to you.”

  “It’s fine. Having you and Gronk is more than enough. I am just glad to have you both.”

  “Still, I know getting him was part of your quest.”

  “I only need three monsters as familiars, they don’t have to be Great Monsters. When the time comes all I have to do is make a goblin or orc a familiar and that will fulfill the first part of the quest.” He glanced back at Cleptus and lowered his voice. “The other parts are what I’m worried about.”

  Waldo intended to use the thief, but was not going to trust him. So far as Cleptus was concerned he really was a White Mage on some vague, unexplained mission.

  “I’m sure you’ll figure it out darling, and you know I’ll help you in any way I can.”

  He grinned at her knowingly. “So long as it doesn’t involve me asking you to use your Charm, steal, take slaves, or do anything else that goes against your morals.”

  She nodded and looked very pleased. There was a pulse of happiness from the bond. “See? You’re learning.”

  “I am, almost everything I’ve come across since setting out has been a new experience. I’ve even killed for the very first time.”

  “Was it hard for you darling? It doesn’t seem to have bothered you.”

  “Actually it wasn’t. I didn’t think about it, I just did what I had to. Mother always said killing was easy so long as you didn’t care about your victim.”

  Alice gave him a wide smile. “Very evil of you.”

  “Thank you.”

  Waldo looked out at the vast horizon before him and felt at ease. Even the terrible ball of fire overhead did not bother him… much.

  “Lothas is behind us, the world in front of us, today is a fresh start and all things are possible. Grandfather will still be chasing us and maybe Melissa as well, but we’ll deal with them when we have to.”

  “So I get to travel all over the Shattered Lands with you having adventures?” She slid her arm through his. “I like the sound of that.”

  “Good. I certainly wouldn’t want to try and manage without you.”

  Alice leaned in close and deliberately let her breasts slowly rub against his arm.

  “You know darling,” She said in a throaty whisper. “The first town we come to with an Inn we should stay the night.”

  “All right, after camping in the grass and mud I wouldn’t mind sleeping in a real bed again.”

  “Yes, and we could, ah, make the bed together.” She added a purr to those last few words.

  “If we’re paying for a room at an Inn shouldn’t the bed already be made?”

  “Uhm, that’
s not really what I meant.”

  Waldo looked unsure. “Then what did you mean?”

  “Well, I meant that thing we do in bed together.”

  “Sleep?”

  “No, the other thing.”

  “You mean how you try to crush me as I sleep?”

  “No!”

  Waldo paused and rubbed his chin. “Do you mean when I service you?”

  Alice let go of him and began rubbing her temples. “Yes, and do you have to say it like that?”

  “Why would you want us to make the bed when we’re just going to make a mess of the sheets anyway?”