by Mark Tufo
“Trapped?”
“You know what I mean.” We were in her room, I had to at least make an effort to repeal my words.
“I think you don’t like the feeling of being the pariah.”
“Do you? It sucks. I’m sick of people ushering their kids into their homes when I walk by or hiding behind whatever is closest like I’m going to snap and just start killing again.”
“Things will calm down. They’ll once again remember that what you did was for them.”
“Azile, I don’t care. I’m done here. I’ve more than done my part. I just want to live my life and somehow discover a way for a miraculous reunion with my soul.” I don’t know why I talk first and think later. I’d just told Azile that I can’t wait to get back to my wife and family. Even if it was true, I had feelings for Azile. I could be honest with myself about that, but I lived and breathed for Tracy, and I would find a way back to her.
“The next moon. That’s it, that’s all I ask. If it comes and goes without incident I will release you from whatever bonds you feel are keeping you here.” With that, she arose from the bed. I was left staring at her naked back and I could tell by the way she was walking away she was pissed off. It was not the sensual swaying of one attempting to allure, it was the straightforward movement of someone attempting to get away.
“Yup, that’s right, Talbot, you get so many beautiful naked women in your bed you should just make all of them angry enough to leave,” I berated myself after Azile dressed and walked out.
I’d finish out the month. Oggie was either fine—and I had to believe he was and still would be when I struck out to look for him—or he had come to what I hoped was a peaceful ending, and I’d somehow be able to find him and give him a burial.
The weeks dragged on, if not for Mathieu and his incredible elixir that he was calling Talbräu, in honor of the town, I think I would have gone stir-crazy. I very rarely left my room. Besides the aforementioned Mathieu, the only other person who visited was Gount, and even that was a stiff, almost formal meeting. He thanked me for my service to Talboton, I could tell he wanted out even though he’d barely come in. When I’d opened the door and moved further into the room, he had barely crossed over the threshold to award me some plaque or something. He had one of the seven or eight people with him put it on a chair. I either told him thank you or fuck off; either way, I meant the same thing. I was halfway through the small pony keg Mathieu had dropped off the night before. He said he’d be up later this evening to sample it with me. I had not been able to resist the temptation of its sweet siren song.
By the time he’d come up, the sun had gone down and I had destroyed every piece of furniture in my room, including the mattress. Looked like the world’s most aggressive pillow fight in my room, feathers and bits of wood were strewn all over the place.
“Maybe should have put a locking valve on that,” Mathieu said as he came in. He sat down across from me, leaning against the far wall. “Doing a little redecorating?”
“I have some issues.”
“You don’t say?”
I arched an eyebrow.
“This town is a mess, Michael.”
“Why should they be any different?”
“Is there anything left?” Mathieu was pointing to the only thing in the room that had not suffered my wrath. The small keg was alone in the center of the room in a circle that was deemed a safe-zone. The storm had raged around it, but like a lone house on a street ravaged by a tornado, it stood unaffected.
“Doubtful. If I could have found a way to lick the insides I would have.”
Mathieu puffed out a laugh. “At least you liked it.”
“It could have tasted like turpentine and I would have drunk it.” I paused. “Alright, let me stop being a miserable asshole; that was uncalled for. The beer was magnificent, it’s the person drinking it who is sour and without a heavy constitution.”
“You always beat yourself up like this? It’s a good thing this isn’t the person who showed up at my home to console me, or we’d both have jumped from the top of the blast doors.”
“Our luck, it would have been a few seconds before the moon was coming up so you would have transformed on the way down. Then I would have landed on you, thus breaking my fall. Couldn’t even get a proper suicide down.”
“I suppose not.” He stared longingly at the keg before he spoke again. “There was a runner today.” Then he stopped. There was an elephant of a pregnant pause. I’m insinuating that it was extremely long, as elephants are pregnant for like twenty-seven months or something.
“Are you really going to start a conversation like that and then not follow up?”
“I didn’t know if you’d care or not, so I was waiting on some kind of response from you before I went on. Didn’t see the need to talk just to hear myself.”
“I knew I liked you for a reason.”
“Is this the beer talking, or is it because of the beer.”
“Both. Just tell me about the runner.”
“Was a Landian.”
I scoffed. Mathieu was looking at me. “Sorry, they remind me of pickles, and their willingness to do nothing in the face of conflict irks me to no end.”
“I don’t say anything because I’m not sure if you want me to, then you say you do and then don’t let me finish without interrupting.”
“You’re more fun when you’re drunk, less uptight. Go ahead.” I motioned with my hand.
“They spotted Lycan.”
“Son of a bitch. I thought Azile knew more than she was saying. ‘One more moon, Michael that’s all I ask.’ Yeah…well…she asked because she fucking knew. What the hell was I thinking? Of course a witch was going to know. Like trying to play poker with see-through cards. Or like wondering how someone knows the words to the new song on the radio and then realizing later that they wrote the damn thing.”
“MIKE!”
“WHAT?!” I yelled back.
“You’re doing that thing where you’re not letting me finish again.”
“You weren’t done?”
He placed his palm against his forehead as he let his head dip a bit.
“Well, finish up. What the hell is keeping you?”
“I cannot for the life of me imagine why you have been alone for most of your life.”
“Now you’re just being mean.”
“The Lycan have been spotted and they are with over a thousand humans.”
“Werewolves.”
“Well, you know what I meant.”
“And they’re headed here?”
“The Landians thought so.”
“Makes sense, strike the strongest and, should we fall, the rest will be easy for the picking.”
“Can we defeat them?”
“I don’t think so. We don’t have the manpower. I think if a thousand non-armed regular people stormed this place during the day, they could breach the walls. A thousand crazed werewolves loping along the dark landscape won’t have very many problems. I think the best course of action would be to take a force of strength out and meet up with the Lycan.”
“Meet them on their territory? You could not hope to defeat them.”
“My target wouldn’t be the Lycan.”
“The people? You would kill the people? They are innocents in all this.”
“They won’t be for long.”
“You…you can’t just kill them.” He stood, shaking.
“They’re not all you, Mathieu. They’re going to turn, and they are going to tear this town down. It would be better for all involved if they were stopped before that happened.”
“Better for whom?”
“Come on, Mathieu. You of all people should know what I’m talking about. If you could spare even one of them from the guilt you feel every day, wouldn’t you?”
He was on the verge of either crying or ranting, and since I’d already ruined everything in the room, I figured he was leaning more toward the former. That was right up until he kic
ked the keg. The blameless barrel was launched and burst apart as it collided with the wall not more than two feet from where I sat. Bits of beer-soaked wood rained down on me, some coming to rest in my lap. I thought about sucking on a particularly succulent piece.
“I would…I would spare them.” Mathieu had seemed to release his pent-up anger with that one kick. Got to admit, I was pretty happy that hadn’t smashed into my face. I was drunk enough to know that there was a pretty good chance I wouldn’t have been quick enough to get my hands up in defense. I hadn’t even registered the fact it had hit the wall until I felt the vibration-causing impact on my back and then the subsequent splintering.
“I’m sorry.” Mathieu hung his head down. I kind of got the feeling he was talking more to the broken barrel than he was to me. “There is more.”
“I’m listening,” I answered quickly. I don’t think either of us wanted this conversation to last any longer than it already had.
“The Landians also came across an abnormally large pack of wolves. There was a stranger among them, a large dog, fawn in color.”
“Oggie?” I stood up.
“I do not believe they could get close enough to ask him his name, they just noted it was a strange sight as wolves are not known for their appreciation of their canine cousin.”
“How? I mean, why would they even bring something like that up? Sure, I’m grateful, but that’s sort of a strange ice-breaking conversation starter.”
“Bailey. She has enlisted the help of everybody, the Landians, traders, scouts, anybody she could think of.”
“I wish she had come up here to tell me herself. I could have thanked her properly. I’ve got to go.” I was digging through the wreckage for my things. “Do you have a general idea of where they were?”
“You are going to leave with the Lycan on the doorstep?”
“You and Azile teaming up on this?”
“I don’t talk to her often,” Mathieu said in all seriousness. “Witches make me feel uncomfortable.”
“Have you known a bunch throughout your lifetime?”
“She’s the first, except for maybe my mother-in-law. I never felt comfortable around her either.”
“Maybe I don’t have to.” I was thinking. “I can’t imagine that it’s a coincidence wolves are around at the same time as Lycan.”
“I do not understand.”
“I don’t either…not yet anyway. Maybe I should talk with Gount, Azile, and Bailey. You okay?” I asked a forlorn Mathieu.
“This is typical of you…isn’t it.” It was a statement, yet I did not know what he was stating, and I told him as much. “You were feeling terribly horrible about yourself and took it out on your surroundings, both real people and inanimate objects. Then I come up here and you just kind of hand off all this ill will like a molded over loaf of bread. Now I’m stuck holding it and you look no worse for the wear. How is that even possible?”
“It’s a gift, Mathieu, that I like to share with my friends.” I grabbed his shoulder. “Come on, I’m sure you have more beer, let’s drink and be merry while we can. I’ll talk to the others soon enough. I’m sure they’ll come looking for me anyway.”
“I hate you.”
“Most do.”
***
“Whoa.” I awoke the next day back in my room. “Did I dream the whole thing?” I was looking around. The furniture was still complete, the mattress still containing all its feathers. There was not a hole in the wall where a beer keg had tried to pass through. “That was pretty realistic.” I sat up in bed, my head swimming in a miasma of old alcohol. “WHOA!” I said louder as I put my hand down and realized I wasn’t alone. I scooted off the bed when I realized that not only was I not alone but that is was Mathieu. “Get up, man! Why are you in my bed!?”
“I would imagine because you were tired.” Mathieu had one eye open, a rope of drool attaching the corner of his mouth to his pillow. “And this is my bed. You pulled yours apart. Remember?”
“Not really.”
“Shut up and either come back to bed or leave quietly. I am not feeling all that resplendent right now.”
I must have tied one on because I’d fallen asleep fully clothed with my boots on, plus I still had my axe clipped to my side. “Yeah, this looks like comfortable sleeping apparel. I’ll see you later.”
Mathieu grunted and then turned over. I noticed he had no shirt on.
“Are you naked? Please tell me you’re not naked.”
He pulled the covers down so I could see his ass.
“Oh, come on, man.”
“Civilized men do not sleep in boots,” he moaned.
“Yeah, well, they also don’t sleep naked next to other men, I mean, unless they’re into that kind of thing.”
“It is my bed. I will sleep in it any way that I choose. You decided to plop yourself down into it when you realized the floor was not that comfortable. Oh, and just so you know, I usually sleep on your side, all spread-eagled.”
“Oh, that’s just damn gross.” If my stomach hadn’t already been on the edge this was sure to send it plunging over the precipice. I made sure to see if I could make the hotel shake when I shut his door.
“You’re an asshole,” drifted out from his room.
I smiled as I headed down the hallway.
“Michael.”
I stopped in my tracks. It was Lana.
“We need to talk about last night.”
I turned. “Did I say something inappropriate? More importantly, did I do something inappropriate? I’m sorry, and sleeping with Mathieu, it meant nothing, it was just a one night stand.”
“You slept with Mathieu?” She shook her head.
“Well, not in the biblical sense, we just shared a bed.”
“I say, ‘yes.’ ”
“Umm, okay. Congratulations, I guess.”
“I’m telling you I said yes, and you’re congratulating me? That’s a little self-centered, even for you.”
“Lana, I’m lucky I’m even standing right now. I don’t know what you’re referring to.”
“We were together for nearly most of the night. How could you not remember? I would have never accepted your proposal if I did not think you coherent enough to know exactly what you were saying.”
“Ma...my proposal? What sort of proposal?”
“Why marriage, of course.”
Vertigo did not even begin to accurately describe the cyclone of emotions that were twisting around in my head.
“Are you okay?” Lana reached out to steady me. I searched her face intensely for the deceit I knew had to be there. I saw nothing that led me to believe she was being anything but forthcoming.
“Does Azile know about this?” I pulled her in close and was looking around.
“Does Azile know about what?” the question came from behind me.
“This is the worst morning, ever.” I sighed.
“Michael has slept with Mathieu and we are to be wed!” Lana was nearly bouncing on her toes as she gave all of this information.
An older man from across the hallway had opened his door to see what all the noise was about. He shut it quickly enough when he heard the news and saw the sad expression on my face. Or maybe it was the anger on Azile’s that did it.
“Two deceitful indiscretions in one night? That is a lot even for you, Michael.” Azile was smiling.
“Wait, what?” Lana was smiling as well. “This is a set-up? We’re good?” I pointed from myself to Azile.
“After your display last night, I would say that we were okay.”
I wanted to ask what display exactly she was referring to, but I kept my lips closed for a couple of reasons. First, it would not look good at all if I didn’t remember what I had done. And secondly, I was “ahead” why chance it?
“You heard about Oggie?”
“I have, although I do not know how or why he would be running with a wolf pack. They are reluctant to bond with dogs.”
“He has my charm
.”
“They would have already thrown him out if that were the case.”
“Funny. Will Bailey meet with me?”
“Perhaps. Why?”
“I heard about the Lycan as well.”
We hunted down Bailey, which really wasn’t all that hard to do. She was spending as much time as she could with every member of the community that she could. Talboton had the weaponry, just not the manpower to wield it properly; she was doing her best to change that.
“Absolutely not,” was Bailey’s definitive answer after I made my case. “I cannot leave. Not now, and I do not have the manpower to spare on what amounts to a fruitless endeavor.”
She was right…to a point. We were vulnerable beyond the walls, but then, so were they; especially if they weren’t expecting a coordinated attack. To make it worthwhile I’d need fifty armed men, a hundred would be more preferable. It couldn’t be done. Talboton would be almost defenseless, and I wasn’t taking a bunch of green recruits that she’d offered into the field. They’d run at the first sign of trouble.
When Tommy and I had first got to town, the population stood at about twenty-six hundred, and of that, roughly ten percent were commissioned to defend her walls. That had nearly been halved since the first Lycan encounters and then the battles with the coalition. Normally five percent of a population would be sufficient. To put it in context, in my time during its heyday, the military accounted for roughly one percent of the population. Give or take. But we were facing an enemy ten times or more our defensive numbers. Arms advantage or not, we were in trouble.
In the end, I don’t think Bailey wanted to be with me. Pretty much sums up that story. For the most part, I do believe she’d forgiven me, but that’s not something you easily forget. For fuck’s sake, I’d wanted to rip her throat out. Yeah, I would have felt bad about it, but she’d still be dead…and I would have killed a relative of my best friend. That kind of stuff goes over huge upstairs.
“What did you expect?” Azile had been watching from across the street.
“I don’t really know. I finally come up with a plan, and now, no one wants to listen.”
She smiled at that. “When are you going out to look for Oggie?”
