The Great Leveller: Best Served Cold, The Heroes and Red Country

by Joe Abercrombie

  ‘How so?’

  ‘Only yesterday I had a very similar visit from a representative of the Prophet of Gurkhul, offering his . . . backing.’

  That gave him a moment’s pause. ‘Whom did he send?’

  ‘A woman called Ishri.’

  Sulfur’s eyes narrowed by the smallest fraction. ‘You cannot trust her.’

  ‘But I can trust you, because you smile so sweetly? So did my brother, and he lied with every breath.’

  Sulfur only smiled the more. ‘The truth, then. Perhaps you are aware that the Prophet and my employers stand on opposite sides of a great struggle.’

  ‘I’ve heard it mentioned.’

  ‘Believe me when I say you would not wish to find yourself on the wrong side.’

  ‘I’m not sure I wish to find myself on either side.’ She slowly settled back into her chair, faking comfort when she felt like a fraud at a stolen desk. ‘But never fear. I told Ishri the price of her support was too high. Tell me, Master Sulfur, what price will Valint and Balk ask for their help?’

  ‘No more than what is fair. Interest on their loans. Preference in their business dealings and those of their partners and associates. That you refuse to deal with the Gurkish and their allies. That you act, when my employers request, in concert with the forces of the Union—’

  ‘Only whenever your employers request?’

  ‘Perhaps once or twice in your lifetime.’

  ‘Or perhaps more, as you see fit. You want me to sell Talins to you and thank you for the privilege. You want me to kneel at your vault door and beg for favours.’

  ‘You over-dramatise—’

  ‘I do not kneel, Master Sulfur.’

  It was his turn to pause at her choice of words. But only for a moment. ‘May I be candid, your Excellency?’

  ‘I’d like to see you try.’

  ‘You are new to the ways of power. Everyone must kneel to someone. If you are too proud to take our hand of friendship, others will.’

  Monza snorted, though behind her scorn her heart was pounding. ‘Good luck, to them and to you. May your hand of friendship bring them happier results than it brought to Orso. I believe Ishri was going to start looking for friends in Puranti. Perhaps you should go to Ospria first, or Sipani, or Affoia. I’m sure you’ll find someone in Styria to take your money. We’re famous for our whores.’

  Sulfur’s grin twitched even wider. ‘Talins owes great debts to my employers.’

  ‘Orso owes great debts to them, you can ask him for your money back. I believe he was thrown out with the kitchen waste, but you should find him if you dig, down there at the bottom of the cliff. I’ll happily lend you a trowel for the purpose.’

  Still he smiled, but there was no missing his threat. ‘It would be a shame if you left us no choice but to yield to the rage of Queen Terez, and let her seek vengeance for her father’s death.’

  ‘Ah, vengeance, vengeance.’ Monza gave him a smile of her own. ‘I don’t startle at shadows, Master Sulfur. I’m sure Terez talks a grand war, but the Union is spread thin. They have enemies both North and South and inside their borders too. If your High King’s wife wants my little chair, well, she can come and fight me for it. But I rather suspect his August Majesty has other worries.’

  ‘I do not think you realise the dangers that fill the dark corners of the world.’ There was no good humour in Sulfur’s huge grin now. ‘Why, even as we speak you sit here . . . alone.’ It had become a hungry leer, filled with sharp, white teeth. ‘So very, very fragile.’

  She blinked, as if baffled. ‘Alone?’

  ‘You are mistaken.’ Shenkt had walked up in utter silence until he stood, unobserved, right at Sulfur’s shoulder, close as his shadow. Valint and Balk’s representative spun about, took a shocked step back and stood frozen, as though he’d turned to see the dead breathing in his ear.

  ‘You,’ he whispered.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘I thought—’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Then . . . this is your doing?’

  ‘I have had my hand in it.’ Shenkt shrugged. ‘But chaos is the natural state of things, for men pull always in their own directions. It is those who want the world to march all the same way that give themselves the challenge.’

  The different-coloured eyes swivelled to Monza, and back. ‘Our master will not—’

  ‘Your master,’ said Shenkt. ‘I have none, any more, remember? I told him I was done. I always give a warning when I can, and here is yours. Get you gone. Return, you will not find me in a warning mood. Go back, and tell him you serve. Tell him I used to serve. We do not kneel.’

  Sulfur slowly nodded, then his mouth slipped back into the smirk he wore when he came in. ‘Die standing, then.’ He turned to Monza, gave his graceful bow once more. ‘You will hear from us.’ And he strutted easily from the room.

  Shenkt raised his brows as Sulfur disappeared from sight. ‘He took it well.’

  She didn’t feel like laughing. ‘There’s a lot you’re not telling me.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Who are you, really?’

  ‘I have been many things. An apprentice. An ambassador. A solver of stubborn problems, and a maker of them. Today, it seems, I am a man who settles other people’s scores.’

  ‘Cryptic shit. If I want riddles I can visit a fortune-teller.’

  ‘You’re a grand duchess. You could probably get one to come to you.’

  She nodded towards the doors. ‘You knew him.’

  ‘I did.’

  ‘You had the same master?’

  ‘Once. Long ago.’

  ‘You worked for a bank?’

  He gave his empty smile. ‘In a manner of speaking. They do far more than count coins.’

  ‘So I’m beginning to see. And now?’

  ‘Now, I do not kneel.’

  ‘Why have you helped me?’

  ‘Because they made Orso, and I break whatever they have made.’

  ‘Revenge,’ she murmured.

  ‘Not the best of motives, but good outcomes can flow from evil motives, still.’

  ‘And the other way about.’

  ‘Of course. You brought the Duke of Talins all his victories, and so I had been watching you, thinking to weaken him by killing you. As it happened, Orso tried to do it himself. So I mended you instead, thinking to persuade you to kill Orso and take his place. But I underestimated your determination, and you slipped away. As it happened, you set about trying to kill Orso . . .’

  She shifted, somewhat uncomfortably, in her ex-employer’s chair. ‘And took his place.’

  ‘Why dam a river that already flows your way? Let us say we have helped each other.’ And he gave his skull’s grin one more time. ‘We all of us have our scores to settle.’

  ‘In settling yours, it seems you have made me some powerful enemies.’

  ‘In settling yours, it seems you have plunged Styria into chaos.’

  That was true enough. ‘Not quite my intention.’

  ‘Once you choose to open the box, your intentions mean nothing. And the box is yawning wide as a grave now. I wonder what will spill from it? Will righteous leaders rise from the madness to light the way to a brighter, fairer Styria, a beacon for all the world? Or will we get ruthless shadows of old tyrants, treading circles in the bloody footsteps of the past?’ Shenkt’s bright eyes did not leave hers. ‘Which will you be?’

  ‘I suppose we’ll see.’

  ‘I suppose we will.’ He turned, his footfalls making not the slightest sound, and pulled the doors silently shut behind him, leaving her alone.

  All Change

  ‘You need not do this, you know.’ ‘I know.’ But Friendly wanted to do it. Cosca squirmed in his saddle with frustration. ‘If only I could make you see how the world out here . . . swarms with infinite possibilities! ’ He had been trying to make Friendly see it the entire way from the unfortunate village where the Thousand Swords were camped. He had failed to realise that Friendly saw i
t with perfect, painful clarity already. And he hated it. As far as he was concerned, fewer possibilities was better. And that meant infinite was far, far too many for comfort.

  ‘The world changes, alters, is born anew and presents a different face each day! A man never knows what each moment will bring!’

  Friendly hated change. The only thing he hated more was not knowing what each moment might bring.

  ‘There are all manner of pleasures to sample out here.’

  Different men take pleasure in different things.

  ‘To lock yourself away from life is . . . to admit defeat!’

  Friendly shrugged. Defeat had never scared him. He had no pride.

  ‘I need you. Desperately. A good sergeant is worth three generals.’

  There was a long moment of silence while their horses’ hooves crunched on the dry track.

  ‘Well, damn it!’ Cosca took a swig from his flask. ‘I have made every effort.’

  ‘I appreciate it.’

  ‘But you are resolved?’

  ‘I am.’

  Friendly’s worst fear had been that they might not let him back in. Until Murcatto had given him a document with a great seal for the authorities of the city of Musselia. It detailed his convictions as an accomplice in the murders of Gobba, Mauthis, Prince Ario, General Ganmark, Faithful Carpi, Prince Foscar and Grand Duke Orso of Talins, and sentenced him to imprisonment for life. Or until such time as he desired to be released. Friendly was confident that would be never. It was the only payment he had asked for, the best gift he had ever been given, and sat now neatly folded in his inside pocket, just beside his dice.

  ‘I will miss you, my friend, I will miss you.’

  ‘And I you.’

  ‘But not so much I can persuade you to remain in my company?’

  ‘No.’

  For Friendly, this was a homecoming long anticipated. He knew the number of trees on the road leading to the gate, the warmth welling up in his chest as he counted them off. He stood eagerly in his stirrups, caught a tingling glimpse of the gatehouse, a looming corner of dark brickwork above the greenery. Hardly architecture to fill most convicted men with joy, but Friendly’s heart leaped at the sight of it. He knew the number of bricks in the archway, had been waiting for them, longing for them, dreaming of them for so long. He knew the number of iron studs on the great doors, he knew—

  Friendly frowned as the track curved about to face the gate. The doors stood open. A terrible foreboding crowded his joy away. What could be more wrong in a prison than that its doors should stand open and unlocked? That was not part of the grand routine.

  He slid from his horse, wincing at the pain in his stiff right arm, still healing even though the splints were off. He walked slowly to the gate, almost scared to look inside. A ragged-looking man sat on the steps of the hut where the guards should have been watching, all alone.

  ‘I’ve done nothing!’ He held up his hands. ‘I swear!’

  ‘I have a letter signed by the Grand Duchess of Talins.’ Friendly unfolded the treasured document and held it out, still hoping. ‘I am to be taken into custody at once.’

  The man stared at him for a moment. ‘I’m no guard, friend. Just using the hut to sleep in.’

  ‘Where are the guards?’

  ‘Gone.’

  ‘Gone?’

  ‘With riots in Musselia I reckon no one was paying ’em, so . . . they up and left.’

  Friendly felt a cold prickle of horror on the back of his neck. ‘The prisoners?’

  ‘They got free. Most of ’em ran right off. Some of ’em waited. Shut ’emselves into their own cells at night, only imagine that!’

  ‘Only imagine,’ said Friendly, with deep longing.

  ‘Didn’t know where to run to, I guess. But they got hungry, in the end. Now they’ve gone too. There’s no one here.’

  ‘No one?’

  ‘Only me.’

  Friendly looked up the narrow track to the archway in the rocky hillside. All empty. The halls were silent. The circle of sky still looked down into the old quarry, maybe, but there was no rattling of bars as the prisoners were locked up safe and sound each night. No comforting routine, enfolding their lives as tightly as a mother holds her child. No more would each day, each month, each year be measured out into neat little parcels. The great clock had stopped.

  ‘All change,’ whispered Friendly.

  He felt Cosca’s hand on his shoulder. ‘The world is all change, my friend. We all would like to go back, but the past is done. We must look forwards. We must change ourselves, however painful it may be, or be left behind.’

  So it seemed. Friendly turned his back on Safety, clambered dumbly up onto his horse. ‘Look forwards.’ But to what? Infinite possibilities? He felt panic gripping him. ‘Forwards all depends on which way you face. Which way should I face now?’

  Cosca grinned as he turned his own mount about. ‘Making that choice is what life is. But if I may make a suggestion?’

  ‘Please.’

  ‘I will be taking the Thousand Swords – or those who have not retired on the plunder of Fontezarmo, at least, or found regular employment with the Duchess Monzcarro – down towards Visserine to help me press my claims on Salier’s old throne.’ He unscrewed the cap of his flask. ‘My entirely righteous claims.’ He took a swig and burped, blasting Friendly with an overpowering reek of strong spirits. ‘A title promised me by the King of Styria, after all. The city is in chaos, and those bastards need someone to show them the way.’

  ‘You?’

  ‘And you, my friend, and you! Nothing is more valuable to the ruler of a great city than an honest man who can count.’

  Friendly took one last longing look back, the gatehouse already disappearing into the trees. ‘Perhaps they’ll start it up again, one day.’

  ‘Perhaps they will. But in the meantime I can make noble use of your talents in Visserine. I have entirely rightful claims. Born in the city, you know. There’ll be work there. Lots of . . . work.’

  Friendly frowned sideways. ‘Are you drunk?’

  ‘Ludicrously, my friend, quite ludicrously so. This is the good stuff. The old grape spirit.’ Cosca took another swig and smacked his lips. ‘Change, Friendly . . . change is a funny thing. Sometimes men change for the better. Sometimes men change for the worse. And often, very often, given time and opportunity . . .’ He waved his flask around for a moment, then shrugged. ‘They change back.’

  Happy Endings

  Few days after they’d thrown him in there, they’d set up a gallows just outside. He could see it from the little window in his cell, if he climbed up on the pallet and pressed his face to the bars. A man might wonder why a prisoner would go to all that trouble to taunt himself, but somehow he had to. Maybe that was the point. It was a big wooden platform with a crossbeam and four neat nooses. Trapdoors in the floor so they only had to kick a lever to snap four necks at a go, easy as snapping twigs. Quite a thing. They had machines for planting crops, and machines for printing paper, and it seemed they had machines for killing folk too. Maybe that’s what Morveer had meant when he spouted off about science, all those months ago.

  They’d hanged a few men right after the fortress fell. Some who’d worked for Orso, given some offence someone needed vengeance for. A couple of the Thousand Swords as well, must’ve stepped onto some dark ground indeed, since there weren’t many rules to break during a sack. But no one had swung for a long time now. Seven weeks, or eight. Maybe he should’ve counted the days, but what difference would counting ’em have made? It was coming, of that much he was sure.

  Every morning when the first light crept into the cell and Shivers woke, he wondered if that would be the morning they’d hang him.

  Sometimes he wished he hadn’t turned on Monza. But only because it had come out the way it had. Not because he regretted any part of what he’d done. Probably his father wouldn’t have approved of it. Probably his brother would’ve sneered and said he expected no bette
r. No doubt Rudd Threetrees would’ve shook his head, and said justice would come for it. But Threetrees was dead, and justice with him. Shivers’ brother had been a bastard with a hero’s face, and his sneers meant nothing no more. And his father had gone back to the mud and left him to work out his own way of doing things. So much for the good men, and the right thing too.

  From time to time he wondered whether Carlot dan Eider got away from the mess his failure must’ve left her in, or whether the Cripple caught up with her. He wondered whether Monza got to kill Orso, and whether it had been all she hoped for. He wondered who that bastard had been who came out of nowhere and knocked him across the hall. Didn’t seem likely he’d ever find out the answers now. But that’s how life is. You don’t always get all the answers.

  He was up at the window when he heard keys rattling down the corridor, and he almost smiled at the relief of knowing it was time. He hopped down from his pallet, right leg still stiff where Friendly had stuck his knife in it, stood up tall and faced the metal gate.

  He hadn’t thought she’d come herself, but he was glad she had. Glad for the chance to look her in the eye one more time, even if they had the jailer and a half-dozen guards for company. She looked well, no doubt of that, not so gaunt as she used to, nor so hard. Clean, smooth, sleek and rich. Like royalty. Hard to believe she ever had aught to do with him.

  ‘Well, look at you,’ he said. ‘Grand Duchess Monzcarro. How the hell did you come out o’ this mess so fine?’

  ‘Luck.’

  ‘There you go. Never had much myself.’ The jailer unlocked the gate and pushed it squealing open. Two of the guards came in, snapped manacles shut round Shivers’ wrists. He didn’t see much purpose in making a fight of it. Would’ve been just an embarrassment all round. They marched him out into the corridor to face her.

  ‘Quite the trip we’ve been on, ain’t it, Monza, you and I?’

  ‘Quite the trip,’ she said. ‘You lost yourself, Shivers.’

  ‘No. I found myself. You going to hang me now?’ He didn’t feel much joy at the thought, but not much sorrow either. Better’n rotting in that cell, he reckoned.