“Not especially, but we’re safe for now, and I am earning decent coin. It’s not so bad.”
“Plus you have all those commoners lusting after you. Being what you are you must enjoy that.”
“Are you jealous?”
“Certainly not, you belong to me.”
She liked hearing that. “Yes I do.”
“I am willing to admit it’s convenient.”
“I am glad you think so.”
“Now you can get your cravings satisfied without attacking me.”
“What?”
“You won’t need me to satisfy your hunger for male lust. The way those men were staring at you I am sure you have enough to last you a month at least.”
“Hey! You can’t hold that against me. It’s not like I want them to.”
“I wasn’t complaining. It’s a relief not to have you constantly attacking me every night.”
Smack!
“Ow!”
“Once again, you need to be more careful of what you say!”
As Waldo rubbed the back of his head the wagons rolled past.
“It’s awful,” Alice said. “Why must they be treated so badly just because they’re not human?”
“How would you expect them to be treated?”
Alice frowned at him. “They’re slaves in your country, right? Your people are just as bad, doing that to them just because of what they are.”
“Everyone in Alteroth who is not a member of one of the Seven Families is either a slave or a serf. How well they are treated has nothing to do with whether or not they are human. In Alteroth the slaves receive different levels of consideration depending on how valuable they are. Unique and powerful monsters, like vampires, can actually rise to positions of great privilege. People with special skills, such as carpenters or engineers, are granted certain liberties. When a slave child is born who has the ability to cast magic, he or she will be adopted into whichever family owns them. If they prove strong enough in the Dark Arts, it’s even possible to be adopted into one of the ruling households.” Waldo looked proud. “In my country ability counts before everything else.”
“What if the parents don’t want their child adopted?”
“Why would that matter?”
Alice gave an annoyed shake of the head. Waldo could tell that she had failed to grasp just how enlightened his society was.
“What about the ones who aren’t special?”
“They are put to work in whatever way best serves the owner’s needs. Most goblins are trained to be soldiers. They are stronger and more aggressive than humans.”
“Well that sounds a little bit better I suppose, but do any of them get to choose what they do?”
“Of course not. They’re slaves. The only choice they are given is to obey or to die.”
Alice was reminded of all the threats from Elsa. “Is there any place where monsters can just live how they want?”
“Certainly, outside of Avalon and their Alliance, almost every country has some wilderness that isn’t fully controlled. In Alteroth there are mountains and highlands where monsters live outside our grasp. Here in Lothas, I understand they thrive in the marshes to the north. Almost every country in the Shattered Lands has some place where monsters flourish; where they get to live as savagely as they please. Go far enough to the east, past the last human settlement, and you will enter Ostagraad, the eastern wilderness. There the orcs, goblins, trolls, ogres, and all the other races live wild and free, and it’s the men who have to hide and survive like animals.”
“You mean there really is such a place?” Alice asked. “I always thought it was just a story to scare children with.”
He chuckled. “It’s as real as Dark Mages or succubi.”
“I see.”
Alice continued walking by his side thinking for a moment.
“In all those places, where monsters have power, how do they treat people?”
“About the same way you treat a nice fat suckling pig. So far as I know, none of the other races bother with keeping humans as servants.”
“So everywhere in the world either humans abuse monsters or monster do the same to humans?”
“Of course, it’s nature. The ones who have power always use the ones who do not.”
“That’s not how it should be. It isn’t right and it isn’t fair. Why can’t we learn to live together in peace?”
“That’s just foolishness.”
“No it’s not. I am living proof that monsters and humans can get along.”
Waldo nodded sagely. “Yes, so long as the monster pretends to be human. It’s only when people recognize you that there is a problem. What would happen if you released your true form right now?”
Alice didn’t look happy. “That still doesn’t make it fair.”
“Well if it makes you feel any better, the world never has been, and never will be, fair.”
“Thank you dear, that makes me feel so much better.”
“Glad I could help.”
XXX
As Alice and Waldo kept walking, neither of them noticed a seedy figure trailing a block behind them. He was a short, scruffy looking man in worn work clothes. He made a point to never approach too close to them, while always keeping them in sight.
XXX
When the two of them returned to the Inn of the White Horse, their shadow finally left.
The shabby fellow made his way through the city towards the merchant district. There he came to a modest home and knocked on the front door. A servant answered, recognizing him, and brought him into a den where his master awaited.
The home’s owner was a middle aged man dressed impeccably and sitting behind a desk looking over some papers. The small room was filled with shelves and book cases, all crammed full of various tomes. He had hawk like green eyes and a very neatly trimmed mustache and goatee. Looking up from his reading material he glanced casually at his visitor.
“What have you to tell me Jonas?” He asked in a refined manner.
“I did like you told me to mister Varlos. I done followed them all day.”
He gave a slight nod. “And what did our two guests do?”
“Not much, they just walked all over the place like they was looking for something.”
“Did they make any stops? Did they speak with anyone?”
“Only time they stopped was at Millie’s Place to eat. Didn’t talk to no one that I saw, except to get their food.”
“Millie’s Place is near Stump Hill isn’t it?”
Jonas nodded his head. “That’s right sir, they went by all the hills like they was looking for somebody. Didn’t talk to nobody though, they just kept walking.”
“Did they approach the baron’s palace or talk to any of the guards?”
The man shook his head. “Didn’t talk to nobody sir. Then they just went back to the White Horse, that’s when I come here.”
“I see.” Varlos brought his hands together in front of his face. His eyes took on a calculating look.
Jonas fidgeted a bit and scratched himself. He didn’t like when mister Varlos looked like that. It was like he went somewhere.
After a moment the eyes focused on his guest again. Reaching into a desk drawer the man produced a single silver coin and held it out. “Well done, I want you to do the same again tomorrow. Follow our white bird wherever he goes.”
Jonas eagerly took the money and made it vanish. “What if the two go different ways?”
“The woman is not important, you follow the magic user. You can go now.”
The man bowed and left happily. It wasn’t often he did honest work, and it was even less often he got paid so good.
XXX
As soon as his agent left Varlos sat back in his seat and got the faraway look in his eyes once more. White Mages who visited Middleton always stayed with the baron. It was their common practice to stay with the local ruler or at least with one of the wealthiest or most influential.
They did not mak
e it a habit to rent rooms in low end establishments or fail to announce their arrivals to the local leaders. For that matter they normally traveled alone, not with a beautiful wife in tow.
What was this one up to?
When White Mages did the unexpected it tended to make certain people very, very nervous. The whites were well known for their charitable and noble deeds, but they were just as well known for their political manipulations. Could this be some sort of new gambit of theirs?
He would have to keep a very close eye on this Waldo Rabbit.
Chapter 36
Alice Is Charming
He was struggling to breathe.
Waldo could feel weight pressing down on him. There was a vice like pressure all around him, tightening, squeezing, slowly constricting him and making it impossible to move or even draw breath.
XXX
He opened his eyes.
He was in their bed, the blankets were half tossed aside, and there was predawn light coming through the window. Alice was asleep. Her head tucked comfortably on the top of his chest just below his neck. Her body was curled up, with her arms wrapped around his abdomen, and her long legs entangled in his. All of her weight was right on top of him.
She had on only her small clothes, as did he. Her breasts were pressed against him and he could feel them distinctly. Her long, fiery, red hair was a tangled mess. Though she was asleep Alice’s grip was like iron. Someone walking in might think it rather cute, sort of like a child holding a favorite rag doll close for comfort.
To Waldo it felt more like a lion holding onto a future meal.
Her body was warm, and her skin deliciously soft to the touch. Unfortunately, not being able to move his arms and having to struggle to breathe kept Waldo from fully appreciating these facts.
“Alice,” he gasped as loudly as he could. “You’re crushing me again.”
He had to repeat himself a couple more times before her eyelids fluttered open and she slowly lifted her head. Alice’s light violet eyes gradually focused on him. A casual smile lit her lips.
“Morning darling.”
“Good morning Alice, could you stop crushing me now?”
XXX
Waldo was downstairs sitting at one of the tables in the deserted common room.
He gingerly rubbed his sides. “Every morning, I thought sharing a bed with a beautiful woman was supposed to be a pleasant experience.”
He could hear Alice singing from the kitchen in the back. Despite their situation she was often in a cheerful mood. They had been here for a week.
A week!
Every day they had gone out through the streets searching. He slowly went blind staring at all the auras being given off by all the monsters who dwelled here. They would walk and walk and walk until it was time to head back to the Inn. He would get a meal and then head upstairs to study his spellbook before going to bed. Alice would also have something to eat and then begin her shift.
Waldo was frustrated and beginning to grow desperate. Somewhere out there his grandfather was still prowling. Just how long would his grandfather continue to wait? An army of ordinary men with swords would not deter an archlich. His grandfather had stayed away so far because there might be mages in this city. An archlich was nearly impossible to destroy with ordinary steel, but was hideously vulnerable to the right spell. That was the reason his grandfather had waited, but its patience would not be unlimited.
His grandfather was far from the only threat.
He’d had Alice ask a few of the guard officers if there were any other White Mages in Middleton. Waldo had been relieved to learn that there weren’t. In Alteroth all Dark Mages were taught certain stories that were never shared outside of the families. If two of their kind ran into each other outside the homeland, it was a standard practice to tell one of those stories. If the other one didn’t know how it went it meant he wasn’t a true Dark Mage. If the whites had a similar practice he would be found out.
Then there was the worry that one of the merchants Alice had met back in Stratford would spot her. He had not yet heard any rumors about a flying monster who had once been a barmaid. The news would not be long in arriving though; the two cities were too close to each other. If anyone connected Alice to that they could expect to have half the city guard come to arrest them both.
The longer they stayed here the more dangerous things became.
Alice came out of the kitchen with two bowls in her hands. She was in an annoyingly good mood, and was singing about a robin and a blue bird living together in sin.
She placed one the bowls, and a wooden spoon, in front of him. Alice then sat down in the chair next to him. “You should eat it while it’s nice and hot.”
Waldo eyed his food with a distinct lack of enthusiasm. “I hate porridge.”
“That’s not being appreciative darling. I worked over a hot fire to cook this for you.”
“In my home,” Waldo said wistfully. “The morning meal would be wheat cakes smothered in butter. There would be fresh fruits, nuts, eggs, steamed fish, bacon, and ham. Porridge was the sort of thing the slaves would eat.”
“Sounds wonderful,” Alice spooned up a mouthful and swallowed it down. “So who paid for all that?”
“My mother.”
“I don’t see your mother here now, and we don’t have the money to spend on butter or bacon or ham. The porridge is free, and we’re lucky Tyrone doesn’t charge us for our meals. If you don’t want to eat it I could make you a baked potato or some cabbage with carrots.”
Waldo picked up his spoon. “I never said I wouldn’t eat it.”
Alice tilted her head slightly. “Why are you in such a gloomy mood this morning?”
“Because we’ve already been here seven days and I still have no idea my second servant might be.” He shoveled some food into his mouth and ate it reflexively, his mind clearly somewhere else.
“I’m sure we’ll find who we’re looking for sooner or later, and as long as it’s a man or a really, really ugly woman everything will be fine.”
Waldo frowned. Her relentless good cheer was grating on his nerves a bit. He hadn’t shared all of his worries with her. There was nothing she could do about them, so there was no reason to burden her. Seeing her so relaxed and optimistic only made his own concerns weigh down even more heavily.
“Why are you so happy?”
“Why wouldn’t I be? I am a free woman getting to have breakfast with her precious husband. There is nowhere else in the world I would rather be.”
Waldo let out a grunt. Somehow her answer was both endearing and annoying at the same time.
The front door opened and the Innkeeper stepped out into the common room. In his hands was a small clay jar with a cork stopper. There was a small back room where stayed when there were guests. Most mornings he was up early helping Alice in the kitchen. Today it would seem he had gone out.
“Good morning Alice. I got this for you.” He handed the small jar to her. “It’s honey.”
“Oh! That’s so sweet of you! Thank you so much.”
Tyrone looked like a puppy that’d just had his belly rubbed. “Well you mentioned yesterday how you wished you had some for your porridge.”
Alice nodded. “I remember you telling me there wasn’t any in the market.”
“There wasn’t, but there is a special herb shop that sells things you can’t find at the regular market. They have all sorts of special foods and luxuries; they even have things for the local magic users.”
Waldo’s face immediately rose from his bowl.
“You really didn’t have to go to so much trouble.” Alice told him.
Tyrone puffed his chest out. “It was nothing. I don’t mind a bit now so long as it makes you happy.”
Alice was about to tell him how grateful she was when Waldo spoke up.
“Where is this herbal shop?”
Tyrone blinked, as if noticing he was at the table for the first time. “It’s on the Street of Hammers near Bad
en Hill.”
“Hurry up and finish eating,” Waldo told Alice. “I want to visit this place.” He began shoveling food into his mouth.
“Darling, don’t you want to try some honey with your porridge?”
“No.” He stuffed some more down. “Eat quickly or I’m leaving without you.”
XXX
The (sort of) Dark Mage (Waldo Rabbit) Page 34
