[Blood on the Reik 02] - Death's City

by Sandy Mitchell - (ebook by Undead)

  “Is it true there are elves there?” Fritz asked. Artemus nodded, apparently relieved to be back on safer ground.

  “Indeed there are, my young friend. Hundreds of them, walking the streets and sailing the canals as openly as you or I. Most of them stick to their own quarter, but then so do the other folk by and large, so you can hardly fault them for that. My goodness, the splendour of the architecture there must be seen to be believed, and you really must take a stroll in the gardens of the Grand Circle canal at the earliest opportunity.” He paused to smile at Rudi and Hanna. “It’s a favourite spot for the young and romantic. I spent many happy hours there in my younger days you can be sure.” Rudi felt himself flushing, and felt sure that somehow Hanna had seen and was amused by it.

  Nevertheless, despite Artemus’ habit of digressing into half-completed anecdotes about his youth and the people he’d known in it, by the end of the evening Rudi felt he had a much better idea of the size and complexity of the city than he’d ever had before. The names of districts and wards, places and notables, swirled around his head in a confused jumble, but he was sure he’d be able to make sense of them once they arrived.

  “I had no idea it was so big,” Fritz said, awestruck. “Imagine, over a hundred and thirty thousand people.” The figure was so huge as to be incomprehensible, almost a thousand times the population of the village he’d grown up in, and he kept repeating it as though it would somehow make sense this time.

  “You won’t have to imagine it for long,” Artemus assured him. “Only another few days and we’ll be there.”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The next day dawned just as overcast as before. Mindful of his promise the previous morning, Rudi offered to take a turn behind the reins and let Fritz ride in comfort in the back of the wagon, but to his surprise the youth demurred.

  “We’ll make better time if Artemus and I take turns,” he said, climbing up onto the driving seat with far less visible effort than he had before. Clearly Hanna’s poultices and herbal infusions were having the effect on him she’d hoped; the bruising across his face had faded almost to invisibility, and his injured arm moved as freely as the other one now.

  “That certainly seems the most pragmatic course of action,” the scribe agreed, clambering up beside him with remarkable agility. Under the hood of his travelling cloak his hair had proved to be flecked with white, and Rudi had been surprised to discover how old he was. Fritz nodded and picked up the reins, no doubt eager to hear more of the man’s wanderings and the remarkable city he called home.

  Well, so far as Rudi was concerned, he was welcome to them. Artemus was an amiable companion, he couldn’t deny that, but his exuberance and volubility could be wearing. Besides, while Artemus was blathering about elves, he could talk to Hanna without risk of their new friend overhearing.

  “It sounds as though we’ll be able to find someone to help you when we get to the city,” he said quietly. Hanna nodded. Among the torrent of information Artemus had poured out the previous night was the revelation that sorcerers were less rigidly controlled in Marienburg than in the Empire. Mages could be found, in the right places and for the right price, to carry out any kind of enchantment desired.

  “Let’s hope so,” she said. Her face seemed drawn in the deep shadows under the makeshift canopy, and she massaged her temples in a gesture that was becoming habitual. “I don’t know how long I can go on like this.”

  “Is it getting worse?” Rudi asked, moving closer to her.

  “A little, I think. And I keep having these dreams…” She looked up, fixing him with a gaze so intent it was almost a physical blow. “Rudi, I’m afraid something terrible’s going to happen.”

  “It’s not,” Rudi said decisively. “We won’t let it.” He ventured a tentative hug, which she didn’t respond to in any way, and after a moment he let go with a feeling of vague disappointment. Any reply she might have made was forestalled by a sudden lurch as the cart slowed abruptly.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Stay quiet,” Fritz said. “There are people on the road. Spreading out across it. They look armed.”

  “Gerhard?” Hanna breathed. “How could he have got ahead of us?”

  “I don’t think so.” Rudi shook his head. “Fritz would have recognised him.”

  “I’ll do the talking, if you’ll permit the liberty,” Artemus said, apparently unaware of the brief, whispered exchange behind him. “I’ve had experience of ruffians of this sort. They’re none too bright and we may well escape unmolested, albeit a little lighter in the purse if I fail to convince them.”

  “Go right ahead,” Rudi murmured, loosening the sword in his scabbard.

  Hanna looked at him in horror. “You can’t be intending to fight them?” she whispered.

  “I’d rather not. But I’m going to be ready if I have to.” Rudi picked up the bow and nocked an arrow, tensing the string ready to draw and loose the instant he had a target. For a moment he worried that the new found expertise with the weapon he’d discovered shortly before losing the one he’d left home with would desert him again, then forced the thought away irritably.

  “Me too.” Hanna drew the knife from her belt and held it ready with a confidence which surprised him for a moment before he remembered Bruno offering to teach her some knife fighting techniques while they’d been travelling with the bounty hunters. She’d obviously been a fast learner.

  “Good morning,” Artemus said, a little too loudly, evidently intending his voice to carry. A couple of throaty chuckles answered him, as the cart came to a halt. “Although the weather is somewhat inclement, I’m forced to admit. Hardly a day to be abroad, I would have thought, if you could avoid it.”

  “Honest men have to work whatever the weather,” a gruff voice replied, amid a ground swell of further laughter. Rudi thought it sounded as though there were three or four men out there at least. “What’s in the back?”

  “What’s it to you?” Fritz snapped, provoking further laughter, which Artemus overrode with more good-humoured banter.

  “You’ll have to excuse my young friend. It’s been a long damp journey, and he’s impatient to find a fire and a mug of ale.”

  “Aren’t we all?” a new voice cut in, before being hushed by the first voice to have spoken. Their leader, Rudi supposed. “Then we’ll make it quick. Pay the toll and you’ll be on your way before you know it.”

  “I see.” Artemus was plainly unsurprised. “And that would be how much?”

  “That depends.” All trace of pretended good humour left the man’s voice. “How much have you got?”

  “Very little, alas.” Artemus sighed audibly. “You know what they say, lucky at cards, unlucky in love? Unfortunately I appear equally ill-starred in both spheres. What little worldly wealth I once possessed is now several leagues distant, in the purse of a soldier of fortune named Ruffio Manzinni. Unless he’s squandered it already on ale and whores, which I most certainly would have done in his position.”

  “I see.” The leader was clearly unconvinced. His voice hardened. “Get down, both of you.”

  “If you insist.” Artemus sighed loudly. “Your arm, young man, if you’d be so kind. I’m not as young as I was and my bones are stiff.” He broke off abruptly, with the sound of a loud impact against the road and a bellow of raucous laughter. When he spoke again he sounded winded. “Much obliged.”

  “Karl, Hubert, see what’s in the back.” The leader’s voice was businesslike again. “We can get thirty guilders for the nag at least.”

  “You leave Willem alone!” Fritz shouted, before the sound of a blow silenced him. Rudi and Hanna exchanged glances. There seemed no alternative but to fight. Rudi drew back the bow, hissing in frustration as Hanna moved in front of him, blocking the shot.

  “It’s a girl, Chief!” A head appeared beyond her, a grimy face surrounded by lank, greasy hair. “Looks like our lucky day.” The expression of gleeful malice changed abruptly as Hanna dropped, rev
ealing Rudi and the fully drawn bow behind her. “It’s…”

  He never completed the sentence, as the arrow took him clean in the chest. He went down screaming, blood beginning to seep from his mouth. His companion, Karl or Hubert, Rudi never found out which, tried to vault into the cart and tackle the young forester before he could reload. Realising he wouldn’t make it in time, Rudi let the bow drop and reached for his sword, but before he could clear the scabbard the bandit fell back, gurgling, the hilt of Hanna’s knife protruding from his throat. She’d clearly been an apt pupil of Bruno’s knife-throwing tricks.

  “Come on!” Her face suffused with the same vindictive expression he’d last seen when she contemplated stabbing Gerhard, she dived past him and out of the cart, plucking her blade from the neck of the fallen bandit as she went. Rudi followed, drawing the sword.

  Outside was a scene of complete confusion. Fritz was grappling with a fellow of similar build to himself, intent on preventing him from unharnessing the horse. As Rudi watched, he sent the bandit reeling with a head-butt and piled in with a flurry of blows to the torso as the fellow tried to disengage. Artemus was leaning casually against the front wheel of the cart, an expression of mild interest on his countenance. Three armed men were running towards Rudi and Hanna, swords in their hands and murder on their faces. The one in the centre was probably their leader, as his clothing was a little more ornate, and the other two hung back a pace behind him.

  “Oh dear. Pardon me, how clumsy.” Artemus tripped the man nearest him with an outstretched foot, reached out a hand as if to steady him, and swung him into the solid wood of the side of the wagon with a loud crack. The man staggered and folded. Remembering the lessons Theo had taught him, Rudi stepped into the gap left in the line before either of the other two could react and aimed a cut at the leader’s suddenly exposed flank. The bandit parried hastily, deflecting Rudi’s blade down and away, and Rudi kicked out at the back of his knee, bringing him down. For a second, he considered stabbing down with the point of his sword, finishing the ruffian with a blade through the chest, but the remaining bandit forestalled him by aiming a vicious cut at his head.

  Rudi ducked, made a counterstrike at the man’s torso and watched with satisfaction as the tip of the blade sliced through cloth to leave a red mark along the exposed skin. If his opponent hadn’t jumped back at the last possible minute he would have killed him for sure. The same sense of vindictive satisfaction he’d felt before when he fought Fritz in the forest rose up in him, time seeming to slow as his reactions grew sharper than he’d ever thought possible. The man he’d downed cut at his ankle and he leaped over the sweeping blade, driving the heel of his boot into the bandit captain’s groin. The man howled and curled into a foetal position, dropping his sword.

  “Nice move.” Fritz punched his opponent hard in the face and turned to seize the man Artemus had tripped by the scruff of the neck, hoisting him upright. The ruffian swayed on his feet, glassy eyed, making no attempt to defend himself, and Fritz slammed the two men’s heads together. They dropped to the ground.

  “Get out of here!” Hanna’s voice was charged with the power building inside her. She might not be able to channel it now, but under the impetus of fear and anger it was welling up uncontrollably. A sudden burst of wind ruffled her hair, and a trickle of blood began to run from her nose. “While you still can!” Then she clasped her temples, screamed in agony and slumped to the roadway.

  “Hanna!” Enraged beyond measure, Rudi drove hard at the bandit he was engaging, parrying every attack the man made with a speed and efficiency which astonished him. Blind panic was evident on the fellow’s face now, which turned to one of pain and surprise as Rudi finally found an opening and thrust his blade deep into his chest. The man screamed and fell, almost wrenching the sword out of Rudi’s hand as he did so. The steel came free of the wound with a moist sucking sound.

  “Run for it!” The bandit’s captain was back on his feet now and began to stagger down the road as fast as he could. The two Fritz had downed crawled after him, regaining their feet after several attempts.

  “They’re getting away!” Fritz shouted, clearly on the verge of following. Artemus forestalled him with a hand to the shoulder.

  “Let them. They’ll think twice about resorting to banditry again, I shouldn’t wonder. And unless I miss my guess, your friends need our help.”

  He was right about that. Rudi came back to himself slowly, the magnitude of what he’d done just beginning to sink in. The man he’d stabbed twitched at his feet for a moment, gurgled and went limp, his fate now clearly in the hands of Morr.

  “Rudi?” Fritz sounded uncharacteristically hesitant. “Are you all right?”

  “Yeah. Course I am.” Rudi wiped the sword blade clean of blood, his breath coming in short, sharp gasps. His hands were trembling and it took him several tries to restore it to the scabbard. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “You just killed three men.” The note of awe was clear in the simpleton’s voice. “And you’re not even scratched.” He gestured towards the rear of the wagon, where two more bodies lay inert in the roadway.

  “Two.” Rudi turned, slowly coming to terms with the fact that he’d taken human lives. It ought to change things in some way, deeply and fundamentally, but he didn’t feel any different. He was still Rudi Walder and he’d done what he’d had to do to defend himself and his friends, that was all. Somehow he couldn’t see the bandits being conscience stricken if he’d been the one left lying in the mud. “Hanna got one of them.”

  The mention of her name was enough to start his mind working again and he turned, looking for the girl. She was stretched out on the roadway, her face white, barely breathing.

  “She fainted,” Artemus said, kneeling next to her. “The excitement must have been too much.” The blue eyes behind the spectacles blinked mildly, clearly not believing his own explanation, but offering it nevertheless.

  Rudi nodded gratefully. “Must have been,” he agreed.

  “We’d better get her under cover,” Fritz said, bending down to lift the unconscious girl as if she were no heavier than a child. Rudi felt a pang of mingled jealousy and alarm, but let the youth carry her to the wagon and stretch her out on her bedroll. He couldn’t do everything, after all.

  “Shall we take the bodies?” Artemus asked. “Chances are there’s a bounty out on these fellows and we might be able to claim it somewhere around here.”

  Rudi shook his head. “I don’t want to be paid for killing,” he said.

  Artemus nodded wisely. “I take your point,” he said. “Besides, all that bureaucracy, the form filling and what have you, probably far more trouble than it’s worth.” He bent to examine the nearest body. “Still, they might keep us fed for another day or two.”

  “They might,” Rudi said, pulling the man’s purse from his belt. None of the men had much of value apart from their money, but he collected their weapons too, and one of them had a pair of boots which seemed about his size so he stripped them off before dumping the corpse at the side of the road. They’d clearly been stolen from some other traveller, as they were of far higher quality than the rest of the man’s garments and an intricate decorative pattern had been worked into the leather.

  “Better get moving,” Fritz called from the driver’s seat. Shaking himself free of the morbid thoughts which were beginning to gather around him Rudi hurried back to the cart.

  “How are you feeling?” Rudi asked. Hanna stirred, pulled herself upright, and sat supported by the side of the wagon. By unspoken consent Fritz and Artemus had resumed their places on the driving seat, leaving Rudi to tend to her as best he could in the back, although that had amounted to little more than letting her sleep and hoping for the best. As her eyes flickered open he proffered a little water from the bottle in his pack and she swallowed it gratefully.

  “I’ve had better days,” she admitted. She raised a hand to her head and winced. “Ouch.” She wiped the back of the other hand across h
er face and stared bemusedly at the smear of blood left on it. “Oh.”

  “It’s not as bad as it looks,” Rudi assured her hastily, dampening a scrap of rag and passing it across. Hanna cleaned her face with it, then lay back with the strip of cloth across her eyes.

  “It feels a lot worse. Trust me.”

  “What happened?” Rudi asked. “Artemus thinks you fainted. At least that’s what he says he thinks…”

  “Then we’ll stick to that.” Hanna sighed. “I could feel the power welling up inside me, the way it did when the skaven attacked us. But I couldn’t control it, or direct it, and there was nowhere for it to go. So it just…” Words failed her. After a moment she went on. “It felt like it was eating me alive, from the inside out.” A note of panic entered her voice. “We have to get this thing off me. It’ll kill me if we don’t.”

  “We will,” Rudi said, as reassuringly as he could. “There must be someone in Marienburg who can help.”

  “So you said.” She sounded unconvinced. After a moment she hauled herself upright, removed the bandage from her eyes, and began rummaging in her satchel.

  “What are you looking for?” Rudi asked.

  “Anything that’ll help.” After a moment she found something that looked suspiciously like the man-bane she’d given to Fritz and chewed it vigorously. Despite Rudi’s concern, it seemed to help and she sat back looking a great deal more relaxed, the lines of pain and tension fading from her face. “That’s better.”

  “Good.” Rudi passed her the water again and the girl drank deeply. “Something to eat?”

  “No. Not yet.” She tried to smile, but the effort was too much. “The way I feel now it would just come straight back up again anyway.”

  “Perhaps when we stop for the night,” Rudi said.

  “Perhaps.” Something seemed to occur to her for the first time. “What happened to the bandits, anyway?”

  “Ran away.” Rudi shrugged, uncomfortable about the direction the conversation was taking. “Some of them at least.”