Last Argument of Kings

by Joe Abercrombie

  An indefinite extension of their current not-so secret romance would have been his preferred choice, but that bastard Glokta had stuck his ruined foot through that possibility. Anvils, and sacks, and canals. Jezal remembered that white monster shoving his bag over a prisoner's head on a public thoroughfare, and shuddered at the thought. But he had to admit that the cripple was right. Jezal's visits were not good for that girl's reputation. One should treat others the way one would want to be treated, he supposed, just as Ninefingers had once said. But it certainly was a damned inconvenience.

  '… are you even listening, my boy?'

  'Eh? Er… yes, of course. Harod the Great, and so forth. The high respect he had for the common man.'

  'Appeared to have,' grumbled Bayaz. 'And he knew how to take a lesson too.'

  They were getting close to Adua now, passing out of the farmland and through one of the huddles of shacks, impromptu dwellings, cheap inns and cheaper brothels that had grown up around each of the city's gates, huddling about the road, each one almost a town in its own right. Up into the long shadow of Casamir's Wall, the outermost of the city's lines of defence. A dour guardsmen stood on either side of the high archway, gates marked with the Golden sun of the Union standing open. They passed through the darkness and out into the light. Jezal blinked.

  A not inconsiderable number of people had gathered in the cobbled space beyond, pressing in on either side of the road, held back by members of the city watch. They burst into a chorus of happy cheers as they saw him ride through the gate. Jezal wondered for a moment if it was a case of mistaken identity, and they had been expecting someone of actual importance. Harod the Great, perhaps, for all he knew. He soon began to make out the name 'Luthar' repeated amongst the noise, however. A girl at the front flung a flower at him, lost under his horse's hooves, and shouted something he could not make out. But her manner left Jezal with no doubts. All these people had gathered for him.

  'What's happening?' he whispered to the First of the Magi.

  Bayaz grinned as though he, at least, had expected it. 'I imagine the people of Adua wish to celebrate your victory over the rebels.'

  'They do?' He winced and gave a limp-wristed wave, and the cheering grew noticeably in volume. The crowd only thickened as they made their way into the city and the space reduced. There were people scattered up and down the narrow streets, people at the downstairs windows and people higher up, whooping and cheering. More flowers were thrown from a balcony high above the road. One stuck in his saddle and Jezal picked it up, turned it round and round in his hand.

  'All this… for me?'

  'Did you not save the city? Did you not stop the rebels, and without spilling a drop of blood on either side?'

  'But they gave up for no reason. I didn't do anything!'

  Bayaz shrugged, snatched the flower from Jezal's hand and sniffed at it, then tossed it away and nodded his head towards a clump of cheering tradesmen crowding a street corner. 'It would seem they disagree. Just keep your mouth shut and smile. That's always good advice.'

  Jezal did his best to oblige, but the smiles were not coming easily. Logen Ninefingers, he was reasonably sure, would not have approved. If there was an opposite to trying to look like less than you were, then this, surely, was its very definition. He glanced nervously around, convinced that the crowds would suddenly recognise him for the utter fraud he felt, and replace the flowers and calls of admiration with angry jeers and the contents of their chamber pots.

  But it did not happen. The cheering continued as Jezal and his long column of soldiers worked their slow way through the Three Farms district. With each street Jezal passed down he relaxed a little more. He slowly began to feel as if he must indeed have achieved something worthy of the honour. To wonder if he might, in fact, have been a dauntless commander, a masterful negotiator. If the people of the city wished to worship him as their hero, he began to suppose it would be churlish to refuse.

  They passed through a gate in Arnault's Wall and into the central district of the city. Jezal sat up tall in his saddle and puffed out his chest. Bayaz dropped behind to a respectful distance, allowing him to lead the column alone. The cheering mounted as they tramped down the wide Middleway, as they crossed the Four Corners towards the Agriont. It was like the feeling of victory at the Contest, only it had involved considerably less work, and was that really such an awful thing? What harm could it do? Ninefingers and his humility be damned. Jezal had earned the attention. He plastered a radiant smile across his face. He lifted his arm with self-satisfied confidence, and began to wave.

  The great walls of the Agriont rose up ahead and Jezal crossed the moat to the looming south gatehouse, rode up the long tunnel into the fortress, the crackling hooves and tramping boots of the King's Own echoing in the darkness behind him. He processed slowly down the Kingsway, approvingly observed by the great stone monarchs of old and their advisers, between high buildings crammed with onlookers, and into the Square of Marshals.

  Crowds had been carefully arranged on each side of the vast open space, leaving a long track of bare stone down the middle. At the far end a wide stand of benches had been erected, a crimson canopy in the centre denoting the presence of royalty. The noise and spectacle were breathtaking.

  Jezal remembered the triumph laid on for Marshal Varuz when he returned from his victory over the Gurkish, remembered staring wide-eyed, little more than a child. He had caught one fleeting glimpse of the Marshal himself, seated high on a grey charger, but never imagined that one day he might ride in the place of honour. It still seemed strange, if he was honest. After all, he had defeated a bunch of peasants rather than the most powerful nation in the Circle of the World. Still, it was hardly his place to judge who was worthy of a triumph and who was not, was it?

  And so Jezal spurred his horse forwards, passing between the rows of smiling faces, waving arms, through air thick with support and approval. He saw that the great men of the Closed Council were arranged across the front row of benches. He recognised Arch Lector Sult in shining white, High Justice Marovia in solemn black. His erstwhile fencing master, Lord Marshal Varuz, was there, Lord Chamberlain Hoff just beside him. All applauding, mostly with a faint disdain which Jezal found rather ungracious. In the midst, well propped up on a gilded chair, was the King himself.

  Jezal, now fully adjusted to his role of conquering hero, dragged hard on the bridle making his steed rear up, front hooves thrashing theatrically at the air. He vaulted from the saddle, approached the royal dais, and sank gracefully down on one knee, head bowed, the applause of the crowd echoing around him, to await the King's gratitude. Would it be too much to hope for a further promotion? Perhaps even a title of his own? It seemed suddenly hard to believe that he had been forced to consider a quiet life in obscurity, not so very long ago.

  'Your Majesty…' he heard Hoff saying, and he peered up from under his brows. The King was asleep, his eyes firmly closed, his mouth hanging open. Hardly a great surprise in its own way, the man was long past his best, but Jezal could not help being galled. It was the second time, after all, that he had slumbered through one of Jezal's moments of glory. Hoff nudged the monarch as subtly as possible with an elbow, but when he did not wake, was forced to lean close to whisper in his ear.

  'Your Majesty—' He got no further. The King leaned sideways, his head slumping, and fell all of a sudden from his gilded chair, sprawling on his back before the stricken members of the Closed Council like a landed whale. His scarlet robe flopped open to reveal a great wet stain across his trousers and the crown tumbled from his head, bounced once and clattered across the flags.

  There was a collective gasp, punctuated by a shriek from a lady near the back. Jezal could only stare, open mouthed, as the Lord Chamberlain flung himself down on his knees, bending over the stricken King. A silent moment passed, a moment in which every person in the Square of Marshals held their breath, then Hoff got slowly to his feet. His face had lost all of its redness.

  'The Ki
ng is dead!' he wailed, the tortured echoes ringing from the towers and buildings around the square. Jezal could only grimace. It was just his luck. Now no one would be cheering for him.

  * * *

  Too Many Knives

  « ^ »

  Logen sat on a rock, twenty strides from the track that Crummock was leading them up. He knew all the ways, Crummock-i-Phail, all the ways in the North. That was the rumour, and Logen hoped it was a fact. He didn't fancy being led straight into an ambush. They were heading north, towards the mountains. Hoping to draw Bethod down off his hills and up into the High Places. Hoping the Union would come up behind him, and catch him in a trap. An awful lot of hoping, that.

  It was a hot, sunny day, and the earth under the trees was broken with shadow and slashed with bright sunlight, shifting as the branches moved in the wind, the sun slipping through and stabbing in Logen's face from time to time. Birds tweeted and warbled, trees creaked and rustled, insects floated in the still air, and the forest floor was spattered with clumps of flowers, white and blue. Summer, in the North, but none of it made Logen feel any better. Summer was the best season for killing, and he'd seen plenty more men die in good weather than in bad. So he kept his eyes open, looking out into the trees, watching hard and listening harder.

  That was the task Dogman had given him. Staying out on the right flank, making sure none of Bethod's boys crept up while they were all spread out in file down that goat track. It suited Logen well enough. Kept him on the edge, where none of his own side might get tempted to try and kill him.

  Watching men moving quiet through the trees, voices kept down low, weapons at the ready, brought back a rush of memories. Some good, some bad. Mostly bad, it had to be said. One man came away from the others as Logen watched, started walking towards him through the trees. He had a big grin on his face, just as friendly as you like, but that meant nothing, Logen had known plenty of men who could grin while they planned to kill you. He'd done it himself, and more than once.

  He turned his body sideways a touch, sliding his hand down out of sight and curling it tight round the grip of a knife. You can never have too many knives, his father had told him, and that was strong advice. He looked around, slow and easy, just to make sure there was no one at his back, but there were only empty trees. So he shifted his feet for a better balance and stayed sitting, trying to look as if nothing worried him, but with every muscle tensed and ready to spring.

  'My name's Red Hat.' The man stopped no more than a stride away, still grinning, his left hand slack on the pommel of his sword, the other just hanging.

  Logen's mind raced, thinking over all the men he'd wronged, or hurt, or got bound up in a feud with. Those he'd left alive, anyway. Red Hat. He couldn't find a place for it anywhere, but that was no reassurance. Ten men with ten big books couldn't have kept track of all the enemies he'd made, and the friends and the family and the allies of all his enemies. And that was without a man trying to kill him without much of a reason, just to make his own name bigger. 'Can't say I recognise the name.'

  Red Hat shrugged. 'No reason you should do. I fought for Old Man Yawl, way back. He was a good man, was Yawl, a man you could respect.'

  'Aye,' said Logen, still watching hard for a sudden move.

  'But when he went back to the mud I got a place with Littlebone.'

  'Never saw eye to eye with Littlebone, even when we were on the same side.'

  'Neither did I, being honest. A right bastard. All bloated up with victories that Bethod won for him. Didn't sit well with me. That's why I came over, you know? When I heard Threetrees was here.' He sniffed and looked down at the earth. 'Someone needs to do something about that fucking Feared.'

  'So they tell me.' Logen was hearing a lot about this Feared, and none of it good, but it'd take more than a few words in the right direction to get his hand off his knife.

  'Still, the Dogman's a good chief, I reckon. One of the best I've had. Knows his business. Careful, like. Thinks about things.'

  'Aye. Always thought he would be.'

  'You think Bethod's following us?'

  Logen didn't take his eyes from Red Hat's. 'Maybe he is, maybe he isn't. Don't reckon we'll know 'til we get up in the mountains and hear him knocking at the door.'

  'You think the Union'll keep to their end of it?'

  'Don't see why not. That Burr seems to know what he's about, far as I can tell, and his boy Furious as well. They said they'll come, I reckon they'll come. Not much we can do about it either way now, though, is there?'

  Red Hat wiped some sweat from his forehead, squinting off into the trees. 'I reckon you're right. Anyway, all's I wanted to say was, I was in the battle, at Ineward. I was on the other side from you, but I saw you fight, and I kept well away, I can tell you that.' He shook his head, and grinned. 'Never saw anything like that, before or since. I suppose what I'm saying is, I'm happy to have you with us. Real happy.'

  'Y'are?' Logen blinked. 'Alright, then. Good.'

  Red Hat nodded. 'Well. That's all. See you in the fight, I reckon.'

  'Aye. In the fight.' Logen watched him stride away through the trees, but even when Red Hat was well out of sight, he somehow couldn't make his hand uncurl from the grip of his knife, still couldn't lose the feeling that he had to watch his back.

  Seemed he'd let himself forget what the North was like. Or he'd let himself pretend it would be different. Now he saw his mistake. He'd made a trap for himself, years ago. He'd made a great heavy chain, link by bloody link, and he'd bound himself up in it. Somehow he'd been offered the chance to get free, a chance he didn't come near to deserving, but instead he'd blundered back in, and now things were apt to get bloody.

  He could feel it coming. A great weight of death, like the shadow of a mountain falling on him. Every time he said a word, or took a step, or had a thought, even, it seemed he'd somehow brought it closer. He drank it down with every swallow, he sucked it in with every breath. He hunched his shoulders up and stared down at his boots, strips of sunlight across the toes. He should never have let go of Ferro. He should have clung to her like a child to its mother. How many things halfway good had he been offered in his life? And now he'd turned one down, and chosen to come back and settle some scores. He licked his teeth, and he spat sour spit out onto the earth. He should've known better. Vengeance is never halfway as simple, or halfway as sweet, as you think it's going to be.

  'I bet you're wishing you didn't come back at all, eh?'

  Logen jerked his head up, on the point of pulling the knife and setting to work. Then he saw it was only Tul standing over him. He pushed the blade away and let his hands drop. 'Do you know what? The thought had occurred.'

  The Thunderhead squatted down beside him. 'Sometimes I find my own name's a heavy weight to carry. Dread to think how a name like yours must drag at a man.'

  'It can seem a burden.'

  'I bet it can.' Tul watched the men moving past, single file, down on the dusty track. 'Don't mind 'em. They'll get used to you. And if things get low, well, you've always got Black Dow's smile to fall back on, eh?'

  Logen grinned. 'That's true. It's quite the smile he has, that man. It seems to light up the whole world, don't it?'

  'Like sunshine on a cloudy day.' Tul sat down on the rock next to him, pulled the stopper from his canteen and held it out. 'I'm sorry.'

  'You're sorry? For what?'

  'That we didn't look for you, after you went over that cliff. Thought you were dead.'

  'Can't say I hold much of a grudge for that. I was pretty damn sure I was dead myself. I'm the one should have gone looking for you lot, I reckon.'

  'Well. Should've looked for each other, maybe. But I guess you learn to stop hoping, after a while. Life teaches you to expect the worst, eh?'

  'You have to be realistic, I reckon.'

  'That you do. Still, it came out alright. Back with us now, aren't you?'

  'Aye.' Logen sighed. 'Back to warring, and bad food, and creeping through woods.'
r />   'Woods,' grunted Tul, and he split a big grin. 'Will I ever get tired of em?

  Logen took a drink from the canteen, then handed it back, and Tul took a swig himself. They sat there, silent, for a minute.

  'I didn't want this, you know, Tul.'

  'Course not. None of us wanted this. Don't mean we don't deserve it, though, eh?' Tul slapped his big hand down on Logen's shoulder. 'You need to talk it over, I'm around.'

  Logen watched him go. He was a good man, the Thunderhead. A man that could be trusted. There were still a few left. Tul, and Grim, and the Dogman. Black Dow too, in his own way. It almost gave Logen some hope, that did. Almost made him glad that he chose to come back to the North. Then he looked back at the file of men and he saw Shivers in there, watching him. Logen would have liked to look away, but looking away wasn't something the Bloody-Nine could do. So he sat there on his rock, and they stared at each other, and Logen felt the hatred digging at him until Shivers was lost through the trees. He shook his head again, and sucked his teeth again, and spat.

  You can never have too many knives, his father had told him. Unless they're pointed at you, and by people who don't like you much.

  * * *

  Best of Enemies

  « ^ »

  Tap, tap.

  'Not now!' stormed Colonel Glokta. 'I have all these to get through!' There must have been ten thousand papers of confession for him to sign. His desk was groaning with great heaps of them, and the nib of his pen was soft as butter. What with the red ink, his marks looked like dark bloodstains sprayed across the pale paper. 'Damn it!' he raged as he knocked over the bottle with his elbow, splashing ink out over the desk, soaking into the piles of papers, dripping to the floor with a steady tap, tap, tap.

  'There will be time later for you to confess. Ample time.'

  The Colonel frowned. The air had grown decidedly chill. 'You again! Always at the worst times!'