Duke Grandfather- The Whole Story

by James Maxstadt

  “Glad to know you care,” I said, ducking out the door.

  I didn’t have to hunt too far. They were out there already, looking for me apparently. I don’t think they liked the fact that I took one of their friends, and were out for a little payback.

  I saw the first one almost as soon as I left the watchhouse. He was standing across the street, in plain sight, watching the door. As soon as he saw me he scowled, pointed at me, and then turned and walked away. Of course, it was a trap, these things always are, but what were they going to do? Play music at me that I couldn’t hear?

  I followed this piper for a few more streets, until it opened up in a square. I recognized it as the same place that Raven and I first tried to corral Camelia’s broom. The rest of them were there waiting, lazing on the walls of the fountain, pipes held casually. Six of them in all, which meant we had the seventh, if that’s all there were.

  One of them lifted his pipe to his mouth and started to play. I stood there, and smiled at him, unaffected by the music. He stopped, and pantomimed taking something from his ear. I laughed and said, “No way,” my voice sounding strange in my head.

  He held up his hand, and carefully set his pipe down next to him on the wall. The others all did the same.

  I could play along if it got me more information. I pulled the cotton from my ears, but held it up, at the ready, in case there should be another piper around.

  “We need our brother back,” one of them said, the same one who started playing when I came into the square.

  “We need you guys gone,” I said. “Out of our city. Then maybe, but no guarantee.”

  “No, you don’t understand,” said another. “This isn’t a negotiation. Up to now, we’ve been nice.”

  “Nice? Really? By scaring everyone half out of their wits?”

  “No, by only bringing the little beasties,” said a third.

  “You’ve got an hour to release him, all unharmed. Or we all play, together. Now run on your way, messenger boy, and tell your lords and masters that.”

  With that, they picked up their pipes, and I shoved the cotton back into my ears. But they didn’t play, they all cast one final glare at me, and walked away, each going their own way.

  Messenger boy?

  The hour passed and no one was going to release the piper from the Watch's custody. As a matter of fact, several of the Palace Guard came and got him. It seemed that His Highness wanted a word with him, one on one. Lilly's reports of the threats he made to Capital City reached the ears of those in the highest places, and they wanted answers.

  "I don't think they'll get them, though," she said to me, as we watched the Guard, plugs of cotton firmly in their ears, lead the piper away. "That spell on him is powerful. And it's set to kill him if it's tampered with. Whoever this is, they're playing for keeps."

  Eventually, we needed to leave the watchhouse if we weren't going to make it our new home. Sarge offered to have several of the Watch accompany us, but we turned it down. The day that I couldn't deal with a few pipe playing misfits, especially with Lilly by my side, was the day that I hung up being a Nuisance Man.

  For a while, there was no sign of them on the way home, but we kept our cotton ear plugs ready. And then, of course, the music started.

  They were smart, these pipers. However it was that they were communicating, they had us surrounded already. The music rose up all around us, not gradually like the last time, but with a sudden blare, and it was insistent. "Give up," it screamed. "Relax. Don't resist." And on and on.

  But they weren't counting on wills like Lilly and I possessed. We'd been through a terrible time together, and we weren't about to fold that easy. Both of us managed to fight through the compulsion and get our cotton plugs into our ears, blocking out the music. It didn't take it away entirely, but it quieted it down enough that we could continue on our way.

  I was fairly certain that they wouldn't physically approach us. Like most minstrels, none of them were particularly intimidating. There was no doubt in my mind that even if Lilly couldn't blast them, I could take them all out fairly easily.

  Which is why I was so surprised when one of them stepped out from an alley in front of us, pipe raised to his lips and a nasty smile on his face. I turned my head and saw others coming up from behind. A quick count showed me that all six of the remaining pipers now stood around us, and none of them looked nervous.

  I pulled my gun, but Lilly put her hand on mine and shook her head. I shrugged and pulled my sword instead. Guess it was time to do this the old-fashioned way.

  Lilly took a pose beside me, her hands coming up and her mouth moving, although I couldn't hear the words through the cotton in my ears, and over the music that the pipers were playing.

  But they never hesitated, they played louder instead.

  Then the ground started to shake, a tremor at first, but then harder. Cobblestones began to pop out of the street, flying into the air, and the ground itself swelled up in a huge hump. The dirt underneath the stones rose, falling off the thing that rose through the earth.

  I really wish I never knew that things like that existed. It was one of those horrible bugs that you find in your bathroom from time to time, long, slim, with about a million legs, scuttling around too fast to catch and squash easily. Only, this one was larger than the common variety. Much larger.

  It was huge, as a matter of fact. Longer than a coach drawn by four horses, and bigger around than a beer keg. Its many legs were as thick as young trees and ended in a single sharp claw, bigger than a dagger. Its jaws opened and it screamed, the noise cutting through the cotton in our ears, and piercing into our brains. No teeth showed inside its maw, but the liquid that fell from it smoked and sizzled on the ground.

  I pulled my gun again, and said...nothing. What the hell was that thing? I didn't even know what its smaller cousins were called, so what was I supposed to tell my gun to kill? I looked over at Lilly, who was as wide eyed as I felt.

  She recovered and started a spell, one I saw her use before. A ghostly image of the giant bug would start to separate from its physical body, but then would suddenly snap back. She was trying to pull the life force from the thing, but it was resisting. How, I have no idea, but it must have been some sort of natural protection to magic.

  I fired my gun anyway. The little, metal ball that came out wouldn't be designed to do maximum damage to this thing, but that didn't mean it wouldn't hurt it. The ball hit one of the legs, a lucky shot, and sheared through. The leg dropped away and the thing swung toward me, moving incredibly fast, the missing leg not bothering it all.

  Lilly changed tactics, and started to summon something. It was also horrible to look at, but given the two, I'd take Lilly's creature. Pitch black and vaguely man-shaped, it stood about eight feet tall, with muscles on top of muscles. Lilly pointed and it threw itself on top of the thing in front of us, and began punching, its fists sinking through the insect's shell with every blow.

  The bug screamed again, and rolled, a long sinuous curve, crushing the black shape beneath it. There was a sudden blast of wind, and the shape disappeared. I heard a cry and saw Lilly collapse to her knees, a fierce look still on her face.

  Damage had been done to the creature, though. There were gaping holes where Lilly's shadow man punched through the thing's armor. A plan formed in my mind, crazy and probably useless, but still, better than nothing.

  I ran directly at the thing, and it spit at me. A blast of that liquid from its mouth caught me in the arm, and it burned through my cloak, the sleeve of my shirt underneath, and into my skin. I screamed, loudly, because it hurt like the devil! But my cloak and shirt must have taken the brunt, since my skin turned a nasty red color and blistered, but that was all.

  Lilly hit it with a force bolt of some sort, something that looked like the absence of light when she threw it. It hit the creature and sank in, causing it to be outlined in a black fire for a second. It writhed on the ground, stunned for a moment, but then started to
recover. But that was the chance I needed.

  I ran right up onto it, passing between the legs with a shudder. At the first hole in the carapace I came to, I stuck my arm right inside it, ignoring my revulsion, and pulled the trigger on my gun as fast as I could. The gun went off, and those little, metal balls tore up its insides horribly. It jerked and convulsed and I was thrown off my feet, holding onto it by grabbing at the edge of the same hole in its shell that I shot into. Pulling myself up, I slid to the next one, and repeated the whole act.

  This time, it did the trick. I shot as many times as I could before the thing rose up with a horrible scream and keeled over, taking me for a ride with it. I rolled clear as it collapsed, and came up with my gun at the ready, but it wasn't needed.

  It was dead, and lay there in the ruins of the street dripping a foul-smelling ichor onto the stones and the dirt. Lilly came up, panting and exhausted, and leaned against me.

  There was no sign of the pipers.

  We never did find out what happened to the piper that the Palace Guard took away, but the other six took to their heels and fled the city. Reports came from Watchmen posted at the gates of hearing music, falling asleep, and then waking a few minutes later. It was assumed that the pipers all fled that way, now that we were on to them.

  "Bugs are gross," Lilly said to me over dinner.

  I nodded, too tired to do much more.

  "Who do you think is behind this?"

  "I don't know," I said. "But I think I'm going to get some of the others together. Maybe compare notes on some recent nuisances, and see if there's anything else that's funny. Like that lone harpy. Maybe there's more going on here than we realize.

  "Good idea," she said. "Let me know what you find out."

  I nodded again, not really listening, but watching a spider build a web in the corner of our kitchen ceiling, too tired to do anything about it.

  BRAVE NEW UNDERWORLD

  One of the first people that I tried to contact, against my better judgment, was Raven. While I couldn’t stand the guy, I had to admit that he was an effective Nuisance Man, and he did get involved in an awful lot of stuff.

  Sarge told me that he hadn’t been in for a couple of days, so he was expecting that he would be shortly. I hung around, mostly annoying him, until the man walked in, dressed head to toe in deep black, as was his annoying custom.

  “Grandfather,” he sneered, when he saw me. Raven used professional level sneers, and I tried hard to copy them.

  “Raven. We need to talk.”

  “What for? I can’t imagine what you could possibly have to say that would interest me.”

  I sighed. This was going to be harder than I thought.

  “Look,” I said, “it’s no secret that we don’t like each other, but when we’ve needed to, we’ve worked well together. I’m not proposing anything of that magnitude, at least not yet, but I am saying that we should exchange information.”

  He looked down his nose at me. “About what?”

  “About what’s been going on in the city. We’re under attack. You must realize that, right? The banshee, the pipers. They were sent by someone, or someones.”

  Raven furrowed his brow as he regarded me. “Not all of us have your inside information, Grandfather. What are you talking about?”

  I realized that even if mine might ran deeper, the dislike for Raven was pretty widespread and no one filled him in. I took the opportunity to do that now, and told him about what Lilly discovered.

  “I see,” he said. “And you suspect me of having something to do with this. Is that it?”

  “No! Well, actually I hadn’t thought of that. You don’t, do you?”

  “No!”

  “I didn’t think so. No, what I thought was that I would see if you had encountered anything out of the ordinary, more than normally, I mean. Maybe it would help point the way toward whoever is responsible.”

  He simply stared at me for a moment, then, “No, I can’t say that I have. It’s been business as usual, except for those harpies the other day, vile things. But you knew about them already. Other than that, it’s been simple nuisance removals.”

  I hadn’t really expected much else, since word did tend to get around, but you had to start somewhere.

  “Well, if you notice anything, leave word with Sarge. I’ll get in touch with you then and we’ll compare notes. In the meantime, you haven’t talked to Brindar, have you?”

  “The dwarf? Why would I have?”

  Ah. For a moment there, Raven almost seemed like a decent human being. But the tone of his voice when he asked me that, told me that I was mistaken.

  “Never mind,” I said. “But let Sarge know if you find anything that you think could help.”

  I shook my head as I walked away. Not that I was always a paragon of equal rights for everyone, but we were both witness to Brindar’s valor. It was a shame that Raven so steadfastly refused to change.

  A while later, I walked in to the NHLF headquarters. It was out of there that Brindar worked, so it was where I hoped to find him. I looked around as I entered and saw their version of a Nuisance Board. It wasn’t much different from the one I was used to, with various nuisances on it from all different races; Unhoused orcs who were shaking down local businessmen, goblins wanted for arson, or gnolls for mugging. But, unlike our Board, these notices were posted by non-humans. By honest dwarves, orcs, and ogres who wanted to earn a living, raise their families and be left in peace.

  And also unlike ours, there were humans on this Board. At first, these notices caused the hairs on the back of my neck to stand up, but then I started reading. Yeah, I knew it was the case, but here it was in black and white. The other races held no monopoly on criminal and abhorrent behavior. We did plenty of it too. And after reading some of the things these particular humans did, I started to feel that I should visit this Board to take a few of them for myself.

  “Ah, Mr. Grandfather,” a voice said.

  I turned, to find Ivar Ivarson, the founder and head of the NHLF. He was always unfailingly polite, even when he first confronted me in that alley those years ago. His voice was rich, deep and cultured, and spoke of an upbringing of civility and education. An upbringing that he used to bring the greatest change to Capital City that occurred since His Majesty opened the city to one and all.

  “Ivar,” I said, sticking out my hand. “It’s good to see you again.”

  His hand shake was firm and strong, hinting at a strength that would easily top mine if he wanted it to.

  “And you,” he replied. “What can I do for you?”

  “I’m actually looking for Brindar. I thought he and I could compare notes on recent events.”

  “Ah. The attacks on our city, yes.” Why was I not surprised that he was in the know on this? The NHLF had become a force to reckon with, and being at the head of it, I imagined that Ivar had some pretty high-up contacts.

  “Exactly,” I said. “I’ve run into a couple of really odd things lately, even for Capital City. I know he had his hands full during the incident with the pipers, and I’m wondering what else he might have noticed.”

  “Good idea, Mr. Grandfather. Unfortunately, I don’t know that I can help you. You see, I haven’t seen Brindar in several days. And from what I hear, neither has anyone else.”

  “What do you mean? Where did he go?”

  “He was in the Underworld, or at least that’s where he was headed when last heard of.”

  Now it was my turn to furrow my brows. I hoped it looked better than when Raven did it.

  “What’s the Underworld? I’ve never heard of it.”

  Ivar smiled. “It’s dwarven territory, Mr. Grandfather. The rights of which were given to the dwarves by your very own king, in return for certain trade rights and other concessions.”

  “Then I need to travel to get to it? Back to the mountains I assume?”

  “No, Mr. Grandfather. All you need do, is head down.”

  I was confused, I’m not afra
id to admit it. If you talk to Lilly, she’ll insist it’s my normal state of being, but that’s not true. I just have other things to occupy my mind a lot of the time.

  It turned out that Ivar was speaking literally. The dwarves had been granted license to excavate beneath parts of Capital City, and create an entirely separate city beneath the streets. It was young yet, and only underway for the last year or so. But as anyone who knows dwarves can tell you, they are nothing if not industrious.

  The Underworld, as they called it, was ruled over by a coalition of three dwarves, all from different guilds. One was the mining guild, another was the construction guild, and the third was the militia guild. All decisions about Underworld was made by them, with two out of three being in agreement enough to settle disputes. Dwarves, as a rule, are remarkably pragmatic, so when the dissenter was overruled, he or she immediately dropped it, and cooperated fully with the other two.

  Ivar explained to me that while Underworld was self-ruling, it was still governed by the laws of Capital City. What was a crime up here, was a crime down there. It would not be a haven for criminals to escape to, and the citizens that lived there were answerable to both the ruling three of Underworld, and to the crown.

  “Isn’t that kind of against what you’ve been fighting for?” I asked Ivar.

  “In some ways, perhaps,” he said. “But humans, or anyone else, are allowed to visit, and even to live there if they wish. But there are not too many other races willing to live with solid roofs of stone over their heads every moment of the day.”

  “I can see that. What about orcs though?”

  He smiled at that. “We have some who have come and set up shop there. But the orcs that have moved to Capital City have proven remarkably adaptable, don’t you think? Witness their warrens of buildings converted to their own uses. They have no need, no desire, to spend their resources on going underground. No, it is mostly the dwarves who long for the comfort of stone surrounding them.”

  “Well, I can’t say I’ve ever really been somewhere like that, but I really would like to find Brindar. So, off to Underworld I go. One question first.”