“I like this one,” I said quietly. “It reminds me of someone I know.”
He didn’t quite get the hint, but he did look at me strangely. “Really? Huh. Don’t see how that could be, but it is a nice piece. I can make you a good deal on it.”
I nodded, acting as if I was considering. “Actually,” I said, “there was something else. Your wife was working on a piece yesterday. I admired it a great deal.”
“That? Oh, that was...well, it was nothing really. Just a…” He was searching for words.
“Don’t worry about it. I actually know where I can see another version of it, anyway. The model, I guess you could say.”
I stared at him and watched as his eyes got bigger. He glanced at his wife, then back to me.
“You should probably go,” he said. “You can have that item….but….you should…”
“I can take you to him. You’ll be safe.” I whispered this last, regardless of the risk. I glanced at the guard who was watching us with a confused expression. I had a feeling that was his normal state.
“No, really, we…”
“Yes,” another voice said, not bothering to stay quiet. “Yes. Take us to him.”
Wulfonson’s mother climbed to her feet and was walking toward us.
“Regina…” Wulfonson senior began.
“Enough, Wulf. We’re going.”
“Going where?” This voice was from behind me, and was deep and rumbling. I turned to find the guard moving up, surprisingly silent for such a large creature.
“Out to lunch,” I said brightly. “Want to join us?”
His brow drew down as he considered what I said, and I took the opportunity to slug him. I got in a good shot, right on his chin and he staggered back, but didn’t fall. Maybe I would have to re-evaluate Oleg’s staffing skills after all. He straightened, shook his head and then reached for the mace he wore at his belt.
“Alright,” I said, grabbing the hilt of my sword. Yeah, he was big and all, but I still wasn’t intimidated by him. Like I said earlier, there have only ever been two orcs that have had that effect on me, and I was helping out one of them.
He stepped forward with a growl, and I met him half-way, the sound of steel ringing as my sword cleared its sheath. That got his full attention.
Which was when Wulfonson’s mother stepped-up behind him and brought down the very statue I’d been looking at on his head. The guards mouth opened in a surprised “O”, and he turned very slowly to her. He lifted his hand, and then toppled over backward with a crash.
“What are we waiting for,” she said, as both Wulfonson’s father and I stood there with our own mouths open.
“Right.” I shut mine with a snap. “Let’s go, then.”
I took off running, hoping that they would follow, and that they could keep up. I needn’t have worried. Orcs are known for being able to run for long distances without rest, a skill not needed in the city much, but one that they retained.
There was a shout from behind and I turned to see another guard-like orc running after us. I saw another run back into the compound, obviously going to report to Oleg.
I put my head down and turned on the speed. The Wulfonson’s kept up with me easily, and I got the feeling that they would have passed me right by if they’d any idea where we were going.
The guard pounded along behind us. Not much farther. Keep running, keep going.
The guard was falling behind, but he kept up a steady string of “hey, stop!” I briefly wondered if he actually expected us to.
I glanced back, and saw something that froze the blood in my veins and almost made me lose my stride. Lara was coming. She was still a good way back, but closing rapidly.
I could see our destination; not that that meant much, since the color made it stand out from blocks away. I glanced back again, appalled at how much ground Lara had gained on us. Gods, she was fast!
The bright, pink door was in reach. I grabbed it, ripped it open and stumbled in, falling to the floor. The Wulfonson’s came after, slamming it behind them. Father Wulfonson grabbed the handle, holding it closed as someone on the other side, Lara, I was sure, tried to open it.
“Everyone freeze,” I whispered. “Let go of the door.”
Wulfonson senior let it go, and it tore open. Lara rushed into the room, but stopped suddenly. “What the…?” I heard her breathe.
She spun around, her eyes wide and wild, searching in vain for us, even though we stood in plain sight. After a moment, Bethany came through the curtains.
“Oh, hellooo!” Her best Queen Dreamfairy voice was on full display. “I’m soooo happy to see you! How can I help you have a magical day?”
Lara stared at her like she had seen a ghost. Then, her lips curled and she rushed at Bethany. I cringed.
It was as if Lara hit a wall. At the speed she moved, she bounced off some invisible barrier like a ball and crashed to the floor. With a snarl, she was on her feet in a flash and ran at her again, only to have the same thing happen. This time, when she tried to get up, it was like a huge, invisible hand slapped her right back down.
Tiny or not, a unicorn can pack a mean punch.
“I don’t think I care for your attitude!” Queen Dreamfairy said, imperiousness dripping from her voice. “Please leave my shop!”
Lara had no choice. Some force bowled her over, across the floor and right out the door, which slammed itself shut with a bang.
“Thanks, Bethany,” I breathed. “That was a close one.”
“She was a nasty thing, wasn’t she? But how are you going to go on from here?”
I took a quick peek out the window. Lara was still out there, joined by several more orcs. She pointed and snarled at them, and they spread out, running in all directions to search for us.
“We’ll have to take our chances, I guess.” I really hadn’t planned that far ahead. I had hoped that we would get out of the shop and be out of sight before anyone noticed we were gone, or at least where we went to ground. But Lara’s speed ruined that.
“Hmmm,” Bethany considered. “Hold on a moment.” She left the room, returning a moment later. Behind her pranced the unicorn, looking very proud of itself.
“Where do you need to go?” Bethany asked me.
I started to answer, but as soon as the vision of Wulfonson’s adopted house popped into my head, we were there. Just like that. No running, no being chased.
I really wished I knew a few more little girls to send their way. I owed Bethany big time.
Say one thing for Wulfonson, if his fight or flight instincts were triggered, flight wasn’t even a close second. We popped into the room and immediately he went for his hammer. Thankfully, he also recovered quickly, and stopped in time, only to stand gaping, staring at his parents.
“Anton!” his mother cried, and threw herself into his arms, followed closely by his father.
Anton, huh? I made a mental note to remember that, now that we were so close and all.
I gave them a few minutes and left the room to go find Mrs. Grounddigger. Sure enough, she was busy making sure the finances were in order. I took her word for it. Her husband seemed to be doing better too. Wulfonson still had him locked in the room, but he was getting past the worst part of Sniff withdrawal. Things were looking up.
A little later, I sat with the Wulfonsons and listened to them tell what was going on. Oleg really did run the family now, for all intents and purposes. For a while, after Wulfonson was Unhoused, Oleg stayed at his grandmother’s side. But as she got older, she began to appear less and less in public. Instead, she sent orders and instructions out from her private rooms, relayed through Oleg.
Part of those orders was that Lara would now be an official member of the family, without marriage or anything. An extremely rare occurrence in orc clans, they assured me. Lara and Oleg brought in several more orcs, not as family members, but as employees. The fact that they were all large, tough, stupid, and loyal to Oleg wasn’t lost on anyone.
; Now, the clan lived in fear, afraid to cross Oleg in any way. He took the money that was made and distributed it as he saw fit, and somehow there was never enough to go around, regardless of how good business was. The same with food. What was once plentiful now seemed in short supply.
“There’s no way Grandmother condones this,” Wulfonson growled.
“No, but no one has seen her in months,” his mother said.
“We believe she’s a prisoner in her own home, at this point,” his father added. Grandmother Wulfonson was his mother, and his face wrinkled in pain as he said this.
This family in front of me were orcs, and about as alien to me as they could be, yet…there was something there. Something that seemed universal to me. The caring, the worry, dare I say the love?
I sighed. One of these days, I was really going to have to develop thicker skin. My better nature was going to get me killed.
“Only one thing to do, then,” I said. The three of them looked at me. “We need to get Grandmother Wulfonson out of there, too.”
Make it fast. The buzzing and voice were back suddenly. Can’t have you stay on break forever.
I sent a question into my own mind but there was no answer. But at least there was no interference, either.
CAN’T STOP THERE
“Oh, no,” the young man said, when Duke stopped talking. “You can’t stop there. What happened to Grandmother Wulfonson, or to Wulfonson himself for that matter? Did he get to go back to his House? Did he kill Oleg and Lara?”
Duke chuckled, coughed and then took a sip of his ale.
“Relax. I’m not done yet. But that was a long tale and I need a break. In the meantime, head upstairs. Look on the shelf to the right of the door.”
The young man rose and left, coming back a few minutes later with a stone statue in his hand. He handed it to his grandmother, who gazed at it for a moment.
“He was a tough looking mug, wasn’t he?” she mused.
“Still is,” Duke snorted. “The Wulfonson’s are still around, and so is he. What you’re holding there is the same statue that his mother brained that guard with. I didn’t even realize that she was still holding on to it when we ran. Later on, after their reunion, she gave it to me, and I’ve had it ever since.”
“Why don’t you have it somewhere where people can see it?” the young man said.
“Are you kidding?” Duke replied. “Look at that thing! It would give me nightmares!”
But he took the statue and stared at it fondly.
“There’s one thing I don’t get,” Lilly said. “Why did Wulfonson’s parents suddenly start sculpting their son again? Or why wasn’t it a big deal before that?”
Duke set the statue down on the floor next to him. “Turned out that his mother saw him one day. On one of the few times Oleg allowed her to leave, with a guard, of course. She saw her son but didn’t say anything, not wanting to put either of them in danger. That’s why she was so depressed when I first saw her, too.”
“What a sad time for the family,” the young man said.
Duke drained the last of his ale. “It was, but get me another mug, and I’ll tell you what happened.”
A few moments later, fresh mug of ale in hand, Duke began to talk again.
GOING HOME
The three orcs all looked at me like I was crazy.
“What? Are you going to tell me I’m wrong?”
The two older Wulfonsons turned to each other, then back to me.
“I don’t think you understand. It’s not that easy,” the father said. “Not only is Lara still around, but Oleg has firm control over the house. He’s filled it with those that are loyal to him. Our son wasn’t the last one to be Unhoused, supposedly by the authority of my mother. Now, Oleg’s grip is so tight that no one can squeeze out of it.”
“We’ll think of something.” I feigned a confidence that I didn’t really feel. “I always do.”
“Exactly who are you, anyway?” Wulfonson’s mother asked.
“He’s a nosy Nuisance Man,” Wulfonson growled. “But I have to admit. He has his moments.”
Both of his parents’ faces darkened when he mentioned what I did for a living. Not that I could blame them. The upside of trying to turn yourself into a sort of boogeyman for certain races was that it threw them off when you were coming for them. The downside, of course, was looks like I was getting now from those you were trying to help.
“I’m taking a break from that for the moment,” I said. “Besides, if someone is innocent, they don’t have anything to worry about.”
I looked into the three faces, almost identical to my non-orc eyes, and saw the skepticism and outright disbelief there. I was finding a lot of that these days.
“Alright, enough of that,” I said. “Look, I’m a friend of Wulfonson’s, whether he’d say so or not. And this stuff with Oleg? I don’t like things like that. I can either try to help, or I can go away. I’d prefer to help, but I’m not going to try to force the issue.”
Wulfonson’s parents looked at each other again, then at their son. Their faces softened and his mother sighed.
“He did help us get away,” she said. “And to get here with Anton.”
“Good. That’s settled then. So. Any ideas on how to get Grandmother Wulfonson out of there?”
There were none. We talked for a good while, tossing out ideas and then discarding them just as fast. Wulfonson, Anton that is, was in favor of simply storming into the place and knocking anyone who came against him in the head with his hammer. I reminded him that not only did Lara give him a fight by herself, but now she was surrounded by others that would help. And, if that weren’t enough, his grandmother would be in dire peril if he did that. Finally, he agreed, which was nice but left us no closer to a solution.
“I’m heading home,” I said, as I stood and stretched muscles stiff from sitting and talking for too long. “It’s getting late. I’ll keep thinking and you all do the same. We’ll come up with something.”
Fine words to say, I thought as I walked home, but I really had no idea how to go about what I suggested. I could see no way that I could get into the compound myself, and even if I did, how would I convince Grandmother Wulfonson to come with me? Anton was much too noticeable to try to sneak in, and they’d be watching for his parents.
Maybe another orc? Was it possible to slip someone else, someone that Lara and Oleg didn’t know, into the compound to at least deliver a message? That idea had some merit. I didn’t personally know any other orcs, but I was sure that the Wulfonsons must. Anton probably helped out a whole bunch over the last several days.
I was too focused on the problem to notice him at first. But living in the city your whole life tends to sharpen certain senses, even if you don’t realize it. And someone or something obviously out of place is one of those things that set off internal alarm bells.
It began as a weird feeling, like an itch between my shoulder blades. That vague uncertainty that something, somewhere, is wrong. I didn’t see anything. There was no buzzing in my head, or voice that only I could hear. But I was keeping my eyes open as I moved along, a thing so ingrained in me that I knew nothing else. My eyes must have picked up something, even if my brain didn’t recognize what it was right away.
Ah. There it was. I felt a little silly, really. He wasn’t even trying to hide. A good-sized orc was standing across the street from the Horn of the Unicorn, watching the place intently. So intently, as a matter of fact, that he didn’t even notice me.
Orcs weren’t unheard of in my neighborhood. In fact, they were pretty commonplace. But this one was obviously on a stake-out and I knew exactly who set him to it.
Easy enough to deal with, but chances were, if there was one there would be others, probably more well-hidden. Wulfonson told me that Oleg was clever, and if I was him, I would put someone obvious out front, use them as bait.
Instead of confronting him, I simply avoided him. I took a turn down an alley, used a few convenient
hand-holds and up the wall of a building I went. This was a practice that I was beginning to perfect. It was remarkable what a good vantage-point the tops of buildings could be, and how infrequently people looked up.
The look-out below was no different. I crept to the edge of the roof and peeked over. He was still exactly where I left him, still watching the front of the girls’ shop. Well, let him stay there. If he dared to try anything on them, or anything against a customer of theirs, he’d find out how effectively they were guarded.
Chuckling to myself, I made my way over a couple of adjoining roofs, down into another alley, and then back home. This time, I saved the wool-gathering for when I was safely inside. I saw no other orcs, or anyone else for that matter, paying much attention to me.
I was in for a surprise the next day, however. It was nothing to do with the orcs, with Wulfonson, or even with my mysterious voice. No, this one was strictly financial.
It seemed that I had taken more time off from my real job than I intended to, and my cash-on-hand was showing it. Yikes. Whether Wulfonson, his parents, or anyone else, liked it, I was going to need to take a job soon.
The thought depressed me. Not so much because I needed to work, everyone had to do that at times, and I did it less than most, but because I didn’t finish what I was doing. I was feeling that I had been leaving a lot of loose ends around lately, like those lizard-men in the sewer. Every Nuisance Man has jobs that they can’t complete for various reasons, some of which turn out to be because they’re dead, but it rankled me.
Besides, I’d been telling Mother Wulfonson the truth. I truly did hate bullies and wanted to get Grandmother Wulfonson out of Oleg’s clutches. From there, let Anton wade in and crush some skulls if that’s what he wanted.
I took my few remaining rubles and despondency to the Wooden Pig and set to with a large mug of their best ale, such as it was. I was determined that I would come up with a solution to the Wulfonsons' problem before I was done with my second. The third at the most.
Duke Grandfather- The Whole Story Page 73