by Warhammer
The butler bowed again and turned to Gotrek. ‘And ze axe, monsieur dwarf?’
Gotrek just stared at him with his single, expressionless eye.
The butler held his gaze for a brief moment, and looked about to speak again, but then thought better of it. He bowed convulsively and turned away, his face pale. ‘It is of no matter,’ he stuttered. ‘With only ze one arm, how is it possible that you might use it?’
Felix could have informed him otherwise, but let it go.
The butler put Felix’s sword in a small cupboard by the door, then bowed them towards the stairs. ‘If messieurs will come this way?’
They followed him up to the first floor, where he stopped at a door just at the top of the spiral stair and knocked. A muffled voice called and he opened the door.
‘Felix Jaeger and companion, monsieur,’ he said into the room, then bowed and edged aside, allowing Felix and Gotrek to enter.
They stepped into the middle of a long room with tall diamond-paned windows along one wall. It was in every way a much lighter room than the one below it. A fire crackled in a small fireplace opposite the door. To the left, a set of graceful Bretonnian chairs was arranged around a low table, and to the right was a grand desk with, behind it, mounted on a cherrywood sideboard, an ironbound safe of dwarf make, that seemed a bit brusque and business-like in the otherwise cultured surroundings.
Standing by the desk with an expression of welcome on his mild round face was the least piratical-looking man Felix had ever seen. He was thick and short and balding, with a shapeless lump of a nose and mild blue eyes. His conservatively tailored clothes were of the most expensive Middenland broadcloth, and he held a silver-headed cane in one pudgy hand. He looked much more merchant than pirate. Perhaps, thought Felix, in these modern times there isn’t much difference.
‘Messieurs, Herr Euler,’ said the butler.
Herr Euler’s warm smile faltered when he saw Felix in his rough travelling clothes, and fell entirely when Gotrek’s half-naked, tattooed bulk sidled through the narrow door.
He turned to the butler. ‘Guiot! The dwarf has his axe!’ Felix decided Euler’s eyes weren’t quite so mild after all.
The butler turned pink and bowed vigorously. ‘I apologise, monsieur, but he did not wish, and I did not think… er, that is, crippled as he is, he cannot…’
‘It is you who are crippled, Guiot,’ Euler snapped. ‘With cowardice.’ He sighed and waved a dismissive hand. ‘Very well, send up Harald and Jochen with food and drink for our guests. You may go.’
‘Oui, monsieur. I am sorry, monsieur.’ The butler bowed again and withdrew.
Euler reassembled his smile as he turned to Felix. ‘Herr Jaeger,’ he said, stepping forwards and holding out a hand. ‘It is good to meet you at last.’
‘The pleasure is mine, Herr Euler,’ said Felix, shaking his hand.
‘My apologies for my outburst,’ Euler continued. ‘And to you, master dwarf. Your presence surprised me, that is all. Please, will you sit?’
He motioned to the fragile-looking chairs. Felix sat down with care, making sure his boots and buckles didn’t scrape anything. Gotrek plopped down on another as though the exquisite thing was a tavern bench. Euler winced as it creaked in complaint, but maintained his smile.
‘I must say, Herr Jaeger,’ he said. ‘I am surprised to see you here, and before time too. From your father’s letters, I expected to be visited by solicitors or assassins, not family members.’ He chuckled. ‘Ah well, I suppose the old gentleman finally saw the wisdom of my offer at last.’
‘Your offer?’ Felix frowned. ‘Your pardon, Herr Euler. What offer is this? My father said nothing of an offer.’
Herr Euler’s broad brow puckered. ‘Why, I offered to buy a share in Jaeger and Sons and, as he is getting on, help him with the running of the main office, as well as setting up a new office in Marienburg to facilitate his dealings with overseas merchants.’
Felix raised his eyebrows at this, then glanced over at Gotrek. If things got difficult, he was going to want his support. The Slayer was staring at the floor, paying not the least attention, his cast laying limp in his lap. Felix hoped he was paying enough attention to know when it was time to look menacing.
‘My father put it slightly differently,’ Felix said at last. ‘He called it blackmail, rather than an offer. He said you had a letter that you meant to show the authorities in Altdorf if he failed to give you a controlling interest in Jaeger and Sons.’
There were footsteps in the hall and two men entered, one carrying a silver coffee service, and the other a tray of jam tarts. Though they were dressed in black doublets and breeches with lace at the cuffs and ribbons at the knees, Felix thought he had never seen two more unlikely footmen. They were massive men, each well over six feet tall, with bulging muscles that strained the velvet of their uniforms, hair pulled back in tarred queues, and faces that wore the scars of lifetimes of battle. The hands of the man who carried the coffee service were nearly as large as the tray he balanced it upon.
Felix looked again at Gotrek. He continued to stare at the floor, seemingly unaware as the two behemoths moved with extreme care through the room’s maze of featherweight furniture and set down the refreshments on the table between Felix and Euler. Guiot the butler hovered at the door.
‘It was not blackmail, Herr Jaeger,’ said Euler patiently as he picked up a jam tart. ‘I have no love for the dirty dealings our fathers once engaged in, and only want to make things right. What I suggested was that if your father allowed me to purchase part of Jaeger and Sons, we would, together, make amends for our mutual criminal past. But that if he refused my offer and remained in breach of imperial law, I would have no choice, as a law-abiding citizen, but to report him to the proper authorities.’
Felix pursed his lips, Euler’s sanctimonious tone grating on him. It appeared his first impression of the man had been incorrect. He was a pirate after all. ‘I see.’
The two giants retreated to either side of the fireplace and remained there in attendance.
‘But all this is beside the point, since you are here,’ said Euler, smiling. ‘Have you brought the documents? Have you decided the value of the shares?’
Felix coughed, cursing his father for putting him in such a situation. He hated this sort of venal confrontation. His brother Otto would have been much better suited for the job. He would have known exactly the sort of veiled threats to use. ‘Herr Euler. You misunderstand the purpose of my visit. I have not come to sell you any part of my father’s company. I have come to get the letter back.’
Euler’s smile disappeared as if it had never been. He shot a look at the safe on the table behind his desk, then put down his jam tart in a cold sort of way.
Felix pushed on. ‘Before you say anything, I should tell you that my father has authorised me to offer you a very generous price for the letter.’
Euler barked a laugh. ‘What is a one-time payment compared to the continual revenue that owning part of the company will bring me? No thank you, Herr Jaeger. There is only one way that your father may resolve this difficulty, and that is my way. He has seventeen days left. Until he is prepared to sell, we have nothing further to discuss. You may go.’
Felix sighed. It was at this point in the proceedings that his father undoubtedly expected him to start smashing things up until Euler gave him the letter, but he really didn’t have the heart for it. The man was vile, but no more vile than his father, and Felix had never bullied anyone for anything in his life. He wasn’t a robber, and that’s what he felt like here. It was embarrassing. If only he had some other kind of leverage. If only he could play the same sort of trick on Euler that Euler had played on his father.
Felix paused. Well, why couldn’t he? ‘I am sorry to hear you say it, Herr Euler,’ he said at last. ‘For I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to resort to blackmail of my own.’
‘What nonsense is this?’ asked Euler.
Felix swallowed, and plunged i
n. ‘Well, correspondence goes both ways. My father also has a letter from your father, in which he admits engaging in the same activities as my father did, and also, that he introduced you to the business as well.’
‘What activities does he mean?’ cried Euler.
Felix had no idea. ‘It’s best not to name them aloud, don’t you think?’ he said. ‘Even after so many years.’ He smiled at Euler with what he hoped looked like malevolent guile. ‘My father wishes to assure you that, if you drag him down, you will find yourself drowning in the same sewer – and you have much more life to lose than he. But, if you are prepared to give up your letter, he is prepared to give up his. We can make an exchange, and conclude the matter peacefully.’
Euler’s eyes blazed. He stroked his round chin with chubby fingers. ‘The cunning old goat. I believe he would be willing to die in shame and poverty just so that he could see me ruined as well.’ A sudden thought seemed to come to him. He looked at his hulking serving men, then back to Felix. ‘Have you this letter here?’
Felix’s eyes widened. It hadn’t occurred to him that Euler would resort to violence. Despite the size of his servants, he was still a respectable man on a respectable street. He wasn’t going to try anything in his own home, was he?
‘Er, not on me,’ said Felix. ‘I left it at the inn, thinking you would be reasonable and I wouldn’t need it. If it must come to this, I will go and fetch it.’
Euler smiled. ‘No need to trouble yourself. I will have a servant fetch it while you wait here.’
Felix shot a look at Gotrek. He still didn’t appear to be paying attention. Couldn’t he feel the tension thickening the air? ‘It is no trouble, Herr Euler,’ he said, standing. ‘We will return in an hour, shall we say?’
‘I’m sorry, Herr Jaeger,’ said Euler, standing as well. ‘I must insist that you stay.’ He gave a nod to the two massive footmen and they began to cross to the door.
Felix grunted, angry now. He was about to get into a fight over something he hadn’t wanted anything to do with from the beginning. Damn Euler and damn his father both. ‘You will regret holding us against our will, mein herr,’ he said. ‘My companion is not to be trifled with lightly.’
Euler looked at Gotrek, and Felix followed his gaze. The Slayer was a sight to instil fear and respect, his massive frame and corded muscles completely eclipsing the tiny chair he sat in, and his fearsome crest and swirling tattoos exuding exotic menace. Of course, he would have been more impressive still had he not chosen that moment to open his mouth and snore like a chain rattling through a pulley.
Euler laughed. ‘Terrifying.’ He turned away from him, waving a hand at the footmen. ‘Take them to the cellar.’
The brutes stepped forwards. Felix nudged Gotrek with his elbow. The Slayer mumbled under his breath, but didn’t wake. ‘You will force me to release the letter, Herr Euler,’ he said, nudging Gotrek harder.
Euler snorted. ‘How can you release what you no longer have?’
The footmen loomed closer.
‘Now then, sir,’ said the one on the left, whose right ear was missing. ‘Come quietly and we won’t have to break anything.’
‘Gotrek!’ barked Felix, and jabbed the Slayer in the shoulder with his elbow.
The Slayer woke with a start, instinctively grabbing for his axe. The sudden motion was too much for his delicate chair. It snapped in a dozen places and Gotrek thumped to the floor in a splay of spindly kindling.
‘Vandalism!’ shouted Euler. ‘Your father will get a bill for that!’
Gotrek was up in an instant, fists balled and turning his head from side to side like a sleepy bear. ‘Who pushed me off my seat?’ he growled.
‘They did!’ said Felix, backing up and pointing at the looming footmen.
Gotrek turned towards them, glaring and blinking.
‘Come along, tipsy,’ said the one on the right, who had an oft-broken nose. ‘Sleep it off in the nice dark cellar, eh?’ He put an enormous hand on Gotrek’s shoulder.
Gotrek swung his cast and re-broke the man’s nose. The footman staggered back, howling and clutching his face, and fell backwards over the low table, smashing it to flinders.
‘Here, now!’ said One-Ear, swinging at Gotrek.
The punch snapped Gotrek’s head around, but only seemed to make him mad. He growled and doubled the footman up with a fist to the guts, then shoved him back into a side table. It exploded under his weight.
‘Pillagers!’ cried Euler. ‘Guiot! Call Uwe and the others! Call the Black Caps! Hurry!’
The Bretonnian butler bowed and turned for the door. Felix ran for him. The last thing they needed was the watch showing up. Euler leapt in his path, twisting the head of his cane and drawing forth a slim blade.
‘No, Herr Jaeger,’ he said, levelling the sword-cane at Felix’s chest.
Felix stepped back, then cuffed an Estalian vase off a table, right at Euler’s face. When he raised his sword to block it, Felix dived forwards and tackled him to the ground, pinning his sword arm with a knee and punching him in the face. The merchant bucked and twisted under him, surprisingly strong.
‘Harald! Jochen!’ Euler called, struggling to get his sword free.
But the two footmen were otherwise engaged. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix could see that Broken-Nose was up again, blood streaming down his face, swinging the remains of the low table at Gotrek. Beyond him, One-Ear was holding his stomach and puking all over a set of marble chessmen.
‘Gotrek,’ Felix shouted, elbowing Euler in the eye. ‘Forget them! Get the safe! Open it!’ If Euler was going to stoop to outright villainy, Felix had no more compunctions about robbing him.
Gotrek headbutted Broken-Nose on the broken nose and pushed him aside. He turned and looked at the safe as the big man slumped peacefully to the floor behind him. ‘There’s no cracking that,’ the Slayer said, frowning. ‘It’s dwarf work. You’ll need a key.’
Euler wrenched his sword hand free of Felix’s knee, but Felix caught it again and slammed it against the ground. Euler lost his grip and the blade bounced across the carpet. As he stretched for it, Felix saw a ring of keys on the belt at his waist. He ripped them free and tossed them to Gotrek.
‘Try these!’
Gotrek caught the key ring, but as he started around the desk towards the safe, there was a thunder of boots from the passage and a flood of large bodies burst into the room.
Gotrek and Felix turned towards them. There were six of them, all dressed in the same beribboned footmen’s uniforms that Harald and Jochen wore, and all apparently born of the same breed as well – huge, lumbering bashers with lantern jaws and scarred scalps, all armed with clubs and cudgels. One had a hook for a hand. Guiot peered nervously into the room behind them.
‘Take yer hands off the captain,’ said one with a milky left eye.
That wasn’t necessary, for, distracted by their entrance, Felix had let his grip slip, and Euler crashed a fist into his jaw with a hard-knuckled hand. Felix swayed back, and Euler pushed him off, shouting at his men.
‘Get them! Hold them! Keep them away from the safe!’
The six footmen waded forwards, pushing the broken furniture out of the way. Gotrek reached over his shoulder for his axe.
‘Not the axe,’ gasped Felix from the floor. ‘No murder, Gotrek, please.’
The Slayer snarled like a thwarted badger, then lowered his hand, roared a wordless challenge at the approaching men and charged, swinging his fist and his cast with equal abandon. He disappeared in a storm of flailing, velvet-clad limbs.
Felix shook his head, trying to reseat his jaw, and pulled himself to his feet. Euler beat him to it. He scooped up his sword-cane and turned on him, raising the blade. The eye Felix had elbowed was purpling rapidly.
‘I believe I’ve changed my mind,’ he said, smiling through bloody lips. ‘Perhaps the watch should find you dead when they arrive. A man must defend his home, mustn’t he?’
Euler lunged, extending his arm
with the grace of an Estalian diestro. Felix dived aside, alarmed. For all his padding and his bland burgher’s clothes the man had been well trained in the sword. Felix rolled up and ran for the door, passing the scrum in the middle of the floor. Two of the big men were down, one with an arm bent at a sickening angle, but the rest continued to rain blows upon the squat struggling figure in their midst. Guiot, the butler, stood wide-eyed in the door, then dived sensibly out of the way.
Felix barrelled down the stairs, slipping once on the well-worn treads and nearly falling head first. He heard Euler pounding down right behind him.
At the bottom, he charged across the foyer for the cupboard next to the front door. As he threw it open, Euler careened out after him, cane sword extended in a fencer’s lunge.
Felix snatched up his scabbard and leapt away as Euler’s blade impaled the cupboard door. He ran for the back parlour, drawing as he went. Euler lurched after him.
The room was darker than Euler’s office, and filled with sturdy, more liveable furniture. The ceiling was low and ribbed with heavy, widely spaced beams. Felix cracked his head on one as he vaulted a long red brocade couch. He turned to face Euler, his rune sword held out with one hand while he rubbed vigorously at a lump like half an onion that was forming on the crown of his skull with the other. His eyes were tearing.
Euler edged around the couch, sword high, shaking his head and unbuttoning his doublet so that he had more mobility. ‘Poorly played, Herr Jaeger.’ Felix could barely hear him over the thuds and bangs and crashes coming from the fight upstairs. The ceiling vibrated with them. ‘Had you left the letter in Altdorf I would have been checkmated – a threat I couldn’t reach. Your father would never have made such a mistake.’
‘You sound like you admire him,’ said Felix.
‘I do,’ said Euler. ‘He plays the game very well.’ He sneered. ‘But this time he has picked a very poor pawn.’
Euler lunged, extending his sword-cane with blurring swiftness. Felix blocked it, but the lighter blade came at him again instantly. He jumped back, wishing for more space to swing his bigger sword. Euler had him at a disadvantage in the low room.