After The Rabbit (Waldo Rabbit Series)

by Chereta, Nelson

  Chapter 12

  Worth A Chance

  Celton Poisondagger was seated forty fifth on the left side of the table. Literally as far away from his father as it was possible to be, and still be seated. Celton was with the children who were too young to be apprenticed. When the adults further up the table turned in his direction there were mocking smiles and shakes of the head. He had fallen so completely out of his father’s favor no one felt the need to even pretend to respect him. Pyrus, Fenwyk, and Murat were openly pleased. So far as they were concerned he was no longer a rival for the succession.

  When the servants had led him to this chair Celton had been sure it was some sort of mistake. He had done all of his father’s dirty work for years, and had done nothing to deserve this sort of humiliation. Places at the table changed all the time, but not like this. Celton went directly to the head of the House and demanded to know the reason for his drastic demotion.

  Dante was all too happy to tell him.

  “You’re a fool. The family incomes have been shrinking for years, our treasury in near empty, and everywhere you look there is corruption. I trusted you to handle the family business and this is the result. Obviously you’re not fit for important matters. Go and sit with the grandchildren, that’s where you belong.”

  The absolute injustice of the words made him want to choke!

  Corruption everywhere you looked? Well of course! Every branch family put its own financial interests ahead of that of the main family. They no longer feared father, they understood he had no interest in keeping a tight rein any more. His only preoccupation was with his own selfish pleasures. That the system still worked at all was due to his own efforts. Sudden inspections, and the occasional execution, were the only things keeping any revenue coming in. It was not enough, he could not check every account and transaction, and most of the branch families had the sense not to be too blatant. That House Poisondagger was not already bankrupt was due to him.

  The family was facing financial ruin because of his father. Yet knowing there was a shortage of funds Dante continued to spend as lavishly as ever. Father acted in the manner of a spoiled child who demanded every whim be fulfilled and never cared about what it cost. At this rate in just one or two more years they would face complete financial ruin.

  What then? When they could no longer afford to equip and feed their soldiers? When they could not afford to buy slaves or raw materials in other lands? When they could no longer purchase goods from the other Houses? Among the Seven Great Families it was vital to never show weakness. Not only to the outside world but to one another. What greater weakness could there be than to have to admit you were coinless?

  When the time came they would have to find a new source of money just to maintain themselves. There were wealthy nations that offered loans to kings and other important men, Venezia and Trezibon came immediately to mind. But going to foreigners to beg for help was unthinkable! Within Alteroth there were no banks or merchant houses to offer loans. Each Great House handled those functions themselves. The family would have no choice but to turn to one of the other Houses. At which point House Poisondagger would become nothing more than a puppet, they would belong to one of the other families and be used the way a man used a pretty slave girl.

  If things did not change a terrible reckoning was coming. This was what Celton had been working so tirelessly to stave off. But it was hopeless, because this bleak future was being brought on by the one man who controlled Poisondagger’s fate. So long as his father lived all his efforts were in vain. Now, as the final insult, his father was making him the scapegoat for all of it. Dante was washing his hands of the mess he had created and laying all the blame at Celton’s feet.

  And there was nothing Celton could do about it.

  He wanted to curse and scream at the disgusting old man, to defend himself and call his father out on all the stupidity and greed that was about to bring it all to ruin. But he knew it was pointless. No one cared if he was innocent, all that mattered to anyone was that he had fallen. To the rest of the family it was good news.

  So he did the only thing he could, he clamped his mouth shut and ate his dinner.

  XXX

  A couple hours after the meal a servant came to his quarters and informed he was summoned to his father’s study.

  Celton wondered if he was being summoned to his own execution. It would not be the first time father decided to humiliate one of his children before putting them to death. If that was the case most of the family would be gathered to bear witness. The thought of escape briefly flickered through his mind, but was dismissed. If the guards knew there was little chance he could get out of the castle alive. And if he tried all his children would be executed. There was nothing to do but go and meet his fate.

  When he arrived no one from the family greeted him, two guards waited outside his father’s door. Celton was actually surprised. He entered. Father was sitting behind his desk, a goblet of wine in one hand. Dante waited until the guard had shut the door to speak.

  “You look upset my son, something at dinner not agree with you?”

  Celton had to deliberately keep his jaw shut to avoid yelling and cursing. His father had the power of life and death and was not one to be very tolerant.

  “Why?” He finally spat out.

  His father smiled with those rotten teeth. “Did it hurt your pride? It must have. To go from my most trusted helper to the family fool. I could see the fury on your face. If you had pulled out a wand at that moment it wouldn’t have surprised me.”

  Beware the vengeance of a patient man, was one of the many sayings Celton had been taught growing up. “How many of the others have already come to you about taking my place?”

  That brought a snort of laughter. “All of them of course, I know you were too far away to hear, but the food was barely on the table before some of them were promising to do a much better job of running things.”

  “I noticed Pyrus was waving his hands about even more than usual.”

  “He was the most aggressive, and loudest, the others were slightly more subtle. But all of them were desperate to win me over.”

  Both Celton’s hands were balled into fists and he could not keep a slight tremor from his voice. “I know you don’t like many of the things I said and did, but I am not incompetent. You don’t hear the truth very often, it’s only natural you wouldn’t care for it. Whoever you choose to take my place will just tell you what you want to hear, and rob the House blind.”

  “I’m sure you never stole even a copper knuckle.”

  “I took a little gold here and there.” It was true and father would never believe it if he pretended otherwise. He was loyal to the family and hard working. He was not a saint or an idiot. “But much less than I could have, and much less than anyone else would have. It was nothing compared to how much I saved you.”

  “If you did such a wonderful job why is my vault near empty?”

  “How much did you spend for all that silk from Trezibon?”

  They both knew the answer to that, three hundred gold skulls.

  His father’s smile vanished. Dante really was not used to being on the receiving end of any sort of criticism, even when it was veiled.

  “It doesn’t matter. I am the head of a Great House, I can have whatever I want.”

  As if your outrageous spending had nothing to do with the fact your vault is empty.

  “All you ever bring me are complaints and problems. Every time you want to talk it’s to deliver more trouble.”

  “That’s only because our House is consumed with rot!”

  “Then you should have fixed things yourself, that was what I expected.”

  “I did! But you only gave me enough authority to fix the small problems. When I came to you about the big ones you always ignored me.”

  Dante narrowed his eyes. “So you do think this is my fault.”

  Celton knew better than to answer that directly. “I took care of what I could an
d told you about the things I couldn’t. Whoever it is you pick to replace me will just tell you everything is wonderful while he stuffs his pockets.”

  “Well, for now, no one will replace you.”

  “Want to see who begs the most?”

  That earned him another chuckle. “I see enough of that every day. Besides, if things go well I may not replace you at all. Try and smile a bit my son, your exile to the far end of the table may be short.”

  “What do you mean?” Celton asked warily.

  “I am going to share a secret with you.”

  “You’re going to trust me?” Trust is a dagger pointed at your own heart. Was another of the sayings he had learned as a boy.

  “Only a little, it’s a very important secret, but not one that can be kept for long. You will not share it.”

  “Of course.”

  “Through sources I have confidence in I have learned that Lilith Corpselover had a meeting with Baldwin Blooddrinker. She informed him that she would be leaving the city to tour her lands.”

  Celton saw the significance immediately.

  “The same news that Enver delivered. You didn’t believe the vampire.”

  “Why would I? He could have easily been acting under Lilith’s orders. Hearing the same from a different source makes it much more credible. Still not certain, but worth a chance at least.”

  “You wish me to meet with him?”

  His father nodded. “Before I will agree to anything I will interrogate the vampire myself and know whether or not he is lying.”

  “He warned me that we have many Corpselover spies in our household.” Celton said quickly. “Enver specifically said that only you and I should know about this, that if it goes beyond the two of us Lilith will certainly find out.”

  “I don’t need you to tell me we have spies. You can inform Enver that we will meet in secret, just the three of us. If it turns out he is speaking the truth we will make the attempt on Lilith’s life. Make sure that the vampire understands that I will be using a Circle of Truth on him. Be sure to explain that if he is lying he will not leave this castle alive. Destroying her familiar would be no small achievement.”

  “I will make it most clear to him father.”

  “You may need to contact him more than once to arrange the meeting. Even if it is in the early hours someone might notice your comings and goings. Fortunately no one will care about that now.”

  Celton’s eyes suddenly opened wide. “Is that why you humiliated me? To make it easier to meet unnoticed?”

  His fury only made his father smile again. “Yes. Does that truly surprise you? What, do you think your fragile pride is more important to me that the chance to kill Lilith?”

  “You didn’t have to go that far!”

  “I’ll decide how far to go with things. Now leave me. As things stand we may only have a week or so before she departs. There is no time to waste.”

  Celton wanted to storm out and get as far away from his cursed forebear as possible. But, as had happened so often before, his sense of duty to the family made him stay. He already knew his effort would not be appreciated.

  “There was an important matter I was going to bring up with you. If I am still the family manager then I need to discuss it.”

  His father took a quick gulp of wine and set the goblet down. His lips became a short thin line and his face was rigid. The way Dante’s eyes were squeezed nearly shut spoke only of annoyance. Celton was familiar with this pose. It was what he normally saw whenever he brought father news he did not want to hear.

  “What is it?”

  “Two more city guards have been murdered in Pontian. That makes nine in just the last two months. From the report these were particularly gruesome. The bodies were sliced open from shoulder to crotch and the organs were pulled out for display.”

  “What do I care? That damn city is nothing but a sinkhole, it costs me more to run than it brings in. I am sick of hearing about it.”

  Of course you are. It’s a problem and a very bad one. “Crime there is getting completely out of hand. The local police force isn’t even pretending to be able to deal with it anymore. The Children of Liberty are growing more brazen by the day.”

  Dante gave a snort. “Children of Liberty, fancy name for a bunch of thieves and killers.”

  “These criminals are getting dangerously popular. The locals love them, far more than they do us.”

  “As if I would ever want to be loved by my slaves. Let them hate, so long as they fear.”

  “The problem father, is they are starting not to. From sunset to sunrise the city belongs to the criminals. Our guards lock themselves in their stations, they won’t patrol at night any more. Our own men are beginning to fear the Children more than us.”

  “Then kill them and get new men.”

  “We don’t have enough guards in our other holdings to replace them. Are you willing to pay for raising and training a brand new garrison?”

  The hard look his father sent him was all the answer he needed.

  “Schlek needs to be removed as governor, he’s incompetent and has no idea what to do.”

  “No, I’ve told you before, he is married to Appalla, the oldest from Anora my third wife. She is a sweet girl and I’m fonder of her than I am of you. I’m not forcing her from the governor’s palace because some thieves have killed a few guards.”

  That “sweet girl” was forty-seven, the mother of six, and had a fondness for beatings.

  “If you won’t remove Schlek then let me assign him a special overseer. We can raise five hundred soldiers and give them to someone ruthless who knows what he is doing. Send Murat to clean the city out. I’m sure he’d have plenty of enthusiasm for the task. Let the streets run with blood for a few weeks and everything will be better.”

  Dante lifted an eyebrow. “You’d actually give your younger brother a chance to impress me?”

  “The situation is serious and needs a hard hand. My brother is very competent and very thorough. Give him the manpower he needs and he will clear this mess up.”

  “Do you have any idea how expensive it is to call out five hundred soldiers?”

  “It’s still cheaper than having to put down another revolt.”

  “They wouldn’t dare!” Dante snapped. “They know what we do to rebels, we would massacre the whole lot and burn the place to the ground. These sort are always cowards. Brave enough to

  steal and murder when they know they can get away with it, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to actually rebel.”

  “It wouldn’t be the first time. We’ve had riots and rebellions before.”

  “And we’ve put every one of them down. We emptied out the towns and villages where they took place, we’ve made examples.”

  “Yes,” Celton said patiently. “And all those places are still empty. They raise no crops and produce no revenues. Plus it’s always expensive to send in soldiers and mages to slaughter our own people. We gain nothing from it.”

  “What we gain is a reputation for not tolerating rebellion.”

  “The people there don’t seem to have learned the lesson.”

  “Then we’ll teach it as many times as we have to.”

  “Pontian is a large city, putting down a full revolt there would be very costly and we would lose a lot of assets. Actually destroying the city would be a disaster for us.”

  “Still better than looking weak.”

  “Please don’t forget that Pontian is right on the border with Dregal. I am certain they are encouraging events there. The situation has the potential to be a disaster. Let me send Murat with five hundred men and cure the sickness before it becomes even more poisonous.”

  “Don’t worry about Dregal, their time is coming. Stop bringing Pontian up to me. I don’t want to hear any more about it. The place is a pit and I am not going to throw away my gold trying to fix it. Tell Schlek he can raise twenty more guards, that should be enough to hold the line.”

  “It won’t
be.”

  “Enough, too much in fact, I have had my fill of complaints from you. Your only worry is the vampire. Now leave me.”

  “Yes father,” Celton bowed and departed.

  As hard as it was to believe, Celton thought he might be even unhappier returning to his quarters than he had been leaving them.

  Chapter 13

  Norwich At Last

  “I would say I made the right choice,” Waldo said.

  “Looks that way Master.”

  After all of their diversions they had finally arrived at the city of Norwich. It was encased by a twenty foot high stone wall without any towers. All along the wall, about twenty feet apart, were wooden pikes. On top of each was a turnip shaped skull. Most were nothing but bleached bone. The ones directly above the gate still had some meat on them. From their condition they looked to have been rotting for weeks.