After The Rabbit (Waldo Rabbit Series)

by Chereta, Nelson

  “Do you mean the theft or the kiss?”

  “Both!” She leapt over the same alley way without hesitation.

  “They were both worth it.” He ran over the tiles and leapt a second, slightly wider alley way. His right foot barely caught the edge and he almost didn’t make it across. He kept running but shouted a warning to her.

  “You need to stop now. You are really putting your life in danger.”

  She leapt from the edge of the other building and flew through the air as fearlessly as any hawk. Her hands landed and she flipped over, he was gifted with a quick glance of her long, smooth thighs. Then she was back onto her feet and running again.

  “May Wotal strike me blind! You are a goddess made flesh!”

  “Oh, I’ve heard that before.”

  She was drawing close. No matter how hard he ran she kept up with him, and he was starting to get tired.

  “Tell me your name.”

  Her right hand reached out and he felt her grab the back of his cloak.

  “It’s Alice Rabbit, and I’ve got you!”

  “My heart at least.” He slid a dagger into his right palm and cut the draw string about his neck to let her yank the garment off as he kept right on going.

  Caught off guard she tripped and momentarily fell.

  When he came to the end of the roof he saw a street beneath. With no chance of jumping it, and too far up to safely leap down, he spotted a rain pipe. As soon as he wrapped his knees and hands about it there was an ominous creak. He could feel it giving way. Since there was no other choice Daring slid down it as fast as she could. Halfway to the ground it snapped off and collapsed. He let go and tumbled.

  The landing was awkward and hard, but he was able to get up. Looking to the rooftop Alice was glowering down.

  “Come see me at the tavern love!” He gave her a wave and ran off before she could find a way down.

  XXX

  There was nothing Alice could do but watch the miserable thief blend into the crowd and get away. She could have caught him easily, and hurt him, really hurt him… if she could have used her wings.

  “The tavern of the Hungry Snake.”

  She forced herself to turn around and begin to head back.

  “…the Hungry Snake…”

  Schrrrrrk.

  Mortar and rock ground to dust as she past a chimney.

  “…Hungry Snake…”

  Her talons shaved four uneven, one inch deep gouges into the next chimney she passed.

  “You want me, Cleptus Daring?” Along with her claws her tail had also come out and was lashing back and forth. “You’ll get more of me than you can handle.”

  XXX

  Daring made it back to the tavern with a slight limp and missing his cloak.

  “You all right?” Markus asked him.

  “Just fine.”

  Markus noticed him wince as he sat down at the bar. “You sure?”

  Daring grinned. “Trust me my friend, a woman like that is worth dying for, never mind a little pain.”

  Chapter 18

  Proper Thanks

  The three of them returned to the duke’s Keep after completing a circuit of the city and finding no signs of either a Great Monster or the thief.

  “We should find out where this tavern is and burn the place down.”

  Waldo gave a weary shake of his head. Alice had gone on and on about her encounter. Not only telling him about the chase, but going into excruciating detail about just what she was going to do to this man.

  “Won’t it make it hard to get the purse back if we do that while he is still in it?”

  “You’re right, darling, I’m letting my feelings get in the way and not thinking this through.”

  Waldo nodded.

  “We go to this tavern, find him, break his legs, make him tell us where the gold is, and then we burn it down with him still inside.”

  Belle turned to Waldo. “See? Didn’t I tell you she was scary?”

  “You know Alice,” Waldo said. “There are times when you can be surprisingly cruel.”

  “I’m a woman.”

  “Why are you so irate?” Waldo asked. “You weren’t this angry when we were actually robbed.”

  “It’s because he was deliberately mocking me! He was rubbing what he did in my face and acting as though I were helpless. Not only that he…”

  Waldo waited, but she did not continue following her abrupt pause.

  “He what?”

  Alice began wringing her hands and her eyes flickered to the floor. “He… he kissed me.”

  “Kissed you?” Waldo said in surprise. “You didn’t mention that before.”

  “It’s not something I wanted you to know.”

  “Did you enjoy it?”

  “What? Of course not!”

  “Pity, hopefully next time you find someone who knows what they’re doing.”

  Smack!

  “Ow!” Waldo rubbed the back of his head. “What was that for?”

  “You’re unbelievable. Do you care about my feelings at all?”

  “Of course I do. Did you not hear me wish for you to have a better experience next time?”

  Her eyes bored into him, and if that were not enough he could sense annoyance through their bond.

  “What? I was being thoughtful!”

  Alice opened her mouth to commence yelling at him, but felt Belle place a beefy hand on her shoulder.

  “Master, I think Alice is upset that you are all right with her being kissed by another man.”

  “Why wouldn’t I be?”

  “Because I’m your wife!”

  “I know, I know,” he sighed wearily. “You keep reminding me. What does that have to do with it?”

  “A husband is supposed to be upset when another man has intentions towards his wife. You’re not supposed to tell me to enjoy it when someone else kisses me.”

  “Can’t I simply see it as him paying you a compliment?

  Alice cracked her knuckles.

  “Is this like that time we were in Bittford and you were upset because those men were staring and I didn’t mind?”

  “Yes! Exactly!”

  “Alice, I’ve already explained my upbringing to you. The castle was filled with sex slaves and my mother had a string of lovers. Where I come from men and women are expected to indulge in pleasure whenever they wish.”

  She turned her hands into fists. “If you ever, “indulge” with another woman I will beat you within an inch of your life.”

  “So it’s only all right with men?”

  “Yes it is!” Belle said.

  “No, it’s not! Ewww! How can you even think that? That is a complete abomination!”

  “Really?” Belle asked. “You know, sweetheart, the folk around here would say the same about you being with Master.”

  “That’s… that’s different.”

  “You sure?”

  Waldo could sense discomfort from Alice and a bit of anger from Gronk.

  “I am not interested in men, I simply want to be clear on what the rule is. You have so many of them.”

  “The rule is simple, once you marry you should both be faithful.”

  How limiting, how do they manage not to get bored with each other? “I have said before I don’t intend to have sex with anyone I am not married to.”

  Alice nodded.

  Belle appeared downcast. “Really, Master? Not even once? Maybe when you’re drunk?”

  “I don’t think it would be physically possible to get that drunk. I am sorry Belle.”

  Belle scuffed the floor. “You only care about Alice’s feelings. Haven’t I been a good servant, Master? Haven’t I done everything you have asked of me?”

  “You have, I have absolutely no complaints and am very glad you belong to me.”

  “That makes me happy Master, but you could show me a little consideration from time to time.”

  “You know, Belle has a point,” Alice said. “We are both here for you
. We are both ready to follow you anywhere and put our lives at risk. You could be a little more thoughtful. I know you have weird ideas in your head, but if you just paid attention you would know what would make us happy.”

  When he’d been a child he had enjoyed treating some of the slaves with kindness. It made him happy to see them happy. He had stopped only because Enver had started killing any servant he was fond of. The vampire wasn’t with him anymore, if he wanted to he could reward his servants.

  “You’re right Alice.”

  The words earned him a smile from her.

  “Wait here, I will be back shortly.” Waldo turned to leave.

  “Where are you going?”

  “To the duke’s dungeon.” He rounded a corner and was gone.

  Alice and Belle shared a confused look.

  XXX

  About a half hour later Waldo returned.

  Curled about his right hand was a six foot long, black leather whip. Carried over his left shoulder were rolls of iron chain.

  “Let’s go to your quarters Belle, we’ll do the Clawing Eagle.”

  Belle’s knees almost gave as the ogre swooned from side to side. “Really, Master?!”

  “Yes, you saved my life and I never gave you proper thanks.” He let the whip uncurl and drew back his arm and swung it forward. The whip sliced the air with a loud, audible “snap.” “Now come along… you’ve been bad.”

  “Yes, Master!” Belle followed on his heels like a puppy.

  Alice stood rooted to the spot and watched them go with her mouth hanging open.

  “This isn’t what I meant.”

  XXX

  Lothasians buried their dead.

  That was a great boon to Lucius Corpselover. After he slaughtered and raised the residents of a village he visited the local cemetery. Each time he left he had more obedient followers shuffling along behind him. Having already visited three villages Lucius had deliberately allowed a few survivors to escape from each. To allow word to spread of what was happening. It surprised him that it wasn’t until he approached village number four when opposition at last appeared.

  Twelve soldiers on horseback, led by a knight, were drawn up across the road. Behind them was a knot of perhaps thirty men armed mostly with bows, spears, and pikes. A few of them had leather jerkins, the rest wore simple field clothes. The men on foot were obviously locals defending their homes, boys barely in their teens mixed with grey haired grandfathers. At the gate of the village were all the women and children with bundles on their backs and cloth sacks in their hands. They were ready to flee, but waited to see if these brave heroes could save them.

  It had to be hard, standing outside their village watching an archlich and hundreds of skeletons and walking corpses come down the road. Of course, if they’d possessed the sense the Dark Powers gave a house cat, all of them would have fled by now.

  The men on horseback had trouble controlling their mounts. The animals were neighing and refusing to stay still. Their riders were struggling to keep them in place. It was just more evidence that animals had the better survival instinct.

  The knight drew his broadsword and stood up in his stirrups. He probably thought it made him seem imposing.

  “I am Sir Preston of Falmouth, in the name of Duke Theos Griffinheart of Norwich, servant to his majesty King Leo Coramoor, Holder of the Keys, Guardian of the Pass, Protector of the Land and Realm of Lothas, I command you and your foul minions to depart.”

  Lucius came to a halt. His mindless servants did the same.

  “I see. Then I will go. Please give my apologies to your duke and king.” Lucius bowed low.

  The young knight’s mouth opened and closed wordlessly. “Truly? You will leave us in peace?”

  Lucius held out his wand. It was made of human bone and six words were carved into it; Corpselover, pride, power, Tyver, Kara, and Walter. “No, that was a joke. Clearly you don’t appreciate my sense of humor. Fulmina ictas ivaros est domina sagittal norum aliz.”

  Above and around him over a hundred bolts of energy came into existence. Each one was the size of an iron nail and crackled with power. With a flick of his wrist he fired hem off. None of the horsemen had magical armor or protective wards, and so were completely vulnerable to magical attack.

  One of the bolts struck Sir Preston in his left eye and burned a hole clean through to the back of his head. Three other bolts struck his armor and melted through, burned the doublet underneath and scarred his skin, but did not have the energy to penetrate further. The other soldiers on horseback all wore chainmail, the bolts went through them as though they were made of straw. In an instant the air was filled with the smell of blood, melted iron, and seared meat. Screams came from both men and women as eleven bodies toppled lifelessly from saddles. Eleven horses hurtled in every direction.

  By a seeming miracle one rider remained alive and completely untouched.

  “Horseman,” Lucius called out. “Hurry back to your duke and give him this message. Tell him to send out Waldo Rabbit and his companions to face me. If that heroic White Mage does not come out I will lay waste to Norwich as I have the places I have visited. Now, go!”

  The soldier brought his terrified mount under control and then galloped away as quickly as he could. When Lucius turned attention back to the locals he was not surprised to see the militia had dropped most of their weapons and run. They were helping the women and children get away as quickly as possible.

  Lucius could have cut them down like ripe wheat, but decided not to bother. The more who escaped the quicker the panic would spread. He began walking again and his undead followed after. He needed to burn down the village and fields, clear out the local cemetery, and then it was on to the next village.

  Chapter 19

  Time To Go

  Waldo finished carving the last letter and blew to clear away the shavings and dust. Four words of power were now carved into his wand; Lilith, Gwendolyn, Alice, and Gronk. He put the dagger away into the sheath strapped to his forearm. Waldo grimaced as he rolled his right shoulder.

  “My arm is still sore from yesterday. I never realized how tiring it is using a whip.”

  “Really don’t want to hear any more about that, darling.”

  They were alone in their quarters after another fruitless tour of the city. Alice was glancing at his wand.

  “When you find your third monster will you add its name too?”

  “Most likely.”

  “Oh.”

  He glanced at her. There was disappointment coming through the bond. “Something wrong?”

  “No, it’s just, I feel a little less special to you.”

  “Want me to service you?”

  He knew immediately it was the wrong thing to say. Not only did she glare at him he sensed anger replace disappointment.

  “What did I say yesterday about paying attention and understanding what matters to people?”

  “What? I listened. Why do you think my arm is sore?”

  Alice blew out a frustrated breath. “Never mind. Since we found out where the Hungry Snake is can we go there and teach Cleptus a very slow and painful lesson?”

  Waldo nodded. “When we are ready to leave. After all, he stole from me as well. Not punishing him would set a bad precedent.”

  “When can we go? We’ve been all over this place and you say there’s no sign of any monsters. Can’t we depart now?”

  “I want to do one more search to be certain. If we find nothing tomorrow we can leave the following day.”

  “So we have to be here two more days?”

  Waldo was going to answer when he noted quite a lot of commotion coming from outside their quarters, followed almost immediately by a loud rap at the door.

  “Is it dinner time already?”

  Opening the door he found a knight along with five guards. All six men looked grim.

  “The duke wishes to speak with you Master Rabbit. Come with us.”

  The knight did not sound particul
arly deferential and had a hand resting on the hilt of his blade.

  XXX

  Waldo expected to be brought to the dining hall. Instead he was escorted to a cramped study he hadn’t visited before. Inside were the duke and three other men, all of them soldiers. They were hovering over a small table covered in maps. His arrival was met by frowns and an unpleasant silence. The knight who had escorted him entered the room as well. The door slammed shut behind him.