‘What happened to Adalhaid?’ Wulfric said.
Donato took a deep breath and adopted a more conciliatory posture. ‘I understand that you’re grieving. Everyone in the village is. She was much loved and it’s a terrible loss.’ His eyes flicked to Wulfric’s sword, and he took a step back. ‘Now, you aren’t supposed to be here. If you don’t leave now, I’ll have to call the guards.’
‘Call them,’ Wulfric said. He walked forward and pulled out a chair, the one his father used to sit in. He ran his finger along the dark, carved wood of the back. ‘Belgar is dead.’
‘Another tragedy, but it was his time,’ Donato said.
‘Perhaps. He told me something before he passed. He told me you arranged to have Adalhaid sent to Elzburg. That you were going to have me killed.’
‘The ramblings of a delirious old man. You know what happened as well as I do.’
‘I might have thought that too, if someone hadn’t tried to kill me a few days past,’ Wulfric said.
‘Everyone knows the forests are full of bandits these days. You were unlucky is all.’
‘Rubbish!’ Wulfric said, taking a step closer. He placed a small metal object on the table.
‘What’s that?’ Donato said.
‘That,’ Wulfric said, ‘is the tip of the crossbow bolt Aethelman took out of my shoulder.’
‘I’m relieved to know that you are healing well,’ Donato said, his voice wavering.
‘Do you know anything about weapons?’
Donato shook his head.
‘Of course you don’t. You’re just a fucking coward.’ Wulfric fixed his gaze on Donato, baiting him, but there was no reaction. ‘This tip is interesting.’
‘Really?’
‘Yes. It’s made from hardened steel.’
Donato shrugged.
‘Bandits don’t use crossbow bolts like this. Robbing from ordinary folk doesn’t need an expensive tip that can punch through armour.’
‘Who does?’ Donato said, his voice sounding like he didn’t want to know the answer.
‘Soldiers. Soldiers from Elzburg.’
‘We all knew that something like this might happen after the thrashing you gave those fellows in the inn. They’re proud men. You didn’t think they’d just forget about it, did you?’
‘You seemed very eager for me to take Captain Endres hunting.’
‘I did that in good faith,’ Donato said. ‘For the very reasons I gave you. I had no idea—’
‘Shut your lying mouth,’ Wulfric said.
‘I’ve always known you are a fool, but even I cannot believe you would make accusations based on the delirious ramblings of a dying old man. I’m going to call the guards.’
‘I’d trust his word over yours every time.’
Donato said nothing.
‘Why did you send Adalhaid south?’
‘The Ambassador wanted her to return south. I didn’t ask why. I didn’t care. The southerners have kept us alive, and we have to do everything we can to keep them happy. She went of her own choosing. When we got word you were dead, there was no reason for her to—’
‘Enough,’ Wulfric said. He could feel blood pulsing through his temples. The thought of her deciding to take her own life rather than be dishonoured threatened to tear him apart. His skin tingled and his hands shook with rage. It took all of his self control to finish saying what he wanted to say. ‘The why doesn’t matter. What matters is you sent her south, and she died because of it. What matters is you tried to have me killed. She was my promised. Her soul won’t rest until she’s avenged. Her blood debt is mine, and I will see it paid.’
‘Guards! Guards!’ Donato shouted. He scrambled backwards, but reached the wall and had nowhere left to go. A barony was no use to him if he was dead ‘You don’t understand. You’re making a mis—’
Wulfric’s sabre went through Donato’s neck in a flash. So fast that Donato didn’t realise it had happened. His mouth continued to move, but no sound came out. He lifted his hands to his throat and fell to the floor, blood flooding from between his fingers.
Wulfric heard the door open behind him.
‘You there! Stop!’
Wulfric turned to face the soldiers. Had they helped try to kill him? He charged at them. They both levelled their spears, but they weren’t fast enough. Wulfric struck the head from the first, and kicked the other out the door. The man fell back onto the steps. Wulfric stabbed him through the chest, twisting the blade as fury coursed through his veins.
Wulfric took a deep breath and looked around. He had just killed Donato and two soldiers. It had all happened so quickly, it felt like a dream. He looked left and right for Rodulf, but he was nowhere to be seen. The alarm had been raised, so there was no time to search for him. Wulfric knew he needed to get to safety so he could think, make sense of everything that had happened. He ran at a man riding through the square and pulled him from his horse. Leaping into the saddle, he turned it south and spurred it on.
The Ambassador had wanted Adalhaid to go south too. The whole plan was of his creation. For Adalhaid’s blood debt to be settled, he would have to die. Then it would be Rodulf’s turn…
EPILOGUE
While he had been impatient at first, the Maisterspaeker found that he was hoping he would have enough time to finish the story before his rendezvous. Though to think in terms of finishing it was an untruth. The story didn’t have an ending. Not yet, at least. He wondered how they would take it when he got that far. He would have to come up with something off the cuff to keep them happy. It could be altered later, when he had it all. If there was a later.
Nonetheless, there was a light blue glow coming in through the inn’s windows, and he was too old to be drinking and talking until dawn, not with the task that lay ahead. He drained the last of his mug and stood.
‘Until this evening,’ he said. ‘The dawn is here, and I fear I have kept you from your beds for too long. Five bells and we shall continue.’
He stood and watched them file out of the inn, their weariness finally showing. He cast his mind to the end of his tale, and wondered what it would be. A fitting end to a heroic life, or merely another chapter in it?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sign up for Duncan’s mailing list and get a free copy of his novella, The Frontier Lord. Visit his website to get your copy:
duncanmhamilton.com
Duncan is a writer of fantasy fiction novels and short stories that are set in a world influenced by Renaissance Europe. He has Master’s Degrees in History, and Law, and practised as a barrister before writing full time. He is particularly interested in the Medieval and Renaissance periods, from which he draws inspiration for his stories. He doesn’t live anywhere particularly exotic, and when not writing he enjoys cycling, skiing, and windsurfing.
His debut novel, ‘The Tattered Banner (Society of the Sword Volume 1)’ was placed 8th on Buzzfeed’s 12 Greatest Fantasy Books Of The Year, 2013.
You can get in touch with Duncan at the following places:
@DuncanMHamilton
DuncanMHamilton
duncanmhamilton.com
[email protected]
ALSO BY DUNCAN M. HAMILTON
The Society of the Sword Trilogy
The Tattered Banner
The Huntsman’s Amulet
The Telastrian Song
The First Blade of Ostia
Novellas and Short Stories
The Swordsman of Tanosa
The Frontier Lord
Copyright © Duncan M. Hamilton 2016
All Rights Reserved
The right of Duncan M. Hamilton to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or downloaded in any form or by any means, electronic or otherwise, without the express written permission of the author.
This book is a work of fiction. All of the characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to actual persons, li
ving or dead, is coincidental.
Cover Artwork by Damonza
Map Artwork by Robert Altbauer
Table of Contents
Map of The Northlands and Ruripathia
Prologue
Part 1
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Part 2
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
Chapter 39
Part 3
Chapter 40
Chapter 41
Chapter 42
Chapter 43
Chapter 44
Chapter 45
Chapter 46
Chapter 47
Chapter 48
Chapter 49
Epilogue
Get a free copy of The Frontier Lord
About the Author
Also by Duncan M. Hamilton
Copyright
The Wolf of the North: Wolf of the North Book 1 Page 34