Thraxas at War

by Martin Scott

  "Maybe."

  "I can understand that," says Malm. "Sometimes in the arena they sent me in with a partner. I never liked it when they got killed. I used to protect them. Kill their opponents for them. Sometimes, anyway. But maybe that was just because I liked killing."

  "You liked killing?"

  "Of course."

  "You must be looking forward to the war."

  "I am."

  "We're quite likely to get killed ourselves," I point out.

  Makri shrugs. She doesn't care about dying, as long as she has the opportunity to kill a lot of Orcs. Makri's hatred for Orcs is very intense.

  I'm pondering my next step in the investigation. Thanks to Astrath Triple Moon, I've seen the best pictures available to the Sorcerers Guild when they tried looking into the past. We didn't fare much better than Old Hasius the Brilliant. There are too many people around and nothing is really clear. Astrath is slightly puzzled. By his calculations, the alignments of the moons at the time of the crime should allow for better sorcerous examination.

  "Is something blocking it?"

  Astrath doesn't think so.

  "The pictures aren't as clear as I'd expect, but sometimes that just happens. Sorcerers can't explain everything."

  Astrath Triple Moon's pictures do tell me more than Hansius did. Lodius spent some time hanging round in the corridor before the meeting, which looks bad for him. But there was plenty of movement in that corridor: Senators walking this way and that, engrossed in private discussions; Praetor Capatius engaged in some sort of debate with Prefect Drinius, and joined by Cicerius and Hansius; Consul Kalius and his assistant Bevarius talking to Rittius. There's no sign of anything suspicious, however, and none of them entered the kitchen, as far as can be seen.

  With official avenues blocked, I've been visiting supporters of Lodius, trying to make some sort of breakthrough from a different angle, but even that's proving difficult. Lodius's supporters are themselves suspicious of me. They know that the Senator doesn't trust me.

  I did manage to speak to the man responsible for cooking the pastry which killed Prefect Galwinius. And in some ways my visit to the consular kitchens was very rewarding. Erisox, the man in charge, is a master chef and not too stingy at dishing out samples. From the moment I first tasted his food I recognised him as great man and it was a pleasure to meet him. We talked of pastry, venison, fish, yams, and other items of interest. He enjoys all aspects of food, and just because he spends a lot of time making fancy little dishes for the Consul's guests doesn't mean he disregards the importance of a hearty bowl of stew in winter.

  Unfortunately, great man or not, he couldn't tell me anything about the murder. He swore that no stranger had entered his kitchen. I questioned him fairly intensely on the matter but he was adamant. No one had disturbed him as he prepared the food and he hadn't left the kitchen for any reason.

  I'm inclined to believe him. I trust a man with such a great talent for food preparation. But of course Erisox couldn't see what happened to his pastries after they left the kitchen. The food was taken out on trolleys, some of which were left in the corridor for a space of time before being brought into the meeting room. I wish that Lodius hadn't been hanging round in the corridor, without a good explanation for why he was there.

  I tried following up the carasin angle, attempting to find out who else might have brought some of the poison into the city, but the trail led nowhere. I've learned quite a lot about the manufacture of vellum, but other than that, nothing. It's the sort of task which really requires the services of a large body like the Civil Guard, but that's not going to happen. Guardsman Jevox, one of my few contacts in the force, told me at once that I was wasting my time nosing round the Guards. No Civil Guard is helping me on this one.

  The one aspect of the case I've made progress on is the matter of Galwinius's law suit against Lodius over the matter of the forged will. Officials at the Abode of Justice weren't shy about handing over details of that and it looks bad for Lodius. Statements taken in Abelasi and a Sorcerer's report on the will both suggest that there was an attempt to defraud Galwinius. Given that the beneficiary of the fraud was Lodius, he would have had a hard time explaining the matter to a judge. But again, the Traditionals had it in for Lodius. Who's to say

  Galwinius wasn't participating in some plot cooked up in the Palace to discredit him? Till I've made more investigations, I'm keeping an open mind on the matter.

  One straw I've succeeded in clutching is that there are several other people in Turai who might well have been pleased to see Prefect Galwinius dead. The Society of Friends, for instance. They control all organised crime in the north of the city and Galwinius had just closed down two houses of ill repute which bordered on Thamlin. It's possible the Society might have taken revenge. Organised crime hasn't previously dared to assassinate such a senior politician but as their wealth has grown, so has their ruthlessness. I don't really think that they'd risk murdering a Prefect, but it's a sign of the confusion in the city that there are people who are prepared to believe it might be true. Just like there are people prepared to believe that the Association of Gentlewoman organised Galwinius's murder because he refused to commute Herminis's death sentence. .

  Whilst mulling this over with a beer in one hand and a venison pie in the other, I'm suddenly struck on the back by a blow which sends me thudding into the bar and causes me to drop my pie. I turn round angrily with my hand on the hilt of my sword to find myself confronted by a huge man with long blond hair, a bushy grey beard and a scar on his face from temple to chin.

  "Viriggax!"

  "Thraxas, you dog! Come to sign up for the fight?"

  "Worse. I live here."

  "You live here?"

  "That's not all," I add. "Gurd's the landlord!"

  "The landlord?"

  Viriggax howls with laughter and pounds me another friendly blow on the shoulder. I pound him back.

  "It's good to see you!"

  Viriggax is a mercenary from some godforsaken island in the frozen north. I've fought many a battle in his company. I haven't seen him for twelve years or so but he doesn't seem to have changed, apart from maybe growing a little in every direction. He's got an axe strapped to his back that could chop a horse in half and a great iron shield slung casually over his shoulder. When he spots Gurd he lets out a roar that can be heard over the din in the tavern. Gurd looks round. His face breaks into a joyous, craggy smile and he hurries over.

  "You run this hostelry?" demands Viriggax.

  "I do," replies Gurd.

  "Then where's the beer?" roars Viriggax, who, I remember, never likes to talk quietly.

  Viriggax looks towards the bar. His brow wrinkles as he sights Dandelion, who today has chosen to weave a circlet of leaves in her hair, defying both fashion and common sense.

  "What is that?"

  "One of my barmaids," admits Gurd, apologetically, and winces as Dandelion steps out from the bar, revealing her lack of foot attire. Before Viriggax can comment, Makri waltzes past in her tiny chainmail bikini with a tray of drinks on her arm. Viriggax's jaw sags as he takes in her copper-coloured skin and pointed ears

  "Have the Orcs got here already?"

  "Just another of my staff," explains Gurd, uncomfortably.

  "By the northern Gods, this is an odd place you have here, Gurd. Girls with no shoes and Orcs with no clothes!"

  Viriggax slaps his thigh and laughs mightily.

  "That's what you get for living in the city! No life for a man! Now where's the beer, I've got a powerful thirst from travelling!"

  Gurd calls for beer from Dandelion, clears us a table and we sit down to talk about the war and catch up on old times. Three or four ales later we're deep into a series of reminiscences.

  "You remember those Juvalians who tried to cheat us at cards? We showed them a thing or two!"

  "Or what about the time Thraxas fell into a ravine and we couldn't find him for two days?"

  "He didn't want to shout
for help because he had all the food with him. I swear he was happy to stay in that hole till the supplies ran out!"

  "It was safer down there than up at the front with you! Viriggax, you're lagging behind. You northerners never could hold your ale."

  "What?" bawls Viriggax, emptying his tankard and banging it down on the table. "I'll show you how a northerner can drink! More ale!"

  Some hours later I've forgotten all about Senator Lodius. In fact I've forgotten about most things and am as happy as an Elf in a tree. I launch into a powerful rendition of the Turanian bowmen's drinking song - not that I was ever a bowman, but it's a fine song with a strong melody, and a chorus that requires a lot of banging of tankards on tables. I'm just getting to the verse where the enemy dragons are brought crashing from the sky, cut down by our mighty arrows, when the door of the tavern swings open and a messenger enters with an even more extravagant bunch of flowers than was previously delivered.

  "Makri? Delivery for Makri?"

  Makri is at the bar getting her tray loaded up so Gurd calls the messenger over and takes the flowers on to our table, something which I can sense is a bad mistake.

  Gurd has a lot of ale inside him and may not be think' ing that clearly.

  "What's this?" demands Viriggax, who's looking rather bloated around the face after consuming enough beer to float a trireme. He fingers the card that accompanies the enormous bunch of flowers.

  "Orcish writing?"

  "From Horm, I expect," sighs Gurd.

  Viriggax looks puzzled as he tries to work out exactly what this means. Makri, meanwhile, having been alerted by Dandelion, is hurrying over. She arrives just as it dawns on Viriggax who Makri is, and who Horm is.

  "Your barmaid receives flowers from an Orc lord?" he cries, and stands up abruptly, pushing back his chair. "What sort of traitorous establishment are you running here?"

  "Traitorous?" yells Gurd, and leaps to his feet, or tries to. Actually his legs get tangled under the table and he's a little slow from alcohol so it takes him a while to get vertical. But once he's up, he's a formidable sight.

  "That's what I think of Orcish flowers!" bellows Viriggax, sweeping them on to the floor.

  "Hey, those were mine!" yells Makri.

  "How dare you abuse my barmaid's flowers!" shouts Gurd.

  "I'm getting completely fed up with Horm sending you flowers," I tell Makri. "It's really starting to get on my nerves."

  "I never asked for them!" protests Makri, before turning swiftly back to Viriggax and abusing him roundly for daring to touch her property.

  A band of northern mercenaries are gathering behind Viriggax in case he needs some assistance. Viriggax is temporarily stunned by the ferocity of Makri's abuse but it doesn't take long for him to recover his voice. In no time a series of grim mercenary and Orcish curses are flying over the table.

  "Excuse me," says Dandelion, arriving at this moment and dropping to her knees to scramble round on the floor. "I think I can still rescue the flowers if I get them into a vase of water."

  "I don't want them rescued!" screams Makri. "I hate the flowers!"

  "Sure, that's what you say now," I shout. "But I'm starting to think you're quite pleased to be getting them."

  "I am not!"

  "The woman is a traitor!" roars Viriggax

  "Don't you call my barmaid a traitor!" roars back Gurd.

  "I never thought I'd see the day when Gurd of the North took the side of an Orcish bitch!"

  There's only about half a second before the tavern explodes but in that half a second I have time to mentally sigh, clap my hand to my forehead and wonder why it is that my life has brought me to this. Now I have to fight my old comrade Viriggax, just because Makri has an unreasonable dislike of being called an Orcish bitch.

  As soon as the words are out of Viriggax's mouth Makri leaps on the table and kicks him in the chest with such force that Viriggax is sent sprawling back into his companions. After that, the tavern erupts into a bar-room brawl the like of which I haven't seen since the Brotherhood and the Society of Friends went head to head for control of the Blind Horse in Kushni. Viriggax's companions pile in on top of Makri, I pile in on top of ' them, Gurd joins in, and the rest of the mercenaries in the tavern, not wishing to miss a good fight, pick sides at random and weigh in with their fists.

  Shouts, screams, battle-cries and oaths come from every direction as the bar degenerates into a heaving mass of struggling bodies. Chairs and tables are picked up as weapons and splinters of wood fly over our heads. I pound my fist on the back of some monstrous mercenary who's attempting to attack Makri from behind and am immediately brought down by a blow from a table leg that causes me to sag at the knees. My assailant attempts to bring the lump of wood down on my head but is halted by Makri, who spins round and strikes him a blow on the temple that drops him to the floor. Gurd uses his mighty fists to beat a path through to us and the next thing we find ourselves surrounded by a solid circle of angry-looking northerners, all long blond hair, beards, and muscular arms.

  "Get back, you scum!" I yell, picking up a chair and brandishing it fiercely. "The first man to move gets—'

  A shuddering assault on my left flank prevents me from completing the sentence. I wince, then hit my attacker with the chair.

  "Ah!" yells Gurd, with relish. "Like the old days!" Gurd is brawling with such enthusiasm that's he's forgotten it's his furniture that's being reduced to matchwood. He disappears under three mercenaries. There's a moment's heaving, then, like a volcano suddenly erupting, the three northerners find themselves tossed into the air as Gurd wrenches himself free and weighs in again with his fists.

  After this, things get worse. I find myself next to a mercenary from the south who's decided to take our side and we use our combined body weight to good effect until three northerners drive a wedge between us with the remains of a table and I'm forced back against the wall, punching furiously in every direction. Makri, at something of a disadvantage in the close struggle due to her lack of weight, nonetheless proves her worth, leaping, twisting and turning to keep herself out of trouble while lashing out with the sort of blows she learned during her years as a gladiator. Undefeated champion between the ages of thirteen and nineteen, as she's fond of saying. Unfortunately she finds herself trapped in a corner, and when I see her hand flicker towards her boot, where she generally keeps a knife, I know that things are about to go too far. It's against the unwritten rules to use weapons in a bar-room brawl such as this, but Makri has little regard for rules when it comes to fighting. She'll quite certainly kill her opponent before conceding defeat. I'm considering using my sleep spell to settle things, though this does go against the grain. A good bar-room brawl shouldn't be settled by magic. The decision is taken out of my hands as shrill whistles sound outside and the Civil Guards start pouring into the room.

  The fight gradually subsides as the uniformed men fill up the bar, separating the combatants and waving their batons.

  Captain Rallee steps forward. He briefly survey the wreckage. All over the room bodies lie groaning on the floor and there's hardly a person standing who's not bruised and bleeding.

  "What's this all about?" demands the Captain, looking towards Gurd. Gurd shrugs. Though he's normally on good terms with the Captain, he's not going to start complaining to the Civil Guards about a fight in his tavern, not when the fight could be classified as a small dispute among friends. The Captain turns his gaze towards me. We also used to be on good terms, though it's waned in recent years.

  "Did you start this?"

  "Me? I was hardly involved at all."

  Captain Rallee looks uncertain. He doesn't like trouble on his beat but the Avenging Axe isn't an establishment that generally causes him trouble. He's not sure whether to let it go or start rounding us all up.

  Suddenly Viriggax steps forward, grinning effusively.

  A small dispute among friends, Captain," he says, loudly. "Nothing more."

  "What sort of small dispute?"r />
  "We were discussing flowers."

  As Viriggax says this, his companions burst into raucous laughter, and Viriggax himself howls with delight. Northern mercenaries are not entirely lacking a sense of the ridiculous. Makri is looking on suspiciously from the side of the room. Viriggax strides over to her, throws one extremely brawny arm around her shoulders and turns towards the Captain.

  "This young woman and I were simply discussing the merits of various floral arrangements when things got out of hand."

  The enormous northerner, towering over Makri, beams down at her. Obviously, having been kicked across the room by her, he now considers her a worthy companion.

  Captain Rallee glares at Makri.

  "I might have known you'd be involved. If you want to stay in the city, keep out of trouble."

  He turns to Gurd.

  “And if you want to keep your licence, no more fights. We've got enough to do round here without you making it worse."

  Captain Rallee signals to his men and they depart as abruptly as they arrived. It's true that the Captain does have a lot to do. With the huge increase in crime in the past few years, the Guards are stretched, particularly in a bad area like Twelve Seas. As the city is now full of mercenaries, things are worse than ever.

  Having had a good fight, Viriggax is now as happy as a drunken mercenary. Which, of course, he is. He pulls out a fat purse from his tunic.

  "Drinks for everyone!" he yells. "Now we've shaken the dust from our feet, we'll show those Orcish dogs a thing or two if they dare to attack this city!"

  Chapter Eleven

  The Text day I wake with the sort of hangover that makes a man realise the foolishness of all alcoholic beverages. I stumble from my bedroom to my office and grope for my supply of lesada leaves, which are carefully wrapped in silk in the bottom drawer of my desk. I place one of the small leaves in my mouth, wash it down with water and sit motionless, waiting for it to do its work.

  The lesada plant grows only on the Elvish Isles. The Elves use it as a healing herb. Since I discovered its properties for curing hangovers I've had reason to bless its existence. It's possibly the finest thing ever to come from the Elvish Isles. Certainly more useful than their epic poetry.