02 - Death's City

by Sandy Mitchell - (ebook by Undead)

  “Sounds like fun,” Fritz said, turning to Rudi. “What do you think?”

  “I think someone should check in on Hanna,” Rudi said.

  “She’s been sleeping all day. She’ll be fine by the morning.”

  “I hope so,” Rudi said, feeling rather less certain. The last time the dammed-up magic inside her had induced a seizure it had taken her several days to recover fully. “But I’d feel a lot more comfortable if I hung around here and kept an eye on her.”

  “Suit yourself,” Mathilde said and turned to Fritz. “Looks like two’s company then.” Fritz hesitated a moment, grinned sheepishly at Rudi, and trotted out after her. Feeling vaguely deflated, Rudi watched them go and ordered another ale.

  Fritz still hadn’t returned by the following morning. When Rudi woke from a surprisingly restful slumber the other bed in the room had clearly not been slept in. Shrugging, he descended the stairs in search of breakfast and was pleasantly surprised to find Hanna already seated at a table in the taproom, the remains of a hearty meal scattered in front of her.

  “You look good,” he said without thinking, and the girl looked up, smiling in response.

  “I feel good,” she said. “The stone thing seems to be helping still and Kris is taking me to the university this morning. There are some people there he wants me to meet.”

  “That’s great. Really.” He sat down next to her and started spooning down the large bowl of porridge Marta placed on the table in front of him. “I’m sure at least one of them will be able to help you.”

  “Provided I can pay for it,” Hanna said. “That seems to be the way things work around here.”

  “I think I can help you with that,” Rudi said. He produced his purse and handed her seven of the gold coins he’d so unexpectedly acquired the previous night. “Three of these are yours anyway and you can have four of mine too. And three are Fritz’s, so I’d better hang on to those until he surfaces again.”

  “Where did you get these?” Hanna asked, surprise and suspicion mingling in her voice. She looked at him appraisingly. “You haven’t done something stupid, have you?”

  “I had an unexpected conversation with Herr Tilman last night. He insisted on paying us back the money we lost.”

  “Did he?” Hanna didn’t sound terribly convinced. “That sounds a bit out of character for the owner of a gambling den.”

  “He said something about needing to maintain a reputation for honesty,” Rudi said, half-truthfully. “I was quite surprised myself.”

  “Then he shouldn’t allow people to play with marked cards,” Hanna said acidly. After a moment she slipped the coins into her purse, and to Rudi’s delighted surprise leaned across to kiss him lightly on the cheek. “Thank you. I’m sure it’ll help, and I’ll pay you back somehow, I promise.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Rudi said. “I found a job. I’ll be getting paid next week.”

  “Really?” Hanna stared at him in astonishment. “Doing what?”

  “He’s joined the Black Caps,” Kris said, wandering over to the table with a plate of steaming sausage in his hand. He dropped into a chair opposite. “It’s all over the ward. He took out three of the dirtiest fighters in Winkelmarkt all by himself last night, so it’s no wonder they wanted him.”

  “I see.” Hanna looked at Rudi in an appraising manner the young watchman found vaguely disturbing. “I assume you were going to mention that at some point?”

  “Of course.” Rudi flushed guiltily and applied himself to the food with exaggerated diligence.

  “Do try to be careful. I’d hate to lose you too.”

  “Not much fear of that,” Kris put in cheerfully. “After what he did last night, no one’s going to mess with him unless they’re crazy.” He smiled at Rudi. “So what are you going to do this morning?”

  “I’m not sure,” Rudi said. “I’m not due back at the watch house until noon, so I thought I’d just wander around the neighbourhood for a bit, try and get my bearings.”

  “You’ll get enough of that once you’re on duty,” Kris said, finishing the last of his sausage. He smiled in an amiable fashion which reminded Rudi of Artemus. “If you’ve got nothing better to do, why not tag along with us? At least that way you’ll get to see a bit more of the city than just the Winkelmarkt.”

  “That sounds like a good idea,” Rudi said, glancing at Hanna for approval, and deciding not to mention his impromptu foray into the Doodkanal.

  “Fine with me,” she said.

  * * *

  The mist Rudi remembered from the night before had evaporated by the time they set out from the Dancing Pirate, although the breeze through the streets still had a chill edge to it. Kris smiled when Hanna remarked on the fact.

  “It’ll be a lot colder before long,” he said. “Summer’s almost gone, don’t forget. And we’re on the coast here, which doesn’t help.”

  “How?” Rudi asked. By his reckoning they should still have almost a month of relatively warm weather before the autumn chill descended. Hanna and he had left Kohlstadt in high summer, and even the astonishing number of events they’d lived through in the meantime hadn’t been enough to blunt his instinctive affinity for the cycle of the seasons.

  “The whole city’s built on a swamp. It’s humid in summer, freezing in winter, and clammy in between. Before you know it the fogs will be rolling in every night.” He shot a tight grin at Rudi. “You’ll be earning your pay then all right, believe me.”

  “I’ve seen fog before,” Rudi said.

  “Not like these. You can hardly see a hand in front of your face. You’ll see.”

  “Apparently not,” Rudi said and the wizard laughed.

  Despite the chill the air was crisp, shafts of pure sunlight striking down through the gaps between the buildings, and Rudi found he was enjoying the walk. He was getting more used to the ever-present crowds too, he discovered, moving through them more easily, and was able to spare some of his attention to take in the sights Kris pointed out as they progressed through the streets in a relatively leisurely fashion. The Marienburger was evidently proud of his home and clearly relished the chance to show it off to his new friends.

  Rudi wasn’t altogether sure he could blame him for that. Marienburg was even more vast than he’d imagined and the different districts they passed through all had their own character. Not, perhaps, as distinct as the dereliction of the Doodkanal, but noticeable nevertheless.

  “This is the Suiddock,” Kris said, as they passed through an area which seemed to consist largely of warehouses and taverns. There were more wharves and canals here too, which Rudi mainly glimpsed through gaps between the larger structures, most of the berths occupied by ocean-going vessels whose masts towered over the buildings surrounding them like trees in the forest. Other docks played host to riverboats, none of which, to his quiet relief, was the Reikmaiden. Sweating stevedores swarmed over ship and boat alike removing and loading cargoes, or transferring them between the two. The vast majority of bundles and barrels seemed to be destined for the warehouses surrounding them and several times Rudi had to stand aside to let a laden handcart trundle past. “It’s a bit out of our way to be honest, but I thought you’d like to see it. You can’t really get a sense of what Marienburg is all about until you’ve seen the docks.”

  “It’s amazing,” Hanna said, gazing around at the bustle of activity, and Kris smiled delightedly.

  “If you can’t find it in Marienburg it doesn’t exist. Everything in the world passes through here sooner or later.”

  “I can believe it,” Rudi said, following Kris onto the cobbles of a nearby bridge.

  “There. I bet you’ve never seen anything like that in the Empire.”

  “You’d win,” Hanna said, awestruck and Rudi could do little more than nod in agreement. In the far distance, yet still able to dwarf the warehouses and other buildings in between, a vast viaduct rose, higher than any structure he would have believed possible.

  “The Hoogbrug
bridge. Longest and highest in the known world. The arches are large enough for an ocean-going ship to pass through under full sail and the ramps around the outside of the towers are wide enough for two coaches to pass one another.”

  “That’s amazing,” Rudi said, drinking in the sight. “What’s on the other side?”

  “The northern half of the city,” Kris said. “And unless you’ve got a boat or you fancy a swim, there’s no other way to get there.”

  “Are we going to cross it?” Hanna asked, an edge of apprehension entering her voice.

  “Not today. Baron Hendryk’s is this side of the Reik. But there are some pretty good restaurants in the elf quarter you ought to try if you get the chance. And some halfling place Sam recommends.” He pulled a face. “Only trouble is, if you eat there you’ll end up with your knees under your chin and your head in the rafters. He swears the food’s worth it, but I have my doubts.”

  “He’s a pretty good friend of yours then?” Rudi asked casually.

  “I wouldn’t say that, exactly. We’ve done a bit of business from time to time.”

  “I see,” Rudi said, although he wasn’t sure that he did.

  The buildings on the other side of the bridge were bigger and more elaborate than those in the Winkelmarkt and marked by time and decay. Plaster was crumbling, paint flaking, and many of the once grand mansions they passed had clearly been subdivided into dwellings and offices. A faint air of decay seemed to hang over them all, and Kris nodded when Hanna remarked on the fact.

  “The Oudgeldwijk,” he said. “A few hundred years ago the wealthiest merchants in the city lived here. But after the bridge was built the real money moved over the river, where there was room for bigger houses. Some of the families stayed, but the ones that did are struggling.” He shrugged. “Now half the houses are let and the rest are being circled by the speculators.” Rudi nodded thoughtfully. It seemed as though this was the sort of area Magnus might live in. Now he’d seen a little more of the wider world, Rudi was beginning to realise that what had seemed a vast fortune in Kohlstadt wasn’t necessarily so in a place like this. He was about to ask if Kris knew whether one of the mansions might belong to a von Blackenburg, but before he could they crossed another of the myriad bridges stitching the city together and the character of the buildings around them changed again.

  “This is it,” Kris said. “The Templewijk.” He waved an expansive hand at the bustle surrounding them. The streets here seemed busier than the languid pace of the Oudgeldwijk, almost as much as the Suiddock had been, but instead of carters, stevedores and artisans, most of the passers-by seemed to be mages or priests, hurrying along with the hems of their robes lifted slightly to keep them clear of the patina of mud which coated the cobbles as thickly as it seemed to everywhere else Rudi had been. Here, despite the shortage of building land which afflicted the whole city, broad squares wider than any he’d seen since his arrival in Marienburg opened out, fronted by buildings of a size and magnificence he could scarcely have imagined.

  “What’s that?” Hanna asked, awestruck, craning her neck back to look up at the vast structure dominating the skyline ahead of them. It was the largest building Rudi had seen since arriving in Marienburg, reducing the endless stream of people hurrying in and out of the titanic doors to the scale of mice. A frieze of owls and the kind of balancing scales Rudi had seen merchants use to weigh out their wares was carved into the marble portico, and the same images seemed to be repeated wherever he looked.

  “The cathedral of Verena,” Kris said, and Rudi belatedly recognised the symbols of the goddess of justice. He shot a grin at the young watchman. “Perhaps you should go in for a blessing, given your new profession.”

  “Maybe I should,” Rudi said, not quite sure whether the mage was joking or not. He pointed to a side wing almost as large as the church itself. “Is that part of the cathedral too?”

  “The great library,” Kris said, a tone of near wistfulness entering his voice. “The greatest repository of wisdom in Old World.”

  “Can anyone use it?” Hanna asked, and Kris nodded slowly.

  “Anyone presenting evidence of real scholarly intent. In theory at least. Usually a letter of introduction from the college is enough. But they’re badly understaffed, so even if they approve your request you can be in for a long wait. And their records aren’t all they might be, so even when you get in you might not be able to find what you’re looking for.” His mood brightened as they passed down a narrow street lined with taverns and boarding houses. “Scholar’s Row. Nearly there.”

  “Good,” Hanna said, and Rudi looked at her with sudden concern. Lost in the wonders the young mage was pointing out to them, he’d almost forgotten how weak she still was. Catching his eye she smiled wanly. “I’m all right, really.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Kris said, failing to understand. They came out into another square and he gestured to the palace facing them. It was almost as large as the cathedral had been, but constructed of brick and timber rather than stone. Statues and gargoyles encrusted every surface, for the most part spattered with the droppings of the gulls which roosted there, their raucous squawks all but drowned out by the bustling of the humans below. Sunlight shone golden from hundreds of windows and Rudi gasped at the realisation that they were all glazed, a display of wealth more dazzling in its own way than the light they were reflecting. “Here we are.” Kris led them to a small gate set in the wall and Rudi caught a glimpse of a courtyard beyond. Clearly the college rambled for some distance behind this monumental facade, newer, more utilitarian buildings having been added to the original palace, donated to the city by Baron Henryk when he endowed the institution in the first place.

  “It’s… Impressive,” Hanna said, for once almost lost for words. Kris grinned happily, as though he’d just performed some amusing party trick. A man seated just inside the archway stood as they approached.

  “Kris Goudriaan,” the young mage said. “Professor Aaldbrugh is expecting us.”

  “Of course it is.” The porter smiled with what looked like genuine warmth. “You had rooms in the Contessa Esmeralda wing. I never forget one of my young gentlemen.” He glanced across at Hanna and the smile became slightly less certain. “Or ladies.”

  “She’s with me,” Kris assured the man, and he nodded slowly.

  “Of course.” The man’s eyes took in Rudi and the folded hat tucked into his belt, clearly recognising its significance. “Is this gentleman with you as well?”

  “No,” Rudi said, before either of his friends could respond. It was obvious that he would stand out here as a conspicuous outsider, not to mention an off-duty watchman, and it would hardly help Hanna to draw any more attention to her than was absolutely unavoidable. “I’m on my way to the cathedral of Verena. I just walked this far with my friends for the exercise.”

  “I see,” the porter said, with a faint air of relief, and stood aside to let Hanna and Kris enter. As she passed under the archway the girl looked back at him with a faint, nervous smile and he hoped she understood why he was letting her go in alone. Conscious of the porter’s eyes, Rudi turned and sauntered away in the direction of the cathedral, resisting the urge to turn back for a last glimpse of her.

  Now that the idea had been planted, he found the notion of seeking a blessing was becoming more attractive. He’d never been particularly devout, beyond leaving the occasional offering to Taal in the forest glades whenever the hunting had gone particularly well or badly and fidgeting uneasily through Father Antrobus’ interminable sermons in Kohlstadt’s tiny chapel of Sigmar on the handful of feast days when the pressures of social convention had dragged the Walders out of their woodland home to participate along with everyone else. But somehow the notion seemed appropriate. Not only was he beginning a new life as an upholder of the law, he and Hanna were innocent victims of the witch hunter’s vindictiveness; an appeal to the goddess of justice might just help them both.

  As he approached the vast building, an
gling towards the main door which stood open, dwarfing the steady stream of figures entering and leaving, his footsteps began to falter. Sick apprehension churned in his gut and the palms of his hands began to sweat. As he got closer to the looming pile of masonry his heart began to beat faster, a sense of fear rising up from nowhere to practically overwhelm him, as powerful and unexpected as the other inexplicable surges of emotion he’d experienced from time to time since that fateful night in the forest. His vision blurred, the uncountable tons of stone seeming poised to crush him where he stood.

  “Rudi!” A cheerful voice hailed him, snapping him back to himself, and he turned to find Artemus smiling uncertainly at him from a handful of paces away. “This is a most unforeseen pleasure. I have to admit I hadn’t expected to see you for some time, if indeed at all.”

  “I could say the same,” Rudi said. He still wasn’t sure if he trusted the scribe or not, but right now the sight of a familiar face was undeniably welcome.

  “And I could hardly blame you for that.” He looked at the young watchman a little more closely an expression of solicitude touching his face. “Are you all right? You look a little pale.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Rudi said, turning away from the finely-carved oak doors. As he did so he began to feel a little better. “The walk from the Winkelmarkt was further than I expected, that’s all.”

  “I’ve noticed the same thing myself on many occasions,” Artemus assured him. “A league across a city can seem like ten on the open road.” Rudi nodded an assent, unable to argue with those sentiments. The scribe hesitated a moment before continuing. “My chambers aren’t far from here if you’d care to rest for a while before returning.”

  “I think I would. Thank you.”

  “I really had every intention of returning, you know,” Artemus said earnestly He was sitting on the narrow bed in the larger of the two rooms he occupied in the Scriveners’ guildhall, a surprisingly modest edifice by the standards of some of its more ostentatious neighbours. The other room was almost filled by a desk, angled to make the most of the light from the narrow window, on which a half-completed manuscript stood along with the book from which it was being copied and a bookshelf containing almost a dozen volumes. Rudi occupied the single chair. “I was sure I could repay your kindness by doubling our funds at the very least.”