by Tim Powers
'God, help us,' gasped Duffy, alarmed by this escalation. 'We can finish our fight later,' he barked to the hunchback. 'Deal with these boys now.'
The little man nodded, and they turned on their four attackers. Duffy engaged the swords of two of them, trying to draw one into an advance so he could put a stop-thrust in his face, but the hunchback leaped at his pair, whirling maniacal hammer-strokes at them. The forest resounded like a dozen smithies.
Duffy struck down one of his opponents with a lucky remise that sheared across the man's throat; the other man
tried an attack while Duffywas thus occupied, but the Irishman bounded back out of distance immediately and let the blade swish through the air unobstructed. I'll cripple this one, he thought, and then grab my stuff there and run like a bastard. That crazed hunchback will just have to be satisfied with dismembering the next stranger he meets.
Beating aside a badly aimed thrust, Duffy threw himself forward in a punta sopra mano- but when his leading foot hit the ground the boot heel snapped off and he fell, twisting desperately in mid-air to keep his sword between himself and his attacker. Blows rained down on Duffy for a good ten seconds - while he lay in the leaves, parried desperately and tried to riposte at the man's legs - and then there was a meaty chunk and the man fell on him.
Duffy got his sword point up in time to spit the man under the breastbone, but when he threw the corpse aside and hopped to his feet, he saw a deep, spine-severing cleft dividing the dead man's back.
'I already got him,' explained the hunchback, wiping sweat off his forehead. 'What kind of move was that, anyway? Diving on the ground like that?'
Duffy grinned sourly. 'It would have been a damned good move if you hadn't split my boot heel a few minutes ago.' He looked past the hunchback, and saw the other two men sprawled gorily in the clearing. 'I suppose you still want to kill me?'
The hunchback frowned. 'Uh, no.' He wiped the blade of his two-handed sword and slid it into a scabbard slung over his shoulder. 'I owe you an apology for that. These weasels have been following me for days, and I took you for one of them. I'm sorry about your boot.'
'Don't worry about it. One of these lads doubtless has feet my size, and I see they were all high-class bravos, well-shod.'
'I never could have stood the four of them off alone,'
the hunchback said. 'I'm indebted to you.' He stuck out his right hand. 'I'm Bluto, a Swiss.'
Duffy shook his hand. 'Brian Duffy, an Irishman.'
'You're far from home, Duffy. Where's your horse?'
'Well...' Inquisitive little bugger, he thought. Still, he did save my life - after jeopardizing it in the first place. 'I'm afoot.'
'Just out for a stroll, eh? Well, these gentlemen had horses. They left them tethered in a clearing about a half mile back. When you've chosen a pair of boots, perhaps you'd care to select a horse.'
Duffy laughed and wiped his sword off on the dead man's shirt. 'All right,' he said, 'let's go take a look at them.'
Half an hour later the two men were riding north. Duffy allowed himself a gulp of the wine, which was running low, and offered the wineskin to Bluto.
'No, thank you,' the hunchback said. 'Not right now, or I'll get sick. You're bound for Vienna, I assume?'
Duffy nodded.
'So am I. I've been hired to organize the city's artillery.'
'Oh? You know about that stuff, do you?'
'It's what I do. I'm a freelance bombardier. What is it that's bringing you to Vienna?'
'Nothing so dramatic. I've been hired to be the bouncer at an inn there.'
'Hah! These Viennese range far afield for their employees. There was no local talent?'
The Irishman shrugged. 'Apparently not. The guy who hired me - weird little man named Aurelianus -'
'Aurelianus?' Bluto exclaimed. 'Black clothes? Trembly? Afraid to open windows?'
Duffy frowned, mystified. 'That's him. How did you know?'
'I met him two months ago, in Bern. He's the one who hired me to take charge of the artillery.' For a minute or two they rode along in silence. Finally Bluto spoke. 'I don't suppose there have been murderers chasing you around, have there?'
'Well.. .there has been an incident or two.'
'Ah. I might hazard a guess, then, that there are those, enemies of Aurelianus, perhaps, who don't want us to get to Vienna.'
Duffy snorted skeptically. 'Who'd care whether or not the Zimmermann Inn gets a new bouncer?'
'I couldn't say. I wonder, though, who else he's hired, and for what.'
'Have you...' Duffy began. 'Have you run into any odd types, besides common murderers? Stranger.. .things... that pay uncalled-for attention to you?'
The hunchback stared at him uncomprehendingly. 'Aren't murderers enough? What kind of "things" do you mean? Lions? Wolves?'
'Yes,' said the Irishman quickly. 'Wolves. I've been plagued by them.'
Bluto shook his head. 'No. But then we're coming from different directions. Wouldn't be likely to run across the same sorts of beasts.'
'That's true,' assented Duffy, letting the discussion drop. That's odd, though, he thought. Bluto has apparently seen no supernatural creatures at all. Why have I seen so many?
At midafternoon their horses' hooves clattered on the Leitha Bridge, and by sunset they had reached the high, stone, battlement-crowned walls of Vienna.
'God, she's big,' Bluto remarked as they rode up to the Carinthian Gate. 'Have you ever been here before?'
'I used to live here,' Duffy said quietly.
'Oh. Can you tell me where I could spend the night? I want a bit of rest before I present myself to the city council.'
Duffy frowned. If there's one thing I don't want right now, he thought, it's company. But he's a decent sort, and if it weren't for him I wouldn't have this horse. 'I imagine they'd give you a room at the Zimmermann. Aurelianus owns it. Did he give you some kind of letter of introduction?'
'Yes. Sealed with two fighting dragons.'
'Well, show that seal to the innkeeper. I doubt if he'd even charge you any money.'
'Good idea. I'm much obliged to you.'
They rode under the old stone arch and clip-clopped at a leisurely pace up the Kartnerstrasse. Duffy breathed deeply, enjoying the smoky smell of the city. Damn my eyes, he thought, it's good to be back. I remember riding down this very street sixteen years ago with Franz von Sickingen's knights, to go push the French away from the Rhine. Yes, and I remember coming back, too, blind and half-paralyzed by a sword-cut in the base of the skull. The physicians told me I'd never again be able to get out of a chair unaided, much less fight. Hah. Brandy, my Irish blood and Epiphany made liars of them. I was reading, walking with a cane and giving fencing lessons a year later; and by the time I was thirty-three, and had let my hair grow over my collar in back, you wouldn't know I'd ever taken a wound.
'Where is this Zimmermann Inn?' asked Bluto, peering around.
'Up this street a bit farther, just off the Rotenturmstrasse.'
'How are the accommodations?'
'I don't know. In my day it was a monastery. But they've always made great beer - even back in the days when it was a Roman fort, I understand.'
People on the street paused to stare at the two barbarous-looking riders; Duffy tall, burly, and gray, and Bluto gnarled and hunchbacked, his long swordhilt thrusting up from behind his shoulder like a cobra whispering in his ear. In the courtyard of St Stephen's Cathedral children pointed at them and giggled.
And off to our port side, Duffythought grimly, silhouetted by the sunset, is St Peter's Church, where Epiphany married Max Hallstadt in June of 'twenty-six. I haven't seen her since that afternoon, when she told me I'd behaved disgracefully at the wedding. She was right, of course.
And here I am home again, three years and a few scars later. Returning in dubious triumph to keep bums from throwing up on the Zimmermann's taproom floor.
The sky was darkening fast now, and clear for the first time in several nights. Duffy win
ked a greeting at the evening star. 'We go left here,' he said.
Three blocks later the Irishman pointed. 'That's her, on the left. As I recall, the stables are around back.' It was along, two-storeyed, half-timbered building with an overhanging shingled roof and three tall chimneys. Yellow light gleamed cozily in nearly all the windows, and Duffy was looking forward almost carnally to a big mug of mulled Herzwesten ale and a real bed.
The stable boys reeled a little, and smelled of beer, but Duffy told the hunchback this was to be expected in the stables of any fine inn. They left the horses there and strode - rolling a bit from the hours in the saddle - back up the alley to the street and the front door.
They paused in the vestibule, under a ceiling fresco depicting an unusually jovial Last Supper. 'You want to see the innkeeper,' Duffy said, 'and I've been told to report to the brewmaster. God knows why. So I may see you later tonight, or I may not.'
Bluto grinned. 'Got a little girl or two you want to get re-acquainted with, hey? Well, I won't tag along. In any case, I know now where to come for the best beer in Vienna, right?'
'That's right.' They shook hands, and Bluto pushed open the public room door while Duffy stepped through the one marked Servants.
A thin-faced woman gasped when she saw him, and nearly dropped her tray of beer mugs. 'It's all right, daughter,' Duffy told her, reaching out to steady the tray. 'I haven't come to rape the help. Can you tell me where I'd find' - he glanced at the envelope, '- Gambrinus? The brewmaster?'
'Certainly, sir,' she quavered. 'He's In the cellar-down those stairs at the end of the hall - testing the spring beer.'
'Thank you.' Duffy walked down the hall to the indicated archway, and descended the dark stairs slowly and noisily to avoid giving a similar fright to the brewmaster. There were many steps, and when he finally stood on the damp flags of the floor he figured he was about thirty feet below ground level. The air was steamy and rich with the smell of malt, but for the moment he could see nothing in the dimness.
'What can I do for you, stranger?' came a deep, relaxed voice.
'Are you Gambrinus?'
'Yes. Will you have a cup of new schenk beer?'
'Thank you, I will.'
Duffy could see dimly now, and sat down on an upturned bucket, dropping his knapsack beside him. A clean-shaven old man with thick white hair drew a cupful of draft beer from a keg nearby and passed it to him. 'We won't make any more schenk this year,' he
said gravely. 'When these kegs are empty we'll open the bock.' -
'Well, fine,' Duffy said. 'Look, I met a man named Aurelianus in Venice a few weeks ago, and he said I should give you this.' Here he handed him the somewhat travel-stained letter. Gambrinus broke the seal and scanned the writing. He must spend a lot of time down here, Duffy realized, to be able to read in this darkness.
The Irishman looked around, interested. I've poured down gallons of Herzwesten beer, he thought, but this is the first time I've seen, however dimly, the cellar where it's brewed. The ceiling was lost in shadow, but scaffolds were braced around copper tubs that stood an easy twenty feet above the floor, and long pipes slanted into and out of several of the old brick walls. Bell-shaped oak kegs lay everywhere; full ones were stacked narrow-side-down several layers deep along one wall. Gambrinus was sitting on an empty one, and other empties were scattered about as if someone had used them for bowling pins in a particularly wild game. The large tun-tubs in which the actual fermentation took place were not visible, and Duffy assumed they were behind one of the walls.
Gambrinus looked up at Duffy curiously. 'He seems to think you're the man we're looking for,' he said. 'And I guess he'd know. Here.' He scribbled in red chalk on the back of the letter. 'Show this to the innkeeper and he'll give you your money.
'All right.' Duffy drained the cup and got to his feet. 'Thanks for the beer.'.
Gambrinus spread his hands. 'Thank God for it.'
Duffy nodded uncertainly, then picked up his old knapsack and climbed back up the stairs to the main floor.
The same serving woman he'd startled before was returning with an armload of empty pitchers. 'Did you find him?' she asked, still a little uneasy.
'Yes.' Duffy smiled. 'Now can you tell me where the innkeeper is?'
'Werner? Certainly. He's the heavy-set gentleman drinking burgundy at the end of the bar in the taproom.' She squinted at him. 'Didn't you used to live around here?'
'I'm not certain yet,' he told her. 'Thanks.'
I guess that dog-faced old fellow is the one, Duffy thought as he weaved his way through the crowded dining room to the raised, slightly offset area that was the taproom. The old, room-long monastic tables had been sawn into thirds and distributed about the hail in a less regimented way, and several obviously new chandeliers cast a bright radiance into every corner. I can almost see, Duffy thought with a grin, the outraged ghosts of old monks peering in through these windows.
He sat down beside the small-eyed man. 'You, sir, are the innkeeper here?'
Werner stared at him mistrustfully. 'Why?'
'I've got this letter -'Another freeloader! Aurelianus obviously wants to
ruin us. Listen, if you intend to steal any lead or brass from the rooms, I swear to Christ -Duffy laid one hand softly but heavily on the bar, and
Werner halted in his tirade. 'I'm not a freeloader,' the Irishman said quietly. 'Aurelianus hired me to keep the peace here. So stop shouting.'
'Oh. He did? Sorry. Let me see that.' Duffy handed him the letter. 'Well, I see our cellar-hermit has approved it. Uh... five hundred ducats? That's simply out of the question. Obviously a mistake. I'll let you sleep here, somewhere, and you can eat with the kitchen help - tonight you can even drink as much beer as you like ! - but this money is out of the -
'You won't meet the terms of the letter?' Duffy asked in a conversational tone.
'Certainly not. It's some kind of mistake.'
Duffy stood up. 'Then I'm leaving Vienna in the morning. Explain to Aurelianus when he gets here that I left because you wouldn't comply with his written instructions. Right now I'll take you up on that all-the-beer-you-can-drink offer.'
'Wait a minute,' Werner protested, getting flustered. 'If you're not taking the job.. .but.. .are you really leaving in the morning?'
Bright and early.'
Werner gulped some of his wine unhappily. 'Very well,' he said finally. 'I'll pay you. I guess he can't blame me for his mistakes and Gambrinus' carelessness. I'll get the money tomorrow sometime. We can fix a wage for you then, too.' He glared at Duffy out of his pouchy red eyes. 'But hear me - there will be no fights, not even a harsh word, in here. Understand? If I have to pay this kind of money for a bouncer, he's going to do one hell of a good job.'
The Irishman grinned and clapped the innkeeper on the back. 'That's the spirit, Werner lad! I'll earn my keep. You'll bless the day I arrived.'
'Go drink your beer.'
Duffy stepped down to the dining room level and walked across to a table by the wail so that he could keep an eye on the entire hail. Looks like a fairly quiet place, he thought as he sat down; though I can see I'll have to crack down on vandalism. Someone's been carving on this table.
The thin serving woman was back, handing out foaming mugs and pitchers of beer, and Duffy beckoned to her. 'Bring me a big mug of mulled ale, miss, and draw one for yourself - it's on the house. I'm the new chucker-out here.'
She smiled wearily. 'I'll be happy to. You won't get insulted, though, if I check that with Werner.' Then she cocked her head. 'You're Brian Duffy, aren't you? The old landsknecht fencing master?'
He sighed. 'Well, yes. I am. Who are you?'
'Anna Schomburg. Everybody figured you died years ago, fighting the Turks in Hungary.'
'Must have been somebody else Uh, tell me, Anna, do you remember a girl named Epiphany Vogel?'
'Girl? Hah. Yes, I remember Epiphany Hallstadt She got married, you know.'
'Where is she now?' Duffy kept his voice in a casua
l tone. 'Where could I find her?'
'Right here, if you wait long enough. She works the morning shift.'
'Damn it, Anna, where's my suffering beer?' came an impatient call from another table.
'Whoops.' Anna picked up her tray again. 'See you later,' she said, and whisked away.
Duffy was stunned. Could this girl be telling the truth? If so, he thought, what an amazing coincidence! I never used to think much of coincidences!, but these days I practically trip over them in the street. Well by God, I'll wait right here until morning; pull my hat down over my face and then whip it off when she walks up to take my order. Guess who, Piff! Ho ho.
But why is she working here? In a damned inn? Hallstadt was rich. I guess the money dissolved away somehow, as God knows I've seen it do myself. Maybe old Hallstadt works here too, brushing out the dirty pitchers in some back room. How very far all of us mighty have fallen.
Two men had begun shouting at each other at the table nearest his. Uh-oh, time to earn your keep, the Irishman told himself as he quickly got to his feet. 'Gentlemen!' he said. 'What's the trouble?'
The men actually paled when they stared up at the craggy, gray-stubbled face of the new bouncer, and saw the well-worn hilts of his dagger and sword.
'Well,' spoke up one of them after a moment, 'Otto here says the Pope can't predict the weather.'
Duffy looked shocked. 'Whose mother?'
Otto blinked. 'No,' he said, 'I told him the Pope -'I don't want to hear any filthy lies about the Pope and this gentleman's mother,' Duffy said in a low but outraged tone of voice. 'Are you drunk, to talk this way?'
'You misunderstand,' protested the first man. 'We were -'
'I understand perfectly. Your disgraceful talk has offended everyone in the room' -. Actually no one was paying any attention. - 'and I think you two had better buy a round of beer for the whole lot, including me, by way of apology.'
'What? Good Lord, we don't have that kind of money on us. Can't -'
'Tell the innkeeper I said you could open an account. He'll be pleased. And then keep your voices down. If I hear you squabbling again I'll come over here and cut out your bowels.'