Shadow of the Dolocher

by European P. Douglas

  Mullins rushed on towards the noise and when finally he came to a clearing, he could see that it was indeed a woman cornered, clutching the wailing baby to her chest. It was no dog, however, that cornered her but a great stalking wolf, the wolf that the whole area lived in fear of, who was seen everywhere and who had killed people too.

  The woman's eye went to him, and he could see her fear and her pleading. Mullins looked at the animal, and he made a loud noise to draw its attention. It turned to look at him, arching its back and crouching into a defensive position, baring teeth and growling at him. The woman was too afraid to try to move, and Mullins said,

  "Don't move fast when you do move, I'll distract it as much as I can." The woman gave a slight nod back to him. Mullins looked around to see if there was anything he could use as a weapon should he have to. He felt very vulnerable in front of the animal. Implements he used in work or saw at the shop every day came to mind, and he wished he had even the least of them with him just then. Some slats of broken wood lay on the ground but nothing that could be of any defence against the wolf.

  "Get away now!" he shouted waving his arms a making himself as big looking as he could. The wolf backed away slightly but remained in the same position and only growled some more.

  A door opened, and all eyes shifted to that noise, and the wolf manoeuvred so as to be able to see Mullins, the woman and the door all at once. A man leaned out and grabbed the woman by the arm and pulled her in, slamming the door shut as the wolf made a lunge for the fast moving shapes of the people. Mullins went to leave, but no sooner had the door closed than the wolf reeled to face him, and there they stood once more, the same as before.

  Mullins edged backwards, but this seemed to rankle the beast all the more, and he made a move as if to pounce on Mullins but stayed on the ground and flashed another deep angry and guttural growl. Mullins could feel the weight of a draped blanket on his back, and he knew that if he tried to run for it, he would get entangled and fell and be done for.

  He cast about the ground once more, looking for anything that might be of use to him but all the time trying to keep a firm eye on the wolf for any movement it might make at him. If only someone would open a door for him to escape.

  He had no idea what to do; as strong as he knew he was there was no way he thought he'd be able to cope with the speed and strength of this animal and even if he were to come out on top somehow, he was sure it would be at some high cost to his own body. His mind was blank of ideas, and he just stood there dumbfounded.

  "Have a bath you dirty dog!" a cry suddenly went up and from behind Mullins a flood of water, the steam of its heat whipping everywhere, came past his shoulder and boiling hot water landed on the wolf and splashed all around it. It wailed and ran in circles for a moment, crashing into doors and walls and then slipping on the wet it turned and scurried away yelping and whining in pain.

  Mullins turned to see Lord Muc standing there laughing so hard there were tears in his eyes.

  "Thanks," he said and Lord Muc looked at him and nodded in reply. "Where did you come from?"

  "I saw you coming into the lane, and I thought you might be up to your old murderous tricks," Muc said with a smile. Mullins soured at this.

  "What is that supposed to mean?" he asked.

  "Come into the cabin and get me a drink, and I'll tell you all about it," Muc said. Mullins looked once more in the direction the wolf had fled and then back to Muc.

  "Come on then," he said, and they left the lane.

  Chapter 54

  The cabin was as busy as ever when Mullins and Muc walked in. There was a momentary quietening as they entered, such was the impression these two men made together, and everyone looked them over for a moment before going on with their own business. There were some wry smiles, no doubt people thinking that there was bound to be another bout of fisticuffs if these two men were drinking at the same time.

  "Two jugs!" Mullins called to the barman. There was nowhere for them to sit, so Mullins leaned against the bar. Muc wasn't so diplomatic, he looked at some men at a table under the window and gave them a menacing look. They tried not to return his gaze but then he went over, and Mullins was prepared for a brawl to erupt.

  "Can I ask you nice gents to vacate this table please, my friend here," he gestured to Mullins, "Has just had an encounter with the wolf and I'm sure his legs could do with resting." His voice was sweet, and Mullins had to laugh at this pretended politeness. The men looked relieved of the chance to get up and be helpful, they all nodded to Mullins as they went to the far end of the room and gathered in a group to continue their conversation.

  Muc sat down and waited for Mullins to come over with the drinks.

  "That was very civilised for you?" he said putting the jugs and glasses on the table. Muc shrugged.

  "I don't know why they always wait for me to ask before they get up," he made a show as if he just didn't understand people.

  "Thanks for helping out in the lane there," Mullins said.

  "He'll be up and able to kill again before the night is out," Muc said of the wolf. Mullins nodded in agreement.

  "So what is it you have to tell me?" he then asked, recalling what Muc had said just before they came in.

  "Someone's been wanting an eye kept on you," Muc said, his eyebrow raised towards Mullins in mock suspicion.

  "Who?"

  "I can't tell you that, but I have been paid a nice sum to follow you and report back on what I have seen."

  "And what have you seen?"

  "Nothing until tonight,"

  "I haven't been out until tonight."

  "I know, and then what do you do the first night you do leave the house?"

  "What?"

  "You skulk about an alleyway, and then there is a woman screaming."

  "She was already screaming, that's why I went down there," Mullins protested.

  "I didn't hear a scream until you were in the alley."

  "Is this what you're going to report?" Mullins felt all of a sudden that it was the Alderman who was having him followed and that if Lord Muc wanted to, he could make quite a lot of trouble for him.

  "That depends on you," Muc said, his smile of menace coming over his face. Mullins regretted ever leaving the house now, but at the same time, he felt comfortable being in the cabin with a jug in his hand and people all about him.

  "I saved that woman's life," Mullins said, "And her baby."

  "I don't care about that, or that I saved your life," Muc said. With the distance from the wolf now, Mullins didn't think he had been in all that much danger before as he looked back on it.

  "I was doing fine," he said, and Muc laughed out loud of this.

  "You were only short of wetting your trousers when I came along!" Mullins didn't other rising to this, he was indebted to Muc, he was not so vain that he couldn't see that at least a little, and now he knew also that Muc had him over a barrel in terms of lies he could make up about him for the Alderman.

  "I've thanked you for helping me," Mullins couldn't bring himself to say the word 'saved.'

  "You have," Muc nodded, and he took a deep draft of his jug and sat back satisfied. Mullins could see he was going to make him ask.

  "What do you want from me?" he said after a short pause.

  "I want you to make those tusks like I asked you before," Muc said. Mullins remembered this refused request from many months before, and he sighed. He saw no point in denying him this time.

  "I'll start on them tomorrow," he said looking into his jug and seeing part of his reflection in the liquid.

  "I'll drop them to the shop at the start of the day. I'll want the real ones' back too, and in the same shape I give them to you."

  "They'll be looked after," Mullins said.

  They didn't speak for a long time after this, each man drinking his whiskey and suffering through his own thoughts. Mullins wanted to know for sure that it was the Alderman who was paying Muc to follow him, but he knew that it would be pointle
ss asking; Muc loved hoarding secrets and having information over people, and there was nothing he would find more amusing than Mullins' pitiful attempts to get it out of him.

  "So how much am I worth to you?" Mullins asked

  "Depends on how much I find out,"

  "What if you find nothing?"

  "I'll always find something," Muc smiled wickedly, and Mullins didn't know if this was bragging about his tenaciousness or joking about his lack of regard for the truth.

  "It must be a lot to take you away from your other activities," Mullins said. He wanted to put Muc ill at ease for a moment; though he had no idea what Muc got up to, he was sure that a lot of it would be illegal. He wanted Muc to think he might know something about this, something that he could hang over Muc in return. Muc looked at him and laughed; Mullins flushed with embarrassment.

  "I've nothing to hide from anyone," Muc said with a grin. "I'll tell you one thing blacksmith," he went on, "The person who wants me to keep an eye on you has no love for you."

  "Why so?"

  "I can't say as he's never told me, but I can feel it from him," Muc replied. That didn't sound like the Alderman, Mullins thought, but it also didn't sound like anyone else he could think of. The only person Mullins would even come close to considering an enemy would be the man who sat across this very table from him. Was it possible that Muc was just engineering a scenario whereby he could make Mullins feel that his freedom was in jeopardy?

  It would be just like him and his sly ways to do such a thing. The real question was not this, however; it was if there was a possibility that he was telling the truth. If he were, Mullins would be silly, stupid even, to not go along with his wishes. He thought of Kate, hopefully at home and safe by now, and he knew that he couldn't risk going back to gaol. He finished his jug in a long swill and put it down on the table.

  "I better get going," he said standing up, "I'll want a clear head if I'm to start work on a fine piece tomorrow."

  Out on the street the snow had begun to fall. He glanced quickly at the alley where he had his encounter earlier with the wolf but moved on briskly towards home. He looked all about, feeling almost sure that he was going to see the beast again. It was late enough that the streets had cleared now, only a few people here and there, moving fast just like him and avoiding eye contact. It was a terrible relief when he got to his front door, and he could see the candle inside, and he knew that Kate was inside waiting for him.

  Chapter 55

  When Mullins opened his front door after a heavy battering from outside, he was surprised to see the smiling face of Lord Muc standing there, clad in furs and animal hides that looked as though he'd made them himself.

  "I'm going to the cabin," Muc said. Mullins looked at him, was this an invitation to go drinking? "I think it would be best for you to come too."

  "Why is that?" It was still early enough; Mullins had not been home long at all. He could hear Kate moving around behind him, most likely craning to try to see who was at the door.

  "Your 'benefactor' is going to be there," Muc said with a wink.

  "The man who is paying you?" Mullins asked with sudden interest.

  "The same."

  Mullins turned and took up his coat,

  "I'm going out for a bit," he said to Kate.

  "What about your dinner?" she protested throwing a poisonous look at Muc for good measure.

  "I'll be back in a little bit," Mullins said, and he went out closing the door behind him. Muc had already started to walk, and Mullins caught up and fell into step with him.

  "He's going to make some announcement," Muc said.

  "The man who's paying you to follow me?"

  "Yes."

  "About what?" Mullins was nervous suddenly that he might be walking into some kind of trap; perhaps this man aimed to humiliate him somehow in public. He stopped, and Muc stopped after a few paces and looked back at him questioningly.

  "I don't know," Muc assured him.

  "Has it something to do with me?"

  "I don't think you're at the top of the bill," Muc seemed to laugh at this opinion of himself, as though people didn't have anything better to talk about than the blacksmith. They trudged the rest of the way through the thick snow.

  Inside the cabin, the atmosphere was electric and red merry faces smiled out from all corners. It reminded Mullins eerily of the night that everyone had gone out to slaughter all the pigs during the time of the Dolocher. It was that same type of bravado infused drunken frenzy feeling.

  Mullins looked around the room, but there was no sign of the Alderman. He looked at Muc, but he was too busy getting to the bar and ordering drinks. Mullins did feel a pair of eyes on him, however, and he looked about the room until he met them. It was Edwards, the man who worked with the Alderman. He nodded to Mullins with a thin, false smile and Mullins nodded back. Was he the one paying Muc, perhaps on behalf of the Alderman?

  "Here, blacksmith!" called Muc and Mullins turned to catch a jug that was all but thrown at him. He nodded thanks to Muc and stood away from the heavy throng at the bar where he was soon joined by Muc. Mullins was looking at Edwards still, and Muc followed his gaze.

  "Is that him?" Mullins asked.

  "It is," Muc replied, looking around at the drunken scene in front of him and smiling fondly at it. It was possible that he too was thinking of that night of orgiastic and unbridled violence when the pigs were killed. It had been a night filled with snow just as this one.

  "What is he going to say?" Mullins asked. Edwards was not looking back at him any longer, he was talking to a man who looked like he may be of military bearing but who looked quite ill, Mullins didn't recognise this man.

  "I have no idea, but the rumour is a reward,"

  "Reward for what?"

  "For the capture of the wolf," Muc said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  "Capture!" Mullins looked at Muc who looked back at him with mild irony.

  "Or kill, I suppose," he said with a shrug.

  The door opened, and Mullins looked to it and felt the gust of the cold coming in with the Alderman. The Alderman didn't seem to see him, he was just another man in this mob. Edwards waved, and the Alderman nodded in return and went off in that direction.

  "What do you suppose the Alderman is doing here?" Mullins asked Muc.

  "Who knows; maybe he's hard up for cash," Muc smirked and then drank some whiskey. There was a general stir then, and the focus of the entire room turned to centre on Edwards who called out in a loud ringing voice,

  "Listen up men, I have a proposition!" His face beamed with delight and there was something almost child-like in his manner. Everyone was silent and looked on, waiting to see if the rumours had been correct. Alderman James was sitting beside the standing Edwards, and he looked out over the crowd of men with a suspicious gaze. The room fell silent as Edwards lowered his arms from where he had tried to quiet the mob. He looked over them all in a half moon around him before he spoke. James looked unimpressed with the proceedings.

  "We all know of the wolf on our doorstep," Edwards began. "We all know how elusive a creature it has been. It turns up out of nowhere and disappears without a trace as quickly as it came." There were nods and murmurs of assent from the men. "There is enough crime and villainy in this city for the parish watch and the army to deal with without also having to be animal trackers." There were some hisses and booing at the mention of the parish watch and army, and the sick looking man whom Mullins thought was an army man looked about indignantly at this. "I will put up the sum of twenty guineas for any man or group of men who bring this animal in." There was a whoop of joy as everyone looked at his neighbour for his reaction to this news.

  This is what they had come to hear, and they were delighted for it. Some men rushed to the bar as if to spend the twenty guineas like it was already in their possession. Edwards went on, "I would like to see it alive, but I know that will be beyond most men, so dead will have to do." He sat down now havin
g said his piece and the revelry of earlier started up again. A few men finished their drinks and then left with determined faces as though they were going out that minute and expected to be back within half an hour with the dead creature over their shoulders. More men huddled in groups as if to make a plan.

  Mullins looked over the group that contained Edwards, the Alderman, and the army man.

  "You going to say anything?" Muc asked him. The truth was that he didn't know what to do. He wanted to go over and confront Edwards as to why he was having him followed, but now that the Alderman was here and probably an officer of the army he didn't feel that he could. He was also ashamed to say that he had been cowed somewhat by the flippancy with which Edwards had offered the massive sum of money for the wolf; that was more money than Mullins made in a good month.

  "This is not the place to do it," he answered after a long pause. He finished his drink and ordered another for Muc. He handed it to him as he was on his way to the door.

  "They're looking over at you now," Muc said, but Mullins didn't turn to see if they were or not.

  "I'm going home, but I'll catch up with him soon and find out what his game is."

  Chapter 56

  Mullins was dealing with a customer when he saw Edwards coming across the road, seemingly with the intent of coming to the shop. He hovered outside for a while, and Mullins wondered what he wanted and was hardly listening to the man in front of him. When the customer was finally gone Mullins stayed inside; if Edwards wanted him, he could come in and talk to him.

  About a minute passed when the smiling face of the gentleman poked through the door and looked about until it saw Mullins who pretended to be working on straightening out some soft metal with his hands.

  "Mr. Mullins, isn't it?" Edwards said, he was standing in the doorway now, but he was still not inside the building.

  "What can I do for you?" Mullins said when he had nodded to Edwards.

  "I'm afraid that I have come to do you some service," Edwards said, his manner suddenly grave.