Take the body and give me the rest (5 page)

‘Don’t want to
be holding this up all day,’ Yend said, lowering the crossbow.

They soon went
back to playing cards and ignoring the very fact that Seth was even
there. Meanwhile, the old maid upstairs was slowly making her way
across the city to bring the lady Seraphina and the kin of the
General to collect him. Seth knew that he had to summon the
creature; that was his only hope of surviving. But he’d never done
it himself before and doubted that Yend would let him get away with
chanting and singing as he sat tied down. He needed it here now,
not slowly appearing through the rift.

Seth cast his
mind through the General’s memories of all the times he had
summoned the creature. He’d called it to kill at least two score
people in his study room, some on a remote battlefield, one old
General in a command tent when he was young, but never without the
words. Sometimes he’d done it fast and Seth focused on those times.
Then he found a piece of knowledge from a book, diaries of another
in the General’s order. He found that the order had a name for
itself, and its members called themselves the Dark Guild. The
members often kept journals that had been passed down through the
members; one entry going hundreds of years back wrote about calling
the creature with mind alone, of holding it back until it was
almost there and then letting it in.

Without knowing
why, Seth knew he could do it. He could almost feel the creature
just waiting outside somewhere, ready to rush in. Looking at Yend
and the woman whose name he didn’t even know, he could feel the
hunger start to rise up inside of him. He wanted to feel the teeth
tear into them, feel the blood and the warm flesh in his mouth. His
revenge on Yend felt petty compared to the growing hunger.

‘What’s your
name?’ Seth asked, looking at her.

She looked at
him like he was shit on her boot. ‘Why?’

‘I should know
your name if I’m going to kill you,’ he said coldly, willing
himself to be cold.

They both
laughed at him again. ‘It’s Josephine.’

He had already
begun the chant in his mind. His eyes looked at the ceiling and
went out of focus. He used the hunger growing in his stomach as a
centre and focused on the call. He felt the power of the chant
growing and felt a connection; he was connected with something. He
could feel a line of power running out of him and pulling hard,
showing something the way into this land. The air in the room
seemed to lessen and grow thin, but it didn’t darken or change.
Seth felt the moment when the creature was there, just on the other
side of vision, unseen but ready.

He called it
with all of his will, silently speaking the words, ‘Take the bodies
and give me the rest.’ The air in the room ripped silently from the
roof to the floor, and on the other side was the dark night. The
creature was through the rift and had ripped Josephine’s pale
throat out with its razor teeth within less than a heartbeat. Seth
felt the rush of elation and power as it tore into her and then
Yend, turning his two captors into victims and starting the feast.
He tasted the blood, the flesh, the sweetness of it. He felt the
hunger recede as the power rushed through his body. Memories of
Josephine’s life and Yend’s washing together in his mind. He felt a
jolt of excitement at all he’d learned in this moment; things that
had taken them a lifetime to accrue were now his in the blink of an
eye.

He sat in the
chair; eyes open to the carnage but out of focus to all but the
feeling of it. The pale snout and jaw of the creature were covered
in fresh, red blood as it stood hunched over the bodies, crunching
down onto leg bones, snout buried in their ripped chests and
devouring their hearts and organs, finishing the meal of flesh.
Having reduced them both to a half of a bloody ribcage and a
crushed skull with a few strands of blonde hair, it turned to
regard Seth.

Its words hammered in his head, but not so painfully as the
first time. ‘
I felt you even as you
intended to call me; even with no words, to come to you was easier
than it’s ever been. Now, who were these two little
people?
’ it asked.

‘People
intending to sell me back to the General’s kin,’ Seth said.

‘
You’d better flee then’
it said simply

‘As you can see
I’m tied up’ Seth said back

The creature just laughed ‘
Can ropes
hold you, after all the gifts I give’

The ropes used
to tie him were strong and he knew that he’d not been able to break
them when they first tied him down. Now he stood up and with a
mighty effort pushing his arms out smashed the chair that held him,
the chair’s broken arms and the still tied rope falling to the
floor.

The creature laughed again ‘
see all I
give to you
?’

. ‘
Now, I can feel them coming for
you. You don’t have long, but plan your movements more carefully
this time. You’re no longer an impulsive boy; you’re also a
General, a lifelong thief and his companion in deceiving people.
Plan your next move and make sure it leads you out of
Cravoss
,’ it said. It walked slowly back
through the rift and into the still night on the other side. The
rip in the room closed behind the creature, leaving Seth alone with
what he’d done.

Chapter 7

The memories
and instincts of Yend washed through his mind. Disguise, equip and
escape. He looked around the room, knowing the location of every
useful object and thinking of all the different people Yend and
Josephine had robbed, tricked and even killed in this room. The
room was a treasure trove of stolen clothing, weapons, bags and
trinkets. Looking into a far corner, Seth spotted a solid wooden
chest, expensive looking, made of dark oak with a broken brass
lock. He walked to it and with his hand still slightly shaking from
the residue of the violence, he carefully opened the lid. Inside
were clothes neatly laid out, consisting of a pair of black pants,
black shirt and a long and very well made cloak. There were even
polished boots, a leather belt with a steel buckle accompanied by a
long rapier and dagger in a handsome sheath. The sheath, dagger and
rapier were a fine set, clearly worth money, but he knew Yend was
waiting a few months to sell them. In his mind, he could see the
young and wealthy merchant’s boy who had worn them with such pride.
He knew that the shirt had two dagger holes in the back of it as
well, but that they had been neatly sewn shut, the blood washed
out.

Standing in the
cold room with the silence after the storm, Seth took off his dirty
abused clothes and, donning the black outfit in the chest, became a
different person. He saw in the mind of Yend the man who had worn
the clothes before him. Young, confident, assured. He was the rich
son of a wealthy trader family. Not nobles but close enough. Well
born and certain of his place in life. He’d walked through life
with a strut, until some men hired by Yend had sent cold steel
blades into his back.

Seth took a few coins off the card table and then, using a
back door known only to Yend, he slipped out into an alley behind
the tavern. He was going to head to Pellos
via
ship, today if he could. No more thoughts of going home for him; he
would follow the creature’s advice and run as far and fast as he
could.

Seth walked
down the cobblestone alley toward the docks. He felt safe that no
one would be able to recognise him. He wouldn’t even have
recognised himself. The memories and thoughts of Yend and Josephine
slowly kept settling in his mind. Instead of feeling strange in
someone else’s clothes, he felt relaxed and bold, like he was an
actor on a stage. He strutted down to the docks and noticed how,
for the first time in his life, people moved out of his way. They
stepped quickly aside as he strode past, taking in his outfit and
arms with looks of respect. It was something he wasn’t at all used
to, but it made him feel a burst of pride; he, a lowly hunter’s
second-born son, could not only read and write but also fight with
the rapier and dagger like a noble born.

Seraphina stood
in the dank little room under the tavern looking at more bodies
destroyed by the creature and the slave boy. The old woman had come
to get them from the house in a hired wagon, saying her master had
the runaway boy under guard and would gladly give him up for double
the price they were asking, they had spend way too many long
minutes haggling on the price. She said her master was the one that
sent him to the debt prison in the first place so they know it was
him through and through.

The two bodies
were little more than a few bones, some skin, ripped boots and
bloody clothes. The small enclosed room was already starting to
stink of blood and death.

‘Vicious little
bastard, this one,’ said Dirst.

‘They shouldn’t
have cornered him, big mistake,’ Seraphina said, pulling the
gold-rimmed glasses from her pocket and viewed the room. She took a
rolled piece of parchment from Dirst and the stick of charcoal he
handed her and, with a very clever hand, drew a picture of Seth,
complete in his new clothes and rapier set.

‘He’s changed
his outfit; he’ll be looking to leave the city,’ she said.

‘We have the
entire city guard on look out. They will let us know when they
sight him.’ Dirst said.

‘Let’s get out
of here and give this to the Captain of the guard,’ she said,
gladly leaving the dank room and its horrible contents to rot.

The docks were
as large and impressive as Seth remembered from when he had first
arrived in the city, but now he saw them with very different eyes.
The General had himself spent a good deal of time in Pelloss, and
Seth knew he could speak and write that tongue as well. As he
walked along the large dock area and looked at all the different
ships, instead of just seeing a jumble of impressive masts and vast
hulls, he could see the different types of ships and their purpose.
He could see many massed warships with their hardened wooden beaks
at the prow, tall platforms along the front and sides like wooden
battlements of a castle to protect and house a small army of
archery men.

Many of the
other ships were different trade vessels, small fishing boats and
the like. Seth spent an hour or more walking along the dock area,
looking at the different ships and asking about them. He found that
there were three that were leaving for Pelloss that morning with
the tide.

One was a slave ship that had the smell of dead bodies issuing
from it and the voyage had not even begun. There was no way he
would travel on that one, even with feeling such confidence in his
disguise. From what he’d experienced in the debtors’ prison, he had
no desire to travel on a floating one for a voyage of two months or
more. It would be hell on earth. Of the two remaining ships, one
was a small trader vessel called
The
Fleet
and the other was a monstrous ship
called
The Opulent
. Looking at it, Seth could not imagine its true purpose; it
was so big that it surely carried cargo but also people with the
look of well-heeled travellers—people who were mingling on the deck
and in front of the ship. This kind of passenger vessel was one he
could certainly not afford with his handful of stolen coins, if a
berth could be found with such a short time til it
departed.

Without another thought Seth started walking towards the sleek
little trader—
The Fleet
. At the wooden ramp, he could see well-ordered chaos: sailors
in neat white shirts and vests and hair in the typical pulled back
horsetail were loading on various crates and barrels of cargo. They
moved quickly in twos up the gangway, often swearing or grunting
with exertion but moving at a quick pace. At the entrance of the
gangway was a man, clearly the Captain, ticking off the supplies as
they came aboard and occasionally checking the contents. A good
Captain was always sure of the quality of his boiled beef and
supplies before a long sea voyage, unless he wanted to find himself
on the menu of starving, mutinous sailors. Seth smiled that he now
knew that.

The man was
dressed simply but in well-tailored clothes with a rapier and
dagger hanging neatly from his waist. He spoke with the easy air of
someone who is used to people following his directions. He also had
the sailors’ horsetail but streaked with grey. He had a short,
steel-coloured beard and a strong, weathered face, from a life of
looking out into the sea.

Seth approached
him directly. Speaking with a confidence he thought his new self
would employ.

‘
Good morning, Captain. Is there any chance I may secure a
berth with you to Pelloss?’ he said, cutting straight to the
business at hand.

The Captain
stopped scribing in his ledger and looked at Seth, smiling. He
showed two gold teeth on the left side, which made him appear more
relaxed and like a smuggler.

‘I like a man
who can be straight to the point, you seem like a decent sort, but
I fear I have no need for another landsman, even a big lad like
you; you’ll eat too much and by the time you can tie a decent knot
we’ll have landed in Pelloss.’

Seth replied,
‘It’s true I’m no sailor; as you can see, I am a travelling scribe.
I can also speak Pellosi, if that can be any service to you,
Captain.’

The Captain
opened his eyes wide, showing the blue of them. He replied, ‘While
your tale is surely an interesting one, and if we were in a tavern
I’d like to hear more of how someone with the look of a boy but the
air of a man has learned so much, still I can’t carry you. I run a
lean ship and have all that I need. Sorry friend.’