The Invisible Hands - Part 1: Gambit (45 page)

“Yes. I went by the kitchens before coming home.”

“What is it?”

38
Ehandar kept a straight face.

“Broiled pigeons. Young pigeons. In wine sauce with those little onions you love so much.”

Rullio of Brenx-Aldemon had reached Ormidon about a week ago.

Contrary to Gorth, who had chosen one of the better establishments in the center of the capital, he had, being less fastidious, sought out lodgings in the unfashionable Narvall district. First he had left his horse at a stable of the main Merchant Guild House of Ormidon, outside the walls. Then he had gone to a reputable banking firm and left the major part of his money and valuables in their care.

The Narvall district wasn’t exactly known as a safe neighborhood.

Nobody seemed to take particular notice of yet another young noble bent on sowing some wild oats.

Rullio found a reasonably clean room, with just a suspicion of a pukey smell, in a tavern called The Leather Bucket. The main advantage of the place was that the lodgings had a separate entrance in a side alley. Another perk was that some of the rooms contained wooden bathtubs. For a modest sum, two servants could fill them up with hot water. Later, when the guests were done washing up, the servants emptied the tub through the window.

38
Rullio had been too tired to take advantage of the bath the previous night. He had fallen on his bed and slept for eight hours straight. On waking up, Rullio had soaked in the soapy water. Feeling refreshed, he decided to go for a stroll along the markets and their many stalls to get a feel of what the people were thinking about the current situation. It was always a good starting point, he thought.

He had just emerged from the side door into the little alley when he heard a high pitched cry that sounded something like “Kayeeeee.”

In a reflex reaction he jumped sideways and narrowly escaped being hit over the head by a stone. The young man who had tried to assault him, stumbled forward, carried on by the momentum of his attack.

The count grabbed the boy’s right arm, wrenching it backward and forcing him to drop the stone. Then he kicked the legs from under him, causing him to fall in the dirt. Rullio, who wasn’t even panting, quickly jumped upon his attacker’s back, never letting go of his arm.

“Ayeee, Ayeee,” the young man cried out, “you’re breaking my arm, brute. Let go, let go. I’ll kill you.”

“Threatening to kill me isn’t very likely to make me let go of you, is it?” Rullio said. “Never heard of catching flies with honey? Maybe I’d better break both your arms, seeing as how you’re threatening to kill me.”

“No, no, please, don’t. I was joking. Just joking.”

The little hoodlum turned his head with some difficulty and tried to smile through his obvious pain.

“See? I was just joking.”

“Hm. And the stone? That was in jest as well?”

“I wasn’t going to kill you. Honest, I wasn’t. Just knock you unconscious a bit.”

38
“Oh, but that changes everything. You were just going to crack my

skull with a stone, rob me no doubt, and leave me lying in this filthy alley, unconscious and bleeding, at the mercy of every passing scoundrel.”

“You’re exaggerating,” the young man said, but he didn’t sound too sure of his case.

“Why don’t we let the city guards decide that?” Rullio replied with a broad grin.

Suddenly the boy began wriggling desperately to get free, but Rullio fastened his grip on the little scoundrel’s wrist and put more pressure on his back with his knee.

“Aw, aw, aw,” the boy cried out. “Please, not the city guards. Not the fucking city guards. They’ll hang me. They’ll do things to me first.

Nasty things. Filthy things. Can’t we work out something, My Lord?”

“My Lord? Didn’t you call me a brute, just a minute ago?”

“I’m sorry. I was mistaken. Yes, that’s it, My Lord, I mistook you for another guy who owes me money.”

“Clever story,” Rullio quipped. By now he was enjoying himself immensely. “You know some noble young man who owes you money.

You mistook me for that person. It’s an easy mistake to make, I guess.”

Rullio laughed out loud. He took a good look at the boy who was still twisting and writhing beneath his knee. A rather handsome, sharp, dirty face, under long, straight, light brown, filthy hair, and a slender frame under his squalid, worn-out clothes. One toe stuck out of his left boot.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“What? Why—”

“Answer my questions, and I might let you go.”

38
“Merw, my name is Merw.”

“Well then, Merw, what did I do to deserve such rough treatment from you?”

“I was hungry. I haven’t eaten in a week.”

“A week?”

“Four days.”

“Four days?”

“All right, two days. But only a few moldy crusts of bread.”

“And you have no money, nor the means to earn some?”

Merw remained silent for a few moments.

“It’s winter. The gentlemen I provide services for stay inside most of the time,” he said in a demure tone. “Can I go now?” he added, his defiant attitude returning.

“I have said I might let you go, but—”

“I knew it. I knew it. You lying scumbag. You good-for-nothing, bigheaded, overweening fucker. You—”

“I was thinking of feeding you, since you said you were hungry and all that,” Rullio interrupted him.

He kept his knee where it was.

Merw didn’t answer, but he stopped his vain attempts to escape.

“Why?” he asked after a while. “Why would you do that? Ha. I know. You think I’m a whore. You want to fuck me. You think my hole is for sale for a rich, warm beef stew with big chunks of tender meat and at least three slices of good, freshly baked bread with butter, and some dark ale, about two — make that three — tankards.”

38
“And sweet cakes after, as many as you can eat,” Rullio added, trying not to laugh.

Merw hesitated. Then he seemed to come to a decision.

“Pity I’m not a fucking whore then. And if I were, I wouldn’t take you for a client. You’re too ugly, and you assaulted me,” Merw said in a petulant tone.

“I never said you were a whore. I promised a Goddess who granted me a favor I would feed the first hungry person I met. That’s you.

Won’t you help me keep my sacred vow?”

“Why would I help you after this injustice? Eh? Eh?”

“Out of the kindness of your heart, maybe, and because the Goddess would smile upon you as well.”

“Get off of me and you’ve got a deal,” Merw said, before this obviously foolish fop could reconsider. “You’re so lucky I respect the fucking Gods so much. I won’t lodge a complaint, I promise on my honor as a gentleman,” he added for good measure. He looked nervously up at Rullio, who was slowly removing his knees.

Merw clawed at the count’s outstretched arm with two grimy hands with dirty fingernails.

“I’m hungry. Where’s the food?” Merw demanded, once he was standing upright again.

“This way, my little alley cat,” Rullio said, inviting him into the still open door. “Let me show you the way. My name is Rullio.”

“Yeah, yeah, just bring me to the food.”

Merw looked suspiciously about him as they climbed the stairs and entered Rullio’s room. The count took off his mantle and his sword, but kept his dagger on his belt and went over to warm his hands at the hearth, where a fire was still burning.

38
“This is a room. No food.” Merw grumbled.

“You can’t go downstairs to the barroom like this,” Rullio said cheerfully. “You’re dirty. You’re covered in grime and you stink.”

He pointed at the bath.

“The water is still warm. I used it, I’m afraid, but it is cleaner than you are. There’s a bar of soap and a sponge. The towels are damp, but—”

“It’s fucking water. It’s wet,” Merw said, disgust dripping from every word. “I’m not going in there.”

“Oh yes, you are.”

“Am not. You just want me to undress so you can look at my ass and my dick. I know your kind,” Merw said, looking furtively over Rullio’s shoulder at the door.

“Even so, you’re taking a bath.”

“You promised to feed me. You didn’t mention no stinking bath.

I’m hungry.” Merw wagged his right index finger at Rullio.

“And the sooner you clean yourself up, the sooner you’ll get to eat.

As much as you want.”

Merw looked doubtfully at the tub, then at Rullio, trying to estimate if he could be fast enough to escape.

“All right,” the count said, “I’ve had it with you. If you don’t want to go in voluntarily, I’m putting you in myself.”

With that he grabbed Merw by his waist. The boy kicked and hissed, and tried to scratch him, but with some difficulty Rullio carried him over to the bathtub. He tried to force him into the water, but Merw stubbornly held out his arms and his legs sideways, and placed both hands and feet firmly on the edge of the tub, spreadeagled, face 38
down. Rullio pushed with one hand on the boy’s body, trying to make

him fall into the water. Merw arched his back.

“You’re trying to drown me, you heartless, merciless savage,” he shrieked.

“Nonsense. You’re dirty. You need to wash yourself. You’re going in.”

“No, no, my fucking clothes will get wet,” Merw wailed. “
I
will get wet.”

“The last is unavoidable, but the first I can do something about.”

Rullio smiled.

The boy almost lost his balance and had to hold on even more firmly to the ridge of the tub when Rullio lifted his left foot and yanked off his half rotten footwear. He peeled off the sad remains of what had once been a sock, then put the naked foot back on the rim. He tried not to breathe through his nose.

Merw had followed the count’s actions with growing concern by looking downward under his belly, making the tips of his long hair dip into the water.

Rullio went over to the other side and removed the second boot.

“Careful. Be careful with those,” Merw implored, followed immediately by an indignant, “What are you doing? You madman, you thief,”

when the count with a shockingly inconsiderate gesture threw both shoes and socks onto the fire. They made a fizzing sound and produced a dark, stinking, thick smoke that luckily went straight up through the chimney.

Rullio drew his dagger.

Despite his precarious position, Merw turned his head when he heard the metal sound of the weapon being drawn out of its sheath.

38
“You’re going to kill me. You’re going to gut me, like a fucking innocent lamb. You’re a monster,” he piped, panicking in earnest now.

Without a word, Rullio made a few rents with his dagger into the back and the sleeves of Merw’s shirt and tore the threadbare garment off the lithe body.

“Don’t do that, you moron, you idiot, that’s my best shirt,” Merw protested loudly, still hanging above the water.

“You’ll just have to wear your second best shirt then, won’t you?”

Rullio smirked. “And your second best pants as well.”

“What? What? You’re insane. Completely crazy. Stay away from my pants, you dirty old man. I was brought up right proper and modest.”

A few cuts here and there, and the already tired garment peeled off easily, revealing underpants in shades of yellow and brown.

“I suppose those were white at one time. About three, four years ago.”

They underwent the same fate as the rest of Merw’s clothing.

“Look what you’ve done,” the boy cried out, still trying to prevent himself from falling into the water. “I’m naked. I’m naked. Why am I naked? I was promised food and instead I am fucking naked. And
still
hungry. You dirty, lying scumbag.”

Rullio threw shirt, pants and underpants onto the fire.

“No, no, don’t do that, do
not
do that, you perverted lunatic, those are my good clothes,” Merw yelled. “My only clothes,” he added in a yammering tone.

“All right,” Rullio said, taking a deep breath, “now I will wash you, since you won’t do it yourself.”

He took the sponge and dipped it into the water, then held it up for Merw to see.

39
“Can you believe this was actually a sea-animal once? They’re very