The (sort of) Dark Mage (Waldo Rabbit) (41 page)

“I am in no mood for bargaining or delays. Twenty five is all I’ll pay, and it is more than generous. I have been hungering for her all this time, and I mean to have her tonight. Now where is she?”

“Gone, I am afraid.” Elsa said in a melancholy tone.

“What do you mean gone? She was indentured to you. Are you saying she ran away?”

“No,” Elsa replied cautiously. This had to handled very, very carefully. Men filled with pride and lust could be extremely dangerous, and that was when they weren’t carrying magical swords. “Someone else paid to take her off my hands and married her as soon as he did.”

His smile withered and his eyes narrowed. “That someone would want to marry her on sight I believe. What I have trouble with is imagining you agreeing to it. You certainly had no trouble rejecting my offers.”

No trouble?! It was like fighting off a rabid wolf with a stick!
“I would never think to refuse you Sir Lancel.” She again dipped her head. “I am a woman of business; I merely sought a proper price.”

“What you are is an old whore.”

“That too.”

He snatched back his purse and tied it once more to his belt. “So tell me, why did you agree to sell her after refusing me three times?”

“He asked me my price to free her. I told him it would cost a hundred gold coins. He paid it, without even batting an eye.” She spread her hands. “What could I do?”

“A hundred gold ducats? You could buy a keep for that. No woman is worth so much.”

“To this one man she was. As I said, he saw her and immediately declared he wanted her for his wife. He paid to free her, offered her flowers and made his declaration. She accepted and they were husband and wife. I admit I was quite amazed, in all my years it was surely the most romantic thing I had ever seen. Like something from a tale of old.”

Elsa hoped the image of such a romantic union would salve Lancel’s pride and help him accept his loss.

“Is this some sort of lie? If it is you will regret it.”

“I would never lie to you Sir Lancel.”

“Who was this man? If he was as rich as you say I would know him.”

“I am certain you would Sir Lancel, if he were from Lothas. He was a foreigner though, a mysterious one, he appeared without warning and left with his beloved just as suddenly. I never saw his face before that day and do not expect to see it ever again. I do promise you Sir that what I say is true. I would never have freed her had he not paid me a fortune.”

Every word Elsa had spoken was true. She had censored the events of that day to spare his pride. There was no way Lancel could be happy to have lost Alice. She didn’t need to make him happy though, she just needed him to accept the fact. The image of some foreign prince riding in and swooping up Alice in a moment of passion would make it easier. As would the thought he had spent more than the knight himself would ever dream to.

Lancel turned from her and instead faced the men and women sitting at their tables or standing near the walls. “Is what she says true?” He demanded. “Is Alice really gone? Did some stranger really claim her as his wife?”

As she’d known they would, all her customers and girls nodded their heads.

“Aye, it’s true.”

“She is gone.”

“Yes.”

“It’s so.”

“She left.”

The common folk steered clear of nobles as much as they could. When they had to deal with them they had enough sense not to say or do anything to upset them. Elsa could see that Lancel remained furious, but that he was starting to believe that Alice was truly gone. She was just beginning to relax when she heard harsh laughter coming from one of the tables.

The sound drew Sir Lancel’s full attention. There at one of the back tables was a man in plain work clothes bent over an empty pitcher laughing so hard he looked in danger of falling out of his chair. He was with a couple friends who were whispering to him urgently.

“You find something funny?” Lancel slowly walked across the room to the table.

The Inn was abruptly silent. The only sounds were of the man’s laughter and of the knight’s steps as he crossed the floor. Every eye watched them. No one dared to move or even to breathe. At the table the man’s companions sat there motionless, obviously terrified of what might happen. If a knight felt like slitting a commoner’s throat he could do so and walk away from it with hands clean.

Lancel came to a stop in front of the table. “Why are you laughing?”

Harold Brauer needed a moment to stop. When he was done he was splayed out half in his chair and half on the table. Elsa wished the man had not paid a healer to repair his jaw. He was smiling drunkenly at the knight towering over him. “I am laughing because you don’t know the truth.”

With those words Elsa felt a chill flow through her. “Please ignore him Sir Lancel. He’s just a drunk and…”

An angry wave of Lancel’s hand silenced her. “What truth are you speaking of? Are you saying Alice is still here?”

“No, no, she flew away.” The words made Harold burst out into laughter again. His friends and many of the others looked away uncomfortably.

Lancel did not miss the reactions. “What do you mean? Did she run away? Was she taken? Tell me the truth or you will regret it.”

“The truth?” Harold answered as his laughter died away. “I can tell you the truth, I was there, and I saw it happen.”

“Then tell me, I am not accustomed to being the source of so much mirth. Depending on what you say I may forgive your presumption.”

“Well she was married all right, like Elsa said, but she left a few things out.”

“Shut your lying mouth or I’ll never let you back in my place!” Elsa yelled.

Lancel turned back around to look at her.

The fury she saw made Elsa want run and hide. “He… he is drunk and will only tell you lies.”

“Then you have nothing to fear. Now be silent, I want to hear what he has to say.” He turned back to the table. “Speak, was Alice married or not?”

“She was, she married a black wizard.”

“A black wizard? You mean a Dark Mage from Alteroth?”

Harold nodded drunkenly. “He was dressed all in black and he said he was from another country. Said he’d come here just to take Alice. He put a spell on her and made her fall in love with him. She never would have married him otherwise, I know it.”

Lancel again turned back to stare at Elsa. “You sold her to a Dark Mage? Have you no shame at all? Everyone knows the sorts of things they do. How could you sacrifice her like that?”

“His gold was real enough, and it spends as well as any others.”

“What was this wizard’s name? What direction did he leave in? How many days ago? I will track him down and cut him to pieces. I’ll save Alice.”

This brought another round of laughter, this time it was tinged with bitterness and mockery. “Don’t bother. When we saw him trying to take her we threw him in the river. He is gone.”

“He is dead?” Lancel asked in surprise. “Then what happened to Alice?”

“She flew away.”

Lancel frowned. “Have a care with your tone, drunk or not you should be more respectful. If Alice ran away you might have mentioned that from the start. I will find her.”

“Don’t bother Sir Knight, she’s a monster.”

“What did you call her peasant?” He placed a hand on the hilt of his sword.

Harold looked back at him, too full of ale and sorrow to care. “She’s a monster. When I say she flew away that’s just what I mean. I saw it; we all saw it, right there on the bridge. She grew wings out of her back, big black leathery wings, like a bat’s but a hundred times bigger. It wasn’t just wings either, horns and claws and a tail. I saw it clear as day. Beautiful Alice was a monster. I saw it, and then she flapped her wings and shot up into the sky like a hawk.”

“You lie.” He began to draw his sword.

“He doesn’t lie sir!” One of the man’s companions burst out. “It’s the truth I swear it!”

“It is true sir,” the man’s other friend spoke nervously. “We all saw it, ask anyone.”

Lancel hesitated and did not pull out his blade. He looked about the common room. All around him, at every table, he saw men slowly nod their heads. No one spoke, they looked ashamed and fearful, but they nodded.

He turned his attention to Elsa. She gave a single quick nod before lowering her eyes.

“Are you saying that all this time I was trying to take a filthy monster into my bed?”

He was met with silence.

Sir Lancel paused and gathered himself.

“Alice never existed. None of you are to speak of her ever again. You will not mention me either. I have never visited this place. Should any of you spread any tales I will come back here and turn you into dog meat. Now all of you get out.”

Everyone hesitated and looked at each other.

“I SAID GET OUT!”

The men and women moved, knocking over chairs and tables as they stampeded toward the door. Both of Harold’s friends grabbed an arm and got him to his feet. From behind her bar Elsa hurried to join them. As soon as she was out from behind it Lancel roughly grabbed her.

“Not you,” he growled.

Lancel motioned to his men to clear out the kitchen and upstairs as well.

“You knew, didn’t you?” He tightened his grip.

“No! No, never! How could I?”

“How could you not?!”

From upstairs a customer ran down wearing nothing but his breeches, he had a tunic and his boots in his hands. Right on his heels was a young girl who had nothing on but a skirt.

“Please Sir Lancel! I am innocent I swear!”

“What would an old whore like you know about innocence?”

“I know I did nothing wrong! I never knew I swear it! I swear it by all the gods!”

His grip tightened like a vice and made her whimper.

“You lie.”

“I don’t I swear it! Please! You are hurting me!”

“I aim to do much worse to you. You always loved gold didn’t you? That was all that mattered. You sold Alice for a hundred pieces of gold. Tell me, how much is your own life worth to you?”

“Everything! All that I have! Please don’t kill me!”

“If you were a man I already would have.” He let go of her. “Out of my sight!”

Elsa ran as fast as her fat body would take her. She ran outside and into a crowded foot bridge.

Lancel reached into the bar and pulled out a couple bottles of spirits. He opened the bottles and poured the contents out onto the wooden floor. He then went over to the nearest torch and pulled it out of its hold.

“She said her life was worth everything. This is still better than she deserves.” He calmly dropped the torch into the spilled liquor. The flames caught and spread across in a flash. Much of the common room was burning as Lancel led his men outside. Before stepping onto the footbridge he took a moment to look back at the Inn.

“I am much too merciful.”