Take the body and give me the rest (4 page)

Seth sized him
up. He’d been told it was always money first. ‘We’re interested in
the price on two large rooms,’ he said.

‘Aye the price,
the price. How long you lads staying?’ he asked.

Erik spoke up
from the group. ‘Well, that depends on the price.’

‘True indeed, I
run a simple house here. We’ll see you right at a silver a week.
Each room, plus one bath and meals nightly. How’s that sound?’ he
asked.

To Seth, it
sounded much worse than he had been expecting but everything here
was proving much more expensive than first reckoned. They shook on
the price and turned their backs to the man and sorted out the
money.

‘All fresh from
the levies, right?’ Yend said as they sorted out the coins, pulling
them from their boots and hidden pockets in their shirts

Seth called
back distracted, ‘Aye, that’s right.’

‘Well, I can
recommend a few very nice taverns, if you be liking the female
company and having those wages you need to spend.’

They laughed at
that. Griffith spoke up. ‘Just point us in the right
direction.’

Yend pointed
them and near drew them a map to a large tavern called the Red
Minstrel, which had a sign of a red hooded female fiddler on the
signboard and was a decent walk away in a much nicer part of the
city. This building was a large wooden one but well-made and
welcoming. As they passed through the front doors, they were hit by
a trickle of soft music being played by two female fiddlers on a
small stage, along with the heat being thrown up by a roaring fire
in the room. The room was massive and built so that it was entirely
made up of booths lining the walls. Each booth was framed by red
velvet curtains that rose to the roof and could be closed,
concealing the patrons and tavern girls within. Most were opened
with only a few shut tight and giggling conversation heard from
within.

Comparing it
now to the Mermaid’s Kiss, Seth could see that this place wasn’t
for locals at all. All the regulars had just been waiting for four
marks to come wandering in off the streets, a few ales already
under their belts and with more money than sense.

The lads sat
down on a row of benches at the bar, which had been polished to a
high sheen, as a woman served some drinks without waiting for their
order.

‘Well, hello
boys, planning a big night, are we?’ she asked. She had long blonde
hair fashioned into a plait knotted to one side. She wore a leather
apron which had been tailored to suit her lines. Her face was
attractive but her smile was hard and firm.

‘We sure are,’ Ulrik
shouted back. ‘First real night off in two years.’

‘Well, we’ll
see you right. How did you hear about our humble tavern?’ she
asked.

Seth spoke
words he’d later regret: ‘Yend at our boarding house sent us
down.’

‘Oh, Yend, he’s
such a dear man, knows people and their tastes, he does.’

The music
continued and Seth found his gaze lingering on one of the girls
playing the fiddle. She was a little older than he, but only by a
few years. She played with a deft and practised hand while she
smiled and laughed. Her hair was also in a blonde plait down one
side, but she wore men’s pants and a leather tunic, much in the
style of many musicians he’d seen. She looked sweet, her face
reminding him of someone he knew back home.

A woman in a
low cut red dress soon approached Erik, who was on the outside of
the group, and started talking to him. She was soon laughing at his
jests and talk, though Seth had never known him to be a funny man.
Another lady started to talk to Ulrik and then Griffith. Soon, they
were the centre of female attention in the bar. It was a change
from two years sleeping on the hard ground, amongst so many
soldiers in training, having these women with easy laugher, tight
dresses, hands touching them, seemingly very interested in these
four Northern boys.

The fiddler
girl had finished playing and was sitting at the edge of one of the
booths, not talking to anyone. Seth kept looking at her and willing
himself to go and talk to her. He imagined what he would say and
kept trying to push himself. He noticed that all of his lads had
disappeared upstairs with the women, but that’s what he’d expected.
One of the women still left standing around took his hand and said,
‘Come along upstairs.’ He did think about it—two years in the
levies is a long time—but she wasn’t half as cute as the fiddler
girl.

‘No thanks,
love,’ he said nicely but got an ugly expression in return. He took
back his hand and walked over to the girl sitting at the booth. Up
close she looked even sweeter with her soft blonde hair in a plait
and a cute determined-looking face.

‘You play very
well,’ Seth said.

She looked
startled from her daydream.

‘Sorry if I
scared you,’ he said with a small laugh.

‘Oh no, it’s
okay, I’m just surprised, no one ever talks to me in here,’ she
said.

He laughed.
‘Most men rather sex to talking’ he said, not knowing if he was
saying too much.

She smiled
back. ‘That’s true enough. Why are you different soldier boy?’

‘Oh, it’s only
my first night here; I need to get warmed up,’ he said.

She laughed
back. ‘Be careful: this city eats boys like you up nightly.’

‘I’ve fought in
battles and survived; I’m sure I can survive your city,’ he
said.

The girl finished her small glass of beer and headed back to
the stage to continue playing. Seth slowly finished his own and
waited for his friends to re-join him. After another five or so
songs,
he was starting to get worried. It was probably
nothing—just getting their money’s worth, thought Seth. The woman
behind the bar looked at him when he walked up to order another.
‘Oh, your friends are out the back waiting for you; they look ready
to leave.’ She pointed to a passage at the side of the
bar.

Muttering,
‘Shit,’ Seth ran around the corner, up the passage, through the
unlocked back door and into the rear alley. The moment he was
through the door, he felt something solid connect with his skull
and all went black.

Seth was woken
by big hands shaking him awake.

‘Seth, are you
okay?’ It was Erik. He had a huge black eye and a split lip.

‘Fucking hell,
forget me. Are you okay?’ Seth replied, standing up.

‘Oh, it was all
shit. Those girls must have drugged our drink. I remember having
fun with one and then going black. I woke up out here with a group
of burly fuckers going to work on me.’

‘What a night!
Hey?’ He looked around. Erik, Ulrik and Griffith were all there but
all very worse for wear. Seth touched his hand to the back of his
head and came away with blood on his finger tips.

‘So we’ve been
robbed, I’m guessing,’ Seth said.

‘Oh, yeah, that
was the point of it all, I’d say,’ Erik replied.

‘So what’s the
plan now?’ said Ulrik.

‘We’ve not only
been robbed we’ve been disrespected, what do you think we do? We
walk back in the front door and start smashing teeth out until we
get back our wages, then we clean ourselves up and apply for the
watch tomorrow.’ Seth said.

‘Seth, fuck
this place. Let’s just go home. I hate this city. I couldn’t live
here, no way,’ Griffith said.

‘Really? You
all feel that way?’ Seth asked.

‘Yeah, Seth,
it’s true. We’re going to pack our shit up and head out home. You
going to come?’ said Eric.

‘Let’s go back
to the boarding house and see what happens. I reckon this Yend was
in on it, sending us in there,’ Seth said.

They staggered
their injured bodies back across town, muttering and cursing as
they went. Soon they sighted the grey planks of the Fellow
Traveller and went in. Yend was behind the counter and, on seeing
them, his face got a very concerned look.

‘Oh boys, boys,
what’s happened?’ he asked.

‘Well, they
knew we were heavy with coin and they lighten our burden,’ said
Seth bitingly.

‘Ah, bitches, I
never knew it was a bad sort of place. The bartender woman always
seemed so nice,’ he said. ‘What will you do now lads? Your rooms
are fully paid for the week, so no hurry there.’

‘We’re thinking
of heading back home and sooner rather than later,’ said Erik.

‘Well, if you
do I’ll refund you at half a silver and one copper,’ he said in a
helpful way.

‘So we’ll have
paid a half silver for a single night and one pint,’ Seth said.

‘Oh, I’m just
trying to help. Stay the week if you will. But what are you
planning to do that’s so important?’ Yend asked.

‘We’re here to
join the city watch or the city levies, or maybe even the King’s
Guard,’ said Ulrik.

Yend looked
shocked. ‘But you’re just boys and from the North. They won’t take
you.’

‘But we’ve been
battle blooded and we have the red shields of two years to prove
it,’ Seth said proudly.

‘In Cravoss,
it’s all about who your father is and his father—not what you’ve
done but who you are,’ Yend said sadly.

‘That would be
fucking right,’ said Erik.

The lads left
the city that very evening with their half silver refund between
the three of them. Seth, who had luckily paid for a whole room
himself through largess, intended to stay for the week and at least
try his luck in the guard and the levies.

‘Good on you
boy,’ said Yend. ‘Don’t let fate cast you down. Here, I know
someone from the watch, a good man who could help you in getting
in. You go help yourself to a bath and when you come out fresh and
clean, I’ll have him here and introduce you.’

Seth was still
wary of him but was finding it hard to distrust the constantly
smiling man. ‘Thanks,’ he said.

The water of
the bath was warm at least, filled into the large metal tub by the
old lady who drifted around the boarding house. He thought of the
fiddler girl and thought she must have known what was going to
befall him. Well, she did warn him, after a fashion. He washed the
blood from his hair and winced when the water touched the wound. It
was minor, though. He dried himself and got changed back into his
clothes.

In the main
room, standing at the bar laughing with Yend, was indeed a member
of the city guard. Seth felt a little leap of hope within him. The
man had around four score name days to him and was a serious
looking man, but laughing so freely with Yend that his face was
near to red.

‘Oh, here he
is. This is the one I told you about, Captain,’ Yend said in a
friendly introduction, waving Seth over.

Seth reached
out to shake the man’s hand as Yend continued. ‘Here’s the one who
owes me two weeks rent and refuses to pay it, tells me he’ll kill
me, scares the life out of me, he does.’

As Seth’s hand
reached the Captain’s, it was wrenched violently behind his back
and, like a magic trick, he felt the metal cuffs that had been on
the Captain’s belt go around his wrist. ‘Is that true, you big
Northern bastard? You have to pay your way in Cravoss. You’re
right, Yend, this big one will fetch a nice price, I reckon. Usual
cut,’ he said, pushing Seth out of the door and through the city
towards the debt slave market.

Chapter 6

No plan now; no
plan was needed. Sure, he didn’t have his sword because he’d had to
give it in at the city gate and couldn’t get it back without
leaving, but he didn’t need a weapon to choke the life out of the
old bastard. He’d never planned to kill a man before, but this one
had had him sent down as a debtor when it was a lie; he’d had him
sold as chattel, after having him and his friends beaten and
robbed. Worst, he knew where Seth was from and had heard him and
the boys talking of families and home. He’d proved that he’d be
only too quick to sell that information. If it wasn’t for the
family, Seth could probably just give him a beating, but now he had
no choice.

Seth walked through the door of the Fellow Traveller, ready to
leap the bar. The old lady stood on the other side, looking off
into the room in an idle fashion. She stared at him as if she
didn’t recognise him at all.

‘Where’s Yend?’
Seth near growled.

‘He’s
downstairs. Are you one of his boys?’ she asked.

‘Of course I
am, now lead on,’ he said.

She showed him
around the side of the bar and into the room at the back. There was
a large trapdoor which was open and had some very wide stone stairs
down it. He walked down casually. He was halfway down when the
trapdoor slammed shut above his head, and he heard the old lady
slide a bolt.

The stairs went
down a long way and came out into a very large room, given the size
of the tavern. The room was entirely made of stone, the rough floor
covered with furs and mismatching rugs. The walls couldn’t be seen
for wardrobes, piles of clothes and little bits of furniture.
Sitting at a table in the middle of the room, surrounded by two
ornate high backed chairs, were Yend and the female bartender of
the Red Minstrel. They were drinking wine in the early morning and
playing cards.

‘Well, my two
favourite people in Cravoss together. What good fortune for me,’
Seth said, walking up to the table, clenching his fists.

Yend reached
from beneath the table and withdrew a loaded crossbow. ‘No, no, my
boy: good fortune for us.’

They both
laughed at him. The bartender looked even meaner in the harsher
morning light her features distorted from constant cruel looks and
thoughts. ‘You must have known we had more to take from you,’ she
said.

‘Yes, word is
you killed someone very important making your escape from slavery,
and his kin will pay dearly to have you back,’ Yend said.

‘Now, my lovely
old maid upstairs is going to go and fetch them here, so you just
sit down and we’ll have them in here by lunchtime.’ Yend motioned
that Seth sit, so he did. When he was sitting, the woman came
around from the table and tied his hands to the arms of the solid
ornate chair.