Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa (18 page)

“Well neither
did...”

Victoria
interrupted herself with a loud violent sneeze that made Malak and even Gretna
jump.

“Oh gods.”
Victoria groaned, sniffing and wiping her nose.  “Bloody cold.”

“Bath and soup
I'll sort yeh.” Gretna assured them in what Victoria suspected was a rare show
of concern.

“What will you
lot do now?”

“Hunt her.” said
Victoria, her voice suddenly very nasal.  “Official threat to peace, doesn't
make it right mind.”

Gretna frowned. 
“What do you mean by that?”

Victoria winced,
having said something she had promised herself she wouldn't.  Malak rolled his
eyes.

“Just tell her,”
said Victoria, “sod it if I could care anymore.”

Her
investigation was well and truly over.  It had been made a complete mess thanks
to her superior.  Maybe getting Gretna on side might fix a little of the
reputation.  Hers and the Council of Peace as a whole.  She felt sick as a
dog.  She didn't really bear the girl any ill-will for escaping, but she did
bear her ill for firing her into a bloody snow drift.

Malak
enlightened Gretna to what had happened with Alyssa, stopping occasionally to
let Victoria sneeze.  By the end of the tale Gretna seemed a little more
sympathetic.  Her expression gave nothing away but her body language was at
least a little less confrontational.  By the end, she had given Victoria a
rather generous portion of vegetable soup which Victoria had to admit, was
rather good.  The other barmaids had left the three of them alone, busying
themselves cleaning the place up after the raid, cleaning up the spills and
putting the chairs back up again.  One unfortunate girl was even busy
attempting to remove a crossbow bolt from the wall.

“Poor girl.”
Gretna concluded.  “Where'd you think she'll go?”

Good question

She'd not be
back at her house.  Horna and his crew would no doubt have already hunted that
down and be redecorating in a suitably untidy manner.  Same with the girl Katy,
they were bound to figure out that she was gone as well.  So where?

“Maybe that girl
Katy's place but I doubt it.” Victoria sipped her soup again, then abruptly
turned away to sneeze again.

“Bath'll be
ready shortly lass.” Gretna assured her.

Thank the
gods.

“Never seen you
this bad.” commented Malak.  “Thought you were one of them proper hardy types?”

Victoria cast
him a rather annoyed expression.  One that was utterly ruined when she had to
turn away and sneeze again.

“You're lucky
I'm sick” she said, recovering with watering eyes “or I'd kick your ass.”

His smirk said
he understood at least.

* * * * *

With her clothes
hung up in the corner, Victoria sat in a bronze bath filled to the brim with
hot water and bubbled soap.  She was leaning back, her head resting on the far
edge of the bath with her eyes closed and a herbal balm on her forehead. 
Apparently, it would help to unblock her nose, or so the dwarf had said.  She
had her arms crossed over her chest, the hot water lapping around her naked
body.  It felt good, relaxing at last.  A small table sat beside the bath, with
a fresh mug of vegetable soup steaming beside her.  Malak and everyone else had
been tactfully told not to disturb her on pain of death.  The violent, painful
kind.  Now feeling relatively normal, her mind had the time to go over what had
happened over the past few hours.

Alyssa was a
vampire.  Possessing incredible strength, speed, retractable fangs, a very
resilient body and the ability to fly.  On paper, that made her a deadly
opponent.  Except she wasn't really an opponent.  Instead she seemed to be an
unfortunate young girl who had some incredible abilities forced upon her and
was desperate just to be human.

But was that
the truth?

Victoria trusted
few people and trusted even fewer at their word.  The Alyssa girl had seemed
sincere in her story, but was it all just an act?  She had considered that
before, and dismissed it.  But now, again, that thought came back.  Was she
lying?  Was there some greater plan behind this?  Or was it just an unfortunate
girl who found herself the last vampire and just wanted to
not
be the
last vampire?

What about
Horna?

Victoria
considered her boss a professional idiot at the best of times but his reaction
and execution of the operation had been ham-fisted even by his standards.  A
Darnhun raid on a popular tavern with minimum intelligence and preparation, and
what intelligence that had been passed on hadn't been acted on.  The Archives
mentioned the possibility of Alyssa having abilities other than those observed
in the brief period she and Malak had followed Alyssa, and yet Horna hadn't
taken any precautions; he hadn't seemed to even care.  If Alyssa had fitted the
stereotype of a vampire (bloodthirsty, merciless, physically powerful engine of
death) half of the troops Horna sent in would have been killed.

Why did he
rush it?

It had felt
rushed.  There had been no observation of the target other than that briefly
carried out by Malak and herself, no consideration whether the troops brought
were enough to get the job done.  Not even any adequate backup plan should
things go wrong.  Only she and Malak had been on hand as backup, and even then
it had been grudgingly accepted rather than called for.  Use of mercenaries was
nothing new in the Council of Peace. It was the preferred method for most
military operations they had to carry out.  Regular workers, such as Malak and
herself, were in the minority, whilst the muscle was contracted in.  But the
way Horna was using the Darnhun was almost like his own personal army, and even
in the murky politics of the Council of Peace, that was wrong.  Victoria's mind
now turned to darker thoughts.

What does
Horna want with the girl?

What if he
wasn't just going after her because he was told to?  What if he wasn't being
leaned on from higher up?  Not that Victoria would like to admit to being
deceived.  She thought she could read Horna well and to her, Horna had been
telling the truth.  He had acted as if he had no choice in the matter, as if
pressure was being applied from somewhere up the ranks.

Wait.

Had the pressure
come from somewhere outside the Council of Peace?  Now there was a thought. 
Someone outside the Council of Peace, who had an interest in a vampire.  But
who?  Who the hell would want a vampire?

At this moment
her contemplations were interrupted as the door opened and Gretna marched in
with a collection of towels.

“You know, you
could have knocked.” Victoria said, turning slightly to cover herself.  She
wasn't that surprised, or indeed that embarrassed.  She wasn't surprised,
because Gretna was a Dwarf after all.  Dwarves brought a whole new meaning to
tactless.  She wasn't embarrassed because as far as she knew the only male in
the Tavern was Malak and he'd been given orders to prop up the bar.  Something
he was more than happy to do, particularly now when he'd no doubt be surrounded
by a variety of pretty young girls.

“I could have.”
replied Gretna.  “But I then remembered it's
my
bath, in
my
room,
in
my
tavern.  So I can do whatever I bloody well please.”

Victoria
sighed.  “Yes.”

Arguing with a
dwarf was pointless anyway.  Gretna rather brazenly tossed a towel at Victoria
and she had to catch it mid-air with some difficulty, holding it up before it
landed in the bath.

“Bloody hell,
give us a chance!” Victoria fumed, having to lean out from the bath at an
uncomfortable angle.  She swung herself out, splashing water, and rather
hurriedly wrapped the towel round her.  “And you could have closed the door!”

“I could have”
said Gretna.  “but then I remembered...”

“Enough!”

Victoria secured
the towel and accepted another from Gretna (this time, not thrown).

“Well, at least
you're in better form now.” commented Gretna with a smirk.

Actually
I am
thought
Victoria.  Only a little while ago she had felt like death warmed up.  Now,
after the vegetable soup, hot bath and herbal balm she felt fine.

“I do feel
better.” she said, a slightly confused expression on her face.

Gretna smiled. 
“Dwarfen brand healing.” she said with a touch of pride.  “Sod your Magra
potion rubbish.  Dwarf's heal yeh proper.”

“Didn't know you
were of that profession.” said Victoria next, starting to dry her hair.

Gretna
shrugged.  “Awful lot you don't know about me missy, and never will.”

“Victoria?” said
Malak's voice, coming from the corridor outside.

“In here.” she
said.

“Yeh decent?”

“Aye.”

He entered. 
Then very quickly exited shielding his eyes and adapting a very embarrassed expression.

“Gods woman you
said you were decent!”

“I am you
idiot,” she said.  “It's called a towel.”

“Aye but you're
naked underneath.”

Gretna and
Victoria exchanged confused expressions.

“Beg pardon?”
Victoria hazarded.

“A man should
never see a woman in naught but a towel.” he intoned, as if reading from some
etiquette manual.  “Unless she's his wife.  It's not...proper.”

“You're a
strange little man Malak.” said Victoria, continuing to dry her hair.  “If
you’re not coming in then sod off and I'll speak to you down stairs.”

She heard
footsteps receding as Malak wandered back to his post.

“He's a bit of
an eejit isn't he?” asked Gretna.

“Oh yeh.”
Victoria said.  “He's a royal pain, but good at his job.  Hell of a shot and
he's getting better at the detective stuff.”

“That's good.”

Victoria
finished drying herself and reached for the mug of vegetable soup.

“So...” said
Gretna as Victoria raised the soup to her lips.  She waited as the human took a
sip.

“...when yeh
thinking of marrying?”

Victoria
snorted, making a very unladylike sound and swallowing a mouthful of soup in
the process.  She set the mug down a bit too quickly, spilling some of it and
had to stop herself doubling over.

“What?!?” she
sputtered, steadying herself.  Her eyes watered from the hot liquid going down
her throat a little too fast and she gasped as it entered her stomach. 
Victoria tried to compose herself, coughing and taking in gulps of air.

“Dear Gods!” she
gasped.  “what, what gave you the idea we were lovers?”

“Well you both
obviously like each other.” said Gretna, spreading her arms as if the statement
didn't need justification.  “Seen the looks yehs where giving each other down
in the pigging bar.  Bloody obvious it was!”

Victoria's eyes
widened, in both shock and confusion.

“Obvious?  I
just told him to sod off didn't I?”

“Aye” agreed
Gretna nodding.  “And then you told me what a good shot he is and how he's
getting better.”

Victoria made to
reply but her mouth didn't produce any words.  Well, that was true.  She'd told
him to sod off then defended him in the same sentence.

“See, you're
thinking now aren't yeh?” said the dwarf in triumph, tapping the side of her
head.  “Not just a cloak rack is me.”

“Yes, but, we're
partners...I mean colleagues!  We work together but we're not...” she paused,
feeling uncomfortable for once.  “...we're not close.” she said next, more
quietly.

Gods I'm in
bloody school again.

Gretna crossed
her arms.  “Yes yeh are.”

The dwarf took a
step forward, hands moving to hips and eyes scrutinizing again.  Victoria had
to stop herself stepping back.  For four foot nothing the dwarf was rather
intimidating.

“You trust him?”

Victoria nodded,
doing her best not to appear too committal.

“With your
life?”

Victoria met the
dwarf’s stare.  She rolled her eyes and let out a long sigh.

“Yes.” she said,
almost with resignation.  “With my life.”

“And he with
yours?”

“I suppose.”

Gretna nodded. 
“Well then lass, take it from me.”

Gretna pointed
an authoritative finger.  “Trust is where it starts and where it ends.  Fill in
the middle part and you've a partner for life.  Don't leave it too long.”

She thumbed
toward the door.  “Your man might be an arse.  But he's loyal and not a bad
looker.  Plus he knows what he's doing.”

Victoria wasn't
used to being lectured or advised, not any more.  She was a veteran of the
school of life now, and wasn't sure how to respond to this.  What the dwarf was
saying made a creepy kind of sense.