Haldred Chronicles: Alyssa (7 page)

Probably a
mercenary,
Alyssa
guessed.

The other, a
man, was definitely a mercenary or soldier of some sort.  He was wearing
leather plate armour and was festooned with weapons, right down to a nasty
looking crossbow he had slung over his shoulder.  They seemed to be ordering
food. 

Wonder who
they are?

It was but a
passing thought, however, for just at that moment a troupe of the regulars
arrived.  They were a squad of dwarfish miners, dusty tunics thick with dirt
and with pick-axes slung over their shoulders.  They were just taking their
usual spot in the corner.  Likewise two orc Tax Reapers were just then sitting
down at another table, black clad with marks of coin on their tabards and thick
identical scimitars in scabbards slung across their backs.

A lot of
weapon carriers in tonight.

She chose,
rather tactfully, to approach the Dwarves for their orders first of all.

Whilst all
dwarves possessed the same directness that Gretna did (
“yey be a fine
looking lass and no mistake.  Some Manling will count himself lucky the first
time he snugs yeh!”
) it was better them than the orcs.  Orcs tended to have
rather 'busy' hands, coupled with high pain thresholds.  Slapping them just
didn't work.

Fortunately all
the miners seemed to be too exhausted to pass any comments designed to make
Alyssa blush so she was able to take their orders without incident.  She was
back at the bar-top just as Gretna arrived.

“Order for table
four” Gretna said to Rodney, the lumbering orc barman with the tiny black eyes,
enormous jaw and unexplained cooking skills.  Unexplained for an orc anyway. 
He screwed up his huge face, studying the slip of paper Gretna had reached
across to him.  The common Argon tongue was something he had difficulty
translating.

“And the two
orcs at table three want a couple of Gorrag's Draft.” Gretna said next,
addressing Alyssa.

Alyssa shuffled
nervously, adjusting her glasses.  “Do I...”

“Have to? Yes.”
Gretna said, interrupting her taller but younger colleague.  “Besides, you're
the quickest at dodging and they tend to complain when they get a hammer to the
face.”

She patted her
sheathed hammer with a smirk.

Alyssa nodded,
without confidence, and moved round the bar, grabbing a couple of mugs and
pouring the drinks from the Gorrag's barrel.  She headed over to the orcs,
leaving Rodney still translating Gretna's slip of paper and Gretna rolling her
eyes, no doubt regretting forcing Rodney to read the order instead of just
telling him.

Alyssa arrived
at table three and immediately dodged a grab for her bottom from one of the
orcs, rather expertly she thought as she managed to not even wobble the two
mugs of the brown fluffy liquid she was carrying (a major achievement
considering her clumsy reputation).

“Damn” grunted
the offending orc.

“Told ya she was
quick!” grinned his companion, paying for the two drinks.

“Glad to see you
ordering a decent meal,” the male mercenary at the other table was saying.

He wasn't
talking loudly but Alyssa could hear him perfectly.  It wasn't just her sight
that had improved when she became a vampire but her hearing too.  She found
that one of the other nearby tables needed a wipe down and immediately set to
work, almost automatically shifting her bottom to avoid another grab from the
same orc.

“Damn it all!”
he grunted again, making Alyssa smile.

“Well maybe this
case has given me more of an appetite than I thought,” the woman replied.  Out
of the corner of her eye Alyssa saw the woman lean forward.  At first she
thought she was going to kiss the man (how cute!) but instead she just spoke in
a hushed voice.

“Hunting
vampires is hungry work.”

Alyssa, froze,
solid as ice.  Her eyes widened.

Oh sweet
Sister Superior.

She slowly, very
slowly, continued to wipe the table down, trying not to appear to be listening
in.  She was thankful that whilst she could blush and cry, her ability to sweat
was mercifully no more, else right now she would be literally soaked.  Still,
she was having a hard time stopping her body from trembling.  She fixed her
glasses again, finding her hand shaking.

Out of the
corner of her eye Alyssa could see the man shaking his head.

“There's no
vampire.” he was saying, his answer a whisper again.  “That fat sod died of
falling onto a spike.  The wounds and loss of blood?  There is bound to be a
proper explanation.  I told you.  This is no job for the Council of Peace.”

The two of them
leaned back, just in time for Gretna to rejoin them.

“Food will be
along soon enough.  Now, drinks?”

With Gretna and
the two strangers distracted, Alyssa moved away.  She had to fight to prevent
her legs from running.  She went through the kitchen door, almost bumping into
one of the other girls (there was the trademark clumsiness!).

“Sorry!” she
hurriedly apologised, quickly ducking out the back door before anyone could
turn to see what was going on.

Outside, in the
dark, she turned a corner and backed into a wall.  Only then did she start
hyper ventilating.  Again, she didn't actually need to hyper ventilate as her
body didn't need to breathe but she could do the actions.  Breathing hurriedly,
clutching her chest.  Eyes wide with fright, body trembling.  She was trying to
fix her glasses in place again but she was making a bad job of it.  She wasn't
doing any of these actions to fit in.  She was just terrified.

Oh Gods! Oh
Gods! Oh Gods!
her mind repeated over and over. 
They know!  Why else would
they be here?

No no hold on
a sec,
the
more rational part of her mind was saying, trying to assert some control. 
Let's
just think about this.

WHY
? The rest of her mind
screamed.
  They said they were hunting vampires!  And guess who's a vampire
who works at the tavern they've just arrived at?  ME!  That's who!

Alyssa covered
her face with her hands, feeling tears forming. 
I don't want to die! 
Again.

But wait.  I
didn't kill the fat man.

Alyssa stopped. 
Her hands dropped from her face a little.  The rational part of her brain took
that as a good sign and continued.

They said he
died of falling on a spike.  Well, I didn't do that.  I left him unconscious on
the ground.

That was true
too.  Alyssa's hands moved from her eyes to her mouth.  She started to calm
down just a little as her mind got the time it had requested to think things
through. 

Wait a second! 
Did that mean...There was another vampire out there?  Her composure changed
from worried to, well, a different kind of worried.

Another
vampire.  After all this time?

That still
didn't explain why they were here.  It couldn't just be chance.  Could someone
have seen something?  Could they have seen her?  Either way, she had to clear
her name out of the possibilities somehow.  Make them believe that the murderer
wasn't her.  Thing is, that would mean admitting she was a vampire.  Which just
put her in more trouble.  Damn.  Maybe there was a way to clear her name but
not
admit to being a vampire?

“Alyssa?” said a
voice.

Alyssa yelped,
jumping back into the wall in fright, almost knocking her badly positioned
glasses off her nose.  Katy was standing nearby in a hooded cloak, looking over
at Alyssa with the most curious of expressions.  She'd pulled the cloaks hood
down, revealing that she had her hair pulled up into braided pigtails tied by
pink ribbons.  If Alyssa had been in a better mental state she might have
commented on how cute Katy appeared.

Why does that
keep happening?  Vampires shouldn't get surprised by people at night!

“Gods Katy, you
scared me!” breathed Alyssa (another good impression), now properly fixing her
glasses to the right angle.

“Sorry.” Katy
smiled apologetically.  “You ok?”

Alyssa looked
over and the nucleus of a plan formed.

Katy can
help!

“Actually no,”
she admitted.  “but you might be able to make things better.”

She beckoned
Katy over and, with the greatest of care, told her what she had overheard.  She
indicated her thoughts that the fat man the two Council of Peace people were
referring to could be the same one she and Katy had encountered.  She didn't
say she was a vampire (of course) but she did say that she was concerned they
might mistake her for one unless she cleared her name.  Just a small deception.

“So I'm really
worried” she said afterwards, with genuine truth (the best kind).

Katy, bless her
little heart, seemed to understand totally.

“I'll help you
Alyssa.” she said, a wonderfully loyal determination in her voice.

It was Alyssa's
turn to hug Katy.  They agreed to wait until the two visitors had gotten their
food and were relaxed. Then they would approach them together.  Meantime,
Alyssa was determined that Katy was going to start work at the Elk Horn that
very night.  As long as she could talk Gretna into it.

“There you are!”
came a voice behind them.  Gretna was at the open door, her hands on her hips
again, her frown deepening.  “Why did you skip off, huh?”

Alyssa decided
that maybe having Gretna on her side was a good idea too, and it was a good
excuse to introduce Katy.  She quickly outlined what had happened to Gretna as
well, also indicating how Katy the barmaid was helping (
“She's very
helpful.  And a very good Barmaid as well!  Who's looking for employment don't
you know?”
).  She was particularly proud of the fact that her explanation
required the minimum of lying to her new best friend and current employer.

“You?  A
vampire!” Gretna chuckled once the story was done.  “Girl you're far too
young!”

Alyssa opened
her mouth to correct Gretna and then very sensibly closed it again.

“But then again
the Council of Peace are bloody stupid.” Gretna nodded forcefully at her own
assessment.  “And I'm not having my prized barmaid carted off or killed heavens
forbid!  We'll set them straight!”

As it happened,
Gretna had her own particular addition to the plan to ensure Alyssa's innocence
was accepted.  She quickly outlined it to the two of them and the three of them
slipped back inside to set to work.

* * * * *

“That...” began
Malak, looking at the plate that the orc barman had just set in front of
Victoria. 

“...is one hell
of a steak.”

Victoria was
forced to agree.  It was a very big steak; far bigger than she had expected.

“Is this right?”
she said tentatively, looking up at the towering orc with a raised eyebrow.  “I
think I ordered the medium sized steak.”

And this is
definitely not a medium sized steak.

The orc shrugged
his huge shoulders.  “That's what i's was given.” he said, forming the words
slowly.  “The miss said 'get the good stuff for them you great oaf and stop
looking down my top'.  Said that we ought to reward them whose serves the
Council of Peace for their fine work in keeping the peace, cause we is dead
grateful.”

Victoria frowned
but there wasn't anything she could say.

It would be a
criminal waste of food to send it back and probably very rude to refuse such a
gesture of thanks from the locals.  As far as she was concerned the Council of
Peace were relatively well regarded and gestures such as these were not
uncommon. It was just that gestures of this size were rare.  Refusal was not an
option; it would be rude to refuse.  Added to that, food was expensive in these
post-war days, and despite its mass, it did look delicious.  Victoria just
wasn't sure she could finish it.  She doubted even a Fey could finish what had
been set in front of her, and it was said that those weird, winged humanoids
had hollow legs.

She didn't have
hollow legs.

“Well, ah,”
Victoria found herself lost for words for once.  “please convey our...thanks.”

The orc nodded
and wondered off, leaving Victoria staring at her breakfast, lunch and tea
rolled into one.

“I've never seen
that expression before.” said Malak, studying his colleague.

“That's because
this is my scared expression Malak.” replied Victoria, blinking at the steaming
pile of cooked meat in front of her that was taking up most of the large plate
it sat on.

“Proper scared
of that aren't you?” Malak, nodded toward the plate.

Victoria nodded
slowly. “Oh Gods, yes.”