Old Tin Sorrows Part 13

Our villain was probably more lucky than clever, full of tricks that were working out by accident.

Chain said, 'Holy s.h.i.t,' in a soft voice. 'We got trouble.'

'What?' Peters demanded.

'Look at this.'

We joined him. He held his lantern as high as he could.

Now there were two trails through the gra.s.s, one a yard to the side of the other. Peters and I exchanged glances, then looked at Chain. 'Tyler! Get over here.'

Tyler hadn't come. His lantern hung about two feet off the ground as he knelt to study something. 'Wait a second.'

I asked, 'What have you got?'

'Looks like...'

Dark movement behind him. 'Look out!'

The draug grabbed Tyler by the throat and hoisted him into the air. His neck snapped. He made a sound like a rabbit's scream; his lantern fell and broke. Fire splashed the draug's feet. It lifted Tyler overhead, heaved him into the darkness, turned on the rest of us.

'Spread out,' I said.

'You d.a.m.n well better do more than watch this time,' Chain told me.

The fire blazed till the lantern's fuel was gone. The gra.s.s didn't catch. Neither did the draug. Both were too wet.

'We'll cut it up,' I said. 'Like the other one.'

Chain said, 'Let's don't talk, let's do.'

I didn't want to. But this draug wasn't particular about whom it stalked. It hated life. If it had been after Tyler specifically, it would have fallen down, done, revenge complete. But it wanted the rest of us, too.

It didn't have much chance against three of us. We were faster and armed. But it kept coming. And coming. And coming. It's hard to cut a body up when it's chasing you.

The horror and fear subsided after a few minutes. I got my head working. 'Either one of you know who this was?'

'Crumpet,' Chain said. He concentrated like a clockmaker, making every move and stroke count.

'Crumpet? What kind of name is that?'

'Nickname,' Peters said. 'Real name was Simon Riverway. He didn't like it. Crumpet was all right. The ladies hung it on him in Full Harbor. Said he was a sweet bun.'

Weird. I unleashed a roundhouse cut at the draug's neck. It got a hand in the way. My stroke sheered halfway through its wrist, one bone's worth. The thing kept turning toward me while I was off balance, grabbing with its other hand.

It grabbed hold of my sleeve. I thought I was a goner. Chain came in with a two-handed, overhead stroke, all his weight behind it. It hit the thing's shoulder hard enough to shake its hold. 'I owe you one, Chain.' I danced back a few yards, decided I'd follow Chain's example, and set my lantern down.

The draug kept after me-which was fine with Peters and Chain. Peters jumped in behind and took a wild cut at its right Achilles tendon, hamstrung it on his backstroke.

And it kept coming, though not as fast as it had.

It seemed to take forever, but we wore it down. It fell and couldn't get up. We carved it up good to make sure, spending a lot of fear energy. Once we were finished, I recovered my lantern, said, 'I think we'd better hole up till dawn. If there were two of them there might be more. We can explore later.'

'You said they don't run in packs,' Peters said.

'Maybe I was wrong. I don't want to find out the hard way. Let's get out of here.'

'First smart thing I've heard you say,' Chain said. He examined Tyler. 'Dead as a wedge. You think he's the one that killed them?'

'I don't know. I wouldn't bet on it. That one didn't care who it killed. It just wanted to kill somebody.'

'Like the old joke about the hungry buzzard? Let's go. Before Tyler gets up and comes after us, too. I couldn't take that.'

I didn't argue. Draugs are supposed to be dead a few months before they get up, but I wasn't ready to field test the folklore.

20.

As soon as we reached the house I went to check on Dellwood, Kaid, and Wayne. They were out back. They'd gotten a roaring bonfire going and were feeding it pieces of the first draug. I told them, 'Throw it all in and get inside.'

'Sir?' Dellwood asked. He had his color back.

'There may be more of them out. We ran into one who used to be called Crumpet. It killed Tyler. Let's not find out what else is waiting in the dark.'

They didn't fool around. They didn't ask questions. They pitched the draug in the fire and headed for the house. I glanced around as I followed, wondering what had become of Morley.

The survivors gathered at the fountain. They were chattering about Snake and Tyler when I joined them. Wayne and Kaid held the opinion that the second draug had gotten the right man.

I told them, 'I'm not so sure. It just wanted to kill. It wasn't satisfied with Tyler. Dellwood, check the doors. Peters, are there other ways to get in?'

'Several.'

'Take Chain and Kaid and check them out. We stay in threes till the sun comes up.'

'How come?' Chain asked.

'I think the killer is working alone. If we're stuck with him, we'll outnumber him two to one.'

'Oh.'

Peters said, 'Ask these guys about that sidhe thing.'

Right. 'Dellwood. Wayne. Kaid. You know anything about Kef sidhe? Especially a Kef sidhe strangler's cord?'

They frowned. Dellwood, puffing from his hasty trip to the doors, asked, 'What's that?'

I described the thing I'd found around Snake's neck.

'The General had something like that in his study.'

Peters brightened. 'Yes! I remember it. It was with a whole bunch of junk, whips and stuff, in the corner by the fireplace.'

I recalled the whips. I hadn't paid much attention. 'Dellwood, next time you're up there, see if it's gone. Ask the General where it came from. And where it went if it's not there.'

Dellwood nodded. I hated to turn loose but I couldn't keep him on my suspect list. He just didn't seem capable. If I discounted Peters, who'd have to be crazy to hire me if he was guilty, I didn't have many suspects left.

The others were thinking the same way. Chain, Kaid, and Wayne started giving each other plenty of room.

Peters started to go.

'Wait,' I said. 'There's one question I should've asked before. I've been too busy with murder to worry about theft. Does anybody have a drug habit? Or gamble? Or keep a woman on the outside?' All of those might explain the thievery.

Everybody shook their heads.

'Not even Hawkes or Snake or Tyler?' Three in one day. The old man wasn't going to be happy about the job I was doing, though he hadn't exactly hired me to keep people alive.

'No,' Peters said. 'You don't stay alive in the Cantard if you're the slave of your vices.'

True. Though vice had been rampant in places like Full Harbor, where we'd taken our rare leaves and liberties. A h.e.l.lhole for a kid, Full Harbor. But you learned what life was like there. You had no illusions when you left.

Karenta hadn't yet evacuated Full Harbor, though Glory Mooncalled said they had to go. His deadline had pa.s.sed. Something would happen down there soon. A really big explosion. And Glory Mooncalled wouldn't have his usual advantages. You can't outrun, out-maneuver, or even sneak up on a fortified city waiting for you. I doubted he had friends inside the walls. His enemies there would include Karenta's top sorcerers, against whom he had no defense.

I didn't think he could take Full Harbor. But he had to try. He'd shot off his mouth one time too many. He was committed.

The fate of Full Harbor meant nothing now, of course. We had our own siege here, a siege of horror.

Peters's group split to make sure the house hadn't been penetrated. The rest of us stayed at the fountain, in reserve. After a while, I asked, 'Dellwood, what do you figure on doing after the General pa.s.ses?'

He looked at me funny. 'I never really thought about it, Mr. Garrett.'

That was hard to believe. I said so.

Wayne chuckled. 'Believe it, Garrett. This guy isn't real. He ain't here for the money. He's here to take care of the old man.'

'Really? And why are you here?'

'Three things. The money. I got nowhere else to go. And Jennifer.'

I lifted an eyebrow. I hadn't gotten much chance to show off my favorite trick lately. 'The General's daughter?'

'The same. I want her.'

Pretty blunt, this one. 'What's the General think?'

'I don't know. I never brought it up. I don't intend to before he goes.'

'What do you plan to do with your share of the money?'

'Nothing. Let it sit. I won't need it if I have Jenny, will I?'

No, he wouldn't.

'Which is why I ain't your killer, Mister. I don't have to skrag anybody to get half the estate.'

A point. 'What's Jennifer think about this?' She hadn't shown any interest in Wayne.

'Straight? She ain't exactly swept away. But she ain't got no other offers and she ain't likely to get none. When the time comes, she'll come around.'

What an att.i.tude. He sounded like a guy who could work his way up a hit list fast.

'What do you think about that, Dellwood?'

'Not much, sir. But Miss Jennifer will need somebody.'

'How about you?'

'No sir. I haven't the force of personality to deal with her. Not to mention the fact that she isn't a very pleasant person.'

'Really?' I was about to probe that when Wayne jumped up and pointed.

There was a vague shape at the back door, not clearly visible through the gla.s.s. It rattled the door. I figured it was Morley. I walked toward the door slowly. Make him wait.

Halfway there a face pressed against the gla.s.s. I was able to make out decomposed features. I stopped.

'Another one. Don't panic. I don't think it can get in. If it does, stay out of its way.' I returned to the fountain, settled, disturbed but not afraid. The draugs weren't particularly dangerous when you were ready for them.

One in a night was unpleasant enough, but not that unreasonable-except for the a.s.sault on reason. In this world almost anything can happen and it does, but I'd never seen the dead get up and walk before. I'd never known anybody who'd seen it-unless you counted vampires. But they're a whole different story. They're victims of a disease. And they never really die, they just slip into a kind of limbo between life and death.

Once was unpleasant, twice was doubly unpleasant, but three times was just too much to have been animated by hatred and hunger for revenge alone. Not all in the same night.

Ma.s.s risings of the dead, in story and legend, were initiated from outside, by necromancers. By sorcerers.

'Hey, uh, Dellwood. Anybody around here a trained sorcerer? Or even an amateur?'

'No sir.' He frowned. 'Why?'

I lied. 'I thought we could use a little help laying some restless spirits.'

'Snake,' Wayne said. 'He could do some spooky stuff. Picked it up from a necromancer. He was her chief bodyguard for a while. He painted her picture and she taught him some tricks.' He snickered. Must have been a variety of tricks. 'He wasn't much good at it.'

'And he's dead.'

'Yeah. That's how you get off the hook around here.'