The Anxiety of Kalix the Werewolf (64 page)

CHAPTER 123

The Fire Queen and her dining companions had not yet finished their first course when the Queen summoned her chief steward.

“Steward, what is this wine?”

“The light sun-grape, mighty Queen.”

The fire Queen wrinkled her nose. “Light sun-grape? Is that a suitable wine for my table? One can hardly taste it.”

“It was served at your instruction—”

“Nonsense,” the Queen interrupted him. “One cannot entertain guests with light wine fit only for children. Take it away and give it to any children who may be nearby. Then bring us some proper wine.”

“Very good, mighty Queen.”

The Queen looked round at her dining companions. “My chief steward. A good man, but sometimes becomes confused.”

As the next course was being served the chief steward hurried in with several bottles of volcano grape wine, a thick, dark red liquid.

“Splendid,” said the Fire Queen. “You will enjoy this, DeMortalis, unless the advancing years have dulled your tastes.”

“I believe I can cope,” said the Duke.

The Fire Queen looked at her chief steward. “Steward, is it not customary to have music as an accompaniment to dining with guests?”

The chief steward was alarmed. “I believe the Queen instructed that no music . . . Obviously I have made a mistake. I will summon the royal chamber orchestra.”

“Please do,” said the Fire Queen. “And bring more volcano grape, one cannot stint when there are guests.”

Outside the Queen's dining chamber the corridors were now full of servants running to round up the royal musicians. This was a potentially difficult task: given the day off, most of the orchestra would be now ensconced in the nearest tavern, and might resist any attempt to recall them.

“Are you enjoying your meal, DeMortalis?”

“It is splendid, mighty Queen.”

“Excellent. You must excuse the simple fare, Duke. As I said, I am much in need of rest, and can take no excitement. Ah, here are some of the royal musicians now. Excellent. Steward, did I not instruct you to bring more wine? Send to my cellars for the special vintage, the Duke is in need of a pick-me-up.”

The Fire Queen looked at the Duke. “Where is Garamlock?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The Prince. Is he not always in your entourage? How are we to play cards if you have no partner.”

The Duke of the Black Castle, not until now looking as if he required a pick-me-up, did look a little puzzled.

“I understood there was to be no card-playing . . .”

“Really, Gargamond,” said the Fire Queen. “One might almost be disappointed with the Duke. Here he is, drinking light wine, and unwilling to risk his hand at a game of cards. It is not like you, Duke. I fear age must be catching up.”

The Duke sent a servant out hastily to fetch the Dead Prince of Garamlock.

The Queen looked around for her chief steward. “Steward, this dessert is unsatisfactory. When I asked for a light meal I did not mean I should be brushed off with a sandwich. Kindly rectify matters.”

“Yes, mighty Queen,” said the steward.

Some time later, while studying her cards, the Fire Queen was annoyed to have her concentration broken by a tap on her shoulder.

“What's this?” She looked with displeasure at her young page. “Can you not see I am busy playing cards with the Duke?”

The page bent down to whisper in the Fire Queen's ear. “You asked me to interrupt if the game went on too long.”

“So?” said the Queen. “I have hardly sat down to play.”

“Dawn is breaking,” whispered the page. “You've been playing for six hours.”

The Fire Queen waved him away. “Stop talking nonsense. And then bring wine.”

She turned to the Duke. “These young pages, always fussing. Your turn to deal, I believe, Garamlock.”

The Prince shuffled the cards with a look of intense concentration, the same look he'd worn for the past two hours since the cards had turned in Malveria's favor and she'd starting winning money from him. There was a huge stack of gold coins at her elbow, and a similar sized pile beside her partner Gruselvere. DeMortalis and Garamlock had both suffered heavy losses, and had been obliged to send servants to fetch more gold.

“I trust the Queen is enjoying her rest,” said DeMortalis.

“One is tremendously rested,” replied the Queen. “Did I tell you how well you are looking, DeMortalis? Your new hairstyle quite disguises your age.”

DeMortalis, a man of ready wit, thought immediately of several good replies he could have made to this, but restrained himself. The Queen's age was not something that could be talked about lightly.

“It has met with some appreciation.”

“From kitchen maids everywhere, I imagine,” said the Fire Queen. Gargamond laughed.

“The stories of my adventures with kitchen maids are greatly exaggerated,” said the Duke.

The Fire Queen laughed. “If it wasn't for your dalliance with Gargamond's kitchen maid you'd never have been near the volcano on the day of Distikka's rebellion.”

“And fortunate it was that I was there,” said the Duke. “Defending the nation while the Queen was absent.”

“Absent?”

“As I recall, I held the volcano while the Queen was trapped in limbo.”

“Arriving just in time to prevent the Duke from being roasted by a dragon, as I recall,” said Malveria, good-naturedly. “But one does appreciate your efforts, DeMortalis. As did my council of ministers, who discussed awarding you a campaign medal.”

“A medal?”

“Yes,” said the Queen. “A splendid device of flaming gold. It would have looked very fine on your chest.”

“What happened to it?”

“I vetoed the idea. As I said to my council, the Duke of the Black Castle thinks well enough of himself without making it worse by awarding him medals.”

“I appreciate your thoughts, mighty Queen.”

The Fire Queen smiled. “Garamlock, are you ever going to deal the cards? And where is the page with my wine?”

The Duke picked up his cards. “My lead, I believe? Let us see if the Queen's good fortune can continue.”

“I feel it can,” said the Queen.

She concentrated on her cards, as did her companion Duchess Gargamond, who thought that the Fire Queen was enjoying herself more than she had for a long time, even to the extent of allowing a faint tinge of happiness to be visible in her aura. It was poor etiquette to display one's aura in public, but here, in her private wing, the Fire Queen seemed a little more relaxed.

“Is that another hand to me?” said the Queen. “Excellent. Ah, here is the wine at last. Pay up, DeMortalis, and deal the cards again.”

CHAPTER 124

There was anxiety and confusion at the Avenaris Guild as news spread that the werewolves had learned their location. The board of directors went into emergency session. Once more, Mr. Carmichael found himself on the receiving end of some fierce criticism. It was he who'd encouraged the Guild to ally itself with Empress Kabachetka.

“And now she's sold us out!” Mr. Dale was irate. “I knew we couldn't trust these elementals.”

“The Empress has not sold us out,” retorted Mr. Carmichael.

“Then how else could the werewolves have found us? This building has been completely untraceable for hundreds of years. It's a ‘House That Can't Be Found.'”

“We should never have let that elemental Distikka visit the premises,” said Mr. Hofmann. “As head of security I advised against it.”

Mr. Hofmann, a graying ex-commando, was responsible for protecting the Guild's headquarters, and was livid that their location had been betrayed. There was anger all round the table. The only member of the
board not to join in was John, Mr. Carmichael's son.

“We don't know it was anything to do with the Empress,” he said. “Perhaps the problem is that we underestimated the MacRinnalchs. Maybe they just found us in some way we can't guess.”

“Preposterous.” Mr. Dale, head of northern operations, was dismissive. “There must have been treachery somewhere.”

Despite the criticism directed toward Mr. Carmichael, there was no attempt to remove him from his position. It was not the right time for an acrimonious change of leadership. Preparations had to be made, and no one else could marshal the resources of the Guild in such an efficient manner as the present chairman. He finally managed to bring the meeting to some sort of order.

“Gentlemen, it's happened, and we have to deal with it. We need to know how the werewolves might attack and when they're going to attack. Then we can make plans.”

Mr. Evans, who still had ambitions to be chairman himself, was not quite prepared to let the matter drop. He aimed a few more words of criticism at Mr. Carmichael, but he also admitted that Mr. Peters, his second-in-command in intelligence, hadn't taken the news so badly.

“Peters says he's looking forward to it. He thinks we can annihilate them as they enter the building.”

A few other board members reported similar reactions from their staff. Some of the younger hunters didn't think it was such a disaster that the werewolves were going to attack. The Guild would be ready, and would slaughter them.

“We should be able to slaughter them,” said John. “If we know when they're coming.”

“Distikka assures me they can monitor the MacRinnalchs and give us warning,” said Mr. Carmichael.

“How do they plan to enter the building?” asked Mr. Able, who worked in the armaments department. He was something of a historian, and knew a lot about the Guild's history. “The ‘House That Can't Be Found' can't be penetrated by sorcery. What are they going to do? Knock on the front door?”

It was a reasonable point. Even if the werewolves knew where they were, it wasn't obvious how they could attack. They couldn't possibly risk gathering outside the building, not as werewolves anyway.

“They'd have to rush in the door, and then transform. We'd kill them all the moment they entered.”

“What about the roof? The walls?”

“They can't get in by sorcery. Are they really going to risk using some sort of explosive? It doesn't seem likely.”

“I don't see any obvious way of attack either,” agreed Mr. Carmichael. “But I think it's certain there will be one. Mr. Hofmann, have your security department assess the building immediately. Check for any possible means of entry. Mr. Able, we'll need extra armaments, and quickly.”

“I have an appointment with Merchant MacDoig tomorrow.”

“Good. Mr. Dale, we'll need your northern unit to concentrate on gathering intelligence. We need to know when this attack is happening. John, get Group Sixteen back here immediately. From now on they stay in the building, on guard duty. How many new hunters did we put in the hotel?”

“Eight.”

“Good. We're almost back up to full strength. Get them into training right away.”

By the end of the meeting, much of the confusion and anxiety had dissipated. If the MacRinnalchs had gained a temporary advantage, it was one that would rapidly backfire on them. The Avenaris Guild was an ancient and proud organization and it was not about to surrender. If the werewolves dared to attack its headquarters, the Guild would annihilate them.

John remained behind after the other board members had gone. “That went better than I expected,” he said.

“I suppose we can see it as an opportunity, regrettable though it is,” said his father. “You're going to be busy in the training rooms.”

“I've already started booking everyone in for the afternoon.”

“Why not right away?”

“I promised I'd meet Manny for lunch.”

Mr. Carmichael was not pleased to hear this. “Manny? You should cancel it.”

“I don't want to cancel. He's upset about some girl. He sounded very down.”

“Manny's upset over a girl? That's hardly a reason to delay training.”

“It's only for an hour. I promised I'd see him.”

Mr. Carmichael shook his head. “I know you like to look after Manny, John, but there are priorities. Well, make it quick. And don't bring him close to this building, not at a time like this.”

“Don't worry, I won't.”

John departed. His father was dissatisfied but didn't dwell on it as there was so much to do. It was a long time since Mr. Carmichael had
been in active service. Like several other senior board members, he found himself quite excited by the prospect of seeing action again.

CHAPTER 125

Kalix remained in her room, hoping that Moonglow and Daniel wouldn't force their way in and insist on talking.

They always want to talk about things. I don't want to talk. At least Vex isn't around to say something annoying
.