Underbelly (40 page)

“
Any sane woman would. Try not to be as clumsy in future,” Germaine whispered back, walking away from him to pull a chair back for Grey to sit on.

“
Thank you, ma’am. I’ll have to call in more often with wonderful service like that. I’ve got a fair bit to update you on – I warn you now it’s not too pleasant. There’s a lot of deaths.”

“
We expected that it would end badly, I can take it.” She didn’t know the people he described and even those that she built up a good picture of were historical figures rather than friends. What he had to tell her might sadden her, but it wasn’t going to emotionally wound her. She was intrigued and looked forward to hearing more, aware that he wouldn’t tell her at work (and with JD lurking in the background like a jilted lover, eavesdropping to every word, she didn’t want him to).

When Germaine went through the back to wash her hands and get her coat, JD came across to Grey’s table and said, “You won’t thank me for this buddy, but if it was my wife I’d want someone to tell me. She’s seeing someone else.”

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You’re mistaken,” Grey said with certainty.

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I’ve seen her with him, a French guy.”

Grey’s gut told him that this man was not mistaken; he was intentionally lying to make trouble for Germaine, or to split them up and seize her for himself and he said, “I don’t want to see you in here again.”

“
You’re a fool to yourself. She’s tried it on with me and others too.”

Grey smiled angrily as he stood up and he said, “I was trying to be nice, but you’ve managed to provoke me. Congratulations. Let’s go,” Grey said, JD following him out of the front door where they began fighting, Germaine’s honour one of the few things that he thought worth fighting for. Grey understood Logar as it felt good to him as his fists pounded into JD’s face, as he thought back to the striker who had blindsided him outside the factory, to Stratt’s goons who had pummelled him in front of his wife. Giving in to the anger and fighting back, being the one dishing out the punishment instead of receiving it – it was immoral, perhaps, but at that moment it was enormously cathartic and made him feel damned good. After what had happened with his appendix, Grey was mindful of where he hit him, even in his temper not wishing to seriously injure him, and when JD scurried off, defeated, he made no attempt to pursue him. When Germaine saw Grey outside and saw that he was dishevelled she knew he’d been in a fight and as her brow furrowed in worry his jubilant expression made her unintentionally smile.

“
I won. Now that’s something to make a written record of!”

“
Are you okay?”

“
Yeah, he got me so steamed up that I ended it quick. You see, I can only win a fight if I’m mad. Otherwise I just don’t have the killer instinct. Put gloves on me and put me in the ring and I’d be lucky to last three rounds but have anyone dare speak ill of you and they’re goners,” he said, his body feeling alive with energy as adrenaline surged through his veins and he decided to take Germaine for a walk to burn off his excess fuel.

As they walked along arm in arm Germaine said, “You know I don’t like fighting, but I know you wouldn’t fight without a good reason and I know he would have given you one.”

“
That guy’s a complete jerk, as bad as that Pearce I’ve told you about. Has he been giving you any trouble?”

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Nothing worth mentioning.”

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If he comes back tell me.”

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I’m more interested in Logar and Dagulen than him.”

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Logar’s been telling me about Dagulen’s death today so you can tell from that that there’s no cheery news. It’s your choice if you want to know more.”

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Definitely.”

“
Okay. Three centuries passed without any major conflict between Dagulen’s brotherhood and Octavius. Logar thinks that the main reason for that was Rome’s decline, which was Octavius’ main concern. Anyway, over this extended period there’s always at least three of them watching over Octavius. Logar said that watching him from afar felt like a living death to him, boring and frustrating, being so close to him but forbidden from attacking him. They were sure that Octavius knew they were there but didn’t attack them. Logar said that Octavius flashed in their direction more than once.”

“
What does that mean?”

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I’ll show you later,” Grey said light-heartedly. The story that he was telling her was serious but that didn’t mean that he had to be deadly serious throughout its telling (though the deaths were always delivered with gravitas). “Eventually the watchers were recalled, and a week later Octavius tracked down Ida in her forest and killed her. Logar witnessed the battle in a dream a few years later and he said that Ida came close to beating him. She commanded an army of animals. Hawks, kestrels, boars, wolves, foxes, dogs, hmm…snakes, and many more. He said that she could manipulate greenery too, branches of trees, though this was less effective. Octavius fought through the animals and once they were beaten Ida was too.”

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If you know the method of death I would rather know otherwise I’ll imagine things that might be worse.”

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He killed her with his sword, a quick death. Dagulen wasn’t vengeful at her funeral – while I do respect the man I think he was wrong to be so forgiving after his wife’s murder.”

“
I agree. They didn’t really love each other though.”

“…
I think you’re right. Others wanted vengeance and the vote went against Dagulen. Most of them went to Octavius’ home – he was away on some sort of expedition – and they beat the small force that protected his property, liberated his slaves and prisoners, and took two women by force from his harem, Siena and Slene.”

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Slene? Was that the one who was married to Cassius?”

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Yep. Octavius gave her eternal life.”

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That seems odd.”

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I thought the same. Dagulen sent word to Octavius, telling him that he can have his women back if he delivers himself to them where they will perform rites on him to strip him of his powers but other than that Dagulen promises him his life and liberty. Octavius refused to allow them to dictate terms to him and he performed an arcane rite, death by imprecation, which killed Siena. Octavius knew he could bring her back and he took away their bargaining chip. Dagulen sensed the life stolen from Siena and for Siena’s sake he performed a spell ensuring that she could never be brought back again. Dagulen sought to do a protection spell on Slene to stop Octavius doing the same to her but Slene said that was unnecessary and said how she was his lover but that he only truly cared for Siena. She was loyal to Octavius but the way Logar describes it her words were a plaint, bemoaning how long life is. Octavius and his men struck fiercely and while Octavius’ men were struck down he continued, massacring Dagulen’s school. Dagulen ordered an eager to fight Logar to stay by his side and as the battle turned against them Logar tells his master to get away while he delays Octavius. Dagulen ordered Logar to leave and told him that he will handle Octavius or die trying. Logar was reluctant but Dagulen commanded him and as his student he was honour bound to obey. He was instructed to take Tole and find the Northern woman and beat Octavius. Logar did as instructed and felt the death of his master at Octavius’ hands. He dreamt of exactly what happened later and saw Dagulen die in bloody fashion at Octavius’ hands. Octavius was enraged at Dagulen who told him that he could never bring Siena back, and he was particularly brutal – and I’m not going to expand on that.”

“
I don’t think I want details but please give me an idea of how horrendous.”

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It took Logar an hour to get the words out, that’s how difficult it was for him to recount. That’s the crux of what he’s told me today. He gave me quite a few practices that they partook in too, spells which Laura will want, which I have written down, but I won’t bore you with them.”

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I doubt I’d understand them, James.”

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I certainly don’t.”

Logar returned to Grey late at night and he stayed up to talk to him, unable to tell Logar he was tired and wanted to sleep after how distressed he’d been earlier

It was strange how running made me feel. I always liked to stand my ground and fight, my pride a sin that my teachers tried to eliminate with only partial success. I loathed war but when faced with brutal evil, I became bellicose. As Octavius pursued Tole and me at length over the centuries, my feelings changed. We became tired and fearful. He had killed men who were much more powerful than us, taking them on even though they greatly outnumbered him while we fled like cowards. The second we ran, mentally, we were beaten. Sleep was infrequent and for both of us it was the sleep of the damned and we would wake up unrefreshed. We were both committed to our mission of finding the woman from the prophecy, honour bound to do this as the last request of our mentor and master but even if duty had not compelled it, survival also dictated that we find her and quickly. Octavius was not prepared to let us live.

We found Shashirekha in northern India – the prophecy was so vague that we looked in places that would generally be considered south. She looked to be around 30 and was actually as long-lived as Tole, the wise woman of her community who dispensed beneficial healing and fertility spells to the poor. She was very religious and pious and lived among the poor, in the same conditions. She wouldn’t come with us, and after a while we took our leave to search for other women, trying to gather as many as we could to increase our chances of finding the right one, the one who could obliterate him. I dreamt of Shashirekha’s demise a short time later. She was a very powerful woman, but she consciously chose not to learn destructive spells and that was her undoing – he crushed her neck within seconds.

Logar detailed several other women they tracked down, his tale of Inge intriguing him the most. Logar and Tole had found her, the consort of a Mongol warlord, and she had been too involved in the war her lover was fighting to assist them in the slightest, but she did prove hospitable to them. Logar viewed her as harmless, a little dense, unable to grasp the tremendous amount of danger she was in, and Grey told him to save his concern for the deserving, recounting his knowledge of Inge.

Even if I’d known what a monster she’d become I would have still accepted her as an ally. She would have been no worse than the woman we made our last stand alongside, Bluka. Octavius found out about the prophecy and started to draw closer to us. He killed his loyal thrall, Slene, just in case she was the woman prophesied, suffocating her during intercourse. Bluka seemed to be our last chance. She was certainly Northern, an Icelander, a tyrannical warlord who commanded a fierce force. She lived to slaughter the weak and terrorised the Vikings, amongst others.

Her assistance had to be earned. She only agreed to help us if one of us bested her in hand-to-hand combat with the conditions being that if we lost she got to slaughter us however she saw fit. We agreed to her terms and I fought her and she was a challenge. She didn’t fight what I would class as fair, and I had to fight dirty to match her and ultimately beat her. She took defeat graciously and agreed to help us against Octavius, arrogantly believing that we would soon defeat him. She looked as though she were in her early 30s and was under 60, having only recently acquired immortality, and she believed her youth gave her a huge advantage over an ancient Roman. We tried to warn her that the fight would be difficult but when someone is that purblind you give up trying after a while.

We plotted and trained together, Tole and myself turning a blind eye to the bestial acts she performed, sacrificing humans to herself in bloody fashion. Despite the cold climate she always roamed around bare-breasted, a highly sexed woman. The only complimentary thing I can say about her is that she was open about her baseness, not attempting to hide her vice. She was brave too, I suppose that’s the best thing I can say for her.

When he did come for us he had no army, nor did he need one. Her followers were dispatched with first, and then Tole, Bluka and myself surrounded him and took him on all at once. His sword penetrated Tole’s face, I was impaled on a wall by a sword through my stomach, an injury that incapacitated me but did not kill me as I got to see Octavius drown Bluka in a barrel of ale. I tried to get down but I couldn’t move and saw Octavius dig my grave. The beast bound my hands and feet before dropping me in my grave and burying me alive, gloating over his absolute victory all of the time.