Martin Millar - Lonely Werewolf Girl (31 page)

Dominil looked round the living room.

"Whatever you want to salvage from this mess, I advise you to
take to your rooms and store safely. The cleaners will be here shortly."

"Cleaners?"

"You cannot focus on anything while living in this sorry
wasteland. I have engaged some cleaners to rectify matters. They will
be here in thirty minutes so I advise you to get busy."

Beauty and Delicious protested vigorously. Dominil was unmoved.

"You now have twenty-nine minutes. I estimate that the
cleansing of this house will take most of the day but we can use the
time well. You can take me to the venues in which you wish to play."

"But it's raining outside."

"You are werewolves of the MacRinnalch Clan. Nieces of the
late Thane. You can stand a little rain. It's necessary for you to show
me these places in order that I may procure gigs for you."

"Gigs? Aren't you going a bit fast here?"

"No," said Dominil. "You assure me that you are fine
musicians. Tomorrow you will be rehearsing with other musicians with
whom you are already familiar. I have been reading about the bands you
told me you admire, and it seems to be a common thread that they did
not rehearse for an overly long time before placing their music before
the public. To do so, I understand, can lead to a certain staleness,
which is to be avoided. John Lydon was particularly insistent on this
point. Now you really must make ready for the cleaners."

86

Many werewolves and men now hunted for the lonely werewolf
girl. Sarapen wanted her dead and sent the cunning and far-sighted
Decem-brius to London to find her. Markus, feeling that it would be
good to know where Kalix was, dispatched his trusted lieutenant Gregor
to search for her, though he did not tell his mother that he'd done
this. Meanwhile the Avenaris Guild redoubled their efforts. Mr
Carmichael made it his highest priority. He was determined that his
organisation should not be beaten to the task by Mr Mikulanec.
Mikulanec himself prowled the streets, the Begravar knife in his
pocket. So far Kalix had eluded him, but the knife would tell him when
she was close. Mikulanec had a strong suspicion that the werewolf girl
was now hidden from the world in some way with which he was not
familiar. Nonetheless, he remained confident. The knife would not let
him down.

Against these enemies Kalix had only Thrix to protect her, and
Thrix was an unwilling guardian. Today Kalix's anxiety was less but she
was still very suspicious of Daniel and Moonglow. After passing out at
the doorway she'd found herself back in front of the fire, wrapped in
her quilt. Now Kalix was wondering what these humans wanted from her.
It was very strange the way they kept wrapping her in a quilt and
giving her a hot water bottle. Various ideas of what might be behind it
flitted through her mind. They might be being paid by her mother to
watch her till she was brought back to the castle. They might be in the
employ of one of her hated brothers. What if they were being paid by
the Guild to lull her into a false sense of security before handing her
over to be killed?

Kalix examined and rejected all these ideas but couldn't help
feeling it was a bad idea to remain here. But she was warm and
comfortable and though she cursed herself for her weakness she just
couldn't bring herself to leave again right away. She'd taken too much
laudanum for one thing, gorging herself on the new bottle, and her
senses were very dull. She felt a shadow fall across her and looked up
to find Daniel standing over her with a mug in his hand.

"Do you want tea?"

Kalix shook her head.

"How are you feeling?"

Kalix refused to answer. She had already given these humans
too much information. Daniel put the tea down and sat beside her. He
asked her if she'd like to hear some music. She shook her head.

"Is there anything we can do to make you feel better? Do you
want another pillow?"

Kalix regarded him suspiciously. She wondered if he might be
trying to have sex with her. She'd experienced offers of hospitality
from men on these terms before. She made ready to fight him off.

Daniel was unaware of Kalix's suspicions. Last night she had
been far more friendly, and he didn't realise that Kalix's moods could
oscillate so wildly in a short space of time. So he spoke to her as if
nothing was wrong, apart from her again being ill.

"Me and Moonglow will clear out the small room tonight and
then you can move in there. I've got a little CD player you can have.
We don't have a spare TV unfortunately but maybe we could find one. Are
you sure you don't want this tea?"

Kalix raised herself on one elbow and looked him directly in
the eye.

"Why do you keep trying to help me?" she demanded.

Daniel was surprised. It seemed like a difficult question to
answer.

"I don't know," he said, and shrugged. "Just because we like
you, I suppose."

"Is someone paying you?"

This made Daniel laugh.

"Of course not. Who would pay us?"

Kalix looked unhappy. Daniel fell silent. Given the amount
they'd done to help her, he might have been justified in thinking that
this was a very ungrateful werewolf. Daniel didn't really think this.
There was something so pathetic about the skinny girl that he couldn't
help wanting to assist her.

"Are you going to stay with us now?" he asked.

"No," said Kalix.

"Oh. That's a pity. I was hoping you might help me persuade
Moon-glow to get cable TV."

"What?"

"Moonglow is a fine woman in almost every way, but she does
have this irrational dislike of television. It's criminal the way she
refused that gift from her mother. If you stay around we might be able
to work on her, you know, gang up till she gives in." Daniel smiled.
"So really, I need you here."

Kalix was quite surprised at the thought of helping someone.
It was a long time since she'd done that.

"I'm not staying," said Kalix.

"All right," said Daniel. "We'll miss you."

"No you won't."

"You're right, we won't. After all, who wants a nasty clumsy
werewolf cluttering up the place, particularly one who likes really bad
music like the Runaways?"

Kalix's eyes widened.

"The Runaways are not - "

She stopped. She realised that Daniel was joking. It was such
a strange feeling to have someone joking with her. She couldn't
remember when that had last happened. Despite herself, she smiled, then
tried to erase it quickly so Daniel didn't see.

"I'm leaving right away," she said, but made no attempt to get
up.

87

Verasa, Markus, Rainal and several trusted advisors sat in the
outer room of Verasa's chambers. It was the room she used for her
private conferences and in homage to this there was a painting on the
wall by Velasquez of two ambassadors. This was one of the finest
pictures by Velasquez in private hands, and did not appear in any of
the standard lists of the painter's works.

"I did not expect Sarapen to do this. Not so suddenly anyway,"
admitted Verasa.

"It seems that Sarapen didn't even attempt to negotiate with
Baron MacAllister before removing him," said Rainal.

According to the MacAllister Clan, their Baron had tragically
lost his life after accidentally falling from the highest part of the
east wall of his keep. The Baron had been on his own at the time, in
human form, and had been killed instantly. The Baron's eldest son had
now sorrowfully acceded to the leadership of his clan.

No one in Castle MacRinnalch believed this story for a minute.
The old Baron had obviously been murdered, probably by agents of
Sarapen.

"The Baron's son will now join the Great Council," said Rainal.

"But surely he won't vote for Sarapen? A werewolf who just
killed his father?"

Verasa made a genteel noise of derision.

"Rainal, you're being naive. The Baron's son was in on the
assassination."

"How can you know that?"

"Because the MacAllister keep is a strong place with high
walls. Sarapen's werewolves couldn't have entered without help from the
inside. It's obvious that young MacAllister decided his best interests
lie in siding with Sarapen."

Each werewolf had a decanter of whisky before them. Verasa
sipped hers slowly as her advisors considered her words. There was an
air of shock around the castle as the werewolves realised that war had
now begun.

"Sarapen is trying to bring matters to an end quickly," said
Markus. "He gains the vote of the new Baron by this action and is
hoping it will intimidate others."

"He doesn't need much more intimidation," pointed out Rainal.
"If the new Baron votes for him, Sarapen will have seven votes. If
Sarapen kills Kalix then Dulupina will give him her vote. And Kalix's
death will open the way for Decembrius which will give him the required
tally of nine."

Consternation showed on the faces of Verasa's advisors. All
Sarapen had to do was remove Kalix and the Thaneship was his. They did
not relish the thought, not after they had thrown in their lot with
Markus. Everyone looked to Verasa for guidance.

"I've provided Kalix with protection. And I've taken other
measures. Don't forget, Kalix is not the only werewolf whose vote is
still unsecured."

"Are you referring to Butix and Delix?" asked Rainal. "I must
say it seems very unlikely to me that we'll ever see them at the castle
again."

"It seems likely to me that we shall," countered Verasa.

"I had six votes at the last meeting," said Markus. "If you
could somehow succeed in bringing the twins that would give me eight.
Which means…"

Markus paused.

"Which mean what?" said Verasa.

"Which means that if we ourselves were to deal with Kalix, Dulupina would add her vote to these eight, giving me the
Thaneship."

Verasa took Markus's suggestion calmly though in truth she was
not at all pleased.

"It will not be necessary for us to assassinate my youngest
daughter."

"I didn't say we should," protested Markus. "Dulupina may be
satisfied if she were merely returned and incarcerated."

"I doubt that very much," said Verasa. "Dulupina is set in her
ways. Leave the gaining of votes to me, Markus. Don't forget, there are
others in the castle on whom we may bring pressure to bear."

"Kurian and his brood? Nothing will persuade them to change
their minds."

"Who knows what may happen to change their minds?" said the
Mistress of the Werewolves.

Later that night Verasa received a second piece of bad news.
Beneath the south tower of the castle was a vault in which the clan
kept various private relics. One of these was the banner the
MacRinnalchs had carried into battle at Bannockburn. The clan believed
that this was the only remaining standard which had been present in
1314, when Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland, defeated Edward I of
England. Another precious relic was the axe belonging to MacDoig
MacRinnalch, who had fought a pitched battle with Danish Vikings in
1172, and driven them from the family lands. The Vikings had come to
rule much of the surrounding country but had never ruled over the
werewolves.

Also in the vault was the Begravar knife, brought back by the
werewolf knight Gerrant Gawain MacRinnalch, after he had travelled
overseas with the Black Douglas. When Douglas died in Jerusalem,
Gerrant MacRinnalch travelled on to the far off lands of the biblical
Mesopotamia, where the ancient cities of Sumeria had emerged on the
plains more than four thousand years ago. There, Gerrant had come
across the Begravar knife, taking it from a Persian Knight who had a
reputation as a killer of shape changers. No one knew what the shape
changers of ancient Sumeria had been like, but the MacRinnalchs
believed they had been in some ways similar to themselves, and may even
have been their ancestors. Certainly the Begravar knife was as
effective against werewolves as it had been against any ancient shape
changer. It was virtually impossible to kill a werewolf with a normal
blade, but a cut from the Begravar knife was fatal. Whoever made the
knife had given it properties that had kept it sharp and deadly
throughout all its long history.

It was no longer in the vault. Verasa was astonished. No one
could enter the vault but her. She had the only set of keys. For a
while she simply could not believe that it had disappeared, and looked
round the small stone chamber as if it might somehow have been mislaid.
It was not there. Someone had taken it. She checked the lock. It was
undamaged. If anyone had entered it could only have been with a
duplicate key. Verasa wore the key on a chain which she kept round her
neck and no one could have taken it without her noticing. The Mistress
of the Werewolves was baffled. Her suspicions fell on Sarapen, and she
was troubled at the thought of him now having the Begravar knife.

88

Thrix picked up the latest copy of Elle from the reception
desk and flicked it open in the lift up to her floor. When she arrived
at work she had been feeling rather depressed. By the time the elevator
doors were sliding open she was in a rage.

"Ann!" she yelled. "My office!"

Ann hurried after her. Thrix threw the magazine down on the
desk and let out a growl that could not have come from a human throat.
She pointed to a page in the magazine, a photo of a young model wearing
a pretty and elegant white summer dress.

"I designed that!" yelled Thrix. "And I haven't shown it yet!
It was meant to be new for the show in Milan. Someone's stolen my work!"

Thrix paced around her desk, extremely agitated, and then she
did something which startled Ann. It would have startled anyone, even a
member of the MacRinnalch Clan. She transformed into a werewolf, though
it was daylight outside. Thrix threw back her head and howled in fury.
Ann rushed to lock the door. No one else knew that Thrix was a werewolf
and it seemed unwise to advertise it to the world. The Enchantress
growled a few more times then transformed back into human form.