Honor among thieves

Chapter Ninety-Two

Morg was no fool.

He would have heard some of the murmurs in the camp. Of late it had become open talk-how could he have not heard it? Though still the chieftains turned their faces away and fell silent when he came near, he must understand it would not always be that way. A challenge was coming.

Morget watched his father’s tent all day, endeavoring to be no fool himself. He watched as those most loyal to the Great Chieftain found excuses to always be near the tent. Morgain went into the tent early in the day, coming quickly as if she’d been summoned. She left again a few moments later, fury twisting her face, striking out at every man who got in her way. She did not return, but always there were berserkers and loyal chieftains standing around, warming themselves by the fire Morg kept, drinking his mead. Even those with specific duties elsewhere-those tasked with finding more stones for the trebuchets, those who were stationed to watch the walls of the besieged city, looking for signs of new defenses-found time to come around and joke with Hurlind, or feed morsels to Morg’s filthy hound.

And always-always-there was Torki, the Great Chieftain’s champion, standing like an oak tree before the flap of the tent. Torki with his burnt face and his massive double-bladed battle-axe. Torki did not move. He did not smile when Hurlind made jest of him. He did not drink when the mead horn was passed around.

He only stood, and waited.

“If you don’t strike soon,” Balint told Morget, “you’ll lose your chance. Morg’s smarter than a crow sitting on a gallows tree. He’ll find some way to convince the chieftains his way is the right way.”

“They’ve grown tired of this waiting game,” Morget insisted. “They are ready for action.”

“They’re bored, and looking for some passing diversion,” Balint said. “If you don’t provide it, someone else will. They’ll back your throw only if it promises them some reward. Morg can make promises, too.”

Morget roared and grabbed her up off the pile of furs. “Shouldn’t you be building another trebuchet right now?”

“Why?” she asked as he dangled her in the air. She was no coward, he had to admit. “There aren’t enough stones for the three we have.”

He dropped the dwarf and went to sharpen his axe again, even though it was already keen enough to cut through steel.

Night came quickly, and with it snow. Huge soft flakes filled the air and collected everywhere, danced in the guttering flames of the camp’s many fires, collected in beards and on hair. The temperature dropped to the point where even barbarians wanted to be inside and away from the wind. Suddenly the berserkers and loyal chieftains weren’t crowding around Morg’s tent so thickly anymore. Hurlind went to fetch his master’s dinner.

“This is the moment!” Balint urged. “If you keep anything in those breeches at all, you’ll do it now.”

“I don’t need your advice,” Morget insisted, and kicked at her. She managed to roll away before he broke her in half.

Torki was still there, his face that of a frost giant, his battle-axe white with rime.

It didn’t matter. Morget had bested the man before. He threw his own axe down, unbuckled his sword belt and dropped it as well. Then he stepped out into the storm.

Torki didn’t move until Morget was within striking range. Then he only shifted on his feet and opened his mouth to speak. “The Great Chieftain is busy,” he said.

“I have a right to speak with him at any time,” Morget insisted.

“Not even chieftains may bother their leader when he takes his meals,” Torki said.

“But sons may,” Morget said. “Look at me. I am unarmed.” He threw open his furs to show that he carried nothing more deadly then a belt knife. Then he grabbed for the flap of Morg’s tent and tried to step inside.

The flat of Torki’s axe caught him in the ribs and sent him sprawling. “For my next blow, I use the edge,” the champion said. And then he went back to standing still as a stone, waiting for Morget to try again.

“A son has rights to his father’s house!” Morget shrieked. And then he threw himself at the champion.

Torki had not attained his post for being slow, or for flinching from combat. The battle-axe came up faster than Morget had expected and swung for his neck. Morget dodged to the side even as Torki started to recover and brace himself for another blow.

An axe that big, that heavy, could cut a man in half-even a man as thick and sinewy as Morget. It was a slow weapon, though, and its momentum was not easily checked. Morget let Torki start his second stroke-then moved slightly to his left and punched Torki in the nose as hard as he was able.

Blood spurted down the champion’s face. Torki barely flinched. Barely, but enough. Morget ducked low and got his shoulder into the champion’s armpit. He brought his fists together and hammered downward with them on Torki’s hand where it held the axe. The bones there cracked audibly and the axe fell into the snow. Still Torki didn’t cry out.

After that it became a wrestling match, and Morget had been winning those since he was six years old. Torki tried to grab Morget’s belt, perhaps intending to throw him to the ground, but Morget spun around him and threw an arm around the champion’s neck.

A crowd had begun to gather-made of equal parts of Morg’s reavers and Morget’s own loyal chieftains. None of them rushed to Torki’s defense. They only stood there in the blowing snow, watching with wide eyes. Morget studied the crowd, looking for Morgain, but didn’t find her.

Good. She could ruin everything with a word or a single blow. He hoped she was far, far away.

Torki fought valiantly as Morget squeezed down on his windpipe. The champion bashed and scratched at Morget’s flesh, but Morget could take a little pain and blood. Little by little he felt Torki’s life draining away as the champion struggled for air that wouldn’t come.

Torki fought for long minutes, his face purple, the veins on his neck and shoulders standing out and then popping one by one. Morget squeezed ever harder, until he heard vertebrae crack inside the champion’s neck. Only then did he let go.

Panting a little, sweating under his fur cloak, he made eye contact with as many men in the crowd as he dared. He challenged them all to step forward, but none did. Then he picked up the fallen battle-axe and stormed inside the tent.

Inside, Morg sat naked on his furs, feeding morsels to the pathetic dog. When the Great Chieftain looked up and saw Morget standing there, he patted the dog’s back and told it to run off. Looking confused, the animal darted between Morget’s legs and out into the snow.

“Look me in the eye,” Morget said.

Morg yawned and stretched his arms over his head. Had he been sleeping all day? He looked utterly unconcerned for a man who was about to die.

“The clans have spoken,” Morget told him.

Morg simply nodded. He poured himself a horn of mead and drank deep.

How many times had he dreamed of this moment? As a child, growing up in this man’s shadow, he’d envisioned it a million times. As he grew into manhood he’d realized how difficult it could be-how wily an opponent Morg was. As a chieftain he had given it true and serious thought. He had planned it out thoroughly. Seen it from all angles. He had never doubted for a second that this appointment would come. That he would be the one to take his father’s life.

In those daydreams, Morg had always pleaded for mercy. He had begged to be exiled, which was the worst fate a warrior of the clans could imagine. Or sometimes he had looked on his son with approval, knowing this was just. Rarely, in his imaginings, Morg would pause to impart some secret wisdom. An answer to a question Morget could only ask himself in dreams:

Where does my rage end? What is its purpose?

Morget hesitated. The axe grew heavy in his hands. He could feel events conspiring around him, could feel the gathered clans outside drawing a collective breath. He stalled for time.

“Morgain came in here earlier. She did not like what you told her.”

Morg spoke for the first time. “I told her I loved her.”

Morget’s blood hissed in his veins. Love? Love was not something a Great Chieftain expressed to his chieftains-or to his children. It was what he spoke of to his thrall concubines. Perhaps to his horse.

“I told her I was proud of her, and that I loved her.” Morg sighed. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to say, though I knew she would take it hard. And she did. But now, when it’s come to this-I can think only of myself. Enough! Who else is there that I should think of now? And soon, I will cease thinking even of my own petty sufferings. Death will take away all my concerns. It will leave me at peace, something I’ve always wished for. It’s odd, I never considered that before. So many years searching for a calm place in the storm of life. And here, now, I find it.”

“What-of me?” Morget asked. He could not frame the words properly.

“Make sense, boy.”

Morget scowled and grunted and thumped himself hard on the chest. “You had words for her. Do you have any for me?”

Morg looked up at him then, with eyes as deep as oceans. There was nothing there but wisdom, not anymore. Morg the Wise, they called him. For the first time in his life Morget thought he understood what that meant. The torment of it. What horrors had Morg seen in his time? Bad enough to watch a thousand men die. But understanding it-understanding everything. What greater curse could there be?

“You have a wyrd on you, boy.”

The word could mean many things. It could mean destiny, or it could mean doom. In the language of the barbarians there was very little distance between those concepts. It meant a driving fate, a power that possessed a man and made him do things others would go white to even imagine. Things that would destroy him-and make his name glorious.

“You think I don’t know that?” Morget asked.

“You want wisdom now? From me? Why do I owe you that? Don’t answer. I know the answer. You’ll say that you are my son.” Morg nodded to himself. “And you’ll be right. Very well.”

Morget took a step closer. He did not put the axe down.

“Here: take this message, as you please, and use it as you see fit. Morget Mountainslayer, you will not be able to stop yourself. You are too weak to defeat your own strength. Someone else must stop you, and you should hope they do it soon.”

Morget screamed in rage. “You give me riddles, like a scold!”

“Some truths,” Morg said, “cannot be made clear. They must be lived to make sense. Now.”

“What?” Morget demanded.

“Do it now. Before you lose the stomach for it. Now, while you hate me! I could not bear you to love me when you do this thing!”

Red light burst behind Morget’s eyes as the axe came down. And down again. And again. He did not swing it like a blade, but dropped it like a hammer, over and over, sometimes the edge catching on flesh, sometimes the flat smashing against bone.

When it was done the red ruin on Morg’s furs was not a man at all, but raw meat.

Morget plunged his hands into the gore and used his father’s blood to paint his face. Berserkers painted half their face red, because they were mad only half the time. Morget covered his shaved scalp, the back of his neck, plugged his ears with blood. It still was not enough.

Outside the tent the cold air could not touch him. The snow turned to steam when it tried to land on his face or hands.

He was aware of people all around him, of gasping mouths and staring eyes, but they seemed unconnected to him. They did not seem to matter. He thought of something. “The dog,” he said. His father had loved that dog. The dog had loved Morg back. Was that what Morg wanted from his children? He would not let Morg have that, not even in death. “Find the dog. Bring me its skin, so I may wear it around my neck, and every man know what I’ve done!”

If anyone responded he did not hear them.

He went back to his own tent, blind to the whole world, knowing nothing but fury.

He threw himself upon his furs and waited for his rage to cool. When he could finally talk again without shouting, he turned to look at Balint.

“At dawn you will do your worst. If even my father’s blood cannot cool my brow, I will have this city for consolation. Whatever devious scheme your black heart can concoct, I will make it happen.”

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” she told him, her voice low and husky. “You just made me happier than a nine-month’s pregnant girl on her wedding day.”