14. Elric
14
ELRIC
E lric watches Lukas race over to Red Wolf on the ground.
Inga is already kneeling beside her brother. Staring down at him in horrible silence. Even from some distance away, Elric can see it looks bad. Red Wolf has a ragged belly wound and another on his thigh bleeding heavily. The rope attached to Elric’s wrists is trailing on the ground. Elric feels strange at the loss of being held by Lukas. But Lukas doesn’t even look back at him.
When Lukas reaches Inga he kneels beside her, scooping up the fretful Marko and holding her close.
Elric hangs back, watching as Lukas leans over Red Wolf. He watches Lukas pull his silver mirror pendant out of his shirt and use it to check for Red Wolf’s breath. A moment later Lukas nods to Inga. Elric can see the mirror is fogged. Red Wolf is still living. But for how long? There is so much blood. Those are mortal wounds.
Inga takes Red Wolf’s hand.
But Elric realises with a sick feeling that neither Lukas or Inga are trying to help him. They both know there’s nothing to be done except hold him.
After a moment Inga drops Red Wolf’s hand, jumps up from the ground and runs across the grassland. Elric is surprised she is leaving the side of her dying brother, then realises she has gone after the horse that is wandering around, seeming confused. Inga catches its trailing reins and swings up onto its back.
Red Wolf lifts a limp hand to Lukas’s face. He seems to be saying something, but it's too weak for Elric to hear. His glassy eyes look past Lukas and for a tiny moment, Red Wolf is looking right at Elric. Lukas leans down closer so Red Wolf can whisper in his ear. Elric goes a little cold to see it. Could Red Wolf be using his last breath to tell Lukas the secret he was so scared Elric would betray? Could he be telling Lukas of Elric’s part in Red Wolf’s treachery? That Elric knew Red Wolf’s secrets? Elric is not close enough to hear. He supposes he’ll find out soon enough if Red Wolf told Lukas the truth when Lukas slashes his throat open.
When Lukas sits up again he looks quite pale. But he doesn’t look at Elric.
As Inga rides over on the horse, Lukas says, “What’s that for?” He seems almost confused by the idea of a horse.
“It’s a good beast,” Inga says, leaning down to pat the horse’s neck. “Useful.” She slips from the saddle and turns away to pass the reins to Little Lamb.
Little Lamb takes it to hitch to the front of the cart with the other, as Inga kneels back down beside Red Wolf.
Elric is watching them when Little Lamb finishes with the horse and comes up to him. “Get in the cart, Underlia,” he says, his deep voice more mellow than Elric has ever heard it. “You’re gonna need to stay out of the way now.” He says it gently as if he is doing this to keep Elric safe.
Little Lamb puts Elric in the cart. He takes the rope that trails from Elric’s wrists and uses it to bind his ankles, pulling his legs up tight so he’s curled, sitting tied in a tight bundle.
“Those were your men, weren’t they?” says Little Lamb, his voice still calm. Elric realises this calm voice isn’t meant to comfort. This calm voice is something to fear. Elric feels that fear slide down his spine as Little Lamb says, “Was that meant to be a rescue? Why didn’t you tell us there were more out there from your party?”
“I didn’t know,” Elric says back, voice shaky, although he tries hard to be bold. Little Lamb is truly fearsome. “I didn’t know they’d come for me.” It’s the truth. He’d all but forgotten about the men who left them before the Mortingales attack. They must have come back, seen the aftermath. They could have been tracking them for days.
Little Lamb nods and then snarls down, still low and threatening, “So, I will ask you again, why didn’t you tell us about the rest of your party?”
“Why should I tell you anything?” Elric’s voice comes out in a spiteful drawl that he knows is misguided. “You think we are friends? You think I’m some kind of ally? You kidnapped me. You tied me up. You’re going to sell me to people who want me dead. Why would I tell you anything?”
Little Lamb nods again. He is still eerily, horribly calm. “If you keep holding information from us, information that could endanger my party I could make life very hard for you. Don’t imagine your pet traitor Silverhand will stand for you after your men have slain his wolf.”
“You can’t kill me,” Elric says, trying to sound defiant, although his voice is shaking, “Inga won’t let you. Her mission is to trade me.”
Little Lamb puts a big hand around Elric’s neck “Oh, can’t I?”
“Of course you can’t,” Elric says, but weakly, feeling sheer terror at the pressure on his neck. “I’m far too valuable.”
Little Lamb looks at Elric for a moment. He does seem like he’s deciding whether or not he wants to choke Elric right this moment. Elric waits. He cannot do anything else. He waits for whatever will come.
Eventually, Little Lamb removes his hand. He reaches into a pocket on his belt and produces a rag. “Shoulda done this from the fucking start,” says Little Lamb. The rag doesn’t look very clean.
“Please don’t,” Elric says. And that’s all he manages to say. Little Lamb stuffs the rag into Elric’s mouth with a big thumb. It tastes sour.
“And that’s the last we’ll hear from you until we sell your hide,” Little Lamb says, before jumping down from the cart and walking over to Lukas and Inga.
But before Little Lamb reaches them, Inga lets out a cry of agony. Lukas stands up, still holding Marko in his arms. He walks off towards the treeline like he’s in a daze. Elric knows what must have happened. Red Wolf is gone.
What did he tell Lukas?
Bound and gagged in the cart, Elric has no way of finding that out, or anything else.
All Elric can do is sit and watch as Little Lamb digs a hole for the soldiers’ bodies. Elric tries to remember their names. The ones who had broken from his party the night before they were attacked. Frin, on the horse. Burly, he thinks one of them was called. Gaius and Bal. He can’t remember the other man’s name.
Inga and Lukas collect wood for a pyre. They burn Red Wolf’s body with slow, mournful ceremony and by the time it’s all done, it’s dark.
None of them have even glanced at Elric.
He sits in the same position on the wooden boards of the cart, trying to get comfortable in the ropes. He watches Lukas as he sits by the fire, and takes a bottle of wine from Inga. He drinks from it and passes it on, orange light dancing on his face.
He looks deeply sad, half broken.
Elric wonders what sort of man Lukas really is. Does Lukas now know his secret? Will Elric live until morning? And if he does, and somehow still makes it to Lunatum, how will he escape now without Red Wolf?
He shivers and looks away from Lukas, up to the sky and watches the stars coming out.