After The Rabbit (Waldo Rabbit Series) Page 5

  In the dark, red and slitted eyes appeared before his own. Inky lips pulled back in a bloodless smile to reveal fangs.

  A vampire! Celton had been outwitted after all. He expected those fangs to rip out his throat and for everything to end.

  Instead, the monster spoke to him. “I take it you are Celton Poisondagger? I’ve already eaten, and if I wanted to kill you, you would be dead. Forgive my rudeness, but I did not want you to attack me by mistake. Do you understand?”

  The iron grip loosened barely enough to let him breathe again.

  “Yes,” he gasped.

  “Good. Now we can talk.”

  The vampire let go of him and casually strode a few steps away.

  Celton snatched his wand from the ground and pointed it at the vampire. He had never faced one before and never realized how silent and quick they were. To say nothing of strong! This one was a few inches shorter than he was and looked positively frail. After the initial demonstration, Celton would not be fooled, though. “Who are you? No one in my family has a vampire under their control.” He kept his arm steady and was ready to cast if the monster did anything threatening at all.

  “I should hope not. It would be an embarrassment if one of my kind were captured by a member of your clan.” The vampire performed an elaborate bow, causing the cape about his shoulders to whip about. “My name is Enver.”

  The name was well known. Celton sucked in a deep breath and considered killing the creature immediately. “You’re Lilith Corpselover’s familiar.”

  “I am.”

  “What does House Corpselover want with me?”

  Enver shook his head. “Nothing. I am not here on behalf of my mistress.”

  “Then, why are you here?”

  Enver spread his hands. “I’ve come here to offer you and your family the chance to get something you have wanted for a very long while.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Enver spoke slowly, as if savoring every word. “I am offering you the chance to kill my mistress.”

  Chapter 5

  Better Than Flowers

  Waldo sat on the ground with the spellbook he had taken from Melissa in his lap. Having spent the entire night running, this was his first chance to go through it. Rather than studying any of the spells or recipes or wards, he was skimmed through to get an idea of what was here.

  It quickly became obvious that Melissa had not been bluffing about being an archmage. There were many complex spells a mere mage would not be able to work. From the selection it was also clear Melissa was primarily skilled in wind magic. Waldo noted only four healing spells: all basic, closing cuts, removing bruises, that sort of thing. By comparison he counted thirty three separate spells using air magic, ranging from creating a simple breeze to flying to bringing down a cyclone.

  I was lucky to trick her the way I did, Waldo thought. I would have stood no chance in a fight.

  At the moment he had only one offensive spell involving rudimentary fire magic. He would definitely study some of these wind spells and try to add them to his inventory. The more advanced incantations were beyond him, but learning some of the fundamental ones might be possible. Other spells and potion formulas looked interesting as well.

  With his wand in hand, he spoke a word of magic, “Ventus.”

  Wind burst from the tip of his wand. It was strong enough to rip leaves off of trees and make some branches shake and bend. Waldo nodded to himself. While not as inherently deadly as fire magic, it might be of use.

  He had two spellbooks now, the one stolen from Roger and the one from Melissa. Since Melissa’s had far more written in it, he would copy all the spells and formulas from Roger’s and add them to hers. Even though Waldo considered most of the spells Roger had to be more or less useless, you never wasted magical knowledge. When the task was done Waldo, would probably try to sell Roger’s spellbook. If he were lucky enough to run into a mage interested in illusion or weather magic, it would fetch a good price.

  “Why am I the one setting up the tent?”

  Waldo glanced up from his book. Alice had about finished getting it ready. “Who else would do it?”

  Alice crossed her arms beneath her ample bosom. “Normally, a man would feel ashamed to let a woman do this sort of work for him.”

  “Fortunately I don’t have such a problem.” He immediately sensed anger and annoyance coming from her through their bond. “What? Servants are supposed to do the menial tasks.”

  “You are not going to start about me being a familiar again are you?”

  Waldo instinctively rubbed the part of his upper right arm where she had grabbed hold of him earlier. “No, at this point I have given up on properly training you.”

  Alice narrowed her eyes. “I really wish you would act like a normal husband.”

  “I am a Dark Mage, and you are a succubus. What precisely would “normal” be for us?”

  “For starters, you could not do any weird things with the ogre.”

  “So you want me to only do the weird things with you?” Alice’s cheeks grew rosy, and he could sense a surge of embarrassment. “A bit selfish isn’t it?”

  “Since when is it selfish for a wife to want her husband to be faithful to her?”

  Her indignity made him chuckle. “You have never been to Alteroth.”

  “This is Lothas. Whatever sorts of laws you grew up with don’t apply here.”

  “So? After we collect my third monster, we’ll be leaving. I haven’t decided where we’ll go yet, but I expect we will have to do a lot of traveling. Do you wish me to follow the local beliefs of whatever piece of ground I happen to be on? I am Alterothan. More importantly, I am heir to the Corpselover family. Our motto is, ‘We are bound by no laws.’”

  Alice began shifting her weight from one foot to the other. “Does that mean you are going to do whatever you want?”

  Were he a true Dark Mage, the answer to that could only be yes. “You don’t need to worry. I am not gay, and I’ve already told you I don’t intend to have sex with anyone I am not married to.”

  “Well, that’s a relief, but are you going to do any weird stuff, though?”

  “What do you consider weird?”

  “Anything involving chains or ropes or red hot pokers.”

  “You know, Alice, succubi are considered to be the embodiment of lust… to be lust incarnate. As such, they tend to be accepting of all sorts of desires. You are probably the most close minded one walking the earth.”

  “Good,” she planted her fists on her hips. “I’m glad that at least one of my kind is decent. Now, are you going to do those sorts of things with Gronk?”

  “I don’t plan to, but it is possible. Since my contract with him is defective, as it is with you, I need to make more of an effort to see he is happy in my service. Do you want a discontent ogre traveling with us?”

  “Well, no, but there have to be other ways to make him like you.”

  Waldo shrugged. “To each his own. We all have our own wants and desires. As I have said, I don’t plan to perform any torture sessions, but I won’t rule out the occasional switching or light beating, if he is deserving some sort of reward.”

  “If I do something you like please just give me flowers.”

  “Actually, I would probably service you instead.”

  “Wh… what?”

  “I mean, what we did in our room the night before last. When I was pleasuring you, and you were making all those loud noises. I could tell you were really enjoying it, especially when you kept screaming for me to go harder.”

  Her face was completely red. “Why are you bringing up our wedding night all of a sudden?”

  “I was simply pointing out how I would reward you.”

  “Don’t you dare pretend you didn’t enjoy it, too.”

  “I did, but the point is you would prefer being pleasured to being given flowers. Like a ram servicing his flock, I would make sure to do my best to satisfy your needs.”

  �
�Did you just compare me to a sheep?”

  “It’s a metaphor. It’s not meant literally.”

  Alice rolled her eyes. “How very noble of you, enduring such a trial all for my sake.”

  “Yes.”

  “Look, darling, I am a woman, not a mindless animal. I am happy to make love with my husband, but I don’t need you to “service” me only to try and keep me happy.”

  “I see.” Waldo closed the spellbook and stood. “I am glad you told me. I was planning to do so with you right now.”

  “You were?”

  “Yes, it was going to be my way of thanking you for all you did to help me acquire Gronk. I was planning to take you… roughly.”

  “Roughly?” She echoed in a weak voice.

  “Very roughly, you seemed to enjoy it. But if you prefer, I will get you some flowers instead.”

  Alice began to tug at her hair as her eyes avoided his. “Well…”

  XXX

  Gronk was lying on the grass staring up at the blue sky. Though his master’s tent was more than a hundred yards away, he had no trouble making out Alice’s cries.

  “Yeeeeeeeesssssssss! Oooohhhhh yeeeeeeeessss! Give it to me haaaaaaaaarrrrddddeeeeeeeerrrrr!!!”

  “Bitch,” he sighed.

  Chapter 6

  Spoils

  Having slept most of the day away, they shared a large meal and set out again late in the afternoon. Right now it was night and they were traveling through the woods. There was no moon, and it was extremely dark. Alice and Gronk, being monsters, could see perfectly well. Waldo found himself stumbling along trying to keep up.

  “You are such a liar,” Gronk said in his high pitched, lisping voice.

  “I swear to you it’s true,” Alice told him.

  “I can’t believe it.”

  “It happened.”

  “Is it so, master?” Gronk looked back over his shoulder. “Did you really get thrown into a river?”

  “Why are you telling him about this?” Waldo demanded. “It’s not as though it matters.”

  “I just thought he ought to know the sort of trouble you get yourself into,” Alice said. “So he can be ready the next time it happens.”

  “When have I ever gotten into trouble?”

  In the dark he thought he saw her raise an eyebrow. Through their bond he clearly felt her disbelief. “Do you really want me to answer darling?”

  “No, probably not.”

  “So you really did get tossed into a river?”

  Waldo tried to wave the question away. “I was caught off guard.”

  “Exactly how do you get surprised by an angry mob?” As he was walking along, Gronk casually reached down and ripped a bush out of the ground, roots and all. He tore off a branch and began eating it.

  Alice gawked at him. “Are you still hungry? You ate four whole fish and eight squirrels. And you ate them raw!”

  Grinning, he patted his belly. “I’m an ogre. I’m always hungry. It’s all right. I can eat most anything.” He shoved another chunk of shrub into his mouth.

  “I’ve noticed.” Having seen him eat an entire squirrel in a gulp, Alice had no doubts at all about the stories she’d heard. It was said ogres ate everything they killed, whether it be animal, human, or monster.

  “As long as you don’t ever try to eat us,” Alice told him.

  “Oh, don’t worry, I would never do that. Not unless I was really, really, really hungry.” Gronk crammed the rest of the bush into his mouth. The sound of it crunching and snapping was quite audible.

  “I think we should bring extra food with us from now on,” Waldo said.

  Alice nodded her agreement.

  XXX

  Stumbling blindly through the woods, Waldo was forced to take hold of Alice’s hand to keep from getting completely lost. He could have cast a fire spell to light his way, but any flame would have made him a target for anything sitting out in the dark.

  He tripped on some unseen rock or chunk of earth and nearly fell. Alice had to grab him to keep him upright. “Do you want to stop for a bit, dear?”

  “I’m fine,” he assured her as he tried to get his bearings. He was not good at telling directions in the best of times. In near total darkness, he had no idea where they were headed. “Are you sure this way is north?”

  “Yes.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Because the sun sets in the west, you can figure which way is north. This was north when the sun was still up, so it will be now.”

  “So really, we could be going in circles?”

  “Do you want to stop until morning?”

  Waldo considered it. His instinct was to try and cover as much ground as possible until they reached Norwich. He had no doubt his grandfather pursued them. On the other hand, he felt as though they were trying to navigate a maze while blindfolded. Having to hold Alice’s hand the entire time did not help. He was supposed to be the one in control of the situation. Being led about like a child really wasn’t the image he wanted. “Perhaps we could stop for a short time and see if the stars and moon come out.”

  Not too far away, Waldo could hear the snapping of a tree branch, followed by the sound of aggressive chewing. “Want to stop and ask for directions, master?”

  “From whom?”

  “There’s a camp fire up ahead,” Gronk said between bites.

  Surprised, Waldo scanned the darkness. Sure enough, he spotted a glimmer slipping through a thick copse of trees.

  “They must have dug a pit and banked the fire,” Alice said. “It’s not giving off much light.”

  “Who do you suppose they are?” Waldo asked.

  “A patrol of soldiers. We’re getting near the marshes where the goblins live. There are always patrols out looking for any who decide to go raiding.”

  Waldo tapped his chin. “Then let’s meet with them. They can tell us if we are headed north and how far we are from Norwich.”

  “Uh, darling? That might not be such a good idea. The patrols attack monsters on sight. What happens when they see an ogre?”

  “I am sure being owned by a White Mage will make it all right.” Waldo began to carefully make his way toward the light. “Gronk, stay behind me until I explain things.”

  “Yes, master.”

  Alice let out a sigh and walked beside him.

  XXX

  Certain the soldiers would show the proper respect to someone in white robes, Waldo stepped directly into the clearing. “Greeting. I am Waldo Rabbit, and I…”

  He stopped talking when he got a clear view of the camp.

  As Alice suspected, there was a fire pit with dirt piled up around its edge. There were five children, three boys and two girls, their ages ranging from six to ten. Four of them were tied about a tree trunk, their mouths gagged. The fifth child, a pudgy boy, was bound hand and foot to a wooden pole. A pair of goblins were getting ready to put him over the flames to begin roasting.

  The two creatures turned their malformed heads and stared at him, tiny coal black eyes glistened in the firelight. They wore dirty leather jerkins and bits and pieces of armor about their arms and legs. They seemed as startled as Waldo.

  Then one of the goblins dropped his end of the pole and screeched. “Magi! Kill! Kill!” From the ground he, snatched up a heavy two sided axe.

  The other one let go of the pole as well, and grabbed a broadsword from a sheath on its back. Both of them stomped forward as fast as their stubby legs could carry them.

  To Waldo’s right came the sound of muscle tearing as Alice transformed. The goblin with the axe gave a startled, “Gra?” It did not hesitate, though, as it tried to cleave Alice in two.

  Compared to humans, goblins are very strong, but they are not agile or fast.

  Alice darted back to let the axe slice through the air in front of her and then dashed forward before the homely beast could bring it back around. Her right hand was a blur. Before the goblin even knew it, blood was gushing out from its throat. The dying mons
ter dropped its weapon, stumbled back, and fell.

  Waldo only saw this on the periphery as the second creature was coming at him. He drew his wand and used it. “Pyro!” He sent out a stream of fire right into the belly of his target.