I tried to speak but coughed instead.
My bucket of beer arrived. Gertriss rolled her eyes but poured me a glass and even handed it to me.
“You do know banshees only show up when somebody dies, don’t you, boss?”
I let the beer work its golden magic. It did feel good going down.
“Nobody died,” I said. “See? I’m as good as new.”
“Somebody had just died, boss. Weexil. Who knows who else?”
“Weexil had been dead long enough to draw flies. You’re thinking ghouls, Miss. Banshees vacate the scene right after Death performs his handiwork.”
“This ain’t…this isn’t a joke, boss. You can’t go around making pets out of banshees.”
“Pet? What pet? I didn’t call her, didn’t even know she was around. She just appeared.”
Gertriss made a derisive snorting sound.
“Think she was looking for corn bread, boss?”
“How-?”
Gertriss sighed and rose.
“My sight. It isn’t like Mama’s. Isn’t like any Hog I know.” She crossed her arms and began to pace, stepping carefully over dog’s tails now and then. “They can call it up, send it back. Mine-well, I see things all the time. Even things I don’t want to see.” She balled her hands into fists. “Especially things I don’t want to see.”
“Mama know about that?”
Gertriss shook her head no.
I put down my empty glass. “That must be an awful burden.”
She just shrugged. Her jaw was trembling.
“I knew a man during the War who had the Sight. Sort of like yours. Couldn’t make himself see things that might have helped, might have been useful. Saw all kinds of horror instead.”
I poured up a glass of beer, offered it to her. She refused.
“Got worse and worse. He quit sleeping at night. We had to gag him in case he started screaming, when we were in Troll country. You really ought to have a taste. This is really good beer.”
She halted, let out a long ragged sigh, and plopped back down beside me.
Much to my surprise, she took the glass from my hand and sniffed at the contents.
“So what happened to this man?”
“He withdrew. Stopped talking. Went further and further inside himself. One day, six of us were out on patrol. We knew there was a Troll force nearby. We weren’t to engage them, just to watch. Hillard-that was his name, Hillard-saw a pair of trolls fishing in a creek. Before we could stop him, he just walked right up to them, empty- handed. Go ahead. You’ll wish you had.”
She did. I watched her drink it, wondered if it was her first taste of beer.
It was. Her eyes widened. She smiled a ghostly little half-smile.
“This is good.”
“Told you so. Go ahead, that’s yours. One glass won’t make you drunk.”
She took another sip.
“And Hillard? What happened to him?”
“He walked up to the bank. The Trolls came striding out of the water. We were too far away to hear, but I think they talked, for a moment.”
“And?”
“And then a Troll knocked Hillard’s head off. One swipe. Dead and gone.”
Gertriss shivered. “Is there a point to this, boss?”
“The point is that I’ll always believe Hillard asked that Troll to kill him. It wasn’t murder, or even an act of war. It was a mercy. And that’s sad, Miss, because if Hillard had made himself talk about his Sight, about what was eating him alive, he might be sitting on a couch somewhere telling war stories to pretty young women instead of …”
“Instead of being dead. I get it.” She raised the glass, emptied the beer. “Well. I should tell you the real reason I left Pot Lockney.”
“You should.”
But she didn’t. The great doors opened, and Lady Werewilk and Marlo came stomping in, still arguing.
Marlo marched right up to me. It was clear he didn’t approve of my beer.
“I say we ought to go get the Watch,” he said. “I say we’ve got murder being done, and it’s time we got some law in here before there’s more blood spilt.”
I nodded amiably. “You’re exactly right.”
Silence. Lady Werewilk walked up behind Marlo.
Marlo frowned.
“I said I’m going to send for the Watch.”
I shrugged. “Go right ahead.”
“Figured you’d object to that. Seeing as how it might take you off the payroll.”
Gertriss started to speak, but bless her, she looked to me first, and I silenced her with a quick shake of my head.
“Wouldn’t be any point in paying me if you’ve got the Watch on the case.”
Lady Werewilk joined the fray. “As the Mistress of this House, I and I alone will decide when and if the Watch is called, and who works for me afterward. That is final.”
Marlo’s expression made it clear what he thought of the finality of Lady Werewilk’s pronouncement.
“You going to go yourself, Marlo?”
“If I have to.”
I filled my glass with Lady Werewilk’s beer. “Have you had extensive dealings with the Watch, Marlo?”
“No more than anybody hereabouts.”
I sipped beer. “Then you might not know how the Watch is likely to respond when you start telling tales of banshees in the trees and bodies that get up and go for hikes right before they can be produced as evidence.”
Marlo puffed up. “Now look here, Mr. Markhat. I know I ain’t a city man, but we pays our taxes, same as anybody inside them walls.”
I had to stifle an outright laugh. “Mr. Marlo. You could produce a century of tax receipts and throw them in the Watch’s face, and the most they’ll probably do is cite you for littering. You don’t have a body. You’ll be telling tales about banshees and stakes left in the yard. Look. If I thought I could get a pair of Watchmen down here, I’d have sent for them already. But I’m telling you plain, Mr. Marlo. You’ll be wasting your time.”
“Which is precisely what I said,” added Lady Werewilk.
“Your family has been in the House for four hundred years,” growled Marlo. “First they fought Elves. Then they fought Trolls. Now they’re fightin’ something new, and by damn them what’s in the City are going to send help this time. I’m going. I’m taking Burris. With or without your blessing.”
“It will be without. And if you go, don’t bother to return.” Marlo’s face went the red of day-old meat.
“You keep an eye on her for me, Finder. Lady or not, sometimes she ain’t got much sense.”
And with that, he turned, walked out and let the big old doors slam behind him.
Lady Werewilk glared. The ragged circle of artists that had gathered to watch the show withered and dispersed. Even the dogs got up, tucked tails and slinked away, their nails tap-tapping on the tiles.
Gertriss rose, found another glass, filled it and handed it to Lady Werewilk, who drained it without a breath or a word.
Gertriss filled the silence.
“So you don’t think the Watch will come, boss?”
“Not a chance. We’re on our own.” I stood. My head still hurt, and my sideways ride on Lumpy had done bad things to my lower back, but the last thing an angry client wants to see is the finder she’s paying lounging on her couch and drinking her beer.
“The camp,” Lady Werewilk spoke. “Who occupied it? Why?”
When I opened my mouth, I fully intended to speak the words ‘I don’t know.’ I knew Lady Werewilk wasn’t going to like hearing them, but I’d been nearly strangled by a pile of bones and a banshee had tried to hold my hand and neither activity had done much to improve my mood.
