The Collected Joe Abercrombie (80 page)

‘Seven,’ mumbled Superior Goyle, hunched into his chair.

‘A third of them! A third! How many injured?’

‘Eight.’

‘Most of the rest! Against how many?’

‘In all, there were six—’

‘Really?’ The Arch Lector thumped his fists on the table, leaning down over the shrinking Superior. ‘I heard two. Two!’ he screamed, pacing once more round and round the table, ‘and both of them savages! Two I heard! A white one and a black one, and the black one a woman! A woman!’ He kicked savagely at the chair next to Goyle and it wobbled back and forth on its feet. ‘And what’s worse, there were countless witnesses to this disgrace! Did I not say discreet? What part of the word discreet is beyond your comprehension, Goyle?’

‘But Arch Lector, circumstances cannot—’

‘Cannot?’ Sult’s screech rose an entire octave higher. ‘Cannot? How dare you give me
cannot
, Goyle? Discreet I asked for, and you gave me bloody slaughter across half the Agriont, and failed into the bargain! We look like fools! Far worse, we look like weak fools! My enemies on the Closed Council will waste no time in turning this farce to their advantage. Marovia’s already stirring trouble, the old windbag, whining about liberty and tighter reins and all the rest of it! Damn lawyers! They had their way, we’d get nothing done! And you’re making it happen, Goyle! I’m stalling, and I’m saying sorry, and I’m trying to put things in the best light, but a turd’s a turd, whatever light it’s in! Do you have any notion of the damage you’ve inflicted? Of the months of hard work you’ve undone?’

‘But, Arch Lector, have they not now left the—’

‘They’ll be back, you cretin! He did not go to all this trouble simply to leave, dolt! Yes they’ve gone, idiot, and they’ve taken the answers with them! Who they are, what they want, who is behind them! Left? Left? Damn you, Goyle!’

‘I am wretched, your Eminence.’

‘You are less than wretched!’

‘I cannot but apologise.’

‘You’re lucky you’re not apologising over a slow fire!’ Sult sneered his disgust. ‘Now get out of my sight!’

Goyle flashed a look of the most profound hatred at Glokta as he cringed his way out of the room.
Goodbye, Superior Goyle, goodbye. The Arch Lector’s fury could not fall upon a more deserving candidate.
Glokta could not suppress the tiniest of smiles as he watched him go.

‘Something amusing you?’ Sult’s voice was ice as he held out his white gloved hand, purple stone flashing on his finger.

Glokta bent to kiss it. ‘Of course not, your Eminence.’

‘Good, because you’ve nothing to be amused about, I can tell you! Keys?’ he sneered. ‘Stories? Scrolls? What could have possessed me to listen to your drivel?’

‘I know, Arch Lector, I apologise.’ Glokta edged humbly into the chair that Goyle had so recently vacated.

‘You apologise, do you? Everyone apologises! Some good that does me! Fewer apologies and more successes is what I need! And to think, I had such high hopes for you! Still, I suppose we must work with the tools we have.’

Meaning?
But Glokta said nothing.

‘We have problems. Very serious problems, in the South.’

‘The South, Arch Lector?’

‘Dagoska. The situation there is grave. Gurkish troops are flocking to the peninsula. They already outnumber our garrison by ten to one, and all our strength is committed in the North. Three regiments of the King’s Own remain in Adua, but with the peasants getting out of hand across half of Midderland, they cannot be spared. Superior Davoust was keeping me informed in weekly letters. He was my eyes, Glokta, do you understand? He suspected that there was a conspiracy afoot within the city. A conspiracy intending to deliver Dagoska into the hands of the Gurkish. Three weeks ago the letters stopped, and yesterday I learned that Davoust has disappeared. Disappeared! A Superior of the Inquisition! Vanished into thin air! I am blind, Glokta. I am fumbling in the dark at a most crucial time! I need someone there that I can trust, do you understand?’

Glokta’s heart was thumping. ‘Me?’

‘Oh you’re learning,’ sneered Sult. ‘You are the new Superior of Dagoska.’

‘Me?’

‘Many congratulations, but forgive me if we leave the feast until a quieter moment! You, Glokta, you!’ The Arch Lector leaned down over him. ‘Go to Dagoska and dig. Find out what happened to Davoust. Weed the garden down there. Root out everything disloyal. Everything and anyone. Light a fire under them! I need to know what’s going on, if you have to toast the Lord Governor until he drips gravy!’

Glokta swallowed. ‘Toast the Lord Governor?’

‘Is there an echo in here?’ snarled Sult, looming even lower. ‘Sniff out the rot, and cut it away! Hack it off! Burn it out! All of it, wherever it is! Take charge of the city’s defences yourself if you must. You were a soldier!’ He reached out and slid a single sheet of parchment across the table top. ‘This is the King’s writ, signed by all twelve chairs on the Closed Council. All twelve. I sweated blood to get it. Within the city of Dagoska, you will have full powers.’

Glokta stared down at the document. A simple sheet of cream-coloured paper, black writing, a huge red seal at the bottom.
We, the undersigned, confer upon His Majesty’s faithful servant, Superior Sand dan Glokta, our full powers and authority . . .
Several blocks of neat writing, and below, two columns of names. Crabby blotches, flowing swirls, near illegible scrawls.
Hoff, Sult, Marovia, Varuz, Halleck, Burr, Torlichorm, and all the rest. Powerful names.
Glokta felt faint as he picked up the document in his two trembling hands. It seemed heavy.

‘Don’t let it go to your head! You still have to tread carefully. We can stand no more embarrassments, but the Gurkish must be kept out at all costs, at least until this business in Angland is settled. At all costs, do you understand?’

I understand. A posting to a city surrounded by enemies and riddled with traitors, where one Superior has already mysteriously disappeared. Closer to a knife in the back than a promotion, but we must work with the tools we have.
‘I understand, Arch Lector.’

‘Good. Keep me well informed. I want to be swamped by your letters.’

‘Of course.’

‘You have two Practicals, correct?’

‘Yes, your Eminence, Frost and Severard, both very—’

‘Not nearly enough! You won’t be able to trust anyone down there, not even the Inquisition.’ Sult seemed to think about that for a moment. ‘Especially the Inquisition. I have picked out a half dozen others whose skills are proven, including Practical Vitari.’

That woman, watching over my shoulder?
‘But, Arch Lector—’

‘Don’t “but” me, Glokta!’ hissed Sult. ‘Don’t you dare “but” me, not today! You’re not half as crippled as you could be! Not half as crippled, you understand?’

Glokta bowed his head. ‘I apologise.’

‘You’re thinking, aren’t you? I can see the cogs turning. Thinking you don’t want one of Goyle’s people getting in the way? Well, before she worked for him she worked for me. A Styrian, from Sipano. Cold as the snow, those people, and she’s the coldest of them, I can tell you. So you needn’t worry. Not about Goyle, anyway.’
No. Only about you, which is far worse.

‘I will be honoured to have her along.’
I will be damned careful.

‘Be as honoured as you damn well please, just don’t let me down! Make a mess of this and you’ll need more than that piece of paper to save you. A ship is waiting at the docks. Leave. Now.’

‘Of course, your Eminence.’

Sult turned away and strode over to the window. Glokta quietly got up, quietly slid his chair under the table, quietly shuffled across the room. The Arch Lector was still standing, hands clasped behind him, as Glokta ever so carefully pulled the doors to. It was not until they clicked shut that he realised he had been holding his breath.

‘How’d it go?’

Glokta turned round sharply, his neck giving a painful click.

Strange, how I never learn not to do that.
Practical Vitari was still flopped in her chair, looking up at him with tired eyes. She did not seem to have moved the whole time he was inside.
How did it go?
He ran his tongue around his mouth, over his empty gums, thinking about it.
That remains to be seen.
‘Interesting,’ he said in the end. ‘I am going to Dagoska.’

‘So I hear.’ The woman did indeed have an accent, now he thought about it.
A slight whiff of the Free Cities.

‘I understand you’re coming with me.’

‘I understand I am.’ But she did not move.

‘We are in something of a hurry.’

‘I know.’ She held out her hand. ‘Could you help me up?’

Glokta raised his eyebrows.
I wonder when I was last asked that question?
He had half a mind to say no, but in the end he held his hand out, if only for the novelty. Her fingers closed round it, started to pull. Her eyes were narrowed, he could hear her breath hissing as she unfolded herself slowly from the chair. It hurt, having her pull on him like that, in his arm, in his back.
But it hurts her more.
Behind her mask, he was pretty sure, her teeth were gritted with pain. She moved her limbs one at a time, cautiously, not sure what would hurt and how much. Glokta had to smile.
A routine I go through myself every morning. Strangely invigorating, to see someone else doing it.

Eventually she was standing, her bandaged hand clutched against her ribs. ‘You able to walk?’ asked Glokta.

‘I’ll loosen up.’

‘What happened? Dogs?’

She gave a bark of laughter. ‘No. A big Northman knocked the shit out of me.’

Glokta snorted.
Well, forthright at least.
‘Shall we go?’

She looked down at his cane. ‘Don’t suppose you’ve got one of those spare, have you?’

‘I’m afraid not. I only have the one, and I can’t walk without it.’

‘I know how you feel.’

Not quite.
Glokta turned and began to limp away from the Arch Lector’s office.
Not quite.
He could hear the woman hobbling along behind.
Strangely invigorating, to have someone trying to keep up with me.
He upped the pace, and it hurt him.
But it hurts her more.

Back to the South, then.
He licked at his empty gums.
Hardly a place of happy memories. To fight the Gurkish, after what it cost me last time. To root out disloyalty in a city where no one can be trusted, especially those sent to help me. To struggle in the heat and the dust, at a thankless task almost certain to end in failure. And failure, more than likely, will mean death.

He felt his cheek twitch, his eyelid flicker.
At the hands of the Gurkish? At the hands of plotters against the crown? At the hands of his Eminence, or his agents? Or simply to vanish, as my predecessor did? Has one man ever had such a range of deaths to choose from?
The corner of his mouth twitched up.
I can hardly wait to get started.

That same question came into his head, over and over, and he still had no answer.

Why do I do this?

Why?

Acknowledgments

Four people without whom . . .
Bren Abercrombie, whose eyes are
sore from reading it
Nick Abercrombie, whose ears are
sore from hearing about it
Rob Abercrombie, whose fingers are
sore from turning the pages
Lou Abercrombie, whose arms are
sore from holding me up
And also . . .
Matthew Amos, for solid advice
at a shaky time
Gillian Redfearn, who read past
the beginning and made me change it
Simon Spanton, who bought it
before he got to the end

THE FIRST LAW: BOOK TWO

JOE
ABERCROMBIE

BEFORE THEY ARE HANGED