Royal Assassin

I jerked my eyes from the wolf up to the man. He was greasy and dirty. He stank, by El, how he reeked. I could smell sweat and rancid food and his own droppings on him. He was swaddled in poorly cured hides, and the stench of them hung about him as well. He had little ferret eyes, and cruel dirty hands, and an oak stick bound in brass that hung at his belt. It was all I could do to keep from seizing that hated stick and splattering his brains out with it. He wore thick boots on his kicking feet. He stepped too close to me and I gripped my cloak to keep from killing him.

“Wolf,” I managed to get out. My voice sounded guttural, choking. “I want the wolf.”

“You certain, boy? He’s a mean one.” He nudged the cage with his foot and I sprang at it, clashing my teeth against the wooden bars, bruising my muzzle again, but I didn’t care, if I could get just one grip on his flesh, I’d tear it loose or never let go.

No. Get back, get out of my head. I shook my head to clear it. The merchant regarded me strangely. “I know what I want.” I spoke flatly, refusing the wolf’s emotions.

“Do you, eh?” The man stared at me, judging my worth. He’d charge what he thought I could afford. My outgrown clothes didn’t please him, nor my youth. But I surmised he’d had the wolf for a while. He’d hoped to sell him as a cub. Now, with the wolf needing more food and not getting it, the man would probably take whatever he could get. As well for me. I didn’t have much. “What do you want him for?” the man asked casually.

“Pits,” I said nonchalantly. “He’s scrawny, but there might be a bit of sport left in him.”

The wolf suddenly flung himself against the bars, jaws wide, teeth flashing. I’ll kill them, I’ll kill them all, rip their throats out, tear their bellies open. . . .

Be silent, if you want your freedom. I mentally gave him a push and the wolf leaped back as if stung by a bee. He retreated to the far corner of his cage and cowered there, teeth bared, but tail down between his legs. Uncertainty flooded him.

“Dog fights, eh? Oh, he’ll put up a good fight.” The merchant nudged at the cage again with a thick boot, but the wolf didn’t respond. “He’ll win you a lot of coin, this one will. He’s meaner than a wolverine.” He kicked the cage, harder. The wolf cowered smaller.

“Oh, he certainly looks as if he will,” I said disdainfully. I turned aside from the wolf as if I’d lost interest. I studied the caged birds behind him. The pigeons and doves looked as if they were cared for, but two jays and a crow were crowded into a filthy cage littered with rotting scraps of meat and bird droppings. The crow looked like a beggar man in black tatters of feathers. Pick at the bright bug, I suggested to the birds. Perhaps you’ll find a way out. The crow perched wearily where he was, head sunk deep in his feathers, but one jay fluttered to a higher perch and began to tap and tug at the metal pin that held the cage fastened. I glanced back at the wolf.

“I hadn’t intended to fight him anyway. I was only going to throw him to the dogs to warm them up. A bit of blood primes them for a fight.”

“Oh, but he’d make you a fine fighter. Here, look at this. This is what he done to me but a month gone. And me trying to give him food when he went for me.”

He rolled back a sleeve to bare a grimy wrist striped with livid slashes, but half-healed still.

I leaned over as if mildly interested. “Looks infected. Think you’ll lose your hand?”

“’S not infected. Just slow healing, that’s all. Look here, boy, a storm’s coming up. I got to put my wares in my cart and haul off before it hits. Now, you going to make me an offer for that wolf? He’ll make you a fine fighter.”

“He might make bear bait, but not much more than that. I’ll give you, oh, six coppers.” I had a grand total of seven.

“Coppers? Boy, we’re talking silvers here, at least. Look, he’s a fine animal. Feed him up a bit, he’ll get bigger and meaner. I could get six coppers for his hide alone, right now.”

“Then you’d best do it, before he gets any mangier. And before he decides to take your other hand off.” I leaned closer to the cage, pushing as I did so, and the wolf cowered more deeply. “Looks sick to me. My master would be furious with me if I brought him in and the dogs got sick from killing him.” I glanced up at the sky. “Storm is coming. I’d better be off.”

“One silver, boy. And that’s giving him to you.”