Volle (12 page)

Welcis took the skirt from his paw silently. He glanced at Dereath, who was closing the door, and then inquiringly at Volle.

“Dereath is here from Lord Fardew. He just wished to ask me a few questions after I get dressed. He’ll wait here.” Volle indicated a chair, and Dereath slid into it.

Welcis nodded. “Very good, sir.” He followed Volle into the bedroom.

Ten minutes later, brushed and dressed, Volle walked back into the parlor and sat across from the rat. “So, Dereath, what can I do for you?”

“Listen,” the rat said, “if Lord Ikling has been talking about me, really, I apologized for that and he still holds a grudge. I just want—I don’t want you to think anything of me until I have a chance to make an impression.” He looked anxiously at Volle.

Volle relaxed a little, but not much. The truth was that the rat had already made an impression on him, and not a good one. He was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, though he also wanted to hear what Helfer had to say about Dereath. “All right.” He smiled. “Go ahead.”

Dereath smiled back, and nodded. “We had heard that your lordship grew up in Ferrenis, so of course we wanted to find out what you could tell us about them. Any information will be useful.”

Volle shook his head. They’d expected this kind of questioning and had given him a list of things he could tell the Tephossians. He recited the list as though he were recalling old memories. “Well, I don’t know what I can tell you. We paid our taxes to the king regularly every year, and never had much doings with the capital. Once a noble came through town, but I had to work in the fields and I didn’t see him. I know that they’re pretty quick to take your farm when you fall behind on your taxes.” He tried to put real anger in his voice.

“You speak very well, for a farmer.” Dereath meant it as a compliment, no doubt, but Volle took it initially as an accusation.

“My mother insisted on it,” he said quickly. “Wouldn’t have me talking like the badgers—family of badgers lived down the road.” This was actually true. He’d been friends with the badger cub nearest his age, but his mother had said they weren’t the ‘right sort’ and had ended that friendship. “I guess it was because she wanted me to be worthy of my father, but I didn’t know that then.”

“Very noble.” Dereath smiled. “So you have no love for the Ferrenians.”

Volle shook his head. “I’ve been treated better in one day here than in twenty years in that country.” He smiled, and stretched his shoulders briefly; they were still stiff from the run.

“Oh, let me help with that,” Dereath said, although the motion had been very slight. Before Volle could say anything, the rat had scampered around behind him and pressed his paws down on the fox’s shoulders.

He had strong paws, and the rubbing was not entirely pleasant. Volle was more aware of his scent, which was arousal mingled with earnestness and the strong smell of rat. He couldn’t help squirming a bit under the paws.

“No, it’s okay,” Dereath said, misinterpreting his movements. “I can still ask questions from here. So you would have no compunction about going to war with Ferrenis?”

“War?” Volle twisted around to try to look at him, forcing him to stop rubbing.

“It’s just a hypothetical. I mean in the worst case.” Dereath patted his shoulders, but Volle stayed facing him.

“If it were warranted, I guess I would have no trouble,” he said slowly.

“Oh, of course, if it were warranted. Just relax.” Dereath tried to force him to face forward, and after a moment he complied, gritting his teeth through the rubbing. “Where did you come into Tephos?” he said conversationally.

Volle almost gave it away right there. His mind was on the paws on his shoulders, not on his cover story, and he almost blurted out the name of the inn. He caught himself with a quick cough, and then said, “I’m not sure. I was just trekking across the mountains and I fell in with a merchant on his way to Vinton, so I hopped a ride.”

“I see.” Dereath fell silent. Volle hoped desperately that the interview was over, but the rat was just preparing to speak again. “If…if you’re not busy, Lord Vinton, I would be honored if you would join me for dinner in my humble quarters.”

Oh, no.
“Tonight?”

Welcis, who had returned quietly a few minutes before, coughed. “I believe Lord Vinton has a dinner engagement tonight.”

“No, he doesn’t.” Dereath’s tone had taken on a sharp edge.

“Sir, Lord Ikling issued an invitation to dinner. I accepted on your behalf.”

“I didn’t see anyone come in.”

“I brought the skirt up to return it to him. He issued the invitation at that time.”

Dereath was silent. “Maybe later in the week, then.”

“Maybe,” Volle said agreeably, resolving to fill his dinner schedule as quickly as possible.

The rat lifted his paws from Volle’s shoulders and dropped them to his sides. “I suppose there’s nothing more I need to ask you.” He walked slowly toward the door, then turned back to Volle. His expression was worried again. “You will remember what I said? About Lord Ikling? Tell him I’m sorry, would you?”

Volle nodded. “I will.” He watched the rat leave, and then sank into his chair with a sigh of relief.

Welcis coughed. “I fear, sir, that I must confess to a minor infraction of protocol.”

“Oh? What would that be, Welcis?”

“I may have inadvertently invited your lordship to dinner with Lord Ikling before Lord Ikling was aware of it.”

Volle grinned widely. “You lied to get me out of dinner with the rat?”

“I sensed that his lordship was not enthusiastic about the prospect of dining with the gentlerat in question.”

“No, I wasn’t. Though I suppose I should. I need to make friends around the palace.” He sighed. “Do you think it would be a breach of protocol to arrange a dinner with him and some other people? I just don’t want to be alone with him.”

“Is your lordship suggesting a dinner party?”

“I don’t think I want anything as large as a party.”

“By ‘party,’ sir, I merely meant a gathering of people. Four is an acceptable number.”

Volle chuckled. “I’m not sure I know four people. I can’t invite Helfer, not if he has some problem with the rat.”

“If your lordship wishes, I would be happy to select two more people who would be of appropriate station.”

“Welcis, that would be wonderful. Thank you.” He paused and flicked his ears. “What is the appropriate station?”

The skunk smiled in recognition of the thanks, but the smile only lasted a moment. “Since your lordship is a noble, and Mister Talison is not, that does present some difficulty. However, Mister Talison is a part of one of the ministries, which elevates his standing somewhat. I believe another ministry functionary and another noble of your lordship’s seniority would round out the dinner nicely.”

“Thank you again, Welcis. I will leave it in your paws.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Volle had a thought. “One more thing, Welcis.”

“Sir?”

“Minister Ullik is not welcome, nor do I wish to accept any invitations from him. Just for the record.”

“Very good, sir.”

Welcis left to investigate arrangements for the dinner, and presumably to inform Helfer that he’d invited Volle to dinner. Volle scarcely had time to realize that he hadn’t eaten lunch before Lord Tistunish had knocked on his door and let himself in.

“Afternoon, Volle!” Volle had stood when the wolf walked in, and now received a forceful pat on the back as Tistunish grasped his paw. The wolf looked around. “So they put you here, did they? Isn’t that interesting. At least, I think…it’s been so long.”

“What?”

“I’ll see if I’m right and then tell you later. Hope you had a good evening after the show. I know I did.” He winked broadly.

“I had a fine evening, yes.” Volle waved the wolf to a seat, a little puzzled but willing to let it go. “I met Lord Ikling and he took me out for a…drink.”

“Hmm.” The wolf’s brow furrowed. “Ikling. He’s harmless enough, but a bit frivolous. Not exactly the best companion.”

Volle suppressed a twinge of irritation. “He seems nice enough, and we hit it off rather well.”

“Well, that’s fine, that’s fine. Just don’t model your behavior on his. His father was well-respected, you know. Served as the Minister of Agriculture for years. Young Ikling never picked up on that sense of duty.”

“How did his father die?” Volle asked quietly.

There was a lengthy pause. “Bandits. He was returning home to Vellenland when the carriage was attacked by brigands. He tried to fight them and they killed him.”

“Oh. Poor Helfer.”

Tistunish grunted. “It’s a dangerous world. But let’s not dwell on that. I came by to invite you to dinner in a week’s time. Tika has a vixen she would like you to meet.”

“Oh.” Volle shifted in his seat. “About that, Lord Tistunish—”

“I told you, boy, call me Tish.”

“Tish, then. You see, I, uh…don’t like females.”

“Don’t like them? What’s wrong with them?” Tish seemed half-angry, half-amused.

“No, no, I mean…I prefer males.”

The wolf shrugged. “I rather figured that, given you’ve taken to Ikling. So what?”

“Well, it seems to have a rather direct bearing on whether I should be introduced to vixens.”

“Listen, boy, you’re not going to father any future Vintons in some other boy’s ass, are you?” He coughed. “Sorry. But you have a duty to your people to keep your name and blood alive, and for that, unless the laws of nature have recently changed, you need a vixen. And one of good breeding. As for what you prefer…” He shrugged again, but his expression was one of resignation. “You can’t always have what you want. You have a duty to your people, and to your country. That’s the life of a noble.”

“Regardless…” Volle began, but Tish cut him off.

“Oh, don’t get that stubborn set to your muzzle, boy. You don’t have to stop screwing around with boys. In fact, I suspect that once you have a cub or two, your wife will be glad to be—”

“Wife?!” Volle yelped.

“Well, you can’t have a cub without a wife? Yes, yes, I know you can, but not a legitimate one.”

“Look,” Volle said, “I appreciate this, but it’s all a bit too much. I’ve only been here for two days and already you have me married with cubs and…why so much interest in my life?”

Tish grinned widely. “Blame Tika. She loves to meddle, and I suppose it just rubs off on me. Volle, nobody’s going to force you to get married tomorrow. There’s courtship and engagement periods, though I suspect you won’t be too interested in the courtship. But one of the duties of a lord is the continuation of his line, and as that’s a pleasurable duty, usually, we thought we’d bring that up first. You saw what happened to Vinton without a lord.”

“Seemed to get on pretty well,” Volle said, but the number of improvements the town had wanted came back to him now. They’d done a lot themselves, but that meant that either they’d paid their taxes and seen nothing for it, or that they hadn’t paid and were now in a lot of financial trouble.

“No representation here leaves them vulnerable. If the neighboring lord decided to walk over and take possession, nobody would come to their aid.”

“Who is my neighbor?”

“Hm.” Tish scratched his muzzle. “You know, I don’t know that. I’ll look it up. In any case, Volle, you will attend dinners and meet my wife’s vixen friends. If for no other reason than that it will make my wife happy.”

Volle grinned slyly. “You seemed to do a good job of keeping her happy.”

Tish laughed. “Ah, but I’m old and can’t keep her as happy as I used to, at least in that way. So I have to find other ways to do it.”

Volle chuckled back. “You’re not that old,” he said politely, and Tish waved a paw. “You said you had other friends to introduce me to?”

The wolf nodded. “And some things to talk to you about. We meet on fairly short notice, because we’re not sure of the popularity of our position and it wouldn’t do to have someone listening.”

“Is there…any urgency?” Volle wasn’t sure how to ask the question. He’d been told not to lean too much on Tistunish, but the wolf hadn’t mentioned anything about an imminent plot against Ferrenis.

“There is always urgency, in that preparation now saves action later. But I don’t believe there is any need for action within the next two weeks.”

“All right.” Volle rested his muzzle in his paw. Either Tish was unaware of the plot, or it wasn’t as imminent as he’d been led to believe. Or it didn’t exist.

“There’s not much action we can take anyway,” Tish said. “We can only suggest and advise. But perhaps I should start with a history lesson.” He leaned back in his chair. “How much do you know of Tephos’s history?”

“Not much,” Volle replied, which was true. “I’ve heard of Bucher, of course. And wasn’t Gerreld king before him?”

“He was. But that was before my time. I knew King Bucher somewhat—I was just a cub at the time and my father was Lord Tistunish. I didn’t quite understand what was going on at the time. Not many did, I think.

“King Bucher started the Reys Wars. Oh, some of the younger lords here will have you think the Ferrenians started it, but that isn’t true. Bucher managed the whole thing, and managed it well. And after that, he sent the army to the west and annexed the entire country of Delford. When he tried to go still further west, the army was too spread out. They were beaten at Firalitz and at Gerdan, and then the Delford people, meek herbivores that they mostly are, rose up and massacred most of the remainder of the army in one bloody day and night.