BENE
THE UNIVERSITY OF GERICH ASSET RECOVERY TEAM
CENTRAL RENDEROS
It was early evening, hours since the soldiers had snatched his bodies out of Mumolo. Roaoo kept repeating about how even getting this far was a triumph for the ages, but for Bene it wasn’t enough. While he couldn’t disagree that it felt like a victory, a true triumph for the ages would have been if the corpses also reanimated. So far, unfortunately, they hadn’t. And they might not. He didn’t realise how anxious he was about the whole thing until he’d chewed three fingernails down to the quick. “Fuck,” he said, digging them into his palm. It hurt.
Word of his exploits had spread through camp faster than the clap. The attention was welcome at first, but after a few dozen retellings of his encounter with the wight, the wonder of it had started to diminish. Roaoo was the worst. As soon as they’d gotten back, the man had made him write a lengthy and detailed chronicle of the day’s events. Not only that, he had practically stood at his elbow reading every word aloud as he jotted it down. Oddly, during the course of that awful endeavour, the magister’s usually taciturn demeanour had fallen away, exposing a buoyant and enthusiastic personality Bene found disturbing. He’d always thought of the magister as sombre, cold and almost inhuman, so it was bizarre watching him caper about, whooping and jabbing the air like a tyke at a birthday party. He’d found it so unsettling, actually, that he’d almost bitten his tongue in half in an effort to keep from shouting at the man to pull himself together.
“Here he is,” said Khela, sidling up to him and putting a hand on his chest. “The man of the moment.” She had a handkerchief in the other, pressed tightly to her nose and mouth. The bodies, he had to admit, seemed to be getting whiffier by the hour.
“Hi, Khel.”
“Is that contraption going to hold them?” she asked, pointing.
“Oh yeah.” Bene looked at the wight enclosure, a rough cage of pine trunks and rope. The door was secured with a seriously heavy-duty chain and the biggest brass lock he’d ever laid eyes on. And that was fair enough, really. But the soldiers had also put up barriers of stakes for good measure. And at intervals around the stakes, they stood with crossbows at the ready. That was extreme. So extreme it wasn’t even funny. At least it was good at keeping onlookers at bay.
Khela touched his arm. “I’m a bit surprised to see you alone, actually.” Glancing at the soldiers nearby she added, “Relatively speaking.”
“Yeah. Been something of a hectic day, hasn’t it? Seems everyone wants a piece of me.”
Khela laughed. “An understatement if ever there was one.”
“Yeah. I guess.”
She squeezed his arm. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sure.” Bene blew out his cheeks. “I guess maybe I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed by everything, you know?”
“I can imagine you’d be feeling quite conflicted. I know I am.”
He looked at the wight cage again. “I dunno. It’s a lot of stuff. Look, Khel, I don’t want to get into anything, but I have to ask–are you mad at me because I didn’t tell you about this morning? That I was going into Mumolo?”
“No,” said Khela, shaking her head. “No. Not mad. I mean, I was a bit disappointed that you didn’t confide in me. But I figured maybe you had your reasons.”
“And what did you think those reasons were?”
“Things are different between us now, Bene.” She sounded blue. “We used to be colleagues, and by colleagues, I mean in the true sense of the word. Equals. But we’re not any more. You’ve become Roaoo’s deputy, the number two in this party. And I, on the other hand…”
“No, I–”
“Please don’t interrupt me,” said Khela, giving him an earnest look. “It’s true and you know it. You’re Roaoo’s number two. It’s not a bad thing, Bene, and it’s no small achievement either. He trusts you, trusts your judgement enough to let you manage so many different aspects of our mission. I mean, you ride with the soldiers all the time now. And today? Wow.” She pointed at the bodies in the cage. “I heard it was all your idea–is that true?”
Bene nodded. “Yeah. But I can’t take all the credit. Roaoo and Tonneson pretty much nudged me toward it. And Hassing? Holy shit, we would’ve never pulled this off if not for him. If he doesn’t get a promotion out of this, Khel, I swear there’s no justice in the world.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. He might never have pulled it off without you.”
“Mm.”
“I know everyone’s been at you for your story all day, so I’m not going to make you tell it again for me now. But can I ask you one thing?”
Bene reached down and took her hand. “Of course. And we’re still colleagues, Khel. Equals too, despite what you just said. And we’re friends. And I don’t mind telling you the story either, if that’s what you want.”
Khela glanced at the wight cage. “I’ll get it from you, but not now. Is it true what they’re saying, though? I mean, they’re sentient, aren’t they? Still human.”
“Yes.” He paused to take a breath. “They are. There’s not even a shadow of doubt in my mind about it. What happened in Mumolo will stay with me for the rest of my life.”
“Then promise me something,” said Khela, squeezing his fingers. Her eyes were fierce and wet, and the hand with the handkerchief fell away from her face. “Make us chase her harder! Make the Scouts hound her day and night, never giving her a chance to catch her breath! They should be out there, right now, just running her down. Why aren’t they? That girl has to die, Bene. She needs to pay for everything she’s done. This shit needs to end!”
“Well...”
Khela laughed a joyless laugh. “I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say it’s not that easy, right? Where is she, Bene? Where is she right now, at this exact moment? We don’t know, do we? No one knows!”
“Yeah, but–”
“Why does it feel like we’re just following her around, waiting to find out what her next target is? And then always after the fact?”
“That’s not true. And it’s not just us out here, remember? We’ve got people all over Renderos. Agents. Watching, listening, trying to figure out where she’s headed.”
Khela let go of his hand. “Fat lot of good it seems to be doing us. I remember you saying something about how we had an agent in Mumolo?”
“Yeah. Leander. And?”
“So where’s Leander, then?”
“I don’t know. He hasn’t surfaced yet.”
“Which probably means he’s dead, Bene. Exactly like what happened in Sanod. Remember that?”
Bene nodded. Their agent there, probably hoping to become a hero, had led the defence of the village and gotten himself wighted for his trouble. “Of course I do.”
“Which kind of proves my point.”
“All right, but what would you have us do instead, Khel? Send an army into every town and village in Renderos? It’s just not possible. How would–”
Khela sighed. “It’s like you’re always telling me. I guess I just don’t get it. Maybe I never will.”
“I don’t know how to reply to that, Khel. I’m tired. I don’t want to say anything to make things between you and me go pear-shaped again.”
“So, what’s going to happen?”
“What do you mean?”
She gestured at the cage. “With them. Now, tonight.”
“Nothing. We just wait for them to reanimate, I guess. There isn’t really anything else we can do.”
“And if they don’t?”
“I’m still hopeful they will, but if not then we’ll have to move on. She’s already got a day on us at least, so we’ll be going in the morning regardless.”
Khela nodded. He invited her to sit, and they sat. Neither of them said anything for a long time, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. Holding her hand, he stretched out and looked up at the moons.
Khela nudged him awake. “You need to get up.”
Bene rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. “Huh?”
“Get up, Bene,” she said, smacking his shoulder with the back of her hand. “Quick! The cage–!”
He sat up, instantly awake. “What?”
The air was abuzz with excitement. Roaoo was up near the wight cage, as was Tonneson, and more soldiers had gathered around than he thought they even had soldiers. Everyone else in the camp was trying to get a look, too, but the magister’s angry glares held them back. “Return to your posts!” he barked. “The rest of you, keep the noise down!”
Few obeyed, but Bene didn’t care to back him up. Taking Khela’s wrist, he rushed over to the magister. “Holy shit, is one of those bodies moving?”
“I think you know the answer to that,” said Roaoo, a look of violent ecstasy on his face.
There could be no mistake–one of his corpses had reanimated! He watched, fascinated, as a rotten creature fought to detach itself from its shroud of blankets. There were gasps of horror and amazement all round.
“I’m going to be sick,” said Khela, retching.
“Yeah.” Bene didn’t see her vomit because he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the wight cage. He definitely heard her, though.
The corpse attempted to gain its feet, but failed. Some of the soldiers shouldered their crossbows.
“You will not shoot!” Roaoo’s voice rose above everything. “Not unless I specifically give the order!” The wight’s head swivelled to look at him, his outburst having gained its full attention.
“Uuuuurgh,” said Khela, adding to the gastric fluids pooling under her shoes.
Bene spared her a momentary glance. The corpse again tried to stand up, this time grasping at the bars of the enclosure for support. It moved in the stilted way typical of its kind, but finally succeeded. “Khel,” he said, open-mouthed. “Khel? Are you seeing this?”
“Attention, villager of Mumolo!” Roaoo called out. “Can you hear me?”
The wight flinched at the sound of his voice.
“Wow,” said Bene, goosebumps sending a prickly shiver up his spine and down his arms and legs. “It heard him. Just like with mine. They really can hear.”
“Urrch.” Khela wiped off her mouth.
Roaoo took a few halting steps toward the cage. “Can you hear me?”
The wight started back in fright, then toppled and fell. The assembled crowd gasped.
“Amazing!” Roaoo gestured at Bene. “Come. With me, Munning.”
Bene hastened after the magister, a hush descending as they braved the wooden stakes to get as close as possible to the cage. This close up, the stench was something else. The fallen wight watched them through cloudy eyes, its fat green jaw quivering. She was the larger of the pair, the one he’d come to think of as the mother.
“Why does it not get up?” Roaoo seemed unaffected by the smell.
Bene didn’t have an answer, so he didn’t volunteer one. “Hello?” he said to the wight.
The wight’s head shifted.
“Hello,” said Bene again. “Can you hear me?”
She was looking right at him.
“Your daughter,” said Bene, kneeling and indicating the other corpse that still lay unmoving under its blankets. “Or your sister, maybe? She’s... she’s in there with you. We brought you here, together.”
At first the wight did nothing. Then, slowly, her head turned to the other body and an oozing arm reached out.
“There’s something wrong with its legs,” said Roaoo. “I don’t think it can get up.”
“Yes,” said Bene. The wight’s movements did seem unusually feeble.
Khela came to kneel beside him so suddenly it made him jump in fright. “Sorry.”
Bene put a hand on his chest. “Scared the crap out of me.”
“What is it doing?”
“She’s trying to reach the other wight under the blankets,” said Bene. “And I could be wrong, but I think she’s dying. Again.”
A tear slid down Khela’s cheek as they watched. The wight’s movements grew weaker and weaker.
Bene made a decision. “I’m going in there.”
Khela grabbed his sleeve. “What? Bene, you can’t be seriou–”
He ignored her. “Magister Roaoo?” he asked, standing up. “Can I go in there?”
Roaoo looked at him. Surely, he would refuse. But no, he reached into the folds of his robe and took out a large brass key. “Do what you must, Munning.”
“Bene!” hissed Khela, tightening her grip on him. “You can’t be serious.”
Bene looked at her hand, and then into her eyes, and she understood: everything he’d said earlier about them being equals had been a lie. The realisation seemed to crush her, but she nodded and let go without saying another word.
“Thank you, magister,” said Bene, taking the key. It felt cold and heavy in his palm. He went to the padlock. He paused, waiting for some dire reaction from the wight. Nothing. He turned the key in the padlock, unlooped the chain and let it fall.
“Look at that,” he heard someone say as he pulled the door open.
“What a fucking legend.” A male voice, maybe one of the soldiers.
“Here goes nothing,” whispered Bene. The door was heavier than expected, but he managed to haul it aside on the third or fourth try. The rope hinges croaked. His fear mounted. Even so, he went in.
He was shaking as he knelt beside the wight, but she seemed to accept his presence. “I’m not here to hurt you,” he told her. Somehow the stench barely touched him now. “I’m only here to help.” He pointed to the blankets concealing the other corpse. “You want her, don’t you?”
The wight’s mouth opened and closed. She was trying to speak.
“Yes?” he said, guessing. “I’ll bring her to you, shall I?” And with that, he pulled the smaller body toward them and began unwrapping the blankets.
The wight tried to shift her bulk, but her arms twitched uselessly. He sensed what she wanted. Even though it made him feel ill, he took both her putrescent wrists and put them around the little corpse.
Outside, Khela began to cry.
So did Bene. And he sat in the cage long after the mother went still. No one said a word to him when he finally got up and marched back to his tent.
The following morning, Roaoo patted his shoulder. “The second corpse turned black. Seems she wasn’t viable, Munning. Sorry.”
“Don’t be,” said Bene. It was good news. But the magister had already left, and didn’t hear his reply.