I'm sorry for been so slow in posting, but you know what happens during the holidays. I hope you will enjoy this chapter. Because I did while I was writing it.
Happy New Year everyone!
I want to see the sky from above
Chapter 6: Never say Never
The clerk at the Assassins Registering Office lifted his head to see who was bothering his work for the last few minutes. His eyes fixed at the tall figure standing by his desk.
'May I help you?' he asked. The man at his front nodded. He waited for his explanation for some minutes, then sighed with boredom and put the quill apart.
'Are you here to… register?'
The tall figure looked at the label on his desk and nodded slowly. The clerk observed him from down to up. 'You must be new in the city? I haven't seen you so far.' There was no reply. The clerk rounded his eyes, extracted a paper from a big file and took the quill.
'Name?'
The figure stood silent for a while, until the clerk lifted his head again to stare at his face.
THE SHADOW OF DEATH, said.
The clerk rounded his eyes.
'Not the nick-name, man! I haven't come to it yet. Name. How you are called?'
The shadow blinked for some seconds.
JOHN, he answered.
'Good start. Now the surname, please.'
The shadow blinked some more.
STOW.
'Good, John… Stow… That reminds me something… Never mind. Now. What age are you?'
MY AGE COULD BE COUNTED NOT THAT EASY. IMAGINE THE BIRTH OF THE ELDEST GALAXY, DOUBLE IT AND THEN TRIPLE IT AGAIN. THAT'S MY AGE
'Wag guy. All right, now seriously. How old are you?'
THE UNIVERSE…
'All right' said the clerk, sighing with boredom. 'This is what I'm gonna sign. Doesn't… know… his… age… Well, you look at about forty. Forty… years… Now. Where did you work before?'
AS THE ETERNITY… started John.
'Has… no… experience… in… the… city… At least you look like foreigner. Quirmian. Right?
The shadow didn't answer.
'Right, then. From… Quirm… Now. What kind of work style you prefer? Single or team?'
DEATH HAS NO HELPING HAND, slowly answered the shadow. The clerk rounded his eyes again.
'Single… Now. How many customers have you accomplished? Don't worry counting with fingers. I've seen so many morons, don't bother me at all.'
The shadow knit his eyebrows.
TOO MUCH TO COUNT WITH ANY HAND, YOUNG MAN.
'Clever fellow. More… than… one… And now. Where do you live? I'm not expected to give shelter to every idiot registering here. After all the Guild's building can't enlarge more than it is. Address?'
I DON'T KNOW THE STREET'S NAME, answered the shadow.
'Any way.' sighed the clerk. 'That's enough for now. Now. Go to Mr. Flip, room eighty five, third floor, he will give you a job. Now. Do you have a pin? No? Here. Keep it, I'll charge fifty dollars if you loose it, this is your city card, don't play with it. I know what you all do, betting on dogs. What a shame! The knives…. Here… Warning: they are sharp! I don't fig if you have played with this kind of stuff, but be careful. Dr. Vimes is very idiotic about this stuff nowadays.
DR. VIMES?
'Yeah, the master here. If you know him then you ain't surprised. What a stuff guy. Always keeping us aware. No one knows what will happen next. You know…' The clerk waved his hand and made a face. The shadow looked at his with interest.
I KNOW HIM.
'You do?' The clerk's eyes enlarged.
MY… The shadow cleared his throat. …NIECE KNOWS HIM EVEN BETTER.
'Oh… You are… My gods!' The clerk swallowed with difficulty, staring at the figure at his front. He jumped in the air, taking the shadow's hand. 'I'm such an ass. I knew the name is familiar. Forgive me, Milord. I didn't want to offend you.'
He crushed the paper in his hand, shimmering nervously. 'I'll do it as it should be, Milord. Sorry again. I'm such an idiot. His Grace Lord John Stow. The uncle of the Sto Helit duchess! I'm sorry. I hope you wouldn't mention my behaviour when you meet His Lordship?'
MEET?
'Yes, Milord. He warned me about you yesterday. Said when you come to tell him at once. He definitely wants to talk to you. Big contract, eh? Brave fellow you are! Such important man registered by me! I'm so proud. I've heard so much things about you. May I ask for your autograph, sir? The kid will walk on air if I give him an autograph by Sir John Stow personally. The Shhadow of Deathhh… For his collection, of course. I don't want to bother you but…'
John rounded his eyes and sighed with boredom. He had to use a lot of his special properties to get rid of the man. He went upstairs where the Head Assassin's study was.
---
Susan was in her study in the Embassy. The last few days she had to rethink a lot about moving there. Sam's appearance some nights before was a factor. She was too ashamed by her action in his premises, avoiding his invitations, returning his flowers and letters. When he burst into her room, she was astonished enough to let him make love to her again. It was good, she could confess, but… It had to stop.
She knew the Embassy was a place Sam would never go, she thought he was too well mannered to go to step like that. That's why she finally yielded under the Ambassador's insistences to move there. The Embassy of Sto Helit gave its shelter in time. She had explained enough to the land lady. Duty calls, she had said, the country needs me, she had explained. Miss Rose didn't oppose her. After all she didn't have to return the rent for the next few months. That was enough. What Susan did, was obvious. Miss Rose already had to decline some particular 'individuals' asking for her shelter. Gladly, John preferred to stay in his attics, but Susan knew it wouldn't stop him visiting her at the embassy for the 'duty'.
She had her duties also. The papers in her hands begged for her attention.
'Hallo, John. Did you have fun?' Susan asked, still quilling the papers. She had felt the shadows presence too long to know when he is here.
IT WAS… INTERESTING, answered the shadow, coming closer. BEST REGARDS FROM DR. VIMES.
'Ah, I see you have met him.' said Susan, still writing. The shadow came even closer.
HE ASKED ABOUT YOU. WHY YOU MOVED TO THE EMBASSY, MAINLY.
'And you told him that I have a lot of job to do?' asked Susan.
YES.
'And he told you that he wants to invite me to a dinner again?'
YES.
'Did you tell him I have no time for this any more?'
I DID, answered the shadow. HE ASKED ME IF I COULD PASS YOU A LETTER FROM HIM.
Susan didn't answer.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO READ IT?
Susan continued writing.
OR MAYBE I SHOULD THROW IT IN THE FIRE AS THE REST OF HIS LETTERS?
Silence.
WELL, THEN.
The flames swallowed the paper. Susan stopped quilling for a second, listening for the crack in the mantle-piece. The shadow sighed while coming at her back. He lowered down to whisper at her ear:
HE GAVE ME A CONTRACT.
Susan continued writing, then she smiled nervously and burst into laughter.
'He did what?'
The shadow walked around her, stopping in front of her desk. He extracted a paper from his pocket and read it.
LORD CRIMPY SNIFFLER. SEVENTY NINE YEARS OLD. HIS ELDEST SON WANTS TO INVEST IN SOME KIND OF MERCHANDISE, BUT 'THE BIG PAPA' IS… LET ME REMEMBER HOW IT WAS… 'AS STUBBORN AS A MULE'.
Susan stared at him, wiping her eyes.
'Is his time come? You know what the assassins do, don't you?'
THEY INHUME, answered John. WHATEVER IT MEANS. AND YES, HIS TIME WILL COME THIS EVENING, NINETEEN MINUTES BEFORE MIDNIGHT.
He extracted the hourglass from his robe and stared there.
YOUR FELLOW TOLD ME HE IS A BAD CUSTOMER. TEN YEARS UNSUCCESSFULLY. WHATEVER THAT MEANS.
Susan rounded her eyes. 'He is not my fellow!'
Then she sighed deeply.
'And you are going to…' Susan smiled. '…inhume him tonight?'
NO, SUSAN, answered the shadow. YOU KNOW I CAN NOT PARTICIPATE IN ANY PHYSICAL SLAUGHTER. I… WE WILL BE THERE WHEN HE DIES IN HEART ATTACK.
Susan smiled tiredly. 'I can't do it tonight, John.' she said. 'The Ambassador gives a dinner in my honour.' She puffed with boredom, imagining what she had to pass through. 'You know, duty calls… Again…' She sighed nervously, staring at his face. 'You have to do it yourself, John. Could you?'
She glanced at him for a while, then steeped the quill to the ink pot.
ARE YOU SURE, SUSAN? Asked the shadow. Susan didn't answer. I COULD DO IT. OF COURSE. BUT THE LAST FEW WEEKS YOU INSISTED TO DO IT, SO I THOUGHT YOU WOULD CONTINUE… DOESN'T MATTER.
He moved to the exit, stopped and stared at her.
HE WILL BE AT THE DINNER, YOU KNOW…
Susan didn't answer. She didn't even blink. He kept looking at her writing for some time, then he silently disappeared. Susan lifted her head, fixing her eyes at the place he used to stand and tried to calm herself. She had to wait for some minutes until her hand stopped shimmering. She took another (not spotty) paper and started writing again.
---
The embassy of Sto Helit was one of the smallest diplomatic missions in Ankh-Morpork, but it had facilities big enough for a middle gatherings. The ambassador Steward Cunning was a smiling middle aged man, very polite and gentle interlocutor. Susan used to like him, he was not too pushy, never wanted too much from her, didn't bother her with his attention and used to say what was on his heart. Susan liked that. It was not the best quality for a politician, but he used to be a diplomat for too long, knowing when to speak and when to lie. It was a quality she estimated as one of the most important things she hadn't inherit from her parents. Thanks gods her father was her father. If she wasn't his daughter, he would gladly order her imprisonment in the highest tower of the Hell's prison. He thought she would gather some respect from his threats, but Susan was there some more times by herself and she gladly confessed she liked it. Dark enough for Death's granddaughter. The duke of Sto Helit was in shock. If even the Bat's tower couldn't impress his daughter, than what?
The ambassador's wife was a lady with higher spirit and a big mouth. Susan knew she had to be very careful with Lady Isabel, spelled as the spiciest gossiper in Ankh-Morpork. Each and every man and woman had to be very cautious when connecting with her. She had eagle eyes and rabbit ears. Whatever happens to the city she was the person knowing it first. Susan laughed a lot when she had to meet her at breakfast. How could someone know so many things for a night only…?
'Your Grace, you wear your glamorous silk dress? Again?' said Lady Isabel, smiling at her coming through the corridor. The noblewomen rounding her smiled nervously. 'Why not the green taffeta laced gown I saw in your wardrobe? I believe it would suit you better than the darkness you wear each day. Oh, speaking about darkness, do you know who I met this afternoon? Lady Sarah and her daughter. Daughter… Yeah… Everyone know she adopted the poor child, do you know whose child young Barbara is? You can't believe. Her sister's. Yes, Miss Marble's. And everyone knows what she became. A seamstress!. Who knows who the father is. Speaking of fathers. The cook told me just an hour ago that her father had been dismissed. Not because he wasn't doing his job, you know old Mr. Quickpace. His master, Lord Mudlark had financial problems. As no one knows why. Almost broke, you know. Horse bets again. Do you know what he laid down last Friday? The shop on Market street! I can't imagine his gorgeous wife's…'
Susan had to say Lady Isabel was a woman with big mouth indeed. She had to keep all her senses calm, but if she had to do what she wanted, she would gladly brandish the scythe at her face. She had a special technique against Lady Isabel's tirade. She only had to look at her husband.
'May I discuss something very important with Your Grace?' Ambassador Cunning took her arm and led her out of her most undesired company and let her step into her study, knowing she would like to find a nice and mostly, quiet place after meeting Lady Isabel. 'Have you look at the papers I gave you this afternoon, Your Grace?' he asked, while sitting at her front by the hearth.
'Quite interesting research, indeed.' answered Susan, staring at the fire. 'The guilds raise so fast. Why does this happens? I thought Sto Helit was safe away from the menace of the outward world.'
'It is.' answered the ambassador. 'But you know, no one is too far from the world these days. The economic situation changes all the time. Sto Helit had to suffer a lot the previous years, thanks gods the guilds were strong enough to outstand the depression. We had to strike fast and we did, we could react on time. But look at Quirm, their growth decreased so much. The mayor had to resign, the new mayor also. People are not happy with it all. It looks like our days the people look at the outward world after all. Thank gods we were not too blind to see the best and to protect ourselves from the worst.'
Susan smiled and sighed with understanding.
'It looks you had cope with everything. I guess my presence in Sto Helit is not necessary any more.'
The ambassador stared at her with eyes wide open.
'It doesn't mean you wouldn't come back to motherland, does it? I hoped I could convince you to do so, Your Grace.'
Susan sighed and leaned back in her armchair.
'Ambassador Cunning…' she closed her tired eyes. 'If I could choose I would never come back to Sto Helit.'
The man looked at her with misunderstanding. 'Don't say so, Your Ladyship. Please don't frighten me. You are desperately needed there!'
'I am not needed anywhere, ambassador.' answered Susan still eyes closed.
'You are joking with me, aren't you?' cried the man. Susan looked at him and answered slowly: 'I have no time for this kind of things, ambassador. Something more: I don't want to do it. I have been far from the politics for too long. I can't manage with my… relatives, and you talk about a whole country. Sto Helit have to get used to exist without a ruler. After all you have survived without one for almost forty years.'
'Your Grace, you are frightening me more and more.' murmured Lord Cunning with eyes wide open.
'I didn't want to do it, sir.' said Susan. 'But there are things I can't handle and I am a person which admits the truth whatever it is.'
'But your country…' started the ambassador.
'My country is better when I am not there.' Susan stared at him. He stared at her. His eyes were wet already. She regretted she couldn't tell him more. How to tell a man like him what would happen in some weeks when her grandfather comes back? How to explain what she was feeling now? Being a hostage of her own family… Expecting the appearance of the tall bony scythe holding figure at her front, asking for her attention… A ruler of a country frightened that tomorrow will not exist any more. There would be a long numbers of boring sorrowful tomorrows when nothing changes…
Ambassador Cunning smiled at her anxious eyes.
'I believe you will reconsider soon.' he said. 'After all you are a true descendant of His Lordship Sir Mortimer and Her Ladyship Lady Isabel – the best ruler Sto Helit had ever have.'
He stood up from his place and marched to the door. Before exiting he turned to see her again and pronounced uneasily:
'My long practice taught me many things, Your Ladyship. The first lesson I learned was: Never say never.'
He pressed the door handle and puller the door to him.
'I guess the dinner will start any moment. I will send someone to call you, Your Grace. Use your time. Relax.' He exited. Before closing the door he whispered:
'Rethink, Your Ladyship. We… need you.'
---
The shadow stood at the body in his feet. He brandished the scythe. The ghost of the old man raised from his dead body.
LORD CRIMPY SNIFFLER, said the shadow. The old man's soul nodded.
'You came to slay me?' he asked.
NOT EXACTLY, LORD SNIFFLER, answered the shadow. I CAME TO LEAD YOU AWAY.
'Lead me where?' asked the old man.
TO THE ETERNITY.
'Oh' cried Lord Sniffler. 'You are the Grim Ripper… Does it mean I didn't die in assassination?'
The shadow nodded.
'Good!' smiled the man. 'I always thought I will die in assassination. Let me guess who would be most happy seeing me dead: my eldest. Right?'
RIGHT, answered the shadow.
'I want to see his face when he finds out I died in natural causes.' The ghost smiled. Then he stared at the shadow. 'I died in natural cause, right?'
YES, answered John. YOU DIED IN A HEART ATTACK.
'Good!' laughed the old man. Then he stared at the shadow. 'Do you know what… I see now… You have knifes in your belt… I didn't know the Ripper would wear… Are you sure you are not an assassin?'
John cleared his throat. ACTUALLY… I AM. I… REGISTERED THIS MORNING.
'You?' stared the old man. 'Does your job description require this?'
The shadow didn't answer.
'But you didn't kill me?'
NO. I DIDN'T KILL YOU.
The ghost squeezed his eyes. 'But you had my contract?'
YES. I HAD YOUR… CONTRACT.
'And now I am dead?'
The shadow nodded. The soul sighed with boredom. 'Damn! It will look like a slaughter anyway.' He put his non existing hands on his non existing waist. 'Whatever. Lead me. And don't forget to leave a card on my body.'
A CARD?
'Yes. A card.' Lord Sniffler rounded his eyes. 'It means that you had done your job.'
REALLY? Thoughtfully pronounced the shadow. I NEVER PUT ANY CARD BEFORE.
'Bad job, I say' pronounced the old man. 'Always leave a card after. A part of the job. You know, who will know who the slaughter was. Don't forget. No card – no money!' And disappeared.
John blinked for a while and thoughtfully thrust his hand into his pocket.
---
Sam Vimes Jr. Appeared at the embassy of Sto Helit shortly before the dinner was served. Susan stared at him with surprise. He stared at her with a smile. While he was coming to her, Susan was trying to press her heart to explode. He bowed gently and took her hand.
'Your Grace!' he said while kissing her hand. She tried to smile. The fact was she had her heart in her head, pulsing, taking all her blood from her face, making it even more pale than it was. She tried not to shimmer, but not successfully. Sam felt her nervousness, he was not less nervous than her. He would rather go to some champagne bowl and have a deep gulp before saying anything more.
They tried to avoid each other during the dinner, but the truth was they felt like there was no one around them, they could hear every breath, every word coming from the other one. Susan was nervous enough to let her eyes cross with his, while she was travelling her stare around the table. Sam was trying not to stare at her. Thanks gods the dinner didn't take too long. Susan was tired enough when she went to say good evening to each and everyone. Soon after that she went to her premises and short after shutting the door, she sprawled on her bed, sighing. Sam… He was so handsome tonight. She should fight with her prejudices and her desire the whole evening. Seeing him sitting only a few meters from her… Talking with other women… Oh, how dreadful life is, she thought, while unbuttoning her dress. She stopped at her dress front's buttons and the memory splashed into her mind.
The movement at her near made her turn around. Sam was staying by her bed, watching her from above.
'Have you waited me too long?'