The Enterprise of Death - Jesse Bullington [138]
“Where?! When did you see—”
“Shut it,” said Monique, and suddenly grabbing him in her arms, she crushed him to her chest and brought her mouth a breath from his. Before he could protest, she hissed, “Don’t you ruin this. They’s comin up behind an’ we’d best be lovers lookin for quiet.”
And then she did kiss him, harder than he had ever been kissed, though her tongue stayed on her side of the fence. Half a dozen men passed by, and with the multiple weapons at their waists, their dour faces, and the large swatches of chain and leather armor covering their traveling clothes they did not seem to be on their way to the festival. Even after the last of them had vanished along the now-dark lane Monique continued to grind against Manuel, and when he tried to push her off she grabbed the back of his neck and held him tighter, which was when another man passed them. This fellow made no pretense of ignoring them, and once he had gone a little way up the road he laughed loudly, and then was gone.
“Ever give a thought ta eatin somethin other’n cat turds?” Monique spit as she broke away from him. “That’ll be a franc, son, or two if ya had yourself a moment under that cod of yours.”
“I’m guessing you know those men?” said Manuel, wiping his mouth.
“Not half’s well as we will fore sun-up,” said Monique. “Meant to get ahead of’em but your dirty self had ta slip off for a wank, didn’t ya? Let’s give’em some time fore we go after.”
“Monique,” Manuel said as patiently as he was able. “What’s going on? I saw something, I saw Paracelsus. The doctor from Milan?”
“What?” Now it was Monique’s turn to let her jaw hang. “That fuckin lump?”
“You first, then I’ll tell you what I saw.”
“Not so much seein on my end but I ’eard the whole fuckin thing, didn’t I?” Monique said smugly. “I’m finished with them beers you brought, an’ unlike a proper joint there weren’t no maids bringin more so I push on up ta the bar. Jus’ when I’m bout ta tell the keep three more beers, an’ leave out the water this time, cunt, this slight fucker cuts in front of me, one of them what jus’ passed us.”
Manuel wondered which of the bulky men classified as “slight” to Monique.
“I’m bout ta straighten’em the fuck out when I ’ear’em say ta the keep, loud as fuckin day, we come ta collect the witch. Now, I’m thinkin he’s talkin festival talk or somethin, thinkin no fuckin way’s it this easy, an’ the barkeep says back, in fuckin eye-tie ta top it all, keep it down, they got the witch stowed outta town. Now I’m gettin real interested in pickin through my purse, aren’t I, an’ the keep an’ this lump jus’ keep yakkin away in eye-tie like nobody knows what they’re sayin, an’ by the cut of those drunk fucks no one else did. But I speak eye-tie, I speak it fuckin bella, don’t I?”
“So they came to pick up Awa? Did they say Awa?” Manuel looked around nervously, the alley dark in the gloaming but the bonfires by the river lighting up little patches of the cross streets a few blocks away.
“Course they didn’t say fuckin Awa, ’ow the fuck they know her name?” Monique shook her head, disappointed by Manuel’s obtuseness. “They said witch, but they also said they’d been followin’er trail through some graveyards up ta this’un, an’ it seems like this lump barkeep was the go-tween with the muscle. Sounds like this Kahlert cunt’s spread ’is net wide, but he’s also been buttonin it down local so all these fuckin hick-bergs know there’s a man in Calw what’ll pay for witches.”
“So Kahlert is in Calw,” said Manuel. “Good fucking thing we didn’t try Spain first.”
“That weren’t happenin,” said Monique. “Told ya.”
“But wait,” said Manuel. “If Kahlert’s men, the muscle, were tracking her from some graveyard to here, to Wolfach, how was the barkeep involved, and—”
“In time, in time,” said Monique. “I was almost fuckin there. So barkeep says them locals what got the witch caught’er up an old graveyard they don’t use no more, out the east side of town off a huntin trail. Barkeep says ta go out there ta pick’er up, an’ after gettin the biggest fuckin tip I ever seen the keep