The Great Leveller by Joe Abercrombie
‘Eh?’ Hadn’t been expecting that. Left him disappointed, almost. ‘What, then?’
‘You can go.’
He blinked. ‘I can what?’
‘Go. You’re free.’
‘Didn’t think you still cared.’
‘Who says I ever did? This is for me, not you. I’ve had enough vengeance.’
Shivers snorted. ‘Well, who’d have fucking thought it? The Butcher of Caprile. The Snake of Talins. The good woman, all along. I thought you didn’t have much use for the right thing. I thought mercy and cowardice were the same.’
‘Mark me down a coward, then. That I can live with. Just don’t ever come back here. My cowardice has limits.’ She twisted the ring off her finger. The one with the big, blood-red ruby in it, and tossed it in the dirty straw at his feet. ‘Take it.’
‘Alright.’ He bent down and dug it out of the muck, wiped it on his shirt. ‘I ain’t proud.’ Monza turned and walked away, towards the stairway, towards the lamplight spilling from it. ‘So that’s how this ends, is it?’ he called after her. ‘That’s the ending?’
‘You think you deserve something better?’ And she was gone.
He slid the ring onto his little finger and watched it sparkle. ‘Something worse.’
‘Move, then, bastard,’ snarled one of the guards, waving a drawn sword.
Shivers grinned back. ‘Oh, I’m gone, don’t you worry on that score. I’ve had my fill of Styria.’
He smiled as he stepped out of the darkness of the tunnel and onto the bridge that led away from Fontezarmo. He scratched at his itching face, took in a long breath of cold, free air. All things considered, and well against the run of luck, he reckoned he’d come out alright. Might be he’d lost an eye down here in Styria. Might be he was leaving no richer than when he’d stepped off the boat. But he was a better man, of that he’d no doubt. A wiser man. Used to be he was his own worst enemy. Now he was everyone else’s.
He was looking forward to getting back to the North, finding some work that suited him. Maybe he’d make a stop in Uffrith, pay his old friend Vossula a little visit. He set off down the mountain, away from the fortress, boots crunching in the grey dust.
Behind him, the sunrise was the colour of bad blood.
Acknowledgments
As always, four people without whom:Bren Abercrombie, whose eyes are sore from reading it.
Nick Abercrombie, whose ears are sore from hearing about it.
Rob Abercrombie, whose fingers are sore from turning the pages.
Lou Abercrombie, whose arms are sore from holding me up.
Then, my heartfelt thanks:
To all the lovely and talented folks at my UK Publisher, Gollancz, and their parent Orion, particularly Simon Spanton, Jo Fletcher, Jon Weir, Mark Stay and Jon Wood. Then, of course, all those who’ve helped make, publish, publicise, translate and above all sell my books wherever they may be around the world.
To the artists responsible for somehow making me look classy: Didier Graffet, Dave Senior and Laura Brett.
To editors across the Pond: Devi Pillai and Lou Anders.
To other hard-bitten professionals who’ve provided various mysterious services: Robert Kirby, Darren Turpin, Matthew Amos, Lionel Bolton.
To all the writers whose paths have crossed mine either electronically or in the actual flesh, and who’ve provided help, laughs and a few ideas worth stealing, including but by no means limited to: James Barclay, Alex Bell, David Devereux, Roger Levy, Tom Lloyd, Joe Mallozzi, John Meaney, Richard Morgan, Adam Roberts, Pat Rothfuss, Marcus Sakey, Wim Stolk and Chris Wooding.
And lastly, yet firstly:For unstinting support, advice, food, drink and, you know, editing above and beyond the call of duty, my editor, Gillian Redfearn. Long may it continue. I mean, I’m not going to write these damn things on my own . . .
Contents
Order of Battle
BEFORE THE BATTLE
The Times
The Peacemaker
The Best of Us
Black Dow
What War?
Old Hands
New Hands
Reachey
The Right Thing
DAY ONE
Silence
Ambition
Give and Take
The Very Model
Scale
Ours Not to Reason Why
Cry Havoc and …
Devoutly to be Wished
Casualties
The Better Part of Valour
Paths of Glory
The Day’s Work
The Defeated
Fair Treatment
Tactics
Rest and Recreation
DAY TWO
Dawn
Opening Remarks
The Infernal Contraptions
Reasoned Debate
Chains of Command
Closing Arguments
Straight Edge
Escape
The Bridge
Strange Bedfellows
Hearts and Minds
Good Deeds
One Day More
Bones
The King’s Last Hero
My Land
DAY THREE
The Standard Issue
Shadows
Under the Wing
Names
Still Yesterday
For What We Are About to Receive …
The Riddle of the Ground
Onwards and Upwards
More Tricks
The Tyranny of Distance
Blood
Pointed Metal
Peace in Our Time
The Moment of Truth
Spoils
Desperate Measures
Stuff Happens
AFTER THE BATTLE
End of the Road
By the Sword
The Currents of History
Terms
Family
New Hands
Old Hands
Everyone Serves
Just Deserts
Black Calder
Retired
Acknowledgements
For Eve
One day you will read this
And say, ‘Dad, why all the swords?’
Order of Battle
THE UNION
High Command
Lord Marshal Kroy – commander-in-chief of his Majesty’s armies in the North.
Colonel Felnigg – his chief of staff, a remarkably chinless man.
Colonel Bremer dan Gorst – royal observer of the Northern War and disgraced master swordsman, formerly the king’s First Guard.
Rurgen and Younger – his faithful servants, one old, one … younger.
Bayaz, the First of the Magi – a bald wizard supposedly hundreds of years old and an influential representative of the Closed Council, the king’s closest advisors.
Yoru Sulfur – his butler, bodyguard and chief bookkeeper.
Denka and Saurizin – two old Adepti of the University of Adua, academics conducting an experiment for Bayaz.
Jalenhorm’s Division
General Jalenhorm – an old friend of the king, fantastically young for his position, described as brave yet prone to blunders.
Retter – his thirteen-year-old bugler.
Colonel Vallimir – ambitious commanding officer of the King’s Own First Regiment.
First Sergeant Forest – chief non-commissioned officer with the staff of the First.
Corporal Tunny – long-serving profiteer, and standard-bearer of the First.
Troopers Yolk, Klige, Worth, and Lederlingen – clueless recruits attached to Tunny as messengers.
Colonel Wetterlant – punctilious commanding officer of the Sixth Regiment.
Major Culfer – his panicky second in command.
Sergeant Gaunt, Private Rose – soldiers with the Sixth.
Major Popol – commanding the first battalion of the Rostod Regiment.
Captain Lasmark – a poor captain with the Rostod
Colonel Vinkler – courageous commanding officer of the Thirteenth Regiment.
Mitterick’s Division
General Mitterick – a professional soldier with much chin and little loyalty, described as sharp but reckless.
Colonel Opker – his chief of staff.
Lieutenant Dimbik – an unconfident young officer on Mitterick’s staff.
Meed’s Division
Lord Governor Meed – an amateur soldier with a neck like a turtle, in peacetime the governor of Angland, described as hating Northmen like a pig hates butchers.
Colonel Harod dan Brock – an honest and hard-working member of Meed’s staff, the son of a notorious traitor.
Finree dan Brock – Colonel Brock’s venomously ambitious wife, the daughter of Lord Marshal Kroy.
Colonel Brint – senior on Meed’s staff, an old friend of the king.
Aliz dan Brint – Colonel Brint’s naive young wife.
Captain Hardrick – an officer on Meed’s staff, affecting tight trousers.
The Dogman’s Loyalists
The Dogman – Chief of those Northmen fighting with the Union. An old companion of the Bloody-Nine, once a close friend of Black Dow, now his bitter enemy.
Red-Hat – the Dogman’s Second, who wears a red hood.
Hardbread – a Named Man of long experience, leading a dozen for the Dogman.
Redcrow – one of Hardbread’s Carls.
THE NORTH
In and Around Skarling’s Chair
Black Dow – the Protector of the North, or stealer of it, depending on who you ask.
Splitfoot – his Second, meaning chief bodyguard and arse-licker.
Ishri – his advisor, a sorceress from the desert South, and sworn enemy of Bayaz.
Caul Shivers – a scarred Named Man with a metal eye, who some call Black Dow’s dog.
Curnden Craw – a Named Man thought of as a straight edge, once Second to Rudd Threetrees, then close to Bethod, now leading a dozen for Black Dow.
Wonderful – his long-suffering Second.
Whirrun of Bligh – a famous hero from the utmost North, who wields the Father of Swords. Also called Cracknut, on account of his nut being cracked.
Jolly Yon Cumber, Brack-i-Dayn, Scorry Tiptoe, Agrick, Athroc and Drofd – other members of Craw’s dozen.
Scale’s Men
Scale – Bethod’s eldest son, now the least powerful of Dow’s five War Chiefs, strong as a bull, brave as a bull, and with a bull’s brain too.
Pale-as-Snow – once one of Bethod’s War Chiefs, now Scale’s Second.
White-Eye Hansul – a Named Man with a blind eye, once Bethod’s herald.
‘Prince’ Calder – Bethod’s younger son, an infamous coward and schemer, temporarily exiled for suggesting peace.
Seff – his pregnant wife, the daughter of Caul Reachey.
Deep and Shallow – a pair of killers, watching over Calder in the hope of riches.
Caul Reachey’s Men
Caul Reachey – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, an elderly warrior, famously honourable, father to Seff, father-in-law to Calder.
Brydian Flood – a Named Man formerly a member of Craw’s dozen.
Beck – a young farmer craving glory on the battlefield, the son of Shama Heartless.
Reft, Colving, Stodder and Brait – other young lads pressed into service with Beck.
Glama Golden’s Men
Glama Golden – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, intolerably vain, locked in a feud with Cairm Ironhead.
Sutt Brittle – a famously greedy Named Man. Lightsleep – a Carl in Golden’s employ.
Cairm Ironhead’s Men
Cairm Ironhead – one of Dow’s five War Chiefs, notoriously stubborn, locked in a feud with Glama Golden.
Curly – a stout-hearted scout.
Irig – an ill-tempered axeman.
Temper – a foul-mouthed bowman.
Others
Brodd Tenways – the most loyal of Dow’s five War Chiefs, ugly as incest. Stranger-Come-Knocking – a giant savage obsessed with civilisation, Chief of all the lands east of the Crinna.
Back to the Mud (dead, thought dead, or long dead)
Bethod – the first King of the Northmen, father to Scale and Calder.
Skarling Hoodless – a legendary hero who once united the North against the Union.
The Bloody-Nine – once Bethod’s champion, the most feared man in the North, and briefly King of the Northmen before being killed by Black Dow (supposedly).
Rudd Threetrees – a famously honourable Chief of Uffrith, who fought against Bethod and was beaten in a duel by the Bloody-Nine.
Forley the Weakest – a notoriously weak fighter, companion to Black Dow and the Dogman, ordered killed by Calder.
Shama Heartless – a famous champion killed by the Bloody-Nine. Beck’s father.
‘Unhappy the land that
is in need of heroes’
Bertolt Brecht
The Times
‘Too old for this shit,’ muttered Craw, wincing at the pain in his dodgy knee with every other step. High time he retired. Long past high time. Sat on the porch behind his house with a pipe, smiling at the water as the sun sank down, a day’s honest work behind him. Not that he had a house. But when he got one, it’d be a good one.
He found his way through a gap in the tumble-down wall, heart banging like a joiner’s mallet. From the long climb up the steep slope, and the wild grass clutching at his boots, and the bullying wind trying to bundle him over. But mostly, if he was honest, from the fear he’d end up getting killed at the top. He’d never laid claim to being a brave man and he’d only got more cowardly with age. Strange thing, that – the fewer years you have to lose the more you fear the losing of ’em. Maybe a man just gets a stock of courage when he’s born, and wears it down with each scrape he gets into.
Craw had been through a lot of scrapes. And it looked like he was about to snag himself on another.
He snatched a breather as he finally got to level ground, bent over, rubbing the wind-stung tears from his eyes. Trying to muffle his coughing which only made it louder. The Heroes loomed from the dark ahead, great holes in the night sky where no stars shone, four times man-height or more. Forgotten giants, marooned on their hilltop in the scouring wind. Standing stubborn guard over nothing.
Craw found himself wondering how much each of those great slabs of rock weighed. Only the dead knew how they’d dragged the bastard things up here. Or who had. Or why. The dead weren’t telling, though, and Craw had no plans on joining ’em just to find out.
He saw the faintest glow of firelight now, at the stones’ rough edges. Heard the chatter of men’s voices over the wind’s low growl. That brought back the risk he was taking, and a fresh wave of fear washed up with it. But fear’s a healthy thing, long as it makes you think. Rudd Threetrees told him that, long time ago. He’d thought it through, and this was the right thing to do. Or the least wrong thing, anyway. Sometimes that’s the best you can hope for.
So he took a deep breath, trying to remember how he’d felt when he was young and had no dodgy joints and didn’t care a shit for nothing, picked out a likely gap between two of those big old rocks and strolled through.
Maybe this had been a sacred place, once upon an ancient day, high magic in these stones, the worst of crimes to wander into the circle uninvited. But if any old Gods took offence they’d no way of showing it. The wind dropped away to a mournful sighing and that was all. Magic was in scarce supply and there wasn’t much sacred either. Those were the times.
The light shifted on the inside faces of the Heroes, faint orange on pitted stone, splattered with moss, tangled with old bramble and nettle and seeding grass. One was broken off half way up, a couple more had toppled over the centuries, left gaps like missing teeth in a skull’s grin.
Craw counted eight men, huddled around their wind-whipped campfire with patched cloaks and worn coats and tattered blankets wrapped tig
Maybe there are only so many faces in the world. You get old enough, you start seeing ’em used again.
Craw lifted his open hands high, palms forward, doing his best to stop ’em shaking any. ‘Nice evening!’
The faces snapped around. Hands jerked to weapons. One man snatched up a bow and Craw felt his guts drop, but before he got close to drawing the string the man beside him stuck out an arm and pushed it down.
‘Whoa there, Redcrow.’ The one who spoke was a big old lad, with a heavy tangle of grey beard and a drawn sword sitting bright and ready across his knees. Craw found a rare grin, ’cause he knew the face, and his chances were looking better.