Caius raised an eyebrow and gave a side look at the hooded figure sitting at the other side of the table.
"Death?"
"Yes."
Caius took a long gulp of beer without taking his eyes off from the figure. Nothing peered outside of the hood.
"All right, Death" he said, and smacked his lips. "You are here to try to kill me. I get it. Can't say it's a healthy decision," He wiped his mouth on his sleeve, "and you are not helping your cause by telling me."
"I'm not here to kill you," came from under the hood. "I am Death."
"Whatever you say. Now, if you don't mind, I will finish this beer in peace, and after we'll take this business out, in the street."
"I don't think you understand.."
"Can I finish this beer?" Caius sighed and put his tankard down. "Are you in that much of a hurry? Are you behind or something?"
"I'm always behind. The plague is coming to town and I'll be busy all week long."
"My heart bleeds for you."
Caius resumed his drinking, looking at Death, who laid back on its chair and waited without further words.
After two more gulps, Caius stopped, even if there was still half of the container to go, and started nibbling on some of the bread on the table.
Best not being too drunk, he thought. Although the cape and hood should slow "Death" down, no sense in taking any chances. Kick the knee, as he goes down punch the ear, and if he tries to get up, a dagger to the stomach.
"You said you'd only finish the beer." Said Death. There was no intonation in his voice. His voice? Her voice? Its voice? Can't really say.
Caius took a short gulp. "I said I'd finish the beer and we'd go. Didn't say it was the only thing I'd do."
He put the beer down and stretched out his arms and yawned, moving his neck in a wide circle.
Odd. Tavern is full, but everybody is quiet, and nobody looks in our direction. Surely someone must find Death's garments out of the ordinary. If nothing else, he looks like a leper.
"Please, finish your beer, so that we can step outside."
"Are you that hot to go from being Death, to being dead?"
"I can't die. I am Death."
"Only one way to find out." Caius adjusted his belt, positioning his pistol to cover his companion, then took the tankard and resumed his slow drinking. I don't like it. Only a short while ago it was impossible to hear my own thoughts, and now it's dead quiet. This Death guy, or girl, is getting to me.
"Whatever!" Said Caius, and slammed his tankard down.
"Something wrong?" said Death.
"Yeah. Everything," Caius stood up, reached for his coin purse, then glanced left and right to the crowd. Nobody looking in their direction, still. Caius patted the handle of his pistol.
"Let's get out of here and get this done and over with. I'll be back after killing you."
In a smooth movement, and without a word, Death got up and started walking toward the door. Neither the cape nor the feet made any noise as it moved across the floor.
Caius looked at Death, which was at least a full head taller than him.
Might end up being a tougher fight than expected.
He picked up his own cape with one hand, and adjusted the weapons in his belt. Touching the pistol's handle he considered firing his single shot in Death's back and bolting the other way.
As soon as the thought formed in his head, Death stopped.
"Don't." said Death. "It would be a waste of ammunition, powder, and most of all, time."
Caius mouthed a curse word of surprise but said nothing and smiled.
"Let's go," said Death, resuming its walk, with Caius a few paces behind.
The couple went through the front door and it slammed behind them. With the door closed, the noise coming from the tavern dimmed, and as the two walked further down the road, the evening grew still, quiet, with no man or animal in sight. Only Caius light steps could be heard, Death didn't make a sound and kept walking toward a narrow alley.
As soon as Death was in the alley, Caius charged from behind without breaking his stride.
He cleared the distance between them in an instant, and his shoulder connected with Death's spine, sending it face first on the hard stones of the road.
"There is no need for this!" thundered Death.
Caius drew his dagger and fell on the sprawled figure, stabbing violently its lungs.
The dagger didn't encounter any resistance, and Death stood up, pushing Caius off like he was a light sack and turned around, the dagger sticking out of its back.
Caius landed on his feet and sprung back at Death, but Death was ready this time. It struck out a gloved hand to repel him and yelled "Stop! I'm not here to fight!"
Caius grabbed that arm, spun his body up and kicked Death's face, but instead of both of them falling, he just hung there while Death's hood fell backwards.
For a few seconds nothing happened. Death stood still, its arm stretched out, with Caius holding on to it and retreating his leg to get a better hold.
"I'm not here to fight! I'm here to talk!"
Caius stared at the pallid face. Few singed hair on top, no eyebrows, deep green eyes with a small pupil, and no color on the lips, and an old fading scar going from the left eye down the cheek to the collar bone. Caius squinted, then his mouth slacked open.
"Emmerich?? Ric?!" He said.
"I am Death."
Caius let go of Death's arm and fell backwards. Death loomed even taller than before.
"Ric! What the hell is the meaning of all this?! I nearly killed you!!"
"Emmerich is not here. I am Death. This is just the vessel I chose for the time being."
"What the hell are you talking about Ric?"
"There is no Ric."
"Yeah? Then why do you look just like him.. well, a grey pale version of him?"
"Earlier, when Emmerich died, he told me about you and of your peculiarities. I realized I could make use of your help, and the only way I could talk to you was by taking over a human body."
"Wait. What do you mean Ric died? You killed him?"
"I don't kill. I am Death."
"You say you are not Ric, and that he's dead, but you wear his face." Caius got up and cleaned his doublet. "You are too physical to be a ghost, and too ..smart.. to be one of those undead things."
"It's all rather complicated," Death stretched its arm all the way to its back and retrieved Caius' dagger, "and it would be much simpler if you could just accept that I am Death, personified in the body of Emmerich Russdorffer"
"So," said Caius looking at his dagger in Death's hands, "He kicked the bucket, you happened to walk by, and thinking it would help chatting me up, you picked up his face?"
"I was there when he died, I'm always there when someone dies." Death, still holding the dagger, begun pulling off his left glove. "Emmerich, son of Johannes and Gude Russdorffer, a fence and a burglar in a family of pious men of God. Also, a dabbler in the art of alchemy, which indirectly caused his demise."
Death's glove fell to the ground and showed Caius a mangled hand missing three fingers.
"His death wasn't quick. He was convinced he had discovered a way to transmute common matter into gold. He was wrong, of course, but went for a celebratory meal in his kitchen."
Death held the dagger in the right hand and pushed it clean through the mangled left. No blood gushed, poured, or even trickled. Was like looking at a knife being pushed in a form of cheese. He then withdrew the blade and tossed it next to Caius, who picked it up by the tip of the hilt, and stared at it like it was the first time he ever saw it.
"Was he poisoned?" Asked Caius, testing the dagger's tip with his own finger.
"Like I said, he went to celebrate in his kitchen. Opened a jar of pickled anchovies, flipped one in the air, and caught it in his mouth. It went straight into his throat and he choked on it. He began coughing hard, slipped, and fell. The shock of the fall, the pain, and of the choking experience were too much. His heart gave."
"An anchovy?" Caius looked up at Death's face, and absentmindedly stabbed his own finger. "OUCH! Dammittohell!"
"A heart attack indirectly caused by an anchovy. But as I was saying.."
"An anchovy?" asked Caius sucking on his finger, "The man who beheaded a rabid boar charging at him with a single stroke of his axe.. killed by an anchovy??"
"It happens all the time. His heart was weak."
"What does it mean his heart was weak!?! This is the man who in a single night out drank and out whored a platoon of hardened mercenaries!!! And I should know, I was there!!!"
"That night he only pretended to drink, and paid the women who went with him to keep the whole thing quiet."
Caius started a protest, but Death interrupted him shoving him to the ground. "You, on the other hand, after your first ale were too drunk to notice anything was amiss, even when your comrade Augustus chocked to death on a snail. I should know, I was there. Now shut up and listen!"
Caius got up, muttered some words about Death's manners and parentage, wiped the dagger on his leg, slipped it inside his belt, and stared at Death.
"I'm all ears," he said.
"There is someone in Rome, someone who is dead, but refuses to die," Death paced back and forth. "So far she has found a way to evade me. I want to know how does she do it, and I want to catch up with her."
Death stopped and pulled a scroll tied with a long thick thread from inside of his right sleeve.
"A drawing of her likeness," Death offered the scroll to Caius, "bound with the severed thread of her life."
Caius took the scroll but made no motion to open it, instead he kept looking at Death.
"What do you want me to do," asked Caius, "strangle her with this rope?"
"She's already dead. She removed herself from this plane with poison. Three years ago this Sunday. No, I want you to confront her. Talk to her, make her see reason, find out how has she been able to avoid me. She has to come with me."
Caius unrolled the scroll. On it there was a crude line drawing of a woman's face with a large mole on her right cheek and a vaguely familiar crooked nose. He looked at the drawing for a little while, then looked at the grey face of his dead friend.
"I don't know," started Caius, "someone who kills themselves and won't die.. not something you do by mistake.."
"Indeed," said Death, "she has knowledge that doesn't belong to her, and uses it to avoid me."
"Hmmmmm.. sounds dangerous.."
"You will get your reward."
"Rome.. two weeks ride from here," said Caius, moving his eyes back and forth from the woman's picture to Death, "to find a this not-so-dead ugly chick.."
"Your reward will be significant." If Death was impatient or angry, its voice didn't betray it.
"This woman who poisoned herself, died, but.." Caius stopped, and chewed on his lower lip. "How exactly could you die, but escape Death?"
"It's complicated," said Death.
"I bet it is. Why would someone even want to do such thing?"
"In this way she can't die again."
"You know, I'm getting a headache. Why.. how.. I mean.. sure, I'd do most things for money, but.. you're not telling me everything, are you?"
"I guess I should give more information."
"Good guess.." murmured Caius.
Death started pacing again. "When someone dies," it started, "I come around to collect the soul and bring it to their final destination. Sometimes I am prevented, via means of incantations or demonic interference. In these cases the body dies, but the spirit survives, allowing one's essence to increase in knowledge and power well beyond what could actually be achieved in life. Now, when Donatella.."
"Ok ok enough, I'm falling asleep here." Caius looked at the drawn face again. I've seen her somewhere..
"Don't you care to know what has happened?"
"Would it make a difference? Make it easier for me to get her to ..uhh.. abandon this mortal coil?"
"I don't think so."
"Then I only care about two things: One, what am I supposed to do with her.. she's dead, can't exactly threaten her. Two, what do I get out of it."
"You could reason with her. Show her the error of her ways."
"Anyone who lives in Rome and has enough knowledge and money to avoid Death, knows very well the error of their ways. As a matter of fact, they love the error of their ways, and plan on riding that way back and forth till the day is long, and then some more. I'll need some leverage against her."
"Hmmmmmmmmm. You could threaten her brother or father or other family?"
"Again, anyone in her situation most likely has already killed her brother, father, or other family."
"They live."
"How would you.. never mind, stupid question. Still, I doubt she cares that much for them. No, someone like her wants power or money, or both. Likely both."
"I could give you an artifact of power. A phylactery, empty of course but I could obscure it. She'd be interested, and you could trap her inside."
"Good one!" Caius smiled at Death, "you and I could do some business together, ya know?"
"I doubt it, you caused me already a lot of work."
"Hmm, I'll take that as a compliment. Now, about my payment.."
"What payment?"
Caius stuffed the scroll inside his doublet and rubbed his hands together. "You mentioned a reward.."
"I was going to tell you the truth about your birth, your real father, and made sure you could meet him."
"My real father? Uuh.. honored as I am to know that Death thinks me a bastard, I'd rather have a large pile of gold."
Death's grey, dull, face turned up to look at the sky and said nothing.
Caius started talking softly to himself, "Two weeks of travel.. at least one week in Rome.. there will be guards to be bribed.. some corpses to be disposed of, at least one for sure.. information is going to cost, especially in Rome.. there's always malaria or the pox there, so hazardous pay.. food, inns, drinks.. plus something for me, of course.."
"I offer you.." started Death.
"Twelv..Twenty sequins." Interrupted Caius, "Venetians, none of those Byzantine or Ottoman things."
"Actually, I was thinking.."
"Eighteen, not one less."
"But how about.."
"Sixteen is my last offer!"
"Wouldn't you rather.."
"Fine, fine! I give up! Fourteen!"
"You're not listening.."
"Twelve! I can't go lower than twelve! It would cost me nearly as much to get anything done in Rome! With Easter on the way, it's gonna be expensive."
"Immortality."
"Twelve is really..immortawhat?"
"How about I don't come collect your soul when it's your turn to die?"
"Uhhh, no. Thanks, but the idea of my body rotting away while still alive really disgusts me."
"I have no money to give you, though."
"Yeah, well, I see where this is going.. OK, I got an idea, do you know when am I going to die?"
"I can check if you want."
"Do that, but keep it to yourself. Just.. well, if I'm going to die a violent and premature death, how about your give me enough notice that I can avoid that end? I really would like to die old, in my bed, drunk, and happy."
"It's not that simple."
"It's never simple with you! It's always complicated, dense, in need of long boring explanations! Can't you just do something instead of blabbing on and on?"
"Fine. I will do as you ask. I will present myself to you before your path is set. Would that work for you?"
"Yeah. Sure. I still going to need money to get to Rome and poke around, and I don't have enough on myself."
"You could work for it."
"I have a better idea.. anyone rich, close by, about to buy the farm?"
"The largest fund owner of Bubano is close to meeting me."
"Fan-tas-tic! I know where we can get us some dough! Bubano is, what, less than a day walk? Will he make it for a couple more days? I need some time to get there and ..uh.. collect.. something.."
"It's possible, he's of strong build, so he will last at least till Sunday. He might even think he's going to survive the plague, but so very few do. Oh, so few.."
"Plague? Eww!" Caius' face frowned, "I can't stand that stench.. nevertheless, it's actually an advantage. I'm one of those who survived the plague, now it does nothing to me. When the squadron I commanded started falling ill.."
"The only one in your squadron that survived it. I should know, I was there. And wasn't your squadron, you cleaned the horses. You were twelve."
Caius squinted his eyes and looked sideways at Death. "If you knew already, why did you let me go on?"
"Because you never shut up. Not even Death can shut you up."
"Oh, so funny," said Caius without laughing, "look at me, I'm laughing at Death's funny jokes."
"I should know, I am here and I am Death. And you don't shut up."
Caius opened his mouth, then closed it. Raised one finger at Death and said "I am going. We'll meet again here in two months. If I'm not here, I'm dead, and you broke your side of the deal."
