Read Online The Curse of the Wolf Girl by Martin Millar - Free Book Online Page B

She has no scent to track. But that doesn’t mean she can’t be found. We could use Gawain to lead us to her.”
    The Douglas-MacPhees stared at Decembrius.
    “So what about it?”
    Decembrius took a while to reply. He’d been thinking much the same himself. Gawain might well lead an inquiring werewolf to Kalix. “I don’t know where Gawain is,” he said, finally.
    “But you’ve got powers of seeing, have you not?”
    Decembrius gave a slight nod. Though his powers had all but disappeared, he didn’t intend to let the Douglas-MacPhees know about it.
    There was a burst of raucous laughter from the table by their side, where a group of office workers were having some refreshment before heading back to work. Duncan scowled in their direction. The last time he’d been in this bar, it had been an old establishment, dilapidated and comfortable. Now it had been modernized, smartened up, and he didn’t feel at ease. “I don’t know why they can’t just leave these pubs the way they were,” he muttered.
    “So can you find Gawain or not?” demanded Rhona, impatiently.
    “Maybe,” replied Decembrius. “If I wanted to. But I don’t know that I want to.”
    “Why not?”
    “I’m a member of the Great Council now. I’m not going to be the one who starts trouble again.”
    “He’s a member of the Great Council,” said Rhona, mockingly. “He’s important.”
    Duncan and William laughed, though their laughter was drowned out by the increasing hilarity at the next table, where the office workers seemed to be celebrating someone’s birthday. Duncan pulled out a wallet and opened it to reveal a think wad of banknotes. “I don’t imagine you’re so well off these days, not being on Sarapen’s payroll any longer.”
    Decembrius didn’t care one way or the other about Gawain, but he had no intention of doing anything that might lead the Douglas-MacPhees to Kalix. He’d once witnessed the Douglas-MacPhees trying to kill the young werewolf, and it wasn’t something he wanted to see again. “I can’t help you,” he said abruptly.
    William glared at him scornfully. “I don’t believe he’s got any seeing powers at all,” he said to the others.
    The atmosphere soured. Decembrius prepared himself in case there was violence. Intimidating as the Douglas-MacPhees were, he didn’t intend to back down.
    “Never mind,” said Duncan, and he grinned, showing a set of teeth that were very white and rather large and sharp. “We’ll find Gawain ourselves. He’s probably still wandering around south of the river.” Duncan picked up his wallet again. “There’s something else you could do for us, if you’re not too scared of offending the Great Council. We need someone to visit the merchant.”
    “MacDoig?” Decembrius knew Merchant MacDoig. All the MacRinnalchs did.
    “We’ve got some goods the merchant might like to buy. Unfortunately—” Duncan paused for a second. “It’s a little awkward for us to visit him these days.”
    “A small misunderstanding,” added Rhona, “when he got the impression we were trying to make off with some of his belongings.”
    The Douglas-MacPhees laughed.
    Decembrius could imagine that they’d have been interested in the merchant’s belongings. He tended to have valuable items around. The merchant was well protected, however. He’d lived long enough and dealt with powerful entities in his time, and he was generally believed to own various spells, or talismans, which kept him safe, even from the likes of the Douglas-MacPhees.
    “So, if you could see your way to visiting the merchant’s shop in Limehouse and offering him certain items, we’d cut you in,” offered Duncan.
    Decembrius leaned forward. He was short of money. Acting as go-between in a transaction with the merchant didn’t sound like such a bad thing to do.
    “What are these items?” he asked.
    “Books. Old books. Old enough to be valuable, we reckon. From one of London’s many institutes of