Read Online The Wine of Dreams by Brian Craig - (ebook by Undead) - Free Book Online

the mountains, and monsters everywhere else, but who do you
know who’s ever been harmed by one? All travellers tell tall tales, Marguerite—I’ll probably bring back a couple myself—but the fact that they always live to tell them suggests that the danger isn’t quite as bad as they
make out. I’ll be fine.”
    Marguerite would probably have said more, but the door to the shop opened
again, and when she saw that it was Gottfried she suddenly remembered whatever
errand she had been running for her mother and beat a hasty retreat, leaving
father and son alone.
    “Have they let you go?” Reinmar asked, awkwardly.
    “They never arrested me,” Gottfried was quick to insist. “They wanted my
advice, and I gave it freely.”
    “They searched the cellars,” Reinmar pointed out.
    “As I invited them to do. We have nothing to hide—nothing. I wanted to make
that clear.”
    “Everyone says that more soldiers are coming,” Reinmar said, tentatively. “Do
you know why?”
    “Politics,” Gottfried said, succinctly. “There is trouble in Marienburg, and
the Empire is always intensely interested in trouble in Marienburg. Even after
all this time, the secession still rankles. There are many in Altdorf who would
be exceedingly glad to welcome Marienburg back into the Imperial fold, even if
the opportunity were bought in blood. The witch hunter has friends in the
Reiksguard who are prepared to indulge his whims, it seems, and he thinks that
he might find something hereabouts to give him useful leverage over the burgers
of Schilderheim and Marienburg.”
    “The mysterious source of the dark wine, in which we do not deal,” Reinmar
said.
    Gottfried looked at him sharply. “You’ve been talking to my father,” he said
disgustedly. “What did he tell you?”
    “That there is no secret pass through the mountains,” Reinmar said,
offhandedly, “and that the dark wine isn’t as black as some would like to paint
it.”
    Gottfried scowled. “Old fool,” he said. “I’ve decided to bring forward the
buying trip. You leave tomorrow. It’s been a good summer—the harvest must have
come in on time, and the more industrious vintagers will be ahead of their
normal timetable. You won’t be expected so soon, so Godrich might have to
improvise a little, but he and I will plan a route tonight.”
    “You want me out of the way,” Reinmar said, flatly.
    Gottfried hesitated momentarily, but then nodded his head. “Yes, I do,” he
admitted. “We have nothing to hide and should have nothing to fear, but people hereabouts have long memories and agile
tongues. Von Spurzheim will want to talk to Luther, and Albrecht too—and they
may not find it easy to persuade him that they cannot help him. Old animosities
might flare up again, and things could become unpleasant. I don’t think anything
bad will happen, but I want you out of harm’s way, just in case.”
    “I want to know what this is all about,” Reinmar told him, firmly. “If I’m
old enough to take a full part in the business, I’m old enough to be let in on
all its secrets.”
    “There isn’t any secret.”
    “Yes there is,” Reinmar insisted. “Or there was, once—and however dead and
buried it seemed to be this time yesterday, it’s definitely not dead and buried
now. You might be able to stop Luther talking to me, but you can’t stop Albrecht
and Wirnt—and if you won’t tell me what this is all about, they will.”
    “Who’s Wirnt?”
    “Your cousin. Albrecht’s son.”
    Gottfried raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and seemed to be on the point of
asking how Reinmar knew that—but he had already deduced that Reinmar had been
talking to Luther. In the end, he sighed and said: “I’ve never known the half of
it myself, and I’ve always been glad of that—but I suppose the time has come
when it might be more dangerous to remain ignorant than to know what my father
knows, and perhaps what Albrecht knows too. The authorities in Marienburg