Songreaver by Andrew Hunter Page A

hurled his wine cup at the wall, chipping
the wood paneling where it struck. He turned his back to Cenick and
breathed deeply, struggling to regain his composure.
    "Garrett," Cenick said, "please don't let
your hate make you do something that you will always... always regret."
    Garrett stood up and backed away from the
table, looking from Cenick to Max.
    "Max... I," Cenick said.
    Max hung his head and laughed.
    Cenick stared at him, his face hard.
    "Cenick?" Max said.
    "Yes, Max?"
    Max shook his head and turned to face him, a
wry look on his face. "You always know how to ruin my best
parties," he said, "I guess that's what I deserve for inviting a
savage to supper."
    Cenick said nothing.
    Max walked around the table and hugged his
friend.
    The tension in Cenick's shoulders relaxed at
last, and he returned Max's hug.
    "You're right," Max said, stepping away, "I
sometimes... rarely, let my emotions get the better of me."
    "Rarely?" Cenick said with a smirk.
    "You're right. Our business with the
pretender prince will have to wait a bit longer," Max said, "but
our business with the red god cannot." He reached out and laid his
hand on Cenick's broad shoulder. "It just means that you will be charged with keeping all those idealistic little Astorrans
off my damned flank while I march my army up the middle and cut the
heart out of the Empire."
    Cenick sighed. "You're going back to Weslae,
aren't you?"
    Max laughed. "I'm thinking of starting a
library there," he said, "and, anyway, I've been away from home too
long."
    "It won't be home anymore... you know
that."
    "No," Max said, "perhaps not... but at least
it will be free."
    ****
    "Thanks for letting us stay the night,"
Garrett said, ducking his head beneath the leather strap of his
satchel as he shouldered it on, "I just didn't think we were gonna
make it home before Curfew last night."
    "Any time, Garrett," Max said, yawning and
blinking against the cold morning light. He tugged the purple satin
house robe, another of Jitlowe's castoffs, a bit tighter against
the wind that blew through his open front door.
    "I hope Marla made it home all right,"
Garrett said.
    "I wish..." Max paused to yawn again, "wish
she'd stayed too, but don't worry, there's nothing on the streets
after Curfew but Watchers, and those clumsy piles of bone could
never catch a vampire."
    "Yeah," Garrett said, looking at Caleb who
stood motionless beside him in his gray woolen suit. Caleb looked
straight ahead, as glassy-eyed and emotionless as any other zombie.
Nothing of the desperate rage that he had shown in the alleyway
remained in his demeanor.
    "I'll let you know what Serepheni says about
your Templar training," Max said, "but I really appreciate your
doing this."
    "Yeah," Garrett said, "it shouldn't be too
hard, right?"
    Max smiled. "Well," he said, "I've got to go
redraw all my battle plans now... put in a few more puppy dogs and
rainbows for the benefit of our tattooed nanny."
    Garrett grinned.
    Max's smile faded. "Cenick is a good friend,"
he said, "and a good man."
    "Yeah," Garrett said.
    "Just remember," Max said, "not all men are good, and sometimes we have to set aside our own
goodness if we're to have any hope of keeping those men from taking everything away from us."
    Garrett forced a little smile. "Yeah," he
said, a bit of last night's indigestion stirring within him.
    "I'll see you later, Garrett," Max said,
stepping back into his entryway with his hand on the door.
    "Oh, Max?" Garrett said.
    "Yes?"
    "Have you ever heard of a zombie... going
crazy?" Garrett asked.
    "Going crazy?" Max laughed, "Garrett, you
have to have a mind to go crazy. Zombies don't have that kind of
functionality. I wish they did, it might make my job a bit
easier."
    Garrett looked at Caleb. "But... what if the
zombie was different? Like we did something different, and he's
smarter than usual... like he remembers things?"
    Max's eyes narrowed as he looked at Caleb.
The door swung open a little wider. "Garrett," he said,