Back in the lawyer’s office, the man called Ivan found himself in a bit of a quandary. He was torn between conflicting senses of tidiness. On the one hand, if he disposed of Nicholas Brown, attorney at law, that would be a loose end cleared up… a potential enemy dealt with. On the other hand, if word of Mr. Brown’s disappearance got back to Mama, that would be a whole different sort of messy.
It was such a shame, too. With the man insisting that he was already dead, it made his continued breathing an even greater violation of Ivan’s sense of orderliness.
Nobody should be condemned to go through life dead.
“Well?” Nick said. “Are you going to kill me, or aren’t you, Ivan? That’s what they called you. Ivan. Ivan the Ice Man. Ivan the Terrible. Show me why they call you that, why don’t you?”
“I want you to listen to me very carefully,” Ivan said. “If I killed you, here and now, you would die still not knowing why they call me that. Your death would be quick and an act of mercy. Painless? That I cannot say, but you would not have time to complain. If I later find out that you did have anything to do with the attacks… if you ever make a move against tribe, against Mama, or against me… if you ever even approach us… then I will return, and then you will learn if my nickname is fitting or not. Your death, in that event, would be anything but quick… but when it finally arrived, it would be an even greater act of mercy.”
He left the office quickly, before Nick had a chance to respond.
He was confident Nick had nothing to do with the beast now. The tension in the mucles on the back of the lawyer’s neck had told him that. The threat, though… that would either keep him in line or goad him towards recklessness.
Ivan didn’t care which.
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spelling error:
The tension in the mucles on
muscles
i will now hide
OOK!
Almost too prolific for me to stay caught up.
OK, being a total grammar pedant here, but Ivan shifts from simple future to conditional halfway through this bit:
…then I will return, and then you will learn if my nickname is fitting or not. Your death, in that event, would be anything but quick… but when it finally arrived, it would be an even greater act of mercy.
And apart from being grammatically inconsistent, the shift from “will” to “would” weakens the tone of the threat a bit.
However, that aside, may I just say how absolutely delighted I am that you’re updating Tribe so frequently these days? I enjoy all your stories (though I’m only just making my way through the old StarHarbor Nights stories before I start on the new ones), but Tribe is definitely my favourite.
Why do people feel the need to be a grammar pedant with dialogue?
Ivan’s a cool character, but why would we expect him to fully grasp all aspect of English grammar… his second language? Can you see Nick arguing that although the threat made him pee himself, the grammar tense shift weaked the threat?
People speak dumb all the time. Dialogue with grammetical inconsitencies is accurater. I seen it all the time.
@Chris
Right on! People don’t speak grammatically.
LOL. In this story, stranger arguments have happened.
Hey, guys. My brain’s about dead for the night, but I’ll write a Tribe tomorrow morning and another one in the evening to keep this week five for five. Thanks for your support.
I wandered over here from Tales of MU and I have to say that I’m glad I did! What an intriguing and interesting story you’ve wrought here.
And I can’t even imagine how difficult it must be to keep the story moving when you only have 333 words a day to do it in. You’re doing a spectacular job, though. The pacing of this story is wonderful.
Also, Michael and Stephen were brilliant! That was some amazing dialog there AE. I hope we’ll get to see more of them in future Tribe updates.
You know, I think Ivan’s dislike for magic may have blinded him somewhat here. It may be true Nick’s conscious mind had nothing to do with the attacks… but hasn’t magic already been defined here as being mostly about belief — and therefore the realm of the non-conscious mind? IMHO there are no terrors, no monsters, as terrifying and implacable as those we create ourselves.
Nick blames tribe for the loss of his daughter — they “took” her with magic. What more fitting revenge could his non-conscious mind come up with than to deprive tribe of all its magicians? How appropriate that these attacks happen at night — when people like Nick are asleep, their conscious minds no longer in control.
Which leads to another interesting question — is the really “wild” John merely someone in clear control of his unconscious mind?
Random speculations here. Thanks for the absorbing stories, Lexy!