Seagrum The Dwarf

That is how the thing should have gone but it did not. Perhaps it was the fault of the dwarf's irascible temper or his infatuation with a beautiful former witch who has been drawn into the vampires' scheme. It could be the interference of the Magister's tame and invariably hungry werewolves who are opportunistic feeders , perpetually looking out for a free lunch. Maybe it is the simple fact that the Magister has his own issues in the form of a beautiful woman with a penchant for stilettos, leather and a whip who seems to appear whenever he rings a curious little bell that sits unobtrusively on his desk.

Of course, the fact that no one actually understands exactly what a vampire's death pledge is doesn't really help. Although we might refer to them as mortgages, no human ever takes more than one death pledge in the world of Seagrum the Dwarf: it just isn't possible given that humans only have one life (and death). Vampires, naturally enough and despite the many edicts of the Hue and Cry, simply don’t tell: preferring to keep their dealings shrouded in mystery.

Then there is the matter of payment. Seagrum is extortionately expensive: more than the Hue and Cry can afford in fact. That is where Jonas the Strangler comes in.

The death pledge of Seagrum's world is the mortgage of our own. The only problem is that someone has messed about with the concept of the death pledge and servitude now extends beyond the original contractors to their heirs in perpetuity.

The Hue and Cry, as the governmental body responsible for the granting of licenses to the Vampire Houses, has gotten wind of this but its own in-house staff, mostly werewolves, have proven themselves to be singularly inept at finding a solution to the problem. This is where Seagrum comes in. With a reputation for getting things done and with a proven track record of similar actions in other towns of the Xandrian City States, he seems to be the obvious dwarf for the task.

However, Seagrum has a number of weaknesses. He is arrogant and single minded; he has a tendency to participate in clandestine business transactions; he hates werewolves with a passion and he has a penchant for the macabre. He also finds himself seriously attracted to a young witch, the employee of a former business acquaintance in one of his shady deals, and her influence tends to cloud his judgement a little.

He is also fiendishly expensive to hire: in fact he is beyond even the deep pockets of the Hue and Cry, especially given that his task is to destroy the power base of the Hue and Cry's main benefactors (the Vampire Houses) whose back-handers, referred to in the more business-like term as fines, prop up the expensive lifestyle of the Magister and his tame werewolves.

This is where the hagiographer known as Jonas the Strangler comes in. He is a sweeper: he tidies up. The Hue and Cry have recruited him also to deal with the problem of Seagrum, once the death pledge matter has been resolved.

In spite of Seagrum's growing interest in the witch known as Persephone and despite the power struggle between the town's Mayor and the Magister of the Hue and Cry, Seagrum manages to solve the vampire problem in the only way that he knows how: violently. It is an end rather than a solution because the problem, the avarice and greed of humans, has not gone away and almost as soon as one family of vampires is out, a new delegation is approaching the Mayor for approval to set up another death pledge business in the town.

Though set in a fantasy world and employing devices that may on occasion seem a little extreme, the story is meant to provide a set of caricatures that represent real life whilst at the same time offering a kind of amusement and hopefully, entertainment. The tale is certainly adult in some of its content and although there is neither gratuitous sex nor violence, there are certainly both wrapped up within the pages. It is a crude world inhabited by crude characters.