The Heroes, Scene #2 (p. 15-21): Calder and the Sneaky Exposition

He stood by the window, one hand up on the stone, fingertips drumming, drumming, drumming. 

…

“Dow wants you.” 

Scene #2 introduces us to the conniving smart-ass "Prince" Calder, son of the recently deceased Bethod, former King of the North. In the first scene, Craw was portrayed as an old straight-shooting warrior - so it makes sense to introduce his opposite, a young scheming coward.

Scene (though more of a Character) Question:
Will Calder have any effect on the fate of the North? 

In the first paragraph, we learn two facts:
1) The fate of the North is being decided without Calder
2) Calder is pretty pissed off about it

Bickham would probably argue that a scene question isn't supposed to be an  overarching character question that can't be answered in the scene, and I suppose it's not. On the other hand, when you're writing epic fantasy, I think you're probably allowed to have a page or three to introduce a character before throwing them into the fire, and that's what Abercrombie does here. 

After some loving banter with his pregnant wife, Seff (nice way to make us care about said bastard -- give him a wife and a little warrior fetus!)

we get introduced to some characters Calder will have to deal with in the near future. Specifically, we learn, in banter between Calder and his wife, that:

1) Black Dow is a thug with all the North under his boot, with a few War Chiefs following orders, and
2) Brodd Tenways, War Chief #1, is a rotten old maggot,
3) Cairm Ironhead, War Chief #2, has a small penis,
4) Glama Golden, War Chief #3, has an even smaller penis ("like a baby's finger"),
5) Caul Reachey, Calder's father-in-law, is an honorable man.
Now, when these characters are introduced later, we'll recognize them. This is a nice little technique -- introduce part of his rogue's gallery by having two characters talk, entertainingly, about them. We get exposition, and character during that exposition, given the way Calder and Seff talk. 

I think that's pretty huge -- when doing exposition, do it in such a way that character seeps through. Hell with "seeps" -- make it so that the exposition almost seems like a second thought! Elmore Leonard is pretty damned good at this as well.

The scene ends with Shivers (poor ole "I'm no dog" Shivers ... after what he went through in Best Served Cold, he's returned to the North) fetching Calder to take him to Dow. And his wife ... well, his wife isn't going anywhere -- she's being held hostage, to guarantee that Calder behaves. In addition, Calder 

"reckoned there was about a one in four Shivers had been told to cut his throat on the way and toss his corpse into a bog."

And thus, we have the Answer to our Scene Question: 

"Perhaps Calder should worry more about he and/or his wife being killed by Shivers or Dow."  

  

That's a pretty classic "No, and furthermore!" Bickham-recommended scene finish. 

Some other details:

Sense Check Scene #2
       Sound (Fingertips drumming, first sentence -- also counts as touch)

Touch (Belly pressing into his back, fingers trapped against stone, lips tickling his ear -- all on the first page)

Smell (Nope. Perhaps, given the scene, it's for the best.)

Taste (Nope)

Rough beat/tag count, Scene #1 (p. 16-17)

Beats: 14

Nothing: 19

Said: 0(!!!)

Said + adverb: 0

Whispered: 2

Lied: 1 

       Also noteworthy -- Calder does snide little commentary as beats (e.g., "Except power", "For what that was worth")

More on Calder's POV in future entries, but at the moment it seems to me we're a little more distant from Calder than we are from Craw. Exactly how Abercrombie does this (and whether I'm correct) is something I'll be pondering in future installments ...

Phrases/Descriptions/Dialogue that have led me to ask every person I meet who sounds kind of like those guys that were on Monty Python whether they know Joe personally, I mean, it's not a big island, right?: 

But Shivers looked at a pregnant woman like a butcher at a carcass, only a job to be done. 

She squeezed his chin even harder, looking him right in the eye. "I love you." 

He looked down at the floor, feeling the sudden pressure of tears at the back of his throat. "Why? Don't you realize what an evil shit I am?" 

"You're better than you think." 

When she said it he could almost believe it ... 

Shivers raised one beckoning hand, a big ruby on his little finger gleaming the colour of blood in the gloom. Giving Calder no choice but to come closer, closer, far too close for comfort. Close enough to feel Shivers' warm breath. Close enough almost to kiss. Close enough so all Calder could see was his own distorted, unconvincing grin reflected in that dead metal ball of an eye.

"Dow wants you." 

NEXT TIME: SCENE #3: BREMER DAN GORST, THE WHINY WARRIOR