“What about guards?”
“Seven men will accompany you for the first day. When you reach the edge of Capone’s territory, six of them will turn back. Capone has an entire city to watch over, and cannot spare guards for such minor missions as this.” Emile winked. “Besides, in my confidential reports to Eichmann, I have told him how happy you are here, and how hard you are working. They like loyalty in men such as us, eh?” He gave a hearty laugh.
Dawn the next morning found Robin and two seventeen-year-old apprentice gunsmiths standing at the main gates. As Emile had promised, everything was arranged: the guards were waiting, and they even returned Robin’s bow.
“You’ll be standing double duty,” said the guard who was to accompany them the whole time, a grizzled, tough-looking mercenary named O’Brien. “Keep the kiddies m line, keep yourself in line, and we won’t have no trouble.”
“Sounds good to me,” Robin said.
266
John Gregory Betancourt
Their fourth night out, Robin put an arrow in O’Brien’s back as the man lay sleeping. Fast, quick, and painless by this world’s standards: Robin felt not a moment’s remorse. It wasn’t like death here was permanent, he thought. O’Brien would awaken the following day, naked and confused, next to a grail hundreds or even thousands of miles away.
The two apprentices stared at Robin, clearly terrified. They tensed to run.
“Relax,” Robin told them. “I’m not going to kill you. I’m on a secret mission and had to get rid of our guard. You can either stick with me for the next few weeks… and you’ll be richly rewarded when we’re through… or you can return to New Chicago. If you go back, though, be warned that Emile will have naught to do with you. He knows about what’s going on, and even arranged this whole trip. You’ll be stuck in Pisstown or sent to a labor camp for the rest of your lives.”
“We will go with you,” they both said at once.
Robin nodded; he’d expected that answer. “Search O’Brien’s body and split whatever valuables he has. The sword and shield are mine. Then hide the body where it won’t be found.”
Both boys hurried to obey. Robin sat back and watched. He didn’t know if they’d stick with him, hightail it back for New Chicago at their first chance, or just flee to another settlement somewhere down-River. It didn’t really matter, he thought; he’d be back aboard the Belle Dame the next day. Even if the boys tried to warn Capone, he’d beat them to New Chicago on the riverboat.
THE MERRY MEN OF RIVERWORLD
267
The Belle Dame was anchored in the middle of the River exactly as they had agreed it would be. Little John and the others were practicing on deck. Arrows were nocked, fired, nocked, and fired again at the straw targets. Verne’s men had improved vastly in the ten days he’d been away, Robin noticed.
The apprentices merely gaped. Robin clapped them on their backs. “What do you think now?” he asked.
“But this is Monsieur Verne’s boat!” Jacques, the younger of the two, finally said.
“And there is Monsieur Verne!” cried Pierre. He gazed at Robbin in awe. “You are a spy for Monsieur Verne!”
“That’s right.” Robin cupped hands to his mouth and hallooed to the Belle Dame. Everyone on the deck dropped what they were doing and crowded to the rails, waving excitedly.
A boat was rapidly dispatched, and in twenty minutes Robin and the boys had been transported safely aboard.
Jules Verne was the first to shake Robin’s hand. “Congratulations!” he boomed. He looked completely well, his cheeks ruddy, his long brown hair whipping wildly in the breeze. “I knew you would return safely!”
“And I have good news,” Robin said. “It will be easier than we thought to capture the city.”
“Do not keep us in suspense! What have you discovered?”
Robin climbed two of the steps toward the second deck and turned. His men and the Belle Dame’s crew all stared at him avidly. Taking a deep breath, he began to tell, in simple language, exactly what had transpired, and exactly how he planned to take the city back. Claude de Ves gave a running translation for the members of Verne’s crew who didn’t speak English well enough to follow.