“How much?” Ryan asked.
“We can discuss that later.”
Ryan shook his head. “I’m a man believes in settling up as I go along.”
Rubbing his chin, Gehrig kept his eyes locked on Ryan. “You helped my men and me escape the trap the Prince laid for us today at the gap. You spend the day and the night in one of those rooms, or as many rooms as you like, drink and eat what you will of the fare offered here, and I figure we’re even.”
Ryan didn’t hesitate over the deal. But he knew that there was the underlying threat that the raider captain wouldn’t feel beholden anymore, either. “Done.”
“Good enough.” Gehrig snapped his fingers, and one of the waitresses hovering nearby came over. “Take them upstairs and get them settled in.”
The woman appeared hesitant. “Even the dryad?” She acted as if she couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah,” Gehrig said, turning his burning gaze on her.
She looked away hurriedly. “At once.” She retreated a little ways off, then stood nervously waiting.
“Go on up,” Ryan told Krysty. “I’ll be along after a while.”
Even though most of the people watching wouldn’t have seen her glance of disapproval, Ryan knew that was exactly what she’d intended him to see. Without a word she shifted the unconscious boy’s weight across her shoulders, then she and J.B. turned toward the waitress.
Ryan halted Jak with a hand signal. The albino looked up expectantly. “Doc,” the one-eyed man said.
The teenager nodded, then strode out of the gaudy and into the street. Keeping Doc when he wanted to go wasn’t an option. However, keeping an eye on him was.
Ryan slid in behind the polished table, feeling the smooth material of the tablecloth against his fingertips. He set the Steyr to one side on the booth, where it would be easy to get to.
Gehrig passed over a beaten tin mug. “To your health, mate.”
Taking up the mug, Ryan returned to gesture, then drank down the contents. It was strong and sour, almost acrid to the taste. He set the mug back on the table. “Something you didn’t exactly talk about during our little chat while we were on our way here.”
“Name it.”
“What were you and your men doing in the Celt country if you’re such bitter enemies?” Ryan asked.
“DeChancie, go get one of those baskets out of the truck.”
A man peeled off from the group and exited through the door. While he was gone, a waitress deposited a large bowl of fried meats and breads on the table.
“Squab,” Gehrig said, taking a small breast for himself. He tore the white meat from the bone and popped it into his mouth. “Eat up. When’s the last time you had something that didn’t come out of a self-heat?”
“A while,” Ryan acknowledged. He picked up a piece of meat and started working on it, finding it easy to separate from the bone. It was covered in spices, too, gentle things that encouraged chewing and tasting.
In a few minutes DeChancie returned with a basket. It was wicker, almost two feet across and nearly the same deep. Rope bound the lid on it, wrapping securely around projections that had been designed for just that purpose.
For a moment Ryan thought the man was shaking the basket, then realized it was only reflecting the movements from whatever was trapped inside.
“Sit it down and open it up,” Gehrig said.
DeChancie clearly wasn’t happy about the idea. But he put the basket down. Men cleared out from around him. The basket shifted restlessly, sometimes rocking violently as something struck the wall from inside. Taking his knife from the sheath on his hip, DeChancie sliced the ropes holding the lid down, then tried to jump back.
Before the man could get away, though, snakelike appendages exploded out of the basket and wrapped around him.
Ryan had only a moment to take it all in, then his attention was focused on the tentacle streaking toward his face. He was grimly aware of the vicious stinger at the end of the tentacle as it lashed at him.
Chapter Sixteen
“How did these tunnels get here?” Mildred asked. Despite her fear and anger, her scientist’s mind wouldn’t allow her to ignore the miracles she was walking through.