“A great treasure house with a high tower, fit for a king’s dwelling—yet no king may dwell there. Immediately below the keystone of the chief dome my treasure lies hid, eternal as the glittering stars. It will outlast me and my name, I, Urgaan of Angarngi. It is my hold on the future. Let fools seek it. They shall win it not. For although my treasure house be empty as air, no deadly creature in rocky lair, no sentinel outside anywhere, no pitfall, poison, trap, or snare, above and below the whole place bare, of demon or devil not a hair, no serpent lethal-fanged yet fair, no skull with mortal eye a-glare, yet have I left a guardian there. Let the wise read this riddle and forbear.”
* * * *
“The man’s mind runs to skulls,” muttered the Mouser. “He must have been a gravedigger or a necromancer.”
“Or an architect,” observed Fafhrd thoughtfully, “in those past days when graven images of the skulls of men and animals served to bedeck temples.”
“Perhaps,” agreed the Mouser. “Surely the writing and ink are old enough. They date at least as far back as the Century of the Wars with the East—five long lifespans.”
The Mouser was an accomplished forger, both of handwriting and of objects of art. He knew what he was talking about.
Satisfied that they were near the goal of their quest, the two comrades gazed through a break in the foliage down into the valley. It was shaped like the inside of a pod—shallow, long, and narrow. They were viewing it from one of the narrow ends. The two peculiarly humped hills formed the long sides. The whole of the valley was green with maple and oak, save for a small gap toward the middle. That, thought the Mouser, might mark a peasant’s dwelling and the cleared space around it.
Beyond the gap he could make out something dark and squarish rising a little above the treetops. He called his companion’s attention to it, but they could not decide whether it was indeed a tower such as the document mentioned, or just a peculiar shadow, or perhaps even the dead, limbless trunk of a gigantic oak. It was too far away.
“Almost sufficient time has passed,” said Fafhrd, after a pause, “for one of those rogues to have sneaked up through the forest for another shot at us. Evening draws near.”
They spoke to their horses and moved on slowly. They tried to keep their eyes fixed on the thing that looked like a tower, but since they were descending, it almost immediately dropped out of sight below the treetops. There would be no further chance of seeing it until they were quite close at hand.
The Mouser felt a subdued excitement running through his flesh. Soon they would discover if there was a treasure to be had or not. A diamond as big as a man’s skull … rubies … emeralds … He found an almost nostalgic delight in prolonging and savoring to the full this last, leisurely stage of their quest. The recent ambuscade served as a necessary spice.
He thought of how he had slit the interesting-looking vellum page from the ancient book on architecture that reposed in the library of the rapacious and overbearing Lord Rannarsh. Of how, half in jest, he had sought out and interrogated several peddlers from the South. Of how he had found one who had recently passed through a village named Soreev. Of how that one had told him of a stone structure in the forest south of Soreev, called by the peasants the House of Angarngi and reputed to be long deserted. The peddler had seen a high tower rising above the trees. The Mouser recalled the man’s wizened, cunning face and chuckled. And that brought to mind the greedy, sallow face of Lord Rannarsh, and a new thought occurred to him.
“Fafhrd,” he said, “those rogues we just now put to flight—what did you take them for?”
The Northerner grunted humorous contempt.
“Run-of-the-manger ruffians. Waylayers of fat merchants. Pasture bravos. Bumpkin bandits!”
“Still, they were all well armed, and armed alike—as if they were in some rich man’s service. And that one who rode far ahead. Mightn’t he have been hastening to report failure to some master?”
“What is your thought?”
The Mouser did not reply for some moments.
“I was thinking,” he said, “that Lord Rannarsh is a rich man and a greedy one, who slavers at the thought of jewels. And I was wondering if he ever read those faint lines of red lettering and made a copy of them, and if my theft of the original sharpened his interest.”
The Northerner shook his head.
“I doubt it. You are oversubtle. But if he did, and if he seeks to rival us in this treasure quest, he’d best watch each step twice—and choose servitors who can fight on horseback.”
They were moving so slowly that the hooves of the mare and the gelding hardly stirred up the dust. They had no fear of danger from the rear. A well-laid ambuscade might surprise them, but not a man or horse in motion. The narrow road wound along in a purposeless fashion. Leaves brushed their faces, and occasionally they had to swing their bodies out of the way of encroaching branches. The ripe scent of the late summer forest was intensified now that they were below the rim of the valley. Mingled with it were whiffs of wild berries and aromatic shrubs. Shadows imperceptibly lengthened.
“Nine chances out of ten,” murmured the Mouser dreamily, “the treasure house of Urgaan of Angarngi was looted some hundred years ago, by men whose bodies are already dust.”
“It may be so,” agreed Fafhrd. “Unlike men, rubies and emeralds do not rest quietly in their graves.”
This possibility, which they had discussed several times before, did not disturb them now, or make them impatient. Rather did it impart to their quest the pleasant melancholy of a lost hope. They drank in the rich air and let their horses munch random mouthfuls of leaves. A jay called shrilly from overhead and off in the forest a catbird was chattering, their sharp voices breaking in on the low buzzing and droning of the insects. Night was drawing near. The almost-horizontal rays of the sun gilded the treetops. Then Fafhrd’s sharp ears caught the hollow lowing of a cow.
A few more turns brought them into the clearing they had spied. In line with their surmise, it proved to contain a peasant’s cottage—a neat little low-eaved house of weathered wood, situated in the midst of an acre of grain. To one side was a bean patch; to the other, a woodpile which almost dwarfed the house. In front of the cottage stood a wiry old man, his skin as brown as his homespun tunic. He had evidently just heard the horses and turned around to look.
“Ho, father,” called the Mouser, “it’s a good day to be abroad in, and a good home you have here.”
The peasant considered these statements and then nodded his head in agreement.
“We are two weary travelers,” continued the Mouser.
Again the peasant nodded gravely.
“In return for two silver coins will you give us lodging for the night?”
The peasant rubbed his chin and then held up three fingers.
“Very well, you shall have three silver coins,” said the Mouser, slipping from his horse. Fafhrd followed suit.
Only after giving the old man a coin to seal the bargain did the Mouser question casually, “Is there not an old, deserted place near your dwelling called the House of Angarngi?” The peasant nodded.
“What’s it like?”
The peasant shrugged his shoulders.
“Don’t you know?”
The peasant shook his head.
“But haven’t you ever seen the place?” The Mouser’s voice carried a note of amazement he did not bother to conceal.
He was answered by another head-shake.
“But, father, it’s only a few minutes’ walk from your dwelling, isn’t it?”
The peasant nodded tranquilly, as if the whole business were no matter for surprise.
A muscular young man, who had come from behind the cottage to take their horses, offered a suggestion.
“You can see tower from other side the house. I can point her out.”
At this the old man proved he was not completely speechless by saying in a dry, expressionless voice: “Go ahead. Look at her all you want.”
And he stepped into the cottage. Fafhrd and the Mouser caught a glimpse of a child peering around the door, an old woman stirring a pot, and someone hunched in a big chair before a tiny fire.
The upper part of the tower proved to be barely visible through a break in the trees. The last rays of the sun touched it with deep red. It looked about four or five bowshots distant. And then, even as they watched, the sun dipped under and it became a featureless square of black stone.