“Then they might be preparing to attack us right now!” Limbeck glowered.
Haplo nodded.
“You truly think the elves may not have taken control of it?” Jarre was wavering.
“We’ll never know until we see for ourselves.”
“The truth, my dear,” said Limbeck in a softened tone. “It’s what we believe in.”
“What we used to believe in,” murmured Jarre. “Very well.” She sighed. “I’ll tell you what I can about the statue of the Manger. But I’m afraid I don’t know much. It was all so confused, what with the fighting and the coppers and—”
“Just tell us about the statue,” suggested Haplo. “You and the other man who was with us, the clumsy one, Alfred. You went inside the statue and down into the tunnels below.”
“Yes,” said Jarre, subdued. “And it was sad. So sad. All the beautiful people lying dead. And Alfred so sad. I don’t like to think about it.”
The dog, hearing Alfred’s name, wagged its tail and whined. Haplo petted it, counseling silence. The dog sighed and flopped down, nose on paws.
“Don’t think about it,” Haplo said. “Tell us about the statue. Start from the beginning.”
“Well”—Jarre’s brow furrowed in thought, she chewed on her side whiskers—”the fight was going on. I was looking around for Limbeck and I saw him standing next to the statue. The High Froman and the coppers were trying to drag him off. I ran over to help him, but by the time I got there, he was gone.
“I looked around and I saw that the statue had opened up!” Jarre spread her hands wide.
“What part of the statue?” Bane asked. “The body, the whole thing?”
“No, only the bottom part, the base, under the Manger’s feet. That’s where I saw his feet—”
“Alfred’s feet.” Haplo smiled. “They’d be hard to miss.”
Jarre nodded vigorously. “I saw feet sticking up out of a hole underneath the statue. Stairs ran down into the hole and Alfred was lying on his back on the stairs with his feet in the air. At that moment, I saw more coppers coming and I knew that I better hide or they’d find me. I popped into the hole and then I was afraid they’d see Alfred’s feet. So I dragged Alfred down the stairs with me.
“Then a strange thing happened.” Jarre shook her head. “When I pulled Alfred down into the hole, the statue started to slide shut. I was so frightened I couldn’t do anything. It was all dark, down there, and quiet.” Jarre shivered, glanced around. “Horribly quiet. Like it is now. I… I began to scream.”
“What happened then?”
“Alfred woke up. He’d fainted, I think—”
“Yes, he has a habit of that,” Haplo said grimly.
“Anyway, I was terrified and I asked him if he could open the statue. He said he couldn’t. I said he must be able to, he’d opened it once, hadn’t he? He said no, he hadn’t meant to. He’d fainted and fallen onto the statue and could only suppose that it had opened by accident.”
“Liar,” muttered Haplo. “He knew how to open it. You didn’t see him do it?”
Jarre shook her head.
“You didn’t see him anywhere near it? During the fight, for example?”
“I couldn’t have. I’d gone over to where our people were hiding in the tunnels and told them to come up and attack. By the time I came back, the fighting had started and I couldn’t see anything.”
“But I saw him!” said Limbeck suddenly. “I remember now! That other man, the assassin—”
“Hugh the Hand?”
“Yes. I was standing with Alfred. Hugh ran toward us, crying out that the coppers were coming. Alfred looked sick and Hugh shouted at him not to faint but Alfred did anyway. He fell right across the statue’s feet!”
“And it opened!” Bane shouted excitedly.
“No.” Limbeck scratched his head. “No, I don’t think so. I’m afraid things get rather muddled after that. But I remember seeing him lying there and wondering if he was hurt. I think I would have noticed if the statue had been open.”
Not likely, Haplo thought, considering the dwarfs poor eyesight.
The Patryn attempted to put himself into Alfred’s overlarge shoes, tried to re-create in his mind what might have happened. The Sartan, fearful as always of using his magical power and revealing himself, is caught up in the midst of battle. He faints —his normal reaction to violent situations—falls over the statue’s feet. When he wakes, battle swirls around him. He must escape.