‘Maybe he has lucid moments. It doesn’t really matter who
sent them, though. While they’re here, they’re reporting to
Krager. As closely as I can make out, they’ve been sent here to
assess the damage we did to them during the Harvest Festival
and to pick up any bits and pieces of information that fall to
hand. They’ve got money, but they don’t want to turn much of
it loose. They’re in this strictly for gain – and for the chance to
seem important.’
‘Does Krager come here to get their reports?’ Sparhawk asked.
‘He hasn’t recently. Valash communicates with him by messenger.
These three Dacites are seriously out of their depth here.
They want to hold on to as much of the money Ogerajin gave
them as they can, but they don’t want to miss anything important.
They aren’t professionals by any stretch of the imagination.
They spend most of their time trying to figure out some way to
get information without paying for it.’
‘A swindler’s dream,’ Talen noted. ‘What did they do for a
living back in Verel?’
‘They sold children to people whose tastes run in that direction,’
Stragen replied in a disgusted tone. ‘As I understand it,
Ogerajin used to be one of their best customers.’
‘That puts them right at the bottom, doesn’t it?’
‘Probably even lower than that.’ Stragen glanced around to
make sure they were alone. ‘Valash wants to meet you two.’
Stragen pointed toward the end of the alley. ‘He’s just up those
stairs. He’s renting a corner in the loft from a fellow who deals
in stolen goods.’
Talen smiled a rather nasty little smile. ‘if these Dacites happened
to pass too much erroneous information and false rumors
on to Krager, he might just decide that they’ve outlived their
usefulness, wouldn’t you say?’
‘Probably,’ Stragen shrugged.
‘That sort of stirs my creativity.’
‘Oh? Why’s that?’
‘I don’t like people who sell children. It’s a personal sort of
thing. Let’s go meet this Valash. I’d like to find out if he’s as
gullible as you say.’
They climbed a rickety outside stairway to a door that was
flimsy and patched and showed some signs of having been
kicked in a few times. The loft beyond the door was incredibly
cluttered with all manner of worn clothing, battered furniture,
and dented kitchen utensils. There were even broken farm tools
gathering dust in the corners. ‘Some people will steal anything,’
Talen sniffed.
A lone candle guttered on the far side of the room, and a bony
Elene sat drowsing at a table by its uncertain light. He wore a
short, green brocade jacket of a Daconian cut, and his sparse,
mud-colored hair stood almost straight up, looking much like a
thin, dirty halo round his gaunt head. As they crossed the loft
toward him, he stirred himself and quickly picked up some
papers and began to shuffle them in a self-important manner.
He looked up with feigned impatience as they approached.
“you’re late, Vymer,’ he accused in a high-pitched, nasal voice.
‘Sorry, Master Valash,’ Stragen apologized in a servile tone.
‘From and I were busy extricating young Reldin here from a
tense situation. Reldin’s very good, but he overextends himself
sometimes. Anyway, you wanted to meet my associates.’ He
laid one ‘hand on Sparhawk’s shoulder. ‘This is From. He’s a
tavern brawler, so we let him deal with any situation that can
be settled with a few quick punches or a kick in the belly. The
boy there is Reldin, the nimblest sneak-thief I’ve ever known.
He can wriggle through mouse-holes, and his ears are sharp
enough to hear ants crossing the street on the other side of
town.’
‘I just want to hire him, Vymer,’ Valash said. ‘I don’t want to
buy him.’ He giggled at his own joke. He smirked at them,
clearly expecting them to join in his laughter. Talen, however,
did not laugh. His eyes took on an icy glitter.
Valash seemed a bit abashed by their reception of his feeble
joke. ‘Why are you all dressed as sailors?’ he asked, more for
something to say than out of any real curiosity.
Stragen shrugged. ‘it’s a port city, Master Valash. The streets
are crawling with sailors, so three more won’t attract any particular
attention.’
Valash grunted. ‘Have you anything for me that I might
find worth my while?’ he asked in a superior, bored tone of
voice. Talen snatched off his cap. ‘You’ll have to decide that for
yourself, Master Valash,’ he whined, as he bowed awkwardly.
‘I did come across something, if you’d care to hear it.’
‘Go on,’ Valash told him.
‘Well, sir, there’s this rich Tamul merchant who owns a big
house over in the fancy part of town. He’s got a tapestry on the
wall of his study that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time
now. It’s a very good one – lots of tiny stitches, and the color
hasn’t faded very much. The only trouble is that it covers the
whole wall. You can get a fortune for really good tapestry, but
only if you can get it all out in one piece. It’s not worth much
if you have to cut it up to carry it out. Anyway, I went into his
house the other night to try and come up with some way to get
it out without butchering it. The merchant was in the study,
though, and he had a friend with him – some noble from the
imperial court at Matherion. I listened at the door, and the noble
was telling the merchant about some of the rumors running
around the imperial palace. Everybody’s saying that the
Emperor’s very unhappy with these people from Eosia. That
attempt to overthrow the government last fall really frightened
him, and he’d like to come to some kind of agreement with his
enemies, but this Sparhawk person won’t let him. Sarabian’s
convinced that they’re going to lose, so he’s secretly outfitted a
fleet of ships all loaded down with treasure and as soon as
trouble shows up on the horizon, he’s going to make a run for
it. The courtiers all know about his plans, so they’re stealthily
making arrangements for their own escapes when the fighting
starts. Some morning very soon this Sparhawk’s going to wake
up and find an unfriendly army at his gates and nobody around
to help hold them off.’ He paused. ‘Was that the sort of information
you wanted?’
The Dacite made some effort to conceal his excited interest.
He put on a deprecating expression. ‘it’s nothing we haven’t
heard before. About all it does is help to confirm what we’ve
already picked up.’ He tentatively pushed a couple of small
silver coins across the table. ‘i’ll pass it on to Panem-Doa and
see what they think about it.’
Talen looked at the coins and then at Valash. Then he
crammed his cap back on. ‘i’ll be leaving now, Vymer,’ he said
in a flat tone, ‘and don’t waste my time on this cheapskate
again.’
‘Don’t be in such a rush,’ Stragen said placatingly. ‘Let me
talk with him first.’
‘You’re making a mistake, Valash,’ Sparhawk told the Dacite.
‘You’ve got a heavy purse hanging off your belt. If you try to
cheat Reldin, he’ll come back some night and slice open the
bottom of it. He won’t leave you enough to buy breakfast.’
Valash put his hand protectively over his purse. Then he
opened it with what appeared to be extreme reluctance.
‘I thought Lord Scarpa was at Natayos,’ Stragen said casually.
‘Has he moved his operations to Panem-Doa?’
Valash was sweating as he counted out coins, his fingers lingering
on each one as if he were parting with an old friend. ‘There
are a lot of things you don’t know about our operation, Vymer,’
he replied. He gave Talen a pleading look as he tentatively
pushed the money across the table.
Talen made no move to accept the coins.
Valash made a whimpering sound and added more coins.
‘That’s a little better,’ Talen told him, scooping up the money.
‘Then Scarpa’s moved?’ Stragen asked.
‘Of course not,’ Valash retorted. “You didn’t think his whole
army’s at Natayos, did you?’
‘That’s what I’d heard. He has other strongholds as well, I
take it?’
‘Of course. Only a fool puts his entire force in one place,
and Scarpa’s far from being a fool, I’ll tell the world. He’s been
recruiting men in the Elene kingdoms of western Tamuli for
years now, and he sends them all to hydros and then on to
Panem-Doa for training. After that, they go on to either Synagua
or Norenja. Only his crack troops are at Natayos. His army’s at
least five times larger than most people believe. These jungles
positively seethe with his men.’
Sparhawk carefully concealed a smile. Valash obviously had
a great need to appear important, and that need made him reveal
things he shouldn’t be talking about.
‘I didn’t know Scarpa’s army was so big,’ Stragen admitted.