door.
‘i’ll stay in the background when we get inside,’ Sparhawk
quietly told his friend. ‘if he asks, just tell him that I’m a strong
back you commandeered to help pull the cart.’
Kalten nodded.
‘Are you here, Anarae?’ Sparhawk asked, looking around
in spite of the fact that he knew he wouldn’t be able to see
her.
‘Right at thy side, Anakha,’ her voice replied softly.
‘We’ll keep him talking for as long as we can. He’ll probably
be a little drunk. Will that make it difficult for you?’
‘I have shared the thoughts of this Krager before,’ she told
him. ‘He is coherent unless he is far gone with drink. If it be
convenient, direct his attention toward the house where thy
. Queen was late held captive. That may prod his mind toward
thoughts of interest to us.’
‘i’ll see what I can do, Anarae,’ Kalten promised.
The Dacite guard came back. ‘He’ll receive you,’ he
announced.
‘Somehow I was almost sure he would,’ Kalten smirked.
‘Master Krager’s very fond of this particular wine.’ He and
Sparhawk lifted the shafts of the cart and pulled it along over
the rough, littered ground at the back of the semi-restored ruin
that appeared to be Scarpa’s main headquarters.
Krager was eagerly waiting in the doorway. His head was
shaved, but he still looked much the same. He was dishevelled
and unshaven, his near-sighted, watery eyes were bloodshot,
and his hands were visibly shaking. ‘Bring it inside,’ he ordered
in his familiar, rusty-sounding voice.
Kalten and Sparhawk set the shafts of the cart down, untied
the ropes that had held the two barrels in place, and carefully
eased one of them out onto the ground. Kalten measured the
height of the barrel with a length of the rope and then checked
the width of the doorway. ‘Just barely,’ he said. ‘Tip it over,
From. We’ll be able to roll it in.’
Sparhawk heaved the barrel over onto its side, and he and
his friend rolled it through the doorway into the cluttered room
beyond. There was an unmade bed against one wall, and clothes
littered the floor. The place was permeated with the acrid smell
of Krager’s unwashed, wine-sodden body, and there was a heap
of empty casks and broken earthenware bottles in one corner.
‘Where did you want these, Master Krager?’ Kalten asked.
‘Anyplace,’ Krager said impatiently.
‘That’s not thinking ahead,’ Kalten said critically. ‘They’re too
heavy for you to move by yourself. Pick a spot that’ll be convenient.’
‘You might be right.’ Krager squinted around the room. Then
he went to a place near the head of the bed and kicked some
clothes out of the way. ‘Put them right here,’ he instructed.
‘Ah – before we go any further, why don’t we settle up? These
are very expensive, Master Krager.’
‘How much?’
‘Senga told me that he had to have fifty crowns a barrel. Arcian
red’s very hard to come by this far away from Arcium.’
“fifty crowns?’ Krager exclaimed.
‘Each,’ Kalten insisted. ‘He told me to open the barrels for
yOu, tOO.’
‘I know how to open a wine barrel, Col.’
‘i’m sure of it, but Senga’s an honest businessman, and he
wants me to make sure you’re satisfied before I take your
money.’ He rolled the barrel over against the wall. ‘Help me set
it up, From,’ he told Sparhawk. They righted the barrel, and
Kalten took a pry-bar out from under his belt. ‘Beer’s a lot easier,”
he noted. ‘Somebody ought to tell those Arcian’s about
the advantages of putting a bung-hole in the side.”
%carefully pried up the lid as Krager, cup in hand, at his elbow.
Master Krager,’ Kalten said then, lifting off the
g aside.
Craiger dipped his cup into the deep red liquid, lifted it with
a trembling hand, and drank deeply. ‘Marvelous!’ he sighed
happily. ,
fir laughed. ‘You wouldn’t expect it of a highway robber, but I’ll tell Senga that it meets with your approval,’ Kalten said.
Senga’s very concerned about satisfying his customers. Would
you believe that he even had us pour out a barrel of beer that
had gone sour? Come on, From, let’s get the other barrel. We’ll
have Master Krager test that one and then we’ll settle accounts.’
,The two of them went back outside and manhandled the
second barrel out of the cart.
‘Ask him why they’ve taken the guards off the doors of the
house where they were holding Ehlana and Alcan,’ Sparhawk
MUrmured.
“Right.,’ Kalten grunted as they lowered the wine barrel to the
ground.
They put the second barrel beside the first, Kalten pried open
the lid, and Krager sampled it.
“Satisfactory?” Kalten asked.
“Just fine,’ Krager said. He dipped out another cup and sank
back happily on his bed. ‘Absolutely splendid.’
‘That’ll be a hundred crowns then.’
Crager pulled a heavy purse out from under his belt and negligently
tossed it to Kalten. ‘Here,’ he said. ‘Count it out yourself.
and don’t steal too much.’
‘This is business, Master Krager,’ Kalten told him. ‘if I was
robbing you, I’d have my knife against your throat.’ He swept
clothing and a few dried crusts of bread off the top of a
%with his forearm, opened the purse, and started counting Money.
‘We noticed that all the guards have been Pulled away
from the house with the bars on the windows,’ he said. ‘A
couple of days ago a man couldn’t get within twenty Paces of
the place, but this morning From and I wheeled that cart right
past the front doorr and nobody paid any attention to us. Has
Scarpa moved whatever was so valuable out of there?’
Krager’s puffy face became suddenly alert. ‘That’s none of
your busineSs, Col.’
‘I didn’t say it was. You might just make a suggestion to Lord
Scarpa, though. If he doesn’t want people to notice things like
that, he shouldn’t change anything. He should have kept all the
guards right where they were. Senga and the rest of us are all
robbers, you know, and we all more or less believed that Lord
Scarpa was keeping his treasure in that house. The word “treasure”
makes men like us prick up our ears.’
Krager stared at him and then he began to laugh.
‘What’s so funny?’ Kalten looked up from his counting.
‘It was a treasure all right, Col,’ Krager smirked, ‘but not the
kind you can count.’
‘Like you say, it’s none of my business, but every man who
works in Senga’s tavern knows that it’s been moved. I’m sure
they’ll all be poking around in these ruins looking for the new
storehouse. ‘
‘Let them look,’ Krager shrugged. ‘The treasure’s a long, long
way from here by now.’
‘I hope you’ve still got guards on it. Those woods out there
are crawling with fellows like From and me. Would you come
here and check my count?’
‘I trust you, Col.’
‘You’re a fool, then.
‘Take another ten crowns for yourself and your man,’ Krager
said expansively, ‘and then if you don’t mind, I’d like to be
alone with my two new friends here.’
‘You’re very generous, Master Krager.’ Kalten took some more
coins from the purse, scooped up all the ones he had previously
counted out, and dumped them into the side pocket of his
smock. ‘Let’s go, From,’ he said to Sparhawk. ‘Master Krager
wants to be alone.’
‘Tell Senga that I’m grateful to him,’ Krager said, dipping out
more wine, ‘and tell him to keep his eye out for more of this
excellent vintage. I’ll buy all he can find.’
‘i’ll tell him, Master Krager. Enjoy yourself.’ And Kalten led
the way out of the reeking room.
Sparhawk closed the door and held out his hand.
‘What?’ Kalten asked.
‘My five crowns, if you don’t mind,’ Sparhawk said firmly.
‘Let’s keep accounts current, shall we?’
“Thou art shrewd, Sir Kalten,’ Xanetia’s whispered voice came
%’Thou didst most skillfully guide his thought in precisely
the direction most useful to us.’
Kalten made some show of counting coins into Sparhawk’s
hand. “What did you find out, Anarae?’ he asked in a tense
whisper.
“a day or two ago a closed carriage did depart from this
place after making some show of stopping – under heavy guard
_ at the door to the house upon which all our attention hath
“been fixed. The carriage, which was but a ploy, is bound for
Panem-Doa. Those we seek are not inside, however. They had
bug since departed from Natayos with Zalasta.’
‘did Krager know where Zalasta was taking them?’ Sparhawk
asked.
‘It was evidently in Zalasta’s mind that none here should
know,’ Xanetia replied, ‘but Krager, ever alert to the main
chance, was well aware that news of Zalasta’s destination might
well save his life should things go awry, and he did strive most
assiduously to learn the Styric’s plans. By feigning drunken stuEr,
he was able to be present when Zalasta did speak with
his comrade, Cyzada. The twain spake in Styric, but Krager,