Deniably Dead (Arucadi Series Book 4)

by E. Rose Sabin

  CHAPTER FOUR

  GONE!

  The innkeeper had come out of the kitchen wringing his hands and bowing to them, saying again and again, “This is an honest establishment. Nothing like this has happened before. I swear it. I am utterly distraught and embarrassed and horrified. That rapscallion stable boy must have arranged this with the thieves. And to think that I believed I’d done the lad a great favor by giving him honest employment. I am so sorry. I will, of course, return the money you have paid to stable your horses and secure your wagon, although I know that is small compensation for your loss.”

  They had protested that it was indeed small compensation for the value of the wagon, the horses, their supplies and all else, not mentioning that the “all else” included a possibly living but apparently dead woman locked in a coffin.

  With much additional bowing and scraping, Master Duncan had protested that to reimburse them for all that would impoverish him, but he would do all he could to find the missing stable boy and force him to reveal the whereabouts of the stolen wagon.

  No one expected anything to come of that promise. Despite his protestations of innocence, Renni was convinced that the innkeeper was in collusion with the thieves, and the others seemed inclined to agree.

  So now, gathered in Lore and Camsen’s room, they had to come up with a plan of their own for recovering the stolen items.

  “Zauna, we’re fortunate that you kept your new crystal ball with you rather than packing it in the wagon,” Renni said. “Now you can unwrap it and try to find the wagon and the coffin.” She pointedly did not absolve Lore from guilt at trusting either Ril or the too-helpful man who’d directed them to Duncan’s. She refrained from saying “I told you so,” as she was tempted to do, knowing that if Zauna succeeded in locating the stolen wagon and its contents, Lore was their only hope of getting to it. He was the only one of them who had the power to transfer from one place to another so long as he could visualize the location to which he needed to go. Not for the first time she regretted the fact that Lore, whom she regarded as the least trustworthy of her companions, was also the most highly gifted.

  Zauna had carried with her the box holding the crystal ball. She held it in her lap and gazed sadly at the sealed box. “I suppose I must,” she said, her reluctance clear.

  “Yes, you must,” Camsen stated firmly. “We have no other recourse.” He extracted a penknife from the pocket of his tunic, opened it, and handed it to her. “Use this. Don’t cut yourself, but hurry, please.”

  “Yes, if you can locate the wagon, Lore can transport himself to it,” Renni said.

  “And what if I land in the midst of a gang of armed thieves?” Lore said. “How can I protect myself?”

  “Let’s solve that problem when and if it arises,” Renni admonished. “If the wagon is surrounded by a gang of thieves, Zauna will see them in the crystal. In that case we’ll develop some kind of plan.”

  Zauna worked carefully, unsealing the package so slowly that Renni wanted to scream at her to hurry, but that would only anger her, and they needed her calm and concentrating, once she extricated the crystal from its packaging. At last Zauna removed all the straw from around the globe, set aside a small book that fell from the straw, and lifted the crystal and its stand slowly and carefully from the box. “I need a table to set it on,” she said, as she stuffed the straw and the little book back into the box.

  Lore cleared a lamp off a bedside table and pushed it in front of the seer. Zauna set the globe’s brass stand on the table and adjusted the globe so that it nestled securely in the stand. She stripped off the pillowcase from the bed she was seated on and used it to dust the globe, removing remaining fragments of straw and polishing the surface.

  Camsen tapped his fingers against the edge of his chair. Lore cracked his knuckles until a glare from Zauna stopped him. Renni wiped her sweaty hands across her skirt.

  “All right. I need it absolutely quiet so I can attune myself to this crystal,” Zauna instructed. “After all, I’ve never used it before. It’s a delicate instrument. Seer and globe have to be in harmony with one another.”

  “Just hurry and do it,” Renni pleaded.

  Zauna sniffed. “Some things can’t be hurried,” she said. “Now, not another word from anyone.”

  With that, she placed her hands around the globe and closed her eyes. Renni wanted so badly to ask how she expected to see anything with her eyes closed that she had to bite her lower lip to keep the words from spilling out.

  After what seemed an interminably long time but could have lasted no more than a few moments, Zauna opened her eyes and peered into the crystal. It seemed to Renni that not only she but Lore and Camsen were all holding their breath. Certainly they all exhaled loudly when Zauna broke the silence by announcing, “I have the wagon!”

  “Where is it?” Lore burst out.

  “Shhh!” Camsen cautioned.

  Zauna spoke as if she hadn’t heard the question. “I see men walking around it. A boy is with them, a slender lad with dirty hair and a face that is speckled either with dirt or freckles—or both.”

  “Ril!” Lore said. “I’ll wring his skinny neck when I get hold of him.”

  “Oh, no!” Zauna gasped. “They’ve brought the coffin out of the wagon, and they’re kicking it and looking, I guess, for a way to open it. One of them has a hammer and a chisel. Another is holding an axe. It looks like they’re going to try to chop it open!”

  “We have to stop them,” Renni said. “Lore, you have to get there right away.”

  “One thing you must remember,” Zauna said. “The crystal shows me a true scene, but not when it is happening. It could be present time, but it could also be past or future.”

  “Well, we’d better assume that it’s either present or future,” Renni said. “If it’s past, we’re in terrible trouble. If it’s future, we have a bit more time, but let’s not count on that.

  “Lore, you ready?”

  Lore stood and paced. “Zauna, can you give me any indication of where the wagon is? Any landmarks? I need something to go by.”

  “Can’t you just home in on the wagon?” Camsen asked. “Or even on the stable boy?”

  “I can try, but it would help if Zauna could describe more of the surroundings,” Lore answered.

  “I don’t have a panoramic view,” Zauna said, an annoyed frown creasing her forehead. “All I can see is the wagon and a bit of the road it’s on. It’s a rough road, with what looks like stony hills behind it.”

  “Hills? They couldn’t travel far or fast in the wagon. We need to find out where there are hills like that near here,” Lore said.

  “We can ask, but we’ll need to find someone who’ll give us an honest answer. Not Master Duncan.”

  “And not the kitchen maid,” Lore added.

  Renni almost asked him why he mentioned her, but then remembered that Camsen said Lore hadn’t returned to their room all night. She guessed he’d been played for a chump, though he’d never come closer to admitting it than he just had. The maid, whom Renni recalled as a pretty girl and a flirt, had most likely been assigned to keep Lore occupied while the thieves were busy.

  Camsen studied the map they’d been given in Port-of-Lords, tracing their planned route with his finger. “We’ll be going into the hills of Inland Province, but they couldn’t have gotten that far. We came through hills on our way here, but those are too far back toward the coast. They wouldn’t have gone that far, either. Hmm. I heard about a gem-mining region in low hills not far to our north. It doesn’t show on this map. We need a more detailed map.”

  “We don’t have time to hunt for a map,” Renni said, taking charge. “Lore, you’ll have to use the wagon as your focal point.”

  He nodded. “I guess that would do. But I still don’t like the idea of appearing alone right in the midst of a gang of thieves.”

  “Whatever you do, you better do it quickly,” Zauna cautioned, still peering into the crystal ball. “They’re c
arrying the coffin into the hills. They must mean to open it out of sight of the road. Oh, it looks like they’re abandoning the wagon. They’re loading our supplies onto the horses and leading the horses into the hills. They’ll be harder to find, and they can defend themselves better there.”

  “Couldn’t you take me with you?” Camsen asked. “I could throw fire or create an illusion to scare them off.”

  “Yes!” Renni exclaimed. “That would be perfect!”

  “I don’t know that I can transport another person,” Lore said, shaking his head.

  “You did it when we—”

  “I did it when Jerome was feeding me power. I didn’t do it on my own,” Lore broke in, speaking rapidly. He hated to be reminded of what an ass he’d been.

  Renni had no sympathy for him. “Jerome gave you a good bit of power,” she said. “He didn’t take it away again, did he?”

  “I—I’m not sure,” Lore said.

  “I’m willing to take a chance,” Camsen spoke up. “We have to try.”

  “And hurry,” Zauna urged again.

  “All right. I’ll try imaging the wagon. And I’ll try to take Camsen with me.”

  “Zauna and I will feed you what power we can,” Renni said. “Grab Camsen and get started.”

  §

  Eyes closed, Lore painted a picture in his mind, recreating every detail of the wagon that he could recall. The dark red sideboards that gave the wagon a jaunty look. The white canvas bonnet, now cloaked in desert sand kicked up by the horses. The iron-rimmed wheels. The hard wooden seat for the driver also served as the lid of a toolbox. He’d spent many uncomfortable hours on that seat between Port-of-Lords and Marquez.

  With that picture firmly in mind, he pictured himself beside the wagon with Camsen at his side. A loud “Whew!” came from Camsen. Feeling woozy, Lore reached out without opening his eyes. His hand rested against something wooden. He leaned against it to recover from a weakness he hadn’t felt since a time when Jerome had suddenly drained his power. Whether the distance he’d had to transport had caused it or the effort of bringing Camsen with him, he knew it would be some time before he could transport back—or to anywhere else.

  “Are you okay?”

  Camsen’s question induced Lore to open his eyes and look around. He stood beside the wagon, leaning against the sideboard. Camsen stood beside him, regarding him worriedly. His glance around him revealed no one else in the area.

  “We’ve reached the wagon all right, but the thieves have gone, just as Zauna saw,” Lore said, rubbing his face.

  “I’ll see whether they left anything in the wagon,” Camsen offered.

  “Be careful.” Lore didn’t think his warning was necessary. No sound came from the wagon.

  Camsen confirmed his guess when he called, “It’s empty. Totally. No supplies, no coffin, nothing left at all.”

  “They couldn’t have gone far with all that,” Lore said as he made his way to the rear of the wagon to join Camsen. “They have to be close by.”

  Camsen closed the flaps, concealing the emptiness within the wagon. “Just as Zauna warned, they won’t be easy to find in those hills.” He pointed to the hills that rose up gradually just a short distance from the road, some natural—low, rolling hills covered with a variety of small shrubs—others large piles of loose rocks brought up from mines. “Hope they’re careful with the horses in that terrain.”

  Lore shaded his eyes and peered at the hills. “We need to be careful. It won’t be easy walking or climbing, and they might be hard to find. They could hide in a cave or just in a dip in the hillside. They’d see us or hear us coming before we spotted them.”

  “Right, and since they’ve already cleaned out the wagon, they’ll have no reason to come back here. So we’d better get hiking. You up to it?”

  “I have to be,” Lore said. “The weakness I felt after the transfer has subsided, but my power is at lowest ebb. Seems Jerome didn’t let me keep the extra power he gave me. I guess it was just a loan.”

  “You need to rest, but time is a luxury we don’t have. Let’s see if we can spot some tracks that tell us what direction to take.” Camsen walked off the road and away from the wagon, eyes to the ground. In only a matter of moments he said, “Here’s a footprint. And another.”

  Lore followed as Camsen pursued his quest for signs of passage. And found them. More footprints, places where weeds and grasses were bent down. The print of a horse’s hoof. As Camsen pointed them out, Lore could see them, but on his own he would have missed most of them. Who knew that the former priest would prove to be such a good tracker?

  “Something heavy has been dragged through here,” Camsen announced, pointing to a long and deep rut through a patch of sand. Beyond it shrubs were bent or broken. “I’d guess they’ve rigged some way of having a horse pull the coffin through here. Kyla will have a rough ride. They must think the coffin holds something valuable. Otherwise they would have left it behind.”

  “Ril probably told them it was loaded with gems,” Lore said bitterly. “He kept asking me what was in it and guessing that it held some kind of treasure.”

  “If they get it open and discover what they’ll assume is a corpse, they’ll be disgusted, and who knows what they’ll do with Kyla.”

  Camsen had expressed a fear that already tormented Lore. He couldn’t answer, could only follow Camsen in morose silence.

  They could readily find the path the thieves had taken, but it was not an easy path, and Lore stumbled often, still weak from having expended so much power in transporting himself and Camsen to this place. I should have imaged Ril and transferred to wherever he is. The tardy realization did nothing to lighten Lore’s mood or improve their situation.

  They rounded one hill and climbed another. Camsen was finding the trail more tenuous due both to more vegetation and harder, rockier ground. Lore grabbed Camsen’s arm. “I’ve got to rest just a bit,” he said. “Sorry.” He sank down on a nearby boulder.

  Camsen frowned but nodded. “We’re probably too late anyway.”

  That comment, not accusing but delivered as a flat statement of fact, stung Lore deeply. He’d been holding Camsen back. This damnable weakness that he should not be experiencing would mean the failure of their mission. He should persuade Camsen to go on without him, much as he disliked the idea of having to remain alone in this wilderness. He rose to urge Camsen to go ahead, but Camsen put a finger to his lips and cupped his other hand behind his ear, indicating that Lore was to be quiet and listen.

  And Lore heard. Footsteps, distant but coming toward them. Camsen backed quietly toward Lore. It sounded like no more than one person, or two at the most, moving quickly. A large rock formation on the hillside blocked their view. Lore looked around for a weapon, saw a stone he could grab, but before he could reach it, the runner rounded the outcropping.

  Ril! Camsen jumped into the boy’s path and grabbed him when the lad tried to dodge around him. Lore froze in startlement on seeing the stable boy, but recovered quickly and moved to confront him.

  “You little worm!” he shouted.

  “Oh, Master Wellner, Master Kaplek, help me! Save me!” The boy’s eyes were wide with fear.

  “Save you? From what? From your own trickery and betrayal?” Lore demanded, reaching to pry him from Camsen’s grasp.

  “They’re after me,” Ril gasped. “They’ll kill me!”

  “I’m going to kill you when I get my hands around your skinny throat.” Lore grabbed for the boy’s throat to carry out his threat, but Camsen swung Ril out of his way.

  “Calm down, Lore,” Camsen said. “We need information, and he can provide it.” Still keeping a firm hold on Ril’s shoulders, he said, “Let me guess. You spied on us, sold information to a gang of thieves, and told them that we had gems in the big box in the wagon. And they got it open and discovered that instead of a treasure chest, it is a coffin.”

  “You should’ve told me what was in it.” Ril accused Lore. “You let me th
ink you had gems or something locked up in it.” He began to sob.

  “Oh, so it’s my fault you’re a traitor and a liar and a spy?” Lore demanded, still thinking only of revenge.

  “Who’s coming after you, the whole gang?” Camsen asked, giving the boy’s shoulders a shake.

  “No, just three of ’em. They’ve got big whips.”

  “Whips? Not guns?” Camsen gave Ril another shake.

  “I dunno about guns,” he said, wailing. “It’s the whips they’re gonna use on me.”

  “I’ll use one on you myself,” Lore said, glaring at the boy. He’d calmed a bit though, enough to ask Camsen, “You ready for them? I can’t do much, I’m afraid.”

  “I’m ready if you’ll hold the lad,” Camsen replied. “And don’t kill him. Remember, we have questions he needs to answer.”

  Lore, angry as he was, recognized the truth of Camsen’s words. So though Ril screamed when Camsen thrust him into Lore’s arms, he did nothing more than hold him in a bear hug. “How far behind you are they?” he asked.

  He got no answer from Ril, but none was necessary. Hearing footsteps pounding toward them. he pulled Ril back out of the way. Camsen stepped forward, one arm outstretched.

  A burly man with a mane of fiery red hair and a horsewhip clutched in his hand rounded the outcropping. “Halt!” Camsen shouted.

  The man paused only a moment before flicking his whip at Camsen’s arm. As the whip connected, a stream of fire shot from Camsen’s fingers and burst against the man’s flannel shirt, setting it aflame. The man screamed and tried to beat out the flames with his meaty hands. Camsen rubbed his arm where the whip had struck, leaving a long red gash.

  Two more men rounded the outcropping. Seeing their companion afire, they skidded to a halt as Camsen yelled, “Stop or you’ll burn too.”

  They stood still, gaping at the burning man, who amid his screams of agony, yelled, “Shoot them!”

  One drew a pistol from its holster, but at the same time Camsen raised his unwounded arm and again hurled fire. The third robber, a short, skinny fellow, ducked behind his companion in time to save himself while his human shield went up in flames. Unscathed, he caught his unfortunate buddy’s pistol as it fell from his hand.