The word “toast” was received with much enthusiasm.
Gosti beamed briefly, and then he fell ravenously upon his breakfast.
Althalus bided his time until the fat man had taken the edge off his hunger with about half a ham, and then he leaned back in his chair and began. “Ho, Gosti, did I ever tell you the story about the crazy man I met once up in northern Kagwher?”
“I don’t think you ever did, Althalus,” Gosti replied, munching thoughtfully. “How were you able to tell that he was crazy, though? I’ve never met a Kagwher who wasn’t a little strange.”
“This particular Kagwher was stranger than most, Gosti,” Althalus told him. “He wandered around up there near the Edge of the World, and he spent most of his time talking to God. I’ve heard that a lot of people do that, but this fellow believed that God talked back to him.”
“That’s crazy, all right,” Galbak agreed.
“Tell us the story, Althalus,” another clansman urged.
“Well,” Althalus began, “it was quite some time ago, and I’d gone up out of Hule into Kagwher on a business trip, you see, and one morning up there near the Edge of the World, I woke up when I heard somebody talking.” He went on to describe the bent old crazy man at some length and then jumped off into a pure fantasy that was related to the truth only by implication.
The party grew increasingly rowdy through the morning and early afternoon, and then the fights began. Good humor returned at supper-time, when the first of the doctored crocks of mead were broached.
The singing began about an hour later, and the snoring not long after that.
“Go take some more of the strong mead to the guards in front of the strong room, Gher,” Althalus instructed quietly. “Then go to the stables and saddle the horses.”
“Right,” Gher agreed.
“Do you know what you’re going to do? You’ve got to distract Khnom for long enough to slip Ghend’s Book to Emmy.”
“I’ll take care of it, Althalus,” Gher assured him.
Khnom slipped out of Gosti’s great hall shortly after Gher had left, and after a few moments, Althalus gestured curtly at Ghend.
The fire-eyed man rose, put on his bronze helmet, and quietly left the room.
Althalus slowly counted to one hundred, and then he also rose, looked around at the sodden Arums, and went to the door.
“Why the delay?” Ghend whispered.
“Just making sure that nobody was still awake,” Althalus replied. “Let’s get to work.”
They went down the corridor to the three steps leading up to the strong-room door. The guards were sprawled on the floor just in front of the steps, and they were both snoring.
“Should we kill them?” Ghend asked.
“Absolutely not,” Althalus said firmly. “Dead men attract attention, and that’s the last thing we want. After we steal the gold, I’ll lock the strong-room door again and leave it just the way we found it. With any luck at all, it’ll be two or three days before anybody even looks inside, and that’ll give us a long head start.”
“Clever,” Ghend said admiringly.
“I’m glad you liked it.” Althalus went up the three steps to the strong-room door and examined the crude lock.
“Is it going to give you any trouble?” Ghend asked nervously.
Althalus snorted. “Gher could open this lock,” he said derisively. He reached down and drew a long bronze needle out of his boot, probed at the lock for a moment, and was rewarded with a loud click. “We’re in,” he said tersely, opening the heavy door slightly. “Get inside. I’ll pull the door mostly shut behind us.”
Ghend nodded and slipped through the partially open doorway.
Althalus reached up, took the burning torch from the bronze ring beside the door, and followed Ghend into the room, carefully pulling the door closed behind him. Then he held the torch aloft, and the two of them looked around the strong room for the first time.
There were animal-skin bags piled along the wall, and there seemed to be quite a few of them. “This might take us a while,” Ghend noted.
“I doubt it,” Althalus disagreed. “Not even a man as messy as Gosti is would pile gold and copper together in the same stack.” He set the butt of the torch into a bronze ring jutting from the wall behind the crudely built table, went to the pile of bags, picked one up, and shook it. “Copper,” he said.
“How can you tell?”
“The sound. Copper pennies make a different sound. Gold’s more musical.” Althalus rummaged through the bags. “Here we go,” he said triumphantly. “This one feels as if it’s full of sand, and it’s much heavier than those others.”
“Sand?”
“Those miners up in the mountains don’t have the equipment to melt their gold down to make bars, so they have to pay their toll in gold flakes when they cross Gosti’s bridge. The ones who are going the other way are the ones who pay in coins.” Althalus untied the top of the bag, poked his hand inside, and took out a handful of bright yellow flakes. Then he let the flakes spill back into the bag in a glittering golden shower. “Pretty, isn’t it?”
Ghend seemed almost paralyzed, and his eyes were blazing.
“Help me sort these out,” Althalus told him. “We don’t want to carry off a bag of copper pennies by mistake.”
“Right,” Ghend agreed.
It took them about a quarter of an hour to sort through the bags, and they piled the ones containing gold on the crude table in the center of the room.
“I think that’s all of it,” Althalus said finally. Then he thoughtfully hefted one of the bags of golden sand. “About fifty pounds,” he mused.
“So what?” Ghend demanded.
“We’ve got four horses, partner, and if Gosti’s men happen to wake up early and start chasing us, we’ll want our horses to be able to run like frightened deer. I don’t think we’ll want to put more than two bags on each horse—maybe four on Gher’s horse, but that might start some arguments later. Let’s just take eight bags and let it go at that.”
“But there are almost twenty bags here!” Ghend protested.
“Take as many as you want, Ghend, but if the extra weight slows your horse down and Gosti’s men catch up to you, you’ll never get a chance to spend any of your gold.”
“There are lots of other horses in the stables.”
“And missing horses attract almost as much attention as dead guards do. We’ve got a very good chance at having a three-day lead. If we start killing Gosti’s people and stealing his horses, we can kiss that lead goodbye. I’d rather travel light and stay alive, but what you do is up to you.”
Ghend sighed. “I guess you’re right,” he agreed mournfully.
“The gold coins are in separate bags,” Althalus told his lank-haired accomplice. “Let’s take those bags rather than the ones filled with sand. Coins are ready to spend, but we’d have to melt down the sand, and I’ve never been very good at that.” Althalus went to the door and looked out into the corridor. “It’s still clear,” he announced. “Let’s get started. We’ll haul the ones we’re stealing down to the end of the hall and stack them in the kitchen. As soon as we’ve got our gold out of here, I’ll close the door and lock it again. Then we’ll take our loot down through the sheds to the hay barn. I don’t think anybody in the fort’s awake, but let’s stay in the shadows, just to be on the safe side.”
“Right,” Ghend agreed. “Let’s get cracking.”
They each took up two of the heavy bags, quickly lugged them down the corridor to the kitchen, and returned for two more. When they came out of the room, Althalus set his bags down on the top step. “Go on ahead,” he instructed. “I’ll catch up in a minute.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I want to make that room look exactly the way it looked before we went in. If Galbak happens to glance in, I don’t want anything to be out of place. If we’re lucky, he might not even notice that Gosti’s been robbed for a week or so.”
&n
bsp; “Very shrewd, Althalus,” Ghend said admiringly. “Don’t be too long, though.” He turned and carried his bags of gold toward the kitchen as Althalus went back into the strong room, closing the door behind him. Then he quickly untied several bags of pennies and dumped them on the floor. He seasoned that pile with the contents of one of the bags of flakes and then tipped over the table. “That should do it,” he muttered. Then he went back out, put the torch back into the bronze ring, and carefully relocked the door.
“That didn’t take long,” Ghend observed when Althalus joined him in the kitchen.
“I can move very fast when I have to,” Althalus replied. “If Galbak opens that door tomorrow, he’ll see exactly what I want him to see. Let’s haul our loot to the hay barn. We want to be a long way from here by sunrise.”
“You won’t get any arguments from me on that score,” Ghend agreed.
They each took up two of the heavy bags again and went out through the kitchen door. Then they moved carefully through the dense shadows in the open-fronted workshops along the east wall of the fort.
“What took you so long?” Gher demanded, his hoarse whisper sounding shrill. “I been going crazy in here!”
“Calm down, Gher,” Althalus said. “What’s got you all tied up in knots?”
“We’ve got trouble, Althalus!”
“Keep your voice down,” Ghend hissed. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s what’s wrong,” Gher said in a strained voice. He pointed at a motionless figure lying near the stable door. “That’s Khnom, in case you don’t recognize him. We had the horses all saddled and ready, and we was waiting for you when this drunk Arum came stumbling in mumbling something about jumping out of the hayloft. Khnom was trying to come up with some story to explain why we was here, but the Arum was too drunk to listen. He seemed to think we wanted to jump before he did, so he banged Khnom on the head with that wooden bucket over there, and Khnom went down like somebody’d just cut the ground out from under him. Then the drunk Arum climbed up the ladder and jumped out of the hayloft. He didn’t come down where he was supposed to, though, and he landed all wrong. I think he broke his neck, because he’s not breathing anymore. I couldn’t think of nothing else to do, so I just covered him up with hay. Khnom’s still breathing, but I can’t wake him up. What are we going to do?”
“Get that back door open,” Althalus told him. “Ghend and I’ll go get the rest of our gold. We’ll decide what to do about Khnom when we get back.”
Ghend was muttering curses as he and Althalus retraced their steps to the kitchen door. “What a stupid thing to have happen!” he flared hoarsely.
“Maybe we can wake Khnom if we throw water on him,” Althalus said. “If that doesn’t bring him around, we might have to tie him to his saddle and you’ll have to lead his horse. We don’t dare leave him behind. Galbak could probably squeeze the truth out of him in about half a minute. Let’s get the rest of our gold first. Then we’ll decide what to do about Khnom.”
They picked up the other four bags of gold and returned to the hay barn. “Is he moving at all yet?” Ghend demanded of Gher.
“Not even a twitch,” Gher replied. “I dumped cold water in his face, but he didn’t come around. That Arum banged him real good with that bucket.”
Ghend knelt beside his friend and began pinching his nose and slapping him across the cheeks.
“What really happened here, Gher?” Althalus whispered.
“It was me who hit Khnom with that bucket, Althalus,” Gher admitted. “Khnom’s real sneaky, and I got to thinking that he’d probably expect me to be sneaky, too—like maybe tiptoe up behind him and stab him in the back, or something like that. I sort of figured that the best way to be sneaky was to not be sneaky, so I just walked up to him carrying that bucket like I didn’t even remember that it was still in my hand. He was looking right straight at me when I came up to him, and he was even smiling at me. I didn’t even blink or nothing. I just swung that bucket at his head as hard as I could. He looked awful surprised when he fell down. Then I hit him on the head some more until Emmy told me to stop. She must have thought it was funny, because she was laughing. Then she told me that she’d fix it so that Khnom won’t remember that I hit him.” Gher looked just a bit ashamed. “It wasn’t a very fancy cheat, Althalus,” he apologized. “I didn’t sneak or tiptoe or nothing like that the way I guess I was supposed to. I just walked right straight up to Khnom and whacked him on the head with that bucket, is all.”
Althalus was trying very hard to keep from laughing out loud. “You done good, Gher,” he said, fighting back his laughter. “You done real good.”
“Eliar took Ghend’s Book to Emmy, and then he came right back with it in the blink of an eye,” Gher reported. “I guess she done what she needed to do, and the Book’s right back where it was before I hit Khnom with the bucket.”
“We did what we were supposed to do, then, and that’s all that really matters. Let’s get our gold tied to our saddles and get ready to leave.”
C H A P T E R F O R T Y - F I V E
Ghend was fuming as they tied the bags of gold to their saddles, muttering swearwords in a dialect Althalus couldn’t quite recognize. “It could have been worse, Ghend,” Althalus told him. “It might be a little awkward leading Khnom’s horse, but if he’s tied to his saddle, he won’t fall off. Gher and I’ll see to it that nobody’s following you, so you won’t have to gallop.”
“Maybe,” Ghend growled. “Everything was going so well, though, and then this turned up.”
Althalus shrugged. “These things happen sometimes. You can’t anticipate everything. It could have been worse. The Arum could have killed Khnom and then raised the alarm.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Ghend went to the open back door of the hay barn and squinted up at the star-studded night sky. “How long do you make it until morning?”
“Four hours anyway. We’ve still got lots of time.”
“Are you sure you’ll be coming to Hule later?” Ghend asked. “There’s still that other matter I’d like to discuss with you.”
“We’ll get there,” Althalus promised. “You and Khnom go on ahead, and we’ll all get together again in Nabjor’s camp. We work very well together, Ghend, and the notion of a partnership’s starting to look better and better.”
“How long do you think it’ll be until you and Gher reach that camp?”
“A lot of that depends on how soon Gosti’s people recover from the birthday party. If I’ve got a two-day head start, Gher and I’ll only be a day or so behind you and Khnom. If they’re hot on our trail, it might take us a couple of weeks. Nabjor’s got lots of entertainments available in his camp, so the time should pass quickly.”
They lifted Khnom’s inert body up into his saddle and tied him securely in place. “Take Khnom and go on ahead,” Althalus told Ghend. “Gher and I’ll tidy up here in the barn and then we’ll meet you over at the edge of the woods.”
“Tidy up?” Ghend asked curiously
“We’ll make everything here look exactly as it did before the party. If anything’s out of place, somebody might start getting curious.”
“What are you going to do with that dead Arum?”
“We’ll just pile some more hay on top of him. The weather’s still cool enough to keep him from spoiling for the next few days. After Galbak discovers our little visit to the strong room, it won’t really make much difference anyway. Have you got any cord, Ghend?”
“Cord?”
“I’ll have to come up with a way to slip that bar back into place from the outside. We don’t want to ride off and leave that door open and swinging in the wind.”
“You’re probably right.” Ghend rummaged around in his saddlebags, taking out his Book in the process.
Althalus held his breath.
“Would this work?” Ghend asked, holding out a long leather thong.
“It should. Thanks.”
“Don’t mention it.” Ghend put the
Book back in the bag and then tied the bag shut. “Don’t be too long here, Althalus,” he said, swinging up into his saddle. “I’d like to be a long way from here by morning.” Then he rode out through the door, leading Khnom’s horse behind him.
“Why were you so jumpy just now?” Gher asked.
“I wasn’t completely sure that he couldn’t feel some slight difference in his Book,” Althalus admitted. “Emmy’s touch might have changed it.”
“You’re not really going to lock that door, are you?”
“Of course not. I just wanted to come up with the idea before Ghend did.” He made some show of fumbling around with the bar on the door. Starlight isn’t too bright, but Ghend had very strange eyes, and Althalus wasn’t exactly sure just how well his enemy could see in the dark. Then he and Gher mounted their horses, crossed the brushy area between the wall of Gosti’s fort and the nearby forest, and joined Ghend and the still-comatose Khnom. “That’s about everything,” he said. “I think you’d better hold your horse down to a walk, Ghend. If Khnom’s horse starts to gallop, our sleeping friend might slide around until he trips the poor beast, and you’d have to stop and straighten him up again. You’ll make better time after Khnom wakes up. Stay off that main trail, and move quietly when you’re near any villages. Gher and I’ll leave plenty of tracks and make enough noise to convince Galbak that we all rode south. You shouldn’t have any trouble, but be careful anyway.”
“Right,” Ghend agreed. “We’ll see you in Nabjor’s camp, then.”
“Have a nice trip,” Althalus told him. Then he turned his horse. “Let’s go south, Gher.”
“Yes, sir,” Gher replied.
After Ghend and his unconscious companion were out of sight, though, Althalus reined in his horse. “Are you there, Eliar?” he called back over his shoulder.
“Where did you think I’d be?” Eliar’s voice came from just behind them.
“I thought that maybe Andine or Bheid had commandeered you. I’ll pass our gold up to you. Put it in a safe place.”
The Redemption of Althalus Page 78