by Pedro Urvi
“Then … I don’t understand … what d’you want from me?”
“I want a name: the name of the person who put a price on my head.”
“I don’t have that information. You said yourself I’m not one of the chiefs. I can’t possibly have the information you want.”
“True, you’re not one of the chiefs, but yes, you do have the information I want. That’s why you have three bodyguards beside you day and night.”
“No, I don’t have it!”
“You, Belgorio, are the Guild’s accountant, and you keep its books. You have the information I want.”
Belgorio was speechless.
“No … I … how …”
“I know, and I also know that the information is in that tome that goes with you everywhere.” Egil pointed to the desk where the book was lying. Beside it, on a chair, was the bag Belgorio always carried slung over his chest. “I’d wager my right hand that you record information about the Guild’s activities, the people involved and the amounts in gold agreed upon, either paid or pending.”
The accountant’s eyes opened wide. “I don’t know how you know all that, but it’s not going to be any use to you!”
“On the contrary. Tonight, you’re going to tell me what I need to know, in one way or another.”
“Threats won’t be any use to you.”
“It’s not a threat, I’m telling you what’s going to happen. Yes or yes.”
“You know I’m not going to speak. If I do, I’m a dead man. The Guild doesn’t forgive mistakes, still less treason.”
“It’s not treason per se. I simply want to know who wants me dead.”
Belgorio shook his head violently. “No way!”
“I already know that your Guild wants to kill me,” Egil went on persuasively. “They’ve already tried, and failed. You wouldn’t be committing treason.”
“If I give you information it would be treason, and my superiors wouldn’t forgive me. I can’t give it to you. If I do I’m a dead man.”
“Then I’ll have to get it in a less honorable way than just by asking you politely.”
Belgorio was staring at Egil as if he were an executioner. “What are you going to do to me?”
“The job of a bookkeeper, though it’s normally a peaceful one, can turn very dangerous if you keep the accounts of people like your bosses. I’m sure that when you undertook to keep the accounts of a guild of assassins it wasn’t by mistake. You knew the risks and the kind of work it was. I’m sure you had your doubts, but they pay well, don’t they? Gold is a hard motivator to refuse. Unfortunately for you, the danger you knew you were running has turned into reality.” Egil shrugged. “They’re occupational hazards, what can you do about that …”
“Let me go. I can’t help you.”
Egil shook his head, letting him know that he was going to help whether he liked it or not. He reached for his belt and took out a dark pouch, then a lighter one. He showed them to Belgorio, who was sweating profusely.
“What’s in those pouches?”
“In the black one there’s a friend of mine I want you to meet. She’s silent, beautiful and deadly.” He opened the pouch and dropped a small metallic-pink snake on to Belgorio’s lap.
“Noooooo!” the accountant cried in terror.
“She’s a beautiful dwarf pink viper from the Nocean deserts. She’s tiny, fits in my hand, and is a lovely color. She uses it to lure her prey, then kills them with a tiny bite. Many victims don’t even realize they’ve been bitten. It turns out that her poison is highly toxic. Her bite is lethal nine times out of ten in humans. I’ve always found it very interesting that something so small and so beautiful should be so lethal.”
The viper slithered up Belgorio’s stomach, and his eyes revealed the panic he was feeling. He tried to break loose and shake the viper off.
“Keep a firm grip on him,” Egil said. Gerd gripped him tightly, though he gave Egil a questioning look as he did so. Egil had not explained this part of the plan to his partners, and in addition he was behaving in a way he had never seen before. He did not seem himself. Was he playing a part, or had something happened to him? Had he changed? Because of everything that had happened to him? Because of the deaths of his father and brothers? Had he lost his moral compass?
Nilsa stopped pressing the knife against Belgorio’s throat for fear of accidentally killing the bookkeeper, who was beside himself with terror.
“No, please!”
“As you see, there are things which might be considered worse than death. This is one of them.”
“Take it off me! For the Gods’ sake!”
“If I were you I’d start talking, and start quickly. My little friend has a tendency to bite …”
“It’s in the tome! Take it and go!”
Egil went over to the table, opened the tome and studied it briefly.
“Interesting. It’s written with a code which only a few people know. I could decipher it, but it would take too long, and unfortunately I don’t have much time to waste.”
“It’s going to bite me!” Belgorio cried. He was staring wide-eyed at the viper, which was slithering up his torso.
“Who paid for my contract?” Egil demanded. He held the tome up to the accountant. It was open in the middle. The names were unintelligible, but the amounts of gold were clearly understandable.
“No! Let me go!”
“Your time’s up,” Egil said. He pointed to the viper, and in a swift movement it bit Belgorio in the shoulder with its tiny fangs.
The accountant howled in terror and shook himself like a madman. Nilsa had to move back. Gerd kept up his grip, though his face showed that he was very unhappy about what was happening.
“He’s making too much noise,” Val warned them from the door.
“Nilsa, cover his mouth, please.”
Nilsa put her dagger away and took out a scarf, which she stuffed into his mouth so that he could not scream. She looked at Egil uneasily, but he gestured to her not to worry.
“Luckily for you,” he said, “in the lighter pouch I carry the antidote.” He showed him a phial containing a blue liquid.
Belgorio, unable to speak, stared at the antidote with tears of despair in his eyes.
“While you think about it and decide what you want to do – and you haven’t much time left, so if I were you I’d make up my mind quickly – I’ll put my little friend back in her pouch.”
Very skillfully, Egil grasped the viper and put her away with a swift, precise movement. His hands did not hesitate, and the viper never had the chance to bite him, because he had seized it by the head.
Gerd and Nilsa were staring at him with troubled eyes. This was going to end very badly. The bookkeeper was going to die at any moment.
“Time’s running out,” Egil said. “Soon you’ll start to foam at the mouth and go into convulsions. Then your heart will stop. It’s a rather nasty death. I’ve seen it a number of times. I’d rather not see it today.”
Belgorio was weeping and his nose was running. He knew he was about to die, but he was also very much aware that he would die at the hands of his bosses if he were to speak. He had to make a decision, and make it straight away. Speak and live a little longer, or let the poison have its effect on him and save himself death at the hands of his superiors, which would undoubtedly be much more painful than this one.
“Are you going to talk?” Egil asked. His voice made it clear that it was an ultimatum.
Belgorio made up his mind. He would go on living a little longer. He nodded repeatedly.
“The scarf,” Egil said to Nilsa, and she took it out of his mouth immediately.
“The book, quickly!” the accountant begged.
Egil gestured to Gerd to let go of him, then took the book and gave it to him.
“What did you say your name was?” the accountant asked.
“Egil Olafstone.”
He gestured urgently. “The box under the bedside table.”
> Nilsa searched, but could not see any box.
“Move the table. There’s a loose board in the floor underneath.”
Nilsa pressed on the floorboards under the table until one of them gave. She removed it, put her hand in the space beneath it, and found the box.
Egil smiled. It was wooden, and simply carved. Nilsa handed it to Belgorio, who opened it eagerly. He took out something like a lens, and when he put it on the book, what had been no more than scribbles began to make sense. They were the names and surnames of people.
Egil nodded appreciatively. “Very interesting, this ocular decipherer.”
Gerd and Nilsa watched the accountant read through the pages at great speed, passing from one to another as fast as he could. He was drenched in sweat. He did not take his eyes off the lens which he slid down one of the columns of each page of the book. Suddenly he stopped and read the name several times.
“Here, Egil Olafstone.”
“Good. Who paid for the contract?”
The accountant placed the lens on the name in the tome.
“Interesting,” Egil commented. He read the name several times, with great interest.
“The antidote! Please!”
“You’re not deceiving me, are you?”
“No!” He moved the lens over the page. “Look, here’s your name!”
Egil looked calmly back at him. “All right. I understand that you made this entry.”
“Yes … I make all the entries … only me. For ten years … since I took the job.” He was stumbling over his own words as he reached for the antidote.
“In that case you know the name of the person in charge of the organization.”
“No! I don’t know it!”
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely sure! He always wears a mask! Nobody knows who he is! That’s how he makes sure he stays alive!”
“Very wise, but I need to find him … for reasons of justice …”
“I don’t know how! I swear to you I don’t know how!”
“Any lead I can follow?” Egil asked. He shook the phial without handing it over. “When do you meet with him?”
“On Wednesdays. Every Wednesday without fail, at midnight in the storehouse!”
“That’ll do.”
“The antidote!” Belgorio pleaded desperately.
“A promise is a promise,” Egil said, and handed it to him.
Belgorio took off the top with shaking hands. He drank it in a single draught, to the last drop.
“Will I … live?”
“You’ll know soon enough,” Egil said coldly.
“Please … I don’t deserve to die … not like this.”
Egil sighed. “A deal is a deal, and I always keep my word.”
The accountant bent his head and looked at the bite on his shoulder. He covered it with his hand and began to weep.
“Thank you,” he said.
“If I were you I’d disappear this same night,” Egil advised him. “Your bosses won’t believe you didn’t give me the information.”
The accountant nodded repeatedly. “I know. I’m a dead man.”
“Run,” Egil said. “You might be lucky.”
Sobs overcame Belgorio. “I’ll run away,” he muttered.
“We’ve got what we wanted now,” Egil said to his comrades. “We’re leaving.”
Nilsa and Gerd nodded.
“Val?” Egil asked as they reached her side.
“All clear. I’ll lead the way.”
Downstairs they stepped over the three bodyguards, who were still unconscious. They went out into the street and were lost in the night of the sleeping city.
Chapter 25
The light of dawn found Ingrid, Lasgol, Vigo, Ona and Camu arriving at the port city of Usedol, their final destination in the Kingdom of Rogdon. The city was a large one, and a major commercial port. Many merchant ships traded there, and the city was part of the great trade routes between Rogdon and other kingdoms such as the Nocean Empire to the south and Norghana itself to the north.
Camu, can you camouflage Ona in the city? The Rogdonians aren’t going to let us in with her.
Why not?
Because here they’re not friends of wild animals.
Ona not wild. Ona good.
Yes, but they don’t know that. The soldiers will see a large predator and won’t let us in.
I create power.
Right. Stay together.
I together.
Ona, stay close to Camu, okay?
The panther chirped once, which Lasgol took as agreement. He had been teaching her to answer. It was a slow learning process, but as they had time during their journey he had been doing so very patiently: one chirp for yes, two for no. It had not been easy to make her understand. He was sure that she was very intelligent and had understood. Transmitting mental messages to her was not a problem, and she understood almost all of them, as long as they were not very complex. Getting her to answer was a lot more complicated. After all, she was a cat, and they had their own way of reasoning and responding to external stimuli.
Ona, good, he transmitted.
Ona chirped once, and he smiled at her.
Camu, if you don’t manage to keep up the skill, let me know.
I let know.
Lasgol did not know how long Camu would be able to keep up his own invisibility and Ona’s. They had not practiced very much. He hoped that as with all skills, with use they would become more powerful and their benefits longer-lasting.
Once in the city, they made their way to the harbor without wasting any time. They crossed the high part of the metropolis, which was beautiful and very well-built. The city was efficiently divided into squares, which made the lives of the citizens easier. They soon realized why the Rogdonians had a reputation for being efficient and rather literal-minded. The streets, buildings and squares were all rectangular and built symmetrically, with the aim of practicality. The buildings were more beautiful than those of Norghana, but far less so than those of other kingdoms such as Erenal or the Nocean Empire, whose cities were said to be very beautiful.
“I noticed from the hill before we came into the city that everything’s perfectly divided into a grid-pattern,” Ingrid commented.
“That’s right,” Viggo said, “it looks as if they’d picked a square of houses and copied it a hundred times until they’d filled the whole city.”
“It won’t take us long to cross it,” Lasgol said.
“That’s a good thing,” Ingrid said. “It looks as though the Rogdonians are good at order and efficiency.”
The harbor turned out to be full of merchant ships. Some were unloading cargo, others were maneuvering in, and most were waiting their turn to load or unload.
“Phew! What a mass of ships!” Viggo exclaimed.
Ingrid was scanning the harbor. “Wow, this city’s more important than I thought.”
“At the moment there are something like fifty ships here,” Lasgol pointed out.
“And look at how big they are,” Viggo said in amazement. “I can see different types, with flags of kingdoms I haven’t even heard of. I wonder what sort of cargo they’re carrying. I’m sure they make a fortune out of trade.”
“Stop thinking about riches, ’cause you’re a Ranger,” Ingrid said. “We serve the realm. There are no fortunes in our future.”
“Well, you never know what the future could bring,” Viggo pointed out, with a roguish smile.
“I’ll go over to meet the harbormaster,” Lasgol said. “Eicewald said he’d send news to the city port. It’ll be in his office.”
“I hope it’s good news,” said Ingrid hopefully.
“If we have to steal one of those merchant ships, just you let me know,” Viggo told her nonchalantly. “No problem.”
“Why on earth would we want to steal a merchant ship?” Ingrid asked in surprise. “D’you really think the three of us could manage a ship that size?”
“Well, we did p
retty well with a Norghanian assault vessel.”
“We only just managed to, and that was on a river. On the high seas we’d need a crew and a bigger ship.”
“Well then, I’ll just steal it with the whole crew aboard, and off we go.”
Ingrid threw her hands up to the sky and cursed the unlucky stars which had forced her to put up with this irresponsible idiot. “That’s enough of your nonsense!”
Viggo’s expression left it clear that he was not joking. If they let him, he was perfectly capable of doing it.
Lasgol had to wait in line for some time, along with various ship’s captains and businessmen who needed to see the Harbormaster, but at last his turn came. He introduced himself as Ongar Ulter of Norghania, which was the name he had agreed on with Eicewald before leaving. An assistant searched for some time until finally he found the letter, and Lasgol left in a hurry to read it. He opened it at once.
He ran to tell his friends the news.
“What does it say?” Ingrid asked.
Lasgol read:
“Dear friends,
“I send you the news that the trick we planned has worked. Thoran and Oden have allowed me to go to the Kingdom of Irinel in search of the Bow of Aodh, the moment I explained that it was an object of power which was said to be capable of killing creatures as powerful and legendary as dragons. I told them that whoever could wield the weapon would become a powerful warrior, feared and respected across all Tremia.
“I was as convincing as I could, and the greed of their ruthless souls did the rest. They both want the weapon, and have charged me with getting hold of it. They offered me a regiment in case I should find myself in trouble in Irinel, but I declined the escort politely. It would be better to pass unnoticed in the eastern kingdom, because the weapon is in the hands of Riagáin, the cousin of King Maoilriain of Irinel. It would be suspicious to appear with Norghanian soldiers in the kingdom. This might set off a political conflict. Unfortunately, as they do not trust me, they have imposed an escort of a dozen Royal Guards on me who will keep a close eye on me throughout the journey. I had already been expecting this, and in fact it suits us, because it gives me an alibi, and they will not be able to blame me for the theft of the Star of Sea and Life.