King Merdin nodded. “Dani will let you know when we’re clear. And we’ll stick around until they fall asleep, which probably won’t be long. I imagine they’re more tired than scared at this point.”
Kevin nodded. “We’ll be here. Good luck.”
~~~~
By the time Chris got back from the jail, Kevin had stretched out on the couch and fallen asleep. Nikki had climbed up on the bed and was gently snoring. Chris covered all but one glowstone and sat down next to the tray with the brownies and scog to wait for King Merdin.
Two hours later, when King Merdin and Dani got back, the brownies were gone and Chris was asleep, too.
“Shall we wake them?” Dani asked.
“We can wait until morning, but I’m going to get some sleep,” King Merdin whispered as he looked around the room. “There’s a big pillow on the floor over there that you can use. I’m going to sleep on Myron’s bed.”
Dani walked over to Nikki’s pillow, circled three times, and settled. King Merdin climbed up on the bed, shoved Nikki towards the other side, slipped off his boots, pulled the blanket up over him, and was asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
~~~~
Crows woke Kevin shortly after daybreak Wednesday morning. As he rubbed his hands over his face, he realized he was on the couch. At first he couldn’t remember why, but as the fog of sleep cleared, questions crowded in.
When he sat up, several of the questions were answered. Chris was asleep in a chair, King Merdin and Nikki were on his bed, and Dani was on Nikki’s pillow, watching him intently.
“Crows wake you up, too?” Kevin asked.
“Not really,” Dani said as he stood up and stretched. “I don’t sleep much at night.”
“I’m going down for coffee,” Kevin said as he stood up. “Would you like some cream?”
“I’d rather have water if you don’t mind.”
Kevin nodded towards Chris and King Merdin. “If they wake up, tell them to stay put. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
Kevin could smell coffee as soon as he walked into the dining room, and Brandon handed him a cup when he got to the kitchen.
“Good morning.” Kevin took a sip of coffee. “What has you up so early?”
Brandon shrugged. “I’m not sure what, but I know something’s going on. I came in early to get the coffee ready in case you’re still dealing with whatever happened last night.”
“Thank you. That’s greatly appreciated.” Kevin took another sip. “Have you had any sleep?”
Brandon nodded as he poured coffee into a carafe for Kevin to take with him. “I got up half an hour ago. How many mugs, sir?”
“Two more, and a bowl of water.”
“Nikki,” Brandon said with a nod as he got it all together. “Anything else?”
“That should do it,” Kevin said as he set his cup on the tray. “Oh, I better see if I can find something to go with the coffee. Chris wakes up hungry.”
Brandon pointed to a plate of pastries. “They’re not fresh out of the oven, but I ate one a few minutes ago and they’re pretty good.”
“That’ll work.” Kevin picked up a plate, put three pastries on it, and nodded to Brandon. “Thanks again for the coffee.”
“You’re welcome,” Brandon said as Kevin picked up the tray and left the kitchen.
Both Chris and King Merdin were awake by the time Kevin got back upstairs. “What happened last night?” Kevin asked as he set the tray down on the coffee table. Chris picked up the carafe and poured the coffee while Kevin set Dani’s water on the floor.
King Merdin drank a bit of his coffee and sighed. “We didn’t learn much we didn’t already know, but they did talk about the key and the raid. They’re both worried you know they were behind it, or rather that Mikos was. Devron was his assistant and nowhere near Bridgeport at the time of the raid. All he did was keep records.”
“Was Mikos actually involved in the raids?” Chris asked.
“No,” Dani said. “I doubt anyone knows it, even Devron, but Mikos thinks slavery’s despicable and wants no part of it. He hated the raids, felt sorry for the captives, and it made him physically sick the first time he saw a dead body after a raid. He still feels guilty about the role he played.”
“Then why did he do it?” Chris asked. “Money?”
King Merdin shook his head. “I doubt he had much choice. He’s Gwendolyn’s son.”
“Seriously?” Kevin asked.
Both King Merdin and Dani nodded.
“Does he know she’s dead?”
Again, both King Merdin and Dani nodded. “And he’s glad. I can’t be sure, his thoughts were all over the place, but I got the feeling he was relieved when he heard she was dead, felt free.”
“I can see that,” Chris said with a nod. “And if he’s her son, chances are he didn’t have any choice about running her slave business. From what we’ve heard, her family’s been in it for generations, so it makes sense she’d want one of her children to run it.”
“And since he doesn’t have magic in his blood, he’s the obvious choice,” King Merdin said.
Kevin leaned back in his chair. “Well, that answers the question about what I’m going to do with them.”
Chris frowned. “What?”
“If they weren’t willing participants in the raids, I can’t have them arrested, but before I take them back to Landoryn, I want some answers. Since Mikos was in charge of Gwendolyn’s slavery business, he was probably the one who dealt with the raiders. We caught some of them, but not that team from the Kivee. Hopefully he can tell us who they were.” Then he looked at King Merdin. “If I question them shortly after lunch, could you be there?”
King Merdin nodded. “Where do you want to do it?”
Kevin paused. “I’m not sure. I want privacy, but I don’t want them to feel particularly threatened. They’re used to Gwendolyn, so they’ll be expecting the worst.”
Chris shook his head. “They’ve been here two years. I imagine they’ve heard enough to know you’re nothing like her.”
“From the bits I’ve heard, I doubt Gwendolyn would have given them the run of the jail or served them scog,” King Merdin said.
“Neither of them thinks you’re going to kill them.”
“Mikos is afraid you’ll put them in jail for the rest of their lives though,” King Merdin said.
“Just Mikos?” Chris asked.
“Devron maintains they haven’t broken any laws, but Mikos said that detail would never stop his mother. She’d lock them up and throw away the key. Devron reminded him that Myron’s not Gwendolyn. I got the impression they’ve been arguing about that ever since they arrived in Camden.”
“Maybe if Mikos feels relatively safe, he might be more forthcoming with information,” Kevin said.
“But you don’t want him to feel so safe that he keeps his mouth shut,” Chris argued.
King Merdin nodded. “Fine line between the two.”
Kevin thought for a moment. “Let me think about it. Meet me here around one and we’ll go from there.”
Chapter 66
Decisions
After lunch, Kevin went to his room to meet King Merdin and Dani while Chris took some refreshments to the cave in Rainbow Valley. Once Chris had the dining room ready, he made a quick trip to the top of Wildcat Mountain to let Ashni know they would be using the cave that afternoon. Then he headed back to the castle.
“All set up?” Kevin asked Chris after he got back. When Chris nodded, Kevin looked at King Merdin. “I’m going to the jail to pick up Mikos and Devron. Meet you in Rainbow Valley.”
Fifteen minutes later, Kevin, Mikos, and Devron arrived in Rainbow Valley. Devron looked around the dining room. “This is nice,” he said as he sat down. “If ours had been this nice, I might not have been so eager to leave.”
Mikos shook his head. “You were sick of living underground.”
“True, but rooms like this would have made it a lot easier.”
> Chris caught Kevin’s eye, glanced towards the pitcher of scog, and raised his eyebrows. At Kevin’s nod, Chris poured four mugs of scog and set them around the table.
Kevin sat down and took a sip of his. “I don’t have all afternoon so I’ll cut to the chase.”
Blood drained from Mikos’s face as his muscles visibly tensed. Devron’s eyes darted around the room.
“They think you’re going to make them run for it while you hunt them down. Gwendolyn used to do that for target practice.”
Kevin held up his hand, palm out. “Let me rephrase that. What I meant was I’m not going to waste time pretending I don’t know who you are. I know you’re Gwendolyn’s son and I know you ran her slavery business.” Then he looked at Devron. “And you’re his friend. I think you were also his assistant, but I’m not sure how involved you were in running the business.”
Devron shrugged. “I kept records and did the monthly reports.”
Kevin nodded. “As I’m sure you’re both aware, raiding is against the law, and anyone who participates in a raid is subject to arrest and imprisonment for the rest of his or her life.”
“But…” Devron began.
Kevin held his hand up again. “I know. Neither of you were involved in any of the actual raids.” Then he looked at Mikos. “Although it could be argued that you were an integral part of the team since you showed up after the situation was under control and took possession of the captives.” As Mikos’s face paled even more, Kevin added, “However, if I believed you were acting against your will, that you were coerced into that role, I might be willing to consider you nothing more than transportation, which is not illegal.”
Mikos bit his lips and then sighed. “I don’t expect you to understand, but when my mother told you to take care of something, you did it.”
Kevin nodded. “Your mother was a forceful woman, not one to be disobeyed lightly. But in your capacity as head of her slavery business, you recruited and dealt with the teams of raiders, didn’t you?”
Mikos ran his tongue over his lips. “Devron had nothing to do with it. He stayed in the caves.”
“Wait! He didn’t have any choice. She told him to do it, to find some raiders and hit Camden from all sides. He didn’t want to do it, but she’d have killed him if he hadn’t!”
Kevin frowned. “His own mother?”
Devron nodded. “She wasn’t a regular mother. The only one she cared about was Alastar, and that was only because he was her heir. As for the rest of her children, all she was interested in was how she could use them. They were safe as long as they were useful and did as they were told.”
“Or were invisible,” Mikos muttered, “which I tried to be.”
“All right. For the sake of argument, let’s say, I believe you acted against your will, that you didn’t voluntarily take a role in enslaving any of our people. Would you be willing to tell Gen. Crandal who the raiders were and how you recruited them?”
Mikos nodded. “I’m not under any illusions about them. Any one of them would have stabbed me in the back given half a chance. I don’t feel obligated to protect them in any way. I’m not sure I can remember all their names, but I have no problem telling you everything I can remember.”
“Good,” Kevin said. “When we leave here, I’ll take you to Gen. Crandal’s office and you can fill him in on the details.”
“What’s going to happen then?” Devron asked hesitantly. “We’ve worked hard since Gwendolyn left us here and we haven’t cheated anyone. All we want to do is go back to our wagon and go on with our lives.”
Kevin shook his head. “Whether it was by your choice or not, you both played a role in capturing and enslaving some of our people and killing others. And then there’s the fact that you’re the ones responsible for Gwendolyn showing up in my office and grabbing Chris and one of my pages as hostages.”
“That sparked some memories. Might want to ask why Gwendolyn didn’t take them back with her.”
While Dani was speaking to Kevin telepathically, Mikos looked at Chris. “My mother took you as a hostage? Why?”
“She wanted me to return her extra key and let her have Marcus,” Kevin answered. “You’re the ones who found out about Marcus and told her he worked for me. Did she order you to do that when she found out her key was gone?”
Mikos blushed. “I knew there was a good chance she’d kill me when she found out. I figured my only hope was to convince her I was worth more alive than dead, so I offered to come to Camden and find out who had it. When she went along with it, I told her I needed Devron to help me so she wouldn’t sell him.”
“You were a slave?” Chris asked Devron.
Devron shook his head. “No more than anyone else who lived in Landoryn. Gwendolyn considered us her property. Anyone who crossed her either ended up ashes or sold.”
“But you didn’t have anything to do with the key,” Chris argued.
Devron shrugged. “Wouldn’t have mattered to her.”
Kevin looked back at Mikos. “Why didn’t she take you back to Landoryn after you told her about Marcus?”
“Once she knew who had her key, she wouldn’t have had any more use for us so there was a good possibility she’d kill us. We decided to vanish before she had the chance.”
“If you were planning to do that all along, why give her Marcus’s name?”
“If we hadn’t, she’d have sent trackers after us. As it was, once she knew who had her key, she focused on that and forgot about us.”
“We heard you killed her,” Devron said. “Was it because she took Chris?”
Kevin shook his head. “I got him and my page out of there, along with everyone else I could find.”
“So the story about you going into the dungeons and getting everyone out was true?” Devron asked. When Kevin nodded, he added, “I’d have loved to have seen that.”
“And that’s when she challenged you,” Mikos said.
Again, Kevin nodded. “I didn’t want to kill her but she didn’t give me any choice.”
“I’m sure she didn’t. So is Alastar the Sorcerer of Landoryn now?”
Kevin nodded.
“I hate to bring it up again, but what happens now?” Devron asked. “To us, I mean.”
“I have no reason to believe you’ve caused anyone any harm since you came here to live, but I can’t let you stay in Camden. Too many families were torn apart and too many lives were ruined by those raids, and a lot of our citizens are still missing, presumably living as slaves somewhere. But, if you give Gen. Crandal the information we need to go after the raiders, I’ll let you go back to Landoryn. I’m sure Alastar can find a place for you there.”
Mikos, who had started to relax, tensed back up. “No, please, I can’t go back. He’ll want me to handle the slave business again, and I can’t do it anymore. I hate it. Going to auctions, buying people, selling people, I’d rather go to jail than get back into that.”
“Maybe you can tell Alastar how you feel,” Kevin suggested.
Mikos looked miserable and shook his head. “He won’t listen. He doesn’t even know me.”
Kevin hesitated and then, as he stood up and took out his key, said, “Let me see what I can work out. For now, meet with Gen. Crandal and give him as much information as you can. I’ll talk to Alastar. Then we’ll see where things stand.”
“I’m serious,” Mikos said as he stood up. “I’d rather go to jail than have to buy and sell slaves again, but Devron needs to go home if he can’t stay in Camden. Just take him to Hendon Port and let him go. Alastar never has to know.”
~~~~
King Merdin and Dani were waiting in Kevin’s bedroom when he got back from dropping Mikos and Devron off with Gen. Crandal. “So, what did you think?”
King Merdin shook his head. “One thing I came away with is a profound gratitude I never had any dealings with Gwendolyn. I’ve always wondered why there aren’t any gnomes in Landoryn. Now I know.”
“For what it’s w
orth, they were telling the truth, at least as they know it. I didn’t pick up on any lies or deceit.”
“What about when he said he’d rather go to jail than head up the slavery business again?” Chris asked.
“He wasn’t lying. When you said something about taking him back to Landoryn, he felt sick on his stomach. So did Devron.”
Kevin nodded. “I wondered how they took that one.”
“You said you’d see what you could do,” King Merdin said. “What do you have in mind? You don’t have any authority over the businesses other seated sorcerers engage in, do you?”
“No, but I can negotiate with Alastar for the release of his brother.”
“Provided he wants him back,” Chris said. “If he’s anything like Gwendolyn…”
Kevin paused. “I don’t think he is. I could be wrong though. He might not care, in which case I guess I could take them somewhere else.” He looked at Dani. “You said Devron felt sick at the idea of going back to Landoryn. Could you tell why?”
“His thoughts centered on what might happen to them if Alastar blames them for the loss of that key. He wasn’t thinking about slavery, just staying alive and out of the dungeon.”
“So we don’t know if he’s as opposed to slavery as Mikos is.”
“I got the impression he agreed with Mikos as far as having a distaste for that business. He likes what he thinks of as moving things from one place to another, whether by boat or wagon. He likes buying and selling, but goods, not people. I’d say he’d go along with it if he was forced into it, but given a choice, no.”
Kevin nodded. “Then if it doesn’t work out for them to go back to Landoryn, I may take them to Wyndsor, or maybe Jardin. I imagine they could make a living either place. And both of those are far enough from Landoryn they wouldn’t have to worry about Alastar, and far enough from Camden I wouldn’t have to worry about them showing up here again. But no matter where they go, I’m going to make it clear that if I ever find out they’re involved in the slave business again, I’ll lock them up and throw away the key.”
The Rambling Spy Page 70
