by Troy Denning
" Nine?" Bharat gasped. "The gluttonous beast!"
The leader sat up straight in his saddle, then added, "Nine that we know of."
"Then I will seek out a Queen's Man the instant I see him," Bharat replied. "But if this devil can trick even you, how will I recognize him?"
"Oh, you will know him. He is an ugly monster, as terrible to look upon as Ysdar himself. He will be served by a sly bahrana and a western ogre whose skin has turned orange from bathing in blood." The leader glanced back and, seeing that his men were ready to ride, waved them forward. "Are you able to re-pack your goods without our help? We must be off."
"Yes, yes, I am grateful for your warning." Bharat shooed the man up the road. "After the devil!"
His consent was hardly necessary. The leader was already guiding his pony into line with the rest of the company. Bharat wearily climbed down, then selected two large stones from the side of the road and blocked the front wheels so his yaks could rest. He went to the rear of the wagon and carefully poured his cooking oil back into its jar, then wiped the pot clean with the sleeve of his tunic. Finally, when the last of the Queen's Men had disappeared around the switchback and he was sure they weren't coming back, Bharat walked a short distance down the road and looked up the steep mountainside. He could see nothing but the massive tree trunks and impenetrable rhododendron undergrowth of a lush fir forest.
"Perhaps my friends would care to come out now?" he asked. "We must hurry and re-pack, if we are to find a safe campsite before the evening rains start."
Atreus and his two companions sat up, plucking rhododendron branches out of their sleeves, collars, and pant legs.
"There is no need to camp," said Rishi, casting a sly grin in Atreus's direction. we will just ask Ysdar's devil to shrink us, then we will spend a dry and cozy night in an empty jar… or perhaps in a yak's ear. I am sure it is warm in there."
"A most excellent idea," agreed Bharat, "but I will be too afraid to sleep. Yago has not had his bath today!"
The ogre scowled. "I was born orange," he said, pulling the treasure basket from its hiding place. "And I don't take that many baths."
"Indeed," commented Bharat. "And yet you smell as sweet as a lily."
"You Mar," Atreus snapped, in no mood for joking. "Is there not one of you who isn't a born liar?"
Rishi and Bharat fell silent and sullen. Atreus did not care. He was accustomed to being thought slovenly, wicked, and even stupid because of how he looked, but this was the first time anyone had accused him of being a cannibal and a kidnapper. By the time they reached the Sisters of Serenity, that rumor mongering patrol leader would have every traveler in the Yehimals ready to behead Atreus in his sleep.
Motioning Yago to follow, Atreus scrambled down to the road and returned to the wagon. When Bharat and Rishi came up behind him conversing softly in Maran, he whirled on them.
"You will do me the kindness of speaking in Realmspeak or not at all. I've enough to worry about without wondering what you two are plotting," Atreus said sternly, then snatched the rucksack off the road and turned to Bharat. "What is this for?"
"You will n-need it," the Mar explained. "You cannot reach the Sisters of Serenity in a carpet wagon. You will have to walk many days."
Atreus frowned. "Then why is there only one rucksack?" Bharat's face paled from its normal golden bronze to saffron. He looked to Rishi for help.
"Good sir, there is no reason for being angry," said Rishi. "it is only that there are no rucksacks large enough for Yago, and Bharat did not know how strong you are for one of the Ffolk. He assumed most naturally that I would be carrying your load."
"Yes, yes-very good! That is just so," said Bharat. "In the Utter East, wealthy Ffolk hire porters to carry their things."
He flashed his too-bright smile and waited for his employer to accept the explanation. Atreus simply climbed into the wagon and returned the rucksack to its cubby hole, then pushed the floor back into place. The porter's explanation made sense as far as it went, but he still did not understand why the carpet seller had hidden the sack in the first place. Certainly, the Queen's Men had not seemed terribly upset at finding it, and that left only him and Yago that Bharat could have been concealing it from. The two Mar would bear even more watching than he originally thought.
Atreus settled onto his haunches. "Why don't you pass the baggage in? I'll pack." He reached out to accept the first load. "And I'm sorry for that remark about born liars. If anyone should know better than to say such things, it's me. That patrol leader's lies made me angry."
Bharat's insincere smile remained on his face as he said, "No apology necessary. The captain was indeed a very big liar. He made me angry as well."
"Ignorant Mar like him are what made Queen Rosalind reluctant to help you," Rishi added as he hefted a sack of rice into the wagon. "Someday, I will give you his tongue."
"Thanks, but no thanks."
Atreus grimaced, then moved the rice to the front of the cargo bed. They finished re-packing the wagon quickly, leaving a place between the carpets so he and Yago could lie down and hide when they passed someone on the road.
That night, Atreus had Yago stay close to the treasure basket and politely refused to go to his bed inside the wagon until Bharat and Rishi had gone to theirs underneath it. His caution was somewhat unnecessary. Only he could open the coffer inside the treasure basket and it was too heavy for either Mar to carry off, but he wanted them to know he was thinking about the possibility as much as they were.
The next day dawned clear and cold, as did most in the Yehimals. After a breakfast of warm yak milk and cold barley, they traveled a few hours up to the end of the valley. There, much to Atreus's amazement, the road started up a mountainside longer and steeper than the one they had crested just the night before. As they ascended, the rhododendron undergrowth vanished, giving way to silver-barked bushes Atreus did not recognize. The trees grew smaller and closer together, and the breeze became cool and thin. The valley in which they had camped the night before seemed as distant and low as had the plains of Edenvale, and still they climbed. When the afternoon mists came, their breaths turned into billowing clouds of vapor, and a chill dampness sank into their bones.
They continued to climb for three more days, the forest eventually growing thin and patchy, sometimes vanishing altogether when the slope became too steep or rocky. The wind nipped at their ears, and their own breaths kept them swaddled in perpetual clouds of white steam. Gradually, Atreus pretended to let his guard down. He neglected to remind Yago to keep a close watch on the basket, then started to go to bed first. He paid less attention to his treasure and complained more often about fatigue and cold. He even had Yago forget to take the basket with him when he went to sleep at night, and still the Mar made no attempt to steal his gold.
Eventually, they crested this mountainside too, and began to cross an endless succession of ridges and valleys. often, they traveled miles through alpine meadows far above the timber-line, then descended into deep valleys full mist and mountain bamboo. Several times a day, they met Yago caravans coming in the opposite direction. Atreus and Yago would hide beneath the carpets while Rishi and Bharat stopped to gossip, for travelers in the Yehimals had long, ago learned the wisdom of pausing to hear what lay ahead.
The news was always of Ysdar's ugly devil, and the accounts grew increasingly exaggerated. Tales such as his ogre having slaughtered a herd of yaks, his Mar servant maiming all the children in a village, and the devil himself murdering an entire company of the Queen's Men were common. Of course, no one could name the places where any of this had occurred. Rishi and Bharat seemed to find these stories a great amusement. After hearing one, their moods grew as jocular as Atreus's did foul. Eventually, the two Mar stopped translating the reports for their master, knowing that the latest accounts of his outrages would make their "good sir" even angrier than their refusal to repeat what was being said about him.
Twice after hearing that the Queen's Men were approa
ching, Atreus, Rishi, and Yago had to hide in the rocks while a patrol searched the wagon. The inspections went much the same as before, save that Bharat now accepted them as a matter of course and insisted on having his rugs neatly stacked instead of strewn all over the road. The rucksack continued to draw comment, as the soldiers could not imagine a merchant abandoning his goods to go trekking through the mountains.
Finally, the morning came when Atreus opened his treasure basket to check the coffer inside and saw scratch marks on the brass latch. He was less surprised to discover his companions had tried to break into the chest than that Yago had not heard the attempt. The ogre had slept beside the basket all night without noticing a thing.
Atreus closed the lid and said nothing, though now he began to worry. So far, they had not reached any of the valleys or mountains named on Sune's map, and the thought occurred to him that Rishi might not know how to find the Sisters of Serenity after all. Perhaps the two Mar were simply leading him about blindly, waiting for their chance to rob and abandon him-or worse. Given the hideous rumors coursing through the mountains, they could murder him and be hailed as heroes. Atreus and Yago began to sleep in shifts, napping in the wagon and closing their eyes at night only after they were certain the two Mar had slumbered off.
They had been traveling little more than a ten-day when Bharat, preparing their usual supper of fried vegetables over rice, turned the oil jar over and nothing came out. He cursed and hurled the vessel against a rock. As it shattered, he turned to Rishi and spoke in rapid Maran. Rishi shook his head and made an angry reply, then glanced across the fire to where Atreus was sitting.
Atreus signaled Yago with a glance, then gathered his legs beneath himself and reluctantly shifted his weight to the balls of his feet They were camped well above the timber-line, huddled on the lee side of a boulder with a snowstorm blowing in, wrapped tight in their cloaks and burning dried yak dung they had gathered along the road. At the moment, the last thing Atreus felt like doing was fighting off a robbery attempt.
The two Mar continued to argue in their strange tongue of melodic syllables and guttural clicks, now entirely oblivious to their companion.
"Use Realmspeak," Atreus said. "I don't like being left out of arguments… particularly when they're about me."
Bharat turned at once, his ever-ready smile plastered across his face, and said, "Oh no, the good sir is not to be deceived. We are not arguing about you… we are not arguing at all."
"We were only discussing a small matter, which is of no importance to you," added Rishi.
Atreus scowled at the shards of the broken oil jar and said, "We are four companions traveling together. What is important to one is important to all."
Rishi shrugged, then glanced at Bharat and said, "Very well. I suppose it must be said. We are running out of food. This is why Bharat is upset."
Atreus studied Bharat until the Mar's counterfeit grin began to twitch, then asked, "Why should we be running out of food? You knew we would be going to the Sisters of Serenity."
"Just so, but I knew also that the Queen's Men would be searching for you," Bharat replied. "What would they think if they found food for three men and an ogre in a wagon with only one driver? I did the best I could."
"And you made no plans to replenish our supplies?"
Bharat fell silent and glanced away, flustered.
"It is the soldiers," said Rishi, coming to his rescue. "They are making things difficult."
"Ah yes, the soldiers," Bharat said, his gaze swinging back to Atreus. "With all the rumors they are spreading, it is too dangerous to buy anything from the villages. These mountain Mar are terrible gossips, always asking questions and looking under other people's carpets."
"Bharat is very discouraged by this," Rishi said. He gestured at his companion's ample stomach. "He is not accustomed to missing meals. No doubt, it would help if he had something else to think about. Perhaps you could pay him what he has earned so far through his loyal services?"
Thinking the request a reasonable one, Atreus reached for his belt purse-then remembered where he had left it and pulled his hand away.
"Very clever, Rishi," he said.
"Good sir?"
"What happens when I open the coffer?" Atreus asked. "Do you plant one of your little throwing daggers in Yago's throat, and Bharat another in my back?"
Rishi's eyes went wide. "Never!"
"Why not?" Atreus glanced from Rishi to Bharat. "You know you can't slip the lock. I've seen the scratch marks where you tried."
Bharat's jaw fell, and he turned to gape at Rishi in feigned outrage. "You? A robber?"
"Bharat, don't play the innocent," Atreus said, shaking his head. "It would be a mistake to assume that because I am ugly, I am also stupid. You're in on his plan."
"Plan?" Bharat tried to look indignant. "What plan?"
"You aren't taking me to the Sisters of Serenity at all." Atreus did not try to keep the bitterness out of his voice, and Yago rose, curling his big hands into fists. "You brought me up here to rob me."
"Not true!" Bharat protested. "We are only two days from where your map starts."
Without quite realizing what he was doing, Atreus stepped around the fire and snatched Bharat up by the collar. "Don't take me for a fool!"
Rishi was up instantly, pushing himself between his friend and Atreus. "Oh, Bharat would never do that," he insisted. "Never in a thousand lifetimes!"
Atreus released the Mar and stepped back, surprised by the depth of his rage. He had to clench his fists to keep his hands from trembling, and his face and ears were so full of hot anger that he no longer felt the cold bite of the wind.
"I'm sorry if I frightened you," Atreus said, "but I warned you. Nothing makes me angrier than being treated as though I'm stupid."
Bharat glared at him from the opposite side of the fire. "We do not need you!" he spat. "It is you who need us! How would you find your Langdarma without us? What would happen if we told the Queen's Men about you?"
"You don't want to find out," growled Yago.
Atreus met the Mar's angry stare, and neither of them said anything.
It was Rishi who finally spoke. "Perhaps this is my fault to some small degree. Perhaps I have, most inadvertently and only through the best of intentions, misled the good sir in a manner most trivial and unimportant."
Atreus scowled. "How would that be?"
"In a tiny way that will have no impact whatsoever on the ultimate outcome of our endeavor, as is evidenced by the heavy presence in this part of the Yehimals of the Queen's Men, who are most assuredly here only because the Sisters of Serenity must be somewhere nearby."
"Rishi, are you telling me you don't know where the Sisters are?"
"Not at all! I have a very good idea where they might be," Rishi said, then took a step backward. "It is only that I have never actually… seen them myself. But I have traveled to one of the valleys on your map, by means of a secret caravan route used by certain, uh… traders from Konigheim. If we can find this trail, I am confident we will eventually find the Sisters of Serenity. As I have said, the Queen's Men would not be gathering in this area if our destination was not near."
Atreus groaned and fell silent, pondering his slim chances of reaching the peaks without the help of his two companions. Given his ignorance of the Yehimals and the unlikelihood of "Ysdar's devil" receiving help from the superstitious mountain people, he realized that Bharat had been right. He needed the Mar more than they wanted his gold.
Atreus turned to Bharat "You can take me to the valley at the edge of this map?"
"Did I not say so?" Bharat's voice was still filled with disdain. "The closest is only two days away."
"Then you will have your payment in two days."
Atreus went to the cart and pulled his treasure basket out, placing it on the ground beside the fire. He lifted the lid, then reached inside and touched the wooden coffer, placing his palm over the magic ward that sealed the chest. He did not bother to
hide this from the two Mar, as only his touch would release the enchanted lock.
Atreus opened the coffer, revealing the mass of golden coins inside. He grabbed a handful and passed them to Bharat. "This gold means nothing to me, and it will only prove a burden in trying to reach Langdarma. After I am certain that you have led me to the edge of my map, you can take your third and leave."
"My third?" Bharat gasped.
"That does not seem fair?"
"Very fair!" Bharat gasped again. Despite his words, his gaze remained locked on the chest. "It is far in excess of what I expected, but a third?" He glanced in Rishi's direction. "Why not half? After all, it is my cart we are using… and my yaks."
"Rishi will accompany me to Langdarma." Atreus withdrew a second handful of coins and passed them to Rishi. "Save for the small portion I save for the passage home, the rest of the coins will be his."
"The good sir is too generous," said Rishi. Like Bharat, he could not take his eyes off the coffer's contents. "I hope you will make your passage home a comfortable one."
"I'm glad you're both pleased." Atreus closed the coffer, then listened to the telltale hiss of the magic lock reactivating itself. "But if you don't like my terms, you are free to leave with what I've given you already."
"Leave?" gasped Rishi. "Oh no, I am most happy to go with you as far as you wish."
"And you will take one of my yaks with you," offered Bharat, "to carry your load and provide milk and warmth in the high places where there is none."
"Good. Let us hope we'll all be happy men in two days." Atreus said as he closed the lid of the cargo basket. "Until then, we can put this unpleasantness behind us and sleep well."
