Bitter Gold Hearts gf-2

by Glen Cook

  "When Amiranda disappeared. She'd been odd for weeks, and had her head together with Karl for days before he vanished."

  Lie number one, straight out of the chute? Willa Dount should have been on the road to her payoff appointment before Amiranda made her break. Unless...

  Unless she'd known beforehand what Amiranda planned.

  "When did you begin to suspect the game had become real?"

  "When I reached the place where I was supposed to hand the gold over. Those people weren't playing. They were deadly real. I'm afraid I almost lost my composure. I've never been that afraid."

  "Describe the people you met there."

  She frowned. I told her, "I've asked you before about the payoff. You wouldn't talk. It was your right at the time. But not now. So tell me about those people, and about that night." I thumbed the first letter I hadn't yet read.

  "There were two closed coaches and at least four people. Two coachmen of mixed parentage, probably ogre and human. The ugliest man I've ever seen. And a fairly attractive young woman. The ugly man was in charge."

  "You said at least four. What does that mean? Was there somebody else?"

  "There might have been someone inside the woman's coach. Twice I thought I saw movement in there, but they made me stay on the wagon. I wasn't close enough to be sure."

  "Uhm." I picked a spot near a good light and adjusted a chair. "From the beginning of that night. Every trivial detail."

  She began. And soon I was hearing what I expected, a tale with no significant deviations from the one Skredli had told me. I lent her both ears and one eye while I skimmed the letters. Then I went over a few again. Then again. And finally I thought I saw what I'd half expected to see, though I'm no expert on forgery. Willa Dount reached her departure from the bridge over Cedar Creek. I didn't figure anything interesting happened after that. "Hold it there."

  She stopped dead. And dead is the way I'd describe the voice she'd been using. She'd been under so much strain for so long she had very little fire left.

  "That payoff setup was as queer as a nine-foot pixie. No swap on the spot—though I admit there wasn't a lot you could do once you got there. You couldn't run away. But they let you see them. And then they let you go without killing you. Knowing who you worked for. At a time when at least one of them knew there'd be a murder within a few hours."

  "I can't explain that, Mr. Garrett. Death is all I expected when I realized that Karl wasn't there."

  Unless you took out some kind of insurance, I thought. Like maybe not delivering the whole ransom, and, maybe, refusing to let the balance go until you and Karl were safe. Maybe even not knowing where the rest was, or saying you didn't, so they wouldn't try anything rough. There was something or you wouldn't be here now. I thought it but didn't say it.

  "Did you hear any names mentioned? Did you get a good look at any of them?"

  "No names. There was moonlight. I saw all four well enough to recognize again, though the woman and the ugly man stayed back. I have excellent night vision. Maybe they didn't realize how clearly I saw them."

  "Maybe. It probably doesn't matter now, anyway. They're all dead but the woman."

  She just looked at me. You couldn't crack her with a sledgehammer. I had everything I wanted to get with the Stormwarden watching. I was wondering how I could stall just as Amber let herself in. Raver Styx made no pretenses and no excuses. She stood and left.

  Amber whispered, "I didn't find anything in her quarters. She doesn't keep a journal or—"

  "You don't have to talk behind my back in front of me, Amber. Spit it out."

  I nodded.

  "The accounts didn't look jiggered. The silver was sold for anywhere from seven to fifteen percent below market. I'm not sure, but I'd guess that would be reasonable in the circumstances. Whatever, the price of silver has fallen enough that now the buyers are the losers."

  That was my Amber, keeping up with the metals market despite everything.

  "Who did the buying?"

  She handed me a list.

  "Interesting. The top name here, Lyman Gameleon, is down for a hundred twenty thousand at the maximum discount. Gameleon is one of our big-three suspects."

  Even that didn't rock Willa Dount. She said only, "It was an emergency and I went where I had to go to get enough gold. The Stormwarden has examined the accounts of these transactions and expressed no disapproval."

  A thought. Maybe even an inspiration. "Do you recall the dates and times of the transactions, Amber?" She had not noted those.

  "No. Should I go get them?"

  Willa Dount said, "That won't be necessary. I remember." She rattled off every deal as though she was reading from the record. The timing made it conceivable that the deals themselves had initiated the chain of complications. Or, at least, could have led to intensive recomplication.

  "Did Gameleon know what the gold was for?"

  "Lord Gameleon, Garrett," Domina scolded.

  "Look, I don't care if you call him Pinky Porker. Just answer the question."

  "Yes. He had to be told before he'd deal."

  I'd already established, to my own satisfaction, a link between Gameleon and Donni Pell. "Was that wise?"

  "In retrospect, probably not. But at the time Lord Gameleon was a last resort."

  "Hardly. But let's not fight about it. That's it for tonight."

  "Tonight?"

  "I'll need you again tomorrow. Early. We're all going to walk this through."

  She gave me a puzzled look as she rose. What chicanery was I planning?

  "Find the Baronet and send him in," I said.

  I'd grown impatient and irritable by the time the door opened. And that opening didn't make anything better. Willa Dount and Raver Styx came in, the Stormwarden looking like one of the tempests she brewed. "Will you want to question the staff, Mr. Garrett?"

  "Where's your husband?"

  "I don't doubt the answer to that question would be quite interesting. He left the house shortly after you arrived. When last seen he was entering the house of Lord Gameleon, his half-brother, who lives across the street. Lord Gameleon admits that he was there earlier but denies that he is now. About the staff?"

  There was no juice left. My candle had begun to gutter. "The hell with them. I can tie the knot on it without them. I'm going home to get some sleep. Meet me at my place at eight, ready for a trek upcountry. Don't let anybody else wander off. Make a production of leaving so anyone interested will know something is up."

  "As you will, Mr. Garrett. That will be all for tonight, then, Willa."

  I asked, "Amber, are you coming or staying?"

  Staring at the floor, she replied, "I'll go with you. But I need to get some things first."

  I guess that was as close as she could come to telling her mother to pick her nose with her elbow. The Stormwarden developed a severe tick in her left cheek but she said nothing. She understood battles lost as well as battles won. The first thing I did when we got to the house was write a letter to Morley Dotes. I had one of the neighbor kids deliver it. Then I brought the Dead Man up to date and feigned an effort to pry a few secrets out of him just to keep him feeling wanted. I joined Amber in the kitchen, where we shared one of Dean's finer productions. Then I stashed myself away for the night. My dreams, which I usually don't recall, weren't the kind I'll treasure forever.

  ______LI______

  Dean rousted me out in plenty of time to get ready. We breakfasted well and packed our field rations. I took a look at my arsenal and picked a couple of lethal engines suitable for a lady. I made Amber practice with them until her mother's cavalcade arrived. A thoughtful woman, the Stormwarden. She had somehow ascertained that I didn't have transportation of my own. She rolled up with a coach, a carriage, and a spare horse. She was in the coach. Willa Dount was driving the carriage. Amber stepped up on the seat beside her. What a lighthearted and friendly drive that would be. I went around the front of the horse and looked him in the eye. He looked back. I saw
none of the tribe's usual malice. He obviously hadn't heard of me. The Stormwarden had shown some sense in another direction. I had expected to have to nag her into sending her army home, but she'd brought only the two men atop her coach. I couldn't squawk about them.

  I suppose when you're a Stormwarden, you only need guards for show.

  "You lead the way," I told Domina Dount. Her face was old stone as she nodded and started her team. Amber settled facing backward when she saw that I would ride rearguard, though most of the time the Stormwarden's coach obscured our views of one another. Willa Dount set a brisk pace, occasionally slowing so her boss could catch up. I stayed fifty yards behind the coach. In the city I watched the citizenry watch it. In the country I watched farmers. And as we moved upcountry I kept mentally reviewing my maps. I didn't see a single place that looked suitable for what I suspected had happened. I thought about moving up beside Willa Dount. She might have given something away.

  Sure. Like stones flinch.

  But I had a reason for lying back.

  Morley overtook me two-thirds of the way to the deadly crossroads. At that point the road passed among trees and travelers couldn't be watched from afar. He dared rein in and talk.

  "They're back there," he told me. "Gameleon and six men. They won't be easy."

  "They trying to catch up?"

  "No."

  "Good. We'll put everybody in the sack at once."

  "You're crazy, Garrett. Seven of them and no telling what up ahead and you're talking like you've got them by the shorthairs?"

  "All they've got is numbers. I've got a stormwarden. Hustle on up and tell Saucerhead."

  Morley resumed his lone-rider act in a hurry. It was coming together beautifully. I just hoped I wouldn't be in the middle when it crunched.

  I wasn't the most pleased of men when we reached the crossroads. 1 hadn't spotted one place that fulfilled the criteria for my concept of what had become of most of the ransom gold—though I'd seen a few side roads and whatnot that would later bear further examination. If there was a later. If Amber wasn't more defeatist than I was becoming. I made the mistake, for a short time, of thinking I saw a chance for the big hit. You don't want to fall into that trap. It can shatter your perspective. It can narrow your focus until the rest of the world slides out of touch.

  "Hold up!" I yelled at Willa Dount. She had turned west without pausing. My fault. I hadn't told her we would be stopping. We got out of traffic's way. I dismounted. Where was Saucerhead? I'd expected him to be waiting. He stepped out of the woods on the south side of the road. From the corner of my eye 1 noted Willa Dount's surprise. I joined him. "What have we got?"

  "You were right. She's down there."

  "Alone?"

  "Nope. Company, and plenty of it. One guy by himself showed up about midnight last night. Then a mob of ogre breeds got there just before I left."

  "Skredli?"

  He nodded.

  "How many?"

  "Fifteen."

  "Crask and Sadler behaving?"

  "They aren't stupid, Garrett. They know their limitations."

  "I suppose. I'd better tell the Stormwarden. You scout out a workable approach?"

  "Sure. What about those guys behind you?"

  "They can take care of themselves." I waited while a string of goat carts trundled past, trotted to the Stormwarden's coach, and invited myself inside.

  "Why have we stopped, Mr. Garrett?"

  I explained. "I didn't expect it to turn into so large a party. Otherwise, everything's come together. Any suggestions?"

  "The man who arrived last night. My husband?"

  "Probably. My friend wouldn't know him by sight."

  "Does Lord Gameleon know where he's going?"

  "I don't know."

  "He may need someone to follow."

  "We can't sneak up on anybody going straight in."

  "I realize that, Mr. Garrett."

  "I've got a little help but not enough to handle four-to-one odds."

  "You have me."

  What was that worth? I didn't ask. "All right. My friend and I will sneak up through the woods. You be careful."

  "Take Amber. And you be careful, Mr. Garrett. I have to salvage something from this disaster."

  "She'll be all right." I left the coach. "Amber. You come with me."

  The Stormwarden left the coach on the other side. She said something to the men on top. The driver nodded. The other descended. He and Raver Styx boarded the carriage. It rolled away as Amber joined Saucerhead and me.

  "What are we doing?" she asked.

  "Going for a walk in the woods." I tied my mount's reins to the coach. We ducked into the trees. Just in time. Lord Gameleon and his boys trotted past. They weren't in livery and made a big deal of ignoring the coach. When they were gone Saucerhead asked, "She s going straight in?"

  "I guess. We'll have to hurry. Where's Morley? With Crask and Sadler?"

  "Right. Follow me. Miss daPena?"

  "Just lead, Mr. Tharpe. I'll keep up."

  ______ LII ______

  Our timing was perfect. We were near the edge of the clearing when Morley appeared out of nowhere. "Not bad for a city boy," I told him. Crask and Sadler popped up as suddenly. If we'd been unfriendly, we would have been in big trouble. "Anything happening over there?"

  "Lot of screaming."

  "What?"

  "Started right after I got here. Somebody's asking some questions. Somebody else isn't giving the answers they want to hear."

  I wasn't surprised.

  Crask said, "Something's happening."

  I joined him. From where he stood the farmhouse could be seen plainly. Ogre breeds boiled out, raced across the weedy field toward the gap where the road left the woods. "Their lookout must have spotted the Stormwarden."

  Someone grunted.

  "They been doing any patrols? Or just watching the road?"

  "Watching the road," Sadler said. "They're ogres."

  "Stupid. The Stormwarden may have overestimated herself. They might kill first and ask questions later."

  "They're distracted now," Saucerhead said. "Be a good time to move up. If we keep low along the downhill side of that swale there, we can get pretty close. Maybe up to the foundation stones where the barn used to be."

  I recalled a deer trail through the high grass that followed the route Saucerhead recommended. I looked but I couldn't see the stones. "You've been over there?"

  "Yeah. I had to look in and make sure."

  "Let's go."

  Saucerhead went first, then Crask, then Morley. I told Amber to keep down and sent her next. I followed her. Sadler brought up the rear. We were halfway across when the brouhaha broke out in the woods. We stopped. I said, "That doesn't sound like ogres running into surprise sorcery." "No."

  "Let's move."

  As we crouched among the stones, thirty yards from the rear of the house, Skredli's gang emerged from the woods uphill. They had five or six prisoners.

  "Gameleon," I said. "What happened to the Stormwarden?"

  "There are twelve breeds up there, Garrett," Morley said. "In a minute they won't be able to spot us behind the house. Why don't we make our move? Be waiting for them inside when they get there?"

  I didn't like it. But the odds weren't going to get any better. I checked the others. They all nodded. "Amber, stay put. I'll holler when it's safe."

  She had developed a case of deafness. When we moved toward the back door, she moved with us. I cursed under my breath but there was nothing I could do short of bopping her and laying her out. We reached the house unnoticed. Morley volunteered to lead. Nobody argued. He was the best. We moved. Inside there were three ogres, one woman and Karl daPena, Senior. Morley creamed two of the ogres before they knew they were in trouble. The third tried to yell and only got out a bark before Crask stuck a knife through his throat. Sadler finished the other two. Amber dumped her breakfast.

  "I told you to stay out." I ground my teeth and examined our
prizes. Neither seemed particularly pleased to see us.

  "Frying pan into the fire, eh, Baronet?" Both were strapped into chairs. DaPena was gagged. The woman wasn't, but she was yelled out. Both had been tortured, and with little finesse.

  "You must be the marvelous Donni Pell. I've been anxious to meet you. Right now you don't look like something that men would kill for."

  "Cut the sweet talk, Garrett," Morley said. "They're coming."

  I peeked. "That clown Skredli must have raised an army."

  "We can take them. They have to keep hold of their prisoners."

  "I like a man with a positive attitude. Why don't I slide out the back way and you holler when you've got them?"

  "You going to mouth your way through the gates of hell or are you going to decide what to do?"

  "Crask, Sadler, you guys get out of sight down that hall. Saucerhead, wait behind the door. Let four or five get in, then slam it and bolt it. Morley and I will jump out from the kitchen. We ought to polish off the bunch before the rest bust in. Amber, you get out back."

  This time she did what I told her. Nothing like a good scare.

  "And you call me a tactical genius," Morley grumbled. But he ducked into the kitchen without offering a suggestion of his own.

  Even tactical geniuses stumble. When Saucerhead went to slam the door, Skredli and two other breeds were on the transom. He had the strength to bounce two of them back into the yard, but the third got caught between the edge of the door and the frame. He did a lot of yelling and flailing while Saucerhead grunted and strained, trying to shut the door right through him. And Tharpe did manage to hang on while we thumped the five he'd let in.

  Morley chuckled. "Seven to go. Let them in, Saucerhead."

  Tharpe jumped back. Skredli and the guys stomped in.

  We did expect them to have their cutlery out, ready for carving. We didn't expect Gameleon's brunos to help them. They did. "We been suckered, Garrett," Saucerhead said as he stumbled back past me. Long knife in one hand and head-thumper in the other, fending off two ogres and a man, I fell past a window and shot a quick look to see if help was coming. No Stormwarden.