“My guess is that they’ll do just that,” Yarm agreed. “Their main function is to just be there, after all. Kati’s the one whose acting chops are going to be on the line.”
“Okay, then, that much is settled,” Kati stated. “Then there’s the small matter of doctoring the saddles. I would suggest cutting the belt under a beast’s belly so that there are only a couple of shreds of hide holding it together, but maybe someone has a better idea. And who can do a nasty like that for us, or do I wield the knife myself?”
“Sora’s husband, Mero, runs the stables here. He’s a good hand; I think he would know how to fix a saddle so as to make it fall apart about a half-an-hour, or an hour, into a ride,” Zenco said. “I’ll ask around at the other stables if maybe we can get our hands on a couple of old saddles. It would be a shame to destroy good ones, and I assume that your saddles are very good ones since you have ridden all the way from GrassWater on them.”
“I’ll talk to Mero early tomorrow,” Yarm said, “and let him know that you’re looking for old saddles for us. It might be best to not tell anyone any more than we have to, about our plans—just in case. It would not be good if these rogue off-worlders heard about our plot beforehand.”
“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” Ammi snorted. “Who would tell them? No-one likes talking with that boy, and the man never really even shows himself. Not exactly sociable, those two.”
“Be that as it may, it’s still better to be careful,” the Eldest pointed out. “Which means that you, Samo and Tania, keep quiet about the plans that have been made here, just like everyone else. Understood?”
“Yes, Eldest,” the two of them squeaked in unison. They looked a bit disappointed, which was hardly surprising, since they had just been told to keep to themselves a very good tale.
Jocan grinned at them.
“The story’s going to be even better once the plot has been seen through,” he told them. “And you will know where to hang around, to see the show.”
“Mikal, you said that you would need some equipment,” Kati said, nailing Mikal with her eyes. “You never said what it was, only that it shouldn’t be hard to obtain. Are you going to ask about it now, or send someone to scrounge for it later?”
“Yes, it’s time to bring that up,” Mikal responded, grinning a bit wildly. “I’m going to need a long ladder. Who in this town would have such a thing?”
“We have several ladders in the Community,” the Eldest replied. “At least one of them is pretty long.”
“Yes, it has been used for washing the walls of the Temple, so it’s pretty long,” explained Ammi.
“That sounds like just the ladder that I need.” Mikal smiled at Ammi and the Eldest with delight. “If your people can have it ready but under cover before the show begins, I’ll be able to do my part as soon as Kati has ridden off to lead the rogues down the campground trail.”
“This should be interesting,” murmured Ammi.
In the end it was agreed to try to have everything ready for the deception by noon the next day, and to attempt it early that afternoon. Kati thought that she and her companions should ride a short distance down the trail that they were supposed to have been on, and then ride back fast enough to look sweaty and tired, as if they had actually been through a morning’s ride by the time they reached the Temple area. Yarm agreed that this should be done, and Wills said that he would warn the Bayne boys of that necessity, but he did not think that it would bother them in the least.
“The Bayne boys are going to love this, I can tell you that right now,” he said, chuckling as he got ready to leave, when the meeting broke up.
*****
When Mikal and Kati were finally in their room together, just the two of them, Mikal pulled her close and held her there.
“You scare me, love,” he whispered into her hair. “I don’t want to lose you. It’s one thing to have to give you up for a half-a-year to some bureaucratic nonsense, and totally another to watch you put your life at risk. I’ve had you for such a short while, dearheart. I couldn’t bear to lose you.”
“I have every intention of making it through this in one piece,” Kati replied. “I’m counting on the granda pretty heavily, and it’s got every reason to want to see me through this, as well. Remember, you said something about me having Lady Luck on my side? Well, let’s give her a chance to strut her stuff one more time.”
“Just so long as she doesn’t desert us,” Mikal mumbled.
Kati put her arms around him and snuggled against him.
Her fingers felt short, soft hair growing on his nape. She slid her hand down his back a short distance; yes, the wedge hair was growing in again.
“I thought that it was time,” he murmured when he noticed her interest.
“It’ll be interesting,” she responded. “I guess by the time the half-year has gone by it’ll have grown back.”
“Yeah. Then you’ll have to take me as I am. Complete with my Borhquan wedge.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Wills arrived at the Faithville Inn with the Bayne boys while Kati, Mikal and Yarm were finishing their lunch at the Inn Restaurant. Jocan had already left to check out the ladder the Religious Community were to lend Mikal. The runnerbeasts with the doctored saddles were waiting in Mero’s stable; Zenco had said that he and Wills would take them to the chosen grazing spot near the Temple themselves. Zenco had pointed out that beasts apparently belonging to solid citizens should be good mounts, and therefore a fine target for thievery. Kati was starting to suspect that there were going to be an unusual number of folk wandering about the Temple area early that afternoon, in spite of all the exhortations to not talk about the plot. She hoped that everything would go all right, and that neither of the off-World criminals would display their trigger-happy tendencies in town. For once she found herself hoping that Gorsh had control over his crew—even while absent.
The Bayne boys were not exactly boys—they were at least as old as she herself was, Kati figured—and they were twins. Identical twins, clearly, although they did not seem to make too much of it; they were dressed in different coloured shirts, and the homespun trousers that they wore were differently cut on each of them. But their faces looked very much alike, with similar crooked grins, short noses and pairs of lively brown eyes; and they were crowned with wild thatches of dark hair.
Wills introduced them: the blue-shirted one was Bayne Bo and the brown-shirt was Bayne Cho. They eyed Kati with open curiosity which was hardly surprising since it was her plot that they were to ride in.
“Have you fellows eaten?” Mikal asked, the always courteous host.
The boys explained that they had ridden with Wills straight from farm work. Mikal snagged a serving girl to bring enough food for another three people. The boys and Wills sat down at the table while Kati poured more herb tea for the rest of them.
“So you’re willing to take part in our little charade and what may well be a wild ride,” Yarm said to the boys.
Yarm was to be the leader of Kati’s support crew, so she had ceded the interview rights to him.
“We’re looking forward to it,” said Bayne Bo with a grin.
And Bayne Cho added: “It sounds like it could be quite the fun caper.”
“There is the possibility that it could also be deadly.” Yarm came straight out with it. “The two characters we are to mislead are well-equipped with dangerous off-World weapons, and they are known to have used such in the past rather too eagerly. We do know that they have orders from their boss to do as little harm as possible to the inhabitants of this World, but we don’t know how well that will hold back these two, or even what ‘doing as little harm as possible’ means to criminals such as these. So, it’s a dangerous task that I’m asking you to take part in—if that frightens you unduly, it’s better that we know it now and can send you back to the farm.”
“Wills did explain to us about that,” said Bayne Bo. “And you and Mistress Kati are going to
do it. We don’t scare that easily.”
“No, Bo, that’s not right,” broke in Bayne Cho with a wide smile. “We do get scared. It’s just that we like to be scared. If there’s good action, we want to be in on it.”
Bayne Bo burst out laughing.
“He’s right, you know. My brother got it right,” he chortled. “Be sure to count us in on this one.”
The food and the eating utensils for the three newcomers came, brought on two platters by a couple of the serving girls. They also brought another large pot of tea for those already finished eating and cleared away the remains of their meal. The Bayne boys and Wills dug into their nooning with gusto, and Kati, surreptitiously eyeing the Bayne boys, decided that they would round out her scheme just fine. Which was a good thing, since she was starting to feel edgy. That was natural, of course, she told herself; it was a form of stage fright. And stage-fright was an appropriate term since she was going to have to play a role—Kati, yes, but not the Kati she really was.
“I’ve heard everyone refer to the two of you as the Bayne boys: Bayne Bo and Bayne Cho,” Yarm suddenly spoke, reverting to his role of an information gatherer. “And last night, Wills spoke of your mother as Bayne Ma. I don’t think I’ve come across names being used in quite that fashion before, even though I have travelled extensively around the world.”
“It’s a really old mountain thing,” Bayne Bo explained between mouthfuls. “Now it’s a usage limited to a few farming families, but before The Disaster, that’s how everyone’s name was in this part of the World, at least according to our family lore. It didn’t seem necessary to stick with it after The Disaster since there were so few people left, but a few farmers kept to the practice, and our family is descended from one of them.”
“That is interesting,” commented Yarm, obviously filing another bit of information into his copious memory, to pass on to the Central Council of the Northern Plains on his return home—assuming that he made it through this day and did return home.
“So we’re to sort of cluster around you while you talk with those rogue off-Worlders, is that the plan, Mistress Kati?” Bayne Cho turned to ask Kati.
“That’s the start.” Kati grinned at him. “By the way, I’m just plain Kati, no honorifics of any kind required. The idea is to make me look like a slightly stupid, helpless, naive woman, who couldn’t find the toilet without help. Get the crooks off guard, in other words.”
“Ah.” Bayne Cho’s lopsided smile grew wide. “And you’re surrounded by slightly foolish, badly armed locals who can’t actually protect you anyway, no matter how good their intentions. Not much of a threat there.”
“Yeah. It won’t be hard for them to frighten Mikal’s location out of us, me mainly, I expect,” Kati added. “Since they do know that I disappeared from Gorsh’s space ship the same time Mikal did.”
“And then we lead them on a merry chase out of town.”
Bayne Cho rubbed his hands together and looked at his brother.
“It’ll be fun,” said Bayne Bo.
*****
When the conspirators went the stables to fetch their runnerbeasts they discovered that Mero had done a bit of refining to their cover story. The Bayne boys’ animals had gained saddlebags which looked as worn as those of Kati and Yarm.
“Those are Mikal’s and Jocan’s,” Mero explained. “The townsmen’s beasts don’t need them, and they make the boys look the part of long-distance travellers.”
“Hey, this town is filled with excellent schemers,” Kati laughed. “It doesn’t matter if I don’t think of something; when I don’t, one of the local citizens will.”
“Well, best of luck to you people. If I was twenty years younger, I would have volunteered to come along,” Mero said. “But you’ve got one middle-aged man among you to steady you, and you don’t need another one slowing you down. Let’s see you head off out of town now, and I’ll send Zenco and Wills to the Temple green with their runnerbeasts, to await your return.”
The runnerbeasts were in fine form, and Kati enjoyed the ride through half the town and down the southern trail for several kilometres. Yarm was in the lead and he let his animal go freely, at its chosen pace, which was quite fast. Finally he reined in his beast and they all came to a stop, Kati following on Yarm’s heels and the Bayne boys right behind her, Bayne Bo first.
“Hey, you have good animals,” Bayne Bo cried when he had brought his mount to a stop. “That was good riding.”
“We may need their talents later on,” Yarm responded. “But I’m thinking that we’ve gone far enough to give the other players the time to settle into their roles. Let’s turn back and do business.”
They followed his suggestion, the other three waiting for him to take the lead again. Kati found that her heart was pounding in her chest, not from the riding, but from the excitement of putting the scheme she had hatched into action. Soon it would become clear whether or not Joakim and Lavesk would fall for it. There was no reason why they wouldn’t, but—reality was filled with uncertainties. She sent a quick subvocalization to the monk in her mind, and the granda got to work loosening up her nerves.
When they reached the town again, Kati delved into her act seriously. She overtook Yarm and asked him if he could see anything that looked like a temple anywhere. Yarm suggested a street to try; it turned into a dead end before anything resembling a temple came into sight and they had to retrace their steps. They wandered around some more, until finally Bayne Bo stopped beside a local youngster who was idling along the road they were on, and asked for directions to The Temple of the Morning Star of the Spring Equinox. The kid, who obviously recognized the Bayne Boys, gawked for a moment, but when Bayne Bo winked at him meaningfully, he suddenly grew alert, and gave them the directions, his eyes shining. Kati bit back a frustrated retort about how many people were in on the secret; it was way too late to worry about that. She and her three companions continued on their way, following the kid’s instructions.
They approached the grassy open area surrounding the Temple so as to ride by the two runnerbeasts grazing on the grass near one edge, while their owners chatted with their fellow townsmen nearby. A surprising number of citizens, from both the town itself, and the Religious Community, seemed to have chosen this afternoon to stop and chat to their fellows in the environs of the Temple. Kati gazed at them as her foursome stopped for a look about, and audibly wondered if today happened to be a religious holiday of some kind.
“Mistress Kati, I don’t know,” Yarm replied, staring about curiously at the people around them. “I’ve never been in this part of the World before now.”
The Bayne boys satisfied themselves with gawking about wordlessly, managing to appear very rustic, and none too bright.
Suddenly Kati grabbed hold of Yarm’s arm.
“That boy on the Temple steps,” she whispered to him urgently. “I recognize him. He was on that horrid space ship that I ran away from! What’s he doing here? This can’t be good!”
“Don’t you worry about anything, Mistress Kati,” spoke up Bayne Bo, addressing Kati the same way Yarm had. “We fellows will take care of you; you just watch. It don’t matter what that kid is up to.”
The granda had augmented Kati’s vision and she could see that Joakim had taken a small instrument from his shirt pocket and was speaking into it in a very low voice—even with granda’s help she could not make out the words. His right hand was in his trouser pocket in the gesture that she recognized from Jocan’s description. The boy was fondling a weapon!
Joakim started to move towards her, fortunately leaving his bag—no doubt stuffed with arms--behind him. Perhaps his conversation with Lavesk was distracting him; whatever, Kati hoped that he would not turn back and fetch it before reaching them. She drew a deep breath and watched him come, and then stop, when he got to within the earshot of a nodeless person.
“I know the woman with you,” he shouted, directing his words to Yarm. “She’s an escapee from Captain Gorsh’s space
ship and we want her back.”
“Really?” Yarm’s tone was icy. “Who wants her back? You—boy?”
Kati glanced in the direction of the mushroom wood which Yarm had surreptitiously pointed out to her when the four of them had arrived in the Temple area. Sure enough, a stocky man in a ship suit was coming towards Joakim from there; Lavesk, certainly. So far, so good.
“I could kill all four of you right this moment if I wanted to,” Joakim snarled in answer to Yarm’s taunt. His expression was nasty. No surprises there.
Lavesk broke into a run, talking urgently into a replica of Joakim’s communicator. Using her augmented vision, Kati was able to tell that he did not look happy. He was probably worried that Joakim would ruin the opportunity that Kati’s arrival had brought them.
“All four of you,” Joakim shouted then, seemingly according to an order Lavesk gave him. “Don’t move. If you try to bolt, I will shoot, and I don’t much care which of you dies first.”
The four of them sat motionless on the backs of their runnerbeasts, even while the animals were taking advantage of this break to reach for mouthfuls of grass from the ground. The townspeople around them had stopped their conversations, and were watching avidly the drama unfolding in front of their eyes.
Lavesk reached Joakim and together the two approached the foursome. Kati watched the expressions on the older slaver’s face, reading his reactions to the four of them. She knew when he picked out Yarm as the leader of the group, and when he dismissed the Bayne boys as a negligible threat. Lavesk telegraphed even the moment when he decided that he could use her to find Mikal; that was surely the reason for the half-smile that flitted across his features as he studied her. For a split second she wondered if she was using her ESP, or if the granda was somehow reading the man; then she decided that such questions could wait for another day. Right now she had to concentrate on the role she had to play.
When the slavers got close to their targets, they stopped, Lavesk pushing Joakim slightly behind him, while he studied the four, apparently weighing them, but actually, Kati was certain, working out what to say to them in order to get information about Mikal’s location.
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