Part 27 (1/2)
The tall broad-shouldered king dropped into a chair across from Curzad and took up jug and goblet. ”Tell me, Curzad, how fares the n.o.ble Garlud?”
”As well as in the days he walked Ammad's streets a free man,” the captain said in his deep calm voice. ”As an old fighting-man, hards.h.i.+p affects him but little.”
”Perhaps his cell is too comfortable,” Jaltor said, his lips twitching slightly.
”There are no comfortable cells beneath your palace, Most-High. Garlud's least of all. He sits alone and in utter darkness, the only sounds the scurrying feet and squeaking voices of rats. Only the strong mind of a great warrior can endure such for very long without cracking.”
”Are you suggesting I am too harsh with him?” Jaltor was openly smiling now.
”I am suggesting nothing to Ammad's king.”
”It has been eleven suns since I sent my closest friend to languish in those pits,” Jaltor said, smiling no longer. ”Nor has it been easy for me, Curzad. But I must learn who, if not Garlud, was behind old Heglar's attempt on my life.”
He tossed off the wine and put his goblet down on the table top.
”Something happened today,” he said, ”that may be the first crack in this eleven-sun wall of silence. One of Ammad's n.o.blemen brought up Garlud's name to me during the afternoon audience.”
Some of the impa.s.siveness in Curzad's expression slipped a little and his fingers whitened on the goblet's stem. He made a sound deep within his ma.s.sive chest but said nothing.
”It may mean nothing, however,” Jaltor went on, ”for the way in which it came up was both necessary and natural. To make it even more likely to amount to nothing, the n.o.bleman was Vokal--a man I have never hesitated to trust.”
”Garlud once enjoyed a similar distinction,” Curzad commented dryly.
Jaltor's eyes flashed. ”Do you forget that Garlud was named by a man whose word had never been doubted?”
”I forget nothing, Most-High,” was the quiet reply.
A moment's silence followed, then Jaltor said, ”Well, a few more days, one way or the other, will not matter. If Vokal is the man we are looking for, he will make another attempt at learning Garlud's whereabouts. So far he is our only lead--other than old Heglar's beautiful mate, Rhoa. Twice she has come to me, asking what has happened to him, and both times I have refused to say. Oddly enough,” he added thoughtfully, ”she seemed more curious than worried.”
”Perhaps it would be wise to have her watched.”
The monarch gave a brief snort of laughter. ”I am not completely a fool, my friend. Rhoa has been under constant surveillance since the day old Heglar died. Thus far her actions have been above suspicion.”
Curzad's shoulders rose and fell in a shrug. ”Meanwhile,” he said, ”Garlud's son, Jotan, draws closer to Ammad. Any sun now he and his men may approach its gates.”
”Which is one of the reasons I sent for you. Shortly before Dyta brings his light tomorrow, send fifty of your most trusted warriors to intercept and take captive Jotan and his men. Return them to Ammad under cover of darkness and confine them all in the pits. It might be wise to place Jotan in the cell next his father and a trusted warrior in a neighboring cell to listen in on their conversations.”
”You'll never trick Garlud so easily.”
”No man is perfect, Curzad,” observed Jaltor, smiling grimly. ”I intend to overlook no possibility in getting to the bottom of this matter.”
CHAPTER XI
CAME THARN
Once Tharn was satisfied that the column of fifty Ammadians, with Dylara and Trakor in its midst, meant to cut directly across that wide expanse of sun-baked gra.s.ses, he set out on a circuitous course to pa.s.s them that he might be the first to reach the distant forest beyond. It meant covering a quarter again as much ground, but the advantage made this extra effort worth while.