Part 17 (1/2)
Thirg gave a quick nod. ”Groork. Yes. He came to join me in Carthogia.”
Elmon laid a hand on Thirg's arm. ”Groork is back in Perga.s.sos now, Thirg, even as we speak, and in grave danger.”
Thirg jerked around, knocking a dish off the table in his astonishment. ”Here?” he blurted out aloud at the same time that the clash rang around the room. Everybody nearby turned and looked. He lowered his voice again. ”Groork, here? It's not possible. Somebody is surely mistaken.”
Elmon shook his head. ”I saw him myself not an hour ago, two streets from here. He is drawing attention with inquiries concerning priests that he says travel to Carthogia to a.s.sist the Lumians inunknown arts. But there are agents everywhere who still spy for Frennelech. Indeed, a rumor is abroad that both he and Eskenderom are secretly back in the city.”
Thirg planted both palms on the table and looked from Elmon to Brongyd, bracing himself to rise and leave right then. ”These are not matters that command Groork's better judgment. He is at risk. We must go to him.”
At that moment Mordran came back. ” 'Allo, who's this, then?” he inquired, eyeing Elmon up and down questioningly. Thirg drew him close into the s.p.a.ce beneath the stairs and briefly explained the situation. Mordran looked at Elmon and nodded. ”Go an' get 'is brother in off t' street before 'e gets 'isself done in or arrested,” he said. ”I've got ter wait fer a chap who's comin' back in 'alf an hour to talk about 'orses. So I'll see yers back 'ere then.”
”Shall I come with you?” Brongyd asked Thirg. Thirg nodded.
Elmon stood up. ”I'll take you to Groork,” he said.
35.
”Sorry, n.o.body here right now. Leave message after beep.”
Groork called frantically with his inner voice, but still the Lumians didn't answer. The leader of the group that had trailed him from the marketplace and accosted him in a narrow alley on the edge of the Thieves' Quarter, an ugly-faced rob in a shabby cloak of rusted platelets, pushed him back against the wall while the others closed around him.
”Wot we want to know, Mr. Inquisitive, is why yer goes pokin' yer nose into other folks' business, arstin' peculiar question abaht 'is Majesty an' the priests all the time.”
”Sounds like a spy for somebody,” another voice said from behind.
”Spy. He's a spy,” others repeated.
”Yes, look at them clothes,” a woman shouted, pointing. ”Not from around here, he's not.”
”There are many from other parts come into the city of late,” Groork protested desperately.
The large rob in the rusted cloak moved a step nearer and fingered the clasp of the bag hanging from Groork's shoulder. He smiled evilly, and his voice took on a deceptively soft note. ”Oh, yes, there's many in Perga.s.sos from all over, on all kinds o' business, true enough. But I'd say that this little item 'ere looks like a piece ofCarthogian workmans.h.i.+p.”
”Didj'ear that? 'E's a Carthogian!”
”A spy for Kleippur!”
The rob went on. ”And right now Carthogia isn't a very popular word arahnd 'ere. In fact, a lot o'
people are sayin' that it's Carthogia and their Lumian friends who are behind all these troubles we've got everywhere.” He pulled out a carbide-tipped stiletto and pressed the point against the slide joints below Groork's chin. ”Now,you wouldn't 'appen to 'ave any Lumian friends, would yer?” he whispered menacingly into Groork's face.
”Go on, stick 'im! Don't muck abaht!” someone called out.
Groork's thermal patterns fluctuated wildly. He shook his head. ”Me? No. I've never seen a Lumian. I found the bag washed up by the river.”
”Oh, fahnd it, did yer? Well, let's just 'ave a look inside, out of curiosity.”
Just then another voice rang out. ”That's enough of that. Leave him be. We'll take care of it now.”
The crowd turned to find three figures approaching from the end of the alley. Although dressed in rough farmer's garb, the speaker was striding forward confidently. Another, similarly clad, was close behind him. The third, lean in build and looking as if he hailed from the town, followed more warily a short distance back.
The mob around Groork parted to make way. Rusted Cloak stood his ground but wavered. ” 'Oo are you?” he demanded uncertainly.”Officers of the state. This person is an enemy who has been under observation for some time. We are taking him in officially. Unhand him.”
Groork could only stare speechlessly, which was probably just as well. The speaker was none other than his lost brother, Thirg, who had disappeared into Kroaxia some ten brights earlier.
Rusted Cloak was not overly impressed. ”Officers of the state, eh? Well, I don't see that there's much to choose between this state that your Nogarech 'as landed us wiv and Carthogia. A pox of oxidation on both, I sez. We wants no officers of Nogarech 'ere. On yer way. We'll take care o' this un an' make proper sure 'e gets wot's comin' to 'im.”
Groork despaired, convinced that all was over for him. But Thirg moved a step closer to the rob in the cloak and nudged him meaningfully with an elbow. ”Not Nogarech,” he muttered. ”Have you not heard that Eskenderom and Frennelech are secretly returned to the city? We come as servants of the realm that shall soon be restored.”
”Thou art their agents?”
Thirg nodded. ”And our mission is crucial. Now hand over the Carthogian spy. Thy work will be generously remembered.”
The rob bowed, making a supplicatory gesture. ”Please, sirs, it is our honor. No payment is necessary. Our pleasure is to serve the king and the holiness.”
The crowd moved aside, awed. ”May the Lifemaker preserve 'em,” somebody intoned.
Groork looked from one rescuer to the other in bewilderment as they hustled him away between them. His brother, gone for ten brights, now a disguised agent for Eskenderom? It made no sense.
”Thirg, I don't understand. What-”
”Shut up, you fool,” Thirg hissed, keeping a tight grasp on his arm, while Brongyd steered the other and Elmon hurried ahead of them, anxious to get away. ”You don't know me. Just walk.”
It all went fine until they got to the end of the alley. But as they came out onto the square, a carriage that had been approaching at a fast pace lurched to a halt in front of them. Robs m.u.f.fled in dark cloaks with hoods or wide hats enveloping their faces leapt out, producing swords and daggers, and surrounded them. Another who was with them pointed to Groork. ”That's the one. He's the heretic who came back, calling himself Enlightener.”
” 'E is!” one of the mob exclaimed as they came up behind. ”The Enlightener. I knew I'd seen that face!” Groork was seized and bundled toward the open door of the carriage.
”Then 'oo be you gents?” Rusted Cloak demanded, stepping forward to rea.s.sert himself after his lapse. Conscious, however, that the newcomers obviously meant business and weren't likely to be interested in his opinions, he added deferentially, ”If I might be so bold.”
The one who appeared to be in charge looked at him for a second as if deliberating whether to bother replying or run him through. Then he reached inside his cloak and produced a badge of office bearing the archprelate's seal. ”There's no harm in your knowing,” he murmured. ”The High Holiness will be back in his palace by the next bright.”
Rusted Cloak frowned and pointed a puzzled finger at Thirg. ”But 'e said that 'ewas workin' for Frennelech.They just took that Enlightener away fromus. So wot's a-goin' on arahnd 'ere, then, eh?”
The one in charge of the high priest's henchmen looked at Thirg and Brongyd. He had no intention of conducting a public interrogation in the market square before a pack of imbeciles. ”Seize both of them,” he ordered.
Rusted Cloak looked from side to side. ”There was three of 'em,” he said. But Elmon had prudently vanished.
Bystanders were starting to approach curiously from around the square. ”Make haste with these two. Never mind the other,” the leader told his robs impatiently.
Minutes later the carriage clattered into the courtyard at the rear of the friary adjoining the former Palace of the High Holy One, and the heavy steel gates swung shut behind it.
* * *Thirg and Brongyd were taken straight up to a room where Eskenderom and Frennelech were waiting with several of their aides. So the rumors of their being back in the city were true. Evidently the move to overthrow Nogarech was not far off.
After establis.h.i.+ng who Thirg and Brongyd were and questioning them on their reasons for being in Perga.s.sos, the chief counselor, Mormorel, asked them the true intentions of the Lumians. ”I would not advise attempts at deviousness,” he warned. ”We have artisans well skilled in methods of persuasion.”