Alutar: The Great Demon (43 page)

“Sounded like a woman,” answered another subdued voice. “She sounds hurt. I will go and check it out.”

Footsteps started receding and then the first sentry’s voice called after the other. “Wait. You should not go alone. It might be a trap.”

Bart smiled as both sentries moved cautiously away from the door. He had expected that Dart would have to put the first sentry to sleep and then lure the other, but this was a cleaner way to make his entry. He eased around the corner, making each step a silent one. When he reached the door, he eased it open and stepped through it quickly so that the dim light from within the room did not spill into the sewers for too long. Juggler looked up immediately, a heavy frown marring his face.

“Where are my sentries?” Juggler asked.

“They are not needed for this meeting,” Bart answered as he crossed the room and stood before Juggler’s desk.

Juggler instantly became alert and anxious. A knife slid into his hand, more from habit than conscious thought.

“I would hope that you know better than to try that,” warned Bart. “Put the knife on the desk.”

The Ranger held no weapon in hand that Juggler could see, but he had witnessed the training given to his men by the Rangers. He knew that if it came to a fight, Juggler stood no chance of surviving it. He placed the knife on the desk. The Ranger sat down.

“Who among your people are allowed access to the Royal Palace?” asked Bart.

Juggler frowned. “My people do not have access to the palace,” he answered, “but we do have contacts who do have access. What do you need?”

“Answers,” replied the Ranger. “Garth Shado entered the Royal Palace today. I have reason to believe that they intend to keep him. What do you know about that?”

“Nothing,” answered Juggler. “Do you want me to try to find out?”

Bart ignored the question. “Why would the palace send soldiers to search Garth’s room at the Bluff House Inn?”

Juggler frowned again. He paused before answering. “They would only do so if they suspected that Garth had contraband.” Suddenly, Juggler’s eyes widened in fear. “The prince!” he exclaimed. “Did they find him?”

Bart did not answer.

“I do not understand,” Juggler said anxiously. “If Prince Harold has been taken by the palace guard, we should be readying to free him. King Harowin will kill Harold. Why are you sitting here and interrogating me instead of rallying my men to action?”

“A number of reasons,” Bart answered, his tone softening somewhat after hearing Juggler’s words. “Prince Harold has not been captured, but I think that Garth has. Secondly, the palace seems to now know that Harold is in the city, and I believe that knowledge came from your people.”

Juggler stiffened. “Impossible,” he declared. “I am the only one who knows about Prince Harold being in the city, and I have told no one. I understand your interrogation now, but you are on the wrong trail, Bart. I yearn to have Prince Harold become king. I would never sell him out to King Harowin, and I would kill anyone who did. What makes you think that my people are involved?”

“One of your people was seen coming out of the Royal Palace this morning,” answered Bart. “This happened just before Garth entered the palace. When Garth was let through the gates, he was escorted into the palace like a prisoner. Moments later, his room was searched by soldiers. What conclusions do you draw from that?”

“One of my people left the palace?” frowned Juggler. “That alone is strange enough for me to be concerned. As I said before, none of my people has access to the Royal Palace. Which one of my people was it?”

“I do not know his name,” answered the Ranger, “but I can picture the man. He is one who chose not to have training from us. He is an older man, rather rodent-faced. His eyes are always darting around.”

“Canya,” Juggler nodded. “He is too old to be of use in battle. Training him would have been a waste of time. Still, I was truthful when I said that I told none of my people. None of them know that Harold is in the city, so how could Canya have told the king?”

“Perhaps we should ask him,” retorted the Ranger.

Juggler rose to his feet. “I am going to have my men bring Canya and Bacar here,” he said. “Do I still have sentries outside my door?”

“They are there,” answered Bart. “Why Bacar?”

“Bacar will know how to find out if Garth is in the dungeons. I think we need to ascertain that right away. If he is, I will expend the blood of my men to free him.”

“You should save the blood of your men for Prince Harold,” replied the Ranger. “We Alceans will deal with the problem of getting Garth free.”

Juggler did not reply as he crossed the room and opened the door. He did not question the sentries about the Ranger’s entrance to his lair, but he did send one of them to find Canya and Bacar. He closed the door and retreated to his chair.

“If my men are responsible for getting Garth imprisoned,” Juggler said solemnly, “we will also be responsible for getting him out. You Alceans do not realize how much your presence has meant to us. We have gone from a bunch of thieves with no hope for the future to a band of patriots eager to help usher in a new Ertak. We will not let Garth waste away in a dungeon.”

Bart did not reply, and both men fell silent, each pondering the current predicament. Minutes later the door opened and Bacar entered. Juggler gave Bacar instructions, and the warrior thief left the room. The minutes dragged by in silence until one of the sentries entered the room.

“Canya can not be found,” stated the sentry. “Some of the men saw him and told him that you wanted to see him, but he ran instead. They have not been able to locate him since.”

“Canya is to be treated as an enemy,” snarled Juggler. “Do whatever is necessary to find him and bring him here, but I want him alive. He has some explaining to do. I also want to speak to anyone who knows anything about his trip to the Royal Palace this morning. Spread the word.”

The sentry left the room, closing the door behind him.

“It would appear that Canya has a guilty conscience,” Juggler declared. “I can’t imagine how he found out about the prince, though. I swear that I told no one.”

“And I believe you,” sighed Bart, “but I also believe that Canya found out somehow. Could he have recognized the prince?”

Juggler’s eyes widened. “He is old enough to remember the days when Prince Harold lived in Farmin, and he used to be a tutor before hard times fell upon him.”

“A tutor turned thief?” Bart asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Canya has a drinking problem,” explained Juggler. “One by one he lost his contracts around the city when he showed up drunk. I do seem to recall hearing him bragging about tutoring in the palace, but no one paid much attention to such stories. I am afraid that many of my men tell tall tales to impress the others. No one pays much heed to such stories of the past.”

“It all makes sense,” sighed Bart. “The king will turn this city upside down now to find Prince Harold.”

“Canya might not have even realized that what he was doing was against my wishes,” Juggler said. ”I should have announced our allegiance to Prince Harold right away. I could have done so without saying that he was in the city. If I had, we would not be in this fix right now.”

“His running shows his guilt,” retorted Bart. “He may not know that you owe allegiance to Prince Harold, but he knew about us Alceans, and Prince Harold has been in Garth’s company since arriving here. He was selling out Garth as much as Prince Harold.”

Juggler frowned and nodded in agreement. “He shall pay for that betrayal.”

The door opened and Bacar entered. “Garth is in the dungeons,” he announced. “I am not sure if it is related, but the palace is abuzz with rumors that Prince Harold is in the city. Some of the guards seemed to think that had something to do with Garth’s imprisonment.”

* * * *

Garth started when he heard the door to his cell being unlocked. He rose to his feet in time to see the colonel enter the cell. Two other soldiers entered with the colonel, and they had their swords drawn. The soldiers moved left and right so that they could attack from both sides simultaneously. The Colonel stood just inside the door. His face was stern as he stared at Garth.

“Where is Prince Harold?” the colonel asked.

“I do not know,” answered Garth.

The colonel did not get noticeably angry as the captain had. He stood staring at Garth for a while in silence.

“I do not think you understand the gravity of your situation, Garth Shado,” the colonel said softly. “I will not strike you as Captain Pullman did, nor will I get angry and lose my composure, but I will get your answers to my questions. You can answer them here, or I can have you escorted to a different cell where a rather vile man will question you. I think you understand enough about the world to realize that it is far better to answer my questions here and now. Where is Prince Harold?”

“I truly do not know,” Garth answered. “I did know where he was, but that is no longer true. You may torture me to the point of death, but that will not gain you the information you want. Look, Colonel, I came to the palace today specifically to speak to King Harowin about the heir. If you will allow me to do so, the king will learn many things, but if you are intent on torturing me to gain small snippets of information, that is within your power, but I promise you that the king will not be pleased with you when it is all over.”

“Should we take him to the torturer, Colonel Sepper?” asked one of the soldiers.

The colonel turned and glared at the soldier. “You will speak when you are told to,” he berated the soldier.

The rebuked soldier lowered his eyes and nodded. The colonel turned his attention back to Garth.

“You are in no position to make demands,” Colonel Sepper said. “You are not even in a position to make requests. Do not try my patience, Garth Shado. We know that you brought Prince Harold into this city. Where did you last see him?”

“In my suite at the Bluff House Inn,” Garth answered freely.

“Your suite has been searched,” declared the colonel. “Where did you move the prince to?”

“I didn’t move him,” replied Garth. “He was in my room when I left the inn, but I told him not to stay there.”

Colonel Sepper raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

“Because there was a fair chance that I would end up as I am,” replied Garth. “I knew that if something went wrong with my meeting with the king, my room would be searched. I did not want your men to find the heir.”

“Do you take the king for a fool?” scowled the colonel. “Do you really think you can walk into the Royal Palace and try to extort gold from the king in return for his son?”

“I seek no gold,” replied Garth. “In fact, I seek nothing from the king. If I were a kidnapper, would I tell the victim to leave my room for his own safeguarding? My goal is to protect Prince Harold, not harm him.”

“He is best protected within the walls of the Royal Palace,” stated the colonel. “He does not need a merchant to protect him. How do we find him?”

“I wish that I could believe your words, Colonel Sepper,” Garth said, “but King Harowin has been known to want the prince dead. If I thought otherwise, Prince Harold would have accompanied me today.”

“Want his own son dead?” balked the colonel. “Are you mad?”

“Aren’t you being disingenuous?” Garth retorted. “General Montero had Prince Harold locked in his castle in the Dark Forest to protect him from King Harowin. I not only know this to be true, but almost everyone in Farmin has heard the same over the past few years. Yet you stand there and act as if my words were ludicrous. If it is truth that you are after, Colonel, please do not distort it when you talk to me.”

Colonel Sepper sighed. “You speak of things that happened many years ago, and you are presenting the truth from the viewpoint of General Montero. King Harowin never threatened the life of Prince Harold.”

“Perhaps not,” mused Garth. “I certainly never heard the words from the king’s mouth, but the rumors are widespread enough to cause me to proceed with caution. I promised Prince Harold that I would protect him with my life, and that is what I intend to do. Until I can ascertain that King Harowin means the heir no harm, Prince Harold will remain hidden.”

“Prince Harold will remain hidden only so long as your will power holds out,” retorted the colonel. “You may consider yourself strong willed, but I have seen men harder than you give up their secrets.”

“You have no idea how hard I might be, Colonel, but you are missing my point. Prince Harold will be waiting for me to come out of this palace. If I do not, it will be clear to him that his father does indeed mean him harm. So, go ahead,” dared Garth. “Call your torturer. If the king means to kill the heir, then you might as well kill me now. I would rather give up my life than his.”

The colonel stared at Garth for a long time. He wondered if the merchant truly would die before giving up his secrets. He had never seen anyone do so, but he had heard tales of men who did. He stood silently for a while letting the prisoner’s words flow through his mind over and over. There was something Garth said that did not fit, but he could not put his finger on it. Suddenly, it hit him.

“You keep calling Prince Harold the heir,” Colonel Sepper pointed out. “He is not the heir.”

“Unless King Harowin has taken Prince Harold out of the line of succession,” retorted Garth, “Prince Harold is indeed the heir. General Montero died in Alcea.”

Colonel Sepper gasped as did the two soldiers with him in the cell.

“How could you possibly know about events in Alcea?” questioned the colonel.

“I was in Valdo a while ago,” answered Garth. “There were some Aertan soldiers just back from Alcea. They reported that the 6
^th
Corps and the 15
^th
Corps were totally destroyed by dwarves. There were no survivors.”

The colonel’s face turned white, and he backed through the cell door, signaling the guards to join him. The cell door was closed and locked, and the colonel turned and ran up the stairs. He proceeded directly to the office of General Harford and related the entire interrogation. The general told the colonel to follow him and led him to the king’s study. There he made the colonel retell the entire story.