The Redemption of Althalus (94 page)

“Maybe,” Ghend growled. “Everything was going so well, though, and then
this
turned up.”

Althalus shrugged. “These things happen sometimes. You can’t anticipate everything. It could have been worse. The Arum could have killed Khnom and then raised the alarm.”

“I suppose you’re right.” Ghend went to the open back door of the hay barn and squinted up at the star-studded night sky. “How long do you make it until morning?”

“Four hours anyway. We’ve still got lots of time.”

“Are you sure you’ll be coming to Hule later?” Ghend asked. “There’s still that other matter I’d like to discuss with you.”

“We’ll get there,” Althalus promised. “You and Khnom go on ahead, and we’ll all get together again in Nabjor’s camp. We work very well together, Ghend, and the notion of a partnership’s starting to look better and better.”

“How long do you think it’ll be until you and Gher reach that camp?”

“A lot of that depends on how soon Gosti’s people recover from the birthday party. If I’ve got a two-day head start, Gher and I’ll only be a day or so behind you and Khnom. If they’re hot on our trail, it might take us a couple of weeks. Nabjor’s got lots of entertainments available in his camp, so the time should pass quickly.”

They lifted Khnom’s inert body up into his saddle and tied him securely in place. “Take Khnom and go on ahead,” Althalus told Ghend. “Gher and I’ll tidy up here in the barn and then we’ll meet you over at the edge of the woods.”

“Tidy up?” Ghend asked curiously

“We’ll make everything here look exactly as it did before the party. If anything’s out of place, somebody might start getting curious.”

“What are you going to do with that dead Arum?”

“We’ll just pile some more hay on top of him. The weather’s still cool enough to keep him from spoiling for the next few days. After Galbak discovers our little visit to the strong room, it won’t really make much difference anyway. Have you got any cord, Ghend?”

“Cord?”

“I’ll have to come up with a way to slip that bar back into place from the outside. We don’t want to ride off and leave that door open and swinging in the wind.”

“You’re probably right.” Ghend rummaged around in his saddlebags, taking out his Book in the process.

Althalus held his breath.

“Would this work?” Ghend asked, holding out a long leather thong.

“It should. Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” Ghend put the Book back in the bag and then tied the bag shut. “Don’t be too long here, Althalus,” he said, swinging up into his saddle. “I’d like to be a long way from here by morning.” Then he rode out through the door, leading Khnom’s horse behind him.

“Why were you so jumpy just now?” Gher asked.

“I wasn’t completely sure that he couldn’t feel some slight difference in his Book,” Althalus admitted. “Emmy’s touch might have changed it.”

“You’re not really going to lock that door, are you?”

“Of course not. I just wanted to come up with the idea before Ghend did.” He made some show of fumbling around with the bar on the door. Starlight isn’t too bright, but Ghend had very strange eyes, and Althalus wasn’t exactly sure just how well his enemy could see in the dark. Then he and Gher mounted their horses, crossed the brushy area between the wall of Gosti’s fort and the nearby forest, and joined Ghend and the still-comatose Khnom. “That’s about everything,” he said. “I think you’d better hold your horse down to a walk, Ghend. If Khnom’s horse starts to gallop, our sleeping friend might slide around until he trips the poor beast, and you’d have to stop and straighten him up again. You’ll make better time after Khnom wakes up. Stay off that main trail, and move quietly when you’re near any villages. Gher and I’ll leave plenty of tracks and make enough noise to convince Galbak that we all rode south. You shouldn’t have any trouble, but be careful anyway.”

“Right,” Ghend agreed. “We’ll see you in Nabjor’s camp, then.”

“Have a nice trip,” Althalus told him. Then he turned his horse. “Let’s go south, Gher.”

“Yes, sir,” Gher replied.

After Ghend and his unconscious companion were out of sight, though, Althalus reined in his horse. “Are you there, Eliar?” he called back over his shoulder.

“Where did you think I’d be?” Eliar’s voice came from just behind them.

“I thought that maybe Andine or Bheid had commandeered you. I’ll pass our gold up to you. Put it in a safe place.”

“I’ll take good care of it,” Eliar promised.

“Althalus,” Dweia’s voice murmured.

“Yes, Em?”

“You
could
return the gold to the strong room, you know.”

“Don’t be silly,” he chided her.

“You don’t really need it, love. You
do
have your own gold mine, you know.”

“I worked hard for this gold, and I’m not about to give it back.”

“Somehow I knew you were going to say that.”

Althalus hefted the bags up over his head one by one, and Eliar’s arms came out of nowhere to take them. Then Althalus and Gher returned to the unlocked back door of the hay barn, opened it, and went inside. “Let’s get our horses back into the stable and unsaddled,” Althalus said quietly as he barred the door. “Then we’ll go to Gosti’s hall and wake Galbak. I don’t want Ghend to get too far ahead of him.”

“Are there horse tracks on that trail so that Galbak and his men won’t have much trouble?” Gher asked.

“There are two sets of tracks going north from the back door of the barn to the edge of Gosti’s territory. They’re so obvious that a child could follow them.”

“Are you certain sure you’ll be able to wake up Galbak?” Gher asked as he unsaddled his horse. “He was awful drunk when we left that big room where the party was.”

“Eliar’s already taken care of that,” Althalus assured him, lifting off his own saddle. “It was something along the lines of what he did to Chief Twengor. Galbak took a quick trip to the day after tomorrow, and when Eliar brought him back, the worst of the effects of the party’d worn off. He still won’t be feeling very well, but he’ll understand what I’m trying to tell him.” Althalus patted his horse’s rump, and the animal obediently went back into its stall. Althalus looked around to make sure that nothing was out of place. “I guess that’s got it,” he said. “Let’s go turn the tables on Ghend, shall we?”

“I thought we’d never get to that,” Gher said eagerly.

“Once we’re in the hall, I want you to slip inside and lie down somewhere close to Galbak.”

“Tenlike I’m asleep, you mean?”

“Exactly. I’m going to spin a little story for Galbak that won’t involve you. Just lie still and keep your eyes closed until Galbak starts screaming—which he
will
do after I tell him the story.”

Gosti was snoring in his massive chair at the head of his table, and his clansmen were mostly sprawled on the floor. Althalus noticed that the general snoring was now punctuated with a few groans. “They seem to be coming around,” Althalus told the boy. “Get to your place and try to look like you’re asleep.”

“Right,” Gher said, moving quickly to a place not far from where Galbak lay stirring restlessly.

Althalus shambled toward the table, holding his head and contorting his face into an expression of suffering. He knelt beside Gosti’s cousin, reached out and shook him slightly. “Galbak,” he said in a wheezy sort of voice, “I think you’d better wake up.”

Galbak snored.

Althalus shook him harder. “Galbak,” he said a little louder. “Wake up. I think something’s wrong.”

Galbak groaned. “Oh, Gods!” he swore, putting one trembling hand to his forehead.

“Galbak!” Althalus said, urgently shaking him again. “Wake up!”

“Althalus?” Galbak said, his bleary eyes coming open. “What’s wrong?”

“I think we got into a bad batch of mead,” Althalus told him. “I’ve been as sick as a dog for the last half hour. I just saw something out in the courtyard I think you ought to know about.”

“My head’s coming apart,” Galbak groaned. “Let me go back to sleep. You can tell me about it in the morning.”

“That might be too late,” Althalus said in a worried voice. “Something’s afoot here that isn’t right, and I think you’d better look into it right now. I could be wrong, but I believe you’ve just been robbed.”

“What!” Galbak came to a half-sitting position and grabbed the sides of his head with both hands. “God’s blood!” he groaned. “What are you talking about, Althalus?”

“I woke up with my belly on fire a little while ago,” Althalus told him. “I crawled out to the courtyard and turned my stomach inside out. I’ve been sick a few times before, but never like this. Anyway, right after I’d heaved up my toenails, I saw somebody sneaking across the yard. There were two of them, and they seemed to be carrying some bags that looked very heavy. They went past one of the torches out there, and I saw that it was Ghend and his servant Khnom. From the way they kept looking around, it was fairly obvious that they didn’t want anybody to see them. Then Khnom dropped one of the bags he was carrying, and it made a jingling sort of sound. I can’t swear to this, Galbak, but it sounded to me like a bagful of money.”

Galbak jerked his hands away from his face and stared incredulously at Althalus.

“Anyway,” Althalus hurried on, “they went into the stable, and after a couple of minutes, I heard a creaking sort of sound—like a door being opened. The sound seemed to be coming from the back of the hay barn. Then I heard a couple of horses galloping away. I think maybe you’d better go take a quick look at Gosti’s strong room. My head wasn’t any too clear, so I might have been imagining all that, but you should probably go have a look at the strong room, just to make sure.”

Galbak scrambled to his feet. Then he doubled over, retching violently. “Come with me!” he barked at Althalus when he’d recovered.

They rushed to the corridor and on to the steps in front of the strong-room door. The guards were still snoring peacefully, and Galbak stepped over them and tried the door. Then he laughed weakly. “You scared me out of a year’s growth there, Althalus,” he said. “The door’s still locked, though, so everything’s still all right. You must have been having a nightmare of some kind.”

“I think you’d better take a look inside, Galbak,” Althalus suggested. “I’ve had a lot of nightmares before, but if that
was
a nightmare, it’s the first one I’ve ever had that involved throwing up. I’d feel a lot better if you took a look to make sure everything’s still all right.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Galbak conceded, “and it won’t cost anything to look.” He took a large bronze key from the pouch at his waist, unlocked the strong-room door, and took the torch from the ring beside the door. Then he pulled the door open, raised the torch, and stepped inside.

Althalus concealed a sly smile. The pile of pennies on the floor and the overturned table should get Galbak’s immediate attention.

Galbak was cursing when he came running out of the strong room. “You were right, Althalus!” he half shouted.
“Come with me!”

Althalus nodded and followed the tall Arum back to the great hall. “On your feet!” Galbak roared, savagely kicking the clansmen awake. “We’ve been robbed!”

“What are you saying, Galbak?” Gosti demanded in a voice blurred with sleep.

“Your strong room’s been opened, Gosti!” Galbak shouted to his cousin. “Somebody undid the lock and got inside! There are coins all over the floor, and several bags of gold are missing!”

Gosti scoffed. “You’re drunk, Galbak. The main gate’s locked. Nobody could get into the fort to rob me.”

“He was already inside the fort, you dunce!” Galbak snapped. “It was Ghend and that man of his who robbed you! Althalus here saw them sneaking out with bags of your gold.” He went back to kicking clansmen to their feet. “Get to the stables and saddle the horses! The robbers can’t be far ahead of us! Move!”

“Will somebody tell me what’s going on?” Gosti demanded.

“Tell him what you told me, Althalus,” Galbak said.

“I woke up sick, Gosti,” Althalus reported. “I stumbled out to the courtyard, and I was busy throwing away a lot of very good mead when I saw that fellow Ghend—the one who says he comes from Regwos. He and his friend were tiptoeing across your courtyard like a pair of chicken thieves sneaking out of a coop. People don’t sneak that way unless they’ve got something to hide, so I watched them. Just before they got to the stable, Khnom dropped something he’d been carrying, and it made a sort of jingling sound when it hit the ground. They went on into the stable, and a minute or so later, I heard some horses galloping off to the north.”

“Did you see them go out through the main gate?” Gosti demanded.

“No, actually I didn’t, but I
did
hear horses galloping away.”

“It must have been somebody else, then,” Gosti said. “The main gate’s the only way out of the fort.”

“You’re wrong, Gosti,” the grey-haired old clansman Althalus recognized disagreed. “There’s a back door in the hay barn. Nobody’s used it for years, but it’s still there. It might have been boarded up, but that Ghend fellow has been here long enough to have pried the boards loose.”

“Galbak!” Gosti shouted. “Go look into the strong room!”

“I told you, Gosti,” Galbak shouted back, “I already did! You’ve been robbed, cousin!”

“Chase the scoundrels down!” Gosti roared. “Get my gold back!”

“That’s what I’m trying to do, you fat dolt!”

“Neat,” Gher murmured to Althalus.

“I’m glad you liked it.”

“What do we do now?”

“You stay here. If anybody asks, tell them that I’ve gone back outside to be sick again. We
don’t
want to join the chase. I don’t want Ghend to see us among his pursuers.”

Galbak roused the rest of the clansmen with kicks and curses, and about a quarter of an hour later they were mounted and milling around in the courtyard. Galbak’s scouts had found the tracks Althalus had carefully put down from the back of the hay barn to the trail that followed the river gorge. The main gate swung open, and Galbak led his men out in pursuit of the thieves.

Although everything had gone exactly according to his plan, Althalus felt a peculiar sort of discontent as he reentered Gosti’s great hall. He genuinely liked Galbak, and he wasn’t particularly proud of the way he’d deceived Gosti’s tall cousin. It’d been a necessary part of the scheme, of course, and the ultimate goal of the scheme was commendable, but still . . .