The Hekamon (21 page)

"Yes, sir," Phelan replied, signaling to Gage
and Mountfield to follow him, as he started down the path to begin
the search.

Two more guards, Collis and Hackett, emerged from the
east gate, and he gave them their orders. "You two, head north
along the road and search the trees north of the fort. Keep a look
out for anyone who shouldn't be there and keep your wit's about you,
you're looking for at least one man, and violent at that."

The two guards exchanged a glance, before nodding and
moving north. He understood their apprehension, he had given them a
big area to cover, an area that needed twenty men to search
properly, but he had to make do with what he had at his disposal.

Over the next few minutes a further four guards made
their way down, while Groucutt winched down a stretcher from the
wall above.

It looked like everyone was now here,
even Teague. Meaning the fort's main gate was now being manned by a
guard called Kathryn Tregarron.

He had far fewer men under is command
than in previous years, this was going to take everyone he had.

With all of his men now involved, Tregarron began by
helping to place the injured armorer on the stretcher. Once done, the
stretcher was ready for winching up.

When the moat had been filled with water, deliveries had
sometimes been made by boat. And with the tunnels under the fort
flooded, anything brought that way needed to hoisted up. It was done
using a rope that descend from a wooden scaffold on the east bailey
wall. It was still used from time to time for heavy or large items
that could not easily be carried up the tower and Tregarron made use
of it now. It would be quicker this way, since the narrow spiral
staircase of the east tower would be a difficult route to take a
stretcher.

"Take him to Pryor Jervay, he will do what he can
for him," he instructed the three guards who, along with
Groucutt, would be the stretcher bearers once Croneygee had been
lifted up and over the wall, "and when you've done that go up to
the High Gate, we'll need to put a watch on there."

Tregarron looked up at Groucutt on the wall, and
indicated for him to start raising up the stretcher, then he turned
to the remaining guards.

"You three, come with me," he said, before
leading them down the path and turning toward the Briddlesford
Bridge, scanning the ground nearby for any tracks.

"Can I ask where we're going, sir?" Teague
asked. The man was one of the longest serving guards at the fort, and
one of his most trusted lieutenants.

"We'll search here first, then head to the tavern,"
he replied, continuing along the path while looking into the bushes
and trees that grew alongside as he went. The guards with him did
likewise. And as they did, there was a noticeable silence, and he
could tell Teague wanted to ask him something.

"No," Tregarron said, anticipating the
question, "we're not going for a drink." After twenty years
he knew his erstwhile companion all too well.

"Oh," Teague said, hiding his disappointment
well.

"We're going to the favorite haunt of a certain
highway merchant."

As he continued along the path toward the stone bridge,
Tregarron thought about the information he had, and what he should
make of it.

If Tansley had left the mine with Croneygee, but had not
gone with the armorer to the east gate, then he must have come this
way. Or at the very least crossed the bridge and gone into town. Why
else leave the workshop by that route, if not to visit the town?

Reaching the bridge, Tregarron climbed the steps that
lead up the bank and on to the road above. Once there, he took the
opportunity to look back at the wide, dry lake bed from this high
vantage point.

There didn't seem to be anything unusual, nothing he
would consider suspicious or out of place. Looking to his right, he
could see Phelan and the two other guards he'd sent searching that
way. He watched them as they picked their way through the knee high
grass, moving in the direction of the mines. The coal mine was a good
place to start and he knew he could trust Phelan to do so
competently.

Satisfied the search was progressing and in the
manner that he would have expected, Tregarron motioned to Teague,
Holcroft and Pearson to follow him.

It was time for them to conduct
their own search.

Galvyn walked to the entrance of the workshop and closed
the door, took a key ring from his belt and locked it, too. The last
thing he needed now was for someone to come into the shop. Customers
would be bad enough but Tregarron would be even worse, and the
captain did have a habit for turning up at the most inopportune
moments.

No sooner had he locked the door than he hesitated.
Would the arrival of Tregarron be such a bad thing? A man had just
attacked him, a Coralainian man at that, and another was in his shop.
It seemed he two men knew each other.

Galvyn moved to the window and
looked out. If Tregarron did arrive now it would take the decision of
what to do out of his hands. While he'd promised Hayden he would not
reveal his involvement, it was a promise that he might find difficult
to keep. How could he explain what had happened and not mention him?
He didn't know, and was having a hard time thinking straight. He had
just nearly had the life strangled out of him and was feeling
unnerved to say the least.

"Are you ready?"

He turned and looked at Hayden, standing in the doorway
to the coal bunker. If that man had not been here, what would have
happened? If Hayden not not stepped in and disabled his attacker,
what fate would have befallen him?

"Ready," he replied, walking over to join
Hayden in the coal bunker.

With the door closed there was just enough light from
the grimy window for them to see what they were doing.

Galvyn could see that things in the room were how he had
left them, with the coal tub to one side of the trapdoor and the
chain detached and hanging freely. At Galvyn's direction, they pulled
Decarius to one side, opened the trap door and listened. Just as he had
expected, the mine below was quiet, with the only sounds to be heard,
coming from a distant part of the coal seam.

"Should we hook him on by his belt?" he asked,
trying to decide how best they could get the man down.

"No, it might not hold," Hayden said, peering
down through the opening in the floor, "and the fall would kill
him."

They both looked at each other, perhaps grateful that
the room was as dark as it was. If either of them were getting any
ideas, it didn't show. After a few seconds, Hayden spoke again.

"What's this called? A bucket?"

"A tub."

"Then let's put him in this tub and lower him that
way."

"Okay," he replied, and between them they
lifted the body of the man and placed him in the large, square,
wooden coal tub.

He filled it. His arms could be folded in but his legs
hung over. Galvyn attached the chain and winched the tub higher so
that it lifted up off the floor and swung over the shaft below. Once
there, Hayden steadied it and Galvyn lowered it down.

After a minute of clanking cogs and rattling links, the
chain became slack. He took this as his cue to stop unwinding and
lead Hayden down to where the tub, and it's unusual cargo, rested in
the coal mine below. They descended the stairs cautiously but the
mine was empty.

Having reached the foot of the stairs, the pair of them
lifted the unconscious body of Decarius out of the tub and placed him
on the ground. Having done so, Hayden dusted his hands off and began
climbing the stairs again.

"Wait, we can't leave him here," Galvyn
whispered, "it's right beneath my workshop."

"Then we'll move him," Hayden said, stepping
back down and grabbing hold of the man's legs.

Galvyn took the man by the arms and the pair lifted them
lifted body of Decarius off the floor and carried him deeper into the
mine. Bumping into timbers and brushing past hanging ropes as they
went, before eventually finding an even darker corner in the already
dimly lit mine. Satisfied with the place they'd found, they dumped
the man unceremoniously on the ground.

"He's impossible to see unless you know he's
there," Hayden said, "and when he comes around, he won't
remember much, if anything at all. He'll find his way out and make
his way home."

Galvyn wasn't so sure, "What if he does remember?"
he asked, as the two of them made their way back toward the stairs,
pulling some of the low hanging ropes aside to ease their path.

"Did you tell him where he could find the
necklace?" Hayden asked, and, despite speaking in a hushed
voice, still the sound carried and filled the void.

"Yes, I told him it was with Captain Tregarron and
that he'd taken it with him to the fort."

"Then what more will he want from you?"

"Well, he got bashed over the head, he won't be
happy, he might seek revenge."

"It's not like it was you that hit him, it was you
he was strangling and he got a bang on his head for his trouble, once
bitten, twice shy and all that."

Hayden's words were persuasive but Galvyn was worried
all the same. The man had been trying to kill him just a few minutes
earlier, and now was supposedly going to just get up and leave? It
seemed wishful thinking. They walked back in silence while Galvyn
mulled things over.

He understood Hayden's wish not to caught and questioned
by the guards, he was a Coralainian after all. Or for it to be known
that he'd just knocked out the Kentarch of Coralai, since returning
to Coralai would be difficult for him, even if his actions had been
justified. And on both counts Galvyn wanted to help him, it was the
least he could do. But it was he who would have to deal with
Decarius, should the man return to the workshop again.

As the two of them reached the stairs, Hayden started
the climb back up, while Galvyn took the chain and readied the coal
tub for hoisting. As he was doing so he heard a noise, several
noises in fact, coming from the adit to his right. He could hear
voices, low pitched, mumbling, indistinct and accompanied by the
scuffling sound of boots on rough ground. Galvyn immediately stopped
and looked in that direction.

Above the five tunnels that connected the cavernous seam
to the dried out moat, there was a light. An illumination on the
ceiling. It was daylight, seeping up the incline of each of the short
tunnels that connected the mine to the road outside. Above three of
the tunnels, the light was alive with movement. Three shadows. The
outlines clear enough to show three figures, each wearing wide
brimmed helmets, long coats and carrying a distinctive type of long
handled weapon.

Galvyn looked up to Hayden, who had cleared the first
flight of stairs, "Guards," he whispered, as loudly as he
dared. Hayden stopped, looked and saw them too, and without further
hesitation, started running up the second flight.

Galvyn looked back at the shadows in disbelief. What are
they doing here? The guards rarely if ever come into the mines, why
now? He could guess the answer. They must be looking for the
Coralainian man whose unconscious body they'd just hidden. It stood
to reason, the violent intruder had entered his workshop through the
mine, the guards must be in pursuit. The man must have done something
to get their attention and now they were after him.

Maybe this was his chance to tell them. Tell them what?

He looked up and saw Hayden moving quickly up the stairs
and disappearing into the darkness above. The truth, what else. After
all, he hadn't done anything wrong, he had been the one attacked.

He
could tell the guards everything, exactly as it had transpired. He
could tell them that two Coralainian men had entered the armory one
had attacked him the other had helped him. He would vouch for Hayden,
the man who had just…had Hayden just saved his life? The man
strangling him had murderous intent, that much seemed certain. Yet
all Hayden had asked in return was for him not to speak of him. Could
he give the guards a version of events that didn't involve him
breaking his promise to Hayden?

Just then, his chain of thought was broken, as the sounds
of the approaching guards grew louder. They were not just shadows
now, but silhouettes, too. They were entering the seam. Suddenly
Galvyn found himself frozen and unable to move, standing stock still,
he had only seconds to decide what to do.

If he walked over and talked to them, they would take
the violent man away and the danger would be gone. Or should he
follow Hayden up the stairs and leave the guards to their search.
Leave them to maybe find Decarius and figure out what happened to him
by themselves.

Galvyn could see there was a problem with this idea. As
he looked up, he could just make out the chain running up and
disappearing into the coal bunker. The trapdoor could not be closed
with the tub lowered. It could not be raised now either, the rattle
when winching up the chain is loud, the guards would hear it. But
with the trapdoor to his workshop open, the searching guards might
think it a good place to start looking.

Galvyn could see that the chain wasn't the only thing
disappearing into the coal bunker. Hayden was as well. He had reached
the ladder and was almost out of sight, but once through he would
have to wait there. Hayden couldn't leave the even if he wanted to,
before entering the mine, he had locked the workshop door.

It looked like he was going to have to co-operate with
the guards, he had no choice and maybe it was for the best. Yet
Galvyn felt a rising panic as he realized telling the truth was not
without its difficulties.

If he was going to tell them everything he
would have to show them where Decarius was. The guards would want to
know why the man had been dumped in the mine. Why hadn't he alerted
them right away? Why hide the body? Because he had been protecting
someone, a customer he'd had known for five minutes. Why was he?