The Hekamon (25 page)

"What are you doing?" Tolle asked.

"We're not staying, I'm going to put something here
and we're going to the bridge." Kormak replied, reaching up for
a ring with several keys, hooked on a rafter nearby and unlocking the
strongroom door.

The reinforced strongroom had been used as an armory
throughout the bewailing wars and for a good few years after. But the
treaty and subsequent peace with Coralai and Demedelei to the south
and west, meant everything had gradually been taken out and used to
equip the north and eastern patrols instead. Those patrols secured
the trading routes that saw herbs carted out and food brought in, and
were thought more important.

By rights the room was still an armory, but nobody
called it that for reasons that were apparent when Kormak entered. It
was empty. Except that is, for a single wooden chest, another key on
the ring opened that, revealing that it too was empty. It had been
for some time.

Kormak planned to return this room to its former
function, funded with their own trade route that he was in the
process of establishing. This was the beginning, he said to himself,
placing the leather bag containing the iron grippers inside. Feeling
a sense of both satisfaction and trepidation, as he closed the chest,
and then the strongroom door behind him. The first phase of his plan
had not come without a cost.

"What did you hide in there?" Moxley asked
inquisitively.

"And why are you going to the bridge?" Tolle
asked, equally so, as Kormak emerged from the strongroom.

He had tried playing it cool at Ochre Hill earlier, with
his casual disclosure at leaving Alyssa behind and returning without
her. It hadn't washed with Saskia and it was even less likely to with
Tolle. Palfrey had been right to warn him, and Kormak had used the
time it had taken for them to walk here, to decide on a change of
tone.

"Alyssa is still south," he said breathlessly,
replacing the keys on the hook. His agitation was not an act, he was
really becoming worried, and for a number of reasons.

"What?" Tolle asked, "Why?"

"She lost her necklace and stayed behind to look
for it."

"Kormak—" Tolle began, but he didn't let
him finish.

"I had to return alone, it was unavoidable, but now
we're going to the bridge," he said already walking toward the
stockade door, with Palfrey and Loccsleah following. "We'll wait
for her there, and if she doesn't show, go look for her," he
continued, a sense of urgency in his voice, before stopping at the
doorway and turning, "Are you with us?"

Tolle and Moxley looked at each other.

"Of course," Tolle said, "tell us
everything that happened."

Kormak thought it might be for the best if he didn't,
not everything, as the five of them set off in the direction of the
Rhavenbrook Bridge. He would keep one detail to himself.

It had been the rumble of approaching thunder, or at
least, that's what it had sounded like. A sudden avalanche of noise
that brought Alyssa out of a restless dream. It was followed by the
sound of a door opening and within seconds the hatch in front of her
had partially opened, too, before immediately slamming shut. Causing
the tunnel to shower her with lose soil and other things, strange,
unseen creatures, that fell onto her and scurried away again, back
into the safety of the earth.

Alyssa was wide awake at this point, and had
instinctively started making herself scarce as well. Inching back along the
tunnel feet first. She had only gone a short way, when the initial shock
of being suddenly woken wore off and her panic subsided. With
considerable effort she managed to compose herself and, while taking
some deep breaths, she halted her escape. She was in danger, she knew
that much, but understanding the nature of the threat would be a form
of defense in itself. She readied herself to start moving again but
for the time being she waited and listened.

There came through the hatch the muffled sound of
voices. Men's voices, loud, demanding, and threatening. Torn between
backing out of the tunnel, or moving closer to the hatch to better
hear what was being said. Alyssa quickly realized she had no choice,
leaving was not an option. The little of the conversation she'd
already heard compelled her to remain. What she was hearing was too
important.

While laying still in the tunnel, Alyssa heard a deep
voiced man asking about the iron grippers, gauntlets as he called
them. Would the merchant reveal that he'd sold them to her brother? The
aggressor, with the distinctive southern accent sounded violent and,
from what she could discern, was threatening torture. Of course
Tansley would talk. And once he'd revealed their whereabouts and the
identities of the people he'd sold them to, the inquisitors would be
after them next.

Then what? Would these people coming looking for them in
the marshes?

Alyssa
recalled the feeling when she'd first laid eyes the eagle embroidered
bag. She
knew
it was something, Kormak had sensed it, too. If they were as
important as it seemed, then they could expect visitors, and that
would be a problem, since the safety of the marshes was as much to do
with the fact that nobody went there, or wanted to go there, as
anything else.

Feeling trapped in the tunnel and with a growing sense
of foreboding, Alyssa felt her panic start to rise again. Seemingly
helpless to do anything and with options limited, it looked like all
she could hope to do was get home to Fennelbek and warn the rest of
the Egret Patrol to expect intruders. Yet more than anything else, she
wanted to talk with Tansley and felt she couldn't leave until she had
done so.

The calm that had descended in the hut ended abruptly.
There came another rumble of noise and once again the hut shook on
its foundations. Moments later the hatch opened and Tansley's
startled face was in front of her. She watched him recoil in horror
at her presence, and understandably so. By simply being there she was
impeding his attempt to escape from the aggressive sounding men.

Yet his expression changed just as quickly, from one of
shock to one of being delighted to see her, before he was almost
immediately struck on the head by an unseen attacker. A combination
of the way the hatch opened, its location in the shed and Tansley
himself, obscured her from view. As Tansley was dragged away, the
hatch slowly swung to, and she had reached out to prevent it from
latching.

Once the retreating sounds had suggested the way was
clear, she had crept out from the tunnel and into the woodshed
without any plan of what she was going to do there. The thought of
immediately turning around and re-entering the tunnel again had been
a tempting one. At least she would be facing in the right
direction to crawl out.

Instead she had stayed in an attempt to listen to more
of what was going on. The next thing she had heard alarmed her, one
of the men was being sent to the woodshed. Grabbing a log from the
pile, she was able to surprise the intruder from behind the door. She
guessed that the young man was not the main aggressor, but she had no
choice, it was that or get caught.

No sooner had she incapacitated the first man, than she
could hear the other one calling to him, and detected the growing
suspicion in his voice at the lack of response. This man would be
more alert and so harder to ambush. Not only that, his was the
demanding voice she had heard.

Alyssa had half decided to leave
again, even going so far as opening the hatch in order to do so, but
another idea had formed in her mind. If she could disable the second
man too, it would mean that she had rescued Tansley from their
clutches and he would be able to return the favor. She decided the
rewards were worth the risk. It was better to be the hunter than the
hunted.

Lithe and nimble, Alyssa climbed the stacks of wood
against the wall and waited, before timing her attack perfectly.
Knocking the second man out even more emphatically than the first.

With the dust now settled, Alyssa took the log she had
made use of, and placed it back on the pile next to her. Looking
around the woodshed, she could see there was more tidying up to be
done.

Moving the smaller of the two men to one side, she opened the
door to the interior of the trading post and began to drag the
heavier man inside. Leaving him in the middle of the store room, she
returned for his companion. Once both men were out of the shed, she
started making preparations, and began by moving through the
curtained doorway.

Entering the shop front, Alyssa searched around in the
dim light and quickly found what she was looking for. She'd look over
the place the previous night and knew that it contained things she
could make use of. Lengths of rope, and strips of fabric and leather.
She grabbed what she needed, went back to where the two men were
laying prostrate and began tying them up.

The younger man was unmasked, with his face bloodied and
pale. His injuries didn't look that bad and Alyssa guessed that he
would wake before long. The bigger of the two, she didn't look at too
closely. Blood was soaking into the hood he was wearing and his
breathing was slow and shallow.

Jumping from the woodpile, and with
her full weight behind the blow, meant she'd hit him hard. While she
hadn't killed him outright, she'd seen the less badly hurt, fade and
die within days. The man was masked and she decided to leave him that
way, so his face wouldn't haunt her dreams.

His voice though, that she could still hear. It was the
bigger of the two men who had been the doing the talking, the voice
deep and menacing. The words he'd spoken, and the manner in which
he'd said them, suggesting that he would get what he came for and would
use any means necessary.

With the men tied up, she entered the kitchen and
checked on Tansley. Alyssa could see that the merchant had also been
bound with rope. She would leave him that way and see what state he
was in when he awoke, something that might take hours.

What was she
going to do with him when he did? There were some questions for him
to answer but that was only part of it. What they were going to
do with the Coralainians was equally pressing. She was sure that's
what the men were, she had thought so just from their voices but now
she had seen them, even in this dim light, she knew they were from the
south. There was just something about them.

With the three men now bound and not going anywhere,
Alyssa moved through the hut, searching every room. Returning to the
kitchen she crouched down and looked closely at Tansley. Shaking him
to see if there was a chance he might wake up sooner rather than
later. He didn't, and it wasn't really a surprise.

She'd had a good view
of him being struck over the head, and although it had only been a
glancing blow, he would need to sleep it off.

Thinking of the moment
Tansley appeared in front of her, Alyssa recalled the expression on
his face when he'd opened the hatch and saw her there. She smiled to
herself, before trying to stifle a laugh but found herself unable to. She had some pent up emotions and a few moments laughing
seemed to help. Her tears of laughter preferable to the other kind.

Through her tiredness and fatigue, Alyssa suddenly felt
awake and energized. It wasn't just that she'd been able to overpower
the two violent men, or that she'd saved Tansley from their clutches.
Or that in doing so, she may have protected her brother from their
aggressive pursuit of his acquisition. As important as these
considerations were. No, it was something else that had lifted her
spirits.

Her mind had now turned to the other part of the
conversation she'd overheard. The details of which brought Alyssa
hope and renewed optimism. She would make sure that once Tansley was
awake, he would expand on what he knew. The man would answer her
questions, he was in no position to refuse.

What did he mean when he said that he'd come into
possession of a valuable necklace? How had he? And how had the chain
been become broken?

Not only that, he was going to answer some questions
that would help her to retrieve it. Who is this Croneygee he had
visited? Where is his armory? And, most importantly, who is the
apprentice with her necklace?

It was not lost forever.

The
barman had confirmed what Tregarron had suspected, Tansley
was
a creature of habit.

Tregarron knew, that whenever the merchant came into
town he visited the tavern, and today had been no exception.
According to Duncan, he'd stayed five or ten minutes, had a drink and
left. As to the question of his behavior; had the man seemed nervous,
was he acting suspiciously or agitated in some way? Duncan had been
more circumspect on this point, but then, he was a man of few words.

Leaving the tavern, the four men walked up Market Street
as it rose towards the High Gate. Tregarron lead them through the
open portcullis and onto the crossroads beyond.

Here, Market Street
met with the Regis Highway to the left, Trinity Lane to the right
with the mountain pass directly ahead. From this point is was
possible for Tregarron to take a view of the whole pass, all the way
up to where the path disappeared over the ridge.

The stone columns that formed the mountains made for
natural steps, and these had been further sculpted by the footfall of
travelers for centuries past. The winding road found its way up
through a thousand feet of rock-face, then over and through the
saddle point, the lowest point in the ridgeline for many miles in
either direction.

Looking at the mountainside, Tregarron could see that
there were two people, walking down the steps of the pass and in his
direction. An elderly couple, laden with heavy bags, tentatively
making their way down. Their slow progress meant it would take
them quite some time to reach him, but since they were already close enough
to be within earshot, he shouted to them.