The Hekamon (35 page)

He opened the drawers in quick succession, and could see there were a
few clothes of the type he would have expected, while the landlady
was almost speechless at his accusation.

"You think that…Galvyn…he would
never—"

Tregarron stopped searching and looked at the woman for
a moment. She knew Galvyn as well as anybody and he noted her
complete dismissal of the idea.

"Maybe an unwitting accessory," he said,
moving to a wardrobe.

"Not even that, Captain."

"He's involved somehow, Mrs. Willard."

"Could he been in danger? He wouldn't hurt a soul."

He stopped again, there was nothing untoward in the
room.

"Is there anything missing, that you are aware of?"
he said, sweeping his had around at Galvyn's meager belongings.

"Not that I can see, this is all he has."

He looked at Phelan and Collis standing in the doorway,
"Nothing here, let's go," he said walking out of the room
and following the two guards back down the stairs.

"Is Enyon going to be alright?" Mrs. Willard
said, following him, her voice edged with worry.

"I don't know," he said, and on reaching the
ground floor spoke with the three guards there, "Anything?"
they shook their heads, indicating there was not, "then we're
leaving," turning to the landlady.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Mrs Willard, your
assistance is appreciated and your concerns have been noted."

"Please find and help Galvyn if you can, Captain,"
she said, following him to the door as he left with his men.

"Good day," he replied noncommittally, but he
shared her opinion, although not as emphatically. Galvyn was more
likely to be a victim than a perpetrator. Standing on the street he
looked at the five guards.

"Phelan, this is your turf, what do you say?"

"We could try the inn, that's if we're looking for
the Coralainian as much as the apprentice."

Tregarron nodded in agreement but felt he needed to
cover more possibilities, "Phelan and Collis, you men are with
me, we'll check the inn," he turned to the remaining guards,
"you three, go behind the buildings here and start searching the
glades." He was about to go, but stopped on seeing their
expressions, "Not the whole of the glades, just the immediate
area."

This sat a little easier with them, but they were still
reticent and Tregarron understood why. Everyone avoided the glades,
especially at night, and the sun was getting low in the sky. Despite
their apprehension, the three men started moving in that direction.
While he, Phelan and Collis, continued down the street to the inn.

Galvyn sat and watched, as the last of the afternoon
sunlight filtered through the branches. It would be a few hours yet
before it set below the horizon, but it was already disappearing
below the ridge. The mountains here made for short days and a
prolonged twilight.

Despite the peaceful setting, Galvyn's mind was
busily trying to work out how he could best resolve the predicament
he found himself in, and he wasn't the only one with something to
think about.

The Fennrean girl was seated beside him, resting her
head on his shoulder. It was better than her holding a blade to his
throat that was for sure. She hadn't done much to dispel the stories
of Fennreans being savage-like but he sensed a kindness about her.

While they sat there, Galvyn let his mind drift to how
he might help her recover her necklace, and from the question she
then asked him, he could tell that she had been thinking the same
thing.

"How well do you know Tregarron?"

"Not that well, since I've only lived in Tivitay
for a few months, but he and my boss know each other from the time of
the bewailings, so he stops by the workshop from time to time."

"If you asked him to return my necklace, would he?"

"I could try, but when he took it from me he seemed
very interested in it, and even more so about who it belong to,"
Galvyn said, recalling Tregarron's reaction on seeing the necklace on
the workbench. "I got the feeling he wasn't about to hand
it back so easily and wanted the owner to go to him,
that much seemed clear."

"That's what worries me."

"Maybe if we approach him together, he might be
more receptive to the idea, your tattoo might help, too"

"That would be a good way to prove it's mine, but
I've got a bad feeling about it, I have my reasons—" She
stopped abruptly and looked through the trees, toward the lodge house
beyond, "Is there someone in your room?" she asked, looking
at the window he had pointed to a moment earlier.

"If there is, it's probably Mrs. Willard, my
landlady," he suggested, looking too, but unable to see anybody.

"I don't think it was," the girl's focus
entirely on the building that was just visible through the branches.

Galvyn thought that the young woman either had very good
eyesight, or an overactive imagination, "Well, I can't see
anyone."

"Maybe I imagined it," she said, yawning, "my
tiredness isn't helping. I might be starting to hallucinate."

"You can rest your head again, if you want,"
he said.

She did so, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and
started to speak.

"Ten years ago, my mother journeyed to Demedelei
Fort to see Lord Jephson. I don't know what it was about but it
seemed important. Important enough for her to take some risks and go
against the advice of Vondern. Before she left, she gave me the
necklace for safe keeping. She would only have done that if she
thought there was a chance of her not returning. She never did,"
the girl said, her voice cracked with emotion at the pain of the
recollection.

"Voight Vondern seemed unconcerned," she
continued, becoming more agitated, "he said she'd been reckless
and should've left things well alone. I was too young to understand
and never did find out what it was about. After a while, it seemed
that everyone at Ochre Hill forgot about her. Even I found it
difficult to picture her face, but when I hold the Ettinshel—"
she hesitated, "there I said it."

"The Ettinshel?"

"The name of the necklace."

"It has a name?"

"Well, it's no ordinary piece of jewelry, but then
you knew that already, didn't you."

"I sensed its importance, yes."

"It's important and powerful. It belonged to my
mother, and her mother before that. When I hold it, I'm reminded of
her and I sometimes hear her voice as clearly as if she is standing
next to me."

Galvyn
felt a shiver run down his spine at this revelation. What could that
mean? Perhaps he really had heard something when he'd held the
necklace earlier. It had worried him at the time, because he thought
he'd imagined it, but now he had to contend with the idea that he
hadn't
imagined it, and that worried him more.

Should he confide in the young woman about what he'd
heard? Of the message that had been conveyed to him? He was reluctant
to, if he told her, it might upset her. Before he could decide, she
spoke again.

"Since I've told you the name of the necklace,
maybe I should tell you mine, it's Alyssa."

"Thank you for telling me, its a beautiful name, it
suits you."

"Its nice of you to say so. When I was born, my
mother called me a slightly different name, but when I was old enough
to talk, I found it hard to say, so now I'm just Alyssa."

"I like it, what did your mother call you?"

"Now that," Alyssa said emphatically,"
I'm definitely not telling you, a person should have some secrets you
know."

Galvyn laughed, "Okay, that's fair enough."

"So you can see why I want to get the necklace
back."

"Yes, I can see why its important to you, and why
you are wary of the guards."

"I don't trust Jephson," Alyssa said, resting
her head on his shoulder again, "none of the men under his
command for that matter. I can sense that they're dangerous. Perhaps
everyone feels that way about the guards, but I feel it with every
fiber of my being. As much as I would like to, I wouldn't be able to
simply ask for it back, even though it belongs to me. I feel I would
be putting myself in danger."

"I think you're right to be cautious. A few of the
guards fought in the war and I've heard they still hold some
grievances. I wouldn't want to put you in a risky situation, maybe
taking you to Tregarron with me isn't such a good idea."

"What if you approached him yourself," she
said, raising her head and looking at him, "might you be able to
reason with him?"

He sighed.

"When Tansley gave me the necklace to repair, it
meant I was doing some under the counter work behind my boss's back.
I withheld that information from the captain. Then Mr. Croneygee
got badly hurt by a Coralainian who was looking for it, too. When
Tregarron finds this out, if he hasn't already, I will be in trouble,
he's hardly likely to return the necklace to me."

"Yes, you're right."

"Not only that, I promised Hayden I wouldn't
mention him, even though I was seen with him at the inn, and maybe at
the workshop as well. It's going to look bad."

"You
were
seen with Hayden at the workshop, by a man called Turner. I overheard
him telling Tregarron. That's how I knew where to find you."

"This is bad, it will harder for me to keep my
promise to Hayden now." He would now need to avoid Tregarron for
as long as possible, so Hayden had time to get away. "Maybe
Tansley won't say anything, but it's too much to hope
for."

"Yes,
Tansley is the problem, like you say, he knows things. For one, he
knows
how
the necklace came to be in his possession, even I don't know that,
and he knows what the Coralainians are looking for, and who has
them."

"What
Coralainians?" Galvyn interrupted. He wondered if these be the
others
that Hayden spoke of, but Alyssa ignored his question. He could see
that she was trying to figure out what Tregarron would likely
discover and what he knew already.

"Tansley must have found the necklace in the
woodshed tunnel, or on the ground somewhere. Still, he knows it
belongs to me, he saw it on me when my brother and I
visited his trading post…"

She's been to Tansley's? And what woodshed tunnel is she
talking about?

"…so, Tansley might tell Tregarron who it
belongs to. That might be a problem, if only I could have kept that
man under my control."

"Wait, slow down. Under your control?" He was
trying to keep up with her train of thought.

"If Tansley does tell Tregarron…he found the
pouch…"

Galvyn watched as Alyssa's face took on a concerned
expression, as she tried to understand her predicament.

"…he is aware of why we were there and what
we were trading. He knows someone is looking for something, too, I
heard him say as much. If Tansley tells Tregarron how he came by the
necklace and who it belongs to, then the captain will figure it out. He
will know who went back to the hut looking for it and might think
that person responsible for all of the assaults…"

"All of the assaults?"

"…and if caught I will be interrogated by
Tregarron himself."

"Alyssa—"

"Galvyn, Decarius isn't the only Coralainian to end
up in a bad way, there are two more at Tansley's hut. I hit them over
the head and left them tied up alongside Tansley, bleeding and
unconscious. I had to leave quickly when the guards arrived. Like
Hayden, I need you not to mention me," she said, before closing
her eyes, "I shouldn't have told you my name."

"I promise," Galvyn said, "I will not
tell anybody, you can trust me, I give you my word."

Galvyn put his head in his hands and took some deep
breaths. How could he resolve it? What was the right thing to do?
And what did Alyssa mean when she said that she'd left Tansley unconscious and
bleeding?

Just at that moment she nudged him.

"Look," she said, with panic in her voice.

He looked up at his window, but again saw nothing.

"No, by the alleyway."

He looked down at ground level, and to the back of
Willard's guest house. He could see three guards walking out of the
alleyway that ran beside the building there. The first of them was
already several paces through and heading in their direction.

"Galvyn, I think they're are looking for you,"
Alyssa said nervously, looking at him with eyes wide.

"I think so, too," he, said, the words catching
in his throat.

"And through you, they will find me," her
voice shaking.

"We need to get out of here," Galvyn said,
standing but feeling rooted to the spot. Where could they go?

The three men walked the short distance to the inn. The
innkeeper, Bill, was well known to Phelan, so Tregarron let him
conduct the questioning, so that the man might be more forthcoming.
From the conversation that followed, it turned out that the innkeeper
was indeed able to offer up some information.

It
seemed Galvyn
had
been there earlier, and had scrounged a meal out of a man who had
stayed at the inn overnight. According to the innkeeper, the man may
have been from Coralai or one of the other towns to the south.
Once they had finished eating, Galvyn left by the front door into
Tivitay Street, while the man had gone out by the back way. At this
information, Tregarron intervened in the questioning.

"Are you sure they went separately?"

"Certain," the innkeeper replied, "the
southerner was quite keen to do so."

"Describe him."

"Tall, with shoulder length black hair, white
tunic, heavy coat and boots, large shoulder bag."

"Do you know his name, or where he was heading?"

"He didn't give a name but that's not uncommon for
travelers through here, and he said was going to the pass."