The Hekamon (51 page)

In different circumstances, he would have taken his
wife's arm and steadied her, but just at this moment it wasn't
possible.

For one thing, they both felt it improper when they were in
uniform, if anything, she more than he. The other reason was one of
practicality, she didn't have an arm free for him to steady her by,
since she was carrying both lanterns.

Once they were safely past the fishery, he would move around to
the cemetery so that he could gain access to the priory that way. If
he was going to try and enter the building secretly, then he couldn't
walk around carrying a lantern. If he was going to do that, he might just as well barge his way in.

So Tregarron had given his lantern to his wife to carry,
but for now they would maintain the pretense that they were leaving.
They would continue up the road for a short distance then, when out
of sight, he would return.

Tregarron knew that he
would need to be careful. The secret tunnel he planned to use opened
into a small room in the priory and Jervay was almost certainly aware
of its existence.

With the two of them now past the pools, Tregarron
started looking around for the best route to take to the cemetery,
and as he was doing so, his wife noticed something on the road up
ahead.

"Are those lanterns I can see?" she said.

Tregarron looked in the direction of Demedelei Town,
with its building well lit from inside and out, and could see Kate
was right. There were two people, both of whom were carrying
lanterns, at a distance halfway to the town and heading toward them.
Not only that, he could see that the two people were guards.

"If they are looking for us," Kate reasoned,
"It must mean another victim has been found."

"Possibly," he replied, as the two guards
neared, but once their identities became clear, he guessed what it
was going to be about.

"I sent Phelan and Collis to the Rhavenbrook Bridge
and asked them to report back to me," he informed Kate, "They
must have gone to fort, and then been told where they could find us.
Let's see what they have to say."

"Captain," Phelan said, once the man had got
to within a few yards, and by way of a greeting.

"Anything to report, Phelan?"

From what the man then told him, it turned out he
had a great deal to report, and the captain listened with interest as
the guard relayed what he had seen. Once finished, Tregarron asked
about some of the details.

"The man being taken away by the Fennreans, what
did he look like?"

"He was on the ground so it was hard to tell, but
he seemed a well built fellow, with long black hair."

"Could you see what was he wearing?"

"From what I could tell, just an old coat, nothing
special."

"What about footwear? Leather caligae, strapped in
the Coralai style?"

Phelan was unsure on this point, but the other guard,
Collis, had been more observant, "He wasn't wearing caligae,
just normal boots."

"But he was wearing a white tunic, that much I'm
sure of," Phelan added.

Tregarron took his lantern back from his wife and, with a
motion of his head, signaled they were leaving.

"Is this information important?" Kate asked,
at the sudden change of plan.

"Yes."

Tregarron
knew there had been a Coralainian at large, he'd discovered his name
and now his location. Not only that, if the man
was
in the custody of Fennreans, then none had escaped, far from it. The
man had ended up in the worst possible place.

"I'm certain he is our man, and if I'm right, his
name is Hayden," he said, as the four of them started walking
towards the town. "The coat and boots would fit with what both
Tansley and the innkeeper told me."

"The innkeeper told us that the man was going to
the pass," Phelan noted.

"Yes, he was covering his tracks. It was
misdirection, just as I suspected. After attacking Enyon Croneygee,
the man rightly assumed that he would be hunted and tried to put us
off the scent."

"Why might the Fennreans have apprehended him?"
Kate wondered.

"They said he had stolen something." Phelan
replied.

Tregarron nodded, "A necklace, and then took it to
Croneygee's to get it repaired."

"Wouldn't it be risky giving a stolen necklace to a
workshop to repair?" Kate asked, "It's not what I would
do."

"Yes, but then, you wouldn't have stolen it in the
first place," he said smiling at his wife. "With the chain
broken it would look stolen and be less valuable for it. And the
quality of the chain was too fine to be repaired by an unskilled
amateur. A naive apprentice might be gullible enough to repair it for
a small fee. Then it could be sold or traded to another shop without
the damage that showed it had been snatched from somebody's neck. The
thief probably thought the whole thing could be over and done with
quickly and that he would be long gone before anyone was any the
wiser."

"How did he steal it? Coralainians don't usually
venture into the swamp."

"There had been Fennreans up near the trading posts
recently, one of them probably got robbed on the highway. We need to
station guards on the High Gate permanently, our control of that road
has been slipping"

"If the necklace is valuable they're going to want
it back," Kate said.

"Whoever it belongs to will give it up as lost, or
at least, they will if they know what's good for them."

Kate stopped suddenly, "But what if they don't?"
she said, before turning to Phelan, "What were the Fennreans
going to do with their captive, did they give any indication?"

"They said they would interrogate him further,"
Phelan said.

The three men stopped to look at Kate, who was thinking
trough the implications, before she turned to her husband.

"Is there any way that Coralainian knows you have
their necklace?"

"Yes, Galvyn knew, so the man could have found out
from him," he replied, not unduly worried.

"So what happens when he tells his interrogators
you have it? Won't their attention turn to you?"

"Well, I gave it to Jephson," he smiled,
"perhaps he will want to be well guarded," his smile
becoming a grin.

Kate looked at him, unsatisfied with his answer, but he
had already started walking again. He understood his wife's concern
but he was far less worried now. It looked like one rogue Coralainian
called Hayden had caused the trouble. Things would now be settled, he
might even be able to orchestrate a favorable resolution.

If Hayden was in possession of the same gauntlets that
the two men held in the prison were sent to recover, and there was
every chance he was, then exchanging the necklace for those gauntlets
might be achievable. He might even be able to retain those carapaces
for himself. Or, if not, send them back to Saceress Volusia, along with
Aegis.

Returning
both her son,
and
the Eagle Standard? Volusia would be very grateful, and
Volusia's an attractive
woman. Not that
Kate…anyway, Tregarron felt sure he could smooth things over
to his advantage.
A
Powerful woman, too.

Of
course, he wouldn't let Jephson get too comfortable, but talk of
rogue Coralainians and vengeful Fennreans should be sufficient. It
would be the fear but without the danger. Tregarron knew that, for a
captain of the guard, it was the perfect scenario.
And
rich.

The four guards made it to the town and once there, met with three more guards arriving from the direction of the
High Gate.

"Let me guess," he called to Teague, as the
guardsman drew close, "No sign of anyone at the pass."

"That's right, sir," Teague said, gasping and
red in the face. He was more accustomed to sitting in the gatehouse
than running up and down hills. "Nobody there and nothing
untoward."

It was the final confirmation, "Thank you, Teague,
and everyone else for your assistance, you can call it a night.
Report for duty as normal in the morning."

"Thank god," Teague said.

"Are we calling it a night too?" Kate asked.

"I'll speak to Jephson before turning in, but I
think our work here is done."

Stepping out into the darkness, Saskia took the torch
Vondern had placed on the wall, and followed the others over to the
shape on the ground. If it were not for the fact that Saskia had been
told the creature before her was a man, she would not have guessed
right away. Caked in mud, and trussed up like a hog with a sack over
his head, the man made for a pitiful sight. She watched as the sack
was pulled off to reveal that he was gagged, also. Not that he was
likely to say much in his current state.

"His he alive?" Vondern asked.

Tolle kicked the captive, who groaned in response.

"Yes," Tolle said, matter-of-factly.

"Hold these," Vondern said, handing her the
keys to the stockade, "and give us some light."

Saskia held the torch high to provide illumination,
while Vondern, Tolle, Palfrey and Moxley each grabbed a piece of the
prisoner, and between them, they manhandled him over to a wooden
structure, twenty yards from the stockade.

She and Loccsleah stood and looked on, while the man was
prepared for the pit, but before that could happen, the pit needed to
be prepared for the man. This involved removing the wooden slats that
covered the deep, excavated hole in the ground and hoisting up the
iron cage it housed.

Years ago, during the bewailings, the pit was
used as a prison cell and could hold several men at a time. In more
peaceful times, it was where they would keep wild boars to tenderize
the meat prior to slaughter.

The cage could be accessed either from a grille on the
top, or by a door on the side. It was useful to just drop a boar in
from the top and Saskia thought they might do the same with the
prisoner, but on this occasion, Vondern winched the cage out
completely, and perhaps wisely. In his tied up state, the fall might
kill the man. Meaning any information he had would die with him.

Once
the cage was clear of the hole, Tolle pulled it to one side and
Vondern lowered it to the ground.

"Key," Vondern demanded.

She handed him the keys, and after unlocking the cage,
the men bundled the prisoner inside. He didn't put up any resistance
and was not even conscious.

"This wretch isn't going to give us any
information, he may not even survive the night." Vondern said,
catching his breath from the exertion of raising the cage and moving
the man. He continued looking at the wet and muddy prisoner, deciding
what to do with him, before turning to her, "I'll leave him in
your capable hands, Saskia," he said, handing her the keys once
more, before making his way back in the direction of the stockade.

The three young men of the Egret Patrol looked at each
other, perhaps deciding whether or not they should follow the
voight's example, and leave the women to deal with the prisoner.

"Could you tell us more about the Haaken Iron
Grippers?" Tolle called after his uncle.

"If you want," Vondern said, without stopping
or looking back. The boys needed no further invitation, and left
Saskia and Loccsleah to it.

The two of them exchanged looks, before Loccsleah spoke
warily.

"What should we do with him?"

"If we leave him like this he won't survive, he's
wet and the night will only get colder," she said, kneeling down
next to the cage and starting to undress the man inside. "The
pit will keep him a little warmer since it's sheltered, but we need
to get him out of these wet clothes."

"I can see why they've left it to us, he's a mess,"
Loccsleah said, prodding the man uncertainly.

Saskia took her dagger from her belt and began cutting
away the man's tunic.

"Shouldn't you do that more carefully?" Her
young companion asked.

"He has stolen from Alyssa, what else might he have
done to her?" she replied, slashing even more vigorously.

"He might have information of her whereabouts, too.
He knows something of who she was with, I'm sure of it."

The words had an immediate effect on her and she
proceeded more carefully. And as Saskia started removing his tunic,
Loccsleah considered the threat the man posed.

"Are we in danger? Just the two of us, I mean,
alone with this Coralainian."

"We aren't going to untie him, just clean and dry
him off. Go and get some rags and blankets from the stockade while I
finish here," she said, moving to untie his boots while
Loccsleah duly obliged.

Left alone with the man, Saskia's thoughts turned to the
last time they had a Coralainian prisoner here.

It must have been
five years ago. It had been a lean winter and food was scarce for
everyone. The man had been caught poaching deer in the woods to the
east. It might not have been so bad for him but he put up a fight
while trying to evade capture and drew Fennrean blood.

The ferguths who captured him then brought him to the
stockade, where his possessions were confiscated and he was placed in
the pit.

Over the subsequent weeks, the man revealed what he knew
about the other poachers from Coralai. About how they used mountain
tunnels to move into the glades, and if seen, make good their escape.
It seemed that they normally used the cover of night but the deer
were proving elusive, so the man had taken some ill advised risks and
hunted by day.

With little food to spare, the man grew weak and Vondern
had ordered him sacrificed in a ritual to alleviate the winters
hardship. The voight believed the spirits would respond favorably,
especially if their actions were just and the victim deserving.

It worked, too. The meat was tender and liver
flavorsome, while the offal sustained the tamed boar they kept around
Ochre Hill's lowest tier.