The Wordsmiths and the Warguild (47 page)

       
It didn't work!

       
The earth swept up to
meet him.

       
He turned the ring
again.

       
No good!

       
He went hurtling toward
the slaughtering rocks.

       
And turned the ring. And
-

       
The rocks came slamming
toward him -

       
But -

       
"Aaah!"
screamed Togura.

       
And walls of softly
glowing green echoed his scream back to him.

       
He looked around,
shivering. He was on his hands and knees in the green bottle. He was alive.
Wasn't he? He thumped the floor with his fist. Real solid bottle-rock. He really
was alive!

       
"By my
grandfather's sperm," muttered Togura.

       
Then fainted.

Chapter 45

       
When Togura woke, he
found himself in the green bottle. Bit by bit, he remembered - reluctantly -
what had happened to him. Presumably, the green bottle was still lying at the
foot of Dead Man's Drop. Presumably, if he used the ring again, he would arrive
outside the bottle.

       
And then?

       
Then he would either
have to run away or return to Keep and kill Cromarty. At the moment, the latter
course seemed infinitely preferable. He wanted Cromarty dead.

       
"No mercy!"
shouted Togura.

       
Then wished he hadn't
shouted quite so loudly. After all, there were at least two other people in the
green bottle - the priate Bluewater Draven and the unknown warrior he had last
seen drawing steel, perhaps with murderous intent.

       
Those two were
dangerous.

       
On the other hand ...

       
They might just possibly
prove to be an asset.

       
If he met them, Togura
would have to explain a number of things. First, why he had concealed the ring from
Draven. He could say he had swallowed it, and had only recovered it shortly
before using it. Second, why he had left Draven in the bottle. He could say he
had been captured (and tortured, and cut to pieces and resurrected afterwards)
by people on the Lesser Teeth. Third, why they should help him. He could say he
could reward them with his inheritance when he became baron, which was true
enough.

       
As plans went, it was a
little shaky.

       
Still, if Draven turned
murderous, Togura could always bring him to heel by mentioning the dralkosh Yen
Olass Ampadara. That had brought him to order once, and might well do so again.

       
And, whatever the
dangers of seeking out Draven and his sparring partner, it was certainly much
safer than trying to take on Cromarty and all his fellow murderers
single-handed.

       
"Anyone home?"
cried Togura.

       
Nobody answered.

       
"It's me!" he
shouted. "Togura Poulaan! Barak the Battleman! Forester! I can explain
everything!"

       
Still no answer.

       
Togura found a set of
stairs and started downwards. Below, he found the remains of a storeroom. From
the empty crocks, barrels and wineskins lying about, it seemed there must once
have been a considerable supply of food here. Ferreting about, Togura managed
to uncover a bit of smoked pork and some wine. Well - not wine exactly, more
like vinegar. But it was still drinkable.

       
He ate.

       
He drank.

       
Then, fortified,
descended.

       
He followed a series of
stairways downwards from one level to the next, into increasingly larger
chambers. After a while, he quite lost count of the number of levels he had
descended.

       
Then, a while later, the
chambers started to get smaller. What did that mean? It meant, perhaps, that he
was getting near the bottom. And still no sign of the two men he was looking
for, or, for that matter, any others.

       
Perhaps he had better go
up.

       
The stillness and the
silence within the green bottle were uncanny. Unnerving.

       
On the other hand, it
was a long, long way up. There was nowhere the two men could have disappeared
to. They had to be down below.

       
"Courage!"
said Togura to Togura.

       
And, though still
apprehensive, continued his descent.

       
He went down one last
set of stairs and found himself in a small chamber which seemed to be the
bottom, as there was no way out of it. Trapped in a cage built into the wall of
the chamber were two men. They seemed to be dead.

       
"Gods!" said
Togura.

       
At his voice, the men
stirred. Snorted. Woke. One was Draven and the other was a burly stranger of
middle years.

       
"Togura!"
roared Draven. "Get us the hell out of here!"

       
From the vigour of the
pirate's voice, Togura deduced that he had not been trapped in the cage for
very long.

       
"Who put you in
there?" said Togura, glancing about nervously.

       
"Nobody put us in
here, boy," said the second man in the cage. "We stepped in here, and
it closed on us. Say ... don't I know you from somewhere?"

       
"I've seen you
before, I think," said Togura, puzzled. "But I couldn't say when or
where. Why did you get in the cage?"

       
"There was no cage
to start with," said Draven. "Just a hole in the wall. Iwent in. Then
he joined me. Then the bars caged us."

       
"Why did you go in
anyway?"

       
"Oh, pigs
buggeration!" said Draven. "Quit the questions and open the
cage!"

       
"I only asked a
civil question," said Togura mildly.

       
"Why you - "

       
"Silence!"

       
At a word from the
stranger, Draven fell silent. The stranger held up a blue bottle.

       
"Boy," said
the stranger, "we came down here looking for a way out. We found this blue
bottle in this hole. We think perhaps it's a magic bottle. We were on our hands
and knees looking for the ring which might command it. The bars trapped
us."

       
"You didn't find
the ring?"

       
"No, boy,"
said the stranger. He held up a small casket, marked with the sign of a heart
and a hand. "Just this."

       
"I want that!"
said Togura sharply.

       
It was another magic
casket. Inside, there should by rights be another index.

       
"Then you shall
have it," said the stranger. "Once we have given you our assurances,
and you have let us out of here. I will give you my assurances first. My name
is Guest Gulkan. I am the rightful heir to the leadership of the Yarglat
horsetribes, the rightful heir to the rule of Tameran. I swear, by the secret
name of the Horse who was Horse, by the blood of the Rider who was Rider, by
the Witness within the Wind and by the Witness beyond the Wind, by the honour
of my dynasty and by the honour of my own heartbeat's blood, that I will do you
no harm."

       
"And," said
Togura, "that you will yield up that casket."

       
"I will," said
Guest Gulkan of Tameran.

       
"And," said
Togura, "that you will help me kill my half-brother Cromarty."

       
"Sure," said
Guest Gulkan, unable to conceal his contempt for a man who could not do his own
killing. "And rape your half-sister, too, if that's your
requirement."

       
"I've got a
rightful claim to Cromarty's head!" shouted Togura.

       
"Peace, boy,"
said Guest Gulkan, his voice soothing. "I'm sure you have. Once we're out,
you can tell us all about it. Draven, give the boy your assurances. Come on
now!"

       
"I swear to your
safety," muttered Draven. "By a pirate's honour."

       
"Pirate's
honour!" said Togura. "What kind of honour is that? I saved your life
once, and you had me thrown overboard to sea serpents. I showed you how to get
control of your ship at Androlmarphos and got precious little thanks
afterwards. And what kind of honour did you show - "

       
"That's
enough!" said Guest Gulkan. "I'll vouch for him. He'll honour his
oath or my steel will dishonour his neck."

       
Togura bowed.

       
"You, my
lord," said Togura, "I trust."

       
And Togura began to hunt
around for some way to open the cage. He explored the bars of the cage, then
the surrounding walls, where he found a little catch hidden in a small
indentation. He pulled it. The cage opened. Draven and Guest Gulkan came out,
Draven scowling, Guest Gulkan smiling.

       
"Here," said
Guest Gulkan, handing Togura the magic casket. "Here's the first part of
my oath fulfilled."

       
"Thank you,"
said Togura.

       
At that moment, a wall
of rock crashed down, blocking the way up the stairs.

       
"Grief!" said
Draven.

       
The wall growled. And
began to grind its way toward them. Its entire surface came alive: became a
seething mass of grinding graunching teeth.

       
"Yaa-hoo!"
screamed Guest Gulkan, drawing his sword and attacking the wall.

       
It munched his steel
without faltering and continued to chomp its way toward them. Togura turned the
ring on his finger, once, then again, then again, trying to get out of the
green bottle. But it was useless. He was trapped.

       
He was going to die.

       
Raging at his death,
Togura, screaming, picked up the blue bottle Guest Gulkan had dropped, and
threw it at the wall.

  
     
The wall munched
into it.

       
The teeth faltered.

       
The teeth closed around
the blue bottle and began to vibrate. The bottle began to crack. So did the
teeth. Suddenly the bottle shattered. The teeth, uncoordinated, began to
chatter. The wall tried to continue its advance. But something was wrong. It
was vibrating badly. As they watched, it shook itself to bits.

       
And, suddenly, with a
roar, all the walls around split open. Gravity shifted. They were flung head
over heels and spilt out through a crack, landing in the mud and muck and
detritus amongst the pinnacles at the foot of Dead Man's Drop.

       
"By the blood of a
weeping virgin!" muttered Draven, looking around. "Where are
we?"

       
Arching overhead was a
huge, curved green wall, with gaping cracks in it, some big enough to permit a
mammoth entrance and egress. It rose at least three hundred or so paces high,
and seemed to curve away for the better part of a league or so.

       
"I think,"
said Guest Gulkan, quietly, "we're looking at the wreckage of the green
bottle. I think we broke it open by smashing the blue bottle inside it."

       
"Well, right or
wrong," said Draven, "we're out. What now?"

       
Togura salvaged the
magic casket from the mud at his feet. He spoke the Word. The casket opened.
Inside was a triple-harp - or, to call it by its other name, an index.

       
"Now," said
Togura, with determination, "we've got to set the world to rights. First
by taking revenge!"

       
"First," said
Guest Gulkan, "we've got to get our hands on some weapons. And a meal
before that, if possible."

       
"Come," said
Togura. "We're going up there. See? It's a long walk, and we've not much
daylight left - but I know what to do when we get there."