David Drake - The Gods Return

"They were out of sight behind this big tree," he said, "so I walked around it to see where they were going. I couldn't see them. I couldn't see anything, and neither could the guards. Just as I told Lady Zussa. They were gone!" "And then?" said Ilna. She could hold her pattern in front of the secretary's eyes and drag his very soul out, just as she'd said, but he seemed to be talking freely. Ingens licked his lips again. "We waited till evening," he said. "Hervir didn't come back. Nobody did. We had a room in Caraman-rooms, one for the guards and I slept on a truckle bed in Hervir's room. In the night I came back to this grove-alone. I didn't plan to… I just came to see if Hervir had returned. It was moonlight." He turned away. Ilna didn't jerk his head toward her. Ingens was talking; forcing him to meet her eyes would merely be punishment. That wasn't her business. "Hervir wasn't here," Ingens said. "He might have been! But I thought…

And I buried the money belt here between the trees. I still had the travelling expenses, the guards' pay and food and lodging. But I hid the gold we'd brought to buy saffron." "Why didn't you just carry it with you to Pandah?" Ilna said. "Or back to Valles, for that matter?

Since you were stealing it anyway." Ingens winced but looked up. "I thought if I had the gold with me on the journey back, the guards might have suspected. We'd have had a different relationship without Hervir." He gave her a crooked smile. "I was Hervir's dog, you see," he explained. "The guards believed that I thought I was better than a group of illiterate thugs with a modicum of skill at injuring people.

If they decided to kick the dog in the absence of its master, they'd find the gold. Rather than lose both the gold and my life, I buried it here and planned to come back for it alone." He started to cry. "I'm glad you caught me," he said. "I'm not a thief. I should never have thought I could get away with this, this…" Ilna shrugged. "It sounds to me," she said, "as if your main concern was saving your own life. And while I don't put a high value on that-your life or mine either one-it's not unreasonable that you'd disagree." She took the remaining few steps to the gong. She studied it critically. It was made of greenish stone with gray veins crawling through it; at first glance, she'd thought it was corroded bronze. Looking back at Ingens, she said, "Did you try ringing it yourself after your master disappeared?" "Yes, mistress," Ingens said. "We came back on the next three days, the guards and I. I struck the gong in the morning when we arrived, then in the evening before we left. No one responded, so we hired Captain Sairg to carry us to Pandah to report." "They may not come for me either," Ilna said, eyeing the stone disk. It was about three handspans across and as thick as her index finger. "Still, we'll try this first." She raised her right hand. "Mistress?" the secretary said in a desperate voice. Ilna turned in irritation. She held strands of yarn in her left hand; before she caught herself, she'd started to knot them in a fashion thatwould silence the fool while she had work to do. "Yes?" she said. "What are you going to do to me?" Ingens said.

"About the money?" "I have nothing to do with money!" Ilna snapped.

Her mouth worked sourly. In a milder tone she added, "And I have nothing to do with Halgran Mercantile, either. If we find Hervir, you can give the money back to him. If we don't, I suppose you can take it back to Mistress Zussa. If you survive, of course." "Thank you, mistress," Ingens said. "That's what I'd decided to do anyway." He gave her the broken smile again. "I'm not cut out to be a thief, you see," he said. "No," said Ilna, "you're not. Now, if you're done with your questions, I'll get on with the business that brought us here."

"Before you bring Princess Perrine and her little beasties…," said Usun. His voice managed to sound mocking even when he didn't mean it to be. If therewere times he didn't mean it to be. "Why don't you roll me up in your cloak so that they won't see me?" Ilna looked at him, then knelt to open her slung cloak on the bed of ferns. "Yes," she said. "That's a good idea." The wizened little man arranged himself on the densely woven wool. He'd somewhere found a hollow reed which he thrust toward the open edge, just as though he planned to hide under water. "What do you expect to happen?" the secretary asked as he watched in puzzlement. "I don'tknow what's going to happen," said Ilna, rolling the cloak again. "That's why Master Usun's idea is such a good one. She hung the garment's strap over her shoulder. Usun was so scrawny that, even knowing he was there, she saw no change in its lines. Adjusting her tunics, Ilna faced the gong again. Taking a deep breath, she tapped the center with her knuckles. Though she disliked stone, she had to admit that the gong's note was cool and melodious. Before the tone had died away, she heard the rustle of feet approaching through the dogwood and birch leaves. *** Garric walked deliberately toward the circular temple. He wasn't gripping his sword hilt, but his right hand was closer to it than it would've been during a meeting with his council. The sky had a pearly radiance like nothing in his experience. The scattered clouds he'd seen through the trees while walking to the lake margin has been completely normal. Tenoctris walked alongside him, looking somewhat worn. Now in a youthful body, she worked to conceal the effort she expended in her art just as she'd done when she wore all her seventy years. That didn't mean the effort wasn't real. The temple had solid walls instead of a colonnade, set on a three-step base. It had been built from unblemished white marble, save for the gilded dome and the pair of golden caryatids supporting the simple transom over the entrance. Garric walked into the lighted interior. The dome didn't have an oculus in its center: the light, the same soft rainbow majesty as the sky, streamed from the circle of wall opposite the entrance. It swirled and diffused and seemed to seep through the stone. Garric frowned for a moment, then turned his attention to the marble bier in the middle of the room. It must have had velvet coverings once, but time had reduced them to greenish dust on the surrounding floor. Lord Munn was a skeleton, but the skeleton of a man with bones as dense as a deer's. In life he must've been seven feet tall. His two-handed sword was the most massive weapon Garric had ever seen. "I've never seen anything like it either, lad," said the ghost in his mind. "I'd use it if I had to, but I'll tell theworldI'd find it awkward." Garric grinned. If Carus had to-whenhe'd had to-he'd tear out throats with his teeth. The warrior king's standards for what constituted a practical weapon were broader than most people could imagine. "Garric, come out here if you will," Tenoctris said. The request was polite in form but peremptory in tone. And why not? They were here by Tenoctris' skill and in furtherance of her plan; if she thought he ought to be doing something, she didn't need put frills on her direction. "Yes, ma'am," Garric said, walking out to where the wizard stood examining the caryatids. The women who'd modeled for the golden statues were similar but not twins. The one on Garric's left had fuller lips and a broader nose; her companion was taller by an inch or two, though their hair, bound with silver fillets, was piled to level the transom which they supported. Each held a codex open to the viewer. The book on the left read ask in the fluid Old Script, while the other read and it will be given. "What do you think of them?" Tenoctris said, gesturing.

The words or the statues? Garric wondered. The caryatids were smiling; smiling mockingly, one might reasonably think. Aloud he said, "Is it a code, perhaps?" "Perhaps," said Tenoctris, her tone meaning, "No." She looked from one statue to the other, then went on, "But I think…" She stepped back, motioning Garric with her. He was already following her lead. She bowed to each statue in turn, then said, "Mistresses, please help us in our trial." With throaty chuckles that certainly sounded golden, the caryatids shut their books and stepped out from under the transom. The stiff marble beam remained where it was, bound in place by the weight of the roof resting on the walls. "Oh, it feels good, doesn't it, Calixta?" said one. She executed a complex dance step on her toes, then pirouetted away.