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.’‘What makes you think there’s anything else?’Locklear pulled his sword suddenly and had the point at Isaac’s throat.‘Because I know you.You always hold something back, just in case you need an edge.I’m guessing this little bit of theatre is to give you a chance to be out of town before us, just in case you can find one of Nago’s agents and get him set on us before they figure out you’ve sold them out.Something like that.’Isaac grinned.‘Locky! Why I wouldn’t –’Locklear pressed forward with the sword point and Isaac stopped talking so suddenly he almost swallowed his own tongue.‘All of it,’ demanded Locklear in a menacing whisper.Slowly Isaac raised his hand and gently pushed aside the sword point.‘There’s a lockchest –’‘What?’ asked Locklear.Gorath said, ‘A chest in which to lock valuables.My people make them to transport items of importance.’‘Go on,’ said Locklear.‘There’s a lockchest outside of town.Go five miles down the road toward Questor’s View.To the right side of the road you’ll see a lightning-struck tree.Beyond that is a small clump of brush.Look there and you’ll see the chest.I am to leave the ruby there tonight, and when I return tomorrow, my gold is supposed to be waiting for me.’‘So you never see your contact from Krondor?’‘Never.That was part of Nago’s instructions to me.’‘You’ve seen this moredhel?’ asked Locklear.‘Met him,’ said Isaac.‘At Yellow Mule.He’s a big one, like your friend here, not slight like some of them can be.Nasty moods and no humour.Odd fire in his eyes if you know what I mean.’Locklear said, ‘I can imagine.What can you tell us about his company?’‘He only keeps a couple of soldiers around him - I’ve never seen more than three at any time - because it might be noticed.And there are enough Quegans coming through there that if he needs swords he can get them in a hurry.But he’s a magic-user, Locky, a right nasty witch and if you cross him he can fry you as soon as look at you.’Locklear glanced at Gorath who gave a slight nod of agreement to what was being said.Locklear said, ‘Very well, Isaac, here’s what you’re doing.Get something to write with.’Isaac glanced around the room and saw an old scrap of faded leather sitting in a corner.He crossed to the small fireplace and fished out some charcoal.He said, ‘What do I write?’‘Write this: “Ruby taken by Prince’s man.Three you seek are on the way to Eggly.I am undone and must flee.” Then sign your name.’Isaac signed, looking pale as he put down those words.‘This marks me, Locky.’‘You were marked the moment you took gold to turn your hand against your king.You deserve to be hanged, and eventually you will be unless you change your ways, but it will be for another crime, not for this.’‘Unless Nago’s agents find you first,’ added Gorath.That was all Isaac needed.‘What do I do with this?’‘Put it in the chest where you are to leave the ruby, then I suggest you start running.If you don’t put that note there, and I get to Krondor, I’ll hire assassins even if they have to travel to the farthest reaches of Kesh to find you.You can cut your hair and colour it, grow a beard, and wear furs like a Brijainer, but you can’t hide that leg, Isaac.Now get out of here.’Isaac didn’t hesitate.He grabbed his sword, his cloak and the note and hurried out the back door.‘How could you spare that traitor?’ asked Gorath.‘Dead he is of little use to us, and alive he may direct our foes to another path.’ Locklear looked at Gorath.‘And isn’t it a little odd you’re showing contempt for a traitor?’The look Gorath returned could only be called murderous.‘I am no traitor.I’m trying to save my people, human.’ He offered no further embellishment, but turned and said, ‘We must be away.That one cannot be trusted and may attempt to bargain for his life.’Locklear said, ‘I know, but either way he plants the note, or he is found and tells them what he knows, which isn’t much.They were trying to kill us before we got the ruby.They can’t make us any more dead for having it.’‘I think I have a way for us to avoid detection for a while and perhaps reach Nago unseen,’ Gorath said.‘How?’ asked Locklear.‘I know the way they reach this village of Yellow Mule.If we take the ridge road toward the town you call Eggly, leaving as we told in the note, there’s a trail a day’s quick run south of here that leads into the higher ridges.It is, I believe, the same trail that empties out near Rowe’s farm.’‘How could you know that?’ asked Locklear, suddenly suspicious.Gorath’s patience appeared near its end, but he managed to reply evenly.‘Because I lived in these mountains as a child, before you humans came to plague us.Before this land became infested with your kind, my people lived here.I’ve fished along these rivers and hunted in these mountains.’ His voice lowered and he said, ‘I may have built my campfire on the spot you humans have built this house.Now, let us go.It’s no long journey for a moredhel, but you humans tire easily, and besides, your wounds will slow you even more.’‘And yours won’t?’ asked Owyn.‘Not so that you would notice,’ replied the dark elf, turning to the door without waiting for a response and leaving the building.Locklear and Owyn hurried after and found Gorath waiting.‘We need to buy food.Have we enough gold?’‘For food, yes,’ said Locklear.‘For horses, no.’They headed to an inn at the east end of town, and Locklear arranged for travel rations, food bound in parchment heavily coated with beeswax, mostly dried or heavily salted to prevent spoilage.While they waited Locklear asked what conditions were like on the road to Eggly, pointedly being loud enough that a few suspicious-looking men hanging about the commons early in the day could overhear.Should anyone ask about them, he was certain this would only reinforce the false information in Isaac’s note.They left the inn and hurried on the road toward the town of Eggly.Locklear glanced upward, considered the rapidly rising ridge above the trees on the western side of the trail and considered the wisdom of hiking up to that elevation and over the mountains down into a nest of killers over which presided a murderous moredhel sorcerer.Finally he was left with the only answer which he could come up with: there wasn’t a better idea presenting itself.Resigning himself to a long walk and cold nights, he followed Gorath, with Owyn at his side.FOUR - PassageThe wind howled through the pass.Locklear spoke through chattering teeth.The things I do for king and country.’Gorath said, ‘Ignore the cold.As long as you can feel your fingers and toes, it is only discomfort, nothing more.’‘Easy for you to say,’ said Owyn shivering almost uncontrollably.‘You’re used to it, living up in the Northlands.’‘You’re never “used to it”, human.You just learn to accept things over which you have no control.’ He looked meaningfully at the two young men, then pointed.‘We can expect to see a sentry any time now.’‘What should we do?’ asked Locklear, the cold and his hunger robbing him of his wits.‘Wait over there,’ said Gorath, ‘while I scout.’Locklear and Owyn went to the relative shelter provided by the lee side of a huge boulder and waited
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