Everyone looked at Varthlokkur, who said, “I have no idea.
Maybe I should go see. Now. I’ve heard from Her Majesty and my fel ow wizard. Suppose you speak next, Colonel Gales?”
“Not much to tel . I was a prisoner. They turned me loose.
I’ve been trying to regain my health. My experience doesn’t connect with the matter at hand.”
“The Heltkler girl was associated with your captors.” Gales shrugged. “I never saw a girl. I saw one man. He brought food and made sure I didn’t try to get away. I was drugged most of the time. Those times when my head did clear I was too sick to act.”
“Nathan Wolf. I know little about you.”
Wolf shivered, told what he could. The wizard did not interrupt. He tolerated repetition of information already given. He was sniffing for previously undetected connections.
“Excel ent. You are a skil ed observer. Is it possible that the Heltkler girl disappeared into the same fog as the men who kidnapped Colonel Gales?”
Babeltausque opened his mouth, then shut it. That possibility had not occurred to him. His hungers, fears, and preconceptions, fueled by the hysteria stirred by Phyletia’s dark fate, had shoved political possibilities right out of his head.
He was not alone.
Josiah Gales gave up a cough that was a smal confession of embarrassment.
Babeltausque said, “So. A plausible explanation for what happened to another girl. Does that take the load off Arnulf Black? She might have run to escape him instead of us.” Varthlokkur faced Wachtel. “Doctor? You have something?” The old man shook. “I won’t be doing surgery much longer.” Varthlokkur told him, “These people al know your secret.
For my part, I don’t care what made you become political.”
“My physician’s oath. These invaders only mean to use the people of Kavelin like farm animals.”
“As may be, we have children to save. We have a monster to identify. Can you contribute to that cause?” Wachtel talked about girls found dead in the past.
“Might there have been others?”
“Almost certainly.”
Nathan Wolf suggested, “There could have been dozens.
Girls go missing al the time. Most run away. The ones we know about are the ones whose bodies were found.” Varthlokkur said, “Youth sel s. There are those who exploit that. With Her Majesty’s permission I’d like to interview people who operate houses of prostitution. Those who get stubborn can answer to Radeachar. Doctor. You stil have Phyletia Plens?”
“I do. Preserved in col aboration with the sorcerer. I was sure we would get back to her eventual y.”
“Excel ent. You and I wil examine her now. Babeltausque, please join us. I’l need to see where she was found after I examine her remains.”
...
Word swept the city. Varthlokkur had returned. He was hunting a childkil er. Once he interviewed them Vorgreberg’s pimps and procurers stopped employing talents under fourteen. It took only one visit from the Unborn to drive the message home.
That monster became a permanent aerial phenomenon.
Vorgrebergers were six parts terrified and the rest of a dozen thril ed. Every vanished daughter for thirty years past was one vil ain’s fault, suddenly. Tavern speculation concentrated on what might be the ugliest possible means of dealing with the beast.
There were no votes for quick or kind.
Inger told Josiah Gales, “We’re riding high today. If we found that money now we could real y cash in.” Gales was tired of hearing about a treasure he no longer believed existed. “Ask Varthlokkur to find it.”
“I did. He chuckled and said it wil be no help if we do find it.” ...
A sense of unease descended on Sedlmayr, fed by the news that Varthlokkur had returned to Vorgreberg. The truth, that he had come to hunt a foul murderer, was disbelieved by many.
The road east fil ed with agents determined to learn the real story. ...
Babeltausque shuffled slowly along to see his Carrie Depar. No special hunger drove him. Something was wrong with him. He ought not to be tired of Carrie so soon, yet his infatuation had begun to fade. Because everyone disapproved? Why? She was damned near legal. Certainly older than he preferred.
Could it be fear? The mob would not stop to listen if he tried to explain that Carrie was with him by choice.
He knew that no one real y listened even at the best of times. No one wanted to be reminded that they had failings of their own.
It was dark. A sliver of autumn moon drifted toward the western horizon. The air was brisk but not yet outright cold.
Something burred past Babeltausque. He thought it must be a big bug, yet experience made him dive into the ditch beside the road. That bug had to be a sling bul et.
There was water in the ditch. It was cold and rank.
A voice grumbled. Another, closer, said, “Nah. I think I missed.”
Babeltausque slithered forward, quietly as he could. The ditch would debouch into a wet weather creek just ahead.
That passed through a culvert under the road. He should fit.
Holed up, he could plan his counterattack.
He listened to them grumble as they searched. He did not recognize their voices. They did not know the terrain. They did not have a light by which to find his obvious trail.
This must be political. They must want to strip Inger of her most dangerous al y.
Babeltausque’s heartbeat settled some. He plied his sorcerer’s skil s. He did not counterattack but, rather, marked the men with little spel s that would betray them later, hoping they could be traced back to whoever sent them.
He waited for them to give up. That took another miserable half hour. He had time to reflect. He had become so predictable that enemies were able to set an ambush. That had to change. Then he thought about the geography between Castle Krief and Mist’s old mansion. There were other culverts. There was an abandoned wel . There were several cesspools, including a dried up pit behind Mist’s mansion. There were improved springs, cisterns, and fish ponds. Few of those had been examined by treasure hunters. People figured that a Rebsamen don like Derel Prataxis would not hide anything in unpleasant places.
Babeltausque suspected that he and Nathan would be getting wet and filthy soon.
Tonight, though… Tonight was for Carrie.
The fire had returned.
...
Babeltausque inched toward the stairway down to his beloved. How bored was she? How much would she whine about being cooped up here with nothing to do but wait til he felt the need?
He had only a moment to realize that he was not alone.
An exotic beauty emerged from broken wainscoting and rose in front of him, bits of broken wood sliding off her.
She was more surprised than he. That al owed him a running start. He hit the night with arms and legs flailing.
This was the first time he had seen that woman but he knew who she was.
He was too focused on covering ground to notice the Unborn descending behind him.
Chapter Nineteen:
