nightfall tomorrow. Can’t wait any longer on the siege; it may go on for months. We’ve been shut away too long already for his taste.»
«Some of us have been more shut away than others,” Slanter grumbled pointedly.
Foraker faced him, brows knitting fiercely. «We have vouched for you, Gnome — all those who came with you from Culhaven. Radhomm, who commands this garrison, feels that our word is enough. But there are some within these walls who feel much differently — some who have lost friends and loved ones to the Gnomes who lay siege without. For them, our assurance may not be enough. You have been kept under guard not as a prisoner, but as a charge. Your safety is of some concern, believe it or not — particularly to Ohmsford here.»
«I can look after myself,” Slanter muttered darkly. «And I don’t need anyone’s concern — especially this boy’s!»
Foraker stiffened. «That ought to come as good news to him!» he snapped.
Slanter lapsed into silence. He withdraws into himself again, thought Jair; he shields himself from everything happening about him. It is only when he is alone with me that he seems to be willing to come out of that protective shell. It is only then that he seems to recover even a bit of the old Slanter he showed when we first met. The balance of the time he is an outsider, a self–proclaimed loner, unaccepting of his role as a member of our little company.
«Did our message get through?» Edain Elessedil was asking Foraker. «About the destruction of the bridge at the Wedge?»
«It did.» The Dwarf removed his dark gaze from Slanter. «Your plan was well conceived, Elven Prince. Had we known better the extent of this siege and the army that mounts it, we might have escaped in the bargain.»
«Are we in danger here, then?»
«No, the fortress is secure. Stores are plentiful enough to withstand a siege of months if need be. And no army can bring the whole of its strength to bear with the mountains so close. Any danger to us will be found outside these walls when we resume our journey north.»
At his elbow, Slanter muttered something unintelligible and drained the remainder of his ale. Foraker glanced at the Gnome and his bearded face tightened. «In the meantime, there is something that must be done — and you and I, Gnome, must do it.»
Slanter’s eyes lifted guardedly. «What is it we must do — Dwarf?»
Foraker’s face darkened further, but his voice stayed calm. «There is someone within these walls who claims to know well the castle of the Mord Wraiths — someone who claims to know it better than anyone. If true, that knowledge could be of great use to us.»
«If true, then you have no further use for me!» Slanter snapped. «What have I to do with this?»
«The knowledge is of use only if it is true,” Foraker continued carefully. «The only one who can tell us that is you.»
«Me?» The Gnome laughed mirthlessly. «You would trust me to tell you whether or not what you are being told is the truth? Why should you do that? Or do you think to test me? That seems more likely, I think. You would test what I tell you against what another says!»
«Slanter!» Jair admonished the Gnome, a flush of anger and disappointment stealing through him.
«You are the one who mistrusts,” Edain Elessedil added firmly.
Slanter started to respond, then thought better of it and went still.
It was Foraker who spoke then, low and pointed. «If I thought to test you, it would not be against this one.»
The table was silent. «Who is it?» Slanter asked finally.
The Dwarf s fierce brows knitted. «A Mwellret.»
Slanter went rigid. «A Mwellret?» he growled. «A lizard?»
He said it with such loathing that Jair Ohmsford and Edain Elessedil looked at each other in astonishment. Neither had ever seen a Mwellret. Neither had even heard of one until now, and both, having witnessed the Gnome’s reaction to the mention of one, wondered if perhaps they would have been better off remaining ignorant.
«One of Radhomm’s patrols found him washed up at the edge of the lake a day or two before the siege,” Foraker went on, his eyes holding Slanter’s. «More dead than alive when they pulled him out. Mumbled something about being driven from the Ravenshorn by the black walkers. Said that he knew ways in which they could be destroyed. The patrol brought him here. Didn’t have time to get him out before the siege.» He paused. «Until now, there had been no way to test the truth of what he has to say.»
«The truth!» Slanter spit. «There is no truth in the lizards!»
«Revenge against those he feels have wronged him may bring out the truth. We can offer him that revenge — a trade, perhaps. Think carefully. He must know the secrets of the Ravenshorn and Graymark. Those mountains were once his. The castle was his.»
«Nothing was ever his!» Slanter came out of his chair with a lunge, stiff with anger. «They took it all, the lizards did! Built their castle on the bones of my people! Made slaves of the Gnome tribes living in the mountains! Used the dark magic like the walkers! Black devils, I would as soon cut my own throat as give them an instant’s trust!»
Jair thought to intercede, rising as well. «Slanter, what… ?»
«A moment, Ohmsford,” Foraker cut him short. The fierce countenance turned again to Slanter. «Gnome, I give the Mwellrets no more trust than you. But if this one can help, then let us take whatever help we find. Our task is difficult enough as it is. And if we find that the Mwellret lies… well, then we know what can be done with him.»
Slanter glared down at the table in front of him wordlessly for a moment, then slowly reseated himself. «It is a waste of time. Go without me. Use your own judgment, Foraker.»
The Dwarf shrugged. «I thought that this would be preferable to being left under lock and key. I thought you might have had enough of that.» He paused, watching the dark eyes of the Gnome snap up to find his own. «Besides, my judgment is useless in determining whether or not the Mwellret speaks the truth. You are the only one who can help us with that.»
For a moment, no one spoke. Slanter’s eyes remained locked on Foraker. «Where is the Mwellret now?» he asked finally.
«In a storage room that serves as his cell,” Foraker answered. «He never comes out, even to walk. Doesn’t like the air and the light.»
«Black devil!» the Gnome muttered in response. Then he sighed. «Very well. You and me.»
«These two as well, if they choose.» Foraker indicated Jair and Edain.
«I’m coming,” Jair announced at once.
«And I,” the Elven Prince agreed.
Foraker rose to his feet and nodded. «I’ll take you there now.»
Chapter Twenty
They went from the terrace gardens down into the bowels of the locks and dams of Capaal. From the gray light of an afternoon rapidly fading into dusk, they descended stairwells and passageways that curled deep into stone and timber. Shadows gathered about small pools of hazy light given off by the flames of oil lamps dangling from iron brackets. The air trapped within the massive rock of the dam was stale and damp. Through the silence that pervaded the lower levels came the distant rush of waters flowing through the locks and the low grinding of great wheels and levers. Closed doors came and went as the four passed deeper, and there was the sense of a beast hidden somewhere within, stirring in response to the sounds of the locks and their machinery, caged and waiting to break free.
They came upon few Dwarves within these levels of the fortress. A forest people who had survived the Great Wars by tunneling within the earth, the Dwarves had long since emerged from their underground prison into the sunlight and in so doing had vowed never again to return. Their abhorrence of dark, closed places was well known
