him.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Weasel. Tomar gestured them over to a quiet alcove, a place where he could watch business go on around him but could not be overlooked or overheard.
“To tell the truth,” he said, which Rik always assumed was a sign that the speaker was going to do anything but. “I’m glad to help. I’ve never been keen on the Purples- what man could be? The Scarlets have always been better for our sort, even if not by much.”
Rik revised his opinion. That seemed an eminently sensible statement. Perhaps Asea was right about this man after all. He certainly hoped she was. Weasel nodded and said; “Aye, not by much, but by enough.”
“Your Lords are not the only ones Ilmarec has been talking with. That strutting ponce, Jaderac has been up in the Snake Tower, and so has his little girlfriend, the one who likes to hang out in bars and pick up soldiers.” He nodded at Rik at this point.
“Likes a bit of rough, does she?” asked the Barbarian with a leer. “I wondered where you had got to the other night.”
He gave Rik a look that was half appraising and half admiring. “Wish I knew what your secret was with the ladies, Halfbreed.”
“Charm,” said Rik. “Not something you would know anything about.”
“What’s this about the Easterners being up in the Tower,” Weasel asked.
“They come and go with a bit less pomp than your Lady Asea, but they’ve been up there a few times.”
“Sure?” asked Weasel.
“As this tavern is the Snake’s Head.” It did not surprise Rik. The Terrarchs were political animals. It seemed only normal that Ilmarec would play both ends against the middle.
“Any idea what they talk about?”
“None at all. It’s hard to get men inside the Snake Tower on a regular basis. They tend to disappear. Old Ilmarec is a sorcerer- who knows what he is capable of — and then there are those gargoyles on the walls. They put the fear of the Shadow into my mind I can tell you.”
“You mean those things above the gates?” Rik asked.
“Aye, lad. Never met a man yet they did not spook.” The looks on the faces of the Barbarian and Weasel told him they agreed. He wondered what he had missed and how he had missed it. Maybe Asea was right about his background, or maybe it was something else entirely. There was no way of telling.
“Now supposing we wanted to get somebody through those gates,” said Weasel.
“Can’t be done. The Guardians spot everybody.”
“What about cart drivers?”
“They are counted in and counted out. All of them are regulars too, known to the guards. You are surely not serious about this.”
“Lady Asea said I should give you this,” said Rik suddenly. He took the gold piece from his pocket. Tomar smiled at the glint of gold but a strange look came over his face when he looked closer at the coin. Rik noticed him running his thumb over the edge where the indentations were. A glance told him that Weasel and the Barbarian had noticed all of this too.
“So the time has come, has it?” said Tomar.
“Yes,” said Rik, although he was not sure what the big man meant.
“This coin pays for all,” he said. “Then all the old debts are settled. Tell her Ladyship that.”
“I will. Now, assuming the Guardians of the Gate can be bypassed, is there any way into the Castle.”
“There’s always a way when you want something smuggled into or out of a place,” said Tomar. “Even the Tower.”
“Glad to hear it,” said Rik.
“There’s a catch,” said Tomar.
“What’s that?”
“Stuff can be smuggled in. Providing it’s not alive.”
“Great,” said Rik sardonically. “Tell me more.”
“Before I do, there is something else I should tell you about Lord Jaderac.”
“What about his high and mightiness?” Weasel asked.
“His servants talk- well they always do, don’t they? I reckon he is planning something against your lot soon. The servants are in fear of their lives and there’s tales of all manner of spooky stuff going on in that mansion.”
“Tell us more…”
“They say he has coffins in there — the eastern type- sarcophaguses they call them. They say he sleeps in one but I reckon that’s just talk, although you can never tell with some of the easterners.”
“What has that to do with the Lady Asea?” Rik asked.
“One of the girls overheard them talking, Jaderac and his bint, and he was saying he had something special in one of his coffins that would deal even with the great Lady Asea. The girl was scared near to death by the way they were talking. She refuses to go back to the house.”
“Just tittle-tattle,” said Weasel.
“Might be,” said Tomar. “I am just telling you what I heard, but Kara is a hill-girl and she does not frighten easily.”
“If you say so,” said Weasel. He looked at Rik. There was a question in his glance. He seemed to be looking to Rik for a cue.
“So shall we talk about how to get into the Tower?” Tomar asked. “I can get you drivers and we have a special cart that’s sometimes used to take stuff in. Impossible to get men in though. The demon always spots them.”
“There may be a way to deal with that.”
“Care to tell me how?”
Rik shook his head. “Tomorrow. We’d best be getting back. I suppose we’ll need to warn her Ladyship about this sorcerer.”
“It might be nothing,” said Tomar.
“It might be everything,” said Rik. “We’d better go.”
Already he felt uneasy, as if something might be waiting for them, outside in the dark.
Chapter Seventeen
“What is it?” Lady Asea asked, seeing his grim expression as Rik entered the chamber. He told her what the gang boss had said about Jaderac’s sorcery. She listened intently and said; “I suppose it’s only to be expected.”
“What do you intend to do about it?”
“There is not a great deal more I can do,” she said. “There are already wards and sentries in place. I have prepared my weapons and armour.” She gestured towards her travelling chests.
He noticed how tired she looked, and also a little hopeless, truth be told. He wondered what was wrong with her. He had never seen her like this before. He asked.
“It is the Tower, Rik,” she said. “It is possessed of a dark magic that oppresses me.”
“You could leave here.”
“And go back to the army?”
“Yes.”
“That would leave Jaderac in possession of the field and in a position to do what he wants unopposed. Besides, I am not without sorcerous resources myself.”
“All this talk of murderous magic unsettles me,” Rik said.
“That is understandable. However there is something else I want you to think about.”
“What would that be?”
She produced a set of maps from within one of her travelling chests. “These are maps of the interior of the Serpent Tower. Can you memorise them?”
