Bharat smiled too eagerly, displaying teeth as white as snow, then nodded to Yago. 'I brought my largest wagon, but even so, I fear you will have to fold your legs.'
Rishi started toward the back of the cart, but Atreus made no move to follow.
'We're going to Langdarma in an oxcart?' he asked.
Rishi feigned a look of shock. 'But of course! Surely, you did not think we could take your elephant?'
CHAPTER 4
Bharat's carpet wagon had nearly crested the front range of the Yehimal Mountains when the Queen's Guard finally caught up to it. The riders, mounted on shaggy mountain ponies about the size of a good war dog, traveled lightly, with little more than sabers, haversacks, and long woolen hauberks that served as both coat and armor. Behind them, three days back and a thousand switchbacks down the wooded mountainside, lay the misty forests of Edenvale. The capital itself was still visible, a tiny dun-colored circle on the far horizon.
The guards, all rugged-faced Mar accustomed to the rigors of mountain travel, urged their ponies into a trot, surrounding the wagon on all sides. Bharat feigned surprise and reached for the axe beneath his seat, as though mistaking the riders for a company of road bandits.
'We are the Queen's Men, driver,' said the leader. He spoke in Thorass to indicate he was on official business. 'You have nothing to fear from us, unless you are the one hiding Ysdar's devil and his murderous servants-and if you are, you will not escape us anyway. Let us have a look in your cart.'
Bharat glanced around at the riders, then sighed and reluctantly reined his strange oxen-the beasts were called 'yaks'-to a halt. 'I have no devils with me,' he said plainly. 'I will show you.'
Bharat wrapped the reins around a seat brace and turned to crawl into the cargo area, but the leader swung his lance down to block the way.
'We will look ourselves. This devil is very clever and dangerous. Perhaps he and his servants slipped into your cart when you were not looking. I would not want you injured.'
Bharat turned his palms to the sky, shrugging, and sat back down. A dozen riders dismounted, passing their lances and reins to their fellows, then stepped to the rear of the wagon. Half of them drew their sabers and stood ready to attack. The others began to drag Bharat's carpets out of the cargo bed, unrolling each one and tossing it into the middle of the muddy road.
'What are you doing?' Bharat exclaimed. 'That is my whole fortune!'
'A little dirt will do no harm to a good carpet,' the leader replied.
'But why is it necessary to unroll them all?' Bharat demanded, growing genuinely angry. 'If your devil and his servants had rolled themselves up inside my carpets, surely men as astute as yours would notice the bulges!'
'This is a very clever devil. We do not know what he can do,' the leader said, and gave Bharat a cockeyed sneer, showing a single gold tooth. 'Perhaps you are even this devil in disguise.'
The implication was clear enough. Too much protesting could be taken the wrong way. Bharat watched in silence as the searchers spread his carpets across the road, then started on his provisions and personal belongings. They looked inside everything, even water-skins, and felt inside the pockets of his extra clothes. They opened his food bags and ran their filthy hands through his rice and barley, and they drained his oil jar into a cooking pot.
Bharat could only shake his head. 'This devil's magic must be very powerful,' he said, 'if you think he can breathe cooking oil.'
'Very powerful indeed,' the leader assured him. 'He can fight four men at once and command ogres to do his will, and several Ffolk have seen him walk on air. Queen Rosalind herself told me he knows things no man should know.'
Truly?' Bharat asked.
The leader nodded, and the corners of his mouth turned down in a self-impressed scowl. 'She said we must catch him, or there will be Ysdar to pay.'
When the searchers had finally emptied the wagon, they began to crawl around the cargo bed on their hands and knees, rapping the floor and walls with the hilts of their daggers. Bharat watched nervously.
'Are you not satisfied yet?' he demanded. 'You have delayed me too long already, and I am expected in Borobodur.'
The leader only grinned and waited, and it did not take long before one of the searchers located the hollow sound of the wagon's secret compartment.
The leader grinned. 'A smuggler's hole?'
'A merchant's friend,' Bharat countered. 'Used only to protect honest profits from road thieves and not for any other purpose.'
'Then, as you are only now on your way to market, I expect it would be empty.'
'Not exactly.'
'I see.' The leader looked to the men at the back of the wagon. 'Perhaps we should open it.'
Three more guards clambered into the crowded wagon, their swords at the ready. When they could not figure out how to open the compartment, another soldier stepped around to retrieve the axe from under Bharat's seat.
Bharat placed a restraining hand on the fellow's arm. 'Wait,' he said. 'I will open it for you.'
The leader nodded his permission. Bharat slipped a hand behind the seat and tripped a hidden lever, then reached back and motioned the guards to pry up the center of the floor. Underneath lay a foot-deep compartment just large enough to hold a man. At the moment, the space contained nothing but a leather rucksack, so new that its beeswax waterproofing was still shiny and slick. The searchers opened the top and turned it upside down, but nothing fell out.
'That is all?' the leader demanded. 'Why would a carpet seller be hiding a new rucksack?' Bharat shrugged. 'It seemed a good place to store it.' The leader narrowed his eyes suspiciously, then rode around to the back of the wagon and peered inside. When it grew obvious that the cart held no more secrets, he shook his head in puzzlement. He motioned his men to their ponies and looked back to Bharat.
'Apologies for troubling an honest merchant such as yourself,' the leader said, speaking from the back of the wagon. 'We have not found this devil yet, but he is here in the mountains. If you happen across him, you must run the other way and report it to the first Queen's Man you see. He is a very wicked devil who will not hesitate to kill you in a horrible manner and eat your body.' Bharat's mouth fell as though frightened. 'Truly?' 'Yes.' The leader nodded officiously, then rode to the front of the wagon and spoke in a confidential voice. 'I should not tell you this, but we have troubled you greatly, and you will have need of the knowledge.' 'What you tell me, I will never repeat to a living soul.' 'Good. Then I can be terribly candid with you.' The leader leaned in close and said, 'This is a very particular devil who delights in stealing the firstborn child. We have only been chasing him for three days, and already we have spoken to nine fathers who have lost their eldest in this manner.
' Nine?' Bharat gasped. 'The gluttonous beast!'
The leader sat up straight in his saddle, then added, 'Nine that we know of.'
'Then I will seek out a Queen's Man the instant I see him,' Bharat replied. 'But if this devil can trick even you, how will I recognize him?'
'Oh, you will know him. He is an ugly monster, as terrible to look upon as Ysdar himself. He will be served by a sly bahrana and a western ogre whose skin has turned orange from bathing in blood.' The leader glanced back and, seeing that his men were ready to ride, waved them forward. 'Are you able to re-pack your goods without our help? We must be off.'
'Yes, yes, I am grateful for your warning.' Bharat shooed the man up the road. 'After the devil!'
His consent was hardly necessary. The leader was already guiding his pony into line with the rest of the company. Bharat wearily climbed down, then selected two large stones from the side of the road and blocked the front wheels so his yaks could rest. He went to the rear of the wagon and carefully poured his cooking oil back into its jar, then wiped the pot clean with the sleeve of his tunic. Finally, when the last of the Queen's Men had disappeared around the switchback and he was sure they weren't coming back, Bharat walked a short distance
