'How?'
'When there was all that fighting with the Brotherhood chapter house and the Deves, when I was little. When people stripped the bodies the Brothers all had tattoos. The same one. Back here.' He tried to slap his own back behind his heart. 'It was only about this big.' He indicated his left thumbnail. 'It looked like an acorn. With a leaf coming out.'
'From this seed shall a mighty oak rise,' Ghort mused. 'Aaron of Chaldar. Talking about Domino. Who became a disciple when Aaron was dying. And he was right. Domino preached all along the southern coast of the Mother Sea. There are tribes in the mountains down there that still haven't bought the Praman evil.'
They were worms in the belly of a dog… Hecht said, 'You never cease to amaze me, Buck. How would you know something like that?'
The Founder Domino was not well known to Episcopal Chaldareans. He had not evangelized in the west. The Brotherhood of War, however, considered Domino their patron. Before his conversion Domino had been the Imperial general, Anelos Andul Gallatin, Dominius, Dominius being a title reserved to commanders who had celebrated several significant successes.
Hecht suspected that, as would be the case with Josephus Alegiant a generation later, Domino had been successful mainly because of his willingness to make converts at spear's point.
'I was a divinity student. For about two years, one week. They threw me out on account of somebody drank all the teaching brothers' wine and they needed somebody to blame it on.'
'Don't you hate it when people scapegoat?'
They resumed traveling, but stayed in the woods, which naked along the banks of a creek that, headed the other direction, eventually emptied into the Sawn. Sometime later Hecht sensed the drum of distant horses. 'They're coming.'
The riders did return, not racing now, looking into the woods, sometimes darting in to look for a sign. They missed Hecht and his companions. They continued on westward.
'I feel better, now,' Ghort said. 'Though they should've been smart enough to have some minor mage with them.'
'They're criminals. But if they did have one, how would we know?'
'You're just all the time the incarnation of optimism, Pipe.'
'How come he calls you Pipe when your name is Mathis?' Pella wanted to know.
'Because he's an idiot?'
'Because he used to smoke a ton of
Pella sneered. He had established his disbelief in their holy calling already.
Hecht said, 'We have to get back on the road and start making time. We ought to get to Alicea before dark.' The town was a long way off. He could remember nowhere to get in out of the night anywhere closer. And the sooner they established themselves at the Knight of Wands the more they would be part of the background when their quarry arrived.
Ghort launched a fanciful account of his adventures in the Holy Lands with his good pal Mathis Schlink. Because he wove in commonplace fairy tale, tall tale, and legendary elements, Pella knew he was lying from the start.
Hecht said, 'Think I'll range ahead. You two stick with Buck.'
Ghort nodded. 'Be careful.' By which Hecht understood that he, too, had noted that one fewer rider had returned than had gone east.
Pella betrayed his own quick eye. 'Let me do it. They ain't looking to ambush me. Whoever they are.'
Ghort told him, 'Go to it, kid.'
With Pella out of earshot, Hecht asked, 'And what would you do now, Child of Fortune?'
'Play it straight. He don't see any obvious way to cash in. He knows they'll just rob him if he tries to cut himself a share of whatever Vali is worth.' A bit later, Ghort added, 'He's making a long-term investment. That's what I did. It worked for me. He'll probably end up brokenhearted.'
Ahead, Pella rounded a verge of the woods and disappeared. Whistling.
'He has nerve.'
'You need that to survive when you're on your own.'
This sounded more like the real Pinkus Ghort than most of the stories he told. 'I'll stroll ahead, now. Vali, stay by Buck.'
Hecht rounded the trees and found Pella in a brisk argument with a tall, bony, skinny man whose natural posture made him lean forward. His hands swooped and flew as he talked. His horse was tied to a bush beside the road, on a long tether, busy grazing and ignoring its rider. Its saddle, loosened, bore a Sonsan household crest.
Hecht stalked closer. Durandanti. The Durandanti family had an old relationship with the Brotherhood of War. That broke down when the Brotherhood tried to plunder the Devedian quarter of Sonsa, but, evidently, peace had been made, under the table. The Durandanti plan for reviving Sonsa must require becoming intimate with the ambitions of Sublime V and the Brotherhood.
Where did Vali fit?
That depended on who she was.
Pella demonstrated his street bona fides by maneuvering the bony man round to present his back to eastbound traffic. He remained unaware of Hecht until his horse became restless.
The Durandanti spun. His face was unnaturally pale. He had one of those lantern-jawed faces that looked like the planners forgot to put meat on over the bone.
'Hi!' Hecht smacked the man solidly between the eyes. 'Ow! Damn! I forgot how much that hurts!' He shook his lingers vigorously. 'My guess is, this fellow doesn't do this sort of thing for a living.' His victim staggered two steps, cross-eyed, then went down on one knee.
'You're probably right, Your Honor. He was only trying to sound tough.'
Hecht breathed on his knuckles. 'I'm a Your Honor again, eh?'
'Just being careful, Your Honor. You've started smacking people.'
Hecht chuckled. 'You are like Buck. Help me move him over by that tree.' The bony man had both knees and a hand down in the dust now.
Ghort and Vali arrived. The Durandanti, his back against a sapling, groggily worked on a leaky nose. Ghort asked, What did you do that for?'
'Seemed like the most direct way. Get that mare ready. We'll put him back aboard. Vali can ride pillion. That'll let us pick up the pace.'
'You think they won't miss him?'
'I expect they will. We'll talk to him while we walk. He'll let us know what we need to do.'
'Uhm.' Ghort got it. In his own way.
They would pump the Durandanti full of false information while draining him of what he knew.
Hecht shared his theory about the Durandanti and Brotherhood getting into bed. Ghort readied the mare, then examined the Durandanti's nose. 'Not broken. Not even bloody, just running bad. Got some tears going, too.'
'You knocked the snot out of him, Your Honor.' Pella giggled.
They made good time, now, and passed through Alicea without attracting attention an hour before sunset. They saw no other travelers till they neared the town. The area was busier than last time Hecht passed through. Ragged tents and shanties had appeared. Beggars came out. He had seen none of those before.
Hecht released the Durandanti two miles past Alicea, up the West Way, tied to a willow tree. With his horse tethered nearby, contentedly grazing. Master Stain Hamil had been cooperative. 'You don't do a lot of yelling, you can get those ropes off pretty quick. You do yell, chances are you'll get robbed. Maybe even murdered.'
Ghort and the children had dropped off just east of Alicea, turning back to get established at the Knight of Wands. Master Stain Hamil of House Durandanti was led to believe that they would scrounge supplies, catch up, and trek on east to Plemenza. Having been prisoners there Hecht and Ghort were able to talk about Plemenza convincingly.
Hecht entered the Knight of Wands carefully. It proved uncrowded. He spotted Ghort, joined him. Ghort
