'That's the girl,' I said in a low voice. I felt pretty confident as long as she had Ersatz with her.
Even if she had no opportunity to draw him, he could talk her spirits up. The other real treasure she had with her was Chin-Hwag. I did not like the idea of the Purse falling into the clutches of the Dile wizard, but she was right about the thoughts of endless streams of gold keeping anyone from looking too closely at the fake treasures.
Tananda had done us proud. She had bounced back to Deva to shop for the fakes. I thought the substitute Asti was the best, a deconsecrated chalice from a cult that had gotten shut down by the authorities on Como for tax fraud, bedizened with a wealth of glass gems. The others were pretty good, too, though I hoped Barrik set Calypso free before he opened up the fake Payge. The scam book was a complete collection of 'Danger Whelf' comics for the last fifty years, bound in genuine iron pyrite embossed covers.
'I cannot follow her now that the gate is closed,' Kelsa said. 'My goodness, I'm not used to feeling so helpless!'
'Read my Breaking Updates section,' Payge advised us.
As directed, I turned to the header. Beneath it was a series of illustrations, quick-drawn as though they had been jotted by a court reporter. The first showed Calypsa, a tragic expression on her face, in the midst of the guards. The second was a broad image of a courtyard, huge, but with every detail suggested by quick pen strokes.
'Nice work,' I commented.
'Thank you,' Payge said.
'That's Barrik?' Tananda asked, pointing to a skinny figure in a cloak.
'Not very impressive,' I agreed.
The evil wizard, who had moved in and taken over the town, kidnapped at least one of its most prominent citizens,
and had set up a ring of spells that defeated even some of the most powerful magik items I'd ever come across, was a skinny, green-scaled geek with an overbite and poor taste in hats.
'Fedoras like that are even out of style on Imper,' Tananda said.
'Wait,' Payge said, groaning at the strain, 'Here come some captions.'
A surprised Barrik confronted Calypsa on the steps of a shining black stone dais. 'I did not expect you to return... so soon.'
'I want my grandfather returned to me,' the girl replied, her chin held proudly high.
'In time.' Barrik rubbed his hands together. 'Let me see them! I want the Hoard!'
Two henchmen ran forward with the bag Calypsa had brought with her.
The next frame merely read, CLUNK!
The one after that was a pair of reptilian eyes, narrowed greedily. 'Beautiful. Beautiful. I wish to see a demonstration of their powers.'
'When will I see my grandfather?' Calypsa asked.
The eyes again, looking perturbed. 'When I am satisfied. Now, show me!'
I heard the sound of plodding hoofbeats, and glanced up.
The ruminant-drawn cart full of vegetables groaned up the hill with one of the Walt townsfolk at the reins. I wouldn't have thought of his tunic with the fancy ruffled sleeves or the patterned silk bandanna tightly tied around his brow as go-to-market clothes, but Calypsa had assured me that Walts loved to dress up no matter what the occasion.
'Our ride's here. Come on. Let's go invade a castle.'
Tananda and I lay on the bottom of the cart while the driver piled sacks of potatoes and a few sides of raw meat on top of us.
'I can keep up a verbal narration if you like,' Payge said. 'I do very good descriptions.'
'Just the dialogue,' I said. 'And keep it low.'
'Meanwhile,' Payge said, 'the brave Calypsa's companions hid themselves in a cart full of food being delivered to the castle.'
'Skip the parts about us!' I hissed. 'We know what's happening here. Tell me what Calypsa's doing.'
'Forgive me. 'She stands bravely before the slavering Dile and reaches for the first of the treasures. 'What is that?' Barrik askes. 'A chamois? I don't remember a sponge as one of the Golden Hoard.'
''O Barrik,' Calypsa says. 'This is Chin-Hwag, the Purse of Endless Money. She gives forth gold coins upon request.''
'Barrik slaveres greedily. 'Give me gold. Give me lots of gold!''
Chin-Hwag frowned. 'Scaly j...' Er, Aahz, do I need to repeat the invective of my fellow Hoarders?'
'Not if it has no relation to the action,' I said. 'What's she doing?'
'Er, she spits a gold coin into the air, a Meringuian soli-dus. Barrik leapes to catch it. He seems disappointed. He wants more, a stream of gold. Calypsa asks Chin-Hwag to give him more coins. She is producing them, albeit one at a time. There goes a Devan spite. I don't believe they have minted those in six hundred years.'
'Perfect,' I said. 'She'll keep him too busy to notice us.'
'Meanwhile,' Kelsa said, 'we are here, and the guards intend to search the cart. Our driver will put them off successfully, but only if we do not attract attention.'
'A guard produces a spear,' Payge whispered. 'He prods the produce. Aagh!'
'Shh!' I hissed.
'He dogeared one of my pages!'
'Shut up!' I growled.
'What's in there?' a rough voice demanded.
'Cheese curds,' the amiable voice of the farmer replied. 'So fresh, they squeak!'
'Let's see 'em,' the guard said.
'I must not unwrap them; they'll get stale.'
'Get'em out here!'
'If I cannot make you happy any other way,' the carter said, reluctantly.
We heard things start to shift. There were only two layers of sacks over me. If the guards decided to help, we'd be uncovered in a second.
Tananda's eyes were close enough to me that I could see the alarm in them.
'Someone do something!' she whispered.
Someone did. A terrible smell wafted up and surrounded us all in the miasma.
'Aahz!'
'It's not me. It's Asti.'
'What the hell's that stench?' one of the guards demanded.
'I TOLD you, it is the cheese curds!'
'Yeeaagh! You go right on in there to the kitchen, pal. The cook'll cut you to pieces and serve you for dessert when he smells that!'
More grumbling as the sacks of root vegetables that had been removed thudded back on top of me. I waited until the guards' voices receded, and the heavy cart started lumbering forward again.
'We're out of sight,' the carter whispered.
'I can't stand it any more,' I said. 'Turn off the stink!'
'It's not me, Aahz,' the Cup protested.
I flexed my muscles, and the sacks slid off my back. I helped unearth Tananda. She brushed powdered dirt off her clothes. I looked around to discover that we were behind the midden heap.
'I stand corrected,' I said. The three of us dug the Hoard out. They were all disguised in worn burlap bags. Buirnie and his backup were piled into one carrier together.
'Ah, that's better!' Kelsa crowed, as I pulled her loose. 'I can see everything now!'
I dumped the Hoard out of their sacks. Zildie jumped to its feet and shook its drum head until it rattled.
Kelsa's face spun around her globe in delight. 'Barrik is very clever about his shield spell. It's most economical, I see that now that I am inside the barricade. He has made a shell of a spell—I mean a spell shell. It is embedded in the walls, probably enchanted mortar.'
