'Sorry, Sheemz, I've got work to do. You're not sitting on a iron box, are you?' Tiep knew better than to provoke the goblin when they were hung on tenterhooks waiting to get back to the egg chamber, but when he was fighting guilt and anxiety, Tiep couldn't resist the temptation to pick on an easy target. 'Did you see Ghistpok up on the wall? Didn't you marry his daughter? Did she look like him?'
The goblin said something guttural in his own language.
'You want to repeat that in a language that sentient races can understand?'
'Sheemzher say, better sacrifice that one, not Hopper. Not miss that one.'
The goblin's voice was forlorn, yet defiant, as though he knew he couldn't win but wouldn't back down from a fight, either. It was a trait Tiep knew well and one that blunted some of his own anger.
'Hopper had cracked a hoof. It was just a question of where and when Dru would use his mercy spell.'
'Not mercy, sacrifice. Sacrifice. Good sir say sacrifice. Good sir not ask Hopper.'
Tiep kicked another rubbish heap. He'd have hurt himself if the iron box had been within it, but the heap collapsed without incident.
'Dru's in charge. He makes the decisions because he's the one who does the lion's share of the work when we're on the road. He's right, too, most of the time. We've got to have Ghistpok's cooperation. If-If-Look, it wasn't as if Dru said, Let's slaughter Hopper. We left Cardinal behind, and you remember what happened to him. That was pointless. This is-this is better. We're getting closer to that scroll your bug lady wants, and closer to getting Galimer back. That's what sacrifice is all about.'
Sheemzher made the sound of a bladder bursting then said. 'Not eat. Not celebrate. Ghistpok-' He made the bladder-bursting sound again. 'Good sir not ask Hopper, not ask Sheemzher. Sheemzher say no sacrifice. Not right. Ghistpok not right. All not right. Good sir say, sacrifice hurt. How? Hopper not sacrifice good sir.'
'Animals don't sacrifice people, Sheemzher. People make sacrifices because people-' Tiep had to think for a moment-'because people are cleverer than animals. People see consequences and complications. They're sneaky. They make a sacrifice here, so something they want will happen over there.'
Tiep waved his arm at the empty door way as a way of indicating that it was a long reach between Hopper's death and getting Galimer out of Weathercote. Sheemzher didn't get the point, though. The goblin just stared out the door, looking for something that wasn't there.
'People,' Sheemzher said softly, reminding Tiep that the word meant one thing to him and another to the goblins. 'Some people clever. Some people not clever. Some people gods. Gods sacrifice people, yes?'
Tiep went back to kicking rubbish. 'You're talking to the wrong person, Sheemz. I don't have anything to do with gods-except Tymora, of course. Lady Luck.' An ironic thought crossed his mind. 'Everybody makes sacrifices to Lady Luck, but gods do what they want. Rozt'a says the last thing she ever wants is the love of a god; it's sure to turn out bad for her, however it turns out for the god. She's probably right. A good friend is worth more than any god. Look what Druhallen's putting himself through for Galimer.'
'Good sir eat, yes? Good sir celebrate, yes? Good sir forget Hopper, yes?'
'Yes, no-how in blazes should I know what Dru remembers or forgets? And people-humans-sometimes we do what we have to do and spend the rest of our lives regretting it.' The way he regretted everything he'd done for the Zhentarim since that fateful night in Scornubel. 'I don't know what Druhallen would do if he had to chose between saving Rozt'a or Galimer. I don't know what I'd do.'
Tiep looked up. The goblin stared at him with unnerving intensity.
'It's just talk, Sheemzher. We didn't really sacrifice Hopper. We're not gods or priests. Just forget the word ever came up.'
The goblin didn't listen. 'Good sir save Tiep?' he asked, the first time he'd recognized Tiep by name. 'Or, good sir sacrifice Tiep?'
The questions cut close to the bone. Tiep spun around in a ready rage. 'Be quiet! Be quiet and stay quiet! Leave me alone!'
Tiep stormed out of the northern gatehouse and into the southern one. He kicked rubbish until the sting of Sheemzher's questions had dulled to a familiar, guilty ache. The iron box remained hidden, if it still existed, but he found a sword buried in the ash. Burnt, rotting leather notwithstanding, the hilt of the sword Tiep found in the gatehouse mud fit his hand better than the hilt of the sword he'd taken off the swordswinger.
He'd keep the swordswinger's weapon; the buried blade was rusted beyond redemption. The blades were similar, though-very similar. He carried them both to the open doorway where the light was best and compared the forge marks hammered into the steel. The marks were clear and identical.
Tiep had learned the marks of Darkhold's forge and armory before he'd learned to read, and he'd learned to read before Galimer sat down to teach him his letters. It wasn't an iron box, but he could tell Horace, Amarandaris, and Sememmon himself-if the Dark Lord were interested-that the Beast Lord was arming his bug-brained goblins with Zhentarim swords.
The discovery might not get him his promised reward, which he wouldn't accept under any circumstance, but it might back the Network off for a little while.
Tiep left the sword and the southern gatehouse behind. Sheemzher waited for him in the gorge.
'People begin feast. People begin celebration.'
Tiep shook his head vigorously. After Rozt'a and Galimer had adopted him, he'd become fascinated by food, studying it as only a boy who'd often gone hungry could. He knew how to make stew. 'They can't be. Meat doesn't cook that fast. It's half-cooked, worse than raw. You've made another mistake, Sheemz. Your eyes aren't good enough.'
'People begin feast. Sheemzher not need eyes. Sheemzher use nose.'
There was no arguing with Sheemzher's nose. Halfway across the quarry floor, Tiep could both see and smell the truth. Druhallen and Rozt'a were easy to pick out among the goblins. They had bowls in their hands. Through light rain, Tiep couldn't tell if they were eating. He wasn't getting closer for a better look.
Sheemzher was where Tiep had left him between the two gatehouses. Their eyes locked, and Tiep tried, with neither magic nor prayer at his disposal, to will the goblin into one of the buildings so he could hole up in the other. The exercise failed and Sheemzher followed him into the southern house. The remains of a wall hearth provided an almost dry, almost comfortable place to sit and wait. Of course, Sheemzher had to share it with him, but so long as the goblin kept his mouth shut Tiep didn't mind the company.
As the afternoon wound down and the feasting became some of the worst drone-singing Tiep had ever heard, he introduced Sheemzher to dice. The goblin took to gambling like a duck to water but was convinced that a double-six was easier to roll than any lower combination. If they'd been playing for gold, or even copper, Tiep could have transferred all the goblin's wealth to his purse, but they were playing for bits of an endless supply of soggy charcoal. He was sorry he'd gotten his dice out long before darkness put a halt to their playing.
A breeze blew the last of the rain down the gorge. The clouds broke up overhead and the stars of late summer became visible overhead. The temperature began to drop. It was only the first eve of The Fading, but the temperature dropped like stone once the sky was clear. Tiep stamped around the gatehouse, trying to keep warm in clothes that wouldn't dry, while Sheemzher stayed on the hearth, completely unperturbed.
When the chill reached Tiep's bones, the pull of Ghistpok's bonfire became too strong to resist. He returned to the mounds with Sheemzher at his side. The goblins, except for Ghistpok and maybe a few other males, were packed around a hissing fire in the clearing in front of the old Zhentarim headquarters. Their monotonous singing was accompanied and guided by four drummers, all female, all pounding furiously. Tiep had to breathe deep to keep his heart from racing to their rhythm. That meant filling his lungs with the bonfire's pungent smoke.
Tiep warmed himself until he couldn't stand the smells and sounds any longer, then went looking for Druhallen and Rozt'a. They were behind the headquarters. Rozt'a was curled up in an old wool blanket. Tiep didn't ask where she'd found it, but it wasn't one of theirs. He wasn't surprised that she could sleep through the din of goblin music. Rozt'a claimed that anyone who said he wasn't tired was a liar, and anyone who couldn't sleep when he was tired was a fool.
Dru had his box out, waiting for midnight. He held the dark glass disk-the mystery that had dragged them here in the first place and which remained unsolved-in both hands and studied it with a frown and furrowed brow. Tiep approached him slowly; bad things could happen when wizards were interrupted. Dru's concentration was not as complete as it looked. He heard them when they were still several paces away and quickly slipped the disk back into its compartment within the box. Dru didn't ask Tiep where he'd been or what he'd been doing, and Tiep didn't ask Dru what he'd been thinking about while he held the disk or whether he'd enjoyed the feast.
