Silvertongue looked up at the nearby mountains looming dark behind their foothills. "Wait until I've stolen the book!" said Dustfinger. "I'm going to creep into the village again tonight. I won't be able to get your daughter out the way I did last time because Capricorn has trebled the guards, and the whole village is lit up at night now, brighter than a jeweler's shop window, but perhaps I can find out where they're keeping her prisoner. Then you can do what you like with the information. And in return for my trouble you could try reading me back into the book. What about it?"
Dustfinger considered this a very reasonable proposition, but Silvertongue thought it over only briefly before shaking his head. "No, " he said. "No, I'm sorry, I can't wait any longer. Meggie needs me. " With these words he turned and went back to the car, but before he could get in Dustfinger barred his way.
"I'm sorry, too, " he said, snapping open Basta's knife. "You know I don't like these things, but sometimes people have to be protected from their own stupidity. I'm not going to let you stumble into the village like a rabbit into a trap, just for Capricorn to shut you and your magic voice away. It won't help your daughter and it certainly won't help me. "
At Dustfinger's signal, Farid had drawn his knife, too. Dustfinger had bought it for him in the village by the sea; it was a ridiculous little thing but Farid pressed it into Elinor's ribs so hard that she grimaced. "Good God, are you planning to slit me open, you little wretch?" she snapped at him. The boy jumped, but he did not remove his knife.
"Move the car off the road, Silvertongue!" ordered Dustfinger. "And don't get any silly ideas: The boy will keep his knife pressed at your bookworm friend's chest until you're back here with us. "
Silvertongue obeyed. Of course. What else could he do? They tied him and Elinor to the trees just behind the burnt-out cottage, only a few paces from their own makeshift camp. Elinor scolded even louder than Gwin when he was pulled out of the backpack by his tail.
"Stop that!" Dustfinger told her. "It won't do any of us any good for Capricorn's men to find us here. " That worked. She fell silent at once, as if she had swallowed her tongue. Silvertongue had leaned his head back against the tree trunk and closed his eyes. Farid checked all the knots again carefully, but then Dustfinger beckoned him over.
"I want you to keep a watch on those two when I go down to the village tonight, " he whispered. "And don't start carrying on about ghosts again. After all, you won't be alone this time. "
The boy looked at him with an injured expression, as if Dustfinger had taken his hand and thrust it into the fire. "But they're tied up!" he protested. "So what is there to watch? No one's ever managed to undo my knots. Word of honor. Please. I want to go with you! I can be your lookout or distract the guards. I can even get into Capricorn's house! I'm quieter than Gwin!"
But Dustfinger shook his head. "No, " he said firmly. "Tonight, I'm going alone. If I want someone following me wherever I go I'll get myself a dog. " And with that he left the boy.
It was a hot day. The sky above the hills was blue and cloudless, and there were hours yet to pass before darkness fell.
36 . IN CAPRICORN'S HOUSE
"It's the place that worries you, " said Hazel. "I don't like it myself, but it won't go on forever. "
Richard Adams, Watership Down
Two narrow metal bunks, one above the other against a whitewashed wall, a cupboard, a table by the window, a chair, an empty shelf with nothing but a candle on it. Meggie had hoped to be able to see the road or at least the parking area through the window, but the only view was of the yard below. A couple of Capricorn's maids were bending over the vegetable patch pulling out weeds, and chickens were pecking around in a wire-netting run in one corner. The walls surrounding the kitchen garden were high enough for a prison.
Fenoglio was sitting on the lower bed, staring gloomily at the dusty floor. The wooden floorboards creaked whenever they stepped on them. Outside the door, Flatnose was protesting to Basta.
"You want me to do what? No, find someone else for the job, damn it! I'd rather go over to the next village, put gas-soaked rags outside someone's door or hang a dead rooster from the window frame. Or run around outside the house with a devil mask on, like Cockerell had to do last month, but I'm not cooling my heels here just to keep watch on an old man and a little girl! Get one of the lads. They'll be glad to have a change from cleaning cars. "
But Basta wasn't open to persuasion. "You'll be relieved after supper, " he said. Then he was gone. Meggie heard his footsteps retreating down the long corridor. There were five doors to pass, then go down the staircase, at the foot of the stairs turn left for the front door… She had carefully taken note of the way. But how was she to get past Flatnose? She went over to the window again and opened it. Just looking out made her feel dizzy. No, she couldn't climb down. She'd break her neck.
"Leave the window open, " said Fenoglio behind her. "It's so hot in here I feel as if I might melt."
Meggie sat down on the bed beside him. "I'm going to run away, " she whispered. "As soon as it gets dark."
The old man looked at her incredulously, shaking his head very firmly. "Are you mad? It's much too dangerous!"
Out in the corridor, Flatnose was still muttering angrily to himself.
"I'll say I have to go to the toilet. " Meggie was clutching her backpack. "Then I'll just run off."
Fenoglio took her by the shoulders. "No!" he whispered emphatically. "No, you won't! We'll think of something. Thinking up ideas is my job, remember?"
Meggie tightened her lips. "Yes, all right, " she murmured, getting up to go back to the window. Dusk was already falling outside. I'm going to try, all the same, she thought as Fenoglio stretched out with a sigh on the narrow bed behind her. I'm not going to just sit here as bait! I'll run away before they catch Mo, too.
And for the hundredth time, as she waited for darkness she tried to push away the question that kept coming into her head: Where was Mo? Why hadn't he come?
37 . CARELESSNESS
"You think this is a trap, then?" the Count asked.
"I always think everything is a trap until proven otherwise, " the Prince answered. "Which is why I'm still alive. "
William Goldman, The Princess Bride
It was still hot when the sun had gone down. There was not a breath of wind in the darkness, and the glowworms were dancing above the dry grass as Dustfinger crept back to Capricorn's village.
Two guards were strolling around the parking area, and neither of them was wearing headphones, so Dustfinger took a different route to Capricorn's house this time. The streets at the far end of the village had been so utterly destroyed by the earthquake which drove out the last villagers that Capricorn had not had them rebuilt. These streets were still blocked by the rubble of ruined walls, and it wasn't very safe to walk there. Even after so many years, loose stones might fall. So Capricorn's men avoided that part of the village, where dirty dishes left by its long-gone inhabitants still stood on many tables behind dilapidated front doors. There were no floodlights here, and even the guards seldom came this way.
Tumbled heaps of broken tiles and stones stood more than knee high in the street that Dustfinger chose. They slipped beneath his feet as he clambered over them, and when he listened to the nocturnal sounds again, afraid the noise might have attracted someone's attention, he saw a guard appear among the ruined houses. His mouth was dry with terror as he ducked behind the nearest wall. Swallows' nests clung to it, one above another. The guard was humming as he came closer. Dustfinger knew him; he had been with Capricorn for many years. Basta had recruited him from a village in another country. For Capricorn had not always lived among these hills. There had been other places, remote villages like this one, houses, abandoned farms, even a fortified castle once. But a day had always come when the web of fear, so expertly spun by Capricorn, tore and the attention of the police was drawn to his men and what they were up to. Eventually the same thing would happen here.