The face grinned.
It was a groll, a hybrid of human, troll, and the Beast That Talks that is never named in polite company. I grinned back. Grolls are slow of wit and often quick of temper.
Its giant toad mouth opened and spilled some of that hair-raising bass which is their excuse for speech. I did not catch what it said. It was not meant for me, anyway.
The banging on the door stopped.
"Hello yourself," I croaked, and dragged myself up onto my feet. I figured I'd better open up before his patience went and he let himself in through the wall.
There was another one outside the door. It looked exactly like the other one—Big, wide, and ugly. I guessed it would stand twenty feet high in its socks—if it ever wore socks. It didn't wear much else, except a loincloth, a utility belt, and an empty pack harness.
The loincloth did not do much to preserve modesty.
So from here on I have to call them both He with a capital H. Mules would go gibbous with envy.
Both grolls noted my amazement and grinned. That's the sense of humor such creatures have.
"I'd invite you in if you'd fit," I said. One is polite to grolls at all times, irrespective of one's prejudices. Otherwise one finds oneself reassessing one's attitude while being squished between warty green toes.
A short one stepped around the big one. "I expect I'll fit," he said. "And I could use a drink, actually."
"Who the hell are you?"
"Dojango is the name, actually. These are my brothers, Marsha and Doris."
"Brothers?"
"We're triplets, actually." He responded to my unspoken question, "But with different mothers, actually."
Triplets with different mothers. Right. I didn't ask. Making sense out of the things human folks tell me is brain strain enough.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"Morley Dotes sent us, actually."
"What the hell for? Actually?" One of the big grolls growled at me. I used my fingers to sculpt a friendly smile.
"To help in the Cantard."
The villain himself, Morley Dotes, had sneaked on stage. "So you decided you want the job, eh?"
"At the moment there are certain advantages, where my creditors are concerned, to my being both employed and being out of town," Morley replied.
"And you thought you'd gather all your friends under the umbrella of that advantage? Like maybe my principal wouldn't think of putting a bottom in my expense pot?"
"If you would use half that vaunted detective brain of yours, you would bless my vision."
"It's too early in the morning for me to remember my name. Enlighten me, O Illustrious One."
"Consider mules."
"Mules? What the hell do mules have to do with it?"
"We're going into the Cantard. No one will risk loaning or renting us mounts or pack animals. We'll have to buy. On the other hand, wages for Doris and Marsha will run about what it would cost for a brace of good mules. And they can carry twice the load twice as long. And they're a hell of a lot more use in a fight."
That made sense. Good sense. But... "What about friend Dojango?"
Morley sighed. "Yes. Dojango Roze. Well, Garrett, they won't break up the set."
I do believe I scowled. "You sticking me with deadwood?"
"Dojango can lift a blade. He can sniff out water and find firewood. He can understand Doris and Marsha. If you keep an eye on him, he can cook an edible meal without burning anything too badly."
"I'm trying not to slobber in anticipation." I scanned the triplets who had different mothers. They grinned groll good fellowship. They figured Morley had sold me.
Dotes said, "Keep Dojango away from the juice and he'll do all right."
Everyone knows breeds cannot handle their booze. Dojango's grin became apologetic.
"How much is this road show going to burn me?"
Morley tossed out an outrageous figure. I slammed the door and went back to bed. He had one of the big triplets lift him so he could yell numbers through the broken window. I faked a mean snore till some interesting integers began rattling around behind me. In fact, Morley was so pliable I began wondering how bad his creditor situation was. I did not need more complications than I already had.
"It's your diet that makes you so stubborn, you know that, don't you, Garrett? All that red meat filled with the juices stirred by the terror of the murdered beast, and you never exercising so you sweat them out of your own body."
"I figured it was something like that, Morley. That, too much beer, and not enough green, leafy veggies."
"Cattails, Garrett. The white hearts down near the roots of the young plant, diced into a tossed salad. Not only tasty, but informed with an almost mystical capacity for lightening the burden of guilt lying upon the carnivore's soul."
"Horsepucky." When I was in the Marines we raided an island where the Venageti promptly cut us off from our ships and drove us into a swamp. Cattails were a mainstay of our diet till the fortunes of war shifted. I don't recall them doing anything remarkable for the temperaments of our sergeants and corporals, who seemed carnivorous enough to eat their own young. Rather the opposite, in a geometric progression.
I know we all took it out on the Venageti when the time came.
Maybe I did not start eating cattails young enough. "Morley, I did a job for a professor at the university one time. He was always spouting who-cares facts. Like one time when he said there are two hundred forty-eight different kinds of fruits, vegetables, greens, and tubers that people eat. Hogs will only eat two hundred forty-six of those. They won't touch green peppers and they won't touch cattail hearts. Which goes to show you that hogs have more sense than people."
"No point trying to salvage you, is there? You're determined to suicide the slow way. Are the boys hired?"
"They're hired." I hoped I would not be sorry.
"How soon can we leave?"
"You in a hurry, Morley? You need to get out of town fast? That why you're being so agreeable about going into the Cantard?"
Dotes shrugged.
A shrug was answer enough.
Considering Morley's talents and reputation, it would take somebody heavy to have enough clout to scare him. In my mind somebodies that heavy narrowed down to a crowd of one. The big guy himself. The kingpin. "Since when is Kolchak into bug racing, Morley?"
He popped down out of the window. His voice lingered behind him. "You're too damned smart for your own good, Garrett. It's going to catch up with you someday. I'll be in touch. Come on, you lummoxes. Dojango! Put that back. Doris!" He sounded like a muleteer trying to get a wagon started.
I went back to bed thinking I'd better use some of Tate's money to get a new window put in. Maybe a flashy piece with my name leaded in colors.
11
This old universe hasn't got one notion of the meaning of the word mercy where I'm concerned. I just got to snoozing when the door began shivering like a drumhead again.
"Going to have to do something about this," I muttered as I hit the floor. "Like maybe move and not tell anybody."
I opened up and found uncle Lester and the boys outside. "You guys decide to forget the whole thing, I hope?" I noticed that two of the kids had gotten into something rough. They showed plenty of bruises and bandages and one had an arm in a sling. "What happened?"
"Unfriendly visitors. Willard wants to talk to you about it."
"All right. I'm on my way." I took just long enough to make myself presentable, gulp some water, and pick up the lead-weighted head-thumper.
Willard Tate was in a state. He waited, wringing his hands. All my life I have heard that expression. Except for a maiden aunt whose every breath was an act of high drama, I'd never seen it before.