Boпndil abandoned his post and climbed back inside, his chain mail clinking softly. "You were lucky," he said gravely. He curled his long plait into a pillow and lay down. "The дlf was right behind you."
Goпmgar turned a deathly shade of pale.
VI
Roodacre, Kingdom of Tabaоn, Girdlegard, Winter, 6234th Solar Cycle Tungdil was woken by the sound of scraping metal. He opened his eyes.
Djerun had got to his feet and drawn his mighty sword. He was holding the weapon outstretched in his right hand, blade angled toward the door. Andфkai, still in bed, was wide-awake too. She signaled to Tungdil, instructing him to keep quiet and lie still.
They watched as a thin strip of wood slipped through the doorframe and rose toward the latch, pushing the oak beam noiselessly out of the catch. Little by little the door came open. Faint light sloped into the dormitory from the corridor, illuminating the outline of a stocky figure.
The intruder was roughly the size of a dwarf. He was wearing a helmet and, judging from his silhouette, was blessed with an exceptionally bushy beard. In his left hand he was clutching a sack. The sight of Djerun stopped him in his tracks. Andфkai gave the command.
The giant shot forward to seize the intruder, but his phenomenal speed was not enough. Ducking away, the little fellow surprised them all by darting in instead of out.
"Stop right there!" Tungdil sprang out of bed and barred his path. He made to grab him, but the dwarf proved astonishingly agile, leaving the startled Tungdil with a clump of whiskers in his hand.
The intruder leaped nimbly onto the windowsill, hurled his sack at his pursuers, and fled across the roof. The bag smacked Tungdil in the chest, spilling its contents across the roughly hewn tiles.
The clattering and jangling woke the others. Boпndil was up like a shot, running around the room, brandishing his axes and bellowing for the orcs to fight him if they dared. The rest of the company reached for their weapons.
Balyndis, dressed only in her undergarments, had taken up position on her bed and was gripping her ax with both hands. A shaft of moonlight slanted through the curtains, exposing her curves. It occurred to Tungdil that she probably didn't realize how much she was revealing, but he couldn't bring himself to look away.
"Where did they go?" demanded Boпndil, spoiling for a fight.
"We had an uninvited guest," said Andфkai, leaning out of the window to see where the fellow had got to. "A dwarf. There must have been something funny about him because he didn't respond to my spell. And now he's gone."
"Gold," exclaimed Tungdil in surprise, finally noticing the shiny coins on the floor. He bent down and scooped them up. Some of them were stuck together and left damp traces on his hands.
"And a dagger," observed Goпmgar, who was cowering in a corner.
Boпndil picked it up and eyed it carefully. "Forged on a dwarven anvil," he said slowly, handing it to Balyndis. "You're the expert. What do you reckon?"
Booted feet thundered up the stairs and across the landing to their room. The next moment, armored guards burst inside, halberds pointing menacingly toward them.
"Light, I need more light!" shouted someone, and in an instant lamps were passed forward and more guards thronged inside.
The coins and the knife! Tungdil was about to throw the gold out of the window and tell Boпndil to put away the dagger, but already the room was bathed in light, revealing telltale red smudges on his fingers: The coins and the dagger were covered in blood.
"By Palandiell," exclaimed the captain of the guards, a strong man of some forty cycles with a small scar on the left side of his face. "I've never seen such brazen criminals. Just look at the ruffians! Sitting here calmly, dividing their loot." His eyes shifted to the dagger in Boпndil's hand. "He's even holding the murder weapon!" He waved his men forward. "Arrest the lot of them, the men as well as the little fellows. We'll soon find out which of them were embroiled in this dastardly business."
"What business would that be, oh worthy guardian of our municipal safety?" inquired Rodario in his most amiable and gracious tone. He could easily have been inquiring about the weather. He adjusted his undergarments with aristocratic elegance. "Perhaps you would care to enlighten us?"
"Sir Darolan was murdered at knifepoint not three streets from here." He glared at Boпndil. "The game's up. You were seen and followed." He turned to one of his men. "There's a whole band of them. Professionals, I'll warrant."
"I'm afraid there's been a terrible misunderstanding," chimed in Tungdil. He outlined what had happened before the arrival of the guards, holding up the lock of beard as evidence. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a snippet of fleece.
The captain laughed in his face. "A likely story, groundling. I've never heard such nonsense."
"I know it sounds strange, but-"
"Strange? It's preposterous! I'm arresting you and your accomplices in the name of King Nate. One of you will sign a confession soon enough. We've solved every murder in this city by putting the suspects on the rack."
"As I was saying," Rodario resumed smoothly, "the dwarves are nothing to do with us." He winked furtively at Tungdil. "In fact, my companions and I were accompanying the lady when-"
"Save your stories for the interrogator," the captain interrupted him harshly. Just then his dour face brightened and he looked at them with sudden kindness. "Although, I must say, the evidence in your favor is quite compelling…" He took the strand of fake beard from Tungdil and gestured to the door. "We've been wasting our time," he told his guards. "The real murderer led us here on false pretenses. We need to get after him before the trail goes cold."
"But, Captain!" one of his subordinates protested vigorously. "We saw the dwarf run into the tavern-"
"Get a move on," the captain ordered. "Outside on the double! We'll never find him at this rate." Realizing that he was not to be dissuaded, the baffled guardsmen followed his instructions and exited the room. Soon afterward their clunking armor could be heard through the open window.
"That was close. Thank goodness he changed his mind." Rodario breathed a deep sigh of relief. "Can we go to bed now?"
Andфkai was already packing her things. "He'll come to his senses before too long. The sooner we leave, the better. The spell won't last forever."
"What do you mean, come to his senses? He's always like that," objected Boпndil, scratching his beard in confusion.
"She means the captain, not Rodario," explained Tungdil with a grin. It dawned on him why no one ever challenged Djerun; the maga could obviously control people's thoughts. "She put a spell on him. Why else would he let us go?" He stared pensively at a tuft of fleece that had stuck to his fingers. The whole thing was a setup and it almost succeeded. "Someone was trying to get us into trouble."
"And it nearly worked! The villain disguised himself as a dwarf," said Boпndil, scandalized. He started to pack. "Just wait until I get my hands on him. He'll wish he'd never been born."
"Children can't move that fast," mused Balyndis, gathering her things. "It must have been a gnome or a kobold or…"
Tungdil raised his hands to his head in sudden understanding. "Of course! Bislipur's gnome!" They hurried out of the room and down the stairs. "Sverd must have followed us and waited for the opportunity to land us in real trouble. Bislipur's behind it all!"
"You can't fault the gnome's persistence," said Bavragor admiringly, tugging on the straps of his pack. "To think he followed us all this way."
"It would have been easy enough to track us," argued Boпndil. He peered into the front room of the tavern before waving the others on.
"Not necessarily," countered Balyndis, impressed by Sverd's tenacity. "He must have snuck into the firstling kingdom and found his way into the tunnels. That takes some doing."