Aillas frowned. "This declaration has a somewhat menacing tone."
"It could alarm only a person who planned to avoid payment of his debt. Are you this sort of person? If so, I have no interest in placing before you the goods of my kitchen and the comforts of my rooms."
"That is fairly said," remarked Aillas. "However, I could not sleep well unless I added a small proviso. Give me your pen."
"What do you intend to write?" demanded Dildahl in suspicion.
"You shall see." Aillas inscribed an addendum:
This document should not be held to encompass the clothes worn by Aillas and his companion, nor their weapons, personal effects, ornaments, wine-sacks, keepsakes or other possessions. Aillas of Trotcinet Dildahl scrutinized the addendum, shrugged, and placed the parchment under the counter. "Come; I will show you to your chamber."
Dildahl took them to a pair of large pleasant rooms with windows overlooking the lake, and a separate bathroom. Aillas asked: "For these rooms the charge is two pennies?"
"Of course not!" declared Dildahl in astonishment. "I understood that you wished to test the luxury of the Antler!"
"Only at a price of two pennies."
Dildahl scowled. "The cheap chamber is dank, and furthermore is not ready."
"Dildahl, if you wish to hold me to payment of my account, then I must hold you to the charges quoted by you."
"Bah!" muttered Dildahl, drooping his loose lower lip to show a purple maw. "For my own convenience, you may occupy these rooms for three pennies."
"Please render that quotation in writing, here and now, to avoid later misunderstanding." Then, as he watched Dildahl writing: "No, no! Not three pennies apiece! Three pennies in total!"
"You are a troublesome guest," muttered Dildahl. "There is little profit in serving such as you."
"A man can spend only what he can afford! If he overreaches, he loses his horses!"
Dildahl only grunted. "When will you dine?"
"As soon as we freshen ourselves in this convenient bath."
"For such a price, I include no hot water."
"Ah well! Since we have incurred your displeasure, cold water must be our lot!"
Dildahl turned away. "It is only your petty frugality which I find reprehensible."
"I hope you will instruct us in the ways of open-handed bounty when we take our supper."
"We shall see," said Dildahl.
At supper the two sat alone in the common room except for a pair of brown-cloaked druids bending low over their food in a corner of the room. They finished their meal and came to the counter to pay the score. Aillas strolled across the room and stood by as each laid down a copper penny and departed.
Dildahl was somewhat annoyed by Aillas' proximity to the transaction. "Well then? What will you eat?"
"What is on your board tonight?"
"The lentil soup is burned, and is off."
"The druids appeared to be eating fine brown trout. You may fry us a pair of these, with a salad of cress and garden stuff. What were the druids eating in their side dish?"
"That was my specialty: crayfish tails with eggs and mustard."
"You may also serve us such a side dish, with some good bread and butter, and perhaps a fruit conserve."
Dildahl bowed. "At your order. Will you drink wine?"
"You may bring us a flask of whatever wine you deem a good value for the price, but at all times, please keep our parsimony in mind. We are as niggardly as druids."
Aillas and Tatzel were served a dinner with which they could find no fault and Dildahl seemed almost civil. Tatzel eyed him with foreboding. "He seems to be making a large number of marks on his board."
"He can mark until doomsday for all of me. If he becomes insolent, you need only announce that you are Lady Tatzel of Castle Sank, and instantly he will moderate his manner. I know his kind."
"I thought that I was now Tatzel the slave-girl."
Aillas chuckled. "True! Your protests might not carry weight, after all."
The two retired and went to their couches; the night passed without incident.
In the morning they ate a breakfast of porridge, bacon and eggs. Aillas then, counting on his fingers, arrived at what he considered a fair reckoning for the hospitality provided by Dildahclass="underline" a sum of ten copper pennies, or a silver half-florin.
Aillas went to the counter to pay the score; here Dildahl, rubbing his hands briskly together, presented him a statement of charges, the grand total of which was three silver florins and fourpence.
Aillas laughed and tossed back the statement. "I do not even intend to argue with you. Here is a silver half-florin, with an extra two pennies because the mustard was good. I now offer you this sum in payment; will you accept it?"
"Certainly not!" declared Dildahl, his face flushing red and his lax lower lip drooping.
"Then I will take the money back, and we will bid you good-day."
"Do you think to alarm me?" roared Dildahl. "I have your pledge at this moment next to my very hand! You have refused to pay my charges; therefore I claim ownership of your horses."
Aillas and Tatzel turned away from the counter. "Claim all you like," said Aillas. "I own no horses. Yesterday, before our arrival, I traded them for a boat. Dildahl, farewell!"
V
THE BOAT WAS A CLINKER-PLANK SKIFF fifteen feet long with copper-riveted seams, a sprit-sail, lee-boards and a rudder swung off the transom in the new manner.
Aillas rowed the skiff out into the lake, raised the sail to a morning breeze from the west and the boat scudded northward down the lake with the wake gurgling behind.
Tatzel made herself comfortable in the bow, and Aillas thought that she seemed to be enjoying the freshness of the morning. Presently she looked over her shoulder: "Now where are you bound?"
"As before, to Dun Cruighre in Godelia."
"Is that close to Xounges?"
"Xounges is immediately across the Skyre."
Tatzel said no more. Aillas wondered as to her interest but forebore to ask.
For two days they sailed the lake, passing the twelve Druid islets, and discovering on one a giant crow built of wicker-work, which provoked Tatzels wonder. Aillas told her: "In the fall, on the eve of the day they call ‘Suaurghille', they will set the crow afire and conduct a great orgy below. Inside the crow will burn two dozen of their enemies. If we set foot on the island we would burn with the others. Sometimes it will be a horse, or a man, or a bear, or a bull."
At its northern end the lake became shallow and choked with reeds, but at length spilled out to become the headwaters of the River Solander. Three days later Aillas looked ahead to see the bluffs which flanked the Solander Estuary. On the right was the Kingdom of Dahaut; on the left, North Ulfland still.
The estuary opened into the Skyre, and the skiff rode over larger waves than it might have liked, and far larger than Tatzel found comfortable, while the scent of salt water hung in the air. With the wind blowing brisk from the west, the skiff plunged ahead at four or five knots, throwing back cold spray, to add to Tatzel's discomfort.
Ahead, on the left, at the end of a stony peninsula, rose the fortified town Xounges; on the right now was Godelia, the land of the Celts, and at last Dun Cruighre came into view.
Aillas looked along the docks and to his delight discovered not only a large Troice cargo cog, but also one of his new warships.