Gomja lifted his head and stared angrily at the blond warrior, then drew himself up. "You would not spout such lies if I where able to make you account for them, Mister Silverhorn. You have a brave mouth, but you lack any sort of real honor lich as we giff know."
"Is that the same code of honor that lets you sell us out to the elves?" Aelfred asked suddenly, his eyes narrowed. Gomja quickly turned bright blue with rage. His arms and chest swelled against the ropes and stretched them uncomfortably far. "Untie me, mongrel," he said, "and I promise to give you a personal demonstration of our code of honor, one that you will never forget. You are a vomit-eating dog and a-"
"You were working for the elves," said Teldin angrily, breaking in. "You were helping them to kidnap me so they could get my cloak. I want to know why."
Gomja looked at Teldin, and his manner changed at once. To Teldin's astonishment, the giffs rage was gone in an instant. "That's just not true, sir!" he said in a wounded voice. "I was helping the elves protect you! The very least you can do is to ask the elves themselves. They should tell you all about…" He looked away, his dark eyes searching the vicinty. "Unless, of course, the giant…"
Aelfred grinned without humor. "The giant's dead, and so are your Imperial Fleet buddies. They dropped the spear on this one. We know you set Teldin up to be grabbed. Before we figure out what to do with you, we just want the truth, if we can get anything close to it from you."
"I do not lie!" Gomja roared suddenly, struggling at his bonds. Teldin stepped back at the violence in the giffs voice.
Wildspace scum, I do not lie! If there is a liar among us, it is certainly you!"
"Gomja," Teldin said. The giff looked at him again, anger fading once more from his small black eyes. "I want to know the whole story about the elves, and I want it now."
The giff hesitated, glancing around once more in search of something.
"Talk," said Teldin. "The elves are dead. I want to know how you got mixed up with them, before we decide to leave you here or do something worse."
Gomja slowly relaxed in his bonds as he looked back up at Teldin. "Very well," he said softly, "but it's not what you think, sir. I'm not a traitor. The elves contacted me when we were on Ironpiece. They remembered me from the times I tried to get work from the Imperial Fleet, and they used a spell or device to talk to me. At first I though it was psionics-those are mental powers, something like spells, I think-but they told me it was just magic. We giff know little of real magic, so-at any rate, sir, they-"
"Stop calling me 'sir,' " said Teldin softly. "I think we're long past that point now."
Gomja looked at Teldin in disbelief, his mouth open. Somehow he grew smaller as his face lost all expression. "Yes, sir," said the giff, his voice barely audible. He grimaced as he caught himself. "I mean, yes, I understand." The giff cleared his throat with a rumble, his eyes glistening, then continued. "Well, the first thing the elves did was to warn me of the scro assault. That was on the first night after I pulled you from the water when the Probe crashed into the lake. The elves…" Gomja's voice drifted off as he looked from Teldin to Aelfred and Sylvie, staring for a moment at Sylvie in particular. He swallowed, then looked back at Teldin. "Can we talk privately, sir?" He bit his lower lip. "Sorry."
"Whatever you have to say, you can say it in front of these two," Teldin responded curtly. "I trust them." The emphasis he put on the last word was lost on no one.
Gomja looked anxiously at the others, then went on. "The elves warned me not to tell you they were communicating with me, because… there was a spy among your group," he said faintly, looking at Teldin. "Someone was signaling our plans to the scro behind us, and the elves, who were behind the scro, saw the signal lights. The elves didn't know who it was, but they were very much afraid for your safety. They asked me to find a way to go with you and protect you from any"-he looked again at Aelfred and Sylvie-"internal dangers, while the elves would try to fend off the scro fleet with their own ships."
"Old son," said Aelfred with an easy smile, "you're implying that either myself or this lady might be that spy."
Gomja looked Aelfred in the face as he spoke. "The possibility has crossed my mind on a few occasions. I've seen nothing so far that would imply that there was any truth to ii, and is obvious to me that Teldin trusts you greatly, but my first loyalty is still to Teldin's safety. When stake s are high, one should tread carefully and carry a big firearm."
"If you were so concerned about my safety," Teldin said abruptly, "then why did you lead that ship to me so that it could try to snatch me like some kind of war booty? What did they offer you? Gold? A ship? Smokepowder?"
Gomja turned pale blue, but he looked Teldin steadily in the eye. "I can't believe they would have done anything as crude as that, but in any event they offered me nothing, nothing at all. They merely said that if I cared for you, then I would have to help them protect you. They gave me accurate reports in the wildspace battle near Ironpiece. They apologized for firing on some gnomish ships in the confusion. They warned me of the attack on Port Walkaway, and I was able to prepare for it with the help of my troops. They continued to give me warnings about the scro when we were in the phlogiston and when we entered this crystal sphere, and they told me about the scro fleet's presence behind us when we left the rastipedes. They did help us, s-Teldin."
No one spoke. "The elves said that at some point they wanted to talk to you personally," Gomja continued. "They wanted to convince you to go with them to find the Spelljammer. They'd had a change of heart in not becoming involved in your quest, so they followed you. They said it was a good thing they did, too. All they wanted was a chance to talk and help."
"Are you at all aware of what they did when they found me?" Teldin asked heatedly. "They knocked you down on purpose, they tried to kidnap me, and they finally managed to paralyze me with their wands before their ship went out of control and was smashed by that giant. Talk to me? Hell, they wanted this"-Teldin grabbed an edge of his cloak in one hand and held it up-"and you almost helped them get it. Didn't you even have a clue about this?"
Gomja's ears drooped and he appeared to get even paler. His tiny eyes were wide and rimmed with white. "That can't be true, sir!" he cried, forgetting himself. "They promised me that all they wanted to do was to talk to you and help you find the Spelljammer! Maybe they were just trying to get you out of the area, away from the giant. They didn't hurt you, they?"
"If they weren't after me, then why did they turn their wands at me, and not at the giant?" Teldin shouted suddenly. "Why did they treat me like a criminal? Why?"
Gomja looked stricken. He started to say something, but no words came out of his mouth.
"Why?" Teldin said more quietly, stepping forward and leaning down to the giffs wide face. "I'll tell you why. Because they wanted my cloak. If I hadn't shot their helmsman, they would have had it, too." Teldin stabbed a finger into the distance. "You want to talk to the elves? They're over there, smeared over the ground in the wreckage of their ship! If you really were trying to help me, then damn you for not telling me about all this! Damn you for keeping it a secret and nearly getting me killed! Damn you for making me have to kill them!"