“Likely. They’re not used to not getting their own way. Your guys threw darts. Weren’t they poisoned?”
“No. I did not know where to acquire that sort of drug.”
Too bad. But I wasn’t inclined to clue him in now.
Singe offered no suggestions, either.
59
We used the doorway the plundering ratpeople were running in and out of. Who stole all that in the first place? The crew from Ymber wouldn’t waste the time.
John Stretch led us up a dusty, rickety stair slick with bat droppings. The bat smell was potent. He led on through a maze of ups and downs. The granary had been built in stages, over generations. The army had wanted everything connected. The ratman said, “I am sorry. I have not yet seen this myself. There must be a more direct route. I believe we are close now. Be silent.”
Silence it was. We’re good at silence. All of our lives have depended on silence at some point. And we’re all still here.
We got around by light that leaked through gaps in roofs and walls. There were plenty of those. Unfortunately, they also let in critters and the weather. Eventually, Singe smelled smoke. Flickering light appeared ahead and below. “Looks like firelight.”
We entered the loft of what once had been a vast stable. Moldy hay still lay here and there, inhabited by Singe’s unimproved cousins.
The flickering light came from an indoor campfire. We advanced carefully. Everybody wanted to see. And what we saw was half a dozen people trying to keep warm around a fire being fed wood torn from nearby horse stalls. There were tents around the fire, four of them, facing the warmth.
The camp had been there awhile. There wasn’t much lumber left. There was trash. Laundry hung on lines. That included green plaid pants. Which I noted only in passing. I concentrated on Harvester Temisk and the old man in a wheelchair. Who looked more lively than a man in a coma ought.
I got down on my belly, at the edge of the loft. Morley dropped beside me. Chodo wasn’t talking, nor was he moving. Still, he was farther into our world than when last I’d seen him.
John Stretch settled to my right. Ordinary brown rats collected around him, worshipful.
Were Temisk and Chodo prisoners? Guests? Or in charge?
The unrelated things were converging, suggesting potential cause and effect relationships.
Chodo had an arrangement with the A-Laf cult. It went back a long time. A-Laf’s thugs came to town to charge their nickel dogs with misery. Before Temisk got in touch with me. Before Penny Dreadful turned up with her spooky kittens.
The appearance of the Green Pants Gang must have emboldened Harvester Temisk. He decided to rescue his boss. Powerful old allies had arrived. And they owed Chodo.
But that left plenty of questions. How had Temisk meant to use me? Surely, Teacher White, Rory Sculdyte, and others hadn’t been factored in fully. They hadn’t been expected to survive the Whitefield Hall fire. Then there was Penny Dreadful. Her kittens had been a jinx on everybody.
Was Penny the straight goods? Was she getting up all our noses for a reason? Was most of what she’d told Dean true?
Her presence certainly excited the Green Pants Gang. My front door was proof.
And the human combustions? I had only hints.
And now a new question arose. How the Tersize family fit. Warehousing stolen goods and housing out-of-town religious gangsters wouldn’t happen without them noticing. Hell, they were using A-Laf’s Ugly Pants sextons for security.
And why had that stone been slung my way? I couldn’t make that fit. It had gem-plus value because of its dark capabilities.
Had Colonel Block and Director Relway taken stones off the Ymberians they’d arrested? Would they guess what they had?
Something to think about.
60
A tall, thin old man with wild white hair and exaggerated facial features rushed into the camp. He moved fast for his age but had a major stiffness in his hips. He walked goofy. I couldn’t hear what he said, but it had to be about ratman raiders. Everybody but Temisk and his buddy moved out fast, armed.
“Showtime,” I whispered. Morley nodded.
I didn’t sneak now. I went to a ladder and climbed down. Those two weren’t going to run.
As I descended I noted a coach hidden in a shadowy corner. No doubt the vehicle used to spirit Chodo away from Whitefield Hall. There was no sign of a team.
My advent startled Temisk. He pulled himself together quickly, though. “How did you find us?”
“That’s what I do.” Chodo, I noted, seemed fully alert.
“The trouble outside is a diversion?”
“No. But I’m taking advantage.”
“So you found us. Now what?”
“Now you tell me what’s going on.”
He thought about that. Then he leaned aside and stared, eyes widening in fright.
I’d been joined by several hefty rats. They perched on their haunches like squirrels, studying Temisk.
Temisk gaped. More rats arrived. He gasped, “You… you have the power to control rats?”
“We have a working arrangement.”
Temisk shuddered. Squeaking, he took a swipe at a big bull clambering into Chodo’s lap.
“Don’t do that.” How did John Stretch know Temisk had a problem with rodents? “There’re more of them than there are of you.”
“There were rats in the kitchen at Whitefield Hall. The rats told you how to find us.”
“Rats go everywhere. They see everything. They hear everything.”
Temisk had the full-blown heebie-jeebies now, but his brain hadn’t shut down. “You got this connection because of the ratgirl, eh?”
“Talk about what you’ve up to, solicitor. Not about rats. I know all I need to know about rats.” No horses for the coach. I wouldn’t get Chodo and Temisk out the easy way. “I’m not happy with you.”
“I just wanted to get Chodo away from those people. All right?”
“You tried to kill people. A lot of them. Deliberately. Including me. With fire. But none of us died.”
He put on a show of confusion.
“You tried to set me up, Temisk. But it fell apart. Before it came together. Same for your friends from Ymber.”
I kept an eye on Chodo. He was intensely interested.
I waved at the air. Morley and Saucerhead materialized. Singe took longer. She climbs ladders faster than she comes down them.
John Stretch remained unseen.
I said, “We need to move these two out before those thugs come back. Singe. You recall that evil stone?”
“Yes.”
“Sniff around. See if you can find another one. Or anything else interesting. Morley. Peek out that street door. Check for witnesses.”
“You aren’t thinking about just rolling them out of here, are you?”
I had been. But I saw the problem before he pointed it out.
“You really think you can wheel Chodo around in public and no one will notice?”
“Let me think about that.”
Morley reported, “We don’t want to leave this way. There’s a mob out there grabbing stuff the ratpeople didn’t get before they took off.”
“We’ll go back the way we came. Me and Saucerhead will take turns lugging Chodo.” Tharpe put on an expression of pained disbelief. “You and Temisk handle the chair. Singe. You find anything?”
“I just started. You should stop talking and start doing.”
Temisk was terrified now. He had a notion what the future held. He didn’t want to go there. Chodo wasn’t thrilled, either.
Saucerhead hoisted Chodo as though he were weightless. And there wouldn’t be as much of him as once there had been. I told Temisk, “Grab that chair and start climbing, solicitor.” I heard voices approaching. “Singe, hurry up.”