Bitter Gold Hearts

  “Good. Get up. Work the kinks out.” I took one of the witch’s crystals from my pocket. This one didn’t need to be stomped for activation. “This little treasure here,” I said. “It’s from the same source as the spell that had everybody puking awhile ago. And that had everybody spinning when we raided your place in Ogre Town. Just so you know it’s the real thing, Skredli.” I shoved it into his pocket, said the proper word. “If you try to take it out, or if you do anything that makes me want to repeat that word, it’ll blow up. It’ll tear you in half.”

  “Hey! We made a goddamn deal!”

  “It stands. I’m just trying to make sure your side does. The spell isn’t good for more than an hour, and the crystal won’t activate if you’re too far away for it to hear me yell. I figure the farmhouse is barely in yelling dis­tance. You follow me?”

  “Yeah. You human bastards never let up, do you? Never give a guy a break.”

  “That’s the way you want to look at it, Skredli, that’s all right with me. Long as you whack the witch.”

  Skredli drained a long, put-upon sigh from his long-suffering body. “When?”

  “As soon as it’s dark.” Minutes away. I could distin­guish the farmhouse only by looking to one side of it. Five minutes later I told Skredli, “Anytime you feel like getting started.”

  “How about next New Year’s?” He started down the slope.

  __LV__

  Skredli apparently had an honest streak. If some­body had tried that stunt on me, I would have tested the trick somehow. Unless they were better talkers than I.

  “You guys gather around close,” I said, after I’d given the breed fifteen minutes to get started. “I’ve got two tricks left. This one is the best.” I took out a crystal bigger than the others the witch had given me. It gave off the minutest amount of soft orange light. I suspect it had stretched her limits to create it — if it did what she claimed it would.

  “When I break this, we’ll be invisible to the second sight, or whatever you call it, for about ten minutes. We’ll still be visible to regular eyes. Once I crack it, don’t waste any time.”

  “You fibbed to Skredli, you bad boy,” Saucerhead said.

  “Sideways. Sort of. Maybe. If he runs after he makes his diversion, I won’t chase him.”

  “What about me?”

  “I warned him. You do what you want when we have the Stormwarden wrapped up.”

  He grinned big enough to see in the dark.

  “Everybody got it?”

  They said they did. Morley asked, “What else have you got?”

  “What?”

  “You said you had a couple of things. I know you, Garrett. What are they?”

  “Just one more. A crystal from the same family I used before. This one causes violent muscle cramps.”

  “Please yell or something this time, Garrett.”

  “All right. Here goes.”

  I broke the glowing crystal.

  ***

  Skredli found half a dozen guys to back him and made his move when we were a hundred-fifty yards from the farmhouse. It wasn’t a happy move for the most. The attack was over before we were two-thirds of the way to the house. Worms of blue light snapped and snarled around the place. Men yelled. A couple staggered away ablaze. But nothing reached us. I watched Skredli brush off a patch of fire and head for the woods beyond the house. Saucerhead saw him too. He growled but stuck. The Stormwarden stepped out the front door. We dropped down in the grass. There was enough light cast by burning men to show her grinning. She turned back into the darkened house.

  I flung my last crystal. I hit the dirt.

  Tinkle. And a long scream.

  I charged. The others damn near stomped on my heels. They knew as well as I that we had to get her wrapped up in the few seconds when the pain distracted her too much to protect herself.

  She was fighting it when we arrived. I tried to clap a hand over her mouth. She ducked me. Morley let her have a fist in the temple that loosened her up, then Crask and Sadler pinned her to the floor. I got back around and clamped my hand over her mouth. “Get the damned light going, Saucerhead.”

  The woman couldn’t remain still. The spasms racking her were as violent as convulsions.

  A lamp came to life. But Morley had lighted it. Saucerhead was nowhere to be seen. Morley set the lamp down and brought a rag that I stuffed into the Stormwarden’s mouth. In seconds he returned with rope. We bound her. Her spasms began to ease. “Where did you come up with rope all of a sudden?”

  “They didn’t need it anymore.”

  I looked. He was right. Gameleon and the Baronet had checked out. Donni Pell was alive but that was about all. Domina Dount was unbound but standing in a cor­ner, her face a mask of horror, eyes wide but unseeing, skin as pale and cold as a human’s can get. I don’t think she knew we were there. “Not a very nice lady at all,” I said. I sort of wished Amber could be there to see what had happened to her father.

  There wasn’t a lot left of him or his half-brother. I understood why he’d been scared enough to murder Courter Slauce. Had he foreseen this, I could see him being scared enough to ice Amiranda.

  Even Sadler and Crask were impressed. And they weren’t the types one impresses with human messes. The Stormwarden was recovering. Her eyes were open, hard, unfriendly. “What now?” Sadler asked. Our next move was obvious. There was only one way to save our butts: do unto others first. But that was a hell of a giant step, even after we’d started taking it. I’ve got no use for our masters from the Hill, and the others had none either, but we’d been conditioned to think them immune to our ire. A wish came true. A sound. I thought it was Saucerhead. But Sadler and Crask, nearer the door, whipped out blades and got set for trouble.

  Amber walked in. And right behind her was Saucerhead’s witch.

  I gawked.

  Shaggoth stuck his head in the door while Morley muttered something elfish, sniffed disgustedly, and with­drew into the night.

  Morley finally managed, “What the hell was that?”

  “A troll.”

  Amber didn’t react physically this time. She looked at her father’s remains. She looked at her mother. She looked at Gameleon and Donni Pell. She looked at her mother again. She looked at Willa Dount, then she looked at me. Her lips were tight and white. She shook her head, took Willa Dount into her arms and began making soothing sounds.

  “What now?” Sadler asked again.

  I looked at the witch. “Your stuff came in handy.”

  “I guessed it might.” She looked like she might lose her most recent meal.

  “What’re you doing here?”

  “Shaggoth came upon this child on the road, in hyster­ics. He brought her to me. I wheedled some of her story out of her and guessed some more and thought you might be in trouble. We’ve been on the hill behind you for the past hour.”

  “Ran into Amber just by chance, eh?”

  She smiled. “We like to keep track.” She glanced around. “Your associate has asked twice what you want to do now.”

  “It isn’t a matter of what I want to do. It’s what 1 have to do to stay healthy. I was planning to dump them down the well and fill it. By the time anyone digs them up they won’t be identifiable.”

  “You tend to think as grimly as those you oppose today, Garrett. You’re the knight in the knighted land, remember? A rage for justice? That’s what you brought with you when you visited me. Not kill or be killed.”

  “Show me the way. My head’s locked in. It’s gotten too bloody and too brutal.”

  “Amber. Come here.”

  Amber left Willa Dount, who had begun to show some color. “Yes?”

  “Explain to Garrett what we discussed while we waited on the hillside.”

  “Discussed? You told me... Garrett, all we have to do now is get some people from the High Council to come and see what’s happened. Nobody else has to get killed. We can just sit tight and keep things the way they are. Answer questions honestly.
My mother has over­stepped her rights. They’ll take appropriate steps. Includ­ing making certain Mother never hurts anybody again. You and your friends included.”

  I thought about it. I thought about it some more. Maybe they were too damned idealistic. But if the right bunch came out, some of the Stormwarden’s enemies, we might come up smelling like roses. They could tie it in a knot and make a good show, get what they wanted, and come out looking like champions of justice themselves. “It’s worth a think. Let’s take a walk.” I grabbed her hand and went outside.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “The gold?”

  “It’s gone. Isn’t it? Anyway, if it turns out the way the witch said, it won’t matter. I’ll get everything that be­longed to my mother and father and she won’t be there to —”

  “The gold isn’t gone. Not most of it. Willa Dount hid it somewhere. Skredli’s bunch weren’t after two hundred thousand. They asked for twenty thousand. Domina forged an extra cipher into all those letters.”

  “Oh. I see. You want your half.”

  “Not really. I never counted on getting it. I just want you to keep it in mind if you bring in a tribunal. They get a sniff of that, they could get itchy to grab.”

  “It’s all right with you? To do it this way?”

  “It’s fine with me. It’s you I’m asking about.”

  “She said it would be.”

  “The witch?”

  “Yes. She knows you better than I do, I guess.”

  “Let’s go inside.” We went. I told Crask and Sadler, “You guys got any reason to hang around?”

  Crask was leaning against a wall, watching the witch. He said, “Yeah.” He pointed. “Her.” He meant Donni Pell. “Chodo wants her. When you’re done with her. If she’s still breathing.”

  “What for?”

  “An ornament. Like the broads that hang around the pool. He thinks she’d be interesting, all he’s heard.”

  “I see.” I liked an aspect of the idea. I examined my conscience. Better than killing her. Maybe. “It’s all right with me. Take her now.”

  The witch gave me an unreadable look. Then she stepped over and did something to Donni Pell. The girl began breathing easier. Saucerhead came strolling in. He saw the witch and looked sheepish immediately. I got the distinct impres­sion the world would be plagued by an ogre breed named Skredli no more. Morley said nothing. In fact, he did one of the fanciest fades ever. I paid no attention while Crask and Sadler started out with Donni Pell on a crude stretcher. And when I looked, Morley was nowhere in sight.

  __LVI__

  The investigators came in a body of eight. They were painfully thorough, yet there was never any doubt of their ruling. The final decision found Lord Gameleon, Baronet daPena, and the Stormwarden Raver Styx all guilty of murder. Amiranda’s death they ascribed to person or persons unknown. On the Hill they don’t hang each other. Raver Styx was sentenced to be stripped of her property and sorcerous powers and ejected from the Hill, to make her way alone in the world. Except she didn’t exactly go alone. Willa Dount vanished, and the last I heard Raver Styx was trying to hunt her down. One hundred eighty thou­sand marks gold!

  I wonder if Raver Styx will have any luck. I never managed to locate Willa Dount or the gold, despite months of searching whenever I had free time. I did figure out that she had kept it with her all the time. She hadn’t been late to the payoff meet because she’d stopped on the way, but, as Skredli had thought, she’d miscalculated the speed a heavily loaded wagon could make. The cut she’d forged for herself had been concealed under a false bottom. I found the very wagon and the man who had modified it for her. Whatever she did with the gold, she did it after the payoff.

  I did all right, though. I found ways to recover most of the rest, and Amber made sure I got ten percent. I’ve had no direct contact with Amber since we got back to TunFaire. She’s been too busy muscling into her mother’s place in the scheme of the Hill to visit me. I haven’t dared go there. I looked like I’d spent six weeks in the wild islands when I got home. Dean took one look and rolled up his n ose. He said, “I’ll put some water on to heat, Mr. Garrett,”

  I heard a woman say something in the kitchen. I was not up to coping with one of his nieces. “What have I told you about...”

  Tinnie stepped into the hallway, an angry red-haired vision. “I’m going to give you one chance to explain, Garrett,” she said, and went back into the kitchen.

  “What the hell is that?”

  “She saw you coming out of Lettie Faren’s place with a woman the afternoon she got back to town.” Dean looked smug.

  “And you, knowing who I was with and why, didn’t bother to explain because you figured it would serve me right to get on her shit list. Eh?”

  He refused to look abashed. The rat. Tinnie took my word. More or less. After I explained everything six times and showed her that, yes, I’d even made money on this one. But it took some doing, and some of the money had to be spent in fancy eating places and whatnot, before she decided to forgive me for what­ever it was she imagined I might have done.

  She finally relented when I started muttering about marrying one of Dean’s nieces. She wanted to save me from a fate worse than death. A week had passed when Crask came to the door. I wasn’t in a good mood. Dean and the Dead Man and Tinnie were all riding me for one reason or another. Saucerhead was avoiding me because of what he’d gone through during the investigation. Morley’s boys wouldn’t let me get anywhere near his place. Every time I left the house, Pokey Pigotta followed me. For no special reason, just because he wanted to hone his skills to the point where he could do it without me getting wise. I wasn’t in a good mood.

  “Yeah?” I saved my nastiest tone. I’m not so stupid I’d lay that on one of Chodo Contague’s head-breakers. The next one that came around might not be somebody I recognized — and he might play a few drum rolls on my skull with pieces of lead pipe.

  “Chodo wants to see you.”

  Wonderful. I didn’t want to see Chodo. Not unless I got into a pinch so bad it was time to collect my favor. “Social?”

  Crask smiled. “You could say that.”

  I didn’t like it. I hadn’t seen Crask smile since he’d turned up in my life.

  He said, “He has a gift for you.”

  Oh boy. A gift from the kingpin. The ways those boys operate, that could mean anything. With my imagination it couldn’t mean anything good. But what could I do? I’d been summoned. I have enough enemies without adding the kingpin just to snub him. “Let me tell my man. So he can lock up.”

  I told Dean. I glanced in on the Dead Man. The fat son was still asleep. He’d dozed off while we were out at the damned farm. He still hadn’t told me how Glory Mooncalled was working his military magic.

  I had a surprise for him.

  __LVII__

  Chodo could put on a show. Crask took me out there in a coach as fancy as anything off the Hill. Maybe the same one we had used going into Ogre Town. The kingpin met me by his pool. He was in his wheel-chair, but they had just dragged him out of the water. The girls finished setting him up and bounced off, gig­gling. What a good life they had. Until their knockers started to sag.

  One cutie stayed.

  I didn’t recognize her at first. When I did, I was startled. This wasn’t the Donni Pell I’d known so briefly. Not the Donni who had been so tough on that farm. This Donni had been broken down and rebuilt. She looked as eager to please as a puppy. Chodo noticed my surprise. He looked me in the eye and smiled. His smile was like Crask’s. That was like looking Death in the face and having him grin. “A gift, Mr. Garrett. Not to be considered for the favor I owe. Just a token of my esteem. She’s quite tame now. Quite pliable. 1 have no more use for her. I thought you might. Take her.”

  What could I do? He was who he was. I said thank you and told Donni Pell to get dressed. Then I let Crask take us back to my place.

  What the hell was I going to do with her?

  Wh
at had he done to her? She wasn’t really Donni Pell anymore.

  She spoke only when spoken to.

  I took her into the Dead Man’s room, sat her down, woke him up.

  Garrett, you pustule on the nose of... Heavens! Not another one. You have had that redhaired trollop in and out for —

  “How would you know? You’ve been snoring.”

  You truly believe I can sleep through —

  “Can it, Chuckles. This one is the famous Donni Pell. A few weeks with the kingpin has given her a whole new attitude.”

  Yes. He seemed mildly distressed. Maybe even pitying, though the gods knew the woman didn’t deserve that.

  “I think she’ll give me answers if I ask questions.”

  She will. Yes. Does that mean you have not unraveled the last few for yourself?

  “Sort of.” It meant I’d been trying to put the mess out of mind. With a little help from Tinnie, it had begun to recede. “You going to claim you figured out who killed Amiranda?”

  Yes. And why. You never cease to amaze me, Garrett. It is quite obvious, actually.

  “Illuminate me.”

  Illuminate yourself. You have all the information. Or ask that tortured child.

  He meant tormented. Only “tormented” really de­scribed Donni Pell.

  I tried, running it right through from the beginning. I didn’t get it. Maybe I was just lazy because the answer was there for the asking. “Donni, who killed Amiranda Crest?”

  “The Domina Willa Dount, Mr. Garrett.”

  “What? No!” But... Wait. “Why?”

  “Because Amiranda helped Karl make up the ransom notes I wrote out and sent. Because Amiranda knew we were going to ask for twenty thousand marks gold, and when she saw the notes, they said two hundred thousand. Because as soon as she met Karl she was going to find out that it wasn’t because he’d gotten greedy or I’d made a mistake.”

  Right. And I had to believe the Dead Man had come to that conclusion. Because I’d given him the details of my interview with Willa Dount with the Stormwarden standing by, when I’d gotten an indication that the Domina’d had prior knowledge that Amiranda was going to run....