“Visions of old glories,” Soxus said. “There are a few Feybeerian cities that live in the past, but not like Lord Quilius.”

  Pepper sat up straighter on his horse. “There are people in the woods,” he said quietly to his riding companions.

  Gags put his hand to where his sword would be, but his weapons were in the wagon. He resisted gazing into the woods. “The guards must be told,” Gags said.

  “I’ll go and see if I can get to our swords,” Pepper said, urging his horse on.

  “You have the crossbow bolts I gave you?” Soxus asked.

  “I do,” Gags said, nodding. He reached back into his saddlebag and grabbed a handful to put in the pocket of his coat to join the few he had slipped in before they left Fetishing. “I also had a good breakfast.”

  Soxus grinned. “I noticed.”

  Gags looked ahead and the guards went into action, weapons out as their heads pointed toward the woods as Pepper got the warning out.

  “The result of a neglected area,” Soxus said. “Bandits.”

  Perhaps they were more than simple bandits. Gags wouldn’t be surprised if he learned Nestus Deliry had sent them. If he had, they would have a sorcerer or maybe more.

  “What about the children?” Gags asked. “They went along this same road, didn’t they?”

  Soxus shrugged. “I don’t know the arrangements. The children have always been ahead of us. No one seemed worried.”

  “I’m worried,” Gags said as Pepper reached them.

  “Mexius finally admitted they were sent by Lord Quilius to make sure we were well protected,” Pepper said.

  Gags looked forward as the guards were sheathing their weapons. “Minders for the minders,” he said.

  “Remember, you work for Honian,” Soxus said.

  “As long as I choose to work for him,” Gags said, “Same as you.”

  Soxus grunted. “I’m going to get your weapons, anyway.” He rode on ahead.

  “What was Mexius going to do if we attacked the outriders?” Gags asked Pepper.

  “We won’t find out. Honian wasn’t happy about not being told, and Patricia was furious.”

  Gags stared at Pepper. “Were you back in the carriage?”

  Pepper smiled. “Riding just outside having an urgent conversation with Patricia about what defense she had planned for her uncle. It involved death, of course.”

  “Of course, it did. Quilius and Nestus Deliry are idiots,” Gags said.

  “Potential clients,” Pepper said. “Everyone is a potential client.”

  “Not in my world,” Gags said, but then he thought for a moment. “But you have a point. You never know what will happen in war or in business.”

  Pepper nodded. “See? I’m right.”

  Gags sighed. “I said you had a point. Soxus is getting our weapons. See if he needs some help.”

  Gags looked at the woods more closely and the stealth of the outriders began to relax. Gags waved at one who made eye contact with him and the rider waved back. It was time to reassess their status, but Soxus returned. Gags wouldn’t do anything hasty and get Soxus in trouble.

  It felt good to buckle on a sword and grasp his iron staff again. The knife he kept on his person, not so much. Gags wasn’t as adept at knife fighting as Pepper, but the smaller weapons could be hidden whereas the iron staff couldn’t.

  Soxus had ambush stories, and Gags enjoyed listening to them. Terzian’s attack on the wagon train hadn’t been the first that Soxus had survived, although Terzian brought the most men to an ambush that Soxus could recall.

  The stories passed the time until they stopped at a clearing. It was once an inn and all remaining was a stone cooking station, a fireplace with the chimney still intact, and a crude stone bench and table made quite a bit later. Upon inspection, the cooking station and the fireplace had been repaired through the years, indicating this was a popular stop between Fetishing and Go-Greva.

  Pepper gathered piles of leaves to cushion the hard ground while Soxus and Gags brought tents. The guards put up the tents for Honian, Patricia, and Mexius.

  “Do we have to cook for ourselves?” Pepper asked.

  Soxus nodded. “I’m sure we can come up with something edible from the supplies in the wagon.”

  The guards clustered around the cooking station, which was a large waist-high firebox that had two holes covered by grates that someone had left.

  “We can make our own fire,” Soxus said.

  Soxus gathered rocks while Gags and Pepper cleared away the cooking site and moved a few logs, previously used as benches to their site, and then the three of them gathered enough dead wood for dinner and breakfast. By the time they were done and had a fire well on its way to being suitable for cooking, Patricia arrived with a crate from the wagon.

  “I was just going to get something, Lady Patricia,” Soxus said.

  “No need. Who wants to listen to old men boast about their conquests from years ago. I’d rather listen to younger men do the same thing.” She grinned at Pepper, who smiled back with a mild look of embarrassment.

  “What is for dinner?” Gags said.

  “Soxus and I will come up with something, won’t we,” she said ending up looking at Soxus.

  “Whatever you say,” Soxus said.

  Gags sat on the log and listened to the discussion Patricia was having with Pepper and Soxus. She didn’t bring him into the conversation but watching them was entertainment enough.

  “I’m going to eat as much as you,” Patricia finally said to Gags when everyone served themselves and began eating. “I won’t be looking quite as trim from here on out,” she said. “I may need my magic when we get to Go-Greva.”

  “I won’t disagree, but I’m sure you won’t be able to keep up with me,” Gags said. He stepped to the pot and looked inside. “I can consume all of that.”

  Patricia stood at his side and looked down and then up at Gags. “I take my statement back,” she said frowning.

  “It’s not a competition,” Gags said.

  Patricia straightened her dress off before sitting down. “Good! Then it isn’t a competition. All of us will prepare for whatever is to come in our own way.”

  “What is my way?” Pepper asked Patricia.

  “Think sneaky,” she said.

  Her comment said a lot, thought Gags. Honian intended to send Pepper down with the children. Perhaps they needed an adult to size up the situation in the treasure room or whatever it was that held what they were seeking. Gags had his magic, but he couldn’t shrink his body to Pepper’s size.

  When they had eaten their fill, there was still plenty of food in the big pot. Gags had elected to fill up on bread that was already going stale.

  Patricia sealed the pot with magic. “It will keep better this way.”

  Honian walked over. “I have come to retrieve my niece,” he said. “We leave early tomorrow. Cold breakfasts for everyone, Mexius said.” Honian shivered. “I’m a merchant, not an explorer.”

  Soxus watched uncle and niece walk away. “He says that, but he is as much a nomad Gagareen as any of us.”

  ~

  The trip was uneventful, but the outriders retreated into the woods, combing the path ahead to make sure there were no bandits. In the late afternoon, they arrived at Go-Greva. Gags had expected a plain of dirt with tufts of grass covering stone ruins like Rezzura, but the forest had captured the old city and most of the ruins had long ago succumbed to the elements.

  “How was the treasure room found?” Gags asked Mexius as they ended their journey in a small fort complete with wooden palisades. It was almost the same kind of layout that Honian used at Rezzura, and it also reminded Gags of a merchant depot.

  “There have always been treasure hunters at Go-Greva,” Mexius said. “If you hike in the woods, you need to watch where you step so you don’t fall down a hole. Someone got lucky, but in finding the treasure another person died. That was where Lord Quilius came in. After all, Go-Greva is on fief land. He knew I was an expert in antiquities and called me in to consult.”

  It seemed that Quilius had no compunction about taking the site over. “You kept the job secret from Portia?” Gags asked.

  “Of course! She would have told me to stay away. Now, I’ve become key to the recovery.”

  “You supplied the children?”

  Mexius puffed up a bit. “I brought Honian in because things are a bit looser in the dry lands of Caless, and he has experience in extracting ancient artifacts. We now have the means to recover the treasure and a person intelligent enough to assess what is in the treasure room.”

  “Pepper,” Gags said.

  “Of course. He is the key to determining the value of what’s in the treasure room.”

  Gags knew that to be a lie. He believed that Mexius wanted them dead, but he agreed that his partner’s assessment would help Mexius and Quilius know how much was held in the treasure room.

  “When do we get started?”

  “We?” Mexius asked. “You are just magical muscle as far as I’m concerned.” He dismissed Gags with the flick of his fingers. “Find out what Soxus wants you to do.”

  That was more than fine with Gags. He could talk Soxus into having him monitor the entrance into the bowels of Go-Greva.

  Soxus stood with Honian by a railing. Gags joined him and peered over the side. “That is the stairway to heaven?”

  Honian laughed as he overheard Gags’s remark. “In this case, hell. Two of the children have already been sent down and returned with a few jeweled trinkets. Pepper took a quick look at the finds and laughed. Your forebearers had learned how to make colored glass thousands of years ago and mounted it in gold leafed brass. If that is all that’s down there, the artifacts will fetch a good price, but they aren’t priceless.”

  “Is Pepper down there?”

  “No. He and Patricia are in the storage shack making up a signal system,” Honian said.

  “Something a bit more sophisticated than what we had in Rezzura,” Soxus said.

  Gags turned to the storage shack as Patricia and Pepper exited. They avoided looking at one another and Gags wondered if they had been reacting to other signals. Honian didn’t look concerned, so there was no reason for Gags to be, either.

  “Down you go,” Mexius said to Pepper. “It’s time you earned your keep.”

  Gags shook his head. As far as he was concerned, their keep had been earned when they first arrived at Veilport.

  The rope had a loop in the end and a thick cord that already trailed down. Pepper put the loop around his waist, and he disappeared down the hole, carrying a lantern.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  ~

  Pepper

  ~

  P atricia gave Pepper a reassuring smile before he was lowered down into the hole, The shaft in Rezzura was like a well with straight sides all the way down to the burial complex, but this hole was quite different. Mexius told him he’d have to shift from time to time to get down to the bottom.

  The last ten paces went through ancient rubble and then a small hole appeared at the bottom. Pepper wondered if he could even fit his head through the opening, but he wiggled, feet first, until little hands pulled on his feet. Pepper had to turn his head sideways and then he was through. Two boys jumped off the table directly underneath the hole and Pepper did the same as he dragged the magic-light lantern behind him.

  He looked up at the entrance, surprised he was able to get through. Now, his main worry was getting through it as he returned to the surface.

  Four children gathered around him looking very sad.

  “Have you come to save us?” a girl asked.

  The question surprised Pepper. “Not yet,” he said. “I’m down here to see what it’s like. Can you show me what you’ve found?”

  “We were told there were more treasure rooms. We were lowered into this one, but we don’t know how to get in the others,” one of the boys said. “Are you down here to help?”

  That was a question Pepper could answer. “Yes, I am, but first show me what you found in this one.

  The artifacts were stacked on ancient shelves and the children were reluctant to have him examine the artifacts.

  “We heard that we will be killed once all the stuff is brought to the surface,” the largest boy said.

  Pepper shrugged, but deep inside he was shocked that these children already had a good idea about what their fate might be. “No one has told me anything,” Pepper said, knowing that he might be facing the same fate.

  He moved to the shelves and brought his lantern.

  “Fake, fake, fake,” Pepper said.

  He paused at the next item, a small bowl, perhaps a salt pot. “Real.” It’s design wasn’t particularly unique, but the value was in the gold not the bowl. “Fake, fake, fake.” Pepper said.

  “What makes them fake?” a girl asked.

  Pepper showed them how the glass was cut and the crude mounting prongs. “See these scratches? They show the base metal underneath. Few would put real gems in a vessel covered with gold leaf. If there are more rooms, then perhaps the good stuff is yet to come.”

  He looked around for a way out of the room but didn’t see one. Unlike the Rezzura walls, these were faced with dressed stone. Pepper couldn’t hack his way out with the small tools the children had brought down. He used one of the artifacts to tap on the walls until he found one that made a different sound. “This is a door. The question is, how do we open it?”

  Pepper examined the panel that had to move. He tried to pry the bottom up, but it didn’t budge. “There must be a device that opens the door. Can you children start moving things?”

  The children laughed, despite the dour circumstances and began tapping, twisting, bending, and clearing away the dust on the floor tiles to jump on them. Nothing seemed to work until the smaller boy twisted a figurine on a shelf a few paces away.

  The door groaned. Pepper thought he heard gears whining. He bent down and examined the bottom of the door and found it had risen half an inch. He squatted in front of the door and curled his fingers underneath the panel which was about three inches thick.

  Pepper tried to use his legs to open the door, but that wasn’t happening.

  “I need a thick rod and something solid about two feet high,” Pepper said. Where was Gags when he needed strength and bulk?

  “This is a candle holder, I think,” the smaller girl said, dragging a long candle stick. “There are a bunch of them back there.”

  The iron rod was solid and thicker than Gags’s staff. That would be suitable if it had a pointed end. “I need something that will fit under the door to lever it up,” Pepper said.

  “Is this thick enough?” the smaller boy said, bringing a ceremonial sword. The hilt was encrusted with cut glass. It had to be ceremonial, Pepper thought, or the wielder would have to wear thick gloves so he didn’t cut his hand.

  “A sturdy box?” Pepper asked, looking at the artifacts on the shelves.

  He spotted one that was the right size, but was it strong enough? Pepper put the box next to the opening and slipped the end of the sword through the opening and stood on the other side to put all his weight onto the lever. There was a little movement, but then it stopped.

  “Twist the figurine,” Pepper said.

  The boy twisted again and the sound of gears returned. Pepper jumped up and down on the end of the sword until the weapon bent. Pepper sighed, but then the gear sound let out a growl and the door slid up about two feet before stopping.

  “That is good enough for now,” Pepper said. He spotted another box and wedged the door open. It wouldn’t be any fun to be in the other room and have the door descend. Worse, it would be less fun to be crawling through and have the door close.

  “Who wants to be first?” Pepper said.

  They all raised their hands; their morose faces alive again.

  “Smallest to largest,” Pepper said. “I’ll go in last.”

  The first child crawled in and stuck her hand out for one of the magic lights the children used.

  “Wow!” the child said.

  Pepper had to restrain himself from pushing the other children aside to see what caused the reaction. The others went through and Pepper left his lantern behind to keep the first room illuminated. He crawled through the opening and got to his feet.

  “Wow,” he said with a subdued voice. “These are here to stay,” Pepper said looking up at five fifteen-foot-high statues of some kind of creatures. Their headdresses brushed the ceiling of the large room. The children walked over to the statues and began to touch them. Awe filled their faces. “Did the people in ancient times really look like this?” one of them said.

  Pepper shrugged. “If they did, they didn’t leave any of their kids around.” Pepper said. “Let’s see what else is here.”

  There were fewer shelves, but everything was genuine. Here sat a priceless collection of artifacts. Pepper examined a statue taller than him. It was carved out of stone and painted and gilded. They would have to stay here forever. However, there were cabinets surrounding the room and one of the children showed him a small figurine of one of the large statues. It was real gold decorated with real gems. It was priceless. Pepper went to the cabinets and all five had figurines in three different sizes.

  In another cabinet sat a goblet. Pepper looked at it and couldn’t call it a goblet. There had to be a better word for the large cup. Chalice. That would fit. It wasn’t solid gold, but engraved brass with gold leaf. But most curious was the writing etched all around it. The artifact was produced before all countries adopted the same language and writing. An engraving of one of the statues appeared in the design. Pepper couldn’t puzzle out a connection.

  He would take one of the smaller statues that matched the design and the chalice to take up the rope.

  “Take one of these statues with you when you are pulled up, but I want you to remove all the artifacts in this room and put them in the first room. Take the fakes and put them in this room. I’m going back up, but I’ll get them to bring you up right after me,” Pepper said.

  The children smiled and nodded. “We’re all hungry.”

 

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