The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) (13 page)

"It's by orders of the king, so git along," the dwarf ordered.

"Wait a moment," a voice spoke up. Everyone looked up the road to see a tall dwarf dressed in shining armor walk down to the busy crossroads. He had a clean, neatly trimmed beard and alert eyes that never missed a detail. "Did Ah hear ya say ya knew how to break the stone?" he asked them.

Canto sneered at the dwarf. "Ah got nothing to say to you, Danto," he replied.

"But what about the king? He'd want to hear what ya had to say about the stone," Danto informed them.

"Ah got nothing to say to him, either," Canto countered.

"Ah'm afraid Ah just can't take no for an answer. The king would have my head if Ah let you get away," Danto insisted. He glanced at the two guards, who hurriedly moved to stand on either side of the group.

Shilo frowned at the guards. "Don't ya go getting us into this mess. We're not with 'em."

"Then git along and don't let us catch ya here again. Thino's had his chance at the stone," Danto ordered the pair.

"Don't ya think you've made it bad enough keeping us outta our own home?" Shilo growled.

"That's enough, Shilo," Thino whispered. "Let's just git along and-"

"No! Ah won't take this bossing around any longer! The king up and kicks us out of our homes to protect his precious stone, and now his dog's telling us to keep away when my husband was just trying to get our home back by breaking that blasted thing! Ah won't stand for it!" Pat noticed Canto start at the word 'husband.'

"Don't go causing any more trouble than ya usually do, Shilo," Danto scolded her.

Shilo rolled up her sleeves and marched toward him with the crow cawing on her shoulder and flapping his ruffled wings. "Ya ain't seen nothing yet!" she yelled. Thino caught her arm and pulled her against him.

"None of that now," he hissed.

Canto frowned. "Keepin' her from speaking her mind, Thino? Ya were always a softy for following the rules even when they were stupid."

Thino turned and scowled at Canto. "It kept me from getting kicked from the city," he countered.

"And a great benefit is staying in ta city when they take yer home from ya and try to kill ya by poking at that stone," Canto argued.

"Enough," Danto's voice broke through the bickering. "Ya two stay out of this, and the other four of ya come with us."

"Four?" Pat repeated. She glanced around and counted four in their group. Sins had bolted on them again.

Danto frowned. "Yer missing someone?" he asked her.

Pat straightened and shook her head. "Oh, no, nothing important."

The armored dwarf narrowed his eyes and let out a whistle through his pursed lips. Six more guards came down the road in a bustle of clinking and clanging armor. He looked over his shoulder at them. "There's a stranger hereabouts in the city ya need to find. Ask around to hear if anyone's seen anyone suspicious around ta place." Four of them bowed their heads and hurried off past the group and into the city. The other two remained, and Danto turned his attention back to the pair. "Ya need me to tell ya twice or are ya going?" he growled.

"We're going," Shilo grudgingly agreed. She let Thino pull her away. They passed close by Canto, and he caught her eye. Ruth noticed there was a hint of pain on Canto's face, but one of defiance in Shilo's creases. Then the pair were gone into the labyrinth of dwarven buildings.

"Now if ya would hand over yer weapons and follow me and my men, we'll escort ya to the king," Danto announced. "Ah'm sure he'd be most eager ta hear about yer way of breaking the stone."

"What if we don't want to see the king?" Canto challenged. The pair of guards stepped closer to them and brandished their axes.

Danto smirked. "Then Ah'm afraid we're going to have to convince ya otherwise."

Pat moved to stand close to Canto. "I don't think Ned planned for us to cause trouble before he got back with the item, and as Lord Tramadore mentioned, we're here to be ambassadors," she whispered to him. Canto growled, but turned his head away and didn't offer any more arguments. Their weapons were confiscated and their hands bound behind their backs.

"That's the way. Now just follow me and we'll be there in no time. Oh, and we'll be holding yer horses. We wouldn't want ya leaving too soon," Danto commanded them.

The group of semi-captives were marched into the road to their right and up the slope of the huge boulder-stone to the castle. Pat and Ruth gagged when they crossed the bridge over the moat. "Swamp water," Canto told them. "Nothing like it in the world for keeping unwanted visitors out."

"For that we should be grateful," Percy spoke up. His face was red from holding his breath and he felt woozy from the scent.

They passed over the bridge, under the largest of the five guard towers, and into the courtyard of the keep. Before them arose the rock tower that held the living quarters, and at the base of the tower was a pair of large doors hewn from the same wood as the drawbridge. Their horses behind them were led off to a stable area on their left. Two dozen armored guards watched them from the castle walls, and twice that number stood at attention in the courtyard. Their axes glistened in the late-day sun and warned the companions not to try anything stupid.

That didn't stop Canto. "Lots of guards for the king. Compensating for something?" he quipped.

Danto stopped and swung around. His hand came out and slammed into the side of Canto's face. Flesh and steel collided with a terrible bang, and Canto stumbled to the side. He caught himself and snapped his head up to glare at Danto. The chief guard scowled back. "Yer mouth was always too big for ya, and being run out of here hasn't helped it," Danto commented. He looked to his guards. "Keep 'em here until Ah've told the king." He turned his back on the companions and strode through the pair of doors.

Pat sidled up to Canto and looked him over. He had a cut on his face, but was otherwise fine. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?" she hissed at him.

"Ya don't know these idiots like Ah do," he argued.

"They seem to know you well enough, and I'm not seeing that as an advantage," Pat pointed out.

"Do you have history with them?" Ruth asked Canto.

The old dwarf sighed and nodded. "Aye, and it ain't gonna be to yer liking."

"Is anything we ever do easy?" Percy joked. Nobody laughed.

"The two we met at the crossroads are old friends of mine who didn't take kindly to my going against the king whenever he did something stupid," Canto explained to them.

"Stupid how?" Pat asked him.

"Making this castle a worse maze than it is already, and trying to get deeper into that swamp for farmland. Ain't nothing good in there and that would've riled the Helpers worse than they were," he replied. "Anyway, that Shilo got awful sore when they booted me and wouldn't come with me-"

"Wait, booted you?" Pat interrupted him. "You never said anything about being removed from the city."

"Well, not removed, just kind of shown the door," he corrected her.

Pat's face drooped and she narrowed her eyes. "I fail to see the difference."

"Ah don't, but that's not what we need ta be worrying about right now. That fool who led us here is Danto, the king's dog-servant."

"Dog-servant? You mean lieutenant?" Pat wondered.

"Ah mean what Ah say, but you can call him that if ya want. Anyway, he and Ah go back a ways, and Ah can tell ya he won't take kindly to us. Doesn't like outsiders in general, and humans in particular," Canto told them.

"Funny. He didn't seem out for our heads," Percy commented.

"But he wanted your head quite badly," Pat added, addressing Canto.

"Like Ah said before, Ah've had dealings with him and he isn't going to be on our side," Canto insisted.

"So what do you suggest?" Percy asked him. "Should we make our escape before this Danto fellow returns?"

Canto glanced around them with his narrow, alert eyes. "Won't work. Too many here to deal with. Just let me do the talking and we'll get out of this."

Pat snorted. "Letting you do the talking got us into this," she pointed out.

"And Ah aim to remedy the situation, so keep quiet and follow my orders," he commanded.

At that moment Danto reappeared with a middle-aged dwarf. The new dwarf had a long, braided beard, and wore robes of fine horsehair. A crown sat on his head and sparkled with the fine craftsmanship of ancient ability. The guards in the courtyard knelt on one knee and laid their axes on the ground. The pair walked over and stood before the group, and the crowned dwarf studied the newcomers carefully. His eyes fell on Canto and he frowned. "Ya again, is it? Danto said ya came back, but Ah thought ya were smarter than that."

"Duty leads a dwarf, not their whims," Canto countered.

The king scoffed. "When was duty ever a concern of yers?" he wondered.

Canto narrowed his eyes, but bit back the snarky reply he longed to throw out. "Ah know ya have some qualms with me, King Piako, but these people have nothing to do with 'em." He jerked his head toward his companions. "Let 'em go and deal with me alone."

The king turned his attention to the human companions and Ruth disguised as such. Suspicion was written all over his face. "Ah think these fine people are better left as guests to my hospitality. What sort of a king would Ah be if Ah tossed my kingdom's guests back onto the streets cold and hungry?"

"And with our horses under your control," Pat grumbled.

"Why don't ya come inside for a feast? Ah assure ya nothing in the world is like dwarf cooking," King Piako invited them. The offer was made at the end of an ax point as the guards around them took their cue and closed in on the group.

Pat held up her hands and the others followed suit. "We'd be delighted," she hurriedly replied.

"Good, now follow me," the king commanded

CHAPTER 15

The king turned and walked back through the doorway. The companions behind him were led by the ax point, and the humans had to duck beneath the low archway to avoid hitting their heads on the dwarf-size door frame.

Ruth, unfamiliar with dwarven castles, expected dark, damp passages with filth on the floor. What she found instead were wide, brightly lit hallways with natural light from strategic slits in the high walls or thick torches hanging in slots in the walls. There were clean stone floors beneath their feet, and from the walls protruded intricate carvings of axes and warriors made of wood. They were crafted with such elegance that they seemed to grow from the very stone. The layout of the castle was a smaller version of the maze of streets in the city. Corners were at odd angles, and passages took lefts and rights with such frequency that she wondered if the architect had been drunk at the time he drew up the plans.

Pat leaned toward Canto. "Must even the castle be a maze?" she asked him.

He shrugged. "Every dwarf king wants to make his mark and does it by adding another wall in the castle."

King Piako guided them down a long, meandering passage to the rear of the castle. The end of the hall opened to an airy dining hall with a high, domed ceiling made of metal so thin it was transparent. Precious gems were placed in the walls to create a dazzling effect of light from the setting sun above the dome, and illuminated even the far corners of the square room. Regardless of the food dropped from half a dozen long wooden tables arranged in a three sides of a rectangle, the floors were more spotless than those in the hall. The last side was open to allow servers to move in front of the tables and jugglers to entertain guests seated in high, wooden chairs on the other side of the tables.

The largest seat, positioned on a pedestal, sat in the center of the long center side of the rectangle, and King Piako seated himself in that. On either side of him lay large cantankus, pets used to lick up the food that constantly dropped to the floor. Pat no longer wondered how the floors were so clean. He gestured for them to be seated on one of the short sides which was unoccupied, and their bindings were also cut to accommodate eating. The other two dozen chairs were taken by dwarves in various conditions of inebriation. An old dwarf woman shuffled around the tables with her cart picking up the bones the cantankus were done with and the dishes the other dwarves had tossed aside.

The king turned to the drunken dinner mates and frowned. "Got to the best wine before me? What do ya think of your king that ya won't wait for him before ya start yer meal?"

"We were merely toasting to yer honor, my king, and got carried away," one of the less plastered men spoke up. He stood and raised a goblet to Piako. "To the best king the dwarves ever had."

"Have," Piako corrected him.

"Have had," the dwarf amended. "And may his beard never fall out nor his ax never fail him."

"Here here!" came the cries from the drunken dwarves. Many of them raised their goblets only to have the contents spill over them. The cantankus sprang at them and there was a great yell when the beasts licked the drink off the revelers.

Three of the four companions looked at the sight with disgust, and Ruth had pity for them. Canto sneered at the lot. "What a sorry lot ya have here, Piako. We heard all the good ones had gone to the borders, but this proves it."