‘Ya, I know those onions.’
‘Well, they had this pie, you see, and it had something else in it, some kind of spice or herb. It was really special.’
‘What about the pie?’ asked the second voice, impatiently. ‘I love that pie, that’s all.’
A third voice said, ‘You can sit and talk all night about the greatest meal you’ve ever had, but it won’t change anything.’ This last voice was deep and raspy, and its tone left no doubt who was in charge. Sandreena would bet her life on him being the leader. Ironically, she considered that she was probably risking her life simply being here. Still, a lack of boldness had never been her problem, and she knew she needed her weapons, armour and horse to survive the journey back to Ithra.
‘Ya,’ said the first voice.
The man she now thought of as the leader said, ‘I don’t see any other way. We need to just kill them all as fast as we can, before they start using their magic, then grab what we can and get out of here.’
The first voice said, ‘Ya.’
But the second voice said, ‘Even with Purdon dead, the rest of them can still do some nasty things and, besides, there’s Belasco. He doesn’t seem the type to forgive betrayal. And we did take his gold.’
‘We took his gold,’ said the leader, ‘to keep things around here under control. But what we didn’t do was drink the demon’s piss. We’re not like them. We may be dogs, but we’re our own dogs, not his.’
The room fell quiet and then the leader said, ‘There’s something else. One of the old boys in Pointer’s Head told me a story, ‘bout a group like us who got sent here ten or so years ago. He said that they sailed all the way around from the Sunsets, and that they’d been provisioned here and that someone said they were heading to the Peaks.’
‘Peaks?’ asked the first voice.
‘This is the Peaks of the Quor, you idiot.’
‘Oh, I didn’t know,’ came the plaintive response.
‘How can you be camped in a place for four bloody months and not know what it’s called?’
‘Nobody told me!’
The leader said, ‘This thing with that girl, in the armour. She had Temple Knight written all over her.’
‘So?’ asked the second voice.
‘So, if one of the Temples is sending a Knight to investigate, things here are getting too twitchy.’ There was a moment of silence, then he continued. ‘I signed on to terrorize some locals, maybe deal with a constable or two from Ithra if they showed up. But I’ve seen those Temple Knights in a fight. A murder cult surfaced down in Kesh ten years ago, hiding out at the docks in Hansule. A bunch of Knights from Lims-Kragma showed up and the result wasn’t a pretty sight. Magic everywhere, and they didn’t take prisoners. Slaughtered every one of those cult fighters like they was lambs.’
‘Magic!’ said the first voice, like it was a curse.
‘The gold is good,’ said the second.
‘But not if you’re dead. Can’t spend it here, and Lims-Kragma don’t give you a better turn at the Wheel if you brought a little gold with you.’
Silence followed for almost a full minute, then the second voice asked, ‘What do we do?’
‘This morning, before they wake, I want you to wake Blakeny, Wallace, Garton, and that murderous little rat Allistair, quietly. We hit them hard and fast, and they’re all dead before they know it. Then we kill those villagers, grab what we can and ride south. I don’t know about you, but then I’m on the first outbound ship, I don’t care where it’s going. Maybe I’ll head down to that other land, Novindus. Or go to the Sunsets.
‘But something’s coming, something I want no part of, and the faster we get away from here, the better.’
‘What about our gold?’ asked the second voice.
‘Purdon was supposed to have it,’ replied the leader.
‘The magician?’ asked the first voice.
‘Yes,’ said the leader. ‘So if no one’s disturbed his kit since he was murdered for failing to bring in the right demon, it should still be there.’
‘How much?’ asked the second voice.
‘Does it matter?’ asked the leader. ‘It’s gold, we take whatever there is. If any of the boys don’t like it, they’re free to stay and see whom Belasco sends to replace Purdon. They can explain to the next bunch of those blood-drinking whores and pimps why the first batch are dead.’
‘OK,’ said the second voice. ‘It’s time.’
‘No,’ said the leader. ‘There’s an hour before sunrise. That’ll put us in the saddle as soon as the sun comes up and then we head south.’
‘How much longer is that?’ asked the second voice. Sandreena glanced at the small moon rising and knew the answer. She had an hour to figure out what to do next.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Conclave