“Dead?”
“Now they are. Gamina read both men before they died and found out little we didn’t already know, but it’s clear the snakes are closing in on this facility. You’ve done well covering your tracks for the last year, but now they know something unusual is happening outside of Krondor. The next bunch of spies they send won’t be sniffing around the palace, they’ll be out here in the woods looking for this encampment. Once they discover it was here—”
“We’ve taken every precaution.”
“Someone who loaded a wagon of beef will say something in an inn. Someone at the palace will let a list of prisoners be seen while he’s out of an office. It will take time, but within a year, not only will the snakes know you’re in their way again, they’ll have the name of every man with you.”
Calis was silent, then said something Erik couldn’t make out. Suddenly there was a sound of a door opening and closing, and Erik motioned for Roo to follow him in a hurry. They returned the way they went and made it back to their tent. Moving back to their bunks, Erik was silent for a moment as he caught his breath; then he woke Biggo. “Quiet. Wake the others.”
When Luis, Sho Pi, and Billy were awake, Erik said, “Some time before you were caught, did you run into a woman named Miranda?”
The four looked at one another, and it was Sho Pi who spoke first. “Dark of hair and with intense green eyes?” Erik nodded. “She spoke to me outside of Shamata, while I was on the road to Krondor. There was something about her that I noticed at once. She has power.”
“What did she tell you?”
Sho Pi shrugged. “We talked of things of little importance. I found her very beautiful and was flattered at the attention, but her interests seemed more abstract than carnal. And I was curious why I sensed she was so much more than she seemed.”
“Was there anything she said that got you tossed into jail?”
Sho Pi said, “Nothing I can remember.”
The others talked about their encounters, Billy and Luis saying she had used a different name, but it was clear that all six men had encountered the woman at some point, less than a month prior to being arrested.
Biggo said, “That girl gets around, if she was talking to you”—he pointed at Sho Pi—“at Shamata the week before running into Erik and Roo near Darkmoor.”
“How does she know us?” asked Luis.
Erik said, “It has something to do with an oracle who reads the future. We’re important in some way, but only if we survive the next nine days. I don’t know why we were saved from the gallows, and I don’t know what we might be to these people if we continue to live, but I have no doubt of this: if Calis thinks we’re dangerous to his plans, he’ll hang us all before he breaks camp in nine days. If he thinks we’re trustworthy, he’ll keep us alive. It’s that simple.”
Billy said, “It means we’ve got to work hard.”
“We’ve been breaking our backs!” complained Luis.
“I mean work hard at being what they want.”
Sho Pi said, “Billy is right; he and I must stem our temper.” He rose and returned to his own bunk, where he sat back, resting on his elbows. “Biggo must begin to show he can think for himself.”
“What of me?” said Luis, obviously fearful of not being judged trustworthy in nine days’ time.
“You must put aside your pride. You must stop acting as if every order is an insult, and every task beneath you. Your arrogance will get you hung.”
“I am not arrogant!” demanded Luis, obviously ready to take offense.
Erik saw a fight coming and, thinking quickly to stem it, he said, “There’s more!”
“What?” said Biggo.
“If one of us fails, we all fail.”
“What!” said Billy.
“If one of us is judged unworthy, they’re going to hang all six of us.”
Roo looked at Erik a moment, then nodded. “We’re a team. We live or die as one.”
Luis glanced around the tent and saw all eyes upon him. “I . . . will work on humility. When that little cabrone tells me to shovel dung, I will cheerfully say, Sí, me comandante. How high?”
Biggo grinned. “If there’s a stiffer-necked bunch around than you bloody Rodezians, it’s them Tsurani up in LaMut, but not by much.” Looking at Sho Pi, he said, “I’ve gotten by for years playing dumb so that folks won’t expect much of me. I guess it’s a habit now. I’ll try to look a little brighter.”
Sho Pi said, “And you, Rupert. You must stop trying to be so clever. It will get you killed. You are not as clever as you think, nor are others as stupid.”
Erik said, “What of me?”