* * *
From the profound dark of a tunnel opening off the Pit, Ho sat watching the slightly lesser dark of the shadowed half of the large circular mine-head. He started, jerking, as yet again his chin touched his chest and he glared about wondering what he'd missed. But all remained quiet. Everyone seemed asleep, including, for all he knew, the two newcomers; the spies he'd last seen entering those shadows and now sat waiting just as he was. Waiting for what? Some sign among the stars? The right moment for a midnight escape attempt? Ho tried to identify their figures amidst the monochrome dark, but failed. No movement. He chided himself; maybe they just couldn't sleep in the caves; maybe they simply longed for a touch of the slight breeze that sometimes made its way down here when conditions were just right. Yeah, and maybe they were worshippers of the cult of Elder Dark.
Something then – movement? Someone standing there in the dark? The pale oval of a face upturned? Ho leaned forward, straining. A call sounded, an owl's warning call. From his friends? Or above? Hard to say. A flash in the moonlight streaming down into the open mine-head. Something small falling. His friends stepped out into the light; one, Grief, stooped, picked up the thing, examined it. They talked but Ho couldn't hear any of it.
As they retreated into the shadows Ho could not contain himself any longer. He marched out to confront them. Damn them and their schemes! Don't they know everyone here lives only at the sufferance of their captors above? That the slightest provocation could mean shortened rations, perhaps death for the more sickly among them?
When he reached them they were waiting for him, the object, whatever it was, nowhere in evidence. He glared. The one who gave his name as Grief eyed him back, unperturbed. ‘You're up late, Ho.’
‘Cut it out. What're you two up to?’
Grief sighed, glanced to Treat who shrugged. ‘Nothing that concerns you.’
‘You're wrong there, brother. Everything to do with this place concerns me. We're all one big family down here.’
‘Somehow I knew you were going to say that. Listen, if it'll help any, what we're up to is no threat at all. In fact, it could prove just the opposite.’
‘And I'm supposed to trust you on that, am I?’
Grief lifted his arms in a helpless shrug. ‘I guess that's about the meat of it.’
‘Not good enough.’
‘Yeah. I know. So, what now? Gonna denounce us to your ruling committee?’
Ho decided that now would be as good a time as any to test his estimate of the character of these two strangers. He raised his chin to indicate the surface. ‘Maybe I'll have to let the guards know – what do you think of that?’
The two men went still. For an instant Ho feared he'd overplayed his hand; that his reading of these two was wrong – after all, they truly did seem to be all alone right now. A body found in the morning, who would be the wiser? A big risk; but then, what kind of a test would it be otherwise? Grief crossed his arms. ‘No, I think we aren't going to do anything at all, because if you really were going to tell them the last thing you would do is let us know.’
Damn him. ‘OK. So I'm not about to run to the Malazans. But I need to know what you two are doing. What you're up to.’
Grief slowly edged his head from side to side; he seemed genuinely regretful. ‘Sorry, old man. We can't say a thing – yet. But what I can ask is: where is our faithful watchdog right now? One of your happy family members, I believe. Sessin. Where's he? Maybe he decided it convenient to leave you alone with us, eh, Ho?’
Ho had more to say but the two walked off leaving him fuming with unspent words. In the shadows his sandalled feet stepped on something and he knelt, feeling about. He came up with the shredded remains of a piece of driftwood.