The Pearl rustled forward. She signaled to a servant to remove the head.
"I will boil it down to the bone," stated the Pearl, as matter of fact as if she were reciting some recipe for stewed chicken, "and have it plated in silver with eyes of crystal. I will set it on a pillar of stone with a warning inscribed to all who doubt the strength of the treaties that tie Procampur and Tsurlagol."
"Oh very good," said the Thultyrl. "Put it on the side of the road exactly halfway between Procampur and Tsurlagol."
"As you wish," she agreed.
"And," he added, his glance sliding across Ivy and her group, "you'd best place some strong charms around it, or the next red-roof adventurer to pass it by is sure to steal it."
"Certainly," said the Pearl.
So it was done. The head of Fottergrim gleamed atop a pillar with a warning written below: "Fottergrim watches in vain for his rescue. So fall all who dare to assault Procampur's allies." Ivy passed the monument many times during her travels, and she always stopped to give the orc's silver skull a proper salute. If she tested the Pearl's charms against theft, she never admitted it to Sanval.
"And now there is the matter of the bugbear," continued the Thultyrl. Sanval groaned, although not very loudly.
"I wonder how a bugbear in the service of the enemy ended up wearing a piece of Procampur armor," said the Thultyrl.
Sanval turned bright red as the captured Osteroric was led forward by the youngest member of the Forty. The oblivious bugbear thanked Sanval for his breastplate, despite Sanval's best efforts to wave him off.
"It stopped an arrow," said Osteroric, displaying the dent. "That helped save my life!"
"Not exactly the use intended for an officer's armor," mused the Thultyrl, who pulled out a scroll from the basket beside his chair. Unrolling it, he hummed a little as he scanned its lines. "According to this section of the Grand Codex of laws," said the Thultyrl, "aiding the enemy is against the law, losing your armor when you are an officer of Procampur's army is against the law, failing to inform your Thultyrl about your plans is most definitely against the law, and so on and so forth."
Ivy stepped forward. After all, somebody needed to defend Sanval. The Thultyrl was having far too good a time teasing him, and she rather considered that particular form of amusement was reserved for her and her alone.
"I believe his actions were a credit to Procampur," she began and heard the others chorus their agreement.
"Still," said the Thultyrl with a slight smile, "his appearance when he returned to the camp was far less presentable than is considered proper for an officer of Procampur. Astoundingly so, I was told by several who saw him pass."
"Oh, yes, he definitely needs some extra polish, sir. Can't have an officer of Procampur that doesn't actually shine in the sun. Look at him today, not a scrap of shiny armor on him," said Ivy, looking Sanval up and down. "But he's not nearly as scruffy as the mercenaries in the lower camp. Still, I can see that the loss of uniform armor to a bugbear is a grave offense. Yet, he has done us some service, and some service to Procampur; for the defeat of Archlis was very much his doing." She gestured with her hands, a scale tipping up and then down again. "How about we pay his fines for him?" she concluded.
"That would be an acceptable solution and most comforting to have a little gold returned to us," murmured Beriall, who clutched the long list of claims given to him by Ivy. He kept pulling it out of his sleeve and checking it again. It was the most remarkably detailed document. Beriall intended to have it placed in its own niche in the library when he got home, in the section painted red and labeled "Fraud."
"Gold is such a common thing and most certainly not worthy of a discerning ruler like the Thultyrl," said Ivy. She heard Sanval choke behind her at her insolence, and Beriall give a little moan of disappointment. The Thultyrl only looked amused.
Ivy held up the battered spellbook that Kid had stolen from Archlis.
"It is one of a kind," she said. "A rare volume for one of the greatest libraries ever to be built."
Beriall rustled forward and took the book from Ivy's hand. He turned the pages slowly. "There are some interesting runes here," he said slowly. "Most unusual, sire." Pausing, he ran one plump finger down the center of the book. "And some missing pages."
"Well, it may have been slightly damaged dropping off a wall and so on," said Ivy.
"And what do you ask in return?" said the Thultyrl.
"Finely polished and fitted armor is fairly common in your city-the type of thing that every gentleman in Procampur usually has, am I right?"
The Thultyrl said nothing, but he looked suspicious.
"And the book is so very uncommon and thus more costly. And, really, it will have great historical significance in the years to come. Snatched from the villainous magelord, just before the walls fell on him. The sort of thing that bards write ballads about," Ivy reasoned. "Repaying the fine losing common Procampur armor could be seen as a partial payment on such a treasure."
"With the book being so exceptional," murmured Mumchance, not looking up from his design for a new wall for Tsurlagol.
"And gotten with a certain amount of fighting on our part," pointed out Zuzzara.
"And cunning," added Kid.
"It is a tome of magical mysteries," added Gunderal.
"Very old and truly unusual, most illustrious liege," finished Ivy, who kept her face serene. She waited. Sometimes, silence was the best bargaining tactic.
"Not another bill," sighed Beriall.
"We doubt that even the Siegebreakers would be so bold," said the Thultyrl with a significant look at the group.
"Of course not, sire," said Ivy, maintaining her poise. "We were just hoping to obtain some digging tights along with a pardon for Captain Sanval's unfortunate loan of armor to a bugbear."
Sanval's eyes widened. Ivy smiled at him and laid her finger casually against her lips for a second.
"Where the wall fell?" the Thultyrl asked.
"Yes, just the west fields would be fine," said Ivy. "We are seeking to recover lost gear, that sort of thing. But you know how it is after the end of the siege. Confusion, lawlessness, looting. We would not like to be accused of illegal looting. Just a nice short and simple legal contract, making anything that we recover legally ours. The law being so important and all."
The Thultyrl still looked suspicious, but he nodded and beckoned a scribe to him. A few quick lines were scribbled on a piece of parchment. Hot wax was applied to the bottom of the document and sealed with the Thultyrl's own stamp.
Ivy glanced at the oblivious Osteroric, another mercenary but one who had landed on the losing side. Sanval was also staring at the bugbear. That Procampur sensibility probably was pricking him, telling him that he had some type of debt of honor there. After all, the creature had let him escape often enough. Sanval glanced at her. She calculated the costs of feeding a bugbear and sighed. "And perhaps we could have a detail of prisoners? Like that one and any bugbear that looks like him. To help with the digging?"
"As you request," said the Thultyrl. "But the expense of their care shall be your responsibility."
"I assumed so." With luck, the stupid creature would run away as soon as they found his brother, but the friendly, eager look on his furry face did not bode well. He looked a lot like Wiggles when she got a new bone.
Beriall took the scroll from the scribe and personally handed it to Ivy. "Some day," he said to her, "I hope that you will come to Procampur and teach our young scholars about proper accounting. I think it might improve our city's wealth in ways that we never dreamed."