"I could be lounging in the grass behind some tree right now, watching the infernal temple through my glass," Snoop grumbled. "Instead, I'm being eaten alive by mos-quitos, I'm soaked up to my knees trying to keep one eye on some fool who's drifting around the lake in a leaky boat. Damn the luck!" There was no point lowering his voice, not this far out in the woods. "No one out here but the bugs and the rabbits to hear me, anyway."
He swung up his spyglass… and there was Tarscenian, sitting calmly in the blasted canoe. "Not even rowing, for the gods' sake!" Snoop mumbled. "And he isn't swatting bugs, that I can see. It isn't fair. Gods, how can that canoe be making such speed? And Gaveley and Xam both know where he's going, so why tell me to follow-?"
He broke off his harangue. There was one excellent reason, it occurred to him, why Gaveley would have sent Snoop on this particular wild-goose chase.
The half-elf hoped to get to Hederick first and steal the Diamond Dragon for himself.
The thief-turned-spy sorted out his thoughts. "Not that the guards'd let a half-elf into the temple, of course. Gave shy;ley couldn't get in himself unless. ." Snoop thought harder. Example after example came to his mind, instances in which Gaveley had had no trouble at all gaining entrance where he'd been expressly barred. And Gaveley had a hulking man like Xam to back him up. Snoop had no one.
No one but the man he'd been ordered to trail, that was. The man who knew more than anyone else about the Dia shy;mond Dragon-including, no doubt, where Hederick kept it.
Snoop started to run toward Erolydon. He'd be blasted to the depths of the Sirrion Sea before he'd let Gaveley get the best of him.
He arrived, sweating and panting, and crouched near some trees just south of the temple. The last worshipers were being let out through a gate in the southern wall. A priest slammed the door behind the chattering people. Snoop heard three bolts being thrown, then nothing. The thief leaned, wheezing, against a tree, and trained his glass on the western horizon.
There-there was Tarscenian, just arriving at the sea shy;ward wall of the temple. Snoop squinted through his lens. The old man was just staring into the water as though he was thinking. Why didn't he hurry, for the gods' sake? Didn't the idiot know the sky would soon be dark? Snoop swore anew.
He watched, aghast, as the water churned around the small canoe and exploded around Tarscenian, who dis shy;appeared into the boiling water-Tarscenian, the only one who could lead Snoop to the Diamond Dragon!
The thief found himself racing along the shoreline, heedless, for the first time in his career, of who might see him. Tarscenian had to survive to lead him to the artifact, Snoop raged. After that, he planned to end the old man's life with a thrust of his dirk, but until then…
Snoop drew out a grapnel and rope and tossed the barbed hook atop the wall. He pulled himself up hand over hand until he reached the top. A quick glance showed no one inside the compound-no eyes to see him. There was hope, after all. Snoop retrieved his grapnel and hurried along the wall. He adroitly sidestepped the slivers of sharp metal and chunks of jagged glass that Hederick had ordered set into the top of the marble to discourage intruders.
Snoop came to the end of the southern wall and turned north. A short dash, and then he was on the wall above Tarscenian-or, at least, above the roiling water where Tarscenian was probably drowning. Snoop squinted in the dying light and saw what appeared to be a huge froglike thing poking at the man over and over. A fish with a har shy;poon?
Snoop snugged the rope around a chunk of glass. Then he dropped the grapnel so that it rested just at the surface of the water. Tarscenian saw the hook and made a break for it, the fishlike creature following.
This wasn't all that different from garroting someone in an alley in Haven, Snoop reflected. He snagged the koalinth just under the gills. The aquatic hobgoblin jerked back in sudden pain, setting the hook. Then it leaped above the water, panic-stricken. Snoop wrapped the rope once more around the wall outcropping.
There was a jerk, then the koalinth was left shrieking and struggling, its bloody gills dangling just above the waterline.
Snoop climbed partway down the rope to where Tarscenian was treading water. Both waited until the beast suffocated.
Tarscenian caught the dead creature's dropped lance and spoke. "I thought Gaveley wasn't in on this."
"He's not," Snoop replied. "I'm working on my own now. Going solo, you might say. And I'm throwing in with you, stranger."
Tarscenian regarded him, an impassive look on his face. Finally he said, "As you wish."
Snoop nodded.
"Come on, then. I know how to get into the temple."
Chapter 19
Snoop dove toward the place Tarscenian had indicated. Twice his own height in depth, the old man had said. The marble wall became some other kind of rock below the surface of the water, and Hederick's workers had not paid as much attention to attaining a smooth surface. Holding his breath, Snoop swam, forcing himself downward, pulling his body deeper by grabbing handholds in the rough wall.
A good swimmer, Tarscenian caught up with the thief and passed him. They would have to hurry, however, to find an air pocket before they ran out of breath. It was growing increasingly dim in the water. Tarscenian nearly collided with Snoop as they groped along the wall's base.
Snoop grasped something, then, with a horrified look, drew his hand back. He thrust something soft and squishy behind him. It scuttled away, emitting a cloud of ink.
And then they saw the tunnel-a thick circle smooth with algae and black as night within. Tarscenian felt for Snoop's arm, pointed with the lance they had taken from the koalinth, and shoved the smaller man toward the hole. Snoop broke away, shaking his head violently. All right, I'll go first, Tarscenian thought. But if I get wedged in front of you, you're done for, my friend. On the other hand, if another koalinth was waiting in the tunnel, Snoop might have made a wise choice.
Tarscenian fastened the lance to his waist, dove toward the tunnel, grasped the slippery edge with difficulty, and forced himself inside.
It was a tight fit. Tarscenian made progress only by keeping his arms outstretched before him and his legs tight together. He could swim through the water and the growing muck, but barely. He closed his eyes and scis shy;sored his legs feverishly.
Tarscenian felt Snoop's hand bump against his foot and draw back. The thief followed him closely, then. At least Tarscenian hoped it was Snoop.
Soon his lungs burned, and Tarscenian lost track of direction. Were they traveling horizontally or upward? Did it matter? He kicked weakly now, at times resting his legs and using his arms to pull himself along. A voice shrieked in his mind: Need air need air need air. He tried to focus on the Diamond Dragon, on his hatred of Hederick. On Ancilla. This would be worth it if somehow she could be saved.
Then his hands broke water. He came to rest on an incline, his cheek cradled in soft mud-above the surface. Tarscenian allowed himself to fill his lungs again and again; it didn't matter that the air was fetid, the mud foul in his nostrils, the light dim. It was air. Somewhere, water dripped. That and his gasping were the only sounds.
Then frantic scrabbling at his feet reminded him of Snoop's presence. Tarscenian pulled himself farther out of the muck and heard the thief emerge behind him. Snoop coughed, retched, and swore.
"By all that's holy … old man.. I've been in some spots before… but this…" Tarscenian heard more retch shy;ing, then still more cursing. "Where do we … go from here?"