"Lendle wants to show us something else first," Maq advised him.
Not having seen Lendle's earlier exit from within the hill, Fritzen looked duly impressed when the gnome opened the hidden door. They walked into a cool and spacious cave where Salomdhi stored garden implements, seed stocks, root vegetables, burlap sacks, and the like. It was virtually a gardener's paradise that attested to the merchant's wealth.
"This is what you're so excited about?" Maq asked in surprise. "Lendle, we have to get out of here. We don't have time for this."
"No. No. No, Maquesta Kar-Thon. You've got to see this." Lendle took them to the right rear corner of the cave. He picked up a gardening trowel and ran it along the rough-hewn rock of the walls until he came to an unobtrusive handle cut from the same rock. When Lendle jerked on the handle, Maq saw it was attached to a small, rectangular, metal plate that emerged from the rock as he pulled. Once the plate was pulled all the way out, what sounded like a weight shifting position echoed from within the wall, touching off a series of such shifts.
"Weights and counterweights," Lendle explained briefly. "Very ingenious."
An opening appeared in front of them as a stone door slid to the right. The main cavern received light from the open door to the outside, but the second cave was pitch-dark.
"Wait," Lendle admonished. He bent down, feeling on the floor just inside and to the left of the new doorway and came up holding a lantern. Fritzen struck a flint from a box he spied by a bag of turnips. When the half-ogre held up the lantern, Maq gasped.
A burlap bag filled with gold coins had split at the bottom seam, spilling some of its contents onto the vault's floors. That was the first thing Maq saw. Stacked behind it, extending down the left side of the cave and rising nearly to the roof, stood bag upon bag, also filled with coins, judging by their lumpy silhouettes. Assorted treasure was piled haphazardly around the bags: golden candlesticks inlaid with brilliant rubies, gold and silver bowls and platters, lacquered boxes and chests studded with jewels. Maq flipped back the lid of one. It was stuffed with a variety of gems, sapphires, diamonds, and emeralds.
The other side of the cave truly took her breath away. Metal shields, some inlaid with gold, leaned against the wall, coats of mail piled nearby. Leather weapon harnesses decorated with silver clasps and stiff leather breastplates occupied one corner. Nearby, bundles of swords, some with jeweled hilts, stood on their points, packaged together like sheaves of wheat. Tall spears lay on the cave floor next to a small mound of daggers.
Fritzen strode forward, selected a dagger with a ruby in the pommel, and stuck it in his belt. A pearl necklace found its way into his pouch, as did a small silver case the size of his hand. "We'll need some empty sacks," he stated.
"No!" Maq's tone was sharp. 'This isn't ours to take. We're not thieves."
"Yeah? Well, I expect Lendle's merchant friend didn't come by this stuff honestly. And I'm sure he won't miss a bauble or two." The half-ogre stuffed gold coins into his pouch until no more would fit, then he strode across the small cave and pointed.
"Look at this." Fritz stood by a pile of helmets, fingering something. Maq and Lendle joined him. He was holding an elaborate, horned helm. The horns, long, slender, and curved, looked sharp enough to impale an enemy. Except for strategic openings for the eyes, the helmet would cover the wearer's entire head, front and back. It showed remarkable craftsmanship but was, at the same time, unspeakably hideous. He placed it on his head. "This is the helmet of a warlord, not a merchant," Fritzen said, adjusting it for a better fit, and running his fingers around the outside of it. "I've never seen anything like this."
"Nor should you have seen this one." A deep voice came from the doorway.
Startled, Fritzen and the others whipped around. Salomdhi stood in the entrance to the treasure vault. "Lendle!" he scolded. "What are you doing in here and who are these two with you?" The merchant stamped his foot. "I can see I'm not going to get my money's worth out of you! The constable warned me you might be more trouble than you're worth."
"No, I'd say the lot of them aren't worth much. But they might provide us some amusement," said a larger figure, coming up to stand behind Salomdhi. "And I so need to be amused right now, Maquesta Kar-Thon."
Maq started. The voice sounded familiar. Then the figure pushed Salomdhi aside and stepped into the cave.
"Mandracore!"
The pirate captain known as Mandracore the Reaver stood before her. A half-ogre like Fritzen, he did not stand quite as tall, but he was stockier, more muscular, and he had none of Fritzen's attractiveness. His coarse, broad features were dotted with warts. Maq had never seen his hair; he always wore a scarf tied tightly around his head. A gold earring in the shape of a grinning skull dangled from one ear.
"What are you doing on Saifhum?" Maq asked. She turned to Salomdhi and demanded, "What is he doing here with you? I've never heard of a Saifhum merchant dealing with pirates!"
Behind her Fritzen slid quietly to a bundle of swords. His back to them, he tugged one free and kept it hidden behind his legs.
Salomdhi looked acutely uncomfortable at Maq's accusations. "I-" he began.
Mandracore cut in. "My business carries me into quarters that are no concern of yours, Maquesta Kar-Thon. As to what we're doing in this particular cave-your little friend called us back."
Puzzled, Maq looked over at Lendle. Only then did she notice that the charm around his ankle pulsed insistently with a pale blue light.
"It's just good luck that this time my business dealings give me the opportunity to settle an old score," Mandracore added. "Too bad your father isn't here. I'd rather settle it with him, Maquesta. But you'll do." He snapped his fingers and two shadowy figures stepped up behind Salomdhi, completely blocking the doorway.
Being within the cave put Maq, Fritzen, and Lendle at a disadvantage for starting a fight-unless they could lure the pirates, or at least Mandracore, inside. She exchanged glances with her crewmates and saw they felt similarly stymied.
Salomdhi began backing out of the cave, keeping a wary eye on Mandracore. "What do you mean to do?" Then, apparently not reassured by the look on the pirate's face, he whined, "I want no part of this. I want you all off my property. This is not what your masters are paying me for, Mandracore. There'll be no murders here."
"Just what services are you providing these scum?" Maq asked.
"It's just an honest business transaction," the merchant said defensively. "I rent them this storage space, do some buying and selling on their behalf. I'm paid well. I don't ask any questions. What they're doing is none of my concern." Salomdhi puffed out his chest and stuck up his chin self-righteously. Seemingly fortified by his own rationalizations, he addressed Mandracore.
"You heard what I said-Get out, and take these… these… spies with you!"
With a raised eyebrow, Mandracore signaled his henchman, who each grabbed one of Salomdhi's arms and ushered the merchant into the treasure vault.
"No fat merchant talks to Mandracore the Reaver that way," the pirate snarled, shoving his face to within an inch of Salomdhi's. "Think your hands are clean, eh? Then I've got a little lesson for you. This should be very educational."
With Mandracore half turned away, focused on the squirming merchant, and the other two pirates occupied holding him, Maq saw her chance. She dropped to her knees and grabbed one of the daggers lying on the cave floor. Then she leapt onto Mandracore's back, circling her legs around his waist and her arm around his throat until she nearly cut off his breathing. She scraped the tip of her blade underneath his chin, warning him not to move.
In the meantime, as soon as Maquesta made her move, Fritzen ran a couple steps toward the pirates holding Salomdhi and jumped up, swinging both legs straight out in front of him in powerful kicks that caught the guards under their chins and sent them tumbling backward. They loosened their hold on the merchant, and fell awkwardly on a mound of spilled gold coins. The half-ogre drew the sword down to the larger one's chest and growled, the sound reverberating in the helmet and indicating that the pirate should stay put.