"For heaven's sake, Switz," one of the thugs said as I handed Dojango another mug. "We aren't getting paid enough for this. He's got us by the balls."
"Shut up."
Another said, "You ain't going to see me in no mines."
"Shut up. It can be fixed."
"Bull. You know damned well he wouldn't bother. He'd say we deserved it. He don't have that kind of pull, anyway."
"Shut up."
One of the grolls snagged the loudest complainer.
"Wait a goddamned minute!" he yelled at me. "It was Zeck Zack that sent us."
I was startled. I made use of my reaction. "Who the hell is Zeck Zack?"
Fearless leader groaned.
Morley gestured. The grolls put our man down but did not turn him loose. I said, "We won't be sending the rest of you after all. But I'm still going to need you sleeping. Set yourselves down someplace comfortable. We'll serve up the brew."
The leader said,"You're dead meat, Trask."
"I bet I'll last longer than you," the other thug replied.
While they bickered I got everything settled. I got the three to drink their beer. We settled back for a listen to our songbird.
"One thing," he said. "The first guy you threw out. He's my brother. You get him back in here or I don't say nothing."
"Morley?"
Morley sent Dojango and Doris.
Trask was able to tell us almost nothing we didn't already know. He had no idea why Zeck Zack wanted us thumped and run out of town. He had not seen the centaur. Only Switz saw or heard from Zeck Zack. He didn't know if the centaur was in town or not. Probably not, because he almost never was.
I asked a lot of questions and got almost nothing more. Zeck Zack shielded his infantry from troublesome knowledge about himself.
"You kept your part of the bargain, with one proviso that benefited your brother." The brother was back inside and redressed, sloppily. "So I'll keep mine, with a proviso that will benefit me. Dojango is going to tie you up just tightly enough so it will take you a couple of hours to get loose. When you do, take your brother and get lost."
Dojango did the honors. He had been sneaking some off the keg and was getting braver by the minute.
"Not bad for improvisation," Morley said.
"Yeah. Thought so myself."
"What now?"
"We strip the other three and dump them where they're sure to get got, then we go see a centaur named Zeck Zack."
Morley didn't like it, but he went along. He was making top money and staying out of the hands of his creditors, and what more could a guy want? Cabbages and cattail hearts?
30
Morley led the way down the old path from the cemetery to the house. I knew the trail but he had the night eyes. Each fifty paces he stopped and asked the darkness, "Hornbuckle?"
He didn't get an answer until we neared the waking radius of the peafowl.
I was amazed by the grails. For all their height and mass, they moved through the woods with more stealth than a human.
"Sit," Morley said when tittering answered him at last.
We sat.
Diminutive forms pranced around and among us. Morley gave each a piece of sugar candy, the most certain bribe there is. They wanted more. He promised it. If... They scattered to do our scouting for us.
I'll bet Morley hated himself. He certainly looked disgusted as he tucked the rest of the candy inside his shirt.
I asked, "Can we trust them?"
"Not much. But they want the rest of the candy. I don't plan to run out till we're on our way again."
After that we stayed quiet, waiting. I got itchy between the shoulder blades, that feeling you get when someone is watching. Or you think someone is.
That scalawag Hornbuckle flipped Morley a mock salute.
"How many?"
"Four. Two humans. Very nervous. One centaur. Worried and grumpy. One other. They're awaiting a report from someone and that someone is late. Sugar?"
"Not yet. Are there wardspells? Alarms? Booby traps? Dangerous guard animals?"
"None."
"Any reason for us to fear?"
"They are wicked creatures. All."
"Silence the peafowl so we can pass."
"Sugar?"
"All the sugar I have when we come out."
"You might not get out."
"Why not?"
Titter. "They are wicked creatures. Very wicked. Especially one."
"All right." Morley took out his candy. "One piece for you. A half piece for each of your friends. The rest if we come out. Tell me the best way to get to them."
Their boy Switz did it to us, so we did it to them.
Kaboom! One groll after another went through the huge double doors of the ballroom. Then Morley. Then me. Then Dojango to guard our rear.
It was thoughtful of them to have waited in the only room where the grolls would have space to maneuver. The ceilings were eighteen feet high.
They scattered like squeaking mice when the cat pounces.
Doris and Marsha each snagged a man. Morley streaked between them, pursuing a shadowy something that crashed through a window at the far end of the ballroom.
Where the hell was the centaur?
There he was, a one-critter cavalry charge. I managed a leg whip that tangled some fetlocks or forelocks or whatever they're called. It was a sin, what his hooves did to the carpets and flooring.
Impetus flung me against something made of mahogany or teak, very hard and very immovable. I practiced exhaling a bushel more air than any human being normally inhales. Somebody was hollering.
"Help, Morley! I got him, Morley! Help!"
I staggered to my feet.
Dojango had him all right.
Zeck Zack was about average for his tribe, about the size of a small pony. He was not built to carry a hundred thirty pounds of Dojango on his back. His problem was complicated by Dojango having his arms and legs wrapped around his skinny chest. He couldn't breathe. He staggered around, banging into things, then went down on his knees.
I got a choke rope on him, pried Dojango loose, then looked around.
The grolls had their men subdued. Morley was coming back from the window empty-handed and looking puzzled.
I caught my breath, straightened my clothing, and led Zeck Zack into a better light, where Morley patted him down for hardware and other lethal surprises. The centaur remained glassy-eyed.
"What happened?" I asked Morley.
"I don't know. I got there three seconds after it went through the glass. And there was nothing. Not a sign of it."
"What was it?"
"I can't even tell you that. I never got a good look."
The grolls brought the two men over and plunked them down on the floor. They were in a playful mood after events at the inn. They had plucked these birds, too.
"Did you see me, Morley?" Dojango bubbled. "Did you see me? I mean, actually, I took the damned thing down. Did you see me, Morley?"
"Yes. I saw. Shut up, Dojango."
Morley seemed troubled.
He kept looking toward the broken window.
"Well, you've got him, Garrett. Are you going to do something with him?"
"Yeah. All right." I looked at Zeck Zack. "I have a problem, Mr. Zeck." Centaurs stick their family names up front, figuring their antecedents are more important. "People keep trying to whip me and I can't figure out why."
Zeck Zack had nothing to say. He'd heard me, though.
"All right. I'm going to tell you a story. Then you can tell me one. If I like yours we can part as friends."