"So be it," said Dussel. "However I must, in all conscience, add a notation. Landlord, I write: ‘My horse is extremely valuable and must have excellent care.' "
"A good idea!" said Harbig. "I will write the same... . There! And tonight I shall put prudence behind me! Though it cost a round penny or more, I vow that I will partake of Dildahl's special boiled beef with horseradish sauce and good bread and butter!"
"I am heartily of your persuasion!" declared Dussel. At suppertime, Harbig and Dussel came handily to the common room, and took their places at the table. When Dildahl came to see to their pleasure, Harbig and Dussel both commanded a goodly portion of boiled beef. Dildahl dolefully reported that the meat had burned in the pot and all had been thrown out to the dogs. "Still, we have fine fish to offer: indeed, fish is our specialty!"
Harbig said: "I think that, in lieu of good beef, 1 will make do with lamb shanks, and let there be no stinting with the garlic!"
"For me the same!" declared Dussel. "And shall we not also crack a bottle of good but inexpensive red wine?"
"Exactly in order!" declared Harbig. "Dussel, you are a man of exquisite discrimination."
"Alas!" sighed Dildahl. "At noon six druids arrived and each ate lamb shanks with both cheeks, so that tonight the kitchen boy ate the remaining scraps for his supper. But no matter; I can offer a succulent pie of crayfish tails, or a brace of fine brown trout, at their prime, sizzling in butter and vinegar."
Harbig scanned the board. "They are not written on the menu. How are the prices? Fair, or so I expect, with the whole lake at your doorstep?"
"When it comes to fish, we are at our best! What of two dozen pilchard, with lemons and sorrel?"
"Toothsome, no doubt, but price, man! What of the price?"
"Oh ha ha, I am not certain; it varies with the catch."
Harbig dubiously eyed the menu. "Lentil soup might be tasty."
"Soup is off," said Dildahl. "What of a plate of splendid salmon roe, with capers and butter, with a salad of cress and parsley?"
"And the price?"
Dildahl gave his hand a deprecating wave. "It might be more or it might be less."
"I rather fancy the salmon roe," said Dussel. "Tonight that shall be my meal."
"I shall dine on trout," said Harbig. "Let there be an adequacy of side-dishes."
Dildahl bowed and rubbed his hands. "So it shall be."
The two were served their fish, which they consumed with gusto, along with two bottles of wine. Soon thereafter they sought their beds.
In the morning, Dildahl provided a breakfast of porridge with curds. Harbig and Dussel ate briskly, and then called out for their scores.
With a grim smile Dildahl brought each man his tally.
Harbig cried out aghast. "Am I reading correctly? Or are the figures upside-down? My score comes to nineteen silver florins fourpence!"
Dussel was likewise dumbfounded. "For a platter of roe I am accustomed to paying no more than a few groats or maybe a good red penny; I seem to see here a demand for twenty-one silver florins! Harbig, are we awake? Or still asleep and roaming some never-never land?"
"You are awake and my prices are real," said Dildahl shortly. "At Kemuun's Antler, fish is very dear, since it is prepared by secret recipes."
"So be it," said Harbig. "If pay we must, then pay we will."
The two travellers glumly opened their wallets and paid over silver coins, to the sum required. Harbig said: "Now, if you please, bring us our horses, as we are in a hurry to be off and on our way."
"Immediately!" Dildahl called an order to the kitchen boy, who ran out to the barn. A moment later he returned faster than he had gone. "Sir, the barn is broken open! The door hangs loose and the horses are gone!"
"What!" cried Harbig. "Do I hear aright? My great champion Nebo which I value at a hundred pieces of gold? Or even two hundred?"
In shock Dussel cried: "And my prize steed from Morocco, which cost me one hundred golden crowns, but which I would not sell for three hundred?"
Harbig said sternly: "Dildahl, your joke has gone far enough! Produce our horses upon this instant, or else pay us over their value, and precious horses indeed they were! For Nebo I demand two hundred crowns of gold!"
Dussel declared his loss to be even greater: "For Ponzante I need two hundred and fifty gold crowns even to approach a settlement."
Dildahl finally found his tongue. "These cited prices are absolutely outrageous! For a single gold crown I can buy the finest of steeds!"
"Ah ha ha! Our horses are like your fish. Pay on this instant four hundred and fifty gold crowns!"
"You cannot enforce this insane demand!" declared Dildahl. "Be off with you, or the stablemen will beat you well, and cast you into the lake!"
"Trouble yourself only to look along the road," said Harbig. "You will notice an encampment of twenty soldiers, from the army of Aillas, King of Ulfland. Reimburse us our stolen horses, or prepare to kick from the royal gibbet."
Dildahl ran to the door and with pendulous lower lip sagging, took note of the encampment. Slowly he turned back to Harbig. "Why have these soldiers come to Lake Quyvern?"
"First, to attack Ska and drive them from the region. Second, to burn the wicker crow and to liberate druid captives. Third, to investigate rumours of villainy at Kernun's Antler, and to hang the landlord if the charges seem well-grounded."
Dussel said sternly, "Once more: pay us for our horses or we will call for the king's protection!"
"But I own no such sum!" Dildahl grimaced. "I will return your florins; that must suffice."
"Bah! Not enough! We now take title to the inn, as you take title to your guests' horses, ‘in full and even exchange'. Dussel, at last you fulfill your dreams! You are the landlord-in-residence at a fine country inn! As a first step, impound all the coins in yonder drawer and the gold in Dildahl's strong-box."
"No, no, no!" cried Dildahl. "Not my precious gold!"
Dussel ignored the outcry. "Dildahl, show me the strongbox. Then you must go, and promptly. We will allow you the clothes on your back."
Dildahl still could not accept his fate. "This is an unthinkable turn of events!"
Harbig raised his eyebrows dubiously. "Surely you did not believe that you could continue robbing your guests forever?"
"It is a mistake! Somewhere there must be recourse!"
Harbig said: "Be grateful that you deal with us, not the sergeant of yonder platoon, who already has selected a tree and measured a rope."
Dildahl growled: "I detect strange coincidences. How do you know so much about yonder troop?"
"I am their captain. Dussel, if you must know, has been chief cook at Jehaundel, but with King Gax gone, his services are no longer required, and he has always hoped to keep a country inn. Dussel, am I correct in this?"
"In every respect! Now, Dildahl, show me the strong-box, then be on your way."
Dildahl set up a great moaning. "Have mercy! My spouse is afflicted in the lower limbs and cannot walk; the veins circle her legs like purple snakes! Must we crawl on our hands and knees in the dust?"
Harbig spoke to Dusseclass="underline" "Dildahl seems to manage well enough at the stove, and deals especially kindly with fish. Why not keep him at work as pot-boy and under-cook, while his spouse makes herself useful milking the cows, making cheese and butter, digging turnips, carrots and leeks, and working the soil, all from a kneeling position, to spare her sore legs? Entirely by the mercy of King Aillas, of course."