No, Scarra was the one who had cheated them all, and Scarra was the one who needed punishing for it. With that in mind, Hasso had turned away from Kell's trail as soon as he was out of sight of Scarra and the others. He knew that they'd expect Kell to kill him, or perhaps they thought he'd join Kell's half of the company. Either way they wouldn't feel threatened.
If they knew he had gone off on his own, however, they might see a threat. They might worry about who he'd run into, or what he'd say. As he camped overnight in a tumbledown cottage, he thought about that. More accurately, he tried to think about that, but kept becoming sidetracked by the thought of how to punish Scarra and make up the shortfall in his fee.
By morning, he realized that he hadn't been as sidetracked as he had at first thought. He realized that the two things were actually the same. By the time he had fed his horse and rolled up his bedding, he knew just where to go, and what to do.
One of the Duke's troops came to fetch Gabriella and Erak as they finished breaking their fast in the castle's refectory.
"Enlightened Brother, Sister, the guards have brought in a man who's been causing a stir in the marketplace this morning."
"Stealing?" Erak asked. Neither of them were interested; that was the town guards' business, not theirs.
The guard shook his head. "Asking awkward questions and demanding to talk to either an Enlightened One or a member of the Swords." The guard shrugged. "You're here, and all the others are busy, so…"
"Define an awkward question," Gabriella suggested.
"He's been asking about the shooting of Eminence Rhodon. Asking if there's a reward for information." Gabriella and Erak exchanged rueful looks. This would be the fifth such inquiry she had heard this morning and the Lord alone knew how many more the other Swords or the Duke's guards might have handled. "Funny thing, though," the guard mused, "the man claims he only got into Kalten this morning."
That did interest Gabriella. It wasn't unusual for the people of a town to seek to profit from some event that had just occurred, but how would an outsider even know to ask yet? Gabriella decided that that would be the first question she asked him.
"I didn't," the man who called himself Hasso had said, answering Gabriella's question. She, Erak and Hasso were strolling within the courtyard of Castle Kalten, as the cells were already full, and Gabriella wanted to both keep an eye on the man, and make him think he was being dealt with as a contact rather than as a prisoner.
Hasso was eyeing his surroundings warily; he seemed wisely cautious, but not intimidated. Gabriella took him for a soldier at once and his mismatched equipment suggested a mercenary. She doubted that this was his first time dealing with the Order, or the Faith as a whole.
"I came to find the Preceptory to ask if there was a reward for information on the whereabouts of a Brotherhood man," he went on, "but when I got into Kalten I found the whole place still in this uproar. I asked a few people, and they said that an Eminence had been shot."
"And suddenly you decided to ask if there was a reward about that?" Erak asked dubiously. "Or did you just assume that mentioning it would get you an interested ear?"
Hasso narrowed his eyes and Gabriella was glad that the guards had disarmed him. He seemed a very angry man, for some reason.
"Let's just say I have good reason to think that the man I originally came in to talk about might have had something to do with it."
"Because he's Brotherhood?"
"Because he and another fella had a meeting a couple of leagues out of town, and they seemed pretty excited about something that had happened here. Being civic-minded I thought it might be of interest to you."
Gabriella kept her eyes on his. If she was any judge, he was being fairly truthful, though probably not about his motives in coming.
"All right, who was it you were going to talk about to start with?"
"Do you know a man called Scarra?" Gabriella and Erak looked blankly at each other. "He's a fat slimeball. Lives down in Pontaine, though he's Empire-born." That was unusual, but not unheard of. Gabriella herself had been born in the Pontaine city of Andon. "He has various holdings northwest of Andon. The one you'll want is a vineyard."
"And why will we want that one?"
"Because that's where he's heading now."
"And why are you telling us this? And please, no crap about civic-mindedness."
Hasso shrugged. "Scarra crossed me. He wanted to hire me and my mates in the Red Daggers as bodyguards, but stiffed us on the payment. Some of them went with him, I didn't."
Gabriella understood perfectly. "And a reward would make up the shortfall? Of course, you realise serving under someone you knew was Brotherhood is a sin."
Hasso nodded again. "But I'm not serving him. I'm here, turning him in."
"The other man he met; do you know his name?"
"Goran Kell."
"What do you know of their plans?"
"Sod all."
"You expect us to believe that?"
"Not really, but it's true anyway. I'm just a sword-hand escorting people through bandit-country. Scarra didn't tell me anything."
"But you may have overheard something?"
Hasso shook his head. "Scarra and Kell walked out together, away from us, for their chat. They wanted to keep it quiet. But when a Brotherhood organiser looks to hire a mercenary company, you have to think he's got a good reason. And when I got here and heard about the Eminence, that sounded like a good reason to me." He finished and looked at the two Knights. "Are you interested?"
Erak led Gabriella a few steps to one side. They didn't worry about Hasso as they knew that other guards around the courtyard would be watching, with bows at the ready. "What do you think?"
"I think he's telling the truth about this meeting between two Brotherhood types called Scarra and Kell. Probably also that he doesn't know what they were up to. They'd be idiots to take the hired muscle into their confidence."
"Let's see what Preceptor DeBarres thinks."
DeBarres and Kesar were in conference with Freihurr in his office in the central keep. It was Kesar's voice which called out "enter" when Gabriella knocked. When she briefly described Hasso's story, all three were immediately on alert.
"These two names this man mentioned?" Kesar said with a frown.
"Scarra and Kell," Gabriella said with a nod. "Both Brotherhood men."
"Karel Scarra and Goran Kell." Kesar echoed. "Ah, I think I understand."
Freihurr turned to a guard and snapped his fingers. "Fetch a scribe to copy a proclamation. The men named Karel Scarra and Goran Kell are hereby declared outlaws. Double the usual reward, if they're taken alive."
"Indeed," Kesar agreed.
"You know these two men?" Freihurr asked.
"The names Scarra and Kell are not particularly rare in themselves," Kesar said, "but those two men who've been named are known to the Final Faith." He turned to DeBarres. "Your two Knights have done some excellent work today, but it's only the beginning. This assassin can't have been working alone in Kalten, not counting the fact that we have these two names as potential paymasters."
"There were men running interference for him during his flight," Gabriella said.
"And they won't escape the city." Freihurr promised.
"I shall remain in Kalten for two or three more days before returning to Scholten," Kesar said. "It would be nice to take further good news with me when I next have an audience with the Anointed Lord. Preceptor, I think this duty takes precedence for you." He gave a short bow and Gabriella knew that the Knights of the Swords were dismissed. DeBarres accompanied she and Erak out.
"Preceptor," Gabriella said as they left the office. "I was wondering who Goran Kell actually is?"