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  Galvyn could see that things in the room were how he had left them, with the coal tub to one side of the trapdoor and the chain detached and hanging freely. At Galvyn's direction, they pulled Decarius to one side, opened the trap door and listened. Just as he had expected, the mine below was quiet, with the only sounds to be heard, coming from a distant part of the coal seam.

  "Should we hook him on by his belt?" he asked, trying to decide how best they could get the man down.

  "No, it might not hold," Hayden said, peering down through the opening in the floor, "and the fall would kill him."

  They both looked at each other, perhaps grateful that the room was as dark as it was. If either of them were getting any ideas, it didn't show. After a few seconds, Hayden spoke again.

  "What's this called? A bucket?"

  "A tub."

  "Then let's put him in this tub and lower him that way."

  "Okay," he replied, and between them they lifted the body of the man and placed him in the large, square, wooden coal tub.

  He filled it. His arms could be folded in but his legs hung over. Galvyn attached the chain and winched the tub higher so that it lifted up off the floor and swung over the shaft below. Once there, Hayden steadied it and Galvyn lowered it down.

  After a minute of clanking cogs and rattling links, the chain became slack. He took this as his cue to stop unwinding and lead Hayden down to where the tub, and it's unusual cargo, rested in the coal mine below. They descended the stairs cautiously but the mine was empty.

  Having reached the foot of the stairs, the pair of them lifted the unconscious body of Decarius out of the tub and placed him on the ground. Having done so, Hayden dusted his hands off and began climbing the stairs again.

  "Wait, we can't leave him here," Galvyn whispered, "it's right beneath my workshop."

  "Then we'll move him," Hayden said, stepping back down and grabbing hold of the man's legs.

  Galvyn took the man by the arms and the pair lifted them lifted body of Decarius off the floor and carried him deeper into the mine. Bumping into timbers and brushing past hanging ropes as they went, before eventually finding an even darker corner in the already dimly lit mine. Satisfied with the place they'd found, they dumped the man unceremoniously on the ground.

  "He's impossible to see unless you know he's there," Hayden said, "and when he comes around, he won't remember much, if anything at all. He'll find his way out and make his way home."

  Galvyn wasn't so sure, "What if he does remember?" he asked, as the two of them made their way back toward the stairs, pulling some of the low hanging ropes aside to ease their path.

  "Did you tell him where he could find the necklace?" Hayden asked, and, despite speaking in a hushed voice, still the sound carried and filled the void.

  "Yes, I told him it was with Captain Tregarron and that he'd taken it with him to the fort."

  "Then what more will he want from you?"

  "Well, he got bashed over the head, he won't be happy, he might seek revenge."

  "It's not like it was you that hit him, it was you he was strangling and he got a bang on his head for his trouble, once bitten, twice shy and all that."

  Hayden's words were persuasive but Galvyn was worried all the same. The man had been trying to kill him just a few minutes earlier, and now was supposedly going to just get up and leave? It seemed wishful thinking. They walked back in silence while Galvyn mulled things over.

  He understood Hayden's wish not to caught and questioned by the guards, he was a Coralainian after all. Or for it to be known that he'd just knocked out the Kentarch of Coralai, since returning to Coralai would be difficult for him, even if his actions had been justified. And on both counts Galvyn wanted to help him, it was the least he could do. But it was he who would have to deal with Decarius, should the man return to the workshop again.

  As the two of them reached the stairs, Hayden started the climb back up, while Galvyn took the chain and readied the coal tub for hoisting. As he was doing so he heard a noise, several noises in fact, coming from the adit to his right. He could hear voices, low pitched, mumbling, indistinct and accompanied by the scuffling sound of boots on rough ground. Galvyn immediately stopped and looked in that direction.

  Above the five tunnels that connected the cavernous seam to the dried out moat, there was a light. An illumination on the ceiling. It was daylight, seeping up the incline of each of the short tunnels that connected the mine to the road outside. Above three of the tunnels, the light was alive with movement. Three shadows. The outlines clear enough to show three figures, each wearing wide brimmed helmets, long coats and carrying a distinctive type of long handled weapon.

  Galvyn looked up to Hayden, who had cleared the first flight of stairs, "Guards," he whispered, as loudly as he dared. Hayden stopped, looked and saw them too, and without further hesitation, started running up the second flight.

  Galvyn looked back at the shadows in disbelief. What are they doing here? The guards rarely if ever come into the mines, why now? He could guess the answer. They must be looking for the Coralainian man whose unconscious body they'd just hidden. It stood to reason, the violent intruder had entered his workshop through the mine, the guards must be in pursuit. The man must have done something to get their attention and now they were after him.

  Maybe this was his chance to tell them. Tell them what?

  He looked up and saw Hayden moving quickly up the stairs and disappearing into the darkness above. The truth, what else. After all, he hadn't done anything wrong, he had been the one attacked.

  He could tell the guards everything, exactly as it had transpired. He could tell them that two Coralainian men had entered the armory one had attacked him the other had helped him. He would vouch for Hayden, the man who had just…had Hayden just saved his life? The man strangling him had murderous intent, that much seemed certain. Yet all Hayden had asked in return was for him not to speak of him. Could he give the guards a version of events that didn't involve him breaking his promise to Hayden?

  Just then, his chain of thought was broken, as the sounds of the approaching guards grew louder. They were not just shadows now, but silhouettes, too. They were entering the seam. Suddenly Galvyn found himself frozen and unable to move, standing stock still, he had only seconds to decide what to do.

  If he walked over and talked to them, they would take the violent man away and the danger would be gone. Or should he follow Hayden up the stairs and leave the guards to their search. Leave them to maybe find Decarius and figure out what happened to him by themselves.

  Galvyn could see there was a problem with this idea. As he looked up, he could just make out the chain running up and disappearing into the coal bunker. The trapdoor could not be closed with the tub lowered. It could not be raised now either, the rattle when winching up the chain is loud, the guards would hear it. But with the trapdoor to his workshop open, the searching guards might think it a good place to start looking.

  Galvyn could see that the chain wasn't the only thing disappearing into the coal bunker. Hayden was as well. He had reached the ladder and was almost out of sight, but once through he would have to wait there. Hayden couldn't leave the even if he wanted to, before entering the mine, he had locked the workshop door.

  It looked like he was going to have to co-operate with the guards, he had no choice and maybe it was for the best. Yet Galvyn felt a rising panic as he realized telling the truth was not without its difficulties.

  If he was going to tell them everything he would have to show them where Decarius was. The guards would want to know why the man had been dumped in the mine. Why hadn't he alerted them right away? Why hide the body? Because he had been protecting someone, a customer he'd had known for five minutes. Why was he?

  Galvyn took some deep breaths, the sound of echoing footsteps and voices told him the guards were now inside the mine.

  44

  As he neared the High Gate, Tansley paid close attention in the hope that he might se
e some guards there. There was a chance he might, since the gate was still manned from time to time, although there was no pattern to it as far as he could tell.

  During the bewailings, the gate had been permanently and heavily defended the whole time. A fact that had helped ensure that Demedelei Town had remained unscathed. Today, there was no sign of anyone.

  If said to their faces, his opinion of the guards would normally have brought Tansley a cosh to the head or, at the very least, a few nights in the fort's prison. If he was lucky, that is. Yet just at this moment he wouldn't have minded seeing a few of them. Doing so might even have elicited a friendly wave and a warm greeting from him. Their absence brought some choice words instead.

  After turning onto the highway, Tansley proceeded toward the trading posts, stopping at his nearest neighbor for an, 'Hello, how's business,' greeting.

  What his neighbor had told him was disconcerting to say the least. According to Cawney, it had been very quiet and nobody had stopped by at all today. Nobody? What had happened to the two men he had seen? Cawney didn't know, he hadn't seen anyone.

  Tansley left his neighbor's hut and considered the implications. From what he had been able to make out, the two men had been working their way up the trading posts, which meant his neighbor should have been the next place they visited. Maybe he hadn't watched them for long enough to gauge their direction of movement, or perhaps they were looking for a certain kind of merchandise, something they knew only a few shops sold. The thought didn't exactly put his mind at ease.

  Returning to his own house, Tansley approached cautiously. There didn't seem to be any sign of the two men. The front door hadn't been forced and the windows were intact. Since the blinds were closed and it would be hard for him to see inside, he decided to go around the back.

  Rounding the hut, he looked for signs of disturbance and gave a cursory glance into the forest beyond as he did so. On both counts he saw nothing out of the ordinary. The door to the woodshed was, just like the front, locked and unforced. Taking his key he went inside, before closing and locking the door behind him.

  Tansley moved from the woodshed to the store room, it was dark and reassuringly quiet. The half eaten cob was lying on the counter where he'd left it and the stove in the kitchen was still burning. He'd been gone about and hour. Relaxing a little, he placed the cob in the stove to toast and warm it, he wasn't going to let good food go to waste.

  He went back into the store room, walked through the curtain and into the shop front. He took one step inside and stopped.

  It hadn't be so easy to spot from outside but from here it was clearly visible. A partially opened blind. The wooden slats were open, only a fraction, but the difference was noticeable. He had not left it like that.

  Tansley remained perfectly still and listened. After several seconds, and hearing nothing, he slowly started breathing again, before walking around the room and looking for signs of disturbance. From what he could tell, nothing was missing and everything was how he'd left it.

  Could he have opened the blind himself? He had considered opening the shop at one point. Now he came to think about it, he wasn't certain either way. He moved back through the curtain and into the store room once more, but did so quietly, remaining alert to anything out of the ordinary. With seemingly nothing out of place, he relaxed again.

  His hasty exit from Serfacre, meant that he'd returned with a clay vial. It was one that he'd intended to sell to another of the craftsman there and it was a trade he would now have to complete some other time. For now, he would place the vial with the rest for safe keeping. Moving behind the counter, he crouched down and remove the tile covering the hole in the floor.

  He froze. The pouch was gone.

  They had been inside, that much was certain. The only question now, were they still here? If they were, they could only be upstairs.

  Very slowly, he started to turn, looking behind him and through the open doorway and into the hall. From his position, he couldn't see the stairs, but if he moved out from behind the counter, he would get a clearer view. He began to stand and reach for a weapon.

  Just at that moment, there came the sound of creaking wood from the hallway. It was a familiar sound, he even knew which stair it was.

  Suddenly he was moving, standing, dropping the tile and colliding with some shelves in his haste.

  His store was full of weapons, yet he was proficient with none of them, and even if he was, he couldn't fight off two Coralainian militia. Because that's what they were, he was certain of it and what they were after, too.

  Instinct took him in the direction of the woodshed tunnel. It would be quicker to open the hatch than unlock the back door, and he was confident he could scurry along it faster than anyone. The tunnel would not only get him outside but also buy him precious seconds.

  Passing the doorway to the hall and stealing a glance, Tansley saw the caligae boots, the hems of tunics, the leather scabbards. It was them.

  Now aware that their presence was known, the intruders were moving fast, too. The subtle creaks of the stairs were transformed into a roll of thundering boots. Tansley lunged at the door, but in his uncoordinated haste, was slower getting through than he'd ever been. Leaping into the dark woodshed, he could feel the movement behind him. With the floor shaking with heavy steps of the pursuers chasing him down.

  He dived toward the escape hatch, his fingers finding the catch and opening it in an instant. No sooner had he done so than the weight of the intruder landed on him, slamming the partially open hatch shut, and driving him head first into the corner.

  The eruption of noise and fury abated. The dust filled air stilled. While the gasps of breath being caught, and the creaks and groans of the trading post settling, were the only sounds that remained.

  45

  Why was he protecting Hayden? Because Hayden had protected him.

  Galvyn reached down to the coal tub and unhooked the chain. There came with it the sharp clink of metal, followed by the sound creaking wood as he started up the stairs. It couldn't be helped. The guards might hear him, but he would have to risk it. He had no choice. He'd made a promise and his word was his bond, he wouldn't break it.

  Taking the steps two at a time, he found it to be both quicker and quieter. He could shift his weight more precisely, leveraging himself up in big steady strides. The stairwell still creaked and groaned, but not too loudly. He knew from the time he'd spent down here that the low reverberating sounds would be hard to locate. They could be easily lost among the more distant thuds and vibrations from further along the seam. He doubted if the searching guards would know what they were hearing, and for the most part, he was being quieter than they were.

  Worse than the sound of the creaking stairs, was the rattle of chain he was furling up as his he went. The settling timbers sounded natural, ambient almost, but the sharp, tinkling sound of the rattling metal links was distinctive and jarring. He minimized it as best he could, but the gathering ball of chain would grow bigger and heavier as he climbed, it was going to test his strength.

  Onto the third flight of stairs, he was becoming increasingly hidden by the beams and ropes of the roof support structure. The darkness was helping to conceal him but otherwise hindering his progress. With no way to use the handrail and with the stairs hard to see, he could trip or lose his footing at any moment.

  If he stumbled he might be heard and if he dropped the chain he would be heard and caught without question. Galvyn suddenly realized that the chain was now the most important thing. He must protect it and hold it to close to him whatever he did. He slowed his assent and focused on the bundle he was carrying.

  Below him the sounds of the searching guards was becoming louder. They were spreading out, and as they did, they raised their voices to converse. He could hear snippets of the conversation.

  "Can you see anything?" He heard one guard say.

  "Bugger all," came the reply.

  Galvyn almost had to stifle a laugh desp
ite the precarious of his situation. He could hear the guards stumbling around and cursing their assignment. The dark, unfamiliar place would be disorientating and hard to navigate for them, he had an advantage over them for that reason.

  Feeling heady with the danger, he tried to dispel it. Just because the guards were stumbling, didn't mean they couldn't stumble upon him. If he got careless and was caught, he could fall back on the truth and mitigate his troubles. It seemed Hayden's situation was more complicated and it was Hayden who he was trying to help.

  Despite moving more slowly, his steady progress had brought him to the wooden gantry and the ladder that lead up from it. Looking into the room above, he could see Hayden peering down, urging him to hurry. He managed to hoist the ball of chain onto his shoulder. It was heavy now and near the limit of what he could carry.

  Climbing up the first two rungs brought him closer to Hayden, who reached down and lifted the weight from him and heaved it into the bunker. Lightened of his load, Galvyn took the opportunity to look down again.

  Through the wooden beams he could just make out the three guards. They were well into the cavern now, less well illuminated and harder to see. As they widened their search, one of them began heading his way. He could just about see the man, whose eyes were perhaps still unadjusted to the dark, making slow careful steps and getting very close.

  Just then, and though the trapdoor above him, came the clinking sound of the settling chain, as Hayden placed it down on the bunker floor. It was the loudest either of them had been since they'd seen the guards. Galvyn willed the man to be quiet but when he got to the top rung of the ladder, he could see Hayden was helping in other ways. Having placed his coat against the door to the workshop, blocking the direct sunlight that had been coming through there, making the coal bunker as dim as possible.

  Climbing over the last rung and into the room, he turned and looked down into the dark mine beneath him. The wooden structure of the staircase was blocking some of his view and he couldn't see the guard anymore.