The Hekamon Page 26
He started looking around anyway, since the room was sparsely furnished, he could see it wouldn't take long.
He moved to a chest, while speaking to Mrs. Willard, "Enyon Croneygee has been assaulted and badly hurt, Galvyn is suspected of being an accessory."
He opened the drawers in quick succession, and could see there were a few clothes of the type he would have expected, while the landlady was almost speechless at his accusation.
"You think that…Galvyn…he would never—"
Tregarron stopped searching and looked at the woman for a moment. She knew Galvyn as well as anybody and he noted her complete dismissal of the idea.
"Maybe an unwitting accessory," he said, moving to a wardrobe.
"Not even that, Captain."
"He's involved somehow, Mrs. Willard."
"Could he been in danger? He wouldn't hurt a soul."
He stopped again, there was nothing untoward in the room.
"Is there anything missing, that you are aware of?" he said, sweeping his had around at Galvyn's meager belongings.
"Not that I can see, this is all he has."
He looked at Phelan and Collis standing in the doorway, "Nothing here, let's go," he said walking out of the room and following the two guards back down the stairs.
"Is Enyon going to be alright?" Mrs. Willard said, following him, her voice edged with worry.
"I don't know," he said, and on reaching the ground floor spoke with the three guards there, "Anything?" they shook their heads, indicating there was not, "then we're leaving," turning to the landlady.
"Thank you for your co-operation, Mrs Willard, your assistance is appreciated and your concerns have been noted."
"Please find and help Galvyn if you can, Captain," she said, following him to the door as he left with his men.
"Good day," he replied noncommittally, but he shared her opinion, although not as emphatically. Galvyn was more likely to be a victim than a perpetrator. Standing on the street he looked at the five guards.
"Phelan, this is your turf, what do you say?"
"We could try the inn, that's if we're looking for the Coralainian as much as the apprentice."
Tregarron nodded in agreement but felt he needed to cover more possibilities, "Phelan and Collis, you men are with me, we'll check the inn," he turned to the remaining guards, "you three, go behind the buildings here and start searching the glades." He was about to go, but stopped on seeing their expressions, "Not the whole of the glades, just the immediate area."
This sat a little easier with them, but they were still reticent and Tregarron understood why. Everyone avoided the glades, especially at night, and the sun was getting low in the sky. Despite their apprehension, the three men started moving in that direction. While he, Phelan and Collis, continued down the street to the inn.
71
Galvyn sat and watched, as the last of the afternoon sunlight filtered through the branches. It would be a few hours yet before it set below the horizon, but it was already disappearing below the ridge. The mountains here made for short days and a prolonged twilight.
Despite the peaceful setting, Galvyn's mind was busily trying to work out how he could best resolve the predicament he found himself in, and he wasn't the only one with something to think about.
The Fennrean girl was seated beside him, resting her head on his shoulder. It was better than her holding a blade to his throat that was for sure. She hadn't done much to dispel the stories of Fennreans being savage-like but he sensed a kindness about her.
While they sat there, Galvyn let his mind drift to how he might help her recover her necklace, and from the question she then asked him, he could tell that she had been thinking the same thing.
"How well do you know Tregarron?"
"Not that well, since I've only lived in Tivitay for a few months, but he and my boss know each other from the time of the bewailings, so he stops by the workshop from time to time."
"If you asked him to return my necklace, would he?"
"I could try, but when he took it from me he seemed very interested in it, and even more so about who it belong to," Galvyn said, recalling Tregarron's reaction on seeing the necklace on the workbench. "I got the feeling he wasn't about to hand it back so easily and wanted the owner to go to him, that much seemed clear."
"That's what worries me."
"Maybe if we approach him together, he might be more receptive to the idea, your tattoo might help, too"
"That would be a good way to prove it's mine, but I've got a bad feeling about it, I have my reasons—" She stopped abruptly and looked through the trees, toward the lodge house beyond, "Is there someone in your room?" she asked, looking at the window he had pointed to a moment earlier.
"If there is, it's probably Mrs. Willard, my landlady," he suggested, looking too, but unable to see anybody.
"I don't think it was," the girl's focus entirely on the building that was just visible through the branches.
Galvyn thought that the young woman either had very good eyesight, or an overactive imagination, "Well, I can't see anyone."
"Maybe I imagined it," she said, yawning, "my tiredness isn't helping. I might be starting to hallucinate."
"You can rest your head again, if you want," he said.
She did so, then closed her eyes, took a deep breath and started to speak.
"Ten years ago, my mother journeyed to Demedelei Fort to see Lord Jephson. I don't know what it was about but it seemed important. Important enough for her to take some risks and go against the advice of Vondern. Before she left, she gave me the necklace for safe keeping. She would only have done that if she thought there was a chance of her not returning. She never did," the girl said, her voice cracked with emotion at the pain of the recollection.
"Voight Vondern seemed unconcerned," she continued, becoming more agitated, "he said she'd been reckless and should've left things well alone. I was too young to understand and never did find out what it was about. After a while, it seemed that everyone at Ochre Hill forgot about her. Even I found it difficult to picture her face, but when I hold the Ettinshel—" she hesitated, "there I said it."
"The Ettinshel?"
"The name of the necklace."
"It has a name?"
"Well, it's no ordinary piece of jewelry, but then you knew that already, didn't you."
"I sensed its importance, yes."
"It's important and powerful. It belonged to my mother, and her mother before that. When I hold it, I'm reminded of her and I sometimes hear her voice as clearly as if she is standing next to me."
Galvyn felt a shiver run down his spine at this revelation. What could that mean? Perhaps he really had heard something when he'd held the necklace earlier. It had worried him at the time, because he thought he'd imagined it, but now he had to contend with the idea that he hadn't imagined it, and that worried him more.
Should he confide in the young woman about what he'd heard? Of the message that had been conveyed to him? He was reluctant to, if he told her, it might upset her. Before he could decide, she spoke again.
"Since I've told you the name of the necklace, maybe I should tell you mine, it's Alyssa."
"Thank you for telling me, its a beautiful name, it suits you."
"Its nice of you to say so. When I was born, my mother called me a slightly different name, but when I was old enough to talk, I found it hard to say, so now I'm just Alyssa."
"I like it, what did your mother call you?"
"Now that," Alyssa said emphatically," I'm definitely not telling you, a person should have some secrets you know."
Galvyn laughed, "Okay, that's fair enough."
"So you can see why I want to get the necklace back."
"Yes, I can see why its important to you, and why you are wary of the guards."
"I don't trust Jephson," Alyssa said, resting her head on his shoulder again, "none of the men under his command for that matter. I can sense that they're dangerous. Perhaps everyone
feels that way about the guards, but I feel it with every fiber of my being. As much as I would like to, I wouldn't be able to simply ask for it back, even though it belongs to me. I feel I would be putting myself in danger."
"I think you're right to be cautious. A few of the guards fought in the war and I've heard they still hold some grievances. I wouldn't want to put you in a risky situation, maybe taking you to Tregarron with me isn't such a good idea."
"What if you approached him yourself," she said, raising her head and looking at him, "might you be able to reason with him?"
He sighed.
"When Tansley gave me the necklace to repair, it meant I was doing some under the counter work behind my boss's back. I withheld that information from the captain. Then Mr. Croneygee got badly hurt by a Coralainian who was looking for it, too. When Tregarron finds this out, if he hasn't already, I will be in trouble, he's hardly likely to return the necklace to me."
"Yes, you're right."
"Not only that, I promised Hayden I wouldn't mention him, even though I was seen with him at the inn, and maybe at the workshop as well. It's going to look bad."
"You were seen with Hayden at the workshop, by a man called Turner. I overheard him telling Tregarron. That's how I knew where to find you."
"This is bad, it will harder for me to keep my promise to Hayden now." He would now need to avoid Tregarron for as long as possible, so Hayden had time to get away. "Maybe Tansley won't say anything, but it's too much to hope for."
"Yes, Tansley is the problem, like you say, he knows things. For one, he knows how the necklace came to be in his possession, even I don't know that, and he knows what the Coralainians are looking for, and who has them."
"What Coralainians?" Galvyn interrupted. He wondered if these be the others that Hayden spoke of, but Alyssa ignored his question. He could see that she was trying to figure out what Tregarron would likely discover and what he knew already.
"Tansley must have found the necklace in the woodshed tunnel, or on the ground somewhere. Still, he knows it belongs to me, he saw it on me when my brother and I visited his trading post…"
She's been to Tansley's? And what woodshed tunnel is she talking about?
"…so, Tansley might tell Tregarron who it belongs to. That might be a problem, if only I could have kept that man under my control."
"Wait, slow down. Under your control?" He was trying to keep up with her train of thought.
"If Tansley does tell Tregarron…he found the pouch…"
Galvyn watched as Alyssa's face took on a concerned expression, as she tried to understand her predicament.
"…he is aware of why we were there and what we were trading. He knows someone is looking for something, too, I heard him say as much. If Tansley tells Tregarron how he came by the necklace and who it belongs to, then the captain will figure it out. He will know who went back to the hut looking for it and might think that person responsible for all of the assaults…"
"All of the assaults?"
"…and if caught I will be interrogated by Tregarron himself."
"Alyssa—"
"Galvyn, Decarius isn't the only Coralainian to end up in a bad way, there are two more at Tansley's hut. I hit them over the head and left them tied up alongside Tansley, bleeding and unconscious. I had to leave quickly when the guards arrived. Like Hayden, I need you not to mention me," she said, before closing her eyes, "I shouldn't have told you my name."
"I promise," Galvyn said, "I will not tell anybody, you can trust me, I give you my word."
Galvyn put his head in his hands and took some deep breaths. How could he resolve it? What was the right thing to do? And what did Alyssa mean when she said that she'd left Tansley unconscious and bleeding?
Just at that moment she nudged him.
"Look," she said, with panic in her voice.
He looked up at his window, but again saw nothing.
"No, by the alleyway."
He looked down at ground level, and to the back of Willard's guest house. He could see three guards walking out of the alleyway that ran beside the building there. The first of them was already several paces through and heading in their direction.
"Galvyn, I think they're are looking for you," Alyssa said nervously, looking at him with eyes wide.
"I think so, too," he, said, the words catching in his throat.
"And through you, they will find me," her voice shaking.
"We need to get out of here," Galvyn said, standing but feeling rooted to the spot. Where could they go?
72
The three men walked the short distance to the inn. The innkeeper, Bill, was well known to Phelan, so Tregarron let him conduct the questioning, so that the man might be more forthcoming. From the conversation that followed, it turned out that the innkeeper was indeed able to offer up some information.
It seemed Galvyn had been there earlier, and had scrounged a meal out of a man who had stayed at the inn overnight. According to the innkeeper, the man may have been from Coralai or one of the other towns to the south. Once they had finished eating, Galvyn left by the front door into Tivitay Street, while the man had gone out by the back way. At this information, Tregarron intervened in the questioning.
"Are you sure they went separately?"
"Certain," the innkeeper replied, "the southerner was quite keen to do so."
"Describe him."
"Tall, with shoulder length black hair, white tunic, heavy coat and boots, large shoulder bag."
"Do you know his name, or where he was heading?"
"He didn't give a name but that's not uncommon for travelers through here, and he said was going to the pass."
"Was he in a hurry would you say?"
"Well he paid for two nights in advance, but cleared his stuff out and left just a few minutes ago, so yes, you could say that."
"A few minutes ago?"
"Yes. Ten, maybe fifteen minutes at the most."
Tregarron went back out into the now empty street. The few people who'd been there when he'd arrived where gone. He considered his options. Should he have his men search door to door? Fifteen minutes at the most, they could not have got far.
He looked to his right. It was possible to see a good way down Tivitay Street in the direction of the Rhavenbrook Bridge, but there was no sign of anyone. Nor could he see anyone to his left, although his view up the Regis Highway was more limited.
"What do you think, Captain?" Phelan asked, as he and Collis left the inn and joined him.
"The fact he left in a hurry, means that he is more than likely our man. He either found what he was looking for," Tregarron felt the necklace in his pocket, Galvyn knew he had it, "or decided it was not be so easily attainable."
"If we go now, we might be able to reach the pass before he does," Phelan suggested.
"Hmm," Tregarron mused, noncommittally. "If he has just assaulted Enyon Croneygee, why would he tell the innkeeper where he was going next."
"Could have been a mistake on his part."
Or misdirection, he thought to himself, something else occurred to him, too, "The innkeeper said that the man left by the back way. Let's see if the guards I sent into the glades have found anything."
73
Galvyn was paralyzed with fear. Next to him, Alyssa jumped to her feet and grabbed his arm, "Move," she said, and dragged him further into the forest and towards a nearby tree.
They moved quickly and quietly, looking at the three guards as they did so. Galvyn could see the men were not looking in their direction but were huddled and talking between themselves.
With the guards attention not on them, they took their chance, and within seconds were behind the large tree and pressed against it.
"Did they see us? he asked, hardly able to breathe.
"I don't think so," Alyssa replied, peering around, before drawing back again.
"What should we do?"
"Maybe I should make a run for it."
"What?"
"I will be seen by them if I do," Alyssa said, in a hushed voice, "but at least I will have a head start, and if I take these boots off and run fast, I will make it to the bridge before they can catch me."
"But I'm not fast."
"I wasn't thinking of taking you with me."
"Oh."
"I will distract them, draw them away so you can go in a different direction."
"Where would I go? I can't go back to Tivitay now," he said, whispering as loudly as he dared.
"I don't know, maybe you should go back, you will have to at some point, maybe now is a good time."
"What should I say if I did? I need more time to think."
"You can blame me. Say a Fennrean thief held a knife to your throat and threatened you, it's not far from the truth, they will believe you."
"But you're not a thief and I promised not to mention you."
"If I run, then I will be seen, and my presence here will be known anyway," she gave a deep sigh, "and then Tregarron will know enough already, he will be able to figure it out, my mother's necklace will be lost forever, I'll never get it back."
"Then don't leave, stay with me, I can help you. Don't leave me to face the guards by myself," he said looking into Alyssa's eyes, pleading with her. The Fennrean girl looked back, her dark brown eyes showed her fear but compassion, too.
"Okay, I won't leave you, we will stay together and help each other."
"Yes," he said, relieved not to be left alone.
"We need to keep quiet," Alyssa said, in a barely audible whisper.
"How close are the guards? Are they about to find us?" he asked, as Alyssa looked again.
"No, not yet but they are searching," Alyssa was pressed next to the tree beside him, "They are moving this way," she drew back into cover, "this tree's not wide enough to conceal us both."
Galvyn had his back to the tree and Alyssa moved closer to him, facing him and whispering in his ear. Galvyn, there's a chance we are going to get caught, we need to think quickly."
"What should we do?" he asked,
"I have another idea."
"What?"
"I think you need to step out and make yourself known."