Oberon's Dreams - By Aaron Pogue Page 0,74
met the lead dwarf’s eyes with all the sincerity he could muster. “I’m sorry. You should find a better one.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
The dwarf leader came into the vault. He stood for a moment, looking around the room. He took note of the fallen house guards and all the abandoned weapons. He went forward to retrieve the fallen pistol, then turned to consider all the spattered blood—from Ephitel in the center of the room, and from Kellen on two different walls. Then he lowered his gaze to Corin and the dying yeoman.
“My name is Ogden Strunk, and I am chieftain of the Dehtzwood clan.”
“Corin Hugh, and I am captain of the Diavahl. Or…I was. I will be.”
The dwarf gave a heavy sigh. “Toplanders are too soft. The percussion from the powder stirs your brain stuff. I’ve always said as much.”
Corin frowned. “Strunk? You said Strunk. I think I know your grandson.”
The chieftain shook his head. “I have no grandson.”
“Benjamin, he’s called. He said his granda was the last of the respectable Strunks, because his father was a loser.”
The chieftain’s eyes narrowed to dark slits. “My mewling baby’s name is Benjamin.”
“Ah,” Corin said, as the spinning in his head began to settle. “I guess it was the Ephitel business that brought you down.”
Ogden frowned. “I think I should be offended.” Then he hung his head. “But then, you have a point at that. You have a strange way of making it, but it’s a fair point all the same. Ehrin, Durhl, come see what you can do for this poor sod. Biffin, cut the slick one loose.”
One of the others who had come with Ogden in the coach bustled forward and grabbed his chieftain’s coat. “What are you doing?”
“What we should have done a week ago. Or from the very start.”
“But Oberon will have our heads!”
“He’ll have ’em all the same,” Ogden said. “Or Ephitel, if he wins out. You heard how he talked of the jailers, and they’re his men. They’re his own kind. He wouldn’t treat us well once his need is done.”
“You’re right at that,” Corin said. “I have seen it more than once.”
“But the payment!” the other dwarf cried.
Ogden shook his head. “It was never worth the price. And now he’s demanding more than we could ever give.”
The other dwarf licked his lips and avoided glancing Corin’s way. “Perhaps…in exchange for these prisoners…”
“I thought the same when we caught the slinking Violet,” Ogden said. “But you saw how this yeoman stood against the prince. You saw how he took a bullet even when he knew the price. There isn’t food enough within the world to buy that kind of valor. It isn’t ours to sell.”
“Then you will let us go?” Corin asked.
Ogden nodded. “Aye.”
“With the sword,” Corin pressed. “We have to have the sword.”
“That, I think, we’ll keep,” the chieftain said. “It’s the only piece we’ll have to barter our salvation.”
“That sword has valor of its own,” Corin said, playing to the dwarf’s strange sense of honor, but Ogden cut him off before he could say more.
“I know well this blade’s pedigree. And the purpose to which the prince had hoped to put it.”
Corin sighed. “Then you know why you must—”
“Relent there, manling. You’ll need your strength to get away alive. Don’t waste it on a haggle you can’t win.”
Avery came forward then, freed from his bonds. He clapped Corin on the back by way of greeting. “Listen to the dwarf. I’ve tried to talk them round before. It never happens.”
Corin rounded on Avery. “We cannot go before Oberon empty-handed.” He turned back to the chieftain. “But if we have that sword, he will listen to us. Give it to me now, and I will tell him how you served us at the last. Then he will conquer Ephitel, and I will see that he is not unkind to you.”
“Ooh, I like that!” Avery said. “You may trade it for redemption here and now.”
When the chieftain appeared to consider the offer, his second grabbed his coat again. “Don’t do it, Ogden. Would you put us at their mercy?”
“Not theirs,” the chieftain said, but then he pointed down at Kellen. “But at his I would. If we can raise him, if he will give his word, then I will yield the blade to you and call it done.”
“I appreciate your consideration,” Corin said. “But time is short. Ephitel could return at any moment with a regiment behind him.”
Ogden shrugged. “Then we will leave by the other tunnels.”
Corin brightened. “You have