movements.
As soon as activities appeared to be tapering off for the night, we stole out. Without trouble we slipped downstairs, got Defalk out of the mock tombstone, and brought him back to the bedroom. Once we were all settled on top of the canopy, there was time left for a half hour's sleep apiece. Then we brought Defalk round with a restorative herb. He must not suddenly awake in the midst of things. He had been prepared for his situation, but given no explanation of any kind. He knew only that we meant to ransom him, and that he would emerge unharmed, providing he did nothing, no matter how bizarre the circumstances he found himself in. So when he woke, he only glared at both of us, and said nothing. Haldar and I lay listening.
Sometime near midnight we heard the first hasty footsteps and shouts of disgust in the corridor. Soon after, we heard the skittering little feet of drug-maddened rats charging past. The rat-sounds got even thicker and never wavered, not even when several pairs of feet hammered up and down the hall. Ripe concussions, the squalls and coughs of slaughtered rats, reached us. The reaction was as we'd hoped. The passionate fixation of the rats on that one door alone was observed. Two wheezing grooms burst into our room with the sick man on his mattress between them, and the burly nurse like a harpy from hell on their heels. Rats, after all, are a groom's business.
Down the hall the storm raged, and would till the pellet faded. The apothecaries and the relatives quickly left the battle and cleanup to the servants and resettled in our chamber. Strong beverages were brought which, by the sound of it, none of the watchers refused. Conversation was attempted several times, but it did not thrive.
And thus we'd lain in our readiness for two hours and more, when I decided we'd have to take a hand in things. Shamblor had settled into a snore that sounded like restorative sleep. He'd gurgle now and then and some posset would be dribbled into him, and he would sleep on. It began to seem he'd rally again. I was not about to meet the Taker of Souls with my nerves worn and raw from a grueling wait. I reached across Defalk to warn Haldar with a touch, but before I'd moved farther, Gladda broke the long silence. Quietly she asked: "Do you suppose they came . . . for father?"
"No," said the nurse crisply. You felt, hearing them, that they'd forgotten everyone else. "They haven't followed him, have they? There's your answer," she concluded. There was a pause.
"So many of them. . . ." Gladda said.
Thus was a ploy pointed out to me. I eased a copper out of my breeches, the room's carpet being dark brown. I flipped it through the air so it struck the farthest wall. At the sound, the old cousin screeched and someone jumped up from her chair so fast it fell over backwards. The Druggists were made to inspect the other side of the room, and everyone else gathered at their backs. I sat up and flicked a pellet of poison at the goblet on the stand. It was as adept a move as I've ever brought off in a tight spot. It landed with a plurk in the posset—the noise raised more gasps, but no one could fix its source. They didn't find my copper either. They returned nervously to their positions. We had only to wait for the magnate to gurgle again.
Poisoning the cup made it all realer. The man would now die, sure and soon. Which meant the door to that world would open, sure and soon. None in the room but ourselves would see it open, and only we would see what entered. And roast me if I didn't nearly throw a fit then and there, Barnar. I was taken so fiercely with a shout of laughter that the canopy quivered with my holding it in.
It was Defalk, you see. The grimness of what stood now so near him, coupled with the ridiculousness of all he had just been through! How grotesque his puzzled theories must be, and how far off! I remembered the last thing I'd heard him say before we took him: I don't want to lose any time. Alas, Defalk!
As soon as activities appeared to be tapering off for the night, we stole out. Without trouble we slipped downstairs, got Defalk out of the mock tombstone, and brought him back to the bedroom. Once we were all settled on top of the canopy, there was time left for a half hour's sleep apiece. Then we brought Defalk round with a restorative herb. He must not suddenly awake in the midst of things. He had been prepared for his situation, but given no explanation of any kind. He knew only that we meant to ransom him, and that he would emerge unharmed, providing he did nothing, no matter how bizarre the circumstances he found himself in. So when he woke, he only glared at both of us, and said nothing. Haldar and I lay listening.
Sometime near midnight we heard the first hasty footsteps and shouts of disgust in the corridor. Soon after, we heard the skittering little feet of drug-maddened rats charging past. The rat-sounds got even thicker and never wavered, not even when several pairs of feet hammered up and down the hall. Ripe concussions, the squalls and coughs of slaughtered rats, reached us. The reaction was as we'd hoped. The passionate fixation of the rats on that one door alone was observed. Two wheezing grooms burst into our room with the sick man on his mattress between them, and the burly nurse like a harpy from hell on their heels. Rats, after all, are a groom's business.
Down the hall the storm raged, and would till the pellet faded. The apothecaries and the relatives quickly left the battle and cleanup to the servants and resettled in our chamber. Strong beverages were brought which, by the sound of it, none of the watchers refused. Conversation was attempted several times, but it did not thrive.
And thus we'd lain in our readiness for two hours and more, when I decided we'd have to take a hand in things. Shamblor had settled into a snore that sounded like restorative sleep. He'd gurgle now and then and some posset would be dribbled into him, and he would sleep on. It began to seem he'd rally again. I was not about to meet the Taker of Souls with my nerves worn and raw from a grueling wait. I reached across Defalk to warn Haldar with a touch, but before I'd moved farther, Gladda broke the long silence. Quietly she asked: "Do you suppose they came . . . for father?"
"No," said the nurse crisply. You felt, hearing them, that they'd forgotten everyone else. "They haven't followed him, have they? There's your answer," she concluded. There was a pause.
"So many of them. . . ." Gladda said.
Thus was a ploy pointed out to me. I eased a copper out of my breeches, the room's carpet being dark brown. I flipped it through the air so it struck the farthest wall. At the sound, the old cousin screeched and someone jumped up from her chair so fast it fell over backwards. The Druggists were made to inspect the other side of the room, and everyone else gathered at their backs. I sat up and flicked a pellet of poison at the goblet on the stand. It was as adept a move as I've ever brought off in a tight spot. It landed with a plurk in the posset—the noise raised more gasps, but no one could fix its source. They didn't find my copper either. They returned nervously to their positions. We had only to wait for the magnate to gurgle again.
Poisoning the cup made it all realer. The man would now die, sure and soon. Which meant the door to that world would open, sure and soon. None in the room but ourselves would see it open, and only we would see what entered. And roast me if I didn't nearly throw a fit then and there, Barnar. I was taken so fiercely with a shout of laughter that the canopy quivered with my holding it in.
It was Defalk, you see. The grimness of what stood now so near him, coupled with the ridiculousness of all he had just been through! How grotesque his puzzled theories must be, and how far off! I remembered the last thing I'd heard him say before we took him: I don't want to lose any time. Alas, Defalk!
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