3
Thornback stared, astonished at the clue,
The paper I have for you to seek out
Is hidden near the temple of my lords
They lie undisturbed, well-preserved and proud
With shields and armour and axe and swords
He roams the mountains and forests of pine
She flies in the cold air of the far north
Take the missing link, and apply one plus nine
With this in your mind, go out and forth
But I must warn you of sacrilege
Do not get caught, for useless is my pledge
Maon had no idea what it was talking about, "The king is the highest lord is he not? Who would he be talkin' aboot?"
Jander and Skipper racked their brains, but could not think of what Bucko II had been talking about.
They, along with Maon, Priam, Earnan, Thornback, and the otter siblings, were sitting in the cellar of the Black Rabbits' headquarters. Shane, June, and Talia had lost their sister Peggy in the gang battle that had resulted in the deaths of Mungan and Ebs. June and Talia were recovering, but Shane looked dead inside; his eyes smouldered without seeing clearly.
Thornback had a nagging feeling, like he was missing something. Useless is my pledge...sacrilege...the temple of my lords...
He was suddenly distracted by Shane. The otter was not saying a word, barely moving. The otter did little much other than eat, sleep, listen vaguely, and relieve himself of excrement. He did things without question, but moved as though he were hypnotized into doing things.
Earnan was the one that came up with an idea. He had stared at the lines for an age before exclaiming, "Of bally course! Ah think Ah have et, laddies!"
"Wot do ye have, cousin?" Maon asked.
"We should go an' see Bethia first, so Ah'll be sure."
Bethia was in charge of the archives, and was one of the historians of the Highlands. Mungan and Ebs had had much faith in her, and their deaths did not change the new generation's opinion of her.
Bethia brightened as they walked in, "Ah it's you lot again!' her face fell, 'I was so said about your father, Maon, and then your brother too-"
"-Never mind that, we need yer help," Maon brushed through the sympathy briskly, not wanting to bring up a painful subject.
Priam and his friends were introduced, and Bethia stuttered at her astonishment, "The heir to the Highlands! Oh dear me, dear, dear...' flustered as she was, she caught Earnan's question the first time he said it.
"Miss, where es the tomb o' King Bucko?"
A stunned silence enveloped them all- if he was suggesting what they thought, then the third clue was hidden in the tomb of Bucko II's forefathers.
Bethia pulled out a very dusty scroll of parchment, "Well then, we must refer to the catalogues written about the royal burial of Bucko Bigbones."
Maon stared at his cousin in surprise. Sacrilege indeed! To raid the tombs of the utmost symbolism and importance to the Highlands! Coincidently, Bucko II was also buried there, coincidentally. He had been the last one to be buried in the Tomb of the Kings.
Bethia stared at the ancient runes on the parchment, "The Highlands' three kings were buried in the Royal Tomb, which has been untouched by anyone since Bucko II was laid to rest."
"So where is the tomb?" Thornback was impatient.
Bethia shook her head sadly, "I cannot tell you. It does not say where the tomb is. They say that there are marks on the buildings in the city that tell you where the tomb is."
"So what are we looking for?" Jander was bracing himself to mentally keep the next scrap of information in his brain.
Bethia looked again, "It says that if you find the mark that resembles a sword through a crown, you will find the Tomb of the Kings. But it says to be warned, for there are traps laid out by the priests and shamans of the past."
Skipper shuddered, and turned to the others, "We'd better be careful, mateys."
Maon had gone still. He seemed to be hit with a realization. Thornback noticed it first and tapped his friend on the shoulder, "Uh, Maon? What is it?"Maon shook him off, still staring, "Ah've seen that mark before. It's in the caverns; no one ever comes oot of et, ever. The gangs have never used et."
Bethia looked concerned, "You fellows must be very careful. Those traps were laid out when Bucko II was laid to rest, as he had no heirs. Normally the king's bodyguard would take turns guarding it, but why have a guard for no king? The king's bodyguard was abolished when the king's lineage died."
She pulled out a fresh new page of parchment that she used to write down some notes, "Here are the traps written down, but there's a problem. There were four traps laid out, and this document speaks only of three. The first trap is a missing step in the pathway: it will be hard to see, and if you fall through, there's a pit, filled with spikes. Just be careful to look where you're going."
Skipper nodded, "And the next thing?"
Bethia wrote something else down, "You must move across a tiled floor, walking on the correct letters, or else you will break through the unsupported tile and fall to your death."
"But what is the word?" Jander was puzzled.
Bethia shrugged sadly, "The only way you could do it is through trial and error."
Thornback scowled angrily, but kept his frustration out of his tone of voice, "And the last?"
Bethia read on, "You must open a closed door with a code. The code is a tight secret that few knew even when Bucko II was alive. It has to do with the tiled floor code."
Maon shrugged, "Weel, that's as good as et will get. Thank ye, Lady Bethia for yer help."
Bethia suddenly frowned, "May I see the clue?"
Taking the scrap of paper, Bethia took it and turned it over in her paws. Staring at it in surprise, she peered at a corner of the paper.
"Quick, someone get me my spectacles!"
Astonished, Priam gave her the spectacles, which she put on and stared intently at the piece of writing. Clucking her tongue, she looked up at them, "You've mixed up the order of the clues."
"What?" Maon was thunderstruck.
"Come again?" Skipper said at the same time as Maon.
"This is the last clue. You missed the second clue."
Thornback could not believe it, "But that's impossible! We found this clue in the swamp, where the first one said it would be."
Bethia asked for the first clue, and she examined it. Handing it back, she shrugged, "It should have been the second clue."
Thornback looked at his comrades, "Bucko II wouldn't have made this mistake. This was someone else's doing."
Maon shrugged, "How could et be possible? We were the only ones who knew aboot the first clue."Priam's voice was darker than the blackest crypt of hell, "Except for Diomede."
An angry silence enveloped them all. Diomede and Taskill had worked fast and found the second clue. Had they known about the third clue?
That was the desperate question that had to be answered, and fast.
Shane spoke up, "We have to send a spy to Taskill's headquarters."
They were surprised. This had been Shane's first spoken words since the battle, and his voice had changed due to a throat wound. It grated like slate, and pierced like a shard of glass.
Shane stared dully around, "Who can we send to the Nativists as a spy?"
Thornback had no answers for the otter; his sisters were staring fearfully at each other due to their brother's new voice.
Bethia was thinking of it, while Priam looked at his feet in wonderment.
There was no one they could possibly send. They were all known to be enemies of the Nativists and Walla was too obviously out of place. She would be unable to question anyone.
Maon suddenly looked up, "Mah father had a spy in the Nativists. Ah doan't know ef Macrath knew aboot et, but Ah could check an' see ef he's still there."
They waited for night to fall, and they went to the southernmost part of the city, which was conspicuous in its neutrality.
Maon guided them on, "Ef Ah remember correctly, then his younger sister was livin' here, an' we'd give messages to her for him."
The spy, whose name was Nathair, did indeed have a younger sister living by herself in a little home enriched by the fact that her brother was supposedly in the Nativist gang.
She was pleased to see Maon, as she had feared he had died trying to avenge his brother and father, "Is there something you need from him?"
Relieved that he was alive and well, Maon told her to ask him to find out about the Nativists' knowledge of the third clue.
Nathair's sister promised to deliver a message through them via Ben's shop. Thornback hesitated at mention of Ben's shop, but told himself that he would go warn him beforehand.
He went over early in the morning, just as the shop opened.
Ben was there, his shillelagh in his paw as usual, dressed in his fancy new clothes. He was still munching breakfast, which turned out to be some crispy shrimp, made to be nice and crunchy.
Ben gave a grin in greeting, "Something up?"
Thornback nodded, "There's going to be a customer that will slip you a piece of paper of information on the Nativists."
Ben's expression sagged, to put it in best words, and he frowned in annoyance, "Why are you doing this? Turning my shop into a spy network?"
Thornback suspected some indignation, and was ready for it, "Sorry Ben, but Maon had no other choice, and he picked your shop."
Ben was not appeased, "I'm aiming for the job of sheriff, Thorn. I don't want to be prejudiced in anyone's eyes; this is my chance, so don't blow it for me."
Thornback held up his paws in reluctance to fight, "I protested, but Maon countered, saying you owe him for the house."
Ben growled at that, muttered something about owing nothing, but he got the message, and promised to deliver the note when it came.
Thornback went back to the Black Rabbits headquarters, hoping for there to be some breakfast left.
Now would be the time to wait for a response from Nathair, whoever he was.
As he walked back, Thornback frowned at the thought of Ben. Was there something wrong with him as of late? He looked harassed, distracted by something else in his life.
Was he that determined to stay neutral, or was there something more to the story?
Thornback did not know of anything that could be happening to Ben, so he put this puzzlement out of his mind.
Outstanding news reached him when he came back in. Harmonia was pregnant, and Maon was delirious with joy.
Skipper and Jander were cooking up three pots of shrimp n' hotroot soup for celebration, and Priam was giving a blessing of good health to Harmonia and Maon in ritualistic Ursus and Aves prayer.
Earnan was calling for ale to be brought up, and there looked to be a fantastic party in the making. Maon was talking of inviting the heads of the Razor Blades, King's Own, Golden Eyes, and the Immortal Guard to attend, intending to renew the old alliances. The gangs had been relieved to see this sensible replacement to the hot-headed, grief-stricken Macrath.
Thornback congratulated the hare, and sat with the others at the table.
Shane alone was not affected by the cheering. He sat by himself before excusing himself to go wandering.
Shane was hit especially hard, and not all of it was the gruesome death of his sister. It was the brutality of the fighting that had driven him to some sort of shell shock. He seemed so out of touch with life and what he had once been. He seemed to be descending to a level of savage anger and cynicism.
Thornback realized he and June and Talia were the only one thinking of this.
