After Beezle and Nissa had taken the turn to the left, Master Clarisse and Evan followed Captain Gwen. After walking for about five minutes, Captain Gwen indicated they should take a side passage to the right.
“This will take you to a stairway going up the interior walls of the guest wing and will lead you eventually to the Armory Suite. It is so named because it was once the armory. It’s the only part of the old keep that was integrated into the new wing. Some guests request it, as did Lord Crestly this visit. Maybe they feel like warriors of old staying in the old armory. Some say it’s haunted, but not to worry. You two are on the side of the present Lord, so any ghosts would most likely not try to do you in,” Captain Gwen said, with a wink in Evan’s direction.
Evan did not look convinced, but it was not clear if he were not convinced that she was teasing, or if he were not convinced that the ghosts would not harm him.
“At any rate,” Captain Gwen continued, “Lord Hadrack is concerned that Lord Crestly and his entourage may have been responsible for the roadblock and the salting of your homewagons with illegal goods. He would like to know if they have anything else up their sleeves.”
Following Captain Gwen’s directions, the pair soon arrived at the end of the narrow passage and found themselves looking through the eye slits of several helmets mounted to the wall. Inside the room, Lord Crestly and five other members of the nobility were seated in front of the large fireplace and were having what appeared to be a serious discussion. Lord Crestly was flipping a knife with a silver fox head at the end of the handle, over and over in his hand.
“This plan to discredit the rovers has seriously backfired,” Lord Crestly stated. “Instead of becoming scapegoats, they are emerging as an oppressed and harassed group. Rather than the majority of common folk becoming suspicious and blaming them for their troubles, they have rallied around the rovers giving them shelter, seeking out their services, and standing up for their rights. Stories about the roadblock, which was botched no little thanks to that glassmaker journeywoman, along with the raid on the Deaver’s farm, have begun to spread with the help of Lord Hadrack and his group. The Regent made a serious error in judgment when he set the plan in motion to try to control the rovers by trying to harm their reputations.”
“Which was not helped by you when you sent your men to the farm to retrieve your knife, thus scaring off the rovers and ruining a second attempt to catch them with the ‘goods’,” stated another of the men in the room in disgust. “You just couldn’t leave well enough alone.”
“How was I to know there was going to be a raid?” whined Lord Crestly, “and besides, it was my favorite knife. I should never have let that Regent’s agent talk me into lending it to the cause in the first place.”
“Not that I am not enjoying your little quarrel gentlemen, but changing the subject, I am concerned that the Regent is grabbing up so many of the small independent landholdings,” stated Lady Twilliker. “I was aware that he had acquired a few here and there, but when Lord Hadrack showed us the map with all of the holdings he and others were aware had been seized by the Regent’s agents, for one excuse or another, it was shocking to see just how many parcels, scattered all over Sommerhjem, that the Regent has acquired. It is like a slow and steady encroachment on each of our areas. I am becoming concerned that his promises to us are hollow. We had best watch our backs.”
There was a murmur of agreement from the others sitting by the fire.
A third voice entered the conversation. “I agree with Lady Twilliker. I too got pulled into the Regent’s plans with promises of grand rewards, but I do not think I want to do the Regent’s bidding again anytime soon. I am thinking I have been gone from my holdings a bit too long, and perhaps it is time to check out what is happening in my own backyard before I no longer have one. I for one intend to leave tomorrow and head home. I might suggest the same for the rest of you.”
The conversation continued along that vein for several more minutes and then began to break up. Master Clarisse and Evan used the noise made by Lord Crestly’s departing guests to go back down the passage and begin to head back the way they came, when talk from another room caught their attention. They stopped to listen. The room they looked into was shrouded in darkness and from the sounds of it, two men were talking quietly. Neither Master Clarisse nor Evan could see who was talking, and their voices were not distinct enough to identify them.
“Have you heard from the riders you sent to rover Pedersen’s village?”
“Aye, and it was not helpful.”
“Why not?”
“Our agents went first to Pedersen’s house only to find it mostly deserted. No one was there with the exception of this crazy old woman who ranted and raved, and quite frankly made very little sense. Kept talking about how the end was near and they needed to beware and other such drivel. Said she looked like a mad woman with hay and twigs sticking out of her hair, waving her arms and dancing about. They said they did not stay long. Woman gave them the heebie-jeebies.”
“Did they learn anything in the village?”
“Our agents did have a little better luck in the village. Being strangers, and after what had happened less than a fortnight before with Pedersen disappearing, neither the farmers nor the fishers would give them the time of day, but they did get some information from the local pub keeper. Said he seemed like a friendly sort who was more than willing to give the local gossip for the purchase of a pint or two.”
“What did he have to say?”
“Told our agents that the day Pedersen disappeared several small ships were seen leaving the cove.”
“Did this pub keeper think Pedersen left by boat?”
“He couldn’t speculate on that, but did report that a small boat had ended up wrecked on a rock formation called Dragon’s Teeth right around that time, and suggested whoever had been in that boat most certainly would not have survived.”
“What about Pedersen’s family?”
“The pub keeper said Pedersen’s mother-in-law was the crazy woman our agents had encountered. Said she seemed to go off the deep end when first her son-in-law disappeared, and then her granddaughter up and left. Guess the granddaughter couldn’t cope with the grandmother and so went to stay with an aunt in a village farther north.”
“That’s it? That’s all they learned?”
“They said that they were lucky to learn that much. The villagers were very closed-mouthed and very reticent to talk to strangers.”
“Doesn’t sound like sending anyone else to the village is going to get any better results. The mother-in-law sounds like she’s crazy and would be of no use as leverage. Finding Thorval Pedersen’s daughter might flush him out, but we don’t have either a description nor do we know where to begin to look. Another dead end.”
“Well, we did get a description of sorts for the daughter. The pub keeper’s son, who was helping in the stables, when asked, said she was fairly short with long blond hair and she traveled with a rather large muddy brown colored dog that was more brawn than brain. Actually they had a good laugh about the antics of this dog. So now all we have to do is find a short blond-haired lass accompanied by a dumb brown dog in some village in the north.”
“Do you know why the Regent is so anxious to capture this Pedersen fellow?”
“No, and I wish I did. If we could find him first, I think we could use it to our advantage. That is why I sent my agents in the first place, hoping he had either returned home, or I could find out some new information that would lead me to him. Well, it is getting late, so you had best return to your Lady before she questions where you have been. That woman is way too savvy and suspicious. Why couldn’t you have married a dull and beautiful woman instead of her?”
The second man gave no answer to his companion’s inquiry, but instead cracked the door to the hall, and checked to see if anyone was in the corridor. He then silently slipped out the door never once looking back, which would have given Master Clarisse or Evan an opportunity to see his face. The bells marking the second hour they had been gone sounded, so Master Clarisse signaled Evan that they should begin to head back. What they had overheard had given them much food for thought.
Once they reached the lower levels, Master Clarisse felt it was safe to talk and so asked Evan, “Well, Evan, what do you think about what we have heard this night?”
“I’m not sure we learned very much that would help Lord Hadrack,” Evan replied.
“Oh, on the contrary, my young friend. We have learned some new nuggets of information,” stated Master Clarisse. “While we still do not know why the Regent’s agents are seeking a rover named Thorval Pedersen, we do know that he lived in a village that was very loyal to him. We also now know that he has a daughter, whereabouts unknown, with only a sketchy description of her. We know that rover Pedersen may or may not be alive, but before you say anything, you are right. We knew that before. What we do not know was who those two men are, and why they sent someone north to seek information in Thorval’s village, other than that they wished to gain some type of advantage over the Regent.”
“I can’t see where that information is very helpful,” commented Evan.
“I can understand why you might think that, but remember, all information, no matter how small, when combined with other information, can turn out to be helpful. Think about the second man. What do we know about him?”
“He has a wife that is smart, beautiful, and not loyal to the Regent, I think.”
“Very good, Evan. I would suspect that she is the landholder, and he married into her estate. He does not want his wife to know that he is in opposition to her loyalties. Too bad we could not see his face or identify him. Do you think you could recognize his voice if you heard it again?”
“I think so, maybe,” said Evan.
“If you do, be very careful not to let him know that you are interested in him. Just let me know discretely that you think you have heard this man. I can find out who the other man was by asking Captain Gwen who occupies that suite we listened outside of. So, what other tidbits did you pick up?”
“I think the other group got an eye opener at their dinner meeting. Now I can see what you mean by little bits of information when put together can form a new picture of what is going on. The Lords and Ladies at Lord Crestly’s meeting don’t sound like they are feeling very pleased with either the Regent’s plans or his grabbing up land. I wonder if the Regent has lost some loyal followers this night?”
Master Clarisse and Evan fell silent after that and continued to head back to the meeting place. Suddenly Master Clarisse held up her hand motioning for Evan to halt. She indicated that they should be very quiet and listen. After a few moments, both heard footsteps approaching. Master Clarisse grabbed Evan’s arm and quickly pulled him into a side passage, hiding them in shadow.