“What? Why! There must be some misunderstanding!” protested Beldrak.
“Misunderstanding?!” the baron shouted in indignation. “Your cronies accepted my money, journeyed with me here, then left me high and dry! Some misunderstanding! And just when one company of mercenaries breaks its contract to me, suddenly another one appears, ready to help me out? No sir, I think not! I am not so gullible as to fall for a ruse like this! Not I!”
“You will leave now,” said the groom of the baron, more forcefully now.
“Wait!” cried Beldrak. “We will give you the sword hilt as a sign of our goodwill! No payment required!”
Alton looked at him with cold, calculating eyes.
“If we wanted to cheat your lordship, we would hardly do that, right?” Beldrak jabbered. “Don't pay us a dime beforehand! Don't pay us before we are back with the relics you search for! That way, you risk nothing!”
The secretary cleared his throat.
“Why would you, ehm, be so desperate to undertake this expedition? And why would you, ahm, trust us any more than we trust you?”
“I did my homework,” Beldrak was speaking slower again, having regained his composure. “I have not heard of baron Alton breaking his contract even once. Besides...”
“We are enthusiasts of history as well,” I finished. “We would like to know where Durgeddin's fort lies, and what his last works were.”
“Is that so?” the baron still regarded us suspiciously. “Well, if you are truly willing to accept this mission without advance payment... What's more, if you are giving me this sword hilt...”
“They are vagabonds,” growled the groom. “I don't trust them, and Your Lordship shouldn't either.”
“Ehm, if this is a trick, it is poorly thought out,” said the secretary. “The dwarf is right saying that with this arrangement, they carry all the risk.”
“What if they are working for another collector?” asked the woman. “They might want to elicit the location of Durgeddin's fort from us, and then sell the loot to someone else.”
“I think, I can safely outbid anyone,” the baron said thoughtfully. “But why take risks? Gentlemen, I am not a patient man, and this journey has already eaten into my time. Today is the 25th day of the month Coldrain. Come back by the 30th of Frostdawn, and I will buy your loot for a fair price, and also pay a hundred coins of gold if you draw me a map of the fortress' layout.”
“What happens, if we don't get back by the 30th of next month?”
“I have already sent for a mercenary company that has served me well in the past. If you are not back in time, I will contract them to find you... wherever you are.”
The not too subtle threat didn't elude us, but Beldrak just smiled confidently.
“Well, if they do find us, we will be dead by then. As we are leaving that sword hilt to you, be so kind and get us a proper burial.”
“I prefer cremation,” I interjected. “If it's not a bother.”
“I will take note of that, my good sir,” said the baron. He started to fall back into his earlier enthusiastic mood. “Guido, give the gentlemen a copy!”
“We do not have an, ehm, contemporary map,” the secretary explained. Jim snorted, drawing glares from all of us.
“As I said, we lack an, ehm, original map. But we do have a description. I think, based on that, we have, ahm, located the fortress on the charts we use today.”
“A description!” the baron shouted. “A description, gentlemen!” He seemed rather elated by the subject.
“A punitive, ehm, expedition seems to have taken place. In the late stage of the war. Ork prisoners were tortured and, ahm, interrogated.”
“Interrogated!” shouted Alton again.
“Here is the account that has been composed from these, ehm, interviews.”
He handed Beldrak a page.
“You will find it most helpful gentlemen! Most helpful! I have no doubt of it!” the baron stood up, and started to stride up and down in the big dining hall. All other guests of the inn were looking in our direction now.
I read into the text over Beldrak's shoulder. “Blessingdale?” I asked indignantly. I knew that name from Beldrak's map. “That is eighty miles further north!”
“Eighty miles, as the raven flies,” said the secretary. “For those without wings, it is closer to a hundred and, ahm, twenty.”
“That's five days marching!” I said. “Ten if we count the time to return! After that...” I read into the paper again, “after that it is at least three days marching again! That's sixteen days for the journey alone! And we still have to search the area for the fort's exact location! You have given us thirty-five days altogether, that is nowhere near enough!”
“Be glad, His Lordship is willing to place any trust into scum like you!” the groom Anna growled. “And march faster!”
Jim snorted, and left.
“Should I take it, that you, ehm, are refusing His Lordship's offer?” asked the secretary.
“Refusing, sir?!” shouted the lord. “Are you refusing me?!”
“Not at all,” said Trueanvil. “Our companion is simply impatient to start.”
“Is that, so? Well then, no helping it. Do you, ahm, wish to sign the contract now?”
“The contract, gentlemen!” Alton took out from his brief-bag a large, folded sheet, and ceremoniously unfolded it on the table. We quickly skimmed it.
“So we can ask a third party to assess our findings, if there is disagreement over the price,” said Beldrak. “That seems fair.”
“Should I, ehm, write into the contract that we take responsibility for your burial?” asked the secretary.
“No need, we trust your word,” I said. “Where do I sign it?”
“On the dotted line,” answered the groom in a condescending tone.
“Now, now,” said the secretary. “These gentlemen are, ehm, in our employment now, Anna. Be, ahm, kind to them.”
“Kind!” shouted Alton. “And polite!”
“There is one more thing though,” Truenvil sighed.
“And what would, ehm, that be?”
“Books.”
“Books?!”
“We get to keep all the books, if we happen to come across any.”
“Impossible sir, impossible! I insist on seeing them first! Insist! I will buy the ones I deem worthy. I will pay an appropriate price!”
“Your Lordship, I am afraid I cannot back down on this. Dwarves have been searching for the legacy of Durgeddin for two centuries now. I cannot just hand it over when I find it. But I am willing to sweeten the deal. I will give you a membership of my library free of charge, for the rest of your life.”
“Library? Where is it? Speak man!”
“I am from Sky Hall, and a few of us have been working on rebuilding the old library there for decades now. I can say with confidence that by now we have a few extremely rare volumes.”
“You would give me access to read all the books?”
“Of course.”
“And I can copy them too. Copy them, sir! Free of additional charges.”
“Fine,” said Trueanvil. His face looked like as if he just agreed to have his teeth removed.
“Then, I take it, I will have to reword the, ahm, contract.”
