CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Well before mid-day the fugitives were on a hill overlooking the port of Raggan. It was spread out along one side of a river estuary, and looked to be somewhat larger than either the Kroyan capital of Budenrath or Jeggan, the Theigan capital. Many fine buildings were visible; indeed, the city was a magnificent sight, and Chaldez felt a thrill of excitement as he gazed down at it. What a kingdom Kroya was! For a brief moment he had the wild notion of returning to Budenrath, slaying Havil and claiming it for himself. He said to Dan: "I could forget Sigmar if I were king of all this," but Dan scowled. "While Sigmar lives," he said, "he'll not let you forget him."
Chaldez sighed. After a pause, he said: "Come on, let's go." He spurred his horse, but had gone only a short way when the villager who had joined them that morning galloped past, and at once reigned in his horse. He raised his hand and shook his head vehemently. Chaldez turned and saw that the others had not moved. He turned his horse and rejoined them. "What's going on?" he asked Dan, but Dan only shrugged.
The villager now led the way, but not towards Raggan.
The direction he took brought them down to the coastal plain some distance from the port, and after a while they came to a fishing village. Here the villager consulted with Hathar's men who indicated to Chaldez that he needed money. Dan and Chaldez looked at one another blankly. They had no gold to give him.
"What's he want it for anyway?" Dan demanded. Chaldez shook his head in mystification. Then Doo said: "Perhaps he's going to try to get us a passage to Eujinni. He'll need gold for that," and while she spoke she brought out the jewelled pendant which the sea captain had returned to her. She unwrapped it carefully. "I have this," she said, showing it to Chaldez. "I took it from your grandfather. Will it help?"
Chaldez stared at it. Dan had by now seen it too. "May I look?" he asked.
Doo looked at Chaldez. He nodded and she allowed Dan to take it.
"This would pay for an army to get to Eujinni," he declared. "You can't give it to them. Not all of it. Take out one of the stones. We can give that to him."
When he saw the gem the villager nodded his head enthusiastically, and jabbered away. "He seems pleased," said Dan. The villager then signalled that they should wait where they were, and he rode off.
Chaldez felt increasingly uneasy as the day passed and there was still no sign of him.
Hathar's men negotiated for some fish which they cooked on a fire made up of drift-wood, and afterwards they sat around it, waiting for the villager.
He returned at dusk and spoke at length with Hathar's men.
They remained that night in the fishing village, a couple of fishermen putting them up in their mean huts.
The next morning the villager seemed impatient and agitated. They followed him on foot to a headland from where he stared along the coast. He spoke non-stop, sometimes turning to Chaldez and Dan and sometimes uttering his words to the empty sea. They were all growing restive when his babbling gave way to a shout. He pointed excitedly and there, rounding a distant headland, was a sail.
The vessel dropped anchor in the bay and a fisherman was engaged to row Chaldez, Doo and Dan out to it. On the shingly beach they said their farewells to Hathar's men, but the villager came with them. When they reached the vessel he climbed aboard and embraced its master. Still jabbering away he then embraced the three fugitives, and silent at last, he jumped down into the fisherman's skiff which returned to the shore.

"By the gods," Dan exclaimed, "I thought for a moment he was going to come with us!"
The ship's master laughed. "My cousin, he talk, talk, talk, eh?" he said in broken Eujinni.
Chaldez looked at him gratefully. In Eujinni he said: "We speak Kroyan, but not your brother's sort."
The mariner laughed. "We are poor people from the hills," he said. "Our language is different."
The captain's command of Eujinni was limited, but he had enough to be able to explain that the Theigans were in control of Raggan. No ship could leave without being searched. Chaldez asked if they were looking for someone but he shook his head. "They look for gold, they look for silver - anything at all. Nothing shall leave Kroya, except, I think, to be taken to Theigia."
Chaldez looked at Dan. "We've had a lucky escape, don't you think?"
Dan gave him a rather bleak smile.
The voyage to Reard did not take long.
The Eujinni port is in a deep-sided gorge through which the River Put flows to the sea.
When the vessel entered the gorge the sail was taken down and the crew took to their oars.
Doo stood at Chaldez's shoulder and together they gazed in silence at the awesome cliffs towering over their heads. Here and there a stunted bush or scrawny tree clung precariously to the fractured rock-face, and a great bird swung out over the void beneath its wide, outstretched wings.
As the vessel cut through the black, motionless water, Chaldez became aware of a distant roar; a continuous thunder overlain by the creak and ragged splash of the oars.
"I can hear something," he told the captain. "What is it?"
"The Great Cascade."
"Will we see it?"
The captain laughed. "I hope not!"
At Reard the sound was far more noticeable, but the cascade was still out of sight.
The vessel tied up at a jetty, and Dan, Chaldez and Doo disembarked. The captain said "You are safe now. How I would like to stay here with you! Raggan is no place to be. The Theigans kill and rob us. They are a pestilence."
"Why don't you stay here?" Chaldez asked.
"I have a wife and children. I could bring them, perhaps, but my mother . . . she is too old; too set in her ways. You understand?" Chaldez nodded. The captain embraced him. "You did good work in my cousin's village," he said. "They will remember you there; I am honoured to have been of service to you and your friends. I wish you well."
After he had gone, Dan remarked: "But not so honoured as to have carried us for nothing!" Then he said: "Do you propose sending a message to Gam telling him we're here."
"We can do nothing without money," Chaldez said. "We must sell more of my grandfather's jewels, and then we will make our plans."
The three of them set out to find a tavern, aware that to do business so late in the day would be impossible anywhere else.
There were any number of taverns in Reard to choose from. Chaldez stopped outside the door of one and said "Let's try here."

They were all nervous. Dan put their fears into words when he remarked: "If the wrong people know what we've got we're dead meat." Doo looked up at Chaldez; her face was white. He put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed her. "No-one need know how much we've got. There are many gems in that piece. We'll sell them one at a time, as and when we need the money."
They moved to an alley-way and with the point of a knife prized a jewel out of its settings in the pendant. Then Dan went into the tavern, taking it with him. Doo wanted Chaldez to keep the pendant, but he said it was hers, and once more she wrapped it up.
Chaldez and Doo waited for ages, their anxiety growing as time passed. At last Dan appeared in the doorway and beckoned. He was grinning broadly. "I've found a buyer," he whispered. "It went like a dream. The tavern keeper told me what I could expect and pointed out a customer he thought would be able to pay,“ and he held out his hand, a number of gold coins in it. “We can eat here and they have beds. I have seen them - they look clean."
Dan introduced Chaldez to his customer, a short, fat man with tiny black eyes set in a fat shiny face. He had a short, neatly trimmed beard, and he smiled a great deal. He and Dan were celebrating their transaction over a jug of ale.
Chaldez and Doo joined them. Food was brought and they were all four soon eating and drinking.
Even before they began, Dan's eyes were blood-shot, and his speech slurred. He drank with fervour, and as he drank he became bolder and louder; normally a man of few words, he was now so garrulous no-one could compete with him.
Amused to see his friend so altered, Chaldez laughed, and re-filled his tankard. But Doo drank little, and she nudged Chaldez as he topped up Dan's tankard and said: "He's already had more than is good for him, don't you think?"
Chaldez ignored her.
Dan was telling the fat man about their adventures of the last few days; his listener knew of the Theigan invasion and was eager to know the details. He asked many questions, and then he said: "But I don't understand: you sailed to Kroya in the Theigan fleet did you not? They must be your friends?"
“No no no," Dan insisted. "Prince Havil, you see - he's the chap we sailed with - Prince Havil is setting himself up as king. That's why we had to get out."
"But what is this Prince Havil to you?"
"What is he to us? He's only the cousin of the person sitting next to you! You are in the exalted company, sir, of Chaldez, the rightful king not only of Kroya but of Sair also!"
The fat man looked at Chaldez and laughed - not rudely. He placed his little fat hand on Chaldez's forearm which was resting on the table top. "I beg your pardon," he said. "You must excuse me but I have never sat next to a king before."
Chaldez said: "Take no notice of him. The ale is talking. I was a slave of the Theigans. Only a slave."
"Nonsense!" cried Dan, suddenly angry. "You've just bought property given to Prince Chaldez by his grandfather, Taigram, the exiled king of Kroya. Who else would possess such fine merchandise? Ask yourself that. How would a slave come to be in possession of such things? I can prove to you Prince Chaldez is who he is . . . and I will if you laugh at me. We're on our way to the court of King Gam; Prince Chaldez is his adopted son! I'd forgotten that!"

"You're going to Gam?" repeated the fat man.
"That's right. Your king. We lived at his court. That's the truth."
Chaldez said: "Don't listen to him. He's drunk."
"Who says I'm drunk?" shouted Dan. "I'm as sober as a baby! I'm telling you, we lived at the court of King Gam."
"Which is why you sailed to Kroya with the Theigans, eh?" The fat man laughed.
"You've got it all wrong," Dan objected. "Prince Chaldez here was in danger - mortal danger - from the usurper Sigmar. Sigmar, you see, murdered his father and mother. His father was King Egmar. You've surely heard of Egmar, King of Sair? Sigmar murdered him, and he'd have murdered his son and heir if we hadn't fled to Theigia for safety."
"I heard of King Egmar," said the fat man. "He didn't last long. Is this really his son?" He stared at Chaldez with his little black eyes. Then he said: "In Eujinni you will be safe. We are your friends here. I am honoured indeed to have met you, but now I must go. I fear I have offended you with my familiarity. I pray, forgive me." With that he got up and left.