The Rose and the Skull

11

"Make sure you get this right," the bozak said to his coppery subordinates as they stooped over Gunthar's body. "It's got to look like he died here in fierce combat." One of them began sprinkling blood from a vial all over the area surrounding the slain hound.

While all this was going on, three more of the copperscaled draconians appeared from the forest, dragging a large heavy object behind them. As they cleared the wood, they stopped and leaned back against their load, panting heavily with their long, forked tongues lolling and short wings fanning the air. "This is good enough," one of them gasped. The others sighed in relief and staggered away to other tasks, leaving the body lying just off the trail opposite the Grand Master.

Even dead, Mannjaeger was an awesome sight. Although lying on his side, his great bulk loomed like a mountainside, dark and brooding. His head could have served as the battering ram of a minotaur pirate galley, while the look in his eyes, even in death, might turn a medusa to stone. His flesh crawled with lice and parasites sent scurrying for new pastures, now that Mannjaeger had met his demise.

One of the draconians dragged Gunthar's spear from the forest. He walked over and stabbed it into the body of the boar at least a dozen times, finally fixing the weapon deep in the boar's lifeless chest. Then he removed a bottle from some secret pocket in his uniform and poured fresh blood into the dead wounds. That done, he broke the shaft of the spear over his copper-scaled knee and carefully laid it in Gunthar's outstretched hand. Meanwhile, the bronzescaled draconian paced the area muttering to himself and sprinkling dust in some kind of mystical pattern. Wherever the dust fell, leaves and twigs that had been disturbed by the movements of the draconians returned to their original places, footprints in the soft soil vanished, while even the air seemed cleansed by its passing, removed of its hot metallic odor-the stench of draconians. The draconian completed his magical work and folded his clawed hands into the sleeves of his robe. The others finished their tasks and darted into the woods, leaving only the bronze draconian and one copper-scaled kapak overlooking the site of Gunthar's death.

"What now, oh great one?" the kapak asked.

"Our work here is complete," the bronze pronounced from the cowl of his robe. "Soon now, my illusions and the illusions of the others will disappear, and those hunting phantom boars will give up their chase and return to the castle. When they do, they'll find Gunthar has not returned, and they'll search for him. That will give us enough time to collect our fee and be gone from this place."

"And then?" the coppery draconian asked with a sly look in his red eye.

"And then nothing, my kapak friend," the bronze snarled. "You return to your sneaking, while we bozaks return to our cleaning up your mistakes with our magic."

"Mistakes! What mistakes? This has gone off perfectly, according to our plan. We didn't even need your help," the kapak snarled. " The Old Man says 'take the bozaks' so we take the bozaks."

"And a good thing, too. If not for me, you would have completely forgotten our gully dwarf friend over there," the bozak laughed derisively. "Go now and make sure his wounds are sufficient to have killed him, even without your poison. We can't have anyone getting suspicious."

With a murderous glance at his companion, the kapak drew an odd dagger from his belt. The dagger's blade was made from a boar's tusk, polished and razor sharp. He started across the trail, but the bozak yanked him back with an excited snarl.

"Idiot!" the bozak screeched. "You'll ruin my spells of concealment. Go around! And be careful."

Glaring at his companion, the kapak stalked around the bodies, stepping carefully with his clawed feet to avoid disturbing a single twig or leaf. Despite his awkward appearance, with large reptilian wings and long snaking tail held aloft for balance, he moved as gracefully and noiselessly as a Palanthian cutpurse. As he neared the body of Lord Gunthar and the gully dwarf lying still as a stone beside him, his long tongue slithered out in anticipation of the mutilation to come. Draconians were cruel, malicious creatures, artificially created when darkest magics were used to twist and defile the eggs of good dragons. A little wanton destruction and mutilation is not so lowly an entertainment as to not excite their appetite for evil. The kapak laughed under its breath as it grasped the gully dwarf by the wrist and rolled him over.

Uhoh awoke with a heart-stopping scream of terror. Its volume momentarily stunned the kapak so that he nearly let go. Still half blind with sleep, Uhoh shouted, "I tell no one, Papa! I not tell!" He kicked and fought to escape, his small but dangerous yellow teeth flashing as he snapped at the claw that held him.

Recovering from his surprise at finding the gully dwarf alive, the kapak struggled to maintain his grip, all the while trying to avoid those clashing yellow teeth. Gully dwarf bites aren't usually poisonous, but they hurt. With a deft move, he flipped Uhoh over and lifted him by one foot. Like the special holds used by minotaur alligator wrestlers, this seemed to have some mystical calming effect on the gully dwarf. Now upside-down, he fell still and quiet, blinking at the draconians fearfully.

"I'll bleed him out," the kapak said as he lowered his tusk-dagger to Uhoh's throat.

"Wait!" the bozak snarled. "Idiot. Don't kill him yet."

"Why not?" the kapak shouted angrily. "Make up your mind, boz!"

"Find out what he knows. Didn't you hear him? 'I tell no one, Papa,' he said. Tell no one what? What did Gunthar tell him before he died?" the bozak asked in hurried and excited whispers.

"Speak up, little rat," the kapak demanded. "What did Gunthar say to you?"

"Papa say lots of things," Uhoh squeaked.

The kapak shook him violently by his leg. "You know what I mean. What are you not supposed to tell? Speak up, before I cut you."

"Kill me, you never find out," Uhoh whispered.

The kapak started at these words, his fanged, reptilian jaw dropping open in surprise. Unable to hear, the bozak demanded, "What did he say?"

"This is no ordinary gully dwarf!" the kapak growled as he shook Uhoh even more violently than before. Uhoh's teeth clacked together like steam-driven gnomish castanets.

"What did he say?" the bozak demanded.

"He won't talk," the kapak said, still shaking Uhoh.

"Bind him, then. We'll take him back to the mountain for… deeper questioning," the bozak ordered. "If Gunthar suspected anything and spoke of it to the gully dwarf, we'll need to know what it was so we can warn the others. Destroy all paths that lead back to the mountain-that is the fourth law of Iulus. There can't be a single clue tying us, or he who hired us. No traces, no witnesses."

Reluctantly, the kapak sheathed his tusk-dagger and loosened a coil of thin rope from his belt, all the while holding Uhoh aloft. Meanwhile, the bozak made a last few magical adjustments to the surrounding area, just to make doubly sure no draconian tracks remained in the soft forest soil. Uhoh whimpered softly, a bit dazed from his shaking. Then he blinked, suddenly alert, and quiet. A few leaves rustled, as though stirred by some unseen breeze. The kapak halted, sniffing, testing the air with his tongue.

From the concealing undergrowth just off the path, a large gray blur streaked out. The kapak screamed in agony, dropping Uhoh on his head. The gully dwarf rolled to his feet, wincingly gripping his bruised pate, and shouting excitedly, "Millisant!"

The boar hound had a firm toothy grip on the kapak's tail and was shaking it like a snake, growling low in her throat. It was a testament to her strength and anger that the screaming draconian was tossed about like a gnome with his suspenders caught in his own machine. Yanked from his feet, he kicked and clawed at the forest floor, trying to regain his footing and ruining all the bozak's careful work of concealment.

With a snarl of rage, the bozak leaped into the fray, then leaped out, painfully shaking his well-chewed hand. With a leaping cavort and a high baritone bark of victory, Millisant dashed away, followed quickly by the gully dwarf. The draconians stared in stunned silence at the woods, then angrily began to blame each other.