Realms of Magic - Brian Thomsen King [70]
With those words, he marched away. Indio's men followed, trying to figure out what the Loquacious One had just said.
*****
"Who goes there?" called an unfriendly voice.
"It is Llewellyn, returned to you, don't you see, as promised!"
"So it is!" From high in a tree dropped the halfling, Osco. His cheek scar was more hideous than Llewellyn had remembered. "Follow me. The others await you."
In a few moments, the pair marched into the clearing where the Buckleswashers had pitched camp. They were sitting around a fire, identical in dress and habitat and mood to the halflings he had just left. They stood as Osco and Llewellyn approached.
"So, you've come back," Bungobar Talltankard exclaimed. "It's a damned good thing you have."
"Indeed," agreed Dimvel Stoutkeg. "For if you had not returned/ Your effigy we would have burned/ And then this burning blazing fire/ Would've been your actual funeral pyre."
"Enough singing, already!" Carthax Nayusiyim, the gnome of the group, yelled. "You and those songs! You'll drive me mad!"
Insulted, Dimvel responded, "You are mad! And an ugly little gnome, besides!"
Carthax reached for his rod of smiting, but Talltankard intervened. "Enough! We've no time for this bickering. We're all on edge because this ever-speaking bargainer has kept us waiting."
"Yes, but I have returned, don't you know," Llewellyn said. "And, most remarkably, with the key."
The six Buckleswashers drew closer to Llewellyn.
"Give it to us," demanded Carthax.
"Not so fast, my overly zealous compatriots," countered Llewellyn. "I want to reiterate our agreement, forged at our last meeting."
One of the two female Buckleswashers spoke up. "We agreed to nothing except to let you live."
"You forget, dear lady, that…"
Talltankard drew his knife. "My wife, Lyratha, forgets nothing!"
"But when I was last here…"
The other female Buckleswasher added her words: "Relax, Nervous One! We shall give you a few trinkets and send you on your way."
Llewellyn thought better of pushing the matter too far. "That will be fine. That is all I ask. Except for one other thing, I must say."
"And that is what?" Osco asked.
"May I have the stones from the key after you take the treasure from the chest?"
"The jade stones?" enquired the gnome, laughing. "They are practically worthless in the whole Shining South. You are an idiot to want them."
"Yes, I suppose," Llewellyn said. "But the woman I love-the most beautiful woman I have seen in any kingdom-has a great fondness for jade. Surely, I do not ask much."
"Agreed," Talltankard said. "I suppose you should have something. Now let me have the key."
Llewellyn nervously handed it to him. But a bit of his anxiety faded when the jade stone was placed in the key. It fit perfectly, and the whole company of Buckleswashers grinned.
*****
Osco and Talltankard dragged the two-foot high by two-foot wide chest from the mouth of the cave into the fading sunlight. The rest of the company watched, as did Llewellyn, but every few seconds he looked around the perimeter of the area. He prayed Indio's folk were ready.
Talltankard turned the key, and smoke seeped out of the chest. Then Osco pulled open the lid and revealed the myriad jewels and gold it contained.
While the company stared at it, stunned, Llewellyn asked, "I do so hate to ask you, since you are all so very busy, but may I have the stones, as you promised?"
Talltankard removed the key and tossed it to Llewellyn, who caught it.
"But that's all you get, vagabond!" Carthax, the gnome, said sourly. "Be on your way!"
Stoutkeg broke into a song: "We're richer than we ever thought/ Just reward for battles fought."
But, suddenly, the voice of Indio the Black answered with its own song: "But don't expect to keep that treasure/ For taking it shall be our pleasure."
Indio's band, who slightly outnumbered their opponents, attacked the Buckleswashers. In minutes, all were locked in combat. For a brief moment, Indio stood free of opposition, and Llewellyn approached him.
"Don't forget. Twenty percent."
Indio