Pilgrim's voice continued, confident and knowing: "I mean we know what you're up to. Your pack at the hospital has gone completely to pieces, confessed what little he knew to Woodcarver. Do you think your lies can get by her? If Johanna is dead, you'll be bloody shreds." He hummed an ominous tune from Dataset. "I know her well, the Queen. She seems such a gracious pack… but where do you think Flenser got his gruesome creativity? Kill Johanna and you'll find just how far her genius in that exceeds Flenser's."
The knife pulled back. One more of Vendacious leaped to the window slits, and the two by Johanna loosened their grip. He stroked the blade gently across her skin. Thinking? Is Woodcarver really that fearsome? The four at the windows were looking in all directions; no doubt Vendacious was counting guard packs and planning furiously. When he finally replied, it was in Samnorsk: "The threat would be more credible if it were not at second hand."
Pilgrim chuckled. "True. But we guessed what would happen if she approached. You're a cautious fellow; you'd have killed Johanna instantly, and been full of lying explanation before you even heard what the Queen knows. But seeing a poor pilgrim amble over… I know you think me a fool, only one step better than Scriber Jaqueramaphan." Peregrine stumbled on the name, and for an instant lost his flippant tone. "Anyway, now you know the situation. If you doubt, send your guards beyond the brush; look at what the Queen has surrounding you. Johanna dead only kills you. Speaking of which, I assume this conversation has some point?"
"Yes. She lives." Vendacious slipped the gag from Johanna's mouth. She turned her head, choking. There were tears running down the sides of her face. "Pilgrim, oh Pilgrim!" The words were scarcely more than a whisper. She drew a painful breath, concentrated on making noise. Bright spots danced before her eyes. "Hei Pilgrim!"
"Hei Johanna. Has he hurt you?"
"Some, I — "
"That's enough. She's alive, Pilgrim, but that's easily corrected." Vendacious didn't jam the gag back in her mouth. Johanna could see him rubbing heads nervously as he paced round and round the ledge. He trilled something about "stalemated game".
Peregrine replied, "Speak Samnorsk, Vendacious. I want Johanna to understand — and you can't talk quite as slick as in pack talk."
"Whatever." The traitor's voice was unconcerned, but his members kept up their nervous pacing. "The Queen must realize we have a standoff here. Certainly I'll kill Johanna if I'm not treated properly. But even then, Woodcarver could not afford to hurt me. Do you realize the trap Steel has set on Margrum Climb? I'm the only one who knows how to avoid it."
"Big deal. I never wanted to go up Margrum anyway."
"Yes, but you don't count, Pilgrim. You're a mongrel patchwork. Woodcarver will understand how dangerous this situation is. Steel's forces are everything I said they weren't, and I've been sending them every secret I could write down from my investigations of Dataset."
"My brother is alive, Pilgrim," Johanna said.
"Oh… You're kind of a record setter for treason aren't you, Vendacious? Everything to us was a lie, while Steel learned all the truth about us. You figure that means we daren't kill you now?"
Laughter, and Vendacious's pacing stopped. He sees control coming back to him. "More, you need my full-membered cooperation. See, I exaggerated the number of enemy agents in Woodcarver's troops, but I do have a few — and maybe Steel has planted others I don't know about. If you even arrest me, word will get back to the Flenser armies. Much of what I know will be useless — and you'll face an immediate, overwhelming attack. You see? The Queen needs me."
"And how do we know this is not more lies?"
"That is a problem, isn't it? Matched only by how I can be guaranteed safety once I've saved the expedition. No doubt it's beyond your mongrel mind. Woodcarver and I must have a talk, someplace mutually safe and unseen. Carry that message back to her. She can't have this traitor's hides, but if she cooperates she may be able to save her own!"
There was silence from outside, punctuated by the squeaking of animals in the nearer trees. Finally, surprisingly, Pilgrim laughed. "Mongrel mind, eh? Well, you have me in one thing, Vendacious. I've been all the world round, and I remember back half a thousand years
— but of all the villains and traitors and geniuses, you take the record for bald impudence!"
Vendacious gave a Tinish chord, untranslatable but as a sign of smug pleasure. "I'm honored."
"Very well, I'll take your points back to the Queen. I hope the two of you are clever enough to work something out… One thing more: the Queen requires that Johanna come with me."
"The Queen requires? That sounds more like your mongrel sentiment to me."
"Perhaps. But it will prove you are serious in your confidence. View it as my price for cooperation."
