Field of Death: Part IX

... He stood in front of a tumbled pile of blocks, each the size of a large boulder. Setting his shoulder to the first, he began trying to move the lettered toys into some order, knowing that if he could only get them in the right sequence, he might be able to read the word it formed and catch a killer…

Finally he thought he had it right, and stepped back to read what it said….

And a huge hand in a bloody glove swept down from the sky, and with a howl of laughter, scattered all the blocks….

Ian roared with anger. Then, once more setting shoulder to a block, began all over again.

If only he could read the message…

*****

"Wake up!"

"Blocks…"

"Ian, damn it, wake up! Fire!"

Ian shoved himself up on one elbow. He'd come straight back to Camelot after leaving the scene of Tyler's death, and had ended up staying the night here in his office on the cot he kept in the corner for such occasions. But he was awake now, not so much because of the word `fire' but because Timmons never used his first name while they were on duty unless all hell was breaking loose. He reached for his boots. "Where?"

"The shipyard, at one of the offices."

"How bad?" He finished tugging on his boots as he listened.

Timmons shrugged. "Don't know yet. The watch on the west wall saw the flames and the alarm bell was already ringing when he found me to report. The watchmen in the yard most likely had already seen it. Our men are on the way down there to help."

"Good." Ian walked briskly for the door and the pair started down the stairs. "I'll want to speak with the watchmen after." He paused briefly at the bottom of the stairwell. "It's not an O'Donnell building, is it?"

"Don't know that yet, either, m'lord."

Ian nodded, then walked on. Horses were saddled and waiting in the courtyard, but for some reason, all Ian could think of for a few seconds was the last time a fire roared on the docks, and of Elspeth and Lerrad standing defiantly on the burning deck of their ship.

He shrugged it off, then mounting the horse, rode pell-mell out the gates with Timmons for the shipyard.

*****

It was the wide spread damage caused by that last fire that had moved Ian to take precautions against another such disaster. After a long series of meetings with merchants and ship owners, large vats, similar to those one might see in a vineyard for pressing grapes, were set up at intervals along the waterfront. It was the responsibility of the folk doing business there to see that each vat was full with water at all times and that a supply of buckets was handy. The shipyard office was the first building to burn since the water supplies had been mandated, and so it was the first building saved. The fire was out in less than half an hour.

Blackthorn tossed a last bucketful of water at a smoldering timber and then stepped back. The front of the building had suffered the most of the damage, but the flames had barely touched the rest of it. Still, it would take some work to repair the place. He turned as he heard Timmons call for him.

"Here's the watchman who sounded the alarm, milord. You may be interested in what he has to say." He nudged the man "Go on, Cuthbert. Tell milord Blackthorn what you saw."

The man nodded, brushed some hair from his eyes with one sooty hand. "I saw him, I did. He rode out of here lickety split, going like the devil himself were behind him."

"Him? You saw someone set the fire?"

Cuthbert fidgeted a bit. "Well, I didn't say that! I just saw him ride in wi' the other. He rode around the back while th' other went in, then he ran back about and followed the other in. Next thing y' know, he bolts outside, jumps on his horse, and then races off. Thought he was goin' to smash his horse into one of the statues at the gate, I did!"

"Wait, Cuthbert, wait! You say there were two men?"

"I just said tha' didn't I? It was that Ellontin Stonage and th' other that rode off was that big lumpkin servant, that Jefferson."

"But Ellontin wasn't with him?"

Cuthbert blinked. "I know what I saw, and I only saw one. Most like he went off to get help for the fire when that Jefferson rode off. I saw the flames when I looked back at the building, then I ran off to ring the alarm. Master Ellontin is with one of the other bucket teams, I'll wager."

Ian shared a glance with Timmons, who nodded silently and moved off and into the building. "You did well, Cuthbert. I'll be sure to let the Merchant's Guild know of your work tonight." The other man grinned, then Ian followed Timmons inside.

"Over here, sir!" Timmons held a lantern over a shape huddled on the floor. "Flames never reached him."

Ian scowled, knelt down, and turned the body over. It was Ellontin Stonage, and he'd been stabbed to death.

In his coin purse they found a wooden block with the letter E.