Most of the work, however, was done for them by Gook-Luk, telling everyone she met in color the details of what had happened in the ground tier hall. A crowd had already gathered around her. As soon as Tim and Naar-Tam were in sight, everyone's attention shifted to them. And, naturally, there were those who not only wanted to see everything with their own eyes, but also to try to free their fellows. Tim's timid objections to the futility of going right through were ignored, and the excited crowd rushed toward the punishment cells.
The end was quite predictable: as soon as Gmuruk started to break down the door to Shugiz's cell, Pulsok and Agyg appeared. In a moment hushed schoolchildren decided to get out of there, getting off with a ban on going to the punishment cell. After a moment's hesitation, the goblin freed Patpako, Gillmir, and Ivliar, assigning each of them twenty hours of community service. Mez'A'Shib, Shugiz, and Miinash were left 'for later', with orders to be quiet, or the punishment would be so severe that they would remember it for the rest of their lives.
Tim and Naar-Tam found out about all this later, because they hurried to tell Ri-Bo what had happened.
"He must have caught a dozen tionses while waiting for us," Naar-Tam joked.
However, there was no tilfing at the entrance to the school - as well as within sight.
"Where could he have gone? " the peirot concerned. "And why, if he said he would wait here?"
"Maybe he decided to take a walk in the woods," Tim shrugged.
Or someone spooked him, he thought to himself. Almost certainly anzimars, though what would they be doing in the woods this early in the morning? Unlike elves and many others, anzimars weren't big fans of the outdoors and didn't take part in their games. With the exception of Virda - she occasionally kept company in feyo. Maybe that's why she refused to join the squad.
Tim's guess was not far from the truth, but the reality was far more tragic. When Virda, having quarreled with her countrymen, left for the dining room, a 'brilliant' thought occurred to Germeht:
"There were two of them, the drow is in the cell, so the tilfing stayed outside. Come on, let's have some fun with him!"
Ri-Bo noticed their arrival too late - it was impossible to run and hide. Kunfor beckoned him with his finger, and there was nothing left to do but come closer.
"That's it, now let's take a walk and talk," Germeht suggested in a deceptively affectionate voice.
"What about? I brought you a whole bunch of crystals just a few days ago!"
"I don't argue, but now we are interested in something else. If we get along, you don't have to bring them anymore."
"Are you sure about that?"
"Yeah, absolutely. But you'll have to do a little work for us in return."
"But what am I supposed to do?" Ri-Bo whispered in a broken voice. He was trembling: the anzimars were obviously up to no good deed.
"Oh, it's nothing. As you may have noticed, we are part of the volunteer public order squad designed to maintain discipline and order in the school (the words caused smug smiles on the faces of Germeht's pals). It's a noble mission, by the way! However, some of our classmates, alas, do not understand this and try to put a spoke in the wheel. In order to successfully counteract their pathetic endeavors, we will need helpers who can easily get into any crevice and find out the secret intentions of the Code breakers."
"Are you suggesting that I become a snitch?" the tilfing's eyes widened in horror.
"Why be so blunt. After all, nothing threatens those who behave properly! Every school has to have people who keep order, or else there will be people who like to spoil things and make jokes about the teachers. If their activities are not stopped at the root, it will be impossible to study in school! But we come to it for knowledge, don't we? And we won't let anyone deprive us of the pleasure of getting it! That's why we need those who can find out everything and thus maybe prevent a big disaster! Well, do you agree?"
"No! I'm not going to become a traitor!"
"Then blame yourself!" Hindag growled. And, grabbing the tilfing under the arms, they dragged him deep into the forest.
"What are you going to do to me?"
"You're about to find out," Germeht promised ominously.
"We'll tie you up near a nest of rzukts and see how long you can stand it," he condescended to explain a minute later.
The rzukts, like giant winged ants, were nesting in a crevice in one of the cliffs around the plateau. If they were disturbed, a whole horde of aggressive insects would pounce on anyone who dared to disturb them. Their bites were very painful and did not heal for a long time. Therefore in that corner of the wood the pupils tried not to look without special reason, the more so as there was nothing to seek there - one of the elves managed to tranquilize the insects for a while and to examine their hive, but there was nothing valuable inside. So whoever happened to be here could count on privacy - if he didn't interfere with the rzukts' business. On the other hand, if anything happened, they would not find you for a long time.
The prospect of dealing with the not-so-pleasant representatives of the insect world did not please Ri-Bo at all, and he started to kick desperately.
"Don't flutter, you'll only make it worse for yourself, heh-heh," Hindag tried to flash his wit.
"Actually, I have a better suggestion," Drega, who had been silent until then, said.
"Oh, really? Tell us!"
"Could you bend that tree over there so that the top touched the grass?"
"Probably, but why?" Germeht, Hindag, and Kunfor looked at each other perplexed.
"It's very simple: if you tie the horny boy to it and then let it go, he will fly up into the air. And with enough strength and the right direction he will fly over the cleft between the rocks and land on the other side."
The anzimars liked the idea so much that they literally burst out laughing. Ri-Bo was the only one who wasn't laughing. What if they really will send him flying? No one would think to look for his remains on the other side of the ridge. There will be a search, of course, but sooner or later everyone, including his friends, come to terms with his disappearance. And how to signal that he is in trouble? He has to think of something!
"Well, would you like to go flying, tilfing?" Hindag asked in a sarcastic tone.
"And mind you, there's no one here but us," Germeht added, justifying Ri-Bo's worst suspicions. "That's why no one will know where you've disappeared to. And if they ask us, we haven't seen or heard anything. Am I right?"
"That's right, Chief!" the anzimars cackled again.
"Wait, our horned friend seems to have something to say. All right, say it!"
"You wouldn't dare do that! Help!!" Ri-Bo yelled at the top of his lungs.
A gag was immediately put in his mouth.
"Well, we wanted to do it the easy way, but now we have to do it the hard way," Germeht sighed pretending. "Get on with it!"
Armed with the Super-Strength, Hindag and Kunfor bent the tree, as the trunk was flexible enough to do so. And then they busily proceeded to attach the tilfing to it. Horror froze in Ri-Bo's eyes - why didn't he go with his friends? Then the anzimars would hardly have clung to him. But how would he know how serious their intentions were? Perhaps now they would laugh and say they were joking. And if not, then how? He'll have to agree before it's too late - just a moment more, and they'll let go of the top they've barely held in a bent position. Then, maybe, he'll be able to get out of it somehow, fudging their brains with false information. Well, sometimes with a fact or two to make it more convincing. The nature gave him a good tongue for a reason, didn't it? The main thing is to get out of it now, and then he's bound to think of something!
"Are you ready?" Germeht asked his buddies impatiently. "Then on the count of three: one, two..."
Ri-Bo muttered desperately, shaking his head.
"Did you really change your mind? If you scream again, blame yourself."
"I... can try," Ri-Bo said with difficulty as the handkerchief was pulled from his mouth. His throat was completely dry, and his tongue was rough.
"Your mind is finally working in the right direction. About time!"
"But what exactly am I supposed to do?"
"What exactly? To gather information, of course! We will determine how valuable it is, and then give you the appropriate assignments. If you are diligent in their performance, you will have no problems at school. Moreover, you will be able to finish it among the first! I'll let you in on a little secret," Germeht whispered in the ear of the tilfing, approaching almost closely, "our boss, Sir Pulsok, also has the right to give points. Including those who actively cooperate with the squad."
So that's how the anzimars got so many points! Ri-Bo had had vague suspicions about the goblin before, but only now did he have confirmation of them. So in order to gain the required number of points, one need not study magic at all, it's enough to be a favorite of the goblin!?
Germeht's buddies, who, of course, had heard everything, were smiling all over. Not friendly, more like mocking, but at that moment Ri-Bo had only one thing on his mind: to get it over with and get out of there as quick as possible.
"Sounds like a good idea. Shall I go?"
"Not so fast," Germeht frowned. "Now you need instructions. You can't share what you've learned in front of everyone. If you've got wind of anything important, write a note and put it behind the statue of Kerchord, there's a notch you can shove it in. And we will check the hiding place regularly."
"But I can't write!"
His statement provoked another burst of laughter from his tormentors.
"Oh yes, how could we have forgotten that tilfings are not literate! I don't know how you were going to be a sorcerer! Well, put down the blank page, and we'll find a way to contact you. Or even easier: the same night as the blue eye lights up, get out to the first tier hall. One of us will be on duty there, and you'll tell him. You got it?"
"Yes."
"Then listen to your first combat mission! There's a pest in the school who regularly 'decorates' the walls with dirty pictures and bad words! If you find out who he is, the reward will be very generous! And personally from the hands of Sir Pulsok!"
Ri-Bo could hardly imagine that, so he muttered "I'll try," and hurried away. But not to the school - his friends mustn't see his condition, and he didn't really want to see them, either. He needed to calm down and get his thoughts in order first. So he headed straight for the woods where he'd found a kind of shelter for himself some time ago. The tree tkaelk, whose mighty trunk he couldn't even wrap his two arms around, at a height of about four meters split into three smaller trunks that diverged in different directions, forming a hollow in the middle. If he put some twigs and fallen leaves in it, he could stay there as long as he wished and no one would find him. Unless by chance or search magic, but hardly any of his schoolmates can do that.
That last thought cheered him up a bit, and, looking around (no one must see what he was doing, especially the anzimars!), Ri-Bo set to work with alacrity.
The anzimars didn't think to watch him, though - why would they, now he wouldn't get away from them anyway. They waited until he was out of sight, and then they talked among themselves.
"Are you really going to trust a source of information like that?" Drega asked Germeht sourly. "You know, to lie for a tilfing are like drinking a mug of water on a hot day."
"Let him try! Hindag's hands have long been itching to hurt him a little."
"Yeah," Hindag confirmed with a carnivorous smile, clenching and unclenching his fists. "I want to break his horns! And a good kicking in different parts of his body as well!"
"You, males, are a rude people, after all," Drega yawned. "And too straightforward, too. In some cases, it is much easier to show a little ingenuity than to go ahead."
"All right, we agree, your idea worked well! The prospect of going flying scared the horned boy a lot more than the rzukts did."
"And yet not enough to serve not for fear but for conscience. Fortunately, I know how to help the cause. Here!"
From the left pocket of her uniform she extracted a small rounded stone on a silver pendant that looked almost black in the twilight created by the treetops.
"What is that?" Kunfor stared.
"Is it a kriurik?" Germeht was more knowledgeable.
"It is."
"But where did you get it?"
"Borrowed it from my uncle," Drega chuckled. "He's an interrogator in the temple, and he often has to interrogate various suspicious individuals. And those who misbehave. I happened to have it with me when I got an invitation to the school. I thought about giving it to the goblin, but then I changed my mind."
"And rightly so. We can use it ourselves!"
"And what should we do with it?" Kunfor was still perplexed.
"Just hang it around the neck of the person you're going to 'talk' to. Under the influence of the stone, it will be very difficult to tell an untruth, and he will not hold out for a long time; he will tell everything what you want to hear. My uncle told me that only those who strong in spirit can resist the magic of the stone. I don't think our little horned friend is one of those."
"I bet he isn't. He's shaking at the mere mention of us."
"We'll be sure to test your stone next time! Let him try to make up stories!"
If Ri-Bo could hear that, he'd really be shaking. But, having been busy fixing up the "nest," he was soon distracted from his troubled thoughts. Climbing a tree isn't hard, all tilfing boys can do it. Especially since the bark is rough, so there's something to grab on to. Chopping branches and gathering fallen leaves was no problem, too, so in less than an hour the shelter was complete.
When his work was done, he climbed into the nest and settled in with a feeling of accomplishment. It turned out rather well: one can't see through the sprawling greenery who's inside, and no one can sneak up unnoticed - he scattered drier branches around the trunk on purpose so that their crackling would warn him of someone's approach. After that, relaxed and finally calmed down, he lay down on his side and fell asleep almost immediately.