by Allan Joyal
"Your son?" I asked. The man's skin was brown and leathery. I looked closely at the few strands of hair that escaped the straw hat he was wearing and realized that they were white from age. The man simply waited patiently while I scanned him before nodding at me.
He lifted a hand that was missing two fingers. It shook as he pointed across the courtyard. I gazed over to see the captain of the ship that Al had ridden in on.
"Him," the man said with a cackle. "He was confused by you and your companions. Said you have a trade token that declares you a group of free traders, but that you never asked about trade. Then he looked at your ladies and found them strange."
I stiffened. "Strange?"
The man winked. "Oh, not in a bad way. But none of the ladies in town would set foot on one of our fishing boats. Yours even helped bring in the catch. Both of the ladies on my son's boat were forward. He's never heard of a woman like that."
"We do come from a land where women are encouraged to act more freely," I admitted. "That's why we need to go to the Wizard's Academy."
"So a spell brought you here," the man said knowingly.
"Not to your town. It did bring us to Jord. We walked for days to get here."
The man cackled. "Good answer, kid. So are you taking the short route to the academy?"
I paused. "I've noticed that none of the villagers says much about that route, other than the fact that it will take a journey of eight or nine days and make it last no more than three. I'm puzzled by that. How can it be so much faster? Is it dangerous?"
Suddenly I felt like I was being judged. The man pulled his hat off his head. The few strands I had seen were the only ones on his otherwise bald head, and he scratched his head for several moments before shrugging.
"Can't say, youngling. I expect it won't be all that dangerous, but one can never know with that trail. And I can't promise that it will be faster, but if things go well, you'll cover several days travel in a morning," he said.
The man put his hat back on. As he brought his hand down, he slapped it against his thigh. "Time for me to go kiss the missus. Good journey to you."
He stood up and walked away. His gait rolled on the ground, and it took me a moment to realize that the man had spent years on the deck of ships at sea to develop that walk. I glanced back at his son, but the man was deep in conversation with a young woman.
The fish stew proved to be hearty. It reminded me some of a chowder that I had tried many years before during a visit to Boston. The biggest difference was that this stew was heavily spiced, and I found that I had to take long sips from my tankard after every two bites.
Even with the heat of the meal, I finished the bowl quickly, and after the children had run through the line, approached the cauldron hoping for more. The village woman watching the stew smiled as she ladled more stew into my bowl and then handed me a small wedge of cheese.
"Use the cheese when your mouth burns," she said before sitting down near the fire and picking up her own bowl.
I returned to the fountain. Around me the children were finishing their meals. Most had used bread bowls. The instant the bowl was devoured, the child would jump up and join in a game of tag that made its way around the courtyard. The kids ran around in a wild manner, but I noticed that they never ran into an adult.
The adults had quickly split into several small groups. They ate at a slower pace, but a few finished quickly and stood to watch over the children. The almost casual atmosphere allowed my friends and me to relax. Martha, Jennifer, and Heather finished their meals and joined in with the children. The presence of three adult women in their games had the children shrieking with joy as they scattered among the still sitting adults.
I smiled at the antics. It seemed we had found a friendly village for once.
"Interesting trading group you have," I heard someone say. I looked up and it was the ship captain who had approached me on the beach. He had a mixed expression on his face, as if he wanted to smile, but was afraid of the consequences.
There appeared to be an unspoken question in his comment, and I sighed. "We are registered as a trading group, but right now we don't have anything to trade," I admitted. "We just want to get to the Wizard's Academy."
The man nodded. "I suspected it was something like that. How did you get the token if you don't have anything to trade?"
"Ran into a road guard, and he provided one after charging a fee," I said. "Since then no one has argued about it."
"No one will. It's probably been recorded by now. Once they are recorded you have the protection of the guild. Only a madman would dare attack your group if they knew you had that token."
"Why?" I asked.
"Because the trade association will hunt down anyone who attacks a trader. The traders pay an annual fee for that security. The only groups that would dare are ones that are sure they can wipe you out completely," the captain said.
I noticed a speculative look on his face and sighed. "Please, we don't need a fight. Right now we have nothing to trade, but as I remember you did not demand anything on the beach."
The man smiled. "We don't want to fight you. I'm just trying to figure you out. Your ladies have the energy of children, but look like women. And they are far more willing to run with the children than I'd expect."
I pointed over at Martha and Jennifer, who were sitting down and allowing a couple of the village girls to braid flowers into their hair. "Where we come from they are barely adults. They were still taking classes when we ended up here."
"Ended up here?"
"We don't know the whole story, but some magic brought us here. We entered a room in a building back at our home, but when the door opened we were in the mountains above Linktrum."
"How long ago was this?"
"Just over a week?"
"A what?" the man asked with a scowl.
"Damn, I forgot that some terms don't translate," I said. "Let's see if I remember. We were in the village where we met Hencktor and Kariy the day after our arrival. We left the next day and it took three days to get to Linktrum. We only stayed one full day in Linktrum."
"Because that young merchant wanted to ruin us, and we got warning ahead of time of his plans," Lydia pointed out.
I nodded. "It was more than just him, but that's fair. We spent the next night across the river, and since then we've been traveling for five days. We planned for up to fourteen days to get to the Wizard's Academy. I'm not sure what city it's in."
The captain nodded. "Quite a journey already for a group like yours. And if you arrived here after leaving Linktrum five days ago, you are making very good time. Most traders would take twelve days or more to cover the same distance. And the Wizard's Academy is just that, the Wizard's Academy. I'm not sure anyone remembers the name the city once had. Now it exists just to support the Academy and its need for trade goods and food."
"I guess that makes some sense," I said. "But that's our story so far. We're lost and hoping the wizards can send us back home."
"The wizards are supposed to be powerful, but I can't say if they will be able to help you," the captain said. He slapped his hand on his thigh. "Well, I think it's time we did a bit of celebrating. It was a good catch today!"
The man stood up and held out his arms. He walked over to a small raised platform on the edge of the town square. The rest of the villagers briefly cheered and then started clearing space in front of the platform.
Other villagers dashed off. They returned carrying musical instruments and joined the captain on the platform. The instruments were a very mixed collection. I saw two squeezeboxes similar to the one in our packs, two small stringed instruments that looked like violins, and three others I couldn't quite identify.
"This will be interesting," Lydia whispered to me as more villagers lined up in front of the platform. It was obviously a planned dance as all the men lined up on the left and the women lined up on the right.
The villagers stood motionless as the band got organized.
I watched the captain wait for them to finish before he turned to look at the waiting dancers. One of the men in the line nodded and the music began.
It was an interesting dance. I tried to count steps and figure out the rhythm, but I could find no parallel with any music I knew. What musical phrases I could pick out seemed to run longer than any classical piece I knew. The dancers had no troubles, whirling around in pairs as the music rang out over the courtyard.
The dancing was fascinating to watch. The men and women danced opposite one another in a carefully arranged pattern. The joining of hands was common, but other touches did not occur.
"That's a different way to dance," Heather whispered into my ear. I looked over my shoulder. The blond coed was leaning over my shoulder, staring at the dancers.
"I'll admit I've never seen anything quite like it," I said as the music ended, and the dancers spun back into their original positions. The musicians allowed the last note to fade away.
The moment the last hint of music vanished, the women dashed from the area cleared for dancing. On the platform, someone shook a tambourine and then started beating out a fast rhythm.
The men remaining began dancing to the new beat. This was a fast, energetic dance. I was reminded a bit of one of the Riverdance shows I had seen, but this dancing was much more flamboyant with seemingly wild arm movements joining with the quick steps and spins.
It soon became clear that there was an unofficial contest in this dance. There were five men participating and each one would get a short time to solo in front of the gathered villagers. From the cheers of the villagers, there were two clear favorites, and soon the duo was dancing next to each other as the other three men joined the watching crowd.
The music sped up, and the two men started to leap higher and spin faster. Finally, one of the men stumbled. He seemed about to arrest his fall, but with a final wobble fell to the ground. A couple of the watching villagers groaned, but the rest roared with approval as the champion completed one last flourish. He stopped in the center of the circle of villagers and bowed as applause thundered.
After that the musicians picked up a more relaxed tune. A few couples jumped out into the courtyard. The dance resembled a courtly waltz, but it was hard to tell as villagers crowded in front of me to congratulate the champion. I considered fighting through, but noticed an older lady standing next to me.
"You probably plan to leave early, don't you?" the lady asked me bluntly.
She had a knowing look in her eyes. I smiled and offered a slight bow. "We really do have urgent business with the wizards at their Academy, and I understand the snow will start falling soon."
"You've got a few days left, but not many," the old lady cackled. "I'm surprised you haven't said anything about the nights being cold. Come, I can show you where everyone can sleep for the night."
She turned and hobbled a short distance out of the courtyard, heading away from the lake. I followed until she stopped in front of a large barn. "We use it to host the draft animals from the merchant caravans," she told me as she hit the door with a stick. It swung open, and she stepped back to allow me to look inside.
The floor of the barn was dirt. There were a few loose piles of old straw scattered. It looked like the place had been swept clean and then left alone. I took one last glance and then turned back to the woman.
"It's perfect. We'll sleep for the night and leave in the morning. Thank you," I said.
The woman shook her stick at me. "You brought the fishing fleet luck. No thanks are needed. Just go before those tarts of yours ruin the village men."
I laughed as I dashed away. I ran over to the pile of packs we had set up earlier and started to grab packs. I had swung one on my back and was picking up two more when Al and Henck wandered over.
"Hey boss, what's up?" Al chirped.
"The villagers have a small barn just up the road we can sleep in for the night. I figured I'd move our stuff there," I replied as I lifted the extra packs to my shoulders and turned to walk back to the barn.
The weight was enough to distract me as I struggled to walk back to the barn. Fortunately the ground was flat, and I did not trip over anything while walking through the courtyard and down the lane. The door stood open, and I stepped inside, moving to the right and setting the packs down.
I turned to find Al and Henck entering, each carrying several packs. They dropped their packs into the pile. "Nice place," Hencktor said. "We'll be fine here for one night."
"My thought exactly," I said. "Let's grab the remaining packs and let the ladies know where we're sleeping."
"Can I join in the dancing?" Al asked.
"Do what you want, but we are leaving early in the morning," I reminded him as we left the barn.
We headed back to the remaining packs. There we found the rest of the group waiting. My face must have registered surprise. Victoria just shook her head. "It's a nice feast, but it's not really for us," she said. "Besides, we all want to start early in the morning."
Nothing really needed to be said to that. "We gathered the remaining packs and weapons and headed to the barn to sleep.
Chapter 20: Meeting the Magic
The next day there air inside the barn was full of thick clouds of fog when I woke up just before dawn. There was a weight on my left shoulder. I carefully twisted to look over my shoulder. Heather was pressed against me with Kariy snuggled up tight to her.
I suddenly realized that it was rather warm under the bedroll. I shrugged my shoulders, breaking out of Heather's embrace and then rolled out from under the bedroll and stood up.
Once free, I looked down on my sleeping companions. Heather murmured a complaint and reached out without opening her eyes. When her seeking hands failed to find me, they curled under her head, forming a pillow for her head as she pushed her body back. Her face had a faint smile on it.
I gazed on her blond hair and realized that I barely knew this young lady who was so ardently seeking my love. We had been forced into each other's presence by circumstance. During our journey we had never really talked about personal subjects. Still, I had to admire her courage and her compassion. It was the trio of Victoria, Lydia and Heather who kept the group together.
The thought that I had somehow earned the love of this lady warmed me as I shook out my arms and legs. Glancing around, I saw that the group was bundled together in twos and threes. Clearly the cold of the night had driven them to cuddle for warmth.
I made my way to the door of the barn and looked out. The blanket of frost in the barn was thicker outside, with the town square seemingly buried in a thin layer of white. A few wisps of mist hovered over this expanse of white in the false dawn.
"How bad is it?" I heard Heather ask.
"I don't know," I admitted. "I lived in a city, so I can't begin to guess how many more days we have before there are heavy snows. Not long I'd guess."
"Should I wake everyone?" Heather asked.
"Do it quietly," I suggested. "We don't know how deeply the villagers sleep, and we don't need to annoy them by making too much noise and waking them up."
"After that feast and party, they'll probably all sleep past noon," Steve said sleepily. "You fell asleep fast Ron, the villagers were up long past sundown. I think they changed the lanterns in the courtyard twice before everyone went to their homes."
"One last big party before winter," I said with a smile. "Well, we should probably leave quietly. Let's get packed up."
"What about breakfast?" Eddie whined.
"Cold smoked meats and cheeses," Kariy said. "Drink from the canteens. I refilled them last night with some watered ale from the village."
"Ale?" Victoria called out. "No water?"
Kariy frowned. "Water isn't safe to drink. Ale is. So I asked for ale so we would be safe when drinking."
Victoria seemed to want to say more; I held up my hand. "Victoria, she said it's watered ale. It's probably got quite a bit of water in it, but the ale acts to kill any bacteria or para
sites so that it's safe to drink. I don't think we'll come to any harm drinking it."
"I remember one of my anthropology professors talked about that," Martha admitted. "He said that the rules against children drinking alcohol are relatively new when you look at human culture."
"Anyways," I said as I picked up a canteen and drank several swallows, "there is a lot of frost on the ground, which probably means that we only have a couple of days before there is snow. If we want to get to the Wizard's Academy before spring hits the lands, we need to get moving."
Everyone started rolling up the blankets we used as beds. These were secured to packs as Kariy and Jennifer brought breakfast around. In less than a half hour everyone was standing near me with their packs on their backs.
I nodded at Steve. "Steve, you play rear guard today. We should be safe, but one can never know. Let's go."
I spun around and exited the barn. Outside, I turned right to follow the dirt road out of the small village. Except for the shuffle of feet and the huffs as our group breathed, the morning was still.
No one seemed interested in talking as we left the village. Our breath formed puffs of mist in the chill morning air as we made our way out of the village. It was as if everyone in the group felt a sense of urgency, as I felt pressure to walk faster.
We kept walking for hours. No one asked for a rest. Even Eddie was uncharacteristically silent as the road crossed over several meadows and then began skirting a swamp. By that time the sun had been out for some time, and the frost was gone from the ground, although a thin mist still covered the landscape.
Hugging the swamp, we continued to journey inland. By mid-morning the air was warm enough that a sheen of sweat was starting to form on my skin as we continued to march at a fast pace. I was thinking of calling a halt when the road made an abrupt turn to the right and pointed directly into the swamp.
There was a small pile of rocks next to the road. I pointed to the rocks. "Rest break at the rocks."
Everyone staggered to the rocks. I found one that was reasonably flat and dropped onto it, allowing my legs to relax for the first time in hours. Beside me, Heather groaned as she stretched her legs before her. She had dug her heels into the soft dirt and was pointing her toes while leaning back.