by JF Smith
Roald watched as a girl, younger than he, leaving Maqaran captivity behind with a small child, barely aged a year, in tow. His jaw set and he wondered at what sort of people would get a slave pregnant, and then turn the child away. He found himself paying special attention to each man that emerged, especially any one that was even near the age that Gully’s father would be, to see if he noticed and recognized Gully, or if Gully suddenly recognized him. But each time, those returning barely even looked towards Gully.
Aside from the happy receptions by family members not very far away, everyone else stayed silent and respectful for what the freed men and women had been through.
Roald sighed, and Thaybrill grabbed his arm lightly, causing his body to stiffen and his eyes to close momentarily at the touch. Thaybrill whispered, “It almost kills me to have to watch Gully go through this by himself.”
“He truly does prefer it this way. When his father appears, he will want for just the two of them to have a moment together. Gully will want to make sure that it is really happening,” said Roald.
Roald fully expected Ollon to look terrible when he arrived. He had noticed that the other balmors that had come back to Iisen looked the worst of all. Their features were drawn and their skin was sallow. Their hands were so bony as to be claw-like. Worst of all were their eyes, which were haunted and empty. Their eyes looked like there was no one behind them any longer. Raybb had explained that this was what happened when a silver binding was left in place long enough to permanently sever their balmor nature. If these were the poor creatures that it resulted in, Roald could only describe it as one of the most inhuman tortures he had ever seen.
The line of people emerging from the pass continued in a slow trickle as the sun drifted slowly over towards the west. Gully made no move and he did not look towards anyone else.
A swordsman approached Roald and said discreetly, “Lord Marshal, these are the last ones emerging now.”
Roald flinched and he and Thaybrill exchanged a grim glance.
“The Maqarans are demanding their soldiers back as agreed,” said the guard.
Roald took a deep breath and said quietly, “Send word to them, they owe us a list of every single Balmorean or Iisenor ever taken into slavery. Once that list is provided, we will return their soldiers the following morning, alive as promised.”
The soldier took his leave and Roald gritted his teeth for a moment while he gathered his strength for the bad news. He stepped over to where Gully was standing by the boulders. He placed his hand gently on Gully’s back and whispered into his ear, “That is all of the slaves, Gully. I’m sorry… but there are no more that are returning.”
Gully did not move for a while and said nothing. Instead, his head dropped and he stared down at the ground, at the boots he was wearing. When he finally did turn to face Roald, his face held little expression other than emptiness and tightened lips. Despite Gully’s stoic expression, Roald noticed that his brother’s hands were trembling slightly. It took all of his strength to not grab Gully and hold him close and cry with him.
Gully eventually said, “Well, many lives and families were mended today, and that is all that matters,” but his voice lacked the conviction of the words he spoke.
Roald reached out to him and said, “Gully...” but he didn’t know what else to say. He had no idea what he could say that would ease the pain that had sought release after ten long years. He looked into Gully’s eyes and his heart began to shatter for his brother, but Gully’s face was no more than a blank. He did not cry or even frown. To Roald, he looked no more than numb.
Gully leaned forward until his forehead rested on Roald’s shoulder. Roald fought his feelings back and left Gully’s head where it rested until he could stand it no more. He then began to do what Gully could not — he began to cry for him. He put his arms around Gully and held him while the tears slipped from his eyes. In the distance, he could still hear the joyful sounds of others who had been reunited with their missing loved ones.
It was only a short moment before Gully pulled back from him. Gully’s eyes were dry, but neither did he look Roald in the eye. He patted Roald on the shoulder a few times and the soft words cracked in his throat, “I’m going back to the manor house. Please, Roald... do me the favor of bringing the list to me, if they send it as promised.”
Gully swallowed hard, and Roald watched him turn and walk off. Amidst all the other people, the guardsmen and family members and curiosity seekers, Gully shambled away slowly. Thaybrill and others came up to Roald and joined him as they all watched Gully.
The king walked quietly past where the few left were still reuniting with their families and stood for a moment to watch their joy. They watched as Gully walked to the area where the soldiers were taking care of the other freed slaves, the ones with no loved ones to claim them. Again, he paused to watch a while, silently. Several of these solitary ones looked to Gully, hoping maybe he was a family member that had come for them, but none show any recognition of him and ignored him after a moment.
Roald’s heart felt crushed as he watched Gully take to the road leading back to East End by himself with sagging shoulders and his father’s boots dragging in the dust of the trodden road. He watched helplessly at his brother’s misery and disappointment.
Thaybrill clutched at Roald’s arm again and whispered, “It pains me terribly to see him face this moment, Roald. What are we to do?”
Roald shook his head and murmured, “I wish I knew, Prince Thaybrill. I wish that I knew.”
Gallun and Gellen tried to follow after the king, but Roald cautioned them, “Keep him safe, but keep your distance, please. He needs to be alone with his thoughts for a time.”
It wasn’t until the beginning of the moongloam before the Maqarans sent the list through the pass as required. Roald took it and rushed back by horse to the manor house. In the study, he found Gully staring into the fireplace while Gallun and Gellen sat nearby in wolf form. Thaybrill sat quietly with the king, with Wyael on the other side. The patriarch, both human and ocelot, were in one of the large chairs. The room was silent with the pallid mood.
When Roald stepped into the study, Gully glanced over to him. Roald nodded to indicate he had the list and took it over to the desk.
Gully sat behind the desk and took the list from Roald. Thaybrill turned on the couch and asked, “Would you like any help looking through the accounting, Thayliss?”
“No, but the offer is appreciated, Thaybrill. I prefer to have a few minutes to look through it myself if you don’t mind. You are all welcome to stay, but allow me to concentrate on my reading, please,” requested Gully.
Gully pulled a few candles closer so he could see in the dim light of the moongloam, then he unrolled the parchment and began to study the list. He took his time and read down a few more lines, unrolled a little more, then down further. He then unrolled all the way to about the halfway point of the list. He backed up a ways and began to look at the list again in earnest.
Roald studied Gully’s face, trying to discern what he was seeing, but Gully seemed to forget about everyone else in the room. He watched as Gully formed the words of each person he read about on the scroll. It seemed to take forever, and Gully moved through the list agonizingly slowly. No one in the room moved or interrupted, however.
Gully got to a point in the list and his eyes narrowed. He looked confused for a moment, then rolled back up through the list and went through the same part again. This time, he moved more quickly, his finger tracing along each date and description so he could move more swiftly.
After a few moments of this, he looked up from the list. He stared off into nothing in the room, his face drawn into confusion and thought. His lips then pulled tight, and Gully stood and quickly walked out of the room without a word to anyone.
Roald looked to Thaybrill in utter confusion, trying to understand what had just happened. Thaybrill seemed as lost as he was, though.
Roald said, “Gallun, Gellen, plea
se go with him. Keep a close watch on him.”
The two wolves ran out of the room following after Gully.
At the same time, Roald and Thaybrill both rushed over to the list to see if they could see whatever it was that Gully had seen.
Thaybrill sat and Roald leaned over next to him as they began to review the list from where Gully had left off.
There were no names, only descriptions, but the descriptions were often quite detailed. Thaybrill silently read a few, then commented, “The list is ordered by when each slave was captured. I believe Thayliss must have focused his review to about a year on either side of when his father disappeared.”
Thaybrill ran back up in the list to approximately where Gully had started and they began to read carefully.
“Female, aged 20 years, brown hair and eyes, limping on left foot,” read Thaybrill as Roald read over his shoulder. “Sold by Iisen, 375 IR, Mid Summer 7.”
“Father and son, ages 27 years and 3 years; father balding on top with black hair. Sold by Iisen, 375 IR, Mid Summer 16.”
“Gypsy animal male, aged 14, missing a front tooth, black shoulder-length hair, black eyes. I’m sorry, patriarch, they refer to balmors as ‘gypsy animals,’” said Thaybrill.
The patriarch muttered, “I am less than surprised.”
On and on the list ran, often one person listed at a time, but sometimes two.
Roald took over reading after a point. “Red-headed female, aged 30, overweight with unsightly freckles and scar on left arm. Sold by Iisen, 376 IR, Mid Winter 19.”
Roald sighed and shook his head now that he understood. He said, “His father is not on this list. None of the men even come close to matching the description, and he disappeared long before this point in the list. How can that be?”
Thaybrill looked up at Roald from the chair, neither knowing what to make of the latest development. Roald asked, “So what happened to his father if he was not captured and made a slave?”
~~~~~
Roald awoke with a jerk when he felt two hands begin to shake him without warning. He could not see whom it was as it was dark in his room in the manor house and still the black of night outside.
Roald panicked and was about to react violently, but he heard Wyael’s voice, “Wake up! Wake up, Lord Marshal Roald!”
Roald shook his head as Wyael pushed at him a few more times to wake him up. Roald sat up in his bed and put his hand on Wyael’s shoulder. “I’m awake. I’m awake now, Wyael. Tell me why you must startle me so!” Roald felt like he had only fallen asleep after a long evening of trying to cheer Gully up. His eyes adjusted a little, and he noticed that Gallun and Gellen were standing anxiously in the room, too, silhouetted against the candlelight coming from the hallway through the open door.
“You’ve got to help us, Lord Marshal, please! King Gully is gone!”
Chapter 41 — What Comes Now Will Be Different
Roald groaned deeply, almost to the point of it becoming a growl deep in his chest. He put his hand on Wyael’s head. “Thank you, Wyael. Our king has allowed himself to develop an irritating habit of disappearing at unhelpful times.”
He glanced over to Gallun and Gellen, only barely able to make them out in the dark. Even in the meager light, the twins looked nervous and apprehensive. Roald guessed they were worried that they would be blamed for the king’s disappearance. “Although, I can hardly fault him for wanting to be alone after what he discovered yesterday,” he added with a deep breath. “I thought that perhaps my days of hunting him would end when he gave up being a thief, but they only have seemed to increase.”
Wyael had already taken a candle to light from one in the hallway. When he came back into the room, Roald began to rouse himself more fully and began pulling on his clothes.
He said, “Gallun and Gellen, see if you can pick up Gully’s scent and we will track him down. If you can pick it up, meet me back in Chelders’ private offices in a few minutes. I must make sure Pumblennor is ready to handle the transfer of the soldiers today without me. With that done, if you find his path, we will follow him.”
Wyael said, “I will go, too! I don’t want King Gully to be upset!”
Roald shook his head, “I know you want to, Wyael, but we do not know where Gully has gone. I hope it is somewhere harmless, where he wishes only to be alone for a while. But part of me worries that he will try to go into Maqara itself to begin searching for his father on his own. And believe me, if anyone could succeed at sneaking in there, it would be Gully. Besides, you must stay with the patriarch and make sure he knows what is happening.”
Wyael started to protest, but Roald said, “No, Wyael, no arguments now!”
Roald nodded to Gallun and Gellen and said, “Go. The less head start he has, the better.”
The twins immediately threw off their tunics and kilts and had become wolves before their clothes had landed on Roald’s bed. They were out of the room and down the hall in an instant.
Roald finished getting dressed, packed a few things, and then walked down the hall to the quarters where Pumblennor was staying. He took a few minutes to explain the situation and ensure that Pumblennor knew he would not be around if things got tricky with the Maqarans. Marshal Pumblennor, after taking a moment to fully wake up, assured Roald that he would have everything under control in East End.
Roald met up with Gallun and Gellen a few minutes later and set off on their search together. As they followed the trail south from East End, towards the pass, the first hint of dawn light began to appear behind the mountains.
Roald stopped long enough to ask the wolves in front of him, “You’re sure, now, that you’re following today’s trail, and not from yesterday or the day before, yes?”
Both the wolves stopped, and even in the faint morning light, Roald could tell that Gellen was highly insulted.
“I merely wish to be sure, my friends,” said Roald with a laugh. “I trust completely in your abilities.”
As they neared the Maqaran Pass, Roald became nervous, worried that perhaps Gully would indeed be foolish enough to try to sneak into Maqara. The thought of having to invade Maqara, or conduct a surreptitious rescue mission, to retrieve their errant king was enough to make his stomach lurch and cramp. Fortunately, the scent that Gallun and Gellen followed veered off to the west, following along the South Pass Road instead.
Roald told them, “He is going to his cabin. You do not need to follow his scent as closely now. Check it every so often just to be sure, but we will not need to follow it closely again until he leaves the road.”
The rest of the trip was uneventful. The morning sun had come up fully and was filtering nicely through the canopy of the tall trees that arched over the road when Gallun noticed that Gully’s scent had left the road.
From there, they followed it very carefully through the bogs and marshy lands of the southern Ghellerweald. Roald kept the three of them very close together as even a few feet too far in one direction or the other could be very dangerous. He used a large limb to probe the ground in front of them constantly, always testing to see if it would give way to a deadly bog or not. The method was not foolproof, but better than trusting to nothing.
Two hours after leaving the road, and making slow, painstaking process, Roald could sense that they were now circling broadly, which meant they were following the tricky path to where the cabin itself was. Or perhaps going in circles. Roald chose not to voice his concern for fear of offending Gellen yet again. It was not long after that when both Gallun and Gellen looked back at him happily and began to trot along ahead of him.
Roald almost called after them for leaving him behind, but then he caught a glimpse of the cabin ahead of him and knew they had arrived. It had been several years now since he had come the last time with Gully to see it, and the sight filled him with concern and sympathy over what Gully must be feeling, knowing nothing at all about what happened to his father.
He drew near and saw both Gallun and Gellen running up to Gully,
who was carrying in his arms some fresh, dry firewood for the cabin. Gully stopped, saw Roald approaching, and put the wood down. Roald had a hard time reading Gully’s expression; he did not seem upset that he had been followed, but neither did he seem happy for the company.
Roald began, “Gully...” but Gully, with a profoundly sad look, shook his head and placed a finger to his lips. He stepped up to Roald and placed a hand on his shoulder without so much as a word. The sadness and helplessness in Gully’s face broke Roald’s heart in two.
Roald would have wondered what Gully was asking, but he could see it in his brother’s empty eyes, and he understood what he wanted.
Roald nodded and said, “I understand, Gully. We will stay with you, but we will not ask you to talk. I know you wish to think through this, and I will be glad to give you that time. Allow us to stay with you and we will respect your wish for silence.”
Gully gave Roald a weak, appreciative smile, and resumed his work.
An hour or so later, after they had built a fire in the fireplace, Roald looked up to see a swallowtail hawk land on the roof of the cabin. It flew down and landed on a branch a few feet away from Roald.
“We are safe, Abella,” said Roald. “Let Thaybrill and the patriarch and the others know that the king has decided to spend some time at his father’s cabin. We will travel back to Lohrdanwuld when we are finished here.”
Gully came out of his cabin and saw Abella Jule perched on the low limb. He gave her a feeble smile as he walked over to her. She leaned in and nestled affectionately against him and then nibbled lightly at his ear.
Roald heard Gully whisper, “Thank you, Abella,” and then she flew off to report back that the king had been located and was safe.
Roald had no idea how long Gully planned to stay, but did not press him on it. Gully, for his part, said no words to any of them other than the three he had whispered to Abella Jule.