by Tom Liberman
“No Shamki,” said Lousa with a shake of her head, “and that worries me. The trip to Lycidas is three easy days and he could have made it faster. If he spent a day in town looking things up he should have been back yesterday.”
“Maybe he found something and stayed over?” said Humbort dressed in his best shirt as he came over and stood near Lousa. His hand reached out to touch her shoulder but then darted back to his side. “He’s an okay guy, I trust him.”
“You’re a fool then,” said Hazlebub as she slid into the conversation. “He’s a merchant and they’re always out for their own profit.”
“I’m not a fool,” said Humbort his chin sticking out and his teeth and hands clenched.
“Everyone knows you are just that,” replied the witch.
“Enough,” said Lousa and stepped between the two her hand reached out and touched the chest of Humbort who gave a little shudder and closed his eyes. “We have important business. Khemer, what have you remembered about the ceremony to destroy the staff?”
“I’m afraid my memory is still quite hazy on that subject,” replied the ghost who floated several feet off the ground as he spoke. “I wish I could help more but I’m afraid the fog shows no sign of lifting from my mind.”
“We can’t go any further until we know more about the staff,” said Lousa.
“Have we really decided that destroying it is the best idea,” said Hazlebub a gleam in her eyes. “If this Seymour the Bright wants it so badly why not sell it to him. He is the son of the king and doubtless will pay an excellent price. Wouldn’t that get us in just as good with Tarlton, even more so?”
“It is an artifact of great evil,” intoned Khemer. “I don’t think giving it to Seymour is a good idea. He might use it for his own ends.”
“I thought Seymour wanted it destroyed,” said Unerus and looked at the ghostly apparition with narrowed eyes. “Your story keeps changing.”
“I am dead some thirty years,” replied the ghost. “My memory seems to shift like a dream and things that I thought were true last week seem now to be not.”
“Convenient,” said Unerus and tossed a perfectly sized throwing rock up and down in his right hand.
“This is all useless speculation until Tanner gets back with more information,” said Lousa. “I know being cramped up here in this cave can’t be a lot of fun but you’re going to have to put up with it until the merchant gets back. Except you Shamki and Humbort. The mayor has some official duties he wants you to look into.”
“Skullcrack,” said Shamki with a smile while his hand fingered the long sword that was always at his side.
“Probably, you and Humbort head back to town right away. Ariana and I will stay here with the staff until you get back. And if you see the merchant, tell him where we are.”
The big half-orc nodded his head and grabbed Humbort around the scruff of the neck, “We team, right!”
Humbort tried to squirm away from the heavy grip but the smile on his face betrayed his happiness at being included with his longtime companion. “You bet, as long as you don’t break my neck first you big galoot.”
After the two packed up their meager gear and headed out of the cave and down the hill to the town of Iv’s Folly, Ariana looked up at Lousa her eyes wide and her lips moved but no words came from her mouth.
“I know what you’re thinking little angel,” said Lousa with a pat to her head. “Why does Shamki put up with stupid Humbort and why does Humbort put up with bullying Shamki?”
The girl nodded her head her boyish bangs bobbed in time with the motion. “It’s love in a way,” said the woman and smiled when the girls face screwed up as if she had bitten into a juicy lemon. “Not that kind of love, love between men. When men like each other they are mean to one another, it’s sort of the opposite of the way girls are.”
“That’s stupid!” said Ariana.
“No,” interrupted Unerus and sidled close to the woman wanting to please her for reasons he couldn’t quite yet articulate. “Lousa’s right. It’s that way with all the guys back at the mission house where we stayed when you were little. If a guy’s not being mean to you then it’s probably because he doesn’t like you.”
“Like I said, that’s stupid,”
“Stupid it may be,” said Lousa with a tight lipped grin and a wrinkle of her nose, “but at least it’s a lot more straightforward than many of the things I’ve seen with girls.”
“Were girls mean to you?” asked Ariana.
“Girls are very cruel,” said Hazlebub. “Especially if you’re not pretty but you don’t have that problem Ariana.”
The young woman suddenly found that her face was hot and she was flushed. “Hazle has the right idea Ariana,” said Lousa and put her arm around the girl as Unerus suddenly felt like he no longer belonged in the conversation. “But she’s got one thing very wrong. Girls are cruel even if you are pretty and more so the prettier you are.”
“Girls were mean to you!” said Ariana, looked up at the beautiful woman her eyes wide, and, as she looked closely, she thought she saw a moment of sadness, the hint of a tear but then the older woman shook her head and smiled brightly with a tilt at just the right angle to the left.
“Eventually one must grow up and face the world on its own terms,” she concluded. “Now did I see a deck of cards around here somewhere? Has anyone taught you children how to play bridge?”
Chapter 7
The small wagon crept down the road past an old farmstead left to rot as a young teen boy sat in the driver’s seat a whip in his right hand and the reigns that controlled a pair of old donkeys in his left. “What’s that farm?” said a feminine voice from the back of wagon.
“It’s just an old farm, mom,” said Tylan who leaned back and hurled the words over his right shoulder.
“Which old farm, you have to know these things if you’re going to be a caravan master someday,” replied the voice.
“Why don’t you ask dad,” Tylan said over his shoulder again. “He’s the one who’s been up and down this old road a thousand times.
“Your father is not feeling well and you know that!” shrilled back the voice and then in a lower tone presumably not meant for the boy, “Those damn Fen Druids and their wicker magic, I don’t know what they did to you my darling.”
A few seconds later a young girl just into her teen years climbed out of the back of the wagon holding a piece of parchment. “Is daddy going to be all right?”
“I don’t know Shalalee,” said the young teenager as he made a half-hearted swipe at the donkeys with the whip. “He’s sick I guess. After he talked with that Fen Druid about the shipwreck.”
“You shouldn’t listen to mom and dad talking,” replied the girl with a push of her right thumb into her left palm and a screwed up her face. As she sat next to Tylan it was clear that she was both the younger and taller of the two but while his arms dangled loosely she held hers rigidly constantly and dug her thumb into her palm. “What’ll happen if he dies?”
“I don’t know Shalalee; you’ve got to stop worrying about everything bad that might happen.”
“How do I stop thinking?” asked the girl and suddenly tears fell from her eyes. “How does anyone stop thinking about all the bad things that could happen?”
“I don’t know Shalalee, you just don’t think about it. Like right now, mom wants me to know every single burned out farmhouse on the road and I’ve got to try and memorize them even though they all look the same. So, when I think about that then I forget about dad being sick and that fen wizard with the stick dog.”
“Oh,” squealed the girl. “I’d forgotten about that dog, it was like a living stick. It scared me.”
“Everything scares you Shalalee,” said the boy.
“I know, but I can’t not be scared, you can’t just make yourself not think and feel,” she said her thumb worried more deeply into her palm.
“Figure out where we are on that map dad is always fiddling with then,” said Tylan who pu
t down the whip and hugged his little sister. “Maybe if you did all the mapping for me you could stop thinking so much.”
The girl looked at her brother and smiled through white teeth that were spaced evenly and none showed any signs of rot or other disease. “Ok, dad’s handwriting is terrible though. What was the last town we went through?”
“Fell Drider Falls,” replied her brother with a glance towards the horses who continued to plod along at their pace unabated. “We took the Road of Bones heading to Valda’var. When we get to the southern trail is when we turn south heading for the Lake of Ghouls and Iv’s Folly.”
“Have we crossed the Vidas River yet?” asked the girl her finger traced a curvy blue line that bisected the map.”
“Yeah, that was this morning early after we started; I think you were still asleep. You remember that old stone bridge that is so bouncy?”
“Right, I remember going the other way. That was when we met up with that traveling halfing merchant who could blow the colored smoke rings, right?”
“That’s right, when we were heading northwest. He was funny and made those strawberry pies that dad liked so much and mom got mad when he said they were better than hers!”
Shalalee giggled and covered her mouth with her right hand. “Mom doesn’t like it when dad says someone cooks better than her.”
“Got that right,” said the boy and gave the whip a crack in the air well away from the rumps of the donkeys that pulled the wagon. The sound didn’t seem to affect them in any way at all as they continued to move forward at exactly the same pace.
“Don’t whip those donkeys too much Tylan,” shouted a male voice from the back of the wagon.
“I guess he’s feeling better,” said Tylan who squeezed his sister closer to him and the girl smiled brightly and began to examine the map closely again.
“I think it’s called the Old Mago farm or something. Old Nago maybe, does that make sense?”
The boy scrunched up his nose and scratched his forehead just above the right eye and finally shrugged his shoulders. “Could be Shalalee, sounds right. Isn’t there a family called Mago in that weird little village in the foothills of the mountains?”
“Yes!” exclaimed the girl and bounced in her seat. “I remember, there is that really pretty girl who is the daughter of the mayor and her name is Mago.”
“Was she his daughter or his wife?” asked the boy. “And remember that Monk of Thilnog we met up there? He shaved his head that weird way but he really knew how to use that staff of his.”
“His wife? That’s gross, she was eighteen, and he was old,” said Shalalee and wrinkled up her nose.
“Yeah, but he was the mayor and he had money. You can’t marry someone until you have money,” said the boy his eyes got a faraway look as he stared into space.
“I know who you’re thinking about,” said the girl in a sing-song sort of voice.
“Shut up, Shalalee!”
“Tylan and Lousa, walking down the road, first comes kissing, then comes marriage, then comes Tylan pushing the baby carriage!”
“Shut up, Shalalee, she’s too old for me.”
“She’s part elf, she’ll look the same in ten years, and then you’ll be full grown,” said the girl and punched him in the arm. “Tylan loves Lousa, Tylan loves Lousa!”
“Stop it!” shouted Tylan and pushed the girl with his shoulder so that she rocked precariously in the wagon seat.
“Both of you stop it,” yelled a female voice from the back of the wagon. “Your father isn’t feeling well and you two fighting isn’t helping matters.”
“Shalalee started it,” said Tylan who sat up stiffly and looking straight ahead.
“I don’t care who started it,” said the voice again. “Both of you stop it.”
Shalalee smiled to herself as she studied the map and began to whistle to the same tune she sang earlier.
“Shut up,” whispered Tylan to the girl with another shove with his shoulder.
“You’re only mad because it’s true,” said the girl.
“I don’t love anybody,” said the boy. “Girls are stupid anyway.”
“Anyway,” said Shalalee and put her arm around her brother. “You shouldn’t be mad about liking Lousa, she’s beautiful, and smart too, and I heard she knows magic. I bet most of the men in Iv’s Folly are in love with her and I bet almost every man who lives anywhere near the Lake of Ghouls is in love with her. Nobody’s is ever going to be in love with me like that.”
“What are you talking about Shalalee, you’re beautiful, all my friends say so!”
“Your friends are gross little boys,” said Shalalee. “I was talking about full grown, brave champions!”
“My friends are older than you!”
“Girls grow up faster, everyone knows that,” said Shalalee who crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat up tall.
“I’ll always be older than you,” said Tylan who sat up straight himself and tried to get a bit taller than his sister did although he failed by a small margin. “There’s nothing you can do about it.”
The wagon traveled on for a bit the two young teens sat next to each other in silence as grassy plains moved by at a slow pace. A large forest spread out to the south with many birds that danced in the sky above them while smoke from the occasional small farm wafted in the air and vanished just as quickly in the heat of the midday sun.
“Do you really think I’m beautiful,” asked Shalalee as she looked up from studying the map for a moment.
Tylan looked over at his gawky sister, the long arms and legs that didn’t move well together, the long dark hair that glistened in the sunlight and reached well back behind her shoulders, the little nose, the white teeth, and the high cheekbones that gave her face an angular, sort of elf look, “Yep,” he finally said, “and you’re not even thirteen yet.”
Shalalee smiled brightly her cheeks turned a brighter shade of red in the sunlight. “I think we’re going to be coming up on trail to the south soon, see those water birds?” she said and pointed to a pair of large black and white cranes with bluish feather on their chest that floated overhead as they moved to the northeast.
“Yeah, those are Gray Crowned Cranes I think,” said Tylan. “They migrate this time of year and stop over Bone Lake and the Lake of Ghouls. Dad, those ones with the red marking on their necks are the Gray Crowned, right?”
There was a bit of motion from back in the wagon a few moments later an unshaven face, its head matted with greasy unbrushed hair popped out and look up at the birds as they moved away from the small wagon. “Yep Gray Crowns,” said the man who took a seat in the small section behind the children. “They come across the whole world they say, all the way from the western ocean and Caparal and Stav’rol.”
“Have you been that far dad?” asked the girl with a look back at her father.
“Nobody’s been that far,” said Tylan in a sharp tone. “That’s too far to go for any merchant.”
“If it’s a place then somebody has to have been there, right dad?” said Shalalee and spun all the way around to look at her father and put her hand on his leg.
“I don’t know,” said Tanner with a squint into the sunlight while he used his hand to shade his face. “It’s too far to travel and it’s wild territory, orcs, goblins, bugbears, darklings, and other things even worse. But, it’s there all right and people live there. I’ve seen goods from Stav’rol before. The come down on ships through the Great Eastern Sea, around the Great Southern Cape, and stop over at Doria with goods for the queen and her court.”
“Have you ever met anyone from there dad?” asked Tylan with his eye on the road and the donkey team that continued their even pace apparently oblivious to all else except the next step forward.
“No, no I haven’t son,” said Tanner and wiped his brown. “Why don’t you pull over and we can have something to eat.”
“Are you hungry dad?” asked the girl her eyes open wide. “Mom can make something
that won’t hurt your stomach anymore.”
“Maybe I’ll try to eat,” said Tanner and ran his hand through the girl’s hair. “You are turning into a beauty, just like your mother was when I first met her. I think you’ve heard that story more than once though.”
“How about up there by that little copse of trees,” said Tylan and twitched the reigns slightly which sent the donkeys off at an angle towards the little group of sycamores.
“That looks just fine son; you’re doing a great job handling the wagon.”
“Thanks dad,” said Tylan and he sat up taller, smiled, and gave a little sideways glance to his sister.
“Keep your eyes out for the trail heading south,” he said.
“Even if we miss it’s not a big deal,” said Shalalee and pointed to a little blue streak that splashed the map. “We’ll come on the stream right afterwards and be able to turn back. It wouldn’t be more than a couple of miles out of our way.”
“I’m due back in Iv’s Folly as soon as possible,” said Tanner. “There’s something strange going on there and that old druid gave me some important information.”
“He scared me dad,” said Shalalee her thumb once again began to worry the palm on the opposite hand.
“Those Fen Druids are scary honey but you can’t let them know you’re afraid.”
“That wicker dog was creepy; it even wagged its tail like it thought it was alive.”
“I know, sweety,” said Tanner and put his hand on her shoulder. “And I’ve seen creepier things deep in the Great Salt Fen, it’s a strange place with strange creatures, but you and your brother are growing up now so you’re going to have to face that sort of thing. The world is a strange place and sometimes dangerous. Everybody gets scared Shalalee but you have to control yourself so other people don’t know you’re afraid.”
“Why do you have to hide it?”
“Because everyone is scared. So, if you hide that you’re scared then they think they’re the one who is scared so you get a better deal. If you pretend you aren’t scared for long enough then eventually you start actually being less scared.”