The priests and companions crowded together away from the boulder, and everyone watched the temple collapse in on itself. Dust blew from the walls and covered everyone in a deep fog. The earthquake subsided, but not Fingle's anger. He whipped around to his followers to order a gruesome death for the companions, but their dinner and the steeds were gone. The sacrifices had slipped away.
The companions didn't rein in their horses until they reached the main trail and rode a few miles north. They slowed their horses to a gentle stride and everyone breathed a sigh of relief. Ned glanced at his companions with a grin on his face. "What a fine adventure that was." Ruth and Pat grabbed Canto's shoulders and kept him from attacking Ned, and Percy had a worried expression on his face.
"Do you think we should have left any of them alive?" Percy asked them. "They can rebuild and murder more people."
"Oh, I don't think anyone will have to worry about them anymore," Ned replied.
Fred wrinkled his nose. "Does anyone smell smoke?"
They paused their horses and turned in their saddles to glimpse a column of thick smoke rise up from the trees to the southwest. "What is it?" Ruth asked them.
"A sign from their god that he's displeased," Ned chuckled. "That saucer of oil is right now wreaking a very nasty mess on their meadow." A terrible raven-black plume rose up and mingled with the other gray smoke. "And that's the end of that cursed book," he added.
CHAPTER 9
Canto frowned as he rummaged through their bags. "Damn zealots and their damn cannibalism," he grumbled.
"Is there a problem?" Ned asked him as he sat by the fire. It was the afternoon after their adventure with the priests, and their first stop after that trouble.
Canto stood by the horses where they'd unpacked their supplies to get an inventory. He closed the flap of his bag in disgust. "Those damn priests stole half of our food, and we lost all our blankets at the camp."
"I'm just grateful they didn't steal our lives," Percy joked. "But thanks to Sins and Fluffy we were saved."
Canto scowled at the silent man who sat beside Percy on a log. "Ya took long enough. Were ya going to allow 'em to sacrifice us?" Canto quipped.
"If they offered enough money for you," Sins calmly replied.
"I don't doubt it," Canto agreed as he seated himself beside the fire. "And how did Fluffy come to be with ya? Ah thought he was tied by those black cords."
"My weapon is not a common dagger," was Sins' quizzical answer. "And I needed to recover our horses. I thought the beast would be a useful distraction."
"I guess Fluffy was too worried about Fred to bite you," Ruth quietly spoke up.
Sins relapsed into his silent mood and didn't reply. Pat whipped her head over to Fred. "And speaking of you, why didn't you use a spell on that maniac when he was monologuing?"
Fred shrank back from her glare and shrugged. "I couldn't think of anything to conjure up," he replied.
"Uh-huh, more like your master hasn't been doing his duty by you," Pat countered. She turned to Ned. "Don't you have a book or pamphlet with pictures that he can study?"
Ned furrowed his brow and pulled at his beard. "I may have something of the kind for apprentices who can't read." He rummaged in his cloak and pulled out a small, weathered book. He handed it to Fred, but the young man couldn't even read the cover.
Pat scooted over to him and rolled her eyes. She read the title aloud for the whole group. "Castoring For Fools." She glanced over to Ned with a raised eyebrow. "What sort of a fool makes a book for fools?"
Ned chuckled. "The kind who wishes to make a large amount of gold," he pointed out. "These books sell quite well for those wishing to believe they have castor abilities, or can obtain them by following some basic rules."
Pat jerked her thumb to Fred. "And this will help him?"
"If it can't then nothing can, and we may as well take his staff away," Ned assured her.
Fred cringed and quickly opened to the first page. It showed a picture of a silhouette figure standing with their staff in the proper position; perpendicular to the body with one hand on the staff. He flipped to another page in the center of the book and came up with an empty page. Fred held up the empty page so Ned could see it. "Is this supposed to be here?" he asked his master.
"It's so you don't get ahead of your abilities," Ned told him. "The pages will show up after you've completed the previous lesson."
Fred frowned and stood between his seat and the fire. He pulled his stick out and placed himself in the same stance as that in the picture. Everything was perfect except the staff didn't appear in his hand. Nothing happened on the page. Fred glanced over to Ned. "What now?"
"Turn the page," Ned suggested.
Pat did Fred that favor, and they found only a blank page. "So he hasn't done the pose correctly?" Pat guessed.
Ned pulled at his beard and smiled. "He's lacking a castor's most important tool, the staff."
Fred knocked his palm against the stick parts. "But it won't come out."
"Because you're not scared," Pat pointed out.
"Or not being brave," Fred countered.
"Or it's because you're not focusing on your gut feeling," Ned scolded.
Ruth stiffly rose from her seat, marched over to Fred and pushed him toward the crackling fire. Fred yelped and flailed his arms in front of him. The sticks joined into his staff and he shoved the bottom into the fire to prop himself up. His chest heaved and his head whipped over to Ruth. Pat was beside Ruth with her mouth agape and her eyes filled with horror.
"What'd you do that for?" Fred exclaimed.
Ruth sheepishly smiled and shrugged. Behind them Ned chuckled. "It's always the quiet ones you have to watch out for, isn't that right, Mr. Sins?" Sins eyes showed amusement at the old saying.
Pat noticed movement beneath Fred, and she gasped. "Fred, your staff!"
Fred glanced down and realized the flames from the fire were creeping up his staff. They'd almost reached him when he pushed himself back and toppled over his sitting log. He fell hard to the ground and his flailing extinguished the flames on his staff. Fred thought for sure the whole thing was a blackened ruin, but the staff was unblemished. "You won't have to worry about that burning up. That staff has survived much worse abuse than fire," Ned told him. "Now try the stance again."
Pat and Ruth helped Fred to his feet, and he shakily stood in front of the fire with one eye on the gargoyle girl. When he was in position they looked down at the blank page and saw a picture slowly appear on the paper. It showed the silhouette sitting down with the staff held out in the same position. Pat rolled her eyes and groaned. "You must be in jest. How simple are these first lessons?" she asked Ned.
Ned shrugged. "You asked for a handbook, and this is the most comprehensive one in my collection."
"Maybe I'll work on this later," Fred spoke up. He stuffed the book into one of his own bottomless pockets, and the group sat down for a meager meal from their diminished supplies.
"We'll need to gather food at Dirth," Pat spoke up.
Ned cringed. "Yes, I had thought of that, but there may be a problem with that plan."
"Problem?" Canto asked him with a raised eyebrow. "Dwarves are always willing to sell their extra food for a profit. The prices may sometimes be steep, but we can get some."
"It's not the price that concerns me, it's the food," Ned replied.
Canto bristled at Ned's words. "Dwarven food gives strength and puts hair on yer chest."
"And that is why it's so hard to tell the difference between a male and a female dwarf," Ned countered, but he sighed. "But we'll have to manage. Perhaps there will be an elf vendor in the area with food for seven."
Canto rolled his eyes and turned away grumbling.
"I might be able to help us," Fred spoke up. He reached into his coat and pulled out a whole leg of lamb from one of the pockets. Fluffy perked up his head and wagged his stubby tail.
Pat frowned. "You're using your castor's cloak to store food?"
she scolded him.
Ned chuckled. "I believe that's a very appropriate use for it. Have you any chicken I might nibble on?"
Fred had chicken and half of Tramadore Castle's food storage stuffed in those pockets. They had more food now than before their adventures with the cannibals. The companions ate their food and continued on their travels. They didn't come across trouble until two days later. They reached the edge of the Sterning region and the beginning of the Dirth region. The dividing line was a point in the mountains so high that tall cliffs lay on either side of the path and one false step would have led to a death by a drop of a thousand feet. The path was narrow, winding and full of rocks, and they took it carefully one-by-one.
The region divide was signified by an ancient fort that stretched between two large peeks of the mountain, and that blocked the path. An archway stood at the center with an iron gate inside the entrance. The gate was down, and there was a bustle of activity along the top of the fort walls. The whole place was covered in dwarves who were repairing the walls and setting up large crossbows pointed at the southern trail.
Ned reined in his horse and raised an eyebrow. Canto came up beside him, and had a surprised expression on his face. "This fort hasn't been used in centuries. What are those fools doing?" Canto asked his castor friend.
Ned shrugged. "Reusing it," he replied.
Canto frowned and kicked his ass forward. He came up to the gate with his companions at his back, and knocked on the iron bars. "Open up!"
A large dwarf peeked his head out of the sentry house, and a smirk spread across his face. "Well, well, if it isn't Canto," the man laughed. He went up and leaned his shoulder into the gate. "What brings ya all the way up here?"
"Ah wanted to see the sights," Canto sarcastically answered. "Now open the gate and let us through."
The dwarf glanced over Canto and turned to the rest of the group. He scowled. "They can't come through until we've talked with each of 'em."
"Talked with 'em about what?" Canto asked him.
The dwarf shrugged. "Everything. The king wasn't specific. Strangers are to be interrogated and any suspicious ones were to be refused and turned away at the borders."
Canto scowled. "What stupidity. Has the king gone senile?"
The captain of the gate returned Canto's scowl with a glare. "Be more careful, Canto. That's the kind of talk that forced ya out of here."
"Ah'll speak my mind, Kilo, but if ya need someone to say they can come through then Ah'll vouch for 'em," Canto offered. "They're my, er, friends."
Kilo gave another careful glance over the strange group. He paused a moment on the cantankus with its boy, but passed them over for Sins in his dark attire and hidden face. He nodded at the assassin. "Why's he dressed like that? Looks like an assassin."
"Sun allergy," Ned spoke up. "The poor fellow's skin can't take the sunlight." Ned leaned toward the dwarf guard and dropped his voice to a whisper. "He'll break out in these horrible hives, and need a sponge bath."
Kilo recoiled in disgust, and turned his attention to Fred and Fluffy. "Ah'll let ya through, but control yer cantankus. Ah don't want a mutt like that getting any ideas with ours. Oh, and if ya cause any trouble in the city Ah'll have yer head before the king gets mine," he promised.
The gate was opened and the party was allowed into a muddy courtyard. Across the fifty yard space was another gate like the one they'd passed through. There were three dozen dwarves repairing the fort and watching the walls. On one side were stalls for two dozen cantankus, and Fluffy wagged and drooled when he spotted some females. "Focus," Fred whispered.
Kilo followed them from the battlements. The dwarf captain was of average dwarf height with a full brown beard and a horn on his hip. The fort was box-shaped and short, and they could see the other archway leading to the Dirth side twenty yards off.
Canto pulled up beside Kilo and nodded at the regiment. "What's all this about, anyway? An army coming?"
"No, but the king doesn't want to take any chances with someone stealing the rock," Kilo explained to him.
"Rock? Is that the stone that appeared in the city?" Canto guessed, and Kilo nodded.
"Just the one. The king wants to see what can be forged from the stone, and if it's worth the trouble we'll offer our services to the other places who have stones," Kilo replied.
"Why would the king believe someone wants to steal the stone?" Ned wondered.
Kilo glanced around to make sure no one else was near enough to overhear, and he lowered his voice. "To be honest, he's more worried about what's inside than out, but he doesn't want anyone coming in and helping them."
"Them?" the castor repeated.
"The Helpers," Kilo answered. "Those beasts are causing a bunch of trouble in the city and the king doesn't want any Helpers-loving people to come in and stir up more."
"What sort of trouble are they causing?" Ned asked him.
Kilo scowled. "Not lighting our forges, for one, and not keeping our houses lit."
"That doesn't sound too bad," Pat spoke up.
The dwarf captain rubbed his shins. "Trying working your way through your home in the dark after those monsters have moved all the furniture and won't light your lamp."
Pat cringed. "Oh..."
"We'll be sure to keep ourselves away from 'em," Canto promised.
Kilo laughed. "But Ah know ya well enough to know ya won't keep out of trouble. Oh, and when ya get to the city could ya say hi to my sister for me? She's probably worried Ah've been eating by a cantankus."
Canto frowned and shook his head. "Ah don't think that would be a good idea. She's probably still sore from me leaving."
"Yep, but ya might want to see her anyway. She sometimes talks about ya," Kilo told him.
Canto raised an eyebrow. "She does?"
"Yep. Talks about kicking yer ass." Kilo laughed and patted Canto on the back. "But in all seriousness, watch yerself down there and try to keep out of trouble."
Canto chuckled. "Ah make no promises on that, but it was good seeing ya again and Ah hope I won't hear that horn of yers blow."
"Why?" Ruth wondered.
Kilo lifted the horn, an instrument fashioned from the horn of some large animal. "This is a bullfalo horn. It's been in my family for a few generations."
"I've never heard of a bullfalo," Pat spoke up.
"They're a rare beast found in the far north. Ah don't even know what one looks like, but my great-grandfather killed one and took its horn as a trumpet for when trouble arose. A blow can carry for ten miles, even over these rough mountains."
"Then we also hope not to hear your trumpet," Ned agreed.
Kilo smiled and set the horn back on his hip. "So do I. Now off with you before the trumpet needs blowing from Canto's trouble-making."
Canto nodded toward the cantankus. "Mind lending me one of yer cantankus?" he asked his old acquaintance.
Kilo smiled and shook his head. "Not on yer life. Those beasts are the only thing that can get over these paths quickly without us breaking our necks. Now go on before Ah change my mind about letting ya through."
CHAPTER 10
The companions left the fort and found the Dirth side of the trail more hospitable. It widened so they could travel three abreast, and they descended to a more oxygen-rich environment. The trees grew taller and changed to ones more suitable to a wet climate and the path followed a dozen creeks that merged into half that number of rivers. After a half day of easy riding they arrived at a fork in the road where the rivers ran off to the left path and a few miles off they could see marshland. The right trail led north and dropped into a valley where sat a large swath of fertile farmland. A large city made of stone sat in the center of its hinterland.
Canto turned right while Ned directed his horse to the left path. "That's the wrong way," Canto reminded the castor. "The city's to the north."
"But the city of the Stars is this way, and there's where I want to go," Ned told him.
"Ah gave my word we
would keep ourselves away from 'em," Canto insisted. "So let's go to Dirth."
"No, you promised you'd stay away from them. I made no such promise," Ned pointed out. He glanced over his shoulder at the others and pulled at his beard. "Though now that it's mentioned, we may not all need to meet the Stars' leader."
"Why do any of us need to meet their leader?" Canto countered. "The stone is in Dirth."
"But you forget that we need the item to destroy it, and the ancient castors were great friends with the Stars," Ned replied.
"They would be," Canto grumbled.
Ned turned to his apprentice. "Fred, you come with me. The Stars are most friendly to castors, and won't feel threatened by our presence. The rest of you can follow Canto to Dirth and have a look at that stone. If you find any clues to the treasure item send a crow. We'll be at the palace of the Stars."
"Send a crow?" Ruth repeated.
"It's how dwarves communicate over the region," Canto explained to her. "The beasts are smart enough to train, and have simple needs."
Ned clopped down the left-hand path. "Let's be off now, Fred. This shouldn't take more than a day."
Fred cringed and glanced at Pat and Ruth. Pat shrugged and Ruth looked apologetic, but there was nothing they could do. They'd only be in the way with the Stars, and Fred needed to follow his master. The young man sighed, his shoulders slumped, and he steered Fluffy to follow Ned.
Canto glanced behind himself and looked over who remained. His eyes fell on Sins. "A few rules when we enter Dirth. The king probably considers the stone his property, so don't touch it before we get permission. He's a fool, but he'll have our hands for touching his treasure. As for the food, eat what yer given and don't insult any of the lady folk by refusing the stuff. Ah don't want us to start another War of the Blood."
The Unwilling Ambassador (Book 3) Page 6