Call of the Wolf (The Kohrinju Tai Saga)

by Nelson, J P

  “H-he’s a liar. He, he …”

  “I will tell him you said so. In the meantime … you …” The words were clear, firm and resolute, “… are dismissed!”

  Sormiske quickly walked around Hoscoe with a hint of a limp, and then he stopped at the door and realized what he had done with his own retainers watching. Yank says he stifled back tears and ran with something dropping out of his pant leg. Maybe, no one else confirmed that, but I enjoy envisioning it.

  Hoscoe said, “Parnell!” Then, as Parnell looked up, Hoscoe tossed a pouch over with his left hand. “See that Timber Wolf gets fed well, will you?”

  Yank said the look on Parnell’s face and the manner of his catch indicated a bag heavy with coins. Parnell just nodded and Hoscoe added, “There is plenty there. You can keep what is left, but make sure he eats properly. I know Sormiske, he will attempt to feed him bread and water.”

  Looking to Yank, Hoscoe said, “I am going to run an errand and will be gone perhaps one week.” Walking over to the hostler he said, “I need two good horses with lots of bottom.” As Hoscoe followed him outside, he paused by the wagon and casually lifted a small package without looking up.

  Wahyene looked over the side door and looked at the package. Taking it, he smelled it, and when Hoscoe then glanced up at him, gave Hoscoe a tilt of the hand. Saying nothing, Hoscoe went outside to look at what the hostler had.

  ___________________________

  Parnell was as good as his word. Sormiske never came back to the stable, and Parnell made sure I got the finest quality food in Kynear. He also made sure I got to go to the bathhouse.

  It was the morning after our arrival, when Parnell led me down a back street to the bathhouse, that I saw Lath. She was helping to load supplies into the back of Edgarfield’s wagon, apparently preparing for departure. She looked around and our eyes met, both of us freezing in place for the moment. She was about to say something when she was called by Edgarfield. My own breath caught as she turned to Edgarfield’s beckoning.

  Not a word passed between us and I cursed myself for not saying something, anything at all. Suddenly it dawned upon me she was not just a fighter, she too was a slave. And the necklace around her neck was not jewelry; it was a slim collar of some kind.

  From Edgarfield’s wagon she turned to look at me once more and I saw something in her eye, a sparkle. I felt it too. Then she was called to get into the wagon and the driver snapped his reins. The two armed humans from the ring were mounted and fell in behind the wagon. My heart sunk as I watched the wagon turn a corner and out of my sight.

  ‘One day, Lath,’ I told myself, ‘I will be free … and I will find you.’

  Parnell was just standing there beside me, an understanding expression on his face. I had completely forgotten he was there, and me with chains on my wrists. Embarrassed, I glanced at him and then around at my surroundings. The air was cool, but it felt so hot all of a sudden.

  He could have been arrogant, but instead he suggested kindly, “Hey, maybe you’ll get lucky some other time. You never know.” I couldn’t wait to get into the bath house.

  Sitting in a tub of hot, soapy water was a new experience for me. The bathhouse was partitioned off into several stalls; inside each stall was a tub. The tub was a large wooden barrel with a small bench inside to sit on. There was so much water inside, to begin with, and once seated, an attendant would finish filling it up to chest or neck level, depending on where you wanted it. The soap was a big bar of something white which actually had a fragrance in it. Once you were finished you stood up and got under this barrel which was about seven feet off of the floor, and pulled on a rope. This drenched you with clean water and you had completed your bath.

  The bathhouse was a popular commodity in Kynear, and Parnell had sprung for it out of the money Hoscoe gave him.

  Parnell was the only one with me, and I suppose I could have made a break for it, but there was so much more on my mind at the moment. Besides, Kynear was at least fifty miles from nowhere and I had been a slave all of my life. I didn’t like it, but there was something secure about it too. It was something I would think on long and hard, later on. At the moment I was what you could call, mentally conditioned for slavery.

  Have you heard of those big Jum-Beasts you sometimes see at a circus? They stand eight to nine feet tall at the shoulder and could plow through a wooden building without thinking about it. But monkeys and children lead these big hairy creatures around with a small cord. It’s because these animals are caught as infants and chained to a big post. By the time these are adolescents, they have accepted they can’t break free and long since quit trying.

  Freedom is a dream, but if you have never been free it is also scary. How do you survive? You have to be responsible for yourself and make your own way.

  Right at the moment Lath possessed my thoughts, but then there was the wolf, the bird, my own healing ability which I still didn’t understand, those dreams and what about those crossbows? When I fought Stagus my body seemed to get harder and stronger, then my skull was broken. And I had no idea what was going on with this witch woman I was headed for.

  Yup, there was a lot on my mind.

  Back at the stable, chained in the tack room, I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. I was going to be in here for days, I needed to relax and find something to think about. Something rustled under the strewn hay in one corner of the room and a big rat crawled up and out. It paused and gave me a long look and started twitching its nose. Something else, I thought. This thing with animals, what is it?

  I gazed into its little eyes and remembered how my momma used to talk with animals; she said the Druids called it S’Fahn Mier. With a deep breath, I exhaled and attempted *S’Fahn Muir* with the rat, [Are you really trying to talk to me?] It suddenly lurched to one side, then another, then stood up on its hind legs and hunched its shoulders and stared back. I jumped back myself, startled at the sudden reaction and felt a profound sensation I was in its way. Looking down and around me, I got up and stood to one side. Suddenly the rat ran past my feet and disappeared through the hay, and under the wall just two feet away from where I had been sitting.

  That was interesting, I thought, and shook my head to make sure I hadn’t imagined the whole thing. With a touch of self humor I thought, ‘Rat holes in my prison,’ and immediately the combination of the sounds ‘holes in’ made me think of the word Folsom. ‘Folsom,’ I thought? Where did that come from? I walked around the room a minute forming the word in my mouth, then looked up to the ceiling as if that might help.

  A spider was up in a corner and I noticed a splash of blue on its body. Blue? Folsom blue … Folsom Prison Blues … it was a song I used to hear, that the old man of my childhood sang in the old form of Lohngish. I sat against another side of the wall, absently pleased the chain gave me a ten feet range of movement. I’m here in Folsom Prison, I know I can’t be free … but those folks out there are movin’, and that’s what tor-tures me.

  Closing my eyes I could hear him sing, the guitar always with that same dum-tum, dum-tum four count beat. Often I didn’t know what some of the words meant, but momma would listen to him play. They were songs of a world long dead and forgotten, he explained. He sang about being a Honkey Tonk Man, whatever that is, counting flowers on a wall, taking time to smell the roses and eating banana pancakes.

  He had called me Komain Joh a couple of times, why did he do that? Of course, my own birth name was Komain J’Sehf. Was there a hidden meaning I didn’t understand? What had momma told Roveir that one time? J’Sehf was Elvish for Josephus, so where did she get that name from, it wasn’t Elvish? Reaching back I focused and tried to unlock hidden memories. There was a lot I had chosen to forget, could I get them back? And if I could, what good would it do?

  Once after the castle siege, Lexin had caught me alone and grabbed me by the ears. He jerked me around, laughing and calling out, “Spike ears, spike ears.”

  Roveir had come from seemingly no
where, caught and grabbed him by his own ears, and then grabbing him by the collar of his tunic hurled him into the ground.

  “Leave him alone!” Roveir ordered. “You damned spoiled brat. I’ll tan both you and your father’s hides.”

  Roveir ranted about how the family had gone downhill over the years. “There is no respect anymore, for anything or anyone.” After cooling his temper, he had sat down next to me and given me a little wink, “You will outlive him, Komain. You have that advantage. There will be a time when you will have the upper hand. You’ve the bearin’ of a warrior about you. See that you fight for a cause worth fightin’ over, and not just for the sake of fightin’ or power.

  “A ship properly rigged can sail into the wind as well as be pushed by it. What one calls a pirate, another calls a corsair. If you stand by your crew, they will stand beside you. Don’t fight the sea, sail with her.”

  These words came to me all at once. Why? Who was he, really? Could he be my fathe---? I closed my eyes and tried to focus on something else.

  Sure, he threw rocks at pinecones with me and I finally got to where I kind of liked it, and there had been the time I was so sick. He had been the Duke and had kept the bad visits from happening after he had come back … come back from where? He had wanted to talk to me and tell me stories, but I didn’t want to hear. And he really liked my momma.

  I remembered a night when I came in from the outside and he was holding my momma close, forehead to forehead, and she was smiling. He bent down to kiss her, and she kissed him back … No! I jumped up from my seat … NO!

  Clenching my fists I pounded them into the side of my head. Not a damned human! I had to get the thought out of my head. As a species they were vile creatures. They had violated and killed my momma and sister, then sold my twin as an infant.

  “Humans …” I hissed the word, and then banged the front of my head into the side of the wall several times, hard! I had to get rid of the image!

  My guard, one of Sormiske’s retainers whose name was Jinx, suddenly opened the door and demanded, “What’s going on? What did you do to your head, Wolf, you’re bleeding?”

  Leaning my head into my forearm against the wall, I just shook my head without looking at him. ‘Breathe …’ I told myself, ‘… breathe.’ Inhaling deep I tried to rid my mind of everything. Think of the rat, his wiggling nose was kind of funny.

  Jinx just stood there for a minute, “Keep it down, ya hear me? Ya need me to bring something for your head?”

  I just shook my head again, no. He said, “Alright. Just take it easy in here.” And he stepped out, closing the door.

  ___________________________

  Early the next morning Parnell came in with a big plate of food, still steaming hot from the stove. Setting it down on a stool he said, “Hey, Wolf. You better eat up and quick, we’re leaving out real soon.”

  “Huh? I thought we were staying until …”

  “Not anymore. Letcher and Dugan were both killed last night, and Sormiske just found out his priest isn’t coming, after all.”

  Okay, I was fully awake now. Letcher was one of the brigand fellows and Dugan was a retainer. “What happened?” I asked while pulling the lid up from the plate, smelling in two big pieces of beef, scrambled eggs, a pile of potatoes fried in butter and onions, and a couple of biscuits. Parnell had also brought a small pot of tea.

  “The word is all over that Sormiske backed down from Hoscoe in the barn, seems the hostler thought it was the funniest thing he had ever seen.” Without distain he asked, “You’ve always been in a slave camp, haven’t you; born and raised, something like that?”

  My mouth full of beef, I nodded.

  “Well, things like that gets around fast. The story will probably be all across the Phabeon and as far north as Dahruban within a couple of months. Hoscoe is a known man,” Parnell shook his head and laughed, “and for someone to talk tough and then back down like that, it’s the kind of stuff people eat up.”

  He settled himself down with a mug of tea, watching the door he continued, “Out here in the wilderness regions, a person is only as good as his word. And if a person has the reputation of being a coward it kills your credibility. You can survive like that in cities where politics and written contracts are the way of life, but out here … Sormiske comes from Dahruban. As long as you live around the city-state, you are sort of protected by laws, law officers and stuff like that.”

  He stepped out of the door for a moment and looked around, then back into the room. He was in a hurry to talk. Whispering at first he continued, “Sorry chucked up trying to act tough about Hoscoe. A couple of years ago, he just happened to be part of a small party what was attacked by orgs, oh, twenty miles from here into the hills; Hoscoe, I mean. His sword and savvy was responsible for everyone surviving. The whole party was from Kynear.

  “If Hoscoe had turned up dead, whether Sormiske was responsible or not, they would have strung every one of us up. You’ve got to be careful what you say and where, Wolf.

  “Anyway, some of the boys were at the Hairy Dog Tavern drinking and hoping to buy a turn with one of the line girls. The Hairy Dog ain’t exactly in the good part of town. Well, Sorry was upstairs in one of the rooms and he suddenly came out with his face redder than ripe tomatoes. His woman followed him to the top of the stairs laughing her head off, she was trying not to, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Some fellow started laying down hash at him about the stable, and he just up and high tails it out of the tavern while tucking his shirt into his pants. So that makes two strikes of yellow against him in this town.

  “The same fellow was laughing him out when he saw Letcher standing there drinking his tankard. This fellow just up and told Letcher his boss was yellow. When Letcher said nothing, the fellow walked up to him and said he had to be yellow, too, for working with Sormiske. Now, this big fellow was drunk, but it doesn’t matter. Like I said, being a coward is a big deal, and it’s a killing offense to call someone a coward out here.

  “Most men use their hands for work, so fist fighting is rare except for gladiators. When scores get settled, it’s with a blade or club. Letcher grabbed his dagger and just let loose. Next thing you know a big fight was on with our two boys dead.”

  “Were you there?” I asked.

  “Nope. Hestor was, and he told the rest of us who weren’t.”

  I heard the stable door latch open, and with a mouth full of potatoes I quickly darted my eyes to the tack room door, then back to Parnell. He frowned for a moment, got up and moved to the door. Looking at me he smiled and nodded a thank you and said with a tinge of roughness, “Alright, hurry up and eat. We’re leaving in about an hour.”

  Chapter 22

  ________________________

  A WAGON BRINGING Wahyene was driven up to the outside of the stable and he got out. He was the last element of preparation, and he wasn’t happy. I shouldn’t have been surprised, but Yank and Thad were the ones who came in and started getting the wagon ready. Dugan had been Sormiske’s wagon driver, and nobody else was really experienced enough to handle an eight horse team for fast travel. Sormiske had tried to hire ten or eleven people to drive his wagon, but no one wanted any part of him.

  Since Thad was an experienced smith, and Sormiske was worried something might go wrong with the wagon, he took a page from Hoscoe’s book and hired Thad just in case. Getting these two men was an act of eating crow, and Sormiske had to offer a pretty big sum to get their services. It was not that Yank didn’t want to be around that nice wagon, but he intended to make Sormiske pay pretty pence for it.

  As we swung around to leave via one of the side streets, I saw Bernard watching us leave. Where was René, I wondered? As if he could hear my thoughts, from the side of his mouth Yank offered, “René rented him a racing horse. Wanted to take him a long ride.” He said dryly.

  It seemed there were several unfriendly faces watching us leave. Sormiske made sure he was surrounded by his retainers as we rode of town
and hit the trail, driving fast.

  It took us four days of fast moving to reach the port city of Teamon. Up to then I had never seen such a place. There was a wall around the city itself and we had to pass through a big gate. Tall buildings were everywhere, and in the not to distant view was the Phabeon Sea. I could see boats with sails on the water and I could not believe how big some of them were.

  Yank drove to a stable where everyone stood guard as Sormiske went to the docks looking for someone. Hours later he returned and informed us he had acquired lodging for the retainers, Wahyene and himself. Later that evening we would load the wagon’s contents onto the Gracious Lady, a sleek two masted sloop. We would set sail the next morning. Once more, he made it a point to inform Yank and Thad they were no longer needed.

  “Well then, how about our pay?” asked Yank.

  Sormiske hesitated, “You can take a draft off of …”

  “No!” Yank made it clear, “we will take hard money.”

  The whining voice started to rise, “You can take …”

  “We have an agreement. This is Teamon, it will take only a moment to present ourselves to the magistrate and make a case. You want to be held up like that?” Yank asked.

  Sormiske was mad, but he knew he was fairly caught. Blustering he said, “Meet me at the Inez Tavern in two hours.”

  Yank and Thad looked at each other and Yank said with a grin, “We’ll just sort of hang around and make sure you don’t skip out.”

  Flustered, Sormiske turned about and walked off.

  It was Parnell who told me later, “Craiken, Wolf. We were in the tavern and Sormiske was talking to the Lady’s captain when Yank came over and asked what he was going to do with the wagon and team. Sormiske just looked at him and said he didn’t have time to talk with servants. Now, Yank just looked at him and said with this big smile, ‘Good thing, ‘cause we’re businessmen and might be interested in buying it.’