Once upon a Spring morn ou-2

by Dennis L McKiernan

  And from somewhere, nowhere, everywhere, came the sound of weaving looms.

  29

  Conundrums

  Roel bowed and Celeste curtseyed, and Urd cackled and said, “Had you fooled, didn’t I?” She made a vague, one-handed gesture, and the graves and gibbet vanished.

  “Oh, my,” said Celeste, “with those things gone, we did not do a true service for you.”

  “Heh! Nonsense, child. It is what is in your heart that counts, whether or no the need is real or illusory, vital or trivial, large or small. In this instance, Celeste, your heart was filled with rage at an injustice done, and sorrow for the victims of it, and the need to do something.” Urd turned to Roel and added, “And in your heart, Chevalier, you felt a momentary twinge of guilt, for you and your own lover are not married either, but o’erwhelming all, you felt the same rage and sorrow, and the need to seek out the perpetrator and exact vengeance.

  Yet, my boy, you need to take care when dealing out retribution, for such passions unbridled will blacken a heart.”

  “You can truly read what is in our hearts?” asked Celeste, wonder in her gaze.

  “Oh, Princess, that is but a simple thing. This I do know: you two are deeply in love. . fortunately with one another.” Urd hooted in laughter, her ebon eyes dancing in glee.

  When she finally stifled her joy she turned to Roel and said, “You, my boy, are yet certain that you-a mere chevalier-are not worthy of a princess, yet I tell you this princess knows you are. Set aside your doubts, Roel, for it is not station that determines merit, but heart and soul and spirit and deeds: the very fiber of your being.” Celeste looked at Roel, her heart in her eyes, and she said, “Oh, my love, did I not say it was so?”

  “You did, cherie, you did. Yet I. .” Roel fell into silence, as if strong emotions blocked his words.

  “Heh,” chortled Urd, “my sisters said he was a catch.” Roel looked at Urd, a frown on his face. “Lady Doom, I did not see or speak with your sisters, yet you appear before me. Why is that?”

  Urd waggled a finger at Roel, saying, “Now, now, Chevalier, don’t you recall railing that we Three Sisters never answer something straight out?” Roel’s eyes widened in startlement, and Urd smiled a gummy grin at Celeste. “Didn’t know I was listening, did he?”

  “My lady, why have you come?” asked Celeste.

  “Begging for a straight answer yourself, are we? Well, you know the second rule: first you have to answer a riddle.”

  “Might Roel help this once?”

  “Of course, of course. Why do you think I let him see me? Silly girl.” And again she crowed a laugh.

  Celeste reached out and took Roel’s hand in hers, then said, “Ask away, Lady Doom.”

  Urd looked from Celeste to Roel and back, and as the sound of looms swelled, she said:

  “It can run but never walks,

  Has a mouth but never talks,

  Has a head but never weeps,

  Has a bed but never sleeps,

  When it tumbles, always grumbles, Never bumbles when it rumbles,

  Ever shouts in heady falls,

  But mostly murmurs soothing calls, At times wanders o’er wide fields Wholly ruining crofters’ yields, Sometimes savage, sometimes mild, Sometimes placid, sometimes wild, Now I end this riddle game.

  Can you give me this thing’s name?” Celeste’s heart sank, but Roel gently squeezed her hand and said, “Lady Doom, given the manner in which you couched the riddle, I could answer by simply saying,

  ‘No.’ ”

  Urd clapped her hands and cackled in glee and hopped about in a small jig step and said, “Exactly so, Chevalier! Exactly so.”

  Celeste frowned and said, “But I don’t understand.” Roel smiled. “The last line of the riddle asks, ‘Can you give me this thing’s name?’ That question can be answered with a yes or a no. The name itself is not the riddle, but the question at the end is.” He turned to Urd and added, “But my true answer, Lady Doom, is, ‘Yes, I can give you the name.’ ”

  “But you don’t have to,” said Urd, still grinning.

  Frustrated, Celeste said, “Oh, Roel, tell me. Please, I want to kn- Oh, it’s a river, isn’t it?” Roel broke out in laughter. “Oui, cherie. River it is.” Urd squinted an eye and pointed a knobby finger at Celeste and said, “And you think you are not good with riddles? My dear, you have answered all three: mine, Verdandi’s, and Skuld’s.”

  “But I didn’t say ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ to the question,” said Celeste. “Instead I spoke the name; hence did I or did I not answer the riddle?”

  Urd smiled somewhat enigmatically and said, “Give it some thought, my dear.” She glanced at the sky and said, 244 / DENNIS L. MCKIERNAN

  “But now we have little time left, and I have come here to provide you aid.”

  Roel sighed. “A puzzling rede, Lady Doom?”

  “That, and a vision and a gift,” answered Urd.

  “A vision?”

  “Oui. But first the rede.”

  And as the thud of batten and the clack of shuttle swelled, Urd glanced along the duskwise crossroad and intoned:

  “To triumph in the Changeling realm, Shift to a different trail.

  You must take the sinister path; Find the gray arrow or fail.

  Creatures and heroes and the dead Will test you along the way.

  Ever recall what we Three said,

  To fetch the arrow of gray.”

  “Shift to a different trail?” protested Roel. “But we are just two twilight borders from-”

  “Hush!” snapped Urd, glancing at the diminishing dusk, growing darker with the onrush of night. “There is no time for this tomfoolery. Instead, step closer and. .

  see.”

  With nought but a whispered word, a dark basin appeared in her hands, and it was filled with an ebon liquid. Celeste and Roel moved to stand before her.

  “Peer into my farseeing mirror,” said Urd.

  The princess and her knight looked into the blackness, yet only glittering reflections of emergent stars above did they see.

  “Lady Doom,” said Roel, “there is nought to-” Ripples disturbed the surface, the reflected stars dancing in the flux.

  “I said hush, Chevalier. Now both of you, clear your minds.”

  Again Roel stared within the basin, and slowly an image began to form. It was. . it was. . two figures. .

  two men. Gradually they came into focus. Roel gasped, then whispered, “Laurent. Blaise.” The likenesses wavered and began to fade, and Roel clamped his lips shut and stilled his breathing.

  With his silence the images strengthened, and Roel saw that they had grimaces on their faces and they were drawing their swords, as if readying for battle, yet to Celeste it seemed they were smiling and sheathing their swords, as of a battle finished.

  Of a sudden the likenesses vanished, as did the basin, and Urd looked again at the darkening dusk, for night was nearly upon them.

  “Here,” she said, “you will need this,” and she held forth her hand to Celeste, something gripped within.

  The princess reached out, and Urd dropped the gift into Celeste’s palm, and as the sound of looms swelled Urd said, “I will tell you one more thing, and it is this: left is right, but right a mistake; you will fail if the wrong path you take.”

  And now the rack of shuttle and the thump of batten surged in crescendo. . and then vanished altogether, as did Lady Doom.

  The dusk disappeared as well, for night had fully fallen.

  Staring in bafflement, Celeste peered through the wan starlight at the gift Urd had given.

  It was an obsidian spool of shadowy thread.

  30

  Choices

  Roel slammed a fist into palm. “Shift to a different trail? But we are so close-just two borders to cross-and there are but eight days left before Avelaine will be lost forever. We simply must rescue her ere then.” Celeste reached out and took Roel’s hand and unclenched his fist and smoothed his fingers. “Cheri, we mus
t follow Lady Doom’s counsel. If we do not, we will fail.”

  Roel sighed and nodded. “It’s just that. .” His words trailed off.

  “I know, my love. I know. We’ve come to an unexpected crossroads. Yet the Sisters see what might be, what is passing, and what is nevermore, and so we need to heed their guidance.”

  Roel shook his head and then softly intoned:

  “To triumph in the Changeling realm, Shift to a different trail.

  You must take the sinister path; Find the gray arrow or fail.”

  After long moments of silence, Roel said, “I wonder what this gray arrow is?”

  Celeste shrugged. “Whatever it is, and whatever it is to be used for, we will not succeed without it, and Urd did say that we needed to fetch it. Hence, we must find it.”

  Roel nodded. “I note that when she told us to shift to a different trail, Urd glanced along the road in the direction you name ‘duskwise,’ and ‘sundownward’-a bearing I would call ‘west’-and she did tell us to take the sinister path; and certainly toward sundown is the leftward way from where we stand-here on what I would name the south side of the road-and we stood here when she said it. What does the map say lies in that direction? And will it take us to the Changeling realm in time?”

  “Let us make camp, and then we will look,” said Celeste.

  And so they unladed the geldings and unsaddled the mares and curried and watered and fed them, and they laid out their bedrolls and made a small fire from scrub and an armful of branches gathered from a nearby thicket.

  As they ate, Celeste unfolded the map, and by lantern light and firelight she traced out a path duskward to reach a boundary crossing. “Hmm. . here is what we are to look for at the crossing itself, yet somewhat after the crossing, on a duskward bearing, it is marked Spx, whatever that might mean.”

  She showed the chart to Roel, and he shrugged and said, “I haven’t the slightest notion either. But look, if we keep going sinister, the next crossing after is very close.”

  Celeste stared at the map and blew out an exasperated breath and said, “And just beyond that crossing the chart is marked El Fd and nearly on top of that enigmatic note is Ct Dd. I wonder if El Fd means we are bound for an Elven realm.”

  “Elven realm?”

  “Where live Elves,” said Celeste.

  “Under the hills, you mean?”

  Celeste laughed. “Roel, in Faery some Elves do live under the hills, but others dwell as do we.”

  “I see,” said Roel. “In the mortal realm, though, ’tis said Elves betimes are seen abroad, but for the most they remain under the hills.”

  “A strange notion,” said Celeste. “Still, I wonder about the marking: El Fd. ”

  Roel peered at the map. “Perhaps it refers to an Elven realm as you have guessed, cherie, but what about the Ct Dd right next to it?” Celeste sighed. “I have no idea what that might stand for. Ah, Mithras, why couldn’t whoever made this chart have spelled out the meanings?”

  Roel snorted and said, “Mayhap the cartographer was one of the Fates.”

  Celeste laughed but then sobered. “Take care, love, for they might be listening.”

  Roel turned up a hand and said, “Most likely.” Then he raised his face to the sky and called, “Why couldn’t you have made the map plain?”

  Celeste slapped a hand over her mouth to conceal a smile.

  “Ah, well,” said Roel, “whatever those initials might indicate, we do have a clue:

  “Creatures and heroes and the dead Will test you along the way.

  Ever recall what we Three said,

  To fetch the arrow of gray.”

  “It seems we are to be challenged along the sinister path,” said Celeste. “My bow and long-knife will be ready if they are tests of arms.”

  “And if not?” asked Roel.

  “Then my wits,” said Celeste.

  Roel nodded, and then looked at the map again.

  “Think you we can fetch the arrow and then reach my sister in the eight days remaining?”

  “I cannot say, for there is no scale,” said Celeste, tapping the map. “Still, if the Fates have sent us this way, surely there is a chance.”

  They sat without speaking for long moments, eating waybread and jerky and drinking brewed tea. Finally Celeste said, “Lady Doom gave us one last admonishment ere she vanished: ‘Left is right, but right a mistake; you will fail if the wrong path you take.’ I wonder if she was speaking of these crossroads. Was she warning us to take the left-hand way and not the right?”

  “Another puzzle,” said Roel, “another confusing instruction. Mayhap what she was saying is that we should take the right-hand way, for if left is ‘right,’ but ‘right’ is a mistake, then doesn’t that make ‘left’-that is, the left-hand way-the mistake?”

  Celeste groaned. “I don’t know.”

  “Agh!” spat Roel. “I just had another thought: we were travelling due south-due sunwise-when we came upon Lady Doom. What if the left-hand way, the sinister way, is based on the direction we were going, rather than where we were standing when she gave us the rede? That would make the sinister path be toward the east, dawnwise, sunupward.”

  Celeste’s face fell. “Oh, Roel, do you think that could be so?”

  “I know not, cherie. Regardless, let us see what lies along the road toward dawn,” said Roel. As his finger traced a sunupward route, he mumbled, “Hmm. . PR

  and WT and over here GY. -Argh! That’s no help whatsoever.”

  Celeste shook her head and said, “It all depends on which way one faces as to which of these roads-

  dawnwise, sunwise, duskwise, or starwise-is sinister.

  Yet the road running dawn to dusk is a ‘different trail’

  from the one we were on, hence the one to follow, though in which direction, sunupward or sundownward, there’s the rub.”

  Once again they fell into silence, but finally Roel glanced up into the star-filled night, and said, “Let us sleep on it. I will take first watch.” Celeste pushed out a hand of negation. “Non, love, for if you take first watch, you will let me sleep beyond my due. Instead, I will take ward now.”

  “What’s to say you won’t do the same to me?” asked Roel, a smile flickering at the corners of his mouth.

  Now Celeste peered at the spangled vault above and said, “The sun will rise ten candlemarks hence. I will guard the first five, you the last. -Done?” Roel reluctantly nodded and said, “Done,” and he held her close and kissed her tenderly, and then lay down.

  Celeste listened to Roel’s breath slowing as he fell into slumber, and when he was fast asleep she stood and paced to the horses. They, too, were adoze, and so she returned to the fire and cast a branch thereon.

  And she sat in the warmth and reviewed Lady Doom’s rede as well as Urd’s final message, seeking answers that did not seem to be forthcoming. And slowly her watch passed as she pondered which way to ride on the morrow. Candlemarks eked by, and when she awakened Roel for his turn at ward, she had come to a conclusion. She embraced and kissed him, and as she lay down, she said, “Roel, think on what should be our course from here, and by morn let us see if we agree.”

  “My thoughts exactly, cherie,” said Roel as he saddled his mount. “We must take the sinister path, and I believe we measure sinister from where we stood when Lady Doom spoke her rede. And as to ‘left is right, but right a mistake,’ mayhap it applies here-or not-though I do believe its true meaning is ‘leftward is correct, but rightward is wrong.’ Regardless as to whether that is the proper interpretation, I say we ride toward the west, in the sundown direction.”

  “Oui,” said Celeste, pulling tight the girth strap

  ’round her mare. “Duskwise. Let us find this Spx, whatever that might be. Mayhap ’tis where the gray arrow lies.”

  And so they mounted up, and trailing the packhorses, sundownward they rode.

  “Oh, now I understand,” said Celeste, breaking out of her rumination.

  “Unde
rstand what, cherie?”

  “What Lady Doom meant when she said I was to think on the riddle she posed and the answer I had given.”

  Roel frowned, then cocked an eyebrow.

  “Remember, she told me that I had answered all three riddles: hers, Verdandi’s, and Skuld’s. But I replied that I had said ‘river’ in response to her poser, which was neither a yes nor a no to the question at the end of the riddle. Anyway, she told me to think on it, and I have.”

  Roel smiled. “And what did you conclude?”

  “That I didn’t really have to answer the question, for by merely saying the name, or not being able to, that is answer enough.”

  Roel laughed and said, “Exactly so, cherie. But heed: even a wrong answer resolves the riddle, or rather the question as stated, for if one gives a wrong answer, then that means one’s answer to the question is no.”

  “Hmph,” grunted Celeste. “It’s not much of a riddle if no answer at all as well as any answer-right or wrong-resolves it.”

  “Mayhap that’s the way she planned it,” said Roel.

  “How so?”

  “Love, I think the Fates truly wish to give us guidance, and so they make it as easy as they can without breaking those ‘rules’ they follow.” Roel then shook his head and added, “As to why they would do so, I haven’t a clue, yet I wish they could speak plainly instead of in murky redes.”

  Celeste nodded in agreement, but said, “I believe one of their rules must be that those they help must cipher out the meanings for themselves.”

  Roel nodded and on they fared, heading ever duskward as the sun rode up the sky.

  Nigh midday, Roel said, “To the fore and left, Celeste, a long train of dust.”

  “A caravan, do you think?”

  “Oui. Or the like.”

  Celeste frowned and said, “It is moving starwise and will cross our course. Perhaps we’ll intercept it.” Closer they drew and closer, and Roel said, “Camels.

  It is a long train of camels.”

  “Oh, I’ve heard of them but have never seen such,” said Celeste. “I hope we do cross their path, for I would see a camel.”