Kelven's Riddle Book Five

by Daniel Hylton

  Thaniel shook his great head.

  “Aram,” he said. “My king, my brother, my friend.”

  Surrendering once more to mirth for which Aram could discern no cause, the great horse shook his head and mane yet again.

  Then, gaining control, he looked at Aram with his enormous eyes gleaming from the effects of high good humor. “You would seek permission from me, my lord? Why?”

  He looked around him, at the great body of water to his east, and then back toward the immense grass-covered hills that rolled away to the west. “All of this is yours, my friend,” he told Aram. “You are king of all the earth, remember? You seek permission from no one for any action that you may wish to take. Certainly, you should seek nothing from me, for even if such a thing were within my ability to grant or deny, I would deny you nothing.”

  Aram narrowed his eyes and looked at him sharply. “Despite my promise to act as monarch,” he stated, with a hint of irritation coloring his words, “I will never infringe upon that which rightly belongs to others.” He swept his hand behind him, indicating the broad land, greening up with the advent of spring. “This is yours, my friend, every mile of it, from north to south, and east to west, and ever will be, just as it was your father’s before you.” He bent his sharp gaze closer. “If you truly insist upon granting my words and wishes the power of decree, my friend – then, hear this.”

  He rose up to his height and spoke with solemn gravity. “I hereby decree that no man may ever dwell, certainly may never build a house or other permanent structure, upon that region of the earth known as The High Plains of the Horses, without the express permission of the Lord of All Horse, Thaniel the Brave.”

  With only the hint of a smile tugging at the edge of his mouth, he looked over at Thaniel. “Does that satisfy?”

  The horse gave himself over to mirth once more, but as his laughter died away, he looked at Aram curiously. “Are you serious in this, my lord?”

  “Unquestionably,” Aram replied.

  Thaniel turned his bulk until he faced Aram squarely. “Then, my king, if it pleases you to do so – I pray thee, construct a house upon that ridge so that you may come here every summer and spend many a pleasant afternoon and evening with him who counts you as his greatest friend and only brother.”

  The suggestion of the smile upon Aram’s face went away, and he inclined his head soberly. “Thank you, Lord Thaniel,” he said.

  They camped that night upon a low ridge a hundred yards west of the sea and rose before dawn and went down to the shore. While Thaniel dipped his nose into the water, Aram watched the sky brighten behind the jagged, raw horizon of the eastern mountains beyond the sea, and sighed.

  Turning away and looking into the west, where the shadows of twilight wrestled for supremacy with the growing power of the dawn, he said, “I suppose we should get back and see what those two clever men have decided. Then,” he sighed once more, “there is much to do elsewhere – and I must see it done.”

  Backing away from the shore, Thaniel looked at him and then gazed into the gloom of the northern reaches of the high plains. “When will you commission them to build the home we discussed yesterday, my lord?”

  Aram shook his head. “Not soon, I fear. There is much to do elsewhere that is more pressing,” he answered. “Much.”

  They reached the edge of the forest south of Rigar Pyrannis while the sun was yet two hours in the sky. Nikolus and Timmon sat on a log upon the brow of the low hill where they’d made their camp, heads bowed over a piece of parchment on which, from time to time, one or the other of them would scribble a correction or suggestion.

  Timmon looked up as Aram dismounted. His eyes were grave. “It will take the better part of this year, my lord – certainly all of this summer season – to accomplish a crossing of the chasm. Maybe, in fact, longer than that.” He indicated the monstrous tangle of growth before him. “It will be constructed necessarily of wood, and none of these trees are usable. We need good straight trees, of rather extensive height from which we can construct girders and supports for the main frame of the bridge.”

  He lifted his hand once more to the jungle before him. “These – impressive in size – are far too twisted and bent for our needs.”

  Aram nodded and lifted his eyes to the west. “There are stands of great firs upon the eastern slopes of those mountains, some of enormous size,” he suggested.

  Nikolus stood and inclined his head in agreement. “Yes,” he affirmed, “and we will have to cut them there, trim them, and bring them here. But that is not the greatest challenge,” he stated, and then waited for Aram to question this statement.

  Aram looked from one to the other. “What is the worst of it?”

  Nikolus glanced at Thaniel before responding. “In order to span the chasm,” he said, “we must do so in two sections, and we estimate that it measures more than one hundred feet across. It will be necessary to construct the near side first, rendering it stable, and then creating a temporary bridge over the remainder in order to move men and material to the other side to build the opposing half of the bridge.”

  He paused again, casting another sharp glance at Thaniel.

  “Go on,” Aram told him. “Explain the difficulty.”

  “As I stated, my lord,” Nikolus continued, “the chasm extends for more than a hundred feet. The trees we will require must be quite long – and consequently will be very heavy. Then – there is that thick growth that covers the street which allows access from the open plains to the chasm. It must be cut down and removed, and the way made clear, if we are to be able to move the necessary materials to the site.”

  “We will have to construct towers upon which to anchor the near side of the bridgework,” he continued, “and to lower the braces down upon the wall of the chasm which will stabilize the southern half of the bridge, once it is constructed, while we move men and material across a temporary walkway to the chasm’s northern side.” He spread his hands wide. “All of this work will require vast amounts of brute strength – strength which, I fear, cannot be provided by men and oxen alone.”

  Once more, he hesitated, glancing yet again at Thaniel. When the pause lengthened and a frown came and deepened upon Aram’s face, Jared, who had stood to the side, abruptly snorted and moved forward. He did not address Aram but spoke to his cousin.

  “They will need the aid of our people,” he told Thaniel. “This is that which my friend hesitates to say. Oxen will not suffice to move such large timbers from the western mountains, nor will they supply the necessary strength to remove the ancient growth from the way that leads into the city. They will require the aid of many strong horses.”

  As the nature of the obstacle to his engineers’ task became clear to Aram, he also turned to look at Thaniel. “I would not ask this of you, my friend,” he said quietly, “unless my need was great.”

  Thaniel swung his head and looked back at him. The low rumble of his good humor resounded inside Aram’s mind. “You need not look so serious, my lord. My people have ever stood with yours since the forging of the great alliance between Ram and Boram. Do you not remember that which my father told you in the abandoned town far off to the south?”

  Aram nodded. “He stated that your people had aided Joktan in building the road from Lamont into Seneca. He said this in the abandoned town where we came upon the image of the great horse at the eastern edge of the Lost.”

  “Just so,” Thaniel replied. Swinging his head the other way, he looked at Nikolus and Timmon. “When will you need the aid of our people?”

  Nikolus looked at Timmon who gave the reply. “Soon,” he said. “It will take a matter of some weeks to gather men to do the work of cutting and preparing the trees, and to clear the road into the city, but we hope to complete the construction of Lord Aram’s bridge by the end of summer. Soon,” he repeated. “Very soon.”

  Thaniel swung his head further, to focus upon Jared. “I leave it with you, cousin,” he said, “for you will accompan
y Nikolus in that which he does while I must go with the king. Find those that are willing from among our people and tell them what is needed.”

  Aram inclined his head to the horses. “Thank you, my friends.” Then he looked at Nikolus and Timmon. “As Thaniel stated – we will leave it with you.”

  The Journeying Forth of the King

  Wallensia, the Lashers, and Duridia

  Though Mae was barely more than a year old, the child was strong and healthy. Aram was anxious to go forth and see to the governance of his kingdom, and he wished not to be separated from his wife and child. Besides, Ka’en was now queen as much as he was king, and the people would wish to see her and come to know her.

  Several regions of his newly-formed realm, such as Duridia, Lamont, and Seneca had for some time been well-governed. Elam, the greatest and richest principality of them all, was now in capable, sure hands in the person of young Marcus. Wallensia, though much of it was still shattered by the many years spent under the boot of the grim lord, would, under Findaen’s strong guidance, undoubtedly rise again. Other regions, however, such as Aniza and the great plains in the west, and Bracken in the north, lay in ruins, and he intended to begin the restoration of those parts of his kingdom as soon as was possible.

  He meant to visit the more established parts of his realm to find leaders willing to go and aid those regions in climbing up out of the mire of centuries of servitude and ruin. To that end, he meant to journey almost constantly from these, the first weeks of spring, until the end of autumn. And he intended to take his family with him. Journeys of such length and breadth would require that they move quickly across the face of the earth, so there would necessarily be no oxcarts employed in the movements of him and his family; they must travel on horseback.

  He had spoken of this difficulty to Arthrus in the previous autumn. Once again, the highly-skilled iron monger had come up with a solution, though it actually made no use of iron or steel at all, but rather was constructed of wood and cloth.

  As Huram was now the official mount of the queen, Arthrus had measured the horse, especially about his front quarters, in particular determining the length of his neck, and the width of his back. Then he had constructed an ingenious device, a sort of basket that was fitted to the front of Huram’s saddle. The basket, comprised of cloth and just the right size to hold a child, was suspended from two opposing x-braces by stout leather thongs.

  The result of this clever construct was that Mae, rocked back and forth in gentle fashion by Huram’s movement along the road, could sleep while the horse went forward at whatever speed suited Ka’en. Upon seeing this device demonstrated by his wife and child, as Huram cantered along the avenue, Aram was confident that he could now go forth and visit the larger part of his realm before winter prevented travel once more.

  Yvan had gone into the east with Matibar and Yerba had died along with his rider during the cavalry’s action in the Great Battle, but Thaniel found two young horses, named Keth and Caulyer, which he recruited to bear the temporary housing and supplies for Aram and his family.

  They headed southward across the green hills, where spring was busily pushing new life up through the leaf-carpeted earth and out the ends of the sap-swollen limbs of the trees. Coming down onto the plains, they went first to the east and into Derosa, where Aram found the tailor, Suven, and requested the construction of a large replica of the king’s horsehead standard. Then he sent a thought skyward, summoning Alvern.

  “Have Palus find Captain Keegan, wherever he may be upon the ocean,” he instructed the eagle, “and bring him to Durck within the next two weeks, if possible.”

  Then, while waiting for Suven’s work to be completed and comprehending Ka’en’s desire to visit with friends she had not seen since the previous summer and to show her daughter to the many admirers, Aram stayed for three days and spent his time discussing practical matters of governance and restoration with Findaen.

  After promising him that the full restoration of the bridges across the Broad at Stell would be next on Nikolus and Timmon’s agenda upon the completion of their work on the high plains, Aram listened to Findaen describe how many of the farmers had given up their assigned plots in the valley of the Weser. With the advent of a sure and permanent peace, they had gone back out onto the plains to rebuild old farmsteads and to plow large portions of the prairie into fertile fields once more.

  Rober had come east of the Broad as he had told Aram he would do, but upon hearing that the grim lord had been destroyed, had changed his mind and gone back over the wide current to more familiar ground.

  All up and down the Broad, on both banks of that mighty stream, the earth prepared to offer up her bounty even as the idea of freedom took root, grew, and blossomed in the hearts of the men and women that labored over her.

  On the morning of the fourth day, anxious to take advantage of the continuing fine weather, Aram informed Ka’en that it was time to move on into the south.

  He then went to look for Findaen, to bid him farewell.

  Findaen was nowhere to be found.

  An hour later, as Aram and Arthrus were loading the two young horses with supplies at the ironmonger’s workshop, hooves sounded upon the road. Aram turned to look down the track that led toward town.

  Findaen came up the dirt track on Andaran. Behind him, Hilgarn and four other men, all dressed in uniforms of crimson and gold, like the colors of the horse-head standard that Hilgarn bore at the end of a staff suspended above his head, approached. Behind them there were four more horses lacking riders.

  As Andaran slid to a stop, Findaen grinned down at Aram.

  “Your wife – the queen – has been busy yet again, my lord.”

  Aram frowned. “What is the meaning of this?”

  “Lady Ka’en,” Findaen said, “believes that the king should not travel the length and breadth of his kingdom unescorted – and I concur with that judgment.” He indicated the mounted men behind him. “Hilgarn, you know, of course. These men are Brandan, Rayn, Finn, and Paual, and their mounts are Garsia, Silich, Kritap, and Fasr. All rode with the cavalry and were heavily engaged in the fighting when the lashers broke through Donnick’s lines. They are all of them trustworthy and anxious to serve you in this capacity, my lord.”

  Aram inclined his head to the five men and horses. “I thank all of you for your service to your people and your homelands,” he stated solemnly. Then he turned back to Findaen. “I understand that this is Lady Ka’en’s wish,” he told him, “but I have no time to gather more supplies and make provision for lodging these men while we are upon the road.”

  Findaen grinned and glanced at Arthrus, who smiled broadly. Then he indicated the four riderless horses. “My lord, meet Lenad, Divad, Wetham, and Surcam. They are young and without riders, and have gladly volunteered to bear whatever is required on your journey.”

  “I thank you,” Aram acknowledged the horses, and then once more he turned to Findaen as his frown deepened. “There is still the matter of supplies.”

  In response, Findaen looked over at Arthrus, whose smile broadened further.

  Turning toward his shop, Arthrus threw wide the door. There, lying upon the floor in neatly bound heaps were four double- slung packs, sized to fit upon a horse’s back. “Your Lady left nothing undone, my lord,” Arthrus stated, looking back at Aram. “There remains only to secure these to the horses, and you will be ready.”

  Aram shook his head, but the frown left his features to be replaced by a smile. He looked at Arthrus, and then at Findaen, and then at the others. “We will leave within the hour,” he told them.

  Not wishing to brave the ferry and current of the Broad so early in the year, when it ran high and rough around the low islands, especially with Mae in her basket at the front of Huram’s saddle, Aram led the troop instead along the edge of the green hills. Angling up through the forested slopes above the headwaters of the mighty stream, he led them around the massive spring where the main source of that great riv
er welled up from the earth, and thence down the western bank.

  Moving as quickly as he dared, by early afternoon he had passed through Rober’s village, pausing for a few minutes to speak with the young village elder, and then had moved beyond the next village to the south.

  As his company was larger than he had anticipated, and no routine had yet been established for setting up camp at eventime, he halted while the sun was yet more than an hour in the sky, bringing the company to a halt where a clear stream flowed out of the hills toward the river. But the chore of preparing the camp went better than he had hoped, for the men that accompanied him had gone into the north with the army and were all veteran campaigners.

  The next day, they made Stell just before mid-day. After an hour spent looking through the abandoned city, in an effort to judge the extent of the ancient capital’s destruction and what might best be done to start it on its way to restoration, Aram went back westward, crossed northward over the Stell and moved upstream along it. As they went, he stopped briefly at each village to monitor the progress of people newly set free from slavery and to inquire as to any needs they might have. Then he went west as the day waned, looking for a shallow place where he could affect a crossing to the south bank.

  That evening found them camped on the southern side of the Stell, in a small copse of trees a few miles across the prairie from that stream.

  Aram had his sights fixed next upon Panax. He meant to keep his promise made to Hargur to come and check on him and his companions, and to discover whether in fact the three lashers had managed to find their way to the ancient abandoned city.

  The next morning they went due south, toward the dark green band on the horizon that grew and expanded and gradually resolved itself into a mighty forest. Swinging further east in order to avoid the marshes that bordered the streams that came out of the hills to the west and flowed slowly northward toward the Stell, Aram entered this great forest before mid-day and found the remains of the old road, where he turned westward.