“It is a young gargoyle.” He showed them as he stroked it. They all reached out. It is an odd feeling stroking a skin that feels like warm smooth-hewn stone. “If you are lucky, and find them when they have just been thrown out of the nest they will sometimes accept you and stay with you. If we are lucky we can bring it back to Mousehole with us.”
“Why would you want something that small and ugly to come home with us? It makes Aziz look like Verily.”
“Gargoyles will eat most meat,” said Christopher, in the tone of a teacher, “but what they love to eat are demons and many other evil creatures. When they are found, many in the Church try and tame them and keep them near their church. Happy and protected is the village that has a church with its own flock of gargoyles living on it to help protect it from the Adversary and his creatures.”
“Let us go back down now. You can see from here that the stair keeps going for a long way still, and we are getting well away from the others. Besides I want to look after…” he lifted his hand to peer at the gargoyle more closely, “Her. I will wager that her parents left her here on the stairs to feed off the Moonshadows and quietly grow. She wouldn’t get much to eat off them, but she is only small, and she could fill up on bats.” Christopher returned to chanting as they went back down, and he stroked the gargoyle as he walked.
Rani
Nothing has moved into the old throne room, and the path back to the treasure and the books is clear. The hard work of loading began. After a while Kãhina, who was outside on guard, called and they all looked up and grabbed their weapons, running back out to where she stood.
Christopher is approaching us, and he has set up a continuous chant. Are we being threatened? I cannot see a threat. The other three are approaching us at a walk across the wide room and Christopher seems to be holding something.
“It is all right,” called Theodora. “The Father has found a pet he is trying to keep with us.” They all gathered around, and as he stroked the small ugly beast Christopher explained what it was. On his hand, the tiny creature opened and closed its eyes…almost as golden as Theo-dear’s, but slit vertically like a cat’s. Christopher transferred it to his saddle horn, and it opened and closed its wings and yawned before seeming to go to sleep.
“I think that she has accepted me,” he said. “Now,” he continued cheerfully, “on that good omen, let us all get to work.”
The business of transferring the treasure began. The remaining books were taken first. Although probably of least value, they also had the potential to be of the most use, even though many were almost completely rotted. The first load was taken down to the cart.
In light of the presence of another Moonshadow, either Theo-dear or I should be with the horses as they move, and seeing that Christopher assures me that the gargoyle will be proof against the unseen menace here, the other should stay with the cart.
The cart rapidly filled up. They had brought some boxes for treasure, but only gems and coins were put in them. The bulky objects, things like ceremonial light sticks (their spells expired after so long without maintenance), the weapons of the Masters, and other objects such as goblets and plates, were to just ride on top of the load, or were just casually stuck down the sides wherever they would fit.
It has taken us three trips to fill the cart. When the saddlebags are all full as well, there is still some treasure left. Rani looked at it. “We have more than enough. We have all the gems, all the jewellery, and all that is left is only gold. Fill your pouches with as much of it as you wish. We will leave the rest of it for the Dwarves.”
It had been a hard day, and when they had re-joined the cart, she looked around at everyone and then said: “We are all tired, but I do not want to sleep inside here—or anywhere inside really. There could still be a lot to harm us here. I think that we will go and camp outside near the doors, and start out for home early in the morning.”
Chapter XX
Astrid
7th Duodecimus
There are two problems that Rani forgot about. One doesn’t matter, the slavers are not going anywhere, and the women of the village do enjoy going to feed and taunt them. The bigger problem is presented by the three females that the slavers brought with them. How are they to fit in?
It is obvious that, regardless of what else is decided on, the child will stay. She is only five years old and quite sweet. I had thought that Fear was stuck with a bad name, but Repent of This Thy Wickedness is an even worse thing to have as a name, and surely a cruel irony for a child destined to come to this place.
Still, Repent is a biddable and well-behaved girl, and Eleanor and Robin have already taken her into their flock. She was shocked by the way the children run around in kilts, but after a couple of weeks, she has a kilt of her own and only blushes if she sees a man when she is in it.
Luckily, we have few enough men, and during the day they are busy…even more so as the pregnancies continue to show. It seems that either Christopher is very good with that bless spell, or the men of Mousehole really do want to breed like their namesakes. It has become apparent that only the unattached women remain without child.
Make Me To Know My Transgressions, the grown girl from the Brotherhood, is another matter. For a start, she insists on being called by her full name and does not answer to the short form. What is more, she does not believe what she has been told about her planned fate as a slave of the bandits.
To keep her behaving the slavers had treated her well, and her master, when he had sold her, told her she was being taken to be a slave to a Prince in the mountains, and that once she was there, she would care for his children. She even helped keep an eye on the other two to stop them running away.
The girl is obviously not right in the head. She not only still believes in the religion that she has been brought up in, but she has decided that we are deliberately keeping her away from the family she is supposed to care for. Twice now, we have caught her trying to free the slavers.
Verily has tried to convince her of her error, but Make does not believe her. In an attempt to show her how wrong she is, Verily even got Fear, while Valeria held on to her, to tell her story. Fear ended up in tears and crying for her mummies, and it took a week before Valeria would even talk to Verily. Make didn’t budge in her opinion.
She has her belief and what she believes is more important than anything she might be shown. She is scandalised by the way the children dress, and often has to be stopped from upbraiding Repent. She has refused to go to school with Ruth. “It is not right for slave women to learn more than things they will need about the house. Your master, or the preachers, will tell you all you need to know,” she said haughtily.
I would have laughed at that, if it had not been said so seriously. Verily did laugh, but that only made my cause harder and Make more obstinate.
I give up on the girl. I had heard the expression beautiful but dumb before, but have never seen it so well expressed. The stupid girl insists on keeping the clothes that she arrived in and refuses to wear any others. She still wears a triangular linen head cloth the whole time.
Astrid finally agreed with Sajãh that there was nothing to be done until the Princesses returned. The only thing they insisted on was that she had to attend Father Theodule’s services and listen, even if she neither sang nor took communion.
She sits there with either a grim or a sulky expression the whole time, usually sitting between Verily and me. Occasionally, I hear her muttering about idolatry or corruption. Mostly we just leave her out of sight working in the kitchens; at least she works hard. She seems happy to stay away from the ‘wickedness and sinfulness,’ as she calls it, that lies outside the door.
We do, however, have to make sure that the keys to the cells stay with whoever is on watch, instead of just hanging up where they usually are, and she is not allowed to go near the prisoners.
The third newcomer is
a girl from Greensin called Maria. She is fifteen years old and unsure whether she wants to go or to stay in the valley. She wants to know if her family, who had just set up a new assart, are still alive. The slavers refuse to talk about the subject. That refusal alone makes me think that they are dead. If they are still alive, then she will go back to them.
Finding out if they live will also have to wait until the return of the Princesses…well actually for the return of Bianca. I have tried to prepare the slavers by telling them about Bianca, and her previous successes, and what she uses to get information. Until she can find out her fate, Maria is happy to work with Naeve doing the milking. She is used to that task.
Naeve is very glad for the help. While she can still work on the cows, it is getting harder for her to reach down to milk the sheep and the goats. She wants a bench and a crush to be made so that she can lead them up and get them to stand on it to be milked, but we need all of our cured timber for houses first.
Chapter XXI
Thord
16th Duodecimus
Dwarves from the other towns of the North-East were the first to start arriving: Baron Ironfist of Deafcor, Mayor Stronghand of Diamondroot and Baron Cnut Stonecleaver of North Hole were soon there. Each had brought a hand of hands of Dwarves with them.
Smasher has started to grumble about the cost of feeding and caring for them all, as if he didn’t have the taxes from their towns coming in to his purse. He has never given them much in return for their taxes before. Maybe he should start to. That was a particularly loud complaint, and I don’t want them to leave yet, so I think that it is time to publicly show the power of Mousehole.
He looked around…yes there were more than enough people in the hall for the word of what he was about to do to spread around well…and reached into his purse, and did some silent counting in it. He stood up and waited until the Dwarves in the room were all looking at him. A nice solemn tone then.
“If it be t’much for some t’spend, let t’Princesses of Mousehole not only find Dwarvenholme for t’Dwarves, but let ’em also pay for t’eir return in triumph.” He went up and, one by one, with a clicking sound as each was put down, laid out ten large, but light, round mithril pieces on the table in front of the Duke.
Rather let Dwarvenholme pay with these ten ancient tólf-pundr from the treasure that we found. None of the Dwarven towns made tólf-pundr today, and, despite the hardness of the metal, only a few worn coins were left from the old days and those mostly sat in the town treasuries or were traded between them at need.
My reward is seeing the expression on your face, and hearing behind me the younger Dwarves being told excitedly that each one of them is worth twelve platinum pundr, or one hundred and forty-four tólf-skillingr of gold. The last is a coin that people are more familiar with hearing about, even if very few would have held one of their own.
What I have laid out on the table is more than enough coin to feed a whole large village well for a year or more. Thord looked around at everyone’s faces. I have to remember to tell Astrid about this moment. It is almost as good as when he had brought out the Crown. Seeing Smasher’s face alone has been worth the money. He has accepted the coin, but his authority will never be quite the same again. Even in his own town, my suggestions will be listened to. Thord grinned widely.
It was another two weeks before a delegation came in from the Dwarves of the North-West. They had travelled hard and fast, but the delegation only had five hands of Dwarves in it, even if it was led by Count Snorri Trueheart, the ruler of Copperlevy itself. “The Duke is worried about talk of war outside the mountains to the west,” said the Count to Thord and Smasher. “Without seeing the Crown, he does not quite believe the courier.”
The Count took one look at the Crown, and sent one of his men back immediately, without even a night’s sleep. I must be getting better at this story. After hearing the story from me he sent another after the first.
With each new set of arrivals, Thord repeated his story again. I am getting practiced and better. I thought that those who first heard it would be tired of it by now, but the story of the finding of Dwarvenholme seems to be a tale which no Dwarf will ever weary of.
He actually found himself cornered by two bards at one stage. Both wanted to hear the story over and over, again and again. One was trying to write a cycle of songs about it, while the other was memorising the tale in every detail to be made into an epic poem. They seem to have reached some sort of agreement over who would have each of the tasks.
The Dwarves began debating whether to go without a delegation from the South-West and it looked like the Duke was going to exert the last of his authority to force the move when, remembering what Rani had asked him to do, Thord stood and said, “T’is is t’return of t’Dwarves to our traditional city of Dwarvenholme. All of t’Dwarves should be represented. I’ll not go without ’em. We’ll wait.”
I have amazed myself at my boldness. Before my adventures, I would scarce have spoken like that before my parents. Now, I am telling my old Duke, a Count, two Barons and a Mayor what to do. And they listened to me—quietly and without demure—and several nod in agreement with what I said.
Astrid will be proud of me. I just wish that, instead of having to get drunk with another person’s wife and boast of my deeds, I could do so with my own, but my mother has said that it will be a year or even far more than that before she found the right one for me. The word will not even have reached all the Dwarves yet, and she is just starting to get letters of interest from local parents, and is still a long way from interviewing any of the potential brides that the letters talk about.
Chapter XXII
Rani
1st Duodecimus
The start back home ran into trouble the moment that they had to leave the platform and start down to the road. The horse had to be unhitched from the cart and everyone had to handle the vehicle down to the roadway.
It has taken us three days to cover a distance of less than a bowshot as we inch down the rocky slope. It is lucky that the dragon did not appear and that nothing has attacked us. It does not bode well for the rest of the return trip. I had not expected such difficulties.
Goditha is not happy. She is continually concerned with the state of the cart and had to reinforce one of the sides on the second night after the load shifted. “Why didn’t you just make three or four trips back to Mousehole with the horses?” she asked crossly.
I am starting to ask myself the same question, but I cannot really admit that. I should have realised how bad the trip would be from what we had dodged around on the last trip. Bianca was the only one of us really familiar with using a cart, and on the way back she had been…distracted and none of the others knew enough to have advised me. I will make sure I don’t make that mistake again.
Goditha
2nd Duodecimus
Eventually we are on the road and heading back. Despite us having a clearer path this time; and riders going ahead to clear more obstacles, the increased weight in the cart on the old and decayed road makes it a far slower trip. I am pleased that I brought so many tools with me.
She was even more pleased when, as they tried to get around a huge fallen forest giant, one that they had decided was too big and too new to chop through, a wheel broke.
I have never tried to make and replace a single spoke on a wheel before and I suddenly have three of them to do. I am glad that I spent time before the forge with Norbert, as I first had to remove the iron rim and, now the spokes are replaced, put it back on. It looks like making the spokes is the easy part. Fixing the wheel and getting around that particular tree took five days.
Rani
31st Duodecimus
It looks like the nine days that it took on their first trip to Dwarvenholme for this leg, instead of being slower due to caution and hiding from the dragon that had been trying to find them, is going t
o be far quicker than we can travel now. This trip is going to take us at least four weeks.
I wonder where the Dwarves are, and if Thord has been able to delay them enough. The Year of the Water Dog turned into the Year of the Water Lizard somewhere along the way. The change went almost unremarked by them in its passage.
Chapter XXIII
Thord
27th Primus, the Year of the Water Lizard
Eventually, the Dwarves of the south-west did arrive, tired and dusty from their summer travel. They had force-marched the whole way. Unlike the Dwarves from the North-West, these Dwarves were happy to believe the tales. We have both of the Barons from there, Bjorn Strikefast and Hrolfr Strongarm. They had left their villages, and each had brought many Dwarves with them, in all three hands of hands.
With over two hundred Dwarves, this was more than the other rulers combined and caused Smasher to call in more Dwarves from his lands to go along. He hadn’t been worried about the numbers, and had been preparing to leave immediately, until I casually mused to him about why there were so many who had come here from the South-West. I admit that I had to hide my smile at the reaction.
After some time, they were ready to leave. It had been many years since this many Dwarves had set out together in a host, with Shepherds riding ahead, and pack sheep and horses with supplies travelling along with them. As they approached Mouthguard, Thord rode there ahead of the rest to prepare the way.
Mellitus must have somehow received word of our approach. He is very nervous about this many Dwarves together, and damn him, insists on sending a patrol ahead of us to ensure that we turn off the road as we promised to do. Even then, he will only allow twenty Dwarves at a time to pass through his little fort. I am not pleased with that.
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