Engaging Evil (Warriors of Vhast Book 2)

by Cary J Lenehan

  Eleanor was quick to claim first place, although she thought that one of the women bandits might have some gear they could easily modify for her. “I want to stop guarding caravans and fighting. All that being an armsman got me was ending up here as a slave. Robin and I have started working on a family already.” That caused laughter. “And Father…we want to book the next wedding, and I used to make jewellery at one time and that would be nice to do again, but I think that I might have one more campaign in me before I stop.”

  Despite it not being a festive occasion some of the women are bringing instruments and are taking turns making the meal more pleasant. It looks like this is going to be a Mousehole custom for a while, a communal meal with music. If it makes the place more like a tavern than a house, well, it will be an improvement on my home. No disrespect to the Brother Shield and Mist Home, but it is even a big improvement on our taverns in Wolfneck.

  My necklace…She stood up. “When I was getting dressed for my wedding, someone gave me this,” Astrid said, pulling it from her pouch. “I would like to thank them for the loan of it, it is really and truly beautiful, and I’d like to give it back to them.” Well that caused silence. She looked around. Still just the sound of crickets.

  Eventually Harald, the miner, gave a cough. “We…some of us a least …” he looked around at the villagers, “sort of decided before t’wedding t’at it would be your gift from us. It did belong to Dharmal. He obvious wanted to keep it for when he became king to bribe someone to marry him. Giles is our authority on tales ’n’ such things, ’n’ he tells us t’at it was made here for some ancient king, but it never got to him because of T’Burning or before. Ask him if you want to know more. T’ere is a whole tale outside about it not reaching some lady across the sea.” Giles is nodding.

  “But it is too valuable! I cannot keep it,” said Astrid. “I could buy a ship with this.”

  “You don’t realise just how valuable it is. With t’at you could get enough money to buy your whole village…and all its ships ’n’ everyone in it. If’n we sold it, we would have to cut it up. Nowadays only t’ Princess t’ere’s,” he nodded at Theodora, “ancestor could afford to buy it whole…’n’ it would be a waste to sell it in parts. It were meant as gift original ’n’ seeing how you were our first marriage, we sort of thought t’at it could give us all luck and wealth ’n’ all t’at if, rather t’an keeping it or selling it, we gave it to you ’n’ sort of completed a journey with it. We don’t think you should wear it away from here t’ough. Someone might want to steal it. As it turns out, what could be better, t’ Mice give t’present to t’Cat…’n’ it is not a bell.”

  Surely it is too much…She looked around. The Mice are all nodding. There are smiles on their faces. I give up. “I really don’t know what to say…thank you.” She sat down. I don’t know what to say. I am not really used to getting gifts of any sort and this is way beyond being a normal gift in any way. This is like being a Princess. Her husband gave her thigh a squeeze. And I am married as well.

  Chapter XXII

  Rani

  If I am to be their Princess, does this mean that I have to tell them what to do? She surveyed the tables. Prayers and Mass and breakfast are over, but many are just sitting chatting. Luckily it only takes a few words to send all of them, except for those who already started early, such as the cooks and Naeve, off for their tasks or to see Stefan.

  A short girl with long brown hair and dark brown, come-to-bed, eyes is approaching. She must use makeup even now. What is her name? Valeria—that is it—she wanted to keep dancing last night. Her voice sounds shyer now. “I hate farming and I am only young and I don’t have anything else that is useful to do. I admit that I like to party and to dance and, when we were slaves, I used to spend a lot of time in bed…one way or another. I can use a bow, I know that, but I want something else to do. I can look after things and clean them. I like playing with hair and I used to cut it and look after it for the others. I can use makeup. I can even sew and embroider a little bit, although I am not very good at it…but I can get better. It will be like being in a story being a maid to the Princesses. Please, if you have no-one else as your maid, will you have me?”

  What does my Princess think? She is looking at me. We need someone and this young girl, not a lot older than a child really despite her curves, is their only volunteer so far. I am sure that Theo-dear is thinking the same as me. She will do. We can train her and if she doesn’t learn from us Ayesha or Basil will have words with her. “Thank you,” said Theodora.

  “Can we ask you to start now?” asked Rani. “I am afraid that our room is a mess. We really are not used to looking after ourselves.”

  “I will just see Stefan and tell him that I can use a bow and then go up.” She smiled and gave a curtsey. “Thank you Ladies,” before dashing off.

  Next to come up is a tiny, but well-proportioned woman with black hair, dressed in the fashion of Freehold. She wears a well-worn but once lush dark green velvet gown with, as it seemed all did here, a very low cut top, but she topped it with a matching close fitting square-topped hat that covered most of her hair. “We have not been introduced yet. I am Ruth. I am going to be the teacher here.” She said that with a quiet confidence that most of the women here seem to lack.

  “Why you?” asked a curious Rani.

  “I was a trader and worked as such for a very wealthy merchant, and…well let us just say that I ended up with a lot of spare time and in a house with a large library and teaching his children for a variety of reasons. I think that you will find that I have everything needed…and I venture a lot more than you were expecting. I can teach some music, but I am going to need to learn more myself for that. I can draw, I have Latin, Hindi and Khitan, even a little High Speech. I know poetry, and a little of all the sciences and the geography of the Land. I even love running and will make sure the children have exercise.” She looks smug, reciting her virtues, but then her face darkened. “I ended up here because I was stupid. I should have stayed where I was, even without the man. I enjoyed the teaching, but I thought that I should have love as well. We all learn, but sometimes the lesson is hard and the last three years have been very hard.”

  “Are you happy to teach the women that need to learn to read and write as well?” asked Rani.

  Ruth nodded. “I will, however I need to learn things myself. I will need time for that. You said there is a library. I want access to that…and the book you brought with you.”

  “Agreed,” said Rani.

  “You sound as if you already have more skillsets than many of my teachers at home,” said Theodora. “Sometimes I think that we learnt in spite of them and not because of them…Please round up the children and start…I think you will be able to use the big room downstairs at the Mouse Hall to start in…the old bar. It will be quieter than the hall. We will need to find slates and other things for you from somewhere, but see what you can do for now.” She looked down at Fear. “Fear, you are going to go with Ruth and she is going to teach you how to read and write and all sorts of things with the other little girls. Won’t it be fun?” Ruth put out a hand towards Fear.

  Fear’s hands clutched tight to Rani’s sari. We are about to have our first parent moment. A petulant look appeared on Fear’s face as it screwed up and disappeared into the sari. “No, I don’t want to go. I am going to be a Princess too. I don’t need school. I want to be with you all of the time.”

  Rani gently detached Fear’s hands from her sari and knelt down. She took one of Fear’s hands in each of hers. “Sweetheart,” she said gently. “Your mummies are Princesses partly because we spent a lot of time in school. I was in school until I was twenty. It is what Princesses do. If you want to be a good Princess you have to learn many things. Sometimes it is boring, but most of the time it is fun and you get to find out many things. How else can you read something a handsome Prince writes to you if you cannot read?”

  I think it worked. Fear thought for a bit. “The
n I will go and learn how to be a Princess,” she said in a regal voice, and she went off hand in hand with Ruth to find the other children.

  ~~~

  Harald is the last one waiting for us. He has a leather helmet on his head. Despite him being Human, he speaks with a thick Dwarven accent and sounds much the same as Thord. “I t’ink it is time t’at you saw t’mine ’n’ Dharmal’s special room t’ere. I am not sure if’n you can get into t’at. It is locked. Do you…”

  Theodora dug into a pouch she was holding. “We just happened to find…these.” She waved the set of keys. “We know the use of only one and we need to check what the rest do, but we found them in his room, so it is likely there will be one for the mine. I suspect that most are for the houses and the barracks. When we work them out we will give them to the people who are in them…I just realised…” she said, turning to Rani, “who owns what? Who owns the houses? Does Naeve own her cows and…whatever else she milks? That is yet another thing we need to work out.” She returned to her conversation with Harald. “Will we need anything?”

  “Do you have a light spell?”

  “Yes. I’ll give you one of your own later,” said Rani.

  “No more fussin’ wit’ candles.” It is not hard to hear the pleasure in his voice. “T’ank you. I hope you don’t mind t’ose clothes getting dirty,” he said pointedly.

  Rani gathered Theodora and they went to change.

  ~~~

  They headed out of the gate and across the meadows along a path that was obviously made by small carts.

  “We have a cart?” asked Theodora, pointing down at the tracks.

  “Yes, usually oft it is used to collect firewood, or to carry rock to do repairs to t’village with, but sometimes Naeve or Giles use it. We ha’ horse for it ’n’ Giles has some oxen he uses for ploughin’. If’n you look up t’ere on t’slope you will see t’at Naeve has some sheep up t’ere ’n’ some goats, as well as t’cows over t’ere. You’ve taken Valeria from her, so she is going to ha’ to get someone else to help her… Don’t worry about t’at. Valeria wasn’t very good at it. She is much more suited to be lady’s maid. T’ord may want to take up being shepherd again.”

  To their right, aiming away from the hen house and a small pond with ducks, the bandits had butts set up and Stefan was running people through their paces with bows. From what I can see most of the village archers will need a lot of training to be of any use against anything smaller than one of the larger lizards. There is too much laughter and calls about the poor shooting. Stefan is shaking his head and you can almost feel his despair. Some arrows are clearing the top of the butts. Eleanor has found a couple of wooden swords from somewhere and has put some ill-fitting armour on two of the women and is watching them flail around wildly. Bianca is standing listening to Verily and Ayesha and it is obvious that they are talking about knives, as occasionally one flashes through the air.

  “Do you have a woman yet?” asked Theodora in an innocent voice. “We have not seen you with just one.”

  “Several ha’ asked,” replied Harald. He takes questions at face value. “but I told t’em all t’at I would wait until one showed t’at she was right for me. Apart from t’Father and T’ord, I t’ink I might be t’only man sleeping alone in Mousehole. Mind you, it is interesting having women courting me. I’m not too ugly, but I’ve never been rich, handsome ’n’ courted either.” He chuckled. “Being courted sort of makes up for years under Dharmal with choice between cooperation ’n’ dying or at least losing me balls or even of watching others die in place of me.” He shuddered.

  After a while of walking in silence, Harald picked up the conversation again, “Do you know what we mine here?”

  “Well, according to our book, before The Burning they got rubies from the mine and antimony from the river,” said Theodora.

  “Really?” He sounds excited. “I wasn’t allowed to look at anythin’ else apart from t’ mine. Did your writer say how or where t’ey got t’antimony or do I ha’ to go ’n’ look for myself, ’cause I will.”

  “I think he said something about panning for it where the river lies quiet in the valley,” said Theodora, pointing at the only broad curve to be seen. “That will not produce much, will it?”

  “T’at depends how you do it…t’ere is panning ’n’ t’ere is panning. You can actually pull a fair bit out t’at way, ’n’ if it was panned t’ere, t’ere will be places outside t’valley where we can look as well, ’n’ we can now look for where it is coming from upstream. We can even use some fleece to do it for us. Wait until I tell T’ord. He may reconsider his career…but you distracted me. We don’t just get rubies…we also get sapphires ’n’ other, less valuable, gems. When we get back I will show you where he kept ’em all. I’ll bet you ha’n’t found it. I only know by accident.”

  Eventually they came to the bottom of the ridge. The path went up and around it. Harald led them up as he waved his hands around in explanation. “In most places t’ey get t’eir rubies from t’rivers. Here, where t’best ones are, it is different and it is harder. T’is rock is granite, ’n’ it is sitting over another rock—limestone. T’at is unusual for it to be like t’at. We can also use t’limestone for some of our building ’n’ to make cement. For t’gems we mine into t’ boundary of t’two, ’n’ t’ere we sometimes find t’em buried in t’e rock. I am not even sure how t’ey found a mine like this. Must ha’ used magic. See…”

  Ahead of us is a tunnel into the rock. The path continues beyond. The tunnel is not very high and we will have to crouch to move and not hit our heads. That is why Harald has his helmet. They went in. The rock is glistening with moisture that almost seems to ooze out of the rock itself. Above them the roof is dry. Is this normal? I have never been in a mine before. “T’water comes t’rough cracks in t’ limestone” said Harald. He pointed at the wet lower rock. “If t’ere are no cracks in t’ rock, t’ere is no water.” He then pointed up. “T’granite’ll not allow water to pass, so it is dry when you dig into it.”

  Twenty paces in Rani pulled her amulet from within her top and opened it. For a small area around them it became as day. Some of the rock have little crystals growing in it and smooth protrusions. Occasionally there is a white bump on the rock floor that glistens and is wet. A drop of water hit my head. Water is running along the limestone wall across the granite and dropping to the floor. There is a pale line of white rock on the ceiling wherever this happens. Ahead the tunnel continues and starts branching.

  Harald took the first branch to the right and then the next to the left. Four paces along there was a door to the right. It is made of solid iron and more glistening white rock run across it in trails, as if left behind by a myriad of stone snails. Why?

  Theodora produced the keys and began trying likely ones in the lock. The third opened it. As the door opened toward them it nearly blocked the corridor leading out of the mine. Theodora took the keys and held her hand out, stopping anyone from crossing the threshold.

  “Traps?” asked Rani.

  “T’walls ’n’ floor look solid…hold t’light up please…so is t’ ceiling. Unless it be magic one, I don’t t’ink t’at I can see one.” He reached forward with his foot and put it down. “It feels solid, but let me go first.” He entered the room without any problems but he stopped well short of the centre. “I t’ink t’at you had better come in ’n’ ha’ a look at this.”

  Rani entered with her lover behind her. Near the centre of the room is a complex magical diagram etched into the rock itself.

  “T’at must have taken some work to get it right,” said Harald.

  On the wall to the right is a mirror fixed to the stone with iron spikes.

  Rani sighed. “Why is it always mirrors?” She said to Theodora, “You are the air mage. Why is it always mirrors?”

  Being careful not to touch the pattern, Theodora peered at the mirror. “It is glass. It would work better to communicate if it were made of chrome. It wouldn’t work as
well as a mirror, but who cares? Usually they make it from glass because that is how they were taught to do it and some mages lack the imagination to think that there might be a better way to do it. If we had to make something to talk to the lookout, I would use chrome and amber. It only needs the flat surface if you want to see something clearly. See…they have even made it look like a normal mirror. It is a rectangle,” she said dismissively. “Mine would be a hexagon…I don’t want to go near that diagram. It is an involved one, and I suspect it is not to communicate so much as to control. Isn’t that what Dharmal said?…The mirror may even be a hoax.” She ran her hand, palm down, just over the surface of the mirror. “It is. I feel no magic at all. Do you?” she asked Rani.

  Rani did the same. There is no tingle at all. It is a bluff. She shook her head. “No, nothing at all…so what do you think?”

  “That they are subtle, but not imaginative. If you stand in the diagram it triggers a spell and lets them take over your mind. You think that you see them in the mirror. They made a mistake though by just using a normal mirror. Many would do it that way anyway, but this is a spell of power and a powerful mage should not just be working from rote. A non-mage, and many mages, would assume that the design is just for turning on the power of the mirror…that it is not the spell itself. If they had been more imaginative, they would have made the mirror as I would. That they didn’t shows that they did not care or else that they lacked imagination. I think that they care so…at least we now know a bit more about them.”