by J Battle
As if he weighed no more than a child, he slung Cavour over one shoulder and turned to retrace his steps.
Deep in the field, hidden from view, BobbyJ watched them go, a half smile on his face.
As the sun began to settle behind the wall of mist to his left and the shadows lengthened, there was no-one to see him as he unraveled the bandage from his right hand. When his hand was free, he flexed his fingers and sighed.
Then, moving ever so quietly, he began to follow Aavtaar and Cavour.
Chapter 17 Elstar
Crawlord Elstar stopped in the shadow of the trees, and watched the last light of the sun as it set to his right.
‘Come now,’ he said, when he was happier with the light, ‘it is time for us to move. Follow me and make haste, for I will not tarry, and any who fall behind will be left and dealt with later.’
‘We’re right behind you, my Lord,’ whispered Henray, standing a little too close to the Crawlord.
Moving with surprising speed for someone with such awkward-looking and angular limbs, Elstar was off across the arid plateau that would bring them to the edge of God’s Saddle.
He ran for an hour or so, with his Humans beginning to lag behind him. Only Henray seemed able to keep up.
‘Not far now, sir,’ he gasped as he ran. ‘You’ll see it soon enough.’
Elstar made no comment, but increased his speed and pulled away from him.
Moments later he crossed onto the ice, but he did not slow as he crunched across the glacier’s glowing surface.
Then he stopped abruptly, perhaps a mile from the glacier’s edge.
He looked back the way they'd come, at the harroweed fields in the distance, then at the mountains ahead.
'You came a long way,' he said when Henray caught up with him.
'Ay, I did, my Lord. That whitefox led me a merry dance, she did, from here to there, and back again. I would have caught her for you, if I'd not seen the light.'
Elstar frowned down at him.
'I smell lies, Henray. The stink is on your breath, and in your jerky eyes.'
'My Lord…'
'Do not compound your offence, Henray, with further lies.'
'My Lord, I may have…exaggerated my part in the discovery of the light, but that makes it no less real. My nephew found it, and rushed to tell me, as all my family know of your desires for Magic, my Lord.'
'But why lie?'
'I merely sought to raise myself up in your judgment, my Lord. I meant no harm.'
'Pah! What harm? Fear not, Henray, as long as we see the light soon.'
'My Lord, it will be soon.'
They carried on, with Elstar leading and Henray doing his best to keep up.
At last, the Crawlord stopped.
To his left was Big Peak, and to his right, Little Peak.
Between them, he could see the light that Henray had spoken of. It was no star, and that’s for sure, he thought, as he stared up at the column of light reaching for the heavens; yellow and orange, and flickering with red.
He settled to his knees and did not feel the icy grip of the glacier. This was it. He and his people had searched for centuries, and here it was. The Elvenfolk had been in this valley for a full year, but they had not known that it was so close, and they had all had their fun in ridiculing him for believing that this day would one day come.
For this tower of light was evidence; no, it was proof; absolute proof, that there was still Magic in the land, and that the Elvenfolk could be redeemed and renewed; be as they once were, before Magic was lost, and they became lessened.
As Henray reached him, Elstar felt something moist running down his wrinkled dry cheek
‘You were right, Henray, and you shall be rewarded,’ he said, as he climbed back to his feet. ‘Come we must seek its source, for there we will find the Wellstone, for nothing else could create this.’
‘What will you do, my Crawlord, when we find it?’
‘What will I do? There is no doubt, no doubt at all. I will rip it from the grasp of whoever holds it, and I will rip out their heart for good measure, and the world will change, Henray. Can you conceive what those changes will be? Do you have the imagination to envisage a world where the Elvenfolk are once again wonderful?’
Henray stared up at him, awe in his eyes.
‘Then follow, Henray, and you shall see.’
With a crunch and a spray of ice, he was off across the glacier, running full tilt towards the light.
*********
Unknown to Aavtaar, Cavour and BobbyJ, their confrontation did not go unwitnessed.
Just a few yards away from them, on the edge of one of the fields, was a small copse of mature trees. It had been there longer than anyone still living could remember; even old Jeffson, who was said to be as old as the hills themselves.
The trees were great for climbing, and the branches of a particular tree were just thick enough to support a small, three-person treehouse.
In the treehouse were three lads, cosey and hidden from view. They’d been there since lunchtime; smoking their pipes and talking, and avoiding all opportunity to do any work.
‘We’ll be 16 summers of age this year, lads,’ said Tomson, drawing sagely on his pipe.
‘Ay, Tom, when you say the obvious, you’re usually right,’ replied Gorge, ’and I’ll be of age first.’
‘Ay, Gorgie, and what you going to do about it?’
‘I’m not staying with Dan the Man any longer; he won’t have us. He said so. Don’t matter about the coin he’ll lose, he said. He’s done his time raising us, and he’s moving to Hesselton, ‘cause his sister’s got a room for him there, and that’s over a tavern, so he’ll be fine and dandy there and won’t need the Lady’s coin no more.’
‘What you going to do then, ‘cause I’m going to do the same?’ asked Sam, as he tried to make a little more room for his broad buttocks.
‘I’m going to get me some work,’ said Gorge, ‘and that’s the truth.’
‘How you going to do that? You ain’t got no folks, so how you going to get a job?’ scoffed Tom.
‘I don’t need folks; ain’t never had them, so I don’t miss them.’
‘I…’ Sam stopped, because he suspected that he was about to say something the other two would see as stupid.
‘You don’t miss Fairisle, do you, Sam?’ asked Tom.
‘No…but…, no, not really.’ He finished with a shrug.
‘We’re better here where people treat us right, we are. Aren’t we, Gorge?’
Gorge just nodded, his eyes on Sam.
‘But where will we get work, Gorgie, without folks?’ asked Sam, anxious to move away from the topic.
‘I’m going to build me a boat,’ replied Gorge.
‘A boat! How you going to build a boat? You ain’t got no wood, and you ain’t got no tools,’ said Tom.
‘There’s wood just lying around, here and in the old wood, and Teddy’s Pa, he’s got tools. I reckon he’ll let me use them, if I swear to be careful, and to be sure to bring them back.’
‘So, when you’ve built your boat, what you going to do with it? Are you going to sleep in it?’
‘Might just do that, if it’s big enough for a cabin. But it will earn me some coin, and that’s the truth. I thought it all through and I can carry crops down from the fields and farms, down to Hesselton, for the farmers, and they’ll pay me.’
‘But it ain’t but half a day’s walk to Hesselton. They won’t pay you for that,’ protested Tom.
‘The farmers are having three crops a year; mayhap even four. They ain’t got the time to waste even half a day carrying their crops to market, and if they ain’t got a barrow, they have to carry it on their backs, they do. And I’ll carry back provisions from Hesselton for them, so I gets paid both ways.’
‘Can I work with you, Gorgie, or for you? I don’t mind, as long as I’ve got work and coin. And I can carry stuff for you; I’m good at carrying stuff, ain’t I Tom?’
&nb
sp; Tom laughed. ‘Ain’t no-one better, Sammy, and that’s the truth.’
‘What you going to do, Tom? Are you coming on the boat with me and Gorgie? There’ll be room, won’t there Gorgie, for Tom? He’s not that big.’
‘Don’t worry none about me there, Sammy. I got it all figured out meself. It’s not just Gorgie who can figure, you know.’
‘Ay, but nobody figures like Gorgie can. He’s got all his letters and his numbers right there in his head, and I seen him adding things up and he didn’t use paper, or even his fingers. It was all in his head.’
‘I know my letters, and I don’t need to know numbers, 'ceptin to count coin.’
‘Well, then Tommy, tell us what you’re going to do, when old Dan the Man throws you out,’ asked Gorge, with a smile.
‘Well, listen and learn something. I reckon that the Lady has paid Dan the Man to look after us all this time, and it must have cost her a pretty penny and that’s for sure. So, now when we’re all about to reach 16 summers, is she going to forget about us? Is she going to say they’re of age now and they don’t matter no more?’
‘What do you think she’ll say, then, Tommy?’ asked Gorge.
‘Well, listen to this. I’m going to knock on her door and say ‘Howdy do and thank you so much for supporting us poor orphan children.’ And she’s going to say ‘I was pleased to do that for you,’ or some such thing, and I’m going to say ‘To show my ever so deep gratitude, I’d like to pay you back in some way,’ and she’ll say ‘Well, that is kind and honorable of you, young man, and how would you like to do that?’ and I’ll say, ’M’Lady, I would dearly like to come and work for you to show my deep appreciation of what you done for us,’ and she’ll say, ‘well, that is kind and just what I need, and can you live in, for I have a nice room you can use?’ and I’ll say, ’that’ll do nicely, and that’s for sure, M’Lady.’’
‘Can I come with you instead, Tommy?’ said Sammy.
‘Shush,’ whispered Gorge, peering through the window of the treehouse. ‘There’s someone coming. Look.’
Silence fell on the treehouse as they watched the confrontation between the two strangers and the beast who worked for the Mage.
When it was all over, and Aavtaar had marched off laden with his prisoner, the boys sat back in silence.
‘Did you see how fast he moved? Aavtaar.’ Sammy was first to speak.
‘Yes, I thought he’d be slow, but he ain’t,’ agreed Tommy.
‘And what about the lad? He was even faster, when Aavtaar weren’t looking. He just spun across the ground and he was gone; just like that.’ Gorge frowned. ‘This is serious business, lads; strangers in the land and all.’
‘What we going to do?’ asked Sammy.
‘Well, this is what I think. Aavtaar’s got the skinny one, so we don’t need to worry none about him, ‘cause he’s taking him to the Mage, and he’ll know what to do. But there’s the other one. I think we should follow him to make sure he don’t do nothing wrong. And I seen which way he went, and that’s the truth, so it is.’
‘Come on then, lads,’ yelled Tommy, ‘before he gets himself away.’
Chapter 18 Esmere
‘What do you want of me?’ she asked, quietly.
He looked down at her from his great height and pondered her question. He had thought that he knew what he wanted when he sent Orther and Harld to fetch and prepare her. She wouldn’t have been the first, but perhaps she would be the last.
He’d marched into the room expecting her to be cowering in the corner; begging to be left alone; quivering with fear.
Then he would have done as he pleased with her, and there would have been screams of agony to drive him on, relentless and powerful, until she passed from consciousness. And, when she regained herself, there would have been more, until his passion was satiated and she was cast to one side.
But there had been no fear on her face; no cowering or shivering; just anger. Anger that burned in her eyes as she stared at him. Anger that reminded him so much of her; one who had gone so long ago.
Faced with such ferocity, he could not bring himself to touch her. So, what did he want from her now?
‘I...talk to me. Tell me of things I do not know. Tell me what it is like to be a Human, in my land.’
‘Is that all?’ Esmere looked up, hope in her eyes.
‘For now, it is all I require from you.’
‘And will you free me when I am finished?’
‘Free you? An interesting idea, but how can you be free when you are my subject; subject to my every whim?’
‘I am not subject to your every whim! If you try to touch me, then I will kill myself¸ and then I shall be free.’ She stood up to make her point.
‘Sit thee down, Esmere, there’s is no need for that sort of talk. You will not be touched, though you will also not be freed. I’ll merely send Orther and Harld out to pick me another girl; one who’s demeanor will not dampen my passion so.’
‘Another girl? You expect me to accept that? There will be no other girls whilst I am here. Is that understood?’
Lydorth smiled at her. ‘Still so fierce? But a Trytor has passions that must be met.’
‘If you have passions, then you must learn to control them; just like any honorable creature.’
‘We are not used to self-restraint, if that is what you are suggesting.’ He bent and placed one great hand on her shoulder, being sure to be gentle.
She knocked his hand away, and glared at him.
‘So, it seems that I can neither touch you or anyone else?’
‘Yes, my lord,’ she replied and gave him a little smile; not too much, but just enough to encourage him. ‘But we cannot go on like this forever. There must be a time limit to this, don’t you think? I’ll be happy to be your guest for a time, but I have a life to lead elsewhere.’
‘A guest? Is that what you are? A guest? I’ve never had a guest before. I’m not sure I know how to treat one.’
‘Then I shall instruct you, my Lord, and I shall stay for no more than 30 days.’
’30 days seems such a short time, my dear, if I may be allowed to call you such. Why not make it 30 years? That sounds much better.’
’30 years is a long time to a Human, if not to you. I should be an old maid by then, and that is not something a polite host would impose on his guest.’
‘So, now I’m a host, and a polite one at that? And what happens when 30 days have passed?’
‘You set me free, and you agree never to drag a poor girl here again against her will.’
‘That seems very generous of me.’
‘Generous is good, my Lord, and I am sure that you could be an excellent, polite and generous host if you let me guide you.’
‘Let me think on this, Esmere, for you have given me much to think of.’
‘Very well, my Lord. I trust that you have rooms prepared for me; ones suitable for an honored guest?’
‘Rooms? Oh, of course.’ He smiled down at her and patted her gently on the head.
‘Normen!’ he called, all of a sudden, raising his head.
A small man rushed into the hall, dressed in a black robe and sandals.
‘Yes, my Lord,’ he said, bowing so low that he could have been inspecting his footwear.
‘My Lady requires accommodation suitable to her station.’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘So, lock her in the dungeons, and, Normen.’
‘Yes, sir?’
‘She’ll need a full set of chains.’
**********
‘I’ll have a pair of tankards there, landlord, if you’ve the time.’
He was a large man with a bulbous nose somewhat left of centre and long untidy hair framing a reddened bald crown. His clothes had seen some wear, but he sported an immaculate red neckerchief.
His companion was equally rough-looking, though of a much smaller stature.
Richard took a pair of tankards from beneath the bar and began to pull the ale.
‘Your name’s Richard, ain’t it?’ asked the smaller man.
Richard nodded.
‘Can we call you Dick, then? As in Little Dick?’
Richard shrugged,’ You can call me whatever to care to, as long as you pay for the ale.’
‘Don’t he talk nice, Bob?’ said the little man.
‘Ay, he talks like a girl, I reckon,’ replied Bob, with a chuckle.
‘An ugly girl, would you reckon?’
‘Ay, as ugly as they come.’
Richard planted the tankards before them, but he kept a good hold on the handles. ‘I’ll see some coin, if you don’t mind.’
‘Don’t ye trust us?’ said Bob. ‘See Henery, he don’t reckon we can be trusted.’
‘That’s a insult where I come from, that is,’ responded Henery.
Bob leaned over the bar until his big bloated face was barely a foot from Richard’s.
‘You insulting us, Dick? Is that what you’re doing?’
‘I’m sure no insult was intended…sir.’
‘See that, Henery. ‘No insult was intended.’’
‘Well, Bob, I reckon we’ll just take the ale and say no more about it. How does that sound?’
Bob pursed his lips and screwed up his eyes as if he was giving the suggestion a deal of consideration.
‘No,’ he said, after a long moment. ‘Won’t do. Won’t do at all. I reckon…’
Richard stepped back from the bar, with the tankards still in his hand.
‘What you…?’ began Bob, as Richard poured the ale into the sink.
‘No more ale today, lad. We’re closed for the day, I think.’
‘Wait a minute there…’
Richard walked from behind the bar and stood close to them, with Bob on his left and Henery on his right.
‘Time to go, lads,’ he said, with his voice quiet and calm.
Bob looked down at Richard’s big hands, and back up at his cold eyes.
‘There’s no need to be like that, Richard. We was just having a bit of fun, weren’t we Henery?’