Misthaven: The Complete Trilogy

by J Battle

  He stood atop the Talking Stone and his piercing blue eyes scanned the assembly.

  He nodded when he saw that he had their full attention.

  'Greetings Elvenfolk, of honor and renown,' he began, bracing himself against his black staff of office, 'the time has come for change. We have resided here in this valley, in this redoubt, for a full year now, and it is time to move on, in our constant search for fulfillment. There is no Magic in these parts, and we betray our race if we do not continue in our slow and considered search. One day we will find what we seek, but not here, alas. So, make preparations, discard that which you no longer need, leave your human playthings to whatever fate awaits them, for we will move before the week ends, and we have far to travel.'

  He paused then, for a moment, to gauge the mood of the crowd.

  'We shall travel across the water, to Fairisle, to see what we might find. Yes,' he said, seeing a stir in his audience, 'we are not sailors, but we shall overcome our distaste for the water, and be carried across the sea. I have thought on this for a considerable time, and consulted with my advisors. Fairisle is renowned across the world for its beauty and riches, for its crops and works of art. It smells to me as though Magic pertains in this distant land and so we shall travel there, with hope, and determination, and our will cannot be withstood.'

  Elstar almost raised his hand, tempted to tell the Elflord that he was so wrong; that his plan would take them away from the Magic they desired, but he held his tongue and nudged Blodnes.

  'We can't leave now…' he whispered.

  'Not when it is almost within our grasp,' she replied, her thin, lined and pale face set in grimness.

  'Tell Turgon, and what others you can find, that we move on the morn, and victory will be ours before the Sun tires and is away to its bed.'

  'But that will give us less than 20; hardly an Elvenswarm.'

  Elstar turned towards her and smiled, full of sudden confidence and determination.

  'It will be enough, my crawlady; it will be enough. They are mere humans. They have Magic, yes, but we will overwhelm them and take it from them.'

  He put a hand on each of her shoulders, and she found that she did not mind. 'My Crawlady Blodnes, of Wind and Stars, prepare to be wonderful before tomorrow wanes.'

  She bowed. 'Yes, my Lord,' she whispered, 'yes, my Elflord.'

  Chapter 33 Alice

  Alice and Loren left the cottage, with the latter dressed demurely in a long brown woolen dress and BobbyJ’s cloak.

  'Good evening once more, gentlemen, and thank you for your patience. It is getting late, and it will be a cold night, and it is not a good time to find yourselves sleeping out in the open. So, I would suggest that we gather ourselves together and make our way to a nearby tavern, just over the water in Hesselton. There'll be a fire, and ale at least, if not food, and a bed for the night, I would expect.'

  'We would be doing our best to be on the road, M'lady, if you don't mind the rush,' said Cavour.

  'Now, Mr Cavour, you surely have the time for a sit and a drink, and a conversation, for I so rarely have the pleasure of meeting folk from outside the valley.'

  'Indeed, my lady; it would be a pleasure to extend our time in your company. But we must be off and on our way.'

  'Now, please do not insult me with refusal, kind gentlemen.'

  There was a tone in her voice that Cavour found hard to refuse.

  'Now, Mr Cavour, I could surely use a tankard or two of good ale, and to have them with two such fine ladies, well it's surely not an opportunity to be missed.' BobbyJ smiled as he spoke.

  'But…'

  'And I will have to spend the next who knows how many nights staring at your old face.'

  Cavour sighed. 'We'll just the one then, to thank you for your assistance M'lady, and then we'll be on our way. The cold and dark will cause us no harm at all, and that's for sure.'

  Alice smiled and took Loren by the arm and led her along the road, with Cavour and BobbyJ close behind.

  When they reached the reservoir that blocked their way, stretching to the great wall of lime green mist, about 50 yards distance from their position, Cavour stopped to tap his pipe and consider the view.

  'This is a fine lake, M'lady,' he said slowly, 'and man-made if I'm not mistaken. Hesselton must be a large town to need so much fresh water.'

  'You are right, Mr Cavour, it was fashioned by our forefathers many years ago. Perhaps they expected the town to grow to something more than it has so far achieved.'

  Cavour bent to examine the wall more closely. 'And well maintained, I should say.'

  'I wouldn’t know about that, Mr Cavour, being a mere lady.'

  Cavour looked up at her and saw her smile.

  'I would hardly think the word mere is suitable or apt.'

  'Shall we get in this here boat, or do you want to continue your flirt there all night?' called BobbyJ.

  'He's right, Mr Cavour, we should be on our way.'

  The foursome rode in silence across the water and into the mist, with Cavour and BobbyJ at the paddles.

  Moments later they were walking into the main room of a smoky and noisy tavern.

  'We'll take a seat over there in the corner, where we might best be left to ourselves,' said Alice, ushering them forward.

  They took their seats, with Cavour and BobbyJ sitting with the wall behind them, and the ladies opposite them. A young girl with tangled hair and a ruddy expression came to take their order.

  'Too young for you, I think,' said Cavour, quietly to BobbyJ, when he saw his eyes on her.

  'Ay, Mr Cavour. You may be right, but there's no harm in looking, is there? And mayhap I'll come back this way, in a few years when she will be old enough.'

  'You should hope to survive so long.'

  'And you, Mr Cavour; and you.'

  When they were all settled, with a foaming tankard in front of each of them, Alice leant forward a little.

  'Now, Mr Cavour, we need to talk, and perhaps the truth is due to raise its head.' Her voice was quiet, but he heard every word.

  'Before we begin, if you look over my shoulder, can you see that large fellow by the door?'

  Cavour looked and saw, and nodded.

  'Good, now that is Brawn; he works for me, and you would be best not to annoy him. At the bar, near the other door, are his two brothers.

  Cavour looked and saw, and nodded.

  'Now, with the situation clearly obvious to you, speak the honest truth to me, now.'

  'What would you have us tell you, my Lady?' said Cavour slowly, watching BobbyJ slurp his ale noisily.

  'You are not merchants, are you?'

  'No, my lady.'

  'And you came to the valley to steal something precious?'

  'We are not thieves, my Lady, but, yes, you are right.'

  'And you have it about your person now?'

  'Now, M'lady,' interrupted BobbyJ, a broad smile across his face, 'less of this serious talk, if you please. Let us enjoy our drink and, if you will, allow a poor lonely boy to enjoy the company of such beauties before we are on the road again.'

  She ignored him and her eyes fixed on Cavour.

  'Well? I'll have the truth from you, sir.' Her words were quiet and her tone calm but there was an intensity in her eyes that suggested that she would accept no prevarication.

  'My Lady…'

  'Shush there, Mr Cavour,' the smile had flown from BobbyJ's face, 'let me explain the situation to the fair Lady, just to be sure that we are all clear. And then we can be on our way; the ale has been soured by all this serious talk.

  'My good Lady; you have seen through us, and you know the truth. But know this also; my hand is on the Stone, here in my bag, and, if I am threatened, or even if I feel a little nervous about your intentions, then I shall use the power of the Stone, and I shall smite you down.'

  He was leaning forward, and he did indeed have one hand hidden inside his bag.

  Alice turned to him, and considered him for a momen
t. Then she smiled.

  'Smite away then, young man, if you must; if you can. For we are not easily fooled by words and stern expressions, are we my dear Loren?'

  Loren looked down, as if frightened by all those around her.

  'We know about Magic in these parts gentlemen, and Magic is not easy. It does not leap to the fingertips of a wild boy, just because he holds the Wellstone within his grasp. It takes time, and it takes great learning, and I think you have neither, young man. If I am wrong, then smite away.'

  She smiled softly at BobbyJ's frown, and gestured to the bar.

  Brawn's brothers came across and stood by the table. They were not nearly as large as their brother, but they were big enough for all that.

  'Now, BobbyJ, be a good lad there, and pass over that bag to these gentlemen, and there'll be no trouble, and you shall go on your way, without molestation, and seek your fortune where you will.'

  BobbyJ sat back in his chair for a moment as he considered the brothers.

  Without a change in expression, he leapt from the chair and on to the table, his blade in his hand.

  'No…!' snapped Cavour, half way to his feet.

  But he was too slow.

  BobbyJ jumped from the table and landed between the women. With a smile, he wrapped his bandaged arm around Loren's neck and pulled her to her feet. Then he calmly pressed the edge of his blade against her white throat.

  She mewled; her head back and her face twisted in fear.

  'Let's all just settle down, and no-one will be hurt,' hissed BobbyJ, his eyes on the brothers.

  They'd separated; one had his blade above Cavour's head, the other was beside Alice.

  'Leave the girl be, or I'll stick your friend,' said the first.

  BobbyJ chuckled. 'Stick away, good man. He's been getting on my nerves for weeks, and I'd be glad of the peace and silence.'

  Alice held up one hand. 'No, Lorn, there's no need for that. BobbyJ, let her go; do you not think she has been through enough already?'

  'I won't keep her long, my Lady. Just long enough to get me along the road a ways, and, if she's a good girl, perhaps she'll get her own little reward. What do you think, m'dear?' he gave a quick little squeeze.

  'And you won't need to thank me.'

  'BobbyJ, if you leave here with the girl and the Stone, you will be hounded across the land, and you will know no rest 'til your blood has soaked through the good earth, and your bones be bleached white as snow.'

  Though she was still sitting, her words cut through the air and left the room in silence.

  'Hah now, m'lady. You've lost your soft words and ways, and you show a fire that I must say calls to me, and I'm tempted to swap you for this young girl, for I think you'd provide an entertaining time, despite your fierce eyes. But no, I'll keep this one; she’ll be less trouble, I should think.'

  He edged away from them, with Loren almost limp in his arms.

  'Hold there, lad.' The voice was so deep that his very bones vibrated at the sound.

  Before he could turn, a heavy hand gripped his shoulder, and another held his knife-hand in a grip of stone.

  BobbyJ twisted and dropped, leaving Loren to fall free. He drove his bandaged right hand into his attacker's belly.

  There was aloud ummff, and Brawn collapsed onto him, leaving them both in a heap on the ground.

  'Sleeping on the job again, Brother,' Brawn's youngest brother tutted. 'Move over and let me get a hold on him, before he wriggles away.'

  Within a couple of moments, Cavour and BobbyJ found themselves bound, and more than a little disheveled.

  'Take them upstairs, if you will. There's a spare room at the back. Keep them bound and watch them carefully, for they are cunning and will trick you if they can.' As she watched the three brothers and the two captives move awkwardly across the barroom, she held BobbyJ's bag in her hand.

  Chapter 34 Giants

  'Well sir, good morning to you,' said Tom, in his brightest voice.

  Aarvarn looked at Raarvan, sitting beside him, with empty tankards all around.

  'The little fellow said something, but I didn't rightly catch it. What did it say?'

  'He said good morning. It's polite to say it back to him.'

  'What do you know about polite?’ He bumped shoulders with Raarvan to make his point, before turning to Tom and giving him the benefit of his broad grin. ’Hello and good morning, little fellow. Don't come too close now, or this lump will squash you, and you won't like that. And you'll start squeaking, and I won't like that.'

  Tom took a couple of steps backwards, just to be safe.

  'I'd like to welcome you to our town, on behalf of all the people who live here. We ain't never seen a Giant before.'

  'Well, now you've seen two.' Aarvarn checked his fingers, to be sure that he hadn't miscounted.

  'How tall are you there, sir? You look as big as a tree.'

  'Well now, is that sitting down, or standing up? We're taller when we stand up, aren't we, Raarvan?'

  'Ain't no point in standing up, if you don't get any taller.'

  'Well, standing up, my head's 12 and one half feet from the ground, and this old lump here, he's over 13 feet, but that's mostly his big old empty head, that is.'

  'My head’s no more empty than yours, 'cause I's got brains; my mum, she said so. She said I was the cleverest boy she'd ever seen, and that's the truth.'

  ‘Well they must have gone and leaked out your ears, is all I can say.’

  Aarvarn considered the boy before him for a moment, with a painful expression on his face. It was his thinking face.

  ‘Hey now, you’s human, ain’t ya. So ye should know how to make bread. How do you make bread? It’s with crops and a pot, and fire, ain’t it?’

  Tom was more than a little surprised. First, that he should be asked the question by the Giant and, secondly, that he didn’t know the answer. He’d been eating bread for most of his life and never thought where it might have come from.

  ‘Here, I’ll ask my friends for you.’ He turned to Sam and Gorge, standing as far away as they possibly could and still be able to witness his bravery with the Giants. He waved them over.

  ‘Come on, Sammy,‘ said Gorge, ’it must be safe. They ain’t eaten him up yet.’

  ‘I ain’t going close. We’ll be squashed like a bug by them big feet.’

  ‘We’ll just go close enough so we can see what he wants. If the Giants come for us, we’ll just run and jump over the wall into the sea. I don’t reckon Giants can swim.’

  Sam shook his head. ‘I don’t reckon I can swim. Not in the sea; I don’t like the way it moves.’

  ‘The sea is easier than the reservoir, because of the salt.’

  ‘That don’t make no sense to me, Gorgie. Salt keeps the meat fresh; can’t see how it helps you swim.’

  They were within a few paces of the sitting Giants, which was as close as Sam would go.

  ‘Where do you get bread from?’ asked Tom.

  ‘From the bakers,’ answered Gorge, a little puzzled.

  ‘No, they want to know how it’s made. It’s flour, ain’t it? That’s what they use, but there must be something else.’

  ‘Well,’ said Gorge, ’I reckon they use flour, and maybe some water, and butter, I expect; they’ll put some butter in it.’

  ‘Is that it?’ Tom frowned; he was sure there was more.

  ‘You need yeast, to make it rise, and a touch of salt, and then you mix it altogether and you roll it out, and when it’s just right you put it in the oven,’ said Sam, casually.

  Aarvarn had been listening intently as the boys spoke.

  ‘Don’t ye use crops? I thought there’d be crops. And is it just the white flowers you use? ‘Cause bread ain’t red, or yellow, or purple, or pink, is it. And what about a pot? And fire? There must be fire. I was sure there’d be fire.’

  Sam smiled up at him, suddenly more relaxed.

  ‘It’s not flowers, them that grow wild in the ground, it’s flour, made fr
om crops, and an oven is a box with fire inside.’

  ‘Ah, I knew there’d be fire. See that Raarvan? Crops and fire; that’s what you need. I’d surely like to see an oven; a box full of fire; that’d be something to see.’

  ‘How do you know so much about bread?’ whispered Gorge.

  ‘I seen Dan the Man baking; a long time ago. He made good bread.’

  ‘When was that? I don’t remember him making bread.’

  ‘Just after we first came here, it were. He made bread, and he made cake. I like cake.’

  **********

  ‘Here you go, take some of this. It’s not nice, but it’s better than nothing.’

  Esmere looked up and saw the tin bowl on the floor, half way between her cell and Garraldi’s. She watched as he pushed it closer with one grimy foot.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked as she jangled her chains and tried to get herself in a position where she’d be able to reach the bowl.

  ‘Oh, let’s call it broth, and leave it at that.’

  She looked at the contents of the bowl when she’d brought it into her cell. It was grey and greasy, and there was something pale and unidentifiable floating just below the surface.

  ‘Don’t look too closely, and hold your nose when you drink it, so you’re not offended by the smell.’

  Esmere drank the cold slimy liquid as quickly as she could, fighting hard against her gag reflex.

  ‘Thank you, kind sir,’ she said when she had her breath back, ’for sharing.’

  ‘Mayhap you‘ll be fortunate, and he’ll forget all about you in a month or so. Then I’ll persuade the kitchen boy to bring more food, and to release your chains.’

  ‘We can’t wait that long. We have to find a way to let my father know I’m here. He thinks I’ve left the land and travelled far away. If he knew I was here, he would make the Trytor release me, I’m sure.’