by J Battle
He started to climb then, his eyes locked on the change in shade up ahead.
Within minutes, he was off the ice and walking on naked rock. It felt so good to have secure footing once more.
The rock was a swelling of the mountain-side cresting above the ice for an area 50 paces across and perhaps 100 long.
Three-quarters away long and just off-centre, he could see a darker patch.
He hurried and found the entrance to the cave.
He collapsed to his knees, panting with the effort and trying not to notice how unprepossessing the cave was.
From his position he could see perhaps 10 feet into the cave, and it didn’t seem to go any deeper. There were shadows of course, so he couldn’t be sure.
He rooted around in his bag and withdrew a candle and one of the firesticks Dan the Man had brought on his last visit to Tlur. Then he slung the bag back over his shoulders and walked into the dim cave entrance.
With his candle lit, it took him just a few seconds to see that the cave-wall bulged on the left, hiding the entrance to the depths of the cave.
With a sudden spring in his step, he went further.
10 paces from the bulge, he found a squared off entrance to a tunnel. It was supported by thick dark beams, and above them he could see long cracks in the ceiling.
He paused then to reconsider the wisdom of what he was doing. But he’d walked for a day and a half across the ice, and he wasn’t going to let nerves stop him.
Then he felt it, gently against the skin of his face. He smiled and nodded to himself.
‘Thank you, Mage Anders,’ he breathed. Then he took off his scarf and gloves. With the warm air seeping from the depths below, he wasn’t going to be cold for a while at least.
Ducking his head, he stepped into the tunnel and began to walk along its length. The rock walls to either side glistened in the light of his candle, and the cracks in the ceiling stretched ahead, but he was not worried. Not at all. Ahead of him, perhaps just a few paces from where he stood, was a brand new vibrant Wellstone.
And it would welcome his touch.
He was sure of that single fact above all else.
He began to walk faster.
**********
If his movements had been those of a younger, slimmer, more elegant individual, then they might have been taken for dance.
But Richard was neither young nor slim, and it was quite some time since anyone had thought to call him elegant.
He swung the sword above his head and spun his body beneath it, turning on his toes and heels.
The tip of his blade moved faster and faster, and it was a race for him to keep up with it, but he managed it, always keeping the blade before his face, with his left hand outstretched for balance.
After perhaps an hour of spinning and jumping and slicing, he gradually came to a stop, with his hair drenched with sweat, his broad chest heaving, and his ever broader belly wobbling.
He puffed out his cheeks as he slid his sword back into its scabbard.
He was ready. Or at least, if he was going to be honest with himself, he would never be more ready, which didn’t necessarily mean the same thing.
When he felt that his legs had regained sufficient strength to walk across the room, he did just that, and sat at the rough table.
Spread across its surface was the map Agnis had drawn for him.
One entrance, one narrow corridor with offices to either side, leading directly to the Rulehall. Off the Rulehall were passages down to the kitchen and the dungeons, and up to the bedrooms and living quarters.
All very simple and basic, with little opportunity for subterfuge on his part.
He would pretty well just have to walk in and stick his sword in the beast, and hope that that was enough.
He wiped his brow with his broad forearm and sighed. He’d spent the months waiting for an opportunity to arrive that would give him a good chance to kill the Trytor and walk away, mayhap back to his old life, if that still existed.
But it hadn’t come along. The Trytor was hiding in his den, and the only choice was whether to knock on his front door first, or just walk in uninvited.
Richard closed his eyes, and a vision of his daughter appeared. She was little more than a child, to his eyes, even though she would now have seen nearly 20 Falls of Leaves.
Was she still safe, there in the valley, hidden behind those walls of mist?
He’d hoped one day, when his task was done, to walk through the mist and see her smile light up his world once more.
She’d always been there, ahead of him, when he couldn’t bear to look behind at what the Trytor had left of his wife and eldest daughter.
He shook his head and put aside these wasted thoughts. It was nearly sunrise; it was time to move.
Either he or the Trytor would not see the sunset this fine day.
Chapter 77 Trytor
The Trytor looked up from his messy meal, with rank offal dripping from his chin. Then he smiled as he scooped the dangly bits into his wide mouth.
He sucked on his teeth for a moment as his visitor walked the length of the Rulehall towards him.
'So, Cavour, you have returned.'
Cavour gave a quick nod, and then changed it to a bow, because it felt appropriate.
'Indeed, my Lord Lydorth.'
'Sooner than I expected.' Lydorth drew out the words, determined not to ask.
'I rushed to fulfil my Lord's demands.'
'Take a seat then. You must be weary.'
'Thank you, it has been a trying few weeks.' He sat in a low seat to one side of the Trytor.
'Will you eat?'
In truth, it had been some time since he'd sat down to a proper meal, with a knife and a fork, but after a quick glance at the rancid feast before the Trytor, he shook his head.
'That can wait, my Lord.'
He shrugged the heavy bag from his shoulder and placed it on the floor between them.
Lydorth stared at the bag for a moment, and then he wiped one long forearm across his mouth.
With a slight groan, he bent and picked up the bag.
'Thank you, Cavour. I had my doubts, I must admit. You will be well rewarded for your efforts.'
Cavour stood up.
'It is merely the start, my Lord. There are other Stones to be found, so I must be on my way. But first, I'll see him before I leave.'
'Do you not trust me, Cavour? You can be sure that I won't let him die before you place the last Stone in my hands.'
'Still, I will see him before I go.'
'By all means, Cavour. I believe you know the way.'
Alone for the moment, Lydorth undid the loose fastenings of the half-torn bag. He sighed when he saw the Stone revealed at last. It was dull brown and unresponsive, but it was all he required to bring Teldorn, his brother, back to him.
'Well, not quite all,' he said, softly, and then he giggled.
Cavour walked slowly down the worn steps to the dungeons, eager to see his brother and be on his way again, but unsure what he would find.
The dungeons were lit better than when he was last there, and three cells were occupied, which was unusual. Despite his vicious ways, the Trytor rarely locked his subjects away. They'd be lucky to survive long enough.
He stopped when he saw the occupant of the left-hand cell.
'Dryan, isn't it? Trytor's man?'
Dryan nodded. 'I believe we are all the Trytor's men, Cavour.'
In the cell next to him, there was a young girl, well-dressed but with her long hair disheveled.
Cavour turned away from them and walked across to the other cell.
At first glance, it appeared empty. But there was a shadowed form in the corner.
'Still alive then, brother,' said Cavour, softly.
There was movement.
'It's become something of a habit.' The voice was croaky but clear. 'You've grown thinner, brother.'
'Ay, you may be right. It's a hard world out there. We can't all
be lounging around in these luxurious surroundings, growing fat on the Trytor's food.'
Garraldi patted his own concave stomach.
'I'll be back soon enough, brother,' said Cavour, his voice hard and without emotion.
'Ay, I reckon you will.'
'Till then...'
Cavour turned and walked away, taking no further notice of the prisoners.
*********
'There you go, Mr Evens. I brought it back to you, 'cause it belongs here, with you, sure enough.'
Evens opened his eyes, but he didn't seem to see Sam, close though he was.
'Ah, Sam, it is, isn't it?' he seemed to sigh.' I remember you, lad. I remember you well enough.'
'Just you lie there on your bed, Mr Evens, and don't you worry none, I'll just be leaving it here, by your side, where it belongs.'
Evens smiled, and wrapped his arm around the bag, and then he closed his eyes and drifted off.
'Come on Sam, there,' urged Tom, 'he's asleep now, so we might as well be off.'
'But, I wanted to tell him stuff, I wanted to tell him it was his, and I weren't taking it off him, and he'd be...'
'Well he's asleep now, so he won't be paying much attention to you, and we've got other business to be about.'
'What are you talking about?'
'It's Gorge. I ain't seen him for a couple of days now, and I reckon he's off doing something dangerous.'
'Gorge? He won't be doing nothing dangerous. Not Gorge.'
'Come on out, so's we don't disturb Mr Evens none, and I'll tell you what I think, and you can call me a fool, if you like.'
Together they left the small home of the old Mage, to the sound of gentle snoring.
'Right now, Tom. What's it all about?'
'Now, listen. Gorge, he didn't take kindly to you getting the Wellstone to work, like.'
'He never said nothing to me.'
'Well, that's his way, ain't it? But I saw his face, I did, and he weren't best pleased. And then he started reading all them books, and looking all sneaky about it.'
‘He’s always liked books, he has. He‘s read both of Dan the Man’s, and more than twice.’
‘Ay, but not sneaky like. Now, I reckon he saw something in them there books, something that Anders might have put in there.’
‘Now, Tom, I don’t know where this is leading you, but it seems to me you’re hopping on one leg as they say.’
‘I ain’t, for sure I ain’t. And what does it mean anyway? There ain’t no other way to hop far as I can see.’
‘Dan the Man told me what it meant, the last time I said it.’
‘And…?’
‘Hold on, I’m thinking. He said, if I remembers it right, that it means as how your argument ain’t supported by the facts, I think that’s what he said. I used it right, didn’t I Tom?’
Tom nodded and dragged him by the arm along the lane.
‘That may be right, and it may be wrong, but we don’t know, do we? Not stood outside the old Mage’s house. So, I reckons we pretend I’m right, and that my ‘argument is supported’ and carry right on from there. What do you say there, Sam?’
‘Well, if you stop pulling on my arm, then I’ll go along with you, if you tells me where we’re going.’
‘Listen Sam, I reckon Gorge, he found out where to find a Wellstone in them books, and that’s where he’s off to.’
‘He wouldn’t do that without telling us first.’
‘Let’s say he did. What are we going to do about it?’
‘I don’t rightly know what to do, ‘cause we don’t know where he’s gone, unless we tell Dan the Man and he can tell us what to do.’
‘I knows where he’s gone.’
‘Ah now, that’s a different field of corn. Did you read it in one of his books?’
‘No, Sam, I didn’t read it in one of his books, but I could have, if I wanted to, if he hadn’t taken them along with him.’
‘So, how do you know where he’s gone?’
‘You don’t always need a book to know something, not when you can use this here in your head.‘ He knocked his knuckles against his forehead.
Sam shook his head. ‘Don’t know what you mean there, Tom. You’ll have to tell me plain.’
‘He’s gone after getting himself a Wellstone, Sam. And he’s getting it from where Anders got his, because he saw that in his books.’
‘We still don’t know where he’s gone.’
‘Ah now, but we do. You see Dan the Man, he was working in one of those northern fields, and he saw old Anders coming through that pass up there, all aglow with Magic, he was.’
Sam frowned. ‘Dan the Man was working?’
‘Ay, he must have done, I guess. Sometime, at least. But you’re getting yourself away from what I’m telling you. He came through the pass, and he had the Wellstone, and he must have got it from God’s Saddle.’
‘Where?’
‘God’s Saddle.’
‘You said that already. Where on God’s Saddle?’
Tom turned and began to rush along the path, so Sam had to run to catch him.
‘Well?’
‘I don’t rightly knows where about it is, but that’s where’ll he be.’
‘We can’t be going across God’s Saddle looking for him. Not if we don’t know where he is.’
‘I know that, Sam. But we can get some food, and some warm clothes, and some wood and firesticks, ’cause I reckon he’ll be mighty cold when he comes off God’s Saddle, he will.’
Sam nodded. ‘That’s alright then, but I hope he’s quick, ‘cause it’ll be dark soon enough and Dan the Man will only lock us out again.’
Chapter 78 Woewearer
Elaine walked slowly up Main Street. She had plenty of time, but she still felt tense.
If her taste of the future held true, and it mostly did, then this prosperous little town would be washed out to sea by the flood from above, before the week had reached its end.
And where else should Elaine Woewearer be, but in such a place? To bear witness to the death and destruction, to the tears and sorrow, to the futile acts of bravery, to the last gasps of those about to leave this life.
Men passed her in the street, and they looked at her, as men had always looked at her, when she wore her youth so well. She held her head up and met them eye for eye. Some looked away all shy and embarrassed. Others held her gaze, and were happier for the brief moment before she passed by.
She smiled to herself then. Perhaps, before the waters fell, she’d seek out one of these lucky men and share a moment or two of passion.
She reached the top of the street and then she stopped.
‘What is this?’ she whispered.
There were men at work, and scaffolding in place.
She moved closer, to one side of the workers. She placed a slim hand on the dam wall. It came away bone dry.
‘What are you about, kind sir?’ she asked of the closest worker, just above her on the second level of the scaffold.
‘Well, if you can’t see what we’re doing, then me telling you ain’t going to help, is it?’ he said, without looking down.
‘I suppose you are right there, but I’m a simple woman, and it all looks so complicated to me.’
He glanced at her then, and he smiled.
‘Sorry, my dear, for being so sharp. We’re strengthening this here wall, though to tell the complete and honest truth, it don’t look to me as if it needs it. It looks as good as new, it does. But the young Lady is paying us good money to put on another layer of strong granite, with the best support buttresses money can buy, and that’s what we’re about here.’
‘Thank you, kind sir, for your kind words. And if you have a thirst when you finish here, then you might well find me in yonder tavern when the sun takes itself to bed.’
The man’s smile widened, and his eyes seemed to glow.
‘Oh, I think I will have a thirst by then, and a hunger too I don’t doubt.’
‘Oh well, we
can’t have our strong workmen going without what they need, can we?’
Before he could reply, she turned and began to walk away. There’s something not quite right here, she thought. I’ve come such a long way, and there’s nothing here to be witnessed.
She lengthened her stride when she was back on Main Street. There’s a mystery to be solved, and at the heart of it was the Lady, and she meant to have words with her before she left this little town.
For there were other places she could have travelled to; places where terrible things would happen, and she could do her duty.
**********
Gorge held his candle up high as he walked along the twisting tunnel into the heart of the mountain. He’d left his coat, and both the jumpers he’d stolen from his friends far behind him, but he was still coated in sweat.
After what felt like days, but was probably just a couple of hours, he came to a turn in the tunnel, and the walls fell away to reveal what felt like a large cavern, though the light from his candle was too limited to really show what was there.
He hesitated for a moment, worried that some great blind beast would drop on to his head. Then he shook himself and moved forward.
He was more than a little relieved to find that nothing fell on his head.
After a moment, he lowered the candle and placed it on the ground at his feet. With his breath held tightly in his chest, he took a step away from it. First one, and then another.
With his fists clenched, he turned his back on the candle, and he stared into the darkness. After barely a moment, he smiled, because it wasn’t really dark. The walls were giving off a faint orange glow, and that, more than anything, told him that he was in the right place.
This was the cavern Anders had described in his notes; the very place where he’d found his Wellstone.
He took a walk around the cavern, just to be sure that there wasn’t a second Stone, nestling in the corner somewhere, but he was hardly surprised not to find what he sought.
‘That would have been just too easy,‘ he said, with a sigh.