“Now is the time to repack,” said Taran. “Anything you don’t want to bring, leave here. We won’t have the horses anymore. Remember whatever you pack you carry, and we’re rock climbing.”
Chapter 2
Meanwhile, back in Lerramorre, Joss was still unhappy about his friends’ sudden departure.
“A note. Really? A note?” Joss paced back and forth in irritation.
“Are you going on about that again?” asked Maya with exasperation.
“They snuck out without even saying goodbye. How rude!”
“Yes, sneaking out of places at dawn seems to be a habit of Justin’s. In fact, weren’t you with him last time?” pointed out Maya.
“Yes, but I’m usually the one doing the sneaking. I’m not used to being the one snuck out on,” complained Joss.
“So, you have no issues with the general idea of sneaking, you just want to be included?”
“Correct,” Joss agreed.
“Good. Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, can we focus on something more productive?”
“Should I send people after them?”
“Waste of time and man power. You know what they are capable of. Your men aren’t going to bring them back if they don’t want to come. Now, you’ve sent letters to everyone important. Tish went to the Elves. Allar and Kinda went to inform the Dwarves and Giants. We can only wait for responses. Instead of focusing on what our friends are doing, let’s focus on what we can do.”
“I’d rather do what they’re doing,” pouted Joss.
“I’d rather not. I have no desire to climb around the Karrenna mountains and even less desire to travel through the mists. So, if you’d rather be with me, stop whining and be a man.”
“Can I take that as a proposal acceptance?”
“No. I’m not about to marry a man who looks like a kicked puppy because his friends left and now he can’t go do stupid things with them, like getting himself killed, because he has to man up and be king.”
“Speaking of puppies, would you like one?”
“No.”
“The hunting master told me one of the wirehair retrievers whelped.”
“No.”
“What do you suggest?” asked Joss with a defeated sigh.
“I’ve scheduled a meeting with your finance minister for later this morning. If we are going to end up in a war with creatures from the mists, we need to know the state of our economy and food supplies. Along with the finance minister, I’ve invited your general. Between the two of them we should get an accurate picture of our position.”
“Sounds necessary and boring,” Joss gave her an injured look.
“I agree. Justin will want all that information when he gets back.”
“You speak as though he’ll be in charge of this altercation.”
“He might be. It will depend on what kind of responses we get from the other races and the humans. There will need to be a leader. Justin, along with Kinda, Allar, and Taran will be able to coordinate between the other races better than you would. Your job will be to lead the humans and help strategize. I think Justin is the likely leader. Allar is too quiet. Kinda has a masochistic streak that makes her too dangerous to be dependable. That leaves Taran and Justin. I know both have had experience with the Elves and the Ostrakans. I think Justin has also spent time in Salmatina and the Wild Woods. Besides, Taran seems to defer to Justin. Again, it depends on who and what the other races send and what their preferences are.”
“What if they don’t send anyone?”
“I doubt that. If they don’t though, wouldn’t you like Justin’s leadership?”
“I agree,” said Joss with a sigh. “I finally get used to the idea of being a king, and then I don’t actually get to be in charge of anything. Do you think anyone will send soldiers?”
“Perhaps. The Elves may send healers instead. The Dwarves may send blacksmiths or engineers. At this point, anything helps.”
“What if they don’t find anything in the mists?”
“Then, we throw a good will diplomacy party and send everyone home.”
“Now that sounds like fun,” replied Joss, his eyes brightening.
“I agree, but I’m certain they will find something.”
“I am, too. I hope whatever it is, is less dire than we fear it is. Do me a favor?”
“Depends on what it is,” replied Maya warily.
“Wear an intoxicating scent to the meeting. It will help keep me awake.”
“Now, that I can do,” agreed Maya with a laugh.
“Do you have a plan for the time between now and our meeting?”
“Yes.”
“Does it include me?”
“Yes.”
“Oh, good. What do we get to do?”
“Make a surprise inspection of the barracks, arms, and current health of the soldiers on duty.”
“I can do that. I’m familiar with the barracks. We should check on their current training schedule. We can ask about plans for recruitment and basic training.”
They walked to the barracks. Once there, Maya recognized Neville and Carr. She watched as Joss looked and acted like a king. He took charge, but was also friendly. He talked with Neville about the current health and skills of the soldiers, listening intently. It was productive to get the opinions and status reports from Neville and Carr before having a meeting with the general. Joss suggested holding open training sessions one evening a week for citizens to learn how to use weapons. Joss hoped it wouldn’t come to it, but if their city was overrun he wanted his people to have the best chance possible. He wouldn’t leave them unable to defend themselves.
“Also, open the archers to women. I don’t feel comfortable having them fight as foot soldiers or cavalry, but if any of them want to join the archers let them.”
“Women, sire?” asked Carr.
“You watched what Lucy could do, and you wonder about the capability of women?” teased Joss.
“Lucy wasn’t one of ours. The men accept her. I’m not sure how they’ll feel about women archers. I mean, I like Lucy, but I’m not sure I want my daughter or nieces joining the army.”
“I can see how that might be an issue. I also think we might be in a position where we don’t want to waste any talent we have. It’s optional. Not required. If there is no interest, there is no problem. If there is interest, train them and let me know if there is a problem.”
“Yes, my lord,” replied Neville. “If I may make a suggestion?”
“You may.”
“I think Lady Maya should offer classes on healing potions and songs to anyone interested.”
“I agree,” said Joss. “Maya?”
“I’d be honored. If there is a battle, I’m sure I could use all the help I could get. If there isn’t a battle, the skills I will teach them are still useful. Tomorrow morning, I’ll open a clinic to start training anyone interested. Spread the word. Have anyone who needs healing come as well. It will help to have live patients rather than using hypothetical examples,” said Maya.
“Can you heal as well as Justin? Will the people you train need magical abilities?” asked Carr.
“I cannot heal as well as Justin can magically. He can help immediately. However, I can brew potions even better than Justin. We can make a list of the potions we need. I can teach the students how to brew them, and then the sick people can come back for the appropriate potion or salve. You don’t need magical ability to brew a good potion,” explained Maya. “Once they’ve learned the basics, and we’ve cured the people here who need it, we can stock up on potions that can be used in battle. Potions might not be as good as Justin, but a group of us working with potions can be efficient and effective. It will free up Justin so he can focus on the most severe cases. If seven people would die in the time it takes Justin to heal one, but we can save four of them with potions, we come out ahead.”
“That makes sense. Thank you. I’ll spread the word,” said Neville.
They left the barracks
on a high note with a plan. Maya hoped the confidence Joss showed at the barracks would carry over into the next meeting. Joss was a good man and could make a good king. Part of the problem was that some of the officials were people he had spent his youth avoiding or fearing. They were capable people so it didn’t make sense to replace them. However, it was hard for Joss to use his authority in a meeting or ask the right questions. He took too many things they said at face value. He needed to rule, not let his officials make all the decisions.
At least things looked decent in the barracks. Maya was proud of Joss for including women archers. She hadn’t suggested it, but she felt it was a step in the right direction. She wondered how many women would join. Even more importantly, she wondered how many women would be good at archery. She hoped enough to make it worth the trouble it might cause. Maya was looking forward to tomorrow. Teaching others to brew and use potions was fun for her and would help Lerramorre.
Chapter 3
Lucy took a sip from her water-skin. Her feet were sore. She missed her horse. Other than that, things were going well. They could see dark clouds north of them and could hear thunder. So far, the storm had stayed north and they had stayed dry. Lucy did not like traveling in the rain, especially when there was no hope of an inn. The breeze picked up, keeping them cool, and was fortunately at their backs, making travel easier. They had completed traversing the last of the low hills yesterday. Now the incline was steeper. There were more rocks and less grass. It didn’t take them long to get above the tree line. Lucy hadn’t had much experience with heights. She hoped she didn’t mind them because the plan was to keep going up long before they would go down again.
They slept that night in a shallow cave. They didn’t risk a fire. It was too open. A fire at that height would be a beacon to anything in the area. Lucy made sure the cave walls were solid and secure. She didn’t want to find a small niche that led to a larger cave farther back. She didn’t want something sneaking up behind them during the night. She set wards. So did Justin. They ate kaliberries, dry bread and cheese. The ground was too hard to sleep well. They were up early the next morning, not in the best moods, but ready to travel none-the-less.
As the trails became more perilous, Justin insisted they tie up. Soon after that, they reached the first place they had to actually climb. Taran helped them each make harnesses out of rope. He clipped himself to another rope and began to navigate up the rock face, setting up additional protection like nuts and tri-cams as he went. Lucy was impressed as she watched him climb. He had obviously done this before. He got to a ledge twenty feet up and swiftly set up an anchor to ensure the safety of the rest of the group. He lowered another rope and hauled up their packs. It would make their climbs easier. Gavin started to move up the rock face, climbing less adeptly than Taran but not by much. Then, it was Lucy’s turn.
Years ago, Lucy had climbed on an indoor rock wall for fun one afternoon. It was very little like climbing real rock. Lucy took a deep breath and started to climb. She was slower than Gavin and much slower than Taran. She felt for each hand hold. It was harder when the holds were camouflaged into the rock rather than large, brightly colored, plastic pieces screwed into the fake wall for the climber’s convenience. She slipped more than once. The ropes caught her, but she cut her hand and tore holes through her trousers and her knees trying to catch herself. She was a sweaty, bloody, panting mess by the time Taran helped her over the top.
“We’ve got a lot more to do,” said Taran, motioning to the rest of the mountain range. “Don’t fall apart on us now.”
“Justin can heal me in a minute and I’ll be as good as new,” panted Lucy with a shrug.
Taran grinned at her and turned to help his brother. Justin had obviously done this before as well. He climbed up as quickly and adroitly as Taran had. He cleaned as he went, removing each piece of gear Taran had placed. Justin smiled as his head cleared the top of the ledge and he pulled himself over looking hardly winded.
“Good to be climbing again,” said Justin to Taran.
“I agree. Lucy might not,” responded Taran with a smile.
Justin looked at her, and she held up her bloody hand. He shook his head at her as he healed her hand and then her knees.
“Really? Of all things does it have to be archery and climbing?” he joked.
“Oh no, this is already going better than archery. I’ll get the hang of it. It looks like I’ll have lots of opportunity to practice,” laughed Lucy, waving her hand at the mountains.
“Ready for round two?” asked Taran motioning up the rest of the face to the top.
“Ready,” affirmed Lucy, sounding more sure than she was.
Taran grinned at her and began to lead climb once more. The second climb was easier. Lucy was getting the hang of feeling for a hold with her hands rather than relying on what looked solid. Her muscles were getting used to the movements of climbing. She trusted the rope more and used her legs to push herself up, rather than relying on her grip and arm strength to pull herself up. Unfortunately, the second climb was also longer. By the time Lucy made it to the top, she was breathing heavily and her forearms burned. Taran grinned at her and showed her some stretches to make her forearms feel better. Gavin was stretching out as well. Lucy was glad Orin had forced her into such good physical condition, but she wondered why rock climbing wasn’t part of the basic required curriculum. Justin cleared the top of the ledge and grinned at her.
“Anything to heal this time?” he quipped.
“Not this time,” affirmed Lucy.
Everyone laughed and stretched out. Taran opened the packs and passed around some travel bread and cheese. Climbing burned a lot of calories. It was clear Justin and Taran were enjoying climbing. Gavin seemed to be, too. Then again, there wasn’t much Gavin didn’t enjoy when it came to physical activity. It wasn’t so much that Lucy didn’t enjoy climbing, but it was tiring, time consuming, and there might be another option. Taran packed up their snack leftovers and water-skins. They stood up, ready to tackle the third part of the ledge.
“I have a question,” stated Lucy.
“Ask away,” said Taran magnanimously.
“Is there a good reason why we can’t do this?”
As Lucy asked the question, she grabbed onto Taran and Gavin and floated them to the top of the third ledge. She made a motion with her hand and Justin joined them before anyone could say anything.
“Next, I suppose you want to go down to that ravine. Is there any reason we can’t jump it?”
This time Justin reacted and hung onto her shoulder as she jumped, still holding Taran and Gavin.
“Then, there is this sheer face to climb. I’ll just jump us up that, and so forth and so on,” said Lucy.
With each sentence, she jumped them up the mountain, down the mountain, over sheer drops and ravines, and around obstacles, until they were on the other side of the mountain range. She moved quickly, not giving them a chance to talk. Gavin looked surprised, but not unpleased. Taran was smiling. Justin was behind her, so Lucy couldn’t see his expression. She was sure he was frowning, but she could deal with that later.
“I just saved us weeks of hard travel by magically jumping us through it. Is there any good reason why I shouldn’t have done that?”
Justin opened his mouth to respond, but before he could say anything a different voice spoke from behind them.
“You could have been seen. Movements like that coupled with strong magic moving quickly will attract attention. Even this close to the mists. Some being might construe a display of that amount of power as a challenge. When it comes to the mists, caution is often the safer way to go.”
Gavin jumped and drew his sword. Justin cringed and everyone turned around to assess the creature behind them. She was easily the most oddly beautiful creature Lucy had ever seen. She looked like a human butterfly. Her smooth skin was different shades of blue and purple with small flecks of gold crisscrossed by black bands to form intricate designs. She had long
black hair with purple highlights. She was wearing a black tunic and tight trousers. Her blue feet were bare. She had long, slim, diaphanous, delicate wings protruding from her back at her shoulder blades. They looked too delicate to support her weight to fly. No one said anything for a moment. The butterfly woman was assessing them and the group had no idea what to make of her.
“Can you fly with those?” asked Lucy, intrigued, motioning towards her wings.
The butterfly woman laughed, a musical sound. “I can fly. No, my wings do not hold my weight. I fly by magic; the wings are mostly ornamental. Bumblebees fly by magic. Why can’t I?”
Lucy did not know how to respond. Everyone joked that the rules of physics didn’t allow the bumblebee to fly, but the insects did it anyway because no one had ever told them they couldn’t. Lucy had never considered they used magic to fly. Somehow bumblebees didn’t seem magical. The butterfly lady had a point. Why not? Lucy had essentially used magic to jump and fly them through a mountain range. She didn’t have wings and could fly. Why not other people or bumblebees?
“Come in and rest,” the butterfly women invited. “Even if that was not physically exhausting for all of you, your woman must be tired. Your weapons master could use some food. All of you could use a talk. Come,” she motioned for them to follow her.
She walked around a rock outcropping and disappeared. Everyone turned to look at Justin. He shrugged and led the way, following the butterfly woman. Lucy followed Justin. When she went around the outcropping, she was pleasantly surprised to find herself in the most welcoming cave she could imagine.
To one side was a crackling fireplace with a steaming stew hanging over it. The smells emanating from it made Lucy’s mouth water. The cave was brightly lit by candles sitting on small ledges all around. Moss grew green and thick on some of the ledges. It seemed like a cared for house plant and lent comfort and color to the atmosphere. Water trickled down one wall and gathered in the pool below it. There was a blanket over a portion of the wall. Lucy guessed it led to another cavern, perhaps one used as a bedroom. In the middle of the cave, six chairs surrounded a rough wooden table. It was set for five with smoothly carved wooden bowls and spoons. Fresh brown bread warmed a breadboard in the center of the table.
Ravs Are Rarely Wrong: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol III Page 2