Journey's Middle

by B. K. Parent

“Only as a legend, a folk tale, a myth,” Master Clarisse answered, somewhat embarrassed to have actually spoken aloud.

  “No, none of those things. What we are is blessedly forgotten by most, and thus allowed to live our lives in peace. We are and have always been simple miners and cutters of rare and precious stones. In the past, outsiders have tried to control and exploit us. We do not want that time to come again. Now we have agents who take our stones to far away markets and sell them for us. Our bringing you here was a great risk, and there was much debate about the advisability of allowing strangers in, but Shueller can be quite eloquent and persuasive. It does not hurt that you wear the ring that you do, young rover.”

  I had to think a moment as to what he was saying for I wore a ring upon my finger, and I wore two rings around my neck. I made the assumption that he was referring to the ring around my finger, which I glanced down at and was astonished to see it was emitting a soft light.

  “A very rare stone, and one surely mined here, but not in recent memory. An old stone but it knows it has returned home. May I take a closer look?” Torger asked. “No, do not take it off. Actually, I rather doubt that you could. Just hold your hand out, please.”

  I realized that since I had put the ring on, I had never even thought to take it off. Torger might be right that it would not come off.

  “Yes, it was undoubtedly mined here, but it comes from a vein that played out long before my birth. I would like to spend some time talking with you about where you acquired both the stone and the ring, but there is a more important task that lies before us and a more immediate one. If you will, follow me please.”

  Torger set off quickly, leading us down a path that skirted the edge of the valley. About five hundred feet from the opening we had exited was a rope ladder hanging down from a balcony built out from the cliff wall. Torger grabbed a hold on a rung and began to climb up. Upon reaching the balcony, he stepped over the low railing and signaled we should follow him. Maybe if you were born and raised living in cliffs climbing up the ladder would be child’s play, but I have no love of high places. While my head was telling me I could make this climb, my knees did not agree and were knocking together so hard I am surprised others could not hear them. I grabbed a rung, placed my foot on another, told myself not to look down, and climbed. I did not embarrass myself by kissing the balcony floor once I safely reached it, but I wanted to.

  Once we were all assembled on the balcony, Torger lead us into a surprisingly large and beautiful sitting room occupied by two women, one older and one quite young and obviously not of Torger’s folk, if those we had seen so far were any indication. What surprised me even more was the fact that she was dressed in rover clothing. My surprise shifted to concern, for she did not look at all well. Not ill exactly, but rather listless. My concern shifted back to surprise when Beezle began to speak.

  “No, that’s not possible. It can’t be, can it?” Beezle said, looking at each of us in the room for confirmation.

  “Can’t be what?” I asked, somewhat exasperated.

  “The Princess.”

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  “It is, Beezle,” Master Clarisse confirmed, and looking at Torger stated, “and you are right. She does not look well.”

  “Shueller said something about her running out of an antidote, and that you folks would know what he was talking about. We did not want to do anything until you all arrived for fear we would make things worse. Was Shueller right?” Torger asked anxiously.

  Once again Master Clarisse seemed to draw herself up, and something shifted in her demeanor, which was just a bit out of keeping with the Master Clarisse we knew. As she swiftly walked over to the Princess, she asked me to fill Torger in on what we suspected might be wrong with her. I began to do so, but while I was doing so, I was also watching Master Clarisse. She knelt down before the Princess and took both of the young woman’s hands in hers.

  “Ressie?” Princess Esmeralda said in a whisper.

  “Shh, now Essey, shh,” Master Clarisse said in a soothing whisper back. “It will be alright.”

  Ressie? Essey? What was going on here, I wondered. Then Torger called my attention back to the problem at hand. Master Clarisse and Beezle were not the only ones who were going to need to have a talk later.

  “Was Shueller right? Do you know what he was talking about?” Torger asked a second time, with a slight tone of impatience in his voice.

  “Yes. Sorry. It appears that the Princess was dosed with some concoction or potion which took away her will, and basically left her mind intact, but without the energy or ability to take command of herself. An antidote was slipped to her, and she was able to get herself away from those who would control her and who also may have been a threat to her life. The herbalist from the Glassmakers Guild thought the antidote would take care of the problem, but it seems he was wrong. Maybe the antidote was only a temporary fix. Do you have someone here who is familiar with herbs and remedies?”

  “We do . . .” Torger began to reply.

  “Oh, good,” I interrupted, feeling a great relief only to have that dashed as Torger continued.

  “. . . but he is in the high country right now gathering plants and has taken his apprentice with him.”

  Alright, this is not good, I thought. Just then Master Clarisse motioned me over.

  “Did I hear right, that there is no one here who is quite knowledgeable about herbs and medicinal plants?” Master Clarisse asked, directing her question to Torger.

  “That is correct. There are those here who can deal with everyday injuries and illnesses, but the one who has much of the specialized knowledge is not here now, I regret to say,” answered Torger.

  “Then I guess it is up to you, Nissa,” Master Clarisse stated with conviction.

  “Me? Ah, now wait. I’m a woodworker, not an herbalist. I just sell herbs and medicinal plants for someone else,” I managed to stammer out.

  “But you have had some training, have you not? You do know your way around a still house, yes? You could re-create the antidote, could you not?” Master Clarisse asked impatiently.

  A number of questions flashed through my mind. Would my telling the others that I did have experience in a still house create too many questions for later? Would my denying it help the situation? Did I trust Master Clarisse and Beezle? In the end, it was Nana’s training that took over, making all the questions moot. I could hear her in my mind telling me that it is our duty to help others if we had the skills to do so.

  “Yes, I could recreate the antidote. I requested a copy of the proportions of what the glassmakers’ herbalist made to add to the book I have. Most of the ingredients I need are back in my homewagon. I don’t have all of the ingredients, however, but perhaps we can find them here,” I said. “But it would seem that will only be a temporary fix. I had thought that once the antidote was administered, the symptoms wouldn’t reappear.”

  Beezle spoke up for the first time. “We always assumed that they were dosing her in either something she ate or drank. What if that were not the case?”

  Master Clarisse and I looked at Beezle with appreciation, for I think it had not occurred to either of us that something besides food or drink might be the source of the problem.

  “Torger, can someone escort Nissa back to her homewagon, so she can get what she needs to work on the antidote?” Master Clarisse asked. “Meanwhile, I will see what I can find out, if the rest of you could give the Princess and me a little privacy.”

  The woman who had been standing quietly by during this exchange mentioned that Beezle might like to follow her out of the room, and she would see if she could find some refreshments. Torger motioned that I should follow him back to the balcony so we could head back into the tunnels and back to my homewagon. He would escort me himself he said. As I turned around to head out, I almost tripped over Carz. I had not
realized he had come into the room, and then I began to wonder how he had gotten here.

  “You coming with me or staying?” I asked him. “Stay then,” I said, as he settled himself next to Master Clarisse as if he owned the place.

  The journey back to the homewagon seemed faster, but then return journeys often do since you know what to expect. I pulled together what I thought I might need and then followed Torger through the caves, caverns, and tunnels, coming out at a different place than before.

  “This brings us closer to the still room,” he said, as he led me to another ladder and another climb.

  The still room was larger than Nana’s but equally well organized and labeled. I found what I needed and very carefully followed the recipe for the antidote that I had been given. Unlike many concoctions that were good for you, this one did not smell bad, and apparently when mixed with drizzle, did not taste bad either. I was not sure of the taste, but I was also not disposed to try it. I had often wondered at the perverse nature of concoctions. Why did it always seem that those drinks or powders that were good for you had to taste or smell bad?

  I was glad we did not have to climb back down to the ground and then back up to get to the room where Master Clarisse and the Princess awaited. Torger led me through a series of corridors which were carved out of the rock. Upon arrival, we found Master Clarisse, Beezle, the Princess, and the woman who had yet to be introduced, sitting comfortably having tea and small cakes. I glanced at Carz to see him licking crumbs off his whiskers. How nice, I thought a bit sarcastically. While I’m away, the rest of them are having a tea party as if nothing were wrong.

  Before I could even say anything, Master Clarisse very gingerly picked something up off the table in front of her and held it out. “I think I may have found the culprit,” she said.

  I could not tell what it was so I walked over to her, which did not help at all for it just looked like a square of cloth.

  “What is it?”

  “It is a square of linen which we think was soaked in the concoction and then literally glued to the Princess’ back in a place where it would have been very hard for her to reach. Torger’s wife, Yola,” Master Clarisse indicated with a nod of her head in the direction of the woman who had not been introduced, “helped me, and we have cleansed the area. We had assumed she would no longer be affected once she got away from Snoddleton, since we had assumed she was being given the concoction in her food or drink. Hopefully, when Princess Esmeralda takes the antidote this time, it will be effective.”

  “Instead of talking it to death, I would recommend we give the Princess the antidote, and if it works, then she can tell us what happened,” I suggested. I walked over to the Princess and poured a small amount of the antidote into her tea cup, which was empty. “I’m sorry this isn’t mixed in something sweet that will make it taste a bit better.”

  The Princess lifted the tea cup to her mouth, got a funny look on her face, took a deep breath, and swallowed the antidote down. None of us were prepared for how quickly it took effect. One moment there was a dullness in the Princess’ eyes, and the next there was a spark of intelligence.

  “Yeech, that tastes vile,” she stated, and a shudder ran through her body, “but I thank you, none the same. Please tell me who you are, and where I am. I am a little vague as to how I came to be in this place.”

  Torger took the lead, introduced himself and his wife, and explained where we were. Each of us then in turn introduced ourselves, and I noticed that Master Clarisse introduced herself as well, which made me question whether I had really heard the whispered conversation earlier between the Princess and Master Clarisse. We could only tell her the bits and pieces of what we knew about how she had gotten here, and she filled in some of the blanks.

  “After I left the royal manor, I was to be met by a man in Glassmakers Guild livery. I had not walked too far from the manor when the skies opened up, and I ducked into a recessed doorway to get out of the rain. Not but a few moments later, a man ducked into the same doorway. I was very concerned at this point, but it turned out to be the man I was to make contact with, a one Jonzee Smed, he said his name was. He had brought a Glassmakers Guild’s apprentice’s cloak hidden under his own and had me put it on in exchange for the baker’s apprentice’s cloak I was wearing. Once the rain let up, we calmly walked to the Hall of Masters, as if we actually were supposed to be going there, and then walked through the Hall and out the back. A wagon was waiting there, and they had built in a false wall. I was urged to get behind it and was closed in. I can tell you that I was beginning to have second thoughts about what I was doing, wondering if I were jumping from the stew pot into the fire, but at that point there was not much I could do. Could I have another one of those fine oat cakes, please? I really need to get the taste of that antidote out of my mouth.”

  Yola and I nearly dumped the plate of cakes over, both of us reaching for it at the same time, but only one fell to the floor, to be swiftly cleaned up by Carz who then watched us carefully, probably hoping we would continue to be clumsy. The action provided some comic relief, and once all of us were settled again, the Princess continued.

  “I am glad I am not bothered by closed, tight places for there was not much room in the hidden space in the wagon. Fortunately there was a seat and some light from a series of small holes in the ceiling of the compartment. I am glad also that for the most part, the road we traveled on was either smooth or that wagon had superior suspension. I was concerned when shortly after we started, we stopped, and I could hear Jonzee being asked to open the wagon for inspection. He put up quite a protest to whoever was doing the inspection about being careful because the wagon was filled with breakables. He threatened if they broke even one of the wine goblets he was to deliver to Lord Binsen at Ustad manor, all of their heads would roll, for he wasn’t going to take the blame for what they broke. He was quite convincing.”

  So, I thought, Nana was not the only one in the family with good acting skills. Maybe when this was over and we all survived, we could go on the road as a traveling troop of players.

  “I do not know how long we traveled. It was hard to tell inside the compartment, but I do know we stopped at Ustad manor and delivered the wine goblets. Once, we pulled off the road into a dense grove of trees, and I got out and stretched my legs, but we could not stay long. Then we pulled over once more and met with the rover Shueller. He hustled me into his homewagon, asked I change into the clothes he had laid out, and while I was doing that, Jonzee left. After that things become a bit confused.”

  “I can fill in the next part, with your permission, Your Highness,” Torger offered. “Shueller meant to meet you, Nissa, at the standing stones but became concerned that someone was following him, so he pulled into the campsite where you stayed last night. We always have scouts in the valley, and they knew him. He asked if they would get the Princess here with no one the wiser. He had himself a meal, and then headed back out of the valley, taking a different route south. We sent others on to watch the route you were to travel to make sure you were not being spied upon. One of the scouts followed Shueller and has not returned back yet to let us know what happened after he left the valley. The main concern was that by the time he reached the valley, the Princess was once again under the influence of the concoction, and that was a great worry to all of us, Your Highness.”

  “I appreciate all that all of you have done for me, at great risks to yourselves. I am at a loss as to why all this is happening.”

  “Perhaps we should fill you in as to what has been happening in Sommerhjem over the last several years,” stated Master Clarisse and proceeded to do so.

  By the time she was finished, the looks on all of our faces were grim.

  “I had no idea, no idea, the Regent was so out-of-hand,” the Princess murmured, “but it begins to explain much. I am surprised that the nobles have allowed this to go on.”

&nb
sp; “The Regent has been quite clever and sneaky. Many were not aware of how much he had taken control of until it was too late. Others are throwing their lot in with his,” Beezle said, entering the conversation for the first time.

  “Well, when I come of age in less than a month, I will just get rid of him,” the Princess stated emphatically, if naively.

  “Would that it could be that easy,” Master Clarisse countered. “There are several flaws in your plan.”

  “Why? I am the royal heir. The rule comes to me the day I come of age. My word will be law,” the Princess said, somewhat arrogantly.

  “There are several obstacles facing you, the least of which is trying to stay alive and free until your birth date. If you manage that, there is still the assembly of the nobles that has to confirm your ascension to the throne, and quite frankly, Your Highness, your popularity at this time is very low among the folk you wish to rule,” Master Clarisse stated apologetically and went on to explain why.

  I did not think the Princess could look grimmer, but I was mistaken, for Beezle added to the discussion by bringing up the idea of the challenge.

  “There has even been talk in recent months about calling the Gylden Sirklene challenge,” he said, “and no, it is not a myth. There is historic proof and precedence for the challenge to be called.”

  Before Beezle could explain that statement, a knock came on the door, and a woman interrupted our conversation by begging our pardon and then addressing her remarks to Torger.

  “Ohanzee has returned, and he has news of who was following Shueller.”

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Torger suggested, with the Princess’ permission, that we might want to hear what Ohanzee had to say and invited the man in. Ohanzee, a young Günnary man, entered the room. He must have been told that the Princess was in the room dressed in rover clothing, but not given any other description, for the look that crossed his face, a mix of confusion and utter embarrassment, was almost comical. Taking pity on him, Torger quickly introduced the Princess, and Ohanzee bowed to her before he began his recitation.