Chapter Twenty Six

Tea At Granny's

They make their way in the direction that Felibarr indicated.

'It must be round here, according to Felibarr's directions' says Winnacer as they round the hill to the northwest of Heimlin's family's grotto.

'That's Granny's place that is' says Heimlin, as he sees the location that Winnacer is referring to.

His face comes the closest that it has to smiling this day.

'Remember I was tellin' you about 'er earlier today. She's grandmother to pretty much all of the folks in the village. 'Er an' 'er husband were the first to settle 'ere, many years past. I wasn't sure she'd still be alive, as she's a venerable old girl, she is, must be 750 if she's a day. In 'er prime, she was one of the greatest illusionists in the land. I dunno what she can do these days - she's missin' a few of 'er marbles now. 'Ardly surprisin' at 'er age.'

Heimlin leads the way to the entrance to her grotto, up to a large gorse bush.

'Illusion.' Heimlin says. 'Close yer eyes an' believe it ain't there.'

They do as Heimlin instructs, but the bush remains. They tell Heimlin that it really IS a bush.

'Do it again.' Heimlin suggests 'But you've gotta really, REALLY believe that it ain't 'ere. Granny made this one while she was still in 'er prime.'

They all close therr eyes again and convince themselves that there is no bush there.

It works this time. Instead of the bush there is now an entrance to a grotto.

Following Heimlin's lead, they make their way in. After just a couple of steps, they walk over the bodies of four goblins, each showing the signs of being severely gnawed.

While they are investigating the goblins, they hear some deep grunts coming out of the grotto towards them. Seconds later, they see the large black and white forms of a couple of giant badgers bounding towards them, baring their fangs at them. They stop a couple of paces in front of them, snarling, as if daring them to come any closer. As they investigate them, they can see that their pelts are covered in a number of cuts and stab marks, with many patches of dried blood evident.

'Whoa!' shouts Heimlin at the two giant badgers. 'Yer ain't forgotten yer old uncle Heimlin 'ave yer?' With that he starts grunting at the two badgers.

The grunts have an immediate calming effect upon the two giant badgers. They immediately stop their snarlings and become as docile as a couple of playful puppies, snuffling at their groins.

Heimlin carries on into the grotto, with the rest of them following, somewhat nervous at the attention of the badgers. As they are entering the grotto, a crackling voice cries out:

'Is there anybody there?'

'It's me Granny, Heimlin'

A door opens. They all look at who it is, but see no one. Then you cast your gaze a little lower and see a wizened old face, barely two feet above the ground, peering around the corner of the doorway with a candle in her hand. It is, by far, the oldest looking face that they have ever seen.

'Heimlin who?' Granny asks.

'Heimlin Goldstone - Matyey's boy?'

The voice is quiet for a moment, but then starts cackling.

'Well, whoever you are, young 'un, it's nice to 'ave some company, even at this time of night. Not that I gets much sleep these days, not with my back, and arms, and legs, and feet. Come on in an' bring all of yer little playmates with you.'

'All of yer, come in after me. Don't worry about Darius, Winnacer. Granny's as blind as a bat. She won't recognize 'im as a goblin.'

'My, my, what big strapping lads you have with you, young Heimlin' she says as she sees Winnacer, Jihan and Xavier, bent over almost in half as they attempt to traverse the tiny corridor which is only some four feet tall.'

'C'mon in, all of you. Let me put the kettle on. I 'aven't 'ad a good natter for ages.'

She shows them into her living room. They look around them, seeing that the room is full of clutter, with inches of dust lying on everything. One side of the room takes the form of a huge bookcase, filled with ancient tomes. The whole place gives the feeling of being like some kind of arcane junk shop, filled with hundreds of items with a purpose that they can't even hazard a guess at.

Xavier, Jihan and Winnacer sit on the floor, as the chairs are all too small to sit in. Darius and Heimlin are both able to find seats.

'So what kind of mischief have you been up to lately, Heimlin, young lad?' Granny says as she returns, shuffling into the room with a teapot and six earthenware cups.

'It's been a sad day for the village today, Granny' says Heimlin, pitifully.

'Pardon' says Granny, 'You'll have to speak up, young 'un, my ears aren't as good as they used to be.'

'I SAID, IT'S BEEN A SAD DAY FOR THE VILLAGE TODAY, GRANNY' shouts Heimlin at the top of his voice.

'Why's that then, dear?' asks Granny cackling with laughter. 'Lost the biggest nose competition against those boys from Marshov again?'

'No Granny, it's a lot…NO GRANNY IT'S A LOT MORE SERIOUS THAN THAT. THE WHOLE VILLAGE HAS BEEN SLAUGHTERED BY GOBLINS.'

'What's that you say lad?' replies Granny, trying to hear.

'The old spillage has been watered by goblins? Whatever would they want to do that for, youngster?' the old gnome starts cackling.

'NO GRANNY…SLAUGHTERED…THE WHOLE VILLAGE HAS BEEN SLAUGHTERED BY GOBLINS' says Heimlin, bellowing at her at the top of his voice.

'EVERYONE'S DEAD … ALL OF YOUR CHILDREN, YOUR GRANDCHILDREN, YOUR GREAT GRANDCHILDREN, THEIR CHILDREN AND THEIR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN. THEY'RE ALL DEAD, GRANNY, EVERYONE'S DEAD.'

At that, Heimlin slumps back into his chair, hold his head in his hands and starts weeping to himself again.

The message finally gets through to her and tears start to roll down her wrinkled cheeks.

'Everyone? Dead?' she asks, hoping that she has misheard again. 'How can that be?'

Heimlin starts to explain the whole story to her. It takes him a while, but he gets her to understand exactly what has happened, eventually.

'This is terrible' she says, shaking her head, while stroking the two giant badgers which are laying on the rug in front of her, curled up in front of the fire. 'What can I do to help you?'

"um....i....um...guess"...(Winnacer realizes he's speaking too softly).....

"I said I guess we could find a use for your renown talents. Whatever they might be. A number of your kindred have been taken as slaves, to work the mines at Dvur Kralovye. I was planning on going from this place to liberate them. Both the villagers which the Nyemetz took from here as well as all those imprisoned at Dvur Kralovye. But we know little of what resistance such a feat would meet with. Nor are we an army that can tear the lines of the Nyemetz asunder with our sheer numbers. Perhaps your knowledge of spellcraft could go a long way in making the liberation of your folk a reality. And your badger friends certainly would not hinder us either."

"But such a bold plan cannot be enjoined haphazardly. My allies will certainly have much to say about such things. Perhaps you know of other ways you can help us?"

'Well, dear' starts Granny, after listening to Winnacer's speech after Winnacer and Heimlin have repeated it to her several times until she understands what it is that he is trying to tell her.

'I don't really know what I can do to help you. A long time ago, I used to be able to do many things. Illusions - I used to make the most fabulous illusions. I remember the day of Patrik's birthday, when we had that celebration. I made the whole sky purple for the whole evening and then started the mountains dancing. Oh what fun that was. Whatever happened to Patrik? Who was it that he got married to? It was that Maria wasn't it. Oh no, it was Michal that she got married to. I remember going to their wedding…'

'Granny,' Heimlin interrupts gently.

'She had this most fabulous dress. Folks said that they got some elves to make it for them. Mind you, wouldn't have been much of a difficulty to her father. Folks never did find out where he got his money from, the Glitterdusts. And the food. You simply couldn't imagine the size of the feast…'

'GRANNY!' shouts Heimlin 'You're ramblin'. I know that it's 'ard for you, but can you PLEASE try an' concentrate. It's very important.'

'Sorry, lad' says Granny, realizing that she's lost the thread. 'What was it that we were talking about again?'

Heimlin gives up with trying to get much more out of Granny at this stage and talks directly to the others.

'As I was sayin' earlier, Granny used to be a great illusionist, believe it or not. She used to create these fabulous illusions like no one else could. When we were all kids, she'd spend hours entertaining us all, she'd never get tired of performing plays with 'er illusions. Superb they were.'

'Mind you, that was 'er speciality. She's a gentle old soul. She was never one for throwing great fireballs around, or calling lightnin' bolts down from the sky. Never 'urt a soul would Granny.'

'I don't know what she's still capable of these days. I can't remember 'er castin' any spells in decades. Can't believe that she's forgotten 'ow to do 'em though.'

Heimlin whispers to them, although there is hardly any risk of Granny over-hearing:

'As you've seen, she ain't the easiest person to communicate with these days. I reckon she's still capable of performin' some very powerful illusions, but it will take us quite a while to get anythin' out of 'er. Problem is, I don't know much about all this illusion lark. No idea what she can an' can't do. I reckon we need to get Corrow over 'ere. If anyone knows what she might be capable of, then it'll be 'im. While we're at it, we might as well get everyone over 'ere as I reckon we need to know what our plans will be before we can work out 'ow Granny can best 'elp us. Those bi-focals that we found might come in 'andy as well, if Granny's 'avin' problems readin' 'er books these days. Jihan, can you go an' tell everyone to come 'ere. Bring Bekkah with you as well will you.'

Jihan agrees, and goes off to round up the others in order to bring everyone to Granny's grotto.

It is a struggle for everyone to fit into Granny's tiny living room, but everyone manages to squeeze in, somehow. The two badgers take advantage of the fact that most of them are sitting on the floor by trying to lick their faces. Bekkah, obviously soothed somewhat by Maire's attention, is sleeping calmly in her arms.

Granny, delighted at having so many visitors come to see her, although somewhat confused by the situation, brews another pot of dandelion tea.

Winnacer starts the ball rolling:

"A truly horrible thing has befallen the Gnomes of Bohavia today. We need to decide what we are to do about it. Felibarr has mentioned that the slaves are probably at Dvur Kralovye, the closest Nyemetz garrison, having their guards changed to orcs prior to moving out to Kutna Hora. One option is that we make haste to intercept the slave caravan and liberate this village."

"This is not our only option however. Kutna Hora is a major silver mine, representing a great deal of the local Nyemetz capital in the area. To liberate the gnomish slaves working the mines would not just be a blow for freedom and the Bohavian cause, but also a blow against the economic leverage the Nyemetz hold over us. Such a victory would be a great thing, but certainly not easily won. Perhaps some of you know more about the mines and the Nyemetz posted at Kutna Hora. While action against the mines may not be feasible, it certainly should be considered."

"I also overheard Corrow's desire to explore the Keep of Boscobelous, one I cannot imagine entertaining as long as Heimlin's son remains in bonds. But it is something to be considered, especially if we choose to make a move on the mines proper, for then a few extra days will not change the course of our actions. Plus, a trip to the keep will allow us to escort Heimlin and Bekkah back to Holitze. Perhaps we could even make a plea to the villagers to offer us aid in our endeavor to free the mines."

"In any case, we must decide quickly which path we shall walk. Are we to make haste and intercept the slaving party or do we collect what forces we can and attack the mines directly, possibly making some stops along the way? My ears are open to all of your suggestions, knowledge, and even possible plans."

Heimlin listens carefully while each of them gives their opinions regarding what should be their next course of action. Maire', or Faewen'il as she now chooses to be called, Jihan and Corrow see getting the gnomes to the safety of Holitze as the most immediate task. Winnacer, Yaz and Darius, on the other hand, prefer to head after the slavers as soon as possible so as to reunite Heimlin and Bekkah with Heimlin's son. Heimlin nods as each person says his or her piece. His eyes are heavy as he listens, trying hard to keep his exhaustion at bay. Granny pays no attention to the debate. She continues to mutter to herself in gnomish, occasionally bursting into peals of laughter, and pets the badgers.

Once everyone has spoken and the grotto is quiet save for the crackling fire and murmurs of Granny, Heimlin speaks:

'I agree with all of you. I'm completely torn between goin' after those who 'ave taken Yosef away as soon as possible an' gettin' Granny an' Bekkah away to safety. I don't reckon there's a way that we can do both at the same time. We'll all be a burden to yer all if we was to come with yer. Yer've already seen that I ain't no use in a fight, an it's obvious that Bekkah is goin' to 'ave to be nursed all the way. I wouldn't like 'er to witness no more bloodshed either. She already witnessed more 'orror than any lass 'as 'ad right to see without putting more nightmarish visions in front of 'er. I wouldn't say that Granny was goin' to be any use to yers on yer journey neither. She's still capable of great things alright, but nothin' immediate. If she were set on by orcs then she'd prob'ly jus' sit around chattin' to 'em while yers tried to stop 'em from slaughterin' 'er. No, if Granny's goin' to be any help to yer on yer quest, then she'll 'ave to sort yers out afore yers set off. I jus' can't let 'er go with yer as I know it'd be the last I ever saw of 'er.'

'The only way I see of accomplishin' everythin' is if we split up. 'Ow about this for a plan? Tomorrow you'd take me, Bekkah an' Granny, plus 'er stuff on the cart back to The Dragon's Lair. It's only 'alf a day away from 'ere, you remember, so it would only cost yer a day to take us back there. You'd drop the three of us off there, along with Felibarr.'

Heimlin patiently listens while a number of the party strongly suggest that it would be unwise to trust the halfling.

'P'raps yer right, p'raps yer wrong' Heimlin replies in a matter-of-fact way. 'But I reckon I can trust 'im. We'll soon find out anyhow. If he and the gems are still around when we get out, then we'll know that 'e's changed 'is ways. There's a fortune in gems sittin' in the other grotto an' 'e knows it. The reason why I'd like 'im to come along is because of that warrant of 'is - the one that allows him free passage through these parts, free of any 'arm from the Nyemetz. I reckon that it could be the best chance we'd 'ave if we were stopped by the bastards along the way. 'Owever, as much as I reckon 'e's changed 'is ways, I'll 'ave a bit of extra security. There's usually some stout folk stoppin' off at Burl's place. For a pocketful of coin, I reckon we'll find some merchants or locals willing to accompany us to Holitze from the tavern. It's only a couple of days' travel from there.'

'So what d'yer reckon?' he asks.

'If yer in favor, then I reckon that we should finish 'ere an' get some sleep, we'll need some rest afore tomorrow. If we're gonna leave the village then we'll 'ave plenty to do on the morrow.'

'Jus' look at all this stuff' says Heimlin, shaking his head while sweeping his hands towards the huge library of books and shelves full of arcane devices that fill shelves on all walls of the grotto. 'There's almost as much again in 'er bedroom as well.'

'A lot of it's junk, I'm sure' he continues. 'But amongst the junk are some incredibly useful bits and pieces...well they would be if Granny could figure out what they're for. In any case, I'm sure that there's a lot of stuff there that the High Sorcerer of Mnyesto would give 'is right arm for. I wouldn't like the scum to be benefittin' from Granny's devices in a week or two were we to leave it all 'ere for them to take now that they know that there's a protected grotto left 'ere. It'll be a long job to put it all on the cart, but we can't jus' leave it 'ere as a goin' away present.'

Heimlin listens as Winnacer tells the others that he is impatient to reap some revenge on the Nyemetz guarding the bridge to Dvur Kralovye and that he would like to quickly head over there.

'Patience, young Winnacer,' replies Heimlin. 'You'll need to fight those bastards protecting the river crossing sooner or later, so I wouldn't be in too much of an 'urry to meet with 'em. It ain't a bridge that forms the crossin' over the Labe - it's another ford I'm afraid, an' we know what dangers those bring. The advantage is that fords ain't as important crossing points as bridges, so they shouldn't 'ave a 'uge garrison protectin' it.'

'If we goes with my plan, then you'll need to cross the ford the day after tomorrow anyway, so I don't see the wisdom of killin' 'em before that, only to 'ave to come back 'ere, take us to the Dragon's Lair, an' then go back again. If yer did that, then chances are that the Nyemetz would find out about the slayin' an' double the guard at the ford ready for when yer gets back there.'

There is quite an amount of debate concerning as to whether to follow Heimlin's suggestion in splitting up the party, particularly regarding whether Felibarr can be trusted to accompany the gnomes on their journey to Holitze. Eventually, it is agreed to follow Heimlin's plan.

Darius suggests using the witchfinder's rod in order to determine which of the items in Granny's grotto are magical, an idea that all present agrees with.

Granny is fast asleep by this time, and Heimlin is nodding off every now and again, coming around with a start whenever he does so.

'It's a good idea, definitely, but I really think that we should all get some sleep now,' Heimlin says, trying to stifle a yawn. 'It's after midnight already and we're all going to 'ave a very busy day tomorrow. Yer ain't goin' to get much more 'elp out of Granny tonight, nor from me neither, for that matter. Let's leave the ole gal in peace for the moment and start on the task afresh in the mornin.'

Although many of them would like to continue their preparations through the night, they are all feeling close to exhaustion as a result of the many strenuous activities that they have undertaken during the day and see the wisdom of Heimlin's suggestion.

They leave Granny and the giant badgers to sleep and make their way back to Heimlin's family grotto. Felibarr is there when they all return, and the bag of gemstones has not been touched. Felibarr is actually busy trying to clean up the grotto when they meet with him, although the devastation is so extensive in the grotto that he has not been able to make a great deal of impact on the situation.

Winnacer, Jihan and Corrow all speak with the halfling. They tell him the plan for the following day, in that he will accompany the gnomes on their journey to Holitze and tell him that they hope that the halfling upholds their trust in him.

Felibarr looks solemn as he replies:

'I give you my word, although it may have no value for you, that I would willingly give my life in order to protect them.'

Once the others have left him, Xavier comes to the halfling and threatens Felibarr that he will personally track him across the whole of Svyet to exact his revenge should any harm come to either Heimlin or Bekkah on their journey. Not knowing quite how to react to the Saxon's threat, Felibarr simply looks at his feet in shame.

Then, theyall quickly fall asleep on the floor of the living room in the grotto.

 

16 SEPTEMBER 3460

They realize that they cannot afford to sleep for long, however, as there is much to be done. As a result, they all wake shortly after dawn and take a quick breakfast from supplies that were located in the kitchen of the grotto.

Immediately after, each sets about their tasks.

After a long prayer-walk in the early morning, Yaz returns to the village with dry grass and other herbal goodies he thinks Giselle will like. Then, he leads the ox out onto the grass, and unties her harness. Yaz backs up slowly, the food behind his back. Slowly, he starts making strange gestures with his arms and head, moving them awkwardly but with purpose, all the while staring intently at Giselle.

Curiously enough, Yaz has the ox's full attention. After several minutes of this odd dance, the druid holds the food out to the animal, getting closer and closer. Soon, Giselle is able to nibble the food out of his hand. Yaz lets her eat for a little while, but then starts moving slowly backward again. Giselle follows. Yaz contorts his body in response to an eerie music only he hears, and the ox continues to make its way slowly forward. They cover 30 yards in this manner, until Yaz gives in, and feeds the rest of the food to her. When it is gone, he pets her head, then sits crosslegged before her, and stares into her eyes, their noses touching, her hot breath steaming as she snorts periodically. They remain in this position for a good 45 minutes more.

Jihan also disappears from the rest of the party in order to perform his devotions to Prirodna. Upon his return, he starts to investigate all of the other grottos in the village in order to see whether there are any gnomes left alive, or whether there are any valuables to give to Heimlin in order to rebuild the gnome community or useful tools that would be worth scavenging in order to aid the party on their journey.

The task is a gruesome one, which brings back all of the horrors of the previous day back to life. Each grotto has the terrible odor of death in the air. The sights that the elf witnesses are equally as terrible as he witnessed the previous day. The majority of the grottos contain bodies, hacked to pieces. There are babies, children, females and old aged gnomes throughout the grottos. Only able-bodied males are not amongst the massacred, obviously because these are the ones that were taken off by the goblins as slaves.

Despite his revulsion at the atrocities that he finds in every grotto, Jihan continues with his task. Finding some useful tools proves to be an easy task. Jihan finds several lengths of silken rope, plus a number of shovels, hand axes and pick axes plus a whole host of lesser items, spell components mainly, that Faewen'il requested him to look for. All of the tools are, not surprisingly, scaled down to fit gnomish hands, and so are only just over half the size of the regular implements. He does, however, find several of each type of implement.

His search for valuables, however, proves to be fruitless, although he sees many examples of torn open purses and smashed strong boxes. It is obvious that the goblins were diligent in plundering all of the valuables possessed by the gnomes, at least those that were easily portable. Those items of value that were not portable including some works or art, tapestries and sculptures, were all vandalized so as to now be completely worthless - a pointless act of spite.

While both Yaz and Jihan were thus occupied, the others were at Granny's grotto in order to start the mammoth task of clearing the place. It proves to be a lengthy task.

Not surprisingly, Granny is very confused as to what is happening around her. Heimlin spends a great amount of time in trying to explain to Granny that they must vacate the grotto and that they will be moving to a new place. It takes a long time for Heimlin's word to sink in. Granny is not at all keen on moving, explaining that she had been in the grotto for over 500 years and that this is where she wanted to die. She fails to see the seriousness of the situation, telling Heimlin that goblins have been around for a while and that she has never come to any harm. The debate between Granny and Heimlin continues for a couple of hours, as Heimlin tries again and again to get Granny to see the seriousness of the situation.

The others stand around during this time, anxious to get on with the task as quickly as possible, waiting until Heimlin gets Granny to see the situation, as they don't want her to think of them as looting her grotto. Eventually, however, Heimlin realizes that time is running out and so tells them to start the exercise of determining which are the magical items and which are not.

Faewen'il digs the rod out from among some secret place in her dress and rubs her thumb over the rune. Immediately that she does this, the gem on the end of the rod starts to glow brighter than it has ever done before. It is obvious that the grotto is filled full of magical items.

'That's what I feared' says Heimlin as he sees the gem glowing brightly. 'Most of this stuff is magickal to a greater or lesser extent. Granny used to be a great one for experimenting. Always comin' up with new weird an' wonderful devices, she was. A lot of the devices never turned out to be much use, but she still kept them.'

Despite this, Faewen'il continues with the task. Scanning all of the objects takes a lot longer than anticipated, as the gemstone glows constantly, glowing stronger and softer as it passes over the objects. She eventually realizes that she is able to determine which items are magickal only by actually touching each item in turn and observing how brightly the gem shines. The books are the easiest to identify, as the majority of them are not magickal. As she scans the bookcases, she discovers six weighty tomes, each of which set the rod glowing brightly. She recognizes these tomes as Granny's spellbooks, items that cause a great deal of interest amongst her and Corrow.

During a lull in the conversation between Heimlin and Granny, Faewen'il manages to ask Granny whether she and Corrow could take a look through the books when they have some time. It takes a while for the message to get through to Granny, but eventually she understands what Faewen'il is asking and gives her consent to the loan.

As Faewen'il detects the presence of magick on items, Winnacer, Darius and Felibarr load them onto Giselle's cart. Xavier refuses to help in this task, not wanting to touch anything that he knows to be tainted with arcane force. They soon realize that it is going to be difficult to put all of the items on the cart, as the cart is not large and already contains a significant amount of arms and armor scavenged from previous encounters. More time is spent in trying to increase the carrying capacity of the cart by using the tents as containers and tying them to the cart with the newly found ropes.

It is 10.30 a.m. and around two thirds of Granny's possessions have been sorted and strapped to the cart. Yaz is still teaching Giselle some tricks when he notices that the ox is starting to act a little differently, distracted. He looks at the horses that are tethered not far away. He senses that they are a little jumpy, pulling at their tethers and whinnying occasionally.

He looks at Jihan, who has just emerged from the last of the grottos. He too has sensed the fact that the animals are nervous. He puts his finger to his lips and cautiously strides to the top of the nearest hillock in order to see if he can find the cause of the animal's concern.

Yaz watches as Jihan scans the horizon. Jihan stops and looks in the direction of Dvur Kralovye. Yaz can see from the look on Jihan's face that he has spotted something. The elf holds his gaze for a few seconds, squinting into the morning sun. Then he starts running as fast as he can towards Granny's grotto. Yaz immediately dashes after him, anxious to discover what Jihan has seen.

Jihan is panting a little as he bursts into Granny's living room where he finds the others, startling the ancient gnome.

'The Nyemetz' he pants. They're coming back. It's a platoon of goblin worg riders, there's ten of them in total. There's a witchfinder with them too. They're still a short way off. I think that we've got about ten minutes.'