Daughter of Empty House
and Fallow Field
They drove her from the village. She'd known it would come. Her father was dead and there was no man who spoke claim. That wasn't surprising. There weren't any single men in the village. None would have spoken for her if there had been. She was too tall, too skinny and her hair was lank strings of dirty yellow. She was homeless and nameless. She was also prepared. She had to hurry. They'd learn just how prepared soon.
She'd hated telling her father that which was not quite lie, but she'd have hated him knowing the truth more. He'd clung desperately to life to give her time, every breath an agony. He'd thought she needed the time to prepare to go to another village where a young man waited to make her wife. She'd showed him a ring of promise and told him the one who had twisted the vine around her wrist would not always be poor, but could not pay the village for her.
Her father had told her which things to take into the forest and where to hide them. The things were his until he died. If they were gone from the village when he did, they could not be claimed. It had pleased him they would get neither bride price for her, nor the tools and treasures they expected to claim when they drove her out. He'd laid his hand on the wound vine she'd placed beside him and told her its maker was his heir and he gave all she had carried and hidden and his name. She'd told him the one who had given the promise ring would learn to use the tools given to be equal to the proud name bestowed. He'd whispered farewell, then her mother's name, and died, finally succumbing to the wounds of battle fought long before she'd been born.
She prepared his body and, with the aid of his steed, laid it to rest beside her mother's herself. He'd helped prepare his resting place when he'd begun to ache deeply with the old wound. He'd lived more than forty years beyond the taking of it, but he knew he no longer had the strength to battle it. She laid him in the sarcophagus he had helped shape, in the grave he'd helped dig before his strength had gone. He'd known no one would aid her. Those of the village still resented the warrior from the west who had claimed the fair maid and paid her bride price when they'd expected to soon have her father's rich fields and her mother's skilled weavings. Perhaps their greatest resentment had been he'd loved her so deeply.
She knelt beside the two graves in the forest glade where the warrior had met the maid as she searched for herbs to brew tea for her ailing father. He'd wound the ring of promise and paid her bride price to the village headman before he even learned she had no brothers to whom her father's 'wealth' would pass. She'd died twelve years before of a disease he'd survived as a child. Their four year old daughter had survived as had her father. Now she planted vine of promise on the fresh grave to grow and twine with that he'd planted on the other twelve years before. She smiled softly, gently twisted tendrils of the two together and whispered her pledge.
"I will bear the name, my father. I've learned much in aiding you. You knew you taught me. Perhaps you knew who you gave your name since you didn't ask who wound the ring. I know the way of fire and steel, now I'll learn to strike the blows and bear the sword. I'll carry tools, the tapestry my mother made you loved most and bear your sword. This day I shall cut my hair and don your leathers, which my mother put away so carefully when you pledged as husband and swore to go to battle no more. She oiled them well. I found them rich and supple deep in the things she'd made in hope of a boy child. Thank you, my father, for teaching a foolish daughter to read."
She stayed in the cave a third day's journey from the village that night. In the morning, she gave the pack animals and stallion the last of the grain, loaded them and was pleased the stallion let her mount. She'd worked hard to accustom him to her and he accepted her in the saddle where only her father had sat before, and that but a few times. She rode the huge son of her father's war horse from the deep wood surrounding the cave and led the six pack animals onto the road. Soon the musk of her urine would fade from the entrance of the cave and a norcat would choose it as den once more. She rode toward the market in Fredontown, a full day's journey on horseback. She'd change to leathers and cut her hair at Sovin Pool. She could pass as a boy of fourteen. She must be both to trade the five pack animals and their loads.
Three hours after leaving the wood, she sighed relief she'd met no one on the road, knelt by the pool, unpinned her waist length hair and cut it to the nape of her neck and in bangs above her brows with her father's knife, as she'd cut his so often. She dropped her chemise and quickly bathed in the chill pool, then used it to dry herself. She pulled on the long tailed and sleeved white shirt with deep blue embroidery on shoulder and sleeve, then her father's deep brown leathers.
Even laced as tightly as possible, the leathers were too big. That wasn't a problem though. A boy of fourteen selling much of his inheritance and wearing his father's clothes, as most would do, would fit them no better. She used a length of cord to cinch the breeks and the swordbelt to cinch the jerkin.
She'd made her high laced boots, just as she'd made the shirt. She was rather pleased with them. She'd 'taught herself' to make them. She'd used most of a harness hide doing it, but they had fourteen lacings, the underpanel on the outer side, six ply soles and stirrup heel of eight more, just as her father's had, and they fit well. She'd worn them as often as she could to break them in and expected no more blisters. She pulled on knee high white stockings with blue embroidery at the top, laced the boots on over them, then turned the stockings down to cuff over the top.
Her hair was dry enough to brush and she did so vigorously. It was such a simple task with her hair cut as her father's had been that she actually brushed it more than she would have had it still been long. She was very surprised when she stood on Vanity Rock and looked at herself full length in the pool. From her hair to the soles of her boots, she looked a boy who might have good items to trade for supplies and coin. The hair was the surprise. It shown in the sun, curled a bit and was ruddy gold, not dirty yellow.
She rode into Fredontown at dusk, through its center, then into the yard of a small inn on the south edge close to the market. Two stableboys rushed out to help with her animals and stopped quickly when the stallion danced. She calmed him and smiled.
"I've two coppers EACH for you to aid in keeping your eyes open this night and another each if the pack animals, all but the dapple gray mare, are well groomed for sale when the market opens. I shall care for that one and the stallion myself."
"We will watch well, young sir."
"Your pack beasts are riding horses?"
"They are trained to both saddle and pack. All but the gray have the same sire as the stallion. They come of only two mares or I would keep them as herd."
"Young sir, one who knows and trades horses stays here this night. My thought is he may give you better price than the stock trader at market. I would run to bring him while you stable your fine horse."
"Do you truly think he would make fair offer, boy?"
"Yes, young sir, if he wants them. He could give you more than you would get at market and still pay less than the stock trader would charge to gain his share."
"Tell him there are five mares of breeding age, trained to saddle, pack, carriage and plow harness. Three are light dun and two have produced palomino colts at first foaling. All are about sixteen hands and three to seven years. Watch so you can carry this word."
She whistled and rode toward the stable. The six mares 'paired' behind the stallion and followed. One boy ran for the inn. The horses were the best trained he'd ever seen. There might well be a bit of silver in the information he bore. The other boy hurried to aid in removing packs. His mind was also on the possibility of silver.
The horse trader knew horses and horse breeders. He took one look and knew he didn't know this one, though he thought he might have seen the palomino colts. He was so interested he forgot to introduce himself.
"These are trained to saddle and carriage?"
"Yes, and to pack and plow as well. My father taught me the way of their training when he became ill. Of them, three have foaled. This gray is the dam of two of them. All have the same sire as the stallion. He was of the great western war breed. My father chose both dams carefully for their size."
"He was dun?"
"Palomino, the largest I've seen. He preceded my father into death by two years. I feel it a blessing. The other dam was traded. My father believed, as do I, the size and strength are useful. You are?"
"Your pardon, young sir. My interest overcame my manner. I am Fain Kov of the city of Barrevine."
"I am Morrin Tadrain, called Rain. I have claimed no place as mine since I twined promise vine over the resting place of my mother and father."
"They are well and newly shod."
"Thank you, my father taught me well. I also made their harness."
"You have great skill for one so young."
"My father knew his old wound would not spare him much longer and that I had little liking for farming and much for fire and steel. Perhaps, one day, I shall strike with his great strength when shaping, but I have much size to gain to do so and, as most who watch a strong father strike clean, am rather sure I shall always need to strike many times with hammer when he needed but few."
"You're of age to make a sale?"
"I am. My father clung to life to assure I was ready and the village near our farm could not take all from me."
"You have little fondness for them."
"I have none. They sought to keep my mother from marriage for her father's wealth, then HOPED to see my father die before he could name heir. I tilled no field this year and kept no seed from last. Four were already claiming debt which all knew lie, but none spoke against."
"I see why you claim no place. I will give eight gold and ten silver for them."
She looked at the wide eyes of the two boys and knew the price was more than they'd expected. She smiled at Fain Kov and nodded. She'd have to find a wagon to take the contents of the packs to market, but she had no doubt the two boys would aid. Her father had once told her two coppers in a stableboy's hand would buy greater assistance and more knowledge than ten silvers in that of a man.
"I'll write the paper of sale. Boys, you've earned more than the coppers promised. Find me a wagon for the packs on the mares for tomorrow's use and I'll give you each a half silver as well, but watch my packs well."
"Yes, SIR, a wagon will wait loaded at dawn."
"You spoil them, Morrin Tadrain."
"I know this, Fain Kov, but this eve's aid means much time saved haggling with the stock trader who would try to give me little, then charge you much, even though he had no grain as cost."
"Your father did teach you well."
"In some things, we learned together. He usually chose to learn rather than pay one in the village for work shabbily done and overpriced. I am most grateful I learned many things before I was told they were women's skills. If ever I have girl child, I can teach skill of needle and loom and perhaps some skills that are called men's. My father taught no skill is beneath one. Whether wielding sword or needle, a man is a man and those who say other are not sure they are."
"He was truly wise. Host! Bring paper, ink, quill and blotter. I have purchased five fine mares and wish young Morrin Tadrain to write sale and accept coin before another hears of them and bids against me. Bring us a bowl of greens and roasted fowl as well. Ale, Rain?"
"No, thank you. I will bargain better on the morrow if my head does not thump and it takes much less to begin it pounding than to unsteady my step. Tea would suit."
Fain laughed and she smiled. She liked the short thick man whose dark hair and beard had strands of gray that spoke of age his eyes and body didn't show. He told the serving girl to bring his wise young acquaintance tart tea sweetened with berry juice.
She spoke with him awhile and made out the bill of sale, then shared a meal and thanked him. He asked if she knew of other good places to look for fine horses in the area. She told him she was somewhat familiar with the markets farther to the north, but had no recommendation to give for them at all. He smiled and nodded.
She told no untruth. She'd heard of them, but her father hadn't found any stock there he liked the twice he'd gone to the north and the one a half day's journey to the east of the village, where she had gone with him a few times, was small and stock there was pot fowl and piglet, not horses. If any sought a girl from the east, they would not be told of a boy from the north and none would think her so bold as to take her father's name and ask of it.
Rain, as she would call herself from that point in time, told the host she'd like a small room alone and he grinned. She shook her head and told him the pain of laying her father to rest beside her mother was new and she sought solitude, not company, that night. The two women who had been eyeing 'the young sir' with interest began looking elsewhere.
In the morning, she harnessed the gray mare to the wagon the boys had found and loaded, then saddled the 'white' stallion and whistled. The mare followed as she rode him from the yard, leaving two happy boys behind her. Fain saw and smiled. He was sure the boy would do well. He'd never before met one so young who was so wise.
Rain began among the shops of those who made fine garments and just smiled when the keeper of the shop she chose called his wife to see the cloth she'd woven from thread she'd dyed herself. She'd known the colors were most unusual. She'd found new dyes because the women of the village wouldn't share their knowledge. Her mother had done the same. There were seven colors, but it was the process her mother and father had found after several years of trying that truly made them unique.
"The dyes are water and light fast."
"What?!"
"They fade very little even if the cloth is washed many times and hung in the sun to dry. The dyes themselves are primarily of plant extraction. It's the mordant my mother and father discovered which is the true secret. Please, do not ask me to share it. Someday, I shall pass it, but I'm still young and marriage and children are not anticipated soon. I offer you all that now exists. If paid well, I may dye thread and yarn and offer that to you. The mordant works as well on wool as linen."
"This could bring your family great wealth."
"I am my family and many things my father and mother passed to me would do the same. I'll probably dye yarn when I find rich wool. If you wish it, I'll send such with traders with your name as one who has interest. I can't say what price they might ask, but I will tell them what I believe is fair."
Rain was pleased with the offer made for the three packs of cloth and accepted it. Her next stop was a shop that sold finished goods. She showed the woman embroidered works and tapestries and she told her husband to buy them all at good price because they would bring many customers to the door. He counted coin quickly when Rain poured water on the embroidery and showed the colors didn't run.
The next stop was the one that was worrisome to her. It was twice dangerous. First she must convince those who saw the items she brought to trade there were no more, then she must watch for those who would steal the coin they brought. She'd asked one of the stableboys who was known as the most fair among the traders of works of precious metal and gems. This one had been recommended.
"Loman Sorlon, I am Morrin Tadrain. The pieces I bring are my inheritance. My father was once a great warrior in the west. Some of these pieces he told me of on his deathbed. Others I watched made, as again and again the metal was worked and the stones set. I have twelve pieces. You are said to be of excellent character and I can trust you to give me fair value for items of worth which I cannot even guess. I know only the value of gold and silver, not artistry and gems."
"I have two boys, Morrin Tadrain. If I didn't treat you fairly, my dinner would be scorched the rest of my life. My wife would learn of it. Let me see what you bring. If the pieces aren't right for my trade, I'll tell you their value so you'll know another is dealing... fairly. Your father made these?"
"Not all. Sir, two pieces, the ruby pendant and circlet, are of my crafting."
"This emerald ring?"
"My father's. He'd chosen the artist whose styling pleased him most. He strove to find the reason in his own. I strove to be good enough to lay my work with theirs."
"I will take these pieces on consignment if possible. I know five who will be interested."
"I had hoped to leave today."
"If I offer them at twenty percent less than their value, including my percentage, I may be able to sell them today, but I must take them to show them."
"Write a contract of consignment, please. A receipt for the pieces does not tell me your percent, nor allow me to judge their value and I would REALLY like to know how well I did."
"You are an excellent crafter. These three pieces are by an excellent artisan. Your father was an inspired artist. All pieces are beautifully made. This ring will bring you too much to carry on you. I recommend you accept a bank letter of credit."
"I'll have no trouble finding a bank to exchange it in the south?"
"Nor west, east or north. I'll see it's guaranteed by the Bank of the Realm in Barrevine if I must exchange it myself. My wife's listening. She'd not forgive me if you were attacked on the road."
"Your good wife is an excuse for your good nature, sir. The letter of credit would ease my nervousness greatly on my journey."
"Come back two hours past midday. Here is the consignment contract."
"Oh! I'm going to be MUCH less nervous and travel with much less jangle. I'm glad I didn't decide to carry them farther now that I know their value. Even though no one else knew of them, they did make me watch behind me somewhat. If they didn't, I might have kept the silver clasp. Someday I may marry and it would be beautiful on the blue of wedding lace."
"You have given me a sixth to whom to show these pieces. Mantin!"
"Yes, my good husband? Oh, it's perfect!"
"This piece sold quickly, Morrin Tadrain. My son seeks a gift for his bride."
Rain left the shop quite pleased. She had only one more stop among the shops only the wealthy frequented. What she carried to it was all of her making. The perfumer hurried from the back of his shop and just watched as she carried packs in and placed them on the floor. She had to make three trips out to the wagon and back to get them all.
"I'm Morrin Tadrain. I have fifty-three blown bottles of essential oils. Both bottles and oils are of my making. You'll be familiar with the oils. I have hopes my bottles will increase their value."
He took a look at four bottles, pulled the glass stoppers and sniffed, then smiled and made her an offer for the lot. He told her he was going to make a huge profit, but couldn't afford to pay more. She liked both his honest statement and smile. She returned the smile and accepted the offer.
Rain found breakfast by following the smell of wonderful sausage to the bazaar. She paid a boy two coppers to watch the wagon, then put half the remaining packs on the gray and walked into the bazaar. The stallion and gray, of course, followed her closely. They usually got an apple if they did.
She traded gathered herbs and undyed woolen yarn and thread. She 'shuffled' things between packs and 'consolidated.' She returned to the wagon, got the other packs and did the same. She was fairly sure no one would realize there was one pack that had been merely opened and closed, nothing going into or coming out of it. She ate late lunch while walking down the street. She enjoyed the meat and cheese stuffed tuber that had been roasted on a stick. The horses enjoyed their apples and kept close. She might give another.
Rain began to buy. She bought trail cake, camp tarps and cooking equipment. She bought the makings of a warm bedroll and a wool cloak she would dye to match her blue embroidery thread. She carefully chose a hatchet and somewhat longed for the axe she'd traded earlier, but it would have been foolish to carry it farther. Shortly before she was to return to the gem trader's, she returned the wagon and repacked in a stable stall, moving tools for working steel to the mare and balancing their weight with camping gear. She was pleased with the hostler's offer for the empty packs and laughed when he said she owed nothing for the wagon use because he was going to make a nice profit on them and its "loan" had brought her to his stable.
When she arrived at the gem trader's, she was ready to leave Fredontown. He grinned and handed her a letter of credit. She smiled and wrote him a receipt. She walked out with the letter in her hand and sighed relief when two scruffy men watching her, and trying to seem they weren't, lost interest. A letter of credit held a description and must be countersigned.
She ached when she rode from the market town. Nearly every item she'd sold had held a precious memory. She cheered herself with the thought the eleven greedy families, which comprised the village of seventy-two, would not get them. They would find a house empty of all but two narrow cots and a few worn pots and dishes. Every traveling trader had known to stop at the farm as she and her father had emptied it and he had bought precious metal for his working.
She camped that night in the shell of a long deserted stone cottage and used the dye she'd saved for her cloak. She watched the dye bubble in the big old pot she would leave behind and learned to create clear tones with the flute she'd bought. She hung the cloak to dry on the line she'd strung not far from the fire and slept soundly. The horses would warn her if someone approached.
She rode fairly hard the next day and reached the forking of the road in mid afternoon. She turned to the southwest and brushed out the tracks of her horses for some distance on the much less traveled road. She was nervous when she rode into the yard of the man she sought. He must be told only truth. He had been her father's friend.
"Boy, this isn't an inn."
"Would you turn away one who rides a stallion called Moonstrider, Koled Tomat?"
"No. Who are you?"
"I bear the name Morrin Tadrain. It was given to me, though most would be shocked and argue its giving. Oh, Koled, don't you know the child who wears leather too large for HER?"
"Sonnet?!"
"Yes, though now Rain. My father lies beside my mother and the only way I could keep all they built from the villagers was to become his heir. So, I have been a boy the three days past and I can't yet end it. I've told no lie, but my hair, clothes and stride have. I bring you the gift of my father. I ask boon for myself."
"He has bequeathed the gold and ruby chalice."
"Yes. I'm very glad, Koled. I couldn't have sold it and it's far too lovely to be hidden from sight in my pack."
"Rain, I'm not sure this masquerade is legal."
"I know no law against it. I know there are many more than I've read, but none I've seen said a girl could not wear her father's clothes, cut her hair, OR bear his name."
"I know of... It's so beautiful."
"His finest piece, Koled. I told him I thought it should be yours long ago. It seems he agreed."
"Come in, child, come in. What is this boon you wish to ask?"
"Teach me to use my father's sword. He could not. For near two years, he seldom left our house. His strength of mind did not depart, but his body slowly weakened. Koled, warrior women are not unknown, though so rare they're near legend. I need not BE a warrior, but possession of some skill at arms will at least make it seem less strange I wear leather and ride astride. Koled, you frown. If I find the one who would claim me, he will accept all I am. You know I'm my father's child. I could clean, cook and sew, but my hands would ache for hammer and my ears for the ring of steel. He who chooses me will smile when he hears the hammer ring, or he's not the one for me."
"This is truth. Very well, you will spend the summer, autumn and winter here. It won't be enough, but it will be a beginning."
"Thank you. The gray mare is Mistdancer. She'll foal in mid-autumn. My hope is you'll accept the foal and my labor in the smithy as the showing of my appreciation. The labor will strengthen me for what you teach. The foal will be Moonstrider's first offspring. Mistdancer surprised me with a late cycle last autumn."
"I didn't see her heaviness for the packs."
"She's not really begun to show it yet. Koled, I would like to remain unknown as a girl until MUCH farther away from the village. They'll look for me, I think. Father and I intended they be angry. The house, barn, silos and sheds are all empty and the fields fallow. They won't find his grave either."
"He disliked them. You near hate them."
"They're not worth hating, but they thoroughly disgust me. I've wondered several times how men explained blackened eyes or split lips to their wives. I'm too tall and too skinny and should be quite grateful for ANY attention, or so they said. I proved so UNgrateful they didn't get to give it."
Koled smiled. He was from a far northern land where women were not thought of as chattel and, if one chose other than the usual role of homemaker, an eyebrow might be lifted, but no one would presume to tell her she should not. Morrin had been much more like Koled's people in that way. He somewhat doubted he'd known all her plans, but he had a suspicion he was watching from the next realm of life and he and his beloved Juril were both smiling widely. He suddenly found himself very pleased with the prospect of sharing his home and skills with Rain for the next two and a half seasons.
Two days after Rain reached Koled's ranch, men from the village came looking for the girl who had "stolen" from it. Koled asked what she'd stolen. They told him fine furnishings, stock, coin, tapestries and other treasures. He asked how she'd stolen all that and burst into laughter when Rain strode right across the yard as they were explaining they weren't sure, but suspected she'd had help.
"You don't know what she supposedly took, or how it was done. You drove her from her father's home and land and are angry the wealth you expected to gain wasn't there. If I'd been her father, I TOO would have assured there was none for you to find. He sold it all before his death and placed what it brought in the hands of one who would shelter her from your greed. Get off my land, fools! You speak of the daughter of Morrin Tadrain. Every trader who passed that farm for two years carried something from it. HE made sure you got NOTHING and his NAMED heir is young and strong. Pursue this farther and you'll likely learn one thing Morrin DID give his heir was his sword. The tale is told to laughter. Listen for minstrels who sing Empty House and Fallow Field. It is the story of fools who drove an artist in gold and gem with few peers from her home to gain what her father had long since sold. SHE was the treasure, just as was her mother. YOUNG Morrin Tadrain cares for her well. GO!!"
Rain was smiling widely when Koled found her in the smithy. She could see he'd really enjoyed telling the men of the village her father had made fools of them. It was easy to tell he had. He was dancing and humming merrily.
"Empty House and Fallow Field?"
"I'm working on the third verse now."
Summer, autumn and winter she worked; in the smithy, practice yard, and house. Even when she "relaxed" she read learned works or worked to master the flute. Spring came and Koled knew he'd miss her very much, but could teach her no more. Only constant use could improve her skill. When the silver foal was weaned, at one and a third season, she once again loaded her gear on her horses.
"Koled, there's no way I can truly thank you for your aid and your caring."
"Yes there is. You can call me uncle, write long letters and visit from time to time. You, and all you love, will always be welcomed here. I would be proud if you named this ranch as home."
"I... Oh, thank you!"
He held the young woman he was sure was the most beautiful in the land and wished he was even twenty years younger. It was good she was going. If she'd waited longer, he would tell her. He whispered she did not feel like a boy and let her go.
Rain rode cross country west to the 'east' north/south road. She was suddenly in a hurry. Koled had given her warning she needed to get the contents of the pack to Tarrenmoor Port City while she could still pass as a boy. That would soon mean wearing a cloak. Seven days later she rode into the "richest trade city in the world" and then walked into the famed Tarrenmoor Gem Exchange. She wore her cloak for its richness, not as disguise. She found an empty counter and began putting out pieces. She paused, then placed the four sapphire pieces in the pocket of her cloak. She hadn't unwrapped them. She'd suddenly heard her father say "sapphires to match your eyes" and knew she couldn't sell them. Someone noticed what she was unwrapping and it got crowded in her vicinity fast. A man nearly trotted to get across the counter from her.
"WHERE did these come from?!"
"My father made most. I crafted the rest. It's easy to tell which are mine. His are true works of art. Mine are well crafted. This is my inheritance."
"How much for the diamond brooch?"
"How much for the silver and garnet goblet?"
"How much for the amethyst choker?"
"I wish to purchase the gold and ruby bowl."
"Wait! Please wait, all our valued customers. Young sir, this collection should be sold at auction to give you its full value."
"At auction?"
"Yes. These, our valued customers, have seen their quality. In a few moments, THEY will begin an auction without including us and my partners would be most annoyed. Allow us to hold auction by invitation and the true value of each piece will--Oh! It's... "
"Father wished to 'create a crown worthy of a king.' The rich blue of the velvet will not run or fade. My mother and father developed the mordant that holds the dye. The dye and strings of fresh water pearls were my contribution to his art."
"I need two days. This piece belongs on a king. Our commission is seven percent."
"Young sir, he's truly giving you the best choice he sees for you. I'm SURE I shall pay more at auction for that bowl, but I'll be there to bid."
"As will I."
"And me, though I'll probably watch and sigh when the bid on the cup quickly becomes beyond me."
"You truly like the cup?"
"Yes. It's also the ONLY piece I might afford."
"Thank you. It's my work. I refined the silver ore and dug and cut the garnets myself. Sir, all but the cup at auction. Please, I ask you for estimate on it. I find I'm very subject to flattery and wish this man to have it."
The plump fellow beamed. The rest gathered around smiled and watched while he counted coin and she wrote a receipt. Then she set out the rest of the pieces and the man behind the counter yelled for guards and began quickly placing them in a glass case. There was just too much to stay on the counter. His three partners nearly skidded to a halt behind the counter and began writing descriptions. In fifteen minutes, Rain had a detailed list of each piece being put on display, the minimum bid they recommended and the time of the auction. She'd told them they would accept ten percent commission or she'd go elsewhere and they laughed and accepted.
Once more she looked over her father's work and wondered who he'd been before he'd accepted her grandfather's name. Most of the gems had come from a worn brown leather bag which had been laying on the shelf in his clothes cupboard as long as she could remember.
Rain found an inn which advertised hot, private, baths and paid the price for one of three rooms that had one. She groomed her horses, fed each an apple, then groomed herself. When she stepped from the deep marble basin, she saw her full reflection in the mirror and was nearly shocked.
She'd known she'd 'filled out.' In some places, her father's leathers had begun to fit. She was extremely broad shouldered and muscular for a woman, but there was no doubt whatsoever that's what she was, even if she was as tall as most men. She'd just finished dressing when there was a knock at the door. A boy of about nine stood before it.
"Yes?"
"Sir, your horses have... They caught a thief. The guard are here to take him, but NO one is going to try to argue with your horses."
"He tried to get in my packs?"
"He doesn't fit, but he might be thinking of trying."
She laughed, ruffled his hair and gave him two coppers. He said he'd already been paid to run the errand and she gave him a silver for honesty. He burst into tears.
"Here, what's this?"
"My mother is ill. This will help so much. Thank you. The story may ease her even more than the medicine. She'll know I listened well to her teachings."
"And you've seen how living as she taught brings reward."
"Oh, yes, I have seen."
"Moon! Mist! Good! Very good! Come here. Let the guard take him. That's my sweet things. Yes, you deserve a treat, but I'm afraid I'm out of apples."
She laughed when a guardsman handed her the two with which he'd been trying to coax her horses to let them have the man. She thanked him and said some of it wasn't training. They were sure if they weren't allowed to look for apples in her packs no one else was. He laughed and, for the first time, she wished she wasn't in disguise as a boy.
Rain found her errand runner when she went walking a half hour later. Three big boys had beaten him and taken the silver she'd given him. She was furious.
"Come on. Let's get your mother's medicine and get you home. Don't argue. I've got a LOT of money I didn't expect to have and am about to get a lot more. I'm Rain."
"Tack is what I'm called. My father... is gone."
"Gone?"
"The ship he sailed on didn't return. It's been two years. Rain, I don't know if... We live in a shed a nice woman convinced her husband to let us use. My mother isn't widow by law yet and all we had was taken for debt."
"Debt?"
"There was no coin to pay taxes on our small house after she got sick and I'm not big enough to earn much. I keep us fed though."
"Medicine here?"
"Yes."
"Hello, he says you have the medicine his mother needs."
Rain took one sniff of the "medicine" and became furious like she'd never been before! Five minutes later, she threw the "pharmacist" to the city guard and handed his books to the one she'd liked. He'd been cheating most of his customers, mixing common herbs that smelled a bit like the medicinal ones he charged for with a bit of alcohol and an addictive herbal soporific. The guard she liked flashed with fury. She smiled and started mixing real medicinal herbs. 'Her' guardsman got answers fast.
"Tack's mother and most of these others SHOULD have gotten better. The addiction, in her case, is probably mild because he could seldom get it for her. Some of the others are probably 'not well' because they begin to suffer withdrawal and think they need more medicine. He did it to women only."
"He said women didn't count. They were just complainers and he was doing their husbands a favor by keeping them quiet. Hopefully, most of the husbands won't agree, since the women have no right to press charges."
"I think that's wrong, but I know I'm considered odd for it."
"I'm 'odd' too. Let's go, Tack. This medicine WILL help your mother. Your name, sir?"
"Lowan Freden. Thank you. We'll get to work on this. My captain may not be 'odd,' but he hates a cheat. He'll locate men who hate being cheated and that one will NOT get away with this. I promise it."
"He almost got dead for it. I've never WANTED to kill anyone before. If any have died because he didn't give them what physicians ordered, I'll be sorry I didn't."
"I may be as well."
Rain was appalled by the way the woman and her children had been forced to live. The shed was clean, but beds were piles of rags and 'stove' was a fire pit under one of the holes in the roof. She gave Tack's mother the medicinal herb mixture herself, then cleaned and applied ointment to Tack's split lip and various other places where blows had broken skin. She made up her mind to help the good woman and her three children, but she didn't quite know how yet. She began by hiring Tack as "guide" to the city.
When she returned to her room, she paced. Tack's mother would never fully recover from more than a year's damage by the parasitic infestation, that would have been quickly ended if the pharmacist had given her the prescribed medication. She'd dosed both the four year old girl and three year old boy as well, "just in case." Tack had been a bit harder to convince, but he'd taken the dose she'd handed him so his brother and sister would. Suddenly she had an idea and sat down to write a long letter.
The next morning Tack showed her the city. He was shocked when she borrowed a saddle and put him on Mist to do it. She explained horses needed exercise and Mist needed to be ridden because it had been a year since she had been. It took her awhile to find the excuse she needed, but she did.
"Tack, if word was left for your father in case he does make it home, would you take on a real job for me?"
"I don't understand."
"I have a friend I call uncle. He has a ranch seven days north of here. Seven days on horseback, not walking. I've a great deal of money coming and need to invest it in some way. My uncle is far from being too old to take care of himself, but I wish to add greatly to his labor by sending more horses to him, primarily fillies and a couple young brood mares to be serviced by Moon and Mist's colt when he's old enough. He'll need help. He'll have to build stables and corrals and perhaps clear land for pasture. That will severely cut into the time he has to take care of his big house and fix meals. I'd like to send your whole family to him."
"My family? My mother, sister and brother too?"
"Your mother will never be as strong as she once was, but she'll be strong enough to keep his house and cook for him. You, I think, will listen well to him and aid him much in the building, clearing and caring for the horses. He also has sheep and cattle, so I'm really increasing his workload. I'm going to send a letter of credit to offset the expense and as part of my investment so he doesn't have to keep the herds separate. I think you'll be very good with horses and I'm SURE you'll be a good hand on the bellows when it's time to shoe them. I hadn't met anyone I could trust enough to do this before, Tack. If I wasn't sure you'd more than earn your keep, I wouldn't consider it."
"I will... take fillies on a long journey?"
"You'll have help for that part, but I can't just trust hired drovers to carry a letter of credit. You'll like Koled. He's from the far north and thinks women are as important as men and treating them like property is very foolish. I'm asking you because he has a great deal of wisdom and experience and you're wise enough to listen and learn to do it the way he teaches. An older boy might think he knows better. He wouldn't, but he might think he did. I've seen you're not afraid of work. Do you bear your father's name?"
"No. I'm too young to be an heir and there isn't anything anyway."
"What's your father's name?"
"Banin Tacklin. My little brother is Banin and I'm Tacklin. It's a first time name."
"If you accept the job, I'll see the ship company, your former neighbors and the city guard all know his name and where to send him to find you. The job pays six silvers a month for all of you, but you won't need to pay for food or shelter with it. I expect you to use it for cloth for clothing and materials for learning. You MUST learn to read and so must your SISTER and little brother when old enough. Your mother should, but the choice is hers. The rest I expect you to invest in tools or stock. If you like smithing, building, or horse breeding, build up what you need to do it. Koled will aid."
"I'll take the job, Rain. I'd be foolish to refuse."
"One more thing. Either you or your brother MUST take your father's good name. He provided well for you and, if the pharmacist hadn't cheated, you and your mother could have kept your home. Now, we look for BIG mares and fillies."
She found three mares, eight fillies, then an old man she felt she could trust to get the family and horses to Koled. He found two to aid and she shopped for the equipment and wagon the family would need. The old man helped. He'd been "looking for an excuse" to visit his daughter who lived west of Fredontown. The other two, much younger, men wanted to travel and the pay Koled would give them when they got the family and horses there would make travel much more pleasant. She got them on the road with the letter of credit she'd exchanged for one made out to Koled before the auction. No one knew about the letter but Tack and he wouldn't tell anyone he had it. He also carried the long letter she'd written to Koled. She didn't say she'd sent him a son, but he'd know it the moment he met Tack.
The guard, Lowan Freden, found her and asked where the woman, Vora, and her children had gone. He was immensely pleased with the answer. He'd been trying to think of a way to help them, but the city guard didn't pay a great deal. He helped Rain leave word with all who might be asked where they'd gone if Banin Tacklin did make it home. Rain sighed and wished even more she wasn't in disguise. The tall, sandy haired, young man with green eyes was the first she'd ever really wanted to get close enough to learn she was a woman.
The auction was packed and the bidding "spirited" She thought fights were going to break out among the richly dressed men. Two nearly did fight over the crown, but one acceded when he learned for whom the other was agent. He agreed it belonged on the king of Shervail. Rain was a bit stunned when she learned that's who was to receive it. A king's messenger had ridden day and night to reach Barrevine and return in time for the auction. The young king of their land would wear the crown her father had crafted on state occasions.
Rain converted the huge single letter of credit to four very large ones and quite a bit of coin. The coin got her in trouble. Her sword got her out of it. Lowan was wearing a new sergeant's band on his sleeve when the guard arrived.
"I tried not to kill them, but one was fairly good and I had to hurry."
"He's alive. You're VERY good."
"I had very good teachers, but I'd never needed the skill before this."
"Rain, I don't know if I could take four with a sword, even if they weren't good with them and I know that one is."
"I just slugged two who got close enough. I smith with my left hand as well as right to keep the strength in my arms as equal as possible. It did surprise them. Two ran."
"Six?!"
"All but that one were just carrying swords, Lowan. I was going to leave the city. Do I need to stay now?"
"No, we have all we need. Rain, I don't quite know why, but I wish you weren't going."
"I think I may know why. If you come to my camp a quarter hour on horseback out on the west road tonight, I'll explain. I'll be north of the road about five minutes."
"My curiosity won't let me NOT come."
"I'll fix supper for two. You bring some nice wine or ale. I don't carry any. I'll see you then."
Rain wondered if she knew what she was doing, then decided she didn't and she didn't care. She found herself smiling with excitement and anticipation and battled it a bit. Lowan might be shocked and angry, not pleased, but if he was pleased he would be the first she'd chosen.
She was about ready to drop the disguise. It was about ready to come apart anyway. She could barely hide her shape by binding her breasts and lacing the leathers tightly. Her lack of beard was becoming noticeable as well and her features were becoming obviously those of a woman as she matured. She'd carefully written the description on the letters of credit herself, making sure it didn't say man or boy. Her height and breadth of shoulder were all that made the disguise possible. She was taller than most men and towered over nearly every woman she'd seen. She had a feeling much of her size was due to the way her father had watched her diet to make sure she got some of every type of food each day. The rest was inherited. Her father had been tall and lean and he'd told her that her mother had been quite tall for a woman.
Rain set up full camp. Usually she just unrolled her bedding by the fire, but this night she set up her tarp tent and made it 'comfortable.' She bathed quickly in the stream, caught two nice fish and the stew she'd made with them and tubers, fungi and herbs she'd gathered in the forest was bubbling merrily on the fire when Lowan rode in.
"This WASN'T easy to find."
"After today, well off the road seemed a good idea."
"Mmm, that smells wonderful and the ale I... Rain?"
She smiled gently and pulled off her jerkin. He just stared. She hadn't bound her breasts and he'd noticed even while she'd been wearing it.
"Lowan, I'm my father's named heir. He wasn't from Shervail and had little patience with some of our customs. I never TOLD anyone I was a boy and there's no LAW that says he couldn't name me heir. You didn't wish me to leave because I was wishing so hard I could tell you I was a woman, not a girl, a woman. I've never met another man I wanted to show that I am. You're getting more invitation than just to supper, but at least I know how to make that."
"You're beautiful. I've never seen a woman your size before. You're as tall as I am. And... you smith?"
"Yes. I cook, weave and sew too, but I enjoy smithing much more. Plowing, planting and harvesting, I can do, but I DON'T like. Training horses, I do. I also liked learning to use my fists, feet and sword. I played a boy only because too many would have tried, had already tried, to take all my father gave me. I'm the daughter of the minstrel's tale Empty House and Fallow Field and now I don't want to hide I'm a woman. You're the reason. Eat and pour some of the ale. I've carefully avoided it long enough."
Lowan discovered he was very glad she'd decided to stop the masquerade. He wasn't very experienced either, but he didn't expect that to be a problem. He confessed he'd 'disguised' himself too. A single man who just wasn't interested in the tavern women would be thought very strange by the men in the guard.
Two bowls of fish stew and two cups of ale relaxed them both considerably. He had his arm around her before he really thought about it. When she turned and kissed him, he stopped really thinking at all.
Lowan and Rain explored each other's bodies and then their passion. He tried the things his father had spoken of, but he'd never wanted to do before. Rain's soft moans of pleasure were wonderful to him. She, in return, tried those things she'd overheard the tavern women offer. Each was rather sure the other was an incredible lover and they laughed together that they were both feeling rather smug.
In the morning, they got him ready and on the road fast. He'd just won his stripe and not reporting on time was not the way to prove he was worthy of it. She planned on spending the day "relaxing." She was not going anywhere for awhile.
Lowan ran to get in position in front of his squad and made it just before the captain came out to assign patrol areas. He noticed Lowan was slightly out of breath and his squad were smiling broadly.
"Sergeant, did you have a late evening?"
"I'm not sure, Sir. I stopped paying attention to the time right after supper."
"I see. Ale?"
"I stopped paying attention to that too, but I'm sure I was too busy to drink much."
"May we know more of this business?"
"If she wasn't so damn rich, I'd wind a promise ring around her wrist."
"SHE is rich?"
"All lands don't have the same customs, Sir. I met a woman warrior in western garb, but her teacher was a man of the far north. Her wealth is due to her skill in many things, but until she had built it she couldn't be all she is in Shervail. She wields a sword and works in gold. I met the maid of the minstrel's tale, Captain. The story of Empty House and Fallow Field is true. She IS the treasure."
"She made such wealth as you say in a YEAR?!"
"Sir, I watched her knock a chunk of rock loose with the hilt of her sword and collect garnets. I didn't believe there were any around here, so she showed me. Then she pointed out silver and copper in the rocks. She said the rock didn't hold enough to be worth the trouble of mining it, but it was there. After that, she showed me several dye plants in the forest, then medicinal herbs, then... And that was in about five minutes' span. She IS the treasure. She's also VERY beautiful. May I have a season's leave?"
The captain burst into laughter and Lowan grinned. He'd managed to do exactly what he and Rain discussed. He'd separated her from the 'boy' who'd sold his inheritance, reattached the woman warrior to her legend and implied, not stated, she'd been in the far north. He'd also quite enhanced his own reputation among the guard, though that hadn't been the intent. He dashed for his horse and rode west fast as soon as his squad was dismissed that evening.
For five nights Lowan rode west to be with her. The sixth day he had no duties and they spent it together. Both knew she couldn't stay much longer. That night she woke and found him sitting on the rock from which they'd watched the two moons rise. He tried to hide the promise vine he held. She softly smiled and held out her wrist.
"Lowan, I love you. I don't promise not to share loving with another now and then, but when I know I've found out who I truly am, you'll be the one I want to share it, and my life."
"I won't always be a poor guardsman, Rain."
"That's not near as important to me as to you, my love, but I do understand it. Remember, my grandparents and parents built that fortune. I didn't, but I worked VERY hard to prove to myself I was worthy of bearing the name of my mother's father. I think I want to know the name my father once bore. I want to know how he took the wound he battled for his life for more than forty years. I don't think I knew that's what I wanted until I realized I had something to do and really couldn't find some way to just be with you. The promise vine will go among my treasures and you'll get long letters. I don't promise not to send you work to do. I won't pay you more than I think it's worth, but that's my judgment. If you dislike the task or the pay, you can give both to someone else you're SURE can be trusted to do it and do it right. If I need a law counselor, I probably won't be able to wait seven years for you to become one."
"Rain, you've found it for me. I love you. I will become a counselor of law. I think I want to be speaker in the court. We must change our way. When our people had little choice in the number of children born and most women died bearing them, chasing a young woman from a village made some sense. She'd be taken in by a very pleased widower with three children in another village and bring new blood to it. Now a woman may choose not to bear and few children die of disease OR poverty. To say a man who has a wife and two daughters has no heirs is wrong. He should be able to choose who he wishes or his wife should have it to care for his children."
"It's not a law, Lowan. It's custom."
"Then it's time for the law to deal with the custom. Women can't be allowed to be defined as property, unless all other property is... part of her and... only a man who accepts the name of her father or husband which SHE carries can share in that property."
"Would you accept another name, Lowan?"
"Hmm, I'll have to work on that a bit. I think codifying the custom with a few changes would be much simpler than using the law to stamp it out."
"I don't like being defined as property in ANY sense."
"That's it then. We use the law to stamp it out."
"Years as a city guard will give you a very unusual perspective."
"So will the fact you accept my promise ring."
He slowly twined the vine around her arm. The leaves would fall, but the vine would sprout new ones when laid on rich soil and given water; and it could be done again and again until the promise was kept and it was given time to grow thick roots to become a blooming vine in the couple's home. On their deaths, it was planted on her grave and a cutting of it was planted on his. Its growth was controlled by water, light and nutrition in the soil, so it didn't overrun a home and the shade of trees in the forest and excess of sun in the meadows kept it from overrunning them. The need for optimum conditions to grow was why it had adapted to do so very quickly when it had them.
"I love you, Rain. For you, I will become all I can be. For you, I will strive to be the best I can be. For you, I will wait, and I'll dream of you. For you, I shall speak for all women. I knew someone must. You've shown me the need is too great to wait for someone else. I must be the someone. I think I'll have a great deal of help once I begin."
"I love you. I'll write and you'll KNOW how I miss you. If ever you need help, go to Koled Tomat. Visit him any time you wish. If you do it soon, he'll put a great deal of polish on your swordsmanship fast. He's getting old, but I expect him to have time to teach Tack. Lowan, I wish to give you a symbol of my promise. Will you wear the only piece of my fashioning I kept? It's a ring and I think it will fit you."
He smiled and she went to get the ring. It was very simple in line and many of the things she'd done were more exotic, but this was the one she'd liked. She'd learned she didn't want to sell it. Some of it was the stone. She smiled softly when she rewrapped and packed the sapphire pieces her father had made. Someday she would wear them with the blue of wedding lace after all, and both her blue and lace would be unusual. So was the man she would marry. She carried the ring to him and he took it near the fire to see it.
"What is it?"
"A sapphire. It's very dark blue compared to most. It has a flaw. It's the shape of a lutile blossom. Lutile is the plant from which I make my blue dye. The stone is the color of the dye."
"Lutile is a dye plant?"
"Not to anyone else, but the mauve blossoms make a rich blue dye if processed in just the right way. I found the dye and I cut the stone to show off the shape of the flaw, not hide it. My father was very pleased with how I chose to cut it. Usually a large flawed sapphire is hurriedly chopped into as many unflawed little ones as possible. The stone is set so it isn't an obstacle, almost a net of silver in the center of the band. I know it's big, but it shouldn't be a problem getting a glove or sleeve over it."
"It's beautiful. It fits!"
"I thought it was about right for the little finger of your left hand. This is the stone I chose and cut for its meaning to me. I mined and refined the silver and shaped it to hold the stone."
"The setting is the stem and sepal for the blossom?"
"I tried. When you look through it in sunlight, the lutile blossom will appear to be the right color."
"It's beautiful and speaks of you in a thousand ways. I'm afraid I shall be most prideful of it and wave it under noses. Thank you, my love. I think I needed it very much."
"I think I needed to give it to you."
In the morning, he helped her break camp and then held her in his arms once more. He began night patrol that day and didn't think he could have left sooner even if he hadn't. Both of them ached when she turned west and he east on the road. Both were sure they'd be together again. Both were sure the time until then would be too long.
Lowan rode to the city and then to his uncle's house. His uncle hadn't liked his father much and rather resented the fact Lowan had refused to choose a name other than Lowan Freden. It and his sword had been all the city guard had to bequeath to his son when a thief's knife had mortally wounded him. Lowan's mother met him at the door.
"What's wrong?"
"I found the woman I love and last night twined a promise ring. This morning we had to part. She has something she must do and so do I. This day I begin to study law. I will become speaker for the women of Shervail. I love the maid of the tale Empty House and Fallow Field. I will become worthy of her love for me. This was her gift of promise."
"You... wound the vine?"
"Yes, Mother. The promise is made. No time was set so faithfulness was not pledged, but she'll not lay with any who are not of great worth to her and I can't. I never could. I will strive to become captain, magistrate, judge and speaker. If I skip one or two, I won't be at all disappointed."
"Then you do love her."
"With all my being. Here, let me show you the true skill of my love. Her name is that of her mother's father. She is called Rain. Look through the stone. See the lutile blossom within it and how the setting is made to be its stem and sepal?"
"Beautiful! It's like nothing I've ever seen."
"The stone is a sapphire. She saw the blossom in the flaw and used it to make a thing of rare wonder when another would have made little gems of the large and lost its true beauty. She makes a dye no other knows of this exact deep blue. She found the way to extract it from the lutile blossom. She isn't at all worried another will find the process. Oh, Mother, I hurt. I know it may be a very long time before I see her again."
"Come in. If my brother grumbles, his wife will burn his dinner. I'll just kick him in the shins as I did when we were nine and seven and he got overbearing. I should probably have never stopped. Shelda, put on nortset tea. Lowan has an aching heart. His love had to leave him for an unknown time. He's the promised of the maid of the tale you like so well."
"And determined to see to it young women, girls, will not be driven from homes their fathers made for them in this land. Or widows from those their husbands, with their aid, made for them and their children. I need my uncle's aid."
"In what way?"
"I wish to study law. He can get me listed as a student of it so I will be allowed into the counselors' library. I'll pay to have my study evaluated and to listen to speakers who lecture on law for students as I can save the coin for it."
"You'll do no such thing, nephew."
"Your pardon, Uncle Yoman, I should have spoken to you first."
"Without marshaling your troops? Don't pretend to be foolish. If you wish to study law the course will be paid at its outset and you will pay me back as you gain coin. You will leave the guard?"
"No, because it gives me a knowledge of how the law is enforced and its... usurpation by custom. How few know they enforce custom and not the law when they force a woman from her father's home and say he has no heirs?"
"He doesn't unless he has a son of fourteen or has named one."
"Uncle, the law doesn't say that. It says he may bequeath by statement or his property may be passed to his nearest blood kin. Isn't a daughter blood kin? Isn't a son under fourteen? We enforce custom and call it law, but it is NOT. Would we throw the king's daughter from the palace, or his six year old son? No, Uncle, she would be found a consort and we would hope she bore him a son who would become king. The boy would be found a regent. The practice is from the time when nearly every village needed strong young women and every widow could find a father for her children. They brought new blood and vigor to the village and gave men families to love when they had lost their own. No law says a man cannot name a wife, daughter, or young son heir. It only states an HEIR cannot trade the inheritance if under fourteen. It's meant to keep unscrupulous persons from taking advantage of children, NOT throw them into the streets. It has become a tool of the greedy. If my cousins were girls, not boys, would you not be hoping one would quickly choose husband you could trust to be named as heir, so your wife and my mother would not be cast out by a dozen men salivating to possess your fine house and all you've built? I twined my promise on the maid of Empty House and Fallow Field, Uncle. She looked to find the law that cast her from her home and would have taken all if her father had not already disposed of his wealth. He invested it in her. She has skills like few others of this land. He MADE her the treasure."
"You have seen these skills?"
"Would you like to see her wield a sword or smith one? Would you want her to find fine silver or smelt and shape it? Do you wish her to find and cut gems or gather and prepare herbs for medicine? Do you wish a spirited stallion to follow like a pup and obey voice commands? Do you wish garments to be embroidered in colors that do not run and no other has? Do you wish hides tanned and a fine saddle made? Do you need a tapestry or a pair of boots? She is the investment he made and has already become so rich I sat and held the vine searching my soul to judge my worth. If she hadn't caught me with it and just... stuck out her arm, I might never have wound it. She made this ring when she was fifteen. It's the only piece she made that wasn't sold. It's totally of her crafting. She even dug and refined the silver and cut the gem from raw stone. She IS the treasure her father saved, and she is making coin as fast as it can be MINTED. Oh, and you should hear her play flute and see sun shining on her golden hair."
"He's in love, Yoman."
"I noticed, Terrin. His thoughts are interesting. I shall have you listed as student, Lowan. You owe me one third your earnings until the debt is cleared. I may not like the name you bear, but I think you'll make it one respected. When are you free for the preliminary testing?"
"Any day, though afternoon would be best for me. I begin as sergeant of the night guard tonight."
"What?"
"The captain is retiring. Sergeant Tollac will become captain. Sergeant Flador doesn't wish night guard or the captaincy. I have been told it will pass to me when Sergeant Tollac retires. He has said that will be soon. The men proposed me. I was quite surprised."
His uncle's ruddy round face, which he worked to keep from looking jovial, suddenly lit with a smile that twinkled in his pale blue eyes. Lowan returned the smile. His mother had once stated it was impossible not to do so. With his short round body and ring of wispy gray hair, the smile suddenly made one sure one of the underhill people of children's stories had just given the smile of favor. Lowan was sure of it. Uncle Yoman was going to help and was delighted to have made the decision before he learned Lowan had 'earned' the aid. He'd meant it as a gift. Lowan would treasure it as such.
Lowan could almost feel Rain beside him when he went for testing the next day. It was a very different kind of testing. First he wrote the reason he wished to study law, then he answered questions posed by six counselors about his written reason. It was intended to be grueling. He wasn't even sure how he'd done until the sun began to set and the first counselor of the testing suddenly smiled.
"I've never heard better argument from one who aspires to study the law. Your question of the legality of the city guard enforcing custom is a VERY good one. This debate will not stop with the end of this session and will widen rapidly. I'm sure of it because old Kosso over there stayed awake all the way through it and only something very exciting could accomplish that. You are accepted at second level. Your experience as a city guard is accepted in lieu of first level study. Now, you'd best get to your duty."
"Thank you. I'm... Thank you. Excuse me, I'm about to be late."
Lowan got there just in time and was carrying his swordbelt and fastening his jacket. The captain raised an eyebrow and waited for him to finish dressing. The men were working hard not to laugh. Lowan was out of breath and hadn't slowed since he ran in the gates.
"Sergeant Freden, it's customary to finish dressing before duty assembly."
"Yes, Sir. The testing ran late, Sir."
"Testing?"
"Yes, Sir. I've been accepted as a student of the law at the second level, Sir. My statement of reason and the question it raised stirred heated debate, or so I was told. I think I was let go BECAUSE I had duty at sunset."
"Second level?"
"Yes, Sir. My four years in the guard were considered equal to completion of first level. It surprised me, but I know how much a guard has to know about the law. Evidently, so did they."
"Congratulations again, Sergeant. You've had an exceptional ten days."
"Yes, Sir, I have, Now I just have to prove to myself I deserved them."
"A good attitude. What was the question you raised?"
"I questioned the legality of the City Guard enforcing custom when no law applied."
"Oh, you stirred the nest WELL."
"It does seem so, Sir, but it was you who stirred me."
"I did?"
"Yes, Sir. You shouted you would NOT put a woman and four children out on the street and no law said you had to do so. It began my inner debate long before I met my promised."
"That pleases me immensely. It may be a long busy night tonight, Sergeant. Two caravans came in today and the early klooth harvest is in so the city is full of brash young men looking for 'relaxation' after labor. Try to keep caravan guards and farmers from meeting with swords and scythes in hand. I shall consider it well done if they only meet with fists and no heads are broken. I recommend you make quick patrols through the city and keep as much of your force as possible close to the taverns and inns near the market. Sergeant, your payment of two coppers to boys and tavern women when they bring word of trouble has been noted and discussed. From now on, you will keep track of it so you can be reimbursed."
"Yes, Sir! Thank you, Sir."
"Four burglars caught and two assaults stopped in ten days is proof your small investment brings big dividends, Sergeant."
"Most just needed a small excuse and to know their help was appreciated, Sir. The poor are victims of crime more often than rich. They don't have high fences and large dogs. It was Ionan who suggested we visit the homes of those who have them and ask their owners to help us get acquainted."
"It shall be noted, Sergeant. Good work, Ionan. It's hard to count bites that don't happen, but many is a good estimate. Be careful. The thieves will be thick. There will be many heavy purses on belts loosened to get more ale under them. Gauntlets and helms tonight and watch each other's backs. Some resent being interrupted when they're breaking the law. Sergeant, have a pleasant night."
"Oh, THANK you, Sir. At least it started that way. Let's go, boys. You know Tollac's feet are killing him and he wants to get them in hot water."
That night a man died. Lowan hadn't been quite fast enough. He wrote a petition to his captain and the city quorum and a request for time for study of first level materials to the school of law. Both were granted. The captain was not quite ready to retire and autumn was the best season to begin second level. Four days after he and Rain parted on the road, Lowan rode north.
Rain had given him another gift. Koled would teach him enough he wouldn't lose another man, a friend, because he wasn't as good as he could be. Another would be trained by the great northern swordsman who'd left his land because he couldn't stand to injure any more of the young men who challenged to try to prove they were better. He'd left before one proved to be too good and he'd had to kill him.
Rain was in no real hurry. She rather wanted to just 'pass through' the capital city of Barrevine, but she'd like to see the crown among the crown jewels. It had to be delivered and then they'd have to have some kind of ceremony to switch it for the old one. Besides which, she felt like laying around and moping. She was not particularly nice company the first two days of her cycle.
Koled had told her if she didn't stop working so hard to be nice, he'd pick a fight. He was sure he'd be grouchy if his back ached and stomach swelled every moon cycle. She still hadn't reached Barrevine when a young man caught up with her on the road. He yelled her name, then handed her a thick letter and grinned. She'd been much easier to find than he'd expected. Lowan had warned the letter might be undeliverable.
The young man refused the silver she offered. It had been a favor for a friend. He told her he'd be staying at the Bent Tailed Cat and would accept an ale from "the most incredible woman in existence." Lowan had really needed to send the letter. He, Carlio, had discovered he wanted to go to Barrevine and his father had discovered he wanted someone to check on his business there, and wouldn't she like him to reserve her a room at the inn. The clientele was primarily families and his mother recommended it. He was rather in a hurry to get there. She'd told him the good wife and her four daughters baked the best meat pies and brewed the best ale in Shervail. A reservation for a room guaranteed one a pie.
"I'll take it. I'm drooling."
"My mother started describing when Lowan started writing that letter, Rain. My father and his uncle growl at each other in the yard and their rivalry has produced five new strains of Blenden's leaf, including a RED one."
"Some rivalry. Some skill."
"Lowan and I aren't as close as he and a few of the guards are. One died beside him, Rain. He's gone to the one you call uncle to learn. He was just a little too slow."
"Oh, no."
"Read it before you come to the inn. Women do travel alone sometimes. A smart man looks for where they stay. That's where the best food and ale are found. My mother sent you a list. I'm a spoiled rich brat. I pouted until I got a copy. You'll like the cats. They do NOT beg or get on tables and counters. There's a nice view down into the valley on the right off the road just ahead. You'll like mother's idea of a list. It includes the name of the rock formation which makes it a very nice place to sit and watch the evening shadows come to the valley. The viewpoint is called Contemplation and the big rock that backs the whole thing is called Memory."
"Senen Tadurn is responsible for that. The poem Beating Heart is about that spot and his names were LOTS better than 'up there,' which most preferred to what they were actually named."
"At least they could pronounce it. You're everything he said and more. I'll carry a letter to Fredontown. I'm going up that road. My father discovered he needed to send me there the second night his dinner was a bit more done than usual. I do have work to do and I'm quite pleased Mother and her troops made him give it to me to do now, not later. It will probably be busy. I'll get you a room and you can reimburse me. You do NOT want to miss the pie."
"Thank you. I'll be there this evening."
"Ah, I knew I could convince you to buy me an ale. I'm on a budget. It's business and I'm not actually carrying much in personal funds. I've been practicing being interesting enough people offer to buy me an ale for my company. I'm saving my own money to back Lowan when he's ready to seek election as speaker."
She took the letter to the rocks and read it in the late afternoon sun looking over the wide fertile valley of the Greater Tradder River. One hundred yons, a yon being a tenth "the distance a man can comfortably walk in a day," south it joined the Lesser, which was larger. The valley was a flood plain carved from the iron rich hills and new alluvial deposits came with great regularity, but they were well channeled into the fields and it took a very great deal of spring or autumn rain to overwhelm the system and flood the farms and villages which dotted it below the city. However, sewage disposal did stop once in awhile when the tall tanks were threatened.
The waterflane were always harvested at any threat. That particular variety was too hardy to 'get loose.' Its leaves did make good stock feed and it certainly had reduced the damage being done to the river, but it would escape someday and it would be a real problem. Everyone in the valley had seen drawings of it, all the way to the delta eight days ride south. From the bluff, the tanks looked like pink polka dots south of the city. The waterflane was in bloom and everyone in the city agreed it smelled much nicer than it once had when the wind blew from the south.
The letter hurt, but was also full of the future. Lowan didn't feel guilty, but he fully intended to reduce the probability of it happening again a great deal. He would stay as long as Koled believed necessary, but would strive to be ready for the fall studies at second level. His family, the guard and the counselors had all understood the training was an immediate need. and he missed her very, very, much.
Carlio flagged her over to a side table when she walked into the inn. His expression said "important now." She just carried her packs over. Now was now.
"Don't register under your name. Keep it under mine for now. Morrin Tadrain is being bandied about in ALL the right circles. I really like the cup you sold my father. So does he. Right now that name is attached to a crown which everyone is talking about. If you WANT to wade in people asking questions... "
"No, thank you, I have a tendency to tell the truth and not answering seems impolite."
"Lowan is a very special person. My mother says so and she is never wrong, even if she does say she isn't always right. Here's your key. It's crowded so you have the most expensive room in the inn. I'm sharing. Budgets are my anathema. This trip is 'and you'll justify EVERY item over estimate when you get back.' You have a large lockable room. May I store my packs there?"
"Absolutely. How much do I owe you?"
"How long do you want to stay? Go look at your room, then the posting of events in the city and functions in the court. When you get back, you say how many days and I say how much. Look at the room first, please. I feel it more likely I'll get that ale if you see why it's expensive before I tell you its cost and you understand why it was available. Your pie is baking, about a quarter hour."
"Thanks, I think."
"Down the west corridor, to the end, then out and onto the brick path. It's the first door you come to on the path. The back path goes directly to the stables. The fishing in the lake at the foot of the lawn is great. You can cook your catch outside the room or bring it to the kitchen and get dinner free. The lake is private and so is the security guard service."
"Very unusual."
"So is the clientele. The four rooms on the path have given kings a place to really relax a few days. Because they can be reached from the stable, comings and goings are only noted by the security guards and they only talk TO guests."
Rain found the path and then the elegant 'wing' of four very large rooms. The doors were sheltered by hedges which enclosed a small yard. There was a goat making it into a lawn in the one before the first door. The view to the north all along the path was of the small lake, surrounded by lawn and trees and, in the distance, the towers of the palace.
The room looked like it should be in the palace. There was even a selection of wines and a brandy cask. She began to really understand why he'd sent her to see it first when she found the marble bath. Hot water was available during specific hours, but could be arranged with the host at any time. The valves were gold.
Rain went out the back, held up the key for the security guard and learned the stable was closer than the inn. The stableboys were "in love" with her horses before she tipped them and showed them her room key. She'd figured a half silver each would be a bit more than usual. The room told her two coppers would make her look a bit 'tightfisted.'
Rain read the event schedule on her way back to the common room and decided how long. She still whistled when Carlio told her four gold for five days.
At the exact time she was placing money on the table, another was spending all he had for a cloak from a stall in Tarrenmoor Port market. Banin Tacklin had made it home. He'd never speak of what had happened or go to sea again. His family was very near at only ten or twelve days' walk. He didn't know he was going to the place he'd call home the rest of his life. He didn't know he was 'born' to be a horse breeder.
Kelod just grinned and watched the family take over his life. He loved it. Tack was so eager to help, he was having to work at thinking of things that needed doing so he could. When Lowan rode into the yard, he could see the reason he had come in his eyes.
"If you're here to learn the sword, Rain sent you."
"Yes, Koled, she did, but it was the death of a friend that began my journey. I'm Lowan Freden. I'm Sergeant of the Night Patrol of the City Guard of Tarrenmoor Port. Rain is my promised. I twined the vine and she placed this on my hand. I'll lose no more friends because I'm not as good as I could be. Can be is a bit impractical. I have other things to which I wish to devote my life. I have been accepted as a second level student of law. It is my intent to become a speaker and speak for women. My question for the testing was the legality of the City Guard enforcing custom. The best time to begin second level is in autumn. If that's not enough time, I'll start at another. Koled, I love Rain with all my heart. I know a great deal about this ranch and you. I'm the one who made sure Tack got enough errands to feed his family. He doesn't know about Rain and me and I'm not sure he knows she's not a boy yet."
"He does now. He thought it was hilarious."
"I was VERY surprised and very pleased. It was rather a strange feeling to want to get close to a boy."
"LOWAN!"
Koled smiled as Tack ran across the yard. He'd told Rain to call him uncle and she'd decided he needed more family. He had, but he hadn't known it until she'd started sending them.
Rain watched Barrevine prepare for the summer solstice and Carlio made sure she got to attend 'social' activities. She discovered she looked very different in a gown than she had the last time she'd worn one. She saw her young king in the crown her father had created. Where had all the raw stones he'd cut to adorn it come from? She was climbing the bluff to the road west six days after she'd entered Barrevine. Carlio was headed north the next day.
An exhausted, hungry, man near staggered into Koled's yard late that evening. He'd found he couldn't stop until he dropped beside the road and could barely stray from it to forage for berries and tubers. The horses announced his arrival. Koled opened the door to see what had disturbed them and a man almost fell through the doorway.
"Lowan! Get the fire going and the stew on it. This man is starving."
"My family, are they here?"
"BANIN!!"
Koled smiled and, basically, held the young fellow up to greet 'their' family. When he got them all settled and Banin was relieved of little ones who had gotten from shy to lap, Koled poured himself, Lowan and Banin another cup of tea. Tack was still blinking over his cooling last cup.
"Rain sent all of you to me, Banin. I bought this big place a long time ago and it's about time I had a family to fill it. Rain demands ONE of your boys has your name. I want to give Tack mine. You, we get healthy as fast as possible. Your hands say you know how to work. Here that includes learning to smith and use a sword well. Lowan, you will be more advanced. You will instruct Banin and I'll see you do it right. If your friend had been better, you would have been fast enough. You'll learn to teach as you learn. If you can't be the best you can be, then you'd better make an effort to see your men are pretty good too."
"Thank you, Koled. I'll find it much easier to smile at wives and children at the winter solstice open door at headquarters if I've made their loved ones safer. Tack, are you awake?"
"No, and I WANT to be. Father, Mother never believed you were dead, so we didn't, and I am VERY proud you're my father, but... give your name to Nin. He's going to be more like you, I think. I've been working hard to be like Lowan for two years, but I think I want to be who Rain and Koled want me to be."
"Tack, I'd be proud if you bore my name, but I'm very proud of the MAN you've worked to become. Koled Tomat has impressed me deeply in the very short time I've been here. You have been honored, my son. Thank you, Koled. His mother isn't here to say it."
"And about damn time you followed Vora to your room. Lowan, you'll note everything I feed this family the next ten days. Banin, you will improve your reading skills by teaching Vora to read. Lowan, you will assist with Tack. He's nearly taught himself and eager, aren't you, Tack?"
"Move the goats and oil the harness."
"That's it. Come on, Son. You lead me to your room, then I'll find mine. Thank you, Koled. I need new skills. I'll never go to sea again and I don't want my sons to be sailors either. I've always liked horses. I was once a stableboy. I came from watery death to paradise and I made it alive. It's a very rare accomplishment. My soul was tattered, but is healing. I don't wish to examine the scars. Morrin Tadrain saved the life of my wife, Koled Tomat. She chose you to guide my children. I thank you for choosing to guide me as well."
"Vora will burn my breakfast if you don't get there before SHE falls asleep. Goodnight."
"You have no reservations about this, do you?"
"No, Lowan. I learned I was lonely when Rain came to me. She spent more than a half year here. She knows me better than anyone else alive. She picked them. They're the right family. Vora chose that man and he made it back to her against odds that haunt him. He too belongs here."
"We start teaching Tack he's Kole tomorrow?"
"Make it Matt. I was called Kole and some would wonder how well he had been taught. Tom is too easy."
"True. He chose other than his father's name, so he deserves to have to work at it. Banin has carried an immense musculature, until he was starved."
"I noticed. He'll be a fine smith, I think. Very well, this becomes a real ranch. We have pasture to clear, fences to build and the stable must be enlarged. We have the beginning of a new bloodline. My stallion is Moongold. Morrin's war horse was his sire too. He's buckskin and I've got a nice line of big dun and bay mares. He'll service the mares and the three near mature fillies. The younger fillies will wait for Moonmist. We'll need a few more."
"I think that colt is going to be nearly silver."
"Yes, he's several shades lighter than his dam. You need a different horse."
"I like Shiel, Koled."
"So do I. She's big and shouldn't have problems foaling. I want you to train a young stallion and take him. The line is very well mannered. Bring him back once in awhile to stand stud. Send mares he's serviced if you find some big enough. You'll be adding to YOUR family herd. Your share will be available to draw on just about the time you get your uncle paid back. You'll know when a horse is worth eating mutton stew instead of beef steak for awhile."
"On my income, it may be bread instead of stew."
"Don't. You need good food to work well. There won't be many mares big enough or good enough, but we don't need all there will be. You are essential. Rain would blister my ears if you skipped meals to buy a mare."
"She'd blister mine first."
"Right after she stuffed you with what you'd been skipping."
Part Two
Rain rode west. The high mountains separated the realm of Shervail from the western kingdoms. There were a large number of them. The only pass over the Thrones of the Stars into Shervail was well guarded. It was said the number of kingdoms and their borders changed so often peasants asked travelers what their land was called and who was king. Somewhere in those never peaceful lands, she would find someone who knew the tale of a wounded young warrior or a pouch of uncut gemstones.
Moon and Mist didn't like climbing to the pass, but they didn't have any trouble with the altitude. She was rather pleased she didn't have the dizziness of which she'd heard, but she got light headed enough she was delighted that they were both so sure footed, Moon a bit more than Mist. She'd given up the idea of keeping Mistdancer and Moonstrider apart when she'd decided she didn't want to leave her behind with Koled. She'd find a way to deal with it when Mist foaled again.
The guard detail at the top of the pass warned her the western lands were strange and the language harder to understand the farther she got from the pass. She thanked them. They'd given her a clue. Her father had not been understandable when he was cursing. She noted the large, full, corral and one of the guards explained extra teams were needed to brake the narrow wagons that used the pass going east and often to aid up the steep eastern road going west. He smiled and told her the king was rather pleased the guard station helped support itself by maintaining the service for traders. The horses belonged to them, not the guards.
She understood why traders didn't need extra teams on the west side of the pass as soon as she started down. Compared to the eastern approach, the road was almost a gentle slope. The road up to the pass had told her why most of the trade from the west came down from the north or by ship around the narrow southern end of the continent. Shervail occupied the southern and eastern portion of it down to where the great mountain chain curved east to the sea and Barrevine was almost in the center of its southern 'tip.' It was the largest of all the kingdoms, but only about thirty days ride north to south and twenty east to west.
The first town she came to was a mining town. They mined for lead, but copper, silver and even some gold were extracted from the ore as well. She traded her Shervail coin and a letter of credit for the trade coin of the west and thin gold and silver bars. She began smithing when she set up camp that night. She'd found a place well off the road she liked. She'd leave it as soon as the short alpine summer ended. If she was looking for raw stones, she needed to show a gem trader work of a quality that would get her pointed toward the best. Then she'd listen for words she'd heard when toe struck chair leg.
She found a flower and an ore deposit. The ore deposit really didn't interest her, but the flower did. She processed it and whooped. No one had a deep blue/green dye that was even close. She made the mordant and dyed every bit of yarn and thread she carried. She also made as much dye and mordant as she could. She would be able to find all the ingredients for her mordant, but the dye she could not. She smiled and worked the gold and silver while she processed flowers. The blue/green would dye the silk of the sittid worm. She knew where to find that.
Fabled Wrafensoar, the city called the clouds' treasure room, was due west, somewhere. There she would hear the speech of all the regions. It was the trade city of the West and the huge caldera of the long extinct volcano produced a seemingly unending flow of fruit, cloth, precious metals, diamonds and traders. It did not produce warriors. The fastest way to get your enemies allies was to attack it. Wrafensoar was the only neutral ground and it was the bank. Even her Shervail letters of credit could be exchanged there and ones from there could be exchanged in Barrevine.
When Rain had two pieces shaped the way she wanted, she knew what stones she was looking for on her journey. It hurt. She would be away from Lowan a very long time. The gem gravels of Thian Fell were far toward the southern sea passage. It would take a much shorter time by sea to reach home once she got to it than to return by land. She rather hoped she didn't have to go that far.
Seventeen days after Rain made camp, there was a rime of ice on her rain catch pot. She loaded and rode back to the road. It was time to leave the mountains. She caught up with a small caravan that evening and offered her sword for traveling companions. The traders were rather shocked. The four guards grinned, made her a place by the fire and handed her dinner. Women warriors were near legendary and they were very nervous.
"I'm Tovol Stedcoff. You wear your blade like you know its feel well. It could be needed."
"It wouldn't have been offered if I hadn't suspected it could be. Tell me."
"I have five traders and three guards who I would see surrounded by many who ask what treats were brought by daddy. This land is in dispute, again. Brigands call one or another side ally as excuse for theft or murder too often during such disputes. One more sword may prevent an attack because the odds are less. I prefer assuming that to finding out four weren't enough to do so."
"How far to Wrafensoar?"
"Twenty-six or more days, even with your horses. They're very nice, especially the stallion."
"I'm looking for where his sire came from. Moonstrider isn't as big, but he's the size we want. Another the size of his great palomino sire, a western war horse, would give us another bloodline. My father came to Shervail when near forty. His stallion was well matured. Father may not have known where he came from originally. We have hopes the breed is as long lived as he and that he was not just exceptionally so. We estimate his age at death to be about forty."
"Long lived indeed. Though I've heard of such."
"So have I, but of no others that were successfully standing stud at near that age. My stallion is not his last colt. His sire died about three years ago and he's five years of age. He sired his first at a bit over two. I'm Morrin Tadrain, called Rain. My home is in the River Squan Valley, the Eastern Falls Ranch. It's about an eight day journey north and a bit east of Barrevine."
"Thank you. Barrevine is about the only city in Shervail I can place on a chart of the land."
"A map?"
"A chart. You'll find other words differ in usage and accent as well."
"Oh, I'd love to know what my father was saying when he stubbed his toe or burnt his finger."
"I usually wish my children didn't know what I was saying. We come into the Stepped Hills tomorrow. The road isn't known for tranquil travel in them."
"I'll ride point. Moon lets me know if he smells people he can't see."
Moon noticed twice, both times while they were camped. Whoever he noticed decided a fully alert camp was more challenge than they wanted. Six days after she joined the small caravan, they reached Podapalo. Rain was introduced to the guard captain of a large caravan bound for Wrafensoar. He tried her skill and told her she was most welcome. There were three women traveling with the caravan in a rather nice carriage. She made a friend among them the first evening.
"Oh, a flute! Wait! Let me get my lap harp."
"I really hadn't planned on playing. I was just moving it from pocket to pack."
"Please, I seldom get to play with flute and these others will enjoy anything that doesn't make them wince."
From then on, Rain rode close to Daila, Forthie and Reendra in the carriage and they told her a great deal about the western kingdoms. They called them central, south central, southwest, west and northwest kingdoms. Daila listened to Rain attempt the 'bad' words her father had used and said "northern western." She couldn't tell her what kingdom because the region was claimed by four. Its people didn't like any of them and none was getting far attempting to make friends. The war horse had obviously come from Frale on Corvell, south of Wrafensoar. That was where war horses were bred to carry armored men. It was also where they were most used.
Rain wrote letter until she ran out of paper, then gave it to the lead guard of a west bound caravan with which they shared camp the fifth night. He was actually going to Shervail and would take it as far as the Bent Tailed Cat in Barrevine. The goodwife there would see it went north to Fredontown and then south. Kelod would see the part of the thick sheaf addressed to Lowan reached him even if he'd returned to Tarrenmoor Port.
The fourteenth night on the road, they were attacked. The attackers didn't have the advantages they expected. Moon gave warning and he and Mist didn't like all the shouting men around Rain. Mist knocked two down, so did Moon. The difference was those two did not get up and run.
Rain was too busy to not kill. A few attackers were actually good with their swords. When it was over, there were twelve dead and nine wounded. None of the dead were caravan guards or travelers. Only one of them had been badly wounded. She went to work on him fast. She was sure his arm could be saved. The captain of the guard didn't argue. He'd believe the woman warrior from the east could raise the dead if she stated she could. Her horses had reduced the odds of thirty-two, to twenty-four, to sixteen in the first moments. Four had run when Moon charged them after he knocked down and 'stepped on' the first two. Mist's two had scrambled after fast. Rain hadn't counted how many of the twelve were around where she'd stood.
The uninjured men carried the bodies away from the camp and prepared a pyre. They didn't light it. That must be done by someone who'd known them. It hadn't been lit when they moved out the next day, but about midday they saw a column of smoke rising from the rolling hills of the prairie behind them. Even thieves would not leave names unspoken or fire unlit. The unnamed "haunted," especially ones who could have spoken. Rain's father had told her it was reasonable. She agreed. If one she knew had been killed, she certainly wouldn't be comfortable knowing she'd left them unburied, or unburned, and hadn't said good-bye.
By the time they reached Wrafensoar, Rain was sure the young guard would not lose his arm. The sword wound was healing and he could feel his fingers. The chill nights of winter were a warm memory of her father carefully drawing the useful plants of the western plains and forests for her as they had talked about the ones in the forest near their home. Infection had been prevented and the nerve damage was not as severe as she'd feared.
Wrafensoar seemed to sit upon the clouds that hung midway up the ancient volcanic cone. Fire had long ago gone from the core of it, but it still retained the much time-softened shape if its creation. Wise ones said it had once been near the heat of land birthing at the western edge of the land, but none could say why it hadn't dwindled to the rolling hills around it. Another group held the fanciful notion it was formed when a small moon fell and the great heat and pressure had splashed it into forming. Rain was sure it was fanciful. Diamonds were nearly a whisper of the word Wrafensoar. That was volcanic 'pipes.' That's where one got diamonds. It was big and inhabited up the sides and in the middle, more people than anywhere else.
"All roads of my land lead to Barrevine. Here ALL roads lead to Wrafensoar, including the one that leads to Barrevine."
"That's sensible, Rain. They're right across the pass from each other."
"It's a big grid on the chart of the continent, Daila, a pair of parallel lines running east/west, a pair north/south. You can see the natural features being taken advantage of in the placement of the city. The lines aren't straight. There are four important inland cities and eight important ports, but all roads run to Wrafensoar in the West."
"The southwestern inland city on the grid. I see it, Forthie. The narrowing of the continent itself brings them closer than Tompeak and Misted Lakes are to one another."
"Or them to Wrafensoar and Barrevine, Daila. The distance from the coast to the pass is less than there to Wrafensoar. I do agree it was deliberate, Forthie. It's just plain practical. Build your city to be a hub for an area by putting it in a good spot to trade with other cities."
"Tales from the beginning of the land."
"From the oldest piece of it anyway. They came from beyond the Throne of Stars, to the east and to the sea. The theory is that this was here when we made a mess of the place, but a great deal smaller. We can see the continent growing in the west. It got bigger fast for awhile. I've begun to WANT to see the gem gravels of Thian Fell. My, they do take care of the old place well."
"Rain, do NOT drop anything in the street you wouldn't stop to hunt for. They'll accept it's an accident if you do, but you still pick up trash for two days to remind you to be more careful next time."
"They take care of the place and if we're going to visit in throngs, they don't want to be wading in our shit."
"Reendra!!"
"Oh, Reendra, I am going to remember these days with you, all of you."
"You needed some GIRL friends, girl. Sounds like most good people know change has got to come in Shervail. It starts with a woman being allowed to OWN things."
"Oh, she is, but she has to earn it all herself and after her husband died."
"That's why my having wealth bothers Lowan, Daila. The way things stand now, if something happened to him after we were married, all I have would be gone."
"Sounds to me like he's out to fix what bothers him. Since it bothers him enough to do something about it and I think it's wrong, I definitely respect the man. Oh, make them ALL fall in love with you, Rain. Awe is SUCH an effective control of the male sex drive. They ARE grateful for the assistance."
"Yes, Reendra, I needed girlfriends."
"Promise you'll come to my party, Rain. Bring charming men."
"Forthie, WHY are you sure I'm going to meet interesting men?"
"YOU'RE interesting, Rain. If boring ones become a bother, you break someone's arm and the really interesting ones get more interested. I LIKE men with good minds. Bring someone to my party. You know you're not going to leave for awhile."
"True. He's healing fast and well, but I won't be leaving in three days."
"Rain, your taste is impeccable. Any man you thinks belongs at Forthie's party will by definition be charming."
"You're charming, Daila."
"That's why they're the right men to invite. This party is, basically, a business investment. Charming, interesting, people at a social gathering make the people my family do business with remember us fondly. We need to be remembered fondly. Competition is brisk."
"Where do I get silk and silk thread? That cone wouldn't be there if there weren't people on it. It stopped being a natural feature and started being a structure a long time ago. It's too cone to be a cone."
"You're right, Rain, but I hadn't thought of it as a structure, and that is exactly what it is."
As they climbed the long slope up to the center, Rain examined the baked clay channels and catch basins and other methods for controlling erosion. She'd declined the invitation to "consider our home as your home" from her friends and did the same with the family of the young guard. She thanked them and asked to be allowed to visit and help choose the one who would continue his health care instead.
She apologized for tossing out a respected physician her first visit. The "scar" did not need to be opened for scraping of "proud flesh" and her "silly poultices" were why there was no inflammation. A quarter hour later she was teaching the master of the school of physicians the making of the poultice and which vegetable fiber she'd used as thread, which need not be removed, to knit deep tissues and blood vessels so they were held in place for healing. He thanked her deeply. She told him a new color dye was a secret. A way of saving lives should be given to all who would listen. He sighed and told her too many listened for only ways to take them.
Wrafensoar held wonders from all the kingdoms in its shops and bazaars and the food at the inn Carlio's mother had recommended was wonderful. Rain was enjoying her second evening meal when a man's sudden outburst brought her to her feet and spun her around. He was very angry, very wet and the bowl of soup he was wearing was still steaming.
"Get your tunic off! Kissat, cool towels quickly. Do it! That soup was scalding and your tunic is holding the heat against you."
"Davat, shik kort! Brun stidi! Healter! He didn't understand what you said, warrior maid."
"I didn't understand what he said either, but my father said it when toe found chair leg or hammer found thumb."
"Cool cloths!"
"Ahh. Loosher clain trivved. Do seinee shopwa?"
"Davat says it helps and would like to know HOW he came to suddenly be wearing soup."
"Please, sir, it's less the serving girl's fault than mine. I sat long in meeting and stretched my overlong legs out almost right in front of her. I am Kotodo. The apology is mine to offer."
"Davat, Kotodo stretchet lik lognan en madden shu sply. Kotodo loss pogee mok."
"Yes. Ale. Forget. Lovely. Help. Thank. Nomen?"
"I'm Morrin Tadrain, called Rain, Davat. You're welcome. Kissat, bring a bit of tokkerleaf oil if you have it. He's going to be a bit tender and it will soothe and shorten the duration."
"Tokkerleaf oil? Yes, lady."
"I'd not heard of that one. I'm Kotodo. Host, an ale for the gentleman I caused injury and for his companion and the fair warrior maid who moved quickly to lessen it."
"Thank you, Kotodo. I am known as Quickstar."
"An unusual appellation, but I can curb curiosity if it is unwelcome."
"I was once a navigator on the western sea. A small break of cloud in a dark night gave me our bearings and got us back on course. The captain told all I just needed a quick star. My name was common and it was not. When one says Lur and six turn, it's pleasant to no longer search to see if I am the Lur sought."
"A pleasant story and why I don't answer to Ko. Lady, your speech says east, but your garb speaks of west."
"It was my father's. I find I wish to know who he was before he met my mother, laid these leathers away and took the name of her father. I know he rode a great war horse and had battled long after he took the wound that should have claimed his life at least forty years before it did. Davat spun me with the words with meaning that had always been clear, even though I did not know them."
"Rain, shencada shiel loto cavy?"
"No, Davat, pata shiel loto cavy."
"Ah, a clean soft shirt as well. Very good, Kissat."
"He won't be blistered, Lady?"
"No, and the oil will aid the healing. I always kept a bit near the cook place. Quick cooling, then a thin film on VERY light burn aids. I've used it on the end of my nose when it peeked from beneath my cap at the sun a bit too much. To compare, this would be a palm scraped in child's play and not a hand sliced when the pokert turned when being cut for stew."
"And getting his jerkin off quickly kept one from becoming the other?"
"In the first instant, his jerkin kept the soup from scalding him. But as soon as it had, it became what was holding the hot liquid against him. Think of how some weaves and some fabrics hold liquid and others do not."
"I see it, Lady Rain. Wool holds water, but it is warm even when wet and keeps the skin from chilling and silk is cool even though tight woven because... Oh, my sisters will delight in this learning. Sir, the host has bid me to say your dinner, one you eat, is gift of apology and appreciation for your good nature. Though he did NOT tell me what you said when I decorated you with choice vegetables and savory broth."
Quickstar translated and Davat laughed and thanked Kissat and the host. Rain found herself in the company of three interested and interesting men. Davat caught enough of some of the conversation to not be really left out. Quickstar supplemented if he looked puzzled. Kotodo very carefully stretched his long legs out of the aisle between counter and tables and drew a chuckle from him. He was rather tall too and noted "My feet trip other long out."
Rain was interested in the way his language was 'put together.' Quickstar said the words weren't really that different once one figured out action and subject were in different places and the odd extra syllable was tense; is, was or will be. She suddenly decided she'd like to learn Davat's language. It was something she'd never done and learning was really her favorite thing to do.
Kotodo complained speaking the lady's language was supposed to be an advantage and his dark blue eyes glittered with humor when he asked to learn as well. She liked all three of them and it was interesting to be smaller than all of the men around her. She suddenly smiled, told them about the three friends she'd met on her journey and invited them to Forthie's party. They were delighted with the idea.
Rain worked on what she would wear to the party while she dyed a great deal of silk and silk thread in a corner of the stable. She had used the last of her blue to dye silk thread for embroidery and was pleased with the way it looked on the blue/green. She wasn't making herself a gown, but an embroidered shirt and pants with legs so full they looked like a skirt. She'd seen the style and liked it immensely. She finished her embroidery and dying all the silk she'd purchased at about the same time. She didn't get the silk to a trader's. Kissat ran for a dozen women and men staying at the inn as soon as she began to hang it to dry. It was all sold before she finished cleaning the area of the stable where she worked. The stableboys and Kissat helped her finish and Kissat had dinner and a bath ready for her.
Quickstar, Davat and Kotodo liked the shirt and pants she'd made. They also liked Forthie, Daila and Reendra and Forthie's uncle and cousin. It was a very pleasant evening and Forthie gave her a hug and whispered thanks. Those her family needed to have think of them fondly when they wished to do business would and much of it was due to the charming men who had danced with plump and aging matrons and discussed the state of the world and trade with their husbands.
For five days, Rain and Kotodo worked to learn Davat's language and both began to be able to make themselves understood. For five evenings, Davat worked to learn theirs. He progressed even more rapidly, but noted he had a whole city teaching him and they only had him and Quickstar as instructors. The sixth day she rode northwest with the three of them and a great many others.
A petty king had broken the ban. He'd used cannon and pistol to take a fortress. The many had no leader and needed none. Seven days into the journey, a boy of about eight knelt before them in the road. Eight warriors from eight lands dismounted and walked to where he knelt in a simple long white shirt. Quickstar asked his name.
"I have none and this land has no king. It had one until great ill was done. A boy slew him with the aid of a girl child. It did not halt the evil, but it took the name of king's men from those who forge the banned weapons. The true king had been dead of illness for near a year. The nameless ones believed his illness plotted and the cousin who took throne its source."
"No king sits upon the throne of Laidoncarad?"
"One sits upon the throne, but no blood royal is in his lineage. He holds girl child of near twelve years and will force her to bride in nine days. It is the time of fifty years past returned."
"Quickstar, tell me of what he speaks."
"Near fifty years ago, a kingdom was usurped by cousin when the king, too young yet to be crowned was cast out. Many believe that one died for he was chest pierced when he dealt the stroke that emptied the throne of Taralas. Four kingdoms still vie for those rich lands and now one seeks to take other lands, with the same banned weapons that brought a boy to slay his cousin and empty the throne of that land. The people of the once kingdom of Taralas say their king wouldn't accept the crown tainted with blood shed by cannon and pistol in its name and they'll accept no other."
"Say legend live king warrior simple south go die not, king be worthy not people crown of followed false king many. Broken was crown throne taken jewels in shattered pieces south found. Lift weapon defend neighbor together no king accept them. Exiled them left king. Kingdom land called but king not. Claim not many by kings standing. Not accept people one me of."
"The people won't pledge to any king, Rain. Their true king found them unworthy and didn't return to lead them. He left the body of the usurper lying on the pieces of the shattered throne and the bent and twisted crown on his breast. The crown jewels are thought to have been broken or given away in the far south. Legend says gems of great beauty were found cracked and among uncut stones, because they were so sullied they must be as come from the mines once more."
Rain felt as if she'd been hit by a blast of icy wind. She told herself it was not the beginning of her father's story, but she didn't believe it. She hauled herself back to the road with the boy in white kneeling in it. He had come to ask them not to punish the people of his land for the actions of one of royal blood, already judged and slain for his sins, and a usurper who held the throne by force and would use his sister to lay legal claim to it. He had stated he had no name. He had made his choice just as her father had, but had judged his people were not unworthy of a king, though he would not be the one to wear the crown when he came of age. He had taken the 'sin' upon himself to expiate.
"I give you the name Verac Coren. I claim you as kin and cousin. You will ride with me. Mist! This mare seasons late and foals in mid to late autumn. You will ride her and learn from me until your weight is burden for her. Verac Coren means truth of the heart in the ancient eastern tongue. When we have done in this place, you will ride south with me to find horses and search among the gem gravels of Thian Fell for stones for my works. I am Morrin Tadrain. You will bear the name I have given until such time as one worthy chooses you heir and gives you his, or you bestow it upon one worthy to be your heir at your dying. Cor, you have neither leather nor sword. Our mounts are your duty. Your first is to find one among us who has pack animal and saddle to spare. You will be given others. I am the maid of Empty House and Fallow Field. I have much to teach."
"Thank you, Cousin Rain. I will strive to learn well."
"Look for the man mounted on bay mare with silver trimmed black saddle, Cor. He has provisioned for those who may need mount and equipment."
"I shall find him."
"Bring me word of his price for them and I will give you coin."
"Yes, Rain."
"So, you're the maid of the tale. I think I'd have guessed if given a hint."
"I don't doubt you would have, Kotodo. Now we face a band of brigands, who hold a princess captive to force one land to do their bidding and have used banned weapons to subjugate another. I think my cousin Cor is somewhat familiar with the land and fortifications. When we make camp, we'll ask him if he remembers enough to aid us."
"Rain, your eastern customs aided that boy when ours could not. One with no name here can be use called, but not given name."
"I'm afraid I pushed a bit on it, Kotodo. I've a tendency to use custom as it suits me and law when it does not. He needed someone to acknowledge he'd done what he believed right. He gave up his name and birthright to expiate the sin of his line."
"Truth Heart him well to suit. Cor call?"
"Yes, Davat. In that short form, its idea, mind picture, is a child of eager spirit. It's not an uncommon calling, but Coren is. When he's ready to accept it and Verac, he will choose to name himself as such when meeting others. He was forced to be more than most men while still a child. When he has time to be a child for awhile, he'll be ready to bear the name she gave him."
"Quickstar, have you been EVERY place and learned EVERY custom?"
"I'm working on it, Rain, but I won't go back to sea."
"Nor will I."
"Why, Kotodo? What is driving men who once sailed the seas to the heart of the land with the words 'no more' upon their lips?"
"Each of us has a reason, Rain. No two are the same. I saw the glow of the blasted land and knew I had traveled as far as I could journey by sea. Nothing lay beyond what I had coursed but death. Each path on land brings something new because each path brings new met friends. My charts of the sea are complete. Of the land, I've just begun."
"Does the land truly glow, Quickstar?"
"It is a putrid green luminescence which hangs on the horizon to the far east and far west."
"It is fingers of glowing green putrescence that reach into the sea and are known by day by the malformed and dying sea creatures that float upon them."
"Know how not become land died ago. Ban call time gone weapons many kill of all land dying. Word say powder ball shot cannon one step direction make. People life ban not only bow hunt blade battle. Land from plant and making animal of. Order of things living beyond reach not."
"And so we find medicines in the flora of the lands and strengthen it carefully. And though our kind still fight, we do not even use bows except to hunt beasts judged dangerous to a village. We war with sword alone and hunt for sport with thrown blade or spear. Legends say the blasted land will slowly return to health. Comparison of charts of the sea show there is far more that can be traveled than even one hundred years ago."
"Quickstar, isn't there more than one blasted land?"
"A few ancient writings say three, Rain. The curve of the world makes it reasonable to think there might be at least two with wide sea between, or three if the seas are narrow."
"Story be small island tiny few people. Pray them land rise larger make. Pass time many turnings of years thousands. Land bigger west growing. Forgiven world people by."
"Yes, Davat, and the west is still being made larger as volcanoes spew molten rock from the heart of the world to make land. I wonder if... we are the same people as those who destroyed."
"This is an interesting thought, Rain. Please give more of it."
"The making of the land is slow, Kotodo. In five generations, I can breed a strain of horses that are much unlike the sire and dam from which they came, or cultivate a strain of herb not like its predecessor. The first work we have of people we know were like us are the water channels of Wrafensoar. Nothing old enough to have come in the time of the blasted lands exists except the ban. Perhaps, we are the new people and the old taught only one step should not be taken before they were gone."
"The land once grew much faster, Rain. In Wrafensoar is an ancient chart which adds land by the yon as outline and denotes it as a year by year passage, but I think I agree we are probably much different than our beginnings. The histories of Wrafensoar say only twelve thousand years have passed and man... Uh... "
"Kotodo, you've read the histories of Wrafensoar?"
"Yes, Quickstar."
"Who are you?"
"Kotodo. Once I was another. That one is gone, but at times I discover some bit of his learning has been left lying about for me to stumble over."
"This know me. Feet big leg lognen way get. Soup wear. Ask question Kotodo only answer he other not. Quickstar same not answer give me."
"Yes, Davat, sometimes I too stumble over knowledge once possessed by another. So, Kotodo, once one read the fabled histories of Wrafensoar. Did that one find a telling of how long the blasted lands would be death?"
"Until they're cleansed in the bowels of the world."
"As this land rises, those sink. I can see the balance of it, but I still believe twelve thousand years is too short a span. This... was a small chain of volcanic islands far out in the sea. The blasting of the lands drove the few to the highest point as the sea boiled. Great rents were blasted in the lands and the sea poured into them. The plains became land as the sea seeped into the great craters of the blasting. That is what the charts speak of, not new land being formed, but the sea receding from land now higher. The valley of Chersano in the east and this one we ride are both below sea level. They are both ringed by high mountains and have great salt deposits. If they weren't ringed by mountains, they would still be sea."
"They are barely below sea level, Rain."
"Our whole continent rises a fraction of a ken each year, Quickstar."
"It moves north and east as well, also a fraction of a ken. I would agree, Rain. Cannons! Rows of them! Back! Back over the ridge!"
The leaders turned around at Kotodo's urging and descended the ridge that had brought the cannons in view. The warriors dismounted and made camp. Cor was delighted to help build three "cooking fires" behind the ridge. More warriors would be coming. They'd build 'extra' fires as well. Eventually, the land would truly fill with warriors who had come to halt those who had taken the forbidden step, but these did not intend to wait for them. They planned on freeing the princess before she was of the age a royal marriage could be forced upon her. He smiled and helped build more fires, as landspeople brought wagon loads of wood to aid in making the brigands who had taken their land with cannon and pistol begin to fear.
Cor suddenly realized Rain was gone. He discovered it about the same time Kotodo and Quickstar did. They were looking for Davat. Cor caught sleeves and grinned. Quickstar smiled. He'd heard as well. He explained to Kotodo.
"There's a legend of a haunting. The ones who haunt are not evil, but dislike strangers whose trod is not careful. Those cannons are on the ridge called the piper's barrow. The flute sounds most strange, does it not? And I heard echoing laughter. I think the 'haunts' plan mischief. Davat told me the story. Perhaps he told another as well."
Rain chose another leaf to lay across the mouth of her flute and played another snatch of discordant non-melody, then slipped toward another outcrop of rock. She smiled when she heard a dry cackle to her left. Davat hadn't sounded the same twice, nor had the laughter come from near the same place any of the five times. She wrapped a perket leaf around the end of her flute to deepen its tone and was pleased it succeeded so well. She headed for another place. Those near the cannon seemed to be getting restless.
Verac Coren remembered a boy named Halladin and called prince. He slipped out of white, into mud and moved silently through tall grass. He met up with Rain. She grinned and took the five lengths of lint he'd rolled into yarn and told him he'd have to remind Mist not to follow when he was being sneaky.
He laid in the grass and giggled while Mist snuffled his hair. At least his 'cousin' had thought the idea had merit. When he climbed from the stream unmuddied, Mist 'handed' him his shirt. He explained he was supposed to be taking care of her as she nudged him toward a fire to get warm.
Davat and Rain settled by the fire shortly afterward and both were grinning. Cor gave each a bowl of the first stew he'd ever made, with a bit of assistance from Quickstar, and waited. There hadn't been any explosion of powder. Rain reached in her pouch and pulled out a leaf. She showed it to him, without letting him touch it, and he examined it carefully. She pulled her knife, scored its stem and had him sniff. He drew back fast, his eyes tearing. She searched around her and found a clump of dry sourgrass. She knocked the dirt from its roots and pushed the scored leaf into the hairy root cluster. He suddenly realized it was beginning to smoke.
"Sourgrass is common. Hotleaf is not and the sap will actually leave blisters if touched to the skin. I dip the hotleaf in trickett oil to seal the sap within and give it fuel to burn. It will last long enough to dry out a damp clump of sourgrass and begin it burning, but is not a quick way to start a fire."
Rain smiled widely when there was an explosion behind the far ridge.
"However, it is most useful at times."
It took them seven days to take the brigand force and free the princess. She wept quietly in her chamber with only Rain for company and told her of the not yet seven year old brother who had driven a dagger into the heart of the cousin who had poisoned the king and, she believed, her mother when she'd needed medication after her brother was born, then foully taken and sullied the throne. Rain held her while she cried for her sweet brother who had pledged to avenge his father when he was not yet six and sworn to free his people from the one who had offered wealth and power to those who'd aid him in forcing people to make the banned weapons. She promised her the boy would learn to laugh and play as a child. Both knew he could not learn to be one.
Rain's 'cousin' helped the princess choose a husband from among five noble boys who had been cast injured and untended into a pit when cannon had breached the walls of their proud home. A tiny valley kingdom had died with the taking of their home and murder of their father. Warriors from seventeen kingdoms set their marks upon the contract of joining. The young king and queen were both of twelve years. The marks of seventeen were in lieu of regency, for they were the eldest survivors of two royal houses.
The young, and bandaged, king and queen of Laidoncarad formally drew up a writ of support and gave it to Davat. He knelt and gave them the thanks of his people, his tears more eloquent than any speech. The kingdom of Taralas could be legally claimed by no king except one of the true royal lineage of Taralas. The writ held no great weight, but it set word to paper that one king and queen accepted Taralas as kingdom without king and refuted the claims of four who stated it could not be such.
Rain, Quickstar, Kotodo and Rain's young cousin rode seventeen days northwest with Davat, to the empty castle of Taralas. Davat laid the writ upon the shattered throne, sighed deeply and left. Quickstar and Kotodo shared a bit more ale with him than usual that night when they camped not far from the castle. As they rode across Taralas to catch the southeast road a day later, a rider raced to intercept them. His eyes were wide in awe as he told what had been found. He spoke so rapidly Quickstar translated for the three who couldn't follow.
"This morning the great doors stood open. Inside the writ was found unrolled and framed in fine worked gold. It hung from a thick gold chain of four links. Through the top link was a shard of the throne. Through the second was tied a ribbon of a color unknown, a green as deep as trenleaf, from it hung the bent crown. One perfect ruby, shaped as a drop of blood... Speak again."
"Fine not bag if chain thin gold from. Set from filigree not."
"It was not set, but caught in a fine net of gold, I think, and hung from the crown."
Cor eyed his cousin thoughtfully. He wondered how she'd swung the doors open after they'd gone. It was the only thing he wondered about. He knew exactly how much lighter one pouch had been when he'd lifted it from Mist the evening before and he'd figured out that his 'practice' setting up the tent on the eleven nights preceding had a purpose the first night. He vowed again to always be worthy of the trust of she who had named him cousin and True Heart.
Rain parted company with those she'd come to call true friend at the splitting of the way in Morfentown. She and her young cousin took a room at the inn of the White Bird and the three journeyed on toward the east and Wrafensoar, where all still had tasks that had been put aside when word of the breaking of the ban had come. Quickstar carried a letter and all three had sighed its thickness told them they were always going to be cast in the role of friends.
The morning after they'd gone, Rain and Cor went to market and she saw there were horses from Frale on Corvell for sale. She was pleased. She didn't feel 'called' to go to where they were actually bred. She put an arm around her cousin's shoulders and decided what she would do next.
"Cor, Mist is becoming heavy with foal. I think we shall winter here. We'll seek a smithy and you'll begin to learn the way of fire and steel. It begins with a hand on the bellows and there is much knowledge to be gained before one needs the strength to wield a hammer."
"Rain, you plan to send me from you in early spring, don't you?"
"Not send you from me, Cousin, entrust to you letters and horses to be taken to our uncle and my promised in Shervail. It'll be a half year since they've had word of me by then and I've found only the beginning of my journey."
"The prince of Taralas was named Andu Lotata. I think it means fuel of the flame of the spirit. Your name means about the same, but... more as nourishment?"
"Very good. What was the prince once named?"
"Halladin, Halladin Ortevin."
"I have no idea what that means."
"It doesn't mean anything. Well, it's so corrupted in pronunciation only a few even attempted to define it. His nurse once whispered it was not seemly to call a child the bloody blade of judgment. The maid whispered back it was the hand on the guarding blade and the spirit behind them which the name implied. The seneschal said it implied he was the second child and first son of the king and queen period. So he was named Halladin Ortevin at the turning of his fifth year. His father died four days after his naming."
"There was a girl called Sonnet. She was lanky and yellow haired, and she lived with her father. When he died, she was driven from the village, but those who thought to take his wealth found he'd planned well and, though the fields were good, they were wild grown and there wasn't even seed for planting them. Cor, I could have called you child or brother, but chose cousin and named you such. If you find one you love and a name so worthy you would choose it, nothing shall deter you, but I would name you for no man, not even my promised. A young prince fulfilled the double prophecy of his name. You've earned yours."
"Perhaps you have found two ends of the same yarn, but there are forty years of loop to trace before you know?"
"Exactly, though I have near twenty coiled in memory of gentle word and strong sheltering arms."
Rain found a smithy that needed a good smith. The man hadn't been searching for one, but he was delighted to find one to work in it to allow him to aid his wife with two small children and newborn twins instead of hiring someone to do it. Rain taught Cor and they looked for horses, primarily colts and a few fillies that were at least partly of the big western breed. Mist's foal was white and another colt. When it had been weaned and could travel with the small herd with Cor watching over it, she began to search for someone to watch over him. A young couple going to Wrafensoar for their bridal journey, along with a large caravan bearing fine leather from his father's tannery, were delighted to be the ones she chose.
She wrote letters to her friends in Wrafensoar and many more to Koled and Lowan. She gave them to Cor and he carefully wrapped them in oiled cloth and placed them in the pack of the horse she had given him as his own. She knew he would be fine when he teased it was a good thing Blacktail was a big mare or she wouldn't have been able to carry both him and the weight of all that paper. She teased that he'd grown so much since she'd got the pretty gray mare with black mane and tail that he was the extra weight she had to bear.
It pleased him and their last shared moment was laughter when he flexed muscles gained from hard work on the bellows and good food to fuel its growth. As she watched him ride east with the caravan, her eyes filled with tears she didn't try to blame on the bright sun making his dark brown curly hair shine coppery red.
He'd begun to remind her of her father, red-brown hair to hazel eyes, quick humor and a 'touch' with horses. She thought he was going to be as tall and lean, but he might be even larger. He didn't have to battle a wound taken before he was near grown for his strength, and every breath. Few would realize he was not the age he looked until his height said man, but his lack of beard argued it.
Rain began to prepare to ride south. She was following a legend and carrying her own. The time would come when the two joined to become one. She'd learned that unification was what she sought.
Sharon L Reddy,
usually known as Spinner
invites you to visit her website
A Talespinner's Web
Spinner has 21 science fiction
and fantasy books published.
Her books are all available
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