Ch: 230 Character Is What You Are In The Dark
Carlos got swept up by Ivy and debriefed on their journey so far. She smiled with predatory glee at the freight charges they’d racked up in their ledger. “You guys cleaned up… You even got a passenger under ducal summons… That’s a guaranteed payday if you get her there on time.”
Jerry relaxed with a small beer while Carlos and Ivy did whatever they did with ledgers and invoices. He was more than happy to ride alongside his young friend and stab any unpleasantness that fell within range of his lance. The good life indeed.
Liam settled in beside him with a silent nod of greeting, relaxing into the comfortable and easy silence of comrades for a while.
“Yer band really did all those things flying through the rumor mill… didn’t ye?” Jerry murmured, when he hit the bottom of his glass.
“Mostly.” Liam answered calmly. “We’ve been busy for a while. This was supposed to be a holiday for us.” He looked out the wide front windows, over the rain spattered dock and waterway. Moonrise and Winter’s End tugged gently at their mooring lines, as the wind sang a low drone in their rigging. “We need a break from our vacation.”
“It doesn’t get any easier, lad. If anything, success breeds higher expectations and greater demands.” Jerry murmured. “Ye should manage yer master’s expectations early on, lest ye be fed into the mill. More than one team has come in hot, an been sent off tae their ends, chasing greater renown.”
“Wise advice, brother Jerry. Sadly, not advice we can take, we have too much work to do yet.” The young warrior spoke softly, pitching his voice low. “Now tell me about your mysterious passenger.”
“Just a master Oddsman answering a ducal summons… we took the fare because she was headed to Wheatford and said she wouldn’t mind sleeping in the wagon bed.” He shrugged. “We didn’t pry, she kept mostly to herself. The rain swept in so we stopped at a local inn… now you know as much as I.”
“She didn’t ask about us or steer you this way?” Liam pressed the older warrior gently. “We had trouble with an Oddsman… things got complicated.”
“You murdered an Oddsman? Gods lad…” Jerry murmured in hushed, horrified tones.
“What? No! He suffered a curse and became a thousand giant spiders, scattered through the woods around Wheatford.” Liam said urgently, with a straight face. “I know that really doesn’t help, but it’s the truth.”
“So all those giant spiders in the woods?” Jerry trailed off when Liam shook his head.
“They are a tribe of sentient spider folks… Lester no longer has a sentient mind, he’s just plain spiders now. Yes, I know, it’s a lot.” Liam smiled wanly and nodded. “You’ve seen some things, soon you’ll start to notice more and more. The fae are waking up all around the duchy… and beyond. You can draw some conclusions for yourself.”
Jerry glanced over and saw Carlos was getting the same treatment… only from Ivy instead. ‘Poor kid…’ He thought, remembering his own negotiations with her.
A few minutes later a strange woman came prancing out with the children, having a wonderful time. The interrogation started winding down at that point.
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Water Lotus docked in Port Clement on a fine spring afternoon, just long enough for duke Rummel and his squire to disembark. They hopped onto the dock in common clothes and ambled into the bustling market with casual waves to their new friends from the duchy of Shiraz and slipped away in the crowd.
“This still feels deliciously naughty…” Julius murmured to Kermal amid the bustling throng.
“Savor that feeling, your grace… it fades all too quickly.” Kermal sighed quietly, gazing around with world weary eyes.
“I think I see what you mean, my friend.” They paused while a group of young women danced by, with bells strung on their ankles, wrists and hips. “Now suddenly I’m homesick for Shai’s inn.” Julius shook his head sadly.
“When Barney finishes his charter run, he can sling you over for a visit… Your grace will have to find another traveling companion though, I want to live to a ripe old age.” The young squire said with a grin. “I’ve never been so terrified for so long before.”
“Perhaps we will go monster hunting in our newly expanded fringe… or contest with the dead in the swamps… that literal and figurative quagmire continues. I’m afraid Amicus Fawn has not lived up to his reputation so far…” Duke Rummel reappeared briefly as the young lord contemplated the mess to his south on his border with Shiraz. He wore a serious mein and a thoughtful frown for a few minutes. “Yes, I think we will go check on that mess. A pity, we barely got back and now we’re going out again.” He said with his familiar boyish grin.
“That couldn’t have anything to do with the huge pile of paperwork, lord Phillip no doubt has ready and waiting for you…” Young squire Singh said softly.
“It’s best Phillip handles all that, I might get a paper cut… Far safer if we contest with the walking dead and frightful shades in an alligator infested swamp.” The duke said, with utter confidence.
“So you would rather muck about in a bog filled with the reeking, restless dead, than address your backlog of papers?” Kermal asked in horror. “What have I signed up for?”
“Did you think squiring for a duke would be all garden parties and hotsprings filled with pretty girls?” Jules clapped his friend on the shoulder and laughed long and loud.
“Yes, yes I did.” Kermal grumbled.
“Well you picked the wrong duke… let’s go to the palace and get things in motion.” He said cheerily.
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“We still don’t have an answer to how nearly two hundred goblins, a like number of Redcaps, three ogres and a troll managed to get all the way into the heart of my duchy unnoticed…” Duke Belen snapped. “That question needs answering and I dislike the direction it is leading me.”
“Do you have actionable intelligence, or simply a suspicion, your grace?” Vera Anglin asked calmly.
“Less than either… but something tells me that Port Fallon and the barony of Fallon need additional supervision… And I fear we have too many abandoned holdings and farms, even here in the heart of Wheatford.” Leopold frowned and worried at a familiar problem, one with no easy answers.
“A map Vera. I need a map. Gods above and below, why do I not have a map of my bloody duchy?” He fumed and paced, furious with everything and himself. “It struck me the other day, while I was bathing… Gods damn that boy and his baths too! A bloody map of my fucking domain… talk to your officers, have them poll the warriors… someone must have a gift or something for maps…”
“Nothing springs to mind, your grace…” Vera answered sourly. “Map making is an art I know nothing of… Though I think I read something in one of those strange new books. Something to do with counting lengths of chain and using a compass… I will search out the relevant passages in ‘Kim’ by Rudyard Kipling… my duke.” She still looked very dubious about the whole idea.
The duke hung his head and sighed. “I might have to ask that fool boy… but I’m not sure I can handle any more musical numbers and madness.”
“Heavy as a mountain, lad.” Old Anglin, head priest of War grumbled in his hoarse voice. “Poor Leo, has to prance and strut to the madman’s tune… You’ve forgotten how to take orders with good grace, now you’ve taken to giving them!” That was the most anyone had heard him say at a stretch in years.
“Yes… I am in a position to give orders…” Leo said with a dangerous glint in his eye. “Put out the call for free lancers and start offering retention bonuses to the troops mustering out. Wheatford is hiring for war… We have lands and titles for those who distinguish themselves.” The duke grinned evilly at his old mentor.
“You can’t invest me with a title boy, you know this.” The old warrior said with a scarred and disturbing grin.
“Yes… but my dear Vera’s husband is not a cleric… Sir Leonard Alvarez of Order is certainly the kind of gentleman I would like to be the new earl of… He can decide a name, there are no surviving records beyond a general location.”
Leo’s grin of satisfaction wilted a little as the old man simply grunted. “Bout time. Too much empty land. We’ve been defending abandoned farms and untraveled woodlands for too many years.”
“Where am I to find people to develop these lands?” Vera demanded harshly. “Or shall I build a little cabin and homestead with Leonard, it may take a while for just the two of us to people an entire village.”
“Silly Vera. He wants you and your husband to head to Port Fallon and empty out those detestable slums.” Anglin the elder grumbled happily. “As duke he cannot interfere, but the new earl of… Leonardshire?” He shook his head in distaste.
“Whatever, we’ll workshop a name. In any case a new minted earl can certainly go shopping for loose citizens.”
“You have a very devious mind, old man.” Leopold said happily. “On a related note, master smith Harlan has an… invention? It’s a portable sawmill, the damn thing sits on two heavy wagons. He demonstrated it on a little plot up in the hills… An hour after he found a suitable stream, it was cutting green lumber, pretty as you please. The wagons it came on serve as log haulers while it’s deployed…”
Vera stared blankly at him for a while, so he prodded her a little. “That would be very handy for a newly minted earl who’s planning to reclaim some wilderness. He mentioned leasing it to you when I spoke of this plot with him.”
“What know I of building a town or landlording farmers?” She sputtered in frustration.
“Do you think I am out supervising the culling of the fruit trees right now? Should I go help Ben Jassen plow for his spring planting?” Duke Belen scoffed at his warleader. “Find people that know what they are doing and let them do it. I’m not giving you a title, I’m ‘investing’ you with it, something we have not been doing nearly enough… investing in our people and lands.”
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
I’ve had enough of waiting for the conservative faction to decide it’s time to invest these titles I’ve been holding. Now I’m just doing it.” He slapped his knees and stood up with a smile. “My deliciously plump wife is cooking dinner for the family tonight… She’s awful at it, but every time she gets to this point in her pregnancy…” He sighed like a man going to his own execution for a noble cause.
“Shepherd’s pie is the rumor in the palace kitchens. Weep for me, friends.”
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“Read ‘em and weep, boys.” Ivy said with a wicked grin. She laid a spread of cards on the table and swept up her small pile of iron bits. “Tallum, another pitcher please lover.” She shoved a good fistful of her new horde over to the edge of the table and smiled at her opponents.
“Drink up… tomorrow is promised to be fine traveling weather.”
The crew of Winter’s End grumbled good naturedly, enjoying a break from their labors. They’d been spanking their sails up and down the shallow sea non stop for twelve weeks running, trying to keep up with shipping demands.
The whole network was in a mess, since a couple freak storms, a ducal wedding, thousands of refugees and a sudden shift in the fringe had toppled a well established routine. That was after the damned ‘War of the Candymen’, as the riverfolk were calling it.
Bargemen and merchants with long held contracts for Chocolatiers' guild business found themselves holding nothing. Likewise, investment in that guild had come to naught, upending many trading schemes and barter networks. It would be months or perhaps years before trade stabilized…
Playing cards for drinks was a fine way to spend a rainy afternoon. The sailors told mildly ribald tales and were shameless flirts, except when the children were around, none would risk Shai’s ire there.
They kept things polite when the kids went thundering through, on the way to the stables to visit Rolf. He was exhausted and looked it, with red rimmed eyes, cracked peeling lips and a listless gait when he walked. “I know, kids, I look rough… but Annie and the other horses are taking good care of me.” He murmured quietly. “These are just the after effects of changing a Contract… Please, go play with the horsies and let me rest.” He moaned softly.
The young knight was bedded down in a stall, holding a comfy bed with a window and a washbasin. He had to share the horsies privy, which was basically a patch of soil in a curtained stall. Anything ‘deposited’ on that soil vanished in seconds, consumed by rapid spreading fungal growths. It was disturbing to watch, so he didn’t.
“Liam did send ye this tea, he says it might aid thee.” Shai said softly. She placed the teapot and a mug on a bedside table near him and left. “I hae a good feeling about tonight, lad.”
“Where’s Gary at… I’d like to talk to him.” Rolf moaned.
“I’ll send him tae see thee… best ye lie still an bask in yer new herd’s company.” Shai slipped away, while the kids and Becky took the horses and ponies for some exercise, while the weather was good.
An hour later, Gary slipped into the stable; looking worn and tired himself. “Hey buddy.” He murmured, as he set out more tea and a plate of something that smelled divine. “Ducky and Thirp say that unContracting your Animus has kinda scrubbed your aura raw, that’s why the common room feels like standing naked in a spiritual sandstorm.” He served up a small pastry, cut in half. The dark brown filling smelt of apples, oats, cinnamon and ginger in all the best ways.
“Being around too many people is messing with you… Horsies are much less disruptive, aura wise.” He said very gently.
“Thank you, but that was not what I wanted to talk to you about…” The young knight rolled over with a pained grunt, in his attempt to sit up. Gary reached out to help and was shooed away. “Gods no… being in the same room with you is super difficult, if you touch me I might… I don’t know what.”
“I get it bro…” He sighed sadly. “What did you need then?”
“It’s Angie… I’m worried that…” He looked deeply embarrassed and awkward for a moment and sighed. “I’ve never… been with a woman before… My faith does not forbid… carnal passion, but the code of knighthood stresses chastity and moral rectitude…”
“Hh huh…” Gary nodded and poured more tea with a deliberate effort to hide his grin. “And you came to me for advice… I’m flattered! Sure, I can give you some pointers, but maybe someone more experienced might be…”
“Gods… no… Rather die alone!” Rolf sputtered and stammered quickly. “No, I spoke to Tawny, of course… As an adherent of Dana, all matters of human health and physiology are her domain!” He shook his head and chuckled darkly.
“I spoke with her at length, in consultation with Ivy and Shai.” He nodded sagely and smiled at Gary, who was now having far less fun than a few minutes ago.
“Uh huh? So why did you need me?” He asked, a little annoyance filtering into his tone.
“This pie is extraordinary… molasses and apple?” He took another bite and sighed. “I asked and the answer I got was that you should teach me ‘Misirlou’ on the recorder.”
“Women… inscrutable beings.” Gary said calmly. “We’ll work on that together, when your aura is less… raw. Whatever you do, don’t let any of the dryads introduce you to Fig… you aren’t ready for her.”
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Shai pounced on her man when he exited the stable and dragged him into the house for an early dinner and early bedtime. “Ye look like six miles of bad road lad. Sleep, rest, we will sail on the morrow regardless; Nicolai must get home tae Bounty.”
She kissed and tucked him in securely, with a hefty dose of that familiar white pollen. “Ye must sleep wi nae dreams, lad of mine.” That was all he remembered, as he fell down a well into warm and comfy darkness.
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Moonrise got underway at second bell, slipping from the dock not long after the last guest departed. Jerry, Carlos and their passengers trundled away up the River Road on their journey, while the riverboat plunged downstream under Shai’s steady guidance. Gary swayed in the hammock chair nearby, strumming idly on his banjo. Most of the rest were below decks, even Annie was in her stable berth amidships. She really liked the belly hammock Gary had installed, for napping under sail.
“Alone time? That never happens by accident, love.” He murmured quietly, still playing along with the wind in the rigging.
“Ye were in a fog all morning, I could hae dressed thee in Amy’s clothes and set thee afloat in yer canvas boat fer all ye knew.” She sighed and swung into the hammock with her boy, steering with one hand on the big wheel in the gentle swells of the estuary. “Still feelin’... whatever it be?”
“I had to kinda… I needed to put enough of myself in that gauntlet to get the snake to bite, literally. So a good chunk of me is fighting with a chunk of me that I cast out.” He grumbled.
“I should have broken that club down and tossed the parts in the pool weeks ago… Now I’m paying the price.” His instrument disappeared, while the last few notes were still drifting across the wide, open water.
“So ye will be whole soon?” She prodded gently.
“I’m whole now, love… I’m just in a slump. I need a little time and a bit of rest, then I’ll find my mojo again… I think a little time abroad will help.” He leaned against her and relaxed, savoring the smell of her hair in the wind. “A little peace and quiet is all I really need.”
The sound of tiny footfalls on the ladder said the kids were coming up, so Gary abandoned the hammock for a seat among the cushions by the rail. He sank into a big beanbag chair and sighed happily as the kids piled in around him. Becky hopped into the hammock with Shai, putting everything in its proper place at last. Shai aimed the bowspirit at the open water of the shallow sea, as Port Fallon eased away behind them.
“Three days ere we meet Esperanza in Port Sunderland, Ye will hae much time tae rest… once some few duties be discharged.” Shai murmured happily.
“What have I got on the agenda?” Her boy looked more perky already, eyes a little brighter and a smile on his lips.
“Ye must hae the sewing of some clothes, fer Ester…” Shai smiled blandly, hoping to slip that one by, while he was feeling mellow and buried in his children.
‘Wait, a what?” He sputtered just a few heartbeats later.
“Ester nae kin manifest wholly, until her Contract wi Rolf be… consummated…” Shai muttered softly, with a significant glance at the sleepy children.
“The worry of… such things does make his acceptance an integration intae ‘Pona’s herd more difficult. An she kin walk among us in human form, he shall feel less constrained an pressured.”
“So she won’t appear as his bonded mount until he and Angie…” He sniggered and tried to remain still, he failed hard and got a mumbled complaint from Rio for his pains.
“So Rolf can’t mount Ester, until he mounts…” Shai gave him a look that said ‘Best not finish that thought where me bairns kin hear, ye wretched and vile beastie.’ She really packed a lot in there.
“Yes.” Her answer was final and would allow no further discussion, beyond winks and naughty smirks. She let those slide.
“I’ll help any way I can… you know that, but she hates my guts and everything around them.” He sighed sadly.
“She’ll come around.” Amy said solemnly, before snuggling back down for a nap.
“Get her measurements, I’ll start when I’m allowed to get up.” He mumbled. “She better not use her favorite word around my kids.”
“We hae already discussed her treatment of thee, she does promise to try. As fer measures, she be of a size wi Becky.” Shai said softly.
“So she can just wear some of Becky’s things…” Gary began.
“Nae, she must hae all vegetable fibers, nae animal products nor parts. All the dyes an pigments must be purely vegetable as well…” Shai’s smile faltered. “She be intractable on this.”
“A vegan unicorn… of course she is. Hemp fiber clothing and vegetable dyes it is. I have a lot of tanned vegetable leather from that giant trapjaw… the colors are wild.”
Gary had that familiar grin on his face and was tapping and thumping his chest, drumming softly as he wriggled out from among the sleepy kids.
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A long low white yacht slid into the busy little cove just inside the border of duke Rummel’s domain, a scant two miles from the border with Shiraz. She anchored near the rough and ready pier of bamboo and crude wooden planks, since the thing would no doubt collapse if brushed by the large vessel. Instead, they sent a small boat over to the rickety dock.
A well dressed, very handsome man with swarthy features leapt to the rough planks and stooped to aid a slim, beautiful woman to disembark. He sported fine clothes in the common style and an immaculate hairstyle that swept up just a little, compensating for his slightly below average height. She was dressed for simple and comfortable elegance, her long flowing summer dress of pale yellow cotton drew almost as many eyes as the long white ship did.
Old Lubu bustled up to the dock with a concerned frown on his wizened face. “This is an active Adventure guild operation sirrah, We must ask that you carry on…” Amicus Fawn interrupted the old warrior’s speech, when he hopped out of the boat with a wide grin on his dark, shining face.
“Journeyman Lubu! Hello!” The scrawny wizard called happily. “Their sublime graces, duke Abed and duchess Jaspreet Mubarak of Shiraz, have come to see what we are dealing with… since this threat meanaces Shiraz as well.”
He made an elegant bow to the two nobles and the wizard, moving gracefully, even in his battered campaign armor. “Does that mean we can expect some relief soon? My kids are worn out and our veterans aren’t doing much better.” The man’s face was creased with exhaustion, but his eyes were still bright, as he surveyed the lord and lady on his dock.
“Shiraz will do its duty, Adventurer Lubu. First, we have some supplies in our hold, you might appreciate a small cargo of fresh vegetables and some sundries. Fresh uniforms and bedding perhaps?”
He smiled charmingly at the old warrior, with the kind of easy and casual openness that nobles did not usually display to common soldiers.
Common soldiers know well how fickle the winds of noble generosity can be, so a detail formed very rapidly. The old man supervised a small swarm of very motivated young people in the unloading process, while Amicus took the young couple on a tour of the camp.
“The entities appear at random times, drawn to the motion and activity of the living here in camp. We send patrols out regularly to sweep them up, as a matter of hygiene.” Amicus said cheerily, while pointing out the various features of the camp. “Individually they are abysmally weak and even in groups, are little threat to a prepared and trained warrior… but they are literally, limitless in number.”
“You mentioned that these… things have little true form or substance…” Jaspreet whispered quietly.
“Yes, that is at once a great blessing and a distressing reality of these things. Once fully disrupted, they dissipate into a light dusting of soil and a bit of stray magic. Very disturbing to watch, I can assure you.” The wizard grinned again and led them on.
“Those factors are what have allowed us to contain this mess so neatly. Were this mysterious formation of bottled souls completed…” He shuddered in the warm morning sun.
“The vast numbers of these things, despite their utter weakness, have taxed my kids to their limits. Everything is cultivation, but they need rest.” He gestured to the team of youngsters cleaning out and refueling the huge stone oven in the center of the camp.
“Cooking, cleaning, laundry… life goes on, while we must remain constantly vigilant. It wears the body and mind down.”
“Shiraz will answer, Amicus.” Jaspreet said softly, still watching the children at their work. “Won’t we, Abed?”
“Expect additional aid within the week, lord Fawn. I’ll send a team of veterans and a contingent of my older orphans…”
Amicus held up a slim, brown hand to halt the duke. “Only orphans with at least one Contract may serve here, your grace… unContracted children cannot use the tools and weapons needed to lay these things.” He smiled awkwardly and gestured to the small team re-entering the camp’s low palisade from the marsh side gate.
Ten young warriors in light leather training armor marched in with a veteran at the head and tail of the column. Each teen held a light, child sized practice bow and a short cudgel dangled from each belt.
Their supervisors were fully kitted out in the armor of War cultists, with octagonal iron badges indicating a private mercenary band on their breastplates.
As one team marched in, another went out, ten more youths and two veterans, these in the hodgepodge armor of free Adventurers. The kids handed their weapons over to the outgoing team and collapsed onto the wide greensward as soon as they finished handing off their tools.
“All of these orphans have a Contract?” Duke Abed mumbled in surprise.
“Most are two or even three Contracts along… The strain of combat is slowing their development, I think.” The wizard said glibly.
“Spontaneous Contracts… here too?” Jaspreet mumbled in amazement. “Is it spreading? This strange phenomenon of Contract… whatever it is?”
“Oh yes, duchess… it’s spreading slowly but surely.” The old man cackled with nearly deranged glee. “We shall very soon see vast changes, your grace. Across all the duchies… and perhaps beyond.”
He sighed up at the sky fondly, as though gazing on a favored grandchild, somewhere in the vastness above. “That an old man should live long enough to see a prank of such scope and breathtaking stupidity…” He looked back at the two confused nobles and smiled merrily.
“You have a journey to complete and vast societal upheaval to prepare for…”
The dock planks were once more beneath their feet, as Amicus sketched a bow and vanished away into the camp. “Apologies, Your graces…” Lubu muttered, aghast at the wizard’s sudden and highly inappropriate departure. “Lord Amicus is…”
“Lord Amicus has a reputation, journeyman Lubu.” Jaspreet answered happily. “Mubsie and I are trying to live a life less formal and constrained… aren’t we, my dear?”
“Whatever you say, my love.” Duke Mubarak smiled like a man who just found gold, while digging a privy. He pulled a small leather case out of his jacket and handed it to the old man.
“A friend asked me to bring you that…” He paused and shrugged, as though startled for a moment by his own words. “Yes, a friend I suppose. How odd. In any case, Gary wishes you a safe Adventure and said this might help you.” With that, the strange nobles clambered back on their little boat and rejoined the ship.
Lubu watched them go, with the case in his hand, wondering aloud. “Huh… they really are people, I guess.”
He opened the little case and pulled out a beautiful bamboo flute, in four parts. Mounted with bronze fittings and a splendid inlay of some iridescent rainbow material, it glittered and sparkled in the sunshine once assembled.
“Moontouched… but he makes a fine flute…” The old man mumbled, before sweet music began drifting over his camp.
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