Ch: 65 Spun Sugar and Children’s Dreams
Out in the wreckage and churned soil of the former village, the Bathers were fanning out searching for… anything that wasn’t loose rubble.
“Once they sift out all the stones and household goods, this will be a very fine plot of land.” Liam said happily while raking the loose soil. “Those tentacle creatures digested everything and turned the soil over and over. Tools here, found the smithy!” Liam shouted from the north edge, near the pastures. He planted a flag there and hung a pair of tongs from a loop on the pole.
Tallum had a pair of dowsing rods in his fists, slowly zeroing in on his target. “Found the strongbox. Now we need an officer to dig it up.” He glanced at Herlick and grinned. “Unless you want to hire an outside contractor.”
Shai was leaning on her shovel nearby, looking hopeful.
“His Grace instructed me to retrieve the mayor’s strongbox personally.” She mourned. “I have to dig for it if there is digging to be done. Can I borrow a shovel at least?”
“I like thee, so ye kin use mine own shovel. Beware, tis a mighty work of craft. Dinnae cut yer strongbox in twain.” She warned, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Herlick chuckled wryly and took the tool. “I will try and control myself… magic shovel indeed…” She muttered as she began to dig.
Tallum and Shai scampered out of range of the flying clods of muddy soil. The burly warrior rapidly vanished in her growing pit. The occasional metal, clay or stone item would fly out: a fireplace poker and brush, sans bristles since they had been consumed, spoons and plates, even an intact tea pot decorated with tiny daisies.
Shai gathered the items and set them by a stone for the villagers when they returned.
Tallum went back to dowsing, searching for magical emanations, now that the tax box was off his list. He was a few dozen yards off, tracking a faint something to the north north west when a loud clang and shouted; “Fuck!” sounded from the hole.
“I need a box… or a sack… something!” Herlick bellowed. “What fool makes a strongbox out of spun sugar and children’s dreams?”
Shai dropped a jute sack down the hole with a laugh. “I did warn ye, that man of mine kinnae help himself when I dance before him.” She purred, inexplicably. “Come, let me help thee… I would rejoin my man in the bath.”
“Drop me a rope instead, or better yet flag down a horse to haul me out. This mud is slippery and I’m deep down.” She yelled from her pit. “What madman enchants a shovel like that? A bloody menace.”
“Ye kin ask that after what ye hae seen? My madman did forge that shovel. An I warn ye of enchanted tools, mark me well.”
A small group of mounted troopers rode in from the edge of town when she waved them down.
The war cultists had a loud discussion of the best method for removing a knight from a hole, while she sulked and counted muddy coins in her grave.
“...block and tackle?...” drifted down to the bottom of the hole.
“… crane? Or maybe she can dig a trench to a low point…”
“Fill it with water and float her out?” Some helpful wag suggested.
Finally the trooper’s overheard snippets of conversation seemed to be coming to a conclusion.
“Here comes an engineer. Just a moment…” Their grinning leader told Shai very loudly, while one of his men pantomimed someone stomping up in the muddy field.
“Come to build that outhouse… I see you have the cistern dug… good work!” One of the troopers shouted, muffling his voice to amusing effect.
“Gods damn you japing fools, get me out of this hole before I start taking names and considering assignments. I’m officer of the day this coming firstday…” That wrapped up the fun and games.
A loop of rope sailed down and two horses teamed up to haul the burly knight up.
First up came the shattered strongbox, wrapped in Shai’s empty cacao sack. Then the soggy woman herself, spitting and sputtering loose soil from her journey.
“I’m going to your inn for a bath. Gods damned Adventure loons… I was assigned one madman, now it’s a whole crew of lackwits.” She fumed. “You clowns, form up!” She barked at her red armored comrades.
Five red armored troopers snapped to attention with a quiet clatter of arms and armor. “Squad leader Muhammed Amir. Second squad, third platoon. Awaiting orders sir Herlick.”
“You drew the duty. Enjoy guarding this broken chest while I bathe, prepare my report and deliver it.” She said with a sour grin. She handed Shai the shovel as though it were a live serpent and strode off without another word.
“Sorry lads, I shall see to yer comfort while she regains her humor. Come along, tae my inn wi ye.” Shai whispered as the warriors gathered themselves and settled the muddy strongbox across a saddle.
“Knight Herlick is tough but fair, I suspect her attitude will improve once the mud is out of her armor.” The leader said quietly. “We will happily impose on you journeyman Shai, none of us have had a hot bath in a week.”
“Aye, there be room fer yer whole squad. Come on, ye shall enjoy that man of mine. He hae been refining his armor racks. They clean yer underthings while ye bathe.”
A soft murmur of enthusiasm swept across the small group as they marched afoot, a few yards behind the red armored knight steaming towards the inn, glowing softly beside the giant shell.
“Gods above and below…’ Muhammed said softly, once settled in the garden with his muddy, jute wrapped assignment. He gazed up at the pearlescent shell looming over the pools. “I’m not sure I will feel comfortable bathing in the shadow of a monster…”
“We don’t use the ‘M’ word about people in this house.” Amy scolded him firmly. Her tiny wooden sword and play adventure badge on display. The tiny armored girl put her hands on her hips and frowned.
“Lilith is a people, we say outsider or otherling.” The armored child set a tray of teacups and cookies down with just a bit of a rattle.
“Amy and Wilford are sticklers for manners, brothers and sisters. Best we mind them.” Becky said with a wink as she poured the tea. “Knight Herlick already sent my brother for a relief squad for you. We will test your bathing convictions shortly.” The fragrance of mint tea soothed them and made guarding a chest in the cold and wet far more tolerable.
“Your horsies seem to hold no reservations on that score.” She added, while offering sugar and cream to the muddy and exhausted warriors.
In the big pool, their five mounts and two reserves were frisking and rolling about in the shallows, while a naked toddler supervised with subdued delight.
“Out of uniform on duty again, Adventurer Wilford?” Bannock scolded, as they marched into the garden, helmet tucked under their arm casually. “Report for storytime at fifth bell by the fireplace, Amy you too. As punishment you both have to listen to the story of Cuhullin, Wheatford’s greatest warrior…”
“I have to take responsibility sir Bannock, so I’ll be there too. I’m their non commissioned officer.” Becky said sadly while smiling at the tall knight. “You gotta do funny voices… they won’t sit still otherwise.”
“You are a little old for storytime Adventurer Becky.” Amber smirked at her, as she assisted with the knight’s armor.
“House rules, Amy and Wilford stay with society members only. Your lordship is not family.” She said firmly. “Don’t take it personally please, but please respect our rule. Things get… unpleasant if you break the rules in this house.”
#
“Lilith has decided she is female for the duration of her stay on this plane. Any clues to who summoned her or what’s keeping her here?” Gary was finally back on his feet after the day’s work, though still shaky and reluctant to leave the private pool.
“I found a faint trail of natural magic leading northwest from here, followed it for two miles, but the mud is rough going. Felt like life, earth and water magic, but I’m no mage.” Tallum groaned from his side of the pool. “Luna and Khan were riding up when I got back, maybe they know more.”
“We do indeed know more.” Luna said with a grin. “We found that trail, but it is an active thread, still feeding some working of magic. Now we will gather a team and follow it to its terminus, any volunteers?” She and Khan were spattered with mud but seemed eager.
“Let me check in with Shai, I’m game for a nighttime adventure.” Gary hopped out of the bath and conjured a robe with a twirl. “Let’s see if we can wrap this up before morning.”
#
Shai had been reluctant to let ‘her boy’ out ‘unattended’, only Tawny’s promise to accompany, with Liam broke her resolve.
“I will get him back whole Tawny, I hae plans fer mine entire boy.” She grumbled in the stable as Gary mounted Annie’s broad back. “Bring them all back tae me, Annie me love, ye are in command.” She said, while shoving a carrot into the huge brown beast.
“I wanted to be a traveling merchant, see the world like master Yost. Perhaps a sailor, like fair Esperanza…” Khan said with a wink at Luna.
“Instead I am a horse’s valet, will princess Annie need any further bribes or coddling before we carry out our mission?” Khan complained lightheartedly while mounting a sour tempered warhorse with a white blaze.
The animal frisked and twitched in irritation at the unfamiliar rider, until Annie swatted her tail across his sensitive nose. Pickle, Liam’s pinto whickered in amusement, receiving his own swat on the nose from Annie in turn.
Magnus, under Tawny, Winslow, carrying Luna and Vera Anglin, on Sergio rounded out the team as they trotted out into the bright moonlight.
“None of your tricks tonight Gary, I have to follow the trail.” Luna warned as their travel slowed to a walk. “Better we be out all night than injure a horse in haste.”
“I have tricks that are tricky, and tricks that are fun, sometimes my tricks are handy though. Maybe you will appreciate this one…” He pulled a flute as big as a small tree out of his sleeve with a wink and began a low, haunting tune.
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As he played, faint, shimmering lights rose from the soil and drifted up the wide game trail they were following.
They hung in the bushes and undergrowth, amorphous and difficult to look directly at, but they illuminated the trail nicely. “Fae lights… how charming!” Tawny sighed, riding close to Liam in the moonlight.
Liam’s guitar took up the aimless, wandering tune freeing up Gary’s noise hole for talking, much to Vera’s dismay. “The fae are all around us unseen, your steel weapons and armor frighten and repel them, but most are friendly, or at least neutral. Even the unseelie court will be polite if you extend them the courtesies their people demand.” He lectured, while playing his viola softly on horseback.
They rode on relatively quietly for an hour before the shimmering, opalescent lights vanished suddenly. “The trail gets stronger, I mislike this, let us go afoot from here. Annie, guard the others.” Luna whispered as she dismounted, her damaged eyesocket scanning the dark woods tirelessly.
Even Gary took on a serious mein as the small party slipped through the darkness, approaching a small shed in a clearing. It had no windows, just a single door secured with a simple iron lock. Rust streaks showed on the unpainted clapboards and beams.
“They really nailed the creepy shed in the woods vibe.” Gary whispered when they withdrew to plan. “I can handle that lock quietly, do we bust in fast and hard or try and contact whoever is in there? I vote for violence, this place makes me feel stabby.”
“Annie feels that same energy, but the law is the law.” Khan whispered back. “We announce ourselves and demand compliance, after that…” He shrugged. “However this plays out, we are answerable to the duke.”
“Is that why silent Vera is along? To make sure we play according to Hoyle?” Gary asked, winking at the woman who stood in silence.
Liam silenced him with a glare. “War is demanding her silence in your presence Gary, don’t make things more difficult. My apologies Lady Vera, my brother can be an ass.”
“I’m an ass that is going to shut down whatever is happening in that shed the hard way if you guys don’t start doing it your way. This aura is really pissing me off.” He growled in a very un-Gary way.
His sword shimmered into being in his hand, its naughty and suggestive appearance eliciting giggles from Tawny and Luna. “I’m going through that door in a few minutes one way or another Khan.”
With a sigh the older man marched to the edge of the small clearing, while the others fanned out around the structure silently.
“Attention, By decree of duke Belen of Wheatford, under charter from duke Holloman of Port Ellis, we demand entry to this structure for inspection.” He waited a long three count after his initial call before shouting again.
“We are Adventure guild warriors under lawful contract, resistance is unlawful!” After another long three count Khan shouted once more.
“Under the authority of the duke, we will enter now.” He shouted, and nodded at Gary.
Gary sprinted from the treeline, sliding to a halt at the door. He held the lock in his hand, and breathed ever so gently into the keyhole. It corroded silently into powdery rust and clods of red, lumpy crud.
He shoulder bashed the rickety door open and rolled inside, sword and buckler ready as Khan dashed in right behind with a short spear.
“Well that is weird…” Khan remarked mildly, while Gary gasped and gagged in horror.
“Tawny! I need you now! Liam!” Gary shouted when his mouth was clear. “Khan stop gawping like an idiot and pull those nails out! I can’t touch them without killing her.”
In the center, jutting up from the bare earthen floor stood a small maple tree, its limbs crudely hacked back to fit inside the small building. A large, pale golden stick insect was crucified by its many limbs to the slim trunk, held with iron staples.
The boy was kicking a thin ring of salt that surrounded the tree and dashing to and fro to break cryptic runes and markings on the inner walls of the shed with the bronze point of his sword. Tawny and Liam stepped into the crowded space and reacted with similar horror.
“Tawny get her outside as soon as Khan gets her free, Liam, look at her tree, see what can be done. Save those staples for me Khan, they are important, I just can’t touch them.”
Tawny cupped the gently struggling insect in her hands and rushed out into the late winter evening. “We are out Gary.” She called once outside.
Gary handed Liam an ax and produced a massive wooden maul for himself. “Chop that roof away, I’ll knock down the walls when you are ready.”
They rode away from the clearing, leaving little behind beyond a small pile of broken lumber and a maple tree that had seen far better days, standing in the moonlight. Slowly, the fae lights drifted back, flitting about the clearing tentatively, before coming to rest in the limbs of the wounded tree, as the party rode off with the insect wrapped in a cloak.
“How is she Tawny? Gary asked the frustrated healer as they rode back at a trot, eldritch lights illuminating their way.
“I heal humans Gary, well mostly. You might as well ask Annie.” She grumped sourly, over her gently struggling patient.
“Good point, how is she, Annie?” He asked his mount, scritching her ear.
“She is getting a little stronger, but we need to get her into the garden soon.” Gary reported back dutifully after a moment, while Tawny sighed again.
#
When they rode out of the woods, the pearlescent shell in the distance was just visible. They galloped the last two miles up the sandy shoreline, heeling up sharply at the garden gate.
They bustled their charge inside and to the bath, leaving the mounts to Luna and Khan in their hurry. Gary soaked with the creature in the private bath for an hour in complete silence. When he robed himself, he took the insect into the garden and tucked her into a grenadier pear tree, before heading up to bed.
“I never even got to say goodbye to Lilith…” He yawned on the way up the stairs. “Dibs on her shell, that is going to make awesome instruments.”
When he was gone, Vera Anglin sagged into a chair and held her head in her palms. “He is infuriating…” She whispered.
“Come on Vera, Shai will find you a bed. It was a fine day's work by any measure. Now this is an Adventure guild issue, unless Order wants to butt in on our investigations.” Luna said, with a significant glance at Bannock, over in the corner with the kids.
“Order wishes me to tag along and observe, if his lordship will extend my mandate.” They replied smoothly, carrying the sleeping children upstairs behind Becky. “I find this duty less troubling than I initially feared.”
#
Becky sat in the garden at dawn, just outside a ring of salt. Gary’s now familiar ritual platter was set up before her, mirrored in miniature inside the ring. “I dunno Gary, will she even…”
“Hello druidling, I see you are new at this. Please ignore that undead creature over there and break this ring of salt, won’t you dearie?” A tiny woman, dressed in a gown sewn from a single red and gold maple leaf sat across from her, barely three inches tall, but beautiful and perfectly formed.
“Go on, dash that nasty salt away, then we can have a chat. I just need to cleanse that poor wretch.” She said in a commanding and confident tone.
“What happened to you, miss dryad? Who hurt you? Do you remember?” Becky asked softly, tearing her loaf of warm bread to distract the creature.
Her tiny head jerked around when she smelled the warm, yeasty steam. “In the old way? Did you bring whiskey? No… humans no longer make…” Becky poured a thimble sized wooden cup full of Gary’s wretched ‘moonshine’ and placed it on the doll house table, beside the tiny meal laid out with such care.
“The wind has been whispering in my branches since mid winter that something old is loose in the world. I never thought to see this again.” She swayed side to side rhythmically as she spoke in a high piping chant.
“I even dreamt of a druid man with powerful hands and music in his voice, while lost in my torment and woe.” She sipped her honeyed moonshine sadly.
“What happened to you? Do you remember?” Becky urged gently, uncovering the butter crock and pouring her another miniature cup of milk.
“Oh yes, In my dream he was very large, with brown hair and eyes, like that dead man over there. The music was the thing though, such a pleasant dream…”
“I mean before your dream, who did that to you?” Becky insisted.
“Some ironmonger and an undead thing caught me unaware. They will be punished when the spring melt comes and my power is restored.” She said dismissively.
“Now, let me eradicate the unclean thing before me and we can talk.” She announced happily, as her tiny, delicate hands became rending, clawed forelimbs.
“Let her out please Becky, it’s going to be ok.” Gary called from the patio.
“You let it speak your name? And it gives commands? Poor child, who has done this terrible thing?” The tiny woman raged and glared across the salt at Gary, while Becky slowly reached out her foot and scrubbed a gap in the ring.
With a fierce cry of joy, she sprinted at impressive speed toward the smiling musician at the breakfast table with his children. She flowed with savage grace, leaping obstacles and swinging through the foliage in her eagerness to come to grips with her foe. Her jagged and pointy forelimbs struck and flailed, she grabbed at him and reached for a killing bite to the nape of his neck.
Wilford reached over and plucked the tiny woman from Gary’s throat and whispered. “No, bad.” To the furious lady with mantis arms in his hands.
He held her calmly between his palms until she calmed down, then he placed her on the breakfast table beside Becky.
“Well, that was embarrassing. I expect you druidlings to help me with that monster after breakfast. It has to go.” She insisted, while enjoying a biscuit big enough to use as a raft.
“Someone hasn't learned the rules…” Bannock said gently. “We don’t use the ‘M’ word about people in this house.” They said mildly, while Amy, Becky and Wilford nodded.
“A mortal, metal, meat monkey makes mouth music! Mandates from mankind make only men move. Dryads are an elder race, we use any ‘M’ words we wish.” She sassed at the tall knight. “Now do your duty Order human, snuff this thing before it begins to stink.”
Becky passed the woman a napkin as big as a sail, for her to wipe the honey from her delicate red lips. “No one is ‘cleansing’ Gary, he is our friend… and yours too. Stop and feel your body, you are not in your tree.” She urged gently. “Do you remember who hurt your tree?” She asked again, while the creature examined her form.
She fell still for a moment, perhaps contemplating her odd state. She started right back up a moment later. “Regardless, once that abomination is done for, we can talk about that ironmonger and his pet undead.” She said with utter confidence. She picked up a wooden fork from beside Amy’s plate and charged Gary across the table with admirable courage and ferocity. Halfway there she stepped in a puddle of honey, dribbled in her path by a smiling Bannock. The poor creature slipped, fell into the sweet sticky mess and ended up glued to the table, flat on her back in the goo.
“Gary made this body for you, so that you can talk to all of us while your tree heals.” Becky scolded her, while peeling her off the table with a wooden spatula from the kitchen.
“He worked really hard, long before dawn to make it for you and without his magic to power it, you would be stuck in bug form.”
The high priestess peeked out for a moment, shaming the beautiful spirit. Becky put a vast store of solemn disapproval into her words, as she licked her fingers and began scrubbing the honey from her tiny guest, ignoring the mild commotion at the stable gate.
Liam and Tallum came riding up on Annie and Pickle, leading Ivy in the dog cart behind Otho. A small, battered and sickly looking maple tree with a jute bag tied around its rootball, jutted from the bright blue cart.
The dryad looked on in mortified horror. “Is that my poor tree? What have you done? How is it moving?!” She cried in terror and despair.
Amy scooped her up and took her inside by the fireplace while her brothers and sisters worked. She stroked the tiny woman’s hair gently by the fireplace and soothed her.
“I was really sick when I was little too. The doctors had to do things that were scary or hurt, but they were helping.” She whispered softly. “Now I’m here and I’m not sick anymore… Gary helped me too. He’s nice, but weird.”
Before long she was curled up in a pocket, fast asleep, while Becky and Wilford napped on the sofa with them. It was a busy morning for the small people.
#
The Mystery Machine began its new life as a mobile arboretum with a few false starts and missteps. “How’s that bearing coming Tallum?” Gary called into the workshop.
“All done, greasing it now.” The big man shouted from the depths. The weight of soil and tree exceeded Gary’s abilities as a cartwright, resulting in a broken wheel and smashed bearing race.
Half an hour later, he unsummoned his jack and wheel chocks. The new mystery machine was ready, filled with rich soil from his garden. Watered with Gary’s secret sauce and tended by Liam’s remarkable talent for gardening, the tree looked slightly better already.
It was healthier, if deeply out of place on the cart. The golden stick insect clung to a branch, rigid and uncomfortable with her new situation, but resigned to her fate.
“Sir Bannock, please keep all your armored friends away, she is still pretty weak and iron is toxic to her.”
Herlick giggled at her tall companion; they had been forced to choose between Gary or Shai’s clothes due to their height and neither suited. The unfortunate knight was wearing Gary’s pants, one of Shai’s tops and bodices, with Gary’s coat in order to get decently attired.
They settled their modest breasts into Shai’s more capacious top and grumbled. “Duty, heavier than a mountain at times.”
Herlick had the foresight to bring a change of clothes suitable for the task. She rode in comfort in her own winter clothes, bundled up nicely for the journey.
Duke Belen’s war party rode down the Shore Road, away from the now peaceful expanse of soil, the gleaming shell still looming like a small castle in the harbor. They were passing through Port Ellis and on to the Uplands Road, their baggage train weighed down with as much worm and crustacean meat as Becky, Ivy and Shai could foist onto them.
The Bathers and their minders planned to take the narrow mountain road that led back to Wheatford more directly.
As they climbed the winding track, they passed a small party of riders on rangy ponies surrounding a richly appointed carriage. The outriders wore mismatched armor and well worn weapons with Adventure guild badges on their cloaks.
The band slowed the music and their pace, calling a greeting as they waited to pass on a wide section of the road.
“Hail Adventurers, we are Ginger Dreadnought, Adventure guild out of Wheatford, headed home.” Liam called as he rode in advance of the band.
“Sparrowhawks, out of Port Clement and parts east. We are on an escort contract, please be mindful, brothers.” Their trail rider replied cheerfully. “Do you know this road? Is there a place to camp ahead?”
“You may be pleasantly surprised, there is an inn not too far ahead, we will meet you there this evening perhaps…” Liam said as they passed the slower group. They all watched the fine, colorful carriage, drawn by a pair of chestnut mares, as they passed, curiosity gnawing at them. The curtains remained drawn tight against the cold, giving no clue as to the mysterious occupant.
The other group watched just as closely, as the blue cart with a tatty maple tree rolled by, surrounded by its own escort of adventurers.
Runningtree earned her name through a series of apparently hilarious misadventures that occurred while she was learning to walk… something about running into the same tree several times. Now, seeing a tree roll by at remarkable speed up a mountain road in winter set her senses ringing.
A woman of thirty does not become master, and head of her own band of journeymen Adventurers by ignoring the signs. A subtle wiggle of her left hand sent Larksong and Evard into the woods on foot.
They would parallel the young band at a distance, ensuring no shenanigans were afoot. Unseen and unheard they would foil any nonsense the innocent seeming group might be plotting.
A thumping noise came from the carriage, summoning her to their employer’s side once again.
“Why did you let those urchins pass us? I have no wish to be waylaid on the road!” The high, croaking voice was unpleasant, but they paid well and promptly.
“They are Guild, I have two scouts trailing them anyway, but they are no threat to you. Imran Khan rode among them, and unless I miss my guess, their trail rider was Vera Anglin, the duke’s second. Does that ease your mind, master Angbold?” She answered calmly.
“Only four walls and a snug roof will ease my mind, Mistress Runningtree. I would never have gone abroad in winter without dire need.” The unseen merchant twitched the curtains closed, as they resumed their slow progress up the mountain.
"Bloody confectioners guild, mighty high handed for a candymaker." She grumbled once out of earshot.