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  She couldn’t spend long wondering because everyone was soon hustled back up for travel, and it was off to the count’s residence.

  Estrella-fosca

  Sha would have been happy at the inn but when traveling through a noble’s land, and he invites you to stay, you stay. The manor house was old. Oh, not the Great Spires’ old but it was at least a thousand years or more. The walls are all of one kind of stone, a rather odd dull stone. Flat gray and completely smooth without getting shiny. Tzadi could move stone to this shape, but this shows signs of being worked with tools.

  The manor house isn’t the size of any house, nor are many castles as large, at least to be all on one floor. Sha couldn’t guess at the original purpose of the structure. Huge rituals, or shelter for a medium-sized town during a siege? One hundred and fifty paces to a side and completely empty, with a roof that seemed to form right out of the walls and span the whole distance with no supporting pillars or load-bearing walls. The whole interior was lit by skylights of frosted glass that scattered the light throughout the whole of the structure. All the walls, and rooms that had been added in the generations since fell a little more than a pace short of the ceiling so that they can still get the light. The whole thing impressed upon Sha again just how much the ancients knew, and how much had been lost, found again and lost again. The civilized lands were covered with such ruins, repurposed by those who couldn’t hope to build what they’ve found, she could only assume the orc and goblin infested wilds were the same.

  Still the young noble was right about one thing, her rooms were much more comfortable than those at the inn would have been, here there were even large bathing pools, carefully maintained by a gaggle of servants. After two days riding in the belly of Koloss, a warm bath was most welcome.

  Penny for your thoughts

  Galan and Angvar were a little sore from the saddle after two days of riding after months of relative leisure. Still it wasn’t enough to keep them in their rooms when they were at a new place with new people to meet. They made their way to the library. An impressive collection of over two hundred beautifully illuminated manuscripts carefully collected over several lifetimes lined the shelves along one wall. Subjects covered everything from history and combat tactics, to illustrated herbals, and even an alchemists personal journal. Angvar made a mental note to let Sha know it was here. With her healing abilities, it was always good to keep her happy with you.

  Galan had moved on to a large game board in the middle of the room. Set up for five players, it seemed the goal was to capture the fifth player’s stronghold in the middle of the board. He was studying the intricately carved pieces when a young girl of maybe ten or twelve years entered the library. She smiled and when she did; it was as if her bright green eyes lit up the whole of the room. She turned that gaze up Galan. “You play Zaxmat?”

  Galan couldn’t help but smile in return. The love of the game was obvious in the way she said it. “Eh, no. Looks interesting though.”

  “I must teach you sometime. My brothers will rarely play if I’m playing. Daddy says it is because they are sore losers.” She giggled, turned her smile on to Angvar. “Have you ever played Zaxmat?”

  Angvar grinned at her. “Once or twice, but I was never much good.”

  She snorted in a most unladylike way. “That’s what we all say when trying to talk someone into playing.”

  Angvar and Galan both barked a laugh. She shook her head. “After dinner maybe. Daddy,” she stopped and took a deep breath and her voice changed, “The Count my father asked me to gather you in the dining room as dinner will soon be served.” She made a slight face then seriously asked, “How was that? He’s been after me to act more like a proper lady, and less like,” again her voice changed and they could hear her father saying it, “a village tavern wench” she grinned knowing her impersonation was dead on.

  Again both men barked a deep belly laugh. Galan held out his arm. “Thank you for the invitation gracious lady. May I escort you?” Again her eyes twinkled with barely restrained mischief as she took his arm.

  “Why thank you ever so kindly good and noble knight.” The sarcasm wasn’t bitter or even directed at him, it was just that she saw no need for formality and engaged in it only to appease her father.

  Galan grinned wickedly back at her, and then turned to Angvar, “Come, come my faithful servant, let’s not keep our noble hosts waiting.”

  Angvar trailed behind shaking his head and chuckling.

  Galan asked in the haughty tone, “May I have the honor of M’lady’s name?”

  Nearing the end of her patience with this game she giggled, “My name is Penrhydd, but since I like you and that is a mouthful, you can just call me Penny like everyone else.” she says as they enter the great dining area to find everyone else already there and seated. Galan releases Penny and with murmured apologies takes the seat left open for him.

  Dinner was over and Galan and Angvar were headed back to their rooms when Angvar whispers, “That Penny is sure a fire cracker. Kid is charismatic as anything I’ve ever seen, in a couple of years she will have some poor guy all wrapped up, not knowing if he’s coming or going.”

  Galan snorted. “Yeah, lucky devil.”

  Angvar just chuckled in agreement.

  Finally

  Sha was glad to be on their way. Oh, the Count was most hospitable, and the bath was most welcome but she wanted to make it to Voivode’s Rest. She hadn’t ever made it to the capitol before and she was fairly certain if she could make the right contacts she might be able to find some long sought after books there. Maybe she could just ask Harder, he probably had copies stashed somewhere.

  This last leg of the journey she was riding atop Koloss wrapped up warm in Pavel’s cloak. The villages were closer together here, and it was almost like one long parade. Waving to the crowds and viewing the countryside, beautiful, even deep in the grip of winter. So it was with a gasp as she saw Voivode’s Rest looming on the horizon. She could see it nearly a full hour before they reached the gates. The gates were huge, and the walls were easily ten paces high and over twenty paces in width. Gates were multiple tons of aged lumber reinforced with massive steel straps. Pavel told her that from conversations with another smith back in his days as a simple smith’s son, that the gates could move only because of carefully balanced counter weights on complex pulley system in the walls themselves. Even Archive was not as big as the city of Voivode’s Rest. Here they would stay in the castle proper as true guests of the king. She found that she had missed Harder over the last few months. Traveling with them every day since they found him trapped in the Red Spire, he really had become literally part of the family.

  So it was as Harder himself greeted them, she found it actually a great joy to show Koloss to him. They had to be careful, because of the covert way they had substituted Harder for old King Oliver, it would not do to appear to chummy in public. The secret is so closely held that even Galan and Esta have been spared the details. Once the prying eyes of the public were gone though, she looked forward to hearing how things were doing for him. She smiled, oh yeah, and he hasn’t had word yet, that he’s about to become a big brother. She almost lost her composure and giggled openly at that thought.

  Man About Town

  Galan and Angvar were up early the next morning, and out of the castle before most were awake. This was their chance to explore. The city was bustling and business was thriving despite the cold. They found shops run by craftsmen for every imaginable trinket and toy a young man could desire. They found taverns that catered to young nobility and rich merchants. Many of these doubled as brothels. Still a bit shy with the other there, neither man more than sampled the food and drink and soaked up the atmosphere of forbidden fruits dangling temptingly before them.

  So it was that frustrated and a little drunk, both men tumbled back into the streets. They had managed to get turned around and found themselves in a less savory area to town. Angvar was the first to notice that something m
ight be wrong. “Galan, we’re being followed.”

  “What?” Galan asked starting to turn around.

  Angvar stopped him. “Don’t look. You could trigger something before we’re ready. We’ve picked up a tail.”

  “Hm, you want to turn and attack, or think we should try to lose them first?” Galan asked.

  “Never know how many of them there really are, better we should try to slip out.” Angvar whispered as he pointed broadly at a shop and steered Galan toward it. They entered and realized too late that the shop was a woman’s clothiers. Not the kind of place they should have picked. Galan looked at Angvar, who just shrugged. Galan rolled his eyes and followed Angvar through the shop past the protesting shop keeper and into the alley behind.

  They started toward one end to work back to the next street over and that’s when they saw three hulking thugs coming down the side alley toward them. They turned and started back the other way when they saw three more on the other side. “Damn, six to two, I would have liked better odds,” Angvar said.

  Galan grunted. “Better than I had on Winter faire’s eve.”

  “Point, but no Pavel and Sha here to help either.” Angvar said glumly.

  Galan grinned. “Well, that’s not exactly true. Sha gave me a little something just in case...” he said, fumbling into the pocket hidden in his codpiece. He pulled a small gem stone and hefted it in his hand. “Which three should we fight?”

  “They aren’t going to let us pick.” Angvar said.

  “I’m not planning to ask. You had your chance to pick, so now I am.” With that he threw the gem at the oncoming thugs bouncing it harmlessly off the chest of the big one in the middle. The big thug started to laugh, and then panic, as a full sized pissed off cave bear began to grow out of the ground at his feet.

  Galan had already turned and was rushing the three that had been coming up behind them. Angvar was rooted to his spot for only a fraction of a second while he watched the large bear grab the man in a bear hug and bite down on his skull. Mayhem ensued as Galan’s sabre blocked his first target’s cudgel, neatly removing three fingers of the right hand. The other two were closing in when the screams of their partner in crime and the triumphant roar of the bear froze them in their tracks. That was all the delay Angvar needed to whip his dagger at the nearer of the two, it was a clean throw and down went the thug with a messy spray of arterial blood from the neck wound. Galan on the return stroke of his sabre cut a long strike across the would be mugger’s broad chest.

  The two men on the bear’s side had completely different reactions to the shock of the attack. One goon simply had his eyes roll back in his head as he collapsed unconscious. It probably saved his life. The other decides that running is the better option. It isn’t. The bear seeing someone run by instinct gives chase. Bears run faster than people do.

  On Galan’s side of the fight the two still remaining decide to run as well. They leave their dying comrade bleeding out in the mud they ran. Galan let them go. He glanced down at the man choking in his own blood. He casually picked up the dagger, tossed it to Angvar. “Let’s get out of here before the guard arrives and we need to explain ourselves to the guard. ”

  They were well and left alone that day. Angvar did not know if the credit was due their fighting skills or simply that they decided to stop for directions and they back to the safer side of town as soon as possible.

  More Hints

  Harder’s Memoir

  Sha left her meeting with Harder a little preoccupied. She had always suspected that Harder was hiding something or biding his time to act on his own behalf, but this last meeting confused her. He seems to be regaining his humanity in a way she had not expected. It’s long been theorized that the soul out of a body changes and warps, much as the soul in a sick body can often break under that strain. Returning him to a healthy body may be helping bring him back to a healthy mind and soul. She looked down again at the fairly substantial little book. He called it his memoir. His history for the nine hundred years before he went mad and nearly burned down half of the known world. What he remembers of the dark years, and his subsequent imprisonment. Last, he has included recent events from his perspective. With what he warned her were frank and very personal revelations about where his life is now and what is ahead.

  She can still hear his voice take on the almost hollow tone it had when he was disembodied as he told her, “I no longer seek vengeance. I have finally let it go. Our new family, the one forged in the loneliness of my prison, that saw me returned to rightful station and granted me a wholeness of mind and body, this family will be my joy and my purpose as we strive to restore this shattered world.” She shivered. Oh, she was happy he was on their side and she was even happy that he was finding happiness. It’s just that he seems so convinced that deception was everywhere. Utterly convinced that most of what we think we know about our world is an outright lie or a severe twisting of the truth at best. In a normal man, she would dismiss it as the ravings of a madman, but Harder wasn’t mad. Nor was he a fool. He had been around and seen and done more than any ten people. He had managed to outlive even the elves. Timelines like he is envisioning, are just beyond her comprehension. Sure she knows that ten thousand years means, but to truly grasp what can happen over ten thousand years, that’s just a bit much to wrap one’s head around.

  She quietly settled back into the little apartment she shared with Pavel. She conjured a small light about a finger’s width in front of the page. She had learned from long experience that this would allow her to read without waking up Pavel. She sat there unmoving except to turn the page until she noticed the gray light out of the window, announcing dawn would soon upon them.

  Tea with the Monster

  Feylynn was sitting in her apartments in front of the fire trying to concentrate on an alchemical text and failing. She couldn’t stop her mind racing. She had sat privately with Harder Mclaughlinkor the Butcher of Ellendale. They had tea. She knew her stepson Echal had adopted Harder and trusted him to be the new if hidden King of NoVas. She had traveled with him for weeks, but he had animated an orc corpse then. He had looked the monster her history studies had made him out to be. Today, he was in a living human body. He was not brooding nor in torment. Today she had tea with an intelligent, capable man who treated her with all the respect and consideration a step mother could ask for. She was ready for Harder to be a lot of things, but charming and considerate, was never considered.

  His hints that there was some great darkness gnawing at the roots of the Elven family tree, she first took for bias against the elves who had taken part in the war against him in her grandfather’s day. As they spoke more, she became more and more convinced that, right or wrong, he was genuinely interested in righting wrongs, rather than pursuing ancient grievances. Still, he had to be mistaken. Elves were a gracious and strong people who embraced light and beauty. Her people had their flaws, but where could evil possibly hide among them? It would have to show. Wouldn’t it? It was that uncertainty that kept her thoughts a jumble.

  She could still hear him saying, “In my recent studies, I have come to believe that the world is much older than we’ve been led to believe. Civilization has cycled from flower to dust, time, and time again. Each of the powers seems to have their secrets. We’ve discovered and are uncovering those of the Tzadi and the White Spire. Echal is learning those of the Red Spire now. Yet there is much we don’t know. Is it just the natural greed and desire for power that leads to holding these secrets so diligently? Or is there something deeper and more sinister pulling the strings of each of the great powers making civilization brittle and crumble? We can build it up again. I know we can. It won’t work though, if there is a hidden darkness that we allow to corrupt what we build. Be vigilant. Keep your eye open. For the sake of us all, if it is there, we cannot afford to miss it.”

  He was so intense; it has left her doubting what she has known her whole long life. Feylynn is uncomfortable with doubts.

  Dr
eams

  Pavel woke with a start. It was only a dream. He felt his head thump back heavily on the pillow. The bed is warm and he can feel sleep reaching up to claim him again when he realizes, a trip to the water closet is a must. Out of the warm bed and into the cool air of the apartment, he is moving quickly but spares Sha an embarrassed grin as he hears her giggles. Her giggles do nothing to help him with his current predicament. It was only the building pain in his bladder and the cool of the air that finally allowed him to manage without creating a real mess.

  Since he was up and in the water closet anyway, he pulled the stopper from the warm water feed to the great tub and stepped in to rinse off. Over the flowing water he hears the door opening. “Ah, you’re drawing me a bath.” An equally naked and smiling Sha says as she slips in the small room. Without the illusion ring, she’s not the stunning beauty in full flush of sexual maturity that she is when she joins him in his bed. Her definitely more childlike and under developed body is not repulsive to him, he just can’t help feeling a bit guilty. It’s still Sha, and he loves her. He knows he must be more careful with her in this form as he doesn’t wish to ever hurt her, but all of that flashes through his mind for only a moment before he squashes it firmly down, and responds to his beloved wife. “Well sexy, I wasn’t planning on doing anything more than rinsing off, but you scrub my back, I’ll scrub yours.” She giggled and slipped into the flowing water with him. After plugging the drain of the large tub they splashed in the falling water.

  Later as she is contentedly soaking in the tub with him, he asks, “Can you tell if someone has been sending me dreams?”