The Last Iriadonae: chap. 4

Chapter 4
The Islix Sword

“I will be so glad when we are getting fresh vegetables from the garden.” Ali said, as she placed the large pot of stew on the table. “Dried vegetables and dried meat get so tiring after a long winter.”

“Kelvin, I won’t need you when I go to the Fletcher farm tomorrow. Why don’t you go into the woods and see if you can get some fresh meat for mother while I’m gone,” Rock suggested.

“Or we could go fishing,” Briz said, hopefully.

“Some fresh fish would be lovely,” Ali said. “And there may be some wild berries ripe by now.”

“I could stand a day of fishing,” Kelvin said. “It would certainly be better than beating iron and breathing coal smoke all day.”

“Oh Kelvin, could I go with you,” Briz asked.

“If it’s okay with your mother it’s fine with me. You can teach me how to use those feather bugs of yours,” Kelvin said.

“May I, mother? Please.” Briz begged.

“I am sure Kelvin will look after you. If he doesn’t mind you tagging along I don’t see why not,” Ali said.

“I’d like to go too, mother. If I may,” Rayene said.

“Of course you may, Rayene. It should be fun, you girls deserve to have a little fun,” Ali said.

“Are you sure mother? There’s still work to be done in the garden,” Rayene said.

“There’s more to life than just work, Rayene. If you don’t take time to enjoy life once in a while you will grow old before your time. There’s nothing in the garden that I can’t handle by myself, or that couldn’t be put off for a day, for that matter. And having the house to myself for a day rather appeals to me,” Ali told her.

“Thank you, mother,” Rayene said.

“Pack a lunch and make a day of it, don’t stay too late and we will have fish for supper tomorrow night,” Ali said.

The three agreed that an early start was in order and retired as soon as they finished cleaning up after supper.

Rock found his mother sitting on the couch with a book; she motioned for him to join her.

“Rock, Hiram had some very disturbing news,” she said.

“He said he was afraid he had upset you but he wouldn’t tell me how,” Rock said.

“He believes Koth is headed for terrible times, maybe war."

“War! With whom, mother?”

“Westemia, he thinks Wistissis is plotting to try to incorporate Koth into Westemia. He also thinks she poisoned King Byron and that Prince Byran’s death was no accident."

“What do you think mother?”

“I’m not sure what to think, Rock. Hiram has never been prone to hysterics, and after what he told me today I fear he may be right."

“You know the history of the first war, the war to stop Lorath from conquering the world. And you know that Westemia was his principal ally in that war. Many believe Lorath was slain during that war, but Lorath can never be slain, he can only contained."

“Mother, the history books says he was slain in the Valley of Remorse."

“Not all history books are correct, Rock. History books were written by people, like any other book. People are fallible, whether they are human, dwarf, or elf, they have fears, beliefs, and prejudices that come through in their writing whether the writer intends it or not. He was defeated in the Valley of Remorse. Lorath is not human, Rock, he is the king of the realm of the dead, he cannot be killed."

“Mother, you’re not saying you think Lorath has returned, are you?”

“No Rock, let’s pray that never happens again, but he is always trying. He will never rest until he conquers the realms of the living and makes them part of the realm of the dead. Being the king of the dead he holds dominion over them and is able to summon the dead to do his bidding. In the first war many of his armies were made up of dead souls that he summoned from the grave. When the war turned and things were looking bleak for Lorath, he trained some of the wizards of Westemia in the dark art of necromancy. He trained them so they could help him replenish his armies, they were called death walkers. After Lorath was thrown down it was decreed that all of the death walkers were to be put to death. It has been rumored for hundreds of years that not all of them were caught, that necromancy has been handed down from generation to generation in Westemia."

“Do you believe that it’s true?”

“Who knows Rock, they are just rumors and I have never put much store in rumors. Some of the death walkers were powerful wizards; I suppose it’s possible some could have evaded capture. Westemia is a dark and dreary place, mostly swamps and quagmires. The people there tend to be slovenly and untrustworthy; they pride themselves in the making of elaborate poisons. They are reviled in most places so rumors about them abound."

“Wistissis, being of the royal family of Westemia, if she could join Koth and Westemia it would be a great boon for her people."

“And since the monarchy in Westemia recognizes the queen as ruler, Wistissis would rule it all when her mother dies."

“Whew, a pretty feather in her cap."

“Hiram said that since Baywin became king, trade with Westemia has increased fivefold. He said he noticed there was something odd about the caravans that went back and forth between Koth and Westemia, it wasn’t until he saw two passing in opposite directions the he realized what it was. The caravans arriving in Koth were heavily manned and had bands of armed escorts, the caravans leaving Koth barely had enough people to drive the wagons."

“He thinks people are migrating from Westemia to Koth? Where does he think these people going?”

“Hiram thinks they are going into Koth’s army. He said recruiting in Koth came to a standstill several years ago and many of the young men who come to volunteer are treated so badly they leave without joining, yet the army is half again as large as it was five years ago. Many of the officers have gone into retirement, vanished, or died under unusual circumstances."

“So King Byron married Wistissis to avert a war and Wistissis married King Byron as a means to conquer Koth without a war?”

“That is what Hiram thinks. She couldn’t just kill Byron and Byran, she had to have an heir in order to hold the throne."
“Baywin,” Rock said.
“That’s right; once Baywin was old enough to become the ruler of Koth she was able to put her plan into motion. Hiram thinks the hammer is about to fall because Baywin has ordered the army garrisoned."

‘I don’t know what that means."

“Koth’s army has always been kept in and around the capitol city of Albermarl. Baywin intends to have garrisons built in every major city in Koth and spread the army over the entire country."

“So if a majority of our soldiers are really Westemians, and enough of the officers are Westemians, if Westemia is planning an attack on Koth, they will already have men in forward positions in all our cities."

“And we will have no army to repel them."

“Do we have any allies to call on?”

“Hiram is looking into that now, but he has no official standing and even if he did, all of this is just conjecture. He has no solid proof."

“Why did he tell me he was going to escort caravans over the mountains?”

“He thought that the fewer people who knew what he is about the better. It’s a heavy burden that he didn’t want to put on your shoulders; he left that to me to decide.”

“Rock, a long time ago King Byron established a system of people he called The Protecting Circle. They were people who the king trusted implicitly, they reported to the king through Hiram. They were the king’s eyes and ears abroad in the kingdom. These were people capable of recognizing signs of dark magic or troll activity or any number of things that most average citizens no longer even believe exist. There are many dark things in the world Rock, just because they haven’t been seen in a long time doesn’t mean they aren’t still there, they are very good at biding their time. Mostly these men let the king know what the people were saying, what they needed, what they liked and disliked, and he was a better king because he was able to address issues that the average person had no way to bring to his attention.

“Rock, your father was a member of The Protecting Circle. Hiram thought the members of The Protecting Circle were the best people to consult about what he suspected. Your father was the sixth member he attempted to contact … and the fourth that he found to have gone missing."

“Does Hiram think Wistissis had something to do with father’s disappearance?”

“He wasn’t sure. One of the other members he talked to said he had relayed a message from the west about ogres coming down from the mountains attacking villages near Moorefield. It is the kind of trouble that would have drawn your father away in a rush. Hiram thinks it is possible that the missing members went west to aid the people of Moorefield. I don’t think it is sufficient an emergency that your father would have gone off and left Buck on the side of road or had time to tell me where he was going. Hiram went to see if he can find your father and the other three missing men, he will contact as many of The Protecting Circle as he can while he travels west."

“What are we supposed to do?”

“All we can do is continue to wait, Rock. I know it’s hard. I asked Hiram to contact me within three months whether he has found Mangus or not."

“The waiting is driving me insane, mother. I want to go search for father myself."

“If you left your sisters with only me for protection your father would be very disappointed."

“I could never do that mother. But it is so frustrating to sit and do nothing."

“Rock, you’re as good a son as any mother could hope for. I’m so proud of you; you’ve grown into such a fine man. It’s hard for me to believe you will be twenty next month."

The tears in her eyes shook Rock, they almost frightened him. His entire life he had never seen his mother cry.

“I want you to promise me something, Rock,” Ali said, sitting up straighter and squaring her shoulders, the tears gone as if they had never been there.

“Anything mother."

“If things ever get desperate, if you ever feel you have nowhere to turn, promise me that you will go to Moriangus. She will help you,” she said, laying her hand on his.

“I promise mother."

“Now let’s get some sleep, dear heart, it’s getting late,” she said, rising and kissing his cheek.

Rock sat on the couch staring at the cold fireplace for a long time after Ali had gone to bed. He finally got up and blew out the lamp; all he could do for now was wait.

Kelvin was proud of himself when he awoke before sunlight the next day. He was surprised to see light coming from the house when he went to the pump with his water pitcher. He splashed the cold water on his face and washed up before trying the little brush and tin of tooth cleaner that Rayene had given him. He liked the way it made his mouth feel. He strapped on his sheath knife, gathered his fishing pole and bow and arrows and walked over to the house. He noticed the sky was lightening in the east as he leaned his fishing pole and bow against the house and laid his quiver on the ground near them. He opened the door as quietly as he could and tip-toed through the house to the dining room only to find that everyone was already sitting at the table eating breakfast.

“You were wrong Rock; we won’t have to beat him with a stick to get him up. Look who just showed up,” Briz said through a mouthful of fried bread.

“Huh, it must be that he is only hard to rouse when there is work to be done,” Rock said, winking to Briz.

“You children stop picking on Kelvin, it’s too early for such nonsense,” Ali said.

“But its fun mother,” Briz said “and he makes it so easy.”

“I wouldn’t blame him if he decided you were too much trouble to put up with all day,” Ali said.

Briz’s eyes and mouth popped open at the same time as she turned to look at Kelvin, who gave her a stern look.

“I’m sorry Kelvin,” she said, looking contrite.

“No harm done, buttercup,” Kelvin told her.

“Buttercup?” Briz said, looking up.

Rock had been taking a drink of tea and nearly choked on it when he started laughing.

“I think buttercup rather suits her,” Rayene said.

“You can call me buttercup until your head turns blue, I won’t answer,” Briz said.

“Aw, Buttercup, don’t be like that,” Rock chided.

Turning a steely eye to Kelvin Briz said, “Teasing is one thing, but you’ve gone too far.”

Ali scrubbed her face with her hands and shook her head while Rock and Rayene laughed at their little sister’s impotent anger.

“Would you like some eggs and fried bread, Kelvin,” Ali asked.

“Yes ma’am, that would be great."

“One or two eggs?”

“Three, if that‘s alright."

“Three it is, there is bacon and coffee on the sideboard,” Ali said over her shoulder as she was leaving to go to the kitchen.

“Coffee?” Kelvin asked.

Briz wrinkled her nose and stuck out her tongue.

“I’ll have to agree with Briz on that,” Rock said.

“I like it with cream and sugar in it,” Rayene said “but it’s too bitter by itself, the way mother drinks it.”

“I’ve never had coffee,” Kelvin said.

“You can taste mine to see if you like it,” Rayene said, “but I put a lot of sugar in it.”

Kelvin took a sip of Rayene’s coffee and decided to try a cup of his own. He found he liked it the way Rayene drank it, with cream and sugar. He took a couple of pieces of bacon and his cup of coffee and sat down to await his eggs. Rock finished his breakfast and took the dirty plate and cup to the kitchen, followed closely by Briz and Rayene. When Rock passed back through the dining room on his way to the front door he placed a plate with eggs and fried bread in front of Kelvin.

“Thank you ma’am, that’s very kind of you. But I must say, you are the ugliest waitress I have ever had,” Kelvin said.

“Why you’re welcome sir,” Rock responded “I must assume that you would rather wear those eggs than eat them.”

“I was only kidding Rock,” Kelvin says, holding on to his plate with one hand and pointing at Rock with the other.

“So was I,” Rock says, slapping Kelvin on the back hard enough to make him grunt.

“You better get a move on; it’s nearly full light and the girls are getting restless,” Rock said as he walked down the hall leading to the front door.
Briz passes through a moment later and pokes him in the ribs hissing “Hurry up.” He leaned back in his chair and yawned, as soon as Briz is out of sight he hurriedly wolfs down the remainder of his breakfast. He carries his plate over to the sideboard and puts the plate holding the bacon on top of his dirty plate and carries them to the kitchen, eating the last two pieces of bacon on the way. Ali takes the dishes from him when he enters the kitchen and helps Rayne pack bread, cheese, and a dried sausage into a leather bag with a long strap.

“Try to bring back enough fish for supper. Five should be enough, if you catch more, that’s fine, but don’t bring back more than nine. I can smoke what we don’t eat for supper but only four will fit in the smoker,” Ali tells them as Rayene is slinging the bag of food over her shoulder. Briz is waiting for them just outside the front door, holding a long willowy pole. Kelvin picks up his rod and his bow and arrows.

“What are you going to do, Kelvin, beat the fish with that club then shoot them with your bow,” Briz says.

“That’s no club, that’s my fishing pole,” he says and notices that his pole is much stouter than Briz’s.

“You could hobble a horse with that string you have on it,” she says.

“Just leave that here, Kelvin, we’ll cut you a new pole when we get there,” Rayene tells him. “It’s too heavy and too short to use with Briz’s bugs.”
“Then I’ll dig some worms,” he tells her.

“If that’s what you want to do it will probably work but fishing with the bugs is much more fun and I brought some extra silk thread,” Rayene tells him.

Kelvin shrugs and leans his pole back against the house. When they get to the barn they find Rock still hitching Buck to the wagon, Kelvin stops to help him. Rayene gets her pole from the lean-to and sits in the grass to wait. Briz stands holding her pole in one hand with the other hand on her hip, tapping her foot.

“Rock, are you sure you don’t want me to go with you,” Kelvin says quietly.

“Kelvin, if you went with me now those two girls over there would whip you to death with those poles,” he tells him with a smile.

“It just doesn’t seem right, Rock. You’re going off to fix a plow and I’m going fishing,” Kelvin said.

Rock finishes fastening the last of the harness, straightens up and puts his hand on Kelvin’s shoulder.

“Kelvin, you told me that you would help me in any way you could,” Rock reminds him.

“I did Rock, and I meant it,” he said.

“Briz hasn’t laughed or smiled as much in the last three months as she has in the last three days. Rayene too, she has never been as quick to laugh as Briz, but she is more herself since you came to stay. Keep their minds off father for a while. They like you, if you can make them smile, that is far more important to me than having help fixing a plow,” Rock says, tightening his grip on Kelvin’s shoulder.

“Okay, Rock,” he said.

“Go, have fun, and catch some fish,” he tells him, giving him a slap on the back.

“See you at supper,” Kelvin said. Rock nods to Kelvin, climbs into the wagon, releases the brake and waves good bye to his sisters.

“Do you know the best path to get to Miller’s Creek?” Kelvin asks as they enter the woods.

“The shortest path is that way,” Briz says, pointing a little to their left.

“That is the shortest route but I’d like to go another way,” Rayene said, “I want to check something.”

Kelvin and Briz let Rayene lead the way. Walking through the woods isn’t difficult; the thick canopy overhead keeps the growth on the floor of the forest to a minimum. They are descending a gully, where the brush has gotten a foothold and is fairly thick, when they suddenly hear something crashing through the brush coming toward them. Kelvin pulls his knife from its sheath and steps between the brush and the two girls with his arms spread wide. A large sow pig comes busting from the brush with four suckling pigs close on her heels. The sow squeals when it sees Kelvin, whirls around and disappears back into the brush. The pigs reappear a moment later on the far side of the brush, they run up the other side of the gully and vanish into the forest.

Kelvin relaxes and lets his arms fall to his side.

“That was very brave of you Kelvin,” Briz says, hugging his arm.

“It was just a pig,” Kelvin says.

“Briz is right Kelvin. It scared me half to death. And even though didn’t know what it was, you still put yourself between it and us. That was very brave. Thank you,” Rayene tells him.

Kelvin feels the heat rising in his cheeks; the fact that he is blushing embarrasses him and causes him to blush even more.

“Come on, it’s just over here,” Rayene says, continuing down the gully.

After they have walked a couple of hundred feet Rayene say “Oh good”, drops her pole and takes the bag from her shoulder. She runs over to a big tree that has clusters of small berries hanging from it and starts popping the small berries into her mouth.

“Choke cherries!” Briz exclaims, and joins her sister eating the little berries.

“Are you sure these are safe to eat,” Kelvin asked.

Briz nods her head to him, her cheeks bulging.

The berries grew in clusters similar to grapes but are much smaller, about the size of peas. There is a stem down the center of each cluster that the berries grow from. Kelvin pinched the stem at the top and slid his fingers down, removing all the berries at once. He tosses all the berries into his mouth at once and begins to chew. He chewed three times and stopped; he hadn’t expected such small berries to have such large pits. A sensation goes through his mouth followed by a taste that reminds him of perfume and he spits the berries out. It feels like his mouth is collapsing in on itself. He sees Briz start to laugh and spit out a mouthful of pits.

“You didn’t chew the seeds, did you?” Briz asks, giggling.

“Kelvin, I’m sorry, I should have warned you,” Rayene says. She goes to the food bag and returns with a water skin.

“Here, rinse your mouth out,” she says, handing him the water skin.

“Have I been poisoned,” he asks after he has rinsed his mouth.

“No, they won’t hurt you,” Rayene tells him. They just don’t taste very good and they make your mouth pucker up.”
Kelvin is working his mouth trying to rid it of the uncomfortable feeling the berry pits had caused. He mashes one of the berries between his fingers and finds that it is mostly pit with just a thin layer of meat and skin on it.

“What good are these?” he asks. “They’re nothing but pit.”

“They taste really good if you don’t bite the seed,” Briz said.

“Mother makes all kinds of things with them,” Rayene tells him. “Jam, jelly, even wine, but my favorite is the pie. They make a wonderful pie.”

“A pie, with all these pits?” Kelvin asks.

“She cooks them, and then runs them through a sieve to remove the pits,” Rayene tells him. “We will have to find a way to carry some home with us.”

“I’m sure we can figure something out,” Kelvin said, “We can stop here on our way back.”

When they got to Miller’s Creek Kelvin was ready to start fishing but Briz had a special place where she wanted to go, so they continued following the creek downstream. Kelvin saw several places that looked good to him but each time Briz said “No, not here.”

Briz led lead them to a place where the creek narrowed with fast moving water running beside a long sandy beach and emptying into a deep pool. Kelvin noticed Briz and Rayene doing something to the feather bugs already tied on to their poles so he went to investigate. When he got close he saw that they were dipping their fingers in a little tin and caressing their bugs with their finger tips.

“Trying to make them like you so they won’t fly away?” he asked.

Briz just smiled at him and dipped her finger into the tin and rubbed her finger together.

“Chicken fat,” she told him, “the bugs will work if they sink but they work better if they float. We rub chicken fat onto them so the feathers stay dry longer and they will float,”

When she was satisfied with her bug she worked some of the chicken fat into the last four or five feet of her thread too. Kelvin was skeptical about catching fish with a bug made from feathers; he sat on the bank and watched Briz to see how well she did. Briz stood where the faster water went into the pool; she held the bug with the hook pinched between the thumb and index finger of her left hand and held her pole in her right hand. She held the pole as high as she could and leaned it out over the water, she pulled the bug back until the pole had a little bow in it and when she released the bug it was slingshot out over the water. She walked along with the bug as it drifted downstream, keeping her pole high enough that only a little bit of the thread was in the water. As soon as the bug reached the end of the fast running water and started to float out into the pool Kelvin heard a sucking sound and the end of Briz’s pole bent over.

“I got one, I got one, I got one,” Briz shouted, laughing hysterically.

Several times Kelvin is sure either the pole or the thread is going to break. Briz ran up and down the beach around the pool with the fish as it swam, first downstream then back upstream. Finally, the fish exhausted, Briz was able to pull it to the beach and Kelvin ran over and picked it up for her. Rayene took their food out of the bag and set it aside and Kelvin put the fish in the bag. When he turned around Briz was running down the beach again, another fish already hooked. Rayene hooked one on her first try and the two girls ran up and down the beach trying to not run into one another or tangle their lines.

“Kelvin, you can use my pole if you want to fish,” Rayene offered.

“Thank you, Rayene, but I couldn’t possibly have more fun fishing than I’m having watching you two fish,” he told her.

When they had six fish in the bag they took a break and ate their food. It didn’t take long to reach their quota of nine fish and they headed back to the house. When they got to the choke cherry tree Kelvin offered his arrow quiver to carry the little berries back to Ali. When the quiver was half full he got an idea.

“Can you girls make it home without me,” he asked.

“Why?” Briz asked, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Remember the wild pigs we saw when we were coming in?” he asked.

“How could we forget?” Rayene said.

“I thought I would see if I could pick up their trail. I bet Ali could do wonders with a suckling pig,” he said.

“Kelvin, mother would be thrilled,” Rayene said. “We will be fine, the house isn’t far.”

“How will we carry the choke cherries,” Briz asked.

Kelvin picked up his arrows and put them inside his shirt behind his neck.

“Keep the quiver, I don’t need it. I probably won’t find them but I would like to try,” He said.

Rayene made a shooing motion with her hands and she and Briz went back to picking berries. Kelvin backtracked until he came to the ravine where they had seen the pigs. He walked across the bottom of the ravine and went up on the side of the brush tangle where the pigs had come out. Their trail was easy to find and he climbed the ridge and went into the forest after them. The trail was easy to follow until he came to a place that was all long needle pines and the ground had about a foot of dead needles carpeting it. He was about to give up and see if he could find his way back to the smithy when he heard noise coming from the other side of a small hill. He lay on his belly and slowly worked his way to the top of the hill, being as quiet as he could. He heard grunts and thrashing in the bushes but was totally unprepared for what he found. When he reached the top of the hill and looked down there stood Rock. He was bare from the waist up, standing in that weird starting pose he had seen him use at the smithy the day before, with a sword poised above his head. Rock went through a series of moves; the sword moving so fast Kelvin could barely see it. It wasn’t until Rock began swiftly striking the trunk of a tree that Kelvin realized the sword Rock was using was a wood practice sword.

Rock put down the practice broadsword and picked up two long slender swords. He stood for a moment with the sword in his right hand arched over his head and the one in his left hand horizontally in front of his waist. He did a series of moves weaving figure eights with both swords, the blades moving so fast Kelvin could hear then whoosh all the way to the top of the hill. He tucked his head and rolled across the ground, stopping at the base of a tree, as he stood he thrashed the tree repeatedly with both swords , he put his foot against the tree and kicked off into a back flip ,he landed on his feet facing the tree with the swords crossed in front of his face.

When Kelvin stood up Rock spun and rolled across the ground, coming up in a defensive stance.

“Rock, I don’t care if you never apprentice me. But you have got to show me how to do that!” Kelvin said as he walked down the hill.