After travel on the road itwas good to be inside again. The barracks were
clean and warm and the bedsreasonably soft.
The wagons were being unloadedand the horses had been groomed, fed and
bedded down in the stables.
As a guest the legate wasgiven his own room on the third floor of the
dormitory. It was a small roomwith a bed, a small cabinet for clothes and a
table and chair, The walls wereleft the bare white of the plaster that covered
them. A (very) small stoverested in one corner along with a small wooden bucket
containing some coal. Hecouldn’t help but smile when he realized by standards
of the order this waslavish accommodations.
The legate caught sight ofmovement in the window. He noticed a thrush
sitting on the windowsill and seemedto be look at him. And as if satisfied with
what he saw the bird then flewaway.
****************
Early the next morning theyran into an unexpected problem soon after
starting out. The caravan came to asudden halt. Edmund made his way to the
front and found Stealth and Terrystaring at something ahead.
There in the middle of thepath was a large raccoon who was busily eating
some sort of crustacean. Theanimal was alternating between banging the hard
shell against a piling and eatingthe soft bits inside. The animal paused a
moment and looked at them. Then hereturned to his meal.
"It looks likeRickkter" Terry joked.
“He certainly has Rickkter’scourage,” Edmund joked.
“What do we do?" Stealthasked.
"We wait," was the paladin’sresponse.
“Wait?"
"Never interrupt a personwhen they’re eating,” Edmund explained.
Terry smiled and laughed.
After some minutes the raccoonfinished his meal. He then walked to the edge
of the causeway and climbed down.In moments he had vanished into the marsh.
Stealth peered over the edgeand down, looking for their visitor but all he
saw was marsh grass and mud. Hedid spot a score of places where the animal
could be hidden.
He lifted his gaze and scannedthe marsh looking for larger creatures. Out
there Stealth was certain at leastone person was watching them. He picked out
several places where a person couldhide. Finally the scout spotted a dark
shadow at the base of a tree and an oddshape amidst a large plant with broad
leaves some seventy yards out.
Edmund walked up to hisfriend. “Have you located them?”
“Two of them,” Stealthanswered while still looking. “Probably at least one
more out there.”
“Will they attack?” Emile asked.
“No they won’t,” Terrantanswered. “But when a large, armed group moves
through your home you arecautious.”
“And if they truly wanted tostop us they would smash the causeway,” Stealth
added.
“Agreed,” Edmund added. “Weconfuse them. We’re too small for an invasion but
the right size for a raidingparty. But we are moving too slowly and are too
friendly to be a raiding party.But we’re too heavily armed to be a trade
caravan.”
“So what do we do?” Stealthasked.
“We continue along as we agreed,”The paladin responded. “How much longer
till we are out of this?”
“We should clear the marsh inanother day,” Emile commented. “Perhaps a day
and a half before we reach solidground.”
********************
It was late. The midnight officewas done some time ago but it was still
several hours before Prime at dawn.Harrick and Kenward should have been asleep
but instead they were both standingon a small balcony off the Knightmasters
quarters. The castle and indeed thewhole valley was laid out below them as
twinkling lights in the darkness. Asoft wind was blowing bringing with it the
smells and sounds of distant places.
“I’ve always enjoyed thisspot,” Kenward said softly. “Being here alone
always allowed me to think.”
“It is very peaceful. It’sgood place for contemplation,” Harrick responded.
Harrick looked off to thenorth. “I wonder how brother Delacot is doing?”
“Edmund is a skilled leader,”Kenward answered. “I trust his skills.”
“I know but I wonder how farDonel will resist and how hard Brother Delacot
will have to push?” Harrickasked.
Kenward nodded his head. “Hewas right about him being needed in the north at
Metamor.”
“Of Edmund and his people,”Harrick said slowly. “Bother Gattaway. Now Sister
Gattaway. The order doesn’tallow women but Terrant wasn’t a woman when he
joined.”
“I have taken a wait and seeattitude and given her special dispensation,”
Kenward answered.
Harrick nodded in agreement.“But it does bring up questions about women in
the order.”
“True but that is something wecan deal with later,” Kenward commented. “We
have many other issues to dealwith.”
“A more immediate problem. Whatof the bishop?” Harrick asked. “And his
father the Duke?”
Kenward winced. “That cannotbe delayed any longer. It seems that my last
official act as Knightmaster willbe to meet with him.”
“What do you think he willtalk about?” Harrick asked. “What is he like?”
The old Knightmaster shrugged.“I am not sure. I have never met this bishop
before.”
There was silence for a longmoment and both enjoyed the calm night.
“What went wrong Jacob?”Kenward asked in a whisper. “What did we do wrong?”
Harrick shook his head. “Idon’t know. But none of the order took active part
in the attacks.”
“They should have done more tostop it,” Kenward countered.
“Done what?” Harrick asked.“We expected threats from the Lightbringers, from
Sathmore, from Marigund andeven from the Giantdowns. But how could we expect
such evil from the Ecclesiaitself.”
“Perhaps breaking from theEcclesia would be a good thing,” Kenward
commented. “There has been talk amongthe brothers about just that.”
“I’ve heard the talk. Many ofthe order feel abandoned by Yesulam. Or have we
already become too detachedfrom it?” Harrick countered. “Perhaps we should have
tried to get closerinstead of letting the distance keep us apart. Had we closer
ties to the localclergy perhaps we could have detected the old bishop’s slide
into corruption.”
“Excellent point,” Kenwardsaid. “We can take the opportunity of your
Investiture to hold a grandconcourse of all the Knight Commanders and all the
senior leaders.”
“Good idea,” Harrickresponded. “There is a lot to discuss.”
“Indeed.”
********************
It was late afternoon when they came to asmall island where the road split.
One trail continued south, one branched offto the east and another to the west.
“We’ll stop here for thenight,” Edmund ordered. “And continue onward
tomorrow.”
This piece of land was alittle larger than the last one so there was room
enough to spread out a bit. Thewagons were spotted and the horses unhitched. A
fire started and a smalllatrine pit dug.
It was still light out whenStealth returned. This time instead of one person
he had a half dozen. Derykwas there along with men and women carrying baskets,
bags and packs. Edmundrelaxed. This group wasn’t here to confront. They were
here to bargain andtrade.
**************
The small campsite was activewith people talking, looking and haggling over
various items. Baskets made ofmarsh grass were present in large numbers, the
skins of various animals andother things. One old woman was selling potions
that she promised would makemen stronger, longer, and women bigger in all the
right places. But amidstthose expensive potions were others of more real use. A
bottle of oils that wasguaranteed to sooth aching muscles, an oil to preserve
leather and keep itsupple no matter how wet or cold it got.
Despite their seeminginnocence, for every visitor Edmund had assigned a
watcher. That person stoodnearby and made sure the marsh dweller was only there
for trade.
“Roderick,” Terrant called. “Ithink you’ll want to come over here.”
“Ma’am?” The person was small,barely five feet tall and just a little over
ninety pounds. It had the tan andblack spotted coat of one of the smaller
jungle felines. Roderick had adaptedeasily to being half animal was wearing
only a small pair of shorts with a holeat the back for his long feline tail.
There wasn’t even any shoes on his paws.He was carefully examining a tree that
stood by a wagon. And carefully placingseeds into a pouch.
He slowly walked over toTerry. Standing next to the woman was an older man
dressed in a blue shirt andgreen pants. The man was carrying a large tree limb
at least four feet long.
The tree ocelot morph gentlytook the pre-offered length of wood. He ran his
hands over every inch of it. Heeven touched his tongue to it to taste it. “This
is a Marsh Elm,” he saidexcitedly. “I’ve never actually held it before.”
Roderick stared at the manintently. “Did you cut this from a living tree?”
He accused.
The man shook his head inresponse. “No. It was storm toppled.”
The feline nodded his head. Roderickreached into his backpack and pulled out
a six-inch-long saw with a serratedblade. “I’ll swap you this for the whole
length.”
Terry stood to one side andwatched the two bargain. Someone touched her on
the arm. The knight turned anda woman of middling age was standing there,
The woman leaned close toTerry. “I have a special item to offer you,” She
said in a whisper as she reacheddown the neck of her tunic. The woman produced
a small pouch from which sheremoved an object. It proved to be a crescent
shaped item made of silver aboutthe size of her palm. One side was blank but
the other had several symbolsinscribed with a dark green material.
Terrant’s knowledge of jewelrywas limited but she understood that this was
old. The symbols were obviouslywriting but a form she had never seen before.
“What is it? Who made this?”
The woman shrugged inresponse. “Many things have been lost in the marsh over
the years. Occasionallythe marsh gives them back.”
“Where exactly did you getthis?” She asked.
The woman shrugged. “Peoplesay that some of the islands were used to bury
the dead.”
“You dug this up?” Terryasked.
“NO!” the woman deniedexcitedly. “We leave the dead alone. I found this in
the water. I was huntingfor shellfish on the bottom and found that instead.”
“The Centli used the throwitems and people into rivers, lakes and swamps as
sacrifices to their gods,”Terrant commented.
“That doesn’t look Centli orSuielman,” the marsh woman answered. “It looks
older. A lot older.”
“There are people at Metamorwho will know what it is and how old,” The
knight responded. “What do you wantfor it?”
***************************
The Patriarchal Legate Tuscuswas ushered into the office with little
fanfare. He found the office of theKnightmaster of the Order of Protectors more
Spartan than expected but probablymore elaborate than some in the order would
prefer.
The walls were plastered apastel blue instead of the white he had seen
elsewhere. Portraits of variousmen who he assumed were past Knightmasters lined
one wall. A large fireplacefilled another wall. Every room in the fortress
seemed to have some sort ofheating. With a fortress located in the mountains it
was far from a luxury. Itwas a necessity. There was a large desk and chairs of
dark wood in a simplestyle. The one accommodation to luxury was a small couch
near the fireplacemade of a green padded cloth.
“I hope your visit with us has been helpful,”the knightmaster asked as they
took a seat by the fire.
“It has been veryilluminating,” the legate answered. “I have learned a lot.”
“There is a lot more todiscuss and consider,” Harrick said.
“Agreed but I must take myleave of you. I have been ordered to meet with the
cardinal,” the legateresponded.
“I am sorry to be losing youso soon,” Kenward commented.
“Agreed,” Tuscus answered. “Butthe cardinal wants to discuss recent events
in Marigund and the Midlands withthe Patriarch. And as the Patriarch’s
representative I must attend.”
“I understand,” Kenward saidwith a nod of the head. “Would you be willing to
take a missive to the cardinalfor me?”
“Of course,” the legateanswered.
*******************
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