the Leathermines

Back to Chapter 11 - The start of the Chronicles of the Midlands starts with The Slave Warrior Chapter 1

 

 

This day was when Falmir and Dreng were leaving.  They had tried for several days in a row.  Something came up each day, including a storm that wet the road too much to move the barricade.

Two groups were leaving.  One for Dreng and one for Falmir.  Soldiers and servants and nobles were mixed for each group, many of them very sad to be leaving the Salam-Dir lands.

The older nobles were mostly going with Dreng and his wife.  Most of the younger nobles were going with Falmir.  The Officers and soldiers were split between the groups, leaving several squads from the Fourth stationed with their Princess.

Laun was on her cot in the Great Hall, still having problems moving on her own.  She said farewell to many of the people who were leaving, tears and kisses being given to nobles and officers alike.  Dougal stood next to Laun as the men went by to say their farewells, giving warriors grips and slaps on the arms and backs of those about to make the journey to the Capitol City.

The mass of people were out of the Great Hall.  The noise faded as they went through the different courtyards and out to the road.  The people who were left gathered together as if they needed the crowd to feel comfortable.  A few tables and benches were pulled over to near Laun’s cot, a sequestered small cask of hard cider opened and shared between them.  Even Laun had a sip as the tankard was passed.

The household was on it’s own again.  Changes were already being felt as the staff sat and just did nothing for the first time in almost a month.  The people who were staying were just a small fraction of those who had gathered there for a month, the household outnumbering them.

The troupe were staying for a bit.  Some of the men were taking to the training that the protectors were offering, some of the protectors learning some moves from the strongman and wrestlers.  Nan was up and starting on her forms between feeding the kid and sleeping.  She was already outpacing some of the sturdy men in the learning grove.  The other women protectors were also getting back into training, some with their newborns strapped to them.

The babies needed to be named and blessed.  Many already had names, but a few of the women wanted to wait until the blessing to tell of the name chosen for their child, so not to tempt the Gods taking the child.  It was something Laun wanted and needed to do as the head of the household.  She had put it off for almost too long.  Laun talked to the shamen and they found good ways to do a group blessing so that Laun would not have to perform the rituals over and over for each individual child.

That would still be later.  Laun just hoped that she did not give birth before the blessings for the other children.  Right now, they had to recover from their guests.

Orgia leaned against her husband and Geralk put his arm around her.  “I am not going to miss that.  Too many midnight cooking sessions.”

There were tired nods.  It was not yet mid day, but the ability to just sit for a while made many of them start to slip into sitting naps.  The chatelaine found herself starting to nod off and pushed herself away from her man, a yawn coming from her.  “Still things to do.  Cannot just be lazy.”  She stood, holding the hand of her husband and said, “Kitchen needs to be torn apart and put back together, now that we have the time.”

Groans were sounded by those she was talking to.  They stood and waved or nodded to those still gathered in the shrinking group in the room.  Several others sighed after they were gone and got up to go to their duties, too.  The group was getting smaller until Dougal, Edgar and Laun were the only ones not following their guilt to their jobs.

Laun pushed herself up and was sitting on the cot, her legs dangling slightly off the edge.  She had to move forward on the canvas to be able to put her feet to the floor.  “Pillar said that they were going to leave the prisoner without too many drugs in his system starting today.  I should go and see if talking with him in his sleep has done anything.”

Edgar stood and offered hands for support as she pushed herself up off the cot.  She steadied herself on him and Laun leaned on him, feeling his strength trickle into her.  She raised her head and his lips met hers.  They parted slightly and he whispered, “If you need help, I will be a call away.”  He pressed his lips to hers again and gently held her.  For a moment.

Laun put her head on his chest and sighed.  “I love you.”  Edgar’s hand gently held the back of her head, stroking slightly down her unbound hair.  She relaxed and started to step back, his arms going around her to help steady her.

Dougal stood.  “Well, as heir presumptive, I guess I should go and do something useful.  I’ll go and see what the mason and his crew are doing.”  He nodded and strode out of the Great Hall.

Edgar escorted Laun through the bowels of the keep and to the garden.  The three remaining healers were standing around the shed talking to each other in low tones.  Lucaris saw Laun and Edgar and the three of them turned and waited.

Laun leaned slightly heavily on Edgar’s arm as they stood a pace away from the healers.  “What is the word?”

“He is lucid but confused.  If that makes any sense,” Pillar said in a low tone.

Laun took in a breath and sighed it out.  “Well, if I may, I would like to see how he is doing.”  The three healers nodded at each other and then to Laun.

A chair was in beside the prisoner’s cot.  Laun was helped in and sat, looking at the man she had been talking to, but not talking to, for several weeks.  The slings were set up slightly differently, allowing him some movement.  He was not moving much though as he looked like a cornered animal in the shed.

Laun put her hands over her belly and found a comfortable angle to be in.  She tilted her head slightly and watched him.  She let the silence lay heavy for several minutes before deciding she had to say something.  “You are better, but they say that you could easily break yourself again.”

His eyes flicked to the gap in the poles and past to the women healers who were still standing outside the shed.  He looked back at Laun and slowly nodded to her.  She saw that his jaw was clenched and a muscle tensed along his bare arm.  He was testing himself to see how much he could do.  Both a good thing and a bad thing.

Laun leaned forward slightly.  “I would prefer not to have to kill you after putting in so much time getting you patched up.  Relax.”

She saw a ‘no’ motion in his head and his legs slowly moved.  He was stretching and moving as he could.  Laun saw the pounce he was leading to.

“You have been under for more than a week.  Your body will not work right.  Or do you have such a death wish that you want to see the children again so soon?”

He stopped.  His eyes went wide and he clutched at his shoulder when he moved it slightly.

“You know that Blue Master doesn’t care about who you are, what your past was.  You are her tool.  A broken tool right now.”

He tried to speak and looked surprised at himself.  His voice was horse and he stopped after the first gravely noises.  Then he looked back at Laun and said in a rough voice, “I either complete my mission and die or just die.”

Laun felt a sneer on her lip and pushed her lips together to stop it.  She nodded to him and said, “She knew you were dead as soon as she gave you the contract.  You forfeit your life when you go into the guild.  That is the way of it.”

His eyes went to the floor of the small shed and then back up to Laun’s eyes.  “Why...  Why haven’t you killed me?”

Laun smiled.  She was not sure how it came across, but she felt a mixture of wickedness and bloodlust as she said, “It is much more fun if my subjects are not hurt.  At least until I start.”  She saw his eyes go big.  “I know enough just with you being here that I don’t need to get much more information out of you.  Having you break your shoulder has delayed my time with you, but I hope that your dreams while you were healing were pleasant enough to keep you going.”

There was a glazed look that went over his eyes.  He refocused on her and said, “Your voice.  You were in my dreams.”  He looked away and was quiet.

“It was what I could give you so that you would heal.  I am sure that you miss them greatly, but you are here now and they are not.”

“Drugged me so that I would talk.”

Laun nodded.  “But you did not say anything about your Masters or the guild.  Just of the sadness that you have been holding inside you since they died.”

He looked back, the look on his face much sterner, much more closed.  “Because they died, I became an assassin.  To get revenge.”

Laun leaned back.  She saw the anger that was now just below the surface in the man.  “Did you ever get your revenge?”

He flexed his hands as if he was reliving something.  “I even was paid to do it.  That made it so much sweeter.”

“You haven’t told anyone about that, have you.”

Uncertainty flashed across his face.  “Only those who could not answer back.”  He seemed to relax some.

Laun nodded.  “Good.  Now that we have that out of the way, I will give you another choice.”

The cornered animal look came back over the man.  “What do you want?”

Laun shook her head.  “It isn’t what I want.  It is what you want.  Having failed in your mission and not having been killed, I give you some options to think about.  I will not take your answer now as you need to think about things, first.”

“What are the choices you offer me?”

Laun brought up her hands, palm side up.  “You live.  You cut ties with the guild and become one of my rogues.  You pledge yourself to me.”  She turned one of her hands palm side down.  “You die.  At my hand and with your knife.  You would be with your family again.”

Laun held her hands like that for a few moments.  She slowly lowered her hands to her sides until they touched the sides of the chair seat.  She watched his eyes dart around the small space until they came back to her.  She nodded to him and went to stand.  It took some effort, but she was able to do so by herself.  She stood over him for as long as she could before she had to move or sit again.

Kell and Pillar were at her sides as she came out into the garden.  They helped her over to a bench by the rosemary bushes, Edgar coming from the patrol platform.

“No problems?”  Edgar turned his head slightly so that he faced only Laun as he spoke.

Laun shrugged slightly.  “Not that I could see.  He has been given a choice.”

Kell looked sour as she said, “And I know he will choose to die.  He is the type.  You should have just killed him when you had the chance instead of wasting what medicines we had on him.”

Laun held her hands out, one palm up, one palm down.  “It is his choice if he lives or dies.  I hope he will choose to live.”

Lucaris nodded.  “I’ll go check on him.”  

The healer walked away and Laun was suddenly very tired as she sat in the garden.  Her stomach and back both felt odd, as if she had to visit the privy, but the feeling only lasted for a moment.  “Now that there isn’t much to do, I think I should go and lay down for a while.”

Edgar again had Laun’s hand as they walked through the keep.  Laun made it as far as the Great Hall and lay on the cot.  It took a while for her to get comfortable again, but she finally relaxed enough to be able to have a conversation without stopping to breathe through the pain in her back.

Edgar saw that Laun was loosing her fight with sleep and excused himself to go practice with the protectors.  Laun did dip in and out of sleep, but would wake as people went through the Great Hall, some coming to talk with her for a moment, some just passing through on their way to another job.

Wanda came and sat with Laun for a while as she napped.  Adelmar had told her to watch the Lady, to see how she did things and to learn from it.  Wanda was not sure how watching a pregnant woman sleep would help her, but she did it.  Laun smiled and thanked Wanda for being with her and dozed off again.  Orgia came out with a few mugs and set them next to Wanda.  There was a nod from the chatelaine and Wanda nodded back.

The large form of Hunter came in, remarkably soft in step when he saw that Laun was lying down and her eyes were closed.  Wanda watched him come up to Laun and kneel by the cot.  Laun opened her eyes and smiled as his hand touched her cheek.  The girl took one of the mugs and turned slightly away, looking like she was drinking as she watched the two adults.

“My Love, are you well?”  His voice was soft and low.  His fingers stroked the Princess’ face and she slowly blinked at him.

“Yes, Love.  Tired.  That is the way of things right now.  How is the transfer of mounts to the courtyard stable?”

He shrugged.  “I am keeping the work horses out in the outer stable for now.  Everything needs to be mucked out.  But the horses are happier to have more room.  I hobbled some of the horses in the field where the company used to be.”

Laun looked confused.  “I thought we still had some soldiers.”

Hunter nodded.  “They moved to where the nobles had been camped.  A little more room, and the rain channels are already dug.”

Laun smiled and put her hand on Hunter’s chest.  “Always practical.”  Her eyes went wide and she sucked her breath in.  “We never talked to Falmir and Dreng again about Nestwood!  Crap!”

Hunter leaned down and kissed her gently on the cheek.  “It doesn’t matter right now.  It is still there and I will be here with you for as long as you will wish it.”

Laun blushed slightly and her head went down to the thin pillow on the cot.  “You will be here for a while, then.  Though I don’t know why you would want to be around such a cow-”

He put his finger over her mouth and she quieted.  “I hope I say this right but it is what is in your head that has kept you so beautiful to me.”

The Lady giggled and nodded.  She kissed his finger and he moved it so she could speak.  “I’ll take it as you intend, Love.”

Wanda was open mouthed as she watched them.  She didn’t even pretend to drink from her forgotten mug.  She watched them gently kiss and then the huge man stood and backed away, a slight nod to the girl as well as the Lady.  Laun looked at the girl and motioned for the other mug.  She sipped on it as she watched the man go out to the courtyard again.

Some of the kitchen staff came out and started to clean one of the fireplaces.  There had only been cursory cleanings as they could while the two hundred plus people were there.  Laun and Wanda watched as pieces of unburnt logs were uncovered from the ash, buckets of the char being taken away to be put with the candle and soap making supplies.  Brushes and mapples were used to scrape the soot down to the stone, water only being used on the very last of the stains.  A torch was lit and several people stood in the fireplace holding the light up into the flue and chimney, low talk between them about getting up to the top with drop brushes drifted to Laun.

Laun motioned to one of the staff and he came over.  He made a small bow and waited as Laun swallowed the last of her water.  “Get together with the carpenters and mason before cleaning the chimneys.  I think I saw a shift in one of the stacks last time I was up on the walkway.  Thank you.”  The man looked concerned and nodded, backing away a step before turning and walking quickly back to the fireplace and the other staff.

From a lover to a leader, that was what Wanda saw.  The Lady seemed to have the same smile for everyone.  The Princess leaned the mug on the cot and put her head back down again, a slight burp coming out as she did so.  Her eyes were closed and she seemed to be asleep in a moment.

The girl sat and looked around the large room, looking up at the clear glass windows along the upper part of the walls.  The beams that held the roof up looked big and solid.  Wanda wondered if they could climb up and attach ropes for twirling practice.  She counted the places she would put long ropes from the beams and connecting ropes or nets.

Wanda looked back down and saw that the Lady was watching her.  “What were you thinking of, Sweeting?”

The girl shrugged.  “Hanging rope from the beams for twirling.  That would be at least ten arm-lengths of rope just to get up there.  That doesn’t count any tie-offs in the rigging.”

Laun blinked.  “That is well thought out.  You help with the rigging for the troupe?”

Wanda nodded, a slight flush going over her face.  “Been doing it for a while now.  The tightrope always needs adjusting, so I was shown how so I can do it in the middle of the shows.  An’ then I do some of the twirling rigging ‘cause I can climb good.”

Laun smiled and Wanda had to smile back.  “That is good to know.  Do you think you know enough that you could teach it to our protectors?”

She shook her head and looked at the mug in her hands.  “No, Laun.  Beety is the rigger.  I just help some.”

“Well, then, perhaps you can show some of the apple harvesters some of the rope stuff.  It would be nice to be able to climb up without using all those little branches.”

The girl did not notice the knowing glint in Laun’s eye as she said, “Ah, sure!  To get apples?  Easy.  Heck, I once did some twirling riggin’ down south in one of those tall trees with the big nuts.  But not in orange trees an’ stuff.  They break easy.”

Laun sighed.  “I haven’t had an orange in quite some time.  I love oranges.”

Wanda lit up.  “Me, too!  Like the oranges with the big skins.  They are the sweetest.  But...yea.  I haven’t had any since we left the Capitol City.”

Laun was about to speak again when she saw a soldier coming into the Great Hall and running to her.  She saluted first, the soldier getting a pace from the cot, saluting and dropping his hand as he stopped.  “Highness, messengers are at the barricade.  One from the Capitol City for the King and one who will only talk to you.  The second one said something about time flows like sand.”

Laun closed her eyes and thought for a moment.  She sighed and shifted on the cot before saying, “Bring them both here under guard.”  The soldier saluted and ran back out into the summer heat.

Laun looked at the girl and said, “I need you to do a few things for me.  We have about half an hour before they get here and I would like a few things ready before then.  Can you run?”

Wanda stood and nodded vigorously.  Laun gave the girl a list, places to go to and people to tell and one particular thing to be brought to her.  Laun saw the girl count with her fingers as she repeated the list back without prompting.  The girl started off and then turned while still running and bowed, flipping back around to continue on.

“Orgia!” Laun called out.  The chatelaine’s head popped out of one of the kitchen doors and looked at Laun.  “If I may have some tea and several mugs available in about half an hour. Please?”  The older woman nodded her head and disappeared back into the kitchen.

Refreshments.  Her bell.  Gismer or Geralk.  And Silar.

Laun ran through the things she had asked for and it struck her that if the messenger was really from one of the clapperless bell people, possibly even the Sand Master as she suspected, showing them anything could be used against the household.  If they knew that Falmir had come here and now was gone, perhaps it was too late to sell that information.  But, they were to come to her with what ever message they had.  Silar should be able to determine if it was from Sand or another Master of the information gatherers.

Laun pushed herself up slightly, knocking the mug almost to the floor.  She grabbed it and put it deliberately on the floor.  It occurred to her that she did not know how Silar had gone from knowing...no, working for Blue Master in the assassins’ guild to working for Sand in the information gatherers.  It did not really matter, but it was a missing piece of his puzzle that was glaring out at Laun right then.

She was still thinking of the puzzle, and the night at Sand Master’s estate, when Gem came to her.  “The girl said you needed me?”

Laun nodded.  “Messengers.  And possibly one is from Sand Master.”

Gem’s face had an odd look to it for a moment.  “From the gatherers?”  Laun nodded.  “Now I know why she said you wanted your hair brushed.”  Gem brought out the silver brush and comb set that Ithian had given Laun from under her tabard.  A clapperless bell on a grey ribbon was tied to the handle of the brush.

Laun was sitting on the cot, her hair brushed to a sheen and braided tightly as the messengers were escorted in.  Laun motioned to the benches on either side of her after the men bowed.  Tea was brought and both of the messengers took a mug.  One of the messengers started drinking immediately, the other held it to his lips for a moment, looking around and taking in what he could before sipping cautiously from the hot liquid.

The two dark green dressed servants keeling behind the Princess seemed to be keeping an eye on the men who were sitting with her.  Then another man came into the large room drawing attention away from the others along the wall near the kitchen.

Silar nodded to Laun and looked between the men on the benches.  Laun turned her head towards the man she thought was the messenger from the information gatherer and the dark man went to that man’s side.  Silar bent down and whispered something, the mask the man was using to show only calm dropping for a moment.  Laun could hear some of the response to Silars call.  “...runs through the hourglass...”

Silar nodded to Laun and backed off, joining the people along the wall.  Wanda had been behind him and ran to the safety of the group.

“Thank you for your patience, good gentles.  I am very heavy with child and cannot meet people as I would like.”

The messenger from the Capitol City raised his mug and said, “You are ever a good hostess, Highness.  My Lord told me that I would be taken care of when I delivered his message to the King.  Where is he?”

Laun smiled and raised her hands palm side up in an openly embarrassed manner.  “I am afraid you missed him by a few hours.  He is on his way back to the Capitol City.”

The messenger looked at his tea and shook his head.  “Damn.  It isn’t really important, but the message was somewhat time-constrained.  My Lord would like to invite the King and his people to a gathering.  It is in about a week and I am not sure if I can catch up and deliver this message in time.”

“We have had many offers to the King for him to meet with people.  I know my Father would consider such requests after getting to the Palace.  It may be too late by then, as you noted.”  Laun took a sip of her own tea and then balanced the mug on her lap as she played with the end of her braid.

The man sighed.  “I needs get back to the City, then.  I did not pass him on the way here, so he must have gone a different route.”  The man stood and bowed to Laun.  “Thank you for your kindness, Highness.”  He backed up a step and then turned to leave.

“Be careful going back out.  I hear there may be bandits along the river road.”

The man stopped and turned back.  “I had not heard that, Highness.  Thank you, I will be careful.”  He continued on and out of the Great Hall, a nod and a wave of two fingers sent two soldiers to escort the man.

Laun sat and looked at the other man as she played with her braid.  He sipped on his tea and stared back.  He was unremarkable in many ways with dark brown eyes in a lightly sunburnt face.  Laun smiled and slightly tilted her head, her eyes going up and down the man in a deliberate manner.  His clothing was dusty, but in good repair with a fine cloth and cut in dark brown colors.  She saw when his eye caught on the bell charm tied to her braid.  The people around her were quiet, waiting.

“The message?”  Laun smiled at the man.

He looked around and seemed reluctant to say anything.  “Highness.  Perhaps in private?”  His voice was calm but perhaps a bit high in pitch.

“I know you would feel more comfortable with less people around you.  I don’t.  They are my family and my conscience.  Tell me or hand me the message.”

He looked at the tea in his hand and then put the mug down on the bench next to him.  A hand went to a small pouch and a metal cylinder was brought out.  The messenger stood and was about to hand it to Laun when Hazalam stood from in back of her.  The messenger stopped and waited for the servant to come around to take the cylinder.

Hazalam carefully broke the seal and pulled the two pieces of metal apart.  A piece of paper fell to the floor from within along with a few grains of sand.  Hazalam picked up the paper, unfolded it and shook out more sand.  He was satisfied of the message after he glanced at Silar who nodded to the assassin.  He knelt and presented the message to his Mistress.

Laun felt a little bemused but tried to look calm as she took the message from his hand.  Her hands were puffy and did not want to keep ahold of the paper at first.  She read the message and then read it again.  She smiled and looked at the man in front of her.

“Your Master has great confidence in someone he has only met once.”  Laun leveled her gaze and tried to be unblinking as she looked at the messenger standing before her.

He looked slightly confused.  “Highness?”

Laun leaned forward and winced.  She could not hide that her back suddenly tensed and flared, a wave of pain and tightness going through her belly.  She held her breath for a moment and then let out a bit of a sigh.  “I’ll try to make this short.  You are to stay here in my care until, and if, Sand Master comes for you.”

He blinked.  He went to sit down on the bench and almost missed.  “My Master... What?”

Laun held up the creased paper and said, “Since you are his apprentice...  He rescued you from Grier house, along with many others that were being held.  He feels that I am the best candidate to keep you safe from Falmir and the Rosemond council.”  Laun laughed.  Several of the others along the wall chuckled and Hazalam, now kneeling in front of his Mistress, had to turn away from the messenger before he burst out laughing.

Laun motioned the paper towards the stunned man and Hazalam took it across the space from her hand to his.  The man read the message and read it again.  He held it up to the light and then shook his head when he did not find any odd secret messages hidden beneath the writing.  “If the Master says it is to be so...  He was acting oddly before I left.”  He looked around again, as if seeing the place for the first time.

“I gave your Master information in exchange for his hospitality.  It led to your recovery from the hands of your captors.  I am not sure if the debt now incurred is mine or his.”  Laun held out her hand to the man.  “What shall I call you?”

It took him a moment to stand and go to her.  He took her hand with a closed fist and barely touched his lips to her knuckles before saying, “I am Verat Longhorn, Highness.”

Laun smiled.  “Please call me Laun.  Welcome to Salam-Dir and my rouges, Verat.”

Orgia stepped forward and looked the man up and down.  “Now that we have room, we’ll put you into the wards room for now.  You will get used to it.”  The chatelaine motioned and one of the staff came forward.  “Show him around and get some of the road off of him.”

“It looks like you are already being taken care of.  I’ll see you later and we can talk.”  Laun leaned sideways trying to relieve some of the discomfort running through her lower body.

Verat stood and bowed to Laun before following the household staff member.  He was gone and the talk that had been suppressed came out all at once.  Laun was not one of those talking.  She held out her mug to her man and he took it and then helped her to lay back down again in the cot.

Silar came to Laun and knelt.  “Mistress?  What did the message say?”

Laun breathed deeply and let out her breath slowly before saying, “Just what I said, except that Sand believes that he will be dead within a month.  He did not say from whom or what.”

Gismer came from the wall and showed Laun the notes he had taken about the meeting.  Laun thanked him and he went off to file the paper in with the other notes and lists in the library.  Laun looked after him and sighed.  She liked having the notes to refer back to, but it was dangerous having them around and uncoded.  She hated thinking like that, but she could not bring herself to believe that the war was over.  Information of any sort could be used against them.

Laun felt a kick from inside and her bowels responded.  She started to push herself up off the cot and found many hands to aide her.  She normally would motion them away, but she was not feeling well enough to try to stand on her own.  In fact, she tried to stand with the help, and her back spasmed making her sit down again.

“I need help...  If I don’t get to the privy, it could be messy.”

There was a slight discussion and then Laun was told to lay back down.  The cot it’s self was used to carry their Lady to the privy, a person on each corner as they walked her through the corridors.

It did not take her long to empty what was there.  It felt like there was more that wanted to come out, but it just didn’t.  She waited a few more minutes before being helped back to the cot and then up to the room and her much more comfortable bed.

Laun was getting bored with laying down all the time, but it was what she could do.  She started to read one of the books that she had brought with her from the manor library.  She had thought she was going to leave the books when she was packing, but then an empty chest appeared and the books fit in it.  A few more than she thought she might want, too.

Lying on the bed, propped up on her side was not conducive to reading and staying awake.  She kept finding that her eyes were crossing and she would close them and then wake sometime later, the book open with her hand holding her place.  She finally just closed the book and closed her eyes.

It may have been the reading material, one of the law books, that had been putting her to sleep.  She felt as though the sleep that was taking her over before was being elusive without the book open in front of her.  She opened her eyes again and found that the night lamps had been lit and that there was just a soldier and a protector that looked in when she called out softly.

Night lamps in Summer.  She had missed evening meal.  But she had been tired and in pain.  She had wanted to do the blessing that night.  It would have to wait one more day.

 

Chapter 13, where the naming ceremony has an extra person to name.