the Leathermines

A drawing of a rose

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War council.  There had been gatherings, meetings before.  That morning, after the morning household gathering and meal, many people stayed in the Great Hall for the news and serious business of the day.

Dreng was in charge.  There was no doubt about that.  He had taken a white sheet from the laundry, since he knew where it was, and put it on the floor.  Starting from the middle of the Midlands, people were creating a map.  Charred sticks from the fires were used to mark mountains and rivers and cities.  The land around the Salam-Dir  household was well marked and the different wards tried to put their blood households on the map, too.

It took close to an hour for the map to come together.  Some discussion happened between those marking and those observing.  The map was fairly complete and attention started to drift, so Dreng stood and paced the outside of the map.

“We have here the kingdom that we live in.  It is made of land and water and mountains.  But more importantly, it is made of people.”  Dreng stood on the mark for the Capitol City.  “Right now, people who are led by my son are in control.”  He turned and pointed at Jake.  “You have the most current news from outside.  Tell us.”

Dreng went back to his bench seat and drank from a mug handed to him by the laundress that had been his escort the day before.  Laun noticed the hand on her leg and smiled. »Read More

Back to  Chapter 37 - If this is the first Chapter you have seen, start back at Chapter 1

The day was promising to be a good one.  Quiet preparations for Dreng’s birthday were underway, the celebration to be during the household dinner that night.  Dreng must have known something was up, but he was busy helping one of the young female servants carry some of the laundry from the rooms he and his men had taken back and forth to the keeps’ laundry, keeping him busy for most of the day.

Laun had been out on the horse several days in a row, learning from both the mare and Fount how to ride.  The training for the palfrey was subtle, the way the beast moved under her and felt the directions sometimes even before Laun thought she had given them.  Her back and legs were tired, but she was settling into the role of rider.  This had been after a session with the protectors, learning and re-learning movements that were both dance and weapons-work.

Word came from the protectors that there was someone with mules coming up the road.  Laun paced Grace back to the stable and headed for her chamber.  She sent out word to the household that they had a possible ally coming, and they were not to mention her by name, or gender.

Edgar was the one who greeted the man.  He was kept in the Great hall as the evening’s preparations were made around him.  He had hot tea and fresh bread in his hand and his stomach.  Neils sat next to him and, for once, drew out stories from the man instead of expounding upon his own.  Orgia sized him up and offered him a basin with water and a cloth to clean himself with.  He was comfortable and drowsy from the fire at his back, the food in his belly and the welcoming companionship letting him relax. »Read More

Back to Chapter 35

The curtains shaded the lamp light into the sleeping area.  Laun woke and was aware that she was watching the flickering of the lamplight on the sheer curtains.  She could not tell what time it was, but it must have been early as the lamp seemed to be the only light in the room.

She started to carefully turn under the covers.  Her back was a low tone in her body, her legs singing of the fatigue that had set in.  Her bladder, on the other hand, was the loudest of all.  She had to get out of the bedding or else it would be a very wet morning.

She listened for other breath sounds so she knew how to move.  She did not want to disturb whomever might be in the bed with her.  She heard the slight pop coming once in a while from the lamp, but that was it.

Laun moved the covers aside and pulled herself upright.  She was alone.  It was the first night in over a month that she did not have at least one person in under the covers with her.  She panicked for a moment, thinking that there had been an emergency in the keep and that she had been left behind.  Then the sleepy, but more reasonable, part of her mind took over and she thought about it.

From piles of people to alone.  It was natural for people to change and since coming back into the castle and keep, there had been a drift to have people pair up and sleep in the traditional places, such as the room full of stacked beds for the wardsmen. Edgar had started to spend most nights outside of the sleeping chamber.  Even Fount had been absent more before the last week. »Read More

Back to Chapter 33

Laun was up close to first light.  One of the men had risen at some point and left.  She remembered the movement but had fallen back into the nightmares.  She woke suddenly as a tip-tap on the window sounded out the rain that was on them for the day.

Laun was wrapped around Jaso and it took a while to disentangle from him without waking him.  Her mind was still partially remembering the need to run, to escape left from the dream.  The lists of things that she wanted to do, needed to do that day started to shade out the nightmare, cover it.  It still lent an urgency to her waking and leaving the chamber.

She pulled the robe on.  It was cold in the room, especially after the enclosed sleeping area.  She lit the candle on the table from the low lantern on the wall and sat, laying out the papers Gismar had drafted the day before.  She opened the journal and went directly to the pages Geralk had marked.

Laun looked at the journal and the papers for about half an hour, still no closer to finding if there was a connection or code.  Her mind just was not used to unraveling that type of mystery.

She left the papers on the table and slipped on a tunic.  She was out of the room and on her way to the privy when it finally sunk in.  Lady Hellon had been connected to the greyworld somehow.  It was obvious now.  Laun had seen the clapperless bells, broken keys, broken locks and grey ribbons before.  They had been tied around gifts or attached to little things that were sometimes given to her Mistress, usually from someone who was a courier for someone else. »Read More

Back to Chapter 32

Laun read and reread the journal that evening.  It had become easier for her to read and now she was glad of it.  Her writing still left much for her to desire, but the reading made her proud.

Gismar had the backs of the tapestries written out.  He had things underlined that had been underlined.  He had the dots.  And she noticed that her mother’s name was one of the last in the list, with hers next to it, and with the three dots.  Lennie’s had two and a slash.

She had to put the journal to the side.  The information in there was good, a look at the household and guests from another point of view.  But there was something more.  Something that Laun could see the tip of, but could not find which way to pull it out, a mental sliver that was itching in the back of her brain.  The tapestries gave more information, but without knowing what the information really was, it was useless.

The four men were seated around her during the night’s meal watching her read while absently taking food from her trencher.  She wiped her hand on her tunic several times until one of them handed her a cloth.  When she put the journal down, most of the people in the Great Hall had eaten and were now talking about the day, a few trying to start up a round of song.  She had even missed Dreng trying to be pompous over one of his nobles right before Emmy came running up and hit him with a flower, declaring him ‘it’.  Many people could not but laugh for minutes afterwards.

Laun put the book on the table and picked up a tankard that she thought she had drunk from.  It was almost empty, so she made her way through the crowd, stopping and greeting along the way.  The side board had just an herbal infusion available that night, pungent and sweet.  She filled the tankard up and made her way through the people again, trying to greet different people. »Read More

Back to Previous Chapter 31

“...and bloody time, too...”  Orgia was directing the removal of most of the bedding from Laun’s sleeping chambers.  She had a few plans when it was to be put back in, a more traditional room, with chairs and a table.  But that would have to be done when Laun was not around.  One of the things Orgia had found about Laun was that the young Lady did know her mind, but sometimes her decisions were not the best.  At least from Orgia’s standpoint.

The tapestries were one thing that Laun had specificly asked to be taken down and aired.  Orgia wondered what had been taking place that may have led to that, but the chatelaine found that Laun was right to want them aired out.  They seemed musty, and with the cold coming soon, it was better to do it now.

Laun came from one of the harvesting houses and saw the tapestries laid out along the bushes by the road.  Some of them were being beaten with willow branches, the whippy sticks letting small puffs of dust into the air at each hit.  A few of the servants were inspecting the tapestries and making minor repairs as they found gaps and holes.  Laun picked up corners of the tapestries, looked at the repair work being done and noted the faded colors of the generations old hangings.

Laun finally found the two she wanted. The Orchard, with the apple trees, the road that seemed to encircle it and the little house.  And the Castle with the keep surrounding it, a road coming up to it’s gate.  The Lady went to turn the Orchard over and found that it was heavier than the other tapestries.  She had to enlist the help of several of the others to fold the Orchard in half.  She looked and did not see the holes that she had looked through as a child.  She did see some words.  They were picked out in slightly different colors from the backing material, odd little embroidered knots in sets of three and four after each word. »Read More

Back to Chapter 30

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Laun could not sleep.  The number of bodies did not matter.  There had been a few people who asked to come into the sleeping room that Laun welcomed that night.  She had then been invited to participate in their amorous pursuits.  Laun did not have to feign a headache, but asked them to continue.  She was fascinated with the different way people did the same things.  And that night, she was introduced to women going down on men.

It was educational and entertaining.  She knew she would have to try it out herself at some point.  Just not right then.  Others came in, some for sleep, some for something a little more active.  Laun welcomed all.

Close to mid night, most of the people around her seemed to be asleep.  The ones not were soon to be by the time it took them to answer the lover’s talk.  Laun could not sleep.  And Edgar had not come to bed.  And neither had Fount.

One or the other, not unusual as they had set up some sort of schedule.  Laun had not been able to talk to Edgar about the three who had been sent out yet.  He needed to know that night.

Laun got up and pulled on a tunic.  She was not sure it was the one she had been wearing before she went to bed.  It smelled like lavender and tallow, not the sweat and dust that she thought hers had.  She motioned to the privy to the wardsman standing outside the door and he nodded. »Read More