1st Day of Early Autumn 768 n.c
I awoke first the next morning and lay on my sleeping mat, wrapped in a blanket to keep out the chill of the tunnel.
When Karalin began to wake next to me I quietly wished her a good morning and asked if she would prefer having a cooked breakfast or getting on our way.
"I think I'd like to get out of here as soon as possible," she whispered, "I long for forests and open skies, not stone and close ceilings."
The merchant camp had not yet woken and we managed to pack without too much noise, however the hoof-falls of our horses as we departed seemed to stir them from their slumber.
We rode on in silence, slowly eating a travelling mix of toasted oats, dried fruits, seeds and nuts. It really was a depressing place, walls and ceiling of rock and the only light was that which was provided by my staff or by other travellers. It was cold as well and slightly damp in places where water would drip out of a hole or crack in the wall to make the bottom of the tunnel slippery and slowly drip through some other crack near the floor. We passed others on the way, those who had made it in before the one day where the tunnel would likely be closed for half the day. Merchants who must have known each other grouped together in convoys of carts that were much slower than we were on our horses. We even passed some heading in the same direction as us. When we got to the number ten, we could see light in the distance and the oppressive cold and closeness of our confines seemed to lessen slightly. We had ridden underneath an entire mountain!
The great doors at the Allarth end matched those at the Carnian opening and the guard's positions were swapped around. We came across the brown and grey guards first, who waved us forward towards the Allarthian guards on the other side of the gate. Those guards asked for our names, places of birth and reason for travel. We gave religious as it matched the reason the guards the previous day had written down. The dour faced guard in the purple, black and silver merely grunted as he copied down our answers. Once he had finished with Karalin's answer, he too waved us forward.
There was no village on this side, which I felt was a significant missed opportunity. There were merely a few buildings to one side of the road that had the boring uniformity of a place that provided shelter but was in no way a 'home'. The buildings on this side were all made from something that appeared to be similar to the wattle and daub second stories of houses in Castlemere. The road ahead curved around to the right and beyond the road was a forest of trees with a light grey bark that appeared relatively smooth from a distance. Large smooth boulders littered the ground between the tree trunks. We paused just outside the gate as there weren't any other merchants or travellers waiting to go through to discuss our plans.
"The place we are headed to is straight south from here," I told Karalin as I pointed into the forest, "but that doesn't look like it would be easy to travel through."
"We could go on this road for a ways and hope that it either curves back or branches off?" She suggested.
"You're headed towards Ildra?" Came a voice from behind us, causing us to twist around in our saddles.
A younger guard in purple black and silver stood behind us, looking a bit sheepish, "sorry, you looked a bit lost and I overheard your discussion. Are you headed towards the village of Ildra?"
"We're headed to a village directly south of here," I told him, "I don't know it's name."
"It'll be the village Ildra then, that's the only village straight south of here, unless you were talking about Fort Plainsguard on the shores of Lake Arth?" He responded.
"Ildra it is then," I said with a quick glance at Karalin.
"Well then," he pointed down the road, "if you follow the road for a ways, you'll come to a bridge crossing the river, on the other side of the bridge is a path heading towards Ildra. Don't worry if you miss it, there's another road from the town of Orginath farther down the road."
"Thank you very much," I told him and flipped him a silver coin from my belt pouch.
"No thanks necessary," he said with a blush. He looked over his shoulder quickly and stammered out, "if you're heading back this way some time maybe I could buy you a meal with this then?"
"You'd have more luck with one of the serving girls at the Mink and Shovel than me," I told him kindly, hoping that his embarrassment wouldn't turn to anger. It didn't, but as we rode away we heard a raucous laughter break out amongst the older guards at the gate.
Once we got a bit farther down the road Karalin sighed, "you could have pointed him in my direction at least, he was a bit young for anything long term but not for a night in the hay."
I laughed and apologised, "sorry, on the way back then I'll point out to him how desperate you are."
She laughed and threw a handful of nuts at me, "there's no need to go quite that far."
We continued on down the road, crossing merchant caravans and other travellers all heading towards the tunnel. The road headed south for a while before curving around to the right. The mountains loomed on our right hand side like a giant wall. It stretched straight upwards hundreds of feet high before it curved off into individual mountains, as if the range were a jaw-bone with sharp pointed teeth growing out of it haphazardly. Some of the mountain tops disappeared into the clouds and those that didn't were covered in the white of snow. They were all bare, just plain rock without grass or tree. I knew from the map back in Easthaven and from now travelling almost the entire length of them that except for the barrier pass between Carn and the Orc Lands and the tunnel we had just travelled through to get to Allarth, that this mountain range completely divided Mithras extending out past the land as individual islands that curved upwards far out into the oceans.
We came to a bridge over a river after only a short time and true to the word of the guard, a road branched off to the left, following the river southwards. We took this road and followed the river until the Celestine began to get low in the sky.
"Wait!" Karalin hissed and I halted my horse immediately.
She had withdrawn her bow, nocked an arrow and was staring intently ahead of us. Some bushes ahead of us rustled and out stepped four men. They were dressed in leather and looked very dirty and unkept. They each had a weapon; the one at the front had an old slightly rusty looking sword and the others had an axe, a spear and two daggers.
A shot of fear went through me, briefly, before the reality of the situation became apparent. These were not trained soldiers or the scouting party of an army. These four men seemed no more dangerous than the orcs that I had killed in Easthaven or the goblins or troglodytes I had killed.
The one with the sword stepped forward and demanded, "give us all yer coins!"
They were a good twenty feet away from us and I pondered the wisdom of their actions. Even if I had no magic, in that distance Karalin could easily drop two of them with her bow before they got close.
I turned in my saddle a little to look at the ranger incredulously and she returned the look.
"You're not serious, are you?" I asked the bandits when I turned back to look at them, "there's just the four of you?"
They looked at each other in confusion, suddenly seeming a lot less sure of themselves. I thought that I heard the leader whisper "what do I do?"
Karalin giggled beside me, "If I may ask a question?" I queried loudly.
The leader turned back to me hesitantly and I continued, "how far is it to Ildra?'
He looked at me in confusion, his face frozen in such a way that I could almost hear him working through the situation before he answered, "about two miles that way," he stated, pointing in the general direction we were headed towards a hill that rose above the tree line about that distance away, "just over that hill there."
I hummed, "and would I be correct in guessing that you've been out here in the forest a few months causing trouble?"
One of the men at the back started nodding, but the others said nothing.
"If I may make a suggestion then?" I asked; and continued without waiting for an answer, "there is probably a reward for your capture."
Karalin added, "likely dead or alive."
I nodded, "yes, likely dead or alive. Now, we could kill you all and take you into town, but that would require dragging your corpses behind the horses, which I'm not sure they would not appreciate. How about you drop your weapons and walk ahead of us to hand yourselves in?"
One of the men at the back dropped his axe onto the ground at his feet, the thud alerting his companions and breaking them out of their stupor.
The man with the two daggers, a weasley looking fellow with a few days worth of curly sparse beard growth on his cheeks, hit his companion on the arm and pointed one of his blades at the axe before speaking up, "shut yer mouth girlie, if yer lucky enough after we're finished with you, you'll still be able to crawl!"
Karalin sighed, "should I put a shaft through his leg?"
"If you really want to," I responded, "I can keep them all tied up if you'd prefer not to sully your arrow."
"Please," Karalin said with a put-upon sense of relief.
When I turned back to the bandits, they all appeared very confused and slightly impatient. The dagger wielding man, who appeared to have taken over leadership of their pitiful band, decided at that moment to double down on his threats.
"Off yer horses girlies," he sneered as he took a step forward.
The disgusting look on his face turned rapidly to one of shock and surprise when I cast Web over them all. Close as they were to each other and in close proximity to trees; the large sticky strands of white web snared them like flies. They were all caught in the web and although they had some movement to begin with, their frantic struggles caused more strands of the web to stick until they were all fairly firmly wrapped up around each other.
"Please let us go, Mistress!" They began by pleading to be let go before they moved on to threatening us if we didn't, "if you don't free us girlie, things'll go much much worse for you!".
We both laughed as we spurred our horses onward and began to continue down the road towards Ildra. Once we passed them, they returned back to begging and pleading with one or two breaking out in tears.
Surprisingly true to their word, Ildra really was only about two miles away. We travelled over a bridge across the river and when we crested the hill we looked down into the village below. Wood paneled houses with thatched roofs were spread across a large cleared area in the forest. The hill dropped down to our right and the river curved back around it a little closer to the village. It looked like the river's natural path had been altered at one point to allow for a part of it to branch off to one side to power a large water wheel attached to the side of a grain mill. Most of the houses had a small vegetable garden behind them with a pen to hold chickens or a pig and some of those on the 'main' street had a second story above what I assumed would be shops on the ground floor. Around the edges of the village, between the houses and the forest was a semi-circle of farmland. I could see no farm houses adjacent to those fields and wondered if there were perhaps some sort of communal farming arrangement. There was a small guard tower at the edge of the village that was the first structure we saw, which held a brass bell and a young man with a bow. The spotter in the tower whistled down to some others below when we began our way down the hill and we were met by a motley group of villagers armed with a varied collection of farming equipment like spears, flails and bill hook blades on spear shafts. They seemed to relax more as we got closer, but not sufficiently to lower their weapons.
The tallest of the men stepped forward, he was balding on his head and instead of the beard that was usual in Carn he wore the hair on his face in a bushy moustache. His clothes were a little better than his fellows and less dirty.
"What is your business in Ildra?" He asked with a tone of authority lent by the many weapons behind him.
"We are looking for a black stone shrine," I told him, "that my mother described to me. I believe it's in the forest to the east?"
The man looked back towards his companions briefly, "I know of this shrine, everybody in the village knows about it. Who is your mother, for her to know about it as well?"
"Her name is Aloise Askilain, daughter of Aimee Corranna," I answered.
This caused a stir amongst the men and I overheard my grandmother's name whispered multiple times. Weapons lowered almost instantly and then men all seemed to relax, with wariness replaced with excitement.
"Welcome home!" He announced loudly when he turned around and suddenly heads appeared at the windows and bodies in the doorways of the houses around us. What appeared to be the entire village was soon assembled in front of us and I slid off my horse to make myself more accessible. Everybody gathered around us and the balding man was the first to greet me. He gave me a warm hug and a kiss on the forehead before introducing himself.
"I am Piar Anjalik, Arrakk of the village of Ildra and merchant," and I answered, "I am Sharein Askilain, an apprentice wizardess of Carn."
His eyes widened and he gasped. The sound of people gasping continued in a wave behind him.
"You're a wizardess?" He asked in an astonished manner.
"Apprentice," I corrected, but that seemed to make little difference.
Every person I was introduced to after that (possibly everybody in the village) referred to me as 'My Lady' or 'Lady Askilain' and I no longer received hugs or kisses to the forehead, but curtseys and bows.
A quick look back at Karalin resulted in raised eyebrows and a giggle that seemed to say 'better you than me.'
By the end of it I had so many names rattling around in my head, I couldn't keep track of them all. The introductions had taken a significant amount of time and I became concerned that my web spell would end soon.
It took a moment to remember the Arrakk's name, and I called to him "Piar?"
"Yes, My Lady Askilain?" He responded as he came closer, with his head bowed in a show of deference.
"We encountered some bandits near the bridge as we were approaching, they should still be stuck there," I informed him.
"Begging your pardon My Lady," he said rushed out, "your maid servant has already informed me and I've dispatched some men with weapons and a cart to bring them here."
Karalin approached us and curtseyed before saying in a ridiculously overly polite tone, "I do hope I didn't overstep My Lady?"
She looked up at me with a blank face, but laughing eyes and it took all that I could not to laugh.
"Not at all, Karalin," I managed to get out, "not at all."
"With your permission My Lady," Piar asked, "may we organise a 'welcome home' feast for you for the night meal?"
"I don't want to cause any trouble, or put you out," I demurred.
"It is no trouble, My Lady, the villagers would appreciate it and it's a tradition when an Ildra'une returns home. We will also organise the best room at the Inn for you and a room for your servant."
Curiosity had finally gotten the better of me and there weren't any other villagers around (they all seemed very busy preparing for the feast).
I asked Piar, "why do you refer to me as 'lady'?"
He look a little scandalised, "your mother never instructed you on Arithna?"
I recognised the word vaguely, but shook my head nonetheless, "I only recently found out my heritage."
"Arithna is everything to an Allarthian, it's the… ladder of people. It is how... important a person, a family is. It lets everybody know what position they stand at. At the top are the Royal Family then the nobility, priests, merchants, tradespeople, famers, freemen, serfs, slaves, outlanders and finally; the unwashed," he held his hand high at the mention of the Royal Family and lowered it down as he stated every 'rung' of the ladder with 'unwashed' finishing in the dirt at his feet. "Each rank is divided into three parts: high, middle and low. Thus there are High merchants, middle merchants or we just say 'merchants' and low merchants. The high rank arith outranks the low rank arith above it. So that a High Tradespeson outranks a low merchant. People must usually stay within the arith that they are born in, however marriage can increase a family's standing and sometimes other things can happen to suddenly increase or decrease a family's standing in Arithna. The King," he put two fingers to his forehead briefly in some sort of warding or respectful gesture, "may increase or decrease a family's arith, or a deity may pick an individual for divine favour. The people of Ildra, when they introduced themselves to you had sorted themselves, their families, according to arithna. Your situation is a little different, but the answer is clear. In Allarth, only members of the Nobility may become wizards, thus as an Allarthian; you must be a Noble." The last bit he said as if it were the most simple thing in the world, which, I suppose to him… it was.
It was then that the cart carrying the bandits arrived back over the hill, the watchman in the tower called down to Piar moments before they came into our sight. The web spell had ended, but the four men were tied up tight, with rope bound around them such that they were sat together with their backs to each other. Some of the villagers that accompanied the cart untied the single rope that bound them all together and pulled them down from the back of the vehicle revealing that secondary ropes held their hands together behind their backs.
The men looked towards me for instruction, for some reason and I looked questioningly at Piar.
He coughed into a fist and said quietly to me, "they should be taken to the justice grounds. You have already judged their guilt, else you would not have taken them captive."
I tried to protest, "I haven't judged their guilt, I only took them captive because they tried to rob me."
Piar smiled at me, "thus, you have judged their guilt. You are noble, and therefor able to determine guilt or innocence of a crime. All that is left is to pronounce the sentence."
I let out a little 'oh' and then told the men, "take them to the… uh, justice grounds?"
"Yes My Lady!" They exclaimed and pushed the bound men in front of them roughly towards a field on one side of the village. Other men carried weapons to escort them and ensure no escape. The four bound men appeared very distressed. Now that they were captured by the villagers, they seemed to realise how much trouble they were in.
We left our horses where they were and the two of us followed Piar, his men and the bandits.
Karalin whispered, "nobility, eh?"
I whispered back, "I'm not a judge, nor a mayor. How do I decide what punishment these men must face?"
She shrugged, "maybe ask the mayor what the usual punishment is?"
I nodded in agreement, it was good advice.
I did not get the opportunity to ask Piar, as he preempted my question with one of his own, "do you pronounce the sentence of death, My Lady?"
"What?" I almost shrieked in incredulity, I was not about to capture these men only to kill them or have them killed, "no. Not death."
Piar nodded and announced, "Lady Askilain shows mercy!"
This pronouncement caused a small cheer to erupt from the crowd that had gathered. I felt relieved at this reaction as it seemed that the village was approving of it. Before I could ask Piar if there was a goal that they could be sent to, villagers carried out a large stump of wood and a large axe. A man, who appeared to be the local blacksmith carried a tool that looked similar to a metal hoe, but the end glowed yellow from the forge.
I looked on in confusion at what was happening, the villagers unbound the hands of one of the men but wrapped the rope around one of his wrists which was then forced down to rest on the stump. The bandit was crying and pleading with the villagers to let him go.
"Oh," Karalin whispered and I turned to look at her. She had a look of horror on her face.
When I turned back to the spectacle that was in front of us, it was just in time to see a villager bringing the axe down onto the bandit's wrist, separating his arm into two. The noise of the crowd cheering drowned out the blood curdling scream of the handless bandit and one of his companions violently vomited onto the ground. The blacksmith stepped forward at this point and placed the glowing end of this tool against the stump of the man's arm, resulting in an audible hiss, a disturbing smell and another scream of pain that ended abruptly when the man feinted.
"No, no no," I said to myself in horror, Piar looked at me questioningly and I said louder to him, "I didn't say to do this! Isn't there some sort of goal or prison?"
He just smiled at me and said with a shrug, "the only punishment for banditry is the loss of a hand, or death."
I knew that I was forced into it, but somehow felt responsible for this situation. Because of this I forced myself to remain and watch the dismemberment of the remaining men. I told Karalin to leave and not watch but was resolute in her determination to stay with me.
AUTHORS NOTES:
Sorry for the big delay. Real life intervened, but I'm back and writing again! Yay!
HUGE thanks to Nathaly2005 for the author follow
Havok22: Not much down time ;-) I miss Shard too :(