See chapter 1 for disclaimers.
Chapter 11: A Common Man's Worth
"Uncle! Uncle!"
Jebel turned at the cry. The repairs to the fence holding their cows were complete and he was catching his breath before tackling his next task. The previous day's storm had done a lot of damage, and everyone was working to the point of exhaustion to repair the damage and salvage what they could of the harvest. There were also repairs to be made as there were indications that there might be more bad weather to come.
Mijad came to a stop a few feet away, panting. The five-year-old was supposed to be helping his mother and cousin. Whatever had diverted him seemed urgent, though.
"What's wrong?" He glanced in the direction of the farm house, hoping there were no emergencies there. The building had come through the storm mostly intact. The original structure was well-built, and the efforts he and Trentes had made to accommodate the expanded family had held up well. What work needed to be done there, after the storm passed, was mostly cleanup.
"There's a white man in the river."
"Huh?" He hadn't expected that. What was the boy doing at the river, especially with it in its current state? White man?
"I saw him! He was hangin' onto a log stuck at the bend."
Deciding there were more important issues than his nephew ducking out on chores, he told the boy to lead the way. They made good time despite the muddy fields and necessary diversions around the temporary ponds the storm had left behind, and soon reached the riverside. Jebel paused only briefly when he saw how the man was dressed.
So, that's what he meant by 'white man.'
There was a Herald in the river. The white leathers, now somewhat tattered and muddy, were easily recognizable. He descended the slope to the edge of the swollen river carefully, warning Mijad to stay back. The river had slowed, somewhat, since the storm had finally tapered off that morning. That was likely, Jebel realized, the only reason the man was able to hang on.
Assessing the situation, he entered the river carefully, minding his footing. He would like to have taken precautions, but there was no telling how long the man could hold on. The river was still moving faster than normal, and by the time he had reached knee deep water, he was having trouble standing, and had to be extremely careful of where he put his feet. Jebel wondered briefly where the man's Companion was, but decided it was a non-issue at the moment. He needed to get them both back to the bank.
Realizing the mud-covered Herald was barely conscious, Jebel knew that he wasn't going to get much help. With considerable effort, he got a secure grip on the man, slipping his arms under the stranger's arms and around his chest, and lifted. The man let out a pained groan as he came around to some degree.
"I know it hurts," Jebel said, realizing the man was likely badly bruised, at least, and could well have broken bones, "but it's better than drowning. The pain means you're alive."
The stranger did manage to help a bit, pushing himself up with his right leg. The other seemed unresponsive. Probably broken. Bit by careful bit, they made their way to the bank and Jebel laid his burden down well clear of the swollen river. Now, it was time to be careful of his injuries.
"Mijad, go find your parents. Have them bring boards and rope to make a litter, and ask your cousin to run into town for the healer."
The boy nodded and rushed off while Jebel did his best to make the man comfortable. This included cleaning the mud, leaves and other debris from the Herald's face and hair. When he did, he got a shock.
OOOOOOOOOO
Elspeth rode into the town of Dremark in what some of the nobles at court would have called an 'unseemly hurry.' The storm had finally ended and a search was underway, but following the river bank, as originally planned, had proved impossible. The river was dangerously swollen, leaving the bank unstable in places. In others, it was too steep, requiring them to veer away, out of sight of the waterway.
She knew she would need help, regardless. They needed more people to help, especially locals that knew the area. Gwena had gotten her the basic information about the nearest town, so she knew who to talk to, at least. Hopefully, they would be able to spare some people, as the storm had clearly hit Dremark hard.
Approaching the town hall, she found the mayor outside, issuing orders to a group of grim looking men. The group split up and headed off, even as she approached, presumably toward crucial tasks. She called out to the mayor as he turned to go back into the town hall.
"Eh?" He glanced back at her. "A Herald?" The man looked surprised but pleased as he turned to face her, and she hoped he wasn't going to ask for her help before she could ask for his.
"Yes. My name is Elspeth, and I'm hoping you can help me."
"Looking for another Herald? Maybe one that fell in the river?" the man asked before she could explain the situation.
Elspeth blinked in surprise at his words. It's never that easy. "Yes. You've found him?" Though surprised, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, however unusual a piece of good luck was.
"Yes," the man nodded. "Farmer lives near the river sent a message a little while ago, asking for the healer to come out." The mayor smiled a bit at the relief she didn't bother to hide. One didn't summon a healer for a corpse, after all. "He washed up near their farm, east of here, and they took him in. Enlee said that another Herald might turn up asking about him." He looked around for a moment, and then called out to a boy that was passing by carrying building supplies.
"Terril, once you drop those off, go with this Herald and show her the way to Trentes' farm."
"I-I get to ride?" the boy asked hopefully, gazing in wonder at Gwena.
"It'll be faster than walking," Elspeth said, suppressing a smile at the boy's expression. The mayor's news was a huge relief to her. The boy rushed off and the mayor excused himself to return to his own work. Terril was back within a few minutes, evidently having run the entire way, and Elspeth helped him mount. Gwena snorted in amusement at the boy's excitement, but was too distracted by her own worries to comment.
"Not too far," he assured her as he pointed the way out of town and down a road that hadn't quite been washed out. "They're nice people. Your friend'll be okay." After riding for nearly half an hour, he pointed, and they turned off onto a somewhat rougher road. Following the winding course south for a time, they were forced to slow down, as the footing became more treacherous. They turned east toward the river again after only a short time. From that point, it took the better part of an hour to reach the farm, with Gwena hurrying as much as she could, but they came into sight of a farmstead soon enough. Gwena told her that their missing Herald's Companion was almost there, a well.
Slowing to a trot and then a walk as they entered the farmyard, Elspeth called out to a woman she spotted coming around the edge of the house.
"Hello. I'm looking for a friend of mine." Her worry made her tone a little brusquer than she would have liked.
A man who was on the roof making repairs glanced down at her and at the woman before nodding and returning to work. The woman nodded and offered a smile.
"If you mean the Herald, he's inside. Healer's lookin' at him." She gestured for Elspeth to follow.
Dismounting and helping Terril down, she followed the woman inside, leaving the boy to gawk admiringly at the Companion. The place was neatly kept, and the two women were busy removing a window frame with the last few pieces of broken glass while a young boy was busy with a small broom. One of the women glanced over and pointed toward a hall leading farther into the house.
"Healer is still with him." She then turned back to her work. The woman seemed a bit curt, but Elspeth ignored that, putting it down to the work ahead and the stress caused by the storm.
"Sorry," the woman who had greeted her outside, offered as she led the way. "Everyone's busy and more than a little on edge after the storm. They don't mean to be rude. I'm Enlee, by the way."
"Elspeth, and I understand," the Herald offered, not being at all concerned with their behavior. The room at the end of the hall proved to be a bedroom. The healer, she assumed, was the middle-aged man bent over the bed, working with salves and bandages. The other man in the room looked to be only a few years her senior and had dark skin like Enlee, the man on the roof and the child. She hadn't seen people quite like that before, and reasoned they were immigrants from somewhere, not that she had time or inclination to think about it at the moment.
The man by the door nodded to her. "Healer says it's not too bad. I'll leave you to it." He walked past her, collecting Enlee on the way, likely returning to their own work. She moved to the bedside, careful not to get in the healer's way.
He glanced up from his work. "He's been in and out of consciousness, due to a slight concussion, but he's not in any immediate danger."
"How bad is he hurt?"
"In addition to the concussion?" the healer asked. "His left leg is broken, as is his right collar bone. There are also a couple of cracked ribs, and a lot of scrapes and bruises. It's nothing that won't heal with time and proper care."
"Thank you," Elspeth's relief was palpable. They should never have been out in the storm in the first place, urgent business or no. The accident that led to Skif's unplanned swim had been entirely avoidable, but now wasn't the time to be rehashing their mistakes.
"I'm almost done. It's best to let him sleep, for now." She nodded and went outside to greet the arriving Companion. Enlee was coming in with a bucket of water as she headed for the door.
"How is Skif doin'?" she asked.
Elspeth paused, surprised by the use of her friend's name. "He'll be fine. No permanent damage. You know Skif?"
"Sure. He and another Herald rescued me and-"
"Enlee," the older of the two women working on the window interrupted. "We were asked to never speak of that, remember?"
"Oh. Right, not even with other Heralds." She glanced apologetically at Elspeth. "Sorry. 'Nough to say we owe him our hospitality, at least."
"That much, we can say," the older woman agreed. "I'm Isleis, and this is Cyla." She nodded to the other woman who looked a bit embarrassed over their treatment of a guest, no matter how pressed for time they were. She offered a more polite greeting, and asked if there was anything she needed.
"I'm Elspeth," the Herald offered, reassuring her unexpected hosts, "and don't worry. Some secrets are kept for good reason, and I won't pry." While she knew that those words were true, it didn't mean she liked secrets, or being excluded from them. Before she could think of a way to approach Skif about this particular secret, she sensed something odd from Gwena over their link, and started toward the door. "Excuse me. I should see to Gwena."
She found the dark-skinned man talking to the two Companions as she came around the side of the house to the small field where Gwena had moved to graze. She stopped as she heard the man speak.
"-good to see you, Cymry. You must be Gwena." His tone was neutral, but there was a quality to his manner that put her on edge. "Skif will be fine, but he has some broken bones, so he'll need a little time to heal."
It seemed the man knew Skif and was familiar with the nature of Companions, at least. Even in Valdemar, most people didn't talk to the Companions as if they were people. That, sometimes, rankled, especially when someone tried to stable their Companions like common horses, but it helped to remember that, for most, it was simply that they couldn't have a conversation with them. Not many had the gift of mindspeech, even among Heralds. She was about to move to join them, but the man's next words caught her by surprise.
"How is… he? Did he ever…?" He broke off, as if unable to complete the question, perhaps fearing the answer. Despite this, Elspeth noted, the answer was obviously important to him. What the question might actually be, she had no idea and didn't have time to think about, as the Companions' reaction distracted her.
Elspeth could feel Gwena's growing discomfort over their link. The question, for some reason, made her Companion feel sad and conflicted. Cymry simply lowered her head. The sorrow practically radiated from her friend's Companion.
"No. I didn't want…" The man broke off, clearly shaken. After a silent moment during which he simply stared at the ground, he said, "I'm sorry." He focused at Gwena, suddenly, frowning slightly. "She doesn't know, does she?" he asked, turning back to Cymry
Gwena pawed the ground, and Elspeth could feel her Companion's irritation.
"I'm certain the heir doesn't." He shook his head. "Damn it, can't you-." He broke off and sighed. "I suppose it was too much to hope you'd learn from past mistakes."
Having heard enough and understood far too little, she came around the corner and approached. Gwena was looking at the stranger, and she could feel the frustration through their bond, but the man just looked at her, and shook his head.
"No." He turned away and spotted her approaching. He deliberately forced a bland expression onto his face as he changed the subject. She knew she wouldn't get anything out of him about the bizarre conversation. "It'll probably take a few days, at least, before Skif can travel. He's welcome here in the meantime. If you and the Companions have urgent Herald business, I can promise he'll be safe here."
"Our business is mostly finished," she said, deciding to grill the Companions later. "We were headed back to Haven when we got caught in the storm."
"I see." The man looked to be thinking hard as he turned and walked away. "I have work to do. Excuse me."
:He wants us to leave,: Gwena told her Chosen over their link, much to Elspeth's surprise. :Won't talk about why, even though he's capable of mindspeech. He blocks us out.:
:That's his choice,: Cymry chided. :His reasons are highly personal, and not our concern.:
Elspeth wasn't sure what to say to that, so she moved on to a new topic. :We do need to get those documents back to Haven. He'll be safe here?: She didn't like it, but she also knew that they had a deadline. All the mystery surrounding this man and his family did pique her curiosity, though, and the odd, secretive, way the Companions were behaving was somewhat irritating. She decided to let it go for the moment.
:He'll be safe,: Cymry assured her. Elspeth nodded and went to speak to the women inside.
"I hate to impose, but I do have some Herald business that I need to take care of," she told them. The women nodded, assuring her there was no problem with Skif staying for a time. "We'll return in about ten days."
"That'll be fine," Cyla smiled. "We'd welcome the chance to catch up."
"Then, after I've talked to Skif, we'll be on our way."
OOOOOOOOOO
Skif opened his eyes slowly. Everything hurt, but he supposed that meant he was alive. Odd thought. Where did that come from? He looked around, thinking it sounded familiar somehow.
"How do you feel?"
He turned his head and saw Elspeth sitting in a chair by his bed.
"Alive. I just won't enjoy it for a while. How bad?"
"Four broken bones and a slight concussion. A whole lot of scrapes and bruises, too."
Skif took a moment to do a physical inventory. He'd had injuries before, some more serious than this. Ribs, shoulder, no, collar bone, and leg. Yeah. Sounds about right.
"I've had worse." He looked around. "So, where are we?"
"In the house of an old friend of yours, apparently. He was the one that fished you out of the river."
Skif frowned, confused. "Old friend?"
"Hello, Skif."
Turning carefully to avoid aggravating his injuries, Skif saw someone that he thought he'd never lay eyes on again.
"Jebel."
The dark-skinned man nodded, and Elspeth realized that she never had learned his name. "Healer says you'll be fine, but you'll need to take it easy for a while, how do you feel about being our guest for a few days?"
Skif hesitated, looking, Elspeth thought, conflicted for some reason. "I wouldn't want to impose."
Jebel shook his head, offering a reassuring smile. "You're not. It'll be good to catch up."
"I need to get back to Haven," Elspeth said. "Things to do there," she said, alluding to the documents they had been on their way to deliver. "I'll arrange for some suitable transport when I get there. Should give you two a few days to get reacquainted."
"Sounds good to me," Skif nodded.
OOOOOOOOOO
Elspeth handled a few details with the women in the house and then went outside to speak to the Companions.
:Okay, you two. What is going on?:
Neither answered for a moment. Finally, Gwena answered. :It's complicated, and personal for him.:
Elspeth nodded, accepting that much, however...
:He doesn't seem to have a problem with Skif, but if he's got some sort of grudge against Heralds in general, I need to know, for my own peace of mind.:
Gwena hesitated again, but finally spoke.
:He doesn't have a grudge against Heralds. It's Companions he dislikes.: Cymry didn't add anything to this confusing statement.
:That's all you're going to tell me?: she asked after a moment. The Companions merely looked sad. :Fine. We'll leave in a bit.:
She went inside to speak to Skif briefly. Although she accepted their assurances that Skif would be safe there, the way the man treated the Companions and seemed on edge around her, made Elspeth nervous.
Skif was alone when she entered the room he'd been given. "They wouldn't tell you, would they?" he asked without prompting.
"No. Damn it, Skif, something about the way this Jebel reacts to the Companions and to me, is unsettling. What's going on? Does it have something to do with you rescuing Enlee?" She thought about it. "I don't recall you ever mentioning that mission."
"It… wasn't an official assignment. The queen only knew about it afterwards, and she wasn't happy. She did accept that it had to be done, though."
"Better to beg forgiveness than ask permission?" It was a concept she had some experience with. "Why would a rescue mission…?" She broke off as Skif raised a hand to forestall anymore questions he couldn't answer.
"I don't know the whole story," her friend sighed, "and there are parts of it I've been ordered not to talk about, but there is one thing I can tell you." He winced, and Elspeth suspected he was getting an earful from Cymry. "Jebel is the only Herald in history to repudiate his Companion."