Chapter 11
Journeyman Sadvia, once known to be a friend to H'llon, was immediately in demand by the greater number of Brown, Green and Lower Bronze dormitories as a leader of their – as yet – limited activities as logicators.
Sadvia herself laughed good naturedly as Amrys made the request.
"Certainly I'm happy to lead logicator meetings" she said "Though I hope you kids know to remain discreet about matters discussed?"
"Of course!" said Amrys. "I used to go to the meetings in the Weyr, so I made sure everyone knew we must be as discreet as a Harper!"
"That's all right then" grinned Sadvia. She was actually secretly flattered and pleased to be asked to lead logicating; it had been one aspect of her life at the Woodcrafter Hall that she had expected to miss at an obscure Weavercraft Hall and was pleased to be able to continue and indeed to be looked up to by junior logicators!
Amrys certainly did admire Sadvia! She was so pretty! Her rich chestnut hair was long and lustrous and her skin as clear as clear! Amrys wondered if it might not be a half bad plan to get Sadvia fixed up with Journeyman Otelek, because he was so nice too. However, after the little girl's rather equivocal results in the meddling with her mother's attraction to Corbin, Amrys had grown wise to the concept that things would happen as they may and the time to interfere would be if there was obvious attraction that needed a little….encouragement.
Otelek had shown an interest in logicating; which to Amrys' mind was a hopeful sign of getting him together with Sadvia! Indeed, Master Lynger himself thought the idea of using common sense allied with observation an excellent exercise and a fairly harmless hobby in which his charges might indulge, and likely to keep them out of the more disruptive mischief adolescent children generally seemed to manage. He had already set the youthful logicators tasks of finding things that had gone astray, with startlingly good result; all good practical applications but not, as Amrys remarked gloomily, in the same degree as a good juicy murder mystery.
The juicy murder when it came was announced by the arrival of a white-faced apprentice.
Weaver apprentice Greggor was learning the rudiments of his craft in a craftcot; and gasped that his Master was dead and that it was certainly foul play!
Master Lynger, on due consideration, summoned Designmaster Telarish, his most imaginative and yet clear-sighted Master as well as Journeymen Sadvia and Otelek.
Otelek asked quickly before the Master had fully outlined more than the basic background,
"Is it Rivenhill?"
"Kind of" said Greggor, a lad of some fourteen turns.
"Then Lady Amrys ought to be involved too, Master; it is her duty and her right" said Otelek.
Either a real murder would strengthen the little girl's resolve to do her duty or cure her of wanting more spectacular logicator cases, he thought!
Amrys duly arrived when summoned; and Greggor told his story.
"It all started when the stranger arrives, Journeyman Miner Lystara."
"Before that, how many people normally reside in the craftcot?" asked Sadvia "Tell us about those before speaking of the stranger and her impact."
"Well, there's the Master, Dwilon: and his new wife, Feraysa that he's been married to for two turns or so; his son Tialon, he's unmarried, he travels around a lot but he's there right now: and the Master's two daughters and their husbands and the babies and Tarek and me as apprentices."
"Are the daughters journeymen? Or their husbands?" asked Otelek.
"Dwilys is; she's very talented but sharp tongued if you don't pick stuff up the first time she explains it. Her husband is a journeyman too, he's kind though he won't let us grumble about her. They met when Dwilys went to confirm in Southern Boll. Lontia's kind of Headwoman, she's never followed the craft, she cooks and cleans for us all with help from the drudge, old Millita. Lontia's husband is Journeyman Ammer, I think he was once the Master's apprentice; he's good but he doesn't trust us boys with tasks like Shighen does – Dwilys' husband – or the Master" he added resentfully.
"So that's the Master, three male and one female Journeymen, three women and two boys?" asked Amrys "Plus sundry small children?"
Greggor counted on his fingers after glancing at Lynger to see if he should answer; and nodded.
"And everyone living in harmony normally before the disturbance of a stranger?" asked Master Telarish intently.
Greggor grinned.
"Not hardly, Master! Lontia calls Shighen a wastrel because he'll give to any beggar at a Gather and finds work for itinerant Holdless; and Feraysa thinks she's in charge of the cot and Lontia's sure she is; Dwilys doesn't think the Master ought to have married that fancy piece who's always moaning that there should be more drudges, and Dwilys don't keep her tongue behind her teeth either, I can tell you! Lontia passes her opinions too that if Feraysa was less fancy the work would get done in double quick time, it's the one subject those sisters agree on!"
"And into this happy family comes a stranger" murmured Telarish.
Greggor shot him a brief, uncertain look.
"Yes sir; Journeyman Lystara, a miner like I said; she came to talk to the Master. Then there was a row, and Tarek and me overheard it – he's only twelve, Master, so I clouted him and told him he'd better not repeat what he heard, but I guess now the Master's dead you need to know. See, there was Feraysa going on at Master Dwilon accusing him of taking this Lystara as his fancy piece and he – the Master – told her she was being ridiculous and asked her if sex was the only thing she ever thought of. Reckon it is" he added "'Cos she's made eyes at me and at the other journeymen too."
"Some women flirt without meaning anything by it" said Sadvia sternly "Unless it was a real and obvious pass, that observation was ALMOST out of line for taking away a married woman's character."
"Sorry Journeyman" said Greggor. He was plainly aching to know why a woodcrafter was in on this, but did not dare ask!
"How long after this did Master Dwilon die and by what means?" asked Amrys.
"If I may explain, the craftcot is on two levels" Greggor said "With the sleeping rooms above. The Master usually visits – visited – the necessary in the night; it's downstairs. And that very night he fell downstairs and broke his neck. Only…there was a nail banged in each side of the stair at the top and a fragment of black cord still tied to one; and all of us in and out all day for checking either the few caprines we have or the coppices."
"Well that's fairly conclusive" said Sadvia. "A risk though – suppose someone else went down first?"
"If indeed he was the intended victim" said Amrys.
"Were there other serious arguments?" asked Otelek.
Greggor nodded miserably.
"Journeyman Tialon also tackled his father about Lystara; and Journeyman Dwilys. And Lontia said she hoped he wasn't going to make a fool of himself. You can hear a lot in the weavingroom if the loom isn't going when the journeymen are elsewhere. Tarek and I were hanking wool on shuttles before we went out to help with the coppicing. And then they found his will afterwards."
"Oh?" Telarish leaned forward.
"He made provision for Tarek and me to come here to be trained further; and made…..comments about his children with the amounts he left" the boy said. "Like, he left, among other things, the ass to Tialon in the hopes that one day he'd learn not to be one; and he left nothing but a loom to Dwilys because her husband would give any marks away; and he left the Cot to Lontia on the condition that there was always a home for all his kin. He didn't leave as much to Feraysa as she would have liked; he said she'd already spent her share but he left quite a lot to Lystara to,he said, make up for not seeing more of her: and that really upset Feraysa. She's sent Tialon to get a Harper to have Lystara condemned and hanged! And it doesn't make SENSE!" he added "So I thought, this is Craft business and I borrowed the ass…."
"Shall I ask Dilbeth to bespeak a bigger dragon to get us there quickly?" asked Amrys.
"If the Weyrfolk would be so kind" said Master Lynger.
Camnath dropped the logicators off as the Harper rode in from the nearby Cothold community nominally beholden to Rivenhill.
"Harper, are you familiar with the concept of logicating?" Sadvia asked.
The young man brightened.
"I am indeed; are you people logicators?"
"We are. I'm quite experienced but as this is weavercraft business I have trainee logicators Master Telarish and Journeyman Otelek along, and Lady Amrys for Craft and Hold both. I'm Sadvia."
"Skeleren" the Harper introduced himself "I'm acquainted with Journeyman T'rin; hence MY limited knowledge! I'll leave the questioning to you and, er, do any official duties necessary?"
"Excellent" purred Sadvia.
The boy was very young as Journeymen went and obviously relieved to shuffle responsibility of so morbid a case onto another – it was a far cry from teaching the young and officiating at weddings and normal farewell ceremonies to determining the guilt of a murderer!
The young Harper knew how to use his authority however.
He introduced the party as 'experts' making much of Telarish' status as Master and Amrys as juvenile Lady Holder.
The mood was sullen.
"We don't need experts!" shrieked Feraysa "We know who killed him! It was that tunnel snake who was squirming in his bed!" she pointed at the Journeyman Miner, who compressed her lips angrily.
"I'm not even going to DIGNIFY so stupid and misinformed outburst with a reply!" declared the miner.
"It MUST have been an accident, surely?" said one of the male journeymen sounding sick.
"You are?"
"Shighen, Journeyman. It must have been an accident or else one of us or this young woman must have killed him deliberately! I can't think that family…"
"Exactly!" said Feraysa triumphantly, folding her arms.
"Some of us don't count YOU family now father's not here to have to hear us say so" said one of the women.
"Not that his being alive stopped you insulting me, Lontia" whined Feraysa.
"Can't we get on with this?" the other woman, presumably Dwilys snapped "We're making spectacles of ourselves! For the umpteenth time, Shighen, it is murder because Greggor found the cord; and however much of an idiot he may be about sewing he's no idiot about what he sees."
"Shells, was that a compliment or not?" Greggor muttered to himself.
"Unless it was he who put it there as a prank to make us act like this!" suggested another journeyman "Or set the trap and got more serious consequences than he bargained for!"
"That's infamous, Journeyman Ammer!" cried Greggor "I am not such a fool either to set such a trap – flour balanced on a door in a lightweight wooden bowl, yes, a tripwire no! Nor would I upset my craftcot by – by such a HORRIBLE implied lie!"
"Tarek" Sadvia asked crisply "Being younger, there could be understanding if you set a tripwire without realising the consequences – if you did, you tell me right now and we can sort things out."
"But I never did, Journeyman!" Tarek looked horrified. "Why I KNOW it's dangerous because I saw some cothold boys trip up an old woman with a jumping rope just on the flat and she broke her leg and I come back here and told everyone about it, didn't I?"
"You did" said Greggor. "Tarek doesn't play practical jokes, Master, Journeymen, My Lady. That's my thing. And I'm old enough to know how many beans make five, you know."
"Very well, then; on to other matters" said Sadvia crisply. "Let us turn to Lystara; about whose status I have some deductions of my own based on naming customs. Tialon, what was your mother's name?"
The hitherto shocked and silent journeyman started at being addressed.
"Lystia" he said.
"Giving the 'Tia' to you and your younger sister; and 'lys' to Dwilys" said Sadvia "And with a name like LYStara I'm guessing you to be a relative of Master Dwilon's first wife as might be expected to visit her kin by marriage."
"As is, I would have thought, obvious enough to anyone" said Lystara dryly "Especially as I look enough like Tialon for the family resemblance to be apparent I should have though; we both have our mother's unfortunate ears. Yes you three; I am your half sister. Lystia was just fourteen when I was born. When she met Dwilon she and he both agreed to leave me with my grandparents where I was happy; and by the time they died I had almost made journeyman and needed no further fostering. Dwilon had always been kind to me when they visited; I could ask for no kinder a stepfather. They preferred however to keep the facts of my birth quiet for his own parents would have treated my mother badly without even finding out the facts of my conception. Which were" she added "Since you may as well know it all that she was deceived and seduced by a social superior. Dwilon left me to reach journeyman then wrote inviting me to introduce me properly to my siblings. And THAT was why I was here. And what he has left to me is largely from my mother's legacy to me that she left him to pass on; and some extra from him. And not so much that the rest of you have cause to complain. I wish I'd not come now; I would far rather have had the opportunity to have more kin than stupid marks any day. But as it is I guess those marks are friendlier than my own darling siblings so ready to believe the poison of that snake who took my mother's place!" she added vehemently scowling at Feraysa "And so as I'm cleared of sleeping with my stepfather I guess I'll take my marks and go – you make me sick!"
"No, wait, we can talk" said Dwilys.
"How do we know you've not slept with him using some resemblance to your mother?" demanded Feraysa.
"Are you sick in the head as well as stupid?" asked Lystara.
"It is an outrageous suggestion!" said Sadvia "Her reason for being here is shown – the only suggestion that she slept with Master Dwilon that I can see came from the jealous mind of Feraysa; and it is well known that cheats see cheating in their partner. We already know that you at least flirted with, and maybe went further with your husband's son, sons-in-law and apprentice. And maybe others in the cothold community so close."
"It's a lie!" Feraysa screeched, her guilty flush betraying her.
"Never slept with Ammer or me" said Shighen "I know I'm considered to be too generous but there's types I'd not give to and she's one of them."
Dwilys squeezed his arm; the flippant answer obviously reassuring her more than serious protestations of innocence.
"What I don't understand is" said Lontia, obviously not even considering the concept of her husband's possible infidelity "Why anyone might risk one of the children going downstairs to use the necessary; Dwilys and I both have children, her oldest is nine, my oldest is six. Surely the risk was excessive!"
"A child of nine is old enough to play a silly trick" said Amrys.
"Not a chance" said Dwilys "Shilys is a sensible girl, mad keen to start her apprenticeship and she despises silly tricks."
"True" said Greggor "And sanctimonious she can be about it at times too!"
"I suppose a MAN might be less careful of the children" said Dwilys "And fail to think of the risk that a devoted mother would!"
"I am as devoted to the children as you are my dear" said Shighen softly "And Ammer is devoted to his, for he's a taciturn bugger."
"By the way, talking of caring for your children, I take it that they are currently kept out of this in the care of your drudge?" asked Sadvia.
"Yes, old Millita has them all upstairs" said Lontia "It seemed best."
"Catch me being left out of putting in my two marks' worth when I was nine" Amrys muttered to Greggor. He grinned.
Sadvia was nodding.
"Your old nursemaid, is she?" she asked.
"Oh no! She's Feraysa's old nurse – doesn't have much to do with the children as a rule, I see to them and Shilys a great help to me!" said Lontia.
"Go to the children and stay with them and send her down to me" said Sadvia sharply.
Lontia gave her a startled look but went to do as she was told.
"Ought we not to look at the body?" asked Amrys, unwontedly timidly. "I don't WANT to, but…."
"It'll have been laid out by now and will tell us little" said Sadvia "They'll have washed and straightened the poor old man out of any possible chance of finding clues – besides, I respect that boy Greggor's quick eye"
Amrys nodded, relieved.
"It's obvious who did it, isn't it?" she said "But I suspect it was using the agency of another…love twists people so sometimes, doesn't it?"
"It does" sighed Sadvia.
"Might the agent have acted in the belief that what was done was good?" asked Telarish.
Sadvia looked on him approvingly.
"Quite possibly" she said "A total twisting of love… in which case it is insanity not murder. Ah, Millita" as the old woman came in "Was it your own idea to stretch a cord across the stair, or your nurseling's?"
A look of cunning came into the old woman's eye.
"That scheming miner-girl shan't have my darling's prize!" she cried "If he's dead the tunnel snake shan't have him!"
"The miner girl is the old man's step daughter – not a would be lover you old fool" said Sadvia coldly "Your love is blind to a patently obvious fact. Can't you see the similarity in her name to his first wife's?"
"I neither know nor care what the mother of them snakes was called!" spat the drudge. "My darling doesn't know it neither! Why should she have to be remembered? All she did was birth these dunghill wherries who bred their own filth!"
Dwilys gave an involuntary gasp.
"And we left our children with you? What kind of monster are you, Millita?"
"One who is quite, quite mad and eaten up with jealousy for her baby I'm afraid" said Sadvia "She did not CARE if anyone else was caught in the trap by accident; including the children. The question is, did Mallita think this idea up on her own – or was it Feraysa's idea?"
"How ridiculous! Do you really think I'd come up with such an idea?" demanded Feraysa with a hard little titter.
"Yes" said Greggor "Because when Tarek came in with his tale of the tripping, both Millita and Lontia were in the kitchen; and you heard it and they didn't . if you didn't tell her to do it you hinted hard enough I bet!"
Feraysa started screaming at that point.
"Harper" said Amrys "It is our request that you escort the murderer and her dupe to Rivenhill Hold since they are neither of them crafters and so not under the jurisdiction of Master Lynger. Camnath will be pleased to take you. The Lady Warder will deal with the matter."
She has risen to the challenge, thought Otelek; and that little speech was every inch the Lady Holder not child!