Chapter 92

1st Day of Early Autumn 768 n.c

I stood and watched three more hands be removed and their stumps painfully cauterised. Karalin watched with me, arm wrapped protectively over my shoulder. The men were dragged away, to spend the night tied up outside.

Piar explained that, "should they survive the night then they shall be let free, never to return upon pain of death."

Once the bandits had been taken away, the entire town continued their rushed preparations for the feast.

Piar escorted Karalin and I to the Inn, where the stable boy was already taking care of our horses and our bags had already been carted up to our rooms. It was a large room that Piar showed us first, then a smaller room that I at first thought was a storage closet until Piar revealed that it was servants quarters for my 'servant', that had its own door out into the corridor. Once Piar had gone, I reassured Karalin that obviously we would just have to share the giant bed in my room.

We rested a bit and washed, with the Inn staff bringing up buckets of hot water for a copper bathtub in the room.

Soon, as it began to get dark, Piar knocked on the door to escort us down to the feast.

The entire town had pulled out tables and chairs and set them up in one of the fields near the town proper. One table was set out by itself, with a single chair and a smaller table to one side of it with a single chair as well. Then there was a single table, with four chairs and then there were long rows of tables with many chairs at each one. To one side sat a very long series of tables full of all manner of foods. Curious looking lamp type things were set around the field. These were composed of a long piece of odd looking wood that was jammed into the ground and set into the top of this was an iron container filled with tallow and a special type of wood as a wick. They burned with a soft yellow light, a dark black sooty smoke and the smell of cooked meat.

The townspeople all filtered in, somehow finding their exact seat without needing direction.

Piar directed me to sit at the first table and Karalin to sit at the one beside it. His family sat at the next table, which was obviously reserved for the Arrakk and his family.

I guessed, partially by the quality of clothing, that the rest of the town was arranged per Arithna, with merchants, then high tradespeople, then low merchants, then tradespeople etc…

Once everybody was seated, Piar stood up and, facing the many tables, spoke loudly, "on behalf of the town of Ildra; I Piar, Arrakk of this town do invite Lady Askilain to begin this feast held in honour of her return to the town of her family."

He turned around and bowed, gesturing with his arms held out towards the food table. I stood up, as did Karalin; but the panicked look on Piar's face caused her to sit back down again. I walked over towards the long table and picked up a wooden plate from the stack and looked at all of the selections in front of me. One of the dishes smelled exactly like the hot and sweet chicken that I had made for Malkarov and Alladrial, so I ladled a little onto my plate. I heard a gasp from behind me and some curious muttering. There was a large bowl containing a dish made up of those cooked white grains that we enjoyed at the Mink and Shovel, mixed with eggs, vegetables and meat. I put some of this onto my plate as well accompanied by more commotion behind me. I realised that the townspeople responsible for the dishes were being congratulated by their families and neighbours when I chose their dishes. The commotions were coming from directly behind me and I wondered if the foods were laid out in Arithna as well. The next food I chose was at the far end, where the lowest ranks were seated; a simple mix of spiced root vegetables that caused a very large stir amongst those farmers or freemen behind me. I chose some more foods from that end before making my way to the opposite end and choosing a few dishes from amongst those likely made by Piar's family.

I made my way back to my table and waited for Piar and his family to get up and fetch their own plates. Piar stood, but his family remained seated. He made his way over to another table on the other side where wooden cups and barrels rested, where he filled one cup up from the barrel and returned to place it in front of me.

"Thank you," I said to him and he bowed a little in return before turning back to his family, who promptly rose and collected their own plates.

When they returned, four people stood up from the table behind Piar's and fetched him and his family drinks from the other table before the rest of their table rose and collected their food. It continued in this way, with the next table first fetching drinks for the table ahead of them before collecting their meals, until it eventually reached the last long table.

Piar leaned towards me and whispered, "it will be up to your servant to first collect cups for the low freemen before she collects her meal and then her own drink."

I leaned over to repeat this to Karalin, but she held up a hand and said, "not to worry, I understand how it works."

I whispered, "sorry!"

"Not to worry," she said with a smile, "it's just one night. You can cook dinner for the next tendays on the road in repayment."

"I'll cook dinner for the next two tendays to repay you for this," I whispered back, "because I don't think that it will end with this somehow."

Karalin did her duty, fetching drinks for each of the people at the last long table; all ten of them, managing to carry three at a time in each hand in one trip then two in each hand for a second without spilling a drop.

When Karalin was on her way back towards us, Piar once again whispered directions to me, "you must begin the feast by blessing it and invoking one of the gods. You could invoke your Carnian one, but any of the Allarthian gods would be better."

Of course, I knew Tenebrae's Allarthian aspects: Adara was the God of Thieves, Anshar the God of Darkness, Druaga the Demon God and God of Death and finally Loviataar the Goddess of Pain. Adara did not seem appropriate, nor did Loviataar. While Anshar most closely matched Tenebrae, Druaga seemed the best choice to invoke. I worried that, in doing so, I would give Karalin too many clues to things that I wished to remain hidden.

Karalin sat down and I took a deep breath and stood, "People of Ildra; I Lady Askilain do bless this feast in the name of Druaga," there were a couple of gasps amongst those seated and I panicked for a moment, hoping that I hadn't made a mistake, "... may this wonderful food keep him away from your homes and loved ones just a little bit longer."

There was almost a collective sigh of thankfulness before the entire town stated as one, "I will humbly accept this."

Watching everybody eating their food reminded me of the food in front of me. It was delicious. The drink turned out to be a sweet creamy drink made from fermented white grains. It was enjoyed by everybody and didn't seem to have the intoxicating effects of beer or wine, although Piar assured me that there was a wine version.

Once I had finished my plate and my drink, I sat back to wait for everybody else to finish, or for further instructions from Piar.

Once everybody else finished, Piar looked around and stood up facing the townspeople.

"On behalf of the town of Ildra," he said, "I Piar, Arrakk of this town, do petition you Lady Askilain to investigate a threat to our town and indeed to Allarth as a whole at the Eastern Barrier Mountains where the second daughter river is born."

He said it all with such formality and so suddenly that I didn't think that there was any possible way that I could refuse. I looked at Karalin, who gave me a shrug as an answer.

I stood and said aloud, "I Lady Askilain, do agree to investigate the threat to your town."

A cheer went up through all of the townspeople and everybody started clapping. Piar stood up and gestured back towards the Inn, Karalin and I followed him.

Once we got out of earshot of the townspeople, I asked him a little angrily, "what was that?"

"I'm sorry," he apologised, "by tradition any noble must hear a petition from common folk and act upon it, but with you not understanding the rules I had hoped to pressure you into saying the right things a little."

"Is that why you called up a feast?" I asked, suspicious of his motivations.

"Partly," he admitted, "tradition also dictates that those petitioning a nobles assistance provide some sort of… gift, first. We really do need help though."

I sighed, "alright, explain the situation."

"It started last tenday," he said, "Janpul, one of the farmer's boys, was out in the forest to the east at the foot of the barrier mountains. He heard a guttural language and sensibly managed to hide himself. He watched an orc, wading through the second daughter river into a crack in the Eastern Barrier Mountains. I'm afraid that the orcs have found a way through; and if that is the case, then all of Allarth is in danger."

"We can help with this," Karalin said, to Piar's obvious distaste, "but why have you waited a week to do something about this?"

"Truthfully, I was about to send an envoy to Milne to petition a noble there for assistance," he confessed to me, "but the only noble I know will see my envoy would also demand a great gift, one that our town may not be able to afford. When you appeared, seeking information about the black stone altar, it solved our problem nicely."

"So, how do we find this 'second daughter river'?" I asked.

"You go east," he said, pointing to the Eastern Barrier Mountains, "then go south until you reach the first river. That river is the second daughter river. You crossed over the mother river to the west of here and to the north is the first daughter river. First," he said pointing to the north, " second," he pointed to a point just south of east, "then the third and fourth daughter rivers," he finished by pointing to the south twice," and then the Mother River flows into Lake Arth way to the south. As for the black stone altar that you are seeking, it is right there at the base of the mountain where the second daughter river is born."

"Alright," I nodded. I knew that the altar was at the base of the mountain, but right where Piar wanted us to go was almost too convenient, "I also knew that there was an island in the middle of Lake Arth that held another black stone altar, so our path ahead was clear, "we will leave tomorrow morning."

"Thank you, My Lady Askilain," he grovelled, "thank you. This boon you grant upon Ildra will be remembered forever more."

Karalin and I went to bed and true to my word, I shared the large comfortable bed in my room no matter the scandal that it might cause in the town.

I fell to sleep very quickly and in the blackness of my dreams, my Shard came to me.

And we danced.

AUTHORS NOTES:

I did promise quicker posting, didn't I?
We are getting closer and closer to the middle part of what I am now growing to think of as book 2.
(If you consider Sharein blacking out after fighting the orcs south of Easthaven to be the end of book one, book 2 has taken her from Easthaven all the way to Allarth in search of more Shards.)

BIG SUPER HUGE THANK YOU TO Nathaly2005, for the author favourite/follow!