7-02 More Gray, "A Burden and a Blessing", Miraim the Still
The Heroes from Maissen gaped, then began to speak at once. “Idien?” “The same Idien?” After a few moments they calmed down and the chief of the Crow Clan nodded.
“He is the same one that was once brother to Maissen and Lastell, the one that left for the desert and forsook his humanity for power and virtually immortality. The evil, the old one, the broker. That is him.” He paused to draw from the pipe just handed him. “His activities are not unexpected. Every fifteen full seasons he rises from the western desert to attempt another drive for power. None of his evil schemes have yet succeeded, though thwarting them has ever carried a high price.”
“Such as my sister,” said Kane.
Ren was scratching his head. “This means the redbreasts aren’t just consorting with a wizard, or even some demon. They’ve actually thrown in with Maissen’s greatest enemy.”
“That is something that you should tell your council about,” the elf chief said.
Bessie nodded. “That’s something we will have to do once we return to Maissen.”
“There’s no need to wait for that. Lady Miriam, the loremaster, is hunting in the mountains just north of here.”
“What? How can she be there?” Ren asked in disbelief.
The Crow Chief shrugged. “She has a flying horse as I recall. It can get here there well enough.”
That he had just mentioned a flying horse washed right over Ren. “But Maisseners can’t leave Maissen.”
Bessie nodded. “It’s prohibited by law.”
The elf chuckled. “And who makes the law? Don’t you imagine they’d make exceptions for themselves? The council member of Maissen cross freely the border of their nation. We’ve met most of them at one time or another.”
Ren’s jaw dropped. He rubbed his forehead. “They’ve lied. They’ve lied to us about the law. They’ve never said the first word about exceptions.”
The Crow Chief looked at him oddly. “What would if had mattered if they hadn’t? What would that change in your life?”
“Nothing practical, for sure. But they demand trust and obedience from us, and here we are finding out they have no trust for us. They could say there’s exceptions and say why. What would that change about their special privilege?”
The pipe had circled around again and the chief took another draw. “That I leave to you to say to your leaders. If you’d care to tell the council about what you’ve learned, you have an opportunity close at hand. Your issue with them will not be solved in this tent, so why not let us turn the conversation to other topics. We would be very interested in hearing more of the adventures that brought you to us.”
The trio began telling of their days since leaving Maissen. They told of the spiders, the buffalo riders they’d killed near the giant chakta camp, of what happened in the rift valley, and then the tale of Hilltopple house. That last drew a great many nods and quiet noises of respect from the elves. They told of meeting the gnomes, dealing with the farunk, breezed over the encounter with the redbreasts, and then spoke of their time with the dwarves and the past two days since.
“You sound very much like Heroes then,” the Brown Bear chief said. “Even if you have not yet fought any giants. I believe you would do well against them.” He thought for a minute and a smile grew on his face. “It seems to me that you being great Heroes you deserve something of burden and benefit.”
Aneirin, Bessie, and Ren looked at each other, trying to unravel the enigmatic praise. The chief made it clear a moment later. “The large, now nameless, elf you saw defeated in the Avatar Challenge needs a place to go. Kane wishes to track down Idien. You are the answer to both their needs. What do you think of it, Kane?”
The armored elf wore his scowl again. “It will serve, for awhile. I have my own sources and leads that may come through at any time.” His glance to the humans suggested that he wouldn’t hesitate to leave them behind if he thought he had a better way to meet his goal than to travel with them.
“You don’t plan on just murdering us in our sleep do you?” Ren asked. He smiled as he said the words, but the question was earnest. The elf had an obvious contempt for humans, but still seemed to be a thoughtful and competent warrior. Or ranger. Or well armed sorcerer. Or perhaps some kind of bard. Ren simply had no idea what Kane was capable of, but the trio could use some bolstering.
“I assure you the chances of that are nil,” the Brown Bear chief said. When Kane smiled a toothy smile without otherwise letting up his scowl, the chief added, “virtually. Now – let us introduce you to the nameless one.”
A few moments later the tall elf, last seen sprawled on his back in the dust of the Challenge Ground, entered the tent. The elves spoke to him in their own tongue, but even they did so slowly. The Maisseners studied him as the conversation, mostly one sided, went on. The elf was certainly large for his race, taller than Ren’s shoulder and with muscles larger than Aneirin’s – adjusted for overall size. The elf carried a huge flail with odd writing on it, elven the Maisseners supposed, and he held the weapon in a death grip that paled his knuckles. After many long minutes the chiefs turned their attention back to the Maisseners. “The nameless one has agreed to come along.”
“We’re going to have to have something to call you,” Aneirin said to the big elf.
“Alas, he speaks only our tongue,” The Crocodile chief said. He sighed. “And that none too well, I fear.”
“There’s the burden part,” Ren said. “And one other reason we need Kane to come along.”
Kane and the nameless elf exchanged a few words just then. Suddenly the bigger elf was nodding ferociously and smiling with great enthusiasm. Kane translated. “He says that even though he lost his fight he is happy to continue his role as Bear, a protector. And that it doesn’t matter if he is thought Dumb if he can still be Bear. So he is now Dumb Bear.”
“Oh Great Stars,” Bessie exclaimed with a chuckle. Ren suppressed laughter and shook his head. Aneirin muttered something about dignity, but nodded nonetheless. All of the Maisseners had formed the same opinion of the big elf. Though he was plainly as smart as Madge had been beautiful, he was powerful and of good heart. He would be a worthy companion.
That settled they engaged in more interesting things – trade. The Maisseners had little coin, but the Crow clan leader was interested in Ren’s Arrow of Beast Slaying. For it, he offered his mount – a horse sized monitor war-lizard. Ren was amazed. He rode the animal for many minutes and bonded well with her. For the hunter from Vaunth-on-the-Lake, it was an easy trade. Bessie sought some herbs and lore she might not know, but her success was limited.
Before they bedded for the night the Maisseners learned one other amazing fact about elven culture. One that seemed in some ways obvious but in other ways far too conincidental. The elves worship the same gods as Maisseners.
The next morning marked twenty days since the original party left Maissen, and it began early; elves don’t sleep as humans do and get going earlier. With Dumbear and Kane, the Maisseners mounted up and headed north: three humans, two elves, three light horses, one war horse, and a giant war-lizard. With the tallest of the mountains to the west they made their way to the great steppes. A wide and well worn path led up and soon they were high into the mountains’ western reaches.
A great roar echoed through the mountains as they climbed. They turned as one and saw a huge beast, long and scaled as a dragon, but with the head and mane of a lion. It sat on a peak about 900’ away, contentedly chewing on a wild horse. The group stared in amazement for a few moments, than continued before it thought about a dessert.
The path later forked, but there was no real choice. One branch led to an endless field of spiky rocks. The other made its way into the mountains. The switchbacks of the trail into the mountains cut the party’s line of sight considerably. After the experience on the rope bridge they had no desire to be ambushed again, so Ren left his mount and scouted ahead. He had gone about halfway from the rest of the group to the mouth of a cave when a woman’s voice called out.
“You can’t sneak up on me.”
Ren froze and hoped he was still out of sight. “Who might you be now that I can’t sneak up on?”
There was a laugh. “As the one here first I say I have the right to know who approaches more than you to whom you approach.”
Ren and the unseen woman went back and forth in that way for several minutes. The hunter was sure to whom the other voice must belong, but kept going until he had no doubt. Finally he was convinced he was indeed bantering with Miriam the Still of the Maissen ruling council. Only then did he step forward where she could see him. She was there in a large cave with her horse, which had no wings, and a mousy looking squire lingering in the back with a mule.
“Lady Miriam? We have a lot to talk about.”
Ren spent about twenty minutes with Miriam, capsulising what had happened since the party left Maissen, and then asked to bring the rest of the group forward to speak with her. Then with everyone assembled, they began to tell more details. Though the two elves were plainly bored, the Maissen council member listened intently. Her reaction wasn’t even close to what Ren and Bessie expected. She frankly scoffed and laughed at the tale of Hilltopple House and Aneirin, and doubted what the party said about the redbreasts and Idein.
At last, feeling exasperated, Ren asked, “So with all your power have you got some way to read into our minds to tell if we’re telling the truth or not?”
Miriam gave him a quizzical look. “If I could, you would be willing to subject yourself to that? It is a rather intense invasion of your person.” Ren nodded. So did Bessie and Aneirin. “Very well then. As it happens I can do that, but it will be tomorrow before I can make the attempt. The process is not easy on the reader any more than it is the read.”
“We’ll wait here,” Bessie said.
Miriam waved her hand. “Oh no need for that. Keep your travels going, you have a quest to see to after all.” She reached into one of her many bags and pulled forth a jeweled broach. Handing it to Bessie, Miriam said, “Keep this with you, it will enable me to find you.” She smiled when Bessie took it and then said, “Now, let’s to more interesting topics. How have you found the hunting in these parts?”
The other Maisseners blinked. “uh – fine,” Ren said. “We actually were hoping to ask you some more about Idien.”
Miriam waved her hand. “Yes, yes. Big lich, the brother that turned to evil. Still comes back about every generation and someone raises an army to give him the boot. What about large animals? Have you seen any sign of those.”
“A few,” Bessie answered. “We saw an elefant at Hilltopple house. But we were wondering about this other human settlement to the north. Do you know anything about it?”
“Well yes,” Miriam said. She paused to take a drink and Ren jumped in.
“So you know about it?” he asked. “This is something that the council knows about but has kept a secret from the common folk of the country?”
“Well you know politics and political concerns sometimes keep things that way,” she answered. “Have you seen any wild beast like that lizard mount of yours? She’s fantastic.”
“She’s been very good so far,” Ren said. “The elves might know where her wild cousins are. So the council doesn’t think that telling the people that there’s other people alive in the world might do them some good, give them some hope in dark times.”
Miriam waved the comment away. “I told you it’s a matter of politics. Have you seen any great beasts since leaving the elf camp?”
Ren and Bessie both sighed. Aneirin only rolled his eyes as if he’d had experience in that kind of political thinking before. “We saw some kind of dragonish lion, or lionish dragon, just as we came up the trail,” Bessie said.
Now Miriam lit up. “A dragonne!” She exclaimed with an almost girlish squeal. She turned to her squire and said, “Load up!” She stood and gathered some of her nearby equipment. “Thank you very much for that lead. I will find you tomorrow.”
Ren started to say something, but let the words die in his open mouth. The group stood and quietly watched as Miraim mounted her steed. Joy on her face, she galloped out of the cave and jumped into the air beyond, the horse flying as if it had wings. The squire on the mule followed suit, but neither had anything close to joy on their faces.
Once they were gone, Anierin asked, “What were you about to say, Ren?”
Ren shrugged. “I was wondering why it isn’t called a dragon-lion, or if dragon-knee means the same thing in another language. But she probably would have said it was matter of politics and that’s the way things are.” He huffed. “C’mon, let’s load up and get moving ourselves.
Next: The tunnel, the reading, and the desert battle. POST #112
Soon: Seaside fight, coming to Lastel
