Tales from the Perfect and Unbiased Memory of Mirel of Margrave County (cont)
We went down the hallway to the right this time, and when we turned a corner, the hallway was twice as wide. All of us could walk side by side down this new hall, except for the huge stone columns running down the middle of it, of course. There was a throne at the other end of the hall. Darius looked at the first statue, and then the second, but when he got close to the third one, it moved. The statue didn't want Darius there, so it attacked him with its stone fists.
I thought that maybe while Darius was fighting it, that I would be able to dash down to the end, and see if any other statues could move too. It wasn't my brightest idea. I never saw the statue turn to me. I was running, and then there was a voice telling me to be healed! I hurt all over, more than I've ever been hurt before, and couldn’t remember why. When I opened my eyes, I was looking up at Darius, then the statue's fist, then the ceiling. Darius had one hand on my shoulder and was also trying to block the statue. He yelled something, but my ears were ringing and I couldn't hear right. But I knew I had to get back to the end of the hall where the statue couldn't reach. When I got there and cleared my head a bit, I could hear better, and that seemed to be what he was yelling for me to do anyways. I still hurt all over and was dizzy, so I asked Brother Ben for the waterskin from the first pool, and then I felt much better. I thought about that voice I heard, and figured I'd talk to Igor about it later.
As soon as Darius moved back to the entry, the statue quit moving and turned back into the column again, just like it was before. Darius shot an arrow at it, saying that if it didn't have hands, we could walk by it just fine. A bit of stone chipped off, but the column didn't move any. It didn't seem to react at all. So Igor and I also started chipping away at it with arrows and sling stones, too. The first huge fist fell, and still the column didn't do anything. The second arm fell just as quickly. When Darius walked up to it again, it didn't move. Breaking its arms had worked. We moved down the hall a bit, but Darius stopped us quickly, for he thought the last column in the line was the same as the third one. We never got close enough for it to move, but just went ahead and broke its arms off. It didn't move when we passed it, but then, it might not have anyways.
The throne was very big, with lots of gems in it, and likely more valuable than anything I'd ever touched in my life. I sat on it just because nobody stopped me. My feet wouldn't touch the floor, so I crossed them and tucked them beside me. I looked out down the hall, and thought it was fun, for I'd never have gotten away with it at the Keep. It quickly wasn't so much fun anymore when I saw the bits of stone broken off the statues moving back towards them. It seemed that the magical servants were following us, and already knew of the mess we had made. They seemed to be sorting the stone chips and trying to match them together, and it was taking them much longer than with the statues in the trophy room. I didn't want to sit on the throne anymore, so I hopped down.
Dram said that he needed to go back up to the outpost to check on the men and oversee training. My stomach was telling me that it was starting to get late, and I figured he also went to make sure Smittee wasn't cooking. Igor and I gathered the arrows that missed the statues but hadn't broken. He also looked very closely at the gems on the throne. Darius was looking around, and finally said that we had to move the throne. He thought there was something behind it. Without Dram's help, it seemed to take forever to push the throne even two fingers' width. But sure enough, it had moved a bit into the wall. The throne was in front of an open doorway that perfectly matched the shape of the throne.
We had to pull the throne out again, which took even longer than pushing it in, and then we pushed it to the side, which took forever. Darius went into the little room behind where the throne was, and then told Kayla she needed to see it too. Kayla came back out saying she couldn't read it because she wasn't prepared anymore from reading the circle. Since it was getting very late by then and we were very tired from pushing the throne around, Darius decided to back up to the Outpost, and wait until the morning, when Kayla could look at it again.
The magical servants were still very busy sorting the stone chips from the statues, and that reminded us that they would just move the throne back into place, and we would have to move it all over again. Brother Ben said to try pounding spikes into the floor beside the throne, wedging them in like pegs, to keep the magical servants from sliding the chair back in front of the little room. I didn't figure the idea would work, for the servants could easily slide the chair a handspan to the left and then lift it over the low pegs, or else move it around the pegs, or even just move the pegs out of the way and then put them back after the chair was properly placed.
We went back to the library after Igor and Brother Ben laid in the spikes. As we passed the two broken columns, I put some good-size stones for slinging in my pouch. They weren't tugged back like that other sling had been. They must not have been from an important part of the statue, I guessed, or not part of why the statue could move. When we got back to the library, Kayla pulled two of the books she had looked at earlier. Darius and Brother Ben each pulled a couple of books that they thought might be helpful, such as about the underground river that the well draws from. Igor also grabbed a large handful of books, and there were empty places along the carefully neatened shelves from where Dram had taken books as he passed through earlier.
When we reached the top of the well, Cpl Dalin reported a quiet, uneventful day. Cpl Siff was asleep and no one else was in a sickbed. Dinner was better than breakfast, and then I found an empty bed and slept.
The animals gave me much more trouble the next morning. They were quite grousy to me. One of the horses was off his feed, and none of them wanted to go back into the stables. They didn't mind being brushed and everything, but they tried to pull away from me when I walked them around the courtyard. They wanted to go outside but I didn't feel it was safe, and I had run short of carrots and such to bribe them with.
After taking care of the horses and mules, I sat down with a staff and the straw I had picked up yesterday, and I made a broom. Nobody seemed to understand why I wanted a broom so much. But sweeping is such an easy task, the same motions over and again, and you can get into a nice rhythm and not have to worry about it. And in a crowded place like this, it's the only way to find some privacy. Nobody pays much attention to a busy maid. That's how I learn the most interesting things sometimes. Nobody expects a busy maid to answer many questions, but she's still good for gossip if she wants to. Time alone inside my own head is worth as much to me as breakfast. I still had many things to think about, and the ramp up to the top of the Outpost was long and dirty, and now I had a broom. Not the best-made of brooms, but broom enough to sweep with.
Many things crossed my mind over the next candlemarks. Dalin and Dram had most of the men outside training, so keeping out of the way wasn't too hard. Kayla, Brother Ben, and Sgt Darius were reading the great books, and paid little attention to me as I swept. I pondered over things that Smittee and Igor had said during the trial, the voice Igor said he heard when he was healed, the voice I heard when I had been knocked out, how a burning tree could walk, what made corpses stand back up and fight, how Brother Ben made the corpses not able to fight, why speaking any sounds from Quasqueton would open the door, what some of the pools did, why Dram and Igor and me were the only ones who could pass the wizard's archway, how to talk Igor and Dram from taking the books out of the library, if I should learn how to carry a shield, or if that would worsen my slinging. Then the Outpost went on alert, and that broke up my thinking.
Someone was coming up the path! I was near an archer's slot so I went to look out too. Many of the farmers all figured out who it was at the same time. It was Pendra and Certa! We were very surprised that Certa and Pendra were coming here. And most of us looked forward to a good round of storytelling in the evening. Sgt Darius went out to speak with them. As he approached them, we could see more men following Certa and Pendra. They were leading an army! Fully a hundred soldiers, real soldiers, not conscripts, were marching along behind them. Elian, the Elfen advisor from the Keep, was also with them and he spoke with Darius, the Dwarf, for quite a bit as they all approached the Outpost.
Pendra and Certa didn't come to the Outpost, and I was very disappointed. After getting the army safely here, they left back through the woods again. Elian didn't come straight to the Outpost. First he went to where the burning tree had fallen, and he stayed there for a bit. He seemed very sad when he finally came into the Outpost. Sgt Darius told us that Elian wanted to have a meeting with everyone who had been in the well, except for Cpl Siff, who was still abed.
During the meeting, Advisor Elian told us that he had heard of the well from the Sgt of Yung, who had sent a message. The things of Rogahn and Zeligar have been lost for a long time, and he was very glad that we had found them, for it might help defend Margrave from the war. I was relieved, because it meant that Cpl Dalin and I didn't mess things up when we spoke about the well at Outpost Yung. It turned out okay. Elian also told us that the burning tree was called an Ent, and this Ent was named Greenwillow. Greenwillow had given his life trying to protect the secret of the Outpost. He had grown the trees up all the way close to the tower walls, hoping to hide the Outpost from the giant and the orcs, and others who wanted its secrets.
After Elian finished speaking, Sgt Darius told of the tunnels and what we had found so far. They looked at the map he had pulled out of the drawer in the library, looking for places that might have doors we did not see. Elian said that finding the secrets of the tunnels was very important. He also said that bringing the army here might have drawn some unwanted attention, and the Outpost may be attacked even more heavily than it already was. Cpl Dram and Cpl Dalin agreed to stay above ground and help get the soldiers settled into watch shifts.
I thought that the new soldiers might help with training the conscripts, maybe by pairing a conscript with a couple of soldiers during drills. I spoke to Kayla about it, and she said she would ask about it. But when she did, she told everyone that it was my idea in the first place. I was so mad I figured that I wouldn't ask her to speak of things for me again. Even though Elian and Darius both said it was a good idea, it wasn't seemly coming from the youngest and lowest in status, and she shouldn't've put my name on it. She doesn't know how to gossip right.
We started getting ready to go into the well. Kayla said she needed to prepare herself again. Elian gave some parchment to her, and she smiled when she looked at it. Sgt Darius asked Elian if he wanted to explore with us, and Elian hedged when he answered. I thought it was funny.
While Kayla was getting ready to go into the tunnels, I watched the soldiers setting up camp outside. They were quick at it, the nearest of the fallen trees were already moved out of the way, and the first row of tents was up. I saw some cookfires going, and that made me think a bit. If perhaps the conscripts were working together with the soldiers, of course they would all eat together too, and from the cookpots of the soldier's camp, rather than the Outpost kitchen. It wouldn’t even look badly against Igor, since he was helping in the tunnels, though there would be no saving face for Smittee. It seemed like a good way to deal with the trouble, but I didn't say anything. I'm sure I'm not the only one who can see the easy way out of things.