For the last three days, the Refuge caravan has wended its way south, far from Idris and the Hardstone Hills. The weather, although turning chill, has been with you, and although the skies have threatened snow, no snow has come. However, in the plains of Ress to the west, dark clouds are looming, bringing with them the promise of worse weather soon.
You have made progress in the gentle hills of southwestern Tol Nedra, headed for the circle of stones that Elianel told of three nights past, which is deep in the isolated woods to the southwest. You are now bordering the lands ruled by Baron Khilur, the lich, a lord of Tol Nedra and no Vorghol, but a powerful sorcerer in his own right. The Standing Stones are perhaps half a day's ride from here, by Elianel's reckoning.
Kane, Thragga and Khom-Bei have served as outriders for the wagons. You are now about an hour ahead of the main caravan, scouting the way through the hills. You rein in on a hillside and look out. Just ahead of you is a broad field of stubble, a wheat field perhaps in summer, now bare with the harvest brought in. Beyond the stubbled field is a cluster of thatched farm buildings; you can see stout figures in peasant brown working in the distance half a mile off. No one seems to have noticed you on this gray overcast day.
There is a wellhead surrounded by a low wall at the bottom of the hill you stand on. A short figure, a female Tobon, works at the well, drawing up water in a bucket.
Kane turns to his companions and says, "So what think you? Is it safe for the caravan to cross here?"
Khom-Bei looks around at the countryside, "I would prefer more cover, but there's not really much choice."
"We could kill all the Tobon, easy," Thragga says.
Kane replies with a straight face, "Too messy, and you know blood draws the Vorghol."
A little black dog trots around the low wall. As Kane speaks, the little dog stops and growls up at the figures on the hillside. The Tobon looks about, warily, but hasn't spotted you yet.
Kane says, "Let's ask to draw some water and feel the locals out."
Khom-Bei says, "Let's let Thragga eat the dog first and shut him up.""
Thragga says, "I haven't had a good dog in days..."
Kane says with a chuckle, "I don't think so. You know that dog gives him terrible gas, and I've had enough of his smell over the past few days." He kicks his horse to a saunter and heads down the hill towards the well.
The dog barks now, a high pitched yip. He's a tiny but fierce creature. The Tobon female spots Kane and steps back, her hood falling from her shoulders. She has flaxen hair and blue eyes. The dog growls even more as Kane gallops down the hill, but he retreats behind the skirts of his mistress to bark from a safe place.
Kane stops his horse at a respectful distance, dismounts, then calls, "Good day good woman. May my companions and I draw some water from your well?"
The Tobon watches you approach, not averting her eyes as some peasants might. "Aye, my lord. What is ours is yours."
Kane bows and says, "Your graciousness is greatly appreciated." Then he approaches on foot with his horse trailing behind.
The little dog growls and snaps, bravely. She tells the dog: "Hush now, Grivaine!" The name once belonged to a famously small Palladian, famed in songs as a great knight.
Thragga stumps along behind Kane, silently. The dog shuts up at the sight of the huge Urag.
Kane approaches the well and then lowers the bucket to draw up water. The firts bucket goes into the trough for the horses. Kane's charger laps gratefully at the water.
The Tobon ventures, "You're not from these parts, my lord?"
As Kane hauls up the second bucket he says, "No actually, we are just passing through." He dips a ladle by in to the bucket and takes a long drink of the cool well water. "Ah, know that is sweet water my lady, I thank you."
The girl scoops up the quiescent dog in her dirty hands. "You are most welcome, my lord. That is an Angharan horse, is it not? But your accent is Nedri." She seems a bit more educated than you might expect for a backcountry Tobon farmer girl.
Thragga snaps, "You ask a lot of questions, girl!"
Khom-Bei takes the ladle from Kane and dumps a full scoop of water over his head, wringing out his neckerchief and wiping his face before drinking the second ladleful. Cakilgan joins Kane's horse in refreshing himself.
Kane says, "Easy friend, our good hostess has a right to question strangers on her land." He turns to the woman and says, "Yes he is, you have a fine eye for horses. He was a gift from a friend."
Khom-Bei moves closely to the horses, murmuring softly to them, checking their hooves and fetlocks carefully before beginning to give his pony a quick brush.
She shakes her head. "This is my father's farm. He taught me about horses and even Northerling steppe ponies. He used to trade up in Idris. I bet he'd love to get a look at those two..."
Kane says, "Is he around? He would be more then welcome to."
"He's back at the house..." she indicates the main farmhouse, a cozy, inviting, Tobon-scaled structure with a smoking chimney. "His name is Dusin, and mine is Melone."
Some of the Tobon working in the distance, near the buildings, now seem to notice Melone conversing with the strangers. They stare in curiosity, simple folk not used to strangers.
Kane bows again and says, "Pleased to meet you Melone, I am Kane. My companions are Khom-Bei and Thragga."
Thragga nods in greeting, ladle still in his mouth.
Khom-Bei pauses in his work to bow and smile at Melone, "It is good to meet you, Melone."
"Are you hungry, my lords? Won't you come and eat something?" Melone says, excitedly gesturing towards the farmhouse. She waves to reassure the Tobon gaping at you all across the stubble fields.
Kane fills his water skin from the bucket. "That would be most gracious, but perhaps you should get leave first from the master of the house."
"Please, do join us! My father will be most glad to see you, I'm sure." she says, pleadingly.
Kane says, "How could we refuse such an invitation. Let us see to the horses and we will be right along." He hopes that the girl will run ahead and give some kind of warning to her father. He knows well what the sight of Thragga can do to folk who are not prepared for him.
Melone smiles, stoops to lift the bucket of water she came for, and trudges off across the bare field. Grivaine barks at her heels.
Kane calls afeter her, "If you will leave the bucket I will carry it up to the house for you Melone."
Melone says, "That is most kind of you, my lord, but my mother said to bring it back...the hearth is ashen and needs a scouring."
Thragga asks Kane, "They're going to feed us...what are we waiting for?"
Giving a last swipe to Kane's charger, Khom-bei tucks his brush away and follows Melone toward the house, tossing a few words to his pony: "Come along when you've drunk your fill."
Kane takes the bucket from Melone then says, "Well, it would seem we're ready after all."
Some of the Tobon farmers crowd about excitedly as you approach, pitchforks and hoes in hand. Melone introduces you all. "This is Kane, and Khom-Bei. And Thragga, their Urag thrall."
Thragga growls softly, so only the other Hunters can hear.
Kane again bows and says to the crowd, "A good day to all."
An aging Tobon, with muttonchop whiskers, appears at the door of the farmhouse. He totters down the short steps and towards the assembly.
"Look at the horses, Father! Aren't they marvelous? Kane's horse is Angharan!" Melone says.
The old Tobon regards the steeds admiringly. "Not bad, not bad at all," he admits. "Where'd you get these fine beasts?"
Kane addresses Melone's father, "Good day, sir. Your daughter was kind enough to allow us to water our horses and quench our thirst from your well."
Khom-Bei steps forward and extends a hand to the elder Tobon, a smile on his face, "I am Khom-bei of the Coldwind clan. I come by my mount honestly. Kane says his was a gift."
"Dusin's the name," the Tobon says, shaking hands with Khom-Bei. "You're welcome, sirs. Used to trade in horses myself, in my younger days, up in Idris. Care for a goblet of apple wine? You can tell me about your steeds. They're fine ones."
Khom-Bei says, "A goblet of wine would be a fine thing, Master Dusin. I've not often heard of Tobon horsetraders and I would dearly love to hear your tales."
Kane extends his hand, "That would be most welcome." he says. "I am Kane."
Dusin shakes Kane's hand as well. "Your thrall, he can go have a sit in the barn if you want...Does he speak Marreith like decent folk?"
Thragga grumbles. "I speak it well enough. Thragga is my name."
Kane says, "I promise you he is house broken."
Melone says, "Bring him inside too! We don't see too many Urag in these parts." She seems more curious than afraid of him.
Khom-Bei frowns, "Thragga is no thrall, Master Dusin. He travels with us, is our friend and our equal."
Dusin nods at Khom-Bei's words. "Very well then! Thragga, most glad to meet you, and welcome. All of you, come on in."
Khom-Bei claps the big Urag on the shoulder and smiles, "Just don't leave him alone around any horses you might need."
Not long after, you sit before Dusin's fire. He places his bare, hairy Tobon feet on the hearthstone, which is dirty as Melone promised.
Melone pours you all goblets of apple wine, a welcome respite from the chill outside on this early winter's day.
Dusin stuffs his pipe with weed, and offers some from his pouch to you all. "Got into horse tradin', slow. Started as a groom in Lady Naylah's tower, I did." He lights his pipe and blows a thick cloud of fragrant smoke.
Dusin's wife Letha offers you cuts of cold chicken, pickles from a stone jar, and fresh black bread.
Kane passes on the pipeweed but partakes of the food and gives thanks to Dusin's wife."Were you long in the Lady's service?" Kane asks.
Khom-Bei accepts a platter of food and nods to Dusin, "Perhaps the master of the house would be graceful enough to lead us in giving thanks for the fine meal his wife has prepared."
The Tobon looks abashed. "I don't have the holy words," puffing on his pipe. "But you look like you might, son."
Khom-Bei bows his head, "Thanks we give for the food we have, the drink we hold, and the friends we make."
The Tobon hang their heads respectfully. After a silence, Dusin continues, "Served the Lady a few years. Did a good job, reckon, and was gifted with a Nobilis pony early on as a reward for service. Could he run! But a warrior serving Baron Thumgath offered me a few dragons for him, and I couldn't refuse, being a hungry young fellow. Bought a string of fine ponies, sold them, kept my eye open for the main chance..eventually, saved up enough coin to buy the farm."
Thragga stuffs pickles into his maw, then upends the jar to drink the sour juice.
Dusin grins at his memories, puffing merrily, and waits for you to tell your own tales.
Kane says, "So you are a self-made man. Not many have the wits or the fortitude to accomplish such."
Khom-Bei says, "Did you travel much in your trade, sir? To see the fine steeds of the Ress and the Angharan herds?"
Dusin strokes his muttonchops. "Haven't done too bad," he admits. "Been to Ress once. Those folk, they know horses! Never saw the like before. Saw a string of Angharan bays once, captured in the Crusade and sold as booty in Idris. Long, lean lines like yours outside. Where'd you find your gelding, Kane?"
Kane says, "My lord has a holding on the borderlands. It was gifted to me as reward for service."
Dusin says, "Wish I could afford to buy him, that's for sure. Only three tired plowhorses out in my old barn." he chuckles. "And your pony, Khom-Bei?"
Khom-Bei smiles, "He's more a brother to me than any man, sir."
Dusin gives a nod. "That's the way of it. Expect no less. Hear tell your women give suck to the foals as they're born..."
Khom-Bei laughs aloud, "Well, only if the mare is in distress."
Dusin joins in the laughter. "And another thing wondered on..." he's interrupted as a young Tobon races into the room. He could be Melone's brother, by the looks of him. "Father, riders! Lord Khilur's men by their colors, father!"
Kane gives a quick look to Khom-Bei and Thragga.
Khom-Bei says, "This Khilur is the local nobleman, sir?""
Thragga races to the house's single glass window. Galloping towards the house from a distant hillside are a dozen riders, Reith by their looks, in the red and black of Lord Khilur. Their weapons aren't drawn as they canter towards the farm.
Dusin says, "Never heard of Lord Khilur, son? You must not get much news, out on the steppes. Been lord of these parts since the Conquest, a hundred years gone."
Kane says, "Does his lordship often grace your lands?"
Thragga signals to Kane. Twelve riders. Kane gives a little shake of his head in response.
Dusin rises. "His Lordship don't travel much..."
Kane says, "Does this mean trouble for your farm?"
The Tobon outside gather together, fearfully, as the riders approach.
Khom-Bei says, "Or for you?"
Dusin says, "Can't be good, that's for sure." He goes to the door and steps outside.
Kane hangs behind and says to Thragga and Khom-Bei , "I think we had best go outside."
Khom-Bei nods, "Easier to run if we're already outside."
As you emerge, the long-haired Reith sergeant dismounts. He tells his corporal, "The place looks perfect to me. Check out the barn, and those buildings over there." He points across the farm, and some of the riders are dispatched to investigate. "You there! Tobon!" he snaps as Dusin stands before him, pipe still in his mouth. "Your lord has need of your service. A hundred soldiers follow behind me on that road. They're to be billeted here, supplied and watered, for tonight."
Dusin says, "And I'm to be paid for this, boyo?" This is his land.
The sergeant scoffs, then he sees the three of you behind Dusin on the front porch. "And what have we here?" he asks. He sets his hand on his sword hilt. "A Northerling. What's your name-name, Northerling? You savvy?" Some of the riders chuckle at their Sergeant's jape.
Kane speaks up, "Just travelers passing through, Sergeant, on our way south. We are leaving soon and will be no trouble to you or your men."
Khom-Bei smiles a tight-lipped smile, "I savvy well, Sergeant. I am Ghar-tai of the Redclaw clan."
The Sergeant pulls off his riding gauntlets. "Ghar-tai. Where do they get these names, boys? Well, Ghar-tai, we're on our way west, at his Lordship's orders, to kill your kinfolk, who are in unlawful mutiny against their King. You wouldn't be planning to sneak off and tell 'em, would you?" His men giggle and grin, cruelly.
Khom-Bei steps forward quickly, closing on the sergeant, "My kinfolk are dead, sergeant, all of them. I care not where you travel. I serve the Lady Yvene and it is her business I travel on. Perhaps you would like to explain to your Lord Khilur that you interfered in my business?"
The Sergeant says, "Lady Yvene?" he blinks. He didn't expect that.
Kane says, "Our business is south, sergeant. That's where we are headed."
Dusin says to Kane, "Shut up. You'll go south when I say so. Hired you to guard my grain, and that's what you've done these last weeks, a piss-poor job, might add. You're not leavin' till I get my dragons' worth out of you."
Kane turns to the old man and says, "You'll get your money's worth, Dusin. We just thought we'd make some more room for the good sergeant's troops is all."
Khom-Bei sneers at the man, "Yes, sergeant, the Lady Yvene directs me. I will not tarry with such as you and risk her wrath. If you are wise, you will not risk it either."
The riders give a rude laugh as the Northerling threatens the sergeant with his mad tale. "A jester!" the sergeant says. "Tobon, you have a jester there. He should wear a cap and bells 'stead of those skins, hey boys?"
Dusin shrugs. "Told me the other day he speaks to the Lord of the Dragha, Sergeant. Think he drank too much out on the steppes, his people threw him out."
The sergeant rolls his eyes. He says, "Then he's too pitiful to hang as a spy, Tobon."
Khom-Bei skitters over to Dusin, "When my Lord rises again into the skies, you will see his power, old man!"
Thragga folds his arms across his chest, eyeing the riders too belligerently to be a thrall.
Kane tells Thragga, "Ok mate, back to work."
Dusin says, "I pay him in sour wine. The wife uses it to clean the floors, and he laps up the rest."
Khom-Bei looks at Kane and then away into the fading light of day, as if distracted, "Yes, my lady. At once, my lady." He runs off toward the barn, muttering to himself.
The sergeant says, "Very well, then. The battalion will be here shortly. The Captain will take the big house for his quarters, of course. The rest of the men, billeted as we decide." He pulls a small pouch of dragons from his belt and throw it at Dusin's feet. Melone stoops to collect it. "Half now, half in the morning. We'll take tenof your hogs for our supper."
Dusin nods, grudgingly as Melone counts the coins.
Thragga slips off to join Khom-Bei.
Dusin tells Kane, "What are you standin' about for? Make sure your Northerling friend doesn't break into the kegs in the barn."
Kane turns and heads after the others.
Near the barn, Thragga whispers to Khom-Bei. "We can take those pig-humping bastards.."
Khom-Bei says, "And what about the hundred of their friends that will be here soon?"
Thragga hadn't thought of that. He is about to reply as Kane slips up behind them. "Thragga, pipe down. These people are risking a lot to protect us."
Thragga glares impotently at the soldiers as they chalk the buildings for billeting. The cavalry in the barn, the infantry there, in the long storehouse, the officers in the farmhouse.
"So now what?" the Urag demands.
Kane says, "It seems we will not be able to move the people through here until these troops are gone. We will have to ride back to warn the rest."
Khom-Bei nods, "Yes, we must warn the others."
Thragga grunts in frustration. "You should let me kill that sergeant, at least."
Kane says, "Not yet. Perhaps only one of us should go, Thragga do you think you can do it?"
Thragga nods, reluctantly. "I can kill him, yes."
Kane says, "I meant warn the others."
The Urag thinks a moment. "Yes. I will find Elianel and warn them about the army."
Kane says, "Not yet though, after they leave."
Thragga nods. "Dusin is very brave."
Kane says, "I agree."
Khom-Bei says, "We must keep him from harm, him and his family."
Kane says, "The best way to do that is to play along for now."