Lost on Jord

by Allan Joyal

  "Sorry," she said, putting a hand on his arm. "We're also a bit lost and scared so making jokes from our culture helps ease the tension. But I'm sure they make absolutely no sense to you or your aunt. Please don't think too badly of us."

  "Oh, I don't," Hencktor asserted, stepping slightly away from Lydia's touch. "It's just ... . You're all so fascinating. You have weapons, and talk about traveling the lands. I've always lived in this village. But I'm considered a failure. I can't enter the mines anymore. Not since Uncle died. I was only a few feet away. The rocks just kept falling from the ceiling. The rumbles were so loud, but I could still hear him screaming in panic and pain. The other miners found me just beyond the slide. I couldn't move. I couldn't even speak. I just pointed to the rocks when they asked me about Uncle."

  The man had dropped to his knees and was shaking. "They carried me outside. Once I could see the sky I relaxed a little, but when they took me home I couldn't even enter my house. I just stood at the doorway, unable to step inside. Mother came and gathered me up. One of the other miners was there; he said something to her. She brought a blanket and made a bed for me in a corner of her flower garden. For three weeks I stayed outdoors, unable to set foot inside. Even now, I don't like being indoors, and I have never returned to the mine."

  I looked over at Madam Wessera and could see tears in her eyes. She was bringing a brown skirt over for Martha to try on. As she passed me, I reached out to her. My action caused her to stop, and I waved her down so I could whisper in her ear.

  "You seem to love your nephew. Do you believe he'd be better off leaving the village?" I whispered.

  Madam Wessera nodded. "I'll miss the lad," she whispered back so only Heather and I could hear. "But he needs to move on. There's nothing here for him."

  I smiled. "We could use a guide who knows the lands. But we won't be able to pay him much."

  Just then Lydia giggled at something and then turned to me. "Ron! This gallant lad was wondering if we would let him join us. What do you say? Can I bring him along?"

  I hissed as I realized that my plan to make sure Madam Wessera would not react badly had been spoiled, but the woman merely smiled. I turned to look at Lydia. My coworker was standing to Hencktor's left with a huge smile on her face. The young man had blushed bright red and was looking at the floor.

  Heather giggled. "Are you sure we want to keep him? After all, is he housebroken? Has he been trained? After all, men from our lands are just barely trainable, are you ready to take on this great challenge?"

  The other coeds giggled, but Hencktor surprised me by looking up at Heather. "I won't need much training," he asserted. "I know that you all have knowledge I don't, and I won't be able to provide much in the way of goods. I'll do anything you say. Carry things, set up the camp, anything."

  I held a hand up. "Hencktor. What you are asking shouldn't be taken lightly. It's funny, but I remember a song from a play from our lands. The chorus was about a journey being begun, but the destination was very uncertain. So the singers were saying, "Where am I going, I don't know. Where am I heading, I ain't certain. All I know is I am on my way." Right now, that's where we are. We don't know where we are going, and we have no real destination. Home would be preferred, but we don't know how we got here. Perhaps the Wizard's Academy can provide answers. But we won't know until we make that journey."

  Steve was shaking his head. "Trust Ron to pull an obscure reference out of the blue for that statement. You need to live in more modern times. Who remembers a musical from more than twenty years ago?"

  "Hey, it had Clint Eastwood singing. Got to laugh about that," I retorted.

  "Who was Clint Eastwood?" Martha asked.

  Eddie and William both smacked their heads as Lydia fell over laughing. Hencktor was again standing, looking around the group. When the laughter died down, he stepped forward. "So... ?"

  "Oh, you can come," I replied, interrupting the man. "I just hope you can handle what you are getting into."

  "I'm sure he can," Steve jumped in. "But can he handle the truth?" The second sentence was said in a raspy voice and reduced the coeds to laughter again as I shook my finger at him.

  Hencktor merely smiled, shaking his head in confusion. Madam Wessera walked over to him. She glared at the still giggling coeds for a moment and then put a hand on her nephew's shoulder. "Be careful," she admonished the man. "And if you can, send us a message to let us know once you find a place to stay."

  Lydia smiled. "We'll take care of him. We're not all monsters."

  Hencktor smiled again. "Thank you. Now, I need to rush off. I have a pack. There is stuff you clearly need. And I should grab my clothing."

  "Wait a moment if you could," I said. Hencktor turned in confusion. I stood up and looked over at Madam Wessera. "You're right that we do need some stuff. I was hoping you could lead me to the man who provided the mugs. He might have other items we can purchase."

  Hencktor nodded just as Galmin emerged from the kitchen. As always, the innkeeper had a snide look on his face as he oozed up to the table.

  "Is everything ok?" he asked. "This man isn't disturbing you, is he? Did you like the food?"

  "The food was excellent," I replied. "Now I know I gave you a silver to pay for Kariy's services for the day. I was hoping you could spare her now. Hencktor here was going to guide me around town so I could purchase some of the items we need." Galmin was about to reply, but closed his mouth when I raised my hand. "I also was hoping we could move into the two rooms for the night. We'll want this one table for the evening meal, but several of us are tired and would like to lay down for a couple of hours. I've heard the rooms are just up the stairs."

  Galmin paused, looking at us. "I can open the rooms, but they haven't been aired out. They are probably a bit musty, are you sure you want them now?"

  "Yes," I said. Heather was squirming slightly next to me, and I gave her arm a squeeze as I turned to look at Steve. "Steve, let's move up to the rooms now. Have the one closest to the stairs be for the men, the other for the women. Put the packs in the women's room. I'm not sure Eddie can keep his hands out of them. Also we need a guard rotation for tonight."

  Steve laughed. "That's easy. You paired with your blond limpet. I'll pair with Lydia, and Albert can work with Victoria."

  "I can guard too!" Eddie and Elizabeth cried out at the same time.

  "Later," I replied. "Neither of you slept well last night, and we need awake guards."

  I glanced over at Madam Wessera. The woman had continued to work on skirts for each lady. Martha and Dusty also had new blouses to wear. Now she had moved in to work on Jennifer's outfit and had already talked to Victoria about what she would need. It was clear that she intended to finish all the skirts before the evening meal.

  "Steve," I said. "You'll be in charge until I get back."

  Heather squeezed my arm as I stepped forward. "You aren't going alone. I'll go with you."

  I wanted to protest. I turned my head to look Heather in the eyes and my planned protest died in my throat. Her eyes were flashing back a challenge. Telling her to stay would only start a fight, so I nodded. "Leave the axe with Steve."

  Heather waved to Steve, who picked the axe up off the table. I turned back to Galmin, who was standing in the center of the room. "And can we have the young woman, Kariy, help us? We are planning on picking up a few things and I need someone to help fetch and carry while we wander the village."Galmin looked like he had just sucked on a sour lemon, pulling his lips together tightly, but then he nodded. "Most of the villagers won't be eating here tonight, I can spare her." He turned back to face the kitchen. "Kariy! Get your lazy ass out here. These visitors need to you carry stuff."

  Kariy appeared a moment later and hurried over, her eyes on the floor. As soon as she was in front of Galmin, she knelt. I could hear a hiss behind me from Lydia, but no one said anything for a moment. Then Galmin squatted down and lifted Kariy's head so she was looking at me. "Follow him and do as he says."

&nb
sp; Galmin then stood up and strode back to the kitchen door. Behind me, Steve was organizing the others to head up the stairs. I figured it was time to head out to shop. With a nod to Hencktor, I headed to the exit of the inn.

  Chapter 4 – Visits and Visitors.

  I stepped outside the inn into a bright afternoon sun. Shielding my eyes for a moment as they adjusted from the gloomy inn interior, I waited as three others followed me out. When my vision cleared, I could see Henck and Heather standing in front of me while Kariy knelt with her back against the wall of the inn.

  Heather was frowning so I turned to Kariy. "Young lady, I'm going to take you away from here. I just want to work Galmin a bit so that he doesn't try to demand a high price. From what I've heard, he's more than earned the value of your indenture and then some, but if I just approach him, he might refuse to free you."

  "I can probably help with that," Elizabeth said from the doorway, causing Heather to whirl in surprise.

  "You! You wanted to take over! Why would you want to help now!" Heather hissed.

  Elizabeth took a step back. I noticed that she had replaced the professional skirt with a new one sewn by Madam Wessera. She shrank back only for a moment before her spine stiffened. With flashing eyes she stepped forward to look Heather in the eye.

  "If we were in a modern city, I would be the best choice to lead. I'm sure of that. And how was I to know that our elevator ride had gone over the rainbow so completely. Right now I'm willing to accept Ron as the leader. He at least wants to do something." Elizabeth snorted. She stood looking at Heather for a moment, then nodded and looked away.

  Heather turned to me and shrugged. "Do we accept her help?"

  I smiled. "Well, she did say she was a corporate lawyer. From my meager experience with the breed, they are tenacious when they believe they are in the right. I'm sure Elizabeth will find Galmin a formidable foe since the man isn't going to want to lose his free cook, but I have no doubt she can win Kariy's release."

  Elizabeth blushed slightly. Hencktor was staring, his head pivoting as he moved his gaze between each of us. "Um... I thought you all knew each other. Was I wrong?"

  I sighed as Elizabeth turned to look at Henck. I could tell from the expression on her face that she was unhappy dealing with him. She shook her head slightly. "We have known each other only a few days. I think Ron, Steve, Lydia, and that useless lump Eddie knew each other before, and I knew William and Lisa because we worked in the same place, but the truth is that we came from three different places."

  "Three?" Hencktor whispered.

  Heather nodded. "Actually it's more than that although we arrived in three of the magic rooms we talked about. The rooms were originally each in a different city. One of the ladies in our group was in one. There were others with her, but they did not remain with us. Elizabeth, Lisa, and William all arrived in the same room. The rest of our group arrived in the last room. But we weren't from the same place. We had all traveled to that city and were just visiting when we were brought here."

  Hencktor seemed shocked. "You travel between cities? You actually travel?"

  Elizabeth laughed, a full laugh that seemed unlikely considering the scowl that had been on her face for the last two days. "Oh, if I needed more proof that I'm out of place here. Yes, we travelled. It was a regular part of our lives. But that's not important." She turned to face me. "Ron, I know we started off poorly. Now I have to admit that we need to stick together and that for now a man is the best leader. Will you trust me to walk around the village? I want to see if I can learn a little about Galmin we can use in the negotiations."

  I nodded. "Go ahead, but I can't provide any funds. And do be careful."

  Elizabeth snorted. "I lived in the Bronx because a downtown penthouse was just too fucking expensive. The men here might carry knives, but I did take a few self-defense classes. I'll be fine unless they try for a gangbang and if they do, I'll think of England."

  Heather giggled one more time as Elizabeth spun around and walked off, heading towards the back of the village. The skirt billowed out as she strode confidently away. Hencktor watched her go, a glazed expression on his face. He came out of his trance when Elizabeth turned left and vanished behind a building.

  "Where should we go?" he asked.

  "How about we start where Kariy got the tankards and utensils? I'm guessing that she obtained them at some kind of store where we can purchase goods."

  Hencktor thought for a moment and then nodded. "That will work. Although he won't have much."

  "Why not?" Heather asked.

  "Smolyth keeps up a small supply store for the mine and also for any caravans that come through. But most of the dwarf holdings deeper in the mountains have closed their gates recently. There was some kind of disturbance far to the north, and it started a migration of various savage tribes. It's become too dangerous for trade caravans to travel. The last group I heard of that tried to get through was a young lordling who left our village about two fortnights ago. He had a small guard with him and thought he could fight his way through," Hencktor said.

  I was watching Heather closely. Hencktor had turned away and started walking, so I gently shook my head before catching up to our guide. Behind me I heard Kariy shuffling her feet as she followed us.

  Hencktor was leading us uphill and deeper into the village. I looked around and noticed that most of the buildings were formed from blocks of stone filled in with mud. The thatching on many of the roofs was loose and in a couple cases one could see the wood posts holding up the roof through huge holes in the straw. The village definitely looked like it had seen much better times, and was now struggling to hold on to its location in the wilderness.

  Heather made no comments although her hand grasped my right arm and squeezed lightly each time we passed another decrepit and decaying house. I was wondering if the store would be in the same condition when Henck turned and led us up to a wall of stone. Heather gasped in shock as he stopped in front of it.

  Henck did not react to the gasp. He reached over to pick up a stone mallet that had been leaning against the wall and then used it to strike the wall once. Heather gasped again as what had appeared to be a stone cliff rang out like a gong.

  I immediately thought of some wizened old man, and half expected the response to be faint. There was only a moment of silence and then a powerful voice boomed out. "Push and enter!"

  Hencktor set the mallet down again, carefully leaning it against the wall and then pushed against the stone right where he had struck it. His arms showed no strain, but the stone slowly swung back and to the right, opening like a door and revealing a large chamber.

  We followed Hencktor into the chamber. The inside was lit by smoky flickering lamps. Tables and shelving ran along the walls, in the middle of the chamber were more tables. Everywhere there were various items. I could not see any swords, but as we walked in I spotted several more daggers, rope, wax covered packages I thought might be cheese, and several metal bowls that looked like they could double as helmets.

  I was so busy looking at the items that I did not notice anyone approaching. I was just starting to kneel down to take a closer look at a bundle of cloth when a man's voice boomed again.

  "Hencktor! I would have expected you to be out helping the villagers. And who are these people. Kariy? Are you with them? Are they the ones you needed the tankards for? Do they need more?"

  I stood up quickly and turned to face the voice. In front of me was a large man, easily the largest I had seen. He had a massive chest and powerful legs. I could see him playing defensive line for any football team back on Earth except his right arm was missing just above the elbow and a mass of scar tissue covered the right side of his face. The man was obviously paying attention because he smiled at me.

  "Blow out in the mines a few years ago. I got out, but my arm started to fester. Since then I took over this place and turned it into a store."

  "What is it?" Heather asked. She was kneeling down and looking at
the same bundle of cloth I had been gazing at.

  "That would be a bedroll," the man said. "Or you could get a seamstress to sew you a jacket from it, but that's a waste of the tanning on those furs. They aren't meant to be clothing and aren't all that durable. Soft, but not durable." He noticed that Heather was gazing at him in shock and smiled. "Oh, you mean this place? I could tell you aren't local, but I didn't think of that. This was a wizard's laboratory at one time. Back when the village was first founded, Hurlimaf of the Thunderous Howl came to the village claiming he needed a quiet place to research. Most thought he was here because he lost three wizard duels and needed a place to hide. Anyways he created this laboratory and the enchantments have survived his death, so I took over the place. It's a great protection against thieves. But are you here for a tale, or to purchase things?"

  "We need to purchase a few things," I said absentmindedly as I looked at a table filled with various leather items. "We are just passing through and arrived on Jord woefully underequipped for this land."

  The one armed man nodded. "Well, I do help equip groups heading into the mountains to either prospect or those attempting to reach various dwarven caves and outposts. What do you think you need?"

  Heather placed a hand on my arm. "Do you have boots? Or any kind of decent walking shoes?"

  "Boots?" I asked turning to look at her. She glanced down when I looked into her eyes. The gesture intrigued me and I looked down as well to find that Heather was walking around with bare feet.

  She shrugged. "We were only planning on going to the beach. You don't wear nice shoes for that. So we all had simple flip-flops and such. And remember Elizabeth, Lisa, and Lydia had heels. They removed those after that first dash away from the clearing. You can't walk long distances on those. We could definitely use boots."

  The man was shaking his head. "I can provide preserved food for the trip and a number of different tools. I even have a few weapons. But boots really need to be made to fit the feet of the wearer, and I don't have the skill."