by B. J. Beach
Lyssa wrung her hands, her brow furrowing as if she felt she had enough to worry about already. “He went with some of the other men-folk to the palace. He’s not back yet.”
She took a lingering look at the wan face of her daughter, then with a deep sigh led the way downstairs. Just as they arrived back in the neat and cosy living room, the front door burst open.
Lyssa rushed into the arms of the stocky man who stood there. “Devin, these people have come to help. We must let them have anything they need!”
Her husband scowled at the little group. “Are you lot planning on using magic? If so, we want none of that here.”
He pushed Lyssa away as he stepped forward to thrust his face close to Harrel’s. “Those women put a spell on us when we were outside the palace. Who knows what they got up to while we were helpless to do anything?”
Grasping the potentially hostile husband by his upper arms, Harrel pushed him down into a chair and leaned over him. “You’re your own worst enemy, d’you know that? You’ve always been the same. These are good people who are trying to help not only you but everyone else whose children have been struck by this thing. There’s nothing, and I mean nothing, that you can do without them. If you refuse, your children will still be lying there when all the others are out and about, doing all the things that children do.”
He looked up, straight into the eyes of Evalin who frowned at him and gave an almost imperceptible shake of her head. Harrel shrugged and straightened up, leaving the intractable Devin slumped in his chair.
Karryl began to move towards the door. “I’ll see you soon Harrel. Try and get him to…”
The sound of heavy sobbing stopped him in mid sentence and he turned towards the sound to see Devin with his face buried in his hands. His shoulders shook as he cried out his desperation and frustration, mixed with not a little self-pity. Harrel reached down to pat the sobbing man’s shoulder as Lyssa crouched beside him, trying to peer up into his face. They all waited until the sobbing had subsided, then Lyssa stood up, her face calm and resolute.
She placed a hand on Evalin’s arm. “Do whatever it is you have to do. Devin will be no trouble, I promise.”
Evalin gave a little nod then turned away, one hand closing over her pendant. While the others spoke quiet reassurances to the distressed parents, she stood unmoving and seemingly un-noticed for a few moments before joining them in saying their goodbyes. They stepped out into the night, and with a soft click of the latch the door closed behind them. Karryl looked up and down the street. Every house showed a light, and doors opened and closed as concerned neighbours visited to sympathise, and distressed parents returned to their homes and their afflicted children.
Forefingers pressed pensively against her chin, Mordas followed Karryl’s gaze before turning to Evalin. “If we visit a few more, if only in this street, we can at least offer some comfort and we may well discover something useful about this wicked enchantment.”
After a brief discussion during which no objections were raised, the little group set off in search of those needing their help.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
A light rain had started to fall a few moments before they left the last house. Now the pavements shone wetly in the pale yellow glow of the street lights. Across the street a small crowd of about a dozen men had gathered, hurrying forward as Evalin’s little group emerged. Karryl stepped out in the middle of the street to meet them, expecting and prepared for some kind of confrontation. The tall thick-set man who faced him obviously didn’t have anything like that on his mind. He pulled off the journeyman’s faded blue cap he wore, turning it over and over in his large hands, the entreaty in his eyes saying far more than words ever could.
Nervous and uncomfortable, he shuffled his feet. “Sir, are our children going to die?”
Karryl decided to tell him everything they knew, which he realized wasn’t such a lot. It would at least, he hoped, allay any panic likely to arise from misinformed fabrications and wild conjecture.
The little crowd of men drew closely round him as he began to speak. “From what we have seen so far we are convinced that the children are under some kind of enchantment. If we are able to establish the source and lift the enchantment, none of them will die.”
A small thin man with pale eyes and a mournful expression pushed forward. “And if you can’t?”
Karryl grimaced as the man’s query forced his mind to finally acknowledge the possibility. “We are confident it won’t come to that. There is a complex spell we can use which will keep the children stable until such time that we can find the source. However, it requires a lot of time and energy, so it would be quite a while before we got round to everybody. In that case there is a slim possibility we may lose some of the youngest infants, but we will work as fast as we can. You can help by squashing any ugly rumours that may arise, and telling everyone you know what I have told you. Now, please go back to your homes. The sooner you do that the sooner we can begin.”
There were a few uneasy moments of hesitation before the group of worried men decided that nothing would be further achieved by standing around in the rain. Disconsolate, they moved off towards their homes leaving Karryl and his companions to deal with the seemingly insurmountable problem which had landed firmly in their laps.
He turned to Evalin. “We could do with Symon right now. Where’s he gone?”
A frown briefly furrowed his wide brow as something else occurred to him. “And what was it you had in mind when you said there may be a way to deal with this?”
She studied his face for a moment. “Well, considering your potential status, it’s not unreasonable that you should know. There’s a nice little inn just at the end of this street. I think a drop of something and a good meal will set us up nicely, and I’ll tell you as much as I can.”
In anticipation of good food and something bracing, they set off towards the inn. Half-way towards their destination, Karryl stopped, frowned and looked behind him. The rain had eased to a soft, murky mizzle. Lifted and blown by the cool evening breeze, it swirled lazily round making rainbow hued haloes round the tops of the glowing street-lamps. Karryl sensed Kimi standing beside him.
The Ingalian hill ranger spoke softly. “Someone follows, Master Karryl.”
Aware and alert, the young magician nodded in acknowledgement. Staring into the misty murk, he debated in his mind whether to commence a defensive spell. A shadow flickered briefly at the edge of one of the circles of lamplight. Kimi released a low hiss. The shadow flickered again, resolving itself into something more solid, yet still keeping too far from the light to be properly definable. As he began to draw up a spell, Karryl’s nostrils caught the fresh tang of green leaves and the loamy smell of earth. The aroma seemed somehow familiar. Dismissing the spell, he began to walk towards the shadow still hovering just outside the compass of the lamplight. Kimi kept close, moving beside him on silent feet. Squat and bulky, the shadow slipped sideways, resolving into a solid form as it moved into the bright circle of light. As Karryl and Kimi drew nearer, it made a hunching sort of shuffle and moved back into the semi-darkness of a nearby alleyway. Karryl stopped under the lamp, looked at Kimi, then at the shadowed form in the alley. The cloaked and hooded figure beckoned them towards it. As they drew closer, it pushed back the hood to reveal a russet fur-covered face.
Karryl’s wide grin was matched by the sparkle in his eyes. “Well met, Dhoum. You said we’d see you again.”
The hairy creature’s round eyes glinted darkly in the dim light as he held out a scaly, four-fingered hand. “Well met again, Master Karryl.”
As the two grasped fingers, Dhoum tilted his rust-brown-haired ball of a head as if surveying Kimi. The melodious chuckle which followed reminded Karryl of the time some four years past when they had first met, and the mixed reactions of Kimi and Mordas when he had told them of the meeting.
Now Kimi stepped forward for a better look, his dark, slightly tilted eyes sparkling. “It is indeed a Grryb
hñnös!”
As Karryl marvelled at Kimi’s perfect pronunciation of an almost unpronounceable name, the wiry Ingali hill ranger bowed his tattooed head onto folded hands. “It is an honour to meet you, ancient one. I beg your forgiveness for doubting.”
Dhoum moved a pace forward and looked Kimi in the eye. Karryl thought it quite probable that he was smiling. The Grrybhñnös’ voice was vibrant with pleasure. “Well met Kimitan-paridi-na. You are known to us and no forgiveness is necessary.”
The clipping sound of light footsteps drifted back to them on the breeze. Flipping his hood over his head, Dhoum melted back into the deep shadow of the alley. Karryl and Kimi turned, only to see the two women approaching. Mordas looked a little puzzled, but Evalin’s face wore a knowing smile as she moved to stand beside Karryl.
Thrusting her head forward she spoke into the darkness. “‘Tis alright my dear Dhoum. You may come into the light again. There is nothing to fear from us, to be sure.”
As the Grrybhñnös ambled forward into the ring of light provided by the hissing streetlamp, Karryl could see that the large round eyes were a glowing brown, flecked with amber. Dhoum was happy. He stood looking up at Evalin, and some unspoken communication passed between them. Gently he rubbed at the soft patch of short golden fur which covered his throat.
Evalin turned to Mordas. “My dear, I would like you to meet Dhoum, one of the ancient race of the Grrybhñnös. Despite their appearance, they are a highly intelligent and gifted race, and possess certain talents which it is not given to us to understand. I for one am mightily pleased to see him here, although I do fear that his prompt arrival presages difficult and testing times.”
Still looking somewhat mystified Mordas bent forward and stretched out her hand. Gently taking her hand in his scaly four-jointed fingers, Dhoum pressed it against the long sleek hair of his face. The physician-mage gave an involuntary little gasp. To everyone’s surprise Dhoum sighed, a long, deep almost yearning sigh.
He blinked one of his rare slow blinks. “Pardon the liberty dear lady. I was in need of a modicum of your healing. For some reason the journey here has seemed unusually difficult, the task placed upon me is proving a drain on my resources, and the waiting beforehand has frequently been long and tedious. Many things are not as they should be. I fear the time is fast approaching when we will all be required to show our mettle.”
As he studied each of their faces in turn, the soft lamplight glinted in his eyes, accentuating the gradual change from the ice blue of deep concern back to the earlier brown-flecked amber of a lighter mood.
The sleek russet fur rippled. “Now then, where were you all off to? It wouldn’t have been the Miller’s Rest by any chance?”
Their expressions told him what he wanted to know. At a rolling pace he set off towards the inn, the hem of his dark grey robe rippling and bouncing around his unseen feet. The others hurried to keep up, surprised at the unexpected turn of speed in a creature whose appearance belied such an attribute.
As they approached the door of the inn Karryl gave voice to something which had been niggling at him since they left the alley. “Pardon me Dhoum but, well… would it be wise for you to go in there? What I mean is, they’ve probably never seen a Grrybhñnös before.”
In a perfect imitation of an owl, Dhoum turned his head round and looked at Karryl over his humpy shoulder. “And they won’t see one now. In you go.”
Mordas pushed open the door as Karryl raised a questioning eyebrow at Evalin. She gave him a knowing secretive smile, her eyes twinkling as she ushered him past Dhoum and followed him into the warm interior of the inn. The door thudded shut and Karryl looked behind him as the little party approached the bar. There was no sign of Dhoum. The innkeeper was sitting playing a game of battle-stones with one of the two customers he had. Seeing a potential increase in trade he jumped to his feet and hurried round the end of the bar to attend to their needs. The thickset man seemed genuinely pleased to see them, his round pink face creasing up in a broad smile.
Broad stubby hands placed flat on the bartop, he leaned forward in anticipation. “Good evening ladies, gentlemen. What will be your pleasure?”
At the soft creak of the door opening and closing, Karryl slowly turned round. The sight of the person who had just entered the room gave further emphasis to his increasingly high opinion of the chunky Grrybhñnös. Only the eyes gave him away. They were still large and round, shining deep amber in the brightly lit bar-room. The rest of him was an almost complete metamorphosis. As Dhoum lifted a finger to his lips for silence, Karryl noticed with some amusement that he still had four finger joints.
He now stood somewhat taller than Symon, almost on a level with Karryl’s shoulder. Although his strong face was heavily bearded, his hair was the same rusty colour it had been previously, while the large convoluted ears were either changed completely or obscured by the wealth of hair which fell in waves to his shoulders. He still wore the same shapeless and unflattering grey robe, so Karryl wasn’t able to see what he had done with his legs and feet, but as Dhoum flashed a grin, the seemingly impossible amount of sharp yellowish teeth confirmed his identity beyond all doubt.
Evalin had ordered tankards of ale for each of them. As she handed over coins she leaned toward the innkeeper. “Would you be having a little private room where my friends and I could talk for a while undisturbed?”
The man’s face flushed with pleasure at the prospect of a long evening of paying customers. He pointed to a brown painted wooden door at the far end of the room. “The fire is lit in the snug. I’m sure you’ll be very comfortable in there. Just ring the little handbell when you require service.”
They each lifted a tankard from the bar-top and followed Evalin into the snug. The room was small and cosy, its two windows covered by heavy deep-dyed curtains drawn against the night. A fire crackled in the grate, while a number of comfortable armchairs, each with its own round, iron-legged table were arranged in front of the tidy hearth. On the mantelpiece stood a small, wooden-handled brass bell alongside a tasteful selection of decorated jugs.
As they each chose a seat, Karryl looked across at Evalin. “How about a ward of silence just to be on the safe side?”
Dhoum gestured with his tankard. “Already done. Did it when we came in.”
The change in Dhoum’s appearance having been unanimously accepted, they got down to business, beginning with their deep concern for the present situation in general.
Karryl leaned forward, his elbows on his knees and his hands round his tankard. “What bothers me at the moment is the problem of getting round to lay the stasis spell in every household that’s affected. There just aren’t enough of us. We’ll run out of time and be totally drained before we’re halfway through.”
Dhoum rumbled, as if clearing his throat. “Done.”
Even Evalin, not given to surprise, stared at him. The metamorphosed Grrybhñnös placed his half empty tankard carefully and deliberately on his table.
The expression on his face was one of complete and utter satisfaction. “Easy for me. Did it while you were busy sorting out the crowd at the palace. Saw all that y’know. Pretty good.”
Evalin leaned forward. “So, you were here all the time?”
“Of course. How do you think I answered your call so soon? Even I can’t shift through at that speed.” He chuckled. “Mind you, next time I’ll take care not to move in so close. My eardrums are still ringing.”
Evalin shrugged and raised an eyebrow. “Well, and wasn’t I thinking you were still…”
Dhoum held up a restraining hand. “Yes, I may well have been. Anyway, as it is, I’ve managed to do what you requested, sooner than I’m sure you’d hoped. Those few extra minutes might well make all the difference. It will also give us a little breathing space without jeopardising our efforts.”
Mordas glanced at everyone in turn, the concern in her eyes softening to relief. “Does that mean we won’t have to visit every home and work the stasis spell?”<
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Dhoum answered as he peered accusingly into his tankard. “Wouldn’t hurt to go round and make a small gesture of some sort. So no-one feels they’ve been left out. Wouldn’t take long. Split up. Do it in twos.”
He leaned forward and peered at Evalin, his normally round eyes compressed into a pale blue tinted squint. “What’s the other one doing here?”
Karryl sensed Kimi start to bristle in the seat beside him. Evalin, too, had noticed. She raised a placatory hand towards the hill-ranger. “‘Tis not yourself he means and the person to whom he refers is not present. This is something I intended to tell you about in this very room.”
Dhoum gave a noncommittal grunt, took a large gulp which emptied his tankard, belched furiously and leaned back in his chair. The others turned to Evalin, their curiosity obviously piqued.
Karryl jumped in with both feet. “Well, if it isn’t Kimi that Dhoum means, who is it?”
Evalin pondered for a moment, and Karryl fancied that she flashed a quick grimace in Dhoum’s direction. If he noticed, it didn’t show.
Her presence seemed to fill the room as she rose to her feet and began to pace slowly back and forth in front of them. “A little event took place in the crowd, shortly before they dispersed. It was at that time that I met a young man, no stranger to Symon, Dhoum or myself, but unknown as yet to you Mordas, or to Karryl and Kimi.”
She looked down at the tattooed hill ranger, sitting with his feet tucked under him. “I suppose you would say we have a mustering of the troops.”
Dhoum scratched at his beard. “Get on with it woman!”
Evalin ignored his brusqueness. “The young man in question will be known to you all as Redmond. How long he has been in the city I don’t know, but his presence here tells me that things are surely moving on. Having given it some thought, ‘tis my opinion that, like myself he is here to stand in for Symon.”
