by JF Smith
Thaybrill picked at his rabbit, but continued to look a little nervous at facing a member of the Kingdom Guard that had betrayed him so completely.
“Every ounce of trust you have in me, you can have in him as well. Once he understands what has happened, he will see you back in your rightful place, or he will give his life trying,” said Gully.
“I must go with you. What happens if you do not come back? I will die if I try to find my way out of the marshes without you,” insisted Thaybrill.
“Nay, nay, that is not the risk you think it is. It would be a far worse risk to try to get you back into Lohrdanwuld at the moment. By now, the Domo Regent and the other conspirators in the city know you have been spirited away. They will be looking desperately for you, for your reappearance now would ruin their plans. Your safety is paramount until we can plan together with Roald. And your safety is best guaranteed here. And our planning is best done here. No harm will come to me on my trip, and I will return in no more than three or four days.”
Thaybrill reluctantly agreed, and they went about storing up enough food and firewood for the prince to last a week. He pointed Thaybrill to a plentiful moss that grew on the trees with the comment that, if nothing else was available, it was very edible despite the fact that it tasted like soured mattress straw. In preparing the cabin for Thaybrill’s stay, Gully did most of the work while the prince followed him around and watched. As much as it should have annoyed Gully how the prince let him do all the work, he could not manage to truly be mad at the man for some reason.
He fully expected His Royal Highness to be spoiled and indifferent. And to be sure, the prince did seem a little too spoiled and helpless for his own good, but he definitely was not indifferent towards those who had suffered as the victims of such terrible crimes.
Gully wondered if he felt less contempt for him perhaps because of what the poor prince had been through. Or perhaps it was because the prince was so earnest about stopping the conspirators, as much for justice on behalf of the people of Iisen as it was for his own self. Perhaps he felt a little sorry for the lonely life led by the man who would be crowned king, if they could bring the traitors down.
Once the provisions were stored away, Gully spent time making sure the prince learned the safe path to the stream so he could fetch fresh water.
When Gully prepared to take his leave of the prince, Thaybrill put his hand on Gully’s shoulder and told him, “I will eagerly await your return, Bayle. May every star in heaven speed you on your journey and look after you on your task.”
“I will be back, prince, I give my word,” said Gully. “I go straight to Lohrdanwuld to fetch Roald.”
~~~~~
Gully passed through the woods and stopped a moment to try to get his bearings correct again. He checked the position of the sun through the canopy of leaves and tried to remember the proper path, but felt unsure.
He resumed walking again, and the gnawing inside of him grew. His insides felt a little knotted for having lied to the prince the way he had.
He knew he shouldn’t feel guilty for the lie, but he did for some reason. Once he had left, it dawned on Gully that he was doing all he could to help the very man that would one day almost certainly order him to hang by the neck in the Bonedown once he found out about all of his crimes as a thief.
Gully had studiously avoided mentioning to the prince how he had stolen things. But if all went well and things were made right, and if Thaybrill were placed on the throne, then Gully would go back to his own life of looking for his father. That meant that, sooner or later, he still expected to face King Thaybrill under very different circumstances.
Perhaps, for what Gully had done for the prince the day before and for what he was doing now, the future king would remember and show mercy on him on that day. The thought was a glimmer of hope in a dark future, but Gully refused to let it run away with him. The wealthy and powerful seemed to have remarkably short memories about being in the debt of others.
Nonetheless, even certain of what King Thaybrill would one day do to him, Gully felt a little ashamed for promising to go directly to find Roald in Lohrdanwuld since that was not where he was going. Not first, at least.
The thought of bringing the prince to stay in the safe hands of the Merchers had entered Gully’s head for only a fleeting moment before he chased it off. He had sworn to the patriarch that he would do no such thing that would ever put them at risk. And presenting them to the crown prince seemed like the worst possible way to betray that promise, even given the circumstances. Besides, it was possible that once the Domo Regent found out the prince had been freed, he would assume it was by the Merchers and would send every possible man in search of the camp and the loose prince.
That was why he was now on his way to them instead of Lohrdanwuld. They deserved to know how drastic things had turned and should be warned of the danger it presented to them.
For the fifth or sixth time, Gully stopped, checked again, smelled in the air for tell-tale smoke, and found himself betrayed by his unfamiliarity with the northern half of the woods. He adjusted his direction slightly and set off again, looking carefully for any features of the land or woods that were recognizable to him.
He had not gone far when a blur of motion streaked through the trees and then landed on a limb not far in front of him.
A spectacular hawk perched and looked at him directly. Gully stared for a moment, curious about such forward behavior for a bird of prey. Then he realized that it was a swallow-tailed hawk in front of him, peering at him intently. It called at him once, and showed no fear of him.
“Abella Jule? Is that you there on the branch?” he asked.
The hawk unmistakably nodded at him in answer.
Gully smiled at his luck. He decided that she must have seen him while flying overhead, realized he was searching for the Mercher clan’s encampment once again, and came to help. It was the first time he had seen her in her hawk form, and the striking beauty of the bird dazzled him with her forked tail feathers and her snow-white head and breast.
“Aye! You are a most fortunate sight, Abella Jule! I am looking to return to the camp, but am not very sure of the way. Am I on the correct path?”
The hawk nodded again, then flew away a short distance. She landed on a low branch of an alder tree and waited. Gully understood that she was leading him forward, and so he began to follow with surer feet.
They travelled along in this manner, with Abella Jule flying ahead a little bit and waiting for Gully to catch up to her. He was very glad to have a guide because the path she took was not the direction he would have kept had he been alone.
At one point, rather than fly ahead to another tree, Abella Jule flew back past Gully a couple of times and then rose up past the trees and out of sight. Alone again, Gully hoped he did not end up face to face with Encender as he was not sure how the patriarch’s son would react to his return to the camp.
He set forth, though, in the same direction the he had been walking and wondered why Abella Jule had left him.
Before long, he spotted her flying past again, and then a moment later, Gully spotted someone running up to him, dodging around the bushes and tree trunks.
He smiled broadly when he saw that it was the young boy, Wyael.
“Gully! You’re back! You came back!” said the young boy, his face grinning broadly as he grabbed Gully in a hug.
Gully was a little taken aback at the excited reception, but hugged the boy back and said, “And did I not promise, Wyael, that I would return as soon as possible?”
“You did!” said the boy happily. He took Gully’s hand and led him forward in the direction from which he had come. Gully waved at Abella Jule, who had perched on a nearby branch, to thank her for flying ahead and letting the Merchers know he was on his way.
“How far is the camp from here, little one?”
“Not far, sir. Abella came and made your arrival known. Raybb is on his way to greet you as well, but I run fa
ster than he does!”
“I’m sure you do,” said Gully with a laugh.
“I’m glad you’re here! I made something for you! I finished it this morning!” said Wyael proudly.
Gully stopped and looked at the child curiously. He wasn’t sure that anyone had ever made anything for him.
Gully knelt down in front of Wyael and said, “You did? And what could it be?”
Wyael fished around in one of his pockets. He said, “The patriarch said I should take my time with it, that he wasn’t sure how soon you might come back, but I couldn’t wait. I’m glad I finished it!”
Out of his pocket, Wyael produced a small fox carved from a piece of wood. It was even painted the stippled black and gray and white typical of the gray foxes in the area.
Gully exclaimed, “Why, is this my Pe’taro you have carved?!”
Wyael nodded his head violently as Gully turned the small animal over and over in his hands and examined the details. It was quite a good likeness, except for the color, and very skillfully done for one so young.
“It is magnificent, Wyael! I will treasure it forever!”
Gully pulled the boy to him and hugged him again, genuinely touched by the gift and the affection the boy seemed to feel for him.
“In return, perhaps one day I will teach you how to pick a lock. Would you like that?” asked Gully, glancing around to make sure no one else of the Mercher clan was around to hear the offer.
Wyael’s eyes got huge and he said, “Oh, yes, please! When? Before you leave?”
“You must slow down, Wyael. I said perhaps, and you must not tell anyone of my offer or we will both get in trouble! And you must promise to be very good in the meantime, and never to use the skill to steal from anyone. You must obey the patriarch and perform all your chores exactly as asked. Is that understood, young man?”
“Definitely, sir! I promise!”
“Fine, then,” said Gully as he spotted a large brown bear, one that he recognized, lumbering towards them on all four feet.
Gully smiled again and called out, “Raybb, it is good to see you again. Especially without you sneaking up behind me!”
The bear let out a sharp “yowlp” that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.
Gully followed as Wyael and Raybb led him the rest of the way into the camp, where everyone he saw greeted him with a smile and a welcome.
As they made their way to the patriarch’s shanty, Gully asked Wyael, “And where are my friends Gallun and Gellen. I am surprised I have not been attacked by the wolves yet.”
Before Wyael answered, a voice behind him said, “They are out hunting. Have been since you left. We have begun to worry about them a little.”
Gully turned and saw Exoutur striding up to them. Behind him, the patriarch, both the human and ocelot, emerged from his shanty and exclaimed, “Di—” he stopped and instead said, “Gully! What an unexpected surprise!”
Gully’s face fell a little and he said, “I have much to tell you. And you, too, Exoutur, and Raybb. In fact, you should probably fetch Encender, also. I do not wish to exclude him and he should hear of this as well.”
The patriarch’s normally placid face grew grave and he asked, “You bring worry with you, Gully. Is all well?”
Gully looked seriously at all of them and replied, “Things are happening. Many things are happening, and I would do the clan a disservice to not warn you.” In the back of his mind, Gully wished that Gallun and Gellen were there. He would feel better with them near, and would not have to worry about their safety.
The requested group of people gathered, and Gully spent the rest of the afternoon and early evening explaining to them all that had happened. He explained how he never even got the chance to speak to Roald before finding a person being abducted out of the city. He was worried about their reaction when they found out whom it was that Gully had freed, but Encender was the only one that seemed to see it as nothing but a bad sign for them.
Gully explained to them how he worried that the men that had kidnapped the prince would come looking for the Mercher camp, thinking it was one of the clan that had freed him. Encender, for the first time, agreed with Gully and even mumbled his appreciation for the warning.
Gully also warned them that, as much as he did not want to see them displaced from their home, they should be ready to decamp quickly if things turned very sour.
The patriarch was full of questions about Gully’s plans and Gully explained that he was not sure how to best handle the situation and would welcome any advice the patriarch saw fit to give. His first task was to be present in Lohrdanwuld to see how the prince’s disappearance was being explained by the people who had perpetrated it. Beyond that, he only knew he needed to have Roald with him, and perhaps whatever honest guards that Roald could bring with him to help.
As the discussion wound down, the patriarch offered to Gully again, this time in front of all those gathered instead of quietly and off to the side, “I offer our assistance, young Gully Snipe. Whatever the Mercher clan can do to help you, you have it. You have but to ask.”
Encender began to protest, but the patriarch held up his hand to silence him. “You are right, Gully. Things are happening.”
Encender and Raybb left to begin increasing the patrols and watches on the far outside of the camp, and the rest went their own ways to tell others what they had heard.
Wyael asked as he began to gather some dinner together for the patriarch and Gully, “Will you be safe going to the city, Gully? I do not want anything to happen to you!”
Gully said, “I promise, Wyael. I can get in and out of the city without being seen if necessary. But no one even knows it is I who freed the prince as I did not allow the guards to have a good look at me.”
Wyael left to go be with his parents once his chores were done, leaving Gully and the patriarch alone to talk for a while.
The patriarch asked him, “What sort of a person is this prince since you know him personally now? What manner of a man is he? What sort of a king do you think he will make if his throne is recovered?”
“He is spoiled and overly coddled like all nobles,” replied Gully. “I think... he is a little sad in some ways. He has been raised wanting for nothing and is unused to doing much of anything for himself. But, he seems truly concerned about bringing these criminals to justice and ending this slave trade, and not so much for his own revenge, but for the people of Iisen that have suffered from it. I am encouraged by the fact that he seems to have an earnest heart and wants to do well.”
He added, “We spent a while last night in one of the meadows I spent many days dawdling about in while in my youth. He needed to be able to see the sky so he could pray to his father. I felt bad that the only interaction he had ever had with his father was as a cold point of light far, far away in the night sky. It made me love my own father much more and long for him again.”
The patriarch nodded as he listened carefully. He said, “A man sincere in his faith and his concern for others is a good sign.”
“Even when the faith is as strange a religion as what the Iisenors have. Idolization of dead ancestors, and looking to them for guidance and redemption seems quite so odd to me. I can say this freely and without offense since I know you do not hold closely to the Iisen religion yourself,” said the patriarch.
Gully only shrugged in response.
The patriarch pointed low in the western sky, which was obscured by the trees of the forest, and said, “It seems Iisenors all want to blame their bad decisions and foolish behavior on their trickster moon up yonder. It is quite convenient to have something so readily available to point to as the source of troubles and bad conduct, especially when it is not oneself.”
“So,” asked Gully, “to what strange religion do you Merchers hold? I am wont to think it would seem just as fanciful to an Iisenor.”
The patriarch smiled gently at Gully’s challenge. “Balmoreans do not have a religion, in so many words. We tend to be a people tha
t see fate in many things that happen.”
Gully raised an eyebrow. “Ah, a fate that defines a path inalterable, yes? A fate that removes choice and therefore responsibility? If something is fated, then it will happen no matter what actions one takes to the contrary,” said Gully. “It would seem quite convenient for one to have something like fate so readily available to remove one’s responsibility for troubles and bad conduct, would it not?”
“Of course, you speak wise and true, Gully,” said the patriarch, catching Gully’s challenge. His eyes sparkling in the purple dusk sky and firelight. “Such is the nature of all people... to set up mechanisms to shift the blame for all the wrong we do.”
Gully felt very satisfied at the point he had made to the patriarch.
“However,” said Aian, “that is not exactly the fate that we follow. The fate which we respect leads us to a point, but the path an individual chooses at that point is up to him. Or her, of course. Our view of fate does not eliminate free will or the responsibility that comes with it. In fact, it makes those things paramount. We see fate as the events and circumstances of the past that put individuals in their present situation, and all so that they then choose their way into the future.”
Gully wrinkled his nose as he thought through what the patriarch was saying. He had taken the small carved fox Wyael had given him out of his pocket and was turning it over and over in his hands. “So... fate is nothing more than the past because it is fixed and unalterable?”
“Yes. And no, too,” said the patriarch. “When someone has not yet chosen a path at a juncture, it is free will. When the path has been chosen, it becomes fate. But we do see a more mystic element to it as well, and this is where my faith, our faith, comes to play a part. We believe that sometimes, if we look carefully at the past, we can discern a design, or an intention even, that guided the events to a certain point. Guiding without precluding the free choices along the way. And that guidance and design leads to a point for a purpose, unknown to those at the juncture. We do not always see the past as merely a mechanical chain of causes and inevitable effects, of decisions and consequences. Sometimes we see a guiding purpose, specifically leading to a present situation, with the future hanging on a choice. Whether or not someone becomes a balmor and what animal form they take, for example, leads to a situation where that someone must decide what to do with it and how to use it. Perhaps you will find this impertinent of me, Gully, but I might pose another illustration of this. Suppose that someone wishes to spend time looking for a loved one, and chooses to become a thief to allow the freedom to do so. Years later, but as a direct result of that decision to become a thief, for example, that person discovers a very grave crime and is in a position to stop it. Balmoreans see these events and decisions as being very important, Di’taro, intentional. Very significant.”
