For Whom the Bell Trolls: Hands of the Highmage, Book 1

by D. H. Aire

  “What are these banners for?”

  The Seeress replied, “You will use them to festoon your shows and use them as blankets as you need them. All of you should dress now; and you girls stay hidden until you are all safely deep into the southern part of the Thorns and into the forests beyond to the west and south.”

  The Seeress went to Lawson and smiled, “There is a box which offers introductory letters, recommending your show to the local Marshalls and Mayors, who might be mildly concerned at your bringing a troll to entertain their folk. Fateful journey, Milord Lawson.”

  Frowning, he said, “Uh, just Lawson.”

  “Milord,” she whispered, leaning closer, “you should get used to it.”

  The Seeress went to Nessa’s shoulder, “You will be reunited with your mother again. She’s a lovely woman. Fateful journey, Milady.”

  “Mi—?” she rasped.

  The Seeress quickly turned away as Yel’ane gave Nessa a thoughtful look in return, noting her friend glancing at Casber as he mounted the unicorn, At Nessa’s interest the boy glanced at her, then blushed scarlet. “Nessa?” Yel’ane sputtered.

  “Don’t you start,” the young woman muttered, hurrying to the wagon. “Girls, you better be getting changed. It won’t be easy once we’re moving!”

  Lawson glanced at Greth, said, “Uh, must have been an interesting night for you, too.”

  “Milord Lawson,” the drover said, coming up them, “they’s good strong beasts. They’ll take you far and run as fast as you need at your urging.”

  Lawson frowned.

  “You’ll take good care of them. Keeping them out of Fenn’s army’s hands wasn’t easy, I can tell you. It’s good you be so familiar with using the reins. Makes me happy knowing that.”

  He blinked as Greth slowly smiled.

  “Familiar with…” Lawson muttered.

  “The Seeress told me her very self,” he said proudly, “how gentle a hand you have and know just where to touch their hides to get the best of them without being heavy handed.”

  “Definitely,” Greth said. “Couldn’t have said it better myself.”

  Vi’ya opened a curtain window, gesturing, asking him what he thought.

  Lawson swallowed, nodding back at her in the brightly colored fabric that a servant claimed the Seering described as a halter, which would become quite fashionable. Jen’yan pouted, “This is too big and this is too small.”

  “Put something on, Jen’yan!” Nessa said from the other end of the wagon, unhappily donning her own costume as the other girls all kept peering inside their bags, looking for the rest of their outfits.

  “I’ll help!” Ani’ya said, climbing back down, locking the cabinet door back into place.

  Nessa glanced at her. “You’re not even completely dressed yet!”

  “Sorry, I couldn’t find… so, I looked up there, thinking…”

  “Whatever are you talking about?” Nessa muttered.

  Yel’ane hastily drew back the curtain before anyone could look in as he had from his height, seeing all too much.

  “Yes,” Lawson moaned, “I certainly seem to have the touch.”

  #

  Greth shook his head as he urged Lawson to dress before the girls might start peering out all those crazily located windows, with hinged planks. He walked around the wagons, tried the hinges and several offered two foot platforms, others longer and very flexible seeming planks. He folded them back into place and checked the mechanisms that connected the two wagons, seeing that large canvases were laid along the roofs which could be stretched and used as backdrops like in one of the ceremonies back home.

  He found a large round oval near one of the windows of the wagon the girls were inside, Why would they even paint that section black like that? he wondered.

  The girls could be heard saying, “Those are supposed to be cabinets?”

  “With folding down doors. Look, strong enough to hang down from!”

  “Get down from there, En’sta! Hey, what do you think you’re doing, girl?”

  “Nessa, I’m fine. It’s really sturdy. They’re wide enough two of us could walk across them!”

  “It’s like creating a second floor!” Thri’la said.

  “If you wanted to create a crazy-quilt, maybe,” Ani’ya laughed. “Like the windows they aren’t exactly even with each other.”

  The Seeress paused behind him, “Lord Greth, something still bothers you.”

  He turned, “I thought you had said all you intended.”

  “No, all save one thing you may not realize about… the nature of your being human.”

  “You set me on this course of playing a monster and you want to talk about my humanity?”

  She nodded. “None in the Thorns will remark on your ever having been here, or having built these wagons and made your costumes without Lord Gwilliam’s leave, and the prisoners will tell no one.”

  “The dragon will see to that.”

  “There are those, who upon the dragon’s return, will bend knee and swear, swelling his armies ranks and those who will not be able to… their oaths to Fenn’s true master will see to that. So, you might say, each of them makes their own choice as to how they shall serve the Blood of the Dragon.”

  “But what if the creature comes after us?”

  The Seeress sighed. “The line of the Blood of Dragon is old, My Lord. It started among the stars themselves. Thorinskath can never kill those of his line, he would die first himself and he is an elemental, near immortal.”

  “Stars…”

  “You, Lord Greth, are of his line as is Lord Lawson, who has claimed the dragon’s share of the gold shall we say.”

  “The boy.”

  “The dragon intends vengeance. Of this I am certain, the boy… I glimpse, which likely has as much to do with the unicorn’s presence. Get him within the safety of the Empire’s borders within three months, by then Thorinskath will have healed and be free of his Promise.”

  “And Nessa?”

  “You have claimed her.”

  “Uh, I’m afraid not.”

  “Excuse me, fate changes and visions grow clouded sometimes. I should say she has claimed you as your daughter.”

  He blinked.

  “She was birthed but last night, naked beside the boy you warmed from near death with the heat of your body. You already know who he is, accept him as kin. The Dragon will not harm them now. Faithful journey, Commander of Marines.”

  Chapter 35 – Difficult Truths

  Lawson sat, reins in hands, as the rear doors of the barn were opened in front of the horses. The Seeress’ acolyte, Kusins shouted, “You must go now! Brook no further delay!”

  “Ladies, ready or not!” Lawson shouted. There were shouts as he released the brake and gently shook the reins, “Go.”

  Casber and the unicorn rode up beside him, “Try giddy-up.”

  “Giddy–– what?” he replied and the team of horses pulled forward as the unicorn’s eyes gleamed with mirth.

  Kusins yelled, “Faster! The Dragon returns!”

  “Giddy–– what!” Lawson shouted and the six large and powerful draft horses began to run, the wagons bouncing ungently.

  Greth paced behind, glanced inside, blinked, then ran forward, “Well, my friend, if they were all dressed, they do not appear to be now.”

  “Yel’ane’s going to kill me.”

  Casber shouted, “Not if the Dragon does first.”

  Greth almost said something, then reminded himself: I am supposed to just be some dumb troll. Nessa had looked so comic trying to keep her feet and halter on at the same time.

  The horses picked up speed as people looked out and pointed, “The dragon returns!”

  “Lawson!”

  “Giddy–– what! Giddy–– what! That you, Yel’ane!”

  “Lawson!” she screamed, “Slow down!”

  “The dragon!” the Sworn cried cheering.

  “Hold on! Giddy–– what! Giddy–– what!”
The forest edge seemed no closer to him as the wagons bounced and bounced.

  “I think you can slow down now!” Casber shouted, glancing over his shoulder, frowning.

  ‘I wouldn’t tell him, were I you.’

  “Um,” he muttered.

  ‘Why make him feel a fool about the dragon having not returned. The Seeress foresaw the best way to get us moving, brooking no further delay… and Gwilliam’s people did rather enjoy playing their parts.’

  “Huh?” Lawson blinked, realizing they were well into the woods.

  “You girls all right?” Greth asked as the horses slowed, Lawson drawing back on the reins.

  Nessa stuck her head out, bracing herself against the window, her hair messed, arm across her halter, “First of all, who do you think you’re calling ‘girls?’”

  Greth blinked. “Um, definitely not you, Nessa.”

  “One thing I dare say is there are no girls here,” she glanced back inside, “I say only brave young women helping one another through… whatever Lawson calls driving the wagon.”

  “Uh, the dragon!” Lawson protested.

  Nessa drew back. “He’s your husband, deal with him.”

  “He’s not!”

  “She called you Lady Yel’ane!”

  “She called you Lady Nessa!”

  “Stop it!” Lan’lein shouted.

  “Yel’ane, see what you’ve done. Not only do they act full grown, but they act like they’re your Sisters. So, deal with their Papa.”

  Casber blinked, “Um, that Lady Nessa stuff doesn’t have anything to do with me, does it?”

  “Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with me, boy,” Greth replied.

  Casber whispered in the unicorn’s ear.

  They heard what sounded like neighing in their minds.

  Nessa stuck her head out the window on the unicorn’s side, “No! I’m not bonding him; I’ll choose my own becursed man –– one who’s never heard of Catha!”

  Casber said, “He’ll be a right lucky man.”

  “And you should know,” Yel’ane muttered behind Lawson, standing on the top step before the bench, which offered her height enough to put her hands around the back of his neck after walking across the joint between the wagons.

  The boy blinked, then canted his head, “Those only come in one size?”

  Lawson glanced back as she squeezed ineffectively, then said, “As a matter of fact,” she replied. “Which must be quite a problem for you.”

  ‘I think we will ride ahead and practice this bareback riding of which delighted the Seeress’s visions.’

  “You just do that,” Yel’ane said.

  The unicorn raced ahead.

  Greth reached across the roof of their wagon and retrieved his harness, “Nessa, you and I shall practice as well.”

  “In this?”

  “If I have to wear nothing but this harness and these baggy pants –– you shall wear that and naught else save your quiver!”

  “Greth, please!”

  He looked at the windows which looked wide enough. He reached in as she squealed, “Greth, no!”

  He set her down and glared down at her as Lawson continued their much more sedate pace. “Uh, nothing got broken or anyone hurt?”

  “No, you, Madman. She apparently had them build very good lashings and latches.”

  “Good.”

  “Also, the floors are mattress covered.”

  “That makes things easier.”

  “For all us girls, yes, you’ll be sleeping beneath the wagon… as will Casber and Greth for that matter.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine?” she said.

  “I’ve gotten used to—”

  “You are so infuriating!” she muttered.

  “What?”

  She climbed into the seat beside him. “You will sleep right on that mattress, there, beside me… I’ll be naked as the day I was born, too. I’m not a girl, you understand that?”

  “Um, Yel’ane, you’re not exactly, well…”

  “I’ll be your wife.”

  He thought better of saying anything to that.

  She glared at him. “The girls could have been hurt, you driving like that.”

  “The drag—”

  “They can handle a dragon.”

  He blinked.

  “I must be mad, loving a troll so.”

  “We love you, too, Papa,” En’sta said.

  They looked behind them.

  All twelve girls were grinning at him.

  “Thank you for saving us from the goblin last night,” Ani’ya said.

  “Do they all have such big teeth?” the youngest asked.

  “Yeah,” Ani’ya said, “and truly foul breath.”

  “I miss the hounds.”

  “Me, too. Maybe we can have some of the puppies?”

  Yel’ane frowned, “Uh, Vi’ya, when we were flopping around I noticed that you and a couple of others didn’t seem to...”

  “Mother?”

  She glanced under Vi’ya skirt. “You’re not wearing your small clothes.”

  “There weren’t any in my pack and, well, the Seeress’s apprentice, she told me that ours didn’t fit in with the costumes. All we needed was already packed for us.”

  “She took mine, too,” Ani’ya said, turning her back and lifting her skirt.

  “Mine, too.”

  “Um, Mother.”

  Lawson glanced at Yel’ane. “Dare I ask?”

  “I certainly didn’t give her mine!”

  Taking the reins in his left hand, he lowered it to the seat, and lifted as she looked up at him. He settled the fabric back down. “I take it you hadn’t finished changing when the Seeress’s acolyte yelled the dragon was coming.”

  “No, I had taken off my small clothes and put on the skirt as I was about to rummage in my pack for it.”

  “Mother, maybe people don’t wear small clothes here?” En’sta suggested.

  “Search the wagons! There must be… something needful.”

  Lawson noticed she hadn’t said useful. She started to climb up from the seat, he set his hand on her leg. “They’ll search. You and I are going to talk about your wanting to sleep beside me, naked every night.”

  “Um.”

  “Looks like I am whether I vowed to or not, Milord.”

  “I found timbrels!”

  “This box has a fiddle in it!” Ani’ya cried, raising it up and taking the bow to it. The screech was unpleasant.

  Lawson and Yel’ane winced, then she drew his right arm across her shoulders and nestled close. “Uh, what have we gotten ourselves into now?”

  “Found a pouch with coins!” Vi’ya announced.

  “How much?” Lawson asked as Yel’ane chuckled.

  “Three silvers and five bronze coins, but I don’t know from what land,”

  “Doesn’t quite sound like we’re rich,” he said.

  “Don’t you feel… rich?”

  “Yes, Yel’ane, but I’m still not marrying you.”

  “Apparently the Seeress thinks you should be.”

  “Then why did she steal their small clothes, too?”

  She frowned. “Uh, Lawson…”

  He blinked. “And I thought the Hellcats were bad.”

  “Uh, I really hate goblins.”

  “So do I, Yel’ane.”

  She sighed, “Um, I’m really not in any rush for you to bed me.”

  “Oh, good.”

  “But, maybe?”

  He shook his head, “Yel’ane, that Seeress has tricked us enough, so I’m in no mood to play her games.”

  She nodded, “Why do I feel… so like a little girl right now?”

  “Because you still are, and they are too, no matter what Nessa calls them.”

  “I am not a little girl anymore, Papa.”

  “Ani’ya, I am pleased to have you as my foster-daughter.”

  “You know, I really wanted to marry you.”

  “Somehow, I got th
at impression.”

  She came closer, hopped up to the top step behind him and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll keep looking for the small clothes.”

  “Good,” Yel’ane said, glancing back at the others scampering about on their hunt. She suddenly frowned, calling over the youngest.

  “Yes, Mother?”

  “Your halter’s different. Turn around for me, dear.”

  She had one piece of fabric across her chest and had tied strings bound at each shoulder. “Lawson, stop the wagon. Brace yourselves.”

  He drew the reins and the horses came to a stop. He set the brake.

  Gesturing, Yel’ane said, “Uh, slip that off and hand it here.” The girls clambered forward gathering around.

  “Papa, don’t look,” the girl said, crossing an arm over her chest.

  “Um, oh, sorry?” he said, turning around. “Let me check on the horses.”

  His climbing down shook the wagon slightly from side to side. There were soon giggles, since none of them had fallen down.

  Yel’ane held up the little halter, blinked, untied the strings, turned the fabric and retied the strings. “Take off your skirt, dear, and put this on.”

  “You mean that sling is supposed to be…”

  “Part of our costume and—”

  “It is!” the little girl cried in surprise.

  “I don’t blame her,” Vi’ya said. “I thought it was a halter too, and too narrow to dare wear!”

  There were nods as Yel’ane climbed from the bench into the wagon. “Go put on yours, proper,” Yel’ane said, “halter and, young ladies, put on those underclothes before your Papa finishes checking on the horses.”

  In the back of the second as Ani’ya paused to straighten her skirt after donning her underclothes, she glanced over at Yel’ane, who was rummaging through her own pack. “Uh, Mother Yel’ane?”

  “What?”

  “Well,” she hesitated, putting her hands on her hips. “I sorta liked…”

  Yel’ane paused to look back at her. “Yeah.”

  “The look on Papa’s face,” Ani’ya whispered.

  Clearing her throat, Yel’ane smiled and whispered, “Between you and me, sooner or later, there’s going to be nothing provisional about our bonding.”

  Ani’ya nodded, smiling, thinking she really wasn’t that much younger than Yel’ane.