The Rose and the Skull

by Jeff Crook

  "Uhoh was Gunthar's favorite," Jessica began hesitantly as a thought occurred to her. "We have to at least find out why the draconians were hunting him." Her eyes pleading, she turned to Alya. "And if there's any chance he's still alive, we can't leave him to their mercy."

  Alya glowered without saying anything.

  "I'm going down there," Nalvarre said.

  "Very well," Alya snapped.

  Valian eased himself onto the first step, then bent down to examine the stonework. After a few moment, he announced, "These steps weren't cut by gully dwarves. They are much much older than that."

  "An elf's opinion of stonework, " the dwarf snorted.

  "If you don't believe me," Valian said, "come take a look yourself."

  With a dour expression, Waterstone reluctantly examined the steps. He leaned back and scratched his head. "Reorx's bones! I'd be a kender's uncle if I can tell you who did cut these steps. They're as old as these hills."

  "Millisant can't go with us," Nalvarre said. "We daren't carry her down these steps. They are very narrow."

  "She'll have to stay with Waterstone," Jessica said.

  "But I'm coming with you!" he protested.

  "I need you to go back to Isherwood and keep an eye on things. You can take Millisant with you," Jessica said. "Take care of her, and make sure her wounds heal."

  "Nursemaid to a dog. My grandfather is turning over in his cairn, to think a Waterstone playing nursemaid to a dog," the dwarf scowled.

  In the end, it seemed Millisant was no more enthusiastic about being left with the dwarf than he was about being left with her. She whined, howled, and barked when Jessica and Nalvarre left her behind on the cliff. Waterstone watched them out of sight, then gradually led Millisant away from the cliff's edge.

  With a wall at one shoulder and a sheer drop at the other, the slippery footing provided by the crumbling steps made things touch and go almost the whole way down. The stair wound along the uneven face of the rock, entering cracks and washes where the action of the infrequent rain had weathered the steps almost completely away. Eventually, everyone reached the base of the cliff, and not without many a sigh of relief. Near the stairs' foot lay the grisly remains of those who'd not been so careful in their climb.

  After a brief rest, the four set out across the scrub tablelands toward Town. In his eagerness to discover the fate of his former guests, Nalvarre took the lead in trudging across the dusty plains. The others followed behind, and they were thankful that they didn't have to cross this region during the heat of summer. The late autumn sun seemed like a hot eye glaring down at them, sucking the strength from their limbs and the breath from their lungs. The alkali dust kicked up by their passing feet turned to clay in their mouths and caked around their eyes, giving their faces a ghoulish gray tone except where it cracked around eyes and mouths, showing pink flesh beneath. It chafed beneath chain mail and caused the joints of their armor to creak and stick.

  In the heat of midday, they stumbled into Town. A hot rising wind blew dust in swirls and eddies around the mounds to collect like snow in drifts in the lee of ancient stone walls. As they wandered through the empty village, they saw no signs of life other than evidence of a recent and sudden abandonment. They made their way to the still-burning mound, reaching it as the last embers of fire sent thin tendrils of smoke snaking along the wind. Nalvarre stopped to examine a pair of well-worn shoes lying in the middle of a broad way that might have served as a street. Valian and Jessica investigated the surrounding mounds, finding them all strangely empty. Meanwhile, Alya found a nice shady spot beneath an ancient wall and sat down. She pulled off her boots and emptied them of the morning's accumulation of sand and gravel. She checked her wineskin and found it uncomfortably flat. They hadn't filled their skins since the night before, and every water hole they'd passed in this miserable desert was undrinkable.

  "We can't stay here long," Alya shouted to Jessica and Valian. "We'll have to head back before we run out of water." Valian nodded and continued his investigation.

  Alya leaned back and closed her eyes. The shade provided by the wall was a blessing. She allowed herself a sip of tepid water and held it in her mouth to wet her parched lips and tongue. It wasn't so much the heat in this desert as the thick alkali dust. It sucked the moisture from everything it touched. She swallowed the sip of water, then opened her eyes to check on Valian, Jessica, and the priest.

  Standing directly over her were three squat gray ghoulish-looking creatures. They'd appeared as silently as ghosts. They eyed her waterskin with obvious longing, smacking their thick, leathery lips. Alya leaped to her feet and drew her sword, but the three creatures seemed not to notice the weapon. One reached a grubby gray hand tentatively toward the skin dangling from her belt.

  "Touch it and you'll draw back a stump," she warned.

  "Me Highbulp Mommamose I," the creature croaked. "This my Town. You pay tax, one drink water."

  "If you are the Highbulp, you can get your own water," Alya said.

  "Water in well," the Highbulp sighed.

  "A well! Where?" Alya demanded.

  The Highbulp pointed at the burned-out collapsed mound. Just beside it stood a low circular wall of crumbling blackened stones and a few bits of charred sticks. "Well deep. Fire burn bucket. No reach water now," the Highbulp croaked. Alya crossed to the well and, shading her eyes, looked over the lip of stone. In the darkness below, she saw a faint glimmer of a reflection, and a cool wet scent wafted up the stone shaft, promising water.

  "I don't suppose you have a rope," Alya said as she scratched her head and looked around, trying to figure out some way to get to the water.

  The Highbulp nodded and dug into the sack dangling by a strap from her shoulder. In moments, she produced a foot-long piece of rotting cotton twine and handed it to Alya.

  "Something a bit longer," she said absently. "Valian! Jessica!" she shouted, seeing the two Knights and the priest exiting a distant mound. Catching sight of the squat creatures beside Alya, they hurried over.

  "Have you seen any rope?" Alya called as they neared.

  "Is this… is one of these Uhoh?" Valian asked. Alya shrugged.

  At the sound of that name, the three gully dwarves cringed away from the Knights. They seemed almost ready to forget their thirst and run away.

  "We are looking for Uhoh Ragnap," Jessica smiled, trying to calm the gully dwarves' fears. "Have you seen him?"

  The smallest of the three dust-coated gully dwarves burst into wails of lamentation. Tears tracked down her face, forming little mudballs, which clung to her cheeks.

  "Slagd take Uhoh!" she yammered.

  "Slagd?" Alya asked.

  "Draconians," Nalvarre said. He knelt beside the weeping gully dwarf. "Glabella? It's me, Nalvarre."

  She blinked at him for a moment, sniffling, then threw her arms around his neck and renewed her sobs. The third gully dwarf joined them, adding his tears to the reunion.

  "These are the two who were with Uhoh," Nalvarre explained, having to shout to be heard. He pulled Glabella from his neck and brushed the hair from her face. "Listen to me," he said. "Was Uhoh alive?"

  She nodded, her lower lip trembling.

  "Where did they take him?" he asked.

  Sobbing between words, she said, "They take Uhoh to mountain."

  "Which mountain?" Alya said. "The whole area is nothing but mountains. Meanwhile, we need to find a way to get to this water. Did any of you see any ropes or chains?"

  "Yes," Valian said.

  "Well go and get them, and see if you can scrounge up a bucket with a handle," she ordered.

  With a dark look at his commander, the elf stalked away.

  "After we've all had a good drink and washed the dust from our faces, we can sit down and find out what really happened here," she added.

  "Right!" the Highbulp agreed. Then in an aside to Alya, she whispered, "These gulpfungers die of thirst without me and you."

  22

  The scent of w
ater drew gully dwarves in from the desert in droves. Nalvarre and Lumpo spent most of the afternoon drawing water from the well and filling every vessel and jug the gully dwarves could scrounge. To the surprise of the Knights, many of these were bowls and chalices of beaten gold and jeweled silver. Like magic, the gully dwarves conjured from the earthen mounds treasures worthy of the finest families of Sancrist or even Palanthas.

  As darkness fell, Nalvarre built a bonfire around which the gully dwarves celebrated their deliverance by breaking out cactus beer, a bitter brew concocted by a group of old gammers who chewed up pieces of cactus into a mush, which they then spit into a communal cauldron. Once the cauldron was filled, they let it sit for several days to ferment. With this celebration, the gully dwarves brought out a cauldron that had been fermenting for two days. Soon, everyone had a bowl or cup and was dipping into the roiling pink stew.

  Glabella brought Valian a frothy bowl, but he politely declined it, saying he preferred water. She shrugged and flopped beside him, sipping her beer and watching him from the corner of her eye. Timidly, she reached out a hand and touched his long white hair.

  "You pretty," she said.

  He eyed her with a bit of alarm. "Thank you," he said.

  "You nice Knight," she whispered. "Uhoh say Knights bad, but you good Knight."

  He leaned his head closer to hers and asked, "And why did Uhoh say Knights are bad?"

  " 'Cause that's what Papa say when he die," she whispered.

  "I see," the elf said.

  "But he wrong. You nice," she cooed.

  Across from them, Alya and Jessica sat on either side of the Highbulp. Alya leaned forward and clanged her golden drinking bowl against a rock. "I think it is time that we get the whole story. We've wasted enough time on this trip. I want to know what happened to Uhoh?"

  The Highbulp rose unsteadily to her feet. "Highbulp Mommamose I tell you. This way it happen. I born good place, plenty food, I very happy," she began.

  Alya sighed in exasperation. "We don't want your whole life story, just what happened to Uhoh last night," she said.

  With an impatient wave of her hand, the gully dwarf continued. "I very happy. I grow up happy, I marry happy, I have happy baby. Then I drop happy baby on head. I name him Uhoh."

  Glabella clapped. "That my favorite story. Tell it again," she said.

  "Later," the Highbulp scowled. "One day things go all wrong. Slagd come, put all us Bulps on big ship, we sail and sail and sail, two days. There many slagd on ship, all kinds. Captain no got wings."

  "An aurak," Valian said. "How many slagd were on the ship?"

  "Two," she said, holding up five fingers. "Ship bring us here."

  "Here?" Jessica asked.

  "Not here, there," the Highbulp said, pointing north. "How you think ship get here? This desert," she said sarcastically.

  "Sorry," Jessica said.

  "We get off ship," the Highbulp continued. "Slagd make us help build big castle on mountain by sea. They whip Bulps and put us in dungeon. We no get plenty food. We not happy. I cut stone. All day long I cut stone." She wrung her hands as though in remembrance of the pain.

  "When castle done, big no-wing slagd say he Highbulp. Other slagd call him Old Man. They busy, busy all the time then, forget about Bulps. Sometimes we cook, sometimes clean castle. One time thunder hit tower, so we fix it. They forget us most time. We a little happy, but we still not get food."

  During this account of the gully dwarves' misery, the look of disgust on Alya's face was slowly replaced by one of curiosity. Finally, she interrupted. "Do you mean to say that there is a draconian stronghold somewhere on this island?"

  "Castle Slagd," the Highbulp nodded.

  "I never heard of it," Jessica shrugged.

  "How long has it been here?" Valian asked.

  The Highbulp held up four fingers. "Two years," she answered. "Not more than two."

  "This is unbelievable," Alya declared.

  "But what happened to Uhoh?" Nalvarre asked.

  "I try to tell, but they butt in," the Highbulp said with a frown. "I try to say, I hungry at castle. Those hungry days I look for way out to go find food, and I find way out. So I go find food. Aghar follow me, lots Aghar. I walk this way. We come here. I say I Highbulp now. I Highbulp Mommamose I, and this place Town. We got lots to eat here. Got good lizards, good bugs, good cactus. Good water, good beer. I happy.

  "Uhoh sad. He funny 'cause I drop him on head. He not stay. He take young Aghar and go that way," she said, pointing south. "I tell him you no go. You get in trouble. But he not listen. He never listen to Mommamose." She sniffled and wiped away a motherly tear.

  "And he get in trouble, like I say. He come back here, but trouble come too. Slagd come. Slagd burn down mound. They take Uhoh, go that way." She pointed north.

  "How many slagd?" Valian asked.

  "Two," she answered, holding up two fingers.

  "Then there is only one thing to do," Nalvarre declared. "We have to go north to this castle."

  "I agree," Jessica said.

  "Something must be done. A reconnaissance is needed, even if we can't rescue the gully dwarf," Valian said.

  Alya paused, considering as she stared northward. Valian watched her. At last, she said, "I agree. But the most important thing right now is to alert the Knighthood."

  Jessica started to protest, but Alya silenced her with a raised hand. "We are dealing with larger considerations than one gully dwarf. The others must be warned of this development so that plans can be made. If there are draconians on this island, we must alert the Knighthood. We can't all rush off blindly without any plan at all." She stood and dusted off her leather trousers.

  "One of us should continue north to scout out the castle, while the others return to Castle uth Wistan to warn the Knights," she announced.

  Valian stood. "I'll go," he said.

  "No,you return with the others," Alya said. "I will head north and do my best to rescue poor Uhoh."

  "I do not think this is wise," Valian countered. "I am best suited for tracking the draconians. Why choose to send me back?"

  "And what makes you think I intend to turn back?" asked Nalvarre.

  "Because," answered Alya, "if what we heard is true, the real danger is yet to come. It is your duty to spread the alarm. Go fast—safeguard each other, and return with reinforcements."

  "How will you follow their trail?" Valian asked.

  She shot him an angry glance. "I don't need to follow their trail. Mommamose knows the way to the castle, doesn't she? She'll take me there."

  "I will?" the Highbulp asked in surprise.

  "Valian is in charge now," Alya said as she gathered two extra wineskins from her companions and slung them over her shoulder. "Jessica, you must help convince the Solamnics. I can't imagine what Liam Ehrling and the others would say if Valian and a former priest of Chislev show up with two gully dwarves proclaiming the existence of a previously unknown stronghold of draconians. Stop by Isherwood and pick up Millisant. That—and Nalvarre's firsthand testimony—should do the trick."

  "I wish to protest this decision," Valian said.

  "Your protest is duly noted. Now give me your rations. You can pick up more food at Isherwood," Alya said. She turned and grabbed the Highbulp by the collar of her dress and pulled her to her feet. "Come along, Mommamose."

  Half-leading, half-dragging the Highbulp, she strode into the nighted desert.

  Valian watched her until she was well out of sight, then he turned and looked at the puzzled faces of his companions. His lips were an etched line in his stony white face, but his almond-shaped eyes blazed with anger.

  "Let's go," he growled.

  Not too far away through the pines, the stream roared and fumed in its channel, filling the air with a cold damp mist, which the weak sun did little to dispel. Lady Jessica Vestianstone, Nalvarre Ringbow, and the two gully dwarves Glabella and Lumpo huddled together and shivered, their teeth clacking, while Valian struggled to nurse
a spark in the damp clump of tinder in his hand. The others watched intently, as though willing the fire to burn in the stream-soaked tinder.

  Finally, however, the elf's skill prevailed, and a small flame rose amongst the grass and shreds of cloth cupped in the palm of his hand. He lowered it quickly to the ground and set small, moderately dry twigs and chunks of pine bark around it, all the while blowing encouragingly at the growing flame. Soon they had a rather weak fire to huddle round, and they held their hands before it, rubbing them together, even though the fire's heat was barely enough to feel. It seemed to encourage them somewhat. Glabella, who'd been snuffling ever since her near-drowning, managed a smile. Lumpo's stomach began to growl.

  "That-t-t was s-s-some s-storm last-t-t-t night," Nalvarre chattered. "I've n-never seen Ish-Isher Creek so sw-swollen and raging."

  "Neither have I," Jessica agreed as she clasped her elbows and pulled them tight to her sides. "The ford has always been passable, even in the worst weather. I am sorry."

  "It's not your fault," Valian muttered. "I should have known better than to trust it, but we had to get across. We've no time to waste."

  "Lucky for us you had us rope together like mountain climbers," Jessica said. "When the streambed slid out from beneath our feet, I thought it would be the end of us all."

  "Yes, well, it's over now. As soon as we are dry, we must get to Castle Isherwood," Valian said. "We need horses."

  "And food," Lumpo added.

  Despite the elf's best efforts, the damp wood burned coldly and smoked horribly, preventing them from getting near enough to dry their clothes in any kind of timely manner. It took hours for them to warm their streamchilled bodies and wring the water from their clothes. The gully dwarves looked particularly bedraggled, like drowned rats, and when their raggedy clothes finally did dry, they became so stiff as to be nearly impossible to walk in. There was also something else, some strange almost ethereal quality to their appearance, which none of the others could quite place, until Nalvarre finally put his finger on it.