by Tom Liberman
A bit of time later she had the mule all loaded up and began walking back toward the little house. The journey was slower this time as the mule was hardly a spry member of his species but he proved sturdy enough for the load and they arrived well before the sun began to set. She came around from the east to where Mike was waiting and spotted the girl a few moments later. She was lying on her back looking at clouds although apparently awake.
“Here’s what’s left of your coins,” said Rhia handing her the pouch which was lighter by half than previously.
If Mike noticed the difference she certainly didn’t express it as she put the pouch in her pocket and looked over the mule, “You’ve done very well, Rhia. Very well! Now, let me do the talking. Be ready to draw that blade of yours if need be, there’s likely hidden men in the house somewhere.”
Rhia nodded her head and her hand went to the sword at her side. She remembered her uncle giving it to her and the advice he gave her, “Don’t draw it unless you’re ready to use it.”
“Come along,” said Mike, grabbing the mule by the reins, and pulling it forward. The beast didn’t seem to object and soon enough they were approaching the little house.
There were still children in the yard playing games but their number seemed to have diminished and, as Rhia predicted, they noticed the approaching duo almost immediately. One of the older boys came over to greet them while two of the younger children scurried back toward and eventually into the house.
“Who are you?” said the boy his hand at a little knife tucked into his belt.
“We’re from Pillswar, with supplies,” said Mike confidently.
If the boy knew who they are talking about he certainly didn’t give any indication of it, “I don’t know that name. Who are you, I asked?”
He was no more than twelve or thirteen and clearly a mixed breed with at least some gnoll blood in his veins for his face was long like a dog’s.
“I’m Joe,” said Mike and gave a quick sideways glance at Rhia. “This is my friend, Tia. We’ve brought supplies for you.”
“I don’t know you,” said the boy looking at her suspiciously although he did not pull out his dirk.
“Pillswar sent them!” insisted Mike.
“I don’t know any Pillswar. You just wait right there and we’ll see what this is about,” he said aggressively. “If you’re lying to me I’ll find out about it.”
Mike looked at Rhia but the older girl stared stoically ahead not saying anything.
The three stood and stared at one another for what seemed like an eternity before the younger children reemerged this time with the elderly gnoll woman and a half-dozen of their cohorts. The woman was clearly quite old and didn’t move particularly quickly as she limped along but she had a kindly expression on her face.
“Good afternoon,” she said with a smile. Her fur was mostly gray with just a few patches of gold here and there and she used a small cane to help her walk. “Welcome, welcome, we get so few visitors. I’m Ada, can we help you?”
Mike looked at Rhia with her faced screwed up as if trying to figure out a complex puzzle but said nothing.
Finally Rhia spoke up, “We’ve brought supplies from Pillswar. He said to bring them over.”
The old gnoll woman pursed her lips and gave off a little barking sort of laugh, “Pillswar? I don’t think so. Now, dearies, I’m an old gnoll lady, I am, but I’m not addled quite yet. What’s this about and don’t be telling me any fibs. If you tell the truth you have nothing to fear.”
Mike looked to Rhia and opened her mouth and shut it again without saying anything.
“We’re here from Lofo Trul,” said Rhia finally. “He wanted us to check on the children. There’s been some trouble with people abusing kids lately and he was worried.”
The old woman clucked and made that funny little barking sound again, “Now then, that’s much better it is. Of course he’s right to be worried about children. So many people have them without realizing how much work they are. He’s my Adusko’s little cousin. A good boy I’ve heard but he’s never come out to visit.”
“Your Adusko?” asked Mike squinting at the woman with her hand going to the sword at her side.
The old gnoll woman laughed, “Of course not my natural child, none of these are my natural children but they’re my boys and girls more than their parents’, that’s the truth. Come along, I’ll never turn away visitors with supplies. We’ve just finished lunch and the children are busy with their books for the most part but there are plenty of leftovers. Tendor,” she said looking at the oldest boy. “You unload that mule and store the supplies. Brush him down and get him some hay as well. I’m sure he’s overworked. Rented most likely? People always treat those rental ones worse than if they were to own them, it’s the nature of people, I suppose.”
“Yes, ma’am,” said the boy and smiled at the girls. “I’m sorry I was rude to you. I just was worried you might be here to hurt my little brothers and sisters.” He gave Rhia a bold appraisal that moved up and down her firm figure.
“That’s … that’s … that’s fine,” stuttered out Mike finally, while staring at the old woman and the boy and her hand sort of moving aimlessly up and down.
“Come along inside,” said Ada and took Mike by the arm. “You’re quite the handsome lad, almost pretty you are.”
Mike let herself be led into the house and Rhia followed quietly behind. The interior was as immaculate as the exterior and spotlessly clean despite the huge number of children. The carpet was thick and looked very expensive. Beautiful porcelain dolls and other trinkets lined the shelves. The old woman led them into a sitting room filled with sturdily made furniture and sat them down on a couch embroidered in a flower pattern. It was both comfortable and strong.
Ada clucked her tongue, “Wait a moment and I’ll bring some refreshments. It’s a bit of trip from town.” With that she limped out of the room and through a swinging door.
As Rhia looked around she noted that everything in the room looked expensive from the fireplace tools with their bronze handles to the artwork that hung on the various walls. It was if they had stepped into one of the wealthiest houses in all of Tanelorn. She looked over at Mike who was also gazing at the beauty with wide eyes. “What is this place?”
Mike shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
“Do you like it?” said the gnoll woman as she emerged from a swinging door carrying a tray filled with little sandwiches. Two young girls, one a full-blooded gnoll and the second a mixed race goblin little thing followed her out.
“What would you like to drink, sir?” said the first to Mike.
“And for you?” said the second to Rhia.
Mike blinked rapidly and said nothing.
“Do you have beer?” Rhia asked finally.
The girl nodded her head enthusiastically, “Oh yes, we have a stout and a wheat but you look like the stout sort to me!”
Rhia laughed, “I do like a good wheat, thank you.”
“A stout for me,” said Mike finally.
“I have tea as well,” said the woman. “My system just can’t handle beer anymore. Wreaks havoc and no one wants that!” she finished with a cackle. “Now try some of these sandwiches. I’m so often making for the children that I don’t know if I can still prepare good food for adults.”
Rhia helped herself to one of the little sandwiches which proved to be delicious. “It’s delicious,” she said after downing the entire thing in a couple of bites.
Mike sat back on the couch but did not eat any of the sandwiches, her eyes narrowed and glancing carefully around, “You said, ‘Your Adusko’,” she finally said. “What did you mean by that?”
The old gnoll nodded her head and smiled, “It was a long time ago.”
“That’s all right,” said Rhia.
“No, no,” said Ada. “I so rarely get to tell the story. The children aren’t much interested and, as I said, we get so few visitors, just Adusko making his monthly trip.
He’s such a fine boy.”
Mike looked at Rhia and Rhia clenched her jaw and said nothing.
“I was a young woman back then. I was sent off to the Featherfall tribe to mix the blood of our races as part of an alliance. Oh my, I was only fifteen or sixteen, just a girl really but old enough. The chieftain took me as his seventh wife which was a high honor. I was so proud. But the first season went by and I didn’t conceive a child. I was only a girl so there wasn’t much of a fuss but when the second season went by and still no issue people began to wonder. The other wives wouldn’t talk to me, they stopped letting me help with the child rearing. Then the third season and still nothing. By rights my husband could have sent me back to my family right then but he was a good man, I loved him so, but then the fourth season went past without issue and there was nothing he could do.”
Here the old gnoll paused in her story as one of the children brought out a tray bearing a teapot and a number of cups and saucers. She busied herself pouring a cup and the other two girls brought out the beers and served them to the Rhia and Mike in cold mugs.
“I went back to my family but of course that’s just a formality with my people. Bearing children is the only duty of a woman of age, you see. It’s very important and I was unable to conceive. They sent me off to one of the widowers to be with him for a year to make sure the problem wasn’t my husband but the fifth year went the same as the first four. Of course there was nothing to be done then. I was banished from the tribe.”
Rhia’s eyes were wide and she reached forward to pat Ada’s hand, “I’m sorry.”
“Oh, don’t you worry, dear,” said the gnoll. “The story has a happy ending. Don’t you worry at all. Now, banishment from the family is pretty much the same as death for a gnoll. I don’t know what sort of tribe you grew up in but with the gnolls if you don’t have a family you don’t have a life. Many young girls take a knife to the wrists but that’s considered the dishonorable way to do it. I was so ashamed I couldn’t have children and I didn’t want to hurt my family even more. My sisters might not get fine husbands, my nieces would be shamed. I went into the mountains to the north to expose myself to the elements. That’s the proper way to do it.”
“That’s horrible,” said Mike her eyes riveted to the old woman.
“It’s the way of my people,” she said and patted Mike on the hand.
“Not just the exposing yourself,” said Mike her hand trembling slightly. “The whole thing. The arranged marriage, having to get pregnant. The shame of not getting pregnant. There’s nothing wrong with a girl who doesn’t want to get married and have children, nothing at all!”
Ada nodded her head, “Now that I’ve lived here in Tanelorn I see that, it’s better for people to choose their own way, I see that now, but back then I was just a girl and all I knew is what I’d been taught. I was in the foothills but it was late autumn so there was already snow on the ground even that early in the year. That’s when I came across him.”
“Adusko?” said Rhia realizing the story was concluding.
Ada nodded her head, “Well, not him exactly. I saw the fires from down below. Barbarians had raided a village. I didn’t much care but then I spotted the blood trail.”
“Adusko?” repeated Rhia.
“He was no more than five, I’d guess,” said Ada with a shake of her head. “They’d flayed him, whipped every part of his little body and tossed him naked out into the snow. He’d walked and crawled for more than a mile up the hill. I followed his trail and found him in a little cave. He was shivering so he couldn’t even hold a stick but he was still trying to start a fire the brave little fellow. Maybe I couldn’t birth children, I said to myself right then.” Her eyes were shining. “Maybe the Gods made me barren but that doesn’t mean I can’t have children! I knew it at that moment. I took little Adusko to my bosom and he’s been my boy ever since. And a finer boy no mother could ask for.”
“I’ve seen him hurt people,” said Mike sticking out her chin defiantly.
“He does what needs doing, I taught him that. Don’t let anybody banish you from your tribe. Don’t let anybody take anything from you. If you want something no one’s going to give it to you. If you want to make something of yourself you have to do it yourself, no one is looking out for you, and no one will do it for you.”
Mike said nothing to this.
“I raise all my little ones like that,” she concluded. “But he’s my first and always will be.”
“Where are they from?” asked Rhia looking around at the children who had slowly filtered into the lovely room.
“All over,” said Ada. “My Adusko finds them for me. He brings them here. Orphans, kids beat up by their parents, unwanted kids, there’s no shortage of such. But as long as there is breath in my body there will be fewer.”
“He works for Pillswar,” said Mike.
Ada shook her head, “He works to make gold. He works to support me and our family. He works to make something for himself. He’s going places. Just you see. Pillswar is nothing, just a means to an end.”
Mike shook her head and remembered how he had pulled down her pants and what he had intended to do, “You’re wrong. You’re wrong!” she shouted and stood up knocking the little platter onto the carpet with a clang. “He’s not a good person!” With that she stormed out of the house.
“Oh dear,” said Ada a look of concern on her face. “I’ve upset your friend.”
“It’s all right,” said Rhia dropping to her knees and starting to pick up the little sandwiches and put them back on the tray. “She’ll be fine. She doesn’t understand how hard the world can be.”
Several of the children immediately sprang to Rhia’s side and soon the sandwiches were back on the plate and a little boy of perhaps five or six was scrubbing at the carpet where some of the sandwiches had spilled.
“We don’t do children any favors when we coddle them,” said Ada shaking her head. “I suspected she might be a girl, too pretty for a boy. Being pretty is its own curse, I was a pretty girl once, not that you’d know it.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me at all,” said Rhia with a smile. “I was never pretty but my sister was.”
“Life is never easy, not for anyone. When you see someone who seems to have it all, get to know them, learn about them. You’ll find they’ve got problems too. No, this life is not for quitters and complainers. It’s for people who go about living it.”
“Good advice,” said Rhia nodding her head. “Thank you so much for the sandwiches and the story. Can I come back and visit again, sometime?”
“Of course, of course, dearie,” said Ada patting Rhia on the hand. “I always welcome visitors. Now go find your friend. It’s good to have friends you can trust, friends who will watch your back.”
Rhia nodded her head and stood up. “Thank you, again, Ada. I’ll come back someday, I promise!”
Chapter 6
“It’s a note from Lofo,” said Mike opening the letter delivered by the young boy a moment before.
The two of them were staying at the Rising Rooster in a room on the second floor as a matter of convenience. It had seemed silly to keep separate rooms although they certainly got odd looks now and again as Rhia towered over what many presumed was her boyfriend. Although the reality, as Rhia quickly learned, is that most everyone knew exactly who Mike was and only pretended to treat her as if they did not.
The Fivefist family was quite prominent in Tanelorn and virtually everyone knew the story of Mike’s mother and father. Rhia herself had overheard people talking about it on a number of occasions although had not gotten the full details as of yet. Apparently Mike’s father suffered grievous wounds while defending the woods of Acanthus and Mike’s mother nursed him back health. A not uncommon battlefield story as Rhia knew of a dozen similar cases in the annals of Elekargul. Certainly a couple consisting of an elf and a dwarf would always elicit comment and when one was a princess and the other from a well-known family, well, the story wa
s too good to pass up.
Despite these facts Mike continued to presume that people did not know who she was and for the most part they allowed her this luxury. Rhia chose to accept the illusion as well and after a while it wasn’t difficult to think of Mike as a young boy, although her beauty became more apparent with each passing day. Now that they shared a room Rhia witnessed as Mike wrapped her rather ample chest down with long strips of cloth each morning and practiced boyish behavior in front of the mirror.
“What does it say?” said Rhia her reverie broken when Mike coughed loudly to get Rhia’s focus back.
“He wants us to come by his office this morning,” she said while reading the note again. “He doesn’t say why.”
Rhia nodded her head.
“What do you think it’s about?” asked Mike watching the girl. Living with her had given her insight into the capabilities of Rhia. She was tough, good with the sword, generous of nature, all in all a happy companion.
Rhia shook her head, “There’s no way to know. It could be Pillswar, Adusko, or the Girl in Glass thing. No sense talking about it when we’ll find out soon enough.”
Mike narrowed her eyes and moved her jaw back and forth, “I guess you’re right but it’s still fun to think about things.”
Rhia shrugged her shoulders, “There’s a lot in life to be worried about. It’s not wise to spend time on the things we can’t change.”
"You sound like my father," said Mike her eyes taking on the first hints of anger. She made a humph sort of sound as she turned her back on Rhia and stormed out the door.
Rhia shook her head, smiled, and then followed Mike out into the hallway. The room was on the first floor and at the west end of the building where all the smaller accommodations were located. She looked up and down the hallway and spotted Mike heading toward the back door of the establishment. Rhia followed after and caught the girl on the streets a few moments later.
