The Scholars: The Hidden Heritage II

by Derek Palmer

  "Yes, I'd like have some lunch, and this little princess assured a visiting foreigner that her mother here makes some tasty food while she's a talented baker herself, even if she may have some temper."

  That brought out a few chuckles from the customers and a slight smile from the girl's mother. It seemed that I had done something right since I could almost feel the accepting looks from the mother and from the other customers. I soon learned - thanks to the little girl - that this little place wasn't a real restaurant, but more like a small eatery for the local people living nearby. Most of the food was fish the girl's father got from the river. Actually, it was the surplus they didn't sell to the other restaurants. After some talking, the people there also found out that I was there marketing and selling the products my family produced. That was something the people here could easily accept.

  "Our fish tastes better because father does all his fishing upstream of the sewer."

  My initial thought was to tell the girl that the fishes were able to move upstream as well as the boats but still, the fact made me feel a bit better. It also answered the question how the sewer system of this town worked. I had seen the canal coming from the river upstream and that it was then directed into the town, making sure that there was a constant flow through it. A fancy system - unless you lived where the sewer joined the river again. Whatever, I trusted the little girl and enjoyed the excellent fish soup - and the bread. Even though I almost broke my promise not to laugh when I saw it. By some coincidence the top of the bread had opened in the oven in a way that it looked like a very nice... well, a very nice-looking women's intimate parts.

  Yes, very nice looking indeed.

  It was clear that everybody else in that room had seen the bread before me and I could feel all the eyes on me when the bread was brought in front of me. I looked at the bread and smiled at the little girl.

  "I think that this is one of the nicest-looking breads I've ever seen in my life and I'd almost like to bury my head in it."

  The mother of the girl had some serious issues in keeping her face neutral and one of the other guests almost blew some beer from his nose. I looked at the little girl and smiled.

  "I'm certain that this bread tastes at least as good as it looks and I feel a bit sad to make any cuts to it. However, I really, really want to taste it. If your mother allows, would you cut me a slice?"

  The bread was delicious, too, and I didn't feel too overwhelmed because of the other people at the eatery even if I was able to sense them. Maybe it was the fact that the people here seemed to think positively about me. Whatever the reason, my stomach was full and I was happier than I had been in some time. Maybe I could do this. Not just because I had to do this.

  I had been more than a bit skeptical about my ability to tolerate greater groups of people, but now it seemed that I was gradually getting better with this. I still wasn’t all that comfortable with the way I was feeling, but at least now I was able to move around. I still sensed the people around me but the feeling wasn't quite as overpowering as it had been in the beginning. Still, a quick walk through the market place was almost too much for me. I made a promise to myself that before the end of this trip I'd manage to make some purchase there.

  Most importantly, I had just proved to myself that I would still be able to act normally among my fellow people - at least if there weren't too many of them close to me.

  --

  Chapter 9

  It was clear that the woman riding next to me didn't feel comfortable riding a horse. The negotiations last evening made it clear that Birgit was very willing to look for new profitable business possibilities, and after sampling the products, it was soon agreed that the following morning she would accompany me to visit my ‘aunts’ in order to discuss things in more detail - and to check that the quality of our products was consistent. When I had agreed to that but informed that she'd need to ride with me out of the town, she had been slightly surprised, but that requirement had more or less confirmed that I would be talking about smuggled products. Well, in a way, I was.

  "I can't understand how someone can tolerate this any longer than necessary. My legs and backside will probably hurt a week afterwards and I probably cannot stand on deck during that time at all."

  I almost laughed but then I remembered my own first experiences riding Luna for longer distances. Back then I didn't feel like laughing.

  "Just a little bit further before we go off the road. It's not that far."

  "Still, I'd rather sail upstream."

  "Can you really sail upstream? I thought that you need to row or pull the boat."

  Now, she laughed a bit.

  "The river is so wide here that you can sail upstream for several leagues. How do you think that we get the boats here from the sea?"

  "In fact, I haven't thought about that. On the western coast you really can't sail up any of the rivers, I think."

  I should have thought about it, of course, since there had been boats doing the trade when I had been up there with the Guardians. I knew that there weren't real rapids in the slow river running nearby - and there had been masts in those boats I had seen. On the other hand, if it was possible to sail upriver... "Birgit, is it possible to sail upriver and load and unload a boat there? Safely, I mean."

  "You mean without being seen, I guess?"

  "Yes."

  "I'm quite certain that it is, especially if there's some other stream joining the river. We do have a boat with retractable keel. We call it a centerboard."

  Now I really started to feel that we could do business with Birgit.

  We had been off the road for some time when I stopped us as I could feel that there was somebody keeping eye on us and we were close to the encampment. I counted to ten in my head before continuing so that the guard knew that everything was okay. Then there was just a short ride past the spruces until we could see the camp and the ponies. Then it was the moment of truth.

  It took Birgit a moment to figure things out and I was clearly able to see the surprise on her face when she gasped.

  "Praised Mother Earth! You... you are Elves!"

  "Yes, even if they call themselves the Alfar."

  "They can't be your aunts!"

  "In a way they are, since both my parents have died and they sort of adopted me after that."

  Well, that wasn't really a lie. Even if was closer to some of them than you usually were with your aunt.

  "Birgit, they are same kind of people as you and me and there's a real need to do business without the restrictions the Guardians are setting against them."

  "I never thought that I'd see any of them - and damn, they are all so pretty... What do you mean about the Guardians?"

  It had not been directly mentioned, but I had gotten the feeling that Birgit's husband had died because he had gotten into trouble with the Guardians. Okay, he might have been doing some smuggling on the side while running their distributor business, but nothing big or dangerous as far as I could guess.

  "Why don't we get off these saddles, so that you can talk to them directly? The main problem is, the Guardians only allow a few traders to do business with the Elves and lately all the stuff they have offered has been well below standard - food sometimes even poisoned."

  I helped Birgit down before greeting and hugging all the women who had come to meet us. There had been some raised eyebrows and I just shook my head ever so slightly so that nobody else could see it. Just to let them know that there was nobody else nearby. After greeting my 'aunts' I turned to Birgit.

  "Birgit, here's Meldainiel. She's the person responsible for trade and she's also fluent with Anglon so that there should be no problems with that."

  Meldainiel smiled at Birgit and offered her hand to the larger Human woman.

  "I'm very happy to see that Arne, here, decided that we should do business with another woman."

  After shaking hands with Birgit, Meldainiel hugged the Human woman and I was sure that she added all the reassurance t
o her gesture as possible without using the Old Language. That was probably an equivalent to the thing I had done with my magic sparkles. There wasn't that much instant effect, but everything was needed. Yes, these Elven women were sneaky creatures and since Birgit didn't immediately run away, she didn't have much chance anymore.

  I didn't take part in the actual negotiations even though I followed closely what was being said and agreed. In the end, Birgit was almost ecstatic - and not only because of the quality of the products she could have, but also because of how she would be able to get them. We learned that, besides keeping the forests safe, the Guardians also patrolled the seas, searching for enemy vessels - and especially smugglers. If you paid bribes in the right places they might let you do business - unless somebody who wanted you out of business paid more! Then your business might end with the thunder of their bronze cannon. That had happened to Birgit's husband, without any warning.

  At some point, I left the negotiations and gave some of the women a few hints about where to find a deer and I also prepared a few snares for them. At least they'd have a few rabbits for the following day. After that and a quick meal, Birgit and I were on our way back towards the town. With a few bottles of wine in her bags.

  "Arne, I insist that you come my place for dinner tonight. This new business is something that secures our position in business as long as I stay careful with my partners. With the quality that I can deliver they'll certainly keep their mouths shut."

  "I think I can agree to do that. However, I'd like to visit Dagny and Erik and maybe take a bath there."

  "Oh, you can take a bath at my home, but you may like to be sure you have some suitable clothes for the boat trip tomorrow morning. In fact, it might be easier if you spent the night at our house so we could rise the sails before sunrise."

  Birgit was almost giddy on our way back to the town, which also stopped her complaints about horseback riding. Up until the moment we left our horses at the stables. It felt a bit strange to leave someone else to take care of Luna, but the children doing the work seemed to know what they were doing. I was slightly surprised to notice that Birgit decided to wait for me to pick up some other clothes. When I thought about the following day I was a bit worried, since I wasn't an experienced sailor. My parents had made sure that I could swim and I had, in fact, enjoyed some of the warm water of the lake in the valley. But the idea of a boat zig-zagging upstream filled me with some uncertainty.

  Birgit had two children in her home and her mother had been taking care of them while she was away. I was able to see that her mother looked at me curiously while the children - a girl of twelve summers and a boy of ten summers - were happy because their mother seemed happy about the new business prospects. Birgit's mother looked a bit more skeptical up until the moment she got a taste of the sweet wine my aunts and I were able to offer. Yes, we had agreed that Birgit - and only Birgit - would know the truth about my aunts.

  I have to admit that both the warm bath and dinner felt luxurious. During dinner they asked a whole lot of questions, but luckily, the story I kept on telling was an easy one and not that exciting. Both Birgit and I decided to go bed early, since we should be up and sailing early in the morning. A good plan, but I just wasn't able to fall asleep that easily after everything that had happened during the day. I had to admit that I had been lucky - extremely lucky - with the people I had met. All because I had wanted a good and reliable stable for Luna. Some extra carrots for her, for sure.

  Suddenly I was alerted by a presence outside the door of my room. There was a knife in my backpack but no easy way to get at it from the bed. Neither had any of the lessons in unarmed combat begun from between the sheets in a bed.

  Only, the intruder was Birgit, in her nightgown.

  "Arne, are you awake?"

  "Yes."

  "It must be hard for a young man, all those extremely pretty women traveling with you and none of them offering you any release."

  When Birgit lifted her nightgown over her head, exposing her body, I understood the funny look Meldainiel had had on her face when we had left the encampment. Together with our products she had sold me to secure the deal!

  "I know that you're not married or engaged Arne, and you don't have to worry about me getting pregnant."

  Too damn early in the morning, Birgit looked chirpy and happy and she didn't complain about all that riding the previous day. When her mother asked her about that, she didn't even blush. I did. Which brought out a small laugh from both of the women. I had considered myself experienced, but Birgit had still managed to surprise me. Her spirit and enthusiasm had been way greater than anyone I had been with before. It was like she tried to catch up on everything she had been missing after her husband's death. All in one night.

  I had no idea how I was going to explain what happened to Bellcauniel and Fainauriel.

  Sometime later, I wasn't at all worried what or how to tell Bellcauniel and Fainauriel about Birgit as I tried to keep standing on the boat that was zig-zagging up the river with a laughing Birgit at the tiller. My job was to move from one side of the boat to another as the boom and the sail changed their sides. To me, it seemed that sometimes the boat was moving so much against the wind that it seemed impossible. At least I didn't get seasick and it was enlightening to see Birgit so happy. It was clear that she loved to sail that boat.

  It was still early in the morning when we tied the boat to the shore in one of the small streams joining the big river. The place was hidden from the main river and there we would be able do the loading undisturbed. If I had been amazed by Birgit's ability to sail upriver, her maneuvering into the narrow stream had been something else. We had gone some way farther upstream and, while doing that, she had gone close to the stream mouth checking for rocks and shallows. Then we had continued upstream, turned downstream and gathered some speed with the current and tailwind. Using the momentum she had gained, she guided us into that small stream and when the time was right I lifted the centerboard according to her instructions. Her final move was to turn the boat around so that the prow was towards the big river. We would do another trip the following morning and that time we would also have some things with us. We had to do it like that since the other merchants didn't really trust Birgit anymore, even if she didn't owe any money to anyone.

  The problem was that most of the merchants in the town didn't fully believe that women could run a business successfully. I was sure that Birgit would surprise some of them even though she would try to maintain a low profile as much as possible.

  A few days later, our little convoy was on its way back to the valley, using game trails whenever other people were close by - which was most of the time. After a while, we just decided to stay on those trails. While most of our group was happy because of our success and the new business contact we had managed to create, I felt a bit uncertain. Even though our ponies were loaded with good seeds, empty bottles and broken-down barrels.

  Since I was the sole male I had been mercilessly used for the manual labor during the day, and Birgit had made sure that my nights had been busy, too. Both Dagny and Erik had had problems holding their laughter when I had been bleary-eyed the morning I picked up the rest of my stuff from their inn and moved them to Birgit's house. Yeah, very funny, indeed.

  The real surprise had happened during my last day in the town when Birgit's mother had come to me and surprised me with a tight hug. Then she had pulled away and spoke to me. "I want to thank you for what you did for my girl, young man. For the last two years, she has almost been slipping away but now there's some spark in her eyes again. The truth is that she always was the wise one in the business but she got lost when Ulrik was killed. Whatever thing you poked her with made her alive again."

  Then the older woman had poked me with her finger and giggled when she walked away.

  ""What's bothering you, Stian?""

  Meldainiel had moved next to me during our break when we were drinking our lingonberry tea. I shook my head but
the older woman slapped my head so that I almost spilled my tea.

  ""Don't you try that with me! Just now you are the most important person to us Alfar and each one of us can see that something is bothering you. Since our trip was a success it has to be something else. Did you fall in love with that Human woman or what?""

  Her typical Elven bluntness among was almost refreshing and I had to smile a bit even if she had slapped me.

  ""No, for sure I didn't fall in love with her or anybody else there.""

  ""Then, what's the problem? Wasn't the sex good? At least she seemed and sounded very happy and, as far as I know, the men should always like it.""

  ""That wasn't a problem. It's just that I already have...""

  Meldainiel didn't laugh but her face turned into an honest smile which was almost as bad. Being as pretty as the Elves are there's a certain effect on anyone - especially men - when some of them smiled directly at you. It's like the first rays of sun after two weeks of continuous rain. Or the bright colors of the rainbow. Or the forest full of wood anemones in the spring. Or all of those things together multiplied several times. I thought I should be immune to it at this point. I probably never will be.