Witan Jewell

by Russ L. Howard

  “I think that would be wise. Let’s join our vision.”

  Sur Sceaf cupped the two seer stones, one green and one amber colored in the palms of his hands and felt them gradually grow warmer.

  “You have not allowed them to grow contaminated in anyway by letting them out of your care have you?”

  “Certainly not. I hold them sacred and although they fell into the Pitters’ hands they saw no value in them and tossed them aside. Once they were returned to me I purified them in yew oil and wisent blood.”

  “It is well.” Redith leaned into him and together as their gaze became intense. The stones gathered the energy being focused on them and began to yield up their wisdom. Just as Sur Sceaf started seeing a man’s form, Redith said, “I am getting a strong vision of Muryh the Master Builder.”

  “What, the Builder! Who would have ever dreamed the Builder should go whaling with us?” Sur Sceaf’s vision sharpened, “I see him in a boat with his building plans in a leather bag.”

  “I do as well. You must trust the stones. Put Muryh at the top of your list under Ilkchild. The direction the gods set is not always what we would want or think wise, but when honored leads to prosperity, success, and good fortune. The gods do not wish us to surrender our wills to them, but they want us to know they possess a vantage point from which we cannot see as clearly. They can map our paths far better than we can dream, for they see farther than us.”

  As the vision of Muryh faded, another one appeared. Sur Sceaf started getting a clear flow of vision from the stones. “I am seeing the Lore Master Long Swan and Govannon the Elf Smith ...”

  “Are you seeing Herman the Giant?” Each confirmed what the other was seeing to check their accuracy in the reading. Finally, they had named all twenty six crew members. That equaled thirteen members for each of the two ships. All of whom were oracularly chosen.

  He put the stones back in the pouch and placed the pouch once again about his neck. “Mo Mo, I thank you for confirming my visions with me. You’ve always been there when I needed wise counsel in my life. I honor you so much that it cannot be put it into words.”

  He leaned over and kissed Redith on her forehead. She gave an affectionate smile.

  Sur Sceaf rose up from the Wishing Rock they were sitting on. Redith let out a moan as Sur Sceaf assisted her up. “Oh, these old bones don’t get up as fast as they used to, but I feel very good about the selection of the crews. May the gods be with you in your journey into the depths of the Aurvendilean Sea! May they speed and strengthen you in your quest. For these young bloods will be as difficult to master as the raging sea with all its monsters, seawylfs, and serpents.”

  They walked together back to the house, laughing and teasing each other about some of the choices. Redith let out a loud laugh, “This just goes to show you, Surrey, the gods have a great sense of humor.” They laughed and teased at the thought of Muryh aboard a whaling ship. “I’m envious of your adventure. Would that I were young again, for I foresee you will have many great experiences, but remember always, danger lurks where treasures are hidden.” Redith then explained. “Here, I must part paths with you. I have promised Faechild to babysit while she goes with Milkchild to Hrusburg.”

  When Sur Sceaf arrived back at the house, Paloma had tidied the bedroom and having known him so well, she laid out his favorite suit for him to wear.

  Enjoying the first day he had in nine moonths without obligations, he took a leisurely bath, dressed in his favorite leather suit and rode all about the camps of Sharaka and Quailor, stopping to speak with various people and assess how well they were settling in. He came home at midday to a sumptuous dinner with his family and met with all the wives and children in the common mess to tell stories about the trek. Then he turned to the children and asked them to tell him what they had done while he was gone. For the next few hours the dining room was filled with laughing and teasing. Finally, it was time for the children to turn in. After the children were put to bed, in answer to a question from Swan Hilde, he revealed to them the training he would be called upon to undergo on the great deep.

  After it was explained, Surrey discussed with each one of his wives what they had done for the day and then asked Paloma what her success was in getting a birthing house. Her face lit up as she reported, “Sur Spear will supply the lumber and Elijah will oversee the building of the maternity home to be constructed by the master carpenters of the Quailor. And greatest of all, Dr. Shanks has agreed to oversee the midwives and be on call for any emergencies. The Hospitalers will do all the necessary nursing. Sagwi will supply the necessary medicines with help from Face-of-Stars.”

  Stewards came in and stoked the fire for the evening while cup bearers passed out warm wassail.

  Finally, as the fire kicked back up, Paloma, stood in her trailing grey silk robe at Namen Jewell and beseeched her sister-wives, “The hour is late, my sisters. I suggest we end for this evening. Besides, I am sure Faechild is craving your presence, my lord, in her bedroom.” Faechild flushed pink as the other wives smiled at her.

  “If Taneshewa is accepted by this bride troupe after her examination, during the eighty-eight days of waiting, I’ve arranged for her to stay with Lana first and then each fortnight she can stay with another sister-bride.”

  After a prayer circle of gratitude, the wives all headed for their own homes. Alone with Faechild, he smiled. “I find it utterly delightful that even though we’ve been married all these years you still blush like a maiden.” Clearly pleased, she waved her blue stick and said, “Talk, talk, talk. I didn’t think we’d ever be alone.”

  “Ah! But the anticipation makes it all the sweeter. Still I could not wait to stare into these green pools of your eyes once again.”

  With a devilish grin she said, “Tonight, you’re all mine, Shining Moon has taken the children and will nurse the baby when the little darling wakes.”

  “Efficient as always my love! You’ve thought of everything.”

  “Right now I could rip your clothes off you like I peel a plum, but that would only spoil the candle lit and perfumed room I have prepared for us.”

  Chapter 8 : Training at Sea

  Long Swan’s Log: The year 583 H.S.O. Yule among the Herewardi is always a great event. It is considered the holiest of times. It is the three days of darkness, symbolizing the death of our ancient King Hrus-Syr-Os, who on the third day rises with the new sun and puts the new year in motion. It is a time of gift giving, putting on the holly, special treats for the children, and a time of recommitment to the Forty-Four Laws and the Herewardi way of life.

  After the Yule Celebration of 583 H.S.O. Sur Sceaf spent another fortnight in Namen Jewell, putting his affairs in order, meeting with the various tribal delegations, and conducting strategic planning with King Sur Spear and the Roufytrof.

  It was the middle of the Wolf Moonth when Sur Sceaf was ready to depart for the coast and the training that Turtle Duck, Pyrsyrus, and Raven’s Tongue had arranged. Sur Sceaf was to receive his training first and then the crews would get a far more comprehensive training. Only Fromer, Elijah, and Muryh were to be excused from the training.

  When the day of departure came on the fourteenth day of the Wolf Moonth, everyone in the encampments and the surrounding settlements came to wish Sur Sceaf farewell. The High King Sur Spear embraced his son as did the Queen Mahallah. Chief High Priest Elijah von Hollar blessed him. Chief Onamingo, Thunder Horse, and Sagwi prayed for him. And Redith sprinkled him with magnolia perfume so that he would be recognized by the gods both by day and by night.

  He kissed the wives and children good bye then spent a few minutes alone with Taneshewa, his prospective seventh bride. His family and friends cheered as he rode off for Ur Ford with Pyrsyrus, myself, Turtle Duck, a twelver of young bloods, and Raven’s Tongue in a journey to conquer the great deep.

  After arriving in Ur Ford by the sea (which the Roufytrof has contemplated renaming Urfyrd) Pyrsyrus, Raven’s Tongue, and Turtle Duck commenced instructing
Sur Sceaf in seamanship, boat construction, knots, and whaling.

  For now we are staying at Black Khem’s and Annie’s home, he is a master fisherman and once dwelt in Surrey’s home. He and his wife, both of whom came out of the South Land, were freed by Hickoryan Rebels and delivered as orphan children into the hands of the Quailor in Salem. I hope to arrange time to visit with the Rabbi, but at this time he is busy assisting his sons in building the settlements of Va-Gedurah and Va-Gebulah. In the meantime I have an appointment to meet with one of his new wives, named Ruth to discuss how the Jywdic community may best assist our alliance.

  * * *

  The past three weeks Sur Sceaf had spent in Namen Jewell with his family passed like a pleasant dream. During the week long trip to Ur Ford, Sur Sceaf acquired a working knowledge of the language of seamanship. Once he arrived in Ur Ford, the training varied according to the weather and the conditions at sea. On the days that the sea was unruly, Turtle Duck instructed Sur Sceaf in the art of ship making. On the days that were clear, Raven’s Tongue instructed him in fishing and whaling techniques, and then on foggy days Pyrsyrus showed Sur Sceaf how to navigate through fog with a sunstone. On clear evenings when night came and the winds blew away the fog bank, Pyrsyrus showed him how to operate a dragoon and navigate in the dark using only the star marks. Occasionally to break up the monotony of routine, Pyr, taught him the use of net fighting and tridents, a curious weapon with multiple uses, which one of his pirates volunteered to demonstrate. He even spent three days learning parkour, learning how to leap over obstacles, climb, and get through obstacles.

  After putting the weapons away, Pyr and he went to the Blow Hole Inn, a tavern of the local Rogues. It was Pyr’s turn to buy and they had grown tired of the local grog called the Bitter End at the Tavern of the Crazy North Man and wanted a change of scenery. He took a deep sip and endured the skunky flavor, but it was both wet and potent, and he was too dry and thirsty to stop. “Wow, these bitters take some getting used to.”

  “After you’ve been to sea for thirty or forty days, just about anything to wet your whistle tastes good.”

  They found a table near the rear by a window that overlooked the town. The mix of people on the street consisted of black clad Jywds with brimmed hats, coarse clad fishermen in canvas pants and seersucker shirts. Jywdic women went about with their heads covered by bandanas while Herewardi women wore their feather bonnets and carried shopping baskets full of produce. Occasionally, a cluster of Cherokee women would pass in buckskins with carts of oysters and fresh thunfisch for sale.

  Pyr said, “Look at all the foreign merchants. Word has gotten out that we’re going to be building this city up. Just yesterday I encountered the son of a rich fish monger from the Sand Wand, who told me that he’s planning on duplicating his father’s success in Ur Ford.

  Surrey took another sip of the bitter beer, sat down his mug and said, “Sis, introduced me to a Friscan merchant who is purchasing a building next to her mercantile business on Maimonides Street. He says he plans on offering denim pants and shirts to the fishermen and the timbermen in this area.”

  “I am convinced,” Pyrsyrus told him, “whoever commands the seas will command the Ea-Urth. That is why it is so critical to gain mastery over the deep. It’s a road to everywhere. Though the Friscans, Citriodorans, and Mexus all have vessels, none have mastered the belly ships and dragoons Raven’s Tongue has built. These ships will be our key to absolute naval dominance over the Pitters who have done little more than purchase subgrade ships from less than ethical people.”

  “Pyr, I have seen now how the fishing and whaling trade has made your city-state so very wealthy and powerful. What’s for sure, is no enemy would dare attack you in your territory. Do you believe it will do the same for mine?”

  “Of course it will, because not only will the merchants beat a path to the door of your city, but add to that the wealth we will glean from pirating. It’s a win any which way you look at it. You are a landsman. Therefore you think like a landsman, but soon you will get your sea legs and then you will find that a very different mentality begins to well up in you. The sea is also our road to safety and victory over the Pitters. These dragoons,” he said, bringing his hand down hard on the table, “are the key to confiscating the wealth of the Pitters and sticking our swords up their asses where they are going to do some real hurting.”

  “With the dragoons?” Sur Sceaf was puzzled. “They don’t even carry that many men.”

  “You’re right. One ship doesn’t, but think of hundreds of dragoons in an armada with their ability to penetrate far inland with their shallow draft. Appearing where they are not expected. With them, we can strike with great speed at the Pitter Zongas, freeing the captives of their labor camps, and be back out of their reach at sea before you can say Jack Russellson. And with the dragoons we can also strike several places at once, take their booty, and be gone before they can respond with their cumbersome legions.”

  “I think I see now,” Sur Sceaf said. “What do I need to learn next on passing off my training?”

  “Well, your navigation skills are pretty sharp, let’s work on teaching you the ropes on sailing next.”

  They clinked mugs together.

  “Good thing I know how to swim.”

  Together they downed the suds of their bitter beer.

  Chapter 9 : The Amerikans

  For three days Mesculera had followed the trail of Pitter slave train. Little girls and young women trailed the wagons and hand carts with heads down. Though barefooted, they were well cared for. Something horribly strange was amiss at this scene.

  Mesculera observed them from his vantage above the Pitter camp. What have these girls been fated for? What is the end design and purpose for these young women? He shuddered as his mind ran down dark alleys. “God help us all to put an end to this darkness that covers the land!”

  He had chosen a moment against evening to attack. He placed his men in an ideal bottle neck from which they could do the most damage to the Pitters and their queer allies, the Growling. The chaparral and rocks gave perfect foil, insomuch that not even the hum of the bowstrings could be heard from below. Fully ten Pitter hell-rats fell before any noticed they were under attack. With heathen accuracy, Andrimnir placed an arrow between the eyes of the hell-rats’ leader. A clamor of terror spread throughout their camp.

  Hideous gray-faced Growlings responded by taking immediate cover, whereas the Pitters scattered to the four winds, making them easy targets for the archers. Guards gave up their posts, seeking in futility to ward off attacks from all sides, while the Growlings searched for the source of the arrows.

  Fighting continued into the dark of night. Mesculera would not stop until every Pitter was bled out, their throats laid open. He signaled for his lifelong friend, Bronoak, to take his wolf-pack down into the camp and dispense with the resisting Pitters. They fell upon them with shield and sword in a mighty slaughter.

  The captives looked on silently, in fearful bewilderment as to what fate awaited them.

  When the last enemy laid dead in the dust, Bronoak shouted out, “We are Kaninchens! Our peace we bring you! Your deliverance is at hand!”

  As Mesculara entered the encampment, he greeted a young woman who had assumed the position of mouth-piece for the captives.

  “Good sir, pray tell, who are you?” she asked, her icy blue eyes beseeching an answer.

  “I am Mesculera Coloratus. We are a band of Kaninchens composed of both Herewardi and Ndee. We shall deliver you safely into the care of Lord Kanarus, the Deliverer of Captives. It would behoove us to take an alternate road, for this road is filled with Pitter hell-rats and Growlings.”

  Mesculera rolled over a dead Growling with a kick. The gray, scar-covered face stared up with ghastly horror. Even though this was probably the twentieth group of captives Mesculera had rescued, he could not get used to the gruesome horror of a Growling face. It was as if they were the personification of disease. Freaks of nature,
they haunted his imagination with the ghastly prospect of perhaps one day falling into their hands. Gods only knew what happened to them when they were delivered over into the hands of the Queen of the Underworld, Gloomulah. Tales abounded; some true, some imagined. Mesculera sure as hell didn’t want to find out.

  “Let us set our faces toward the White Mountains,” he said.

  By morning they were upon the long tent of Kanarus, the banner of a yellow rabbit flew in the breeze. The daystar of Earindil had already faded from their view. A Herewardi lord stepped out from the tent to greet them. Sun rays struck his golden-hair.

  “Hail Lord Kanarus. We have returned with yet another drove of young women, we saved from the Growlings’ hands.”

  “Tis well, Mesculera. Let us sort them into their tribes and make an attempt to get them safely back to their own peoples.”

  One of the young girls ran up to Kanarus and said, “Onkel Sur Sceaf! How didst thine hair get so light?”

  “My young lass, you have mistaken me for my cousin. The Lord Sur Sceaf. I perceive you must be Quailor and Lana’s kindred.”

  “Yes. Some very bad men knocked my doors down and took me from my mutti and vatti.”

  “My little sweetheart, I’ll see to it that you get back to your mother and your uncle right away. “

  The silver haired lady Saga-Jah-El-Ea, emerged from the tent. “Mesculera, let me take these three Quailor girls into my tent until an envoy can take them to the safety of far-off Witan Jewell. By All Father Odhin, I’m sure their mothers are worried sick.”

  Mesculera still upon his horse uttered, “If it please Lord Kanarus, I would like to lead that envoy. I have many friends in Witan Jewell that I would be delighted to see again. “