Weaving Man: Book One of The Prophecy Series

by Tove Foss Ford

  “Bad for a good twenty miles either side of Rondstein, the driver said. Slowed them up by three days.”

  “Gods and she wants me to risk taking Katrin there with the possibility of getting snowed in and sitting on the track for days at a time?” Menders muttered to himself.

  “Cuz, the Queen never comes out of the Palace and is unaware of the world,” Kaymar said quietly. “Some flunky got the job of writing this. It isn’t her handwriting. She hasn’t even signed it, they just used the stamp. By the time she needed to sign it, she was probably beyond being able to hold a pen.”

  “I know. Let’s plan what we’ll do about this train,” Menders said, knowing that being emotional about this issue was not the answer.

  Menders unfolded a map detailing the railway in eastern Mordania. There was one line with a terminus in Erdstrom, where the train was turned back toward Erdahn.

  “This is where the heavy snow has been this winter, according to the driver,” Kaymar said, indicating a stretch of track around the small town of Rondstein, some twenty miles south of The Shadows.

  “Hmm – frost heaves do damage to tracks,” Menders mused, studying the area. “It’s early enough in the winter for that.”

  “I was thinking of setting charges,” Kaymar suggested. He rather enjoyed explosions and other incendiary mischief. He’d taken over a neglected shed at The Shadows and spent a great deal of his free time concocting various explosive devices – small charges for removing stumps, fireworks for different holidays and birthdays and other menaces that sometimes exploded violently when they weren’t supposed to, leaving Kaymar with singed eyebrows and frizzled hair.

  Ifor had dragged a huge horse trough to Kaymar’s shed and filled it with water so the pyrotechnician could douse himself when his clothing caught fire. He also patiently replaced roof sections that were removed by unexpected detonations of unruly rockets.

  “I can’t have it looking as if something has been done deliberately. I have to be able to blame nature for it,” Menders answered. Kaymar nodded, though Menders could see he would have loved to have made enough bombs to blow the track to atoms.

  “You can make some fireworks for Winterfest,” he said cajolingly, earning himself a punch on the arm, which made him laugh. Kaymar amused him no end and Menders didn’t mind letting him know it. “We’ll see if nature is going to help us along this time. If it doesn’t, then you and I and several other hearty gentlemen are going to take a little trip to Rondstein,” he continued, looking back at the map.

  Menders watched the sky and was rewarded with two heavy, but not massive snowfalls. The trains were still coming through, though much delayed. The weather was warming enough that some of the snowfall was melting and then refreezing, making it difficult, but not impossible for the trains to cut through the accumulation.

  “One thing I haven’t wanted to contemplate,” he said as he and Kaymar stood in the war room, watching snowflakes cascade from an iron grey sky. “What is the situation at Court if I do end up having to take her there?”

  Kaymar shook his head.

  “Don’t,” he said. “Any decent person has fled. The Queen is almost entirely out of things and stays to herself most of the time. Now that Aidelia is almost thirteen years old she has her own hangers-on. They’re an entirely different kettle of fish than the drunkards who used to pander to the Queen. They are… a polluting influence. If the Queen were sober, she would keep Katrin away from it, I believe – but you can’t count on her condition from hour to hour.”

  Menders waited. Kaymar didn’t care for long silences and he would fill in the gaps. He tried to resist, walking across the room and looking out at the sledding slope where Katrin and Hemmett were sliding downhill, accompanied by Eiren and Franz. He finally sighed and spoke.

  “Aidelia’s perverted,” Kaymar continued. “She’s already sleeping with men and has been for some time and she isn’t even having cycles yet. She maims and kills animals. She’s attracted some people who – they sicken me. I’ve seen and experienced a lot of things but the freaks around Aidelia are beyond anything I would ever be able to stomach. The idea of Katrin being anywhere around it…” His voice trailed off.

  Menders waited patiently.

  “She knows about Katrin. Aidelia knows about her,” Kaymar finally continued, his eyes riveted on the snow covered landscape. “She raves about hating her – and about killing her.”

  “Thank you for telling me this. I need to know and I don’t need to be sheltered from anything. It’s obvious that Katrin will not be going to Court.”

  Menders paced across the room, a plan crystalizing in his mind.

  “I need at least six men, all with good backs. Lucen, Klaas and several of Lucen’s Men as well. We’re going to go to Rondstein. We’ll take farlins, the weather is too much for horses. The Royal Train is being sent out in three days, which gives us plenty of time. I’ll make up a list of things I want brought with us, including your explosive charges, so smile and run along.”

  Kaymar snickered and complied.

  Menders looked over the map again, trying to banish Kaymar’s description of Aidelia from his mind. He was no shrinking violet and Kaymar was even less so. Kaymar was now bonded to Ifor and completely faithful and devoted, but Menders knew through his network that Kaymar’s amorous experience had begun very early and at one time had spanned a great variety of activity, much of it less than savory. If Kaymar said Court was no place for Katrin to be, Menders needed no more to be said.

  Now, to appear to be a force of nature.

  ***

  Men mounted on farlins rode along the snow clogged railway line in the dark, stopping ten miles from Rondstein. It was early in the evening, but the long winter night meant that full darkness came early.

  They dismounted and gathered in a knot, their backs to the wind.

  “It might be deep enough to keep the train getting through,” Menders said, “but I don’t want to risk it. We’ll break the track here.”

  They set to work with shovels, clearing the rails and loosening the plates holding the steel rails together, fumbling with painfully cold hands. To give the effect of the ground having heaved up, a small explosive charge was dug into the track bed and set off, displacing and warping the rails beyond repair.

  The process was faster now, as they had done the same thing some ten miles back. It would be done two more times, closer to Rondstein and on the other side of the town as well. It could be weeks before the railway crews could get through to repair the track and there was a chance it would be buried by snow for months to come.

  “I’m going back,” Menders said, once he was certain all was going well. The weather was so cold that no engine driver was going to spend long investigating while wading around in snow up to his knees, with the possibility of winter-starved wolves taking an interest. So sorry, Your Majesty, the frost heaves wrecked the train track. Can’t get through until the snow melts a bit and repairs can be made. Such a shame. You don’t get to see the child you’ve ignored for almost eight years.

  He didn’t want to be away from The Shadows any longer than necessary.

  “Carry on with the rest of it,” he said to Kaymar, walking him a little distance from the rest, who were carefully spreading the snow over the area they had dug out. “Don’t forget warning lanterns, I don’t want that train derailing. Stay in Rondstein overnight to let the farlins rest.”

  Snow began to fall.

  “It could be that we’ve gone through a lot of effort for nothing,” Kaymar said. “The snow just might take care of it after all.”

  Menders swung up on Demon and turned back toward The Shadows. It had already been a night’s hard ride, but Demon was ready to go. He jogged on in the half trot that farlins could maintain for hours. The snow fell in large, fat flakes, but they followed the railway line, Menders occasionally forcing Demon down to a walk for a rest before letting him jog again.

  Menders was near frozen when he reached The Shadows
. He shuddered and shivered his way through the tunnel from the stables to the house, thinking about Kaymar and the others out there in the dark. He made his way up the stairs to the suite.

  Katrin never stirred as he put another log on the fire and then bent to kiss her forehead.

  “Everything is all right – sleep well, Little Princess,” he whispered.

  ***

  The “frost heaves” and snow guaranteed that the train didn’t get through at all. Kaymar went to Erdahn by boat to see what impact, if any, was made by Katrin’s inability to appear at Court.

  A message arrived from him for Menders.

  Dear Sir,

  The parcel that failed to arrive has not been missed by the party it was addressed to, and no further attempts to have it delivered will be entered into for the time being.

  Your servant,

  Karschal

  Menders laughed aloud and took it in for Eiren to see. She was dressing for the big Winterfest dance that evening. She smelled divine, having used the exquisite and expensive perfume he’d given her as a gift that morning.

  She read Kaymar’s note and threw her arms around him.

  “Thank the Gods,” she said. “I was terrified you’d have to take her there.”

  He kissed her and then lifted her and spun her around.

  “I have a few tricks to stay ahead of them – at least for now,” he laughed.

  (33)

  Katrin Catches Menders Off Guard

  Eiren whirled to face her attacker and made a lightning lunge, her knife held at throat level. He jumped back, bent, caught her skirt and pulled her off balance. He ended up holding her from behind, his knife across her throat.

  “Damn!” Eiren said in disgust. “Blasted skirt!”

  Menders released her with a laugh.

  “I will have you observe, my dear, that I am sweating like a pig and panting like a grundar in rut. Very, very few people on this planet can do that to me in a fight. I’m proud of you. I’m a better fighter because I have more experience, but you have aptitude and fight well.” He wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

  “Good enough to take Katrin to school with me alone?” she asked, collapsing on a chair in relief.

  “You’re good enough,” he said, wiping his forehead again. “You’re more than good enough. Better than some of the Men – and that’s saying a great deal.”

  Eiren had worked for almost three years to become truly proficient with a knife. She was skilled with firearms as well. She couldn’t best him but he wouldn’t want to fight her seriously either. As it was, she’d inflicted a nice welt across his belly while they were practicing a couple of weeks ago. She’d been horrified; he’d been delighted.

  As Katrin grew older, she would need competent women who could guard her. It wouldn’t do to have men shadowing her everywhere. He and Eiren had agreed it was time for Katrin to be exposed to formal schooling and Eiren was now skilled enough to function as a bodyguard for her. By nature, Eiren did not have an aggressive personality, but years on a farm had given her the ability to be ruthless when necessary.

  At nine, Katrin was tall for her age and beyond her years intellectually. She was possessed of a willful, high-handed streak that would have been infuriating if she hadn’t also been sweet-natured and compassionate. She frequently went by contraries and punitive measures seldom worked with her. Menders had found that it was best to let her take the consequences of her actions when practical and to keep her occupied so that she couldn’t get into mischief.

  Eiren had asked Menders to teach drawing at the school twice a week earlier in the term. He took Katrin along with him. She needed to appreciate that for many people, learning was work and not always easy, as it was for her. For similar reasons he’d had her take on household tasks and farm chores so that she would know what other people had to do to earn a living.

  “It will be good to have a helper now that Sana is in Erdahn,” Eiren smiled, carefully polishing the knife before putting it away. Even the blunt practice knives were treated with care and respect when Menders was in charge. “Two days a week would be enough to begin with.”

  Sana, Eiren’s fourteen year old sister, had been sent to teachers’ training college as Eiren had been. This left Eiren coping singlehandedly with the forty-three children who attended her flourishing school.

  The students came from farms on The Shadows, the village of Artrim eight miles distant and several nearby estates. Reisa Spartz had enrolled her daughter, Lorein, setting a fashion among the nobility nearby. A brother and sister came by train from Rondstein once a week, boarded with Eiren’s parents and rode back for the weekly rest days before repeating the cycle. Once word was out that schooling was available, Eiren hadn’t lacked for pupils. She was now able to charge a nominal tuition to those who could afford it, though she never denied any child who wished to learn.

  Eiren recruited anyone she felt could help her pupils gain knowledge. Menders was amused to find that she had press-ganged reticent Ifor to give talks on history. Liking children, the reason why he’d been one of the Military Academy tutors, he left his shyness at the school door and made his topics come alive as stories the children clamored for. Menck came down on some of his good days to tutor in basic mathematics and Eiren had even convinced Kaymar to teach the older pupils the branches of advanced mathematics that were his particular passion.

  While Menders guided the schoolchildren through the rudiments of drawing, Katrin went from desk to desk, helping the students when frustration set in. She drew beautifully herself, as Menders had taught her since she could hold a pencil. She had an instinctive ability to help the other children without seeming to patronize them.

  Eiren’s pupils soon forgot that Katrin was a princess and treated her as an equal, which Menders heartily approved. Having her do nothing but amuse herself and run wild with Hemmett was not his plan for her. Any challenge was welcome.

  Menders also needed time to tutor Hemmett without Katrin present. The boy was wild to attend the Military Academy in Erdahn when he was older. Sheer doggedness on Hemmett’s part had resulted in him learning to read, though reading would never be a pleasure to him. He’d also managed to master the ability to do mathematics on paper as well as in his head. He diligently read everything Menders set for him and attended Eiren’s school on the days Kaymar taught the advanced mathematics class. In another three years, Menders felt that he would be ready for the Academy. With his own recommendation as well as those of some of Menders’ Men, who were Academy graduates, Hemmett would have no difficulty being accepted.

  It was Hemmett’s ambition to be the head of Katrin’s official Guard, which would be assigned to her by the Queen when she turned sixteen, the age of majority for members of the Royal Family. He was utterly devoted to her and it was only through gentle and unsuspected machinations of the adults that they weren’t continually in each other’s company, as they had been when they were smaller.

  Franz occasionally had something to say about the way Katrin was raised and Menders always listened. Most of the time he agreed with the doctor, as he did in the case of Katrin and Hemmett.

  “He’s a growing boy and physically mature for his years,” Franz had said bluntly when he came to Menders about his concerns. “He’s in love with her. At this point it’s still a childish sentiment, but it’s something to watch or there will be trouble in the future. He should go to school now, if he’s ready.”

  “He’s not ready. He would fail if he was sent now,” Menders answered. “Twelve is simply too young. I will watch him and speak to him if need be.”

  “That would put the idea into his head,” Franz replied. “So far, he hasn’t put a name on his feelings for her, but they’re there. And with her looking so much older than she is …” He didn’t go on. He didn’t have to.

  “I know,” Menders answered. He’d always encouraged chivalry on Hemmett’s part where Katrin was concerned, originally because Hemmett was so much larger than she that h
e could hurt her without intending to. Now that tutelage served him well, because Hemmett channeled his affection into protectiveness and concern.

  “I would keep a sharp eye out,” Franz said quietly. “I’m not being salacious, Menders.”

  “I know it,” Menders replied. “Let me know if you see anything you consider untoward. It’ll be like the old days when we had to try to keep them in their clothes on hot summer days.”

  Franz laughed a little, remembering. Katrin had been a devoted summertime nudist at the age of three and Hemmett was always ready to follow her lead. More than once they’d been caught wading naked in the pond, intent on capturing tadpoles. Thankfully the fad for nude tadpole hunting had finally passed before a decree had to be handed down from on high. Menders was devoted to the notion of benign neglect in certain matters, and that had been one of them.

  Now, however, was not the time for benign neglect. Having Katrin go to the school with Eiren would be a help, providing her with a new interest at the same time it would create distance between her and Hemmett.

  The door to the Great Hall opened and Katrin peered in.

  “There you are!” she exclaimed, coming toward them. “Cook wanted to know if we’re eating here or if we want a basket lunch.”

  “Well, I don’t know, what do you think, Eiren?” Menders asked teasingly. He could tell that Katrin was more than ready to go on a picnic, but wouldn’t ask directly.

  “It sounds like a wonderful idea to me,” Eiren smiled. “Since it’s a rest day we can drive out to the village and do a bit of shopping if you’d like and we might even be able to convince Menders to tear himself from work to come with us.” She flirted with him through her eyelashes.

  “Maddened farlins couldn’t keep me away,” he grinned.