The Nature of a Curse (Volume 2 of the Year of the Red Door)

by William Timothy Murray

  • • •

  It did not take Ullin long to find a good campsite, and, since none were expecting the night's travels to pass so easily, they were in lighter spirits as they tended the horses and spread their bedrolls. Soon, Ashlord had something ready for them to eat, and by the time the sun came over the hills they were ready to sleep. So they did, peacefully, throughout the day.

  All except Ashlord, that is to say, who, as always, seemed not to sleep so much as stare. Ullin, after a long nap, woke himself in the afternoon and went off to scout the way ahead. He picked his way through the forest with the long practiced stealth of experience. He circled the camp, making sure from all sides its best positions of defense and escape, and any likely ways of discovery or attack. Growing more satisfied, he widened his circles until at last he found himself crouching near enough to the roadway to smell the dust of it, but so completely hidden that a man could come within knife's reach and never know he was there. After a long while of waiting and listening, he moved onto the roadway and began following it westward.

  • • •

  Back at the camp, small creatures occasionally wandered nearby and passed on, skirting around them either warily or curiously, according to their nature. Once a hedgehog waddled by and paused for a long time to stare at the group. A little while later, a skunk, with a trail of four or five little kittens following along, ambled into their clearing and paused only briefly before leading her troop quickly away. Once, Billy awoke thirsty and roused himself to take a drink from the brook. Returning, he stood beside Ashlord who was sitting with his back against a rock with his usual blank stare and his cold pipe in his hand. Billy stretched and yawned and listened to the soft gurgle of the brook and the gentle shush of the breeze through the leaves overhead. Robby, Sheila, and Ibin still slept nearby and, seeing Ullin's blankets neatly rolled up beside his saddle, he understood without asking where the Kingsman had gone. As he tried to figure out what Ashlord was staring at, he heard a sudden sound some distance away in the other direction, and he stiffened, straining to see through the brush. He heard it again, then again, and realized that it was moving.

  "What's 'at?" he whispered.

  Ashlord's eyes moved to the side, toward the sound, his face as motionless and as expressionless as before.

  "Only a bear," he said. "She will not trouble us."

  Ashlord's eyes returned to their previous position. Billy stood, looking back and forth from Ashlord to the noise.

  "A bar? How can ye be sure?"

  Ashlord did not reply, and Billy was uncertain whether or not to believe the mystic until the noise receded. Going back to his bedroll, he stretched out, but pulled his sword closer and closed his eyes with his hand on the hilt of his dagger.

  • • •

  Very late in the afternoon, Ullin returned to the camp, and reported what he had scouted to Ashlord as he accepted the food he was offered.

  "The way seems much like before," Ullin said. "Pretty easy on the road, but fewer places to offer cover should we need to hide quickly. Steep on both sides ahead. The road takes a bend southward, and continues on before turning west again some five or six leagues."

  Ashlord was once again amazed at Ullin's ability to travel far and fast. To make twelve leagues, round trip, stealthily, was no mean feat.

  "I saw four parties of Damar on foot in groups of twelve or so each, and three riders, each alone and riding hard. I think this way must take us near to the Damar city, perhaps to its south side. But I am unfamiliar with this region, and so I cannot say for sure."

  "Hm. If you are right, Ullin, then we may encounter some farmland in a day or two, in the numerous gaps south of the city. It has been many years since I have been that way, and it could be good or bad. Good since the Damar are most secure in their south and west lands and probably have fewer soldiers patrolling. Bad because it may be more populated, and our passing may not go unnoticed."

  The aroma of soup roused Ibin, and he quickly joined the two with an eager expression.

  "Did you rest well?" Ashlord asked as he ladled out some soup for him.

  "Yes, yesIslept, Isleptprettywell."

  "Here you go. Some bread there. Only one helping, though."

  "HelloUllin!" Ibin said as he sat nearby with his bowl and bread. Ullin nodded and smiled, his own mouth full, but by the time he had swallowed, he saw that Ibin was intent on his own meal and oblivious to any talk for a time.

  Ullin finished his bowl, wiped it clean with his last bit of bread, and ate that, too. He stood and went to check the horses before unrolling his blankets and stretching out. Ullin was soon asleep, and Ashlord advised Ibin to try for more sleep himself, "for the nights are longer than the days, and we may be up most of it tonight."

  Ibin's sleep was indifferent at best, and he tossed and turned with too much vigor for a satisfying rest until at last he sat up in the late afternoon and fetched his mandolin. Moving away from the others some small distance, he plucked softly as the sun sank behind the mountaintops and the blue sky deepened slowly to purple.

  While there was still dusky light in the sky, Robby stirred and got up. After going to the brook and splashing his face, he stretched and yawned and came back as Ashlord was rekindling the fire.

  "I hope you had a good sleep, Robby."

  "I suppose I slept soundly enough," Robby shrugged. "After that nice bed at Tallinvale, the ground seems especially hard and cold. But I guess the hard ground is a welcome place to rest when that's all one has."

  Robby watched Ashlord prepare the fire, noticing how with twig and soft breath he coaxed a tiny flame, as gently as one might stroke a feather, until it crackled and grew.

  "How is it, if you pardon my asking, that you don't seem to need sleep or rest?"

  "Oh I rest," Ashlord said, raising the tripod for the water pot. "Just not in the way that you do. I must rest, as all living things must, but I do so with my eyes open to the world."

  "Do you dream?"

  "No. I do not dream. Or, that is to say, I am always dreaming, even now as we speak, I am dreaming. Just as you are, if you think about it. But the dreams that you have are of a different sort than mine."

  "Pardon me? That is, how do you know what kind of dreams I have?"

  Ashlord detected the note of sudden concern, almost defensiveness, in Robby's voice, but refrained from looking at him and only chuckled.

  "I only mean that my dreams do not begin or end, as yours do, when you sleep and then awaken. That is, what I call 'my dreams.' "

  "Oh," Robby nodded. He was relieved, though a little embarrassed at his rash reaction. He realized that he would probably need to tell Ashlord about Micerea and his reasons for wanting to go to Tulith Morgair. He almost did so, then and there, but he remembered Micerea's warning.

  "Why don't you see to the horses," Ashlord suggested. "Then we'll be off just after we have a bit to eat."

  • • •

  They dowsed the fire, broke camp, and did their best to hide all evidence of their stay. Then they set off through the woods and made the road with little difficulty, thanks to Ullin's expert way of picking out the best path even in the dark. They traveled for many miles, stopping only twice where small streams cut down and across the road so that the horses could take a sip. Even though Lady Moon's shyness increased, now, with each passing night, spreading her fan wider before her face and beginning her skyward walk later than the night before. When she did at last make her appearance, she showed them the roadway so clearly that they could see the tracks left by daytime travelers. But they did not see or encounter anyone the whole night long, and by the time a hint of dawn tinged the sky, they had reached a bluff overlooking a small misty valley. In the dim light, they could see fields and a few farm houses below, and it appeared that the road they were on passed down and straight through the dale.

  "It is as I thought," Ashlord told them as they gathered. "We are south of the Damar city and entering farmlands."

  "Would it be bette
r for us to travel through here during daylight? Making the appearance that we have business in these parts?" Robby asked.

  "Perhaps," Ashlord said, "though it is likely that they see few travelers, and word of passing strangers is apt to reach Damar patrols fairly quickly. Unless I am mistaken, there must be, on the other side of this dale, a road leading north to the city, and there is likely to be traffic along it of the military kind. Especially if Damar and Tracia are coming together."

  "Now might be the best time to move on through," suggested Billy. "Sun's comin' up, an' the farmers must tend to thar cattle an' livestock, milkin', gatherin' eggs, feedin' an' so forth. They'll likely have little time to bother us, er spare someone to send with word 'bout us."

  Ullin nodded.

  "I agree," he said, "and if we can get to the other roadway while it is still morning, we might pass on before much traffic comes."

  "How far do you think it is from here to there?" asked Sheila.

  "No more than a league would be my guess," said Ashlord. "Probably just to the other side of those hills yonder. But we'll soon know."

  With that, he nudged his horse on, and they followed, going downward in single file. At the bottom of the mild descent, they came out of the woods, and the road took them across a small wooden bridge spanning a fast gurgling stream and then on between pastures. Ullin, riding second behind Ashlord, threw back the tail of his travel cloak, exposing the hilt of his sword. Seeing this, the others behind him prepared likewise. They passed the first farmhouse, a dim yellow light showing from a window and a thin line of smoke rising reluctantly from its chimney. A cock crowed from the coop nearby. From the next farmhouse just ahead, they heard the thumping of someone chopping wood. As they passed, they saw a woman pulling a bucket of water from a well while a man in the yard split firewood. A dog loped out at them, barking as it came. Ashlord glared at it, and the dog suddenly stopped to scratch itself. The man, worn and haggard, stopped his work and eyed them, axe in hand, as the woman came to stand beside him. The dog retreated between the two and whimpered at the passing strangers. Ashlord nodded, Ullin did the same, and each of the company in turn as they passed, but the couple said nothing and hardly moved, their faces blank. The company was well past and nearly to the next field before they heard the chopping resume. They came to another pasture just as the sun edged over the mountains behind them, and the morning mists began to lift when they encountered a farmer driving a small herd of cows towards them along the way, apparently taking them from one pasture to another. The travelers moved aside to let the herd pass.

  "Good morning," Ashlord said to the farmer as he came up.

  "G'morn," he said in a friendly enough way.

  "Can you tell us how far it is to the city?" Ullin asked.

  "Oh, it ain't more than eight leagues as the way winds," he said, stopping and leaning on his staff before Ullin. His cows ambled on without him. "I can see ye fellers're strangers, an' I reckon yer off to join in with all them others. They took me oldest boy last week, an' he ain't no more than fourteen years. Ye might be seein' him, by the name of Darce Frakorn. An' if ye do his mum'd be grateful if ye tell him he's needed at home if he be done with solderin'."

  "Darce Frakorn. We'll tell him if we chance to meet. So it's a great gathering?"

  "Oh, me yes! A musterin' an' a makin' of more soldiers, like on account of them Tallinvale folk comin' agin us, they say, though I ain't seen none yet."

  "Are many coming to Damar out of the west to join up against Tallinvale?" Ashlord asked.

  "I wouldn't know. The west road cuts in a ways south of here, so as they all looks like they come up from the south to me. Farm boys, mostly, like me Darce, ganged by soldiers. I seen a crowd of them red-caped horsemen of Tracia day 'fore yesterday. An a few right professional lookin' riders, too, like ye fellers, all plain dressed, but armed. Right mean lookin'. Yep, looks like a great gatherin' it is, all right. Don't know what's to come of it all. Don't know how they think folks can run thar business right if they take away the hands. An' that after layin' such tax on a land, too! Ain't for an old man to say, I reckon. I reckon if it warn't for wars an' fights an' such other, folks like yerselves, maybe, might done be out of business, eh? Aw, now, look! Me cattle's done gone up the wrong field!"

  The old man hobbled away quickly, flinging his staff around to head off the few cows that had not yet made the wrong turn.

  "Let's move along," Ullin said to Ashlord. "Before the sun gets higher and the road becomes unwelcome!"

  They spoke to no other inhabitants of the broad dale though they saw many coming and going about their morning chores. There were few children to be seen, mostly those too young to bear arms, and all others they saw were old or lame or infirm, all tired-looking and with resigned, careworn faces. The farms and the dwellings had the look of having once been well-tended, but were now somewhat gone to seed, with many of the houses in need of ordinary repair, fences in need of mending, and the only other horses they saw were wizened and bony.

  "This land is hungry," Billy commented.

  Robby hoped they were too hungry to care about his group. Looking over his companions, he imagined they must look like mercenaries going to join the other fighters gathering against the Eastlands. But if the wary farmers and few silent watchful children thought otherwise or suspected anything else, they gave no indication. At least there was no sense of alarm at the company's passing. Indeed, the inhabitants did not look like they had even the vigor to make a report concerning them if a Damar patrol happened along later.

  It was not long before they began the upward climb into the hills west of the dale, and as the sun broke full over the mountains, it lit those before them with a sudden glare. These seemed much higher and more rugged than those through which they had already passed, their green sides already spotted here and there with the red and orange and yellow patches of turning leaves. Once over the first hill, the road intersected another one that was wider and obviously more used, and they turned south.

  "We should turn west as soon as we can," Ashlord said, "and get off the road, if possible."

  "It looks like we're stuck on this'un for awhile," observed Billy as the road quickly climbed and wound around and into the mountains with a steep rise to their right and an equally steep drop to the left.

  "Then let us make haste!" cried Ullin. "And if we encounter any small force, let us push right through them!"

  He loosened his saddle sword in its scabbard as he spoke, and they urged their mounts to a canter. Often they had to back to a trot as the road climbed sharply and rounded upward. At one place, it broadened through a flat area, and they saw the clear signs of a recent camp, trampled grass and brush and many cold fire-rings. It was apparent to all that a fairly large party had been there not very long ago. They did not stop for a closer look, and it served only to make them move more quickly, with Ibin often calling words of encouragement to the two pack animals in tow behind him. Steeper and higher the mountains around them became, and the roadway with them, the slopes looming above. After more than an hour of this nervous hurry, they suddenly rounded a bend and came out at a small dale where there was an abandoned farmplace, the small plots grown up and weedy.

  "I believe we might turn westward here," Ashlord said, slowing to a halt. "We can get off this road and cut through that gap yonder and to the westward running path beyond. If we stay on this road it may be several hours before we come to the place where they meet."

  He hesitated.

  "Very well," Ullin said. "What is it?"

  "I'm not actually sure if this is the right place. Without Certina, I cannot tell."

  "Can we not consult Robby's map?" Sheila called out.

  "Actually, I brought two," Robby said. He quickly dismounted and pulled a folded packet from his saddlebag. By now the sun was high and the day was growing warm in spite of the breeze. Billy and Ibin, without hesitation, dismounted and moved off a little way to sit under an oak tree that had not yet lost all
of its leaves.

  Robby spread out his maps against his horse's flank and studied them, with Ashlord and Ullin and Sheila all crowded close and craning their necks to have a look, too.

  "Here," Ashlord said, putting a finger on the map. "I think we are here."

  "Is that line there this road?"

  "I think so."

  "Must be."

  • • •

  While the others discussed their route, Billy and Ibin waited patiently, Billy looking out over the fields across the road. His attention was drawn to a leftover pumpkin, one that the harvesters had apparently neglected to gather.

  "Ye know," said he after long consideration, "I'm not so sure Beras managed things too well when he created the world an' all."

  "What, whatdoyoumean, Billy?" Ibin asked with sudden concern.

  "Well, ye see that pum'kin over yonder, 'cross the road?"

  "Yeah."

  "Well, look at how scrawny an' thin them vines are, an' the great big ol' pum'kin pullin' 'em down an' all."

  "Uh-huh."

  "Well, mostly the Creator did a fine job," Billy went on. "For instance, them cornstalks over thar. They's thick enough to hold all them ears of corn. That seems fittin'."

  "Uh-huh."

  "An' see that apple tree puttin' out. Why thar must be a ton of apples held up thar. An' the branches all saggin', but doin' a fine job holdin' up them apples."

  "Uh-huh."

  "Yet look at this here great big oak we're sittin' under. Why, Beras must've got distracted an' mixed up, er somethin'. This great big ol' oak tree, strong enough to hold a hunnerd men up in them limbs. But all it does is put out these itty-bitty acorns, whilst them poor vines over yonder flop all over the place under the mighty weight of that dang pum'kin." Billy shook his head, "I mean, it just don't seem right, does it?"