"Nigh upon dawn, the rest of our party returned to us, with Bailorg an' his private company of Dragonkind. An' two others were with them, one was the general of the army, an' the other a cloaked figure. His hood was pulled over his awful black helmet. I could see by his build that he was not one of the Dragon people. But whether he was a Man or Elifaen, I cannot say. His armor was different, too. Black iron, with a red sandglass painted on his breastplate. He an' the general exchanged a few brief words, an' then the general departed, an' Bailorg commenced directin' us at the loadin' of the wagons an' carts. The shadowy figure remained on his horse, an' though he said nothing an' did nothing, we felt his baleful eyes upon us, an' we feared him above the whips of our drivers."
"Who was he?" Robby asked.
"I never learned," Eldwin answered, looking at the others, seated at a respectful distance and listening carefully. At this last mentioning of the mysterious figure, they glanced at each other and sat more rigidly. "I see ye've some interest in me tale. Could it be ye know something of these things? Perhaps the battle at Tulith Attis has not been forgotten?"
"You are perceptive," Robby said. "The reasons for our interest would be too long in the telling, except to say that the battle is still remembered, and the troubles of the world today go back to those times and has to do with why we travel this way. Tell me, did you notice anything else about this person who came with Bailorg? Any clue as to who he was? Do you know if he was part of the Dragonkind army's company, or was he already at Tulith Attis when the battle began?"
"I cannot say, an' do not know. He was certainly not a prisoner or any such. Bailorg was extremely anxious about him an' kept reportin' our progress to him. But he never spoke to Bailorg or answered his reports so far as I ever saw or heard. He remained completely silent behind his black helmet. We felt he was Bailorg's master, or someone even more fearful. None of me own people had anything to do with him, not even to cook or bring him food or water over the next days. He led us, with Bailorg, back into these mountains, an' we traveled with great haste, pullin' the wagons as fast as we could, havin' been spared no oxen or horses, ye see, except the mounts that these two rode. A few days after we left there, a messenger came to Bailorg, an' afterwards he made his Dragonkind servants whip us into even greater haste. A week later, we were movin' along a road through the mountains when a Dragonkind came runnin' to Bailorg in a mighty agitation. Bailorg ordered us along a side path, an' after a mile or so, made us gather in a forest clearing. There was only about seventy of us left, men, women, an' children, an' we crowded together with the carts an' packs, relieved to be able to rest whatever the reason for it was. We could see Bailorg pleadin' with the strange one, but could not tell what was the trouble. The dark figure seemed unperturbed, an' Bailorg kept gesturin' at us an' at the wagons of booty. Something was afoot, of course, but we could not make out Bailorg's speech. The dark one then turned an' slowly rode away into the forest. Bailorg watched him disappear into the trees, an' then he turned to us full of anger.
" 'If ye value yer lives, ye'll remain silent!' He made a thick fog come about us, though it was a clear day. 'Soldiers will shortly pass nearby,' he told us. 'They will kill all they find without mercy, an' I cannot protect ye from them.'
" 'Ye ain't done much protectin' so far!' muttered Finniar, a sturdy blacksmith of me village. We noticed the Dragonkind had disappeared, too, slinkin' away into the fog, an' we began to talk among ourselves about what to do.
" 'Silence, I say!' cried Bailorg.
" 'Why should we be quiet?' shot back Berralasa, who is now Herbert the Blue's wife.
" 'Fools! Do ye not hear the drums?'
"Indeed, a throbbin' echoed through the hills an' grew louder as it approached.
" 'It is the armies of the west, comin' to do battle with the Dragonkind!'
" 'Good!,' cried one of the youngsters. 'Let them come!'
" 'Let them smite all of the lizard folk!' called another.
" 'Aye!'
" 'Idiots! Imbeciles! Do ye think they will spare even one of ye when they see what it is ye carry? Spoils of Tulith Attis, bearin' the mark of Lord Heneil's House? They will kill ye outright or hunt ye down, each an' every one, without mercy, sparin' not women nor children.'
" 'At least there will be an end to it! For ye'll never grant our freedom, an' have never intended to do so!'
"All the while, as the sounds of the armies grew louder an' nearer, we grew bolder an' more desperate.
" 'Let us give them Bailorg!' someone shouted, an' at once many of us made at him. But he was strong an' we were weak from hunger an' tired from our labors. He smote us with his magic stick, an' curled it about our raised arms an' flung us away like twigs. I think we went mad at last as we screamed at him, tryin' to claw or scratch him, an' we even threw rocks at him in our fury. All the while an' all around us could be heard the drummin' of war drums an' the stampin' of feet an' the clinkin' of armor as armies passed to our left an' to our right. But no soldier appeared among us either to save or to slay us. Bailorg, retreatin' a few steps, pulled something from a pouch at his belt an' he threw it upon the ground, an' he stirred a mighty storm out of the clouds. Rain fell hard an' cold, an' lightnin' grazed all around, an' hailstones pelted us an' beat us back.
"Then Bailorg drew a bolt of lightnin' to his staff an' held it, an' with the other hand pointed at us sayin', 'Obey me, or ye will never leave this wood!'
"But we were still defiant, an' one cried out, 'We will never again do yer biddin'!'
" 'Until pigs grow in trees!' cried another.
" 'As ye wish, then! Curses be upon ye! To bind ye to spoken fates! Curses three! One by me, two by the next who pass this way. Mine is thus: Ye shall never leave this wood or pass beyond these mountains until all memory of ye has been forgotten an' me body withers upon a pyre of me own makin'! Never, I say, until pigs grow in trees! Let the other curses, two, come from the mouths of passersby. So be it!'
"He released the lightnin' with a mighty clap of thunder. When our sight came back to us, Bailorg was gone. We were still in a terror, an' the sound of the passin' armies was all around us. We knew not whether to run to them or hide ourselves, an' so we did neither, but huddled together, some cryin', some shushin' those that made noise.
"It took hours an' hours for the armies to pass, but when their sound faded away, the fog lifted an' with it our hearts lifted also. For the first time in what seemed forever, we were free of Bailorg. We set on our way, but the curse he laid upon us was no idle threat. When we had walked a long way, the fog came back, an' we lost our way until we came again upon the carts an' wagons we had left behind. So we set out again, thinkin' we had turned ourselves around in the unknown forest. But again we only found our way back to where we started. No matter which way we turned or which path we took, we came into a fog just as each time before, an' each time came back to where we began.
"The next day we tried again. Three times we tried, an' three times again we came back to where we had started from. At last, we found a place near a stream where there were fish that we could catch an' eat. For weeks, we camped, an' each day we would try again to leave. Each time with the same result as before. Months went by, an' we were a poor, starvin', an' sad lot. But we did not give up tryin'. Each day, we tried. Spring passed to summer, an' summer bore on into fall. Gradually, we began tryin' to leave these lands less often, once a week, maybe, or twice a month. In the place near the stream, we fashioned crude shelters, we fished an' ate nuts an' roots. But we never stopped tryin' to leave, all of us goin' together, holdin' hands so as not to be separated from one another. An' each time, regardless of which direction we traveled, we always came into a fog, then wound up back where those wagons were.
"Then, on a fall day, when we tried again an' failed again, there was a tall man, standin' at the wagons, lookin' at the things therein with a ghastly expression on his face. He was dressed as a soldier, in armor an' helmet, an' when he saw us, he drew his sword an' made at us
.
" 'Did ye bring this booty here?' he demanded. His aspect was fierce an' his blue eyes, I remember, were fired with anger, an' his voice was so full of rage that we shook in our worn-out boots an' fell to our knees.
" 'Answer me! This goblet, bearin' the mark of me comrade Heneil, did ye take this from Tulith Attis?'
" 'Yes, lord. But we were forced by Bailorg an' the Dragonkind as their slaves.'
" 'Looters! Traitors!'
" 'No, lord!' we cried to him. 'We were made to do so. We were forced to haul these things an' are cursed because we refused to carry them further!'
"In a gush of babble we all tried to explain, but he made to strike the nearest to him.
" 'Stop!' Suddenly there was a woman on a buckmarl at the edge of the clearing. 'Stop, I say!' she cried again. He did stop, but did not lower his sword.
" 'A pack of thieves!' he said harshly to her. 'Looters of our slain brothers an' their families. They are not worthy of sparin', even as prisoners.'
" 'Look at them, Navis! Do they have the look of an enemy?'
"It was true, we were a pitiful sight, I'm sure. Our clothes were tatters an' rags, an' we were lean an' sick from our long toil, with the wounds of our mistreatment, an' with hunger.
" 'How did ye come to be here?' she asked, an' we all spoke at once until she raised her hand an' pointed to me, nearest to her. When her golden eyes rested on mine, I thought I would burst with desperation, an' me heart caught in me throat. Never have I seen so beautiful a woman, nor so terrible in her beauty. 'You,' she said to me, 'You tell the tale.'
" 'Oh ma'am, I have but a poor manner of speech, an' our tale is too sorrowful for me words, an' the things we have seen too terrible for me to tell.' But she looked at me with compassion, an' then the tale flowed out of me in truthful words, fair to our ordeal.
"But the one she called Navis only spat.
" 'Fie! Fie an' lies!'
" 'No. I do not think so,' she told him.
" 'Then cursed they are! A little people, unwillin' to stand up to evil. Without courage to fight or flee! Petty an' small!'
"As he screamed at us we indeed grew smaller an' smaller until the rags that were our clothing fell away from us, an' we tripped in our shoes, an' we cowered, tryin' to hide our nakedness.
" 'An' 'til these things are returned to their heir,' he cried, 'with a thousand times their worth, a little people ye shall remain!'
"He spat upon the ground an' stamped his foot on the place, strode to his horse an' rode away, leavin' us all cryin' an' wailin' as never before, bemoanin' our condition, much reduced in stature, just as ye see us now. An' we mourned our fate, cryin' to Aperion, King of the Faere, to hear us an' to save us from this fate, an' to Beras, creator of the world, to deliver us from our calamity.
" 'Will ye not lift these curses from us, good lady?' I pleaded. 'How are we to live like this? How are we to keep ourselves from the wild animals of this wood, to feed an' clothe ourselves? How are we to find a thousand times the worth of this treasure if we cannot even leave this wood?'
" 'I do not have it in me power to lift the curses on ye,' she told us. 'An' it seems it is me fate to lay one more against ye. This curse I make: So that ye may suffer the fullness of yer punishment, the passin' of years will leave but little mark upon ye. Yet, I am touched by yer tale. This blessing I give, so that ye may have hope of overcomin' yer fate: Ye shall have no hindrance travelin' about this land, an' ye shall learn the art of movin' from place to place with quickness an' in a twinklin', though yer legs are small an' yer stride be as a child. So like a child, these fates against ye may over time be lessened, as the memory of distant pain. It is now upon ye to make yer way henceforth as do all the meek an' lowly creatures of the world. Yet, if only ye keep yer hearts alive, resolved in providence, of a time these fates may no longer seem such a burden. Fail in this faith, an' be forever the way ye are now, in form an' in favor, in spirit an' in sense. So be it!' An' then she turned away," Eldwin concluded, "an' disappeared into the mist."
Robby watched him drag the last puff from his pipe and tap it out.
"The battle of Tulith Attis was a long time ago," Robby said.
"Yes, it was. An' we have not found the means to break the curses upon us. Those first years were very hard, an' so as to clothe ourselves an' have tools we fell to thievin' an' robbery, our victims bein' any who passed this way. The lady's curse remained a mystery to us until we learned that, by snappin' our fingers, we could travel to any place within sight in only an eyeblink, as long as the place was not beyond our wood an' was a place we could otherwise walk, jump, swim, or climb to. By this means, we may quickly move about our wood, makin' our escape when needed, from animals or people. We could also steal without regard or warnin' to our victims."
"Then why the toll road? Why did you not just take what you desired from us?"
"It was in our heads to someday repay from those we robbed all that we took. An' so we chose Herbert to be our leader an' Millithorpe to make a reckonin' of all we took, that portion used for ourselves an' that that we put aside for repayment. When three years had passed, the lady returned to us an' appeared out of the mist of winter. But she was covered with cloaks an' rode alone, an' we did not recognize her when we waylaid her. When she drew back her hood an' cloak, we saw who it was."
Eldwin glanced over at Sheila, who was listening intently, just as her companions were. Robby looked her way, too, wondering at Eldwin's odd expression. But Eldwin shook his head and continued.
" 'Indeed, Lord Navis was right,' the lady said with anger in her voice. 'Thieves, justly deservin' the curse he laid upon ye.' "
"We explained that we had no other way to obtain the things we needed, or the riches required to add a thousand-fold worth to the treasure, except by takin' from passersby.
" 'Ye must start again,' she told us. 'All that ye've taken, since I was last here, must first be given away, freely an' not in trade for any other thing. When that is done, ye must find some way that is fair an' with honor. If any passerby gives ye anything, it must be by their own agreement. Otherwise, ye must render payment by yer own toil an' the work of yer own hands. That is the only way to meet the demands of yer fate. I will come again once more, when the time of repayment is nigh. Heed what I have said!' "
"Then she left us, an' we have not seen her since," Eldwin said, looking again toward Sheila.
"What is the lady's name?"
"We never asked her," Eldwin said. "We were too afraid to ask, though she is anything but frightful in appearance." Eldwin glanced at Sheila. "She never told us her name," he added.
Robby looked over his shoulder at the others, wondering whether Billy was doing something that was distracting Eldwin.
"We heeded her words, though it was hard," Eldwin went on, "especially since the winter was upon us. We made the changes, slowly, heapin' our booty upon any who chanced by, as much as they could carry away. Eventually, Herbert the Blue came up with the notion of the toll an' with a sign statin' the rules. Few people travel this way, an' fewer, still, who cheat. But our people are hard workers, an', to tell ye the truth, I think doin' things the right way, above-board, like, makes yer work lighter than it might otherwise be. So, since the lady last came, we've managed fairly well. We have a little town, we farm, an' we've found iron with which we make tools. We've traded for cloth an' beer an' various other goods. Up until about twenty years ago, a young trader named Furaman came through right regular, every spring an' fall. We don't know why he stopped comin', unless it was the Damar that took over the surroundin' parts. Still, the toll road remains our main way of obtainin' coin of silver, gold, an' copper, an' addin' to the worth of the Hoard, as we call it. But the lady has not returned, an' so must have forgotten about us. An' that's why we think of ourselves as a forgotten people."
"What do you do with the other things you collect?"
"Well, as I said, some of it we use. The rest, once counted, goes into the store with all the other th
ings. Problem is, we don't rightly know the worth of things anymore. Why, a boot may be as valuable as a button, for all we know. Or a fine necklace as precious as a jug of beer. So as to not take chances, we collect a bit of everything we can."
"And where do you put it all?"
"In a cave. Someday, we may learn to tally the worth an' know how much more we may need. But the Hoard, the treasure, is of prodigious value, surely, so we keep on addin' our meager things, even though we haven't much hope of matchin' its value, much less addin' a thousand-fold worth to it."
"Billy!" Robby suddenly turned and startled his friend. "Who is the best person for reckoning the worth of things in all of Barley and Passdale?"
Billy appeared puzzled by the question. "Why, that'd be yer ol' man, as everbody well knows."
"And who, when it comes to reckoning trade goods, might be second best?"
"Well, that's easy, too, since it's yer own self. A reg'lar chip off the ol' block, as ever'one says."
The others looked as puzzled as Billy. Robby turned back to Eldwin.
"There you have it, and Billy is right, if I say so myself," he said to the little man. "If you give us back our things, I will, in exchange, reckon a fair and honest account of the things in your Hoard. To the very best of my ability."
"Oh? Hm. That sounds like a good trade, if ye can truly do it. It is a prodigious great number of things. Though, I regret to say, not near a thousand times the original booty carried from Tulith Attis."
"Will you take my offer to your people?"
"If that is what ye wish."
"Very well," Robby said, standing. "But, be warned: If you or any of your people play any kind of trick on us, or seek to deceive us in any way whatsoever, I will do my utmost to repay the treachery without mercy. Do you understand me?"
Robby spoke with such authority that new fear filled Eldwin's eyes. Robby's friends were amazed, too. Sheila, especially, was troubled and marveled at him, but said nothing.
The Nature of a Curse (Volume 2 of the Year of the Red Door) Page 41
