"The curse of Bailorg against you means little to me, and I care not that it may be broken, for it was unjust and made of spite. I am glad if any work that he wrought may be unmade. Moreover, he has no more power over you. He is dead, by my own hands, and his flesh is burned in a fire of his own making. His evil craft is gone from the world, though the evil seeds he planted still spread, and, until you do as I suggest with your swine, his curse remains.
"The Curse of Navis, however, I do care about. I understand his grief and his fury, and I do not lightly undertake its undoing. Truly, as he said, you were a little people and are now despised and shunned. Yet, his sentence against you was in two parts, that the treasure be increased in value a thousand times, and that it be returned to the heirs of those from whom it was taken. It was to help you achieve the first part that I did my reckoning. Answer me now: Do you permit me to examine the treasure?"
The Elders looked at him blankly, too fearful, of a sudden, to speak.
"Answer me your decision!" Robby demanded.
"Yes," spoke Eldwin uncomfortably. "We decided, yes."
"Yet you put your own desires before the call of your duty, and you decided beforehand to make no effort to assist me by opening the gate. You give me a hollow consent," Robby accused, not without some anger in his voice. "Consent made meaningless by your lack of will to see it through. I, for my part, gave my word, and I do not need your help to fulfill it!"
Robby turned away from them and put his hand on the thick band that was welded around the gates. Instantly, a rumble was felt beneath their feet and bits of ceiling flecked down upon them. With the sound of a mighty gong, the steel band burst asunder, unbending itself like a bow relieved of its arrow, and it fell away ringing onto the floor as the two gates of iron swung inward with an earsplitting groan. In the dizzying silence that followed, Robby entered the Treasure Room and approached the first shelf where a circlet lay. It was finely wrought of gleaming gold with a single small glittering diamond on its front. He picked it up with both hands, carefully holding it before him for all to see, and with it he returned to those watching from outside the iron gates.
"I thus complete the reckoning of the Hoard," he said. "Those things added to the Hoard by you over the years on one side of the balance, and this Great Treasure on the other. It is my finding that the added things, when combined in value all together, are worth about as much as this modest circlet of gold alone, and do not measure at all against the rest of the priceless treasure."
Many of the Elders, Eldwin included, were devastated by this news and felt their cheeks redden with frustration and anger. All of their efforts, their whole way of life, all of the years of adding to the Hoard so that its value might grow seemed a pitiful waste. But they understood the honesty of Robby's pronouncement, knowing in their hearts the truth of it, and their emotions turned from anger to shame and embarrassment. Tears rolled down Millithorpe's face.
"All is not lost," Robby said firmly. "Your efforts have not been in vain, and there is wisdom to be found in your ways. You have protected this treasure with a simple and honest understanding of your duty. You have sought to bring honor to your charge by your labors and by your stewardship of the Hoard. You, Elders of your people, against whom the curse of Navis was spoken, have led your offspring wisely and have passed to them your own determination to overcome the hardships of your fate. You have, therefore, created a legacy besides that given into your keeping. As for the Great Treasure, it was taken during a time of plenty, a time when other things had greater value than gold. A time when jewels were traded among children. Since then such things have become rare and of great price, the possessions of the great and the mighty. Their value is increased also by the deep connection they make through history to that age, and surely few other objects of the world may compare to them. So, due to your protection of them and the passage of time, with the changes in the world from that age to this, their value is a thousand-fold increased, and more. Indeed, the first part of the curse that Navis laid upon you has long been fulfilled, though you never knew it. Yet, I do declare it so."
The Elders could hardly believe their ears. They shook their heads, dumfounded at the revelation.
"Now, let the second part of his curse be addressed." Robby turned to Ullin. "These things I learned only very recently. By tradition among Men, legacies are passed to the eldest male heir and to the next and to the next. By tradition among Elifaen, the blood line passes from female to female, though the males are the keepers of worldly objects. Heneil had a brother, Pellen, who by his wife, Myrium, bore a son named Dalcadian, who was but a young man living in Vanara when Tulith Attis fell. As the sole surviving male of Heneil's lineage, the lineage of Silmain who was once King of Vanara, Dalcadian would have been heir to the treasure of Tulith Attis, had it been saved. In later years, he wed Lady Finteri, a child of the Men of Glareth of the House of Tallin. In Vanara, they sired a man-child, called Metlar, who inherited the Tallin surname since there was no other of that line. Dalcadian died in the Dragonlands, and so, even though the line of the Faere was broken, the line of Men continued from mother to son, and from son to son. Metlar wed a lady of Glareth, too, and sired Danig Saheed Tallin, who in his time wed the Elifaen Lady Kahryna of the House of Fairoak in Vanara, and she bore him two sons and a daughter. Both sons were killed in battle, but not before the second son fathered a son of his own. This is he, Ullin Saheed Tallin, son of Aram, son of Danig, son of Metlar, son of Lady Finteri and Dalcadian, son of Pellen, son of Silmain. Ullin Saheed, sired of the House of Tallin, heir to that name, and the scion of Fairoak, bloodhouse of the Elifaen."
Ullin, though he knew Robby's plan, looked grim, and Robby noticed a wavering in his eyes, almost panic.
"Please bow," Robby asked him. Ullin did so, and Robby placed the circlet on his head.
"I therefore return this treasure to its rightful heir!" Robby declared and stepped away. "Do you, on behalf of those before you who once lived upon the heights of Tulith Attis, accept the return of this legacy?"
Ullin hesitated and looked over the anxious faces turned to him. He slowly reached up, removed the circlet, and said, "I do not."
Robby, astonished, looked at Ullin in disbelief. Ashlord's mouth fell open, and he glanced from Ullin to Robby, sensing some sudden conflict between them.
"I cannot, I say," Ullin spoke emphatically to Robby. "Not until these people show their worth in the world and fulfill my charge to them."
"I promised I would place no condition on releasing them from the curse," Robby stated.
"This condition is not yours. Forgive me, but it is mine."
Ullin then turned to the Elders, and said, "When you have cast off the first curse and are able to leave these lands, I bid you send parties east and go to the relief of Tallinvale. There, you must show your worth by making havoc upon the enemies of Tallinvale, joining in the defense of the city and of the people therein. Make you an alliance with the House of Tallin and show your greatness in deed. Let your stature then be measured not by the height of your brow, but by the summit of your valor. This I charge you: Be hidden no more from the world, but let it be known to the world that you protect not only your own people, but all others who are free and good, or who long to be so. As token of our pact, let all of the Hoard, all of the contents of these caves, aside from the treasure in this room, be given over to your people, to be distributed and used as needed for your welfare. And let the bands of this gate be reforged so that the Great Treasure may remain in safekeeping until the Lords of Tallinvale may reclaim this legacy. So let it be done!"
Chapter 19
Curses and Blessings
Day 98
147 Days Remaining
Ullin and Eldwin stayed low, Ullin on his belly, and Eldwin crouching on his knees, as they peered over an old moss-covered log and downward toward the gorge below. They could see the roadway running through the trees on this side of the gorge and where it joined the Toll Road about a hundred yards d
irectly under the high ledge where they hid. Stretching from that point below and crossing over the gorge was the bridge, a long narrow affair, barely wide enough for three riders abreast. It was built by the same craftsmen who had constructed the bridge at Tulith Attis and with something of the same appearance as the stonework of its two supporting arches, one on either side of the rocky walls of the deep gorge. In between these two a full third of the bridge was supported from chains and cables, more like the bridge at Passdale. Ullin saw only four soldiers on the near side of the bridge; there were probably more of them out of sight below the treetops that blocked the downward view. He counted six on the far side and two more on the bridge itself.
Ullin's stunning refusal of the treasure, along with his charge to the little people, had created friction between Robby and himself. Robby was disappointed and upset at Ullin, and the Nowhereans were baffled. Afterwards, he and Robby had a mild argument, in the presence of their companions, but out of earshot of the Nowhereans. Clearly, Robby did not approve, but Ullin, though apologetic, stood firm. It helped that Ashlord seemed to support Ullin's decision, and Ashlord suggested that it might be a good thing to give the Nowhereans a new mission. The group talked late into the night, until the tension between them abated, and all agreed to be off and away in the morning. So they slept restlessly that night in the cave. At first light, Ullin left with Eldwin to scout the way ahead to the gorge while Robby and the others prepared for departure.
"It looks as though the far side is where their camp must be," Ullin observed. "They don't seem very cautious, since the gates are open on both ends and no one mans the guard platforms."
"Hm. Yer eyes are not blinded by the fog, then?" Eldwin asked, peering hard toward where Ullin was looking.
"Fog? It is a clear morning."
"For ye, it may be so. But I can only barely see this side of the bridge. A thick rollin' mist rises from the middle of the gorge, an' I see no break in those gray clouds from there to the sky."
"Do you not see even the mountain tops beyond?"
"No. Only, high up there," Eldwin pointed nearly straight up," some bit of blue."
"What about southward? What do you see there?" Ullin gestured to their left.
"Just a bit of road, nearby trees on hills. But behind those the fog is thick, an' I do not even see shadows in it."
"So that is the way of Bailorg's curse?"
"Yes, it is, an' has been so since it was uttered against us. Many, many times we have tried to go through the mists, only to find ourselves where we began. Nearly every year some one of us tries again, but never gets far. I, meself, tried not three years ago, on the southeast side of our lands."
"What if I guided you? My eyes can see the way."
"We have tried that. Here, take my hand."
When Ullin did so, the scene darkened into a murky cloud, boiling constantly but not moving away, blocking Ullin's view of the bridge and the gorge and the lands beyond. When he let go of Eldwin's hand, the mist evaporated, and once again Ullin could see all that he had before.
"Great stars!"
"We have tried followin' those that travel along the road, even by tyin' rope an' twine to them. But always our knots come undone, or the cord comes unraveled, an' we lose those who lead us in the fog, even though they are but an arm's reach away."
"I do not understand how such a thing can be," Ullin said, shaking his head. "Though I have encountered many mysterious things."
"We don't understand it, either, how a person's words may change the world of others before their very eyes."
Ullin turned and put his back against the trunk, sprawling his long legs out.
"I supposed that's the way of it, isn't it?" he reflected. "That so much of what we do comes from what is said. A man may take offense and lash out because of it, or fall in love at the sweetness of its sound."
Eldwin slumped down beside him.
"But how may the mist that I see come of words, an' one's size be reduced by the speakin' of them?"
"It is beyond me. How do the geese know that winter comes and fly away southward? How does a tree learn to steal fire from Sir Sun, to give it back in our hearths? And what makes shy Lady Moon to show her whole face only once a month, gaining and losing her courage little by little, over and over?"
"Such matters are too great for me own poor mind," sighed Eldwin. "Though, if I could read, perhaps some of the answers may be found in the books an' stories we have collected in our town."
"More words!" Ullin chuckled. "But surely things may be learned from the wise ones who wrote of them. Someday, I hope to spend all of my days reading again all of the things that I read as a child, and new things, too. It is something like your way of traveling, reading is. With just a little effort, one can go far in little time. Tell me, why have you never learned?"
"Oh, sir! It is a shame upon me," Eldwin said, shrugging. "But I am too weak for the task. An', to make me shame all the greater, I am the only one among all of me family who is of age an' cannot read. I have tried, surely! An' many have tried to teach me. But I do not see letters properly. They do not stay still for me as they do for others. A word that I am taught becomes some other word when I later look upon it. Sometimes, I think I know what the word is supposed to say, but I become confused an' lose me place an' cannot find the word again."
"Yet you seem very knowledgeable, nonetheless."
"Oh, I remember things extraordinarily well. I practice what is told to me by sayin' them again an' again," Eldwin tapped his head, "up here. Me children or grandchildren read to me nearly every night, too, an' so I learn of things that way, as well. An' every seventh day, we have a gatherin' of the town, an' things are read an' stories are told to each other. On special occasions, we do the same. Such as Winter's Night when we recite our year's story an' repeat the story of our beginnings in these lands. There is much told, then, an' I listen an' listen."
Just then they heard a distant shout. Quickly peering over the fallen tree, Ullin saw the gate lowered on the near side of the bridge and some stirring on the far side. Three figures on buckmarls were being challenged as they approached the far gate, one in the lead and two side by side just behind. They drew to a halt and exchanged words with the guards and the lead rider handed down something, papers maybe, or payment more likely, to the commanding Damar in charge of the others.
"What do ye see?" Eldwin asked.
"Three riders from the westlands."
"How can ye tell?"
"They ride buckmarls. They are being made to pay a crossing fee, I think. Here they come."
Eldwin squinted hard to see into the fog and saw at last dark figures emerge halfway across the bridge, like shadows in the mist. It was odd for him to see the Damar soldiers on this side of the bridge wave a signal to the shrouded side, and then, in response to something they saw, lift the gate to permit the riders to pass.
"Now I see them. They are takin' the Toll Road," he said.
"I think we should keep an eye on them," Ullin suggested. "You know these lands. Can we get ahead of them?"
"Surely. If ye take me hand, we'll pop right through to the next bend."
• • •
As soon as they started, Ullin and Eldwin arrived far along the way at a place slightly above a bend in the road. Eldwin released Ullin's hand, and for a brief moment Ullin swayed with a slight dizzy spell from the rapid popping. After a few minutes, the riders appeared at an easy pace, and Ullin and Eldwin quickly hid behind a tree. A few yards away, the riders halted and remained still. Ullin and Eldwin heard the soft hooves stop and the nearby snort of a buckmarl, and Eldwin looked up at Ullin in alarm.
"They've smoked us," Ullin said softly. Stepping out from behind the tree, Ullin faced the travelers. The two in the rear already had arrows on their bowstrings, and one was turning to face the other way while the other urged his mount in front of their leader.
"Who goes!" Ullin called, his own hand instinctively on his hilt.
"Wh
at business is it of yours? You do not own this road or these lands," retorted the one now in front, his bow creaking and his arrow pointing at Ullin.
Ullin heard soft popping around him and understood that they were now joined all around by Eldwin's fellows, though he could see none of them, so well they were hidden. The hooded head of the rider in the middle turned, hearing the sound, too, Ullin surmised.
"I am charged with the safe keeping of these lands!" Herbert's shrill voice proclaimed. Glancing down, Ullin saw him standing just to his right. "An' I keep this road, too. The challenge stands. Who are ye? An' why do ye travel this way?"
"You are the one called Herbert," said a woman's voice from under the hood.
"I well know me own name!" Herbert shot back in his usual impatient manner. "What is yers?"
"You never asked before," she said. She dismounted and approached, her escort easing his string somewhat as she passed him. She lifted her hood. "Do you need to know it now?"
Her face was broad and round with high cheekbones and dark tan skin. Her light brown hair was loose over her back with long braids over the front of her shoulders in the fashion of Vanaran warriors. A band of red copper, burnished and studded with a single green gemstone wrapped her forehead and held her hair back. It was shaped along the sides like the narrow wings of a bird. Down from this band hung a sheer black veil to her nose, completely covering her eyes.
Ullin was struck by the powerful resemblance to Sheila but could see this woman was of ageless Elifaen blood. He bowed as the others around him knelt. He detected not only some deep respect they had for her, but also fear.
"I have come again, as I said I would," she told them. "But this is not one of your people. He has the look of Duinnor about him. Answer me, Eldwin. Come! Rise and tell me who this Kingsman is."
Eldwin nodded at Ullin, and the two of them stepped down from the bank and onto the roadway to face her. When Eldwin hesitated, she said to him, "You wonder at my veil, but fear it not. I am the same who left you here those many years ago. Those years have had their share of wear on me no less than you, and this veil I wear is the result, as a shield for my weary eyes. Please, tell me: Who is your would-be protector?"
The Nature of a Curse (Volume 2 of the Year of the Red Door) Page 49
