Chapter 15 - Eerwayh

There had been a few instances of trouble with Ahreinder and the others. Fortunately they had remained verbal in nature, although he had kept the boy as close as he could, seeing the others growing more and more hateful as the time passed. Ahriender said nothing, seeming unphased by the abuse he was subjected to, but in the evenings, Matner always saw him sitting alone, watching the camp and the fire from a distance. Matner knew he was hurting. He wasn't sure his efforts to protect the boy were helping him either, but Matner was afraid that if he did nothing the Elves would take advantage of the moment and hurt him physically. Dir Ketten returned to his silence, offering neither advice nor support.

Dir Ketten was the one sent in to Eerwayh while the rest made camp at a nearby stream within a dense forest. The trees seemed older here, and closer together. They had a difficult time getting the wagon down a drier stream bed. They had stopped to camp at a place where it appeared that animals had dammed up the old stream, causing the water to flow in a slightly different direction. There was a small pond that had developed and fallen trees and debris had reinforced the dam over time, making it sturdy enough to park the wagon near to it. There was a lighter mood in the air amongst the Elves as they set up the camp, with everyone knowing they could rest for a few days. Food was thin, but people bathed and washed what clothes they had in the pond and stream, laughing and splashing at one another. Matner would have felt relieved by it all if he, Ahriender, and Sharnellynn had been a part of it.

He found himself thinking about the night once they had finally reached Garzer Keep. He did not want to get caught off guard like he had then. He took a deep breath and then moved forward to address the group.

"Excuse me," he said, getting their attention. A few looked up with vague curiosity, but most appeared annoyed at the interruption.

"If we are being followed, then tonight--and especially tomorrow if we haven't moved by then--is the most likely time for trouble. Now, because of where we've set up, I think people could only approach us quietly the same way we came in. I need to ask for some help."

"I know you have better eyesight than I do in the dark. That means you'll also have better eyesight than anyone that might try to sneak up on us. I'd like to ask for pairs to take shifts down the stream bed a little bit keeping an eye out for trouble. I think there's enough to make for short shifts."

It was discussed that they had been using a watch rotation, but they were willing to double it. They did at least seem to see the validity to his suggestion. He watched them as they also rigged up trip lines and moved branches to make extra noise when bumped. Some of them also moved around the perimeter of the camp, rigging up what natural obstacles to stealth they could.

He had to admit the way they worked quietly and efficiently. Once they had a task none of them complained or grumbed. None of them seemed to judge one task as more important than another. They did not seem to argue about status or who was more important or which task was more important. He wondered how much of that had been a part of them before, and how much of it they had learned recently.

Matner fell asleep that night uneasily, however. He worried that they were still being pursued, or at least that word had spread to Eerwayh by now and that there would be people watching for them. He did not know if Dir Ketten would be recognized, although the nomad had taken time to disguise himself as a farmer once again. His dreams were mostly nightmares of attacking dogs and soldiers coming upon the camp and slaughtering the Elves. Several times he woke, until he finally gave up on sleep altogether and patrolled outside the camp until dawn.

The Elves had not taken his warning lightly, and several times he saw their patrols making rounds as well. The Elves were light on their feet in the woods and he had a feeling they went out of their way to make sure he saw them as they were otherwise silent when they walked. He felt a bit clumsy in comparison as it felt like his heavy boots tromped loudly on every small twig or branch no matter how hard he tried. He knew Dir Ketten knew how to move much more quietly, and he chided himself for not asking the nomad to teach him that as well. He made a mental note to speak to the man about it.

Breakfast was cooking before he heard the scream. He recognized instantly that it was Sharnellynn and was sprinting his way across the camp before he'd had time to even think about it. He noticed that none of the other Elves seemed to move with him. They all stood, silently watching. His heart raced in fear and a knot began growing in his stomach as he approached where Sharnellynn was kneeling on the ground next to her son. Ahriender was not moving. When he arrived, he saw that Ahriender had been bound and gagged. Sharnellynn had pulled away the blankets that were soaked in blood, and Matner saw that there were several wounds across his abdomen, indicating he had been stabbed several times.

He was not surprised that he cursed loudly. He was not surprised by the vulgarity of it. What surprised him was just how loudly he cursed.

Sharnellynn stood paralyzed, unable to move. She screamed again.

Miraculously--or maybe not any more--Ahriender was still breathing. He was only barely breathing, but he still was. Matner reached down to the boy's chest. It was moving enough to feel, but he could not feel a heartbeat. He checked at the neck and found a weak pulse there. Ahriender looked very pale and had clearly lost a dangerous amount of blood.

Matner remembered the boy's surprising healing, and he prayed to both gods that the boy would have enough strength to survive.

"Oh, gods," Levich said from behind him.

"We need bandages if he has any hope of surviving," Matner said. He started putting pressure on the stabs that were oozing the most. "And we'll need something to pack these with, as well."

Matner turned so he could watch everyone else while Levich ran off for supplies. Sharnellynn untied and ungagged her son, and then helped clear clothes out of the way for bandaging. He saw the other elves move out of Levich's way, although not a single one moved to help. Loridan and Miraselle were standing off to one side. It looked like they were arguing. All that Matner considered was that they were not helping him and they were not helping Levich. No, they were staying away from it.

It seemed to take forever for Levich to come back with supplies. Matner's hands were slick with blood as he pressed down on the wounds. He knew that he was supposed to put pressure on them, but worried that the more he did the more blood seemed to ooze out between his fingers. Sharnellynn was trembling as she fluttered back and forth between the wounds and Ahriender's face. Matner was having a hard time keeping his hands wide enough to press down on all the wounds, so he grabbed one of hers and put it down on the furthest wound on one side.

"Press down as hard as you can," he told her.

Their eyes met and she nodded at him, a mix of worry and gratitude that he'd given her something to do. She pressed down with both hands and seemed to focus on that, the tears still streaming down her face. Matner continued to keep pressure on the remaining wounds. He couldn't tell if the blood flow was slowing or not. He couldn't tell if Ahriender's breathing was growing fainter or not. However, he was very relieved when he saw Levich racing back towards him with a bag. Within moments, Levich had dumped it's contents on the ground next to him and Matner was rinsing and packing the wounds with the mixture they had as a compress. He hoped he was doing it right, although it helped that both Levich and Sharnellynn didn't seem to argue any of it.

Matner had Sharnellynn continue putting pressure on the compresses as best she could while Levich helped him lift the boy so they could get bandages around him. He wound them as tightly as he could, until he was fairly sure they weren't going to shift at all. Then they pulled the bloodied blankets out from beneath him and replaced them with fresh, washing the remainder of the blood off him as they did. To Matner's suprise, it was Levich who volunteered to clean the blankets, after the medical supplies had been gathered back up. Once Ahriender was clean and situated, Sharnellynn sat close to him, one hand gently on his chest while the other brushed wisps of hair back from his face. She began to hum softly to him as he stood up and turned his gaze back to the others.

Breakfast was done being cooked, and a couple of them were quietly passing out plates of food. Some of the Elves were already eating as they watched. It turned Matner's stomach, and he found himself filled with rage. He slowly walked towards the group of them and those who'd been sitting stood up. Several of them, he saw picked up their wooden weapons. His own hand had gone to the hilt of his sword without him even having had to think about it. When he stopped before them, he managed to keep himself from pulling it out a few inches.

"Who did this?" he asked, through gritted teeth. "Who?"

Not surprisingly, none of them came forward. Matner pointedly took his hand off his sword. He crossed his arms on his chest instead.

"Fine. Probably more than one were involved anyway. Until one or more of you can be civilized enough to take responsibility for your actions then you're all as good as murderers. Every single one of you is condoning that with your silence. Every single one of you is complicit."

"I promised those two I'd protect them. I chose to help the rest of you. So far you've done little but make me regret that. So I'm done helping you. I'm done protecting you."

He turned and walked back to Ahriender. Sharnellynn was still holding one of his hands and crying.

"What are you going to do?" Levich asked.

"Not here, not now," Matner said quietly. "But I am going to need your help. The four of us bed down together from now on, and we'll need to take watches. I don't think we can trust that we won't be next. We need to wait for Dir Ketten to come back."

He gathered his belongings together and laid them down next to where Sharnellynn and Ahriender had their blankets. Levich pulled the blankets he'd been using over with them, and sat down on them glancing over at the Elves somewhat nervously. Matner sat down next to Ahriender and sighed, making a mental checklist of the supplies he needed to separate out for himself and the others. He also began preparing himself mentally for the fact that Miraselle wasn't going to like that. He already had the medical supplies and wasn't about to give up any of them while Ahriender was in such bad shape.

He looked down at Ahriender wishing the boy would show some sign that he was going to recover. As far as Matner could tell the boy was only barely breathing and his face was a deathly gray color.

"I'm so sorry," Sharnellynn was murmuring to him through her tears. "We should have stayed in Tikor. Ben protected you better than I have."

She laid her head down on his chest and sobbed. After a moment, Matner put a hand gently on her head to try and comfort her. He didn't know what to say anymore that might make her feel better.

The Elves gathered around the fire, and he could hear them talking but was unable to understand what they were saying. They were speaking in hushed tones and he wasn't sure even Sharnellynn would have been able to make it out from the distance. Occasionally a voice would flare up in an argumentative tone until they aparently came to some conclusion and everyone spread back out, resuming tasks and finishing their meal. It occurred to Matner that he hadn't eaten breakfast himself, but just then he knew his appetite was all but missing.

The day dragged on painfully slowly with nowhere to go and nothing to do. Sharnellynn spent her time sitting vigil over Ahriender. Levich spent a fair amount of it seeming worried, and looking fretfully over at the elves. Matner found himself spending some of his day grooming the horses and most of it reading his all but forgotten book.

The people in the stories were mostly regular folk who became heroes almost by chance. Circumstances forced those people to be heroes. None of them seemed to choose it. Yet it seemed to him that the people in the stories were better people than he was. Most of their situations did not seem quite as impossible as his own.

Ever so gradually as the day went on Ahriender seemed to stabilize. His breathing became deeper and more steady, and his heartbeat got more sure. It looked like he was going to survive after all. Matner worried about what kind of internal damage might have been done. He could not tell at the time how deep the wounds might have been. If any organs had been pierced, there was probably nothing that could be done.

Sharnellynn carefully dribbled water into Ahriender's mouth little by little through the day. She was fervently attentive, never leaving her son's side. It was hard for Matner not to worry about what would happen that night.

Throughout the day the elves stayed separate from them. None came over to say anything. The two groups made separate lunches, and then separate dinners. Loridan and Miraselle sometimes looked their way, but he was unable to read their expressions. Loridan looked the more upset of the two, but he could not tell with any confidence who Loridan was angry with any more. None of it seemed to be improving any by the time it was starting to get dark.

They weren't expecting Dir Ketten to return to the camp until the following morning, so when he spotted the nomad out of the corner of his eye, relief flooded through him. He was surprised to see that there were three men with him, one of whom was an elf. He was even more surprised when he realized one of the men was Frank.

He leapt to his feet and strode quickly to meet him, the first genuine smile he'd had in days spreading across his face.

"Matner!" Frank said with a smile of his own. "I wondered if you were alive when Dir Ketten showed up."

"You mean he didn't tell you?" Matner asked with a wry grin.

"Not as such," Frank replied. "But the impression he gave Old Fredrickson aparently suggested we needed to get out here. I could only imagine that might mean you were here with your hands full."

"I wasn't sure you'd made it," Matner admitted. "You looked to be in pretty bad shape when we left."

"Yes," Frank agreed. "My left arm's not much good to me anymore these days, but otherwise I'm told I'm a tough old horse. The girls put me back together. I suppose all their attention is what really kept me around, really."

"Things were a bit easier after that, though," Frank admitted. "We only got attacked once more after that, and that was just a small group of not-so-clever bandits. We took the roads and just moved along. We stopped a few times along the way and the Old Dwarf's been happy with the profits. We've been here nearly a week already. Honestly, we were about to give up on you and move on."

"We ran into trouble...several times," Matner said, thinking back on the long list of setbacks and hazards.

"This is quite a few, Frank," one of the men that came with said, shaking his head. "But still, I think we can help them. There is, however, the matter of the half-breed."

"What about him?" Matner asked. "He's been badly hurt. One of the others tried to murder him last night."

"What they do amongst themselves isn't my direct concern, boy," the man said, "unless their actions endanger my own."

"There's a growing rebellion starting, Matner," Frank explained. "They'll be sent there."

"That'll make some of them pretty happy," Matner said, "but it does not change the fact that at least one of them, probably more than one, attempted murder, and others went along with it."

"That's an elven matter, kid. They didn't harm you, did they? If they did, then there's something we can talk about. There just isn't a place there for a half-breed. They won't take him. The mother can come, though."

"NO!" Sharnellynn said with a leveled glare. "I'm not going anywhere without my son."

"Hey now," Frank said, putting up a hand. "Let's just get what we can situated for now and then we'll figure out the rest. Nobody's going to try and separate you from him, Sharnellynn -"

"They already have tried, Frank," she cut him off. "They already have."

"Well not right now, they won't," Frank said, his brow creasing in concern. "We'll get these lot on their way."

Sharnellynn turned her back on them and returned to Ahriender's side, clearly not pleased. Matner wasn't either, but watched as the Human man and Elf with Frank talked with Loridan and Miraselle. Frank seemed to listen to them intently, interjecting here and there. Matner heard words like "food" and "horses" being used and moved in to try and hear more. He suddenly felt like he had no control over the situation and worried that they were going to leave himself and Sharnellynn with nothing left and no way to care for Ahriender.

"Frank," he finally said, as he heard the Elven man talking with Loridan and Miraselle in their Elven language. "What's going on?"

"It's pretty clear that the Elves need to move out of here quickly, both to avoid any pursuit as a result of the escape from Garzer Keep, and as a way to alleviate... tensions."

He said the last word with a glance over at Sharnellynn and another worried frown.

"I'm not sure what all has happened here, but they seem pretty intent that the boy is shamefull to them and ought to be eliminated," the other human man added. "Honestly, I've never seen them react this badly to a half-breed before. Usually they just shun them. Maybe it's because he's older than most, or maybe it's something else. Either way, we'll have this group moving in a short while and they won't be your problem anymore."

"They'll have to break them into smaller groups to move them quickly," Frank explained. "They've got people who'll move them in wagons across certain stretches, but not this many at once."

"I see," Matner said, despite the fact that he wasn't sure he did.

He found himself turning and making his way back to Sharnellynn, suddenly feeling the need to check on Ahriender again. The boy was still seeming to slowly improve, but unconscious. Matner silently wished that Ahriender would wake before the Elves left, so he could point out his attackers. He felt loathe to let the would-be murderers leave, but had a feeling there was nothing he'd be able to do to stop it.

"What happens now?" Sharnellynn whispered to him, looking at him with eyes full of worry and fear.

"It's alright," he said, reaching over and giving her hand a squeeze. "The others will be out of here soon and then we can figure it out from there. I'm not going anywhere without you and Ahriender. I made a promise, remember?"

She nodded at him, her eyes full of tears as she squeezed his hand back. Then she seemed to busy herself again, worrying over Ahriender instead and returning to dribbling water into his mouth.

After a little while, Frank and Dir Ketten both came over. Dir Ketten immediately fell into place behind and to Frank's right.

"Did we ever pay you, Matner?"

"No, there was never a chance," Matner replied.

"That's what I thought. To be honest, I didn't expect to see you again. I hoped to--I figured you're a good kid. You making your way here with both of them pretty much proves that." Frank handed him a bag with some coins in it. "Here's what we owed you for the time you were with us. What are you doing next? Our deal was to get them here. The Old Dwarf changes directions from here."

"I have to find a place for them," he said, indicating Ahriender and Sharnellynn. "You would just leave them here?"

"We were only hired to get them here," Frank replied. "Them coming with us doesn't help them further."

"Then we'll have to keep going on our own," Matner said.

"Well, then it's goodbye. Good luck, kid," Frank said before he turned on his heel like a soldier and walked away without looking back.

For all it was worth, Dir Ketten looked torn. He looked down on Ahriender and his expression showed that he had grown attached. He stepped forward and squatted down. Matner noticed he positioned himself so that Frank wouldn't be able to see his face.

"You've come far, Matner. I think you'll go farther yet. But I have a debt to repay elsewhere. I cannot come with you."

"A debt?" Matner asked, surprised.

"That story is long," he replied. "I don't tell long stories."

The nomad put his hand on Matner's shoulder and gave it a hard squeeze. Then he stood and gave a slight bow to Sharnellynn before turning and striding after Frank.

Levich stopped to say goodbye as well, mentioning that he'd spoken with Frank and he'd been offered a place in the caravan. Matner found it mildly ironic, but wished him luck nonetheless. He didn't bother to warn the thief about Frank's history.

Matner sat, slightly stunned, while he watched as the Elves began moving out of the camp on foot. They seemed to have been separated into groups and each group filed out silently. Matner was surprised to see that they took nothing with them but the wooden weapons they'd made and the clothes they'd had on their backs. They left the camp with the fire burning and the blankets folded and neatly stacked by the wagon. After a short while, he found that the three of them were the only ones remaining in the camp.

"Thank you for staying with us," Sharnellynn said after a while.

He stopped himself short of reminding her once again that he had promised. "You're welcome," he said instead.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"Tomorrow we go into town and we pray that no one has gotten there talking about what I did back there. If anyone is looking for my description then we're...going to have problems."

"So we go around and move on?" she suggested.

"We're basically out of food. We do have plenty of things we can trade, and even a little money , but we need to," he explained. He was glad now that he had bought a wagon good enough to keep, and not just the cheapest one he could find.

"So would we be better off moving into the town now?" Sharnellynn asked.

"I don't know," he replied. "I don't think so. Maybe. I don't know if showing up at night seems odd at all. Besides, I think Ahriender maybe should have more time before we move him around too much."

"But the longer we wait, the more likely we are to get caught up with," she pointed out. "And we've already spent a day sitting here. It isn't late yet. Showing up after dark probably makes more sense to the locals than showing up first thing in the morning."

"I suppose," he said reluctantly. "But are you sure it's safe to move Ahriender?"

"We moved you when you were in worse condition than this," she pointed out. "We still have the contraption they used to get you up into it too. Once we've got enough blankets around him he might not even feel the wagon moving."

She seemed determined and he stopped arguing. They spent time arranging the wagon so that there was a comfortable spot to move Ahriender into and then lifting the boy carefully inside. Once Sharnellynn was satisfied that he was settled, they stacked the remaining items that were around the camp into the open spaces and hitched up the horses. Matner tied his own horse to the back, wondering if he shouldn't rotate the beast in to help pull the wagon now and again. He also wondered if he should keep all six horses now, considering there was less weight to pull without all the Elves. He felt tired and decided to try and figure it out after he'd gotten some sleep. He prayed silently to Saith that they could get into the city without incident.

He drove the wagon while Sharnellynn stayed in the back, watching over her son. He had a rough idea of which direction the town was in, but after hours of travel he began to worry that he'd missed it entirely. He hadn't found the road and was starting to be sure he'd been following the wrong stream. Eventually, he found a hill and took his horse to ride to the top of it to try and get his bearings. The sun was beginning to rise as he crested the hill and he came into view of the valley between himself and another, much larger hill. Upon that larger hill sat the city of Eerwayh, the likes of which he'd never seen before.

His first impression of the city was that it was tall and colorful. Watchtower spires rose high above the walls. Many of the buildings he could see had towers or spires or turrets rising well above their roofs. Some of the buildings looked tiered, others tapered as they rose. Some were straight-sided, but many had curved or hourglass shapes.

The sun glinted off brass and copper roofing and what looked like gold embellishments on the many blaconies. The buildings were all painted--every color to be found was there somewhere. It also looked, from the distance, as though while the city appeared rather large, it also seemed fairly spread out.

They made their way down into the valley and moved onto a road winding around the city to a gate off in the distance yet. The road had fallen into disrepair. Here and there he saw signs of the care and craftsmanship that had gone into making the road. Large paving stones had been carved to fit each other like a child's wooden puzzle blocks.

The closer he got to the city the more he was able to see similar disrepair all around. The walls never seemed to have been attacked, but a plaster-like coating over the wall was cracked and peeling.

The large gates were open wide. While there were men and horses and carts moving in and out--more in than out--his was the only wagon in sight and the gate was not what he would have considered busy by any means. He steered his wagon to fall in line behind a cart loaded with melons set in straw.

The closer he came to the city, the more he was able to see that while the overall effect of the city itself was magnificent, it bore a presence of being past it's time. The colors that had seemed bright before looked faded on closer examination. The nearer the gate came, the more damaged the road appeared, although someone had poured down a layer of clay between the shifted stones, and hammered off the edges that had jagged upwards, to smooth out the road itself.

He could also now see some of the detail that had been put into the buildings. Ceramic tiles outlined doorways and windows, and elaborate stained glass windows were placed decoratively in walls, over windows, and over doorways. Huge balconies were everywhere and most looked to have window-boxes that ought to have had plants spilling out of them, adorning the balconies in greenery. Many windows had such boxes as well, but most seemed to be bare of any flowers or plants. Here and there ceramic tiles were cracked or missing. While Matner had seen glass windows before, there was more glass used here than he had ever seen. Even his father had explained how expensive it was to get glass for windows, much less colored glass. As he passed beyond the city gate, he saw that there were hardly any intact on the first two stories of any building. Windows were covered with basic wooden shutters, like one would expect in any Human city. They looked out-of-place on the curving, tall structures of Elven design. Matner thought it almost seemed as if the buildings themselves were like plants, curving and reaching up towards the sun.

Passing through the gate wasn't difficult at all. There were two guards posted. One was alseep at his post, a fat man who's shirt was near to bursting it's buttons trying to cover his girth. He snored quietly. Across from him, at the opposite end of the gate was another guard, not as fat, but still hardly in the best shape. The man was busy reading a book and occasionally glanced up as if to make sure there wasn't an armed convoy headed up the hill. Matner didn't think he gave the wagon more than a cursory look before he sniffed and returned to his reading.

Inside the city was an odd sight. Between the Elven buildings had been space. The city had been spread out and Matner imagined that there must have been gardens, grasses, trees, and the like between them. Now it seemed to mostly be dusty, dirty streets, or low-lying Human-made buildings that had been erected up against the existing Elven ones. While here and there someone had attempted to paint the Human-styled buildings to match the Elven ones, the difference was plain to see.

The population was a little different here, too. It also was a closer to even mix of elven and human. It looked as though almost every family must have at least one elf, and about one in three or four people he saw on the streets were elves.

He did not see as many signs of elven abuse, however. While the vast majority of elves he saw were carrying things--mostly just a couple of steps behind a human with his hands empty--they seemed adequately dressed, for one. The elves here did not have as much of the down-trodden look to them.

Still, he noticed, when they passed each other the elves tended not to look at the humans too directly. Humans greeted humans in passing, and elves nodded to elves in passing.

No one paid any attention to him as he guided the wagon along. He felt a little lost, but at least the streets were wide and easy to drive. The streets in town were in better repair than outside, but they were clearly repaired more than they were ever maintained or cared for. Most of the original beauty and craftsmanship was gone from them.

He did eventually have to wave down a solitary human man a little older than him for directions to the markets.

"One more block down," the man explained. "Keep going the way you are an' you won't miss it."

One block in this city seemed to span about what Matner was accustomed to being closer to three back home, but eventually he did find his way to it. The central market itself seemed to be mostly what Matner was used to seeing elsewhere, but surrounding was one long, three-story building with stairways leading up to the two upper stories. The first story was open underneath, with elaborate pillars holding the remaining building up, high enough and wide enough that wagons and horses could pass underneath. There were designated areas coming in off of the surrounding roads and then the rest of the areas between pillars were set up with tables for merchants who were visiting. It was hard to tell from where he stood if all the shops in the upper two levels were for people who were permanently in the city or not, but they were full, with colorful flags hanging from a pole over each one's window to let customers know what they were selling.

In the center of the market place was a large, round, stone stage with steps leading up to it on all sides. People were sitting on blankets around it, listening to a small band of three musicians who played. Off to one side seemed to be where the horses were being tied up, and Matner found a place to stop the wagon for a moment while he tried to look around and get his bearings.

Eventually a somewhat fat, shorter man came waddling up to them. He wore a puffed up vest made up of patches of colorful fabrics, quilt-like. He had a square-shaped hat with the brim folded up on all four sides, and a tall blue feather stuck up like some kind of pennant.

"Welcome to Eerwayh," the man said in a higher-pitched voice than the deep bass he somehow expected. "I'm Gravin, the Marketmaster. You're new here. I can always tell who's new and who's been here before. It's usually pretty plain on the faces, as it is on yours."

"I'm Matner. I don't think I'll be able to stay long, but I do need supplies, and I have some things to sell or trade. What is the procedure here?"

"Well," Gravin said, sticking his hands in pockets on the front of his vest, "first you introduce yourself to me, that way I can make sure you've got manners. And you do, so that part's taken care of. Then you tell me how long you think you're staying, and what kind of space you need."

"Probably just today," Matner said and yawned a big deep yawn. "Maybe tonight, too," he added. "I don't think I need a fancy space. I suspect I'll be more trying to sell to other merchants than to the public this time. Somewhere out of the way would be fine."

"Well, that won't cost much, then," Gravin replied. "Follow me, I'll show you where to park your wagon."

"You'll have to stable the horses, but we've got a place for that, unless you've made arrangements with an inn."

"No, I haven't," Matner admitted. "We've only just arrived."

"Well, it's up to you. If you're planning to stay at an inn, you might stable a couple of them there, though they'll charge you more if you bring that lot in. Otherwise, that's the general market stables over there. Talk to Smick. He'll be the one asleep at the desk. Meanwhile, over here's the place we park the wagons that aren't selling on the main promenade as it were. I've got a couple of free spots over there that you ought to fit in nicely."

He parked the wagon while Gravin watched and then he hopped down and paid the man. The fee was actually surprisingly reasonable after some of the others he'd had to pay in Garzer Keep. Afterwards, he thanked the man and then headed over to find Smick so that he could make the arrangements for the horses. True to Gravin's word, the elderly man was asleep, feet up on his desk as he snored in an overstuffed armchair that looked out of place in the makeshift office at the edge of the stables. An ornately carved cane was propped up next to the desk. Matner coughed loudly to make the man aware of his presence and he started in the chair, knocking the cane to the floor in the process.

"Oh, ah, hello," Smick said, wiping at one eye with the back of his hand. "And what would you be needing today?"

"I need some horses stabled," Matner answered.

"Of course you do, boy," Smick replied. "I don't sell fish, you know..."

Matner felt a little taken aback, not expecting the response.

"Oh, come now, boy," the man said with a friendly smile. "You've gotta have a sense of humor. It's the only cure for Seriousness."

"I've had a seriously rough week...," Matner said.

"Seriously, then" Smick asked, "how many horses are we talking about here?"

"Well, I have eight, but I'm considering selling two," Matner said.

"I have a sign I put notes up on. Sometimes when folk are leaving town they're looking for another horse or two. Get the horses here and show me which one's you're looking for. If I can help you sell 'em I will. I get two percent as a commission." Matner thought that reasonable enough, and nodded.

"How long'll you be staying, then?" Smick asked.

"Probably just a day or two, actually."

Smick told him the daily boarding rate, which was also reasonable considering the care he described the horses getting. Smick waved over a boy who came trotting over.

"This is Tommin. Tommin, this gentleman has eight horses that need stabling. Help him get them here and set up in stalls, would you?"

"Yes, sir," the boy said.

Matner was almost surprised to see that the boy was human as Tommin trotted alongside him back to the wagon. He seemed to know his way around horses, however and within a short time the horses had been unhitched and led back to the appropriate stables. Matner chose the two horses he wanted to sell and let Smick know which stables they were in before returning to the wagon again.

There was some room alongside the wagon for people to set up tents to sleep in, and a metal fire ring in it, and Matner mentally decided how he should set up camp as he hopped up into the back of the wagon. Sharnellynn smiled at him as he entered. Already she was looking less tense than she had back in the woods.

"How is he?" Matner asked, nodding at Ahriender.

"Getting better," she nodded. "He may even wake tomorrow. I wasn't sure, but his ability to heal is..."

She trailed off and pulled back one of the bandages so he could see. The wound she revealed was closed and dark puplish-pink. It looked as if the cut would have happened a few days before instead of less than a day ago. He whistled appreciatively.

"Amazing," he said.

"I only hope he is healing as well on the inside," she said. "But he seems better overall. Weak, but better."

"I'll just be glad when we can both get all this behind us," Matner said. Sharnellynn rather enthusiastically nodded her head in agreement.

He yawned and wished he could afford to sleep first. But he knew he would be better off getting all the trading done first.

"I need to go look into trading for supplies," he said. "Stay here, and I guess stay out of sight still, just to be on the safe side."

"I'll stay with him," she replied, not arguing or complaining.

He went off with a list in his head, and a decidedly light purse.

The market building itself did seem divided into logical tiers. Heavier, more commonplace day-to-day goods were on the lower level. Lighter, nicer things were on the top. There were a number of wide stairways from level to level.

Each tier was divided into sections, althought they did not seem heavily enforced. Textiles were in one section, food items in another, metal goods yet had their own, and so on.

He could tell that the spaces closest to the stairs were the most valuable, and most expensive, spots. Vendors there had nicer tables, flags in better condition, and generally nicer-looking wares. There also seemed to be some kind of delicious-smelling food at each stairway. Vendors hawked and enticed will any manner of hard-to-believe claim about everything from medicinal herbs to knives that never dulled.

It was still early enough that there were a few shops still setting up, pulling canvas tarps off of tables and unloading crates of merchandise. He began by taking a stoll along each of the areas, trying to determine who might be best to sell his wares to. He ended up talking to several tailors and seamstresses about the fabrics, and arranging to sell some to a couple of them. He had a harder time selling off the large quantity of blankets he had gotten, along with much of the other bulk camping supplies. Too many people were already selling similar wares here already, and many suggested he'd be better off selling to people on the road as opposed to in the market. One vendor was willing to take some of the extra cups and bowls off Matner's hands, but most of the rest seemed unsellable.

He then headed back and forth between the wagon and the vendors, delivering what he'd arranged to sell and collecting the money. By lunchtime, his stomach was aching and growling at him with hunger and he realized he hadn't eaten in nearly a day. He finished delivering the last of the wares he had sold and stopped at one of the food merchants who was selling some sort of spiced venison that had smelled good to him in passing. He bought a few skewers of it as well as some ripe fruit from another merchant before heading back to the wagon. He handed half the food over to Sharnellynn who looked as hungry as he felt as she barely stopped to thank him before biting into the meat.

"I forgot about meals," he said ruefully between bites.

"We've been distracted," she agreed.

"I've sold what I can. It's not what I'd hoped, but we should be able to get some food supplies with it at least. Hopefully the two horses will sell."

"Matner? Where do we go now? After we leave here, I mean. Where do we try next?"

Matner thought about that while he chewed on some of the venison. It was tough, much like jerky, but tasty with a musky flavor.

"I'll buy a map, for one," he finally said. "And a compass. We'll head for the border, leave this country and see what lies beyond."

"But where are we going to end up? Where are we going to live?" she asked.

"I don't know," he replied honestly. "Gods only know at this point. Maybe we find a village with a place for you. Maybe we find a farm or homestead like Miss Kevendish's. But we'll find something somewhere."

He stood up, mentioning that he should get the shopping out of the way. He suggested they plan on sleeping in shifts, not knowing what the thievery rate around here might be. He also suggested that they start taking turns sleeping as soon as he got back. Neither of them had been getting much sleep lately. In the morning they would set out once more.

She agreed, and he left. He had already noted some of the vendors he needed to visit. It felt nice having a little money to buy things with, even if he did have to stay frugal and practical about it. He did make a point of buying a dress that he thought would both fit and look pretty on Sharnellynn. She needed and deserved it. Another shirt for Ahriender went over his arm as well.

It took a few trips to get everything to the wagon. Sharnellynn was grateful for the dress, and did seem to like it. She was wearing it by the time he got back with the next armload of supplies. There were even still a few coins jingling in his purse when he was done.

Even with restocking the supplies they needed and not being able to sell everything, there was still a lot of extra room left in the wagon. He had picked up a couple of small canvas tents, however he realized that they would likely all be able to sleep in the wagon if they wanted to. It seemed a comfort after how crowded it had seemed with all the Elves.

He dropped in on Smick to see if there had been any progress on selling the horses, and found that one had a potential buyer already. He settled with Smick on the price he wanted for it, based on what was being offered and the percentage Smick would take off of it. Smick said he'd let him know if anyone was interested in the second horse.

The last stop he made was to a small bookshop that he got directions to from Smick. Unlike the last one he'd visited, this one had a small family who clearly owned the shop and lived above it. The woman who was sitting at the counter smiled at him as he entered, before turning her attention briefly to one of the two children who played on the floor nearby and asking the young boy to return a toy to his smaller sister. The boy handed it back with a sigh and moved on to a carved wooden horse to play with instead, prancing it about on the floor and making horse noises as he did. The girl next to him looked up from her recovered toy to giggle at him occasionally.

"May I help you?" the woman asked as he approached the counter.

"I was told I could find maps here," he replied, looking about.

"Local, national, or beyond?" she asked, slipping off of the stool she'd been sitting on.

"Mostly national and beyond," he told her with a smile. "I'm looking to travel a bit."

"I see," she nodded. "Any particular direction in mind?"

"Not sure," he admitted. "I've already come from East of here, so I'd probably go one of the other three directions."

She laughed lightly before turning towards the door behind her and calling upstairs.

"Nicholaus, I have a young man who needs to see the map of the far reaches to decide which way to go."

"Right then," a man's voice called back. "Just a moment."

It took a few minutes. A few things bumped around up there and at least one thing fell over, startling or annoying a cat. Eventually the man came down carrying a large rolled-up map.

The man was fat about the middle and walked with a waddle. His arms and legs that seemed just a little bit too skinny for the rest of him. His face was round and ruddy and he smile jovially.

"Well, then, young man," Nicholaus said, "you'll want to follow me, then." Nicholaus moved through another door into a room of books. Matner followed.

There was a table with four chairs in the room. The walls were all lined with bookshelves. The room was small. Four people sitting around the table would leave little room for walking along the shelves. Nicholaus moved to a chair to one side of the door and spread the map across the table. The map itself was made of several hides. New hides had been sewn onto an original one as the map expanded.

"So, then, you don't know where you want to go, eh?" Nicholaus asked.

"Not really," Matner replied. "I have a wagon, and have been doing a little bit of trading, but I also want to explore. I'm looking for places with some civilization, meaning some people to trade with. But I'm also looking for something maybe a little more removed from New Callest. Somewhere pretty?"

"Pretty, eh?" the man replied with a bit of a snort. "Most people who want pretty tend to head south or west to the rest of the old Elven lands. There's still a lot of land waiting to be claimed out there I hear. And thousands of acres of forests just waiting for hunters and lumberers. New roads being cut and new towns going up. The areas deeper south have hardly been touched yet in all the years. Most people have gone west."

He showed Matner on the map where there were large rivers that cut through the land and tended to make up most of the borders.

"These two rivers," he pointed out, "make up where Callest used to have it's borders. Everything to the south of here was the Elven nation of Rashen trin Fralish. After the war with the giants it all became part of Callest, adding nearly a third more to our lands. Just beyond that lies another Elven nation, called Kair a Dahlst. They are even more reclusive than the Elves we have are said to have been. They are also said to have warriors who go through some brutal rituals in order to gain the title. They live in a dangerous land, thick rainforest that is rumored to be filled with all manner of strange beasts and insects the size of your head. They don't trade much, not many live to tell tales of these folk."

"This over here is the nation of Perfute," he said, pointing to another area on the map further north. "Nearly all Human in population, although they neighbor with a smaller area of Dwarves to the north at the mountains. Friendly enough and they take well to trade, but they are very strong on military. There have been a couple of points in history where we've pushed at their borders, but Perfute has always held it's side of the river. I'd say about half the population, both male and female, are trained in at least hand-to-hand there. Maybe more."

"Perfute also borders a small Orc nation in the northwest and then this other area along most of it's western edge. That used to be known as a territory held by Giants, much like this area to the southeast of us, beyond the mountains. Reports say, however, that around the same time that the giants were pushed back from the mountains on the east, they also left on the west. Not sure where they all went, but I hear tell that these lands are now fought over by a variety of vicious, beast-like races. Werebeasts, and dark creatures. Not a place I'd recommend for trade, although I hear tell that the land is beautiful. While Perfute is dry and full of desert plateaus and some areas of sand that stretch for miles, this area to the west drops lower. The border there is a long ridge, not a river. I hear tell that the area there has plenty of rivers and oasis of trees and grasses, but between them it is as if the land were burned - dry and brittle and black. There are supposedly an area of strange black mountains further in."

"What's here?" Matner asked, pointing to a small, kite-shaped area that seemed sandwiched in between everyone else.

"That, there, is the nation of Jundra," he answered, tapping the map. "If it weren't for the ridge and the rivers, I'm sure it would have been overrun by one of the other countries long ago, but the natural borders have helped them hold it. Mostly river and jungle there. Some beasts in the rivers that will eat a man whole, if stories be true, but also some strange flowers and herbs that will cure most anything that ails you if mixed just right."

"Who lives there?"

"Mostly Human again, though there were quite a few Elves who fled there during the war with the Giants afore they started coming here. I hear they have a fair population of them living there nowadays. And they have a huge city at this cross of the two rivers here. Trade city called Suz. Not many make the trek back and forth as it's quite a distance, but goods that come from there are worth quite a bit by the time they reach here. Mostly those flowers and herbs I spoke of, though there's rumor that there are small magical totems that are made by Jundrans living deep within the jungle, carved of special nuts that drop off trees that only grow there. I've yet to see one myself though, so I couldn't tell you if it's true or not."

"So, do you have a map of this area here for sale?" Matner asked, circling the spaces between Eerwayh and Jundra with his finger.

"Not all the way that far, no," Nicholaus replied. "But I do for the more local part of it, yes."

Nicholaus rolled up his big map. "Wait right here," the man said. He took the rolled map and Matner heard his shoes on the stairs as he went up. The upstairs floor creaked.

It was not long at all before he came back down with a smaller rolled up map. This one was painted on a smaller, thinner piece of hide.

"Now, this is a nice map," Nicholaus said, "not some parchment sketchery. I studied to be a cartographer, you see--that's a map maker. I was gonna sail the rivers and the seas, making maps of the far-and-away." The man laughed.

"That was before love, of course, but that's not what you came to hear about, eh? No, of course not."

Nicholaus unrolled the map. It was painted in different colors for the major terrain features. Place names were lettered neatly, and there were frequent marks for distances. Nicholaus explained that some of the local parts he had measured himself, while other areas had been compiled from multiple other sources. Nicholaus suggested a price for the map, which Matner thought slightly high, even for the quality, which was actually considerable. Matner haggled the man down just a little bit, but not much.

He asked about a compass and the man directed him to another shop two blocks over. He thanked him and went there next, where he managed to find a fairly basic compass amidst the elaborate ones the merchant sold. He paid for that as well and then stopped off to purchase a couple of sandwiches, piled thick with thinly sliced strips of beef and some sort of creamy sauce. Then he headed back to camp again, pleased to feel that he still had a few coins jingling in his purse. While they ate, he unrolled the map and showed Sharnellynn, telling her all the things the man at the store had said about the nations around them.

"I got this map because it heads in the right direction to Jundra," he explained. "While it's supposed to be a mostly human nation, he made it seem as if there were also Elves living there too."

"I've heard of the place," Sharnellynn said, hesitantly. "I remember being told it was a savage place. A jungle, where people lived very primitively. Do you really think it will be safe for us?"

"I think we don't have a lot of other options," he admitted. "But if there are Elves and Humans living there together, both free...I think that's the best place to start. Even if they live more primitively, it can't be much worse than what we've been dealing with already. If we trade a few luxuries for your freedom and if they are accepting of Ahriender, then I think it will be perfect."

She thought about that for a while, studying the map, before nodding.

"How long will it take to get there?" she asked.

"It will probably take us eight to ten weeks to get to this river," he replied, pointing on the map again. "Then we sell the wagon and buy passage on a boat downriver to Suz. By wagon I'd estimate it would take us at least eight more months, but if we can find a small boat it will take a lot less with the river flowing that way."

They were both tired. Matner suggested she get some early sleep. She still agreed that keeping watches in the city would be a wise move.

"What about on the road?" she asked. "All that time traveling. Are we going to have to keep taking turns through all of that?"

"I think in several areas we'll be remote enough that a good fire should keep trouble away," he suggested. "But this city I just don't know about. We might even want to get a couple days out before we relax too much. We still don't know if we might be followed."

She agreed that it was a good point, and she climbed up into the wagon. She was pretty, he thought, and he wondered whether if things had been different if they might have gotten involved somehow.

He spent the rest of the evening thinking about her, and how for at the very least the next several months they would be together. Just the two of them and Ahriender. He decided it would not be a bad thing. She did not seem to still regard him the way she had at first, and she had stopped behaving the way she had then, as well.

He tried to decide if her being an elf was a problem. Obviously there was a physical compatibility. Ahriender was proof of that. Were they that different? They had different gods, but that would give them something more to talk about.

He concluded that he did not have to decide anything just then. There would be more than enough time to work it all out later. When they left in the morning he would have a good chance to ask her about her gods. The whole time she had said next to nothing about them.

Lately he had not been feeling convinced of his loyalty to his own gods. He did not see that they had really helped him so far. His faith in them had not specifically helped him. He knew that was not supposed to be the entire point, but he felt it should count for something. He just did not know how much.

By the time it was well past dark he had tallied more questions for later than answers. As much as his mind raced with things he wanted to remember to talk about, he knew none of it had to happen right away. He also had not slept since...he was having trouble remembering. His mind was a little fuzzy. He crawled up and in and gently woke Sharnellynn. Ahriender was sleeping peacefully. She woke easily and thanked him for letting her. He was asleep in no time.