FreeHolds Adventure, Cycle 3 Part 8b
Everyone was stirred up about the flotilla of airships that had passed over them yesterday around midday. Armada might have been a better word, but Mokha was unsure if that term applied. Thirteen of the craft Adwin had been sure were from the Roburns Trading Company. There had been two larger airships, one much larger than any of the others while four craft were slightly smaller than the Roburns ships, of a sleeker design. Lastly there had been half a dozen that were noticeably smaller than any of the others, Chance Delight claimed the smallest airships were called skiffs, typically owned by the Maldorn nobility or powerful merchants.
Nearly everyone had seen them, as most of the work crew had been taking their lunch. The fleet had passed over, west of Kaymere, at a height of ninety paces. Their bearing had been roughly in the direction of GreensBridge. As the sky-ships flew past contrary winds had buffeted them, dirt and debris had been blown up into the air. The airships had nearly been out of sight by the time the winds had settled.
There had been other traffic over the past couple eight-days. Twice people had come from the east, a trio of people heading to GreensBridge and a merchant from Willik’s Hold with three wagons full of goods, heading to Aramy. Adwin had been down in the ruins when the group from Hadden’s Fort passed and was sorry he had missed them.
Traffic also moved along the trail running up from the south that joined the East Road a few yat west of Kaymere. Mokha now knew Janderton was that way, south of the migratory path of the wild-elves. Chance had heard while in Janderton that the earth-mage, during his first year building his city, had discovered a section of the White Road and had uncovered a considerable stretch of it. Like the section of the White Road south of GreensBridge, it was assumed that the elves would honour their old covenant that allowed safe passage through their territory.
The folks from Aramy had informed them that the old trail people used to cross the Migratory Path was roughly along where the older White Road had been rediscovered. So far no one coming up from that way had diverted towards them. Mokha had been tempted to ride out and question the passers-by, though there was no guarantee that any of them were actually coming from Janderton. Surely some of them had to be.
It had been raining sporadically since before sunrise. A thick blanket of cloud lay across the sky and a warm breeze came from the southwest. The ground was squishy, slick in some places, Mokha was careful where he placed his feet. Moving around the hill on which the Kaymere ruins rested was tricky.
Adwin picked himself up off the ground and looked uphill to Mokha, “Watch that.” He gestured vaguely to the spot he had slipped on.
“You don’t say?” Mokha carefully manoeuvred down slope from one stone to another. He came alongside Adwin and looked his friend over, “You alright?”
“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine. Just a bit more dirty.” He adjusted his poncho so that it rested properly across his shoulders. He took the time to scan the area, Mokha did as well. A large herd of bleek deer were east of the hill, nearby a trio of crows hopped from stone to stone looking for lunch, there did not appear to be anything dangerous or worrisome. As had been the case every time Mokha had been on patrol duty.
Tipper only had him labouring in the ruins every other day, the same was the case for Chance and the three cooks. Initially Sefla had also received a similar treatment, but for the last three days she, Whyse and Lilly had been needed. Tipper had found a way down into a lower level of the ruins, just as she had expected. The problem was that the jumble of collapsed stone from the upper levels was not easily navigable, though Lilly had found a way down. The maze-like passage that gave them access to the area Tipper wanted to investigate was only accessible to the three smallest members of their crew, for now.
Mokha was surprised by how reasonable Tipper had been with the work. He had expected her to be a relentless task master. She was the only one who worked through the entire day. Adwin worked nearly as much as she did. The two of them had been arguing on and off since arriving in Kaymere, but they usually worked side by side through most days.
Mokah asked his friend, “You and Tipper still at odds?”
Adwin made a face, grumpy but resigned. “Yes, likely so for as long as I’m associated with Roburns.”
“I’d gathered that seemed to be the crux of the problem.”
“Yeah.” Adwin scanned the horizon again and changed the subject, “Have you decided what you’re going to do about Shak?”
“Well, short of trying to convince Whyse to take a message to Janderton for me, I expect I’m going to wait until Setta arrives. Or, depending on how long this treasure hunting goes on for, if Tipper finds what she’s looking for before Setta shows up, then I’ll likely take Chance and make a quick trip to see if Shak is still there.”
“I did try to convince Whyse to go. She is insistent that the only way that would happen is if I went with her, and I’m not inclined to abandon Tipper for a month. Not at this point.”
“Me neither. I’m only here at all because she saved me from the clutches of the Fingures.”
“Let’s take a look down there. It’s where I first ran into the goblins last year.”
“There’s a nice spring down there.”
“Yeah.”
They made their way, carefully, to the ruined building. The going was easier once they had moved off the steeper slope. The spring had overflowed its usual containment. Adwin hopped from stone to stone until he was alongside the eastern wall, which was still mostly intact.
He looked around as Mokha made his way across. They stood side by side on a large piece of cut stone, Mokha asked, “What are we looking for?”
Adwin smiled, “I almost died here last year.”
“You almost died a number of times last year. Here, Heart-Tree-Valley, GreensBridge.”
Adwin was quiet for a long moment, “Yeah, well, let’s hope this year goes more smoothly.”
“Did you ever figure out what the long star was?”
“Yeah, Maradda knows quite a bit about the stars and moons as it turns out. She says that it’s not a star, she called it a witch’s broom. She says it will appear longer and longer over the next year. It’s an ill omen, a herald of fiery destruction. Apparently it appears every hundred and seventy-some years. I guess it’s passage is recorded on the stone circle near Predost.”
Mokha thought about that for a while, “It’s amazing what these followers of the OldWays know. It doesn’t seem like something they’d have much of an understanding of.”
“They pay a lot of attention to the cycles of nature.”
Everyone but Adwin, and likely the three from Predost, found his present predicament rather amusing. Doing his best to keep his tone neutral, Mokha asked, “How’s that going anyway?”
Adwin glanced at him, then looked away, “Alright, I guess. Though it’s a bit early to say if there’s been any success.”
“Mm, I see. So, you could be at this for a while.”
“Seems that way. At least as long as we’re here.”
“What happens if you don’t get all three of them pregnant?”
“Oh, Mokha, I don’t even want to think about that.”
He chuckled, “Well, now that Calathy is better she seems to be enjoying the situation.”
“Yeah, that’s true… Sometimes I think Calathy thinks I’ve slept with all the women here.”
“Surely she knows that’s not the case.”
“Well, I certainly hope so. Even then, I think she expects that I will.”
“I think Calathy is more attracted to women than men, Adwin.”
Adwin looked at him, surprised, “Really? I hadn’t considered that.”
Poor Adwin. Sometimes he really was oblivious, “Keep it in mind.”
“Well, it’d be hard not to, now that you’ve mentioned it.”
Mokha looked at the cloudy sky, “It must be close to lunch. Let’s get some food.”
“Yeah, I’ve been constantly hungry since we came here.”
“It’s all the hard work you’ve been doing, stud.”
Adwin gave him a playful shove and Mokha splashed into the spring to avoid falling. Adwin laughed, jumped over the pool with a splash and raced off towards the camp. Mokha watched him run away. He looked down at the water which was deeper than his boots were high. With a sigh Mokha followed, squelching his way up to the camp.
Mokha arrived at the same time that Chance limped up from the south. They held up a dead spider, the size of a barn cat, then tossed it to the side, “It was nesting in a dulmak. I think there’s an egg sack down there. Gods cursed thing bit me before I smacked it.”
Calathy exclaimed, “Are they poisonous?”
“I don’t know.”
Mokha went over and gave the minstrel a helping hand, once they were sitting Mokha took a look at the wound. Chance had only been wearing their sandals. The spider had bit them above the ankle, there was a sizable puncture wound on either side of the leg and considerable swelling.
“Looks like it chomped you pretty good.”
“Observant of you.” Chance said in a pained, dry tone.
“Tipper should take a look at it. I don’t think it’s venomous, not from what others have said.”
Tal offered, “I’ll head up and let Tipper know.”
Chance nodded gratefully, Calathy asked, “Is there something you can do about them Mokha? I mean, with your magic…?”
“Well, I’ve already laid warding spells against insects, but I can do another one against those things, especially now that I have an example of what I’m supposed to be protecting us from.”
“I’d really appreciate that. That thing is disgusting.”
He left Chance reclining with their wounded leg elevated. He went over to the creature’s carcass, it was a rather ugly looking thing. Chance had whacked it a few times with their staff. Mokha cut a piece of its leg off and concentrated for a moment or two, he focused his energies then released, covering as large of an area as he could manage.
Drained from his efforts, he went over and sat down beside Chance. Calathy joined them, she gave them a bowl of food and ate some as well. Eventually Tal and Tipper returned to the camp.
Tipper took a careful look at the bite, gently rubbed a salve into the wound and told Chance, “I’ve never treated a wound from one of these spiders before, we’ll have to keep an eye on it. Let me know if it becomes problematic.” She looked around, then said, “I’m going to free up a couple of the others this afternoon, I’ll get you to work in pairs and I’d like you to beat the bushes, get rid of them. Can you oversee that, Adwin?”
“I sure can.”
“Good. I should head back up. Chance, it would be best if you stayed off your feet for the rest of the day.”
Paldy and Gemma came down to the camp ready to hunt spiders, Adwin and Tal went as well. They circled out from the camp, searching dulmaks, shrubs, bushes and any nooks or crannies they came across. During the afternoon they discovered and killed two more spiders along the southern side of Kaymere. They intended to continue their efforts the following day.
Thankfully, when Tipper took another look at Chance’s leg later in the day, there did not seem to be any complications.
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