Journey of the Messenger Cycle 2 Part 2b
Berri woke with a start. She had been having a nightmare about words and about the sorceress Igma Kalit. The two of them had been in a wizardly duel of some sort but Berri was forever mixing the pronunciation of the arcane words, never able to cast her spell. After a moments reflection she chuckled as herself. Miss Mollywagon and she had spent many hours yesterday with words and letters and how to pronounce them. She hoped the woman would not be too upset today when she realized how hopeless Berri was when it came to learning words. Especially written words.
She had warned the older woman, told her how all the letters jumbled around whenever she looked at a word. Strangely the teacher had not found that unusual, even said it was fairly common and that there were ways to work around it. The two of them had stayed up well past dark, practising pronunciations and letter recognition. Meratha was a much better teacher than her sister Holly, way more patient.
Berri glanced over to where the teacher was still sound asleep, she was thankful to have woken so early. She needed to move around a bit. To do something besides sitting and pronouncing, there was going to be plenty of that today. Miss Mollywagon had promised to continue the lessons until they arrived at her destination. As quietly as possible she slid out of bed, picked up her belongings and exited the bunkhouse.
It was pleasant outside, cool but not cold, the sky was just beginning to lighten from the dark night. She could smell the days bread baking and hear women talking over by the kitchen. In the grey light she went to one of the outside tables and set her belongings down. Standing, she started the mind exercises Ijah had been teaching her and breathed deeply, slowly inhaling, slowly exhaling. After a while, a rooster loudly proclaimed the days start. Berri stretched and watched as the way station slowly came to life, the sky brightened as the sun slowly rose above the horizon.
When she finished her exercises she went to the station house, bidding the clerk a good morning in Maldorn. The clerk smiled at her, looked at her ticket and showed her where to put her gear. She took her change of clothing and went to the bathhouse. Maldorn had strange bathing arrangements, or at least the company did. Berri had yet to figure out how it all worked, but she had noticed that Maldorn folk tended to bathe frequently and perfume themselves. While she had no fancy scent to wear, she could bathe.
She was disconcerted to find no tub in this bathhouse. A lot of pipes and a number of levers were along one side, a bench ran the length of the wall on the other. After setting her clothing down and stripping out of the clothes she had been wearing she went over to the pipes and levers and looked it all over. The other new passenger from yesterday entered. The two of them froze a moment looking at each other in silence, then the other woman smiled and proceeded about her business.
Berri said, hesitantly, worried about saying the wrong thing, “Good morning.”
The other woman replied, “Good morning.” She had a bath-bag of some sort, Berri noted, with soap, wash cloths and a few other accoutrements, including a fine looking comb.
Berri glanced at the plumbing and then back to the young woman who stripped down and came over to her. She asked something, the only word Berri caught was “help”.
“Yes. Help?”
The woman was attractive with pretty eyes, long brown hair and a lean healthy body that had many pleasant curves. She reached over and turned one of the levers, the pipes made a racket then water sprayed out overhead. Berri was startled by the cold water and jumped back. The other woman laughed and then adjusted another lever, gradually the water became warm. Berri was impressed. She stepped into the water and the other woman moved off.
She enjoyed the sensation of the water pummelling her flesh. She glanced over to see her travel companion lathering herself with soap, which sloshed off under the flow of the water and circled a drainage hole in the floor between them. She said something which Berri did not understand. The woman held out a hand, “Soap?” she offered.
“Soap?”
“Yes. Soap.”
“Soap. Yes.” Berri took the bar, nearly dropped it and then held it to her nose, inhaling the fragrant flowery scent. She proceeded to wash as the other woman finished her shower. She stood nearby and waited until Berri had lathered herself twice over then held out a small lacquered container. Berri deposited the wet bar within, rinsed and shut the water valve. She stood with her back to the woman, thinking through the Maldorn words she knew, when she was fairly sure she remembered the correct words she turned and said, “Thank you.”
She replied with a friendly smile and a smattering of words Berri did not understand. Berri stood, dripping water, at a loss of what else she could say. She wished she had a towel. Eventually she went over to the bench and dressed in the clothing Ijah had made for her, they were the only clothes she had that were not travel stained or splotched with blood.
The two of them left the bathhouse together and returned to the yard. Most of the other passengers were seated together at a table, eating breakfast. Miss Mollywagon asked Berri, “How did you sleep?”
“Well enough. You?”
“Not so well, I usually need to be a few nights in a bed before I’m comfortable enough to get a good night of sleep. Did you want to start the lesson? Or, we could wait until we are on the road.”
“Let’s start. I’m going to have to figure some of this out or I’ll never be able to talk to people here.”
So the lessons continued, as did their journey. The landscape slowly changed while they traveled, they crossed a modest river flowing from the mountains towards the south. Trees became more abundant, most still had their leaves while some of them only just started to show their autumn colours. By the mid-day stop it had become warm.
It was only a short stop. The coach service did not provide a mid-day meal and Berri was very hungry, despite the large breakfast she had eaten. She went into the station house, as had a couple of the other passengers, there was not much of a food selection, just some hard candy and nuts of some sort in large barrels by the service counter. Berri bought some of each, the portions went into small paper bags. The clerk said, “Six bits.”
Berri was pleased she had understood, took out a one mark note, the only one with a single digit printed on it and replied, “Thank you.”
She received four small coins, bits, back from the man and then headed back to her coach. Some sort of altercation was taking place. Angry men were shouting, another coach had arrived and passengers from both milled around the area, watching the exchange. The shouting continued as Berri joined the spectators who were from the coach she had been riding on. Two red-faced men seemed to be exchanging insults, then everyone was moving back from the wagons and the men retrieved swords from their luggage.
Berri asked Miss Mollywagon, “What is happening?”
“A duel.”
“A duel?”
“They are going to fight to resolve their differences. The teamster from the other coach will officiate.”
“Oh. What differences?”
“As best as I could tell, the fellow from our coach was discourteous towards the other man’s sister, some years back. This should not take too long.”
“Would you like some nuts?”
“Oh, thank you.”
When the two men were ready they stood to either side of the burly teamster who held up a cloth above her head. Everyone fell quiet. The cloth was dropped, the teamster backed away and the two men closed. They were fighting with delicate looking short swords of a style Berri had never seen before. Mostly they thrust and jabbed at each other, quick to parry and counter, neither man wore armour. The blades clattered against each other repeatedly, then suddenly it was over. The man who had been riding the same coach as Berri collapsed to his knees, a bloodstain expanded across his shirt, it appeared he had been run through, just below the ribs.
The victor backed away, the officiate called out loudly and moved between the two men again. The fellow on his knees groaned and fell face first into the hard packed dirt of the yard. The teamster asked something of the gathered people in a loud voice and looked around.
Miss Mollywagon said, “She is asking if there is anyone who is related to the man or has business with him. Now she is asking if there is anyone who would heal the man.”
Berri looked around, no one spoke up. The duel was called, the victor proclaimed and then the dying man’s luggage was removed from the coach. People were quick to disperse, those that had just arrived were mostly heading to the station house while she and her fellow passengers boarded their coach. A few moments later they rolled out, back onto the road.
The others seemed calm and composed, no one seemed upset that a man had just died. Miss Mollywagon resumed their lessons. Berri wondered if anyone would tell the man’s kin he had been slain.
For most of the early afternoon she and Miss Mollywagon used the lexicon. Berri understood how it was supposed to be used and with Meratha’s help she figured out a couple of new, to her, Maldorn words. Her pronunciation was not great but she was pleased with her progress, despite the headache she developed.
As they neared the mid-afternoon stop, Meratha asked, “Is there a particular subject you would like to read about or a type of story you like?”
“Um, well, I’m curious about magic.”
“Ah, I’ve just the book for you then, the Maldorn Book of Common Magic. When we get to the station I will give you my copy along with this dictionary. The best way to learn to read is with a subject you like or are curious about. It’ll be slow going at first, but if you stick to it, taking your time, you will learn how to read.”
“Wow, Miss Meratha. Books are expensive. I can pay you, for the lessons and the books.”
“Nonsense. This is Maldorn, books are cheap and widely available. If you want to pay me back for my effort, then all I ask is that you follow through with the lessons. A little bit of reading each day over the next few eight-days and you will pick it up, I promise.”
Berri was touched by the woman’s kindness, “You act a lot like a priestess, thank you for your help.”
She gave Berri a warm smile, “You are welcome.”
When the coach rolled into the next station Berri was surprised by the number of trees and how warm the afternoon had become. It also appeared as though some sort of festival would soon be happening. Many of the locals were decorating the village with garlands, banners and all manner of chimes and bells.
Meratha had a big chest of books, from that treasure chest she pulled out a well read volume and passed it to Berri, “There you go. The Maldorn Book of Common Magic, compiled by Magus Alibar. One of the first mass produced books.”
Berri took the book and gave the woman a big hug, Meratha laughed in delight and wished her safe travels. She hopped back on the coach, her head was aching considerably. She munched on some nuts for a while as they rolled through the countryside, then she slept for most of the last leg of that days travels.
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