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Tarrin was sitting to one side of the fire, back to the wall, checking his arrows one by one in a methodical fashion, as Walten sat beside him. Faalken was stirring a stew that had been set over the fire, and Tiella was talking with Dola
"Adventure?"
"That's how I see this," he said. "Getting out of stinking Aldreth, getting a chance to travel with a knight and a Sorceress, going to see Suld. This beats making cabinets any day of the week."
"I'd be eating di
Walten gave him a strange look. "You know, there's alot of rumors that fly around about your family," he said. "Tel Darlik used to say that all you did over there was train to kill people."
"Not quite," he chuckled. "I did learn how to use weapons, and hunt and all, but how do you think we got our food?"
Walten laughed. "We never thought about things like that," he admitted. "I've never even been out to your farm before."
"It's a farm," he shrugged. "We have a house and a barn and a toolshed and such. Father has a brewhouse where he makes his ale, and we have fields out behind the house."
"Sounds like you miss it," he said.
"I do," he replied. "I've been preparing to leave Aldreth for two years now, but now that I'm really gone, most of me wants to turn around and go home."
"Preparing to leave?"
"Since I was a boy, I've wanted to be a knight," he said. "Well, mother and father trained me with that in mind. Two years ago, I decided that that's what I was going to do. I'd earn a chance to test for it, and go to Suld. If I got in, great. But if I didn't, well, there was always the army, or fletching, or something that I could do to earn my way."
"Everybody always used to say that you didn't do anything," Walten said. "You weren't apprenticed to anyone. All you seemed to do was hunt. My mother used to say that you were a shiftless, lazy freeloader. But that's her," he said quickly.
"Words are words, I guess," he said. "Besides, the rest of the village really didn't understand. Most of them couldn't see past my mother."
"She is a bit strange," Walten said defensively.
"Only to you," he replied.
Walten laughed. "I guess you're right."
"She's Ungardt. Of course she'd do things differently than everyone else," Tarrin told him. "Ungardt ways aren't much like Sulasian ways."
"How do you mean?"
"Well, women aren't just wives and mothers," he said. "Most women are as big as men there, so they can learn to fight if they want. They crew the sailing ships like men, they fight in the clan armies, they do about anything that men do. And men don't mind all that much, cause they're used to it."
"That is different," Walten said, taking out his knife and a chunk of wood and starting to work on it. "You ever meet your mother's father?"
"A few times," he replied. "His name is Alrak, and he's about twice as big as me. He's very nice. He came to the village to visit with mother."
"Oh, yes, I remember that now," he said. "The last time was, what, five years ago?"
Tarrin nodded, putting away his last arrow and securing the quiver cap. The rain sounded like it was begi
"What?"
"That you hate carpentry, but you like woodcarving."
"Nailing boards together is boring," he said defensively. "This is alot more fun."
"Whatever you say," Tarrin said with a grin.
The storm passed quickly after that, so they ate with general silence, then went to sleep.
The next day dawned clear and warm, and they set out again. The forest showed signs of the ferocity of the storm, for there were limbs and even a few trees littering the forest floor, and Tarrin spotted one tree that was split in half with its insides blackened and charred. It had been struck by lightning. The road was damp but not muddy, having mostly dried over the night, but Tarrin found that he rather liked it, for it eliminated the dust that had been swirling in the wind the previous day. Dola
"Aye," he agreed. "We made good time yesterday, even with the storm."
"It was the extra time we had, from when we left after the fire,"Walten surmised.
Dola
They rode rather hard most of the day, stopping only for very brief rests and eating lunch in the saddle. The pain of the saddle had begun to creep into Tarrin's legs and backside again, and about midafternoon he saw that he wasn't the only one. Dola
It was well past sunset, riding by the light of three full moons and the brilliant Skybands, when they topped a hill and looked down into the shallow valley that held Torrian.
From what he could see of it, Torrian was a large city, surrounded by a stout wall of huge logs sharpened at the tops. The hazy sight of buildings could be seen inside the walls, as well as occasional points of light that marked a torch or other light source along the streets. It was about ten times the size of Aldreth. Tarrin wasn't the only one to gawk at the size of the place; he'd never seen something quite so large before.
As they started down the hill towards the city gate, Tiella looked fretfully at the wall. "Won't they have the gates closed?" she asked.
"Yes, but there will be a guard at the gatehouse, over the gate," Dola
"Good," she said. "I'd like to sleep inside tonight."
"What is the matter?" Dola
"I don't know," she said, looking around, "but I have the feeling that something is going to happen."
The gate was a large pair of wooden slabs bound with iron, with a large room of some sort built onto the wall above it. A single light oulined a small window, and at that window a silhouette appeared. "The gates stay closed til sunrise," the man called down.
"I am Dola
"I don't care if you're Sheba the Pirate," the man said back.
Dola
There was a span of silence after the silhouette disappeared, and then it was back. But it was a different voice. "He's a new man, Mistress," an older voice called. "They're readying to open the gates now. Please step back a bit."
"My thanks, sir guard," she said as they moved back. "It has been a long day, and we require food and rest."
"Most of the i
"I know Duke Arren," Dola
"I take it you know the way to his keep?"
"Yes, I am familiar with the way," she told him as the gate came to a groaning stop, more than wide of an opening for them to enter.