Keep on the Borderlands

10

It couldn’t last for long, of course. By the time they were halfway across the inner bailey, Jerdren’s spirits were again soaring high.

“Look, it’s an honor, Eddis,” he said, waving the rest of their company close. “Being picked to—”

“We still don’t know what we’re supposed to do,” Eddis put in as he paused. “Jerdren, we can’t talk out here like this.”

“The tavern won’t be any better,” Blorys said. “Now the banquet’s over, the place will be packed, I’ll wager. People wanting to talk to the taverner and his wife about it, the usual crowd, and I’ll also wager there’ll be plenty of men looking for us already. Word will get around fast, Jers. People will assume that of course we’ll take the castellan up on his offer, and they know that the men who went out with us last time came back with fat purses.”

“Those who survived,” Eddis said.

“True, but the men who left family here at least got their share. Most soldiers would find that acceptable, if they weren’t going to make it through themselves.”

“What about the inn?” M’Whan asked, but Jerdren shook his head.

“There’s always men asleep in there,” Blorys told him. “Like the barracks. Personally, I’d like somewhere private, if we’re going to talk.”

“The private rooms at the inn are too small,” Eddis reminded him.

“I know,” he replied. “Wait, though. Private—that reminds me. Jers, that was our hide merchant at the far end of my table, wasn’t it? Because if so, he’ll be coming this way any time now, and they’re staying at the Guild Hall, aren’t they?”

Jerdren nodded.

“So, if you asked, he might get them to let us in, give us some place to talk this over.”

“Can’t get ale at the Guild Hall,” Jerdren reminded him.

“So? It’s a trade-off, if they’ll let us in. And there might be someone there who can answer some questions for us.” Blorys was scanning the crowd of people crossing the inner bailey. “Anyone wants a cup of ale after that, I’m for it.”

Jerdren looked at his companions. “Sounds good to me. Why don’t you all head out, and I’ll see if I can’t find the man. If not, Blor, you should be able to catch him at the gates. If you can’t, we’ll head over to the Guild Hall.” He was gone before his brother could form a reply.

“He’s right. No reason for us to wait right in the middle of everyone’s way, is there?” Blorys asked as Jerdren vanished into the crowd, and started back the other direction. “So. Eddis, I think we’re of the same opinion. But the rest of you—any thoughts yet?” He smiled faintly.

“I…” Eddis sighed. “I just don’t know about this, Blor. I’ll wait to make up my mind until I hear something that doesn’t start with ‘I’ve heard’, or ‘they say’.”

One of the Keep men spread his hands. “It’s more of the same, I expect. All any of us knows is what we told you, out there. Old tales from the days when Lord Macsen first began to build here, about caves and the monsters that live in ’em. Stories all differ about the size of the caves, where exactly they are, what lives there and why. The only thing they all say is that if you travel far enough along the east road, you’ll find them. Or the creatures that live there will find you.”

“Don’t forget the other tale,” another man said. “Those traders who came from foreign lands east of here. The castellan and his advisors talk to any strangers who come in from distant lands, and it’s certain they talked to those men.”

“That’s better than a story passed through half a dozen mouths,” Eddis said with a shrug. “Though it would be better to my thinking if I’d had the chance to talk to those men myself.” She looked up as Jerdren came hurrying through the gates. He was smiling widely.

“Found him!” he announced, “and he said he’d be happy to ask. Just asked that we give him time for that, then follow. If no one minds?”

Eddis cast up her eyes, shrugged.

“Well, then?” He started off, but Blorys caught hold of his arm, dragging him to a halt. “What?”

“Brother, give the poor merchant time to reach the Guild Hall, will you? Maybe even ask the favor?”

“Oh, right. Sure.” Jerdren looked around, waved at a clutch of people who were smiling at him and talking in low voices, finally strode over to the fountain, and hoisted his backside onto the rim, one leg jiggling. The rest of the company followed. Eddis settled cross-legged on the paving. “Now, I say first thing is, we separate fact from tales. Best we can, of course. Any argument?”

“What—you’re not going to demand we choose to go right now?” Eddis asked dryly.

“Well, sure I am. Why not? Even if we didn’t find these caves or anything out there to fight, we’d still get decent equipment and provisioning out of it,” Jerdren replied promptly. “C’mon, Eddis, why not? If we do find caves and monsters and all that—well, we get better at what we do, we probably find a lot of gold and gems they’ve stolen from travelers, and we come back heroes.” He waited. She cast up her eyes. “Hey, Eddis, same terms as this last time—equals in everything, huh? Wasn’t so bad, was it?”

“The pay was all right,” she said. “Though I’m not sure I like Ferec’s idea of a reward. Say we did find caves and all. Say we did win through. I don’t want to think what the man would consider a proper reward for that. It doesn’t matter, because until I know more than I do right now, I’m not jumping either way.”

“She’s right, Brother.” Blorys settled down next to her. “If we’re even going to think about fighting orcs and worse things, we need to have some idea what to prepare for. We lost men on this last journey. This one—well, if we underestimated the enemy, none of us might come back.” He glanced at Eddis. “I wouldn’t like that much.”

“You need to talk to the castellan tomorrow,” Eddis told Jerdren. “Find out what they actually know, if they talked to those foreigners, what they learned. Anything that’s fact. The rest of us can split up tomorrow, talk to people, especially anyone like us who’s come in with a caravan. Maybe someone should visit the chapel. Didn’t Ferec say the cleric would help us? They should have records, if there’s anything known.”

“Don’t forget the Guild Hall,” M’Baddah said. “They also keep records, and they learn much from the merchants who come here.”

Jerdren nodded. His leg was still jiggling up and down. “We can work that out tonight.” He looked around, up at the sky. “Been long enough, hasn’t it?”

“May as well go,” Eddis said and pushed to her feet.

She’d half expected the man’s excitement—rudeness, to her thinking—to get them turned away. If the merchant had even asked, of course. The man might feel Jers had put him in a difficult position. But as they walked back around the inn and along the stables and barracks, she could see the hall and light shining through an open door. Two tall men-at-arms flanked the door, and just within, clearly awaiting them, was an elderly but vigorous-looking man with long, white hair and very blue eyes.

He smiled and inclined his head as they came up. “I am the master of this house. Welcome. I recognize each of you from your entry to the Keep yesterday morning. You are Jerdren, you Eddis, and these the men and elves who went with you after the bandits.”

Eddis wasn’t quite sure what the protocol was. She bowed her head much as the master had, as he stepped aside to let them enter a hallway that stretched to both sides.

“The hide merchant tells me you need a quiet place to talk for a time. I fear we cannot offer you strong drink, or indeed food at this hour, but—”

“We need nothing, save a quiet place to talk,” Blorys assured him.

“That you shall have.” He stepped back to let the two men-at-arms lead the way down the hall and through a door. The passage here was narrow, and nearly as long as the first, with a flight of stairs at its end. The steps curved out of sight to the right.

It was dark here, except for the master’s lamp behind them and another carried by one of the armsmen. At the top of the stairs, another empty hall with a closed door at its end. One of their guides opened the door for them, then the two men-at-arms went back down the hall and could be heard clattering down the stone steps. The master remained while they were shown into yet another hallway and from there into a long, windowless chamber. A narrow bed, a desk and several chairs were the only furnishings. A fire burned low in the fireplace along one wall. The second-floor guard knelt to build up the fire. The master gazed around the room, nodded as it apparently met his standards, then went back to the door.

“If there is anything you need, these men will be nearby,” he said. “I will see that fresh water and some fruit are sent up for you.”

“Ah, sir,” Eddis said, ducking her head politely again. “One additional favor, if we may. It’s said that your people may have some knowledge of these caves—caverns?”

“Not so much knowledge as rumor,” the master said. “But what we have, my clerks will find for you. I fear you will need to read it here, as we have no spare copies of such old records.”

“That will be acceptable,” Blorys said. “Our thanks, sir. And when we’re ready to leave?”

“The guards will escort you down and into the open once more.”

He was gone moments later, the door quietly closing behind him and the two guardsmen. Jerdren eyed the door thoughtfully, finally shrugged.

“We’re speaking no secrets here, small matter if anyone listens, and we won’t be constantly interrupted, unlike any other place I can think of within these walls. Good enough, I’d say.” He glanced at his brother, then at Eddis. “I suppose you two want to wait for whatever the man’s clerks can turn up?”

“Not necessarily,” Blorys said. “We can talk about it. I’m not going to be swayed by the castellan’s fine speech and all that cheering, though, Jers. I know—that wasn’t all that took your eye, it was the adventure itself. All the same. I want as much idea of what we’re getting in for as we had this last time. Makes it easier to decide on who and what we need to take.”

“It’s vital that we know as much as we can,” Eddis said evenly. “Not knowing could get us all killed, and there is nothing heroic about foolishly throwing your life away.”

They talked generally, the Keep men reminding each other of various rumors they’d heard over the years. Most of it was like the things they’d mentioned in the inner bailey after the feast, Eddis thought. Eventually, the men ran out of what they’d heard. Then one of the hunters tugged at his ear.

“Don’t know what reminded me of it. There was a feller who came through here—must be three years ago, now. Claimed to be a monster-fighter, just come down from wiping out a clan of kobolds up north somewheres.”

“Huh,” Jerdren said shortly. “Unless kobolds seriously outnumber you, anyone can do that.” Blorys tugged at his sleeve, and he subsided.

“Well, what he said, at least. Don’t remember as any of us were so impressed with him and his tales, ’cept I remember him tellin’ us at some point that if you’re fighting goblins and one of ’em yells out, ‘Bree-yark!’ that means they give up.” He blinked in surprise as Blorys and Jerdren broke out laughing. “What?”

“He must have been army, wager anything!” Jerdren said finally. He was still chuckling. “We got told that when our company first went north to fight orcs. Bunch of green recruits, most of us were, and that nearly got us killed!”

Blorys shook his head. “It’s an old army joke. Just about every green village recruit in that company I ever talked to had heard that one. I’m not certain what it really means, but it’s something like, ‘Hey, you idiot!’ Bad insult, anyway. We didn’t get nearly killed, Jers. None of us was fool enough to stop fighting and wait for ’em to toss down their weapons, were we?”

“Stupid kind of joke,” the hunter said earnestly. “What if a man took it serious like?”

Eddis bit back a smile. Shed already noticed most of the Keep guards lacked a sense of humor. Blorys tipped her a wink, then went to open the door as someone tapped at the panel. A nearly bald old man in clerk’s robes came in with a small basket containing several dusty scrolls and another containing a stoppered ewer of water and plain wooden cups. The man murmured something rather anxiously. Blorys nodded and took the basket. The clerk scurried off, closing the door behind him.

“Wanted to know if we needed anyone to read Common,” Blor said as Jerdren raised an eyebrow. “Said some of these are old, the writing’s bad, and some are fading.”

“I’ll try,” Eddis said. She unrolled the first, shifting around until light fell on it, and pored over the contents. “Here,” she said at last. “This is from when Lord Macsen first began to build the Keep. He sent a large armed company on a long scouting party up the east road to see how far they could safely journey and what was there. And with orders—” her gaze flicked toward Jerdren—“to not take serious chances or engage the enemy, if there was one, because they were there to bring back information.

“Macsen’s men took their lord at his word—particularly the last words, because most of them returned alive. They’d spoken of orcs in a long, deep ravine where the road went northeast, of kobolds and something very large and dark that followed alongside them, back in the trees where all they could make out was the general size and shape and speed of it. It hadn’t come close, perhaps fearing their numbers, good arms and armor. They hadn’t gone after it, nor had they ever strayed from the road. They’d built large fires at night and kept watches by twos and threes, had heard plenty of wolves and other odd, disturbing cries in the night but saw only a huge flying shadow cross the fire once, nothing else.”

The second scroll yielded nothing but most of the rumors they’d already heard and a few new ones.

“Eater of men?” Jerdren scoffed. “That could be nearly anything! Orcs, lizardmen, ogres, too, though it’s said they prefer dwarf, and …” He faltered to an embarrassed silence, eyed Willow and Mead from under his brows.

“And elves,” Willow said dryly. “We know. Never mind, Jerdren.”

The third scroll was newer than the other two, less dusty. Eddis examined it for some moments, then glanced up. “I think I’ve found something. It’s—let me see—a new copy of a very old scroll, one Lord Macsen brought with him when he came here. There’s some notes here, see?” She indicated the beginning of the neatly written text. “It says, ‘I Veriyan, make this fair copy of a scroll scarce ten years old but damaged by the damp, and it was in turn a copy of one brought to these lands by the Lord Macsen himself. Some say the lord had that scroll from a kinsman who rode these lands and saw in person the wonders written down here. Others say that he bought the scroll or was given it, and this I believe to be true, since it was not ordered to be placed with histories.’”

Jerdren cleared his throat impatiently. Eddis shrugged and began scanning down the document as quickly as she could.

“Ah,” she said finally, “here is the most detailed thing so far. ‘To me it was told by one who journeyed there, a hero who knew nothing of the caverns until he drew near them and was accosted by dire and diverse enemies. Vast they are, with many ways in, and often the passage in is the only way out. Many the sorts of monster which dwelleth there, but like men and monsters, oft the varieties of these do not or cannot live together. For many long, weary days did this man and his followers battle the small dog-men armed with spears who withdrew from bright lights and fled from greater numbers. There they found the hyena who stalks on two legs and bears weaponry. Here were orcs, and traps, and the strange creatures that often inhabit the dark places of the world, and serve no one but themselves and their own hungers.’” Her nose wrinkled. Caves were all right, but nasty creatures lurking in the darkness… “‘And in yet another place, a vast silence and stench and a fear so great even the hero himself would not tread the darkness there.

“‘Often he spoke of these matters I here record and often told me how he came to believe all the foul creatures had been gathered by one master. Or, perhaps, dwelling there separately, they had come to serve a single master. But of this, he could provide no proof, though he said there were many caves he had not yet entered, or even discovered, when he and his men wearied of the battle.

“‘Here ends the tale of the caverns wherein dwelleth chaos.’”

She read silently and rapidly down the rest of the scroll, but it was short, and she soon rolled it up and laid it back in the basket with the others.

Brief silence. Blorys broke it. “It’s something, I suppose—let me finish, please, Jers. It seems to match with the other stories, so if it’s simply a tale, it’s consistent. That makes it more likely to have some basis in fact. We ourselves have seen orcs, and some of the Keep men have seen lizardmen. We have Mead’s word that there’s a strange or possibly mad man out in the north woods, in control of a mountain lion—but he may not be connected to the caves.”

“Maybe he was,” Mead said. “Maybe he was the one this hero suspected of controlling the caves and their evil occupants.”

“Anything’s possible,” Jerdren said. “To me, this scroll and everything else we’ve heard tells me we wouldn’t simply be riding out the east road to enjoy the falling leaves and the chill nights. And I’ll tell you what—me and my brother, we’ve fought not just orcs but worse monsters, way up on the north borders. We were part of an infantry company, sure, but we learned a few things there about fighting the brutes. They can all be killed, if you know what you’re doing.”

“And,” Blorys said, “if you have plenty of luck.”

“Same as for anything else, Brother,” Jerdren said, “but this I can tell you for fact. Creatures like that kill travelers, villagers, whatever’s handy or whatever they want. And they keep everything those folk had. Remember that one cave, Blor? It was the nastiest mess I’d ever seen—clothes and mail-shirts piled in heaps, rusted blades and arrows with the points all brittle and the feathers long since molted and half-eaten by bugs. Chests, locked ones, full of gold and silver coin, so much of it that it took three of us to carry it back to the commander’s wagon. And two others, filled with cut gems and jewelry, that made the dimmest man of us want to plunge his hands in it. Those bandits we just took maybe weren’t smart enough to hold onto much treasure, but you can trust orcs and the like to do just that.”

Blorys eyed him tiredly. “You’re still as much for it as ever, aren’t you?”

“Didn’t listened to what Eddis read just now, did you?” Jerdren countered cheerfully. He settled his shoulders against the mantle and gazed around the room. “Now—ah, Eddis, you’ve your own decision to make on this. And I’m not pushing you for any word tonight. So far’s I’m concerned, it’s the same deal as we made last time. Equal shares in decisions and responsibility, and equal shares to everyone of whatever treasure we find.”

“If I say yes,” Eddis replied, “and that’s only after M’Baddah and M’Whan and I have time to talk it over privately. That will only be after we’ve gathered as much information as we can tomorrow. This—” she tapped the nearest scroll—“is fine, so far as it goes, but it’s still too much ‘they say’ for my taste.”

“No need for anyone to decide tonight, then,” Jerdren replied. “Sleep on it, all of you. We can meet early tomorrow in the tavern.”

“Preferably,” Eddis said, “after the taverner’s had time to finish his bread and porridge and properly open the doors.”

“Huh?” Jerdren looked at her blankly. “We’ll decide who goes where, talks to whom, and once that’s done, we can meet again—late afternoon, maybe. We should know pretty well by then where we stand, I’d say.”

Eddis glanced at Blorys, who gave her a faint smile in reply.

“And then, since Ferec’s being generous with weapons and supplies again, we can get going on lists of what we’ll need, how many of us there’ll be, and so on. Only a fool’d go after monsters in caves with one decent sword if someone’d buy him a second to keep it company.”

“We’d want warmer clothing, decent food, plenty of lanterns, charms for making light and making fire,” Blorys said. He sounded resigned.

“Extra water bottles and plenty of travel rations,” one of the Keep men put in.

“And plenty more volunteers,” Jerdren finished.

“We could use someone who’s good at planning battles inside caverns, Jers,” Blorys said. “Last time you and I did that, we were following someone else’s orders, and that’s been a while ago. We have you two, for seeing far in the dark.” He indicated Mead and Willow with a nod. “If you decide to come along, of course. I’m thinking back to when we fought up north, and I’m saying dwarves.”

Jerdren frowned. “Dwarves? Why?”

“Because that kind of fighting is what they’re best at.”

“Dwarves,” Jerdren said again, darkly. “Doesn’t matter. Not likely you’ll find any around here.”

One of the Keep men cleared his throat. “Um, actually, there’s a pair of ’em came in just after we went out, down the walls. They were pretty beat up, from what I hear. Might not want to go anywhere, but just maybe …”

“Great,” Jerdren muttered. “Dwarves no one knows, dwarves no one here can vouch for, and wounded to boot.”

Eddis glanced at Blorys, question in her eyes.

He shook his head minutely and mouthed, “Tell you later.”

“Jers,” he said. “The dwarves who tried to betray us—that was an isolated incident, a clan that had been so ill-treated by men that it’s no surprise to me they turned to evil and joined the orcs. They’d been tortured, remember?”

“They said they had,” Jerdren replied.

“Why would they have lied about it? Doesn’t matter, though, Brother. These won’t be the same dwarves. I’m at least willing to talk to them without judging them by others of their kind.” Stubborn silence. “You know how angry you used to get when one of the officers looked at you and you could tell what he was thinking—‘Villager, country boy, common lout. Maybe he’s smarter than the deer he hunts, but probably not by much.’ Now listen to you!”

Jerdren’s mouth quirked. “All right, Blor, I know. I just… doesn’t matter. Each of you think about this tonight. If you want it, any of you, so far as I’m concerned, you’re in. Think about what you’d want for extra weapons and supplies, what we’ll all need.”

“Maybe,” Eddis replied sourly. “Personally, all I’m planning on is a decent night’s sleep. I don’t know when you slept last night, Jerdren, but I’m a much nicer woman to deal with when I’ve had a full night of unbroken sleep.”

“Fine. That’s it then. We’re done here?” He went to the door and knocked. One of the guards ushered them into the hall and another came from the head of the stairs to escort them down and turn them over to the main-floor guards.

There was no sign of the master and even less light along the walls. Somewhere in the distance, Eddis could hear someone snoring lustily. Sleep, she thought. I’m half sick for it. Until she’d had several hours of oblivion on that nice, soft pallet back at the inn, she wouldn’t give any further thought to this mad notion of the castellan’s—or Jerdren’s.

Jerdren, predictably, had the last word as they parted outside the tavern. Some of the Keep men had gone off to their barracks, and the elves were heading for the inn. M’Baddah and his son had already gone, and Blorys had followed the other Keep men into the tavern to secure a table and order wine.

“One more thing,” he said.

Eddis fought a yawn. “A quick one more thing,” she said. “I meant that about sleep.”

“Well, all right. One person I’ve already decided we need, if we can get him. I don’t know if you’ve battled in caves, gone looking for things hiding in them…”

She shook her head.

“Elves and dwarves are useful for seeing in the gloom, and Blor’s right, most dwarves are born to that kind of fighting. But when you’re up against foul things living in dark, twisty places, and they’ve been there a long time…”

“There’s a point here?” she asked as he hesitated.

“Thing is, we used the fellers back in the army as well, and dursed useful they were.”

Silence. She folded her arms and waited.

“Well, thieves. Remember that long-fingered lad who snipped your purse and nearly made off with it? That one—he’s good, Eddis. We could use him. And I wager if we asked nice, old Ferec would make us a present of him. Dungeons are rather full just now anyway, aren’t they?”

Before she could think of anything to say to this outrageous proposition, he smiled and strode into the tavern. A roar of excitement filled the room.

“I’m not going anywhere with him,” Eddis snarled under her breath, “because I’m going to murder him!”

She turned and stalked off to the private room she shared with Blot. Halfway there, she slowed her pace and began counting, up to ten and back down again, until her fit of temper eased. The poor child was no doubt still in terror of her. Not point in scaring her worse than she already was. Gods, she thought suddenly. If for some fool’s reason I do decide to take on this mad venture, what ever will we do with that child?