The Rose and the Skull

12

A horn continued to blow mournfully throughout the night. As the first snow of the year began to fall, outriders were sent along the better-known trails, calling for Lord Gunthar in case he was lost in the dark. Uhoh slipped past them without being seen, but as he neared the castle, he wondered how he was going to get around the guards at the gate. He sat in the bushes with Millisant at his side and waited. There was nothing else to be done, but he simply had to find a way into the castle without being seen. Soon the snow lay thick across his shoulders and stood in a comical white pile on Millisant's snout. She whuffled and settled onto her haunches, blinking her long lashes at him. Uhoh nodded, as though he understood her perfectly.

As Uhoh sat there, growing sleepy with the cold, a commotion erupted near the gate. Lord Gunthar's horse, Traveler, had appeared from the wood, lame with a tusk wound. As Uhoh watched, Liam Ehrling and Tohr Malen came out from the castle and examined the shivering, exhausted horse, while more riders were quickly mounted and sent out in search of Lord Gunthar. From the castle poured a great many of the other Knights, while a crowd of lingering fair-goers gathered close by to try to get a glimpse of the horse. Uhoh slipped in beside them and inched his way toward the gate, Millisant at his heel. He glanced around and saw the guards busy watching the spectacle, so he dashed beneath the postern and into the courtyard of the castle. As he entered, grooms from the stables hurried out to see to Traveler's wounds, while villagers and Knights alike speculated upon Gunthar's fate.

More than once as they made their furtive way to the stable yard and the kennels, Uhoh and Millisant were forced to detour around Knights and guards nervously patrolling the castle. Luckily, there were still quite a number of peasants and merchants who had not yet gone home from the fair. Besides, what was one more gully dwarf or dog?

Sheep, cattle, and goats wandered the night-darkened grounds searching for some nibble of food, or huddled in small pens sleepily eyeing all the commotion. One old heifer waited alone by her owner's stall, lowing pitifully for a milking, but no one paid her any mind. Every so often, a trumpeter atop the tallest tower of the castle blew his mournful dirge over the forest, a noisy beacon to those lost in the night.

After what seemed liked hours, Uhoh finally reached the stable yard. He found it empty and dark. Inside the stables, horses from the hunt slept in their stalls, while the grooms and retainers were out searching the grounds for any sign of the castle's lost master. Uhoh crept to the door of the kennels and silently opened it. A low dangerous growl answered him.

"Shhhhh!" he hissed.

The growling stopped. "Who there?" someone asked.

"It me. Uhoh Ragnap, esquire," Uhoh answered.

"Uhoh dead. You his ghost?" A note of fear had crept into the speaker's voice.

"I not dead!" Uhoh said. "See. No spook. Me real." He proudly slapped his chest.

Slowly, a pair of gully dwarves appeared from the darkness. Uhoh stepped back so they could see him more clearly in the dim light from the courtyard. One of them was small even for a gully dwarf; she hardly came up to Uhoh's elbow. The second gully dwarf, though much larger than his companion, kept fearfully to the shadows. He was taller than Uhoh by a head, not counting the nest of hair standing straight up from the crown of his head.

"We hear they blow horn for you," the taller Aghar said from the shadows.

"Me no lost," Uhoh said. "Uhoh never get lost."

"What about time when… " the taller one began, before the shorter gully dwarf interrupted him.

"They blow horn 'cause you dead," she said as she stepped forward and gave Uhoh a vicious poke to the ribs. "But you not dead. You 'live!" She stepped back in awe.

"Me almost killed by slagd," Uhoh said. "But Uhoh 'scape. Very clever."

"Slagd!" the tall one cried as he vanished again.

But the short one was not so credulous. "Where you see slagd?" she asked suspiciously.

"Uhoh not see. Uhoh picked up, dropped on head by slagd, almost killed!" Uhoh said.

"If you not see slagd, how you know they slagd?" she asked.

"Shut up, Glabella," Uhoh said to her. "You not understand 'cause you not there."

"Psh. You lie," she answered him.

"Me not lie. Papa dead!" Uhoh shouted impatiently. His voice echoing around the stable yard sent him cringing into the shadows of the kennel. He lowered his voice. "Papa dead," he whispered. "Me there. He tell me Knights bad. He tell me secret nobody knows, me run away home. He tell me tell nobody."

"Papa dead?" Glabella asked. "What secret?" she added with a greedy hiss, her little black eyes flashing.

"Me tell you, it not a secret no more. Very imp… very imp… very big secret. And slagd want to kill me."

"Why they try kill you?" Glabella asked.

Uhoh scratched his cap and thought for a moment. "Don't know," he said finally. "Maybe they mad 'cause I kill their pig."

"What pig?"

"Big pig what we hunt," Uhoh said.

"Psh. You lie. You not kill pig. Nobody ever kill pig."

"You not know nothing," Uhoh snarled. "Pig dead. Papa dead. Slagd try to make Uhoh dead. Me run away now."

"How many slagd?" the tall gully dwarf asked from the darkness.

"Two!" Uhoh said importantly.

"That many!" the tall one screeched.

"Shhhh!" came a hiss from the darkness. Someone yawned loudly, but Uhoh couldn't tell if it was another Aghar, or just one of the hounds.

"Be quiet, Lumpo. You scream like someone step on toe," he reprimanded the tall gully dwarf. "I sneak back to get things. Now I go home." He entered the kennel and felt his way to the far wall. There he found a small, wellchewed leather bag with a long strap. He slung this over one shoulder and turned to leave, stumbling over the bag because it hung almost to his feet. "Millisant, come!" he whispered. By the time he reached the door, the female hound was at his side, her long tail wagging excitedly.

"Why you run away, Uhoh?" Glabella asked in sudden concern. "You no lie?"

Uhoh stopped and placed one hand ceremoniously over his protruding belly. "Uhoh swear," he said.

"Slagd really try to kill you?" she asked.

"That right. Me know secret. They try to make me talk, but me get away. Millisant come, bite slagd on tail, he drop me on head. Me run away." He patted Millisant on the head, ruffling her ears. She licked his filthy face.

"And Papa say Knights bad?" Glabella asked, catching Uhoh by the sleeve as he started past her.

"Not all, he say. He say warn the rest. You warned now. Me go home."

"Home!" They were awed by the magnitude of his decision.

Glabella sniffled. "Me go home, too," she said. She dashed off into a corner to gather her things. Uhoh sighed and scratched Millisant behind the ears while he waited.

Suddenly, Lumpo turned and vanished into the utter darkness of the kennel. "You not leave me alone with these gullduggers," he cried. "Me go home, too."

Soon Uhoh's companions were ready. Each one wore a leather bag similar to Uhoh's slung low to the ground. Glabella's dragged behind her wherever she walked. With a sigh and a shake of his head, Uhoh stumbled out into the stable yard with Millisant close at heel. Glabella followed, and Lumpo brought up the rear.

"Where home?" Lumpo asked.

"Town," Uhoh answered.

"Oh. How far?"

"Two days. Not more than two," Glabella said.