Disclaimer: This is not the final version as it will be available from the usual e-book sellers and eventually, bookstores. Rather, it should be seen as an (almost) final draft. If you are interested in becoming a beta reader, or you have any comments, suggestions or thoughts that you feel I should consider before publishing please drop me a line using the contact form.
Parting Ways
The next day, Caerel and six men left before dawn. The rest of them occupied themselves preparing for their own journey the following day and assisting with the many tasks that needed to be done to strength the Inn. A very exhausted Talathiel came down from the roof towards the evening, announcing that the river had agreed. The moat clearly wasn’t ready but there were vast indentations in the banks just to the north and south of the ford, and the river was swirling violently there. Ala wasn’t completely sure what Talathiel meant with her statement, but she somehow thought that she shouldn’t be too surprised if the course of the river turned the Inn into an island or connected it to the other side of the river sooner rather than later. Caerel returned a little after sundown with twenty five stout, though lightly armed peasants in addition to the men he had left with. Ala was out in the courtyard when they arrived.
“Caerel, good to see you. Seems you managed to find some men, thankfully.”
“Aye, we did. We’ll also be receiving some supplies and some men who can help with more fortifications. All in all, not a bad day’s result. Some more militia men should also follow in the next few days.”
“Well, that sets my mind a little more at ease at least. Let’s see if Helmut has any stew left. Must have been quite a march.”
“We’re definitely due for that, aren’t we lads?”
Ala heard the men agreeing with him as he led them off to the common room. Ala followed too, eager to hear if there was any other news. They had spoken till quite late and the innkeeper was nowhere to be seen. Ala was about to make her way up to her shared room when she noticed her friend, the serving girl, Alissa was still up and looking at her with an attentiveness that hadn’t been there before.
“Are you alright, Alissa?”
She seemed to be shocked by being spoken to, almost as if she thought she would be beneath notice now that Ala was being adressed as a lady. “Eh… yes… mistre… Lady Alagariel.”
“Please Alissa, call me Ala. We’re friends, that hasn’t changed, has it?”
“I… I don’t know.”
“It hasn’t changed for me, OK? Now, what is it?”
“I don’t… I shouldn’t…”
“What, bother me with it?”
Alissa nodded.
“Look Alissa, Please just call me Ala, like you used to. This silliness about titles and nonsense… I’m still the same person.”
“I… I wanted to know…. Is it true that Abraham Toddson was hung in Duilhac?”
“I’m afraid so…” Ala detected something in the girl’s manner, that it was somehow a deeply important question to her. “Did you know him?”
“I…” she seemed to give up, “he was… a friend I suppose. A bit of a father figure. You know the story of my real father.”
Alissa’s father had been an earth elf who had apparently bedded Alissa’s mother when he was at the Ford Inn. Whether it had been love, or prostitution or even rape, Alissa simply didn’t know. Her mother had never explained. Nothing more had ever been heard of the man.
Alissa’s admission shocked Ala. She knew all about surrogate fathers, it was the same relationship she’d had with Bernard. She’d known Alissa for decades, they’d found common ground in both their heritage and lack of knowledge about the people that had conceived them. Alissa had comforted Ala when she had visited the Ford Inn looking for Gabriel and Ala had known her mother too. They had been friends for a long time.
“I’m so sorry… I… don’t know what to say. I never knew.”
“I don’t know… why he felt he needed to see if I was alright when he was at the Inn, but he always did. I last saw him, when he left here, in a hurry. He was chasing you I think… he was with the Constable’s son and some other rough sorts that he really shouldn’t have been with.”
Ala had certainly had a hand in Abe’s death. Jake’s too, which she hadn’t told Martha. She had managed to banish it from her mind while they were riding around the Westmarch, but now, confronted by someone who had been close to one of her victims, she was having pangs of guilt again.
“I’m sorry Alissa, those men he was with… he and them, they tried to kill me on the way to Peyrepertuse. The Duke… he sentenced him to be hanged for it.”
“I know, the soldiers said so…” she sighed. “I knew the Constable’s men were trouble…”
Alissa’s words tapered off as she looked into the distance, eventually continuing, “he even brought me a little money sometimes, you know. He didn’t have to. Didn’t want anything for it.”
“I’m sorry. I must be honest with you, Alissa, he was hanged, at least in part, on my testimony.”
“I guess I’d not expect different, you… you and the militia have a reputation in these parts. Strict and honest. It was foolish of him to be involved with those men. But then that describes much of his life I guess. He never made the best choices.”
“Not that it makes any difference, but I find the Duke’s justice harsh. Not that that is of any use to you.”
Alissa just shrugged.
“Will you be alright? The innkeeper, your mother was his… great aunt? Am I getting that right?”
“That is right. He still tolerates and feeds me. Doesn’t really approve of me… of Abe, or my mother, or anyone really… He doesn’t approve of ‘the entire disaster of my birth’, as he puts it. I’ll just have to find another way to get by. I’ve managed before. It’ll be alright…”
Ala couldn’t help but wonder what service she might offer travellers to achieve that. It didn’t strike her that a young woman like Alissa had many options if her uncle didn’t provide for her. Ala found it difficult, being confronted by the consequences of her actions in such a way. She had known Alissa before, knew she was related to the Innkeeper, but to find out that you are at least in part responsible for the death of someone who was dear to a friend weighed heavily on her. She knew Abe wasn’t an evil man by nature, just someone with poor judgement. Should she have made some greater effort to protect him? She would have to think about it, she knew, to come to terms with it.
“The Inn is likely to be occupied by Taladarian troops for a while.”
“Better than those Phansigar types, at least.”
Ala couldn’t help but feel responsible for the girl.
“Do you want me to ask Lord Caerel to take you on, in some position?”
“I’d just as soon make my own way, I think.”
“If you’re certain… I can only say, take care then Alissa, I hope your fortunes take a turn for the better. If I can ever help… well… please… let me?”
“You’ve always been nice to me Ala, that’s already more than most.”
“Good luck, Alissa. I really hope when we next meet things will be better.”
Before they left the following morning, Ala found Brugor and explained about Alissa and how she felt guilty about what had happened.
“Not any fault of yours, Lady Alagariel. I’ll tell you what though, a friend of yours, is a friend of mine. I’ll find something that the Duke’s Regiment needs her services for and compensate her fairly? That all right?”
It made Ala happy and she gave Brugor a hug, which caused the big man to blush.
“Thank you Brugor, that makes me feel a lot better.”
\bigskip
Caerel elected to leave with them again the following day to make for Pearson so he could gather yet more troops. The village elders he had spoke to the day before had promised to gather more men and send them the Ford Inn too. They’d also sent messengers to other villages, which would hopefully also yield some results. Everyone was ready to depart at dawn the following day. Myrthe didn’t enter the room Ala shared with Ala and Talathiel until very late. Ala could guess with whom she had been. Caerel, accompanied by three men would travel to Pearson to request proper soldiers as well as militia men from the Baron of Sheffield who had his court in castle there. Ala and her friends were to travel to Peyrepertuse, looking for Phansigar on the way.
They started the first leg of the journey was together. A little less than half a day’s ride to the first caravan stop, called Hightower, the the two groups would part ways. Caerel and his soldiers would make the rounds nearby, raising the muster at the local villages and return to Ford Inn quickly with what men he could.
Hightower was at a crossroads, where the trade road that ran more or less parallel to the river, heading north towards Pearson, met the trade way from Thetwick. It was really a large fortified farmstead with multiple families living and working there. The sign proudly proclaimed it to be a Freehold, which meant that the families there weren’t serfs and held at least some of the land in ownership. Usually that was only a small part of it and most of if was farmed according to a contract with the Baron of Sheffield.
Caerel had written Ala a charter authorising her to inspect anyone from Thetwick to Duilhac or anywhere else in Taladaria if she deemed it necessary. It also instructed Constables across the Duchy to hold anyone she wanted for as long as she deemed it necessary. It was pretty sweeping and Ala wondered what the Duke was going to think of it. She had no intention of abusing the rights afforded her but Caerel’s assigning them to her did feel a little like youthful over enthusiasm. Caerel didn’t seem the slightest bit worried about her misusing the document in some way, he probably hadn’t even considered the possibility. Either he was an extraordinary judge of character, or more likely it was a bit of youthful naivety. She had decided to think of it as a vote of confidence rather than any youthful oversight. The boy had aged immeasurably since they had left Peyrepertuse. He did the Duke proud and Ala no longer had any doubt that he would make a fine Duke one day.
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