Sorcery, Schemes and Skelt: The Kinowenn Chronicles Vol II Read online

  “Hi, Justin,” Taran said as they hugged.

  “I love the haircut Maya.”

  “Thanks.”

  He clasped hands with Gavin and hugged Lucy.

  “Come on in,” he gestured. “I have breakfast on the table.”

  Gavin led the way, never one to turn down food, even if he had already had one breakfast. Taran noticed that Justin and Lucy walked to his cabin hand in hand. He arched an eyebrow at Justin. Justin grinned. Taran had been expecting them; there was fresh bread, still warm, plenty of sausage for Gavin, raspberries and strawberries, and porridge simmering over the fire. Taran provided simple food, but it was always good and filling.

  “Were you able to find us a guide?” asked Justin.

  “He’ll be arriving shortly, I believe.”

  Lucy noticed Taran looked both amused and apprehensive when he said this. She wanted to ask him about it, but figured she would find out soon enough. They finished breakfast and waited outside for their guide. Taran led Justin away from the others.

  “Serious or casual?” asked Taran.

  “Casually serious,” Justin quipped.

  “Does she know?” Taran asked seriously.

  “Nothing.”

  “You should tell her.”

  “We are taking things slowly,” said Justin defensively running his fingers through his hair.

  “That sounds like a poor excuse, especially for someone as wonderful as Lucy. She deserves to know and you should trust her enough to tell her.”

  “Like you’ve never kept secrets,” started Justin.

  Before their conversation could escalate, they heard Maya.

  “Taran?” she called, her voice full of questioning warning.

  Now it was Justin’s turn to cock an eyebrow. Taran grinned back, their current argument put on pause, and then composed his face. They returned to the group; Justin smiled both in greeting and amusement. Taran was in trouble.

  “Hello Joss,” said Justin. “Good to see you again.”

  Joss grinned. They clasped hands. Joss kissed Lucy on the cheek.

  “Taran,” said Maya, “Joss claims he’s here to be our guide, and I claim you wouldn’t do that me.”

  Everyone out of Maya’s range of vision grinned.

  “Joss grew up in an area north of here. North is the direction you’re going. I assure you, no one knows the area better.”

  Maya glared at Taran.

  “I can find you another guide, if you want, but I’m not sure it will do much good.”

  “Why is that?” asked Maya, obviously displeased with the entire situation.

  “Because I’m heading that way anyway so I’d join you even if you got another guide,” Joss answered for Taran with a winning smile. “For some unknown reason, I enjoy your company.”

  Maya transferred her glare from Taran to Joss, rolled her eyes in defeat, and shouldered her pack. She headed towards the paddock of horses Taran kept. The rest of the group followed her.

  “Are you coming with us this time?” Lucy asked Taran hopefully.

  “No, sorry. I have something else that needs seeing to.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. I would have enjoyed your company. Maybe next time?”

  “Maybe.”

  They said goodbye to Taran and rode north following a trail through the woods. The Karrenna mountain range bordered them to the west. They rode in silence, Joss leading. Lucy looked around her at all the beautiful trees and enjoyed herself. She loved being outdoors, and she loved traveling on horseback. Nothing beats the taste of fresh air. The mountain peaks were breathtakingly beautiful, although they looked hazardous to travel through even on a sunny day. The horses walked contentedly, occasionally whuffling, as they made their way steadily north.

  “I thought there would be more magical creatures on Kinowenn,” Lucy commented to Justin, breaking the silence of the group.

  “More than what?”

  “More than I’ve seen,” replied Lucy.

  “I’m sure there are,” said Justin laughing.

  “I don’t understand,” said Lucy with a frown.

  “First of all,” said Justin, “We have spent most of our time in areas populated by humans. As a rule, magical creatures get along better with some of the other races. You couldn’t take two steps into the Elven forests without encountering something. The Wild Woods has plenty. The Dwarven mountains also have their share because the Dwarves live in the mountains leaving almost everything above ground alone. You can’t throw a rock in the mists without hitting something magical. Secondly, the magical creatures that live near humans tend to be ones that blend in well. People mistake aberrates for squirrels all the time. Their ears have tufts, their eyes are bigger and they have an extra toe on each paw,” he elaborated at a questioning look from Lucy. “Thirdly, I don’t think you are looking very well. Often, you are preoccupied with your own thoughts or we are training you. Taran has pixies and toad stool people in his gardens. That’s why they are so beautiful, well-tended, and lush year round. If you are waiting for them to step out and introduce themselves, you’ll wait a long time. Magical creatures have learned that there is safety in subterfuge.”

  “Pixies?” asked Lucy. “Really? I guess you are right. I should pay more attention.”

  “Only, if you want to see more magical creatures,” said Justin with a shrug. “Some humans go their whole lives without seeing any at all and are quite happy with things that way. Some humans fear and mistrust magic, and all that goes with it. Other humans search them out. Some hunt them. Some enjoy them. An old woman living alone at the edge of town is probably not very alone at all. Some shepherds know that if you leave a thimbleful of whiskey for the brownies, they will help look after the sheep.”

  “That sounds like an old wive’s tale,” laughed Gavin. Although unconcerned by his lack of observing magical creatures, he was interested in the conversation.

  “Perhaps,” replied Justin. “That doesn’t make it false.”

  “I’ve been told that the brownies in the north prefer rum to whiskey but will look after sheep for either,” said Joss with a smile.

  Everyone laughed. What Justin said made sense. She had read about magical creatures on Kinowenn. Did she expect that they would know she was open-minded and meant them no harm? Did she expect to see swarms of fairies flying around like a butterfly migration? Would she have been paying enough attention to notice they were fairies and not butterflies? Obviously, there was magic going on all around her that she was missing. Lucy cautioned herself to be more observant.

  “Anything specific we should watch out for?” Lucy asked Joss, changing the subject. Maya gave her a dirty look. Lucy shrugged. She was curious. Besides, she didn’t feel the need to be rude to Joss simply because Maya had issues with him.

  “This and that,” replied Joss. “I’m sure we’ll run into something you’d rather pretend didn’t exist. This close to the mountains though, you have to be careful of the mist.”

  “What’s wrong with the mist?” asked Lucy.

  “It’s not so much the mist as what’s in the mist.”

  Maya snorted.

  “What’s in the mist?” asked Lucy, ignoring Maya.

  “All sorts of things. In this area, you have to be particularly careful of the fairies and the sprites. When the mists flow down off the mountains, the fairies come with. They like to play with beings different from themselves.”

  “How do they play?” asked Lucy suspiciously.

  “The usual mostly: seduction, leading travelers astray, practical jokes, dancing, causing confusion, and other entertaining enjoyments. Some of them enjoy having fun and are harmless. They are the ones that dance with humans. However, even they can be dangerous. They may dance you over a cliff, either accidentally or on purpose. Some of them do have violent, unsavory needs. The Shillocks like to hunt you down and suck your blood. It’s really the emotion of fear they feed on, but that’s in the blood. We’ll be fine except for the ones th
at feed off magic. We might attract them. We’ll be a big enough group to give most of them pause, unless they are starving, or if they’ve started hunting in groups.”

  “That sounds like fun,” said Gavin.

  Lucy couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or not.

  “Have you traveled through the mists before?”

  “No one travels through the mists. Not unless they really need to. I’ve never needed anything that badly. I only know a little from staying in towns where the mists flow in.”

  “You listened too much to old men over their beer,” smirked Maya.

  “Sometimes old men and their beer are worth listening to,” said Joss with a shrug.

  They traveled for a couple of days peacefully. The weather was fair. The terrain was far from flat, but the trail was easily navigable. On one side of the trail, hills rose, rocky and green. On the other side, hills sloped downwards. There were sporadic copses of trees on either side of the trail. Sleeping outside was pleasant and the mists weren’t a problem.

  Remembering her earlier conversation with Justin, Lucy tried to pay more attention to her surroundings. She wasn’t sure what she was looking for, but she looked. Once, she was sure a squirrel winked at her. Another time, she thought she heard a caterpillar say ‘hello’. She wasn’t sure if it was a magical caterpillar or if it was channeling in on her ability to communicate with minds and animals. She fell asleep at that point so the talking caterpillar might have been a dream. She never did know for sure.

  Maya tended to ignore Joss. Whenever they did speak, it tended to turn into a mini squabble. Lucy was unused to seeing Maya on equal footing with a guy. Joss didn’t seem to mind. He seemed more amused than anything. It was obvious he had an effect on Maya. It was a long way north; he had time. Gavin was relaxed. He enjoyed talking to Joss and keeping his weapons ready. Justin and Lucy enjoyed traveling and being with the group. However, it did put advancing their personal relationship on hold.

  Just as the weather started to turn nasty, they reached Clev. Clev was less of a city and more of a sprawling hamlet or town. It was big enough for several inns, a general store, town hall, blacksmith, weaver, tailor, cobbler, and wood worker. However, the town was not set up with any specific organization in mind. Trees and buildings sort of haphazardly coexisted. There didn’t seem to be specific streets so much as intentional winding paths around flower beds and chicken coops to front doors. The front door of the next shop was often facing the opposite direction of its neighbor.

  Lucy was glad they had reached a town and were planning to find an inn. It was starting to drizzle and the mists were rolling in. Lucy had never seen mist act the way this did. It was almost a solid free-thinking entity. It flowed down the streets and over buildings, tendrils reaching and grabbing. There was something almost magical about it, but with a sinister edge. Lucy saw people walking through it, so it obviously couldn’t harm anyone, but she didn’t want it touching her all the same. Perhaps her imagination was running away with Joss’s stories. That was the uncomfortable knowledge about the existence of magic and magical beings. If there were people using magic for good, there could also be people using magic for evil. She wanted to meet the pixies that lived in Taran’s gardens, but she did not want to meet the negative equivalent living in the mists. The mists kept creeping up on them. Lucy thought she kept seeing movement out of the corner of her eye. She was glad when they wandered around a goat pen to face an inn.

  Joss led them to the Full Tankard. A respectable looking inn but not as fancy as the Lion’s Wine across the way, on the other side of a row of trees. They paid for two rooms on the second floor and dinner. The rooms were standard. Two single beds, a small wardrobe, and a washstand. The bedding looked clean and Justin pronounced it bug free. After stowing their gear, they went down to the common room. Garrulous laughter, crackling logs on the fireplace, the smells of hot stew and spilled beer emanated out of it. Justin entered first and while heading to a corner suddenly moved faster making an exclamation of delight.

  “Kinda! Allar!” The others watched as he warmly hugged an Elf and a Dwarf.

  Chapter 9

  Introductions were made all around. An immediate sense of comfort surrounded them all. Allar was the Elf. Taller and thinner than any of them, he still managed to look muscular. His shoulder length black hair was tied back, enhancing his angular features and pointed ears. His eyebrows arched up over bright blue, alert eyes. He was dressed in traveling clothes; his boots were speckled with flecks of mud. His clothing was tough leather rather than any type of armor, but Lucy was sure it was enough protection against the average foe. He wasn’t wearing a sword or a bow, so Lucy assumed they had rooms here, but she noticed several daggers on his person.

  Kinda, interestingly enough, was a female Dwarf. She was barely four feet tall, broad at the shoulders, stocky, and wearing chain mail even in the peaceful inn. She had fine blond hair, like corn silk, down to her waist, beaded and braided. She also had blue eyes, a large nose, and a round face.

  Lucy wasn’t certain which of the two was more dangerous; both radiated a sense of deft competency. Lucy was fascinated by Kinda, the first female Dwarf she had ever seen. She tried not to stare, but she couldn’t help it and hoped Kinda wasn’t too offended. They all sat down together and ordered stew, bread, ale, and wine.

  “If you don’t mind my asking,” Lucy addressed Kinda, “Isn’t an Elf an unusual traveling companion for a Dwarf?”

  “Very,” replied Kinda in a low, soft, but hearty voice. “Dwarves are happy in their mountains. We don’t travel much as a rule. I have met the occasional wandering Dwarven musician. Generally, if we leave our mountains at all, it is with other Dwarves and almost always for war or trade. Besides mining what else is there in the world?” intoned Kinda with a self-deprecating shrug.

  “Then, how did you…?” wondered Lucy.

  “There are many things I wanted to go out and see for myself. I thought I would work on making accurate maps as I traveled. I have always loved maps. There’s something fascinating about looking around you at a bunch of trees and then at a place on parchment and knowing that if you go a certain direction you’ll end up at that spot on the map over there. I wanted to visit the actual places that maps depicted rather than trust they were there. I wanted to see if there were places not on the map and make maps for them. What happens when you run out of maps? Do you run out of land? How accurate are the maps we have? Maps fascinate me,” said Kinda. She looked at Lucy with eyes pleading for understanding.

  “Maya is the one who likes maps,” said Lucy with a smile. “I follow her.”

  Maya nodded while eating. She had been listening to Kinda’s story. Convinced that even though Lucy didn’t share her adoration of maps, but accepted her none the less, Kinda continued her story.

  “There was not a lot of interest in joining me. Understandable, I suppose. Dwarves like security, reliability, and dependability. Mountains are dependable. The town down the river attracts traders who buy Dwarven wares dependably. Why go looking for anything else? Fearing I might be a bad influence, I was politely shoved out of the mountain with weapons and provisions with the request I return when I’m more secure, reliable, and dependable.

  I had only been wandering around for a couple of days before I had a run in with some Trolls. Nasty things, Trolls. I’d advise avoiding them. While searching for a defensible position, I came across Allar who was also looking for a defensible position against the Trolls following him.

  “I’ve got Trolls behind me,” he said.

  “As do I,” I replied.

  “The enemy of my enemy is my friend?” Suggested Allar with a smile.

  “We can discuss that if we live,” I quipped. I grew up with the general derogatory opinion of Elves, but I’d never met one myself. The threat of Trolls encourages one to be open minded in her allies.

  We fought back to back and slaughtered quite a few Trolls. Exhausted, we decided to stick together till reaching t
he next town. Safety in numbers sounded like a good idea at that point.”

  “Or, rather, she had food and I didn’t,” interrupted Allar.

  “Yes, but you had some salve so it was a fair trade. Troll cuts are poisonous,” Kinda explained to Lucy, “One had cut my wrist.”

  “We travel together from time to time if our purposes coincide,” said Allar. “Turns out we rather enjoy each other’s company. If nothing else, the attention and speculation we get from other people is interesting.”

  “Where are you headed?” Kinda asked Justin.

  “North,” he replied.

  “Not a good way to go,” said Allar.

  “Should we bear east? Is something going on?”

  “I’d chuck the whole idea if I were you.”

  “Not an option,” replied Justin.

  “King Lionel of Fredamonn and King Temarr of Lerramorre are at it again,” said Kinda.

  “They’re always going back and forth. The boundaries of those kingdoms haven’t been consistent for thousands of years,” said Joss with a dismissive wave of his hand.

  “Yes, but this time, we hear it’s all-out war. The rumors say King Temarr has called in the Ostrakan Army,” said Kinda.

  “That does sound serious. What possessed him to do that, I wonder?” pondered Joss.

  “Can we go around?” Justin asked Joss.

  “Not easily. The Ondra is swollen this time of year. We’d have to go pretty deep into Elven country. Then, we’d still have to cross the river and we’d be spotted pretty easily. The Elves and Skelt don’t trust each other and always have scouts on their own sides of the Ondra. Despite what’s going on, I still think the easiest way is straight north, hoping the kings are too intent on mutual destruction to notice us. Unless, of course, you want to go to the Elves?” Joss asked Justin.