Toil and Labor

As King Eleazar meets with Queen Mathlyn and her sisters, Muld and Syndi begin to explore their surroundings.

7.

Toil and Labor

 

“Jevon?  Rick?  Hello!   Anyone here?   Hello?”   Tadd called out into the empty building as he hurried inside to get out of the cold.    Several inches of sleet had fallen the night before which made the early morning miserable.

“Where is everyone?”   The Halfling asked out loud as he rushed around to get the business ready to open.    He knew Mutt would be off dealing with old man Kanstyix’s request, but he couldn’t imagine where Jevon and Rick were.  

“Maybe their doors are frozen shut,”   He again spoke to himself as he plopped down on his stool to begin looking through the orders for today.

A note addressed to him caught his attention and he opened it.   It was from Jevon explaining (vaguely, though the Halfling didn’t know it) why he was going off to Losasidhe to fill some orders.

“Yesh preserve me!   What will we do?”   He wrung his hands anxiously trying to formulate a plan to cover for Jevon.   He debated heading over to Rick’s apartment to see if he was there, but before he could make up his mind the customers began coming in.    A line quickly formed and the Halfling tried to hurry through them.   Most wanted some sort of heating magic (due to the cold front that had moved in) and all he could do was write down their requests and tell them he’d send word when their orders could be completed.

Sory and Jelbus " twin human teenagers who worked in the warehouse assembling devices to be enchanted- 'came into the shop and he immediately pressed them into assisting with the customers.

“If you both will help me out this morning, I’ll teach each of you five Practical Magic enchantments and give you jobs as enchanters.”

It was a promotion that both boys had hoped to achieve after years of labor, so they immediately agreed to the deal and this helped him greatly.

“I’m going over to see what happened to Rick; I’ll be back in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay, Tadd, don’t worry, we’ve got this under control.”

Tadd nodded, not at all certain of that.

 

***

 

“Thank you all for assembling so early this morning after such a stormy night,”   King Eleazar told the crowd assembled in the royal audience hall, “We are most anxious to hear what Queen Mathlyn, Princess Valmiai and Lady Elina can tell us about what happened to Master Muld and Princess Syndi.”

 

Eleazar nodded to the three ladies, and Mathlyn arose and spoke, “Clearly Muld and Syndi were soul-mates and Aleiryid joined.    I have spent several days reflecting on what little that I know.    I do know that Mórálach was greatly concerned about elves and faerie creatures.    In fact, after creating the Inion Sidhe, he told us that he had very little time left and that he was going to prepare a ‘pool of healing’ for all elven races.”

“Did you speak to him directly, Queen Mathlyn?”   Sophia asked from her place at the long table.

“Yes, I and my sisters spoke to him briefly.”

“Did he give you any indication where this pool was located?”   King Eleazar asked.

“He called it the ‘Island of the Fae’ and said it was eastward, across the sea.”

“He told me that it was a heavily wooded island that would keep the elves that lived there secluded from the rest of the world, due to its few harbors.”  Valmiai added.

“The pool had a waterfall and it was in the very middle of the island.”   Elina added, “He wanted it to be a safe-haven for all elves or fae creatures.”

“Could it be the island of Albyia?”  Deborah asked the three ladies.

“I’m not familiar with that name,”  Elina said with a shrug.

Valmiai and Mathlyn conversed privately together for a moment then Mathlyn spoke up, “We think that could be it.   We both remember hearing about the fierce elves that lived in Albyia and ‘Albyia’ is old elven for ‘White Elf Island’.”

“Let’s look at the old maps and see if that will clarify it,”  Eleazar said and several ancient maps were unrolled on the table before them.   For a long time everyone examined them.

“I don’t see one named Albyia, but here is an island with an inscription under it that reads, ‘Here Druids keep out all intruders.' .   Could that be Albyia?”  Queen Aurei asked and all eyes looked to the three Inion Sidhe women.

“Mórálach greatly loved two things:   Beauty, especially feminine beauty, and nature based magic.    Druids would make sense as rulers of Albyia.”    Mathlyn said.

“One of the old texts that we found in King’s Reach mentions a High Queen of the elves of Albyia that ruled through her control of nature.”   Zeatt told them.

“The Southern Empire has sent legions against Albyia and I know that the report of the scouts from a few years ago mentioned fierce elven tribes on the island, but no report of a High Queen,”  Deborah told them.

“I did some probing for updates on the campaign by the Southern Empire into Albyia by talking to merchants who had been in Aeropolis recently.   They said that the Imperial armies are having an extremely tough time establishing a toe hold on the ground.”

“Were there any mentions of magic used against them?”   Sophia asked her husband.

“Maybe - there were several ships wrecked by sudden storms that came up over the few harbors that were safe to land.    One Auxiliary legion just disappeared after being sent into the forest to scout.”

“Do they have any maps of Albyia?”   Aurei asked.

“No, at least none that I could see.   What few maps of the island that do exist only show the outline of its shape as very few have landed and gone ashore.”

King Eiolmoel stood and held up his hands, “Gentlemen and ladies, clearly we are not going to get confirmation that Albyia is the same island where Mórálach placed the magic pool.   I fear we’ve wasted enough time.    I have two airships ready to sail to Albyia in search of my daughter and Muld.   I realize this is somewhat of a chance, but I feel that we need to take that chance as it is the best lead we have.”

“You will need powerful wizards and a sizable guard, “  Eleazar replied, “I will send two of our newest warships as escorts.”

“The Southern Empire might see those airships as a challenge to their claim on Albyia,” Deborah said, “I’d like to accompany this expedition.”

“Khord and I also plan to accompany them,”  Sophia announced with a confirming nod from her husband.

“Excellent!”  King Eiolmoel answered, “We will depart at dawn tomorrow - with King Eleazar’s permission.”

“Absolutely!   I have ordered four of the royal cartographers to accompany this expedition - one on each airship- to make a more exact map of the island if that is possible.   Now that we have settled on a plan, I’d recommend all of you on the expedition to rest today and make preparations for your journey.”

The meeting dissolved soon afterwards, sending everyone hurrying off to prepare.

 

***

 

It was a bleak, cloudy day when Syndi and Muld left the cave and swam quietly to the surface of the pool.    Only the upper parts of their heads broke water until they had verified that no-one was around.

“The Imperial camp is through the trees, a little way from the beach,”  Syndi whispered as they floated in the water.

“It looks like it is late morning, so this plan may not work,”   Muld replied, “Maybe we should wait until this evening.”

“We won’t know when evening arrives if we stay in that cave.”

“Yeah, that is true.   Well, okay then, go ahead and cast that fog spell around us.”

Softly she chanted the spell and immediately afterwards a thick, damp fog surrounded them.

“Wow, look at that!”   Syndi said as she beheld the spell’s effects, “It’s more powerful than I’ve ever seen it.   The fog is thicker.”

“It’s this magic pool.    Can you feel the chill in the air?    The water is warm though it is autumn here.    That’s why we’re not freezing to death - the pool is keeping us artificially warm.    When we go ashore, we’ll quickly get cold.”

“Well, I’ve already cast the spell, so we’d better get it over with.”

Muld nodded and they began swimming as softly as they could, to the shore.

The fog followed them and absorbed much of the sound of their swimming.   With the blanket of heavy mist around them, they were not completely certain of their direction, but Muld had carefully marked in his mind the path they needed to take once they reached the shore.

As he had predicted, as soon as they left the pool they noticed how cool the air was.    This only fueled their determination to find clothing, so grasping each other’s hand to keep from getting lost in the fog, they walked slowly forward.    They had to watch their feet and use their other hands to feel where they were going.

For a minute they stumbled around until they located a narrow footpath leading away from the beach.

“The Imperial Camp should be off this path,”  Syndi whispered to Muld as they inched their way forward.

For several minutes they just concentrated on walking.   The path led upwards from the beach and then turned slightly to the right.

Ahead they could hear muffled sounds and they proceeded with caution.

“Hey, Martio, look at this!   This fog is rolling toward us like it’s alive!”  

The voice came from ahead of them and Muld now recognized the common language which was used in the Southern Empire.

There came the sound of a pair of running feet and then another voice spoke.

“It’s coming up from that damned faerie pool!”

“I don’t want it to engulf me!”   The first man said fearfully.

“Stand your ground, legionnaire!”   Martio growled, but he sounded more than a little apprehensive.

“It’s almost upon us, Martio!”   This was followed by the sound of a sword being pulled from its scabbard.

Muld began softly chanting a silence spell, wishing as he cast it that he had a Drow silence stone to use instead.

“There’s a voice!  Martio, listen!”   The guard said excitedly.    Muld and Syndi had stopped moving closer as Muld completed the spell.

“I hear it!    I’m sounding the alarm!”  

But before Martio or the other soldier could shout out a warning, Muld’s silence spell activated.    Syndi and Muld rushed forward, expecting a fight with the two Imperial soldiers, but the moving fog, combined with the sudden loss of sound had been too much for them and they had turned and bolted.

Muld knew that they would be yelling out as soon as they left the area of effect of his spell, but they had to keep moving.

He nearly stumbled over a dropped legionnaire spear and he picked it up, glad to have a weapon.

Syndi tugged on his arm and he felt her leading him off the path.   A large tree loomed suddenly out of the fog before them and she led him around it until it stood between them and the edge of the camp where they had encountered the guards.

A moment later his spell ended and as he had expected, there were shouts of alarm from somewhere ahead and the sounds of running feet.

“What now?   They might not be as afraid of the fog as a group, and I don’t know how much longer the fog spell will last.”   Syndi asked.

“Let’s utilize it while it still is in effect.   Let’s move through these trees- we should only be a few yards outside the perimeter of the camp.  Imperial camps follow a specific pattern.   They usually are square in shape with guards every twenty feet or so, but since this one seems to be in a forest clearing, they may not have guards close to the trees but closer to the tents.”

“So we move forward with the fog?”

“Maybe they’ll back away from it and we can slip into a tent before the spell dissipates.”   The pair had only moved forward a few feet before they heard the legionnaires reach the site of their encounter with Martio.   Muld and Syndi immediately stopped and knelt down and the magic fog stopped with them.

“There ain’t anything here!”   One voice said in annoyance, “It’s just some sort of swamp gas or something like that - see; it’s not even on the path.”

“It was a moment ago!   It’s moved!   I swear, it was moving toward us!”

“So what?   It moved off the pool, that’s all.   Haven’t you ever heard of swamp gas?”

“This ain’t a swamp, Drey!”

“No, but the pool probably has a hot spring feeding it and the heat from it meeting up with the cool air makes a fog - that’s all.”

“But it was moving toward us, and for a moment we couldn’t hear anything when it rolled over us!”

“It’s not moving - see it’s just a patch of it over where the vegetation is.   You let your imagination get the best of you.”

“Drey, I’m telling you, that is a supernatural fog!”

There came the sounds of laughter and soldiers ridiculing the man’s fear.

“Horres - stay with Martio and Octovus in case the big bad fog tries to scare them again.   The rest of you, let’s get back to our prisoners.”

They heard the sounds of men walking away, grumbling.

“Horres, I tell you, that fog is alive!”   Octovus said.

“Sure, Oct, sure!    You ain’t supposed to drink on guard duty.”

“I haven’t had a sip of alcohol!   You just keep your eyes peeled.   When it moves again, you’ll see.”

“Oct, this place has got you scared of every shadow.”

“Well who would blame me!    You saw what happened earlier!”

“Yeah, but that was down there at that faerie pool.”

“We’re still too damned close to it.   Who knows what lives in there!”

“Take it easy, Oct!”   Martio spoke up, “We’ve got the 12^th and 16^th legions sailing to join us in less than a week.    We’ll pull out whatever faeries are in that pool and show them what it means to attack Imperial legions!”

“They can’t get here fast enough for me!   We’re too few in number, Martio!    They should have given us more than a century of men!”

“You don’t send out a regiment to scout, Oct!   As much hassle as we had reaching this damned pool, would have been compounded with more men.”

“Yes, but I would sure feel better.    A hundred men just don’t seem like enough in these dark woods!   This whole island gives me the creeps!   It’s like it is alive!   I feel like there are eyes watching us all the time - especially at night!”

“You’re cracking up, Oct!    Sit and calm down a while.    Horres and I will monitor the fog.”

“Just watch it, Martio!   You felt it too!”

“You’ve just got me spooked, Oct, that’s all.    They’ll rib me about being scared for months.   I ain’t going to be spooked over a fog any more.”

“It’s alive, I tell you!”

“Just sit down and get your wits about you.   Be a man, Oct, not a rabbit.”

 

Octovus didn’t respond and Muld hoped that the other two guards would tire of staring at the fog before the spell ended -which could be at any moment.

A loud shout from within the camp, followed by the sounds of coarse men laughing cruelly at some misfortune filled the air and a few moments later the fog spell ended.   Thankfully, the spell did not cause the fog to just suddenly vanish but slowly disperse.

Muld and Syndi crouched down, but the three guards had turned and stared back into camp at the sound and didn’t notice any change of the fog.    But Muld knew that would probably change when they turned back around and glanced in their direction, so with a gentle nudge, he pushed Syndi forward through the brush, while the dissipating fog concealed their movement.

Fortune smiled on them and they emerged into a clearing between two large canvas tents that gave them concealment from both the guards at the perimeter and those gathered in the center of the camp.

“We’re out of sight for now,”   Muld told Syndi, “But we’re certainly not safe here.”   Muld squatted and felt the bottom edge of the tent.   It was taut and would not yield.   The Practical Magician spoke a few arcane words and made a motion with his hand as if cutting something with scissors, against the side of the tent.

A moment later a long crescent shaped cut appeared in the fabric and he pulled it down and peeked inside.    Gesturing for Syndi to follow him, he slipped within.   The Losasidhe princess followed him, entering into a supply tent filled with wooden boxes on carts.

“We were very lucky; this is one of the quartermaster supply tents,”  He whispered as he knelt by the cut fabric and softly chanted the Mend cantrip to hide the arcane cut he had made.

“That was a handy spell,”  Syndi said, “I had forgotten about the Cut Fabric Cantrip until I saw you cast it.   Hopefully all my memories will be restored to me soon, though I didn’t realize that I hadn’t recovered all the spells and cantrips that I once knew.”

“Sometimes the simplest ones are the best.    Both of them are common amongst Seamstresses and Tailors, but thankfully Practical Magicians know them too.”

“What do we do now?”

“We find something to wear and a place to hide until tonight.”   Muld crept over to the front of the tent and examined the flaps then gestured for her to join him.

“Anyone could come in here at any time,”  He explained to her in a whisper, “So let’s quickly find some clothes and then hide.   From the sounds coming from out there, they have a couple of prisoners that they are harassing.”

“I wish we could see who the prisoners are.”

“Too dangerous right now.   We don’t want to get caught.   Let’s go through these crates as quietly as we can.”

They examined four crates until they found one packed with the red wooden tunics and trousers worn by the Southern Empire’s legionaries.   The clothing was rather coarse and mass produced, but designed for long, hard campaigns, worn under armor, so they were sturdy.

“At least it’s warm, if not very fashionable,”  Syndi commented as they hurriedly dressed in the tunics and pants.

“From the looks of it, we’re in the camp of one of the Southern Empire’s Auxiliary legions.”

“Is there a difference?”

“The Auxiliaries are sent in to the more dangerous parts first, to appraise the situation.    Their troops are from the poorer classes and are not as well trained, as they are considered much more expendable.    Their equipment is older, passed down from the ‘regular legions’.”

“So their presence here means that this is a dangerous place?”

“Maybe, but it also could mean that this is the first time they’ve been in this area, so they are just now scouting it out and the Southern Empire doesn’t want to endanger their regular legions until they know what they are up against.”

“Those guards mentioned two legions that were coming to assist them,”  Syndi mentioned as she rummaged through the clothing crates.

“That could be a problem for us.   Those on their way here are not auxiliary legions.   We’ve got to get out of here before they arrive.”

“There are cloaks in here and those weird sandal-like boots that the Imperial soldiers wear.”

“Find some that fit and put them on,”  Muld told her as he looked inside another crate.

“Have you found any weapons?”   Syndi asked in a whisper after finding a cloak.

“Not yet; I hope they don’t keep the weapons in another tent.”

“I wish there was food stored here.”

“They have that in the mess tent, I’m afraid.   There could be ration packs in one of these crates, though.   Wait a moment… yeah, I see a box of them in this crate.   We’ll take some of them - they should have crackers and dried meat as well as a flint and steel in them.    The legions issue them for the battlefield when they are far away from the mess tent.”

“You seem to know a lot about the Southern Legions, Muld.”

“Yeah, now that my memory is cleared up.    I lived in Aeropolis for years and you’d see a lot of soldiers there.”   He brought out a small wooden box that was filled with small leather sacks.    He handed four to Syndi and took some for himself, then carefully placed the box back into the crate.

 

A few minutes more of exploration was rewarded with a discovery of crates of chainmail and swords.

“Should we put the mail on?”   Syndi asked, frowning at the weight of the armor.

“It isn’t elven chainmail, so it is heavy to wear for any long period of time.   I think we should favor speed and quietness, so let’s leave it.   We’ll take a sword for each of us.   The legions wear their swords from shoulder straps, not from a sword belt at their hip.”

Syndi unwound the strap of a sword and slipped it over her shoulder.   “If they catch us with their gear on, they’ll be very annoyed.”

Muld nodded, “Let’s try not to get captured.    Now let’s see:   We’ve got clothes, cloaks, footwear, some rations and swords.   Let’s seal up everything so they won’t expect anything if they come in here and we’ll hide in the back of the tent close to where we came inside until it is dark.”

The two of them carefully put things back in place and had barely retreated to their hiding places when the tent flap flung open and two soldiers came inside.

“She ain’t talking to him at all,”  One soldier spoke while there were sounds of a crate near the tent entrance being opened, “If you call all that squeaking ‘talking’!”

“He’s damned lucky she didn’t try to eat him,”  The second soldier replied and both men laughed at this.

“Do you think she knows what he is?   Maybe she’s scared of him.”

“I don’t know, Auris.   We don’t want her accidentally cutting through his cords and freeing him.   Post four men around the pen at all times, one at each corner.”

“Alright.    Are there any orders other than routine scouting patrols?”

“No, I think we’re better staying close to camp.   Those things in the pool might be lurking around, but they’ll not come into camp.”

“I sure hope not!   They just disappeared under the water, Auris!  I’ll bet there’s a cave under there.    Who knows how many of them are under there.   They were using magic, that much is certain.    Probably wizards like the old man.”

“He’s a Druid, Beny.”

“Magic’s magic.”

“Not exactly, Beny.   Druids use nature based spells that are dangerous in the wilderness.   That’s why we keep him gagged, okay?   When we feed him, have a guard with a sword to his throat so he’ll not start chanting a spell.”

“Those two in the pool could be some of his apprentices.”

“I’m not sure what they were; they could have been some manifestation of the pool.”

“Really?   You think the pool is alive?”

“I don’t know what to think.   I just know that I’ll be relieved when the legions arrive.   Come on, I’ve found the tent pegs, we’d better get back to our prisoners.”

The two men left a moment later, leaving Muld and Syndi to ponder what they had overheard as they quietly waited for night to fall.