Silver May Tarnish (22 page)
Read Silver May Tarnish Online
Authors: Andre Norton
By the time I set her down at Elesha's cottage I had come to a decision. I should not hire more guards. But most dalesmen can fight, and many of the women are adept with light bows. I sat to write, then I sought for and found Dogas, one of Levas's men.
“You know the Inn at the Cross-Roads where go Levas and my lady?” He nodded. “Take two horses and ride there in haste. I would warn them.” He was a steady man. I told him something of events that he might know where and of whom to be watchful. As he swung to the saddle he nodded again.
“I'll ride wary. If I look to be taken I'll destroy the message.”
“Do soâin secret. Let them not know there is information to be had lest they attempt to wrest it from you.” It was unnecessary to tell him that, yet I wished him to know I had a care for his life.
He should reach Meive almost as she arrived at the inn. I
had writ of all I knew and much I thought. She would understand the dangers. I could trust her to choose good people for Honeycoombe. There were almost thirty cottages here. Vari and Levas had their cottage but had also taken rooms within the keep, as had his four men. Elesha had taken a large cot, one which had belonged to the dale's baker. She and Vari's daughters Aria and Manan baked for us now. The four children dwelled with them.
had writ of all I knew and much I thought. She would understand the dangers. I could trust her to choose good people for Honeycoombe. There were almost thirty cottages here. Vari and Levas had their cottage but had also taken rooms within the keep, as had his four men. Elesha had taken a large cot, one which had belonged to the dale's baker. She and Vari's daughters Aria and Manan baked for us now. The four children dwelled with them.
Thus there was ample room for any new incomers, yet we must be cautious. If we took too large a group from any one place they could turn against us. There can only be one voice to command. Meive was lady here and I would see none deprive her of her rights. Yet Meive was no fool. She would have the same chance in mind and would choose carefully. Levas was a man well able to judge those who came seeking a new home. He would not wish the order overthrown we had established. I should put such things from my mind. There was other work to do.
Indeed there was. I drilled our people, walked the dale to see all was well-kept, listed who should be sentry and watcher, and oversaw all that was done within our lands. At night I fell into my bed and slept as though struck down. Twice I went with the horse-team and a stone-boat to plunder Merrowdale further. Elesha came with me both times, her knowledge and advice most valuable. We had fed the sheep from stored hay and grain so that now they came running when they saw us.
“Best we catch soon the ones you wish to have for ourselves,” Elesha advised the second time. “We can pen them in the inner vale with the cattle. If none who spy on us can see them they may believe us poorer than we are. That is always safer.” It was good advice and I took it. We made a day of the hunt, luring the beasts into Merrowdale with the grain then blocking the path by which they came and went.
We ended up with two rams, one older, one a yearling. Of the ewes we caught eleven, all of them black or brown and all I thought to be in lamb. With them we took a further
half-dozen healthy yearling ewes, too young as yet to bear their own lambs but with good fleeces. After that I heeded Elesha and took a number of the yearling rams. Those could be kept apart and slain over Winter if necessary, whenever the hunting was poor and we were hungry for meat. We should also continue to eat the surplus goats, although some of those we had taken to Merrowdale and left to breed for the benefit of Salas and his people.
half-dozen healthy yearling ewes, too young as yet to bear their own lambs but with good fleeces. After that I heeded Elesha and took a number of the yearling rams. Those could be kept apart and slain over Winter if necessary, whenever the hunting was poor and we were hungry for meat. We should also continue to eat the surplus goats, although some of those we had taken to Merrowdale and left to breed for the benefit of Salas and his people.
The inner vale of Honeycoombe was rich pasture since it was well irrigated by the water which streamed down the cliff sides when it rained. Yet with the horse-team, the sheep, Cream and her herd, and all the mounts Meive had taken from the bandits, the pasture there was becoming hard pressed. There were also our two mules, together with mounts and pack-ponies which belonged to none in particular but which had come with us. I left the mules and Elesha's goats to pasture openly within the dale. With them I allowed another eight horses, the poorest in appearance, to roam.
To any who spied it would look reasonable, as if the beasts were all we had. Tas and Drustan I kept in the keep stables. It was useful to have beasts that could be saddled swiftly in an emergency and needed not to be coaxed to hand. I left, too, the stone-boats, stacked under a pole roof behind one of the barns. Let any who came believe we had used our own beasts to drag them. The stone-boats, as the team hauled them up the trail from Merrowdale, would have torn out the hoof-prints so none should guess at our team.
“Lord, my Lord! Riders and walkers come, I think it is the lady who leads them.” I ran, as eager as the child to see. It was as she had said, Meive led a small weary group of travelers towards Honeycoombe. She halted her mount when I came riding. I saw swift pleasure in her eyes as she saw me so that I forgot myself and swept her up in my arms. I hugged her hard. She freed herself gently, her cheeks pink, her eyes smiling.
“Such a welcome. I should leave more often.” Her voice was teasing so that I knew she had taken no offense.
I spoke lower. “You need not leave for that.”
She blushed. “I received your message. I purchased supplies here and there so none should remark. But I have five good bows and all the arrows I could buy. I have also three good swords. We should also send Levas out to buy elsewhere before Winter comes. It would be well for him to rid us of a string of our horses. There are too many for the land. Let you come now and meet those I chose for Honeycoombe. The winged-ones approve them all.”
She turned to introduce me to those who came forward at her call. It was a mixed group. I could see that four there were of one family. A half-grown boy, his younger sister, a smaller boy, and with them a man. His right arm was injured so that he used only the left. His deftness one-handed spoke of long practice, so I judged it to be an old wound. Of the others I found we had a sister and brother, a middle-aged man who had to ride, since he was lame, and two women, also of middle age. I grinned wryly at Meive as I drew her apart.
“What of them? I know you chose not on strength of arm.”
“That I did not and you should be glad of it. The man and his children came from a dale which the invaders found. His wife died as they fled. He was wounded and the injury healed awry since they had no healer. He cannot use his arm though he can grasp with the fingers. But he is a decent man, loves his children well, and moreover he is skilled.”
“What skill?”
“He is a leather-worker. He can prepare hides or furs, and his children, too, begin to learn. Already the elder boy can mend footwear and cobble boots which are none so poor.” I rejoiced in that. Such skills were useful in any dale.
“If you have done as well with the others then have you done very well.” My tone was hopeful.
“I think we have done not so ill.” Meive looked pleased. “The lame man is a potter. He can make dishes, cups, anything we require so long as we have clay. And that we have.”
“I saw none?” I said in surprised question.
“Yet it is there. I can show him once he is settled in. The two who led the pony are sister and brother. They have no skill but are young and willing to work. Their mother is dead and their father died with their lord in the war. They did not like his heir, though I suspect it was more a case of his heir liking the girl too greatly. Therefore they took their pony and cart with their goods and set out to find another place. They are used to beasts and the work of the land. I thought to give them the sheep to tend. I think they will do well:”
“And the last two? What are their skills?”
“They have abilities and knowledge we may use.” There was something in her voice which said she felt here was a bargain. I waited. “Both spin finely. One weaves. See the cloak she wears.” I had seen. It was very beautiful, of a soft green hue, the shade of beelove leaves in early Spring.
Meive was speaking again. “I have rarely seen so tight and neat a weave. The other sister is a dyer. The cloak's color is of her doing. But Lorcan, both can shear also. Are we not fortunate?”
I caught up her hand. “That was well done. We captured the sheep while you were gone. We have almost twenty to be our flock and yearlings to feed us during the Winter chill. So, we shall have plates from which to eat, mugs we may drink from. Leather and furs, woolen hangings and bedding, why, almost do we have all a dale requires.”
“What else would you have then?”
I shrugged. “A horse-master, a weapons-master. A keep passage to the inner vale, Hogeth's being uninterested in us, the death of all bandits ⦔ I went on, becoming more outrageous in my desires until I had her laughing. I thought
how beautiful she was when her face and eyes lit with joy. Would that I might always bring her laughter. Would that she was mine. But of those wishes I did not speak.
how beautiful she was when her face and eyes lit with joy. Would that I might always bring her laughter. Would that she was mine. But of those wishes I did not speak.
The nine who were new to Honeycoombe settled in quickly. They rejoiced in cottages of their own, the sisters taking over what had been the weaver's cot and which still, in a room to one side, contained the large cloth-width loom. They had brought with them two smaller hand looms, dye-pots, dye-sticks, cakes of the dyes created, and other minor items. Within the week they had shorn the sheep we had and while one wove, the other was exchanging information on local herbs and dyes with Meive.
Meive set the sister and brother to tending the sheep. They would learn to shear from the older women and also save them the harder, rougher work of being out with the flock. They took a tiny cot, and settled in there with obvious content.
The leather-worker had received a vast stack of dried hides and furs gathered over the past months since we had arrived back in Honeycoombe with Levas and his men. I had seen to it nothing was wasted nor ill-done, so he was pleased with his raw materials. He took a larger cot so he and his three children would have room both to live and work. The elder boy was already taking boots from us to mend, replacing worn-through soles and nailing on new heels. The two younger children had joined Elesha's pack and added their sharp eyes to the sentry dutiesâsomething they enjoyed, since the other children at once explained the benefits. It was not long before the new children had earned their first sweets and loudly approved the system.
The potter took a greater time to be ready. Levas and I would have built him a kiln save that Meive knew of one in Merrowdale. To Merrowdale we went, returning in triumph with a kiln ready to use. It was then Meive revealed another secret I had not known.
“This way.” We went where she led until she halted at a
distant comer of the inner vale. “Can you dismount and walk a few paces on foot, Master Elban?” The potter nodded, peering eagerly about him. We raised lanterns as Meive led the way. To my surprise she walked forward into a shallow depression in the cliff-face. At the back she turned sharply into shadows and vanished. I was close behind her, an arm ready in case our potter stumbled. Within the shadows lay a turn in the cave, behind which was a second wider cave, the back wall of which was of strange appearance. Our potter limped forward to scrape a handful of its substance into his hands.
distant comer of the inner vale. “Can you dismount and walk a few paces on foot, Master Elban?” The potter nodded, peering eagerly about him. We raised lanterns as Meive led the way. To my surprise she walked forward into a shallow depression in the cliff-face. At the back she turned sharply into shadows and vanished. I was close behind her, an arm ready in case our potter stumbled. Within the shadows lay a turn in the cave, behind which was a second wider cave, the back wall of which was of strange appearance. Our potter limped forward to scrape a handful of its substance into his hands.
“Clay, of fine quality. How does it come here? Is this some store?” I lifted a lantern to light the wall and could answer.
“I think it is natural. See, Elban. The wall here has fallen away and behind is clay. I think the lower under-side of the hill here is clay, and with a piece of the rock fallen the clay oozes through.”
Meive was nodding. “We have known of this since first Honeycoombe was settled. Tomas, who had some small skill, made dishes for everyday use. Sometimes he took a pony-load of the clay to Merrowdale. They would exchange our clay for the right to fire in their kiln other work Tomas had done. The lord of our dale had finer things but they came from further North.”
Elban smiled gently. “Your Tomas had only small skill, that is true. I have seen some of his work in the cot I was given. It holds the shape required without leaking and that is all one can say of it. But I trained under a master potter. I will make you such plates and dishes as will sell to traders. Better yet, when the land is more settled, let you take a load of my work, well packed in straw, and offer them to daleslords.” As we talked we had moved back to stand outside the cave. I signaled Meive that she should leave us. When she was gone I turned to Elban.
“I believe you can. But why come here where you are far
from lords and markets? Why not remain in the North and reap the rewards of your skill?” I looked into his face and made my own stern. “You hide a secret. You are not the first to think our dale a refuge. So long as you have done no evil my lady and I would not drive you forth. Let you tell me why it is you chose Honeycoombe.”
from lords and markets? Why not remain in the North and reap the rewards of your skill?” I looked into his face and made my own stern. “You hide a secret. You are not the first to think our dale a refuge. So long as you have done no evil my lady and I would not drive you forth. Let you tell me why it is you chose Honeycoombe.”
His look was bitter. “Because in the North, where the invaders came and stayed for whole seasons, too many know what I am. The son of the enemy. How think you I gained my lame foot? Was it my fault some sneaking spy of Alizon came into the North? Many years ago they looked first towards the dales. One came to my dale pretending to be an honest trader. He cozened my mother, who was barely a woman. She lay with him believing his lie of love, and I was born. I have never been of great size and strength, so once I was of age I was apprenticed to a potter.
“He was a good man and a fair master. He taught me well and I had a talent for the work, so what I did sold and I could keep my mother in comfort. Until Alizon came again. Then the men of my dale remembered; they saw my thin body, my fair hair, and they called me an enemy within their gates. One night they came hunting. Before dawn my mother was dead, slain by a blow gone awry as she tried to protect me. I was lamed. My lord said he would have no trouble-maker in his dale and sent me forth.
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