Child of Fate (21 page)

“Bonky does da taste testing!” Thork said.
Bonky made a sour face behind him. “Now you take dese people to da
surface or else!”

Bonky stood his ground and glared at the
towering troll. He stomped his foot and shook his head.

“Or else what?” Namitus asked softly.

“You fink blue is bad?” Thork grinned
wickedly. “Thork’s workin on a pink potion!”

Bonky gasped. He held up both hands and shook
his head, and then ran to a table and dove under it. Pots, boxes,
casks, and various other items came flying out as he cleared a
path, and then crawled out from under and started tugging on the
table. Thork chuckled and went over to help move the table out of
the way. Bonky jumped into the opening as soon as he could and
triggered a secret release that revealed a doorway built into the
wall.

The goblin motioned for them to follow him.
“Go wif Bonky. Him will get you out safe and sound,” Thork said.
“An’ if you see Barndoor, bash him once for me!”

“Thank you, Thork,” Alto said to him after
the others had begun filing out. “For helping us and for saving my
friend.”

Thork grinned and nodded. He moved over to a
shelf and grabbed a vial, and then tossed it to him. “Thork likes
you. Dis will help you if you get bashed. You got a bashin stick
already, dat’s good!”

Alto looked at the club in his hand. He
chuckled and held up his bashing stick. “Took this from a mountain
troll after they broke my broadsword. I’m better with a sword.”

Thork looked thoughtful for a moment and then
shrugged. “Bashin’s bashin.”

Alto considered the sage advice and said, “I
guess it is.” He shook his head and chuckled, and then turned and
hurried after his companions.

He ran into Trina less than a dozen feet up
the passage. “What were you doing?” she snapped at him.

“Saying thank you,” Alto said. “What are you
doing?”

“Making sure another one of you stupid boys
don’t get yourself hurt!” She spun away and stormed off.

Alto stood still and watched her retreat
until he realized the light from Karthor’s holy symbol was fading
away. He jogged after them until he caught up, and then wordlessly
took the rear guard.

Bonky led them for what felt like hours. The
passage opened into natural hollows in the rock occasionally but it
never once had a side passage cross it. The blue goblin stopped and
pointed at a section of the wall that looked no different than any
other. The only thing that distinguished it was that it was in
front of them rather than on either side. They’d come to a dead
end.

Bonky pantomimed pushing it and walked up to
it to show them where and how. Alto and Tristam joined him and
heaved against the rock. It rolled away slowly and threatened to
crush them if they let go of it.

“Go!” Alto told them. “I’ll hold it.”

The others filed through the opening and into
the cold mountain air of the surface world. Stars shone down on
them from above, proving they’d been in the caves another day. Alto
let go of the rock and leapt out before it rolled back into place
and sealed Bonky, and the tunnel, off from the outside world.

“Saved by a troll and a mute goblin,” Namitus
wondered aloud.

“That was no ordinary troll,” Kar said
stiffly.

“What gave it away?” Karthor blurted out.

Kar leveled a disapproving gaze at his son’s
sarcasm. “His weapon and shield, for one. I’ve heard that tribes of
ogres, trolls, and other savages have shamans amongst them. Some
have even claimed to have seen shamans among large goblin tribes.
Even so, Thork was special, I think. Tired and without support from
me, I suspect fighting him would not have gone well for us.”

Alto thought to the small metal flask he’d
tucked into his pouch. He agreed; Thork was definitely out of the
ordinary!

“Now where are we?” Tristam said after a few
moments of quite reflection passed.

Kar turned and stared at the stars above. His
breath puffed out before him as he pointed at constellations in the
sky. He muttered to himself and then nodded. “Amazing, we’ve come
some distance underground. We’re near the coast, in Kelgryn
lands.”

Trina gasped and turned to stare into the
darkness at the hills around them. She marked a few stars she knew
from sailing and turned to the south. “I’ve never been here, but if
you’re right, the wise-woman isn’t far off. A few hours? Less than
half a day’s travel, I’m sure of it!”

“We’re not being paid to escort a Kelgryn
princess,” Tristam grumbled.

“What about rescuing one?” Alto asked.

Trina turned on Alto and clamped her jaw shut
at the last moment. “We’d rescued ourselves!” she protested.

Alto held his hands up. He hadn’t meant it
that way! “No, I meant—”

“He’s right,” Tristam said, interrupting him.
“Returning you to your people will no doubt be rewarded.”

“Might go a ways toward thwarting any ill
will between nations, too,” Kar advised.

Tristam nodded and grinned. “Might be we can
wangle a reward from both kingdoms!”

Through it all, Trina glared at Alto. She
turned and stormed away, brushing past Namitus without even
noticing him. Namitus watched her go and then turned to look at
Alto. He offered a sad smile and a brief shake of his head.

“In the morning then,” Tristam said. “Let’s
have a camp and be rested for it. I expect we’re safe here but all
the same we’ll have no fire. It’s to be a cold night, but the first
man that thinks to snuggle with me will feel my fist warming his
nose.”

William and Karthor chuckled. Alto joined in
but his thoughts followed the young Kelgryn woman who stood a
distance away and stared into the night.

William was the first to bemoan the lack of
horses the next morning. The walk through the foothills and along
the coastal plains took several hours, but they were hours in which
everyone knew something was amiss. Even the herds of elk and the
wolves that stalked them were absent.

“It’s begun already,” Kar noted.

“What’s begun?” Tristam snapped at him.

“The war,” the wizard said. “Or at least a
marshalling of forces.”

“Maybe we’ve earned a bit of respite after
the last few days,” William suggested.

“He’s right,” Patrina said. “My people should
have patrols out; we’d have been seen by now and stopped for
questioning.”

Alto decided to risk her wrath by asking a
question. “Where are they?”

“The horns must have been blown,” she mused.
“They’ve gathered the Kelgryn to search for me.”

“Or to avenge you,” Kar suggested.

“Horns?” Alto asked, ignoring the wizard’s
dark thoughts.

“Signal horns,” she said. She lapsed into
silence as they walked, and then pointed to the northwest.
“There—the wise-woman lives at the base of that mountain.”

“A few more hours then.” Tristam judged the
distance.

“Shouldn’t we hurry?” Alto asked. “If things
are in motion, there are lives at stake!”

Tristam chuckled. “Things will happen the way
they happen, lad. Besides, we stand a better chance of earning more
contracts if there’s strife in the northern reaches!”

Alto’s scowl matched Trina’s gasp. Tristam
turned and chuckled when he saw them. “I can almost remember being
young and full of ideals once. Almost. Don’t worry. We’ll do our
part in putting an end to it before it gets too ugly.”

They lapsed into silence and continued
walking. Flies plagued them across the plains, adding discomfort.
They endured the walk until a road became visible in the distance.
Sensing an end to a part of their journey was near, they picked up
the pace.

Kelgryn guards wearing mail shirts over
padded leather met them when they followed the road into the
foothills. One wielded a long spear with a broad blade and the
other had a poleaxe. Both had long, curved knives tucked into the
belts.

“State your business,” one of the guards
challenged Tristam.

“I’m here to see the wise-woman.” Patrina
stepped out from behind Tristam and Alto. She threw back the hood
on her robe so they could see her clearly.

“Lady Patrina!”

“I thought she wasn’t a lady?” Alto whispered
to Karthor. The priest scuffed a boot and shrugged.

“There’s much more to this young woman than
we know, I think,” Kar mumbled behind the young men.

“These aren’t the Jarl’s men with you?” the
other guard said after studying the Blades of Leander.

“My father’s men were killed by bandits and
thugs hiding in the guise of Kingdom soldiers. These men found me
in the caves beneath the mountains I’d been taken to and helped me
escape from the goblinkin that I’d been turned over to,” she said.
Alto noticed how Patrina held her head high and her back straight.
It wasn’t so different from when he’d first met her in the
cave.

“I’ll take you to the wise-woman at once,”
the first guard said. He glared at his companion to keep from
speaking out of place again.

“Thank you,” Trina said. She glanced at the
others before adding, “Please see to it that my friends are fed and
tended to; we’ve had a long journey and many battles.”

“Sounds like a tale fit for song,” the guard
said with a smile.

Trina glanced at Namitus long enough to
remember she didn’t want to look at him. “Perhaps it is,” she
offered.

She said no more as the guard led them down
the road and into a small village. He spoke to a few other Kelgryn
before leading Patrina down the road and out of the village,
farther into the hills. Alto watched her go until one of the
Kelgryn cleared his throat to remind Alto that he was being
honorably escorted elsewhere.

They were taken to a long building that had
several tables set up within it. Once seated, they were left alone
in the building to look at one another and the trophies that
adorned the walls. The heads and furs of bear, elk, wolves, and
other creatures boasted the skill and strength of the Kelgryn
warriors.

“So what more is there about Trina?” Alto
looked at Kar and asked.

Kar held up his hands. “Short of communing
with powers beyond your understanding, I can’t begin to guess.”

Alto’s brow furrowed at the confusing answer.
Tristam tapped the table with his fist hard enough to draw his
attention and keep his mouth shut. Three Kelgryn women entered,
bearing food. The first set a large plate of bread on the table
before them; the second placed a pot filled with a steaming stew.
The third carried bowls and empty tankards.

“The ale’s in the barrels; help yourself,”
she said after placing the cups before them.

“This is why we do it.” William grinned to
Alto and climbed from the split log bench. He moved to a tapped
barrel and poured the ale into his cup. He sampled it, the foam
clinging to his lips like the mustache of an old man.

Alto turned to look at Kar. He laughed before
he could stop himself. “What?” the wizard asked.

“William looks a little like you,” Alto said
with a grin.

They turned to see the confused warrior
looking at them. He licked the foam from his lips, helping everyone
understand what Alto had noticed. They laughed, with the exception
of the surly wizard.

“Bah, this is no time for drinking. There’s
trouble afoot! Drowning your senses won’t help you figure a way out
of it.”

Tristam rose from the table to join William.
“Perhaps not, but a little might take the edge off your sharp
tongue,” Tristam said. Karthor followed suit and soon only Alto and
Kar remained at the table. Alto shrugged and rose up. He was
curious; he’d never tried anything but water, milk, and some
foul-tasting teas his mother had made when he’d been sick as a
boy.

Alto found the ale bitter but it had a
thickness to it that suited him. He sipped at it slowly, afraid
he’d make a fool of himself if he went too fast. Namitus passed out
the bread and they dipped their bowls into the pot to fill them
with stew. Within moments, even Kar’s mouth was too filled with
food to worry about talking.

With the pot empty and the companions
groaning at the stretching of their bellies, Tristam turned to
Namitus. “Seems you’ve overstayed your welcome here,” he began.

Namitus frowned and then nodded. “It does
look that way.”

“You’ve proven yourself to me; you’re welcome
to come with us,” Tristam offered.

Namitus tilted his head as he considered it.
He opened his mouth but Tristam held up a hand. “But if you do,”
the warrior said, “I’ll not have any surprises that come back to
haunt me.”

“That’s fair,” Namitus said. “I only hid my
past from the Kelgryn for fear of my life.”

“That worked out well for you,” Kar
observed.

“I’m still alive,” Namitus pointed out,
drawing a chuckle.

“So what more should we know about Lady
Patrina?” Kar persisted.

Namitus sighed. He looked to Tristam and the
others until his eyes rested on Alto. “Her father is the jarl,
which is akin to a prince in the Kingdom. He—”

“Nonsense!” Kar spouted. “Jarl is the same as
a duke. A prince is a prince!”

Namitus nodded. “Normally, yes, but it’s
little known outside of royalty that Jarl Teorfyr is the
half-brother of King Eomund.”

Alto gasped. “So she really is a
princess?”

“Yes and no,” Namitus said. “If the king were
to die and his sons and daughter with him, then Teorfyr would be
next in line and then Trina would be a princess.”

“So she’s important, but only in the most
desperate of situations. In all likelihood, her life will be
uneventful and the common man will never know the difference,” Kar
reasoned.

“But she’s important enough to start a war
over,” Karthor reasoned.

Kar belted out a laugh. “Most women are, boy!
A bat of their eyes and they can drive the sanest of men mad with
passion.”