The Staff of Naught (9 page)

“Tanner,” said Shamki with a nod of his head to the wagon.

Humbort nodded his head and the two stopped and waited by the side of the road. The young teenager, Tylan, was at the reigns as the wagon approached and his hand went to the dagger at his side as he saw the figures by the road. As soon as he could clearly make out the hulking form of Shamki and the glint of steel at his side the boy called back into the wagon, “Dad!”

A moment later Tanner’s head popped out cleanly shaven, with washed hair, and more color in his cheeks. He spotted the pair and immediately recognize them, “Pull over son, they’re friends. Ho there Shamki, Humbort, what brings you up the old trail?”

“Meet you,” said Shamki with a wave and jumped up onto the wagon next to Tanner while Humbort began to rub down the lead donkey with a thick curry brush he pulled out from his sack.

“Shamki, this is my son Tylan and my wife Almara is in back there with my daughter Shalalee. Girls, come up front, I want you to meet someone.” A moment later the middle-aged woman popped her head out and looked at the big half-orc.

“It’s too early to stop for lunch but you’re welcome to travel with us,” she said with a bright smile.

Shalalee came out next and looked at the massive half-orc with his broad shoulders and fierce fangs and immediately ducked back into the wagon. “It’s all right Shalalee; I’ve done business with Shamki and his friend on a number of occasions. Just because someone looks scary doesn’t mean they are scary.” He thought about it and laughed as the girl reemerged and gave a short little curtsy. “Well, actually, now that I think about it, Shamki actually is pretty scary. Sometimes it’s good to have a scary person on your side!”

At this the young girl came back to the front of the wagon a wide grin on her face and said, “Hello, I’m Shalalee and you are scary!”

“Shamki,” said the half-orc with a smile that, for once, actually looked like a smile. He put out his hand and took hers in a shake.

“So, Shamki, Humbort, what brings you all the way out here to greet my little wagon?” said Tanner with a casual voice.

“Come on kids,” said Almara and put her arms around the two children. “The men have things to discuss.”

“Can’t I stay and listen, dad?” asked Tylan his eyes open wide as he stared up at his father. “I’m old enough to take charge of the hitch and learn the route; shouldn’t I be old enough to listen in on business?”

“Me too!” exclaimed Shalalee. “Girls are smarter than boys, everyone knows that.”

“Shut up Shalalee!” said Tylan. “You’ll ruin it for both of us.”

“Into the wagon with your mother,” said Tanner his voice firm and steady and his jaw set. “We’ll talk about this later but for now Shamki and I have some business to discuss.”

With that the trio went back into the wagon and human and half-orc sat in the rider’s seat with an occasional glance to the donkeys that Humbort continued to coddle as they moved at their steady, leisurely pace.

“I’m guessing there was trouble at that old wreck,” said Tanner with a shrug of his shoulders while he looked the half-orc in the eye.

Shamki gave a short nod of his head.

“There was trouble in Lycidas with Fen Druids also. That wreck has something important on it or about it.”

“Lousa want talk, no mayor,” said Shamki in his typical terse terms.

Tanner leaned back in his seat and pulled on the reigns, “Ho there,” and the donkeys came to a halt the noise of the wagon wheels abated and the sound of a nearby bird songs suddenly came sharply into focus. “That’s serious,” said the merchant as his hand rubbed his chin. “That’s very serious. I don’t suppose you want to give me any advice on to whom I should report my information?”

The half-orc stared back and him impassively; his mouth did not move and his black eyes cold and steady.

“I didn’t think so. This puts a new spin on matters indeed. I’d ask Humbort but who knows what fanciful tales that moron would tell. I’m at your mercy here Shamki.”

The half-orc nodded again, “What you find?”

Tanner paused for a long moment his eyes moved back and forth in their sockets and then he looked back in the wagon to his wife and children. “Hya!” he gave a shout and cracked the whip near the ear of the lead donkey that began to lurch forward once again and drown out the sound of the song birds.

“I talked to a number of people in Lycidas about that wreck and finally got a hold of a sailor who was in town when the Light of Ras made port the next day. He didn’t actually speak with Seymour but he was there when the Priest of Ras gave a report. He didn’t know exactly what went on in the meeting but he knows Seymour was extremely agitated when they came out. He thought the Tarltonites wanted salvage rights on the ship but the old baron, this was before Avakubia, wouldn’t give it to him. He said Seymour was in a furor and that there was something on that old wreck, something dangerous. Well, the old baron was a fool even on his good days so nothing was done about it. Now, this old sailor said the tides run so that water from up at that point circulates into the Great Salt Fen.”

“Uhnnn,” said Shamki with a sideways look at Tanner.

“You’ve been there then?”

“Once, as boy,” said the half-orc.

“Exactly, that old fen is filled with ruins from as far back as the Old Empire they say and strange magic and creatures that will never be understood. Them Lizard Folk rule the fen but there are humans that go in there, Fen Druids they call ‘em. Well, you know Avakubia, he’s a practical man and he’s made some treatise with those folks in the last five years but back then there was no dealing with them.”

“I know Fen Druids,” said Shamki and neither of them noticed that Humbort had drifted to within earshot as he walked alongside the slow moving wagon.

“Fed Druids!” shouted Humbort his mouth wide open and his eyes wide and round. “We dealt with them that once, remember Shamki, with that lizard tooth. I don’t want nothing to do with them no more.”

At that moment Tylan’s head popped out from the back of the wagon, “Fen Druids! Really?”

“Hell,” said Tanner.

“You’se shut up or get cuff,” said Shamki to Humbort. A moment later Almara climbed up from the back of the wagon her face a mask of anger her lips trembling.

“You tell Shamki what that Fen Druid told you Tanner. I’ll have none of this secretiveness. You tell the whole story or there’s going to be trouble, trouble with the mayor, trouble with the baron, and maybe even trouble with the queen.”

“There’s going to be trouble with all them whether I tell Shamki the story or not,” Tanner shrugged his shoulders. “There’s no going back on this one way or the other. I shouldn’t have gotten involved, never should have gotten involved in the first place but that’s horse crap after the parade. Nothing to do now but try and clean up as best as possible. You kids stop hiding back there and come up here. This involves the whole family as sure as sunrise.”

The two children immediately popped out from the wagon and took seats in the rear part of the carriage, which made cramped quarters for Almara.

“Scooch over Tylan,” said Shalalee and punched her brother in the ribs.

“You scooch over,” said Tylan and shot out his own elbow.

The men ignored the children and continued their conversation.

“I spoke with a Fen Druid by the name of Dredogastus,” said Tanner with a look down at the donkeys his face screwed up in a grimace. “He was an older druid, been living in the fens for fifty years I guess although it doesn’t matter. He’d been there longer than the wreck, that’s what’s important. This Dredogastus fellow was in Lycidas for his once a decade visit into town to pick up a few things I guess they can’t get in the fen and I was lucky enough to talk to him. I do business with a tradesman up in Lycidas on a pretty regular basis and his father runs a small shop at the edge of the fen where he barters goods with Lizard Folk and anyone else who has something to sell. The fen is full of convicts and the dregs of society but you know that, people who have worn out their welcome in polite company as it were. My friend set up a meeting with the old man so that I could find out more about the fen. Well, when I got there the place looked like it was a thousand years old but the old trader said the shack was just built a couple of years ago. The salt water from the fen corrodes and rots everything it touches, even enchanted items. He told me they have to rebuild every couple of years just because of rot, let alone an attack from one of the big crocs in there.”

“I heard they grow up to thirty foot long,” said Humbort and held his hands about a foot distance from each other.

“How long is thirty feet,” whispered Shalalee to Tylan. The boy looked at his sister and started to say something but then stopped. “I guess … well … Shamki is just about six feet I guess so stack five of him one on top of the other.”

“I can’t picture that,” said the girl and closed her eyes and then looked to the hitch and donkeys. “I guess maybe it’s a bit more than from the nose of Blinko all the way to the end of the wagon.”

“Nah, the wagon is ten feet long, I know that, and the donkeys plus the harness ain’t no more than another ten, so that’s … that’s ….”

“Twenty feet,” said Shalalee. “You need to pay attention to ma when she’s doing that math.” Then her eyes widened, “so that would be the croc is another wagon long longer than the wagon and the harness!”

Tylan looked forward to the donkeys and then backwards to the wagon and his eyes widened, “Yeah!”

The words of the men became loud again as the two children’s conversation wound down, “so that’s how I found out about this Dredogastus. That’s why I was delayed coming back because we had to wait for him to show up. He was a hoary old bastard, beard hair down to the middle of his chest and escorted by a big wicker croc, maybe ten or twelve feet long, along with a half dozen wicker dogs. That’s what you saw kids, one of the dogs when Dredogastus came back to the wagon with me after I took poorly.”

“There was a crocodile one too?” asked Tylan his jaw hung open and his eyes wide. “That’s awesome; I wish I could have seen it.”

“The old man, not Dredogastus, but my friend’s father said there are worse wicker creatures than that, some of them big as trees but they walk and can crush a man with a single blow. The croc looked bad enough to me but the Fen Druid, once you got past his wildman looks, was normal enough. Odd in the head from living alone with only wicker things to keep you company for who knows how many years but nothing worse than I’ve seen out here in the regular world.”

“Walking trees,” said Humbort from his position near the wagon. “I heard in the ancient times, before the Old Empire even, there were Tree Shepherds that made all the plants and things.”

“Oooh,” said Shalalee her little white teeth smiled broadly and her cheeks flushed bright red, “That sounds so romantic. Wouldn’t it be fun to see one now?”

“I think these are different,” said Tanner and pulled out a small knife. “Toss me a stick will you Humbort.” At which the tall man dashed off into the woods near the side of the road without a further word.

“He runs funny,” said Shalalee as she watched him canter off to a nearby copse of woods.

“Faster than looks,” said Shamki.

“Humbort’s all right,” said Tanner. “You just have to realize he’s limited in certain ways.”

“Finish the story dad!” said Tylan.

“Yeah, dad, you old people can never finish a story, you get all distracted by everything that comes up and then all of sudden you’re talking about something else completely.”

“Who was the one who got me distracted, Shalalee?” asked Tanner and gave her head a rub.

“It was Humbort, not me!”

“If you say so.”

“No, it was. He’s the one who was talking about ancient times and Shepherds.”

“I believe you,” said Tanner with a smile. “Now, where was I?”

“Dredogastus had just come to the old trader house,” suggested Tylan helpfully.

“Ahh, right. The old fellow was a bit odd in the head but you can expect that from …”

“You already did that part,” interrupted Shalalee just as Humbort came back with a thick branch of hickory and tossed it up to the merchant.

“Here we go again,” said Shalalee her eyes rolled back into her head.

“The difference,” said Tanner who took the stick and put the knife blade to it. “Is that the Fen Druids carve their wicker creatures from wood, magic wood maybe, maybe even them old Tree Shepherds that are dead now, but they carve them just the same.”

“Oh no, you mean they all died and became just regular trees?” said Shalalee with pursed lips and blinking her eyes.

“They ain’t around no more,” said Tanner. “So something had to happen to them.”

“I heard if you find one of them old Tree Shepherds you can carve it up to make magic,” said Humbort.

“We’re off track again,” said Shalalee in her favorite sing-song voice.

“Staff made of wood,” said Shamki.

Humbort’s eyes opened very wide and he stopped as the donkey pulled wagon continued on its way. He stood rooted to the spot for several minutes as the wagon moved ahead of him until he realized he was by himself and had to sprint to catch back up.

“What staff?” said Tanner.

“Finish story,” said Shamki.

“We do have an agreement,” said Tanner to the big half-orc who nodded his head.

“The Shepherds were living things of their own right, not animated objects from the crafts of wizards. At least that’s how the stories go. But, so as not to anger my daughter further, I shall continue with my story. Dredogastus told me they knew right away that something was wrong although they didn’t know about the shipwreck and connect the two events until years later. The water that came into the fen was tainted with what the old Fen Druid called the Living Death. Those old fens have been around forever and there are graves dating back to the Old Empire hidden amongst all the decay. Dredogastus said things started to rise and clerics of Mistress of the Abyss began flocking to the fen.”

“Who?” asked Shalalee.

“Smyrnala,” said Humbort and put his face into his hands. “The Goddess of Death, Ruler of Thanatos, Princess of the Dead, She Who has Always Ruled and Shall Always Rule.”