Orphan At The Edge Of The World

Whispering too quietly for normal ears to hear, Orison said, "I need to speak with your alpha. I have a special delivery."

The man eyed him warily but rushed off to report their visitor after barking for the other loiterers in the main room/dining hall to keep their eyes on their guest. A few minutes later Orison stood before a mostly gray haired but still powerful looking Northlander.

The grizzled warrior gave Orison a once over but whatever he judged from it was lock away behind a seamless poker face. "Get on with it. What unpleasantness awaits us today?"

Orison smiled faintly and said, " I need a large, lidded container half filled with ice. If you don"t have the ice then bring me a few buckets of water. If you don"t have the container I need, get one."

With a raised eyebrow, the old wolf sent someone to fetch what was requested. It took a bit of time since the young mage was presented with buckets of water first but soon enough, with the help of his degree shift spell, he had enough chipped ice to half fill the empty ale barrel they had provided. Using some slight of hand, Orison unloaded all the hearts he had collected along the way.

The old wolf was going to ask where the delivery was that required all this preparation before the faint aroma of blood reached his nose. With mild curiosity, the pack leader of this branch stalked over to the barrel and took a peek. After seeing the generous bushel of mostly gold elf hearts in a decently fresh state, the man smiled a grin that managed to look menacing and predatory even when jovial.

"Who do we have to thank for this elixir delivery?" the old wolf said as he slapped the lid on, cinching the metal band with his bare hands.

Orison said, "You"re looking at him, Alpha. I would have saved them for Rune and his right hand but they"re neck deep in fresh kill right now marking out a territory to start expanding his own pack into... Oh, I"m Baron Cantrip of Everspring Valley and it"s territory."

The old wolf sat back down in his chair and said, "I doubt a Centerland patrician from the emerging new line of n.o.bility would go through the trouble of bringing us this without desiring something. Speak your mind and save the tongue twisting for your peers."

Orison nodded. " I honestly don"t want anything other than what the older generation would normally do, take the time to remind a newer one of the code if it looks like they"ve forgotten. Rune brokered an alliance with my clan, not me. So if I disappear as long as my clan honors that alliance he needs to uphold it for two more generations. This delivery is just a sign of good faith that our clan knows how to appreciate our allies, nothing more."

"Pa.s.sing on a message is no hardship but your alliance with him has nothing to do with us. We are a different branch and our lineage is two removed from his," the old wolf said.

Orison frowned, "So you"re not his paternal grandfather then?"

The old wolf laughed, "Family and pack are different concepts. Don"t try to confuse what"s what here."

Orison sighed, "And here you just told me to not tongue twist things. I claim you as part of my allies, not the pack here. It"s a d.a.m.n shame when a grandfather claims to have nothing to do with his only son"s eldest."

The old wolf growled, "Claiming me as an ally does involve this pack because I"m alpha here. Of course I care about my blood but that"s a personal affair and what you ask is a pack affair."

The young mage said, "I"m asking you to reign in your grandson if he gets greedy at bottom line. Just be plain about it and say whether you will or not. An honorable wolf is a good friend but a white eyed wolf needs put down. I don"t think I can get any clearer about speaking my mind."

The joviality disappeared from the old wolf"s smile. "Maybe a little too clear. Are you threatening the safety of my pack or grandson?"

Orison said blandly, "People who bear threats don"t come with an armful of goodies to make potential enemies stronger or give them what"s necessary to make more. Are you saying that the grandfather of my ally is a stranger? If so, just tell me to f*** off. I and the future goodwill of my clan will not bother to darken your doorstep again. I have little time to waste on meaningless pursuits."

Joviality returning a few notches brighter, the old wolf said, "If you were here to make friends, you should have said that instead. I don"t need a boy like you to tell me what I should do about my grandson but if his ally wants to make nice with me and mine, I"ll not turn them away for no reason."

Orison thought to himself, "It might not be exactly the same but it"s Clan Fvaris all over again, gobble up benefits without a single sincere f***ing offer to reciprocate a d.a.m.n thing."

To the old wolf, he said, "From what scant little I know about werewolves there is pack, family, allies and prey. Aside from that, it"s told that the old wolves will keep their promises. I"m not here to make nice. I just want a small promise and maybe extend the possibility of becoming allies as well.

"Whether my clan will become family or have pack within it is up to my heir and the individuals of my clan who might hold the desire. My clan won"t discriminate against it"s members who may seek such a thing but I"m personally not interested. Will you or will you not twist a young pup"s ear if he strays off the path?"

The old wolf lapsed into silence, picking up his mug and swirling it around a few times while he looked in it. "Give us a road, young pup, and I"ll stop twisting your ear. If you"ll do that, I"ll be a good old granddad and say a few words. If I like what I see, then I"ll return in the near future as an Alpha officially and put an offer of alliance down on vellum with ink or bark with blood if you like. I"m grievously sick of the eastern rift squeezing blood from our stones every d.a.m.n spring season."

Orison smiled benignly, "Then get your sh*t together, "granddad". You can supervise me. Since we"ll be starting right next to Forgotten territory you might want to bring a few extra shield arms."

The old wolf nearly spit his ale through his nose. "Right now? Do you have the manpower and supplies ready?"

Orison said, "Follow me to the start of the trail and you"ll see what I"m capable of. It wouldn"t be too late to twist my head head off, much less my ear, if you think I"m wasting your time once we get there. I"ll have my people ready in a bell. Outside whatever you"ll need for protection I guess about three weeks of provisions should do it." To himself, he thought, "If it takes more time than that, Mom"s going to have to finish it from her end but I should be able to get us close enough to count."

The alpha said, "We cover your a** while you make our road, what"s the toll, tax or whatever word your going to use as an excuse to leech off of the people who actually work for a living?"

The young mage said, "Allies pay nothing. Proof of ident.i.ty will be needed but Mom"s already working with the mage guild on that. That doesn"t mean if a trader has one of your men on security that they don"t have to pay taxes. For everyone else, it works like this... The sheet I gave you is has no exceptions aside from emergency rescue and unattended minors which will be held in care until a family member can retrieve them.

"One copper per commoner on foot, three for one on horse. It"s a silver for a two horse or smaller wagon plus one copper per person, two silver for a four horse, copper per person additional fee always applies. n.o.bility crossing to another kingdom pay a minimum of one gold plus one silver per person unless carrying an order I can"t refuse. The return is free. For all other active duty and government, it"s one silver out and free in. Northland and Centerland will be responsible for goods checks unless the trader is leaving the through way into my town or the rural areas on the other side. I a.s.sume Northland and Centerland soldiers will end up being stationed at the entrance to their pa.s.ses. Both of them will likely try to set up their own tolls with inspection, because greed, but there are already plans underway to have hidden egress for allies.

The old wolf grumbled, "Pray you"re not offering what you can"t deliver. That"s a lot of trade lines I"ll be missing out on if I can"t push some contracts through your place come late spring. This is our golden season."

Orison gave a genuine smile and said, "Then every second is precious. I"ll meet you on the southern road by the smithy at a quarter past ninth bell. Bring a two horse wagon and leave enough room all your people, including yourself, and three more."

The alpha mulled it over and said, "So, four of us. And where we"re going it"ll better be all pack. Whole bands have been known to disappear over there... Where are you going to get horses that won"t balk to carrying a pack of us? Never mind. If you can"t deliver on something that small at least you"ll save me time by telling you to f*** off early rather than later."

Back on a timetable, Orison rushed back to Venito"s house to pick up Rithus and Gan who were up and helping a familiar blond woman clean the house while walking on shaky legs. As Orison walked past he slapped a healing on her b.u.t.tocks, literally. Before she could protest, Orison informed her it was kindness and a small payback for the injury she gave him. She was confused for a moment before she realized she could move without soreness and fuzzy memories filled in his injury reference for her as she blushed violently.

"Alright, you two. We"re on short time. I"m pitching in but we need to take off in a quarter hour," Orison said to Gan and Rithus.

Lyra coolly watched the cleanup from her customary spot on the railing outside her room. Seeing the frosty ambivalence, Orison realized she was making a stance on what had happened between them and it wasn"t open for discussion.

The young mage sighed internally and said, "Is my s.l.u.tty brother home?"

"He reasoned today was as good as any to move back to the lake house. He only planned for us to winter here out of convenience," Lyra said crisply before retreating back to her room.

With Lyra not even making herself available to answer questions, the three plus poor server girl who had work that evening at the inn made record progress on restoring the house to order. The pretty blond gave Gan and Rithus a hug out of grat.i.tude, a surprise kiss and a** grab for Orison, before making her own way. With a last look towards Lyra"s bedroom Orison left with his companions as well.

While the young mage restocked and set up a delivery of goods with a mercenary escort deposit added, Rithus asked Gan, "Do you think the nice girl who smelled like stew will get some good sleep before she has to go to work?"

Gan laughed and said, "She just b.u.t.tered us up so she wouldn"t have to clean by herself. I doubt she"s usually that nice."

Rithus leaned in and whispered, "At least all of the people Orison"s brother worked with were nice. I know what they do. I just mean that they were, uh, really friendly. Will you disagree with that? One was so friendly WITH you I thought they WERE you until I looked at them."

Gan took the unintentionally delivered embarra.s.sment in stride while he whispered back, "The guy that was hanging off of you earlier in the night or the girl later, did either of them smell like you this morning?"

Rithus tilted his head to the side and thought before answering without a shred of embarra.s.sment or hesitation, "The man smelled a little stronger of himself later. When he got drunk and started crying I just held him like Morrel would hold me when I cried. It made my leg scales itch a little and kind of tickled my belly skin, the way he was rubbing on me. I"ve never been complimented on feeling smooth and cool before... Maybe the hearth fire made the house a little too hot for him.

"The girl"s mouth probably smelled like me a little. She wanted to know if I had two parts at the end of my pen*s like she had heard before. I was going to answer her but she said she wanted to find out for herself. I didn"t want to tell her she couldn"t because she asked very politely many times."

They walked in quiet for awhile before curiosity got the best of Gan and he asked if Marshlanders actually had forked w.i.l.l.i.e.s.

Frowning as if recalling a bad memory, Rithus said, "Deep marsh kin do. They also have less resistance to the cold, don"t have molars and like to eat meat raw. I don"t know if it"s all of them but the few that I"ve met were a little meaner too."

Keying in on the last bit, Orison said, "I think a deep marsh male is trying to get close to your daughter. Should we be worried?"

A little distressed, Rithus said, "Is her baby a boy or a girl?"

Picking up on the anxiety Orison said nervously, "It"s a girl."

Rithus visibly relaxed and smiled a little goofy while he daydreamed for a second.

Snapping out of it, Rithus said, "It"s fine then. It"s not something I know for sure but I"ve heard that deep marsh men will kill male children of a dead rival or give them to the shadows sometimes if the children are young enough to not remember. The deep marsh woman who told me this also said that men from the same family will sometimes make a sport of killing a woman"s mate if they both took a liking to her so they won"t fight between themselves. It sounds too bloodthirsty to be true but even if she was just trying to scare me..."

Orison thought to himself, "My gawd! No wonder that guy said being too pretty is just as bad as being ugly. That troublemaker"s family probably took one look at Lithis and that was all she wrote. No need to tell Rithis that the woman who told him that wasn"t lying or exaggerating. I thought Takris and his "buddy" were just all a.s.sa.s.sin-y with that killing her husband game thing. Maybe his order "buddy" was actually another family member. If we ever do make it back to this world, I"m going to start paying more attention to what what reptilian facial features are more appealing to other Marshlanders. Seems like it could actually be useful to know."

To keep from making things awkward for Rithus, while the Marshlander was getting some stall food to take with them on the road, Orison asked Gan, "How could he not get that the guy was humping him? I figure that kind of thing would be pretty obvious."

Gan looked woodenly at Orison, "Everyone was at least a little drunk, even Rithus. Everyone was also in varying states of undress, even Rithus. Your brother"s work friends don"t have a lot of inhibitions but they were fairly respectful so I didn"t worry much about keeping an eye out. He might be catching on but Rithus is pretty dense about a lot of things. Besides, I"m pretty sure scales aren"t as sensitive as skin. Judging by the way Rithus said it, he was trying to take advantage without our Marshlander friend knowing and that makes it a lot creepier."

With black lines running down his face, Orison thought, "Never knew a.s.sa.s.sins came in so many shapes and colors. I"m glad I wasn"t the only one who wrongly thought a Marshlander would be safest of us all from molestation. Probably better he doesn"t know. This might be one of those times that ignorance really would be bliss."

Done with personal business, the three companions were milling around the blacksmith"s area. Seeing that the mercenary group hadn"t finished their preparations, Orison took out the ring while eating a late breakfast. It was definitely a boundary item but it was ordinary in every other way.

Orison handed it to Gan and had the scout examine it. "It feels special, even looks, I don"t know, more vivid than everything around it but it"s just a ring, Little Boss."

The young mage whispered, "It"s a boundary item. They"re supposed to resist change when we "move on" to other places. Some are special but this one isn"t I guess. Rithus, I want you to take a closer look at it to so you can recognize them when you see them in the future."

Rithus fiddled with the ring and handed it back to Orison.

After giving it a little thought, Orison handed it back to Gan and said, "Maybe you should hold on to it. There may be times that having a prop like that might be able to get you out of unpleasant situations."

Gan said, "How could a wedding ring ge- Yeah, I can see that. Now that you mention it, I wish I had thought of it before."