"Witch bring ghost, ghost say Staff of Naught, we keep up in hills, that all I know," said Shamki his voice and face a mask of impa.s.sivity. "Lousa wait for Tanner to come back from Lycidas."
"I"m aware of all of that but I was hoping you would show the good sense to tell me some things that her ladyship of the elves chose to leave out. Did you handle the staff?"
The big half-orc shook his head no.
"It was just the little girl?"
A nod of the head.
"Did she say anything about it, how it made her feel, if she heard any voices, how the skeletons reacted?"
Another shake of the head.
"I think something happened when she had it," blurted out Humbort.
"You just tell me what I want to hear and that is useless, Humbort. That is why I haven"t asked for your opinion, although I *m not quite sure you are even capable of forming and independent, coherent thought."
"I"m not stupid like people say," said Humbort. "I just ... I just ... I"m not stupid!"
"By Itzli of the Stone Knife this is d.a.m.ned frustrating. The Lake of Ghouls, the Forest of Bones, this region is a hotbed of undead activity and now it turns out for the last thirty plus years some odd relic with great power over the dead has been resting just off the point of our little town. There is something going on and I am to find out exactly what it is, with our without your cooperation, Shamki!"
"I"ll cooperate," said Humbort taking a step towards the mayor. "I"m happy to cooperate. I like to cooperate. You can ask me anything!"
"Get out, get out of my sight!"
"I think the witch is up to something," blurted out Humbort as Shamki turned to leave the well-appointed office.
"I know the witch is up to something. I know the little thief and his sister are up to something. I know that d.a.m.n ghost is up to something and for all I know that merchant has his own schemes rolling as well. Stop telling me things I know, get out of here, and don"t come back until you have something useful to say. And by that I mean Shamki because you will never have anything useful to say to anyone, Humbort, do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," said Humbort and backed out the room to where his friend already walked down the long corridor. "Wait up for me, Shamki," he called out. "Why does the mayor have to be so mean? I"m just a little slow, that"s all."
Shamki waited for his friend to catch up and then gave him a hard cuff to the back of the head.
"What was that for?"
"Being stupid," said the half-orc and then continued down the hallway.
"Wait for me," said Humbort and once again broke into a sprint to catch up to his broader companion. The tall man ran with an awkward style, his legs moving akimbo and his head bobbing up and down wildly. Once the two got out side Humbort caught up to his friend and grabbed him by the arm. "What are we gonna do now?"
"Go west, meet Tanner," said the half-orc with the slightest nod of his head.
"Why?"
The half-orc shrugged, "Why not?"
This seemed to puzzle Humbort who stopped and put his hand on his chin and began to think as Shamki resumed his ambling but surprisingly fast pace to the north of town. After a few moments Humbort shook his head, "It"s too complicated, trust Shamki to do the right thing. That"s always worked before," and with that once again broke into his strange little run in an attempt to catch up.
The tall man had a long stride and had little trouble keeping up with the half-orc and the two quickly settled into a fast pace that would have left less vigorous men behind. Humbort strode along happily in the knowledge that Shamki made all the decisions for him and enjoyed the pastoral landscape of western Doria. Much of the western part of the nation suffered from depredation by the Orc tribes that lived along the border, but the great volcano called Maw and the fierce Thilnog Monks who resided along its ever changing slopes made a natural border with those tribes and kept the Avakubia Province clear of threats. This in turn encouraged trade along the well-developed Shadow Mountain Road, which brought enviable prosperity to the region. Little farm houses dotted the landscape and children waved to Humbort and Shamki as they strode past.
It took them three hours along the old trail to arrive at the outskirts of Bottomlake situated directly to the south of the Lake of Ghouls and neither said a word to one another as they skirted the town and turned north taking another three hours with a short stop for lunch to reach the village of Cap. From there the road led mostly northwest, and the duo stopped to camp at an old hunter"s shelter just off the road where Humbort stumbled upon a patch of Black Trumpet mushrooms that they ate with a pair of brush rabbits brought down by Shamki with well-flung rocks. They slept side by side not even saying good night to one another as the clouds vanished leaving a night filled with a blanket of stars. They woke at almost exactly the same moment the next morning and the half-orc restarted the fire while Humbort unpacked sourdough soldiers biscuits made from whole wheat flour, boiled in water, and spread out in a pan. When it dried and hardened it was easy to slice into sections and store, and when the gangly quarter-ogre happened on a bee"s nest they were able to enjoy them with a honey topping. Humbort gathered the treat as he always managed it without stings while Shamki was never as fortunate.
After their breakfast they quickly packed up their small camp, each man going about his own business without a word spoken between them, and were soon on the road again not long after the sun rose. They walked another hour north on the old trail when they spotted the wagon headed towards them and for the first time in almost twenty-four hours spoke aloud.
"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 ma.s.sive 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, "h.e.l.lo, 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 reins, "Ho there," and the donkeys came to a halt, the noise of the wagon wheels abated and the sound of 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 at him impa.s.sively; his mouth did not move and his black eyes were 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?"
"h.e.l.l," 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 and 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 of 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 c.r.a.p 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 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 h.o.a.ry old b.a.s.t.a.r.d, 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 smiling broadly and her cheeks flushing 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.