The Taleweaver
Braka

It was thefirst meeting after the escape, and as such it had much of a warcouncil over it. Harbend was there, as were both of the escortcaptains, but neither Escha nor Gring were present. They were in thecare of the magehealers, apparently headed by a yellow-eyed woman whohad joined the caravan in a way Arthur was still unclear about.

At themoment, though, she was not with her patients, and he wondered whatmade her important enough to take part of the meeting. He didn'tmind. She was pleasant enough to look at as long as you didn't takeinto consideration eyes that seemed to have seen too much. Arthurwould have guessed her age at the late thirties despite her youthfulappearance, but something he was unable to put his finger on hintedshe was older. If the notion hadn't been so ridiculous he would havesaid she was older than himself, maybe by several decades.

CaptainLaiden spent most of the time before the real meeting started withgiving Captain Weinak uncomfortable glances she paid no heed. She inher turn looked at Harbend with eyes so hungry Arthur couldn't helplaughing.

Chaijrild,Arthur thought, should have been allowed to take part of whatever wasgoing to be said, but her mother had refused to leave the side of herdaughter for as much as a moment, and Arthur could hardly say that hedidn't understand.

Thinking ofthe girl made him uncomfortable. He had no wish to meet her motheranytime soon. How could he answer questions from her? Chaijrild wassure to have told Lianin about what he had done.

Hell,even the mother is younger than I am.

Arthur triedto rise, but his right leg wouldn't carry him and he sat down on hispallet again. The magehealers from Ri Khi had done something to hisleg so it didn't hurt any longer, but it was still too weak for himto stand on. At the moment he was happy he'd been unconscious whenthey pulled the arrow out. It would probably have hurt otherwise,even though he couldn't even remember being hit. There was a lot hedidn't remember from his capture, and from the time after the rescue.They'd been badly starved he was told, and he did remember wakingdreams of being fed.

Arthur gazedat those present waiting for someone to begin. Captain Laiden did,ah, Trindai, yes that was his name. Trust Trindai to be the first toact, even if only to speak.

"Bothescorts are out searching for enemies. We need to know if we're goingto be attacked again."

Harbendsnorted. "Not likely I say. It has been three full days since wereturned."

"That'sless than the time I'd need to gather troops if I wanted to return inforce, M'lord."

"Whyshould anyone want to?" Arthur asked.

"Becauseanyone stupid enough to take a taleweaver prisoner and not releasinghim or her immediately must make certain the incident never becomesknown," the yellow-eyed Magehealer answered.

"Idon't understand."

"Arthur,what have you been told about Keen and magic?" she asked smilingat Trindai as if sharing a secret.

"Enoughto know they don't agree very well, apart from Verd in itself thatis."

"If Iassume a full regiment from Keen would gladly ride out alongsidebattle mages from Rhuin or Khanati should it ever be known thatsomeone had targeted a taleweaver, how wrong would I be?"

The captaingave her a crooked grin. "I don't know about gladly, but itwould be a sad day if we could only muster a single regiment,"he agreed.

Arthurlooked at them in bewilderment. "That's insane! Why use thatkind of resources for the sake of one single individual?"

TheMagehealer smiled back. "Yes, why indeed?"

Arthursuddenly had a vision of frantic activity in the orbital dockingstation circling the planet. He didn't need an explanation for thatactivity. After all he'd made sure to pay enough bribes to prolongthe pursuit knowing well enough that federation officials would comeafter him sooner or later anyway.

"Butthat's... different."

Harbend shothim a surprised look. "What is different?"

"She,"Arthur pointed at the Magehealer, "did something so I saw my ownpeople."

"Isthat true, Neritan?" Harbend asked. So that was her name.

"Yes,but it's hardly the point. I wanted him to understand that more thanone empire takes interest in the destinies of certain individuals."

"Ah, Isee."

"Now,we need to know the identity of the one who ordered you captured,"Neritan said.

"Istill don't understand, and I was just a bonus I guess," Arthuranswered sullenly.

"Awhat?" Trindai asked.

"Oh, hedidn't want me. He was after Gring."

Severalstares were exchanged before Neritan spoke again. "Who did, andwhy?"

"Wewere captured by horsemen from the plains led by a Khraga chieftainnamed Kharg. Gring fought bravely before we were captured. I thinkshe'd want that to be made clear."

"Kharg?"Neritan looked at Captain Weinak.

"I'mnot familiar with the name, but we don't meet enemy Khraga thatoften," she answered.

"So,this Kharg of the Khraga captured you, or rather Gring, is thatcorrect?"

"Yes,"Arthur muttered. "Chaijrild and I just happened to be there."Well, that wasn't entirely true. He'd been accompanied by Gring formost of the journey since they left the Roadhouse, and Chaijrild hadmade more than her fair share of attempts to follow them around.

Neritansmiled, and he could feel her smile inside his head.

Damn,she's a bloody Mindwalker, just like Gring.

"Yes,I'm a Mindwalker as well as a Magehealer," she confirmed aloud."Now, why would this Kharg want to capture Gring?"

Arthurremembered all too well. "He accused her of being a renegade, atraitor of sorts."

"Oh,"Neritan said. "Oh."

"What?"Harbend asked. "What's so important about that?"

"I knowmore of the Khraga than I think any of you do. In their eyes therecould be no greater offense to their own than a traitorous Khraga.Well, hunting a taleweaver would be worse, I guess, but not by much."

"Areyou saying we'll have an army of vengeful Khraga on our backs?"Trindai growled.

"I'mafraid so, unless we can convince them that capturing Arthur was agreater crime," Neritan answered.

"Theywouldn't believe that," Arthur said silently.

This time hewas the sole target of surprised stares.

"Andwhy is that?" Neritan asked, her voice cutting the silence likea sharpened razor.

"ThisKharg, he didn't believe I was a taleweaver. I tried to convince himin the fortified village we were brought to. I'm not sure I candescribe where it is."

"Noneed, we know," said Captain Weinak and shuddered.

Neritan gaveher an irritated glance and turned to Arthur again. "How did youtry?"

Thoseeyes! Those horrible, ancient eyes.

Their yellowlight cut through him like a beacon through glass. There was nothinghe could keep hidden from her.

"IWove," he whispered, terrified she would slay him on the spot ifhe didn't give her the answer she wanted.

Neritan wasstill like a statue, but Harbend drew his breath.

"Andthe bastard didn't believe you?" Trindai hissed.

"No. Hemust have thought I was a Mindwalker or something, because he said Iwas only playing tricks with their minds."

"Arthur,are you certain? Inside the village? There must have been witnesses."Neritan this time.

"Yes,I'm sure, but most of them looked unhappy."

"Theyare going to look a lot worse than unhappy when the expeditionarrives," Captain Weinak shot in. "We should be able to gethelp from Braka if we get there."

"Please!I'm not from here. Someone explain to me." What was going on?More strange secrets of this world?

"Ifthis village agreed to this then we truly have renegades on ourhands."

"Butthey didn't," Arthur protested. "Kharg forced a decisionand had us jumped to a place Gring called Gaz."

"Gaz! Ishould have known! Why did you not tell us, Harbend?" CaptainWeinak cried.

Arthurlooked at her. He ought to know her name, especially if she hadbecome the love interest of Harbend.

CaptainWeinak, Captain Nakora Weinak.

"Wouldyou have come? Sorry, I take that back. Escha did not think it wasimportant. There has been very little problem with Gaz for centuries,and besides not even theywould violate thatlaw," Harbend answered in a barely audible voice.

"Butthey..."

"Quiet!"Neritan shouted. "Quiet all of you! Harbend is right. Gaz, ofall empires, would never do such a thing. Believe me! So, you werebrought to Gaz. What happened there?" Neritan nodded at Arthur.

"Khargwanted us to be interrogated by a questioner or something like that,"he answered.

"Well,that should definitely remove all doubts whether you were ataleweaver or not," Neritan said with something sounding likerelief filling her voice.

"Well,it didn't turn out that way. We were sentenced to death by thequestioner."

"What!"

"Yes,but he seemed bloody angry as well."

"Didthis questioner have a name?"

Arthur triedto remember. "Yes, Vailin, or something like that."

"Nofamily name?"

"Uh,yes, yes, now I remember. He said his name was Vailinin ad Rhigrat."

The silencethat followed was absolute.

"Whatis it?" Arthur asked when he could bear it no longer.

"Theson," Harbend whispered.

"Yes,but he's reputed to be nothing like his father," Neritananswered weakly.

"Whocould possibly be?" Nakora asked and looked as if she was goingto be sick.

"Again,I don't know what you're talking about," Arthur said.

"Hisfather, Kakad ad Rhigrat was a monster. If his son has turned rottenthen there's nothing we can do. If he decides to wipe us out beforewe reach Braka then we will die. He's a truth seer, an interrogatorof a kind who are supposed to be fully dedicated to truth and nothingelse. With the reputation and power he has he could order a largeportion of the military force Gaz has available just to hunt usdown."

"Thelast I saw of him was him having a shouting match with Kharg. AskGring, she can tell you more, but I'm certain he wasn't too pleasedwith ordering us dead."

"Areyou telling me he didn't want you dead? Please, be very careful withwhat you say."

Arthurlooked Neritan straight into her eyes. "He did not. I'm ascertain as I'll ever be. As I said, ask Gring. Don't even rememberactually being sentenced to death myself."

Neritannodded and left the meeting.

"Whatdo we do now?" Arthur asked to no one special.

"Nothing,"Harbend answered. "We go on to Braka. This is beyond me. Neritanis of the golden, and so is Vailinin. This will be solved elsewhere,unless we get killed first." With that he also left, Nakoratrailing his steps.

"Great,just great!" Arthur muttered.

It was astrangely subdued caravan continuing its snaking trail towards Braka.It was as if they could all feel Arthur's mood, and he spent the dayspracticing his skill with De Vhatic, catching up a few phrases in Khion the way, but he didn't take up his earlier routine of tellingtales during the evenings.

Any resultfrom the meeting was kept from him, and he didn't bother to ask.Empires and strange laws was not what he wanted to get involved in,and as long as no one specifically told him he needed to he intendedto keep as far away from it as possible.

Heconcentrated on mastering De Vhatic instead as he no longer had aMindwalker at his side at all times. Working on the language was fareasier now. Spending all the time with Gring must have made him usedto the patterns of thought people used when talking, and he realizedhe was becoming close to fluent with the language in an impossiblyshort time.

Within a fewweeks he was once more sitting around cook fires telling people aboutlife on Earth, but now he spoke without the help of Gring, whichwould have been impossible anyway. She was occupied together withNeritan trying to bring back Escha to sanity. He was the only one whohad lost anything that couldn't be replaced.

Trai, braveTrai. The dandy had become a hero, and now he wasn't among them tohear the praise. Arthur guessed he would have smiled and bowed withhis arms outstretched in one of his outrageously flamboyant gestureshad he been among them to listen.

"I hatebeing locked up with my mother!"

"Shenearly lost you, child," Nakora responded.

"Don'tcall me a child!"

"Ididn't mean to..." Gods!The brat is two years, three, older than I was when father died."offend you," Nakora lied when she sensed Chaijrildnoticing the silence.

"Youweren't there. Now Arthur won't even talk with me."

Nakorafrowned. She had been there, but never as a captive. Still, this washer first opportunity to talk with Chaijrild since the rescue. "Iunderstand. It must have been a harrowing experience."

"Harrowing?"

"Yes,the horror of it."

"Horror?He was satisfied enough when we slept."

Oh?Oh! The conversation had definitely taken an unexpectedturn. "No, I meant... ah. Does he still have his stamina?"she continued to turn the conversation to a direction she wassupposed to know better than weapons, tactics and logistics.

"Ohyes! For a man his age he..."

Nakorasmiled despite discomfort creeping all over her. Taking part of thegossip was something she by now had agreed upon, and thinly disguisedamong unspoken rules lay her own evaluation of Harbend's nighttimeskills. Not that she had anything to complain about, but talkingabout it, well.

Anotheroverly graphic description reached her through her thoughts, andsmiling, this time for real, she threw caution aside. "Youreally mean that? Now, I have heard of this herb..."

An endlesssnake, not of scales, but of men, horses and wagons. The train seemedto go on forever. They were almost at their goal now, and news abouttheir arrival were sure to be buzzing around the capital. So close toBraka, maybe already there. Borders were not as clear here on theplains as closer to Keen, but there was a hint of salt in the air,and birds he hadn't seen since he last visited Hasselden flew pastthem from time to time, and all those signs told him they were closerto the sea now.

Brakaboasted a small port, the only of its kind in human control this sideof the mountains, and he hoped to reach it within a few days. Fromthere it should be little more than an eightday to Belgera, theinland capital of Braka.

Harbenddecided to leave the rear of the column and ride ahead. They had verylittle livestock left and would need to buy some when they arrived atthe port. Maybe they could get a fair volume of fish. That wouldcertainly be a treat after too much horseflesh and lizard. OnlyArthur got exited when they brought in a lizard, but he displayed aninappropriate interest in anything with six legs.

Arthur, dearArthur. After all this, and when he was finally safe he complainedabout losing his electrical book. Something about important noteslost. Harbend shook his head. He continued riding for a while. Hedidn't expect to meet up with Arthur, Gring and Escha as theyprobably rode with the vanguard now when both of the mages hadreceived enough mental healing according to Neritan.

Chaijrildstayed with her mother most of the time, but she was young enough todiscard some bad memories and grow back into her usual insolent,cheerful self. Escha, that was another debt unpaid. A man lost, andeven though Harbend would never understand the love between two menhe respected the Transport Khar too much to deny it had been there.

Harbendslowly shook his head. What should they do with Gring? Only recentlyreleased from the care of Neritan and once more running with thevanguard. Outcast from her own. He wondered if the Khraga living inRi Kordari would accept her, and if she would accept them. Anotherdebt.

Pushing thethoughts from his mind Harbend rode in search for Nakora. She wouldknow how to divert his thoughts to more pleasurable paths. He smiledas he willed his horse into a slow gallop. Thinking of her made iteasy to smile. There was more than joy in the thought, he admitted.He was falling in love with the radiant captain from Ri Khi, had beenfor a while now, and there was nothing he could do about it, nothinghe wanted to doabout it. She made him feel like the man his father had wanted him tobe, or more than that. She made him feel like the man he wantedhimself to be, which was far, far more important.

Maybe UncleRamdar had known more than Harbend had been willing to admit. Therehad been an undertone to the words about a unique quality each clanneeded to display, an undertone that slowly made sense. Each personhad to provide something more than obedience to traditions, or thetraditions themselves would grow stale. Enough reason for such apeculiar demand as every clan represented something each familystrove to become.

The snowaround him still spelled winter, and winter it would be for someeightdays yet where they were. Harbend sighed. Keen was sure to showthe first signs of spring already, especially Hasselden. The port wasthe first to throw off the clutch of winters never very cold to beginwith.

It would begood to be somewhere warm now. Harbend longed for flowers and thefragile green of spring. Snow had once been an uncommon reason forjoy, but now he had had enough of it to last a lifetime. He failed tounderstand how anyone in their right mind could want to live in acold, barren wilderness. Always the snow covered plains with hardly atree to break the monotony, only the wooded mountainsides painting ablue line far to the southwest.

At leastriding banished some of the cold from him. A little while later, whenhe finally caught sight of Nakora, he felt a peculiar warmthstreaming through his body.

They reachedthe first of their planned destinations a day later. It was the portwhere ships from Keen had once landed their wares before raiders madeshipping all but impossible.

Harbend sawstone walls rising higher than any of the rooftops inside, and theyhad to pass through the gates before he could see any of the houses.The town was smaller than he expected. For all the important tradeonce passing through it was very little more than a harbor with somehouses attached to it. Two, maybe three thousand souls made thisplace their home, and only if he included the surrounding farms.Harbend couldn't imagine why anyone even bothered with walling anover-sized village like this.

He looked atthe harbor. It lacked the defenses of Keen's ports, but he couldn'tsee any signs of damage. The raiders apparently didn't sail here, butwhy should they? With no ships coming from Keen it was of no use foranyone but the sea hunters, and from the size of the town therecouldn't been enough of them to justify warships to come here. Gods!If he didn't know it was here all traders to Braka sailed therewasn't anything justifying anyonesailing here.

That was onemore reason to continue with the caravans. That and the people livingon the Sea of Grass. An unexpected bonus, and they were closer toKeen than Braka. Close enough to swell any caravan going to Brakawith traders from Ri Khi and Erkateren who didn't want to be awayfrom home for too long. Those added wagons would pay for the extraescort needed for climbing the mountains, maybe even for setting up asmaller roadhouse on the Sea of Grass. That would make the mountainpass as safe as it would ever get.

Harbendwould like that to happen. Every roadhouse away from the main roadseventually gave birth to a small town, and they all served as hubsfor hunters, travelers and of course traders. One built on the plainswould become something of a port if given enough time. It couldhappen during his own lifetime. He smiled at the thought. It would besomething to be remembered for. The indirect founder of an importanttrading town.

"Wouldyou like me to scratch your back?"

"Mm,yes, do," Nakora murmured and turned in the narrow bunk. Shestretched and smiled, allowing herself to enjoy Harbend's hands onher back. Cramped or not it was still a luxurious feeling, and sheintended to the most out of it.

"Likeit?"

"Uhum."

"Wantme to again, later?"

On the vergeof lazily answering him she heard the edge in his voiceand caught herself. "Howmuch later?" she asked with apprehension and a little fear.

"Asmuch as would please you," he answered.

"Whenwe return?" Now, she had said it.

"Yes, Ithink I would enjoy that very much," Harbend whispered, anddigging his lips into her back he fell very, very silent.

Tears cameto her eyes. Would she dare sharing her life with him. Would she darenot to? But in the end the answer gave itself as she finally admittedwhat she had known for some time now. "I love you."

Harbendhugged her closer before echoing her words.

Harbendthanked the harbor master and mounted his horse. The trade had beengood, and he didn't mind transporting wares from the port to thecapital in exchange for a slightly better price for the goods he soldhere. They even managed to buy a fair amount of livestock, and he wasalready longing for the change in diet. Nothing wrong with horsefleshand lizard, but a change, any change was more than welcome.

They snakedslowly through the landscape. The progress was fast enough for himthough. Within an eightday they would reach Belgera, the capital ofBraka, and there the real trading would take place. It would be thereward everyone in the caravan waited for.

Harbendsmiled and hoped no one saw him. He probably looked as if he wasgrowling. They were all happy now, looking forward to reaching theirgoal, but he knew there would be a return journey as well, and it wasbound to be just as slow and time consuming as their way here.

Would therebe protests, the same kind that had forced him to order theexecutions? No, probably not. They would be on their way home then.Harbend hoped he was right. Never again would he give the order tokill anyone just because they voiced a different opinion than hisown, no matter how dangerous such opinions were. You didn't killpeople for saying out loud what they were thinking. That wasn'tright.

Harbendsmiled again, a more honest smile this time. He must have spent toomuch time with Arthur. Soft Arthur from his soft world of strangepowers. Then Harbend remembered the weapon Arthur had used in themountain pass and later in the mad rush for freedom in Gaz. If suchthings were made for personal protection there was no end to whatthey could make for aggression. There was nothing soft behind curbingthat kind of power.