The Taleweaver
On the road

Arthur spentthe evening alone. He didn't care about being cold and miserable. Nowhe had proof that the official reports about Otherworld were lessthan accurate. If flora and fauna were identical, then that wassomehow fine. Parallel universe, magic or divine intervention. If itwas only partially identical, well that opened a totally differentarray of possibilities, and he fully understood why the governmentwanted to keep the lid on it for as long as possible. What Harbendcalled eagle had never existed on Earth, but most everything else wasfamiliar. What if the replaceing of the Gate hadn't been first contactat all?

He needed tocheck his translations more carefully now, and observe more closelywhat he saw around him. The journey turned out to have more surprisesthan he'd thought from the beginning. After all he'd fled from painrather than starting on a journey of exploration.

Arthurstudied his notepad where he'd written down his observations. Now hedid have a deadline. The power cells would last him a year, maybe acouple of months more if he was careful. After that everything he'dwritten down would be gone until he could lay his hands on a powersource unless he started to make paper copies.

Plants,the thought sparked a nagging memory in him. Adding species couldalso mean subtracting them. Cotton!He remembered complaining about the lack of decent underwear. Ofcourse cotton might grow unused, but they did have silk after all,even though what looked like silk could just as well come from somekind of spider for all he knew. He sighed. Too many guesses and toolittle real knowledge. Besides he was getting tired from reading andwriting in the poor light of his wagon.

He stripped,hung his wet clothes on a pole running the entire length of the wagonjust beneath the waxed cloth covering it, and crept into the bedrollhe bought in Roadbreak. Damn Harbend, planning a camping trip withoutbuying a bedroll. Almost as if he'd been preparing for some kind ofstrange survival exercise.

Again dayscame and went, two eightdays in total, and Arthur, true to himself,made an effort watching what grew, flew and walked in the landscape.He still wasn't sure about plants and trees, but most animalspreviously unknown to him turned out to have wings with the exceptionof a large six legged lizard brought in for food.

He spent acouple of hours each day trying to talk with the drivers and the menin the escort, but he made most progress with mother and daughterTermend. They weren't as preoccupied as the rest, apart from whenChaijrild had cooking duty of course, and Lianin showed real interestin his questions. One even led to her taking up part of her oldoccupation as well. A complaint rather than a question, if he washonest, and recognizing an opportunity in the absence of taverns sheconverted one of her wagons into one.

Knowledge isgood for business, she once explained to him with the help ofHarbend. Arthur liked them both, even though he found Chaijrild to bejust a little bit too much of a flirt, but he gave her the rights ofyouth.

The caravanpassed through the entire length of Vimarin. They never saw anythinglarger than a village, but also very little real wilderness. Almostalways farmed land was close by with the main difference from Keenbeing fewer horses and oxen used as beasts of burden instead.

The dryyellow of late summer gave way to glittering gold and red of autumn.Then the landscape changed again, small groves in the open farmlandbecame forests as they crossed yet another border.

"Camp'ssilent tonight," Trindai noted.

"It'sthe trees," Kalvar said.

"Notmuch in the way of forests back home, unless you count theplantations around Krante."

"Sir?"

"Youdidn't know? It's all planted. Most forests in Erkateren are as well,but there's a bastards lot more of it here."

Major Terwinshrugged, but Trindai saw the discomfort in his eyes. He sympathizedwith his officer. Apart from a few missions on the Ming peninsula hehad little enough experience with forested terrain himself. A few menunder his command, all scouts of course, were familiar with theabsence of free sight. They came in handy when rooting outtroublemakers, but this was an escort mission and he didn't expect tohunt down reluctant taxpayers or some hothead who'd inherited granddelusions together with a title when a family elder died in one ofKeen's client states.

Stupid wayof running things. Hereditary rights. Keen made away with the idiocyover seven eightyears earlier.

"Darknesscursed work crossing the mountains," Kalvar said, interruptingTrindai's thoughts.

"Berdaler'ssquadron will help, and we're hiring more men in Ri Khi."

"Weneed more than two squadrons, sir?"

"Withthe political bribe accompanied with a choice set of lies we sent toRi Nachi, yes," Trindai answered.

"Sir,that was a little more information than I needed."

Trindaigrowled. "Think like a commander, not like an officer! If Ichoke on the piss they call wine here you're responsible for seeingthis charade safely to Braka and back."

"Right,sir!" Kalvar straightened, but he was smiling. "No one'slistening, so spit it all out," Kalvar demanded, "sir,"he added almost as an afterthought.

Trindaigrinned back and started explaining. He'd give Major Berdaler thesame information when they had some time alone.

MaybeErkateren wasn't less populated than Vimarin, but with fewer farmsand more woodlands it filled them with a sense of desolation. It waswith some relief they reached the first of the towns along the road.They saw it after reaching a crest from where the road gently slopeddownwards to open ground. The forest opened up and in the middle of awide valley before them a walled town sat hugging a narrow river. Afew stone houses rose above two stories wooden buildings that were inmajority. The wall itself was more of a wooden stockade than a propercity wall, and Arthur guessed the town only housed a few thousand.

Reallynothing more than an over sized village.

As they camecloser he saw that people here favored leather and wool rather thanthe ever-present linen and occasional silk he was used to from Verd.

Theirpresence caused great stirring here as well, but by now Arthur wasused to it, and they needed to draw as much attention as possible orthey would have to spend an extra day searching for traders. Now thetraders would come looking for them instead.

Passing thegates and entering narrow streets Arthur was first surprised to seethem unpaved. Soon enough the ever present smell of manure told himthe futility of such an effort. The magical cleanliness of Verdseemed more and more like a distant dream, and he noted the totalabsence of lampposts. That probably translated into the need of beingindoors after dark, especially as the day was overcast. He didn'twant to stumble along the streets with only his hands as eyes.

Inside thecity walls he got a better view of the people strolling around thestreets. Some of them looked old and bent, but he had traveled toomuch not to recognize the signs of hard work and what it did to thebody if health care was lacking. He guessed them to be not much morethan sixty, or even less. Hygiene, it had to be the stark contrast incleanliness compared to Verd that did it. The town was dirty in a wayhe couldn't have imagined if he hadn't seen, or rather smelled, itfor himself.

He decidedagainst strolling through the streets on his own and followed Harbendto an inn after they managed to get their animals stabled. It wasbuilt like the road inns they visited while still in Keen. A tavernin the bottom floor, behind stairs leading up to a narrow corridorfeeding small rooms on the second floor. Dirtier than he rememberedthe road inns to be, but after long weeks on the road still a verywelcome change having a real room with solid walls and a bed to sleepin.

Thewoodwork, though, was magnificent. Walls, doors, everything of woodfinely crafted, and his hopes for the furniture they were to buy herelater soared. Someone must have put a lot of effort in replaceing woodalready shaped as they wanted it, because he saw almost no seamsanywhere.

There was nobathhouse, but with the help of Harbend he managed to replace a bathtubin the backyard, and as darkness fell they'd all taken turns in it tothe great amusement of the stable boys.

"It'sbeautiful!"

"Now,do you believe me?"

"Ofcourse. I've seen its like in Verd, but do you think there's enoughto warrant a caravan?"

"Gods!Arthur, Erkateren is famous for its furniture, famous for mosteverything that can be made out of wood."

Arthurcaressed the smooth, hard surface, adoring the gorgeous sheen andinlaid details. He stooped to examine the other chairs on display.

"Damn!They're almost identical all of them!"

Harbendsmiled. "And each a masterpiece."

Arthurlooked at the chairs again. They were perfect.

"Idon't understand. The skill needed. How can there be so manycarpenters here who can do it?"

"We arenot in Keen any longer."

Arthurdidn't understand and fell silent.

"Manyartisans here are magecrafters. Limited in their knowledge, butmagecrafters nonetheless," Harbend explained.

"Youmean they use magic?"

"Theydo, but they only know how to work wood. Still, it enables them toremove flaws and change the wood to their needs. I fail to fullyunderstand how, but the best furniture I have ever seen is madehere."

Arthurdidn't know what to say. Partially he'd been expecting magic, butthus far he'd seen nothing but alternatives to common engineering.Where was the realmagic?

"Howmuch do you think they have to sell?" he asked after a while.

"I hopesome traders will join the caravan, but there should still be enoughto fill eight or ten wagons. Add another twenty wagon's worth ofitems of somewhat lower quality. More than we can load anyway."

"I cansee why you wanted to come here. This is what we should buy for themetal we sell here. You can't imagine what people back on Earth wouldpay."

"We?"

"Eh,traders from Earth."

"Soundslike an interesting market," Harbend said, a mixture of greedand thoughtfulness marking his voice. "Talking of which, I shallbe needed for some interviews."

Arthursmiled and watched Harbend leave.

Harbendnodded at the woman facing him. He had difficulties understandingher. The dialect spoken in Erkateren was very different from the onehe was used to from Hasselden and Verd. He rephrased his question.

"Are weagreed that you shall pay the fee for each wagon you want to bring?"

She lookedat him and smiled. "Yes. I bring six wagons, yes? And pay forsix, yes?"

"Good.We leave tomorrow. From the gates."

She noddedand left.

They wereusing the town hall for the interviews. A new caravan to Brakaqualified as an important event just as he had hoped. Now anotherfive traders with a total of thirty-two new wagons had joined thecaravan. Word must have gone ahead, and he only needed to sendcouriers to the four towns in Erkateren they wouldn't visit.

Harbendgrinned. Arriving with a well armed escort had been the magic key.He'd expected more arguments, but in the end the local traders gavein easily enough. They needed another market, and he knew that. Keen,especially a slowly strangled Keen, wasn't enough. Prices werealready falling, and furniture, no matter how finely crafted didn'tpull ploughs. More importantly, the people here desperately needediron for the making of those ploughs.

With a bitof luck they might see the train swelled by another seventy wagonswhen they left Erkateren behind them. Add yet more wagons from Ri Khijoining them. He'd hired couriers for that mission earlier, and nowthere wasn't much more to do. If he could bring a total of a hundredand twenty wagons to Braka the venture would break even, and afterthat, with wagons and horses already paid for, each caravan wouldbring a profit.

Harbendstirred. Someone was knocking on the door. He got to his feet andstumbled in the darkness. When he opened the door he felt the scentof perfume.

"Who isit?" he asked.

"Shh,let me in." The voice carried the sensation of alcohol.

"Chaijrild?What are you doing here?"

"Don'tbe a bore, let me in!"

"No, Ishall not do that. You should go to your mother's room and sleep."

"Don'tyou tell me what to do or not. Let me in, or do you think I'm toougly for you?"

"Gods!"Harbend was momentarily at a loss for words. "You are verypretty and also very drunk. Now go away and get some sleep."

A stingingsensation on his cheek told him his refusal hadn't been well taken.She muttered something and staggered away in the darkness. He closedhis door and returned to bed. It had been a long time since anyonetried to seduce him, not that he minded, but she was the daughter ofa trading partner.

Arthur woketo the sound of angry words. He left his bed and walked to his door.When he opened it and looked into the corridor it was empty saveHarbend. A very angry Harbend.

"What'sgoing on?" Arthur asked.

"Shecame to my room last night and now she has bedded Captain Laiden."

"Whodid?"

"YoungTermend."

"Oh,and now her mother's in a fury?" Arthur didn't like theconsequences. An angry partner could stir up tensions later on,especially as this was the very first partner Harbend had signed on."Why did you allow her in?"

"I... Idid not. Told her to get some sleep elsewhere."

"ThankGod! Then I can't see the problem. She's old enough to pick a partneramong the rest, don't you think?"

"Youfail to understand."

"Iunderstand perfectly. She felt spurned and went for second best. So?The only problem would've been if you'd slept with her."

"But...Maybe you are right," Harbend finally grumbled.

Arthur shookhis head and reentered his room to get dressed. There was no point intrying to grab any sleep now. Dawn was breaking. They needed to be onthe road as early as possible with all the additions to handle. Hepulled on his boots and went in search for breakfast.

The wagontrain had definitely swelled with the hopeful traders who joinedthem. By now it looked like a caravan should according to Arthur'schildhood imagination. Of course, no camels and very little sand, butstill. It took them the better part of the morning to leaveGrendevrat behind them and it was time to make use of the men Harbendhad hired the day before.

They wavedto the couriers.

"Makegood speed to Ri Nachi. We shall be waiting for you at the Roadhouse.Four eightdays from now, no more," Harbend shouted.

He watchedthe riders vanishing on the north bound road while the wagon traincontinued eastwards.

"Youthink we'll see many of them?" Arthur asked Harbend as theystarted catching up with the wagons again.

"Notsure. Dyed silks, toys and instruments usually, but with sea tradecut off they shall have little silk to dye." Nagging worriesyelled at him for a moment. "Twenty wagons maybe. An addition."Unable to shrug the unease away he brought his horse to speed.

They wereone day behind schedule, which wasn't too bad, but he knew bad luckcould have them falling back much more and was eager to leave theRoadhouse before winter hit the mountains. An early snowstorm couldforce them to turn back and then they'd be stuck at the Roadhouse forthe entire winter. That was his greatest fear. One winter withoutmoving and he was sure to lose most of the traders who signed on.

The nexteightdays saw them passing through two more of the seven towns inErkateren. The wagon train swelled at each town and Harbend had toprepare the Roadhouse for the huge amount of people and animals theybrought. That meant riding in advance and he invited Arthur toaccompany him two days after they crossed Erkateren's eastern border.

They tookoff in the morning, Arthur, Harbend, six horses and one wagon.Harbend drove. Arthur looked back, watching the wagons behind themuntil the road took a turn and they were between trees again. Heenjoyed the silence, broken only by the creaking of wagon wheels andthe muted sound of hoofs hitting dirt beneath them. About to askHarbend how much time they needed to spend on the road a smatteringfrom above caught his attention. He looked up but didn't seeanything. Behind him Harbend halted the wagon.

"Rain.You better get your cloak," Harbend said.

Arthur justsat in his saddle. "But I don't feel any raindrops."

"Youwill. The leaves are sheltering us. Hurry up!"

Arthurobeyed and climbed into the wagon in search for his chest. He foundhis cloak and grabbed Harbend's on his way out. They both got intothe heavy leather and strung felt hats to their necks. Arthur stilldidn't feel much of the rain, but then the wind caught up and startedshaking the canopy above them, and within moments cold water poureddown. Arthur yelled in surprise but Harbend only guffawed inresponse.

Half a daylater, with wet clothes and a cold wind chilling them throughwhenever they rode out from between sheltering trees, their mood hadchanged for the worse. It didn't help that Harbend started whiningabout his relations with the Termend women and the infidelity of thedaughter. Not able to believe what he was hearing Arthur eventuallycouldn't stay silent any longer.

"So,you turned her down and she slept with the captain instead. What'sthe matter? She's hardly your property. Don't you think I haven'tseen you look at anyone who's not a fellow merchant as if they werenothing but servants or someone you could squeeze a good price from?"

"Youfail to understand. I would..."

"If yousay you'd have paid well I'll bloody smash your face in!" Arthurinterrupted.

"I wasnot thinking anything like it!"

"Oh,no. Probably only something like taking good care of her, or makingsure she gets a good life, or something else where the solution ismoney. Can't you see that not everyone values life in coins?"

Harbendcolored. "Do you not value money and the freedom it brings?"

"Hell,no! My money bought me a golden prison for twenty years. I didn't ownmy money. It owned me, or rather any source of wealth owned me. Forthe first time I'm deciding what to do with it." Hearing his ownwords Arthur finally accepted that such understanding had taken him ajourney to another world to reach.

"Andnow you have the resources to do so," Harbend said with aquality of whining to his voice Arthur didn't care for.

"Istopped caring about my so called resources four years before Idecided to come here, and I don't bloody plan on allowing them to runmy life again."

There was noresponse. Harbend just gave him a sullen glare and they didn't speakwith each other after that.

He didn'tunderstand why Harbend had even breached the subject. Chaijrild wasstill only a child and Harbend had done right by refusing to sharehis bed with her. Arthur didn't even want to think about the problemsthey would've had with her mother if it had become known that themaster of the caravan took advantage of his position in that way.

Youdid right. No bloody reason to start sulking now!

Theycontinued in uncomfortable silence all the afternoon and earlyevening.

Setting campturned out being more difficult than they had imagined, mostlybecause of a hard wind threatening to carry away anything not nailedto the ground. At least the rain had subsided, but Harbend was stillmiserable, cold and wet. It took several, frustrating failures tobuild a small fire. If it rained for a few days more replaceing drytwigs to mix with the tinder he'd brought would become increasinglydifficult, but that was a problem yet to come.

He looked atArthur in sullen silence. Arthur's earlier rebuke still stung, and ashe had chosen to remain silent for the entire afternoon neither ofthe men's moods improved. Being tired and hungry after climbing thenarrow track in drizzling rain hadn't helped neither, but Harbend bitback on his irritation while they were still on the road. Now, whenthey had finally managed to get their camp in order he turned to hiscompanion feeling a childish need for petty revenge.

"So, Iunderstand you got tired of being everyones' property, but it stillfails to make sense," Harbend said as if half a day hadn'tpassed since any of them last spoke.

Arthur gavehim a tired look but refrained from answering.

"I failto understand. You are, what, fifty-five years old but from what youhave told me earlier you tired of your fame almost five years ago,"Harbend continued. "Then just one day you take off for a journeythat may last for years. Do you not feel any responsibility? At yourage you should have a woman and children." He suddenly saw rawpain in Arthur's face, but resentment forced the rest of the wordsinto the air. "Do you not care about the family you left behindyou in your heartless selfishness?"

Arthur wassilent. With a sinking feeling Harbend knew he shouldn't havefinished his accusations. Rather than wait for a defensive outbursthe vanished into the wood gathering more firewood as an excuse to begone from their camp. As darkness had fallen so had the wind and inthe heavy underbrush beside the track getting a fair amount of drywood was easy work and he soon had to return to the fireplace.

Arthur wasstill sitting in the same place and he was crying silently, tearbrimmed eyes reflecting the flames. Harbend sat down, sharing thesilence and waiting for the explanation he knew would eventuallycome. He added some sticks to the fire for extra light and warmth andstarted rummaging through their bags for some food when Arthursuddenly rose.

"I didcare for my family, you know," he said and spread his arms as ifexcusing himself. "Five years ago my wife and son died in anaccident. I almost gave up then, but I still had my daughter to careabout so I continued with my shows." He took a few steps aroundthe fire before resuming his words. "Much later I got to know acompeting newscaster wanted me out and that it hadn't been anaccident."

"How doyou know?" Harbend asked.

"Theythought I would be so caught up in my grief I simply had to quit."

"Buthow do you know?" Harbend repeated, this time with a feeling ofunease.

"Theykilled my daughter half a year ago."

A coldnesslike a blanket of ice ran down Harbend's face and he knew all colormust have left it. "Gods! How old was she?"

"Ten."

Harbenddidn't have any children of his own, but his sister did. He turned toArthur, a question still unanswered, but Arthur answered him beforeit could be voiced.

"Theysent me pictures from both kills to make sure I understood themessage."

"I amsorry," Harbend said suddenly at a loss for ways to express hissympathy. He mentally groped for words with which to wash away hisshame, but none came forth. He had duped his friend to reveal apainful secret, no not just duped but forced him into submission. Andit had been wrong and ugly to do so.

That nightArthur slept better, even though he wept from time to time. It hurt,but it was like a festering wound opening, and even though he didn'tunderstand it himself he was taking a giant leap towards healing. Hedreamed of his dead family. This time, though, the dreams weren'tnightmares but memories from a time when they had been laughingtogether and nothing bad seemed possible.

He wokeearly, stiff and cold in the morning. As the days grew shorter eachmorning seemed to be a little colder and a little more damp than theone before. A long day lay ahead of them. It would be a harsh ridewith very little to eat, but the prospect of a hot meal, a warm bath,and a soft bed was alluring enough to bring a thin smile to his lips.

Dreaming ofhis loved ones had soothed him somewhat. It still hurt, wouldprobably always hurt, but at least he admitted he was in pain, andhealing took yet another step forward. Maybe coming here was thepreparation he needed, more so than Harbend's outburst the nightbefore, maybe not, but with healing pain as a companion he finallyallowed himself to journey to another world, an inner one but moreexciting than any a space ship could reach.

He checkedhis horses while Harbend went over their wagon. One wagon and sixhorses. Arthur was glad it would be over after the day. He hadn'tunderstood how much work the wagons added until now.

The mare hesaddled whinnied and he gently stroked her. She'd turned out beingjust as easy to ride as he'd hoped. He started whistling and wasstill whistling when he was finished and ready to take to the roadagain.

Harbend gavehim a suspicious look, but Arthur just grinned as he helped hisfriend. They didn't talk, but the mistrust from the day before wasgone, and with rising spirits they started moving.