“That may be, of course. I have only his report to go by. But Brewersbridge has been a healthy community for years—since Long Stones, at least. If Achrya can have a priest there, where else may we not expect trouble?”
“What happened to the paladins, Amberion?” asked Marshal Kory.
“We are still finishing the reports for the archives, Marshal,” said Amberion slowly. “Chenin Hoka—he was from Horngard originally; he hadn’t been north of the mountains for years—was killed by Liart’s command, in Sibili, during the assault on that city—”
“I thought that’s where Fenith was.”
“He was there, yes. Chenin was taken some time earlier, while helping a grange near Pliuni defend itself; a witness thought he was dead. But Siniava’s troops got him to Sibili, to the temple—and he was killed, finally, after long torments.” Amberion said nothing more, and silence filled the room. Then he sighed, and began again. “I knew him, when I was a candidate; that was the last time he was north. He knocked me flat, I remember, and I lay there wondering why I’d ever wanted to be a paladin. Anyway. Doggal of Vérella was lost at sea; he was sailing east along the Immerhoft coast. He’d told a Girdsman at Sul that he had a call to come north. The ship was seen going onto reefs near Whiteskull, and his body was recovered some days later. We have no reason to doubt the identification. Garin Garrisson was killed in battle at Sibili; Fenith saw that. The two of them were holding light against a darkness cast by Liart’s ranking priest. A crossbow bolt got him in the eye. Arianya Perrisdotter held a daskdraudigs away from a caravan in one of the mountain passes in the Dwarfwatch, but it fell on her in the end. Tekki Hakinier was apparently killed by a band of forest sprites—whatever they call them in Dzordanya. The only word we have is from a witness that says he was ‘stuffed with pine needles like a pin-pig,’ which I suppose is what they call a hedgehog.”
“No.” Marshal Kory shook his head. “No, a pin-pig is bigger and lives in trees. They call it that because its flesh is sweet like pork. It sounds like those mikki-kekki—they come in waves, hundreds at a time. But what was he doing up there?”
Amberion shrugged. “I didn’t know he was there until we got the word he’d been killed. The witness said something about a varkingla of the long houses of Stokki, whatever that means.”
Kory nodded. “It means Stokki’s clan thought they had to move somewhere, the whole bunch. That’s not common. Tekki was Dzordanyan, wasn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“I would guess that they asked his protection, to move the clan through the forest, and the mikki-kekki didn’t cooperate. They usually don’t.”
“Have you ever seen one?” asked the Marshal-General.
“Oh yes. When I was a rash boy, my three cousins and I sailed across the Honnorgat to visit Dzordanya. That was the plan, at least. My uncle had told us we couldn’t sail across the river like that; of course we thought he was just trying to spoil our fun.”
“Why can’t you?” asked Saer, speaking for the first time.
“You’re from the mountains, aren’t you, Saer? Yes. Well, any time you sail across the river, you’ve got its current to consider, just like rowing. But at the mouth of the Honnorgat, it’s that and the tide and the sea current, all together. The short of it is that we ended up a long way up the coast. We couldn’t even see Prealith any more. The way the current set, we couldn’t sail back without going far out to sea. We may have been rash, but we had more sense that that, to sail a skin boat out of all sight of land. We thought we’d walk back along the shore, carrying the boat, until we got to the Honnorgat.”
“Carrying a boat?” Saer was clearly skeptical.
“Skin boat. Not as heavy as you’d think. Hard work, though, with the sail and lines and all. Anyway, the forest in Dzordanya comes right down to the sea—and I mean all the way. You can walk with one foot in the waves, and slam into limbs. With a boat, we had to weave in and out as we could. Not easy. Halory, my oldest cousin, thought we should climb onto level ground, back in the forest, and go that way. Seemed a good idea to me. I’d nearly had my eye poked out by too many twigs already, trying to watch my footing.
“For a time everything went well. Not too much undergrowth, just tall dark firs and spruce, spaced so we could make it between them with the boat. Then we heard the first voices.”
“The sprites?”
“Mikki-kekki. Nasty whispers, that you couldn’t quite identify. Squeaks, little cries like someone sitting on a hot tack. I started to feel my neck sweat, and so did the others. Halory tried to hurry us, and we fell right into one of their traps. A sort of cone-shaped pit, lined with pine needles, and slippery as grease. We’d hardly caught our breath when they were all around it, chittering at us. They’re much less than dwarf-tall, with greenish fur all over, and very long arms with long-fingered hands. It was the boat that saved us. When they started with their darts, we got under it and shook.”
“What do they use, bows?”
“No. A sort of tube. They blow into it, and the dart flies out. They throw them by hand, too. The darts are poisoned, usually. Inory, my middle cousin, was hit by one and though he lived he was sick for weeks. That night we thought he’d die. If it hadn’t been for some clan’s longhouse nearby—their sentries heard the mikki-kekki laughing and taunting us—I wouldn’t be here. They drove them off, and pulled us out. It was two days before we got home, and my uncle—well, you can imagine.” Kory shook his head.
“Well,” said Amberion, “now we know about mikki-kekki.” He went on with his list. “Sarin Inerith went into Kostandan, as you know, because we had word that Girdsmen were held in slavery there. Her head returned to Piery grange: we have no idea what happened, where, or how. Jori of Westbells finally died of the lungfever that’s plagued him these four years. And Fenith, as you heard, died in Horngard.”
“What of the current candidates? Don’t we have any who will finish this year?” That was High Marshal Suriest, Knight-Marshal of the Order of the Cudgel.
“At best we may have five this year, Amberion tells me. Kosta has withdrawn his candidacy, and transferred to the Marshal Hall. Dort withdrew. Pelis may withdraw. And of course we don’t know what will happen in the Trials. Because we had so few paladins here to train, we don’t have any scheduled for the following year; we would have had Elis, but she had to leave, as you remember. She may be back, but not soon enough.”
“Which leave us with the new list—what have we got?”
The Marshal-General shifted the papers in front of her, and glanced at another one. “We’ve talked over most of these before. Are you still opposed to the Verrakai squire, Amberion?”
He nodded. “Marshal-General, we cannot define the problem, but we would not be happy with him.”
“Nor I,” said High Marshal Connaught. “Look at the time we put in on Pelo Verrakai, and what came of that!”
“Well, then, as I see it we’ve got five good candidates. Four in the knight’s classes, and Seddith, the Marshal we spoke of last time.”
“And we need seven.”
“And we need as many as we can find,” said the Marshal-General. “Now—”
“I know what you’re leading up to,” interrupted Juris. “You want to include that new yeoman.”
“What!” High Marshal Suriest turned his head; Connaught snorted. The Marshal-General held up her hand, and they all quieted.
“Juris, you could have let me say it—but yes, I do. Before you say anything, consider. She’s a veteran of the Aarenis wars—”
“That’s a recommendation?” But Kory subsided when the Marshal-General looked at him.
“We had a report from Fenith about her; he thought she should be considered a possibility if she ever joined the Fellowship. Marshal or paladin, he said. Cedfer reports that she freed the elfane taig, in the mountains southeast of Brewersbridge. He checked that report with full elves—and so have I, here. Also she cleared out that nest of robbers, and was able to fight the Achyran priest alongside Cedfer’s yeoman-marshal. As far as weapons-skills, she heads the list. Since she’s been here, Chanis reports that she has worked hard on everything we’ve thrown at her. She’s even shown skill in teaching; Cedfer reported that from Brewersbridge, and I’ve seen how the other students follow her here.”