“Finally, the man would take no more; he picked me up and threw me out onto the road, with all my belongings, in the rain. Last of all he threw a silver coin after me and told me, "The caravan master gave me a tenth as my share; here’s a tenth of that to go away and never come back, you lying pale-skinned little thief.”
“I swore and I cursed and I called down the wrath of the gods, and then I picked myself up and ran after the caravan, determined to get my money back. I caught up to them late in the afternoon.”
“I hadn’t thought how I, a lone man, unarmed, and not in the best of health, would take my money back from the crews on a dozen wagons. I marched up as they pulled into the yard of the next inn and demanded my money, hoping to shame them into honesty; instead they called me a liar and a monster and beat me and threw me out on the road.”
“I was still lying there the next morning when they moved on; I believe they thought I was dead. I almost was, I suppose. I had more bruises than sound skin.”
“Eventually, though, I picked myself up and crawled away. No one had stopped to help me, though a dozen travelers had passed.”
Peren paused as if waiting for comment, but neither Tobas nor Karanissa could think of anything to say.
“This was in Amor,” Peren said. “I had crossed the border when I followed the caravan. Amor is said to be one of the larger of the Small Kingdoms.”
Again they walked several paces in silence before he continued. “I found a farmer who took me in, I promised to pay her when I could, but she didn’t seem very concerned about that. I stayed there for the rest of Leafcolor and into Newfrost, getting my strength back. I thought at first that I might stay there permanently; she had no husband, seemed to take an interest in me, and was comely enough. After a few sixnights, though, it was obvious that her interest had passed; once she had realized that, despite my color, I was nothing but an ordinary man, she had no more use for me. I think she had assumed I was a magician of some sort or a magician’s creation and she would be richly rewarded for helping me; when I convinced her that was not the case, she allowed me to stay, but treated me with more scorn than affection. On the tenth of Newfrost I left.”
“I had no money and nowhere to go, but Desset, that was the farmer’s name, had mentioned a great highway somewhere to the north that led around the mountains to Ethshar, so I headed north, or northwest, actually. I suppose I also hoped to come across members of that caravan so that I might somehow retrieve some of what I had lost, since the Citadel of Amor also lay to the northwest.”
“And then, on the first night I was alone again, I dreamed that I heard you calling me to come back to the castle in the mountains.”
“I thought it was just a dream, but it happened again on the next night and the next, and each time I remembered more of your message and I realized that it was magic, or I hoped it was. I had no real goal, nowhere that I had to be, so I saw no harm in returning; I had been treated better in Dwomor than in Aigoa or Amor, certainly. I had a few things Desset had given me, and I found others where I could, the thieves had never bothered to take everything from my pack, only the valuables, so I still had the tent and rope and so forth. I took odd jobs to earn money for the things I couldn’t beg, borrow, or steal. When I had everything I needed, I began retracing my steps; I knew I’d never find the place if I tried taking a different route. I got here two nights ago, on the third of Snowfall, and you know the rest.”
“I’m sorry,” Tobas said. “I hadn’t realized that you would have so bad a time alone over there.”
Peren shrugged. “You’ve done nothing to be sorry for; you had your own life to live, back to Ethshar with your tapestry. If I had had any sense, I would have come with you.”
“Well, I’m still sorry about the way things turned out. Do you know the names of any of the people who robbed you?”
Peren looked at him curiously. “Some of them,” he said. “Why do you ask?”
Tobas looked at the ground for a moment, then back at Peren. “If you want,” he said, “I can put curses on them, once I get back into the castle through the tapestry and bring out Derithon’s Book of Spells and some of the paraphernalia and supplies.”
“What sort of curses?”
“Oh, I don’t know; Derithon had several. Lugwiler’s Haunting Phanthasm, that created the spriggans when I messed it up, for example. Or the Dismal Itch. Or once I get better, there are some higher-order ones that get really nasty. You could pick and choose.”
Peren took his time to think before replying. “I don’t know, Tobas; I appreciate the offer, certainly, but I’m not sure I want to start cursing people. I’ll have to think about it.”
“Well,” Tobas said, “you have plenty of time to think about it in any case.” He grimaced. “I don’t know how much use I’ll actually get from that tapestry. Oh, I’ve got access to all Derithon’s spells now, and I can make a living readily enough, but first I’ve got to go back through the castle and collect the book and everything else I’ll need, and then come back through to the other castle, and then make this trip down the mountains all over again. That’s not the most convenient situation, having the only exit up here. I doubt I’ll be going in and out very often. I suppose it will depend on where I eventually settle down.”
“You could always just stay in the tapestry,” Peren suggested. “Oh, no!” Karanissa said before Tobas could reply. “No, no, no! Not permanently! Not again! After four hundred years in there, I’m not going to go live there forever. I’ll be glad to visit there, perhaps live there part of the time, but I don’t want to stay there permanently and give up the outside world. Look around you at all this!” She gestured, taking in the green pines, the blue sky, the bright sun. “How could I give this up again? Besides, the garden is dying and the wine is running out. Out here it’s so beautiful! Look at the sun and the trees and the dirt here, the pine needles, the birds singing — I like it out here.”
Peren turned. “You could stay out; you’re a witch, you can earn your keep anywhere.”
“You think I would let Tobas go back there alone? I don’t intend to let him get away that easily.” She reached out and stroked Tobas’ hair possessively.
“And I wouldn’t leave you,” Tobas assured her, returning the caress. “Don’t worry; eventually I’ll learn enough magic to make more tapestries, and then we can live wherever we please and still get in and out of the castle at will, assuming we want to.”
Karanissa hesitated, but then said, “Well, actually, I think we will want to, Tobas. It is beautiful out here, but it’s cold and a little frightening. The castle has been my home for so long that... well, it’s home. My home. Our home.”
Tobas nodded and put his arm around her. “Yes, it is,” he agreed as they trudged onward.
He had a home again, someplace to go back to. Telven no longer mattered; he had a new place in the World — or, rather, out of it.
He still needed more, though. Like Karanissa, he did not want to be cut off from human society indefinitely. He wanted to find a place for himself socially as well as physically; he needed not just a home but a career, and not just a lover but friends.
And a goodly supply of money to restock the castle’s wine cellar and Derithon’s depleted and decayed supplies wouldn’t hurt, either.
CHAPTER 29