41
CITY OF DAEL
The path widened as it joined another mountain trail. The snow fell in earnest. The sun had been behind clouds for hours, and now the gray light grew darker. The veil of loosely woven moonbeam cloth over Kale’s face protected her from the chill and aided her ability to see. But as the afternoon faded into night, she began to worry about losing their way in the mountain passes.
“Not much farther,” Librettowit called to his companions.
“Stay close together,” ordered Lee Ark as he moved down the line, checking on each of the trekkers.
On his way back to the head of the line moments later, he repositioned the kimens. He sent Shimeran to the front. Seezle walked directly before Kale.
“Shine,” barked Lee Ark as he strode against the quickening wind to the front of their procession.
The kimens produced a bright yellow light. Even so, Kale barely made out Shimeran’s form, and Seezle’s glow cast just enough light to make the path between the o’rant girl and the doneel visible.
The others must be having it harder than I am. I have the moonbeam cape.
They’d packed heavy winter clothing. After the encounter with the woman wizard and the three-headed monster, they had reached an altitude where the wind pressed like icy fingers into their skin. Lee Ark had paused long enough for everyone to put on the extra clothing. The kimens, of course, had no need for anything other than their usual light attire. Kale had gratefully tucked her feet into extra socks and her hands into mittens knitted by Granny Noon.
“Not much farther,” Librettowit called again.
Kale’s feet sank in the snow as it piled higher on the path. Lee Ark tramped back again. “Put a hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you.”
This time he brought Brunstetter to walk directly behind Shimeran and Wizard Fenworth behind the urohm. The giant walked, shuffling his feet, deliberately clearing a trail for those following.
Kale’s fingers on Dar’s shoulder grew numb. She switched hands, pulling the cold one into the warmth under her cape. Seezle held onto the back of Dar’s pant leg. Kale wondered if the little creature was warm, and if her light warmed the back of Dar’s leg.
“Not much farther,” Librettowit repeated.
Kale had no warning when they came to the massive wooden doors that made up the gate of Dael. Even standing huddled next to the others with Brunstetter applying his massive fist to announce their arrival, she could see only a dark bulk stretching out of sight to either side. The wind howled, and the snow swirled in a blinding curtain. Only one lantern beside a boarded window in the gate flickered a grudging welcome.
The wooden shutter swung back from the gate window. A square of light appeared and then was blocked by a head bundled in a dark scarf.
“What? What?” the gatekeeper growled. “No admittance after dark. Go to the caves for shelter and come again in the morning.”
The shutter started to swing shut, but Brunstetter caught it.
His low voice rumbled pleasantly as if he were explaining to a child some simple matter of courtesy. “We’ve Wizard Fenworth with us, and we’re on Paladin’s business.”
“That won’t work here,” grumbled the gatekeeper. His hands covered in thick gloves jerked at the edge of the shutter, trying to dislodge it from Brunstetter’s massive grip. “Here now, let go of that. Go to the caves like any decent citizen and wait for morning. Wizards, indeed. Using Paladin’s name as if it were a password. Shame on you, and let go!”
Librettowit pushed to the front. “Trevithick Librettowit here. I’m not interested in sheltering in the caves tonight. Let us in.”
“Wit? Wit? You don’t say? Bumby Bumbocore here. How’ve you been, you old bookhound?”
“Busy,” Librettowit snapped. “And cold.”
“Oh yes, just a minute.” He started to move away from the gate window. “Tell your friend to let go.”
Brunstetter released his hold on the shutter. The square patch of light disappeared. A moment later the rumbles and groans of gears meshing and grating together signaled that they would be admitted. The noise went on for a long time before a large door set in the bigger gate swung open.
Why would such a simple wooden door require all that ruckus to get it open?
Brunstetter stepped aside, allowing Fenworth to enter first, followed by Librettowit and the rest of the party. The urohm had to stoop to get through the entry. Gatekeeper Bumbocore shut the door, abruptly cutting off the sound of the howling wind.
Kale threw back the hood of her cape and shook snow from her clothing. She stamped her feet and hoped they all would soon be someplace where she could put her frigid toes next to a fireplace.
Librettowit introduced the gatekeeper. “A cousin,” he explained. He and Bumbocore did a lot of backslapping and questioning. They asked more questions of each other than they bothered to answer.
“Ahem!” Wizard Fenworth cleared his throat. “Mustn’t keep your mother waiting, Wit.”
Bumbocore looked startled. “Is Gloritemdomer expecting you? I just saw your father today at noonmeal, and he didn’t say a thing.”
“Now isn’t that the way of a quest?” Fenworth tapped his walking stick vigorously against the stone flooring. “Risto knows we’re coming. That Burner Stox woman knows we’re coming. Probably that no-good husband of hers, Crim Copper, knows we’re coming. Even sent out a three-headed monster to greet us, but do our people know we’re coming?” He started muttering and shaking his head, pulling his beard with one hand, knocking newly sprouting leaves to the floor as he did so.
Bumbocore paled. “R-risto? Burner St-stox? Monster?”
Fenworth patted the short man on his back. “Been bothering you, too? Tut-tut. We’ll have to do something about that. Good calcification spell works if you remember to move briskly afterward.”
He cleared his throat and gestured to his librarian. “Nice talking to old friends, but we must be going. Gloritemdomer makes a good supper, and we don’t want to be late. Rude, you know.”
Librettowit led the way through the wide streets of the stone city. Lightrocks shone in a variety of colors along the way. Kale wondered why they were spaced so far apart. The cheery colors brightened dark passages but were not grouped together to illuminate the entire area. After a while, she grew used to the effect of the subdued lighting and thought it was a pretty way to brighten the constant gray of the granite.
“Now you see,” said Librettowit, doffing his hat to those he passed as he went on instructing his traveling companions, “tumanhofers don’t take granite from the mountain, chip it into blocks, haul it across the country, and stack it into buildings. Such an inefficient way to build a city. Our homes are carved out of the rock. Our streets are not paved, because they are rock to begin with. Therefore we can spend our time on more worthwhile things.”
Leetu?
“Yes?”
What do tumanhofers think are worthwhile things to do?
“Digging.”
Digging? As in dirt?
“Sometimes, if you count their extensive agricultural research programs. But more into the way things work. Librettowit digs into books and finds interesting facts. Some tumanhofers dig into different ways of doing things. There are more inventors, scientists, and scholars among the tumanhofers than any other race. In Dael alone, there are six universities.”
Does anybody need that much learning?
“The tumanhofers do. It keeps them happy.”
Kale unbuttoned her cape, and the two dragons scrambled out to sit on her shoulders. They chittered excitedly. Kale caught the gist of what they said by listening with her mind.
She grinned as she realized they were saying things she wanted to exclaim herself. Metta and Gymn were uttering, “Look at that. Did you ever see…? What is that used for? Ooo, that’s pretty,” over and over in different variations of the same, awed thoughts.
The questing party walked a long, long way before the house fronts began to look like homes instead of stores and inns. Their tumanhofer guide quit talking as he rounded a corner and quickened his pace. Down the street a door flew open, and a stout woman rushed out. She trotted to meet them and embraced Librettowit.
“Mama!” he exclaimed and enveloped her in a big hug. A man appeared and joined the hug, adding slaps on Librettowit’s back and exclaiming, “Well, well, welcome, son.”
Neighbors poured out of the nearby homes and gathered in the street. Kale stood back and watched. This was unlike anything she had ever seen. Mariones did not display their affections. These tumanhofers spent twenty minutes greeting each other and making introductions. They laughed and hugged. Librettowit’s father, Grundtrieg, took over the introductions once his son had led him around and made known the names of each of his companions. Grundtrieg introduced Kale to a young tumanhofer girl named Estellabrist. She pulled the o’rant girl around to meet at least fifty neighbors, relatives, and friends who had come over from the surrounding streets.
Finally the visiting travelers were escorted into the house. Kale sank onto a soft cushion next to the wall. Dar lowered himself beside her.
“Would it be rude to take off my boots?” she asked the doneel. “My feet ache.”
“Not a bit. You’ve been accepted as an honored guest.”
“Honored guests can take their boots off?”
“Most definitely.”
Kale pushed the cape off her shoulders and let it fall behind her, then went to work on her boots. With double socks beneath, they seemed determined to remain on her feet.
Dar braced himself and helped her tug. Then Kale returned the favor and marveled at how comfortable she felt with the doneel after all this time together. In River Away, no one would have helped her remove her boots, not that she’d ever had any. She would have been ordered to assist Dar. As they settled down again, she grinned at him just because it was good to have a friend.
Wizard Fenworth had been given the biggest, most comfortable chair next to a cozy fireplace. Brunstetter sat on the steps of a stairwell. Lee Ark and Leetu Bends sat at the table with Librettowit and his father. The kimens had found a corner where they wouldn’t be stepped on as Mistress Librettowit and her daughters bustled around making supper.
“Librettowit is happy here,” said Kale.
“Tumanhofers enjoy family.”
“Do you have family, Dar?”
He nodded, then closed his eyes and leaned his head against the wall.
“Lots.”
Kale thought about Fenworth’s comment about her mother. Could it be true her mother was alive? Could the old wizard know where she was? She almost asked Dar’s opinion when she remembered Fenworth also said that talking about her mother would put her life in danger.
I want my mother to be alive. I would like to find her. She let her eyes roam over the room watching the tumanhofers exchange smiles and affectionate pats as they passed. Librettowit’s mother kissed his cheek as she set a basket of bread on the table. His father gave his wife a hug around the waist. I wonder what it feels like to be part of a family. I think it would be nice.
“You belong, Kale.” Dar’s soft voice interrupted her thoughts. “You are part of Paladin’s legion. We are your family.”
Kale gave him a hard look. He still leaned with his head against the wall, his eyes closed. He looked tired and innocent of any mischief.
“Are you sure you don’t read my mind?”
“Positive. You are altogether too predictable to even have to bother.”
“Could you read my mind if you wanted to?”
“Nope. Haven’t got the talent. I can only converse with you if you initiate the mindspeaking.”
Librettowit’s sisters brought around bowls of warm, soapy water and towels. They washed for dinner there in the parlor of Librettowit’s home. Kale thought that was a quaint custom. Another sister soon provided each guest with bread on a platter, a steaming bowl, and a spoon. Dar sat up and smiled his most charming as he thanked her.
“Don’t eat yet,” he whispered to Kale as the tumanhofer woman walked away. “Grundtrieg will say a blessing on the meal first.”
When everyone was served, the father bowed his head and repeated a simple grace. Then he thanked Wulder for the company and the pleasure of seeing their son. He added that he and his family were honored to assist in Paladin’s plan in any way put before them.
Kale looked down at her bowl. In the dim light, she could not tell what was in it, although it did smell delicious.
“What is this?” she asked Dar.
“Tumanhofers live underground, so it could be roots or mole stew or grubs.”
He lifted the spoon to his lips and took a slurping sip. Across the room, Leetu’s head jerked up, and she frowned at the doneel.
Dar ignored her. “It’s good, Kale. Now it would be rude not to eat what they have put before you. Just enjoy it.”
“What is it?”
Dar heaved an exaggerated sigh. “Flatworm soup.”
Kale bit her lip and looked around the room. No one noticed she wasn’t eating. Metta and Gymn scurried around the base of the walls, looking for insects. The little dragons liked worms and grubs and things. Would they eat cooked flatworms?
“Take a bite,” said Dar. He dipped a chunk of bread in the broth and popped it in his mouth.
Kale swallowed hard. She would not insult her hostess. She dipped her spoon in the soup and only half filled it. Closing her eyes, she lifted it to her mouth. It did smell good. She tasted it. Her eyes popped open.
“Onions!”
Dar laughed.
Leetu’s voice entered Kale’s thoughts. “I told you he’s just like a big brother. He teases even when he’s worn out and too tired to sit at the table.”
Kale grinned across the room, answering Leetu’s friendly smile with a wink.
Just like a brother. I’ll have to learn to tease him back.
“I might be willing to help you with that project.”
Kale sighed and dipped her spoon in the onion soup. She would like to stay here. But tomorrow they would go on.
Deep into the mountain.
Looking for the meech egg.
Walking straight into Risto’s lair.