Elf-Boy's Friends 8
The Far West, Part IV of V
by George Gauthier
[The further adventures of characters from the novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends']
Chapter 15. Caerdydd
Over the next several days Chief Border Captain Kwill's new chief of Scouts settled in and got to know his scouts. Meanwhile the young soldiers four studied Captain Dentzer's maps in preparation for their mission. It was not all work and no play. Drew and Ian Dentzer had plenty of quality time too.
For their last dinner before shoving off, the generals invited the four to break bread with them. Joining them at the round table was the commander of a battalion of cavalry newly arrived from Flensborg in New Varangia.
"Ensign Altair," Urqaart began, "I understand you have already met Major Ter Horst."
"That's right, sir. I met him in Flensborg nearly a month ago now and interviewed him too."
"He gave me a good write up in his paper." Ter Horst agreed. "He did me the courtesy of letting me see his copy before he mailed it to his editor. Ensign Altair, your recent articles on how things are developing in New Varangia were most informative. You serve your readers and the Commonwealth well, both in uniform and out."
"In his case, it's often out of uniform, if you take my meaning," Karel noted eyes twinkling merrily.
"Says an elf-friend who went around 'skin-clad' for months on end during the Long March." Drew countered.
The generals smiled indulgently at the banter of their proteges, which set the right tone for this send-off dinner from which discussion of official business had been banned in favor of small talk and light humor. The senior officers allowed their juniors to lead the conversation, contenting themselves with an occasional nod or comment. The smiles on the open faces of the junior officers exemplified one of the more pleasant aspects of life in the military: the comradeship it forged.
Rising to his feet and lifting his glass, General Zaldor offered the first toast:
"Gentlemen, I give you the Profession of Arms!"
"Hear, hear!"
Marshal Urqaart offered the second toast. Nodding toward Jemsen and Karel and Finn and Drew he said:
"Gentlemen, I give you our Young Soldiers Four!"
"Hear, hear!"
By tradition, the third and final toast was offered by the youngest person at the table, who was Drew, though younger than Finn by just a whisker. In a light tenor voice which carried across the room he offered:
"Gentlemen, the Commonwealth of the Long River!"
The toasts marked the formal end of the dinner. Everyone rose as the generals left the dining room. Most diners left then though a few sat back down for a final drink or two before adjourning to their quarters or to the officers club for a brandy, a pipe, or a friendly game of cards.
The senior officers took comfort in the thought that if they had gauged things rightly, then the mission was not particularly dangerous. The gods forbid that ill befall these great kids. True, anything might happen on the road from bandits and such, but these four had proved that they could pretty well take care of themselves.
The next day found the Young Soldiers Four plus Ian Dentzer heading north from Caerdydd. They loped along at an easy pace through the manicured countryside. This was long-settled country, the prosperous farms neatly separated by hedgerows or rail fences. Grain fields and orchards alternated with truck farms and pastures for horse and dairy farms. Some holdings were worked by their owners, others by tenant farmers but none by serfs, not in Cymru anyway. The people seemed friendly, healthy, and contented. Many of those working in the fields waved to the travelers.
The travelers walked rather than rode with one of the twins leading a pony with their gear. To pose as civilians, they had left their uniforms behind. Drew wore his expeditionary outfit of short trews and shirt of green silk slashed at the sides plus hob-nailed sandals. Finn was in his usual trews and shirt plus sandals. The twins contented themselves with colorful sarongs and went barefoot.
Ian Dentzer was the only one in uniform, proudly displaying the insignia of his new rank. He would travel with them only for the first stage of their journey, as a guide to the baseline the twins would use for their first triangulation.
The pony carried their heavier kit including their climbing gear and the packs that the twins normally carried slung from flat hooks at the end of their quarter staffs. These they retained as walking sticks. With no reason to expect trouble the twins let the pony carry their unstrung bows and quivers keeping only their staffs and their kukris to hand. To a Frost Giant like Finn, the weight of his weapons was negligible so he bore sword, kukri, and hammer with his buckler hung from his belt. His twelve foot spear served as his walking stick. Drew did not bother with a staff, contenting himself with a kukri and the belt pouches holding his steel spheres and soporific darts.
"Even clothed you and the twins look incredibly scrumptious." Ian said to his auburn-haired lover. Both your expeditionary outfit and your white tunics are tailored to display the clean limbed body you have so recently grew into and are so proud of. And the sarongs on the twins sheath their slender bodies and highlight their curvaceous rumps."
"You have a good eye for the male form." Finn rumbled, "but then, what else could one expect of an elf. Alas, in a week you will return to headquarters leaving me to carry on alone trying to satisfy the carnal appetites of three over-sexed young males. It's a tough job, but I believe I am up to the challenge."
"You lucky dog!"
The morning sun was warm though not yet hot. Besides the trees along the right side of the road cast the roadway into shade. For a while the only sound they made as they walked along was the slap of their sandals or bare feet on the ground and the tap of their walking sticks. It was Karel who broke the silence:
"I wonder how Liam is doing?" Karel asked aloud. "By now he will have reached the capital, settled in to our digs, and started training as a war wizard."
At Ian's quizzical look Jemsen explained.
"Your predecessor in Drew's bed, or rather he in his. Liam is only seventeen and refreshingly innocent. He was the teamster who drove our stagecoach from Flensborg to the border. A really engaging fellow, bright and easy to talk to. We all came to know him and like him. Of course it was Drew who got to know him best. A case of mutual attraction at first sight."
"It wasn't just a physical attraction." Drew protested. "He is a likable guy and not lacking in the brains department either. From the beginning I sensed hidden depths in young Liam, and I was right, wasn't I?"
Jemsen nodded
"Liam's magical gift started to manifest during the trip. His eyes shone with what war wizards call their moon-glow. Drew sent him for training under a war wizard he knows, one Sir Willet. He will be staying in the guest room of the twins' suite in their residential hotel in the capital. The arrangement includes meals in its restaurant."
"I hope Liam will join us in future adventures. Wouldn't that be great?" Drew enthused. "It's too bad it will be six months before we get back and know how things worked out for him."
"Meanwhile, we are here and it is now." Jemsen noted. "So let's attend to the business at hand."
"Always the level-headed one, aren't you Jemsen?" Drew said.
"Are you saying that Jemsen is level-headed and I am not?" Karel demanded sharply,
Finn supplied the answer. "You, my friend, are the comic relief."
Seeing the hurt look on Karel's face Finn instantly regretted his flippant comment. The younger twin looked close to tears. Somehow Finn's innocent remark had cut Karel to the quick. The giant started to apologize, but Jemsen cut him off.
"I'll handle this Finn." the older twin said in a tone that did not brook contradiction.
Jemsen drew his brother off a ways, out of earshot. The others watched as Jemsen tried to soothe his younger sibling's hurt feelings. At first Karel would have none of it and shook his head. Jemsen gradually brought his brother around. Finally Karel nodded and the twins embraced. Jemsen came back to the group to explain.
"Not really your fault, but your words hit a nerve. All our lives, people who don't know us have taken us for a pair of airheads just because we are young, blond, beautiful, and yes, incessant chatterboxes. A couple of dumb blonds is how they judged for pestering them with endless questions as if we didn't know anything, but questions are how you learn what isn't written down in books."
"It's a stereotype yes, but it hurts. Karel doesn't just want people to like him or to lust after his body, he wants their respect. It doesn't help that we are far too pretty for our own good, prefer other males in bed, go around stark naked much of the time, and don't have a feather on our bodies anywhere, not even at the fork of our legs."
"The fact is that both of us equally smart and both have a wicked sense of humor. Sure, I let Karel deliver most of the quips and punchlines, but they pop into my head just as fast as into his. Lots of times we chime in together with the very same words or one of us finishes the other's sentence. It's like we were mentally linked though not through mind speech. We don't hear fully formed words in our heads. Rather it's as if we can sense the thought processes that create the words we speak."
"And all of you have seen how cool and level-headed Karel can be under fire. In battle he clamps down on his fear and excitement and concentrates on what he has to do and how to do it. Just like me. Exactly like me. And Karel is real smart. Remember it was Karel who had the insight that showed Drew how to Levitate, something that had eluded generations of Fetchers. He is as much the inventor of contour lines as I am, and don't you forget it."
Jemsen's spirited defense of his brother ran out of steam just then. Leaving the others to ponder his words, Jemsen went back to his brother. The pair walked off a ways and sat in the shade of a tree, keeping each other company.
"Jemsen is right." Finn admitted. "It is too easy to see only the flashy surface and miss the hidden depths. That is a mistake I will not make again. And not just about Jemsen and Karel."
"Nor I" Ian agreed.
No more was said about it, though when Karel rejoined them, they all nodded to him in a gesture of support. The party of five was soon on its way. Within the hour, Karel was at least outwardly much his old self, though he waved off any attempt by Finn to explain or to apologize.
The travelers took lodgings in a country inn, the twins and Finn in one room (and bed) and Drew and Ian similarly situated in the other. During pillow talk Ian referred to the events of the morning, saying:
"I envy the twins. Their bond is so strong and so close, I'm not even sure what to call it. Is it the life-bond which love poets write of? Do they share a soul the way they seem to share a mind?"
"That psychic link was news to me. I knew they were identical twins, lovers, each other's best friend, and comrades in arms, but this? Though looking back now, I can see it in the way they have always interacted with each other and other people."
"Poor Finn," Drew continued. "He feels so bad about hurting Karel's feelings. Not his fault, really, but he blames himself for the misunderstanding. He said that he of all people should have known better. There are stereotypes about Frost Giants too. 'Dumb Ox' is only one of them."
"Yes, I've heard that one myself. The Frost Giants are large and laconic. For some folks, it is all too easy to jump from slow in speech to slow in thought."
In the other room the twins and Finn shared a bed though intimacy was out of the question. Lying close in the dark, Finn wanted to talk to Karel, but the aggrieved twin had laid himself on the opposite side of the bed with his brother between them and even rolled onto his side, presenting his back to the young giant, though not as an invitation. So when Finn finally did speak up he adopted the ploy of addressing his words to Jemsen.
"I wish I could express to Karel my regret for my thoughtless remark today. I meant it as innocent banter, but I hit a nerve and he took it amiss."
"Er... Now that he has had time to cool off, I am sure Karel realizes that maybe he over-reacted -- not to what was said but to the fact that the person who said it was someone he respects and trusts. Still, he might have given you the benefit of the doubt and realized that you would never intentionally injure him by word or deed. I mean, with the three of us being such close friends and all, lovers, and comrades in arms, and with so much history together... "
"Thanks Jemsen. I'd like you to be my ambassador to Karel and put in a good word for me. Explain to Karel how deeply I care for him and how much I respect his courage and intelligence. Also tell him how impressed I was that he held his temper and his tongue. A real class act your brother is. And I'd say that to anybody."
"You can tell Finn," Karel said "that I do realize I might have handled that better and given him the benefit of the doubt or at least a chance to explain. And I am not really mad at him, not any longer."
"Uh, Finn, Karel just told me that realizes that he might have handled things better and given you the benefit of the doubt or at least a chance to explain. And he is not really mad at you, not any longer."
"I feel so much better hearing that."
"I guess I'll have to relay that to him too, since you guys are still not on speaking terms."
At that point Karel rolled his eyes and shook his head at the silliness of their three cornered conversation. The stratagem that Finn had used to talk to him without talking to him was utterly transparent. As was the way his twin had instantly fallen in with the scheme to serve as Finn's sounding board.
"All right, all right. Apology accepted, Finn. And I love you and respect you too. So can we cut out the ricochet palaver and get some sleep already?"
"You got it, Karel. Finn said, eyes glistening.
"Karel can't reach you, so I'll do this for him." Jemsen said as he kissed the young giant, adding:
"Peace."
Chapter 16. Grand Strategy
Back in Caerdydd the generals took Major Ter Horst's report on developments back in New Varangia.
"We turned the fort in Flensborg over to the Frost Giants. It will serve as the headquarters of both their Fyrd and the mounted constabulary which was stood up recently to patrol the roads. The Town Watches use small station houses in the districts."
"The militia of the Frost Giants is as well drilled as any in the Commonwealth proper. Through joint maneuvers, they have become familiar with our signals, battle drill, and tactical doctrine. Unlike our mixed forces, they are all heavy infantry armed with twelve foot spears and broad swords and they carry full body shields."
"Their only missile weapon is the sling. While our own slingers fling small lead bullets, the giants prefer large pebbles and now the flame globes we supply them with. And just recently they have added caltrops to protect their rear and flanks from cavalry attack. Each giant can sow the ground with a pair of the spikes and retrieve them with a cord when it is time to march on."
"Beyond military developments, in the last four years the Frost Giants have built new towns, farms, businesses, and industries, but that is only the beginning. Within twenty years they foresee a population of half a million of their own folk plus considerable immigration from other races. I've heard that the dwarves have petitioned for the right to settle the limestone caverns of the hilly regions whence the rivers flow. And a band of elves has its eye on a secluded vale. Its soil and situation makes it ideal for mulberry trees, whose leaves feed their silk worms."
"Excellent." Urqaart said. "As for yourself, don't think your work in New Varangia has gone unnoticed. You have earned a promotion and command of a newly formed regiment which will include your old battalion. How does that sound, Colonel Ter Horst?"
"Sounds good to me, sir. And now I'll finally get to see the Far West. I don't mind admitting that four years ago, after the Second Centaur War, I was disappointed at being left behind when the main body of the army rode west."
"Understandably, but keep in mind that in Flensborg you laid the foundation for our backup plan. If our efforts in the Far West fail and we have to pull our army back to our own borders, then New Varangia will become the breastwork of the Commonwealth's defenses."
"During the decades it would take for the Despotate to conquer the Far West we would build a line of fortresses along the escarpment manned by border troops. From the heights, they would keep watch on all approaches from the west. Once the watchers sounded the alarm, we could raise the Fyrd, the militia of the Frost Giants. All infantry yes, but it will have the support of their mounted constabulary, the Fyrd's human auxiliaries, as scouts. Also the Commonwealth will deploy a large field army comprised of both cavalry and infantry supported by our growing corps of magic wielders. I am confident we could defeat any attack."
"Could all these countries really fall to the Despotate."
"Yes. The Allied Army is the sword of the Alliance. We will fight the Despotate's armies as long as we can. We cannot and will not suppress rebellions and uprisings among the oppressed peoples of the Far West. If an internal revolution overthrows a member government of the alliance, we will have no choice but to abandon that state and pull back. Our campaign here might turn into a long fighting withdrawal lasting years or even decades."
"Unless the states of the Far West change root and branch. in time they would collapse one by one, undermined from within. Eventually all would fall save the maritime republics which are not vulnerable to revolutionary uprisings. Also their locations at the head of lobes of the Great Inland Freshwater Sea means we could protect them from military attack with our navy. We would then use their ports as naval bases and jumping off points for spoiling attacks up the great rivers or along the coast by amphibious forces, forcing the Despotate to fight on two fronts, while its army would be bogged down maintaining garrisons in their newly conquered lands."
"We would likely be able to hold on to Cyrmu too." Marshal Urqaart noted. "It accessible by river from both of the maritime republics, and its borders on two sides are impassable marshlands with only a few crossings via causeways or fords. Its social and political underpinnings are more modern and more solid than any other of the larger states. This was why we planted ourselves in Cymru in the first place."
Urqaart went on to explain:
"You must have noticed that we have not extended the highways across New Varangia into the Flatlands, only the line of heliograph stations. Most of our logistical support out here comes by sea and river. Only replacements and reinforcements take the direct route over the bad roads west from our own border."
"I understand, sir. That makes it hard to march on the Commonwealth from the west whereas we can easily reinforce and resupply our forces in New Varangia by good roads from the Commonwealth proper. And as the country of the Frost Giants develops we can draw supplies locally."
"Exactly. Our venture in the Far West was always a gamble whereas our conquest of the former land of the centaurs was sure to succeed once we got the Frost Giants interested in settling it as a second homeland. Frost Giants make bad enemies but very good friends. We can count on them to fight by our side."
"Let's hope it does not come to that." Zaldor said. "A political solution is much better than having a powerful hostile state permanently camped on our southwestern border."
"Indeed."
The Army of the Far West occupied three cantonments situated within mutual supporting distance about two day's ride apart on major roads. About half the troops were stationed in Caerdydd in Cymru with the other half split equally between two towns just over the borders of two neighboring states. That gave the Commonwealth a presence in three contiguous states in the southern half of the Flatlands. All the states of the Alliance contributed to defraying the cost of the deployment save only the salaries of its soldiers which was covered by the Commonwealth's own exchequer.
The cantonments were more centers of military training than garrisons. The states of the Alliance rotated designated units to the three cantonments so that all soldiers in the Allied Army would be trained to the same standards and use the same signals and tactical dispositions. By treaty all these contingents were professional native military rather than mercenaries or militia levies.
The scouts were different. Under the command of Captain Kwill and Chief Borden, they were all permanent party and technically civilians hired on contract. About half had been recruited in the Flatlands and chosen for their familiarity with the geography of their native regions. They served as the eyes of the Allied Army and had taken an oath of allegiance to the Alliance as a whole.
After the latest round of maneuvers, the weary soldiers marched back to barracks in Caerdydd the scouts in the lead. Chief Boren commented to Kwill:
"From what I have seen in the short time I have been out here, these Westies aren't such bad soldiers."
"The ones we trained with have shaped up pretty good, that's true, but they are picked contingents. For the most part the armies of these states are mercenaries, augmented by peasant levies which are made up of ill-equipped, poorly trained, and undisciplined conscripts.
"The mercenaries do provide a degree of offensive striking power, but their primary motivators are money and self-preservation. Mercenary companies have been known to switch sides for higher pay in the petty wars that periodically broke out here in the Far West. Sometimes a company will withdraw entirely from battle to preserve its own existence rather than share the fate or at least the defeat of their employers. Mercenaries are unreliable that way."
"Then why do these states rely so heavily on mercenaries?"
"The loyalty of mercenaries to their paymasters might waver, but mercenaries are not locals and so have no loyalty to the populace. Ruling elites rely on mercenaries and men-at-arms on the landed estates to keep the lower orders in check, to put down uprisings of the downtrodden, and basically to keep the ruling elites in power. Mercenaries are basically a hired army of occupation."
"I sometimes wonder why the Commonwealth supports such oppressive regimes."
"That, Chief, is an issue well above our pay grades, but I like the way you think."
After a moment, he said:
"Change of subject. Now that you have had a chance to work with them, are our new men ready for training in kite flying? I only wish I could go aloft myself, but I am too heavy for the kites to lift."
"You have my sympathies for missing out on a great experience. I can tell you from my own flying days that it's a lot of fun once you get past your fear of heights. And flying will be easier now that we have a Fetcher to lift our box kites into the stronger winds at altitude. No more dangerous bouncing in a wagon behind a team of horses to catch the wind in a guide kite which lifts the main kite which lifts the flyer. That was the way I taught the twins Jemsen and Karel."
"Yes, you did say that you were old friends of theirs. So let me ask: How did they become elf-friends, dwarf-friends, and giant-friends all three? They must have put themselves at risk to save other people, and not just their fellow humans but those of all the races. To win such honors you would have to be adventurous, brave, and great fighters. "
"Right you are, sir. The twins are all those things and more besides. Jemsen and Karel are plucky, lucky, brave, smart, personable, inquisitive, and caring. I have never known finer young men."
"So what is the story behind their tattoos? They must have done something brave or reckless to win each one. And I gotta ask: if you first met them ten years ago, why do they still look like teenagers?"
"That is a long story, sir, several stories really, the telling of which would surely parch a man's throat..."
"Ha! I can take a hint. Now Chief it so happens we are only a short walk from a favorite watering hole of mine. The drinks are on me."
"Lead on, sir."
A short while later, affably quaffing mugs of the local brew accompanied by finger food, Kwill listened as Chief Borden related the Tale of the Twins, as he labelled it, explaining that this was far from the first time he had been called upon for the story of Jemsen and Karel.
"Now some folks have charged that over the years I have embellished the tale. Not true. Yes, I have improved the telling of it with better words and pacing. And I have honed the jokes, but everything I will tell you is the truth as far as I know it. Much is from personal observation, some I heard from the twins themselves or from their friends, and some is drawn from Ensign Altair's books and articles."
Captain Petr Kwill listened to Borden's tale of how, when they were only fifteen, the twins rescued a party of elves from slavers and became elf-friends. That was when they mostly gave up on clothing and went around like the elves themselves, skin clad.
"Even as scouts the twins often went around bare-ass naked though Chief Wroclaw and I did get them to wear riding silks while mounted or a camouflage cloak when scouting on foot."
Borden then related how the twins supported the Stone Mountain Dwarves in a war forced on the underground dwellers by the maritime republic of Brax and thereby became dwarf-friends. Also how they served as guides for the Long March of the Frost Giants, skin clad the whole time, and incidentally saved Finn Ragnarson, later famed as Young Finn for his heroism, from a slash bear. For those deeds the twins became the first humans in living memory to bear all three tattoos. Borden also explained how their good friend the elf-boy Dahlderon later used his druidic healing magic to enhance their vitality and keep them perpetually youthful, looking eighteen or nineteen for the next half a millennium.
Borden sat back and sighed saying "Two's my limit," waving away the serving maid and her pitcher, then adding:
"Understand, sir, I have left out a whole lot about their other adventures, such as their stand against the Black Riders of the Western Plains and their exploration and mapping of the Hot Lands, which was just one of the twins' adventures with their mentor the late Sir Balandur of Leinster, the martyred Dread Hand of the Commonwealth. Not to mention how Karel took that quarrel in his rump."
"Let's save all that for another time, Chief. You certainly tell their story well.
"I have had a lot of practice. Many is the evening I sat over a pint with my old boss Chief Wroclaw, much as we two are doing now, and reminisced about the twins. Those lads are easy to like."
"I saw that for myself. I found them intelligent and personable, and though I do not lean that way myself, I could see they are exemplars of youthful male pulchritude. And I am sure Ian Dentzer did too. If he hadn't been so smitten with Ensign Altair, he might have set his sights on the twins."
"You know Chief, all three have the same magical gift, that of Unerring Direction, but the twins have done much more with it than my friend Ian."
"Well they got started a lot sooner, didn't they? And Captain Dentzer's terrain visualization technique leverages the twins' contour lines. There are honors enough to go around."
"Thanks Chief. My guess is that Ian was inspired by how much the twins have done with a single magical gift."
"Only one gift Captain Kwill? I really have to disagree. The twins have many gifts, both magical and natural. Just as important, they are uncannily clever about exploiting or leveraging those gifts."
"Take their innate magical gift of unerring direction, which they exploited in the fields of archery, pathfinding, and cartography during their adventures as hunters, explorers, Army scouts, warriors, and cartographers. Next, their druid friend Dahlderon conferred their second magical gift, rebuilding their constitutions for longevity, perpetual youth, resistance to disease, heightened senses, and greater strength and speed. Even with double their old strength, there are many who are stronger but the twins leveraged that strength for speed, surprise, and for drawing bows with a heavier pull."
"You've listed a good half-dozen magical gifts there, Chief."
"I wouldn't disagree with your count, sir. Then there are the twins' natural gifts which include intelligence combined with an insatiable curiosity, beauty, and sex appeal. They make friends easily and show good judgment in whom they befriend."
"You got that right, Chief Borden. But you left out one gift they have in abundance: the gift of gab!"
"Only too true, sir," Borden said shaking his head ruefully. "Incessant chatterboxes the pair of them. I wouldn't be surprised if they talked in their sleep!"
"You mean you don't know?"
"Actually, I have never taken the twins to bed. Understand, I am basically a ladies man, but I have made an occasional exception for a pretty youth, as I would have in their case, lovely as they are, had they only been willing. Alas, the rule against fraternization meant I could not. More's the pity."
Borden continued. "It took me quite a while before I could tell one twin from the other. It didn't help that they were fond of the game that twins down the ages have indulged in of answering to each other's name. To them it is a harmless joke on the world."
"One time I chided them for it. In their defense Karel countered that they actually do help folks tell which twin was which by wearing sarongs of different colors.
"Jemsen always wears green and I wear blue." Karel said, but then he turned it into a joke, asking: "Or is it the other way around?"
That brought a smile to both of their faces.
"Yet you sir, seemed to know which was which almost from the start. How did you do it, if I may ask?"
"It's simple enough. I have a gift though it is an entirely natural one. You see, Chief, I have perfect pitch. I may not be able to tell the twins apart to look at, but as soon as one of them opens his mouth, I know him for sure."
"More power to you, sir."
"Funny you should put it that way. You see Chief, I also have a magical gift. I can throw a bolt of lightning to a considerable distance, farther than a bow shot actually. Now mine is not a particularly powerful manifestation of that rare gift. My bolts won't take down a shield wall or stop a cavalry charge, but I have found my gift useful enough in combat."
"Flinging lightning bolts kept me alive during our early campaign against the river pirates. As you can imagine a steel blade in an enemy's hand makes an ideal conductor for lightning. So even a modest bolt can numb the sword arm and the leg on that side too as the charge runs to ground. Or I it can knock an enemy senseless. Given a choice, I'd rather incapacitate and capture rather than kill, but sometimes, I had to stop the heart of my foe and even several at once. During the campaign along the rivers, I stuck my neck out too far and found myself surrounded. I dropped the closer pirates then fought my way into the clear with my blades."
"As Captain Dentzer could tell you from our practice sessions, I am very good with sword and parrying knife. I usually fight left-handed, which flummoxes right-handers. If I go up against a lefty, I switch hands. I am ambidextrous."
"You don't say!"
"I have to admit to a certain degree of envy for the twins and Drew. With their vitality enhanced by the druids, they will stay young for centuries. Sure elves like my friend Ian and giants like Finn live that long as well, but they were born to it. We humans can count on only our proverbial five score and ten."
"I suppose I am feeling a little sorry for myself. I can throw lightning bolts, but my gift is not powerful enough to qualify me for that druidical upgrade. My gift is one of the rarest and of obvious use to the Army. If only I were stronger. "
"Maybe there is a chance, sir. Drew Altair wrote about a man he called the King of the Iron Roads. This Angus McFarden devised a training program to strengthen the magical gift of the fetchers who work for him. Maybe it could work with your gift too."
"It's worth a try." he added.
"It sure is. I will look into it when they get back."
Chapter 17. The North Country
"The line between the tops of these two hills is as far as our trigonometrical survey has reached." Ian Dentzer explained. "From this point all terrain to the north is a virtual terra incognita, so far as rigorous mapping goes. It is up to you guys to fill in the blanks on the map."
"Thanks Ian, for all your help and for your company these last eight days. " Jemsen said. "With the information you have provided on the exact distance between these two high points and their elevations above the level of the Great Inland Freshwater Sea, we can take it from here. Using our directional sense, Karel and I can extend the triangular survey all the way to the border of the Despotate."
"Starting with your baseline with a known length, we can calculate the distance and elevation between the tops of the prominent hills, tors, and mountain peaks we leap frog to on our survey. We will have to do a heck of a lot of climbing to scramble up all of them, but with Drew now able to Lift both himself and us and our gear, it shouldn't be too hard or too dangerous."
"Also, we will measure distances between towns along the roads with our pace count, and measure spot elevations with a dry barometer." Karel added. "Our customers always tell us that they like to see those details on the commercial or travelers' maps we publish."
"That information could also help the Army plan a forced march along those roads." Dentzer noted.
The twins used their directional sense to determine the azimuth and the angle from the horizontal to the peak of a rocky tor in the distance. They would do the same at the other end of the baseline and thereby triangulate the peak's distance and elevation. And likewise with the next reference point beyond that, and so on.
It was unlikely the travelers would run into serious trouble, but if they did Finn would be in tactical command. The others would take their cue from him. Otherwise, the twins would decide where they would go and which landmarks to triangulate.
Finn would also act as their spokesman, a role for which he was well suited thanks to his diplomatic skills and experience. Finn had been the emissary of the Frost Giants to the Commonwealth capital where he persuaded the Council to send Lord Zaldor for peace talks held at a distant fortress north of the Eastern Plains.
Those talks produced a peace and alliance that lead to the Long March of the Frost Giants and the joint conquest of the land of the centaurs. Oddr Bjarnson, the political chief of the Frost Giants, considered Finn to be his lucky charm. Whenever he traveled to the capital of the Commonwealth in his capacity as governor of New Varangia, he took Finn with him. Their presence in the capital provided Finn with quality time with his friends and comrades in arms, Drew and the twins.
The core team had re-dubbed themselves the Explorers Four. After all, they were supposed to be civilians, just a pair of cartographers, a journalist, and a bodyguard openly going about their lawful business.
"You won't see prosperous villages like those back in Cymru where sturdy yeoman farmers work their own land. The arable land in these parts is parceled out in large estates worked by serfs. Their owners are either members of the traditional landed aristocracy or new men whose wealth derives from state office or from tax farming or official monopolies like the trades in salt or iron." Dentzer explained.
This was Ian Dentzer's last day with the expedition. In the morning he would start back to Caerdydd. Dentzer would not backtrack the route they had all taken, but would head over to the main river in those parts and book passage on a boat headed south with the current. For the last leg of his return journey, he would catch a stage to Commonwealth headquarters.
Drew's and Ian's leave taking was poignant. They had really bonded, the two of them, elf-boy and journalist. A final embrace and kiss and then Ian set off.
"That one is a keeper." Drew affirmed to no one in particular.
In the weeks that followed the four explorers zig-zagged across the Flatlands, from one prominent landmark to the next, triangulating between them and making terrain sketches. As they moved north, temperate broadleaf forest gave way to tropical rainforest and savannas. In those lower latitudes, the weather changed from seasonal warmth to tropical heat.
They all stripped off their shirts, rolled them up, and put them in their packs. Finn went about bared to the waist. The same could not be said of the twins for the trews of their riding silks really hung from their hip bones, showing most of their Adam's girdles. The waistband of Drew's short trews had grown loose with Drew gone all whipcord lean and svelte from his running and climbing. The brief garment threatened to lose its tenuous grip on his pert rump. That was just fine with Drew. He was proud of his trim and taut body. To his way of thinking, maybe his petit physique was lacking in quantity, but it more than made up for it in quality. So why not share it with the world?
The terrain was monotonous with mostly low relief. Here and there were rolling hills and the occasional isolated peak or extinct volcano. Dense forests alternated with cleared areas centered on villages and landed estates. Sometimes Drew had to lift one of the twins into the sky to let them get their bearing on the next objective.
The adventurers mostly kept to what passed for roads in those parts, really just rough unimproved tracks which crossed watercourses at fords instead of bridges. Often they struck out across country to reach their designated high points. Though they preferred to put up at inns and taverns, they frequently had to camp out in the rough.
That was not really a hardship, not to such veteran campaigners as these. Balandur had taught the twins how to live off the land, to fish in streams and lakes, to gather eggs from the nests of birds, to dig tubers from the earth, to gather fruits and nuts and berries and how to tell wholesome from noxious varieties. The twins could bring down small game with their bows or Finn with his sling or Drew with one of his small steel spheres, his birdshot. Finn too knew his way around in the woods. Even Drew, city boy though he was, had picked up a few things on his expeditions.
Though none of them had the magical gift of fire starting, they could get a blaze going well enough with mundane methods like using a spark striker to ignite dry tinder, then roast or broil their kill over a fire, or bury fish and tubers wrapped in leaves beneath the coals to bake slowly, or boil their food by rolling heated rocks into a cooking pit dug in the earth.
It was not all work and no play. Every so often they took a couple of days off to relax and enjoy themselves and each other. In private they could dispense with clothing and disport themselves in the nude, as the gods had made them. Drew got to show off the trim and taut body he had so recently grown into and was so inordinately proud of. Not that the others were any slouches in that department. While Drew was the cute one of the bunch, the twins were the pretty ones, and Finn the handsome and muscular exemplar of masculine desirability.
It was not just that the red-head had an exhibitionist streak in him, though that was true enough. Drew had grown up in the Commonwealth where casual public nudity for youthful males was the rule rather than the exception. Thought not natives of the Commonwealth the twins had gone about skin clad since they were fifteen and had been adopted as elf-friends by the elves they had saved from slavers. Only Finn's people had much use for clothing, but then their original homeland had a cool climate, and the winters were cold enough for frost and ice and even snow.
One sojourning spot offered cool spring water, a lazy stream deep and wide enough for swimming and aquatic grab-ass fun, grassy flats for running and tossing the Zinger, and complete seclusion. Just the place for fun and frolic. It wasn't long before the four youths were engaged in sexual congress, their supple bodies bent and twisted in all manner of naughty positions.
Karel paired off with Finn and Jemsen with Drew.
Now Karel was versatile and could top with either Drew or his twin, but with Finn, he was invariably the bottom, a role which he relished, as he would be the first to admit. He didn't feel in any way diminished for taking the subordinate role. After all, as lovers go, Frost Giants were in a category by themselves: huge, strong, muscular, masculine, dominant, and endowed. It was quite an accomplishment just being able to accommodate a lover as big as Finn was.
Finn's prong was the largest the blond boy had taken up his quim since he lay with Balandur. As a human-giant hybrid, Balandur stood a bit over seven and half feet or about half a foot taller than Finn was right then. Since their endowments were in proportion, Karel had to wonder if he would still be able take Finn when he reached his full growth. He would likely top out at eight feet since males in Finn's line were actually on the short side as Frost Giants go.
Karel was counting on his enhanced vitality and healing powers to make it possible. If not, well there were many ways two males could pleasure each other. As one-time rent boys, the twins knew them all, or at least liked to think so.
Jemsen and Drew were closer in size though Jemsen was a head taller than the diminutive red-head. Their young bodies were slender and supple, taut and toned, which made for sex play that was energetic, acrobatic, and enthusiastic. Not to mention intense, sweaty, and noisy.
At one point, Jemsen stretched out onto his back and invited Drew to straddle him and settle himself on Jemsen's erection. No sooner said, than done.
"See," Drew joked, "I can top as well as bottom."
Alas, Drew's brief moment as a "top" was not to last long. Karel knelt behind him while his twin bent Drew's torso forward and held his attention with a kiss. That gave Karel a chance to insert his fingers into Drew's hole, lube him generously, then join his brother up Drew's tight quim.
Any protest the doubly impaled boy might have made was smothered by Jemsen's kiss. And really what was there to protest? Here he was being fucked by the two boys he loved best in all the world.
The twins loved to double-team the little guy like that, to rub their cocks together, making love to each other really, while their members were clutched by the satiny walls of Drew's bottom. Bent over like that Drew presented a bum that just begged to be fucked. Jemsen's shaft repeatedly rubbed his joy knot, making him shudder with passion.
Finn soon presented himself for oral service. Drew opened his mouth to explain that maybe Finn should wait a bit till the twins were done with him, but the young giant took Drew's open mouth as an invitation. He slipped his heavy cock between Drew's pouty lips which filled the red-head's mouth and pressed down on his tongue, cutting off any protest. It wasn't long before Finn had Drew deep throating him, his groin pressed against the red-head's pretty face.
Poor Drew, his small body was spitted at both ends on three cocks at once and his mind was in a whirl from the intoxicating scent of male musk. The rush of heat he felt was overwhelming, making him delirious with desire. It wasn't long before he shot his seed, splashing Jemsen's chest and face. The contraction of his anal rings set the twins off too, with Finn soon spitting his gism into Drew's welcoming mouth.
Just as they were all starting to sink into post-coital lassitude, their bodies still joined, a visitor announced himself with a shout.
"Hello the camp!"
The four lovers disentangled themselves, the twins' cocks pulling out of Drew with an audible plop.
At the edge of the clearing stood a pair of hunters. a man full grown and a fine looking boy in his late teens. From the look of them, the pair were father and son. They held their bows loosely at their sides, their right hands empty to show their intentions were benign
The boy had an incredulous look on his face.
"Pa, I didn't even know that was physically possible."
"See what you miss when you focus only on girls?"
"Pa!"
"Just funning with you son."
"Sorry gentlemen for intruding like this, but the ruckus you were making drew us. My name is Arden and this is my son Heuw."
"We are following the spoor of a big cat, a man-eating tygre responsible for three deaths. This cat is a wily one. He has a habit of turning back to ambush those who hunt him.
"Thanks for the warning, friend Arden." Finn said. "Now since it is nearly evening, why don't you share the security of our camp for the night."
"Much obliged for the company. No offense, but you boys ought to be more careful. Preoccupied as you were just now, who knows what would have happened if the cat had come upon you unawares, unarmed, and unprepared. He might have slain you all."
"Maybe. Maybe not." Finn observed. "Just months ago I killed a full-grown panther with my bare hands. As it sprang at me I surprised it by taking a step toward it, grabbed it by the throat and the scruff of its neck, then whirled around using its momentum to crash the beast against the trunk of a tree. That broke its spine. I dropped a rock on its head to finish it off."
"Wow!" the younger one breathed. "I'd like to have seen that. Did the panther hurt you much, Sir Giant?"
"He left deep claw marks on my arms and shoulders. My grip kept its fangs away from my throat, and with his body stretched out by our whirling motion, the cat couldn't curl up and disembowel me with his hind claws. A human healer fixed me up just fine. We have welcomed many of them as immigrants to our new homeland of New Varangia."
"I can see where a Frost Giant might survive," the father conceded, "but what could that cute little red-head have done but die under its claws?"
"Who me?" Drew asked disingenuously. "Why I'd have picked kitty up bodily, dunked him in the creek, and held him under till he drowned."
"Drew is a powerful Fetcher." Jemsen explained.
"He can lift a brontothere into the sky." Karel noted with pointed finger.
"You don't say! So what would you twins do?"
"Us? Why, nothing. We'd just leave it up to those two." the twins replied, pointing at Drew and Finn.
Father and son chuckled at the twins' airy insouciance.
The hunters set their gear down and made camp. Heuw looked nervous, wanting to say something but loth to give offense.
"Let me guess." Finn ventured. "Your son would feel more comfortable if we all put on some clothes."
The hunter nodded.
"Heuw is uneasy around male sex these days. You see, Heuw fancies girls and they him, fine looking lad that he is. But a couple of boys in our village fancy him too and continue to make importunate advances. They won't accept that Heuw's early exploration of his sexual feelings in that direction is over. So if you would... "
"No problem. You are our guests, after all."
As it happened the four explorers had caught a mess of fish in the creek and were happy to share their bounty with the newcomers. While Arden and Heuw cleaned the fish and set them to cooking Finn and the others bathed and dressed.
After dinner, as they all sat around the fire talking, Arden explained why they had taken up the hunt for the man-eater. It seems that a local merchant put up a reward for the creature's head. His daughter was one of the victims.
Many predators roamed the Far West since much of it was wilderness. At least half the land wasn't suitable for agriculture. Crops either did not grow at all or did poorly in the red soils of the region. Even where you could grow grain, yields were low. With the roads so bad, most farmers were engaged in subsistence agriculture in contrast to the Commonwealth where commercial farming was the norm.
"This forest may look lush, but once you clear it, the land quickly loses its fertility. In just a few years, the soil is exhausted, and you have to move on. For some reason, manuring doesn't help much. No one knows why."
Karel looked up, ready to answer, but Jemsen shook his head, signaling Karel to keep quiet on the subject.
The next day the hunters pushed westward. The four never did learn whether the hunters caught up with their quarry, but they kept a more careful watch than they had before.
Chapter 18. The Rescue
The purely cartographic part of their mission went well. The twins sketched and made observations of azimuths and angles of elevation that would later let them calculate the exact distances between the chosen landmarks. The twins' pace count gave them a good measure of the distances between towns along the road with spot elevations taken from a dry barometer. Once they returned to Caerdydd they would calculate the distances and draw up maps.
Quite apart from the topographic value of triangulating from high points, they all enjoyed the feeling of accomplishment as they conquered height after height.
The hard part was gaining soft intelligence about social and economic conditions and the degree of unrest among the local populations. That was mostly Drew's job, in his role as a journalist, sounding out the natives, at least those who would talk with them freely. Many of those he met in taverns or inns were cautious, fearing to be candid with strangers or perhaps wary of informers in their midst.
Drew and the twins had better luck among those they encountered on the roads, persons away from their normal haunts and those who knew them. Messengers, pilgrims, and priests usually traveled alone and were glad of companionship, however fleeting. Others traveled in groups: merchants and their guards, families of migrant laborers, and bands of mercenary soldiers but might still open up to fellow travelers.
The twins had much better luck in the larger towns with tradesmen, operators of freight lines, commodity brokers, and bankers and factors who could see that the twins' maps and commercial guides would facilitate trade. These men of substance met with the twins openly and discussed business and trade knowing that the authorities could hardly object to anything likely ultimately to increase their own revenue from tariffs and imposts on expanded trade.
Drew sometimes took notes during interviews and sometimes wrote them up afterwards. Since he was traveling openly as a journalist, his jottings would not be taken as incriminating evidence of espionage.
He also read the news-sheets available in the larger towns and cities. With the low rates of literacy in the region, they were still only a single sheet. Also many readers had to listen while they were read aloud on market day or in the taverns.
Their journey carried them through more than a dozen member states of the Alliance of the Far West nearly to the border with the Despotate.
One day, while cutting cross country to just about their last objective, their party came upon a poignant human drama: a young couple fleeing from a pack of hunting dogs. The boy had boosted the girl to the top of a boulder then stood with his back to the stone, defying the oncoming pack with only a quarterstaff held at the ready.
Behind the pack came a well-mounted party of six, a dog handler, four men-at-arms, and a nobleman, as he appeared to be from his rich dress, a cruelly handsome dark haired man in his thirties. This lord called to the dog handler to set the dogs on the brave youth and tear him apart.
That brought a look of dismay to the face of the handler who thought the role of his pack was just to track the fugitives down, not to kill them. He shook his head, refusing to carry out the homicidal order.
"Damn you Gruffudd for disobeying me. You will answer for it, be sure of that."
"As for the eloping couple, the bride-to-be will now witness her consort-to-be torn limb from limb before her very eyes. The dogs are trained to obey my voice too. Watch and see what happens to those who cross me."
"Hold!" Finn called out with all the power of his deep chest.
The lord turned his mount toward the four interlopers. His four guards flanked him, shields unstrapped from saddles and brought forward, all of them easing their swords in their scabbards. Finn stepped forward to face them his own quarterstaff in hand, with the twins to his right and Drew to his left, his deadly steel spheres at the ready in his hand.
Arrogantly thinking he had the upper hand, the noble called out:
"Who are you, stranger, to interfere in my business? Those two over there are serfs, fugitives from my estate. I have every right to stop them."
Finn shook his head:
"Maybe you had a legal right to catch them, but to loose a pack of dogs on a brave boy and kill him is just murder. As I see it, you just forfeited any claim you had on them."
"How dare you talk to me that way? You are a nobody, a commoner and a foreigner to boot, while I am an aristocrat of ancient lineage."
"Besides, do you really think you can stop me, stop us really. We are six mounted men and thirty dogs against a half-grown Frost Giant, a pair of pretty boys, and a diminutive red-head. No armor on any of you, and your three allies are more than half-naked. Back off."
"No!"
"So be it!"
With that the noble sent the pack at the "interlopers", thinking the dogs would reach them before the twins could loose more than a few arrows and swarm their party, wounding, killing, or driving them away.
In an even voice Finn said: "Drew, if you will, the dogs."
Drew nodded and set his spheres to work. In seconds they smashed through the bodies of the half-dozen lead dogs sending the rest fleeing in confusion and panic from a foe they could not comprehend.
"Diminutive red-head indeed!" Drew snorted.
"But you are a diminutive red-head, aren't you?" Karel asked, eyebrows arched interrogatively.
"Not the way he meant it."
"I'll have your heads for that!" the nobleman shouted. He and his men spurred their horses, swords in hand, though the dog handler lagged behind and collected his diminished pack.
The twins shot the four men-at-arms, their shields of no use against the twins' unerring aim. Their speed let them send one arrow right after the next. The first shaft went into a rider's thigh. When he dropped his shield in reaction, the second arrow went into his exposed neck or chest.
Finn stopped the baron. His long arms and quarterstaff gave him a much greater reach than the mounted man's sword. Sidestepping to his right, he poked the end of his staff into the rider's mid-section and lifted him right out of the saddle, letting the rider's momentum carry the hapless man in an arc that intercepted the ground with a heavy thud and the sharp crack of a broken neck.
Finn looked down at the dead man and shook his head:
"Damn fool! You brought this on yourself."
The dog handler raised his hands, eyeing the arrows the twins had trained on him.
"Quarter! I cry quarter!" he called out.
"Dismount then and throw down your blade." Finn told him coldly. Meanwhile the young fugitives ran over to their rescuers.
"Thank you, strangers." The young man said. "Lord Vauz would have killed us both though not before having his way with my Eiriann. My name is Gerallt. And yes, it is true we were that evil man's serfs. He wanted to take Eiriann to his bed though we were pledged to each other. We fled, hoping to reach the Despotate, where we would be free to marry."
"And so you shall." Finn declared. "The border is not far. Why don't you round up the horses while we check the bodies for valuables. The sale of the mounts and weapons alone should set you up in a trade or a shop."
"You mean you are giving us the spoils of your victory? I don't know how to thank you. I was a groom on Lord Vauz's estate and Eiriann is the daughter of the stable master. Since we both know horses, I think the best thing for us is to open a livery stable, hiring out these horses and boarding those of travelers."
"And for working capital you can use the contents of their purses." Finn said as the young fetcher checked their bodies. "How much did he have on him, Drew?"
"A dozen golds and some silvers. The silvers from the men at arms amount to another two golds. That should set the youngsters up nicely."
The boy and the girl hugged each other, hardly believing their change of fortune: freedom and a good start in life from the hands of strangers."
"What about him Finn?" Jemsen asked. "Shall I put an arrow into him?"
"No! Please don't hurt him." the young couple urged. "Gruffudd is a good man. A neighbor of ours. His kennels are close by our stables.
Finn nodded. "I granted him quarter. So we must let him go."
"Don't worry about me talking." the dog handler assured them all.
"I'll tell the authorities that it was freedom riders who killed these men. They let me go because I was a serf, one of the oppressed. That tale will ring true. The riders are known to be active in these parts. As for Lord Vauz, I despised the man heartily for his greed and cruelty, but I too was tied to his estate and to his service. His men-at-arms were mean thugs whom no one will miss."
"You could escape to the Despotate yourself," Finn pointed out.
"Nay, Sir Finn. I have a wife and three young ones back in our village. Also two brothers, a sister, and parents who are getting on in years. So I will be staying."
"Pick up your hunting knife then, round up your horse, and go in peace." Finn allowed.
"With your permission, I will throw the baron's body over my mount and take him back with me. Not out of any consideration for him, you understand, but so that less attention will be paid to what happened here.
"Good thinking, Gruffudd."
"Uh, Gruffudd" Drew began. "Sorry about your dogs. I like dogs too."
The dog handler acknowledged his regret.
"Not your fault, son. I lay their deaths on Lord Vauz. The last of his line, he was. Whoever gets the estate now can hardly be worse and likely better. Maybe even much better. Not all lords are like him. Some are decent enough, as these things go."
Chapter 19. The Talon of the Despotate
"So who are these freedom riders you mentioned?" Drew asked.
"Them." Gruffudd answered, pointing to a party of a dozen riders making their way down the far slope of the swale.
The dog handler explained that the revolutionaries in the Despotate facilitated escapes from serfdom through a network of safe houses and deployed riders to escort fugitives across the border. The riders often clashed with the mercenaries which the front line states hired to stop fugitives before they could reach the border.
The dozen or so men approaching seemed of two sorts. The freedom riders themselves were lean men in camouflage cloaks. The other five wore the gear of warriors. Nothing fancy but their arms and armor were of good quality and well fitted to their muscular frames. Their leader was a tall man of middle years, grizzled but still at the height of his physical powers. He raised his empty hand and proclaimed:
"We come in peace."
"In peace then we greet you." Finn declared. "Would you care to name yourself?" Finn asked.
"You may call me Colonel Ifans. That is not my original name but one I took years ago when I became a revolutionary. I count myself a friend of those who fight for freedom and against injustice and oppression. From the bodies strewn about, I can see you are of like mind, fellow fighters for liberty."
"Maybe so, but we don't do it for a living. We are not revolutionaries, just travelers, explorers you might say."
"Or I might say that you are military scouts for the Commonwealth, as indeed you are. Come, come gentlemen, your identities are known. I make it my business to find out things. When I see a pair of archers who are identical twins, blond beauties with splendid physiques, and sporting three friendship tattoos from elves, dwarves, and giants, I know they can only be the famous twins Jemsen and Karel from the Commonwealth."
"In the flesh!" Karel conceded.
"You, sir Frost Giant, would be none other than the Young Finn who stood with Old Arn in the Breach. And you, my diminutive auburn-haired beauty, can only be the Brave Little Fetcher who stood with them against the centaurs."
"There's that word again, Drew. Diminutive." Karel noted provocatively.
Drew did not take the bait. He simply stared at Karel till the younger twin dropped his gaze, abashed.
"OK, I guess now is not the time for one of my jokes." he admitted.
"No," Drew confirmed. Jemsen rolled his eyes.
In the silence that followed this exchange, Finn addressed the colonel:
"Scouts we may be, but we are not spies. We are traveling openly under our own names." Finn pointed out.
"Yes, but on a mission for Generals Zaldor and Urqaart. Our spies in Caerdydd have long ears."
"You have the advantage of us, Colonel."
"Then let me tell you something about myself. I am one of the Despotate's troubleshooters, much like your Dread Hands of the Commonwealth. We call ourselves the Talons of the Despotate. Now would you care to explain this scene of slaughter?"
In a few sentences Finn described what had happened.
"So you are setting this man free, the dog handler Gruffudd?"
"Any objection?"
"Not so long as he keeps his mouth shut. You will do that, won't you? Remember, we know where to find you if you play us false."
"No need for threats. I am a man of my word."
"I believe you. Go then in peace, Goodman Gruffudd. Your part in this is over."
With a nod and a wave of farewell to the young couple, Gruffudd mounted his horse, rounded up his remaining dogs, and rode off with the baron's body slung over the saddle in front of him.
After Gruffudd left, Ifans explained to the others that he had asked only as a test for he could sense when a man was lying to him. His gift was that of empathy. Ifans could not listen to a man's thoughts, but he could see into his heart and detect sincerity or deception. His empathic ability made him an unbeatable interrogator in the service of the Despotate. One who did not need torture to get the truth from a man.
The twins nodded and Jemsen said:
"You can even get answers out of a man who refuses to talk, can't you? Answer or not, his mind and body still react to your questions, and you can sense that."
"Yes, but that is a trick few know about, a trick I like to keep up my sleeve. How is it you two know about it?"
"Years ago we met a shire reeve who used that gift in criminal investigations. Karel even slept with the guy."
"Why am I not surprised," Drew commented dryly.
"How did you happen to be in the area, Colonel Ifans, if I may ask?" Finn continued.
"I did not happen to be in the area. I went looking for your party after my watchers lost track of you at the last town, where you left the road and struck out into the wilderness. I rode to find you but first stopped to help these freedom riders destroy a band of mercenaries. Now, since I am in a good mood from finding you, I will be generous to the young couple you have befriended.
"You there, Eiriann and Gerallt. I understand you youngsters want to start a livery stable. Now the five mounts appropriated from that dead noble are a fair start, but I am going to match them with another five taken from mercenaries who won't be needing them any more. What do you say to that, my friends?"
"May the gods protect you, Colonel!" the young couple cried, practically delirious with happiness at their further good fortune.
"The freedom riders will help you cross the border with your remuda and the spoils of war which these good people have so generously donated. Their captain will give you a pass which will carry my signature and stamp and so assure you of every assistance from the local revolutionary committee in finding a situation and settling yourselves."
Soon enough, pass in hand, the happy couple were escorted north by the freedom riders, along with their horses, booty, and coin.
"Why so generous?" Drew asked, ever the inquisitive journalist.
Ifans shrugged.
"Why not? Youngsters like those two are the future of our new society, one without oppression and exploitation. By helping them I am affirming my own commitment to that future and also, perhaps just a little, easing my conscience about... well, the bad things I have done for the sake of our revolution. I have a utilitarian motive as well. Acts of kindness like this help soften the hard reputation we Talons have earned and wins us support among the people. Without that we cannot succeed."
"We Talons prefer to lead rather than to drive. Men who bristle at a peremptory order may welcome a helpful suggestion. Not that we don't have the authority to command when we must. We work directly for the nine man Directorate which rules the liberated lands."
"Overthrowing the old regime was easy compared to building a new and better society in its place. So we Talons often have to knock heads together to get our tangled administrative structures working toward the same end."
"You see, as a result of the Revolution, the towns are under the authority of both a normal government of mayor and city council and a revolutionary committee, each with their own competing agendas, revenue, and constabularies. The government operates commercial and civil courts; the people's courts of the revolutionary committee deal with criminal matters though there is some overlap for political offenses. Also the towns runs primary schools while the committees run adult literacy programs, which compete for resources. Those are only two examples of the messiness even a successful revolution brings in its wake."
"Also, as officers of the law we Talons are empowered to right wrongs, especially miscarriages of justice. Sadly, unscrupulous persons sometimes denounce innocent citizens, trying to use the people's courts to settle old scores. That perverts the course of justice and reflects badly on the Revolution. We also come down hard on official corruption, very much like your mentor Balandur did in his day, though we Talons do not engage in espionage or work undercover as he sometimes did."
"Now that all that is out of the way, let us get down to business, shall we? How would you like to visit the Despotate? It would be a round trip, I assure you. We wish you no harm, quite the contrary. There is someone in authority who needs to meet you, to enlist you in the cause of peace. Will you come with me?"
"How can we refuse a chance to help the cause of peace?" the twins asked rhetorically, drawing a nod from Drew. Finn simply told Ifans:
"Lead on."
Author's Note
This story is entirely fictional, with no resemblance intended to any person living or dead.
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This story is one of an occasional series about the further adventures of the characters introduced in the fantasy novel 'Elf-Boy and Friends' and published by Nifty Archive. The chief protagonist of the novel, Dahlderon, elf-boy and druid, will appear in these stories in a supporting rather than starring role. Each story in the sequence stands on its own, with the focus on one or just a few of the original characters.
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