Part Eight
When they came to the fort, Barad was in the yard giving orders. "Get them to the washhouse and have the healer see them there. Make a partition." Some Rangers ran to do as he said and Dale was taken with them. Tsuki remained with Thorn as he reported to Barad.
"Perhaps a half-dozen Orcs; they came in the hours before dawn; roughly five hours walking due east-southeast from here," Thorn reported.
"I think they tracked us," Tsuki offered.
"Tracked? Are you certain?" Barad asked urgently.
"Not certain, My Lord, but Dale's behavior and the way the blackbirds gathered suggested to me that there were signs Elves and animals could read. I asked Dale if he was certain about a threat, but he could not say he was certain, though he clearly suspected they were coming. It was I that suggested we keep camp there and make a stand if need be. There was little moonlight, so I did not judge it wise to press on, uncertain whether there were pursuers. If I judged wrongly, I will submit myself to whatever punishment you decide. If it helps my case, I did take some precaution with outlives. We had a watch and slept in the tree and kept no fire to warn of our position. I even attempted a spell of protection and Dale disguised the Lady's scent with some oil, so they would not know Elves were about."
"Dale also is an Elf," Thorn said. He was a Man, so he did not understand that Dale's diet and lifestyle did not cause him to smell as other Elves. Tsuki had only lately realized it and he thought Dale kept his diet just for the purpose of confusing Orcs, who thought Elves tasted better.
Barad made some gesture to silence Thorn. Barad was only half Elven, but he understood much about Dale. "Make sure Tsuki gets to the washhouse and then report back to my office. Fetch The Brown on your way. I will need to speak with him."
A curtain had been hung in the bath area, hiding one of the tubs from view. It was there the healer met Dale and got him out of all of his clothing and into the hot bath. It was true that Dale had taken no physical injury, but some of the Orc blood had soaked through to his skin and there was blood and gore matted in his hair.
It was clear to the wise Elf who was the fort's healer that whatever Dale had seen and done had put him in an unnatural state and that it was important he be kept warm and be made safe and comfortable.
Dale sat in the water, silently. He did not even protest when the healer undressed him or put his hands on him to wash away the blood. He did not care at the moment if one more Elf saw or felt the scars. He kept thinking to himself: I do not seek the Orcs. Dale did not seek or hunt the Orcs. He was not glad if they came upon him. Kill them yes. In the service of the King he had killed Orcs, almost gladly. If they came at him with weapons drawn, he killed them then. He did not seek to have to go through these feelings every time.
They were Orcs, and Orcs had hurt him, but it was still not pleasant to kill them. Dale did not like the way he was when the Orcs were about.
Tsuki was sent into the washhouse. The healer came from behind the curtain and told Tsuki to wash himself and that he would soon check his wounds. "I only have one wound. Dale already treated it," Tsuki said plainly as he undressed.
Dale looked up then, as there was more sunlight coming from the front of the room, he could see Tsuki's silhouette as he climbed into the tub. Dale remembered that he had treated the wound. He barely remembered how he got here to this tub.
Tsuki felt much better when he washed. They had Elven hair-wash and good soap at Stone Keep and the heat of the water made his body feel less sore from sleeping in trees.
Even with hair-wash and conditioner, the healer did not have easy getting Dale's hair clean. The bathwater was foul with blood and gore. When Dale realized it, he started crying.
Tsuki could hear him from the other side of the curtain, where he was dressing in fresh clothes that had been brought in for him. The healer tried to comfort Dale. "It is well that you cry, young one, many would have run from the work you took upon yourself."
Dale had wanted to run and hide. He had wanted to travel on through the night. Stopping before sunset had allowed the Orcs to catch up with them. He should have stayed awake and not allowed Tsuki to take charge. "It is all my fault," Dale cried. "They were dead and I hewed the bodies with my sword! It is all my fault."
Tsuki did not like to hear Dale crying. He should not like for any Elf to cry, but perhaps especially the males. He did understand, as he understood that violence and war could make even the most brave and strong feel sickened and angry, that those emotions might often find release with tears. It was better done privately, Tsuki thought, but Dale had kept from it a long time.
Tsuki could not imagine everything that had happened to Dale but he knew enough to deduce what the rest might include. "Dale, none of it was your fault."
"It is. My fault. All my fault. I butchered them. Elves do not butcher."
"Dale, I will not come there and look upon you if you do not wish it, but believe that I am sincere. I do not know everything that you have experienced and I cannot know exactly what it feels like, but I know that it was not your fault. Not your fault that your coloring gave you camouflage and so they did not see you until their taste for death had been sated and they wished to toy with you. It is just your nature to have the coloring that caused you to remain unnoticed for a time, but not your shame. Not your fault that they caught up with us last night. I gave out orders, though no authority gave me command. I did not trust your instincts as I should have."
"No! No, you know that it was not your fault." Dale did not want to say in the precense of the healer, but he had deliberately plotted to meet the Orcs on his own. He had not sought the Orcs, but when they came, he wanted to spare Tsuki and Lenaduiniel the same kind of horror he had known.
Tsuki knew that Dale had plotted. He knew that he had shouted at Dale afterward. "I am sorry that I yelled at you, though it was true what I said. I now understand why you felt compelled to act as you did. You could not risk that we might be found, as you were once found."
The healer said that Tsuki was probably correct.
"None of you understand! You don't understand!"
"Dale," Tsuki said, "Whatever you did, whatever was done to you, even if you came to a point that you allowed it to continue, even if you liked it, the shame is not yours, because they never asked you if you wanted to be their slave and you could never have given consent, because they came and took you when you were young and they twisted you. They were wrong and so it is their shame. You are only responsible for making the best of your life now, and I know that you are working very hard to do that."
"Tsuki..."
"Perhaps later?"
"Thank you."
As Tsuki left the washhouse, he did not understand that when he had spoken to Dale, he could have as well been speaking of his own past.
In the yard, a Ranger told Tsuki to report to Barad's office where there would be food for him. Tsuki had not eaten since the evening before and he realized he felt quite hungry.
Tsuki was led to a room near the room in which Barad kept his desk, where a wide table had been lain out with food. Tsuki was asked to sit and told that Dale would also join them and that Lenaduiniel had just arrived in the fort and would come as soon as the ladies of the fort attended to her.
Barad was present, and Thorn who was, as well as their commander's second, Instructor of swordsmanship, and The Brown. It was not the way of Wizards to give out their personal names and so if they had not had other names given them, they were addressed by the highest color of robe they had earned the right to wear.
They invited Tsuki to begin eating and as he ate, they questioned him about his travels. Tsuki answered as directly and honestly as he could, as these were his superiors, and he made effort not to be caught with food in his mouth when they wanted an answer.
Dale was shown in shortly after. He looked better than he had when those present had last seen him. The Brown had been among those in the yard when they rode in. Dale had also been issued a new set of clothes and entered the room fully dressed, though as they were indoors, this meant he wore no cloak.
Dale announced that he wanted to eat Elf food and so Barad bade him sit, as there was already many foods preferred by Elves on the table. Dale ate slowly and answered the questions of his superiors briefly. "It is strange after using eating sticks," Dale said. They had only knife, bread and hands to feed themselves, but this was the normal custom of the region.
Later, Lenaduiniel came into the room and sat at the end of the table opposite Barad. He asked her some questions, though they were disguised as polite conversation. Tsuki was a little worried already, because Dale's story did not match with his exactly on a few points. They had both tried to accept responsibility for what they supposed to be errors in judgment. Lenaduiniel gave a slightly different account from either of the Rangers. She seemed to make them both sound more competent.
It was not long after midday when they had finished their meal and all the questioning. Lenaduiniel was told that her brother was in training and could not be disturbed but that after each day's instruction he would be free to see her. She would be staying among the ladies that served at the fort. Tsuki and Dale were told that they might have the remainder of the day to rest but that in the morning they must be back to training with the other recruits.
When the meal was finished and Barad was alone in his office with Thorn and The Brown he sat at his desk and looked to the documents he had taken from their container as soon as the horses were brought in. "The situation may be more serious than we would have thought. Dale seemed to believe the Orcs were after him."
"Not altogether surprising," The Brown said.
"And Lady Lenaduiniel seems to think it a plot by former subjects of the Dark Lord in the east to abduct her in order to sway her father."
"Is that not possible?"
"Possible, but Duinhir reports that messengers coming into River Forge from the east were also beset by a small party of Orcs that tracked them and traveled by night."
"Coincidence, Sir?"
"Now, I think not. I have received, though Duinhir's post, orders from the Elf King. We have a High King now, and many lands that were lost during reign of the Dark Lord and his subjects have been restored. Rangers were long chosen from the Men of the lost kingdoms who wished to give what protection they could to the people, and Elves have as long aided these Men. Now we are agreed to take recruits from all the speaking races, in service of the High King; there are many areas that would be otherwise lawless, even though the war is won. And we have agreed also to take assignments from other kings, be they the lesser Kings of Men, Dwarf Lords, Elven Kings or Mayor of Halflings. As the orders come from the Elf King, we must do as we are instructed."
"Your attempt to reason out why we must obey tells me these orders are suspect," The Brown said, "Does it involve a certain undertaking of Elves and Wizards?"
"I suspect it does involve the rumored undertaking, but the orders do not say. I will trust you two as my advisors in this. The orders are clear, but I do not like the lack of detail and explanation. Surely an officer of my rank deserves to know what dangers he may be sending those who serve him toward, but I have been given no more detail than a foot soldier."
"What do the orders say?" Thorn asked.
"A courier will arrive from the west in approximately three weeks and we are to make certain this courier is brought safely to his destination. We are not told the exact destination, but that the courier will inform us when he comes and that it will be a long journey. We are ordered to treat the matter with secrecy and as a matter of the security of all good creatures."
"I foresee the courier is related to the rumored undertaking," The Brown said, rubbing his temple. "It is perhaps some combination of Elven magics and Wizardry, but I cannot see more."
"I do not trust this amount of secrecy outside of wartime," Barad said, but we are bound to follow the order. The means and mode of escort are for us to decide. Given the attacks on the messengers, I believe that some opposing force does know of the same rumors as we do. We must use caution."
"I have prepared the list of newly recruited Rangers who have earned the highest marks in the broadest range of classes," Thorn said. He brought the list from his jacket, written in ink on a piece of parchment.
Barad took the list and read it. The Brown looked over his shoulder to see the names. "I am sure these will all make good Rangers. Several from Third Company are doing very well. Gwindor's Company, bless their spirits. I see that our Dale and Tsuki are both on this list."
"Sir, I must agree that they possess skills, but they are...bunglers! Surely you could not trust them with this assignment? Do you even mean to send our new recruits?"
"They will be graduated by the end of the month when the courier is expected. It was my thought to use the mission to get our recruits further experience, but now I have doubt, since we have put together the information regarding the Orc attacks."
"Perhaps decoys," The Brown suggested as he looked out the window to the well, where Tsuki and Dale stood talking.
"Use decoys?" Barad mused. "Send one party that is bound to attract more attention or that would be expected, with a substitute courier, and send a second party secretly with the real courier."
"Send Tsuki and Dale as the decoys, Sir! They are such bunglers they will be sure to draw attention. Pots of vomit! They should be discharged."
"We shall see. There is more than a week of instruction left the recruits and then they will have their final projects and tests to complete. We have time to consider our plans."
At the well, Dale drank water from his hand as Tsuki stood nearby, holding the end of the new cloak he had been issued, which was too long. "I am glad that things will get back to normal," Dale said. "I meant what I said about getting you anything you need. For you, I will do it without payment, but I notice you are quite skilled at whittling wood."
"It is something to pass time between battles."
"If I got you wood, could you whittle specific things that others want? If you did, I could get you things, not from me, as I said that would be for free, but things others might wish to trade."
"I really have no need for anything, but I will attempt if it helps you, though I would prefer not to craft weapons or...tools of torture."
Dale laughed and there was a little madness in it. "That need not be a tool of torture. Let's call it an example of homoerotic craftwork. I suppose they took it from me. They took everything this time. I will have to start over. I think I will visit the town and the outlying homesteads tonight. I could really use a needle to make pockets again."
"Dale, you should not go out again. There might be Orcs about."
"I will be alone, so they will not find me."
"Perhaps you might take my cloak as yours. It is green and will serve you better while it is still summer."
"It is too long for you. When I get my needles, I will alter my cloak for you to use."
"Take mine now. I will not need a cloak soon, staying at the fort and taking instruction." Tsuki removed the cloak that was loosely draped over his shoulders and offered it to Dale. The cloak fit Dale well.
"It will do until I get my own cloak back."
"I should like to have my things as well."
"You should be careful with your...mystical Wizardry or whatever that stuff is."
"I...I understand your concern. I believe I am well now, though I did react strangely when I saw all my old things again."
"You are not so terrible for a Wizard..."
"I am not a Wizard."
"Not to those who wear the robes, but you know so much. I just was trying to say...perhaps I shall see you when we are called to supper, but I will need to see my Men and find out how things have gone here and everything I have missed."
"Yes...I wonder how it will be for Gwindor with his sister here."
"I expect they shall spend some time together, but he will still be in training. You will probably see him soon, to warn him, if some Ranger has not already gone to tell him Lenaduiniel is here."
"Yes. I will go to my barrack now. I could use some sleep."
"Sleep would be good, while there is yet light," Dale's voice almost sang.
"Perhaps at supper...I shall see you...or some other time."
"Yes." Dale was silent for a few moments. "Certainly I will see you, sometime."
Tsuki smiled. "Until then."
When Dale and Tsuki each returned to their barrack, they found that all the items they had been issued and which they had taken on their trip were lain out on their bed with their empty pack. Anything they had had in their pack that had not been issued to them had been taken and placed in storage.
At supper Tsuki and Dale only saw each other from a distance. Dale was occupied with speaking to his Company and explaining that many things had been taken when he returned but that he would do his best to acquire what they wanted. The Men he knew told him what he had missed in their training and how they thought he should catch up to them. Tsuki spent the meal sitting beside Gwindor and relating how he had known Lenaduiniel before and not guessed that Gwindor was her brother, though he had guessed Gwindor was a noble.
"You are a Prince?" The Dwarf in their company asked. He seemed most interested I the details of the story regarding Lenaduiniel. "And you, Tsuki, bathed with her and truly did not look upon her?"
"I did not look at her nakedness. There was not enough light in the day for us to bathe at different times, but of course I acted honorably and gazed away from her."
"And she did not look at you? How can you be certain?"
"Gib Son of Gib, you are speaking of my sister," Gwindor warned.
The Dwarf changed the subject to jewelry that Elven ladies might like. Tsuki had heard Gib's stories many times, though he did not often speak to him. The Dwarf seemed to enjoy complaining about his family, his three older brothers who liked to do nothing but sing in taverns and how he had been forced by his father to represent their family in the military, though he truly had wanted to be a master jeweler. It seemed he truly had joined the Rangers hoping to see Elven ladies.
Dale went out that night, going over the wall in darkness as he often did. He visited the caches he kept in various trees he knew, without benefit of light. He found his way in the near total darkness to a section of stream he knew, north of the fort, and dug out some flint there. He made a torch to light his way as he gathered some berries, wildflowers and herbs.
Dale visited the homestead of some women that lived outside of the nearby town and liked to do night gardening. He delivered to them many of the plants he had found, with dirt still on the roots, as they liked. He sat a while and had ale and cakes as he bargained with them for goods in trade and then he went into the town.
He had been in a tavern fight here, but he had also visited on many other nights without incident. He often found people within the tavern that knew things they wanted or had things to trade.
There were other homesteads, but Dale decided to take what he had collected for the night from the tavern and return to the fort. When he came to the walls, he spied up to see who was guarding. Dale spotted a Ranger that he knew and scaled the wall near his post. He made his customary payment to him and then leapt down into the yard.
Tsuki woke in the night and felt a body sitting upon him. He reached for the knife between his pillow, but his wrist was pinned by a hand. "It's me," Dale's voice said, but Tsuki could hardly see him in the dark.
"What is that smell on your breath?" Tsuki asked. It seemed not a good smell to him.
Dale attempted to catch scent of his own breath. "Is it so bad to you? It is a Man smell."
"I do not know. It is not quite good. What did you eat?"
"Nothing. I gave suck to the guard so I could get back inside."
"You...?"
Dale lifted Tsuki's hand, which he still kept pinned and sucked upon his fingers.
Tsuki understood. "You mean...on his...hmmn." Tsuki drew his hand from Dale and wiped his moist fingers on Dale's shirt. "You do this every time you go out?"
"Not every time. The alternative is scaling the wall behind the latrines and hoping to not be seen."
"It was very dark tonight."
"They had extra guards looking for Orcs."
"Does he return the...sucking?"
"No, it's just done as payment."
"Then it is not sharing?"
"I...I suppose not."
"It would be the way of Elves to share...?"
"That one likes to pretend I am a woman."
"That one."
"Get up. I brought the cloak for you. Stand so that I can mark how to alter it."
Tsuki nodded in the darkness and, as Dale climbed off him, he swung his legs from the cot and stood. Dale put the cloak on Tsuki's shoulders and used a chalky rock to mark the length and the place Tsuki's hands fell. Dale took the cloak and promised to alter it and bring it to Tsuki soon.
The next day all the recruits were at training again. Tsuki and Dale did not see each other very often, but it became usual for Dale to enter the barrack of Third Company, in the evenings before curfew, and sit talking to Tsuki. Most often Dale delivered various types of wood he had gathered in the forest and gave Tsuki orders for objects to be whittled.
Tsuki was careful not to be seen with the pieces of wood outside of the barracks, but as Gwindor had allowed him whittling sticks before Tsuki had no reservations about taking up the hobby in his spare evenings. The shavings were put in the tinderbox near the stove to be used as fuel and the finished objects were neatly placed beneath Tsuki's cot and frequently removed for delivery.
Others noticed a difference in Tsuki; sometimes he spoke to others without being spoken to. The occasional rumor about him was still spoken, but now there were recruits who were glad to have a comb, a small likeness of a loved one or favorite horse they missed, a new pipe, or just a wooden coin with a rune they considered lucky carved in it.
Sometimes Dale would find berries or clays to make dyes and they would cook them over the stove that heated the barracks with Gwindor watching for their superiors. Sometimes Dale managed to barter for a little bit of wax in the town and they could melt the wax and dip the dyed wooden objects and then rub them to a shine when dry. Dale got the best deals for finished items like those.
The recruits did not all have supply of things for trade. There was one Dwarf in Forth Company who could use various rocks picked up in the yard to work against each other and make small objects. There was the artist who knew to draw pictures in Dale's company. Another Man knew to make things from clay, and though they did not have means to fire the pieces hard, they were still useful. There were Elves who knew how to weave useful things from hair. Many traded services; they would do chores or tutor other recruits in a language or subject of instruction they knew well. Dale knew well how to sew and often did mending of the clothing issued to the recruits if he had nothing else that was desired.
The grey cloak he had mended for Tsuki was cut down to calf length and the extra fabric had been used to sew neat rows of pockets within, shaped that they might conceal a wand or small vials and bottles.
The superiors did know that most of this went on, as recruits in the past had done the same, and they allowed the activity so long as they did not find the recruits cheated in tests of their ability, because they believed it taught resourcefulness.
Tsuki had even whittled for himself a wand of holly, about the length of his forearm, and polished it with wax.
Tsuki had obtained a disc of clay and when he was not busy whittling or in instruction, Tsuki would sit in the corner of the barrack with his wand, the disc, and the cup and knife from the pack he had been issued, and enter a meditative state. He did this mostly at night, so he would not frighten the others in his Company by appearing to cast spells.
Sometimes, not yet in meditation, or coming out of it, Tsuki saw Dale enter the barrack and go to Gwindor's cot. He would not try to look at them, but meditate instead. It was most difficult to turn inward and see anything clearly when Dale was with Gwindor.
Gwindor needed to seek this means of relieving tension more, now that his sister was in the fort. Dale and Tsuki were amused by her, but her presence always left Gwindor unnerved. She represented the home he had left to take up this ascetic mission in the Rangers. Sometimes she made him doubt, or miss his home.
Gwindor enjoyed Dale very much, because he was strong, possessed of endurance, well endowed and not shy about taking or feeling pleasure. It served Dale's purposes that there was someone near that did not think of him as killer or ghost or mad Elf; someone who gave and received in equal balance.
Sometimes, when Dale and Gwindor were through with each other for the night, Dale would sit near Tsuki. He often asked Tsuki what he was doing. It was not something Tsuki wished to tell others about, but as Dale knew him better than most and asked politely, Tsuki would explain.
He would sit and meditate about himself and his past and what path he should walk in the future. Often he would examine in his mind the time he had lived with His Master. Tsuki did not yet realize what, if anything, had been wrong about His Master's actions, but it concerned him that Dale should think that Tsuki had been used wrongly.
"You will probably figure it out soon and when you do it might hurt,
and I am sorry for that," Dale told him.