Part Eighty-Six
Laurel stood with a broom watching Ursula lead the last of her drunken customers to the door. She had thought that a tea house must be unlike a tavern, somehow more ladylike. This city had so many things just for ladies. Alas, the tea house was very much like a tavern and not even as respectable as the common room of an inn. They served light meals and spirits along with the infusions of imported leaves. Pipes and smoking were allowed and common. There was someone entertaining the crowd with a song. Those that poured drinks for you could often be persuaded to provide you with more intimate entertainment once payment was mentioned. The proprietor always insisted such transactions were private and not encouraged or authorized by the house. Men who were married often stayed carousing with other Men and the hostesses when they had wives waiting at home. There was gambling to be found if you knew who to ask. And every female who was employed by the house seemed scandalously dressed.
Laurel had to admit, she rather liked the snugly tailored red silk gown; it reminded her of garments in the immigrant neighborhood of New Haven where Beryl kept his house. Ursula was not of that kingdom, but she had contacts living there. She went down to the city gates to meet merchant wagons daily.
Laurel began sweeping vigorously. She whispered a spell to banish ill fortune from the building and continued sweeping the wooden floor, making sure to move the mats and not simply to sweep dust around or beneath them. Ursula had insisted.
The small woman said she did not really wish to work Laurel hard, but that the jailmisstress might stop by any time and expect to find Laurel at work, and Ursula did not want trouble with local authorities.
Ursula locked the front door and Laurel saw some of the other women that worked in the house bring her coins before Ursula went to one of the tables to tally the days profit, wages and pay outs to merchants. The cooks and other employees who worked a full day had a set day wage, but those women that poured drinks and sang or played instruments were paid according to how many sticks of incense had burned down in the time they were at work. Those Ursula believed better at encouraging customers to buy tea and spirits received a higer payment per stick.
Laurel, being a bondswoman, received nothing. She no understood keenly how it had been for Fei to labor among her people.
Laurel wondered if Fei was well. The city was full of rumors and she was able to hear many as she dusted or cleared tables. It was difficult to determine if any rumors were true, however. Some were saying that Orcs had spread as far as the south of their King's lands and that they had killed many. Others said that bands of Men disguised as Orcs had slaughtered livestock south of the mountains. Sometimes there was an entire flight of Dragons that had passed over the city and not just the one. Many Men claimed that there were now rogue Wizards making plots against peace or that all the Wizards had turned against Men or that there was a war in which many Wizards battled each other. There were some that had heard reports of great weapons and massive destruction and it was debated widely whether anyone among the usual enemies had the ability to make such weapons, even if they were suspected of havign the motive. Some even connected the weapon with the strange lights several days past, but no one seemed to claim with authority to know whether the light was result of the weapon working, or not working. Some said a spy had broken into a tower and set off some weapon there. Laurel was fairly certain that rumor was unfounded.
The customers seemed to like to debate and gossip in general. Many of the tales and rumors did not even seem relevant to the news Laurel wished to hear. They debated often whether there were female Orcs and if demons had wings and whether, winged or not, Demons could fly, and if they could fly, were they faster than Dragons.
Sometimes Laurel would speak up to inform them that there were now female Orcs, but there had not been previously, which really confused the issue, because the customers were usually so intent on assuming that there had either always been females among them or else there had never been females and were none now.
Such debates usually led to debates on whether Dwarves sprung from stone or had mothers.
Just as Laurel was about to sweep the dust out the door and banish evil, there was a loud knock upon the door.
"Do not open it," Ursula said coolly, "we are closed for business."
"What shall I do with the dust?"
"Scoop it up and take it out to the back door."
There was another knock. "We are closed for business!" Laurel called through the wooden door.
"Look through the peek hole."
Laurel opened the little panel in the door and looked out. There was a Man there. "A Man dressed in black traveling clothes."
"Likely some out-of-town Ranger who thinks he is the King's best friends and can bother citizen at all times of night."
There was a knock again. "I wish to speak with Laurel Poe."
Laurel looked through the hole again. "He wants to speak to me. He looks rather familiar, but I do not know why."
"Perhaps a messenger about your trial. Admit him." Ursula shouted then, "Baralai!" He was some pretty young Man Ursula employed for her protection.
Laurel opened the door as soon as Baralai arrived. When Ursula looked up and saw the Man at the door she jumped up, spilling coins on the floor.
She went into a series of bows and curtseys. "My Lord, Your Highness…we did not know." She lowered her voice. "Your clothes." She hissed at Laurel. "The King. Bow."
Laurel giggled. She was as good as twice married, but this Man made her feel giddy. She just a witch of the Lowlands, not even a real witch, they had asked her to leave the circle, and here the King was paying her a visit.
"You are Laurel Poe?"
"I am. My Lord." Laurel attempted a curtsey.
The King closed the door behind him. "Forgive my coming so late and the common attire. I did not wish it to be known I was coming to meet Laurel."
"You know that Laurel is only my bondswoman. She sweeps the floor. Surely if you, hem, I mean to say, I am sure your Elf-Queen is lovely…"
The King turned and looked upon Ursula as if he thought her mad. "It is a secret matter of state."
"Of course. Use one of our private rooms."
The Tea House had more tables in private rooms than in public ones, and they were all able to be spied upon from other rooms. "Draw up your hood. I will get my cloak. It will be safer outside."
Laurel went for her cloak and her bag.
The King held the door open and Laurel walked out before him. She could see why his people did adore him, other than the fact he had personally participated in several key battles which had saved cities or fortresses still full of people who had not died yet. He had the appearance of a Man who was mature, yet not yet aged and rather rugged features, which were so unlike those of Elves and yet were considered the very ideal of masculine beauty among the Second Race. Tsuki and Fei were of course attractive and possessed of many skills, but they seemed, well, shorter.
Laurel gazed up at the King and smiled. She thought he probably had women gazing at him so all day at court and tried to stop. "My King?"
There were locks of grey in his dark hair, like Tsuki had when Laurel first met him. "Miss Poe." Laurel really tried to stop being admiring. She had Men of her own. The King gave a casual glance to see if they were watched and beckoned Laurel to follow down the street into shadow.
Laurel had come from the Witches and had no fear of walking alone in darkness with a Man, whether this seemed wise to women of the city or not.
"I went into the tower after you had been taken from it."
Here it was. She was to answer to the King for her offense. "It was necessary. I attempted to gain permission through formal channels. I had to. There were friends and lives depending on me reaching one of the stones, and I had been told that the Fire Stone, which is red, is that which you use, and that the Sun Stone was believed tainted…"
"How do you call them these names? They are not the names I know."
"An Elf. A rather aged Elf told me of them. He said that Men called them by the places they had kept them. You brought the Fire Stone here from the Wizard Vale. The Sun Stone was here for ages. The Cities were twins, long ago, Sun, and Moon, which has been destroyed now. That is where they were. My workmate possesses the Moon Stone and one among Elves the Star Stone. I was to give aid to them."
The King glanced to the street about them again and then whispered. "Where were the stones recovered from?"
This was the King, if he anyone should know their tale, he should. He had done great and strange deeds himself and had the power to help Laurel. People said he had made the dead battle for him, and somehow not accused him of necromancy, and that was strange.
"The Moon Stone was that captured in the past by the Dark Lord. It came to us through a Priestess and was damaged, but one known to use restored the stone to function."
"Who used that stone?"
"Tsuki. He was the former White's ward and now is a Ranger trained in Wizardry and apprentice to the Brown." Laurel thought it was safe to say that. "This Elf, the older one."
"Beryl."
"My King?"
"I have spoken to my Queen and to Caerig Winnan."
It took Laurel a moment to recall Kato's formal name. "Yes. Beryl expected the stone to be tainted and warned us, but Tsuki perceived that it had been cleansed, if it had been tainted, by this Priestess, herself a Ward to one of the Blue Wizards."
"And the other. The One you call Star?"
"Discovered at Kato's trading post. He said he had not known what it was and that a Man found it when fishing in the river and sold it. It was likely the Stone in the city over the river. It was named for the Stars. The ancient cities mainly had such names, Moon, Sun, Stars, Evening Star."
"Evening star?"
"The Great Capitol that was in the north. I speak with Beryl of such things frequently. We believe one of the Blue Wizards was working in its ruins."
"Your company recovered just the two?"
"That I know, my Lord. I had no intention of removing a stone from your tower, only of using it there."
"How were you to use it?"
"They can be linked we discovered. Beryl said they had been for seeing over distance but also for communication over distance from one stone to another. We used the three before. The day I was caught was not the first I had wielded the Sun Stone there."
The King brought forth a brilliant colorless sphere from a pocket of his cloak. Laurel knew it was the Sun Stone. "I had touched it before in the past to test it and felt the taint. When the guards brought news of the disturbance, I went to the tower. This stone had fallen to the ground. I lifted it, with a gloved hand to examine it and for some time fought the urge to wield it. Then, I put my fingers upon it. I sensed no taint, and I was able to see many things that have clarified rumors of recent events into truth, or something close to it. Miss Poe this stone has been cleansed."
"I felt no taint when I touched it, but then I was certain in my mind that I would be able to wield this stone. I have an affinity with the Sun."
"The very image of Arien as I would imagine her. The Sun Stone is yours."
Laurel saw the offered seeing stone and hesitated, with fingers near to touching the surface of the stone. "But, I am just a…just a woman of the lowlands…I am not even one among their governing circles anymore. There must be some King or Wise Elf or Wizard you wish to communicate with."
"I have means to communicate with those I wish to. Are you not the one who with this apprentice Wizard banished the foulness from the barrows of the ancient Kings?"
"Yes, I did that. How…?"
"It was in Maple's letter, which I have been allowed to read. He wrote many good things of you, which I know believe to be truth."
Laurel took the stone into her hands. She concentrated and felt no link available to her, but she was able to see images within her mind.
"Laurel!"
"Yes? Your Highness?"
"I must…" He frowned. "Miss Poe, I was able to communicate with one I shall not name yet, but he did recover one of the other stones. I do not know which it was called before, but it was green in color."
"The two we suspected taken by the Blue Wizards were Wind and Earth."
"Yes, Lady, I mean to tell you, that I learned something from this person. He says that your friend Tsuki…"
"No!"
"He says that he died, but that it is true there was a device of some sort that had destructive power to make it a great weapon, and that Tsuki destroyed it before it could come close to the mountain or to settlements to endanger lives. Your friend is gone, but in dying, he saved many."
"No. It must be a false vision! Tsuki would not die! He is special!"
"He is gone."
"But he just cannot be! He can come back!"
"Miss Poe. I understand. I have lost those I thought…Laurel, this Tsuki was by most accounts a Man. We do not come back. Elves yes, though rarely, and Wizards perhaps, but when a Wizard returns, they are never exactly as you remember them. The Wizard as you knew them will always be gone. Tsuki is gone."
"And…and the others that were with him?"
"I have not seen that clearly, but I believe those who survived their quest have gone again to the Elven Wood."
"I must go to them!"
"Miss Poe, I wish you to understand, you are free to go. I have decreed you free of your bond, but if you would stay in this city a while longer, you may still be of help to your friends."
"I do not understand."
"I have not used the seeing stones for direct communication often, and I have many duties which demand my time. If I had someone here with a mind able to wield one among the stones…"
"You want me to use the stone…for you?"
"I was fortunate to contact this one who had witnessed Tsuki's fate, but this news had not yet had time to reach many others. This one I know will seek out your friends in the Wood and be a friend to them also. There will soon be a great need for discussion and negotiation I fear and it seems necessary that these matters remain secret a while longer."
"You speak of business with the Orcs?" Laurel whispered.
The King gave a nod. There is much I do not understand about the changes in them, but I do believe there have been changes. I have fought Orcs of various breeds for many years and I have recently heard reports from many outposts that tell of Orc behavior which is strange to me. You might be able to explain to me, I understand. And, you will be able to communicate with those in the Silver Wood on my behalf."
"I tried, just now, no stone was in use."
"As I said, one soon will be that I know, and soon after, others perhaps. Will you help me?"
"Of course. You are my King." Laurel realized that she meant this sincerely. The Witches in their circles had not claimed much use for a King and had made their own law, but Laurel was inspired with trust in this Man and believed that he was good. She would be a loyal subject.
Some days had passed and the corpses no longer decorated the trees. Holly had been hung from bare branches and from the eaves of pavilions and from the railings. Lanterns were hung in the arches and upon posts again to make the Wood glow at night. New snow had fallen to cover the pools of blood and covered everything in white. Censors hung where holly and lanterns did not to purify the air with their herbal scents and to mask the air of death that had settled upon the Wood in days past.
The dead were nearly all buried. It was long work, and ongoing. The earth was cold and hard in winter, but the Elves were determined to have the dead placed whole in the earth. There had been some lost limbs, and the Elves wept over this, because they wished their bodies to go into death whole. A small thing to others, such as a pierced ear, that altered the body from the form it had been created in upset them.
Orc dead had been collected also, and it was mainly Orcs who labored in this. They had even lifted bodies from the trench, which had seemed a suitable grave, but Lenaduiniel insisted, and they had no wish to upset the one who promised to fulfill the terms of their treaty. Dale would not have a mass grave of Orcs within an Elven Wood. They would have half-grown Orcs crawling up from the grave by the next summer.
The Orc corpses were carried to a clearing to be stripped of gear and then burned. Thus a great deal of smoke continued to rise from the Wood and was visible to those watching from a great distance as a sign of some distress.
The Rómendar were to be buried also, and this work was left to the small number of Rómendar now sworn into Lenaduiniel's service and commanded by Annavala. Some of the Men helped them in their task.
Men and Elves who had run to the border of the Wood, returned, but for a few scouts, and reported that the Rómendar there continued to retreat.
Day and night there were laments sung by the Elves and as the days passed, some who were able bodied or who had recently left the House of Healing as walking injured were drawn from tending the dead for other tasks.
Now there was leavened bread again and hunting parties returned with suitable game to roast or stew. The bathing and wash pavilions functioned again and were centers of activity.
The young had been collected, now there were not so many corpses to see, so that they might rejoin their families. It had been determined that a few would be orphaned now, but the Elves as a community would care for these.
Things seemed to be going very well, considering that there had in very recent time been a devastating battle waged here, that several houses, outbuildings and a number of trees had been burned and that many Orcs and Men were making themselves very comfortable. The incense did not quite disguise the reek of burning Orc flesh and horse dung, but it was marginally preferable to the scent of decay.
Lain had been gone from the settlement with those who had gone to fetch the little ones and Elf children and so when he came running to Lenaduiniel and her brothers they knew the children must also be returned.
The young Elf stopped before them as they stood outside the House of Healing where the main of those still injured were being tended, and where they had been gathering accounts of battle in order to decide if there should be some awards of honors given for particular valor. Elves sometimes did this in order to make their communities feel brighter about things after a battle. They thought it helped to remind all that there were reasons they fought and that what was done in defense of their home and people was righteous and should be rewarded.
Lain did not seem winded, but upset after his run and seemed not to know which of the Lady and Lords he should speak to. Lord Greenleaf smiled at him, remembering the young Vale Elf. "Lain. Is there something different about you? Have you changed your hair?" He knew it was not the hair. It was his eyes.
Lain suddenly began weeping. He grabbed Greenleaf's jacket and pulled him close and cried in a small voice, "I do not know what to do! He says he does not love me!"
"Lain." Greenleaf took the younger Elf's hands from his jacket and held them. "Perhaps you might go to Tigh, or Gwende…"
"My Lord, I-you…it is Loriol."
"Loriol?" Greenleaf realized he had not seen him since arriving. He had been told that Loriol was upset and had fought with the Orc Marduk's Band and that he had taken to bed.
"He-he…" Lain cried, "I heard that he was very sad because he learned Denelas…and they had been close and I went to get the children and when I returned I went to find him. I thought he would be feeling better! And I looked at his house and at my house and everywhere that they were making repairs and even among the injured and then I found him! He's lying on a grave! I think he wants to…!" Lain gasped. "and he has not even bathed since the battle!"
"Not bathed?" Greenleaf asked. He covered his mouth. It was one thing to go days without bathing when in battle or pursuing enemies who had taken allies prisoner, but to just neglect it when there was water and. "He's mad."
"I would send Dale or Duma to speak with him," Lenaduiniel said, "but Dale still lies near death and we cannot afford to have Duma seen just yet." Her brothers both knew Dale had returned, and understood, even if it had recently been explained, that the Orcs would not consider Dale under protection and they would have many questions that they would demand Dale answer if they found him, and might hurt Dale if he was unable to satisfy them. Lenaduiniel hoped they would find the answers before Dale would be endangered.
"I could threaten to have Dwarves bathe him. He would bathe himself quickly if he knew what that was like."
"I heard all about it from Marduk between his complaints that Elves were making his stitches too small so that he would have no scar to show. Hewing bodies. I expect such madness from Dale, but he was made a plaything of Orcs for ten years from a very young age, was he not! I can excuse you, Lain, you are only just fifty, is that not so? But Loriol is nearly as old as you."
Greenleaf nodded. Loriol had been slightly younger than he and Denelas, but they had all been friends. Gwindor should remember. Spears and bows were most common in the green wood, but Loriol had frequently followed after Gwindor asking to spar with swords. That suddenly seemed funny. Loriol had always been chasing someone wanting to spar with swords. "Forgive me. Yes. Loriol should be too old. It is so rash and temperamental of him."
Lenaduiniel gave her younger brother a gentle shove.
"I am telling you he really wants to die!" Lain cried.
"Where is he? Brother, Lain, come with me, we shall put a stop to his madness."
"Should we not have a small tub? You do not really expect me to bathe with him. It has been days…and blood."
"Do you love him? Is he your friend? Of course you must bathe with him! He needs to be cared for!"
"I would do it," Lain said, "but Loriol did not want me to do so when I suggested it."
"Sometimes," Gwindor sighed, "you must do things without consent. Mind you, only when you are certain the individual is only saying no because they are not in their right mind."
"I will end up taking three baths today," Greenleaf sighed. He would need another to feel clean after washing an Elf who had wallowed in blood and filth for days. It might be better to have the Dwarves overturn barrels of cold water upon Loriol, but Loriol would have to walk under a platform for them to do so. Or the Dwarves would need stools to stand upon.
"They found Loriol lying stretched out over Rosenrod's grave. Greenleaf could not laugh or joke when he saw him. Loriol had been among the prettiest Elves in the Wood. There was not one who did not have a nice thing to say about him. "Loriol helped fix my roof," they might say, or, "You should have seen the buck we took down when Loriol joined the hunting party," or "I was having a miserable day until I talked with Loriol." It was difficult to believe this was Loriol.
His skin was so filthy it was black in places and his hair was matted and tangled. He had not changed his clothes, only removed some armor. He could have been a corpse, except that he still lived.
Gwindor lifted Loriol forcibly, looked into his face and scolded him harshly. "Stop your weeping! It is proper to lament Denelas and all who have fallen, but not to seek to join the dead before your time. You look like something the Dark Lord has thrown against us, not an Elf!"
"I am not an Elf anymore!"
"You are an Elf!" Gwindor said sharply, "An Elf who is acting too immature for his age, but an Elf."
"But I…"
"I know. 'Hewing bodies'. Of course you should be disgusted that you pointlessly mutilated the dead! You should be so disgusted you feel it necessary to perform rituals of purification! You stink! Who helped you prepare for the battle?"
"Several," Loriol said weakly, "Duma was last."
"Are you so weak you are going to blame a child who is only half Elf? Did you tell Duma that if he helped you in any of the rituals and you both survived that he must make certain you purified yourself after battle?"
"No. He is gone anyway."
"That is no excuse! And he is returned, only hiding. Now you will go to the bathing pavilion with Lain and Greenleaf and you will allow them to help you in cleansing yourself. Go!" Gwindor shoved Loriol in the direction of the pavilions and made a silent gesture for Lain to go with him.
"You were very stern."
"Purposely so. You will have to do such things, to know to take such action, as you get older. I have attempted to shock him from his stupor, but I believe Loriol is truly unwell. He should have been with the healers, but they were so overworked, we all were, that we did not think to look for him, to make certain he was well. There may be others. You must keep a watch for signs…"
"I understand, Gwindor. I do. I know what to look for."
"I see." Gwindor was silent a moment. "It might have worked to have Dwarves throw him into cold water."
"It might have. I will go with them."
"Elves are not Dwarves, Greenleaf, remember that. Be certain you touch him. Do not take your hands from him. Loriol needs to feel cared for and wanted by Elves. It is very important now. It is not necessary you do anything more than a friend would."
"I understand. He is my friend. I will help him."
"Good. I will go to his house and send clean clothes from there to the pavilion. Later I will seek him out and show him some kindness, but it was necessary to show him disappointment and anger when he behaved so wrongly."
Greenleaf ran then, toward the bathing pavilion, but he slowed his pace to a walk when Orcs were near so that he could watch their activity more closely. When he came up the steps into the pavilion, there were only a few Elves there. There was a curtain also, across the width of the pavilion, separating the baths at the bath where Men or Orcs had bathed. It had been a difficult decision, determining that it must be done.
Greenleaf had noticed that the Westerners had a certain arrogance. It led to their being more cleanly than other Orcs, because they disliked the dirt of other breeds and races upon them. Where they led, other Orcs followed. It meant two basic were in use by Orcs, but it also meant the Orcs roaming their Wood would be clean less foul smelling ones.
Lain needed no one to tell him how to help Loriol. If he had been just slightly stronger, he would have come upon Gwindor's 'disregard consent' solution. But, he thought, it was a good thing about Lain that he did not think of such things. Lain was sweet and pretty and perhaps good for Loriol. Rosenrod and Denelas had been trained for scouting, guarding and battle, like Greenleaf. Lain was a Treeweaver.
Greenleaf could be present and let his friend know that he also understood the horror in war and despair and grief. Lain was probably better able to show Loriol that there were other things in life besides war and that those were the things war served to protect. If there was not goodness being protected, then war became pointless.
"I think we will need a scrub brush."
"My Lord," Lain said, almost harshly.
Loriol smiled and shifted his eyes sideways to Greenleaf. "I see your sense of humor is keen as ever."
"I mock the ones I love the most. I think I will let Lain handle your hair. A Treeweaver's fingers should be well able to take out knots. You can wash my hair if you want."
Loriol lifted his hands and looked upon them gloomily.
"Blood washes off. Trust me."