Newblood - A fantasy novel for NaNoWriMo 2018; CHAPTER- 8: Surviving the hunt

Autumn- Winter, Year 21 of Koram

Pinnet crossed the forest traveling west, heading toward Piker lake. The northern most town this side of the Black Mountains. It took him one day to reach the mountain road. Here he was lucky to find a family leading a mule laden with baskets of sweet potatoes and pine fruit. He offered his horse, a pouch of sea salt and two silvers for the mule and the produce. He hinted that the horse was not his own and he was leading it away from Harden city. For the highland villagers this was a bargain, the city man may be a thief or maybe not, nobody from the city came to their village anyway. They headed back blessing Pinnet and wishing him luck.

Harden City had no defined city limits. Till few decades ago this was Harden Keep, a military outpost of the kingdom built strategically on the banks of Green River. The Keep was massive and many of the military officers were elf nobility, each of whom was trailed by half a dozen advisors and ten to thirty servants. The town near which Harden Keep was built soon became a bustling city. The keep was built on a small table land overlooking the river and the city was crescent of buildings and roads surrounding it. Eventually a wall was built around it with gates and towers. The city had continued to grow beyond the wall even before the towers were completed. When the work on the cobbled road from Harden to Shamarank began the city swelled to double its size. The towers were taken down and five towers were commissioned two hundred yards from the last of the houses and a paved road was commissioned to connect these towers. Later a wall was built, from the western most tower to the original wall, to keep animals and thieves from entering the city from the forests.

Pinnet entered Harden and headed towards the cheaper neighborhood. Narrow unlit lanes and ramshackle buildings with awnings and overhangs seemed dim even in the day. Pinnet went to an inn he knew was popular with visiting farmers and craftsmen. He stored the baskets in presence of the landlord and chose to sleep in the stable arguing that two coppers was all he could afford till he managed to sell his produce. In the morning Pinnet headed to the market like all farmers and haggled for a prime space and patiently waited till the afternoon before selling most of what he had at whatever rates he got. He had saved half a sack of sweet potatoes, the smallest softest ones, to give to the landlord of the inn for a bath and a room for the night.

The rest of the day Pinnet spent scouting the houses and stores of his contacts, mixing with soldiers having a drink or a snack. He found out that many were dead, some places were being observed and that the local Elven officers were expecting the Butcher to arrive in a few days. Pinnet could not locate Sardy at the places they had decided upon and the bakery where they could leave messages was closed and boarded up. Fearing the worst, that Sardy was captured, Pinnet decided that he would have to leave Harden tomorrow and he would have to convince the soldiers to follow his trail for a few days.

Pinnet hired a mountain guide and an aged mercenary for half a silver each, to accompany him to Takhsila. He paid them ten coppers to buy provisions and arranged to meet them at the edge of the forest near the western tower half an hour after dawn. He then ventured into an inn near the keep, a more expensive but clean place full of soldiers and officers. He befriended two elderly soldiers who were well on their way to being senselessly drunk. After a few drinks when the soldiers were bleary eyed from drink, he let slip that a friend of his had passed through Harden with a mixblood in tow and in their hurry to get past the west wall and into the forest, they had bought provisions at double the rate. Before leaving he conspiratorially whispered he was going to inform the captain of the night guard about the travelers from Shamarank and if they could accompany him it would be just as well. When they stepped out of the inn and walked a few steps Pinnet faked unconsciousness and watched the duo stumble away. He had planted a pouch of sea salt in one of the soldiers pocket as a reminder about travelers from Shamarank.

Pinnet left the inn before dawn and led his mule towards the forest keeping to the narrow lanes till he reached the western tower. Only one soldier was awake. Pinnet feigning drunkenness managed to get near enough to stab him in the neck. He took one horse and shooed the other two away. the soldier he stowed in a dark doorway. He reached the forest path almost at the same time as his hired men. Half an hour later when the soldiers body was discovered,they were well away from Harden. By nightfall they had reached Piker lake. They stayed at an inn and left before dawn because Pinnet insisted on crossing the mountains before the winter chill set in.

After a day's hard travel Pinnet and his men reached the ruins of Caella. A temple to some forgotten deity built near sweet water spring, it was now a staging post for people passing through the Black Mountains. Often a farmer or a shepherd would come down from the nearby village with provisions or animals to trade for goods. After this there was desolate mountain country for atleast three days till they reached the slopes of Takhsila valley. Here Pinnet paid his men and explained that he was expecting to meet someone here carrying instructions from his elf master. Since instructions had not come he would have to wait, but they should go ahead to Takhsila or the highland villages and not involve themselves in elven politics. To emphasize his point he confiscated the mercenary's sword at dagger point and waited till both of them rode away. Pinnet led his horse on to the way back towards Piker lake. He walked for an hour and then waited in the forest hidden from the road loading his cross bow. If the men he had hired would come this way he would have to kill them, fortunately they were wary of elven politics and did not return.

Pinnet set the horse free before he reached Piker lake. In the evening he limped into Piker lake wearing different clothes and his hair dyed brown using berry juice. He chose a different inn and was loud to complain how his horse had started when a ferret crossed his path, thrown him off and run away into the forest; now all he had to show for his trip from Takhsila was bruises and a swollen ankle. If the landlord could advise him of a boat to the far shore he could hitch a ride to his cousin's in Ashvale. Pinnet was still at the bar when soldiers came to inquire about three fugitives on the run from Shamarank.

Aasia was shivering in the cold, she had knocked on the door of Master Glodam's house. It was not linked to the main cavern. She had been guided by an apprentice till the upper caves and he had pointed out the door and promptly left. This cave had a draft of cold air passing through it and was much colder than the tunnels below. She knocked again and almost immediately the door opened leaking pale light. The first thing Aasia noticed was that the silhouetted figure had a peg-leg. "Master Glodam" she asked.

The mage was silent for moment. "You are not Aghauri, he did not tell me this."

Aasia could not think of a response and stood there shivering, her wrist was beginning to ache.

Glodam turned and said " Come in and close the door."

The room was comfortably warm, compared to the chill outside. One wall was full of cubby holes and shelves holding books and scrolls. Next to that was table set against the wall with three chairs. On the opposite side of the table was the kitchen area where a coal stove burned a dark red. Glodam sat down in a chair near the scroll shelves and motioned to the empty chair. Aasia sat down and waited. Glodam was powerfully built even for the broad shouldered Agahuri, but his face was roundish. His weak jaw was scarred and but for penetrating grey eyes he would look plain.

"You really blasted a hole in the test pit?" Glodam asked.

"Yes, It was in the heat of the moment."

"Hmm. You cannot feel your magic at all times." Glodam continued his inquiry.

"Err. No. Is that a problem?"

"Hmm. what will you do if I beat you now?"

What master?" Aasia said alarmed. Glodam lifted a poker and waved it in front of her.

"What if I beat you?" He brought it down near her damaged hand, it struck the cushioned chair with a whack. Aasia shrank away and Glodam raised the poker again, higher. That is when her hands began to glow with blue light. Glodam kept the poker on the ground and rubbed his jaw. "Hmm. You are part Aghauri and strong in blood. Tell me why you are here? I want to know who you are and what you will do if you learn the Aghauri ways? But Wait lets get some Ghava, it will warm you." Glodam limped to the stove and fetched the small ornate kettle, then he levitated two small glasses
to within his reach and filled the first one and gave it to Aasia. Filling one from himself he said. "Sip it slowly and begin your answer. If you lie, I will send you away. If you do not tell me the whole of your story, I will send you away."

" Well. What I will do is easy. I will fight the Kingdom till Elven people relinquish their claim to superiority. The why is lengthy story."

"Hmm."

Aasia began to narrate about her parents the exiled couple, their death at the hands of the Tiger of Yillend and Pinnet's flight. About Pinnet leaving her brother with foster parents and fleeing to Takhsila with her. Her life as a lone child and how Pinnet trained her in combat and the ways of the iron born highlanders. He tried to teach her the basic exercises in Elven magic but nothing worked. Then one night Aasia dreamt of caverns and tunnels suffused with blue light. That dream seemed to be calling at her soul every subsequent night. When Pinnet mentioned the Aghuir mountains and caverns one day Aasia made the connection. She had left Takhsila inspite of Pinnet saying no to the journey. Crossing the wilds was the most difficult and scary thing for her. Had some Aghauri warriors not found her, she would have perished in the wilds.

Glodam had listened patiently to the whole tale. Now he asked. "Did you find the blue light.?"

"No. I told the master about the dream when I came here but then I forgot about the matter."

"Do you know where the Aghauris are buried when they die.?"

Aasia replied. "No."

Glodam gestured with his hand, taking in the room. "They are buried beneath these mountains, inside them. Aghauri's have peculiar blood which creates magic. When one dies his veins are cut before he is interred. The blue light you so was that blood. The magic of the mountains themselves. It is due to that magic we can breath fresh air under the mountain and inside deep tunnels. Mushrooms and fungi which we grow for food absorb some of the magic and carry it back to living bodies. And that latent magic is why your blood responds to threats so strongly."

He stood up and continued. "You are summoned here. Why? I do not know. But such blessing by the the dead comes with demands for sacrifice. It is too late to change the course of your life now. And you have involved all you are connected to- your guardian, your brother, the Master and now myself, in your quest. And I for one do not like to fail."

Looking at her with his intense gaze Glodam smiled. It was humorless, more like a challenge. Aasia shivered even though the room was warm enough. For the first time wondering whether she had taken the right decision by disobeying Pinnet.