Читать книгу The Complete Darkwar Trilogy: Flight of the Night Hawks, Into a Dark Realm, Wrath of a Mad God - Raymond E. Feist - Страница 20

THE ROAD STRETCHED TO THE HORIZON.

Once again, Tad and Zane rode in a cart, as they had almost half a year before. This time however, they were approaching the village of Stardock.

Reaching Shamata, Caleb and the boys had found a shipment of goods that were being sent along the shore of the Sea of Dreams down to the Great Star Lake and the Academy. Caleb had volunteered to take the shipment and arrange for someone to return the wagon to the trading concern when they arrived. As the company was owned by his father, Caleb encountered no objection.

He had told the boys that they would pass through Stardock on their way south, but that they would only stay for one night. Tad rode next to Caleb on the driver’s seat, while Zane sat in the back, behind the cargo with his feet hanging over the back of the wagon.

It was late afternoon by the time they reached the outer boundary of Stardock Town. The first of its buildings heaved into sight along the shore of the lake to their left. They had been passing farms for a day now, so they had guessed that they would reach the trading warehouse before sundown.

As they rolled into the outskirts of the township, Tad and Zane waved to a few familiar faces, most of whom stared back vacantly before they recognized the boys. Tad said, ‘People are looking at us strangely, Caleb.’

‘You’ve changed, Tad,’ answered the tall hunter, now dressed like a driver. The boys wore the same old tunics and trousers they had worn when they left the town half a year before. Both complained frequently that the clothes were too tight, so Caleb had promised to buy them new garments when they reached Kesh.

The boys were off the wagon before it came to a complete halt, and as they started to move away, Caleb halted them. ‘Where do you think you’re going?’

‘To see Mother,’ answered Tad.

‘Not until you’ve unloaded,’ he said, hiking his thumb at the cargo.

‘Grooms and his boys will unload,’ said Zane.

‘Not this lot,’ said Caleb. ‘I want you to take the wagon over there—’ he pointed to an empty cargo pallet at the edge of the stabling yard, ‘—and unload everything onto that.’

Both boys knew that meant the cargo was destined for the island. They also remembered loading the wagon, and Tad asked, ‘Can we get some help at least?’

Caleb nodded. ‘Tell Grooms I’ll settle with him later.’

‘Where are you going?’ asked Tad, as Caleb started to walk away.

Turning to walk backwards, he said, ‘To see your mother. I’ll tell her you’ll be along shortly.’

Tad jumped back up to the driver’s seat and moved the team over to the indicated area, while Zane sought out Grooms – the manager of the shipping warehouse – to secure some help in the unloading.

Caleb hurried to Marie’s house and found her in the back, tending her garden. Seeing Caleb, she sprang to her feet and embraced him. ‘I have missed you,’ she said between two passionate kisses. ‘It has been so lonely here since you took the boys away.’ She hugged him tightly for a moment, then said, ‘You said you’d have the boys write,’ with a slightly accusatory tone.

‘I did,’ he answered, pulling a folded sheet of parchment from out of his tunic. With a grin he said, ‘But I thought I’d bring it myself rather than send it by courier.’

She kissed him and said, ‘Come inside and have some tea and tell me what you did with them.’

He followed her inside and saw that she had a kettle simmering next to the fire. ‘I find I do little cooking now that it’s just me. I bake just one loaf of bread a week instead of three or four.’ She poured tea and said, ‘What of the boys?’

‘They are well,’ he said. ‘Much has changed in the six months since we left.’

She sat after she had served them at the tiny table which still managed to occupy nearly a third of the room. ‘Tell me.’

‘Things didn’t turn out quite as I had wished,’ he said. ‘The apprenticing I had hoped for …’

‘At least tell me that you’ve found them honest labour, Caleb. They could become layabouts and wastrels here as easily as anywhere else.’

He smiled. ‘Nothing like that.’ Then he sighed. ‘Currently, they are working as wagoner’s lads.’

‘Teamsters?’ she said, her eyes widening slightly. ‘That’s strange, neither of them cared much for horses and mules.’

‘They still don’t, but it’s necessary,’ said Caleb. He smiled broadly. ‘They’re over at the warehouse unloading a wagon with some of Grooms’ lads. They should be here soon.’

‘You wicked man!’ Marie cried, hitting him on the arm. ‘Why did you wait to tell me?’

‘Because I wanted a few minutes alone with you, and once the boys are here I won’t be spared more than a few seconds of your time.’

She kissed him. ‘They are old enough to understand that their mother needs more than to cook and sew for—’

Her words halted as Tad came in through the door with Zane behind him. When they’d left they had been boys, but in less than half a year, Marie hardly recognized her sons. Both were sunburned, their shoulders had broadened and their faces had lost whatever echoes of childhood she remembered. Their cheeks were hollow, and the baby fat had been replaced by stubble along their jaws. Below the short sleeves of their tunics, their arms were muscled and their hands hard with calluses.

Marie stood and both boys rushed to embrace her. ‘I thought I might never see you two again,’ she said, her eyes glowing with moisture. She hugged them tightly, then stepped back. ‘You’ve … changed. Both of you.’

‘Hard work, Mama,’ said Tad. ‘I’ve never worked so hard in my life.’

‘What have you been doing?’ she asked.

The boys exchanged a quick glance with Caleb, then Tad said, ‘Stone work, mostly. A lot of wall-building. Some hunting and fishing.’

‘A lot of wagon-driving too, and loading and unloading,’ said Zane. ‘And I learned how to swim!’

Marie’s mouth opened and closed before she said, ‘You finally got over your fear of the water?’

Zane blushed. ‘I wasn’t afraid. I just didn’t like it very much.’

Tad sniggered. ‘He had a good teacher.’

Zane blushed even more.

Puzzled, Marie looked at Caleb, who said, ‘Let’s go to the inn and eat.’

‘Might as well,’ she offered. ‘I haven’t got enough here to feed you three.’ To the boys she said, ‘You two hurry ahead and wash up. We’ll be along in a minute.’

After they left, she kissed Caleb again, passionately. Then she whispered, ‘Thank you.’

‘For what?’ he replied in a soft voice.

‘For looking after them. And for turning them into men.’

‘They’ve a way to go yet,’ he said.

‘But it’s a start,’ she said. ‘When Tad’s father died …’ She began to weep.

‘What is it?’

‘Just me being foolish,’ she said, forcing back her tears. ‘It’s just so wonderful to see you all, and so much has changed in so little time.’ She waved away the moment and took a deep breath. She preceded him out of the door and he fell into step by her side as they slowly walked to the inn.

He looked at her in the failing afternoon light. ‘We’ll have a little time tonight, Marie, just the two of us.’

She smiled. ‘That is most certain.’

‘How have you been getting by?’ he asked, noticing that she had lost weight since he had last seen her.

‘As always: I sell what I grow, and buy what I need. I take on a little sewing now and again when someone needs help and I am planning to buy some chickens soon so that I can have eggs to eat and perhaps a few to sell.’ She hugged his arm. ‘I get by.’

He said nothing, but his heart almost broke as he realised what little thought he had given to her needs before he had taken her boys away. He slipped his arm around her slender waist and hugged her as they walked. After a moment of silence, he said, ‘Perhaps we can come up with something better than just getting by.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Later,’ he said as they reached the inn.

Dinner was almost festive. Even though it had only been six months, many of the local townspeople stopped the boys – after a second glance – to welcome them back and remark on how much they had changed. Several girls had also stopped them to let them know that they would be in the square after sundown should the boys happen by.

At supper Marie gently informed the boys that Ellie was due to have a baby in a few months’ time. But the pair simply exchanged looks, and burst out laughing.

‘What’s so funny?’ asked their mother.

The boys said nothing. Their feelings for the girl seemed distant now compared to the vivid memories of parting with the sisters. Over a three-day period all six girls had expressed individual regret at the boys’ departure in ways that until then, had been beyond either of their imaginations a year earlier.

They hurried through supper, anxious to visit their friends. After they left, Marie looked around the otherwise deserted tap room of the inn and asked, ‘Are you staying here tonight?’

Caleb rose and offered his hand. ‘We are staying here. I told the boys to sleep in their old beds tonight.’

Marie said, ‘I expect they’re old enough to know what’s going on.’

‘They’ve known for a long time, Marie. But let’s just say that now they have a much fuller understanding.’

‘Oh!’ she said, as he led her up the stairs to his room. ‘You mean—?’

‘Yes.’

‘They are becoming men, aren’t they?’

‘That’s more than any mother should know,’ said Caleb as he led her into his room.

The next morning, Caleb and Marie found Tad and Zane asleep in the small hut where they had been raised. Caleb roused them from the pallets with a couple of playful taps from his boot. ‘Get up, you two.’

The boys arose with pallid complexions, bloodshot eyes and groans of protest. ‘Someone found a bottle of something, it seems,’ said Caleb.

‘Matthew Conoher and his brother James,’ said Zane. ‘It was … brandy, he said. Tasted more like wood varnish.’

‘But you drank it anyway?’ said Marie.

‘That we did,’ said Tad. He stood, stretched and yawned, wearing only his trousers.

His mother looked at her son’s chest, stomach, shoulders and arms. ‘Where did you get all those scars?’ she asked, her voice revealing alarm and her eyes narrowing as she crossed the hut to trace a particularly nasty-looking scar on his right shoulder with her finger.

Tad flinched as her touch tickled him. ‘I was carrying a pretty big stone up the path from the beach and it just got away from me. If I’d have let it go, I would have had to walk all the way back down the path and pick it up again, so I tried to hang on to it and it ripped right though my shirt.’

She glanced at Caleb, then at her son. ‘I thought for a minute—’

Tad grinned. ‘What? That Caleb had been beating us?’

‘Only a little,’ said Caleb. ‘And only when they needed it.’

‘No,’ said Marie, her expression slightly petulant as she became annoyed by their teasing. ‘I thought that perhaps it was from a weapon.’

Tad brightened. ‘Not that one.’ He pointed to another faint scar along his rib cage. ‘Now, this one was from a sword!’

‘A sword!’ exclaimed his mother.

‘I’ve got one, too,’ Zane said, pointing to a long mark across his forearm. ‘Tad gave me that when I didn’t get my blade around fast enough on a parry.’

‘You two,’ she said firmly, pointing to the boys. ‘Get dressed.’ Turning she said, ‘Caleb, outside.’

She led him out of the hut and said, ‘What have you done to my boys?’

Caleb shook his head slightly and said, ‘Exactly what you thanked me for last night, Marie. I’m turning them into men. Things didn’t happen exactly the way I wanted …’ He paused for a moment. ‘Let me tell you about the ambush.’

Caleb told her about the ambush, without glossing over how injured he had been nor overstating how resourceful the boys had proved. He told it as calmly as he could. ‘So, when it became clear that my father thought they were my apprentices anyway … well, let’s say we were too far down a particular road for me to drop them at some fuller’s or baker’s door and say, ‘Turn these lads into journeymen, will you, please?’ They are now my responsibility and I’m going to take the best care of them that I can.’

‘But teaching them to fight, Caleb? Are they to be soldiers, then?’

‘No, but they will need to know how to take care of themselves. If they’re with me and working for my father, they will be in danger occasionally. I want to make sure that they are able to survive those dangers.’

Marie seemed unconvinced, but said nothing for a moment.

Tad stuck his head out of the door of the hut and said, ‘Can we come out now?’

Caleb waved the boys out and Marie said, ‘I’m their mother and they will always be my babies.’

‘This baby would like something to eat, now,’ said Tad.

Marie slapped him on the shoulder. ‘Then we must go to the market and get—’

‘We’ll eat again at the inn,’ interrupted Caleb, ‘but there is something I need to discuss with all of you first.’

They stood in the early morning chill, the boys still half-asleep and squinting against the glare of the low-hanging sun. Caleb said, ‘There are perhaps, better times and places for these things, but this is where I am, so now is the time.’

‘Caleb,’ asked Marie, ‘what are you talking about?’

‘Your boys have been cast by fate into my care, their lot decided by the unselfish act of returning to see to my welfare, and in so doing, saving my life.’

He looked at the boys and said, ‘You know I love your mother more than any other woman I know, and I have been true to her for years.’ He looked at Marie and said, ‘I can not promise to be here any more than I have in the past, so I want you to leave Stardock and come and live with my family.’

‘But this is the only home I’ve known,’ said Marie.

‘We’ll make another home, the four of us.’

‘What are you asking, Caleb?’

‘Let us wed, and I will name the boys as my adopted sons. If all of you will have me.’

The boys grinned at one another and Tad said, ‘Does this mean we get to call you “Papa”?’

‘Only if you wish to be beaten,’ said Caleb with a smile. But his eyes were fixed on Marie.

She leaned into him and said softly, ‘Yes, Caleb. I will go with you.’

He kissed her, then said, ‘Zane, go to the inn and tell Jakesh to break out his best ale and wine. Tell him to prepare roast oxen, and trot out his best foods, for tonight we shall treat the town to a feast.

‘Tad, find Father DeMonte and tell him that he has a wedding to perform at sundown.’

‘Today?’ asked Marie.

‘Why wait?’ asked Caleb. ‘I love you and want to know that no matter what happens in the future, you and the boys will be cared for. I want to know you are waiting for me.’

With a wry smile she said, ‘I’m always waiting for you, Caleb. You know that.’

‘As my wife?’ he said. ‘That’s what I want.’

She buried her face in his shoulder and hugged him tightly. Then she said, ‘Yes, I’ll marry you.’

The boys whooped and ran off on their errands. After a moment, Marie said, ‘Are you certain?’

‘Never been so certain about anything in my life.’ He kissed her. ‘I nearly died out there, and the thought of never seeing you again …’ His eyes shone with moisture and emotion as his voice wavered. ‘Then those boys, those two wonderful boys that you raised, Marie—’ He stopped, then said, ‘I didn’t know whether to throttle them for disobeying me … but had they not, they would now be somewhere in northern Kesh, seeking a man who they only knew by name, without means, while I would be rotting by some roadside. It’s as if the gods have planned this, my love, and I’ll not wait another day.’

‘When will we move to your home, Caleb?’

‘Tonight, after the festival, for that’s what it will be – a festival!’

‘I have so much to do—’ she began.

‘All you must do is be beautiful, and that is already done.’

‘Still, if we are to travel this night, I must pack.’

‘Pack what? What do you need to bring with you? You have the boys, and nothing in the hut is necessary where we are going. You’ll see. What else is there? A few keepsakes?’

‘Some.’

‘Then gather those and then spend the rest of this day preparing for your wedding. Find the dressmaker and spare no expense, and find the women you wish to stand with you.’

She nodded, tears forming. She put her hands over her nose and mouth and said, ‘Here I am crying like a foolish girl.’

He kissed her and said, ‘Nothing foolish about you, Marie. Nothing foolish at all.’

She kissed him again, then said, ‘I need to go to the dressmaker now. If I know Bethel ‘Roachman she will kick up a real fuss about having to make something for me between now and sundown.’

‘Let her. Just see that it’s done to your liking.’

She smiled, nodded, and hurried off, holding her hem above the mud, and Caleb watched her go.

Standing alone he wondered at his sudden need to formalize what had been unspoken between them. He felt a moment of worry, then pushed it aside. He knew his reason: he wanted the world to know that he loved this woman, and cared for her boys as if they were his own. He wanted a priest of a temple to bless their union and he wanted to go to his father with this ready-made family certain in his own mind that he could take no other course of action.

After a moment, he muttered under his breath, ‘Sun’s hardly up and I need a drink already.’ With doubt gnawing at his stomach, he forced himself to turn and walk back to the warehouse. He had to send a message to his parents and brother, and he needed to do it now.

Pug and Miranda stood to one side, and watched their youngest son and the woman he loved exchange their vows before Father DeMonte, the local Priest of Killian whose tiny church served the Stardock region.

Magnus stood a few feet behind his parents, studying his younger brother with a mixture of pleasure and envy. That Caleb could find a little joy in the dark world they inhabited pleased Magnus enormously.

Pug was impressed by how much had been done in so short a time. Garlands of blooms hung from a lattice of grape-stakes constructed by some local boys under Tad’s direction. Zane had organized the food and drink, and the tables around the town square were loaded. Once word of the wedding had passed through the town, the local women had pitched in with freshlybaked goods and preserves, and by sundown it was – as Caleb had predicted – a full-blown festival.

Tad and Zane stood on Marie’s side of the square, behind the three women who were standing with her. They glanced at Ellie and Grame Hodover who stood watching silently. Ellie smiled back at the boys who noted her swelling stomach and silently agreed that fate had put them on a better path than they had anticipated.

Spending a few minutes with Ellie during the course of the afternoon had restored the balance of their lives, and she was once again like their sister. Grame, as always, was a self-important bore, and neither Tad nor Zane could understand what Ellie saw in him, but as she loved him they decided that was a good enough reason to put up with the pompous fool.

When the priest had finished and the crowd had cheered, Pug motioned for the boys to come over and join them. He whispered something to his wife and she nodded. Miranda turned her attention to Marie, and as Pug led the boys off to the side of the crowd, Pug felt a faint pang. Marie looked older than Miranda. She would grow to be an old woman while Pug, Miranda and probably Magnus would remain unchanged. What would become of Caleb wasn’t clear. There were aspects to his son’s nature that no one else understood, or even suspected, save perhaps Nakor. Pug had realized years ago that it was futile to try and keep anything the Isalani found interesting a secret.

Reaching a quiet corner of the town square, Pug said, ‘Boys, I suppose it’s a good thing that I decided not to have you drowned when you first came to my island.’

Both boys looked startled for a moment, then grinned.

‘From this moment you are grandsons to me, and with that comes privilege and responsibility. We’ll talk more in the morning, but for the moment, go to the festival and share your mother’s joy.’

They hesitated, then with a spontaneity that surprised Pug, hugged him fiercely. ‘Thank you, Pug,’ said Zane. ‘We’ll make you proud of us.’

Pug suddenly found himself flushed with emotion. ‘I know you will,’ he whispered hoarsely.

They hurried off to the party while Magnus and his mother moved to where Pug stood. Miranda said, ‘You look nonplussed.’

‘Just taken by surprise, that’s all.’

‘What were you surprised by, Father?’

‘That two boys I hardly know could suddenly become important to me.’

Miranda smiled. ‘You have always allowed people to become important to you, Pug.’ She slipped her arm around his waist. ‘It’s one of the things I love about you, yet which causes me no end of annoyance.’

Softly, Pug said, ‘They remind me of William.’

Neither Miranda nor Magnus said anything for a moment. William, Pug’s first-born child, had died years before, but his father still grieved. Magnus rested his hand on his father’s shoulder and the three stood motionless for a long time before they moved back to rejoin Caleb and his wife in the festival.

As the festival came to a close, Pug joined his younger son for a short walk. When they were out of earshot, Pug said, ‘I’ve just gotten word from home.’

‘And?’

‘There has been another murder in Kesh.’

Caleb didn’t need to hear any more. He knew that since Nakor had returned from his visit to Knight-Marshal Erik von Darkmoor, Pug had alerted every agent the Conclave had in Kesh to be on the lookout for evidence of a Nighthawk resurgence. For this murder to have come to their attention so swiftly, the victim had to have been someone significant. ‘Who was it?’

‘Just a minor noble, but one linked directly to an important faction in the Gallery of Lords and Masters. I don’t have a completely clear picture of what’s taking place down there, but I think we could be seeing the beginning of a major power-shift in the Empire.’

‘A little murder has always been part of politics in Kesh, Father.’

Pug nodded and said, ‘Yes, but many murders remind me too well of the last time someone tried to seize power down there.’ He grinned. ‘Although that odd set of events also led Nakor to me.’

‘I’ve heard the story,’ said Caleb, following his father’s news with a sigh. ‘I had hoped that Marie and I could spend a little more time together to celebrate our nuptials.’

‘I’m sorry to say you only have a few days, as I need you down in Great Kesh within a week. Marie and the boys will have to get used to the idea that although you often travel by common means – horse or wagon – you’re just as likely to be whisked from here to there by magic.’ Pug glanced over his shoulder and seeing no need to be cautious continued, ‘I’ve already sent Tal, Kaspar, Pasko and Amafi to the capital. Kaspar looks so different no one will recognize the newly named Comté du Bassillon from the court of Bas-Tyra until he reaches the palace.’

‘With all the correct papers, no doubt.’

Pug nodded. ‘Tal is a well-known former Champion of the Masters’ Court, and his notoriety will help him gain invitations to various functions and places where we need eyes and ears. But there are also places a teamster and his two apprentices can go—’

‘Wait a minute, Father! I want you to take the boys back home with you.’

Pug turned on Caleb and seized his arm. ‘I have treated you like a man since you first showed me that you could accept a man’s responsibilities. Do you remember how old you were?’

‘Seventeen,’ said Caleb. ‘I remember asking you to send me on a mission.’ He hung his head, knowing where this conversation was headed.

‘How old are Tad and Zane?’

‘Seventeen this Midsummer’s Day.’

Pug was silent for a minute, then said, ‘You had no choice but to bring the boys back to our island. But that decision made them a concern of the Conclave, even though there were limits to their obligation and what we might ask of them once we were certain that they could be trusted. You asked for neither my nor your mother’s counsel when you chose to wed Marie and bring the boys into our family.’

Caleb nodded. ‘I realize as much.’

‘I could never tell you where to find your happiness, Caleb. No man can. I realize that your life has been harder in many ways than Magnus’. You were always the odd boy out, the one who couldn’t do magic. I do understand that. But your choice has put those two boys in a situation they hardly understand. It is your duty as their stepfather to teach them what it means to be part of this family.’

Pug looked into the darkness for a moment. ‘I had been a prisoner in a Tsurani work camp for two years, and Tomas fought alongside the dwarves in Grey Towers when we were Tad and Zane’s age.

‘Maybe it’s fate,’ said Pug, as he looked into his son’s eyes. ‘But be it fate, chance or whim, they are now part of this and you must teach them what that means.’

‘Marie will not be happy.’

‘I know, but we will do everything we can to bring her into our family.’ Pug then smiled. ‘Do you think she’s ready for what she’ll find on Sorcerer’s Isle?’

Caleb said, ‘She’s pretty level-headed, I think she’ll manage.’ Then as they turned back to the festival, he added, ‘But it might be wise to prevent her becoming too friendly with the Pithirendar sisters until she’s had a chance to adjust. There are some things a mother doesn’t need to discover about her sons.’

Pug nodded. ‘You mean like that time your mother popped into that brothel in Salador because she was looking for you?’

Caleb laughed. ‘That’s exactly what I mean. I don’t know who was more upset, me, Mother, or the whore.’

Pug patted his son’s shoulder. ‘My money would be on your mother.’

Caleb said, ‘You’re probably right.’

They returned to the festival and Caleb sought out his bride. A heavy sadness descended upon him as he considered just how he would tell her that he and their sons would be leaving without her at first light.