The Sage Seed Chronicles: The Unraveling (26 page)

They had just stepped under the open latticed
roof of the outer courtyard when Lor spotted them and ran over. He
looked into Erin’s face and gently pulled off her hat and drew her
into a partial hug. “Talk to me. Get it out.”

Erin pulled back slightly. She had to
separate a bit from Lor or she wouldn’t be able to tell him what
was necessary. Her emotions were that raw. “The mayor forced the
cousins to empty their pockets. Targ was standing with the vial of
poison when the quake hit. Apparently he reached out to steady
himself against the mayor’s desk. The vial broke in his hand
cutting him and splashed all over him. The poison went directly
into his bloodstream. Mari, the healer, and I tried but he died
within minutes. Wras is a wreck. He confessed to just about
everything. When the mayor mentioned that his own mother died the
same way he realized that Bure killed his mother. He gave up Bure
as the brains behind all of this and the maker of the poison.
Apparently Bure fancies himself a candidate for Great One. By our
two moons, Lor they are so evil and crazy. The vile spuing out of
them of insane hatred toward ‘witches and their skunk familiars’
was awful... Oh and the mayor recognized me but won’t tell”

Lor gently rubbed the scruffy head. “You have
had a rough day. Let’s get some food into you.” He put his hand on
Erin’s other shoulder and started leading the ‘lad’ back to their
campfire.

Cob and Jord came slowly out of the shadows.
Jord approached tentatively. “You look all done in,Terran. I am
sorry to bother you, really, but can you tell us anything?” She
looked at them wearily, her soul feeling battered and her hold on
patience incredibly thin. “It is for the mayor to make
announcements. I can tell you that he has a confession, freely
given, for a whole string of murders.” She paused, having said all
she was going to on that topic but not done with them.

“Jord, this is Tempo. He is an intelligent
animal and a friend. My family is gone. I treasure my friends.”
Jord looked embarrassed and ashamed. “I am profoundly sorry that I
tried to kill you, Tempo” he hesitantly extended his hand to the
skunk on her shoulder. Erin opened her ‘door’ to verify his
sincerity and didn’t detect any falseness. Tempo sniffed at his
hand. ‘I suppose if I bared my teeth at him it wouldn’t mend
fences.’ he said to Erin. She smiled and Tempo put his cold nose on
Jord’s hand. “Looks like you have been tentatively forgiven.”

“Cob, you have always been kind to me. You
put yourself between me and Targ. So why were you spying on us from
the woods at Morraton?”

Cob gasped and shot a look at his uncle. Jord
hung his head the looked up and met Erin’s eyes. “When he mentioned
your questions about my cursed in-laws, I got worried and asked him
to try and listen to your conversation to find out why. I am
sorry.”

“Terran, please forgive me,” Cob pleaded, “My
uncle asked me to. I’m sorry. I should have just asked. I would
like to be your friend.” She did sense sincerity.

‘You could bare your teeth, if it would make
you feel better.’ said Tempo in her head.

“I can’t do less than Tempo did. I offer my
hand in friendship to you two and ask for honesty in future
dealings.” She smiled and held out her hand. They both smiled and
shook hands with her. “Now I really have had a long day and need to
eat and sleep.” Good byes were said and Lor led the weary two back
to the campfire.

“Lor, I didn’t get our dirty clothes to the
laundry.” Lor gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Don’t worry about it.
I did. When I was waiting to hear I took them in. They will be
ready by mid morning. I also got a strong abrasive cleaner from
Flar and carefully, with gloves on, scrubbed Holm’s scriber using
moss then rags. I have burned anything that touched the poison
including the dried paste. I still haven’t touched the scriber. I
thought I would wait until Tempo gave it the sniff test to see if
any poison remains. Come on, I have dinner ready. Get something in
your stomach and a good night’s sleep and you will feel
better.”

Ruddy Cear was coming up as she walked into
their camp. It was just a sliver of a moon right now so it didn’t
cast much light. There was a bit of a breeze and the evening was
cool. Erin opened her mind to Keir and Nuit, filling them in on all
that happened. She ended her narrative by saying, ‘Nuit, we need to
tell Ree that we have possible sources for two of the poison
ingredients. One is a spiny fish the can cause fevers and the other
is a sea cave mold that has absorption qualities.’ Nuit replied
gently, ‘ We’ll get the message to her. You rest and recharge. Keep
the stones on you. You have several guardians watching you so you
are safe for tonight.’

She sat down and Lor put a plate into her
hands. Erin ate without thinking. Slowly her mind began to come out
of it’s wool padding and she realized that she hadn’t eaten for
hours. She ate everything and with a sigh sat back. Both Lor and
Tempo were watching her. She gave them a smile and said, “That
helped.” Lor looked at the jar that she had put down by her feet.
“I’ll take that to Flar and have it refilled again. I’ll be right
back.”

Erin warmed some cider by the fire and was
sitting, stroking Tempo, drinking it when the mayor came out of the
shadows and sat down against the wagon wheel. “Terran, I need to
discuss something with you and Lor.”

“He’ll be right back. Wait, I see him
now.”

Lor walked up to the wagon and put two
earthen jars inside. “Hello, Cheroan. We have had a busy day. What
can we do for you?”

“Lor, I have just had time to look at what
Targ and Wras had in their pockets and I needed to talk to you and
young Terran.” Erin immediately checked with her companions about
people within earshot. Tempo wandered off nonchalantly.

“Some mayors know Gyan personally. I am one
of them and I understand the significance of some of the names on
this list. I don’t think Bure knows about sages but he seems to
have a sense that some people are different and he wants those
people dead. I do believe that he thinks that the realm would be
better for everyone if he were at the helm. He hasn’t figured out
everybody, but has focused on people who are in their fifth decade
or older. There have been non sage deaths, as you know. Erin is on
the list because of Robse. Ree and Char, of Sawblen, are there,
also. I was contacted by Gyan this evening and have told him what
has transpired. He told me about the connection between the deaths
and the quakes.” Mayor Cheroan paused and shook his bushy head.

“The bridge will be fixed by midday tomorrow
and the caravan can get on it’s way. I am sending Wras with some my
timber men as guards. The Great One is dispatching miners through
Sidetel Pass to pick up the prisoner near Morraton and escort him
to Khanlund. You will be traveling at a smart pace to make up time
and I want to pass off Wras to Gyan as quickly as possible. The
prisoner detail and the caravan will travel together as far as the
crossroads to Morraton.” He put up his hand to stop Lor from
protesting. “I am doing this with a purpose.” he started ticking
off points on his fingers. “There’s safety in numbers, for my
loggers, for Wras and for three sages traveling incognito.” He held
Lor’s gaze for a moment then went on. “I am putting four runners on
horseback to deliver bulletins to Terresville, Osily, Morraton and
Wellyn to watch out for Bure and apprehend the dangerous man if he
is seen. As each message is delivered that runner will return here.
At the same time it increases the strength of your protection as
long as I can. The rest of the caravan will just see it as security
for transporting Wras. They will not know that it’s also to protect
you. You will not argue this with me. I repeat, Gyan told me about
the connection between the deaths and the quakes. There will be one
more step I can take.” He turned to Erin and said, “You recall the
logger who was guarding my office door?”

She nodded and said, “Big man, strong build,
short blond hair and brown eyes.”

Cheroan nodded, “That’s Terk. You've got him.
You saved his uncle, Holm. He has asked to be a guard for you for
awhile. He will be discretely traveling with you to Yerra to visit
his cousin. He will notify the mayor there about Bure.”

He stood up and put out his hand. His voice
went to a normal volume level. “It was nice to meet you, Terran.
Come back and visit in better times. You will always be welcome.
Lor, good to see you again. Get some rest tonight. The city of
Sherroton thanks you for the service you have done.” He nodded to
them and left the firelight to return to the city.

Tempo strolled back into camp and up to Erin.
‘There is nobody in the woods and the wind is up which helped mask
your voices. I liked Terk. Most people wouldn’t be comfortable with
a skunk sitting by their feet. You need to sleep. You can send Ree
another message tomorrow.’ She stroked the skunk behind his
ears.

“Lor, I am going to bed. We will deal with
tomorrow then.” So saying she unrolled her blanket and curling up
with Tempo was asleep within minutes.

Lor watched her sleep for awhile, mulling
over what the mayor had said and the days events. He was about to
put the campfire out when he saw her jerk awake. He met her eyes
and asked, “Bure?”

She closed her eyes again. “Yeah. His
cousins are late to their rendezvous. That is not acceptable.
Nobody keeps him waiting! I can’t tell where he is without reaching
out and I remember overhearing the mayor sending people to watch
their cabin so that can’t be it. Good night Lor.” and she was
asleep.

The next quake, politely, waited until dawn
but when it came it hit hard. Tempo jumped up and growled as he
pounced on Erin. In one movement she had rolled out of the blanket,
slipping an arm under Tempo and holding him against her continued
the roll out from under the wagon and onto her feet. She reached
back grabbing her boots and was pulling them on when the quake hit.
It knocked her off her feet and Tempo out of her arms. She rolled
to her feet and did a staggering run for the horses. Tempo was
right behind her. The ground was rippling like water and the
paddock gate was creaking loudly as it flexed against the fence.
Even though the caravan’s horses had been through this several
times it was sudden and frightening and the horses were not liking
it. Ears were laid back and squeals of fright were heard. Horses
were bucking and kicking and wanting to get out of there. Erin used
her voice and her mind and still it took several minutes for her to
be able to safely get into the corral and single out the most
agitated of the animals for extra attention. The horses were
restive long after the ground quieted. Erin continued to soothe and
reassure through a couple of aftershocks. Her attention was so
focused that she wasn’t aware how the city and the caravan had come
through the shake up. Finally the horses were settled. Occasionally
she saw a quiver ripple over a hide but the ears were back up. She
asked each horse if they were hurt anywhere as she examined each
quickly. She reassured them again then climbed through the fence.
Putting Tempo on her shoulder Erin jogged back to see how the
humans had made out.

There were two broken wagon wheels with the
wagons propped drunkenly on boxes. She couldn’t tell how they fared
inside the city but did see some of the out buildings had damage.
It was daunting to think that this is what they all had to look
forward to. A few people were bandaged but the concentration was on
repair. Jord had a few fires built out in the open with dutch ovens
going and Cob was passing through the crowd with food. Flar and
Mari could be seen checking with everybody and moving in and out
the city archway.

Erin looked for Lor and finally found him
working with Raz and Jarrel checking the wagons and making repairs.
It had taken her awhile to calm the horses and in that time many
hands had worked through a variety of problems. In no time the
wagons that had been propped up on boxes were back on their wheels.
She caught Lor’s eye then looked at the wheels and back. He picked
up on her message and as they completed the last repair he stood
and arched his back to get the muscles to relax. “Jarrel, would it
be possible to leave you all of the broken wheels to repair and buy
spare wheels for our journey back? If these quakes don’t settle
down we might break more wheels before we get home.”

Jarrel looked at Lor, considering his
statement. “I am sure that Raz and I can work something out with
the train. I can repair the broken ones to be very strong and like
new. I’ll go check my inventory and we’ll talk before you
leave.”

Lor and Erin turned to go back to their
wagon. Lor had his hand on her shoulder and he was telling her
about the casualties. As they passed Kennet’s wagon they heard the
man call out. “Hey, Terran! How are the horses? I saw that you were
with them but I needed to help at the glass guild wagon. He had
some breakage with that quake!”

“The horses are fine, Kennet. It took a
little more time to settle them this morning but, thankfully, there
are no injuries.” He turned and looked at Lor. “I need to go into
the city. Lor, do you mind if I take Terran with me?”

“No problem.” answered Lor, “I’ll take Tempo,
Terran, and I’ll see you later.” He continued on his way with Tempo
trotting beside him and Erin turned and followed Kennet into
Sherroton.

They turned down the first lane on the left
and Kennet entered the tanners guild shop. “Harn! Do you have a
fleece lined winter coat to fit this lad? He has saved my horses
from injury more times than I can count, as well as saving my neck
when the bridge broke under me. I owe him one. What do you
have?”

A young man, with slightly shaggy brown hair,
gave Kennet and Erin a smile then studied her for a moment. “Yes, I
believe we do. Let me look in the back.”