You can read all of Lilly's adeventure now! Readers needed!

Yes, it's true! You can scroll down to Chapter One and read all of Lilly's story for free! Lilly, Morii and Pel would love to have your feedback. What do you think? What age would you say this story is best aimed at? What do you think of the illustration ideas? Which is the BEST part of the story? See how much you, dear reader are needed! Thank you for taking the time to look at this post! much love and Blessings Lilly Miller.

Fabulous Times

WoW!! what a fantastic week....starting with the Fairy Fair last weekend and finishing with two Swallowtail butterflies in my garden yesterday! I LOVE NORFOLK!!

I want to do some new drawings...my model

'Lilly'

I hope you enjoyed!

To any of you who have read 'Lilly' I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave some feedback if you can...even if you didn't like it! It really helps to know what others think! ((-:

This was an idea I had for what the Tisks looked like!! I have to do a 'real' one next....The Lilly portrait was going to feature - but didn't in the end!

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

Homecoming

Lilly and Morii had travelled all of the previous night and had made it back to Bell-da-Hallan just as Gamrays daughter was rising. They had gone straight to their beds without disturbing anyone. Only Pel knew that Lilly was back, he had been waiting in Lilly’s bed and he, sensing that she was tired and cold just snuggled up with her while she slept.

When Lilly did wake, she found Gurta and asked if she would make her a bath. Gurta did not bat an eyelid at the dishevelled state of Lilly, so Lilly guessed she was still under Gamrays spell. After her bath, which took ages because of having to wash all the dye from her hair and skin, Lilly went to check on Pel, but he was still fast asleep. Lilly kissed his furry head gently and crept out.

She found Morii in the courtyard and was relieved to see he had managed to wash all of his dye off as well. They sat quietly together as they ate their mornfood, which was actually lunch by now. Niether seemed ready or able to talk about yesterday’s events just yet. Lilly felt completely well and rested and apart from beiing a bit quiet, Morii seemed to be his old self.

As they got up to go Lilly heard a familiar, ‘illy, Pel ungry’. ‘Pel!!’ Lilly almost squealed in delight as her small furry friend leapt up into her arms. ‘Oh, I have missed ye my dear friend,’ she said, snuggling her face into his thick fur. ‘Are ye feeling better my dearest Pel?’ Lilly asked him.  Pel nodded and said, ‘Pel well, all better’ as he held tightly onto Lilly’s neck with one hand and took the piece of fruit she gave him in the other. Now Lilly did feel truly back to her old self.

As they walked through the gardens, Lilly was struck by how warm and peaceful it was after the noise and chaos of the Noeman camp. Morii turned to Lilly and asked her, ‘do ye think Gamray will be able to make sense of all this? It be seeming like a dream to me  and that be true’.

‘I do not know Morii, I have been thinking about what happened and I can only think that the ‘Unwanted son’ knew what we were doing from the beginning.’ Morii looked worried as they reached Gamray’s yurt and asked to be allowed entry.

Once more they passed the aids in the outer section, who looked as if they were still in deep meditation and went into the inner section. Gamray smiled and beckoned to them to come and sit by him on the two low stools that had already been placed. There was an ornately carved  table by his side and on it was the metal hood. It glittered and sparkled in a very menacing way.

Lilly stared at the metal hood. ‘Dear Gamray, is that the hood they used on ye? Where did ye find it?’ she asked excitedly. Pel squiggled round and curled up in Lilly’s lap as she sat down.

Gamray just looked serenly at them both and told them, ‘in good time my children, ye will know all. First I want ye to tell me if ye both be none the worse for yer adventure.’

Morii looked a bit embarrased and told Gamray that he did indeed be recovered from his drugged borildew.  ‘I feel so badly that I did say who I really was, yay and even told him about our dear mother,’ he muttered.

Gamray smiled his beautiful smile. ‘Do not be distressed my brother, you cannot be to blame. The ‘Unwanted son’ is right tricksy and it will take all our powers combined to overcome his wiley ways. He is no longer here, so please be calm. Now tell me my children what has befallen ye on yer journey?’

The three of them spent a long time going over the whole adventure and Gamray especially enjoyed the Noeman story, which Lilly related as best she could. Pel was asleep again and making soft little snoring noises.

‘Now my children, I will tell ye what has happened here while ye have been gone.’ Gamray said gently in their heads.

‘Yer small friend Pel there have played a great part.’

Lilly looked up with concern. Pel just turned around on Lilly’s lap and carried on snoring.

‘ Don’t be fretting Lilly my child, he is well. He is also brave and  be a true friend to the Hah-rold. Sardor did bring him back from his healing pool and Pel were upset to find ye both gone. He could not rest nor sleep and so I told him of yer real reason for not being in the kort. Pel wanted to come after ye, but I persuaded him to wait ‘til morn. As he were returning to yer rooms Lilly, he heard a sound from inside the walls. Pel do have the sharpest hearing, for I do know that no human kind would be hearing a noise like that.’

Lilly and Morii exchanged worried glances.

Gamray continued. ‘Pel did follow that sound all the way to the north tower. The tower that do hardly ever be used these days, just for storing and such. There he waited, several long moments without moving or making no sound. Suddenly he did hear a grating noise and a hole appeared in the wall. Pel said he nearly fainted away. As he watched, a grey clad figure emerged and started to creep down the stairs to the old back door. The one that the kort workers did use in past times, ye probably remember it Morii.’

Morii nodded.

‘Pel could see he did have a strange shaped head, under the cloak and hood he wore. Now my children, although the brave Pel was very scared he jumped right onto this evil creatures head and dug his little claws into the head and cloak. The evil creature screamed with fright and rage and tried to knock Pel away from him. Pel held on tight and the evil creature stumbled and fell down the last of the steps.’

Gamray stopped for a moment. Lilly and Morii were wide eyed and amazed at what had been happening. ‘Please dear Gamray, what happened then?’ Lilly asked, stroking Pel’s fur gently.

Gamray took a sip of his juice and continued his story. ‘ Pel was a little dazed and when he managed to get up, the evil creature had disapeared out into the kort gardens. Pel gave the alarm and although we hunted the entire night, no one was found. The next morning, we discovered a whole network of secret passages. They go to every part of the kort with spy places every so often, little looky holes all over the place…there is no wonder in the truth that he knew so much of kort life and of all yer plans. It was he, without doubt the ‘Unwanted son’.

Lilly shivered at the thought of the ‘unwanted son’ creeping around the kort, listening and watching.

Gamray smiled serenly again and held up the metal hood. ‘Here be the cause of our troubles, tis what Pel managed to hang on to and we shall be forever in his debt. For now at least we are on equal terms with the ‘Unwanted son’. It may well be that he has more of these hoods somewhere, but for now I can sense him, he is far from here and heading north Lilly.’

Lilly breathed out a huge sigh of reflief. ‘What will ye do Gamray, do ye have a plan?’ 

‘Yay Gamray’ said Morii. ‘Do ye have a plan and can we be helping ye?’

Gamray looked from Lilly’s eyes to Morii’s and slowly shook his head. ‘Tis hard to have a plan when ye don’t know what the ‘Unwanted son’ does want of ye. I will give this problem much thought.’

‘But Gamray,’ Lilly cried, ‘we know he wants to rule Norsonia, it was he who was behind King Trock and the Tarken, he wants to steal the children, he wants to turn Norsonia into Miramid, with all that disgusting pollution..all those poor children.’ Lilly was close to tears now. It was so obvious what the ‘Unwanted son’ had wanted.

Gamray raised his small hands. ‘My children, hush do not despair. One thing only is certain in this life and that be that all is never as bad as it would seem to be. Our problems are waiting for solutions, and those solutions will come. Ye must both remember that the time ye are given is full of adventure and surprise, it is for ye to work out the answers to life’s riddles. Yay as the sagas have foretold the Lady Lilly did save us once and she will save us again. It has been known for generations and what the sagas foretell, so must it be. Yay there will be many times when the answer to yer quests may seem to evade ye, but that be the way of things. That be the way we all do learn and grow.’

There was suddenly a tranquility that Lilly could almost taste, like a comforting cup of warm chocolate on a cold winter evening after school. Lilly had the strongest feeling that her adventures were only just beginning, and that was ok with her.

She took Morii’s hand and they stared at one another. Pel sat up on Lilly’s lap and yawned, his tiny, sharp, white teeth showing in his pale pink mouth.

’Gamrays huge brown eyes were shining with joy as he smiled and held out his chubby hands, one to Lilly and one to Morii. Yay, as the sagas had foretold and would soon tell again.

Chapter 22

CHAPTER 22

THE CASKET MAKER

The morning whizzed by with Morii and Lilly working hard to prepare everything for old Borgup’s day’s work. Morii saw to his mornfood and lighting his furnace, while Lilly swept the workshop and laid out the boxes of silver and dirrand stone as she’d been instructed. The two of them didn’t dare stop and let themselves think about the awful occurrences last night and in fact, by the time Gamray’s daughter showed them it was noontide, Lilly was beginning to think it may well have been a nightmare.

Borgup stood and went out of his workshop into the brightness of the day, he beckoned for the youngers to follow him.

‘Ye youngers may go off now and enjoy yersells, have some vittals and be back here afore dayend.’ Borgup told them as he fished an old rag out of his back pocket and wiped sweat from his lined, kindly face. Morii bowed a little and said, ‘ If it please ye, master Borgup. Where would we find a fine box maker in this camp?’

Borgup eyed Morii up and down and rubbed his neck with the old rag. ‘Well now younger, and what would ye be wantin with a box, fine or no?’

Morii didn’t hesitate in his reply. ‘My mama has always hankered after a fine big box, a casket to keep her precious clothes in and I did tell her I should look out for a fine master maker of boxes and see if I might find her one.’

Borgup laughed, ‘Oui, always the mama and the clothes.  As ye be such a fine son to yer mama, ye would do no harm to go and see Halverii, just over the back here.’ Borgup flicked his head in the direction of the tents behind them. ‘He be one of the best, no I say he be the best casket maker in the whole camp.’ Borgup put away his rag, this time into his apron pocket. ‘He don’t work cheap though, ye tell yer mama she’ll need to part with a pretty few sollars to own one of Halverii’s caskets.’ Laughing he turned and went back into his workshop.

Morii came over to where Lilly was waiting for him. ‘Did ye hear that Lilly? Halverii makes fine caskets and his workshop is behind here where ye saw the three men last night.’

Lilly nodded. ‘It was so awful Morii, what those horsemen did to those men. I think we should be very careful with who ever this Halverii is.’

‘Of course.’ Morii replied and they set off in the direction Borgup had nodded.

Once Lilly and Morii had picked their way around the tents they came out into a lane full of more metal makers workshops. It wasn’t hard to find Halverii’s workshop as it occupied most of the lane they were standing in. They went inside.

Steam hissed from water baths that red hot metal was being doused into. Fires glowed white hot within furnaces and the dozen workers in here hurried back and forth from furnace to water bath as if their very lives depended on it. Hammering a piece, cooling, reheating and then hammering again. Sparks flew everywhere and the noise was ear-splitting.

Lilly covered one ear and pulled on Morii’s arm, ‘over there, the man at the far end, that must be Halverii.’ she shouted above the din. Morii looked to where Lilly was pointing and saw a well dressed man sitting at a table covered in piles of paper.

As the two youngers approached he looked up. ‘Hello there and what can I do for ye, I have no need of extra workers.’ he added.

Morii spoke. ‘Master Halverii?’

Halverii nodded and bowed.

‘I come to find the best casket maker in Noeman camp. I come on my mamas asking to find her a very fine metal casket.’

Halverii smiled. ‘Then young sir, ye have come to the right place.’ He called over to a young boy and told him to bring glasses of borildew.

‘Sit ye, sit ye.’ Halverii motioned toward some ornately carved wooden chairs over in one corner. ‘Have ye a design in mind sir, or would ye like me to show ye some I have worked on before?’ Halverii asked.

‘That would be kind, we should like to see some of yer finest designs.’ Morii replied. Halverii bustled off back to his table and gathered up a couple of large, leather bound books.

Lilly and Morii exchanged an excited glance, they hoped they would see the design for the box in which Gamray had been imprisoned.

They drank the borildew and looked through dozens of casket designs while Halverii explained to them some of the processes involved in casket making.

After a while, Morii turned a page and Lilly saw there in front of them the very same box or casket that had held Gamray. ‘Oh I like this one dear brother, look at all those lovely curly shapes around the edges and those lovely golden corners.’ she exclaimed, looking at Halverii.

Halverii got up and came and stood beside them. ‘Ahh, what good taste ye have young lady. That very casket was made for a king many years back and those curly marks my dear are the sign for infinity, something that goes on for ever. My own grandfather made the design for this, it is very old.’

Lilly smiled, ‘I think it’s lovely and I’m positive mama would adore it.’

Morii took his chance now. ‘ Which King was it made for?’ he asked innocently.

‘Well now, ‘tis strange that ye should pick this very design.

The original one, made by my grandfather, was a commission from the King of Miramid, a Kingdom to the North of this place, I do believe it no longer exists. The second one, made by myself, was a commission from a gentleman who wished to remain anonymous.’ Halverii raised his hands and shrugged. ‘Why anyone would want to be anonymous when buying a casket I do not know, but we had very explicit written instructions along with the money to pay for it arrive by messenger last season. The casket was delivered last night or ye could have been looking at it right now.’

Lilly smiled at Halverii. ‘That is so interesting master Halverii. Mama would be just fascinated.’ Morii nodded. ‘We should like to commission one just like it for our mama, perhaps ye could let us know how much ye require for such a work of craftsmanship?’

Halverii couldn’t believe his luck, two of his finest and most expensive caskets ordered in the same year. He hurried back to his desk and began writing on a sheet of parchment paper. Lilly and Morii walked over to him and thanked him for the tea. ‘What name shall I put on my bill of sale?’ Halverii asked.

Morii smiled, ‘Queen Lewold of Norsonia and I do not need to remind ye that this is in strictest confidence.’

Halverii looked stunned. He stood up quickly and bowed very low. ‘My Lord, I don’t know what to say, I had no idea.’

Lilly was just as shocked, what was Morii doing, they had promised Gamray that they would tell no one who they really were.

Morii just smiled and told Halverii that there were reasons for their disguise and to deliver the casket to the Kort when it was ready.

Halverii kept bowing and handed Morii the bill of sale.

Once outside and a small distance away Lilly stopped and confronted Morii.

‘Ok, why did ye tell him who ye were? Gamray told us not to reveal our identities to anyone.’

Morii looked a little embarrassed, ‘I thought it would be nice to get Mother a casket as a gift and I feel certain that Halverii would not tell anyone about us, he is a master metal man and they have a very strict code of secrecy about their customers.’

Lilly sighed in exasperation. ‘It didn’t stop him from telling us about the King of Miramid or the other man who kept his identity secret.’ she exclaimed.

‘Now Lilly, the King of Miramid was years ago and no longer exists and the other person was unknown to him anyway. I really don’t think we should worry.’ Morii told her. ‘He has given me his word and that’s enough.’

Lilly was annoyed with Morii, he hadn’t planned any of this with her and now someone in the Noeman camp knew who they were.

‘Come on Lilly, let’s go and get some food and talk about all we have found out. It will only be a couple of day’s ‘til we return to Kort.’

Lilly followed Morii in silence.

They sat together in the corner of a shady yard eating dried fruit and sweet, sugar bread. People milled around, drinking and eating, children bought sugar bread from the stall in the middle of the yard and somebody was playing a kind of flute opposite. Lilly looked around and guessed it was as safe a place as any to talk.

‘So we know that someone had a casket made that was identical to the one already in Kort, that someone has kept their identity secret, had the casket delivered and had the men killed who delivered it. We know that the original casket was made for the King of Miramid, who was related to the ‘Unwanted son’. We both know that the ‘Unwanted son’ is still alive and it’s probably him doing all this and you Morii, order a casket just like his for your mother!’ Lilly whispered.

Morii was silent for a moment. ‘I don’t know why I did that, I just felt that it was the right thing to do. I can’t explain it.’

‘Well that’s just great.’ Lilly hissed. ‘Ye don’t even know why ye did it. What are we going to do? I just can’t believe all this is happening.’

Morii looked really worried. ‘No Lilly ye don’t understand. I don’t KNOW why I did all those things. It’s like someone else was in my head.’

Now it was Lilly’s turn to look worried. ‘Do ye mean somebody made ye do it, tell who ye really are?’

Morii nodded sadly, ‘I do think so and that be true. I don’t really remember after the bit where Halverii told us about the person ordering the second casket.’

‘Oh Morii, what can be happening, do ye think somehow the ‘Unwanted son’ has tricked ye or maybe he has Halverii in his powers?’ Lilly asked.

Morii shook his head. ‘I really don’t know Lilly, but why would I want to order a casket for my mother? There’s one already at Kort and anyway now that my head’s clearing I can’t think why I told Halverii all that stuff.’ Morii looked so miserable that Lilly felt sorry that she’d gotten so cross.

‘Let’s move around a bit, walk. We need to think what to do.’ Lilly got hold of Morii’s hand and pulled him onto his feet.

They went through the yard and out onto one of the lanes that criss-crossed the whole Noeman camp.

Lilly suddenly stopped dead, nearly causing a passing cart to tip it’s load. ‘Morii, do ye remember seeing the boy who brought our drinks in Halverii’s tent?’ she asked.

Morii rubbed his head and looked totally confused. ‘No Lilly, I don’t think I paid any mind to him.’

Lilly was now thinking hard. ‘Well I noticed him because he looked far too old to be called a boy, I am certain it wasn’t the same boy that Halverii told to bring the drinks. I couldn’t see all of his face because he had that big hood over his eyes, but his hands were all wrinkly…what if..?’ Lilly’s voiced trailed away as she stared at Morii. Morii was looking decidedly ill. Lilly put an arm around her friend and led him into a shady drink tent. ‘Morii, I think he put something in yer drink, ye look awfull, sit here a while.’

Morii sat down and held his head in his hands. ‘I beg for yer parden Lilly, I feel so stupid, I have let ye down and put ye in further danger. What shall we do?’

Lilly’s mind was whirling, what should they do now?

Another thought occurred to Lilly. ‘Do ye think anyone has discovered the bodies yet?’ she asked Morii. ‘What happens here when things go wrong, does the camp have any guards or people who keep the peace?’ Lilly was thinking of something like a police force, but Morii wouldn’t know what that was.

Morii nodded, ‘Yay, there be the Truemen, they be who ye go to if something goes wrong or there be evil doers around.’

‘Where would we find them?’ Lilly asked.

‘I’ll show ye.’ Morii stood up slowly and started down one of the main streets and out into a square. It was filled with hundreds of merchants, onlookers, sellers and street entertainers. Morii took hold of Lilly’s hand, ‘don’t want to loose each other,’ he called above the noise. They pushed past carts loaded with all kinds of goods, weaving in and out of stalls and traders haggling prices with one another. Noeman children darted between groups of traders and merchants, running errands for their parents, telling them the latest prices for metal ore or dirrand stone or silk cloth. It seemed totally chaotic to Lilly and she clung onto Morii’s hand even tighter.

A few moments later Morii turned into a small alley and there at the end of it was a large stone building. The only stone building in Noeman camp Lilly thought to herself.

Morri looked at Lilly and waited for her to say something. He could see she was thinking hard.

‘Here is what we do Morii. We go and tell the Truemen that we overheard someone talking about bodies at the western end of the camp, we don’t know who, we just thought we should report it. Then as soon as we can, we get out of here and go back to the kort. I am going to ask Gamray to send Srix and Storr to meet us at Rin-goreekie, I’ll fly us there.’ Lilly said breathlessly.

Morii nodded. ‘We have all the information we could get and that be true.’

After a good questioning by the Truemen, Lilly and Morii were allowed to go. There had been a moment when Lilly was sure they would keep them in the ‘lock up’ room, while they checked out the western cross roads. But Lilly had pleaded that they be allowed to go back to their work and the Truemen had let them go.

Lilly contacted Gamray, who then sent Srix and Storr with all haste to Rin-goreekie and Lilly was now preparing herself to fly back there.

It was all but dark as she and Morii slipped out of the camp and over to the corrals holding the horses. ‘Are ye ready Morii?’ Lilly enquired. Morii, who had been very quiet since their visit to the Truemen, simply nodded and took Lillys hands.

They arrived in Rin-goreeki some time later and Lilly flew them down to the road just outside the town. She felt exhausted. Morii looked concerned, ‘Lilly will ye have the strength to walk a little to the inn and let me get yer some food and storbvin?’

‘Yay Morii, tis a tiredness I cannot explain, tis in my head that I feel it most.’ Lilly replied wearily.

They walked slowly to the inn and went inside. Fortunately it was almost empty and apart from a couple of farmers arguing the ins and outs of Tisk ownership, it was comfortably quiet. Also rather fortunately the lady keeper was not serving that eve, so there were no awkward questions asked when Morii ordered some food and a couple of cups of storbvin.

Lilly drank gratefully and ate two bowls of meat stew. Slowly she began to feel her normal self. Morii was also looking much better.

‘How do ye feel now Morii?’ Lilly asked her friend.

‘I be feeling clearer in my thought’s Lilly, and I do believe I be remembering more of what happened.’

Lilly smiled and squeezed Morii’s arm, he looked so downcast and she felt very sorry for him.

‘It was not your fault dear Morii, we could not know that your drink had been tampered with. I would like to know how the ‘Unwanted son’ or whoever was working for him knew who we were.’

‘Yay Lilly, he must have much magik power to have the knowing of all that.’ Morii agreed.

Lilly nodded. ‘Gamray did say he would be tricksy. We had better go and find Srix and Storr, see if they are here yet. I asked Gamray to get them to wait at the Bell-da Hallen end of the road, ye know, where we walked to that night?’

Morii thanked the inn keeper and they went out into the night to find their friends the Ehwaz.

Chapter 21

CHAP 21

The Noemen Camp

Lilly hardly slept that eve and now Gamray’s daughter was just poking her head into the eastern sky. She badly wanted to have a wash, but of course she couldn’t, the brown dye would wash off. She would also liked to have taken the ‘ribbons’ out of her hair but she couldn’t. So instead she woke Morii and they crept downstairs and out of the inn so as not to wake anyone at this time of the morning.

Glodsun was harnessing two fresh horses to his cart and gave only the slightest acknowledgement that they were there at all.

The morn was fresh and rather cool, quite unlike mornings in Bell-da-hallen, which seemed to retain a constant warm temperature any time of the day.

 Once on the cart and leaving Rin-goreekie, Lilly began to think about certain things. She and Morii could not really mardle as the cart driver would have guessed they were really Norsonians.

Lilly suddenly had an amazing thought, she had to bite her lip to stop herself calling out. THE BOX, she thought excitedly. Where was the metal box that Gamray had been held in? The box with the strange designs and patterns. Someone had made that box, a very skilled metal worker. Lilly could contain her thoughts no longer, she had to speak to Morii.

She nudged her friend and Morii looked at her inquisitively. Lilly mouthed to him silently, ‘THE BOX.’ Morii looked confused and just shrugged. Lilly repeated her silent message, slower this time ‘THE BOX.’ Still Morii didn’t get it. Lilly looked behind them at the cart driver, she dare not speak out loud in case he should hear. She signalled to Morii, never mind, by closing her eyes and slightly shaking her head.

Lilly went back to her thoughts, I could contact Gamray she thought, closing her eyes and concentrating.

Yay Lilly my child, is the something wrong? Gamray thought to her.

‘Gamray, what happened to the box, the one ye were trapped in?’

Why, tis in Sardor’s keeping I believe Lilly. I feel what ye are thinking, I shall instruct Sardor to bring it to me as soon as he returns with Pel. Yay Lilly tis a good idea.

‘Good, can ye let me know what marks are upon it, maybe I can enquire of Borgup, when I find him. He may know who made it.’

Yay Lilly I will do as ye request, be on yer guard now.

Lilly sighed and shifted her position slightly, so that she could watch out sideways from the cart. Thoughts were streaming through her head, could it be that they might find out who the box was made for, it would certainly be a start.

The scenery was beginning to change, the green pleasant lowlands of grazing Aurochs was being replaced by more scrubby, rocky terrain. Strange little shrubby bushes with evil looking sharp spines were appearing among the lightin bush plants. And there a few yards away was a Tisk, with what looked like four pups! Lilly was about to call out to it, then remembered that she was in disguise and wasn’t supposed to be interested in such things, being a Noeman younger.

Morii had dozed off, Lilly noticed. That boy could sleep anywhere, he didn’t even need to be comfortable thought Lilly, with a small smile.

What seemed like an eternity passed and Lilly was beginning to get rather uncomfortable, when the driver muttered something that Lilly couldn’t quite hear. Morii opened his eyes at that very moment and sat up, stretching. ‘We’re almost there dear kin.’ Morii informed her.

Lilly knelt up on the sacks in the cart and saw to her amazement a long line of tents in the distance, nestling into the foothills of some incredibly high mountains.

Wow, thought Lilly excitedly as they continued up the dusty road. The encampment looked massive, more like a city. Tents stretched as far as the eye could see. Long lines of floating, brightly coloured fabric stretched high above the tents, looking like enormous washing lines. Plumes of smoke stretched lazily into the bright sky and the steely ring of hammers echoed through the mountains.

Corrals of horses had been placed around the perimeter of the make-shift city and Lilly could just make out people, still so far off that they looked like ants, dashing here and there, carrying things on their heads in baskets. 

The nearer they got, the more noise could be heard. Drummers beating away, music that sounded like flutes or some other wind instruments, shouting, metallic hammering, people calling to each other and dogs barking. Smells, amazing smells, came wafting across the arid landscape. Roasting meats, bread, spices and garlic, coffee and fruit, a whole and very lovely mixture of everything. Now Lilly realised she was hungry, very hungry indeed.

Morii gave Lilly a look that said he was thinking the same thing.

A few moments later, the cart driver pulled up and let Lilly and Morii get off. The driver turned in his seat and eyed them both up and down. ‘Ye think twice afore ye get yourselves in trouble again.’ This was said sternly to Morii. ‘Youngers, they’re the same everywhere,’ he muttered as he pulled away.

Lilly and Morii couldn’t help it, they burst into fits of laughter and fell about for a few moments. Once they had recovered, they remembered their empty stomachs and set off to buy some food.

Proper streets had been formed over the years that the Noeman had been coming to this site and the whole tent city was quite well organised. There was a food quarter, which Lilly and Morii found by following their noses. They found themselves in a square with tables and benches, six or seven alleys ran out from this with stalls and tents selling all varieties of food. Morii went for a stall with roasting meats on skewers, Lilly followed and in no time the two of them were enjoying roast meat and slices of flat white bread. It was delicious and reminded Lilly of kebabs. She was explaining this to Morii when Gamray came back into her head.

‘Lilly, I have the box. It has squares and figures of infinity carved along the sides, it has a dragons head embossed on the lid and the corners are wrapped in gold. Can ye see this image my child?’

Lilly hushed Morii for a moment and closed her eyes.

‘Yay Gamray, I see the image ye send me and I shall try to find out if anyone remembers making it or has seen it before. Thank ye.’

‘Ye are most welcome child and I send ye both my blessings.’

With that Gamray departed as quickly as he’d come. Now Lilly remembered to tell Morii what she had be dying to tell him on the journey, but had forgotten in all the excitement of arriving at the Noeman encampment.

Once it had all been explained, Morii agreed that someone had to know who had made the box. ‘I can not think that there be any more skilled than the Noeman craftsmen. Let us finish this food and see if we can find the metal workers quarter. The sooner we find Borgup the quicker we can begin.’ he told Lilly.

They finished their meal and bought some honey cake for later, with a stone flagon of some sort of sweet juice. Morii said it was called ‘borildew’ and was a speciality of the Noeman. Lilly thought it a bit too sweet for her tastes, but it was ok. It tasted like cold lemon tea with loads of honey in.

After a short walk, they found the metal -smiths quarter. This area was entirely different ,as most of it was outside or in makeshift workshops, which had been fashioned from some sort of metal sheeting, instead of in tents. Each workshop housed a rather large muscled metal smith hammering away at his or her anvil and most had a hand painted sign hanging above the opening, stating who worked there and what their speciality was.

FLOELLA FOR FINE SWORDS  or  HUZZAN FOR STEEL KNIVES

 Lilly was amazed to see so many female smiths. Morii told her that the women metal smiths were renowned for the quality of the swords they made.

Lilly was fascinated and could have watched for hours. Fires blazed away and Noeman youngers took turns to stoke the fires or used large bellows to keep the coals red hot. Smoke and black dust coated everything and in some places the heat was unbearable. It was very interesting indeed.

They wandered along until they rounded a corner and saw at the end of the alley, another hand painted sign.

BORGUP

Metal smith extraordinaire

MAKER OF FINE ORNAMENTS

Morii turned to Lilly and said, ‘I see we be here, shall we go in?’

Lilly nodded and they hurried toward Borgup’s workshop. The sound of tapping on metal came from the inside of the workshop, it didn’t seem quite so noisy or dirty down this alley, Lilly guessed that was because this lot seemed to be mostly jewellery smiths or ornament smiths, like Borgup.

Inside the workshop, a small man sat cross-legged on a mat, tapping a metal tool, like a very large nail, onto a small silver hair slide, resting on a mushroom shaped table. He was engraving intricate patterns, his hands working so quickly, that in the few moments Lilly and Morii stood watching, he had engraved a dragonfly beautifully into the hair slide. He looked up as he finished and gave them a friendly smile.

‘Quest-ce?’ he asked, what do you want?

Morii did a small bow and told Borgup that they had heard he might have some part time work.

‘Oui, if you can collect my supplies for me and maybe fetch me a bite to eat now and then. Can ye clean the workshop for me of an eve?’ he asked looking from Lilly to Morii and back again.

‘Yay, master Borgup, we can do these tasks, we are strong and healthy.’ replied Morii.

‘Good, good, ye can sleep in yonder tent, the one with green and brown stripes, I’ll pay ye 10 sollars a day ‘til we go journeying to Bell-da-hallen, then I shall have need of ye no more.’ the little man told them.

He spat into his palm and held it out to Morii. Morii spat into his palm and shook hands. Borgup then turned to Lilly and spat into his palm, Lilly did the same and shook her bargain. She felt like a real Noeman younger now, she’d never spat on her hand and shaken on it before. Borgup was chattering away to Morii and laughing a rather high pitched laugh.

Lilly took this opportunity to look around her. There were shelves of exquisite hair ornaments, brooches, clips and buckles all made of silver or silver and dirrand stone, which looked even more like diamonds than ever to Lilly. On the other side of the workshop were stacked piles of sheet silver and many boxes of cut dirrand stone in different shapes and sizes. At the rear of the workshop and within easy reach of Borgup, were lines of cutting tools and engraving tools, all in neat rows and several of the little mushroom shaped tables that Borgup used to rest his work on. There was a kind of stove with a brass coloured kettle steaming away and small silver cups on a little table. Hanging just above his head was a brass lantern giving off a little light in this rather gloomy space.

Morii had finished his conversation with Borgup and was saying that they would return at first light to start their work.

Borgup wished them a good eve and carried on with his work.

Outside Morii led Lilly around the back of the workshop and down a small path. Two hundred metres on was a green and brown fabric covered tent. It was quite large and rectangular with metal  poles sticking out either side of the roof at a sort of jaunty angle. Large ropes secured the front and back and Lilly guessed there must be some sort of framework holding up the inside, it reminded her of a circus tent she’d been in. Inside, the tent had been split into four sections, two of them obviously belonged to Borgup and the other two were empty apart from a stack of furs and a couple of hay beds. ‘I think this must be where we shall be staying.’ Morii looked at Lilly and smiled. Lilly walked over to the hay beds and pulled one over to the side wall of the tent, ‘might as well make ourselves comfy,’ she said to Morii. ‘Can ye pass some of those furs Morii.’ Morii grabbed three or four and brought them to Lilly. ‘Shall we go for a wander round before it gets dark?’ he asked. ‘See if we can get an idea of the layout of this place, it seems far bigger than when I last visited. I came here with Bathin about four seasons ago when he wanted to order a new sword.’

Lilly nodded, ‘I should like to look round, it’s a really interesting place. Did Bathin get that huge sword he carries here? He used it to free Gamray from the box that day.’

‘Yay Lilly, he did. He also got himself a wife, a lady metal smith, at the same time!’ Morii said laughing. ‘Freya be her name and she do have arm muscles as big as Bathin’s and that be true.’

Now Lilly laughed as she imagined the enormous Bathin and his equally enormous wife.

They left the metal smith’s quarter and walked through the dyers quarter, this was where all the colourful fabric hung in rows over their heads, Lilly thought it was just like going through masses of giant washing lines. It smelled quite awful though and they were both glad when they got out of that section and into the market.

Lilly had never seen so many stalls selling so many different goods. There were wonderful clothes and fabrics, sweet treats, shoes, leather bags, nuts, pens of ground peckers, cages of snakes, it just went on and on. In between this wonderful array of colours and smells were wandering musicians, story tellers, dancers. Folk walking with large trays or baskets on their heads, selling pastries or fruit. Drink sellers with extraordinary contraptions made of metal, slung on their backs from which flowed tubes full of liquids that they caught in small metal cups and stopped with their thumbs.

Morii bought Lilly a cup of borildew and Lilly thought it was better than the stuff they had back at their tent, not so sweet.

After a little more wandering Lilly noticed a crowd gathering at one end of the street. ‘What’s happening there Morii?’ Lilly pointed to the gathering crowd. ‘Ah Lilly, this ye must see, come on.’ He caught Lilly’s hand and pulled her through the crowd, until they reached the front. Lilly could see a rather beautiful dark skinned lady was sitting on a wooden cart arranging her many coloured petticoats carefully around her. Her bare feet hung over the edge of the cart and she had bracelets around her ankles. Her hair was in ribbons, which were very, very long. She glanced around every few moments, watching the crowd gathering round her. She spotted Lilly at one point and smiled, Lilly noticed that all her teeth seemed to be made of gold. Suddenly the crowd became quiet and the beautiful lady lowered her head and began to shake her wrists and hands. She wore many metal bracelets that jangled as she twisted her hands around. She clapped her hands in rapid succession and then stopped. She raised her head opened her eyes and began her story.

‘A Noeman storyteller?’ Lilly whispered into Morii’s ear. ‘Yay Lilly, ye will enjoy this.’ he whispered back.

Several hours could have passed for all Lilly knew, the story was spellbinding and was done as a kind of play, with the beautiful young woman playing all the parts. She was amazing and Lilly could understand why everyone thought the Noeman storytellers so good. The story itself, as far as Lilly could make out, was about a young girl living in a crystal castle. She could not escape it and spent years trying. In the end she managed to work out a way of escaping the castle, only to find that she was not a girl at all, but a speck of dust floating in a cloud of smoke from a dragons breath and evaporating bit by bit. She ended up becoming a rain drop. It was an extraordinary story that made absolutely no sense, but while you were listening to it, it did.

Lilly didn’t know how, but it did. The beautiful woman said that the story had come from Verilamland, which was hundreds of day and eve’s travel west from here. It had been told to her by her mother and her mother had heard it from the dragon himself. The strange thing was, Lilly thought, was that she almost believed it, so convincing was the woman.

As they walked away and back to their tent, Lilly asked, ‘Morii, are all the story tellers like that, ye know, able to make ye feel that it’s all real and leave ye wondering if there really are girls who turn into raindrops and dragons living in Verilamland?’

Morii laughed. ‘Yay Lilly, they mostly are like that, some even better. The Noeman storytellers have stories about everything, some true, some not. The woman, Arrarbena she be named, is one of the best I have heard. Ye were lucky that it be she ye first heard.’

Lilly told Morii she was glad it was Arrarbena she heard as well. ‘She was just an amazing lady’ Lilly sighed. ‘I loved all her bracelets and she had the most beautiful eyes and her acting and her different voices.’

‘Yay, some do say that true Noeman women are the most beautiful and tricksy of all women anywhere.’ Morii told her.

‘Really!’ replied Lilly. ‘Why tricksy?’

‘I do hear it’s because they can make ye believe just about anything, ye will have to ask Bathin about that when we get home.’ Morii was grinning now and Lilly realised he was making fun of her.

‘Ok Morii ’ Lilly was laughing herself now. ‘I know I went on a bit, it’s just quite an amazing thing to see for the first time.’

‘Yay, I do know how ye feel, it made me like that to begin with. Well here we be Lilly, there’s the alley down to Borgup’s tent.’

They walked slowly round to the tent and went inside. Borgup was already there and snoring away softly in his room, Lilly smiled at Morii and whispered that they better do the same if they were to be up and working at first light.

Sometime later, Lilly was awoken by strange shuffling noises coming from outside. She sat up in her haybed trying to adjust her eyes to the darkness. She could just make out the hunched shape of Morii snoring softly and still the shuffling, scraping noises filled her ears in what otherwise was silence.

Lilly climbed quietly out of bed and grabbed her jacket and boots, she tiptoed to the entrance curtain and pulled her boots on. One arm in her jacket sleeve, she crept around the side of the tent, feeling for the other armhole. The noise was coming from a group of tents across a small patch of grass. Keeping to the line of the tents and being careful not to fall over the guy ropes, Lilly edged towards the other side of the grass patch. Carefully she peered around the edge of the tent where the noises were loudest.

Three large and bulky men were manoeuvring a very large trunk or box on a kind of sled. It was obviously heavy and they were having trouble getting it up a small slope towards a waiting cart. The box was covered with a tarpaulin and Lilly was just about to go and wake Morii, when the tarpaulin slipped. Lilly’s eyes opened wide in amazement. It was a carved metal box, almost identical to the one that Gamray had been trapped in.

Lilly went as quickly and quietly as she could back to the tent to wake Morii. Together they crept back to where the men had been but there was no sign of them. Morii, looked at Lilly. ‘Are ye sure ye were not dreaming,’ he asked rather sleepily, rubbing his eyes. ‘Of course I wasn’t dreaming, they were here just a minute ago.’

Lilly started to dash off towards the path where the men had been. Morii caught her arm and swung her back. ‘Wait a moment Lilly, let’s go carefully, we don’t want to alert who ever they be and they can’t have gone far.’ Morii walked up the small slope and stood on tiptoe looking up and down the track. ‘Listen. I hear something.’ Lilly whispered. Sure enough, there was a distant creaking and a faint rumble of something heavy being wheeled along the dirt path up ahead of them. Morii and Lilly set off in pursuit.

After a couple of wrong turns at forks in the path, they could see ahead of them three dark shapes pushing a cart. It was fairly easy to follow now, as they were still surrounded by tents and closed up stalls and Lilly and Morii found they could keep pretty much in the shadows.

Eventually the men arrived at the western end of the encampment and stopped at a wide crossroad. Morii pulled Lilly behind a rock pile and the two of them scrambled as quietly as they could up to the top.

‘Did ye hear something just now?’ one of the men was saying, looking around him. The other two looked round as well. ‘Can’t hear it now,’ the first man said. ‘How long do ye think we will have to wait?’

‘He said he’d be here before sun up and he will be.’ answered another.

They were speaking in hushed voices and had strange accents. Morii motioned to Lilly to keep low and quiet. Lilly nodded that she understood.

After what seemed an eternity, and with no more conversation from the men at the crossroads, Lilly heard horses hooves, clipping along at a good pace from the west. Morii and Lilly peeked over the top of the rock pile. The three men were sitting around the cart, and Lilly could see a red glow every so often from the lighted end of whatever they were smoking, it smelled awful, even from this distance. The sound of the galloping horses drew nearer and the men at the cart stood up.

Two horsemen arrived pulling a large flat topped wagon behind them. They jumped down from their saddles and greeted the three other men in a friendly backslapping way. Between them, they hoisted the box up onto the wagon and just as it looked like the men were all shaking hands again, two of them fell to the ground, clutching at their necks. Lilly stared in disbelief as the remaining man was also knifed and fell to the ground. Up until this point, Lilly had begun to get the tiniest bit bored and was wondering if this wasn’t just a business transaction that had, for some reason to be carried out at night. Now though, she realised there was something very evil going on here. Worse still, she and Morii had witnessed all of it!

The two horsemen, were dragging the bodies over to the rock pile that Lilly and Morii were hiding in. They lay as flat as they could against the top rocks and held their breath.

The horsemen, dumped the bodies of the three men unceremoniously behind the rocks and then went over to the hand cart, they pulled that over to the rocks and turned it over so that it covered the bodies, more or less. Then they gathered a few bits of bush and scrubby plants and covered the whole thing over, adding a few small rocks and slate pieces. They didn’t say a word all of the time it took them to hide the bodies. Lilly found that silence worse than anything, it was almost as if they were robots, the way they worked together and knew exactly what they were doing.

After a few minutes the two horsemen walked back to the crossroad, looked around them, scuffed the piece of ground where they had committed their crime with their huge, heavy boots, got onto their horses and disappeared into the night with the wagon and the box. They headed North.

Morii let out a huge breath, ‘pheww.. What in Gamray’s name have we just witnessed?’ he turned to Lilly, who was feeling so shocked by the whole experience she could not bring herself to speak for several moments.

Now she started shaking uncontrollably. Morii got hold of her hands and half pulled and half coaxed her down from the rocks. He put his arms around her and guided her away from the pile of bodies, cart and rocks.

‘Oh Morii!’ Lilly’s voice was small and sounded strangled as the words came out. She coughed a couple of times and cleared her throat. ‘What do ye think has happened here tonight, who were those horsemen and why did they kill those other men, they all looked so friendly.’

Morii shook his head. ‘Who can know. What I do know is that we cannot let anyone know we were here. If they can do that to their friends can you imagine what they would do to us?’

Lilly shivered, ‘Let’s get back, and look, Gamray’s daughter is rising, we have to get Borgup’s mornfood ready and light his furnace.’

The two young people raced as fast as their legs would carry them back along the track to the camp. Signs of life were appearing, smoke started to rise from fires being lit and smells of cooking were in the air by the time they reached Borgup’s tent.