Chapter 16

CHAP 16

The Watcher

As Gamray’s daughter began to shine her rays over Storbenn wood the next morning, Lilly and Morii woke and went to check on Pel. Sardor assured them that with one more day’s complete rest, Pel would be able to wake up and start moving around a little. Lilly was relieved, he had been such a help to them and was a dear friend.

Morii suggested they should walk into Storbenn town and see what needed doing after they’d eaten their mornfood. Lilly agreed and they were soon on their way. As the town came into view Lilly could see that there were still a few buildings smouldering, there wasn’t very much left of the southern end of town and there was damage of some sort or other everywhere you looked.

As they approached the main street, stepping over pieces of brick and smouldering wood in their path, Morii waved to a large, bearded Norsonian man studying a square of paper on a trestle table across the road. He left what he was doing and walked over to where they stood. ‘This be Master Dinaii Lady Lilly, he do have the trade of builder in Bell-da-Hallan and have come here to see what needs to be done.’

Dinaii bowed slightly and greeted Lilly. ‘Good morn my Lady, Gamray’s bounty be upon ye.’ He turned to Morii and told him, ‘There be many buildings Lord Morii, that can be repaired, but there are equally many that cannot. Ye can see that yonder mill and yonder schoolroom are beyond repair. They and others need to be cleared and built again.’

Morii nodded, he could indeed see that those particular buildings were nothing more that a pile of rocks and charred timber.

‘Yay Master Dinaii, ye must clear and rebuild as ye see fit. I shall inform my father the King that we must home all those folk from Storbenn for some time yet, within Bell-da-Hallan. They shall not return here till all be ready. Please send word to Kort of any supplies and workers ye will be needing.’

‘That I shall Lord Morii, though I do have many of my workers here already. I shall be needing the reed thatching team from Heddinbenn village within a few day’s, if it do please ye, can ye kindly get word to them.’ Dinaii bowed again, said good bye and returned to his plans on the opposite side of the road.

Lilly and Morii then made their way to the gate at the far end of Storbenn and stood looking in silence at what had been the battlefield. Already there was little sign that anything had happened here. There were a few flattened bushes and broken tree branches, and here and there the marshy ground had been scuffed, showing bare patches, but apart from those few signs, no-one would have guessed the awful battle had taken place. Maybe that was for the best thought Lilly.

Off to the right hand side of the road, over in the middle of the marsh was a large square of freshly dug black earth, about forty feet wide and maybe thirty deep. They walked toward it, sinking slightly into the boggy ground. As they got closer, they could see  Tarken feathers were stuck into the soft earth in neat rows, Lilly guessed there were around two hundred and fifty of the black-blue feathers sticking up from the dark soil.

‘This must be where Gruen and the others buried the Tarken,’ Morii guessed. ‘That do be their tradition, to stick a feather for each dead into the ground like that, tis a grisly reminder of that dreadful day and that be true.’

They turned and walked back to Storbenn in silence, both thinking of their departed friends and needing now to return to Bell-da-Hallan and the comfort it would offer them. Lilly had had several weird feelings of being watched over the last couple of days and now she also got a shadowy image in her head of a sort of stooped figure, but as she could see no-one she put it down to just being jittery after everything that had happened.

Once back at Storbenn wood, they helped Sardor and the other hospitalers finish the packing and loading onto the carts. Everything was as it had been in the wood, there was little to show that several hundred Norsonians had been camped here for the last week. Lilly was amazed at how tidy everyone had been, all that was left were the clearings that had been created to house the large pavilion tents they’d been using and pale green areas of flattened grass.

Lilly returned to her room in the trees. It was peaceful here now, the flyers were singing sweetly in the branches and Lilly had the feeling that this command head quarters would never be used again. She took the box of Rune stones out of it’s hiding place and returned the stone she had sent Morii. He’d taken it from his pouch last night and laid it on the little table. She then packed away her telescope and a few other bits and pieces into her leather bag, had one last look round and climbed down the steps to go in search of Morii for their return trip to Bell-da-Hallan. Once more she had the strongest image of a shadowy figure watching her, why did she keep getting that image and what did it mean? Maybe she would ask Gamray once they got back to Kort.

Lilly found Morii waiting on the road with Srix and Storr. They mounted the one-horns and set off at a canter back to the city.

On the way back to Bell-da-Hallan, which did not take very long on an empty road and with no interruptions, Morii told Lilly that tonight would be the second turn of Gamray’s son since she’d been here. That left Lilly with one more turn before she’d need to return home, she felt she certainly needed a rest before doing so.

Morii also told Lilly that the new Gamray’s ceremony of making and old Gamray’s ceremony of taking would begin on the morrow eve as it had already been delayed. Lilly felt excited and  wanted to know what exactly these ceremonies entailed, but Morii would not say. ‘Tis an ancient ritual and best ye see it with yer own eyes Lilly,’ was his answer.

They entered the Kort gates and slid off Srix and Storr, thanking them for all their help over the past few days. The one-horns went off to get a good brush-down from the stable boys and a well deserved meal. Lilly and Morii went in search of Gleryn and the kitchen.

Gleryn looked as happy as could be, back in her kitchen, steam rising from the huge pans on the stoves and a roaring fire in the enormous hearth.  ‘Lord Morii and Lady Lilly, me heart do sing with joy to see ye both back in Kort.’ Gleryn called to them. Lilly went over to the table where Gleryn was making something that looked like toffee. ‘We’re glad to be back Gleryn,’ Lilly told her giving her an enormous hug. ‘What are ye baking?’

‘Ah, Lady Lilly, this be a treat for the feast of making, tis called a taffy cup, and do be most tasty. Tis sweet and sharp all at the same time.’ Gleryn told her. Gleryn then took the toffee stuff and ran it over a sheet of little silver moulds that were on the table. After a couple of moments, she picked up the sheet of moulds and knocked them hard onto the surface of the table. Lots of little cup shaped pieces fell off and Gleryn asked Lilly to help her stand them all onto a wire tray. ‘Would the Lord Morii fetch me that big silver bowl full of lemon cream?’ she asked, pointing towards another table which was full of big silver bowls. Morii went and had a look, picked up the one that had a lemon colour stuff in it and showed it to Gleryn. ‘Yay, that be the one Lord Morii.’ Gleryn took the bowl of fluffy lemon cream from Morii and spooned a large dollop in each cup, she then took a small chocolate covered leaf, or at least that’s what they looked like to Lilly, and stuck one in each cup. She finished each one off with a sprinkling of something green. They looked beautiful. ‘Now ye take one each and give em a try.’ Gleryn beamed at them. Smiling, Lilly picked up one of the little taffy cups and bit into it. A taste of crunchy toffee, lemon, lime, chocolate and mint burst onto her tongue. ‘Oh…Gleryn, this is absolutely delicious!’ exclaimed Lilly with a mouth full of the tasty taffy cup. Morii looked just as delighted, and could only nod and mumble, ‘mmm’ as he took another bite.

‘Then Gleryn do be proud that ye be the first to try em,’ said the cheery little woman. ‘Ye do both need something tasty to brighten ye up a little.’

After trying a few more of Gleryn’s exotic treats, Lilly and Morii rather reluctantly left the cheery kitchen and went in search of Leekan.

Leekan, the Gamray, was in his yurt with four of his aides. He was being measured and fitted for a shimmering white robe. As Lilly entered he looked up and held out his arms for a hug. Lilly still got a little surprise when she remembered that he could now see, his eyes were very dark and serene and she felt as if they could see into the deepest part of her being. Lilly went and gave Gamray a hug. Lilly, he thought at her, I am so pleased at yer return to Kort, how are my children of Norsonia, do they fare better?

Yay Gamray, they do seem almost healed, even the badly injured do seem much improved. Lilly thought - answered him.

Gamray smiled and blinked his beautiful eyes, I am glad to hear of it Lilly.

Morii stepped forward and hugged his little brother saying, ‘I am glad to see ye have yer eyes brother Gamray, I be looking forward to yer ceremony of making on the morrow.’ Gamray nodded and smiled. Lilly then asked Gamray if there was anything he needed her to do.

At the moment no, but ye could go and find Gurta and ask her to find ye the appropriate robes for the ceremony, Gamray thought at her. Lilly said she would. She and Morii said their goodbyes to Leekan and headed back to the Kort. Lilly vaguely realised that in all the excitement of the making ceremony preparations, she’d forgotten to ask Gamray about the weird images she’d been getting. It’s most likely nothing at all, she told herself.

‘What is all this about the robes Morii?’ Lilly asked as they crossed the wide lawns.

‘Tis Norsonian tradition for the ceremony,’ Morii answered her, ‘some families have worked on their robes for years, and do make most charmly designs, they consider themselves blessed to be a witness at a making and taking ceremony, they do not happen very often. Some folks do live their whole lives and never see a making and taking ceremony. Old Gamray be well over a hundred and fifty years old when he departed for Valhalla, Gamrays do mostly live a lot longer than normal folk ye see. Anyway, the robes be mostly white with designs put onto them with fine golden silk and needles.’ Morii explained.

‘And will Gurta be able to find one for me?’ Lilly enquired hopefully, she rather liked the sound of these robes. ‘Yay Lilly, I’m sure Gurta have thought of nothing else, even with all that’s been going on. If Gamray have given her the task of making ye a robe, a fine robe she will make ye.’

Lilly felt quite excited as she went up to her rooms to find Gurta. She arranged to meet Morii later that eve, left him in the hall and went through the double doors to her rooms. Standing in her hallway was Sardor talking quietly to Gurta. Lilly was surprised to see the old man here, ‘Sardor, is everything alright?’ she asked him rather warily. Sardor smiled and told Lilly everything was well. ‘We have a visitor for ye, Lady Lilly.’ Both Sardor and Gurta were smiling and looking pleased. Lilly followed them both through to her dayroom and gasped in delight. There snuggled up on one of the sofas was Pel, looking for all the world like he’d been there all the time. ‘illy…illy, Pel want see illy.’ Pel called in a very little voice. ‘Oh Pel, you’re awake.’ Lilly managed to say as she rushed to Pel’s side. ‘Oh Sardor thank ye and ye Gurta…is he well now? Is Pel ok?’

‘Yay Lilly,’ Sardor told her, ‘Pel is almost recovered fully, but he do need a quiet time for the next few day’s and eve’s. We did think ye would like him here with ye.’

‘Oh thank ye so much, I can’t tell ye how grateful I am for all ye did for everyone Sardor, ye certainly be most skilled in the art of healing.’ Lilly said, gazing lovingly at Pel.

‘I tell ye Lady Lilly, the Gamray did play a big part in the healing with his music of love.’ Sardor replied.

Lilly smiled at him, ‘Yay, everyone does seem far better since that noon Sardor, but I do thank ye for all yer skills.’

Sardor bowed and left Lilly and Pel with old Gurta.

Lilly spent a long time talking to Pel and Gurta, telling them all that had happened. Gurta had a little weep at certain parts of Lilly’s story of the battle and Pel had tears in his eyes when he heard about Min and the others. After a while though, they all agreed that Norsonia was now safe and that life has to go on and that thankfully, few people had lost their lives and that all the injured were well on their way to complete recovery. What else could they do but think this way, what was done, was done.

Eventually Lilly and Gurta left Pel to rest and Gurta took Lilly through to the clothing room. She showed Lilly what she had been busy doing over the last few day’s. Hanging up in front of Lilly was a long flowing robe. It was made of a shimmering fine gauze material and reflected colours that reminded Lilly of an opal stone ring her mother had. Pinks, blues, greens and lilacs all danced over the fine material. It was embroidered with golden threaded dragonflies and vine leaves, all around the hems of the sleeves and skirt.

‘Oh Gurta, how wonderful.’ Lilly turned and kissed the old lady. Gurta smiled and looked a bit embarrassed, she wasn’t used to such displays from girls. She had after all spent most of her life looking after boys. ‘Gurta be pleased if ye be pleased Lady Lilly, and on the morrow eve Gurta will dress ye and do yer hair in the traditional way for the ceremony.’ Gurta told Lilly. Lilly was so pleased that Gurta was here with her, she knew that she wouldn’t have had a clue if she’d been on her own.

‘Now Gurta, I think I need to have a bath.’ Lilly said, looking at her decidedly dirty and tatty reflection in the long mirror. ‘I did see to it earlier My Lady,’ Gurta said with a smile, ‘I just be going and warming it for ye, if it please ye.’ Lilly said it did please her and set about finding some clean clothes to put on after her bath.

By early eve, Lilly was clean and dressed in a deep red Norsonian style dress and trousers. Her hair had been braided by Gurta into two long plaits and tied into a silver hair ornament at the back; she had to admit that Gurta was very good at doing hair. Lilly had told Pel that she would take him out into the garden for a little while, as the summer eve was so warm. She carried him now, with Morii escorting them, down the huge dirrand stone staircase, along the wide hallways and out into the gardens. They sat on a green stone bench in a little arbour, surrounded by lemon trees and blueberry bushes. The Wyvern had flown down to chat with them and Wilf, Edie and Tryp turned up to see how Pel was. How incredibly normal everything seemed Lilly thought, sitting here with her friends on a warm eve and even more surprising was how long ago the battle appeared to have taken place, it was a fast fading memory, like a bad dream. Maybe Gamray’s music had something to do with that.

As the friends sat chatting in the last ray’s of Gamray’s daughter, a dark and shadowy figure watched from one of the high windows of the Kort. He watched for a long time before slowly slipping even further back into the darkness from where he’d come. The man in grey was an angry soul, things had not gone as he had planned and now he had even more work to do, if he would ever have Norsonia for himself that was. ‘A new plan,’ he whispered. ‘A new plan and I know just where to find somebody stupid enough to help me.’  The man in grey smiled a sickly grin, showing the rotted stumps of teeth in his sickly pale face as he ran his hand over one of the large stones in the wall. He felt for the small metal stud and pressed. A soft click and faint grating of stone on stone could be heard as a passage appeared into which the man in grey disappeared.

As dusk set in, Lilly and Morii took Pel back to Lilly’s rooms and sat with him a while as he fell asleep. Morii had been telling Lilly about the Noeman and the amazing camp that they set up twice a year in order to trade within Norsonia. Lilly had asked where it was and Morii told her it was to the west of Norsonia in the foothills of the western dessert.

‘They camp there so that they can mine silver and dirrand stone, they use both to make trinkets that they sell in far away places,’ Morii explained. ‘If it please ye we could pay a visit to em, a day or so after the ceremony of course, tis a day’s ride and ye shall have to camp over eve, they be a rough and ready lot and to look at, not a bit like Norsonians.’ Morii added. Lilly thought that sounded really exciting and agreed that they should go.

They were quiet for a few moments, just the sounds of the crickets in the Kort gardens below them. Lilly suddenly shivered. Morii put an arm around her and asked if she were cold. ‘No Morii, not cold, it’s as if…I don’t know exactly how to explain, it’s as if there’s still something wrong, there shouldn’t be I know, now the Tarken problem is sorted. I just have a feeling that all is not as it should be.’ Lilly shrugged and looked at Morii.

‘Might it be that ye are tired Lilly and all will seem better in the morn?’  Morii asked her, although he did look a little worried. He knew that Lilly’s ‘feelings’ were better not ignored.

Lilly turned to Morii and told him of her weird images and feelings of being watched. ‘I know it sounds ridiculous, I can’t even explain it properly but I see some sort of stooping figure, no face, well nothing that I could really describe if ye know what I mean.’ Morii looked thoughtful and finally said, ‘If ye still feel like this in a few days, we will go and talk to Gamray. I cannot think what it could mean and it could just be that ye need to rest for a while, ye have had much to distress ye over the last few days.’

Lilly nodded. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever seen images before. I’ve had feelings about things, ye know I told ye that Aunt Alex said they were precognitions but they’ve not been pictures or images so I expect you’re right, I’m just stressed out, er..that is tired.’

Morii got up, gave Lilly a hug and told her to get some sleep. Lilly smiled and told him she was looking forward to sleeping in her very comfortable bed.

‘That be it Lilly, that be what troubles ye. Ye have not had a comfortable night for many eves, ye have Pel to look after ye, so ye will rest well.’ Morii grinned and left to go to his own comfortable rooms.

Lilly heard the outer door close as Morii left and she got up to check on Pel. He was still sleeping on the sofa in the dayroom, breathing little shallow breaths and making little snoring noises so Lilly went and got a blanket to cover him. She closed the balcony windows and blew out the candle lights before going to her bedroom and climbing into her soft and comfy bed. For a while Lilly lay there staring into the quiet darkness. Different parts of the last few days kept replaying in her head, like a TV programme and just when she thought she wasn’t going to be able to sleep, she closed her eyes and knew nothing til the next morning.