Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Gamray’s plan

Lilly got up and walked slowly across the wide lawn toward Gamray’s yurt. She was trying to remember something, the something that had been annoying her and that she couldn’t quite get hold of. As she approached the collection of tents an aid stepped out of the nearest. ‘Who wishes an audience with the Gamray?’ he boomed at Lilly. Lilly jumped, she had been far away in her thoughts and hadn’t really expected anyone to be about at this hour.

‘I am the Lady Lilly of the Nor-folk and I should like very much to see the Gamray.’ Lilly said as formally as she could manage. Now that Leekan was the Gamray she supposed it would always be like this.

The aid escorted her to Gamray’s yurt and held aside the curtain door for Lilly to enter. Lilly thanked him and went inside. The outer part of the yurt, where old Gurta had been was now home to three more aids who sat on low wooden carved benches and appeared to be meditating; they paid no attention to Lilly as she passed by them and entered the main room where Gamray sat on a low silk covered bed.

He looked up at Lilly and smiled.

‘Lilly, my dear friend what brings ye to me at this hour?’ He thought at Lilly.

Lilly went and sat with him and held her hands out to him, Gamray took them and stared at Lilly with his large brown eyes.

‘Ah ye be troubled by muddled thoughts and feelings do ye?’ Gamray asked.

Lilly nodded, ‘the thing is, I feel I should know something and I can’t quite remember what it is. I need to ask ye Gamray, what happened to that metal hood that was put over yer head by the Tarken? I have a strong feeling that it’s very important and is connected to whatever it is that I can’t remember.’

Gamray nodded thoughtfully, ‘I too have been wondering about that. No one seems to know what has become of it my child. Let me search yer mind Lilly and see if I can’t find what’s troubling ye,’ Gamray smiled at her. Lilly closed her eyes and held Gamray’s hands. At once, colours swirled and danced before her eyes and the beautiful singing started inside Lilly’s head. Several moments passed before Lilly felt she could open her eyes, when she did Gamray was looking worried. ‘What is it? What did ye see?’ she asked.

Gamray let go of Lilly’s hands and looked over at a small table covered in books, he stared at one and it began to rise and float towards them. It came to a stop and gently lowered itself onto Gamray’s lap. ‘There be few books in Norsonia as most knowledge has always been handed down by speech, the sagas especially have always been spoken. This book be very old and do have a story within it that does speak of the ‘unwanted son’ .’ Gamray paused for a second and looked around the room. ‘Lilly ye feel ye are being watched. Ye feel that all is not well and ye do not understand how that could be. Ye feel that the metal hood does play some part in all of this.’ Again Gamray paused in his thoughts to Lilly. Lilly nodded and asked, ‘am I right, has someone been watching me?’

Gamray blinked his large eyes and thought back to Lilly, ‘I be very afraid that be true. I did ask after the metal hood as I know that nothing like it would belong to the Tarken, they must have got it from somewhere or from someone. It had the power to block out all sounds and signals I do get from all around, from ye, from my aids, from the very stones in Norsonia. Yay I hear everything in a way I cannot describe, but ye Lilly do know of what I speak.’ Lilly nodded in agreement. ‘But where can it have gone?’ she asked. ‘There was only us and yer father the King and his trusted warriors here. Oh, and Tarn of course.’

Gamray closed his eyes and began thinking at Lilly. ‘The feeling ye have of being watched, ye do see a grey clad figure, a man with no face. He be the very same as is described in this book, he be the ‘unwanted son’.’

Lilly desperately wanted to ask loads of questions but knew she should let Gamray finish. Gamray went on, ‘he be part of an old family of the people of Miramid, most do say they no longer exist. The Miramid high men did have strong magic of this kind. Many ways of being without being, of speaking without being heard, of seeing without being seen. I tell ye Lilly if the Miramid are back, we have bad trouble ahead, and it would be trouble that I may have no power to help ye in. Where the hood stopped me from hearing ye and everything around me, it can equally stop his thoughts and plans from being heard by me. Do ye understand Lilly?’

Lilly thought for a moment. ‘Yay Gamray I believe I do, he could wear a hood and none of us would know what he was up to.’

Gamray nodded. ‘Ye understand child, it would be very difficult to deal with such a creature.’

‘Where do they come from, where is Miramid?’ Lilly wanted to know.

Gamray took Lilly’s hands again and Lilly knew he was going to show her. She closed her eyes and there, just like a film showing in her head was a view from the air. They were flying over Bell-da-hallen like birds, toward the foothills of the northern woods, over Min and Ribba’s cottage, on and on they went. It didn’t feel the same somehow and then Lilly realised from Gamray that this was many years in the past, a time long gone.

Eventually they came to a wide flat valley, with similar hamlets to Norsonia, small wooden houses and the occasional windmill. People, much like Norsonians but with dark hair worked in the fields, children played in the hay and strange looking creatures with three horns grazed in the meadows. As she and Gamray watched, a trail of dust appeared in the distance. The dust trail got bigger and bigger until Lilly could see a party of fearsome looking men galloping towards the field of workers. The men on horseback wore long grey cloaks and cracked whips as the people in the field started running and scooping up their children into their arms. They ran and tried to hide in bushes or ditches, but the men on horseback tracked them all down, tearing the screaming children from their parents arms and taking them off with them back the way they had come. The parents cried and the fathers tried to comfort the mothers. After a while the people slowly went back to work in the field as if nothing had happened. Lilly and Gamray went further into Miramid. They came upon a city just over the next ridge of hills. Lilly knew through Gamray, that this was the city of Miramid itself. It was full of tall dark buildings and filled with a sickly looking yellow dust that seemed to cling to everything. Stagnant water pools lurked at every corner and huge buzzing insects could be seen hovering over these pools, dipping in every so often and picking out  small green, writhing worms, which they crunched on greedily. Lilly shuddered, the whole place felt very wrong and bad.

Gamray then took her up to one of the buildings and they passed effortlessly through the stone wall. Inside, Lilly just gaped at the sight before her as tears welled up in her eyes. The place was filthy and full of tired, thin and very ill looking little children. They were trying to rest where they could, on the dirty floor or sitting on broken crates. There were so many children. Lilly looked at Gamray. ‘Why are they here?’ she thought at him. Gamray pointed to a door at the far end of the room. Lilly followed as they entered a dark hallway with dozens of doors leading off. Gamray thought at Lilly, ‘ye choose a door Lilly, it doesn’t matter which one, they will all contain the same thing.’ Lilly stared at Gamray and felt a real chill run up her spine. She pointed to the door nearest them on the left. Gamray nodded towards the door and it slowly opened.

Through the door was a long narrow room, hardly more than a corridor lit by wall sconces containing a waxy looking substance. It gave off a foul smell. All along one wall were small three legged wooden stools, fifteen Lilly counted, a small child sat at each. Each child appeared to be picking the thorns off a pile of brambles placed in front of them, the thorns then being put into a small golden pot by each child’s feet. The children did not look up as they worked, nor speak to each other. At the far end of the room sat a large man in a leather apron smoking a short pipe. The pipe smoke just added to the stench. He had a kind of whip, with six long lengths of twine or leather each knotted at the ends, attached to it, which he flicked in one child or others direction if he thought they weren’t picking thorns quickly enough. Just as Lilly thought she could stand no more, one of the children fell sideways from the stool, either from exhaustion or from the thick and smoky air. The man at the end of the room jumped to his feet and blew loudly on a shrill whistle. Within moments two other men appeared at the door holding another young child between them, sat the child on the now vacant seat and carried the either fainted or dead child away with them. Not one of the other children made any reaction to what had just happened and the new child took up a bramble and began picking.

Lilly had seen enough, she thought at Gamray. ‘What on earth is going on here, why is this happening?’

Gamray squeezed Lilly’s hands and she opened her eyes. They were still in Gamray’s yurt sitting opposite each other. Lilly just stared at Gamray for a moment. ‘What was that all about, those poor kids, why were they picking thorns, and those golden pots?’ Lilly’s voice trailed away, she felt exhausted suddenly.

Gamray rang a small bell beside him and an aid appeared with two small cups of storbvin. Lilly took one gratefully and drank it in two gulps. ‘Lilly my child, I would not wish for ye to have seen the last days of Miramid, but there was no other way. The ‘unwanted son’ created such badness in his time. Ye see he heard tell of an elixir, something he could drink that would make him immortal. The elixir could be made from the thorns of the blackheart bush and the tears of innocents. He put all those children, sons and daughters of his people, to work for him in his efforts to create the elixir. The children had small and nimble fingers with which to pick the thorns. He needed millions and millions of thorns. From each thorn could be gleaned one hundredth of a drop of blackheart and he needed gallons of blackheart to distil his elixir. The golden cup was his idea of a joke, it was to remind the children that he was their lord and master. Every year he would pick one child from the hundreds that were imprisoned in Miramid city and give them a golden cup to take home to their parents. The child would be pleased to be chosen and  take the golden cup home to their parents, accompanied by several of the guards of course. However the child would not know that the moment he gave the cup to his parents, they would be arrested and beheaded for treason. Ye see, only the ‘unwanted son’ was allowed to possess gold in Miramid. This was the ‘unwanted sons’ joke and yay, he would laugh.’

Lilly was appalled by what she was hearing. ‘When did all this happen, was it long ago?’ she asked Gamray. ‘Yay child, twas many, many turns of Gamray’s son. In the end the ‘unwanted son’ had no people left to torture, he had used all the children and of course they did not grow and have children of their own. Some say he left for another land, taking his elixir with him. I hear that the Noeman do have a tale or two about the ‘unwanted son‘, but then they have a tale or two about most things. The land of Miramid became overgrown and impassable. As far as I know no one has been there in years, it do have bad connections and most folk would rather forget that Miramid ever existed.

Lilly nodded.  ‘What do ye think became of him Gamray, ye think he has come here don’t ye?’

‘I think he might be here, but there is the problem Lilly, because of his skulduggery and tricksy ways I cannot be certain.’

Lilly was quiet for a moment, then she said, ‘do ye think he had dealings with King Trock, was it him who gave Trock the fire-giver trapshun and the idea to try and kidnap ye?’

Gamray sighed and replied, ‘I am sure that Trock did not do those things by himself and it would seem to fit in with what ye have been feeling Lilly. Ye see child, the ‘unwanted son’ is like a disease, he infects people. People like Ribba for example, he will infect the weakest ones first, with greed and envy, spite and hatred and they become powerless to resist. If he is here we need to be very careful of whom we speak to until we have decided what to do.’

‘What can we do Gamray?. It seems to me that this ‘unwanted son’ can move around without any of us knowing. I can’t get a clear picture of him and neither can ye, we don’t know who we are looking for.’

‘That be true child, but he cannot keep himself hidden for ever, he will be scheming something new now that Trock’s out of the picture. Ye be careful Lilly, listen to the folk over yon Noeman camp, see if ye can glean anything there. Folk do talk among themselves and maybe ye and Morii can go in some tricksy disguise, so as folks don’t know who ye really are. Yay Lilly, let Gamray think on these things this eve and we shall mardle more in the morn. Do that please ye?’

‘Oh Gamray, I be more than pleased if I can do anything to help ye. I thought it was just the Tarken we had to be wary of, but they turned out to be ok in the end, well those that were left. This ‘unwanted son’ person is a thousand times worse and much more worrying as he seems to be using magik too.’ Lilly said rather worriedly.

‘Yay that he be and that be true.’ Gamray agreed. ‘Ye feel ye are being watched from within the Kort do ye not Lilly?’ he added.

‘Yay that I do. First though I felt it in the woods at Storbenn, I think it might have been the day that Ribba attacked me. Since then it’s been all over the place, but especially here, when I’m in the gardens.’ Lilly told Gamray.

Gamray rang his bell and two aids appeared through the curtain door. ‘I have instructed Sharez and Sirhar to escort ye back to yer rooms Lilly and ye must lock yer door and close yer windows at eve time until we have discovered more. Go now and leave me to work a plan, I shall mardle with ye in the morn. Come to me after ye have yer mornfood and bring Morii and Gurta with ye, if it please ye.’

With that Gamray levitated himself up to the roof of the yurt to think.

Lilly walked back to her rooms with Sharez and Sirhar in silence, she felt very uneasy going through the empty and quiet Kort and was very glad that these two were with her. She realised how much older Gamray suddenly seemed, he was calling her ‘my child’ and yet that seemed right, he did seem to be much older and wiser than Lilly since his making ceremony earlier that day. Morii had been right as well, Leekan was certainly not a ten year old child.

Once back in her rooms, Lilly asked Gurta to close the windows and told her of Gamray’s wish for them all to go and meet with him in the morn. Gurta was overjoyed at the thought of seeing her babe once again and after making sure Lilly needed her no longer that eve, went off to her bed as happy as could be. Lilly watched her go down the hall to her rooms and then shut and locked her own door. It felt very strange to be locking a door inside the Kort but she did feel safer. Pel came into the hall looking as if he’d just woken up and Lilly held out her arms to him. He was still a little bit stiff and sore from his injuries, so Lilly took him into bed with her and talked for a long time to her trusted friend about the day’s and eve’s events.

The morn came and Lilly, although still a little worried about the previous nights discussion with Gamray, also felt rather excited. She left Pel sleeping and went to call for Morii, explaining in hushed tones to him over mornfood in the courtyard what had taken place the previous eve. Morii was outraged when Lilly explained about the children of Miramid and vowed to help in the fight against the ‘unwanted son’. Lilly thought that Morii’s eyes glittered more green than ever when he was angry about something, she was still amazed by their colour and sometimes felt herself quite rude for staring  so much. Gleryn, who seemed rather the worse for wear this morning, appeared with her tray and Lilly and Morii had a quick chat with her before setting of to meet with Gurta at Gamray’s yurt.

Gurta was already inside when they arrived and was sitting quietly in front of Gamray gazing at him with real affection. As they entered the room Gurta stood up and walked past them without speaking. Morii and Lilly exchanged a glance and both went over to Gamray.

Morii, suddenly squealed excitedly, which made Lilly jump. ‘Whatever is it Morii?’ she asked him.

‘I be mind talking with Gamray, proper mind talking with my brother,’ blurted out an wide eyed Morii.

‘That’s great Morii, it certainly makes things easier for us’, replied Lilly. Gamray was smiling and looking very serene at the same time. ‘Ah my children, it is good that we may all mardle together at last, well done my brother for ye have advanced a skill that many never master. We do not have much time as I have arranged a few things for ye. No quests yet Lilly, I shall explain all.’ Gamray thought to Lilly, who was about to ask what was wrong with Gurta. He continued, ‘Gurta I have made safe by putting her in a temporary trance, I have important tasks for her to fulfil and I cannot risk that she accidentally talks to someone before we are ready.’

Lilly and Morii were intrigued.

‘I have spent much time in thought since last eve and have devised a plan of sorts that I hope ye will both be willing to undertake,’ Gamray looked at them, one after the other.

Morii and Lilly told Gamray they would be happy to follow his plan.

Gamray smiled. ‘Then this be it. Morii, ye and Lilly will become younger’s of the Noeman tribe for a few days. Ye cannot tell anyone of this, not even Pel, so dangerous a mission be it. I shall make some excuse for yer disappearance and although some may think it strange, they will not quest the Gamray. Gurta will prepare ye. The Noeman are very dark haired and have dark skin, but so shall ye have when Gurta be finished with ye. I have made her a tricksy mix to put on yer hair and skin. It will last a while as long as ye don‘t wash. I sent Vartik and Vesper to fetch some clothing from the Noeman camp last eve and they did bring me those this morn.’ Gamray now gestured toward a small basket by the door.

Lilly looked at Morii excitedly.

‘Now my children, go and find out what ye can. If anyone knows what the ‘unwanted son’ is up to it will be someone  within the Noeman camp, this I feel to be true. I feel ye need to find the metal smith named Borgup, he knows of many things and is a fairly kindly soul. He will give ye work so ye may come and go at the camp, this I know and that be true. Ye must take the provisions cart that leaves this day at noontide for the dirrand mines. The cart driver has been told ye are two Noeman youngers who sneaked into Norsonia on a previous cart from the mines and ye are to be taken back to yer own kind, he will not quest ye further. Ye are to sleep on the journey there for ye will have no rest when at the Noeman camp. Ye will return with the traders when they come to set up their stalls in Bell-da-hallen at the next turn of my son. Do ye both understand what ye have to do?’

Lilly and Morii gave each other one glance and both nodded vigorously.

‘Go with Gamray’s blessings on ye and I will see ye on yer return.’ With that Gamray lent forward and kissed Lilly on the forehead and then did the same to Morii.

Lilly and Morii left, Morii carrying the basket of Noeman clothes and returned to Lilly’s rooms. Just as they got to the top of the stairs they met Sardor carrying Pel. ‘What’s wrong with Pel?’ Lilly cried as she ran toward Sardor.

‘Pel is very well my Lady.’ replied Sardor. ‘Gamray thought it may do his stiff leg some good to be bathed in the healing pool outside Chyrsterhan, a few miles from here, so that be where we are going.’

‘Oh. I see, thank you Sardor. Of course Pel must have the best of care.’ Lilly replied, sounding she hoped, more calm than she felt inside. This must be Gamray’s way of getting poor little Pel out of the way realised Lilly. Lilly kissed Pel goodbye and told him to stay at the pool as long as he wished.

Once they were safely inside Lilly’s rooms, Gurta locked the door and set to work.

She dyed Lilly and Morii’s hair black and covered their skins in a dark brown dye. Once it was dry they put on the clothes that Gamray had procured for them. Lilly had to stifle a laugh when Morii came into the room. There in front of her was this dark skinned, black haired boy, dressed in a brightly coloured and patterned knee length robe. It looked to Lilly very much like a colourful dressing gown. He had a scarf wrapped around his head and lots of bead necklaces wound around that. A long curved dagger hung from a belt around his waist and large brown leather knee-high boots completed Morii’s disguise. Her own outfit wasn’t much better. Gurta had put Lilly’s hair in what she called ‘ribbons’, long pieces of cotton material, again all brightly coloured, which Lilly’s hair had been wound round and tied off at the ends. There were about thirty of these all over Lilly’s head with the coloured ribbon ends hanging wildly all over the place. Gurta assured Lilly this was the Noeman fashion. Lilly then had a bright blue shirt and a striped, flared skirt of every colour of the rainbow with several different coloured petticoats under it. Over the top of that Lilly had a kind of short jacket made of a thin, black material that tied up around her waist. She too had knee-length leather boots and several lengths of beads wound around her wrists.

After a couple of moments Lilly and Morii could no longer contain their politeness and fell about laughing.

Eventually they calmed down, remembering the seriousness of the situation and told the still vacant looking Gurta that they were ready. Gurta handed them each a small leather bag with a few provisions inside, bade them farewell and left.

‘Now what do we do?’ Morii enquired of Lilly. ‘We can hardly go through the Kort looking like this, we’ll have some explaining to do if anyone sees us.’ Lilly thought for a moment. ‘Where does the cart leave from?’ she asked Morii. ‘From the back path by the kitchen, I think.’ was the reply.

‘Ok, let me make us invisible and we’ll fly round there.’ Lilly decided.

Before long they were sitting on the provisions cart with a sullen driver on their way to the dirrand mines of Norsonia and the Noeman camp. Morii remarked that this was not really what he’d had in mind for their trip to the Noeman camp. Lilly just laughed and suggested they both try to get some sleep.