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.