Chapter XXV:
Calm
Kurt and Verity observed the perimeter cautiously, spying the source of the rumbling outside of the mound.
The two peered down into a canyon, fifty feet deep; and Within it, trod fifty score men marching through its narrow passage. They were clad in white, the faces veiled or masked in a glimmering metal.
They trudged slowly, carrying metal rods and spheres hoisted on shoulders, blood daubed through their white raiment.
“Who are they?” asked Verity, hushed.
Kurt observed as far as he could to the end of the line at both ends, till the march reached its tail and he saw, marching last, tall and gaunt a man with a crown of antlers.
“Our old one,” said Kurt.
“You know him?”
“Didn’t you see him in the vision?”
“...Oh, yes. Quartertongue is it? Uthurs Quartertongue?”
The two carefully descended the steep escarpment, footholds granted sparingly, Deatheld proving itself to be a fine mediator between the ground and their bodies.
Kurt led the way, soon coming to the tail end of the march and the back of the antler headed old one.
Kurt called out: “Uthurs!”
The march did not cease, nor flinch, somehow immune to a sudden shout.
Kurt came round to face Uthurs; the ancient face smiling weakly.
“An errandghost told us to find you...may we follow you?” asked Verity.
Quartertonge raised a hand, saying, “We have marched since before man was man. Now I see you wear the armor of King Oreld, the very same we carry on our trek. What are you seeking?”
“We are seeking friends and enemies. The friends we hope to meet soon, sooner than the enemies," said Kurt. “Indeed,” affirmed Uthurs, “and who are these friends and enemies?”
“The friends,” Kurt ansewred, “are heirs to the Weever’s parts. We all carry pieces of what that creature once was; so that he may be of one body again to defeat the enemy of man.”
“Then I know precisely what enemy you seek...and where. You hope to find him in the ettinland, in his citadel and temple.”
“Yes,” said Kurt picturing the corpse reeking throne room of Azza.
“But you must know that our enemy is currently in transit," said Uthurs.
“Where?” asked Verity.
“Between ettin cities and counties, his final stop shall be that island wretched men have built in his honor: Subohemia. A festival, a so-called Graduation will be taking place there in one day, October 31st by your old calendar.
He shall be in attendance.”
“That’s right...,” said Verity. “I was due to be attending myself...if not for our recent escape from an ettinlord's Chateau.”
“To get to Subohemia then...all we need to do then is take a ferry, or an obelisk...no. We’ll be spotted immediately,” said Kurt shaking his head,“we can’t walk there in day either, even if that was possible...”
Uthurs nodded solemnly. “The errandghost called you to follow my penitents it appears...You see, this Freeway is not so straightforward. With every new passage or road we take it leads to nooks and whaems unknown to most cartographers.
If we pace three steps to the left, or turn eastward at noon, or stop marching entirely at the first chill of autumn, then our course can be entirely redirected; such is the nature of this road, a mind, a spirit rushes through it like a ghostly current, sweeping us along at its discretion. Fortunately, we have travelled it for so long that a detour to this island should be manageable.”
“Can you take us to Subohemia in a day then?” asked Verity.
“Time is not the concern on this path...spiritual perils awaits you... it was during my youth that we quasi-men all were seduced by the Enemy, the Unghost and his six-eyed Thaumaturge...but you are guided by errandghosts; and wear Rammbock’s armor as a bulwark of bulwarks. If you accept the challenge ahead, and understand fully what it entails, then it would be my honor to guide you.”
“We accept,” said Kurt without hesitation. "Very well, come then..."
Kurt and Verity followed close behind the antlered crown.
Uthurs cried out an order to the 1000 men ahead then said, “Watch my feet; we will be turning soon to the edge of the Eldermark, then over the Ocean and finally to Subohemia. If you misstep though, you will be lost to the Wildermark and I will not be able to retrieve your body...or what remains of it...tell me though, what were the names of your friends? We could possibly pass them along the way...”
“Embla von Herrenhausen-South and Grimnar Greencarl,” said Kurt.
“The former name, as my errandghost tells me, is already in Subohemia...yet the latter is closer," said Uthurs.
“In the Sequoia Forest,” said Kurt.
“No, much closer. Look, look further. Look ahead.”
Coming fast atop an enormous bighorn sheep, was a man, green bearded and red faced.
“My name was just uttered and Buck chased after it! Ah, look: two kriger of Rammbock’s host...and indeed, not just any kriger...you: you’re John’s boy! And this beautiful girl is of the Herrenhausen stock...”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Grimnar,” said Verity, “again.”
Her heart was full of sorrow as memories returned to the hotsprings, Embla and their child.
“Whatever thought you have, erase it,” said Grimnar sternly to her...
“It’s an evil thought, I sense, from the Unghost; now---follow the horned man, and let us enter the gate of all wandering souls...”
Grimnar placed a hand on Kurt’s shoulder and said, “Our road is a hard one.”
+++++
Grimnar and Buck rode alongside Verity and Kurt, telling stories about current happenings in the forest and abroad.
As he spoke, there was much already Kurt and Verity knew, or could have reasoned: the vaighlings encroaching on the sequoia forest was one point of his ire, another was the Rural County Zones boundaries eroding between the two earths.
Apegifts too he spoke about at length, making Kurt and Verity swear never to accept such a proposition:
“We swear...” said Kurt.
“That stuff is completely twisted,” said Verity.
Grimnar nodded and said,“Then you are both wiser than your average 14-year-old...and you know already of what I tell you: the forest,the Counties, our earth in tatters...and even Rammbock has granted you suits of quickore armor! It’s incredible...what is your secret,you two?” Kurt nearly smiled. “You’ll have to ask Kalendros.”
“I’m asking you. And how do you know Kalendros? Ah...yes, you have spoken to errandghosts already...is it that ohr of yours?
Or would that ohr attract more unghosts to your side?”
Grimnar pointed to Kurt’s blackened ear.
Kurt sighed. “The ear was a gift...a curse from my father.”
“Pulver given without an apegift accompanying it...it is perhaps not such a curse. You can still wear Rammbock’s armor," said Grimnar.
“It still burdens my dreams,” siad Kurt, “...I hear them, I hear many things, creatures of the Wildermark. It’s torture, but-” “-But you are strong...” said Grimnar putting a hand on the boy’s armored shoulder, "so errandghosts speak to you, and the little lady..what is your story? A Herrenhausen fighting against the volltrolls and yottins?”
Verity answered: “It was Kalendros...and Rammbock. They imparted to us a vision of what is to come, or might come.
It is not a happy future, for either of us, I must admit. Or for you...I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that...”
“I know what lies ahead for me,so long as I tread with the Spellgesith’s blessing," said Grimnar with half a smile,"our journey is a hard one...yes, I have seen more than one future like this for me. I have doubted my waking reality more than once as well, so impossibly real this events felt...and as for this vision you speak of, the manner in which you speak of it, it sounds to me more of a shared past than a future for you two.”
“What do you mean?” asked Verity.
“Your memories,your wisdom of thousands of years embedded in your bodies now is informing your present. It is not so much that you saw what will come, but that you were granted a chance to live again... You were as shadows, not fully formed in that existence, however, watching helplessly as what your older-selves carried out and molded your current deeds and desires. And your current urgency! I feel it myself...why, we may not have another year longer before the yottins are let unfettered by the Unghost.”
Verity nodding,said, “No, I don’t think we have much time...here we are though, three heirs to the Weever: the ancient slayer of ettins. But there is another heir still, on Subohemia...and we do not how willingly she will grant us her partnership.”
Grimnar rubbed his nose,“Oh...well, you mean Embla?”
“...!...You’re familiar with her?” said Verity smiling gaily.
“No, oh well yes, I mean...I know of her...” Grimnar’s face was flushed red.
“If you only knew the half of it...” said Kurt slyly.
“Wait...I mean. What exactly did you see in that vision of yours...” said Grimnar sheepishly.
“Hey, hey, you said as long as you tread with the Spellgesith you know what’s coming...” Kurt said smiling.
“I mean...y-yes...but with Embla...Duchess Von Herrenhausen, I mean... Don’t make me say more. What do you know about the Duchess and...me?”
“We can’t say much...but, under certain circumstances it seems, she takes a liking to you,” said Kurt.
Grimnar beamed, his ruddy face like a harvest moon.
“Certain circumstances...yes, indeed. I have heard rumors, well, the Duchess is an heir to the Weever as you two know and she is a Subhomenian with a notorious public image. A wild girl, I must say...sorry, I mean to say she does not seem to be ready to settle down so to speak...”
“We’ve had similar assumptions,” said Kurt.
Uthurs held his arm out. “Slow now...we’re heading into an intersection of the roads...”
In all their talking, they had not noticed the change in surroundings; the desert landscape swallowed by yellow fields of tall grass, a violet-blue mountain watching over them all. The thousand men slowed with Uthurs' quiet command.
Marching into the field, grass blades collapsing and crunching in their procession, the brightness of a cloudless noon was swallowed by a scarlet sky.
Kurt felt water rush by his sides.
They were wading waist deep now in a creek, flanked by sandstone walls.
Steam drifted from behind the stones.
“The Hot Springs...we’re near Bloodfirth,” said Grimnar to the two.
“We know...” said Kurt. But just as he spoke, the scarlet sky was eaten by a more radiant purple one, green rolling hills at their feet.
A cool breeze meeting their sunburnt and wind-chapped skin.
They continued in the green hills, alongside jack rabbits, roadrunners; little burrowing things sometimes poking heads to greet them; quail and bobcats and red tail hawks perched on oak and pine.
They were meeting the end of the intersection, Kurt sensed. No strange voices ignited in his pulver-ear.
There was calm and peace, which always made him uneasy.