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"Silk and Stone, Wood and Leather and Iron"
"Silk and Stone, Wood and Leather and Iron"
12/17/2013
I.
From one hundred feet up, Haley lessened the tornado winds which were propelling her through the sky. She lowered her legs, stretched her arms out to either side for balance and dropped toward her friends who were staring up with trepidation. Too fast. The Windcatcher cloak flipped around to cover her head and cut off her vision; she dropped down to slam hard into Timothy and Demrak Jin, tumbling all three of them end over end across the meadow. The frozen earth did not make the impact less punishing.
"Will you PLEASE pay attention!" shouted Timothy Limbo. He had ended up on the bottom of the heap, stretched out on his back with Haley sitting up near the top of his chest and Jin sprawled over his legs. The small Gelydran woman sputtered incoherently as she disentangled herself from Tim and Haley.
Getting the heavy blue cloak straightened out, Haley grinned down at her new KDF teammate. "Be honest, Tim. Back in school, lots of guys would have absolutely loved to have me sitting on them like this."
It was true. At eighteen, Haley Lawson was cute rather than gorgeous, tall and slender with trim long legs in blue tights. Her best feature was the pair of bright lime-green eyes under auburn bangs. She showed no inclination to get up off Tim.
For her own part, Demrak Jin was bristling with outrage. The Gelydra was only a few inches over five feet tall but wiry and lithe. She wore her Race's customary long-sleeved tunic and pants of abrasive grey shark-hide and had her bone-bladed long knife sheathed across her back. "You do not take seriously the great gift you have been given." she spat. "Perhaps you do not deserve the Air Gem."
Finally climbing up onto her feet, brushing back to tangling long hair from her face, Haley said, "Ease up, Sharkie. So I misjudged my approach a little. I knew my pals would be glad to catch me."
"Sharkie...!?"
"Come on, you guys, settle down." Timothy Limbo alone of the three partners had on the KDF field suit they were supposed to wear on missions to the other realms. The heavy boots, pants and waist-length jacket were not only made of tough protective material, they held a dozen small tools and gadgets in concealed pockets. Timothy stood up, tugging down his jacket where it had become twisted around, and gestured at the vast green expanse that reached down the hill where they stood. "We've got some hiking to do before it gets dark. Better get to it. We only have forty-eight hours here in Signarm before we zap back to the real world."
Haley began, "Why walk? This realm has got some great storms to the far north, I can sense them. Let me summon some two hundred mile per hour winds and I can fly us to this town where we're supposed to go..."
"No." The single word from the Gelydra carried immense conviction. In the late afternoon sunlight from a cloudless sky, Demrak Jin did look intimidating. In a wide flat face under bristling white hair, her eyes were sullen. Her people of Ulgor believed that each of them was born at the same time a shark was, and that the ferocious shark spirit lived in their hearts. Haley's attempts at nicknaming Jin "Sharkie" were not far off the mark.
Windcatcher wilted a little at the cold stare she was getting. "Oh, all right. I suppose walking gives us time to review this mission." She started leading the way at a brisk stride. "Now, let's start with we're in the northwest region of Signarm. It's called Barodal, kind of rustic and uninvolved in what the Barons and the King are up to."
"You are accurate so far," Jin admitted grudgingly as she trudged along behind her two mates. "What more can you say?"
"Well, it's farmland mostly. Wheat, tobacco, some corn. A lot of small villages but no towns big enough to really be called a city. The Barodalin are supposed to be pretty comfy here with lots to eat and their own homemade corn liquor to drink. If you go south, the Barons are always ganging up on each other in vicious little wars, but up here things are quieter."
"You have to admit, Haley was paying attention at our briefing." Timothy Limbo had slightly taken the lead as the slope slanted down more steeply. Coming into sight was a narrow river that sparkled silver in the sunlight, and wooden buildings could be made out along its bank. "We have a few observers here. That was Jeremy's doing, of course. When he was KDF leader, he tried to have some locals on retainer in every realm. They let us know if anything weird and ominous happens."
"Weird and ominous is what we're all about!" laughed Haley.
"Yep, true enough. Sable got a message from one of our observers here. Some of the farmers have been hurt by mysterious intruders. No fatalities so far, but broken arms and severe bruising are no joke. Houses have been ransacked and supplies like food and firewood stolen. And inhuman figures have been seen, running through the night."
"It's the sightings of these monsters that worry me," Haley put in. "Moving statues! Moving statues of iron and granite, smashing down doors and paying no attention to the pitchforks or shovels getting broken on them. Kind of a scary image, no wonder the rednecks of this realm are spooked."
"These creatures have not met US yet," Demrak Jin said.
II.
Where the ground leveled off, a hard-packed dirt road extended from East to West. Deep ruts showed where wagons had been passing for years. Timothy Limbo paused and told his teammates, "Let's take a break and let my buddies scout around."
Above his upturned palms, a pair of swirling tornados materialized. Six inches high, they flew up to circle around his head like excited hummingbirds and then darted off in opposite directions along the road. "This'll just take a minute. I'm seeing what they're seeing."
Throwing her cape back to indulge her love of dramatic poses, Haley scoffed. "I could swear I keep catching your caspers in my rooms."
"They're nice litle guys. I guess they're just seeing if you need help with anything."
"I don't NEED help in the shower," she said.
"I'm trying to concentrate, thank you very much. Some riders are coming this way. They don't look like soldiers, no uniforms or spears. We should just meet them and get it over with." The little apparitions danced happily around him before blinking back out of existence."
Moving past him, Jin reached up to loosen the long knife in its ivory sheath across her back. The Gelydra tilted her head, listening, obviously hoping for trouble. "I will get the answers we seek," she said quietly.
The thumping of hooves could be felt underfoot as well as heard. Coming around a bend in the road were a half dozen men on heavyset draft horses. Judging from the coarse homespun tunics and wool capes, they were local farm people. None had swords visible, but several had thick walking sticks tied to their sides. Instead of saddles, they sat on folded blankets and headstalls served instead of bits and bridles.
As soon as they saw the three strangers standing in the road, the horsemen pulled to a sudden stop, The rider in front called, "What might this mean? Strangers, who are you and what are you doing in our Barodal?"
"Greetings!" Tim replied, "We are knights of Tel Shai. We came from the world outside this realm and we are here only to offer help if you will have it."
The lead horseman stared with a scowl that drew his face tight. He seemed quite young with a full head of light brown hair but there was unstressed authority in his voice. "I had thought Tel Shai was mere legend. Indeed, many of us no longer believe there really are realms outside Signarm. But you are strangely garbed and your hair and eyes do not seem like those of any folks I have ever seen. Say on, I would hear more."
Stepping around in front of Tim, Haley bestowed her cutest grin on the man as if giving them a present. "We're here on our own accord," she said. "If you've heard of Tel Shai knights, you know we go where we're needed"
"So it is said. Know then that I am Belmonor, eldest son of our Mayor's family. By what names shall we address you?"
"That's Timothy and that's Jin," the Windcatcher said, pointing. "You can call me Haley. We understand there's monkey business going on here."
"I am not sure what you mean to say," Belmonor replied, fixing that dubious stare on her.
Haley hesitated. They were not speaking English of course but using Prilyrdyn, the primal language fixed in the minds of all sentient beings by Jordyn Himself. Slang and figures of speech did not always come out clear in Prilyrdyn. It was like being translated by someone rather prim and stuffy. "Yeah. Let me try again. We heard that strange intruders are giving you people trouble."
"Ah. Yes. The walking statues." Belmonor leaned forward. "Strange intruders indeed, as you say and as you yourself are. I think it best you speak with those wiser than myself. Our village is not far. Will you walk with us there, that my father might hear your intentions fully?"
"Sounds good," she agreed and turned to her teammates. "What do you guys say?"
"I like the way you just take over," Tim said. "But sure, that's good. Belmonor, we'll go with you. We can talk on the way, of course."
The other horsemen had listened without comment, deferring to their leader, but now one spoke up. "Would not proper manners press us to yield a seat to the women? Should we not walk instead that they might take their ease?"
"Hey, that's thoughtful," Haley told him, "But we can walk. Jin and I are in great shape."
Despite the uncertain glances they gave each other at this, the horsemen continued on their way at an unhurried pace. Timothy strode alongside the leader, giving further details about himself and his two teammates. They passed extensive cultivated fields which were tended by peasants laboring in the sun. Cottages began to appear on either side of the road. After a few more minutes, the talk turned to the doings of the Barons to the south.
"Sometimes I consider venturing to swear allegiance to one Baron or another," Belmonor said. "With a strong sword arm and a resolute heart, I might become a captain and end up with a mansion and servants of my own. Here I will never be more than the squire of a manor."
"You're better off not getting caught up in their games," Tim said. "As far as I can tell, the Barons are constantly making and breaking alliances with each other. They send their subjects to do a lot of fighting for no obvious reason."
"This is so!" snapped Demrak Jin, speaking so unexpectedly that everyone started. "No one knows better than I that war is nothing but cold butchery!"
That stopped the conversation dead. They moved on in silence to a side path and through an elaborate wooden gate. On the hill stood a wooden house three stories high with windows sealed by oiled cloth. On a post by the front porches was a board with a painted rune in white on a green field.
"The home of my family," Belmonor said. He dismounted lightly enough. Despite his youth, he seemed as serious minded as a much older man. "I ask you to tend my steed, Thalmacar. Knights of Tel Shai, come with me inside."
A servant had been leaning on a broom by the open front door of the house but he ducked back inside at the sight of these odd-looking strangers. Timothy, Jin and Haley were following Belmonor up the wide steps to the porch when a dozen men carrying billhooks and pruning knives rushed up to encircle them.
III.
Somewhere in their looting, Silk had taken a narrow brush and a ceramic jar of black paint. Now, while their creator Calverdyn slept, she was adding eyes to their faces.
The Targhul had no features on the smooth ovals surfaces where their faces should be. Human sized and shaped, they resembled crude statues of wood or iron or stone. The thick fingers had no nails, there were no genitals, the heads had no ears or semblance of hair. When they moved, creaking noises gave away the resistance made by their material.
Humming as she worked on Iron, Silk was the only one of the five Targhuls who had been crafted to appear female. Her white form had modest breasts and hips, her limbs were thinner than those of her brethren. That evening, she had first painted eyes upon herself. Adding separate spokes to indicate lashes had made her laugh.
Iron stood motionless as no living thing could stand. His dark metal surface made it difficult to make out where his new eyes were being applied. "We do not need these to see," he said at last. Iron was the tallest of the five, crafted to resemble a big brawny man such as a blacksmith might be.
"Nor do we need mouths to speak or ears to hear," retorted Silk "We are Magick from earliest days of this Age. I need white paint to make proper eyes. When we roam tonight, claim any white paint you find."
The cabin deep in the forest was lit only by a firepit which had been allowed to die down to mere embers. None of the Targhuls had thought to use flint and tinder to spark a candle into flame, they did not need light.
Seated on a three-legged stool in one corner of the room, Leather made a disgusted noise. His material was light brown in color, bull hide that had been tanned and cut into the shape of a thin man of medium height. The Silk golem had given him oblique, slightly closed eyes to match his personality. "That mortal fool last night came close to losing his life! He tried to seize me around the middle. I broke free but.. If not for Calverdyl's orders, I would have choked him then and there."
"Oh, you would not dare!" cried Wood. The shortest of the five, he was had been crafted of oak and was solid like Iron and Stone where Silk and Leather had been left hollow. "Our Master forbids that. We do not want him angry at us."
"Coward. Weakling. We live, we walk and talk as we will. Why do we need to obey the Alchemist at all?" demanded Leather.
"Because I will take that imitation of life from you!" roared a furious voice behind the golems. Sitting up on the low platform piled with blankets, old Calvderdyl brushed back long white hair from his face. The Alchemist was bundled in a heavy coat over his dark robe against the cold. "I brought you into this world from the empty void and I will send you back if I so choose."
Leather did not respond. Still seated, he regarded their creator with none of the deference his fellows showed. Finally, grudgingly, he said, "It is as you say."
"Choose your words with care," Calverdyl grumbled. "I have thought of crafting a new Leather Targhul, perhaps one of more supple calf hide. Why is it so cold in here? Stone, add logs to the fire."
"Yes." The widest golem, Stone was a massive bulk of rough grey granite. Floorboards creaked alarmingly when he moved but so far none had given way beneath his weight.
"It is nightfall already," the Alchemist told his five. "When the Moon is highest, we will go out again. The farmers must realize where we have already searched, so they will be most alert in those houses remaining. Move quickly, let us find that which I seek and we will able to leave this realm."
"None too soon to suit me," grumbled Leather.
"Come, great Calverdyl, see what I have done." The Silk figure turned her face toward her creator. "Am I not clever? Am I not the finest jewel of your Art?"
"Yes, yes, you are as wonderful as you think," said the old sorcerer. "Stone! Did I not say to put logs on the fire?"
Not having moved at all, the granite hulk replied, "At once, Master," and still did not act.
IV.
They had been escorted into a study lit by several oil lamps on hangers as well as a furiously blazing fireplace. Two walls were taken up by shelves absolutely crammed with massive times, scrolls marked with colored ribbons for identification and loose papers pinned down by quills pens ink bottles and less identifiable debris.
The den itself was so warm and stuffy from the fireplace that Haley started getting drowsy. She and her teammates sat at a round table to which a glazed ceramic jug had been brought and local whiskey poured from it into their mugs. Haley and Timothy sipped carefully of the caustic liquid because they had not been on the Tagra tea regimen long enough for their healing factor to be fullyenhanced. In a year, perhaps less, no alcohol or poison would affect them but for the moment they had to be prudent.
Not Demrak Jin, though. The tiny Gelydra drained her mug in a single long gulp, then held it up for a refill. "I thank you for this hospitality," she said without self-consciousness.
Sitting at the opposite end of the table was a heavyset, middle-aged man in a long tabbard over tunic and pants. Salmadir had for many years served as Mayor of the village and the farms for a day's ride around. His dark eyes were shrewd and attentive as he studied his strange visitors. "My servants were acting at first to protect me, as is their duty," he said. "They did not know of Tel Shai. Indeed, few of them understand there is a world beyond the circles of this realm."
Seeing Jin finish another mug, Haley tried the whiskey again. It tasted like kerosene to her and made her throat burn. What did people see in that stuff. She glanced up again as Salmadir continued.
"You say you come here to stop the walking statues," the Mayor said. "I will set pride to one side for the moment and welcome your help. But I must ask what recompense would be proper?"
"What, like a reward?" Haley scoffed. "You got us all wrong, sir. We don't hire out. This is what we do."
"You should let me do the talking," Timothy interrupted. "What my friend says is true, though. We are not permitted to accept payment or gifts for our service. The Teachers feel it keeps us honest. I understand the people have seen different types of walking statues?"
Standing behind the high-backed chair in which his father sat as if on a throne, Belmonor said, "So far we have heard of three different types. One is in the form of a mighty man made of black iron. One of a smaller knave hewn from hardwood. It is the maid fashioned of silk that seems most strange to behold."
"Silk..?" responded Timothy. "Oh, that IS odd."
"True words indeed. The village baker saw a white shape flatten out like a sheet of parchment and slide under his door. He went closer, doubting his senses and sanity, and the door was flung open. A woman raced out with armfuls of fresh bread and meat pies. All white she was, without a face, an effigy crafted of fine silk. She was gone from sight as he blinked.
"Targhuls," announced Demrak Jin.
Seeing the baffled expressions, Timothy said, "We have fought similar monsters before. They are called Targhuls or sometimes golems. They're not alive. Some sorcerer, maybe even a Dartha, is animated constructs. Uusually, these Targhuls are puppets who act as their creator wills them to. Once in a while, a Targhul turns up who can think and act for themselves but that's honestly so rare that I've haven't heard of any in my lifetime."
"Never have I known of such horrors," Salmadir commented, "And I have done much reading. I have studied what you call the Midnight War and I know some history of the world without. At first, I would doubt these things could be and yet, many of my trustworthy tenants swear to seeing these statues move sbout. If I did not put weight in the words of my people, I should not believe that unliving shapes of metal or rock could move about."
Timothy managed another sip of the home-made whiskey, trying not to make a face. He had for a time developed a fondness for different beers but this stuff was awful. After the Mayor spoke, Tim said, "It's all real. Tonight we intend to intercept these beings and hopefully destroy them before someone gets killed."
"I would have two of my best men accompany you Tel Shai knights," said Salendir. "In case you need to send a messenger for more fighters and so that they might report to me details you miss. Belmonor my son, this will be your task. You may choose who accompany you."
"Father, then I ask for the good right arm of Thalmacar. His nerves are steady and he wields a sword as well as any duelist from the cities."
"So let it be done." The Mayor rose and gestured for his guests to do the same. "My servants will show you to a room where you may rest until dark. They will bring you good hot food if you wish. Although I dare say you will not asking for more of our whiskey."
That got an honest laugh from Haley Lawson. That's why I suck at poker." She gotten up and wandered over toward the bookshelves, stretching her clasped hands out behind her. "Oh,this is genuinely impressive, sir. You can read English?"
"I am versed in the language of the world outside," said the "I dare say there are not twenty scholars in this realm who make that boast. "
From where he stood behind the great chair, Belmonor added, "My father does not mention that he is self taught in English. Few in the Northwest can do more than sign their names or recognize road signs. A visitor from Androval stayed with us one summer and started my father on your alphabet but did not proceed far behind he had to depart."
After giving the titles a cursory glance, Haley scoffed. "My school was so lame that I might as well have been self -taught, too."
V.
Spread out over the length of a mile, five inhuman forms ran through the dark. Not breathing, not needing to breathe, they were tireless. Farthest ahead was the golem of Leather, pausing occasionally to look back and wait for the next to come into view. The Targhuls did not fidget but it was clear Leather would have been tapping one foot and yelling for his fellows to hurry. When the black metal shape of Iron had almost caught up, Leather could not restrain his impatience any longer and sprinted off again. He would repeat this every mile.
Trailing far behind Iron was the Wood golem. Because of his lighter weight, he could have easily kept up with the two Targhuls in the lead but he kept hurrying back to make sure the final three members of the uncanny group were still coming. Once he reassured himself, Wood charged forward again, became apprehensive at losing sight of his creator and ran back to check on the Alchemist again. Iron noticed this and was tempted to clutch Wood by one arm and drag him bodily.
Finally came Calverdyn, sitting on a tiny two-wheeled cart pulled by the lethargic Stone golem. The Alchemist no longer felt inclined to walk for miles, even with a cane. A blanket draped over his legs, bundled in a bear fur robe, he grumbled as the granite Targhul pulled the cart without haste no matter how much cursing Calverdyn indulged in. Making things still more exasperating, his yelling at Stone made the golem come to another stop to ask what was wrong, losing still more time.
Although she could have raced quickly enough to overtake Iron or Leather, the lightweight hollow shell of Silk would not leave her creator behind. She seemed to go deaf when he gave orders she did not care for. As an hour dragged out with little distance actually being covered, the elderly Alchemist fumed and swore.
"I brought you to life from the void. Why is it too much to ask for even the most basic cooperation? Confound it, I should scrap you all and craft new Targhuls! One of bronze perhaps, or one of lead. They could not give me any more grief than you five have."
"Dear Master, I have a most clever idea," said Silk.
"Spare me the telling until we are back in that cottage," he began to say.
"This is my thought," Silk went on regardless. "You should fashion one of us in soft clay. He could change his shape as needed. Would that not be remarkable?"
The old man sank his head down into his gloved hands. "Next you will ask for a Targhul made of glass so that you may gaze upon yourself as long as you wish."
"I am indeed an elegant sight," Silk replied. "Never will I grow thick around the waist nor have my teeth fall out with age as Humans must endure. Ever will I remain this lovely apparition. You have done well, dear Master."
Sitting up in the cart, Calverdyn yelled, "Stone, damn your muddled wits. Can you not hasten even a little so that we might reach the village before Spring?"
Unfortunately, this had the effect of making the Stone golem stop completely and turn around. "Master, is not Spring three full moons away?"
"Pull the cart, I tell you!" the Alchemist screamed.
"You vex our lord," Silk told her fellow Targhul with unbearable smugness. "But then you are not as clever as I am."
The ancient Alchemist stood up and clawed at the air with both hands. "Stone, I will render you into gravel! And Silk, I will make of you a lady's scarf if you do not both still your voices and pull this cart forward."
"Why would I want to be gravel?" asked the Targhul, showing no inclination to do as he was told.
Before Calverdyn could scream, the Leather golem dashed into view more swiftly than any deer and came to a halt in front of his creator. "Lord, five Humans approach on horseback like none I have ever seen in this realm. Strange is their garb and strange their countenances. Let me slay them lest they attack."
"Be less eager to murder, Leather," the Alchemist said. "That is not the answer to every question. I see iron returning as well. Come, let us conceal ourselves that I might see these outsiders for myself."
Iron and Leather had the cart hidden in the thicket while Stone was asking what was going on and Silk had begun harassing the granite Targhul about how a glacier could overtake him. The slightly constructed Wood eased back further behind a snow-decorated elm and said nothing. He would have been holding his breath if he had breath to hold.
VII.
"You do sit your steed well," offered Belmonor.
Haley Lawson threw him her most dazzling smile. "Why, thanks. Back on Long Island, my bestie had a horse of her own. Three year old Palomino. Her folks spent enough on that animal to. have bought a second house instead. So during my last summer there, I did some riding."
From atop one of the mares that the Mayor had loaned them for the night, Demrak Jin added. "There are no horses where I come from. Nor are the creatures suitable for use as mounts. Except for the War Squids of course."
"Oh but I want to ask you something, Belmonor. Do you have any volcanoes in Signarm?"
"In truth, I know not for that word is unknown to me, fair maid."
"Oh brother, " Timothy mumbled to himself. "He's going to be kissing her hand in a minute."
"Shush, Tim," Haley said. "Volcanoes? Well, they're big cone-shaped mountains. Once in a while, they explode with a lot of hot air and ashes and stuff, and molten rock runs down their sides."
"Never have I heard of such mountains, no not even in old songs or tales of our ancestors." Belmonor studied her face with uncertainty. "I must ask what brought such horrors to mind?"
"No reason," she said.
"Looks like you won't be summoning any superheated air to burn down buildings on this mission," Tim told her. "Too bad. That's one of your best tricks."
Haley sniffed in offense. She was not going to explain to these Signarmin how the ancient Air Gem she wore worked. Ensorcelled by Malberon ages ago, the talisman could instantly transport large quantities of air to her vicinity. Mostly she drew forth hurricane winds or withering Arctic blasts but it had open been useful to call some internally hot air from directly above an active local volcano.
She was of course annoyed at being denied that technique at the moment. Her power could not cross the barriers separating adjacent realms, 'the Walls Between the Worlds." Drat.
Instead of volunteering any of that information, the Windcatcher swung around astride her horse to face Tim. "How close would you say we are?"
"My caspers are buzzing back and forth like hummingbirds on caffeine," he said. "I'm not getting clear enough visuals, though, because it's so dark tonight. But my guys are showing me a group of six people heading this way."
Bringing up the rear of the small party, Thalmacar spoke up for the first time. Younger than Beldonor, he was a blond with a wispy attempt at a mustache. "Puzzled I am by your words. It does seem to me that you claim you are sending forth spirits which serve your will and these spirits are even now searching the countryside for the walking statues."
"You got it straight," Haley said. "Right, Tim?"
Blinking and looking around, Timothy Limbo seemed to snap out of a reverie in which his attention was elsewhere. "Hmmm. Yes. It's a gift I really don't understand, Thalmacar. That is your name, right?"
"I am indeed Thalmacar," replied the youth from behind him. He had earlier mentioned that swords and other weapons of war were in short supply in the Bariodal. He and Beldonor had armed themselves with farm implements which, truth be told, were intimidating enough. Slung on a cord over his shoulder was a billhook, a clearing tool with a sixteen inch long hooked blade sharpened on both sides. For his part, Belmonor had chosen an ordinary axe, tied to the side of his belt. Timothy had looked over the tools available and asked for a long-handled sledge hammer with a ten pound steel head.
Twisting around to look over where Demrak Jin rode her horse several feet away from the group, Belmonor said, "It is plain that you are readied for war, my lady. Your weapon seems to have a blade honed from bone, is that so?"
"It is," Jin replied without warmth in her voice. "Maybe you don't have many fighting women in this realm but I am a Geldrya! I am a daughter of Ulgor where we are born with the spirit of a shark in us."
"Legends tell of Athelstar long ago. She was said to have worn her brother's armor and to go masked into battle against the Nekrosim," Belmonor said. "But she was the only warrior woman I have heard of."
Demrak Jin vented a short sharp laugh. "Fate willing, you will see a warrior woman tonight."
Timothy reined his horse in and called for the others to stop as well. "Sure looks like an ambush to me. I estimate they're two miles ahead. The road forks northwest and east, and they're huddled off in a patch of bushes."
"None of our people would be out on such a winter night," Belmonor offered. "Bandits are rare. Travelers from the cities to the South move during daylight. These are certainly the walking statues we are seeking."
"We three should ride ahead," said Tim to the Signarman. "If you and Thalmacar follow after fifteen minutes, you can be either the cavalry coming to our rescue or a timely distraction to confuse the bad guys. This has worked pretty well for us."
It was agreed. Wrapping their heavy fur-lined travel cloaks closer around them, the two Signarmen watched as the strangers from the outside world rose briskly away down the road. In a low voice, Thalmacar said, "As Cirkoth is my witness, I do believe the girl with green eyes is smitten by your charm."
Belmonor scoffed. "Is this the time to entertain such thoughts? Who knows what danger we will face tonight? Better our minds are hardened and in focus."
But the younger Signarman persisted. "In three days, we have our Winter-Turn Festival as the daylight lengthens again. It would be only decent hospitality to ask our guests to linger here for the revels."
Belmonor tried but could not repress a chuckle for long. "We will see what happens."
VIII.
Following Timothy, Haley reached to touch the Air Gem she wore under her insulated jacket. The blue jewel fastened to the collar of her cape was actually a lovely but quite mundane tourmaline she had purchased in a crystal shop. Several times already, enemies had captured her and thought they were claiming the Air Gem while she had kept the genuine talisman on her person. Haley congratulated herself for coming up with this devious little trick.
Tim stopped and dismounted, loosely lopping the reins around a low branch of a beech tree. Silently, Haley and Jin did the same. Modern weapons such as firearms would not work in Signarm. That was the decree of Jordyn Himself to protect the realms from being overthrown by Humans from the outside world. Not even flashlights functioned under his edict. Jin had her bone-bladed long knife and Timothy carried the long-handled hammer but Haley relied on her ensorcelled gem.
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"They still live? I would have thought their skulls had been cracked so the brains could feel cold air. Who else will come seeking us?" the Alchemist said.
The Targhul of Wood swung around to stare in all directions. "A mob of Humans? With axes and torches? Lord, you must not let me destroy me."
"You grow more craven every day," the Leather golem sneered. "Let them come. They have blood to spill but we do not. None will return to their homes."
Calverdyn roared and stamped his staff on the frozen ground. "Cease your endless squabble! We must be away at once. Throw these outworlders across their horses and lead the horses back to our hovel and right smartly. Iron, it is for you to pull my cart. Stone, if you do not keep us for once, then you will be abandoned."
Further back, the construct of Silk fluttered in the night wind. "Lord, there were three. What of the female struck by Iron? We should recover her body as well."
"To what purpose?" asked the Alchemist. "That blow threw her as far as a man might cast a spear. She is surely dead and we have no more time to waste. All of you, still your voices and do as you are bid, for once."
With the limp forms of Timothy and Haley slung across two horses and Wood leading the third horse by the reins, the outre band of unliving beings began to hurry back in the direction from which they had come. With Iron grasping the handle of the cart in which Calverdyn sat, they set a better pace than before. Even so, it was no more than a casual stroll would match. Stone kept up with his heavy plodding steps.
Barely had the golems and their master disappeared from sight and sound than the two riders of XX trotted along the road and came to a halt. In the murky night, Beldmonor and Thalmacar were not certain at first that they had indeed spotted the three birch trees which huddled together. They rode slowly off the road and across the untilled land until they could see the trees more clearly. A search of the area dampened their mood quickly enough.
"I had little hope of finding a track to follow, and now I must correct that to no hope." Beldomor straightened up again and uttered a curse foul enough that his friend gave a start.
"With no snow this year but the ground frozen hard as stone, I doubt even our most skilled hunters could do any better," Thalmacar said. "The slimmest slice of Moon does not help us either."
"Ah. My father will say these reasons are mere excuses. There are the three birch trees that Timothy spoke of. Here is the thicket, yet no sign of our visitors is to be found. I like this not at all, Thalmacar."
The younger Signarman stepped up on a rock outcropping next to which he had left his horse and got back up on the steed. "Shall we not ride on a mile or two? Perchance there may be another such cluster of birch! If the outworlder can truly see through his familiar spirits, they may have overlooked this spot and meant another further on."
"It is well worth the try," Beldonor said without enthusiasm. "If not, I fear we have no choice but return here to watch and wait. This has not gone well."
The two horsemen trotted back toward the dirt road and continued on their way. Well within earshot, at the base of an earth embankment thirty feet steep, a small figure stirred and moaned. She braced both hands on the cold ground and got unsteadily to her feet. Demrak Jin looked up with murder in her eyes.
VIII.
The clumsy thick fingers of the Targhuls could not manage to tie knots. Calverdyn did this himself, binding the wrists of Haley and Tim behind them with rough twine, then tying the ankle together as well. After that, he had to sit and restfor a moment. Alchemy might keep him alive for generations but it could not keep him young. "You constructs are blessed to be spared the pain and weariness that flesh is cursed to endure."
"But Lord, we also are denied the pleasures of sensation that you enjoy," Silk observed.
"True enough," Calverdyn replied, rising with a grunt of effort. "The fire is hot enough, Leather, well done. My bones ache from being out in that cold so long. Let us examine our guests. After a few minutes of pressing his fingers to judge heartbeats and of probing skull to look for fractures, he told his golems, "I believe they will live. Most surprising. They both are already stirring. Perhaps it is the gralic force I can sense from them. The girl more than the boy. I suspect she wields a greater power than one might guess."
"All the more reason to slay them now," urged Leather. "I will what is needful, I do not mind."
Calverdyn had dug down under the collar of Haley's white shirt and found a soft choker that he managed to unbuckle. Fastened to it was an oval jewel no more than an inch across. Its facets gleamed bright blue in the leaping illumination of the firepit.
"Pretty," Stone managed to come up with, feeling he should join conversations, even if only once in a great while.
Holding up the jewel, the Alchemist laughed. "What good fortune has come to me this night. My children, this can be no other than the Air Gem, cut and polished and ensorcelled by Malbderon himself. Wiser minds than I have thought it was lost decade ago, along with its three counterparts of Water, Earth and Flame. And in this crude corner of Signarm. it comes to me unlooked-for, carried by a child."
On the floor, both Tel Shai knights groaned and shifted their weights uncomfortably. They had been on the Tagra tea regimen long enough to begin enjoying an elevated healing factor. Being struck unconscious and remaining that way would mean grave or usual fatal consequences for any normal persons. But Tim and Haley's bodies were repairing the damage at a greatly accelerated rate.
"Oh. I need to move this jewel outside," Calverdyn said. "If it is too close when she awakens, she will be able to draw upon it and demolish this shack with a tornado." He grasped his gnarled walking stick and hobbled toward the cottage door.
Timothy mumbled something unintelligible but immediately followed it with "My poor head, ow ow ow."
"I will hide this not far away," began the Alchemist as he reluctantly swung the thick-planked door outward. Instantly, he was spun violently around to face into the room. Across his throat was a white blade touching the skin and his left arm had been twisted up toward his shoulder blades.
None of the Targhuls could comprehend what was happening. They froze as motionless as the statues they resembled. From behind Calverdyn hissed a female voice. "Do not move! I will cut his head off and throw it in that fire."
"It is the female outsider," Silk said. "She was not killed after all."
Calvderdyn gasped in pain, unable to attempt wriggling free. Even a much stronger and younger man would have been helpless in Jin's grip. Her Race thrived in the water pressure found in Ulgor. "Release me! You are breaking my arm," he pleaded.
"That will be the least I do to you," she said. "You! The ones made of metal and stone. Untie my friends and carry them out to their horses. Very slowly. I can show you the inside of this fool's throat if you like."
But as the two Targhuls swung around, they were stunned to see their prisoners standing up and tossing the cut ends of their bonds to the cottage floor. Their clothing contained several tiny gimmicks of great usefulness, including a few single-edged razor blades concealed in slits where they could be reached if tied up. As soon as they felt able, Tim and Haley had sliced through the cords while the Targhuls were concentrating fully on their creator's danger.
"Hi, Jen! Glad to see you," Tim called over as if he had not moments ago been unconscious from blows to the head.
"That geezer has my Gem! I felt him poking around inside my shirt but I couldn't swat him," added Haley.
"Really." Demrak Jin hissed into the Alchemist's ear. "Use your free hand. Toss the blue stone to my friend, and be careful. You already have only a very small chance of seeing the sunrise."
Calverdyn obeyed, the turquoise-hued jewel spinning across the cabin where Haley neatly snatched it in mid-air and clipped it to her choker again. "That's better."
Taking three steps to retrieve the long-handled sledge where one of the golems had dropped it, Timothy Limbo dropped his usual mild tones. "It's a miracle the three of us aren't dead, old man. Get your monsters to line up against the wall. You're going to be our leverage against them."
"Do as he says," the Alchemist breathed. A thin trickle of blood ran down his neck from where the bone blade had broken his skin. "Stand over there."
"So we can be destroyed? Why should we?" Leather took a menacing step toward the two outsiders.
"I am your creator," said Calverdyn. "Obey me. Do as you are told."
"No. We don't need you any more. We will be better off making our own decisions." The Targhul lunged at his intended victims but Timothy was ready and drove the golem with the hammer into the firepit in the floor. The hollow brown figure shrieked like a whistle and strove to escape. Tim leaned forward, pinning the Targhul down the leather shell caught fire. The other golems made no move to intervene. Except for the whimsical painted eyes, their heads were featureless and revealed nothing of what they were feeling.
"That's one down," Timothy said as the charring Targhul fell apart and struggled no more. "I'd bet the one who's made of wood would burn up pretty quick, too. And the silk lady would go up in a flash. So no funny moves from you guys."
"Funny?" repeated Stone. "I don't see why we would be funny. Do you know jokes and riddles?"
"I can tell your head is made of rock," Haley said with remarkable blitheness under the circumstances.
"Listen to me, all of you! Clever as I am, I see who has the advantage here. Iron and Stone will not be harmed by the firepit and the outworlders' weapons won't hurt them either. The ugly woman with the white hair dares not slay our Lord because then Iron and Stone will be free to kill the three outworlders. Should I repeat this so everyone understands?"
"Yes, please." The Stone Targhul said, glancing back and forth between the doorway where his creator was being held and to where the two outsiders had just destroyed Wood.
"Oh, get OVER yourself!" Haley said. "Our team has been in situations like this before. We always figure out a way. Jin, how are you doing over there?"
From the doorway where Calverdyn was being held helpless, the Gelydran woman called back, "We have been too lenient. I will start breaking a few bones to be more convincing." And the old man yelped, "Agh! She just snapped my wrist. Draldros watch me, she's strong as a Troll."
"No, no, don't hurt our Master," said the Silk creation. "What do you want us to do?"
"Bring him inside, would you Jin? Might as well close the door." Timothy hefted the sledge hammer and moved with Haley over to the wall opposite the three golems as Jin lifted the Alchemist up off the floor and carried him over to join them.
Wood, Iron and Stone remained where they had been standing. They did not shift their weight nervously or fidget as living beings might do. Unless they were moving with a purpose in mind, the Targhuls stood absolutely still.
"That's better. Let's get some information first," Timothy said. "We'll start with who you are and what you're doing with these things."
"Calverdyn am I named. Oh, my wrist hurts. It was not necessary to do to me."
"Hey, your robots or whatever they are tried their best to crack our heads open," Haley retorted. "You've gotten off easy so far."
Tim continued, "These are your Targhuls, right? Aside from stealing food and supplies for you, they've been searching everyone's house in this region. What are they looking for?"
As Demrak Jin eased her bending his arm up behind him, the Alchemist sighed at even the slight relief. "Something of no value to these farmers and shepherds, one of the life-giving stones...a Claronghul."
IX.
At Tim's prompting, Calverdyn began explaining. "I had some students and apprentices in Melnemakus. That is this realm's largest city, two days ride south of here. The nobles came to me for health restoring elixirs and merchants bought some products of my art. Most of my time and energy was spent crafting these, my Targhuls."
"The crowning achievement of your renowned career," interrupted Silk.
"Be still! Allow me to continue. Then messengers began to pester me for some of the black stones which give movement and awareness to my Targhul, The Claronduril are made only with much toil and time, I denied selling any. It seemed also to me that a person of low character might misuse the Targhuls. That the messengers would not reveal the name of their employer made me further disinclined to deal with them."
On a bench beside the old man, Demrak Jin had lowered her blade from his throat but she still kept the weapon ready. From the surly expression on her pug face, the Gelydra remained ready, indeed eager, to slash the Alchemist if given any excuse.
"Three months ago, my workshop was robbed in the hour before dawn. Some tools I had fashioned myself were taken, as were some of the lesser potions. But it was the theft of three Claronduril which both angered and alarmed me. I swore to recover them. With these my servants, I began the long search which has led me here."
"Wait," interrupted Haley. "How did you know they came from this part of Signarm?"
"Their own words revealed it. At one point, they offered to bring me to meet their employer and told how long a ride it would be and that we could cross the river Meerdim at its most narrow point. These men also spoke with that drawn-out soft slurry of this region, sometimes known as the Northwest Sound."
"So that's your story, huh? You're not really a pubic menace, you're only trying to recover your property." Tim had started pacing, keeping a stern eye on three male Targhuls who watched from across the room. Silk had gradually drawn closer until she was barely out or reach of where her creator sat. Demrak Jin kept throwing murderous looks at the Silk construct that would have alarmed any living being.
"You have little cause to believe me, I realize that. But my words are true. Somewhere in the village or the nearby farms, my Claronghul are hidden. Once I recover them, back to Menelmakus shall I go."
Timothy looked over at his teammates. Demrak Jin was not one for tact or nuance. "This but wastes time," she said. "I say, slay this liar and then destroy his unnatural monsters. Let us put an end to it all."
"You know what..." Haley began but then paused so long it seemed she was not going to continue. "I have a hunch. Maybe it's my subconscious giving me a dope slap to the back of the head but I think we should go back to meet with the Mayor and taken Calverdyn with us. But better leave his golems here."
Timothy unexpectedly grinned. "Oh brother. Okay, we'll try it. I've heard that tone in your voice before, Haley. Either you've had a completely genius brainstorm or you've gone completely nuts."
X.
Belmonor had met them at the door of his father's house, expressing both relief and joy at seeing them unharmed. Timothy said he would explain everything all at once, including who the old man was who stood between them bundled in his heavy coat. Belmonor therefore escorted the three Tel Shai knights and the Alchemist into the Mayor's study.
Once again the well-stoked fireplace was filling the room with dry heat. At his son's knock, Salendir rose from the table at which he had been studying a tome by the light of an oil lamp. The Mayor was wrapped in a heavy robe of white linen and his cheeks were flushed from the close warmth of that room.
"Glad is my heart at seeing you all return safely. My son and his comrade Salmacar waited long out there and have only returned a moment ago. Their horses are being tended even as we speak."
"I think we've made some progress learning about the walking statues," Timothy said, remaining on his feet. "Our guest here is from your big city and his name is Calverdyn."
The elderly Alchemist stepped closer to Salendir and yelled, "Where are the stones!?"
Salendir said nothing in reply. Instead, it was Belmonor who said, "What stones? Who are you, sir, that come into my father's home and dare raise your voice?"
"Never mind," Timothy Limbo replied, moving over to the wall of bookshelves. "We saw where his eyes reflexively went for a split-second." He reached up to the top shelf and probed with his fingers, there came a click and a part of that shelf slid aside. Behind it was revealed a metal panel. "There we go."
"I will brook no more of this insolence!" roared Salendir, knocking his chair over as he shot to his feet. "Bare your blade, my son, if need be. These outworlders overstep any line of propriety and I want them out of my house without delay."
Belmonor in fact had clasped his hand over the hilt of his weapon but hesitated. He saw that Timothy had managed to open the compartment behind the bookshelf and taken out three black stones, round and polished. All of them could be held in his cupped hands.
"And there you go," Tim told everyone assembled. "The Claronghul as they're called. I believe these are your property, Calverdyn."
"CALVERDYN!?" bellowed Salendir, "Here?" He raised his massive fists, took two infuriated steps and stopped short as the point of a white bone blade pricked his nose.
In a deadly calm voice, Demrak Jin said only, "Stop." Her dark blue eyes flickered over warningly at Belmonor, but the son did not seem inclined to interfere.
Calverdyn held out his open hands toward Tim, saying, "If I may reclaim my stolen property, young man?"
"In a second. Let's get everything straightened out first. I recognize some of these books, Salendir. Here's a few by Dr Vitarius, there's a 1966 book by Kenneth Dred himself. Oh, here's THE GREAT ART from the early 1800s. You had your agents trading with the Melgarin to get these, right? Melgarin often go into the outside world posing as Humans. This library must have taken decades to get together."
Haley spoke up with her frequent unbearable smugness. "That's what I was telling you, Tim. I spotted a few of those titles earlier. Salendir was so used to nobody around him being able to read English that he didn't think to cover the books or at least keep us out of this room. So we knew you were a would-be Alchemist yourself."
The Mayor's face had turned dark red and his clenched fists trembled visibly. He did not speak. Beside him, Belmonor seemed stricken as he took in all the revelations of the past few minutes.
"Now, here's what's going to happen," Timothy continued. "Haley and Jin and I can't stay here for weeks while the Magistrate of this area decides the case. And, from what I've read about Signarm law, decisions tend to favor anyone with wealth or position. And the three of us don't want to chained to a labor gang while you sit here with your stolen gems."
"Not that our own courts don't have separate justice for the rich and the not-so-rich," offered Haley.
"Yeah. Anyway, we are going to escort Calverdyn here back home to his city. Don't try to get a posse organized to after us, either. He has his Targhul of Iron and Stone to protect him, and we three can handle any mob of normal Humans. You haven't even seen yet what Haley is capable of."
"Tel Shai knights..." Salendir mumbled, lowering his shoulders and bowing his head. "Your prowess is well known. I will not contest your passage from my county, nor pursue this shameful matter further."
"That's for the best," Tim said. "We'll leave the horses you loaned us at the three birch trees where Belmonor and his friend can retrieve them. To make things closer to right again, though, we need to reimburse the farmers who were injured by the Targhuls."
"I will dispatch a messenger from Melnemakus with gold to be given to them," said the Alchemist. "That is my word."
Timothy turned to where Demrak Jin had lowered her blade and stepped back a pace. Haley was standing close to him, the blue cloak pulled over her body, her face thoughtful. "I guess that covers it for now. We'll be going."
The young Belmonor spoke, "You three have come into our lives like a sudden storm and now you will be gone just as abruptly. You are a gale that scatters whatever is in its path but leaves the air fresher and cleaner with its passing."
Haley Lawson smiled sadly at the youth she knew she would not see again. "You don't know how right you are."
12/1/2022
12/17/2013
I.
From one hundred feet up, Haley lessened the tornado winds which were propelling her through the sky. She lowered her legs, stretched her arms out to either side for balance and dropped toward her friends who were staring up with trepidation. Too fast. The Windcatcher cloak flipped around to cover her head and cut off her vision; she dropped down to slam hard into Timothy and Demrak Jin, tumbling all three of them end over end across the meadow. The frozen earth did not make the impact less punishing.
"Will you PLEASE pay attention!" shouted Timothy Limbo. He had ended up on the bottom of the heap, stretched out on his back with Haley sitting up near the top of his chest and Jin sprawled over his legs. The small Gelydran woman sputtered incoherently as she disentangled herself from Tim and Haley.
Getting the heavy blue cloak straightened out, Haley grinned down at her new KDF teammate. "Be honest, Tim. Back in school, lots of guys would have absolutely loved to have me sitting on them like this."
It was true. At eighteen, Haley Lawson was cute rather than gorgeous, tall and slender with trim long legs in blue tights. Her best feature was the pair of bright lime-green eyes under auburn bangs. She showed no inclination to get up off Tim.
For her own part, Demrak Jin was bristling with outrage. The Gelydra was only a few inches over five feet tall but wiry and lithe. She wore her Race's customary long-sleeved tunic and pants of abrasive grey shark-hide and had her bone-bladed long knife sheathed across her back. "You do not take seriously the great gift you have been given." she spat. "Perhaps you do not deserve the Air Gem."
Finally climbing up onto her feet, brushing back to tangling long hair from her face, Haley said, "Ease up, Sharkie. So I misjudged my approach a little. I knew my pals would be glad to catch me."
"Sharkie...!?"
"Come on, you guys, settle down." Timothy Limbo alone of the three partners had on the KDF field suit they were supposed to wear on missions to the other realms. The heavy boots, pants and waist-length jacket were not only made of tough protective material, they held a dozen small tools and gadgets in concealed pockets. Timothy stood up, tugging down his jacket where it had become twisted around, and gestured at the vast green expanse that reached down the hill where they stood. "We've got some hiking to do before it gets dark. Better get to it. We only have forty-eight hours here in Signarm before we zap back to the real world."
Haley began, "Why walk? This realm has got some great storms to the far north, I can sense them. Let me summon some two hundred mile per hour winds and I can fly us to this town where we're supposed to go..."
"No." The single word from the Gelydra carried immense conviction. In the late afternoon sunlight from a cloudless sky, Demrak Jin did look intimidating. In a wide flat face under bristling white hair, her eyes were sullen. Her people of Ulgor believed that each of them was born at the same time a shark was, and that the ferocious shark spirit lived in their hearts. Haley's attempts at nicknaming Jin "Sharkie" were not far off the mark.
Windcatcher wilted a little at the cold stare she was getting. "Oh, all right. I suppose walking gives us time to review this mission." She started leading the way at a brisk stride. "Now, let's start with we're in the northwest region of Signarm. It's called Barodal, kind of rustic and uninvolved in what the Barons and the King are up to."
"You are accurate so far," Jin admitted grudgingly as she trudged along behind her two mates. "What more can you say?"
"Well, it's farmland mostly. Wheat, tobacco, some corn. A lot of small villages but no towns big enough to really be called a city. The Barodalin are supposed to be pretty comfy here with lots to eat and their own homemade corn liquor to drink. If you go south, the Barons are always ganging up on each other in vicious little wars, but up here things are quieter."
"You have to admit, Haley was paying attention at our briefing." Timothy Limbo had slightly taken the lead as the slope slanted down more steeply. Coming into sight was a narrow river that sparkled silver in the sunlight, and wooden buildings could be made out along its bank. "We have a few observers here. That was Jeremy's doing, of course. When he was KDF leader, he tried to have some locals on retainer in every realm. They let us know if anything weird and ominous happens."
"Weird and ominous is what we're all about!" laughed Haley.
"Yep, true enough. Sable got a message from one of our observers here. Some of the farmers have been hurt by mysterious intruders. No fatalities so far, but broken arms and severe bruising are no joke. Houses have been ransacked and supplies like food and firewood stolen. And inhuman figures have been seen, running through the night."
"It's the sightings of these monsters that worry me," Haley put in. "Moving statues! Moving statues of iron and granite, smashing down doors and paying no attention to the pitchforks or shovels getting broken on them. Kind of a scary image, no wonder the rednecks of this realm are spooked."
"These creatures have not met US yet," Demrak Jin said.
II.
Where the ground leveled off, a hard-packed dirt road extended from East to West. Deep ruts showed where wagons had been passing for years. Timothy Limbo paused and told his teammates, "Let's take a break and let my buddies scout around."
Above his upturned palms, a pair of swirling tornados materialized. Six inches high, they flew up to circle around his head like excited hummingbirds and then darted off in opposite directions along the road. "This'll just take a minute. I'm seeing what they're seeing."
Throwing her cape back to indulge her love of dramatic poses, Haley scoffed. "I could swear I keep catching your caspers in my rooms."
"They're nice litle guys. I guess they're just seeing if you need help with anything."
"I don't NEED help in the shower," she said.
"I'm trying to concentrate, thank you very much. Some riders are coming this way. They don't look like soldiers, no uniforms or spears. We should just meet them and get it over with." The little apparitions danced happily around him before blinking back out of existence."
Moving past him, Jin reached up to loosen the long knife in its ivory sheath across her back. The Gelydra tilted her head, listening, obviously hoping for trouble. "I will get the answers we seek," she said quietly.
The thumping of hooves could be felt underfoot as well as heard. Coming around a bend in the road were a half dozen men on heavyset draft horses. Judging from the coarse homespun tunics and wool capes, they were local farm people. None had swords visible, but several had thick walking sticks tied to their sides. Instead of saddles, they sat on folded blankets and headstalls served instead of bits and bridles.
As soon as they saw the three strangers standing in the road, the horsemen pulled to a sudden stop, The rider in front called, "What might this mean? Strangers, who are you and what are you doing in our Barodal?"
"Greetings!" Tim replied, "We are knights of Tel Shai. We came from the world outside this realm and we are here only to offer help if you will have it."
The lead horseman stared with a scowl that drew his face tight. He seemed quite young with a full head of light brown hair but there was unstressed authority in his voice. "I had thought Tel Shai was mere legend. Indeed, many of us no longer believe there really are realms outside Signarm. But you are strangely garbed and your hair and eyes do not seem like those of any folks I have ever seen. Say on, I would hear more."
Stepping around in front of Tim, Haley bestowed her cutest grin on the man as if giving them a present. "We're here on our own accord," she said. "If you've heard of Tel Shai knights, you know we go where we're needed"
"So it is said. Know then that I am Belmonor, eldest son of our Mayor's family. By what names shall we address you?"
"That's Timothy and that's Jin," the Windcatcher said, pointing. "You can call me Haley. We understand there's monkey business going on here."
"I am not sure what you mean to say," Belmonor replied, fixing that dubious stare on her.
Haley hesitated. They were not speaking English of course but using Prilyrdyn, the primal language fixed in the minds of all sentient beings by Jordyn Himself. Slang and figures of speech did not always come out clear in Prilyrdyn. It was like being translated by someone rather prim and stuffy. "Yeah. Let me try again. We heard that strange intruders are giving you people trouble."
"Ah. Yes. The walking statues." Belmonor leaned forward. "Strange intruders indeed, as you say and as you yourself are. I think it best you speak with those wiser than myself. Our village is not far. Will you walk with us there, that my father might hear your intentions fully?"
"Sounds good," she agreed and turned to her teammates. "What do you guys say?"
"I like the way you just take over," Tim said. "But sure, that's good. Belmonor, we'll go with you. We can talk on the way, of course."
The other horsemen had listened without comment, deferring to their leader, but now one spoke up. "Would not proper manners press us to yield a seat to the women? Should we not walk instead that they might take their ease?"
"Hey, that's thoughtful," Haley told him, "But we can walk. Jin and I are in great shape."
Despite the uncertain glances they gave each other at this, the horsemen continued on their way at an unhurried pace. Timothy strode alongside the leader, giving further details about himself and his two teammates. They passed extensive cultivated fields which were tended by peasants laboring in the sun. Cottages began to appear on either side of the road. After a few more minutes, the talk turned to the doings of the Barons to the south.
"Sometimes I consider venturing to swear allegiance to one Baron or another," Belmonor said. "With a strong sword arm and a resolute heart, I might become a captain and end up with a mansion and servants of my own. Here I will never be more than the squire of a manor."
"You're better off not getting caught up in their games," Tim said. "As far as I can tell, the Barons are constantly making and breaking alliances with each other. They send their subjects to do a lot of fighting for no obvious reason."
"This is so!" snapped Demrak Jin, speaking so unexpectedly that everyone started. "No one knows better than I that war is nothing but cold butchery!"
That stopped the conversation dead. They moved on in silence to a side path and through an elaborate wooden gate. On the hill stood a wooden house three stories high with windows sealed by oiled cloth. On a post by the front porches was a board with a painted rune in white on a green field.
"The home of my family," Belmonor said. He dismounted lightly enough. Despite his youth, he seemed as serious minded as a much older man. "I ask you to tend my steed, Thalmacar. Knights of Tel Shai, come with me inside."
A servant had been leaning on a broom by the open front door of the house but he ducked back inside at the sight of these odd-looking strangers. Timothy, Jin and Haley were following Belmonor up the wide steps to the porch when a dozen men carrying billhooks and pruning knives rushed up to encircle them.
III.
Somewhere in their looting, Silk had taken a narrow brush and a ceramic jar of black paint. Now, while their creator Calverdyn slept, she was adding eyes to their faces.
The Targhul had no features on the smooth ovals surfaces where their faces should be. Human sized and shaped, they resembled crude statues of wood or iron or stone. The thick fingers had no nails, there were no genitals, the heads had no ears or semblance of hair. When they moved, creaking noises gave away the resistance made by their material.
Humming as she worked on Iron, Silk was the only one of the five Targhuls who had been crafted to appear female. Her white form had modest breasts and hips, her limbs were thinner than those of her brethren. That evening, she had first painted eyes upon herself. Adding separate spokes to indicate lashes had made her laugh.
Iron stood motionless as no living thing could stand. His dark metal surface made it difficult to make out where his new eyes were being applied. "We do not need these to see," he said at last. Iron was the tallest of the five, crafted to resemble a big brawny man such as a blacksmith might be.
"Nor do we need mouths to speak or ears to hear," retorted Silk "We are Magick from earliest days of this Age. I need white paint to make proper eyes. When we roam tonight, claim any white paint you find."
The cabin deep in the forest was lit only by a firepit which had been allowed to die down to mere embers. None of the Targhuls had thought to use flint and tinder to spark a candle into flame, they did not need light.
Seated on a three-legged stool in one corner of the room, Leather made a disgusted noise. His material was light brown in color, bull hide that had been tanned and cut into the shape of a thin man of medium height. The Silk golem had given him oblique, slightly closed eyes to match his personality. "That mortal fool last night came close to losing his life! He tried to seize me around the middle. I broke free but.. If not for Calverdyl's orders, I would have choked him then and there."
"Oh, you would not dare!" cried Wood. The shortest of the five, he was had been crafted of oak and was solid like Iron and Stone where Silk and Leather had been left hollow. "Our Master forbids that. We do not want him angry at us."
"Coward. Weakling. We live, we walk and talk as we will. Why do we need to obey the Alchemist at all?" demanded Leather.
"Because I will take that imitation of life from you!" roared a furious voice behind the golems. Sitting up on the low platform piled with blankets, old Calvderdyl brushed back long white hair from his face. The Alchemist was bundled in a heavy coat over his dark robe against the cold. "I brought you into this world from the empty void and I will send you back if I so choose."
Leather did not respond. Still seated, he regarded their creator with none of the deference his fellows showed. Finally, grudgingly, he said, "It is as you say."
"Choose your words with care," Calverdyl grumbled. "I have thought of crafting a new Leather Targhul, perhaps one of more supple calf hide. Why is it so cold in here? Stone, add logs to the fire."
"Yes." The widest golem, Stone was a massive bulk of rough grey granite. Floorboards creaked alarmingly when he moved but so far none had given way beneath his weight.
"It is nightfall already," the Alchemist told his five. "When the Moon is highest, we will go out again. The farmers must realize where we have already searched, so they will be most alert in those houses remaining. Move quickly, let us find that which I seek and we will able to leave this realm."
"None too soon to suit me," grumbled Leather.
"Come, great Calverdyl, see what I have done." The Silk figure turned her face toward her creator. "Am I not clever? Am I not the finest jewel of your Art?"
"Yes, yes, you are as wonderful as you think," said the old sorcerer. "Stone! Did I not say to put logs on the fire?"
Not having moved at all, the granite hulk replied, "At once, Master," and still did not act.
IV.
They had been escorted into a study lit by several oil lamps on hangers as well as a furiously blazing fireplace. Two walls were taken up by shelves absolutely crammed with massive times, scrolls marked with colored ribbons for identification and loose papers pinned down by quills pens ink bottles and less identifiable debris.
The den itself was so warm and stuffy from the fireplace that Haley started getting drowsy. She and her teammates sat at a round table to which a glazed ceramic jug had been brought and local whiskey poured from it into their mugs. Haley and Timothy sipped carefully of the caustic liquid because they had not been on the Tagra tea regimen long enough for their healing factor to be fullyenhanced. In a year, perhaps less, no alcohol or poison would affect them but for the moment they had to be prudent.
Not Demrak Jin, though. The tiny Gelydra drained her mug in a single long gulp, then held it up for a refill. "I thank you for this hospitality," she said without self-consciousness.
Sitting at the opposite end of the table was a heavyset, middle-aged man in a long tabbard over tunic and pants. Salmadir had for many years served as Mayor of the village and the farms for a day's ride around. His dark eyes were shrewd and attentive as he studied his strange visitors. "My servants were acting at first to protect me, as is their duty," he said. "They did not know of Tel Shai. Indeed, few of them understand there is a world beyond the circles of this realm."
Seeing Jin finish another mug, Haley tried the whiskey again. It tasted like kerosene to her and made her throat burn. What did people see in that stuff. She glanced up again as Salmadir continued.
"You say you come here to stop the walking statues," the Mayor said. "I will set pride to one side for the moment and welcome your help. But I must ask what recompense would be proper?"
"What, like a reward?" Haley scoffed. "You got us all wrong, sir. We don't hire out. This is what we do."
"You should let me do the talking," Timothy interrupted. "What my friend says is true, though. We are not permitted to accept payment or gifts for our service. The Teachers feel it keeps us honest. I understand the people have seen different types of walking statues?"
Standing behind the high-backed chair in which his father sat as if on a throne, Belmonor said, "So far we have heard of three different types. One is in the form of a mighty man made of black iron. One of a smaller knave hewn from hardwood. It is the maid fashioned of silk that seems most strange to behold."
"Silk..?" responded Timothy. "Oh, that IS odd."
"True words indeed. The village baker saw a white shape flatten out like a sheet of parchment and slide under his door. He went closer, doubting his senses and sanity, and the door was flung open. A woman raced out with armfuls of fresh bread and meat pies. All white she was, without a face, an effigy crafted of fine silk. She was gone from sight as he blinked.
"Targhuls," announced Demrak Jin.
Seeing the baffled expressions, Timothy said, "We have fought similar monsters before. They are called Targhuls or sometimes golems. They're not alive. Some sorcerer, maybe even a Dartha, is animated constructs. Uusually, these Targhuls are puppets who act as their creator wills them to. Once in a while, a Targhul turns up who can think and act for themselves but that's honestly so rare that I've haven't heard of any in my lifetime."
"Never have I known of such horrors," Salmadir commented, "And I have done much reading. I have studied what you call the Midnight War and I know some history of the world without. At first, I would doubt these things could be and yet, many of my trustworthy tenants swear to seeing these statues move sbout. If I did not put weight in the words of my people, I should not believe that unliving shapes of metal or rock could move about."
Timothy managed another sip of the home-made whiskey, trying not to make a face. He had for a time developed a fondness for different beers but this stuff was awful. After the Mayor spoke, Tim said, "It's all real. Tonight we intend to intercept these beings and hopefully destroy them before someone gets killed."
"I would have two of my best men accompany you Tel Shai knights," said Salendir. "In case you need to send a messenger for more fighters and so that they might report to me details you miss. Belmonor my son, this will be your task. You may choose who accompany you."
"Father, then I ask for the good right arm of Thalmacar. His nerves are steady and he wields a sword as well as any duelist from the cities."
"So let it be done." The Mayor rose and gestured for his guests to do the same. "My servants will show you to a room where you may rest until dark. They will bring you good hot food if you wish. Although I dare say you will not asking for more of our whiskey."
That got an honest laugh from Haley Lawson. That's why I suck at poker." She gotten up and wandered over toward the bookshelves, stretching her clasped hands out behind her. "Oh,this is genuinely impressive, sir. You can read English?"
"I am versed in the language of the world outside," said the "I dare say there are not twenty scholars in this realm who make that boast. "
From where he stood behind the great chair, Belmonor added, "My father does not mention that he is self taught in English. Few in the Northwest can do more than sign their names or recognize road signs. A visitor from Androval stayed with us one summer and started my father on your alphabet but did not proceed far behind he had to depart."
After giving the titles a cursory glance, Haley scoffed. "My school was so lame that I might as well have been self -taught, too."
V.
Spread out over the length of a mile, five inhuman forms ran through the dark. Not breathing, not needing to breathe, they were tireless. Farthest ahead was the golem of Leather, pausing occasionally to look back and wait for the next to come into view. The Targhuls did not fidget but it was clear Leather would have been tapping one foot and yelling for his fellows to hurry. When the black metal shape of Iron had almost caught up, Leather could not restrain his impatience any longer and sprinted off again. He would repeat this every mile.
Trailing far behind Iron was the Wood golem. Because of his lighter weight, he could have easily kept up with the two Targhuls in the lead but he kept hurrying back to make sure the final three members of the uncanny group were still coming. Once he reassured himself, Wood charged forward again, became apprehensive at losing sight of his creator and ran back to check on the Alchemist again. Iron noticed this and was tempted to clutch Wood by one arm and drag him bodily.
Finally came Calverdyn, sitting on a tiny two-wheeled cart pulled by the lethargic Stone golem. The Alchemist no longer felt inclined to walk for miles, even with a cane. A blanket draped over his legs, bundled in a bear fur robe, he grumbled as the granite Targhul pulled the cart without haste no matter how much cursing Calverdyn indulged in. Making things still more exasperating, his yelling at Stone made the golem come to another stop to ask what was wrong, losing still more time.
Although she could have raced quickly enough to overtake Iron or Leather, the lightweight hollow shell of Silk would not leave her creator behind. She seemed to go deaf when he gave orders she did not care for. As an hour dragged out with little distance actually being covered, the elderly Alchemist fumed and swore.
"I brought you to life from the void. Why is it too much to ask for even the most basic cooperation? Confound it, I should scrap you all and craft new Targhuls! One of bronze perhaps, or one of lead. They could not give me any more grief than you five have."
"Dear Master, I have a most clever idea," said Silk.
"Spare me the telling until we are back in that cottage," he began to say.
"This is my thought," Silk went on regardless. "You should fashion one of us in soft clay. He could change his shape as needed. Would that not be remarkable?"
The old man sank his head down into his gloved hands. "Next you will ask for a Targhul made of glass so that you may gaze upon yourself as long as you wish."
"I am indeed an elegant sight," Silk replied. "Never will I grow thick around the waist nor have my teeth fall out with age as Humans must endure. Ever will I remain this lovely apparition. You have done well, dear Master."
Sitting up in the cart, Calverdyn yelled, "Stone, damn your muddled wits. Can you not hasten even a little so that we might reach the village before Spring?"
Unfortunately, this had the effect of making the Stone golem stop completely and turn around. "Master, is not Spring three full moons away?"
"Pull the cart, I tell you!" the Alchemist screamed.
"You vex our lord," Silk told her fellow Targhul with unbearable smugness. "But then you are not as clever as I am."
The ancient Alchemist stood up and clawed at the air with both hands. "Stone, I will render you into gravel! And Silk, I will make of you a lady's scarf if you do not both still your voices and pull this cart forward."
"Why would I want to be gravel?" asked the Targhul, showing no inclination to do as he was told.
Before Calverdyn could scream, the Leather golem dashed into view more swiftly than any deer and came to a halt in front of his creator. "Lord, five Humans approach on horseback like none I have ever seen in this realm. Strange is their garb and strange their countenances. Let me slay them lest they attack."
"Be less eager to murder, Leather," the Alchemist said. "That is not the answer to every question. I see iron returning as well. Come, let us conceal ourselves that I might see these outsiders for myself."
Iron and Leather had the cart hidden in the thicket while Stone was asking what was going on and Silk had begun harassing the granite Targhul about how a glacier could overtake him. The slightly constructed Wood eased back further behind a snow-decorated elm and said nothing. He would have been holding his breath if he had breath to hold.
VII.
"You do sit your steed well," offered Belmonor.
Haley Lawson threw him her most dazzling smile. "Why, thanks. Back on Long Island, my bestie had a horse of her own. Three year old Palomino. Her folks spent enough on that animal to. have bought a second house instead. So during my last summer there, I did some riding."
From atop one of the mares that the Mayor had loaned them for the night, Demrak Jin added. "There are no horses where I come from. Nor are the creatures suitable for use as mounts. Except for the War Squids of course."
"Oh but I want to ask you something, Belmonor. Do you have any volcanoes in Signarm?"
"In truth, I know not for that word is unknown to me, fair maid."
"Oh brother, " Timothy mumbled to himself. "He's going to be kissing her hand in a minute."
"Shush, Tim," Haley said. "Volcanoes? Well, they're big cone-shaped mountains. Once in a while, they explode with a lot of hot air and ashes and stuff, and molten rock runs down their sides."
"Never have I heard of such mountains, no not even in old songs or tales of our ancestors." Belmonor studied her face with uncertainty. "I must ask what brought such horrors to mind?"
"No reason," she said.
"Looks like you won't be summoning any superheated air to burn down buildings on this mission," Tim told her. "Too bad. That's one of your best tricks."
Haley sniffed in offense. She was not going to explain to these Signarmin how the ancient Air Gem she wore worked. Ensorcelled by Malberon ages ago, the talisman could instantly transport large quantities of air to her vicinity. Mostly she drew forth hurricane winds or withering Arctic blasts but it had open been useful to call some internally hot air from directly above an active local volcano.
She was of course annoyed at being denied that technique at the moment. Her power could not cross the barriers separating adjacent realms, 'the Walls Between the Worlds." Drat.
Instead of volunteering any of that information, the Windcatcher swung around astride her horse to face Tim. "How close would you say we are?"
"My caspers are buzzing back and forth like hummingbirds on caffeine," he said. "I'm not getting clear enough visuals, though, because it's so dark tonight. But my guys are showing me a group of six people heading this way."
Bringing up the rear of the small party, Thalmacar spoke up for the first time. Younger than Beldonor, he was a blond with a wispy attempt at a mustache. "Puzzled I am by your words. It does seem to me that you claim you are sending forth spirits which serve your will and these spirits are even now searching the countryside for the walking statues."
"You got it straight," Haley said. "Right, Tim?"
Blinking and looking around, Timothy Limbo seemed to snap out of a reverie in which his attention was elsewhere. "Hmmm. Yes. It's a gift I really don't understand, Thalmacar. That is your name, right?"
"I am indeed Thalmacar," replied the youth from behind him. He had earlier mentioned that swords and other weapons of war were in short supply in the Bariodal. He and Beldonor had armed themselves with farm implements which, truth be told, were intimidating enough. Slung on a cord over his shoulder was a billhook, a clearing tool with a sixteen inch long hooked blade sharpened on both sides. For his part, Belmonor had chosen an ordinary axe, tied to the side of his belt. Timothy had looked over the tools available and asked for a long-handled sledge hammer with a ten pound steel head.
Twisting around to look over where Demrak Jin rode her horse several feet away from the group, Belmonor said, "It is plain that you are readied for war, my lady. Your weapon seems to have a blade honed from bone, is that so?"
"It is," Jin replied without warmth in her voice. "Maybe you don't have many fighting women in this realm but I am a Geldrya! I am a daughter of Ulgor where we are born with the spirit of a shark in us."
"Legends tell of Athelstar long ago. She was said to have worn her brother's armor and to go masked into battle against the Nekrosim," Belmonor said. "But she was the only warrior woman I have heard of."
Demrak Jin vented a short sharp laugh. "Fate willing, you will see a warrior woman tonight."
Timothy reined his horse in and called for the others to stop as well. "Sure looks like an ambush to me. I estimate they're two miles ahead. The road forks northwest and east, and they're huddled off in a patch of bushes."
"None of our people would be out on such a winter night," Belmonor offered. "Bandits are rare. Travelers from the cities to the South move during daylight. These are certainly the walking statues we are seeking."
"We three should ride ahead," said Tim to the Signarman. "If you and Thalmacar follow after fifteen minutes, you can be either the cavalry coming to our rescue or a timely distraction to confuse the bad guys. This has worked pretty well for us."
It was agreed. Wrapping their heavy fur-lined travel cloaks closer around them, the two Signarmen watched as the strangers from the outside world rose briskly away down the road. In a low voice, Thalmacar said, "As Cirkoth is my witness, I do believe the girl with green eyes is smitten by your charm."
Belmonor scoffed. "Is this the time to entertain such thoughts? Who knows what danger we will face tonight? Better our minds are hardened and in focus."
But the younger Signarman persisted. "In three days, we have our Winter-Turn Festival as the daylight lengthens again. It would be only decent hospitality to ask our guests to linger here for the revels."
Belmonor tried but could not repress a chuckle for long. "We will see what happens."
VIII.
Following Timothy, Haley reached to touch the Air Gem she wore under her insulated jacket. The blue jewel fastened to the collar of her cape was actually a lovely but quite mundane tourmaline she had purchased in a crystal shop. Several times already, enemies had captured her and thought they were claiming the Air Gem while she had kept the genuine talisman on her person. Haley congratulated herself for coming up with this devious little trick.
Tim stopped and dismounted, loosely lopping the reins around a low branch of a beech tree. Silently, Haley and Jin did the same. Modern weapons such as firearms would not work in Signarm. That was the decree of Jordyn Himself to protect the realms from being overthrown by Humans from the outside world. Not even flashlights functioned under his edict. Jin had her bone-bladed long knife and Timothy carried the long-handled hammer but Haley relied on her ensorcelled gem.
--------
"They still live? I would have thought their skulls had been cracked so the brains could feel cold air. Who else will come seeking us?" the Alchemist said.
The Targhul of Wood swung around to stare in all directions. "A mob of Humans? With axes and torches? Lord, you must not let me destroy me."
"You grow more craven every day," the Leather golem sneered. "Let them come. They have blood to spill but we do not. None will return to their homes."
Calverdyn roared and stamped his staff on the frozen ground. "Cease your endless squabble! We must be away at once. Throw these outworlders across their horses and lead the horses back to our hovel and right smartly. Iron, it is for you to pull my cart. Stone, if you do not keep us for once, then you will be abandoned."
Further back, the construct of Silk fluttered in the night wind. "Lord, there were three. What of the female struck by Iron? We should recover her body as well."
"To what purpose?" asked the Alchemist. "That blow threw her as far as a man might cast a spear. She is surely dead and we have no more time to waste. All of you, still your voices and do as you are bid, for once."
With the limp forms of Timothy and Haley slung across two horses and Wood leading the third horse by the reins, the outre band of unliving beings began to hurry back in the direction from which they had come. With Iron grasping the handle of the cart in which Calverdyn sat, they set a better pace than before. Even so, it was no more than a casual stroll would match. Stone kept up with his heavy plodding steps.
Barely had the golems and their master disappeared from sight and sound than the two riders of XX trotted along the road and came to a halt. In the murky night, Beldmonor and Thalmacar were not certain at first that they had indeed spotted the three birch trees which huddled together. They rode slowly off the road and across the untilled land until they could see the trees more clearly. A search of the area dampened their mood quickly enough.
"I had little hope of finding a track to follow, and now I must correct that to no hope." Beldomor straightened up again and uttered a curse foul enough that his friend gave a start.
"With no snow this year but the ground frozen hard as stone, I doubt even our most skilled hunters could do any better," Thalmacar said. "The slimmest slice of Moon does not help us either."
"Ah. My father will say these reasons are mere excuses. There are the three birch trees that Timothy spoke of. Here is the thicket, yet no sign of our visitors is to be found. I like this not at all, Thalmacar."
The younger Signarman stepped up on a rock outcropping next to which he had left his horse and got back up on the steed. "Shall we not ride on a mile or two? Perchance there may be another such cluster of birch! If the outworlder can truly see through his familiar spirits, they may have overlooked this spot and meant another further on."
"It is well worth the try," Beldonor said without enthusiasm. "If not, I fear we have no choice but return here to watch and wait. This has not gone well."
The two horsemen trotted back toward the dirt road and continued on their way. Well within earshot, at the base of an earth embankment thirty feet steep, a small figure stirred and moaned. She braced both hands on the cold ground and got unsteadily to her feet. Demrak Jin looked up with murder in her eyes.
VIII.
The clumsy thick fingers of the Targhuls could not manage to tie knots. Calverdyn did this himself, binding the wrists of Haley and Tim behind them with rough twine, then tying the ankle together as well. After that, he had to sit and restfor a moment. Alchemy might keep him alive for generations but it could not keep him young. "You constructs are blessed to be spared the pain and weariness that flesh is cursed to endure."
"But Lord, we also are denied the pleasures of sensation that you enjoy," Silk observed.
"True enough," Calverdyn replied, rising with a grunt of effort. "The fire is hot enough, Leather, well done. My bones ache from being out in that cold so long. Let us examine our guests. After a few minutes of pressing his fingers to judge heartbeats and of probing skull to look for fractures, he told his golems, "I believe they will live. Most surprising. They both are already stirring. Perhaps it is the gralic force I can sense from them. The girl more than the boy. I suspect she wields a greater power than one might guess."
"All the more reason to slay them now," urged Leather. "I will what is needful, I do not mind."
Calverdyn had dug down under the collar of Haley's white shirt and found a soft choker that he managed to unbuckle. Fastened to it was an oval jewel no more than an inch across. Its facets gleamed bright blue in the leaping illumination of the firepit.
"Pretty," Stone managed to come up with, feeling he should join conversations, even if only once in a great while.
Holding up the jewel, the Alchemist laughed. "What good fortune has come to me this night. My children, this can be no other than the Air Gem, cut and polished and ensorcelled by Malbderon himself. Wiser minds than I have thought it was lost decade ago, along with its three counterparts of Water, Earth and Flame. And in this crude corner of Signarm. it comes to me unlooked-for, carried by a child."
On the floor, both Tel Shai knights groaned and shifted their weights uncomfortably. They had been on the Tagra tea regimen long enough to begin enjoying an elevated healing factor. Being struck unconscious and remaining that way would mean grave or usual fatal consequences for any normal persons. But Tim and Haley's bodies were repairing the damage at a greatly accelerated rate.
"Oh. I need to move this jewel outside," Calverdyn said. "If it is too close when she awakens, she will be able to draw upon it and demolish this shack with a tornado." He grasped his gnarled walking stick and hobbled toward the cottage door.
Timothy mumbled something unintelligible but immediately followed it with "My poor head, ow ow ow."
"I will hide this not far away," began the Alchemist as he reluctantly swung the thick-planked door outward. Instantly, he was spun violently around to face into the room. Across his throat was a white blade touching the skin and his left arm had been twisted up toward his shoulder blades.
None of the Targhuls could comprehend what was happening. They froze as motionless as the statues they resembled. From behind Calverdyn hissed a female voice. "Do not move! I will cut his head off and throw it in that fire."
"It is the female outsider," Silk said. "She was not killed after all."
Calvderdyn gasped in pain, unable to attempt wriggling free. Even a much stronger and younger man would have been helpless in Jin's grip. Her Race thrived in the water pressure found in Ulgor. "Release me! You are breaking my arm," he pleaded.
"That will be the least I do to you," she said. "You! The ones made of metal and stone. Untie my friends and carry them out to their horses. Very slowly. I can show you the inside of this fool's throat if you like."
But as the two Targhuls swung around, they were stunned to see their prisoners standing up and tossing the cut ends of their bonds to the cottage floor. Their clothing contained several tiny gimmicks of great usefulness, including a few single-edged razor blades concealed in slits where they could be reached if tied up. As soon as they felt able, Tim and Haley had sliced through the cords while the Targhuls were concentrating fully on their creator's danger.
"Hi, Jen! Glad to see you," Tim called over as if he had not moments ago been unconscious from blows to the head.
"That geezer has my Gem! I felt him poking around inside my shirt but I couldn't swat him," added Haley.
"Really." Demrak Jin hissed into the Alchemist's ear. "Use your free hand. Toss the blue stone to my friend, and be careful. You already have only a very small chance of seeing the sunrise."
Calverdyn obeyed, the turquoise-hued jewel spinning across the cabin where Haley neatly snatched it in mid-air and clipped it to her choker again. "That's better."
Taking three steps to retrieve the long-handled sledge where one of the golems had dropped it, Timothy Limbo dropped his usual mild tones. "It's a miracle the three of us aren't dead, old man. Get your monsters to line up against the wall. You're going to be our leverage against them."
"Do as he says," the Alchemist breathed. A thin trickle of blood ran down his neck from where the bone blade had broken his skin. "Stand over there."
"So we can be destroyed? Why should we?" Leather took a menacing step toward the two outsiders.
"I am your creator," said Calverdyn. "Obey me. Do as you are told."
"No. We don't need you any more. We will be better off making our own decisions." The Targhul lunged at his intended victims but Timothy was ready and drove the golem with the hammer into the firepit in the floor. The hollow brown figure shrieked like a whistle and strove to escape. Tim leaned forward, pinning the Targhul down the leather shell caught fire. The other golems made no move to intervene. Except for the whimsical painted eyes, their heads were featureless and revealed nothing of what they were feeling.
"That's one down," Timothy said as the charring Targhul fell apart and struggled no more. "I'd bet the one who's made of wood would burn up pretty quick, too. And the silk lady would go up in a flash. So no funny moves from you guys."
"Funny?" repeated Stone. "I don't see why we would be funny. Do you know jokes and riddles?"
"I can tell your head is made of rock," Haley said with remarkable blitheness under the circumstances.
"Listen to me, all of you! Clever as I am, I see who has the advantage here. Iron and Stone will not be harmed by the firepit and the outworlders' weapons won't hurt them either. The ugly woman with the white hair dares not slay our Lord because then Iron and Stone will be free to kill the three outworlders. Should I repeat this so everyone understands?"
"Yes, please." The Stone Targhul said, glancing back and forth between the doorway where his creator was being held and to where the two outsiders had just destroyed Wood.
"Oh, get OVER yourself!" Haley said. "Our team has been in situations like this before. We always figure out a way. Jin, how are you doing over there?"
From the doorway where Calverdyn was being held helpless, the Gelydran woman called back, "We have been too lenient. I will start breaking a few bones to be more convincing." And the old man yelped, "Agh! She just snapped my wrist. Draldros watch me, she's strong as a Troll."
"No, no, don't hurt our Master," said the Silk creation. "What do you want us to do?"
"Bring him inside, would you Jin? Might as well close the door." Timothy hefted the sledge hammer and moved with Haley over to the wall opposite the three golems as Jin lifted the Alchemist up off the floor and carried him over to join them.
Wood, Iron and Stone remained where they had been standing. They did not shift their weight nervously or fidget as living beings might do. Unless they were moving with a purpose in mind, the Targhuls stood absolutely still.
"That's better. Let's get some information first," Timothy said. "We'll start with who you are and what you're doing with these things."
"Calverdyn am I named. Oh, my wrist hurts. It was not necessary to do to me."
"Hey, your robots or whatever they are tried their best to crack our heads open," Haley retorted. "You've gotten off easy so far."
Tim continued, "These are your Targhuls, right? Aside from stealing food and supplies for you, they've been searching everyone's house in this region. What are they looking for?"
As Demrak Jin eased her bending his arm up behind him, the Alchemist sighed at even the slight relief. "Something of no value to these farmers and shepherds, one of the life-giving stones...a Claronghul."
IX.
At Tim's prompting, Calverdyn began explaining. "I had some students and apprentices in Melnemakus. That is this realm's largest city, two days ride south of here. The nobles came to me for health restoring elixirs and merchants bought some products of my art. Most of my time and energy was spent crafting these, my Targhuls."
"The crowning achievement of your renowned career," interrupted Silk.
"Be still! Allow me to continue. Then messengers began to pester me for some of the black stones which give movement and awareness to my Targhul, The Claronduril are made only with much toil and time, I denied selling any. It seemed also to me that a person of low character might misuse the Targhuls. That the messengers would not reveal the name of their employer made me further disinclined to deal with them."
On a bench beside the old man, Demrak Jin had lowered her blade from his throat but she still kept the weapon ready. From the surly expression on her pug face, the Gelydra remained ready, indeed eager, to slash the Alchemist if given any excuse.
"Three months ago, my workshop was robbed in the hour before dawn. Some tools I had fashioned myself were taken, as were some of the lesser potions. But it was the theft of three Claronduril which both angered and alarmed me. I swore to recover them. With these my servants, I began the long search which has led me here."
"Wait," interrupted Haley. "How did you know they came from this part of Signarm?"
"Their own words revealed it. At one point, they offered to bring me to meet their employer and told how long a ride it would be and that we could cross the river Meerdim at its most narrow point. These men also spoke with that drawn-out soft slurry of this region, sometimes known as the Northwest Sound."
"So that's your story, huh? You're not really a pubic menace, you're only trying to recover your property." Tim had started pacing, keeping a stern eye on three male Targhuls who watched from across the room. Silk had gradually drawn closer until she was barely out or reach of where her creator sat. Demrak Jin kept throwing murderous looks at the Silk construct that would have alarmed any living being.
"You have little cause to believe me, I realize that. But my words are true. Somewhere in the village or the nearby farms, my Claronghul are hidden. Once I recover them, back to Menelmakus shall I go."
Timothy looked over at his teammates. Demrak Jin was not one for tact or nuance. "This but wastes time," she said. "I say, slay this liar and then destroy his unnatural monsters. Let us put an end to it all."
"You know what..." Haley began but then paused so long it seemed she was not going to continue. "I have a hunch. Maybe it's my subconscious giving me a dope slap to the back of the head but I think we should go back to meet with the Mayor and taken Calverdyn with us. But better leave his golems here."
Timothy unexpectedly grinned. "Oh brother. Okay, we'll try it. I've heard that tone in your voice before, Haley. Either you've had a completely genius brainstorm or you've gone completely nuts."
X.
Belmonor had met them at the door of his father's house, expressing both relief and joy at seeing them unharmed. Timothy said he would explain everything all at once, including who the old man was who stood between them bundled in his heavy coat. Belmonor therefore escorted the three Tel Shai knights and the Alchemist into the Mayor's study.
Once again the well-stoked fireplace was filling the room with dry heat. At his son's knock, Salendir rose from the table at which he had been studying a tome by the light of an oil lamp. The Mayor was wrapped in a heavy robe of white linen and his cheeks were flushed from the close warmth of that room.
"Glad is my heart at seeing you all return safely. My son and his comrade Salmacar waited long out there and have only returned a moment ago. Their horses are being tended even as we speak."
"I think we've made some progress learning about the walking statues," Timothy said, remaining on his feet. "Our guest here is from your big city and his name is Calverdyn."
The elderly Alchemist stepped closer to Salendir and yelled, "Where are the stones!?"
Salendir said nothing in reply. Instead, it was Belmonor who said, "What stones? Who are you, sir, that come into my father's home and dare raise your voice?"
"Never mind," Timothy Limbo replied, moving over to the wall of bookshelves. "We saw where his eyes reflexively went for a split-second." He reached up to the top shelf and probed with his fingers, there came a click and a part of that shelf slid aside. Behind it was revealed a metal panel. "There we go."
"I will brook no more of this insolence!" roared Salendir, knocking his chair over as he shot to his feet. "Bare your blade, my son, if need be. These outworlders overstep any line of propriety and I want them out of my house without delay."
Belmonor in fact had clasped his hand over the hilt of his weapon but hesitated. He saw that Timothy had managed to open the compartment behind the bookshelf and taken out three black stones, round and polished. All of them could be held in his cupped hands.
"And there you go," Tim told everyone assembled. "The Claronghul as they're called. I believe these are your property, Calverdyn."
"CALVERDYN!?" bellowed Salendir, "Here?" He raised his massive fists, took two infuriated steps and stopped short as the point of a white bone blade pricked his nose.
In a deadly calm voice, Demrak Jin said only, "Stop." Her dark blue eyes flickered over warningly at Belmonor, but the son did not seem inclined to interfere.
Calverdyn held out his open hands toward Tim, saying, "If I may reclaim my stolen property, young man?"
"In a second. Let's get everything straightened out first. I recognize some of these books, Salendir. Here's a few by Dr Vitarius, there's a 1966 book by Kenneth Dred himself. Oh, here's THE GREAT ART from the early 1800s. You had your agents trading with the Melgarin to get these, right? Melgarin often go into the outside world posing as Humans. This library must have taken decades to get together."
Haley spoke up with her frequent unbearable smugness. "That's what I was telling you, Tim. I spotted a few of those titles earlier. Salendir was so used to nobody around him being able to read English that he didn't think to cover the books or at least keep us out of this room. So we knew you were a would-be Alchemist yourself."
The Mayor's face had turned dark red and his clenched fists trembled visibly. He did not speak. Beside him, Belmonor seemed stricken as he took in all the revelations of the past few minutes.
"Now, here's what's going to happen," Timothy continued. "Haley and Jin and I can't stay here for weeks while the Magistrate of this area decides the case. And, from what I've read about Signarm law, decisions tend to favor anyone with wealth or position. And the three of us don't want to chained to a labor gang while you sit here with your stolen gems."
"Not that our own courts don't have separate justice for the rich and the not-so-rich," offered Haley.
"Yeah. Anyway, we are going to escort Calverdyn here back home to his city. Don't try to get a posse organized to after us, either. He has his Targhul of Iron and Stone to protect him, and we three can handle any mob of normal Humans. You haven't even seen yet what Haley is capable of."
"Tel Shai knights..." Salendir mumbled, lowering his shoulders and bowing his head. "Your prowess is well known. I will not contest your passage from my county, nor pursue this shameful matter further."
"That's for the best," Tim said. "We'll leave the horses you loaned us at the three birch trees where Belmonor and his friend can retrieve them. To make things closer to right again, though, we need to reimburse the farmers who were injured by the Targhuls."
"I will dispatch a messenger from Melnemakus with gold to be given to them," said the Alchemist. "That is my word."
Timothy turned to where Demrak Jin had lowered her blade and stepped back a pace. Haley was standing close to him, the blue cloak pulled over her body, her face thoughtful. "I guess that covers it for now. We'll be going."
The young Belmonor spoke, "You three have come into our lives like a sudden storm and now you will be gone just as abruptly. You are a gale that scatters whatever is in its path but leaves the air fresher and cleaner with its passing."
Haley Lawson smiled sadly at the youth she knew she would not see again. "You don't know how right you are."
12/1/2022