Fantasy
Riding to Dodberry
The Adventures of Bella the Paladin #19
As the sun rose Aztai quickly wrote a letter to her mother explaining what happened, then we dressed and mounted our ponies. Maeve and Neve wanted to travel with Aztai and I to meet the dwarves, while the remaining elves turned north towards the Elven Vale. We left Caedber and Aedber the dwarves to follow behind, as they were on foot, but they also wrote letters of passage to enable us to get past guards as quickly as possible.
Aztai plagued Maeve with questions about druiding, as though she had actually slept throughout a lifetime of training by her mother. But now for the first time she had tasted a little of druidic power. I knew that the druids were the devotees of the old gods of the elves, and their festivals and feasts were organised and arranged by them, but I knew little of their magic.
“Each of the First Ones will have one, or several gifts, to grant a druid.”
“Like Bella with Ainyah?”
“Yes, Paladins are like specialised druids, in a way, but really all druids specialise. Some become warriors, others healers, and yet others will try many things.”
“Perhaps Aztai is a shaman, like her father,” I said. “They call on the spirits of the land and of the dead to aid them in their magic. I met a few of those in the mountains of my homeland.”
“So what does a mage do?” asked Neve.
“Mostly get other people to do the work, in my experience,” I said.
We soon came to the Dorsan mountains, where Angus showed his paces to the horses born on the steppe. The road came to a pass through a narrow but easily passable ravine, where a small force of dwarf warriors protected the way. They quickly read Caedber’s letter and waved us through, staring us with open mouths at what they read, as the fall of Aktala.
“Truly?” they always asked, and Aztai told them all about it.
The pass opened to a mountain meadow standing below a small dwarvish mountain fortress, but the meadow was covered with tents and dwarves fully armed and armoured. Many bearded faces turned to us in amazement as we four warrior maidens trotted into their midst. I asked for this mage, Geirmund, and was directed towards the fortress. But as we approached the fortress, a rather grand-looking dwarf with a white beard strode out of a large tent, obviously the pavilion of their leader, with a couple of exceptionally tough-looking dwarves on his flank..
“Can I be helping ye, ladies?” he shouted.
“We are looking for Geirmund, the mage,” I replied,
“Oh I’ll just be the king. Bohun will be my name. Geirmund is back home in Dodberry, a-getting ready for his dramatic entry when we be making our move upon those evil bastards in Aktala.”
“Ah!” I said. “About that…”
I started telling King Bohun all about our adventures with the Ancient Evil of Aktala. His mouth gaped wider and wider, then he closed it with a snap.
“I need a drink,” he said, and he stomped back towards his tent. “Ye’d better be a-coming and saying it all over again so I can be a-taking it all in properly.” He sat back in a huge oak chair and quaffed ale as we all recounted the story in greater detail.
“Those buggers been a-pestering us for years, with attacks at Bareen and Dodberry, the towns nearest to the mountains, but they also used those portals to be abducting people from the other settlements in the region. Now they are done for, eh? You’d better be a-getting to Dodberry and tell Geirmund, ye should make it by nightfall. He’ll make better sense of it than me, I’ll wager.”
“Oh I’m sure he will magesplain it all to us,” I said. He looked a little confused at first.
“Oh, I get it,” he said as his face cleared. “Yes, he does tend to be explaining everything to ye even if ye know. Heh, quite funny that. Well, ye’d better get and be seeing him. And while ye’re at it, ask him what I should be doing with this army I have put together now! I am sure he will be able to magesplain it all to us!”
So once more we mounted our tired ponies and headed off to meet the mage. Aztai, Maeve, Neve, and I travelled down from the mountains and down towards a vast lake in the distance. This time we had a small escort to help us find our way, of two young humans who rode and were equipped as though they were from the steppe, and a halfling. Although it was actually winter now the south-facing slopes were balmy and warm, the land dotted with fields growing wine.
Apparently the region was populated by a mix of peoples, with the dwarves mostly inhabiting the mountains, and living in the towns of the plain south of the mountains, but they were joined by humans, halflings, gnomes, orcs, and even the occasional elf. Apparently Dodberry, where the mage Geirmund lived, was a very diverse community, and it was the halfling’s home.
Sebastian was the halfling’s name, and he was lithe and strong with a jaunty hat, his bare arms were covered with tattoos, something unknown amongst the halflings in my homeland in the Western Isles.
“Do all the halflings around here have tattoos?” I asked.
“No! Those are Traveller’s marks. There are a lot of us in Dodberry, it’s our winter home when we aren’t traveling the southlands. It’s how we know each other, makes us our own people no matter what race we are. There are elves, gnomes, humans, all sorts.” I looked at the two humans and they bared their breast or pulled up a sleeve to show the same animal totems etched into their skin.
“What do you do in the southlands.”
“Oh just go from town to town. We mend stuff, have a bit of a circus, have music and dancing, read palms, that sort of thing.”
“I guess there’s no dancing when you are in your winter home,” I asked.
“Oh yes! In fact we will have a big festival after the Solstice! It’s our favourite one because we are all home. Perhaps you can come to it? You would be very welcome after what you did at Aktala.”
“Oh! You know about that?”
“It was all over the dwarf king’s camp! We all owe you a great deal, there were a number of attacks on Dodberry and other towns.”
Dodberry was on the large lake and was surrounded by ancient earthworks that had been updated in places. Lights were being lit as we entered through the gate of the town. As evidenced by the various sizes of the houses, there was indeed a very diverse population. At the centre a very tall and narrow tower seemed to be our destination, and there we dismounted, and were ushered in by Sebastian.
High in the tower sat Geirmund the mage, a dwarf with an exceptional white and long beard. He was poring over a map with two humans, a woman and a bearded man. Sebastian was an amusing and rather cheeky little fellow, and took great pleasure in bursting into their presence, to announce that Bella the Knight Paladin, the Slayer of the Ancient Evil of Aktala, had arrived. I think the halfling was quite pleased with the stunned response. After a while they stopped catching flies and got us to fill in the details, the mage in particular wanting it all explained in detail. The woman, whose name was Namira, her dark hair shot with grey, also plied us with questions, but seemed more concerned with our well-being, as it was she that sent Sebastian off to the bakery to get us food. The human man, introduced as Yusuf, also once dark-haired but now mostly grey, just beamed at us with his hands on his hips. He seemed to beam especially at me, which was slightly irksome.
“So, I hope you will stay at Dodberry, at least for a few days,” said Geirmund at last. “You have saved us from a nasty war, so we would like to show our appreciation.” I don’t trust mages. They keep their objectives too well hidden, but from Namira I only sensed kindness, while Aztai was not waiting for my response.
“Oh yes please!” she responded. “I’d love to see your Solstice festival!”
“Yes! Do stay!” said Namira. “It would be lovely to have visitors!”
“You should have the house by the West Gate,” Yusuf finally spoke. “Sebastian, go and get the fire on, get it aired out.” Sebastian darted off. “And tell Anastasia to find new mattresses and bedding for them!” The man called after the halfling. He then turned to us. “Two of you will have to share a bed, the other two can be in the loft. It will be nice and warm up there.”
Now I understood. There had been something about him since I came into the room, but now hearing his accent, and seeing his eyes flit between Aztai and I when he mentioned “two of us sharing a bed” it all made sense.
“You fecking bastard!” I said to him. This rather astonished everyone else in the room, but he just laughed. “You’re a fecking Paladin.”
“Ah! You worked it out did you? Was it that you could discern my nobility and goodness?”
“Yeah, you tell yourself that,” I said.
“Ah, yes, sorry,” said Geirmund. “I should probably have mentioned that Yusuf is a Paladin and Namira is a Druid. We were actually planning an incursion into Aktala when you arrived.”
“But that’s perfect!” said Aztai. “If we stay here you can learn more about paladining and I can learn more about druiding!” I was about to say something I might regret, but Yusuf managed to speak first.
“I think a Knight Paladin capable of destroying the Ancient Evil of Aktala needs no training from me, I’m afraid. But how about you stay as long as you like just to have a nice time?”
Namira took the four of us in hand for the rest of the evening. There was a delightful small bath house across the road from Geirmund’s tower, and there we bathed away our travels and were given fresh comfortable clothes. We were taken past the bakery, which was in fact Namira’s own bakery, down to the Port Gate, where we passed through to watch the Moon shining on the still waters of the vast lake. It was large enough that I was disappointed it did not smell like the sea. But Namira had got some sweet buns for us to eat under strange trees by the waterside.
In the paved triangle where the three main roads from each gate met in front of Geirmund’s tower and the bathhouse, people were making music, singing, and dancing. There we sat for a while on the grass under an oak tree and watched, too tired to participate. Finally Namira took us along the road through the lamp-lit settlement towards the East Gate, neither quite towards the land nor towards the Port, but simply towards the East. It felt like the quietest part of the town.
We came to what was one of the larger of the cottages, built for humans or at least elves, although still a small one-room cottage. There was a small stable and paddock, where the horses had all been looked after and put to bed. It suited us nicely. The fire had indeed been blazing for some time, and all the shutters were open. It really felt like home.
Namira shooed Sebastian out with our thanks, and guided Maeve and Neve to the ladder to the loft, for “the hero of Aktala” in Namira’s words should get the bed.
Not soon enough Aztai and I snuggled in the fresh bed like two turtle doves cooing with happiness. We kissed lovingly, finally alone to enjoy each other, eager to make love where no dwarf would be watching us. But in fact we were both too tired and fell asleep in each other’s arms.
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