It began with a note - ‘Need you in Aeolia. Come soonest. K.’
It came as something of a surprise to hear from Kaarl after so long, it must have been all of fifteen years and I wondered what it was that he suddenly needed me for.
We had been friends since about the age of 9. Before that I lived on a farm a few kilometres outside of Vintar but one night the place burned down taking both my parents in the ensuing collapse of the walls though not before my father had thrown me into the arms of the otherwise helpless crowd of other farm workers. After that I went to live in Vintar with Uncle Jerald (dads brother) and his new wife Aunt Clara. They ran the bakery in the village square next door to where Kaarl and his two older sisters lived with their parents who made a living by turning out the barrels and vats used for the local wine.
The last time I heard anything about him he had managed to wangle his way into the social elite of Aeolia and was busy making himself a few credits.
On the face of things it seemed a harmless sort of note but it led me a merry dance. If Kaarl had put his address on the bottom it might have helped. Or possibly not, things may well have happened as they did regardless.
I was currently holed up in Aquin. Not the most active of communities but a healthy one that at the moment nestles in a cove on Lake Deerhead. I say at the moment because the rather odd thing about Aquin is the fact that you never quite know where it is. – Aquin; a floating fishing village that drifted mostly around the northern half of the lake, which is really a small sea, and only pulled up to shore for trade but more often than not would simply send the catch by lighter and keep itself to itself.
The life was gentle and for the most part comfortable and I drifted along for a while, helping out when the nets were hauled and joining in the celebrations after a particularly good catch.
Shortly after I received the note Fate took a hand one evening during a game of cards. A dock worker seemed to think that because I was a newcomer it gave him the right to cheat. I confronted him and it led to a bout of fisticuffs that became a bit of a bar-room brawl. I was in danger of being overwhelmed by numbers when a large figure in a wraparound cloak stepped into the fray and clipped me neatly behind the ear caught me on his shoulder and carried me out onto the wharf.
I came-to as he lowered me onto the wet boards at the bottom of a lighter. He picked up the oars and deftly manoeuvred the boat away from Aquin and toward the looming forest on the northern slopes.
Now, Ayefgee is a strange old cove; in the nicest possible way, he does have some strange habits though. He doesn’t seem to live anywhere in particular but he knows everybody and always has a bed for the night regardless of where he is. He also gets about a lot quicker than anyone else and I haven’t figured out how he does it. One of his favourite tricks is putting in an appearance at meal times. Even if you decide to eat out he will be at the bar waiting. I first met him after leaving Vintar and my childhood behind to see what lay beyond the circling hills.
“Here,” he said, refresh yourself with this.” Ayefgee paused in his rowing and handed me a water bottle.
A few swallows and I felt almost whole again. “What was that in aid of?” I asked gently fingering my tender ear. “I would have been alright.”
“Perhaps. But I really don’t have the time to waste trying to persuade you to come with me and the fight provided a simple way to get you out.”
“Persuade? Why? What possible reason could there be for me to go anywhere with you?”
“There you are you see, asking questions already and we are not even out of danger yet.” He gestured with his chin over my shoulder.
I turned and saw that three men, the cheating Docker among them, were pursuing us in a lighter that skimmed across the water.
“They are going to reach the shore at about the same time as us.” I ventured. With two men rowing those things could really move. I had seen those Dockers at work and play, they knew what they were about.
“I had already worked that one out.” Ayefgee muttered as he leaned back on the oars. The sweat was showing on his brow as he put some more effort into his strokes. “It rather looks like you will get your chance to have a go at your brawling partner after all.”
I hadn’t thought of that but on balance I reckoned I could still take him. Pity about the other two though, they put the odds out of balance again. The gap between us had narrowed some more but very soon we were approaching the stony shore and as soon as we beached we abandoned the boat and scampered up the shingle to await our attackers.
They came three abreast and armed with stout clubs. Ayefgee searched through the voluminous cloth of his cloak and fetched out a walking stick with an interesting looking handle but I did not have the chance to look properly, “Take the man on the left, I will amuse the other two,” he muttered and moved away to my right. The one on the left was indeed the cheater and I looked at him as a fighter.
He was well built certainly but he had no spring in his step, he just came at me much as he had in the bar, slowly and with purpose. I started to circle just before I came within range of the club which he adjusted carefully in his hand and he smiled a wicked smile. I stopped suddenly and opened my mouth to speak watching him carefully. He stood more upright and relaxed slightly in anticipation of a speech.
With a spring I bounded past him and smashed a fist into his exposed jaw with my left hand. The pain was immense, my hand felt as though it had been dipped into boiling lead. Doubling back before he could recover I drove my foot between his legs and noted with some satisfaction that he melted like snow in spring. Slowly he fell to his knees and then on to his back letting go of the club as he hit the stones. I picked it up and helped consciousness to disappear for him by cracking it over his head. He let out a sigh and then was silent.
“I hope you haven’t killed him” Ayefgee muttered putting away his own stick. The two he had taken on lay one atop the other.
“Well I hope those two are still with us.” I retorted.
“Oh yes, they are just suffering the after effects.”
“Of what?”
“Being hit on the head with the business end of a stout walking stick of course.”
“Must be handy to be armed at all times.” I rubbed at my hand trying bring some feeling back into now the initial shock had gone.
Oh it is, let me see that.” He waved his hand impatiently so I let him look at the damaged limb. He fussed around in his cloak again this time producing a small parcel made from leaves. He unwrapped it and with one finger took a dab into the creamy substance that lay within then smeared it all over my hand and wrist. For a small amount it went a long way and at the end of it my arm felt as though it was growing so small as to not exist.
“Time to go, before they wake up. Have you checked their pockets?”
I was shocked, I was not a petty thief! “No I have not. And neither do I intend to.” I returned to the boat to retrieve my shoulder bag, so gallantly saved. When I turned back he was going through their pockets.
“How much did you lose?”
“I didn’t lose, I came out slightly ahead. He was cheating, that is how the fight started.”
“Was he? I don’t like cheats.” He picked up the last purse and checked its contents. Between the three of them they had a grand total of a thousand credits and Ayefgee poured them all back in the cheats purse and tucked it back into the mans pants. The other two he flung down beside the others. “When they discover that they have been robbed they might get a bit cross with him and delay any thought of pursuit. Let’s be going.” He stamped off towards the foothills and the shelter of the forest.
I tried to shake my arm into use but it refused to function properly and hung loosely by my side. I tucked the disembodied hand into my belt and followed.
Maps are a rarity in Aeolia and the few I had come across on my travels are indelibly printed in my head because I studied them so hard. I knew that Aquin had been moored on the western shore of Fawn Lake and that we had come ashore some distance from the nearest village of any size. There were a couple of very small settlements here and there but nothing to get excited about. The most we could hope for was a woodsman’s hut, if we were lucky.
Ayefgee picked up the pace as we headed north saying something about it being a nice day for a stroll. To me it was more of a chase, he never quite fell into step and I was always trying to catch up. The technique was effective though because when evening fell and I looked back I could see that we had been climbing quite hard and the lake was now far below us and away to our right as we skirted the western fringes.
My thoughts began to turn toward food and shelter and hoped the voiced suggestion would not go unheeded. Though whether he heard or not is a moot point. My arm began to come round and left it tingling and sensitive to the slightest touch so to try and take my mind off the ache I assessed the situation…
In the space of two days two fairly unpredictable events had thrown my shallow world apart. What the hell was I doing traipsing up the side of a mountain miles from anywhere and no prospect an early supper with a man who seemed hell-bent on walking all night?
And what was I going to do about Kaarls note? I didn't owe him anything, we had been friends as kids but had drifted apart and not seen or heard of each other for nearly fourteen years. We had not been really close. The last time I saw him was when he left Vintar to take up a job in Aeolia. A friend of his father had offered him a place as a junior clerk to handle his accounts due to failing eyesight. His father had long given up hope that Kaarl would follow in his footsteps and carry on the family business, even then Kaarl had been more prone to emptying barrels in preference to making them but he had already shown he had a propensity for numbers.
Ayefgee was his usual self. Well actually that doesn't say much, he is not your 'usual' person. I don't think he has a usual self at all really the closest I've seen is the mood he pervades as he strides ahead of me into the forest; purposeful, thoughtful, restless, quiet.
"Are we walking all night?" I asked, breathless from the enforced hard pace. I was definitely out of shape.
"No. Almost there now."
I should have guessed then that 'almost there' actually meant another three hours hard walking. When we did get 'there' it turned out to be the Woodsmans hut I had envisaged from the outset.
He was no slouch at making things relatively comfortable. A fire blazed when I returned with a skin of water and he had laid a rabbit on the table and was skinning it with dexterous strokes of a wickedly sharp knife.
After a quite delicious meal I demanded an explanation from him but in typical fashion he delayed any further talk by filling and smoking his pipe and then saying that the day had exhausted him and he needed sleep and talk could wait until morning.
It came as something of a surprise to hear from Kaarl after so long, it must have been all of fifteen years and I wondered what it was that he suddenly needed me for.
We had been friends since about the age of 9. Before that I lived on a farm a few kilometres outside of Vintar but one night the place burned down taking both my parents in the ensuing collapse of the walls though not before my father had thrown me into the arms of the otherwise helpless crowd of other farm workers. After that I went to live in Vintar with Uncle Jerald (dads brother) and his new wife Aunt Clara. They ran the bakery in the village square next door to where Kaarl and his two older sisters lived with their parents who made a living by turning out the barrels and vats used for the local wine.
The last time I heard anything about him he had managed to wangle his way into the social elite of Aeolia and was busy making himself a few credits.
On the face of things it seemed a harmless sort of note but it led me a merry dance. If Kaarl had put his address on the bottom it might have helped. Or possibly not, things may well have happened as they did regardless.
I was currently holed up in Aquin. Not the most active of communities but a healthy one that at the moment nestles in a cove on Lake Deerhead. I say at the moment because the rather odd thing about Aquin is the fact that you never quite know where it is. – Aquin; a floating fishing village that drifted mostly around the northern half of the lake, which is really a small sea, and only pulled up to shore for trade but more often than not would simply send the catch by lighter and keep itself to itself.
The life was gentle and for the most part comfortable and I drifted along for a while, helping out when the nets were hauled and joining in the celebrations after a particularly good catch.
Shortly after I received the note Fate took a hand one evening during a game of cards. A dock worker seemed to think that because I was a newcomer it gave him the right to cheat. I confronted him and it led to a bout of fisticuffs that became a bit of a bar-room brawl. I was in danger of being overwhelmed by numbers when a large figure in a wraparound cloak stepped into the fray and clipped me neatly behind the ear caught me on his shoulder and carried me out onto the wharf.
I came-to as he lowered me onto the wet boards at the bottom of a lighter. He picked up the oars and deftly manoeuvred the boat away from Aquin and toward the looming forest on the northern slopes.
Now, Ayefgee is a strange old cove; in the nicest possible way, he does have some strange habits though. He doesn’t seem to live anywhere in particular but he knows everybody and always has a bed for the night regardless of where he is. He also gets about a lot quicker than anyone else and I haven’t figured out how he does it. One of his favourite tricks is putting in an appearance at meal times. Even if you decide to eat out he will be at the bar waiting. I first met him after leaving Vintar and my childhood behind to see what lay beyond the circling hills.
“Here,” he said, refresh yourself with this.” Ayefgee paused in his rowing and handed me a water bottle.
A few swallows and I felt almost whole again. “What was that in aid of?” I asked gently fingering my tender ear. “I would have been alright.”
“Perhaps. But I really don’t have the time to waste trying to persuade you to come with me and the fight provided a simple way to get you out.”
“Persuade? Why? What possible reason could there be for me to go anywhere with you?”
“There you are you see, asking questions already and we are not even out of danger yet.” He gestured with his chin over my shoulder.
I turned and saw that three men, the cheating Docker among them, were pursuing us in a lighter that skimmed across the water.
“They are going to reach the shore at about the same time as us.” I ventured. With two men rowing those things could really move. I had seen those Dockers at work and play, they knew what they were about.
“I had already worked that one out.” Ayefgee muttered as he leaned back on the oars. The sweat was showing on his brow as he put some more effort into his strokes. “It rather looks like you will get your chance to have a go at your brawling partner after all.”
I hadn’t thought of that but on balance I reckoned I could still take him. Pity about the other two though, they put the odds out of balance again. The gap between us had narrowed some more but very soon we were approaching the stony shore and as soon as we beached we abandoned the boat and scampered up the shingle to await our attackers.
They came three abreast and armed with stout clubs. Ayefgee searched through the voluminous cloth of his cloak and fetched out a walking stick with an interesting looking handle but I did not have the chance to look properly, “Take the man on the left, I will amuse the other two,” he muttered and moved away to my right. The one on the left was indeed the cheater and I looked at him as a fighter.
He was well built certainly but he had no spring in his step, he just came at me much as he had in the bar, slowly and with purpose. I started to circle just before I came within range of the club which he adjusted carefully in his hand and he smiled a wicked smile. I stopped suddenly and opened my mouth to speak watching him carefully. He stood more upright and relaxed slightly in anticipation of a speech.
With a spring I bounded past him and smashed a fist into his exposed jaw with my left hand. The pain was immense, my hand felt as though it had been dipped into boiling lead. Doubling back before he could recover I drove my foot between his legs and noted with some satisfaction that he melted like snow in spring. Slowly he fell to his knees and then on to his back letting go of the club as he hit the stones. I picked it up and helped consciousness to disappear for him by cracking it over his head. He let out a sigh and then was silent.
“I hope you haven’t killed him” Ayefgee muttered putting away his own stick. The two he had taken on lay one atop the other.
“Well I hope those two are still with us.” I retorted.
“Oh yes, they are just suffering the after effects.”
“Of what?”
“Being hit on the head with the business end of a stout walking stick of course.”
“Must be handy to be armed at all times.” I rubbed at my hand trying bring some feeling back into now the initial shock had gone.
Oh it is, let me see that.” He waved his hand impatiently so I let him look at the damaged limb. He fussed around in his cloak again this time producing a small parcel made from leaves. He unwrapped it and with one finger took a dab into the creamy substance that lay within then smeared it all over my hand and wrist. For a small amount it went a long way and at the end of it my arm felt as though it was growing so small as to not exist.
“Time to go, before they wake up. Have you checked their pockets?”
I was shocked, I was not a petty thief! “No I have not. And neither do I intend to.” I returned to the boat to retrieve my shoulder bag, so gallantly saved. When I turned back he was going through their pockets.
“How much did you lose?”
“I didn’t lose, I came out slightly ahead. He was cheating, that is how the fight started.”
“Was he? I don’t like cheats.” He picked up the last purse and checked its contents. Between the three of them they had a grand total of a thousand credits and Ayefgee poured them all back in the cheats purse and tucked it back into the mans pants. The other two he flung down beside the others. “When they discover that they have been robbed they might get a bit cross with him and delay any thought of pursuit. Let’s be going.” He stamped off towards the foothills and the shelter of the forest.
I tried to shake my arm into use but it refused to function properly and hung loosely by my side. I tucked the disembodied hand into my belt and followed.
Maps are a rarity in Aeolia and the few I had come across on my travels are indelibly printed in my head because I studied them so hard. I knew that Aquin had been moored on the western shore of Fawn Lake and that we had come ashore some distance from the nearest village of any size. There were a couple of very small settlements here and there but nothing to get excited about. The most we could hope for was a woodsman’s hut, if we were lucky.
Ayefgee picked up the pace as we headed north saying something about it being a nice day for a stroll. To me it was more of a chase, he never quite fell into step and I was always trying to catch up. The technique was effective though because when evening fell and I looked back I could see that we had been climbing quite hard and the lake was now far below us and away to our right as we skirted the western fringes.
My thoughts began to turn toward food and shelter and hoped the voiced suggestion would not go unheeded. Though whether he heard or not is a moot point. My arm began to come round and left it tingling and sensitive to the slightest touch so to try and take my mind off the ache I assessed the situation…
In the space of two days two fairly unpredictable events had thrown my shallow world apart. What the hell was I doing traipsing up the side of a mountain miles from anywhere and no prospect an early supper with a man who seemed hell-bent on walking all night?
And what was I going to do about Kaarls note? I didn't owe him anything, we had been friends as kids but had drifted apart and not seen or heard of each other for nearly fourteen years. We had not been really close. The last time I saw him was when he left Vintar to take up a job in Aeolia. A friend of his father had offered him a place as a junior clerk to handle his accounts due to failing eyesight. His father had long given up hope that Kaarl would follow in his footsteps and carry on the family business, even then Kaarl had been more prone to emptying barrels in preference to making them but he had already shown he had a propensity for numbers.
Ayefgee was his usual self. Well actually that doesn't say much, he is not your 'usual' person. I don't think he has a usual self at all really the closest I've seen is the mood he pervades as he strides ahead of me into the forest; purposeful, thoughtful, restless, quiet.
"Are we walking all night?" I asked, breathless from the enforced hard pace. I was definitely out of shape.
"No. Almost there now."
I should have guessed then that 'almost there' actually meant another three hours hard walking. When we did get 'there' it turned out to be the Woodsmans hut I had envisaged from the outset.
He was no slouch at making things relatively comfortable. A fire blazed when I returned with a skin of water and he had laid a rabbit on the table and was skinning it with dexterous strokes of a wickedly sharp knife.
After a quite delicious meal I demanded an explanation from him but in typical fashion he delayed any further talk by filling and smoking his pipe and then saying that the day had exhausted him and he needed sleep and talk could wait until morning.
