The Eighth Warden Bk. 05 Ch. 05-06

Conley held his hands out to his sides. "I've spent most of my life in the free lands. There's a time and place for Pallisur's scripture, but most of the time, my duty is to see that members of the community support each other. And there's a temple here that's not being used."

"I'm not giving you a temple that belongs to the Order of Allosur," Corec said.

"There aren't any Allosurite priests here."

Perhaps Conley had a point. Corec had no liking for the priesthood, but the man had acquitted himself well during the battle with the dragon, and it couldn't hurt to have another healer nearby.

"I'll make a deal with you, since they abandoned the place. You can manage the temple as long as you hold it open for all of the orders. Healing takes priority over anything else, and I'm sure Treya and Bobo will help with that, but they can't be spending their time taking care of the building, so that falls to you. You may give services one day a week, but leave the other days for the other orders. If the followers of Demesis want to hold services for themselves, give them a day of the week, even if there aren't any priestesses here."

Conley looked reluctant, but eventually gave a curt nod. "All right, fine, I can do that."

"And if the Order of Allosur shows up wanting their temple back, you'll have to make other arrangements, so you may want to start saving your coin."

#

Though small, the cottage was constructed of sturdy clay brick. The shake roof had collapsed inward, but when Nedley had cleaned out the debris, he'd discovered the flooring was made from slate tiles, still in good condition. Many of the other homes in the village had wooden floors, and the new residents would be stuck waiting for more cut lumber to arrive before they could replace floorboards damaged by exposure to the weather.

After the second caravan of settlers had reached the keep, fewer than half the homes in the village had been left unclaimed, and most of those would have to be torn down and rebuilt. The cottage had been overlooked not only because of its size but also because it was around back of the fortress, near the warehouses. The new settlers seemed to feel that the most desirable homes were those closest to the fortress's gatehouse, even if they required extra work to be livable again.

"What do you think?" Nedley asked.

Corec and Boktar shared a glance.

"You're sure you want to live here rather than in the barracks?" the dwarven man asked. "You'd have to cook for yourself, and lay in your own supplies."

"Well, I... umm... if I wanted to..." Nedley could feel himself blushing. "I mean, if I were to... find a girl..." He trailed off.

Corec chuckled. "Been walking out with the refugees' daughters, have you?"

"There... umm... there was a girl at the Three Orders."

Corec raised his eyebrows. "A concubine?"

"I don't know."

"Ned, have you actually talked to this girl?" Boktar asked. "Even for a concubine, it's a bit soon to be thinking about a house if you haven't spoken to her yet."

"I did talk to her! Once, for a little bit. Her name is Kimi. She's one of the girls who was helping Katrin teach the refugee children to read."

"Then wouldn't Katrin know if she was a concubine? Or Treya?"

"I didn't ask them," Nedley admitted, looking down.

Corec shook his head. "If you like this girl, you're going to have to admit it. But do you even know anything about her? Do the two of you have anything in common?"

Nedley thought back to their conversation. "She likes horses."

"That's all you know? Ned..."

"I wanted to talk to her more, but we had to leave town," Nedley explained.

The two older men exchanged another look.

"Well," Boktar said, "as Marshal, it's my duty to see that the soldiers and stables are kept well supplied... and since we don't have a steward yet, I'd better handle the keep as well. The traders won't start coming by for a while, so we're going to need another supply caravan. We'll have to put one of our best men on it."

"Who?"

Corec snickered. "You, Ned."

Boktar nodded. "But don't waste time driving the wagons back to town. Have Leena take you, and you can buy new wagons and mules while you're there. We'll need extras for the mines anyway. I'll work up a list of supplies, and while I'm doing that, you should go around to all the villagers and find out what they need, and what they're willing to pay a fair price for. That shopkeeper, Ezra, can help with that, and he'll have his own list for you." Ezra was one of the refugees who'd accompanied the caravan--he'd owned a general store in Springwater until it had burned down. Most of his inventory had burned as well, except for what he'd managed to fit in his wagon when he'd first evacuated.

"You want me to go by myself?" Nedley asked. He'd never been given that much responsibility before.

"Yes, but while you're there, you can hire more soldiers, since it seems like we'll need them. That'll give you some protection on the return trip. We've got a list of men from the expedition we'd be willing to take back. They're not as experienced as the ones we kept on, but the training we gave them will be more than most folks in Four Roads have had. It should take you a week or more to make all the arrangements, so that'll give you plenty of time to talk to the girl."

"What should I say to her?" Nedley asked.

Boktar barked a laugh. "You're asking the wrong man," he said, glancing at Corec, who shrugged.

"I'm hardly an expert," Corec said. "Katrin's the first girl I walked out with for real. Mama Wenna's advice was to just say what you want to say, tell the truth, and don't spend the whole time talking about yourself."

Nedley nodded. That sounded easy enough. But then why did his stomach feel like an open pit when he thought about seeing Kimi again?

#

The guards at the Council Hall in Snow Crown ushered Sarette into the inner chamber. They hadn't kept her waiting for long--she'd chosen a time the Council of Elders would be in session.

Once inside, she spoke up before the councilors could greet her. "Warden Corec sends his regards," she said. "And a gift." She laid out the spear on the half-circle table behind which they sat. "He can't return the sword from Tir Navis because of the binding spell, but he hopes you'll consider this to be an adequate replacement. It's an enchanted staff-spear crafted by the people who came before. We found it in the abandoned city of Tir Yadar."

"Then your search was successful?" Head Magister Inessa asked.

"Yes, Magister--across the sea in Cordaea. Lady Ellerie sent along some notes for you."

"I look forward to reading them."

Rurik, First Seat of the Council, spoke from his spot at the center of the table. "Welcome home, Lieutenant. It's good to have you back."

"It's only temporary, sir, and please just call me Sarette. I hereby resign my commission. I hope that will make the trial easier."

"Let's not be hasty, Lieutenant," Lesander said. As the Second Seat, he represented the High Guard on the Council. "We took statements from the human villagers you saved, and they corroborated your story. I've discussed the matter with the generals, and we'd be willing to... overlook the transgression this one time." It seemed Lesander was still trying to figure out a way to get a fully trained stormrunner into the High Guard.

"My mind is made up, Councilor," Sarette told him. "I have responsibilities elsewhere."

"But the warden said you'd be able to return to Snow Crown," Inessa said.

Sarette nodded. "In time, yes, but for now, Corec has claimed a small region in the free lands, east of the hillfolk and south of a town called Four Roads. We intend to reopen the old trade roads in the area. One of them leads southwest from Tyrsall to Matagor and southern Larso. The other goes from the plains down through the free lands to Terevas and Stone Home. By avoiding the Larso and Circle Bay routes, you'll be able to save weeks of time on any shipments between Snow Crown and the southwest kingdoms."

"I hardly think that's worth the loss of a stormrunner," Lesander said. "Human traders will profit from those routes, not us."

Another man spoke up. "On the contrary, we buy goods from those traders and sell our own goods to them. Shorter and cheaper trade routes benefit everyone, and this will allow us to renegotiate our current agreements. But I'm familiar with the area--I thought those roads were abandoned because of a dragon."

Judging by where he was sitting, that had to be Kirill, Eighth Seat of the Council and head of the merchants' guild.

"We killed the dragon," Sarette said. "It was terrorizing the people for hundreds of miles around, and we couldn't let it continue."

The councilors exchanged looks.

"You killed a dragon?" Rurik asked.

"Warden Corec commanded the expedition. As one of his bondmates, I took part in the battle."

"That must be quite the story."

"My uncle asked me to invite you all to a gathering at his lodge tomorrow evening to hear it." Sarette had tried to get out of that, but Vartus insisted that a warden and a stormrunner defeating a dragon was newsworthy enough to deserve a formal retelling.