Part IV:The Badger, the Fairy and the Rooster
28th of Slate, 374“Oh, wake up now, will you?”
It was the voice of Amane and her fluttering around his head that woke Oko up. He sat up, yawned and rubbed his eyes. There was hardly any light coming in from outside, but judging by the little there was, it was dawn. And not a good one at that: he could hear the pattering of rain on the roof and walls of the cottage.
Grumbling and snarling at the pesky fairy, he began to pull on his trousers and tunic. Fine day, indeed. Today was supposed to be the day when he'd finally do what he had intended to do for a long time: leave the safety and familiarity of the woodlands of the Hill of Sweetness, heading off to the larger world to see if the stories Iden told were true.
“You better start moving that squat, hairy frame of yours before I come and annoy you,” Amane taunted the badger man as she whirled around his head, easily dodging his sloppy attempts to slap her with his paw.
“You couldn't annoy me more, Amane,” Oko the badger man grumbled. He turned his attention away from the golden haired fairy to a rooster perched next to the ladder leading to the sleeping loft. “Fine morning we're having Mister Goden Arrowhatchet, aren't we, eh?” He asked the rooster who cocked his head and clucked inquisitively. Goden's response slightly cheered Oko, like it almost always did. “Thought so. Come now, we have some work to do before we leave.”
Dáktårem, Treethimbles, was a small farmstead in the Hill of Sweetness, a vast magical area in the middle of the Plain of Corridors. It was within the realms claimed by the tyrannical Unaging King, Såkzul Cudgeltapers of Ustuth Ïdath. Yet, the sorceror-king had not established hold over the mirthful lands where fairy and faun and magical beast lived in peace, though several hillocks were slowly encroaching on the blessed land.
While none dared openly to oppose the king, many made choices in their lives to get far from his grip (as we know from the founders of Waterlures). Such was the case with Treethimbles: a dwarf merchant named Thîkut Goodcrypts and her husband Urist Lanceslings chose to leave the hillocks of Treatytraded and enter the magical woodlands.
They were somewhat familiar with the Hill of Sweetness, since Treatytraded was one of the encroaching hillocks. And once they had found a nice spot next to a small waterfall at the confluence of Pastbristle and Tonefleck, several badger people, who were curious of the dwarves, offered to help them build houses.
Once the farmstead was completed -- not so long ago -- the badger folk wished to stay with the dwarves (who now numbered five, for three others had joined their ranks). After holding council, the dwarves accepted the petition of the animal people.
Not long after, Oko and Amame arrived at Treethimbles. They had heard from other fey creatures of the forest that a small band of dwarves had entered the woods.
And from the dwarves they had heard much of the larger world. It seemed like a vast and exciting place, and both were thrilled of the thought of traveling to distant lands.
(“But what about the rooster, Goden? How'd he join the two?” I hear you ask. Well, Goden was just a normal rooster from a not-so-normal farmstead before Oko's arrival. You see, when the badger man saw the odd bird, he adopted it as his own, and the dwarves seeing how the two got along, could not find it in them to deny such friendship -- one could always head to Treatytraded and trade for a new cock if need be.)
Oko climbed down from the loft and looked out of the door. Indeed, it was raining, but not as much as he had first thought by the sound of it.
Amane, however, was very displeased as she darted out and made a short dance in the air, “Oooh! It's raining on me! My wings and hair are all wet! It makes me so grouchy!”
“Well come inside then,” Oko laughed at the fairy, shaking his head. Amane was a pitiful sight: lacy wings all dripping water and her long golden locks glued to her face, with her hooked nose sticking out from between them. “It's dry in here. Help me with cooking, will you?”
Oko took some hammerhead shark intestines, fisher berries and goat cheese from the communal food stores, preparing well-made sausages from them. He was surprised and very much satisfied by it, for he didn't think that he was much of cook (or, in fact, he didn't think he was particularly good in anything). Even Amane enjoyed the smell of the freshly made food.
“Hurry up, hurry up! Now take it to the others so we may be off,” Amane said impatiently as she sat on a barrel, waving her tiny legs restlessly. “The sooner we get away from all these folk and this tangled greenery, the better.”
“There's still one more thing I promised to do,” Oko said as he stepped out into the rain.
He quickly made his way through the rain to the building next to the cottage. It was where most of the indoor work of the farm were done: carpentry, threshing, weaving, crafting and most importantly, if you asked the dwarves, brewing.
Up the stairs he went to a platform which housed a small workshop with all sorts of craftsman's tools. He went to the chest, rummaged through it and headed to the table with parchment and scroll rollers in hand.
So Oko set to work as Amane buzzed around, once in a while annoying the badger man, but fortunately mostly petting Goden and telling the rooster how amazing he was.
The rain had stopped when Oko finished his work and made his way to the roundhouse where Iden lived. The sky was clear and the rays of the sun filtered through the spring leaves in a greenish yellow hue, but the air was cold and some shallow ponds had a thin sheet of ice.
Slightly shivering, Oko pulled Ethírzolak -- his sheep wool hood -- on tighter as he stepped into the cold and across the field of grass to the door of the house.
Up the stairs he went to Iden's room, where the dwarf with sparse, slightly graying burnt umber hair was still waking up. The dwarf blinked his eyes to shake off the remnants of sleep and tried to quickly brush his long beard with his fingers.
“Good morning, Iden,” Oko said as he offered a sausage to the dwarf. “Here's breakfast.”
“Oh, how kind of you! Thank you,” Iden smiled, despite having a general sad mood to him. “May Ôsed be praised to have the likes of you around me.”
“Here, I just finished these for you,” Oko replied sticking the two scrolls he had made at Iden. “You can get right to work next time you need to write something important down.”
After a rather long and informative discussion with Iden about the journey ahead of Oko, the badger man went to say goodbyes to the rest of the dwarves (and offering them some sausages). Finally when that was done, the three were ready to set off.
Walking down the slope and following the stream Pastbristle, they ran into some of the other badger folk living in Treethimbles. They tried to persuade Oko and Amane to stay, saying that nothing good certainly lay outside the safety of the Hill of Sweetness.
Perhaps it was true, for Iden had told many a horrifying (but intriguing and exciting) story from the north. One thing had particularly stuck in the mind of Oko: a dark tower named Finderblunts from where evil sorcerors had waged a terrible war against the living with armies of dead. The very thought of such an abomination against the very nature of Icemì made Oko and Amane shiver, despite them both being brave souls (at least if you asked them).
But, nevertheless, the decision was made: Oko, Amane and Goden would explore the world.
First they would head west until the river turned its course south. From there they should look to the northwest and make their way between the northernmost peaks of the Russet Points and the small mountains of the Solitary Teeth. It would eventually lead them to a river and following it downstream they would come to a place called Lonecanyons.
It would be their first stop on the way a village named Waterlures.
For Iden had given a task to the badger man: he had recently finished an essay titled 'The Book of Merriment', and he wanted it to be taken to the village. And not anywhere in the village, but to
“a magnificent palace, a treasury, a trove of unimaginable wealth: the House of Knowledge.” It was a place Iden had visited, and even lived in. The tales he had told of the place -- not only the palace, but the whole village -- was something Oko could hardly believe. Amana was certain it was an exaggeration, no one could escape the Unaging King so openly.
“That's why you dwarven lot came into our lands in the first place,” she had said.
In a few days they would find out if the tales were true.
Into the wilds they headed, walking through the hilly region carpeted with knot grass, with persimmon trees in bloom among the feather trees with their soft downs rustling in the breeze.
They followed the directions of Iden, turning northwest at the rivers bend and heading for the peaks. It was not such a long trek before the beautiful peaks of the Russet Points loomed in the horizon.
Gray clouds had gathered in the sky and rain fell down when they reached the gap between the mountain ranges. Oko estimated the sun to be high in the western sky behind the clouds, but it was rather hard to tell. Soon they would have to find a place to make camp, and preferably not under the open sky for Amana's complaints were getting on Oko's nerves.
They came to a stream, which they were unsure of whether it was the one that led to Lonecanyons or not. After a short discussion, Oko and Amane decided it had to be the stream, for Goden began following it on his own.
The sky had cleared and the sun was in the western sky, slowly making its descent towards the horizon. As Oko and Amana were thinking of setting camp under one of the the highwoods with a thick canopy, they heard curious voices, which had a rhythmic whistling tone to them.
They headed to investigate through the brush, and soon enough, they saw a bunch of cardinal folk ahead of them telling jokes and laughing.
“Good evening madame,” Oko addressed a plump cardinal woman. “How has your day been, if I may be so bold to ask?” He tried to be as polite and as refined as possible, for he had taken a liking to eloquent speech during the short time he had stayed with the dwarves.
“Hmpf! All day long arguing, just constant arguing,” the cardinal woman sputtered out. “So terrible, so terrible. It makes me so bitterrrr,” her last word ending in a short, melodic trill. Oko found it pleasing to the ear. Amana not so much, and if the cardinal folk would have paid attention to the fairy, they would have seen her looking at them with her nose turned up and arms crossed in front of her breast.
“I'm sorry to hear that,” Oko said.
He then tried to ask more about the cardinal folks' lives in the area and if they possibly knew of such places as Lonecanyons or Waterlures, but they were hardly of any help and didn't seem to know where the stream led, and besides they did not live here and that the badger man should leave them alone (Amane agreed on this very much).
So, Oko gave up trying to make friends with the winged ones.
As they continued, following the stream and looking for shelter at the same time, Amane, who once in a while flew above the treetops, exclaimed that she saw in the distance what appeared to be the roofs of some structures next to a ravine.
“It fits Iden's description, mighty well,” she said to Oko.
Nightfall was still some ways off, so they decided to push it, and try to make it there before dark.
The sun was sinking in the western horizon and the clear sky was painted an orangish hue. The breeze from the east was getting colder as night drew closer, and one could see their breath in the air.
Ahead of the three rose a walled structure of white stone, complete with fortifications and gatehouses. From behind the walls they saw a taller building rise, which they assumed was the keep of the settlement. Neither Oko nor Amana had ever seen such a sight, and the architecture struck them with awe.
“Oh look, Amane,” Oko said to the fairy as he eyed the sturdy walls jaw agape. “Can you imagine such a place exists?”
“Well, now I can,” she replied, flying a little bit higher to get a better view. “But I do not understand the purpose of those walls. Are they supposed to stop someone? Why, I could just easily fly over them!”
“Not everyone can fly, Amane,” the badger man chuckled. “Come let's go inside and find the lord. Iden said we should talk to him first.”
So they walked towards the eastern gatehouse, across the field of grass and flowers with logs of felled trees here and there, waiting to be put to use.
“Halt! Who goes there?” A scratchy voice called from above as the travelers entered the courtyard.
Oko turned to look up and saw on the ramparts a dwarf draped in a toga and a cloak. A hood was pulled onto her head.
“Greetings, lady dwarf,” Oko replied and waved a hand towards his companions. “I am Oko Laborpocket and these are my friends, Amane Groveautumns and Goden Arrowhatchet.”
“Well hello then, badger man,” the dwarf said back, raising an eyebrow as she looked curiously at the three. “My name is Mafol Pagespreads. What is your business at Lonecanyons at this time of the day?”
“Forgive us for our late arrival. We come from the Hill of Sweetness, sent by Iden Ringedflax who told us to seek counsel of the local lord.” Oko bowed his head, for he thought it was something one was supposed to do in these kinds of situations.
“Ah, that'd be lord Thob then, ruler of the Joyous Canyon. Quite the flatterer, he is,” Mafol said to the badger man, appearing much more relaxed. “Just head over the courtyard into the keep there. He'll be in the main hall unless he's already retired to his quarters upstairs.”
“Thank you, my lady,” Oko bowed once more and turned to walk over to the keep with Amane flying next to his ear, whispering nasty things about the appearance of the dwarf.
Oko had hardly time to admire the grand hall he entered as a dwarf dressed in a billowing silk shirt and open, flowing leather robe approached the three. He was bald and with a long dark brown beard and braided sideburns.
“A badger, a fairy and a rooster,” the dwarf said, eyeing them curiously with his slightly sunken aquamarine eyes as he petted Goden. “Now I've seen it all. Ah, but where are my manners? My name is Thob Praisedglazes and I am lord of the Joyous Canyon. Who have I the honor of addressing, if I may ask?”
“My name is Oko Laborpocket and this is--”
“I am Amane Groveautumns,” Amane interrupted the badger man. “And I am very capable of introducing myself, thank you, and enough of this talking of this and that. Let's get straight to the point: we need a place to stay for the night and directions to a place called Waterlures.”
“Ah, I see,” the lord smiled. “Not much of the talkative type then, eh? Do not worry, my friends, you will have a roof over your head for the night, or as long as need be. But, come now, first we must eat, for certainly you must be famished after a day on the road? And in the morrow after a good night's rest and with full belly, I will tell you about Waterlures.”
A view of Treethimbles.
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Yeah, took quite a bit with all the adventurer forts, but now we're back playing.
This update came out much longer than intended as I just began to write and ramble about all kinds of "unimportant" stuff, like usual. I'll try to keep the next ones a bit less lengthy so that these side ventures don't take too much time, but we'll see. If I feel like it's too long, then I'll just skip a couple ideas I have.
Maybe a day or two before the next update (unless something unexpected comes up).
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Topic: Waterlures - A Capybara Man Fortress & Adventure [DF 0.47.05] (Read 68476 times)