Page 50 of Valdemar

And behind them, a procession of laden carts carrying a motley assortment of goods. Well . . . that’s odd. :Ardatha, do you know why they are here?:

:I try not to read minds without permission. It’s rude, and in many cases, unethical. Enemies . . . certainly, but under normal circumstances, no. But I can tell you that there are no enemies at our gate at this time.:

The woman in the front of the procession, middle-aged, with her hair tucked up into an ocher scarf twisted around her head, brightened and then reddened as soon as she saw the King and Queen. Evidently she hadn’t expected Kordas himself to come greet her group, and she was, for a moment, tongue-tied.

From the look of her, she was some sort of craftswoman, though what craft, he could not say. She had very strong hands, but no calluses that he could see. The fact that at the moment virtually everyone in Haven wore roughly the same kind of clothing—with variations on ornamentation and embroidery as time and skill permitted—made it a bit difficult to tell at a glance what someone’s profession was. And the modest bands of tablet-work trim on her tunic and skirt didn’t give him any clues.

“Greetings, my friends,” Kordas said, as she tried to recover, and the rest of her party made bows, curtsies, or whatever their bodies would provide. “May I ask what has brought you here?” He pitched his voice so as to sound a bit apologetic. “I’m very sorry, but if you have a grievance, you’ll need to first take it to-—”

“Oh, King!” she exclaimed, interrupting him, still red. “Not a grievance! We are here about your hero Heralds!”

Bringing wagons loaded with what appears to be furniture? This is interesting.

He nodded to indicate she should continue.

“We heard about yesterday’s rescue,” she said, growing more confident. “We crafters had meetings about it last night, all over Haven. And askin’ the guards, they allowed as how the Heralds was in need of some things we can rightly supply. I’m the leader of the Sempstress and Tailors’ Guild, and we can whip up them uniforms you wanted—not overnight but right quick, something basic in two, three days at the most. Weavers Guild will supply the fabric if you don’t have it on hand. Tanners got loads of cured white pigskin; splits for boots and uniform tunics and whole hides for saddles and tack. All them magic pigs you been killin’ got a surplus built up. We tanned it, ’cause waste not want not, but some folks are chary of havin’ leather from a magical beastie. Like they think the thing’s going to haunt their dreams.”

Kordas laughed. “If that were true, none of us would be resting easy after our pork feasts, now, would we?”

The woman flushed, and smiled, pointing around as she explained further. “True that! Well. Cobblers’ll make the boots, we can make the tunics, shirts, trews—three changes each for summer, and we’ll bring winter stuff later. Saddlemakers’ll fit saddles and make bridles; that’ll take longer, but the first ones will be done in about two weeks if the Companions can wear a standard design. Bein’ as the Companions are all smart, the bridles will mainly be for show, with no bits or the like. We got a bunch of furniture the joinery ’prentices make to prove what they know. Every year what don’t get bought gets broke up for firewood, and that’s a damned shame. It’s solid, just maybe not pretty. For right now, weavers brought up more stuff for curtains, sheets, an’ towels, an’ we got blankets too. Potters and metalworkers sent their goods so the Heralds got pots, plates, cups—well, I’m sure you’re taking my meaning. We heard your Heralds are livin’ sparse right now, so we’re here to fit ’em up like new-married couples! Plus do up your uniforms and tack. There’s plenty of hands to help, and the work’ll go fast. Seems to us, they’re gonna earn it all right quick if yesterday is anything to go by.”

She waited, expectantly. Kordas was astonished. Actually, he was more than astonished. He had thought that establishing the Heralds was going to be an uphill battle, even with the help of the budding Kingdom’s religious population, but yesterday’s action seemed to have done everything he could have wanted and more. At least in Haven. But word will spread out to the farms and villages very quickly once it’s all over Haven. At least this time, it will be good news!

The woman looked from him to the gate guards and back again. Finally one of the guards on the gate ventured to speak. “Shall we let them in, Sire?”

:Ardatha?:

:Definitely.:

“Then my guards will guide you to where the Heralds are setting up their quarters, and you have my endless gratitude,” he said, picking out three guards with a look and a nod.

“We’ll take measurements, and bring the new uniforms in—how many are there?” she asked.

“Sixteen, not counting Her Majesty and me.”

She chuckled, more certain of herself now. “I misdoubt you an’ the Queen be needin’ uniforms from us,” she said, and waved to the group. “No longer than half a sennight. Saddlers will come up in the next couple marks to measure the Companions, and the ’prentices are excited to meet the Heralds. Come on, lads and lasses. Let’s get our heroes fitted up proper!”

The entire Council stared in astonishment as the parade went past at a brisk walk, some of the wagons laden with so much furniture it seemed likely the lot was going to fall over at any moment.

“Well. That should ease your monetary concerns, Lord Exchequer. Let’s get back to the Council Chamber,” Kordas ordered, once the procession had passed. “Among other things, I want to know how quickly we can get a bridge up, and why the ferry failed in the first place.”

“Oh,” snorted Koto. “I already know that. Bad construction. Amateur work. The children didn’t want to walk that far, and someone who didn’t know better rigged up that ‘ferry’. Must have thought that a boat and a rope were all that was needed. Wrong kind of rope—too soft. Both ends were fraying and wearing through, but no one inspected it because it was new. We’re just lucky both ends didn’t snap at the same time.”

Luck? Or more than luck?

:Sometimes it’s just luck,:Ardatha said. :Well, and there were probably some differences in how the ropes were anchored at either side.:

:Should I direct them to find a way for the children to get to a school without a long walk—never mind. Restil will do it.:Restil had been proving himself more than competent before the arrival of the Companions, and that was freeing Kordas to take care of other things. :Between Restil and Isla, I only have half the urgent tasks I had before!: He chuckled to himself. Maybe being King wasn’t going to be so bad after all.

• • •

The Companions warned the Heralds that a virtual caravan of gifts in the form of household goods was coming, and Restil got everyone lined up in front of their quarters to receive the gift givers in proper style. When all the little speeches had been made, and the proper grateful responses given, the wagons were unloaded in front of their quarters, and everyone waited, so the Heralds could negotiate preferences with each other and everyone got a fair share. There was a surprising number of simple, functional pieces of furniture, all made to the same patterns: chairs, stools, wardrobes, chests, some beds (a good thing because not everyone had actual beds yet), pantries and tables. Quite a lot of it, which surprised him a bit, because he would have thought that people would leap to claim even apprentice work at this point. And most of it was mortise-and-tenon joinery, or peg joinery, so if something had to be taken apart to get it inside or up the stairs, it would be easy to put together again. The rest was all dovetail joints, of varying quality. It appeared to be sound work, though, which made sense; anything badly made would have been turned into kindling and the apprentice scolded. Still . . . it seemed odd no one had taken it at the low prices apprentice work commanded. But then again . . . a lot of disassembled furniture had come with them on their journey, and there were probably assumed defects in this apprentice work that would make people hesitate to pay for it.

Guild Mistress Merano confirmed exactly that, as Beltran and Delia made their selections and began hauling pieces into the apartment. “This’s mostly last year’s work, though we do save out things for longer periods that seem too good to discard. ’Tisn’t perfect by any means, but it does the job; joiners put it for sale cheap, but not everything goes. Normally, we’d take it apart and use the wood for more ’prentice pieces at the end of the year or use it for firewood—not like we’re short of wood here, but waste not, want not, and this is finished, seasoned wood, which isn’t something to waste. We reckoned the ’prentices would be right chuffed to know you Heralds were using it. Oh! Remember them old wool mattresses the Queen had us make out of fleeces on the journey? Wool Guild brought the extras out of storage and we brought them too, figuring not all of you was able to take your bedding from where you were before.” She waved vaguely down the line. “We heard a couple guards are Heralds now, and their commander wouldn’t take it kindly if they ran off with stuff from the barracks.”

“That’s a blessing,” said Delia, as she took a chair on each arm. “There are people making do with straw laid in an empty bedbox right now.”

Merano beamed. The Heralds began unloading the cart with mattresses, towels, blankets, and fabric for curtains, and as soon as it had been unloaded, it got loaded again with the canvas the Dolls had been made of. Merano was most pleased with that, when she realized what it was. “I remember that!” she exclaimed. “Stout stuff, can’t hardly stain it, and it’ll last a good long time! Good for trews and summer tunics, and the outside layer of cloaks!”