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‘You could knock,’ said Tathenal.
‘Knuckles to wood, aye, sound notion.’ He shouldered his mace and glanced at Ravast. ‘See, pup? A wise leader must learn the art of assuaging his underlings. Of course, such recourse had already occurred to me, being eldest and so on. Yet I remained silent, to give Tathenal leave to feel clever. This is the art of command.’
Tathenal stepped close to Garelko and grabbed the man’s left ear. ‘This is big – does it come off?’
‘Aaii! That hurts!’
Releasing him, Tathenal gave Garelko a hard push. ‘Get on with you, goat. I already hear the wind riding the treetops.’
Grumbling, Garelko set off down the trail. After a moment, Ravast and Tathenal followed.
There was a flavour, to be sure, that came with such a longstanding companionship, and although Ravast was the youngest and newest to the cause – that cause being the mutual loyalty necessary to survive marriage to Lasa Rook – he had little choice in acknowledging its value. This, of course, did not obviate the pleasures of one-upmanship. For the moment he had been bested, but in the very next instant Garelko had failed in pressing his newfound alliance with Tathenal, and this was pleasing.
He crept, now, alongside Tathenal, in the wake of bold Garelko. Bold? The codger has never been bold in his overlong life! No, he is shamed to the fore, by none other than me! This is something to savour indeed, petty as it is! Oh, Lasa, do return with us and yield a lifetime of the inconsequential, I beg you!
They reached the edge of the small clearing in time to see Garelko arrive at the door. Using the butt of his mace he hammered on the frame, as even a light tap from the Thel Akai was likely to punch a hole through the door’s flimsy planks. After a moment, Garelko turned. ‘No one home—’
The door swung open and stepping into the gap was
a Jaghut.
Rare was the Jaghut face that betrayed emotion, much less frustration, and yet even in the gathering gloom this man made his frustration woefully evident. ‘Why,’ he said in a half-snarl, ‘a lone cabin in the deep forest, high upon a wild mountain, well off the trail – now in there lives a denizen inviting company! Worse yet, more Thel Akai! A night in which I anticipated sober study now lies in ruin, as I must weather the grunts, sighs and farts of three oversized guests, not to mention their likely appetites!’ Then he stepped back and swept an arm in invitation. ‘But do come in, you and your two huddled shadows in the thicket beyond. Welcome to the last refuge of Raest, and heed well in your manners the misery your arrival brings.’
Garelko glanced back and waved Ravast and Tathenal forward. He then sheathed his mace once more, ducked, and made his way into the cabin.
Tathenal made a faint snickering sound and Ravast jabbed the man in the ribs. ‘None of that!’ he hissed.
‘Jaghut!’ muttered Tathenal, still grinning. ‘We shall pluck his strings the whole night, and leave such discord as to confound the man for years to come!’ He clutched at Ravast’s arm and pulled him close. ‘This is just what we require!’ he whispered. ‘A sorry victim upon whom to gang up, and so further consolidate our solidarity! Pity this fool, Ravast, pity him!’
‘I have pity for everyone in your company, Tathenal. Indeed, upon this journey I have cried myself to sleep every night.’
They continued on, reaching the doorway and then jostling a moment before Ravast stepped back to give his fellow husband leave to enter first.
The low rafters forced them all to the solid but narrow chairs Raest now pulled up around a modest table upon which the leavings of a meal still remained. The air was slightly sour with woodsmoke as the chimney was not drawing well, and there was the faint tang of something acrid, reminding Ravast of snake piss.
‘A sup or two remains in the cauldron,’ Raest said wearily. ‘Sit, lest you bring down the roof and worse with your solid skulls wagging this way and that.’
‘Kind sir,’ Garelko said with a nod as he eased himself down in the chair. ‘Ah, a perch for a single ham, better than none!’
‘A body part that grows larger in the telling,’ Raest said, moving over to a softer chair set up near the hearth. ‘Come the night you three will have to cosy up here on the floor. It’s dirt but at least it’s dry.’
Tathenal rummaged in his pack, pulling out three tin bowls, and then, bent over, made his way to the cauldron, nodding to Raest as he drew near. ‘Most generous, Raest of the Jaghut. The foulness of the weather and all that.’
His host did little more than grunt, reaching for a steaming tankard on the flagstone at his side.
‘Do forgive us,’ Tathenal continued as he ladled stew into the cups, ‘for ruining your sober study. Still, I have heard you Jaghut are known to indulge in such things, perhaps, to excess? Consider this night, then, a moment of relief in your otherwise unleavened existence.’
‘Relief? Oh yes, come the dawn and my seeing the last of you.’
Smiling, Tathenal collected up the three bowls and crabbed his way over to the table.
Ravast, already seated beside Garelko, spoke. ‘Good Raest, we thank you for this. Hear that wind’s howl – how it builds to rank fury. Mountain storms are the worst, are they not? Mmm, this stew smells wonderful, and this meat … what alpine ruminant fell to your snare or arrow, might I ask?’
‘There is a lizard that lives in the scree, venomous and ill spirited. Some can grow as long as you are tall. Indeed, they have been known to eat goats, sheep and Jaghut children we don’t like.’
Ravast paused with his spoon hovering over the bowl. ‘This is a venomous lizard?’
‘No of course not. You’re eating mutton, you fool.’
