Jarryd: Chapter 8

Jarryd didn’t give too much thought to the Borderlands problem over the next few months. There was too much going on. It was a perfect spring. Not too much rain, not too little. The crops were growing fast. Except for the highest peaks, the snow melted. Additionally, Kath said her mother was doing better. Maybe she didn’t need Hamisi’s services after all.

He planted hay down in the low pasture by the stream. He didn’t need help for that since it didn’t need to be plowed. He was going to need to use a wagon when it came time for the harvest, of which there would hopefully be more than one. He had his parents’ old wagon. It needed a little repair, but nothing he couldn’t handle. What he didn’t have was a horse to pull it. Any of the neighboring farmers would happily loan him one, but he was thinking it was time to buy his own.

After work one day, he dug up the wooden box that was buried under the skunk berry bush, hoping it hadn’t rotted away. Fortunately, it was intact. Inside was a small stash of gold and silver coins. His parents’ savings. He took a few of the coins out and reburied the rest. He would start asking around when he went into town this evening. Someone likely had a horse for sale.

He went into the barn to milk the old cow, scratching her behind the ears when he was done. He’d cut an armload of clover, and she happily munched that while he milked. He gathered the eggs and put the chickens away, checking on the brood hen that was sitting on a clutch of eggs. In a couple of weeks, he hoped to have some chicks.

He walked into town. It was a lovely evening, the sunset lighting up a bank of clouds to the east. Bats zipped overhead, stuffing themselves on mosquitoes. A dog barked somewhere.

He thought of his friends and wondered how they were doing. Had Hamisi found a place she liked where she could settle for a while? Was she still planning to be a healer? He imagined her in some exotic city, treating the poor who couldn’t afford doctors.

Kathor no doubt had his Knight academy up and running. He wondered how many recruits the big man had found. He was the perfect person to rebuild the Knighthood. With his military background and connections in Tirania, it would grow fast. Which was good, because there was a lot of destruction left over.

Did Ficken go back to his people? Jarryd thought not. The young Selaki had grand ideas about exploring the world. Jarryd imagined him wandering the streets of foreign cities, trying to learn all he could without terrifying the inhabitants too much.

He missed them terribly sometimes. They went through so much together. The memories were still so vivid. Though he could feel them fading, slowly but surely. Someday they’d just be stories he told his children.

Things were going very well with Kath. Spring brought renewed travel which meant more business for the inn. Her mother still wasn’t well enough to work, but Jarryd helped out every night. They’d hired more help, but still there were always things for him to do.

Jarryd planned to ask her to marry him. He hadn’t found a good time to do so. There was so much going on, and Kath was so busy with the inn.

As he got close to town, on a sudden whim he veered off onto a narrow road that wound through trees and fields. How many times had he and his parents taken this same road? Far too many. He’d dreaded those times. The guilt and fear he felt around the Rector had been unbearable.

He’d hardly seen the Rector that day he returned, maybe twice at a distance. The thin, black-clad man still preached in the town square sometimes, but almost no one paid any attention to him.

Jarryd had heard that his weekly services had dwindled to just a few people. He’d also heard that Barrin no longer went to the temple. He didn’t know if that was true or not, but the last few times he’d seen Barrin around town, the blacksmith seemed to be trying hard to be friendly.

He came to the temple of Vidon, stopping while still in the trees. The clearing where everyone parked their wagons looked very overgrown. Tall weeds sprouted everywhere. Saplings were moving in from the edges.

The temple itself didn’t look good either. It was leaning to one side. The front window was broken. Most of the black paint had peeled off.

It looked so different. It was smaller than he remembered. As a child, it loomed like a mountain. Now he saw it as it really was. A shabby, poorly-built building with a crumbling belfry on top.

“Come to gloat?”

The voice startled him. Jarryd had been so lost in his thoughts he’d had no idea anyone was approaching.

“I knew you were demon spawn the first time I laid eyes on you,” the bony old man rasped. His teeth were black. His breath was foul. “You and your parents, friends of the darkness. I should have put your home to the torch.”

Jarryd had recovered by then.

“Hello to you too, Rector. I’d ask you how you’re doing but…” He nodded toward the temple. “Hate and fear don’t sell like they used to, I guess.”

“Your blight has corrupted the entire town. You’ve led them all astray. I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Jarryd nodded. “Pretty proud.” It was astonishing to think how frightened he’d been of this man. It looked like a good breeze would blow him away.

“The day of reckoning comes, mark my words.” A cruel smile twisted his face. He pointed a bony finger at Jarryd. “And I will be there to see. I will set the fire myself.”

“Okay. Looking forward to it. I’m sure it will be fun. I’ll see you around. Don’t choke on your own bile.” Jarryd waved and walked away. He could hear the Rector muttering curses at his back.

 

He arrived at the inn and was pleasantly surprised to see Tinker Theo there, sitting at one of the tables with a couple of other townsfolk. Theo came through town a couple of times a year, selling a variety of household goods, along with various oddities, bits of art and a few antiques. He was short and compact, with a bushy white beard and sharp eyes. As always, he wore a tall hat with a tiny brim, and a red coat with silver buttons. The scarf was different though. The faded yellow one was gone, replaced by a dark green one. Other than that, he looked exactly as Jarryd remembered.

Seeing that the place was quiet still, Jarryd walked over to the small group and pulled up a seat. The other two townsfolk, twin brothers who ran a tannery outside town, both gave Jarryd a welcoming nod. They were Otto and Lerg. After all these years, he still wasn’t sure which was which.

“Jarryd, lad,” Theo said, smiling. “It’s good to see you again. My, how you have grown.”

“It’s good to see you too, Theo. I’m glad some things never change.”

Theo grew serious. “I’m sorry about your parents.” He raised his mug in a toast, followed by the other two.

“Thank you. I miss them every day.”

“You’re back to stay?”

“There’s nowhere in this world I’d rather be.”

Theo got a sly look in his eyes. “And you’ve seen a lot of it now, haven’t you? Exotic locales. Foreign lands."

"Um...not that much. But I’ve been a few places.” Jarryd was wary. Theo was sharp, and he knew everyone and everything in the Northlands, what the four small kingdoms north of the Blade Mountains were known as. There was no telling how much he knew.

“I was just regaling these two gentlemen with the news from faraway places, if you’d like to listen in.”

“I have some time.”

Theo had another sip off his ale, smacking his lips. “As I was saying, it’s good news, much better than it has been. The Emperor has been defeated.”

“Here’s to that!” Otto, or Lerg, said, raising his mug. He had the barest of mustaches. Jarryd was pretty sure he was Otto. “I was starting to worry. Folks said his dragon army was coming to the Northlands next.”

“That’s great,” Jarryd said. “How did it happen?”

“From what I heard, it was the Knights of Dragonwatch that stopped him.” Theo was watching Jarryd closely as he said this.

“But aren’t they all dead or something?” Otto said.

“I don’t think they ever existed,” his brother said.

“Then who defeated the Emperor?”

Lerg shrugged. “Maybe he fell down some stairs and broke his neck.”

“That’s stupid,” Otto scoffed.

“Aunt Mim died that way.”

“But she wasn’t an Emperor.”

Theo put up a hand to stop them. “Do you want to hear more or not?” Both men nodded vigorously. “There was a great battle at the far away city of Mocte’el—”

“Never heard of it,” Lerg said.

“He said far away, didn’t he? Why would you hear of it? You live on the north end of nowhere.”

“So do you.”

Jarryd decided he’d heard enough. Also, Kath had just come in from the kitchen, and he wanted to speak to her. He stood up to leave. Theo caught his arm.

“Would you come by the wagon tomorrow? There are things we should speak of. Privately.”

“Sure.” Jarryd walked away. He wasn’t sure he liked the sound of that. How much did Theo know? Even more important, how much would people guess after listening to Theo talk? Though he’d mostly kept it to himself, there were people who knew of his fascination with the Knights while growing up. And he’d publicly admitted to going to Knight’s Keep. He’d also admitted to being there when the Emperor was defeated. How long until people asked why he went to the Keep? Or how he got here from Mocte’el so fast?

Jarryd pinched the bridge of his nose.

“Do you have a headache?”

Jarryd looked up and saw Kath. “Not yet. But I think I’m about to.”

She looked past him and saw Tinker Theo. “He brought news of the Emperor’s fall, didn’t he?”

“And now he wants to talk to me tomorrow.”

“Your secret is going to get out sooner or later.”

“I know that. But not all of them? And can’t it wait? Things are going well. I’m happy to be home. Can’t it just stay like that?”

“The world doesn’t work that way.”

“Well, it should.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek. “You worry too much. It’s going to be fine. Why don’t you fetch a sack of onions and a sack of carrots from the cellar? It will take your mind off things.”

Jarryd grinned. “Always thinking about my well-being, I see.”

“It’s my only concern. Now run along. The customers are showing up.”

(Are you enjoying Jarryd's tale? Would you like to read his adventures before this, when he fought the Dragon Queen? Just click here to check it out!)

Read next chapter online