From alt.pub.dragons-inn Tue Jan 18 16:53:14 1994 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!amd!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!uwm.edu!caen!msuinfo!harbinger.cc.monash.edu.au!bruce.cs.monash.edu.au!merlin!mel.dit.csiro.au!its.csiro.au!dmssyd.syd.dms.CSIRO.AU!metro!news From: mar@physics.su.OZ.AU (David Mar) Subject: [Tolvaj] Gebrion: A Meeting with a Lady Message-ID: Sender: news@ucc.su.OZ.AU Nntp-Posting-Host: physics.su.oz.au Organization: School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia Date: Fri, 14 Jan 1994 06:54:20 GMT Lines: 265 [ADMIN: After a Christmas/New year break, here is the next (the third so far) instalment. This thread is a co-operative effort by Alfvaen and myself. All characters named below are mine. Copyright 1994 by David Mar.] Gebrion mentally blessed Edgar the stable boy once again as he finished a second apple and tossed the core wide from his saddle. The sun was high in the sky, with a few remaining clouds from the previous night's rain still clearing. He had been in the saddle for over six hours, pausing only a few times to allow his horse to drink from the occasional stream he passed by. At one stop he had taken his bow from its straps on his saddle and attempted to shoot a rabbit for later use as his dinner, but he had missed. He had met a handful of other travellers on the road, and had asked each of them if they had seen a lone horseman matching Tolvaj's description, but none of them had done so. Gebrion did not expect any easy leads, since Tolvaj had surely passed this way under dark and in poor weather, when most other travellers would be off the road. To Gebrion's knowledge, the only things Tolvaj had stolen were Gavin's lute and his own purse of silver and horse. She was a fine horse, and it was a good amount of coin, perhaps together a tempting enough proposition for an opportunistic thief. But Gebrion believed that Gavin's lute was the real object of Tolvaj's attention. The minstrel had certainly been extremely upset by the lute's disappearance and had offered his eternal gratitude for its safe return. Gebrion felt there was a good chance the instrument held some magical enchantment... As he crested a small rise, he saw a small group of riders approaching along the road from the south. After a few minutes, he saw that the group appeared to consist of a noble woman and an armed escort of several men. The lady held herself in a dignified, but not arrogant, manner, and looked as though she would prefer to ride without the escort. Gebrion hailed the group as they drew near each other. The four escorts watched him intently, which struck him as curious, since they appeared well capable of dealing with any possible threat posed by a lone traveller. "Well met, traveller," the leader of the escorts called back. "What news of the road ahead?" "Nothing of note," replied Gebrion, "You should find the way clear. But perhaps you can help me too. Have you passed a lone horseman, finely dressed, riding a large bay with a white blaze?" "No," answered the man, as Gebrion expected, "We've passed no one in the hour or so since we set out." "However," interjected the lady, "We are about to rest for lunch. Would you care to join us?" The man who had addressed Gebrion whirled to face her. "Milady..." Gebrion cut him off, "I am honoured by your offer, but I must keep riding this day." "But surely you can spare a few minutes to break bread with us." The lady peered intently at Gebrion and he thought he caught a brief wink of her eye. When her escort once again began to protest, Gebrion began to realise that all was not as it seemed in this situation. Thinking quickly, he said, "To be truthful, I would be grateful for a brief rest from the saddle," and quickly dismounted. He led his horse to a tree by the road and tied it there. When he looked back, he saw the lady dismounting without the aid of her escorts, who were still in their saddles and looking quite distressed by the turn of events. They leapt down and quickly dashed over as the lady approached Gebrion, however. Gebrion considered this carefully and closed with the lady before any of the others could reach them. "Are these men truly your escorts?" he asked in a rapid, low voice. "They are my kidnappers," she replied in an urgent whisper. Catching the glint of steel in the corner of his eye, Gebrion swiftly drew his sword and pulled the lady behind him by one arm. He saw the four men advancing on him with blades held before them, taking their measure of him before striking. "Run to my horse and ride for your life!" he hissed to the lady as he stepped to one side, preventing one of the men from passing his flank and intercepting her flight. That man snarled at him and swung his sword in high from Gebrion's left. Gebrion was ready, bringing his own weapon around in a high loop from his right side, catching the incoming blade and deflecting it downwards. The lady was fleeing towards his horse, but he feared that he could not stop all four men from chasing her - already two were breaking away from him and running after her. Yelling wildly in an attempt to intimidate his opponent, he stepped to the left, outside the blade he had just struck down, and rapidly brought his own sword up and across into the man's kidney. The man fell, dropping his sword and clutching his side. Gebrion whirled to face the next man, who was charging him with sword held high. He held his blade up horizontally to intercept the strike, but the attacker feinted and whipped his sword under the tip of Gebrion's, striking his left arm hard above the elbow. With the heat of battle, Gebrion paid his wound little attention, instead using the opening on his opponent's left flank to bring his parry down in a strike at his side. The blow opened a gash near the man's ribs, but he came at Gebrion again, slashing across his body. Gebrion's blade was in position for the parry, tip pointed down, and then he immediately reversed its motion to bring it up in an arc aimed at the man's chest. He saw the swing and jumped back, but Gebrion lunged and caught him heavily on the side of the chin, his sword drawing a line of blood up his face and through his eye. The man screamed and collapsed to the earth, rolling with the pain of his blinding. His mind working furiously, Gebrion realised he had not heard the sound of a horse taking flight. He spun to see what was happening behind him, expecting the worst. He was just in time to see the lady release his bowstring, sending an arrow into the chest of one of the men advancing on her. He fell to the ground, joining his fellow who was lying dead with an arrow in his throat. Gebrion let out his breath and smiled. "Good shooting, milady." Then the pain in his arm hit him and he fell to his knees. *** The lady said nothing as Gebrion finished the two still alive. "We must take them back for burial." Gebrion looked at her sternly, about to say that such thugs did not deserve such treatment. Instead, his expression softened and he said, "My name is Gebrion." "I am Roanna," she replied. "Come, I will help you throw the bodies over the horses. Then we must go back to my manor. My steward will be worried. And your arm needs tending." A few minutes later, after loading the bodies and applying a quick wrapping to Gebrion's bloody arm, they were riding south along the road, leading the other four horses with their foul burdens. Gebrion held his reins with right hand only, his other arm beginning to hurt badly. "How did four men manage to take you from your manor?" he asked. "Surely you have men of your own about the place?" "Several," Roanna answered, "but they were all fighting a fire on the edge of my property when they arrived. I am hardly a match alone for four armed men." "You seemed enough for two," Gebrion smiled easily. "But you own this manor? You have no husband?" Roanna was silent a second before answering. "He died five weeks ago." "I'm sorry." She blinked his sympathy away. "Our son is not of age, so I am running the estate." Gebrion considered this, then frowned as he thought of another question. "Have you any thought who might have ordered your kidnapping?" "Yes," she answered. "They did not handle me roughly, and the direction they were taking me was towards the fiefdom of Lord Venuto. He is a despicable man, whom I have had the displeasure to meet on several occasions. He sometimes travelled the fifteen miles from his manor to meet my husband and discuss land holdings. It was not hard to see that he coveted me." She finished on a note of distaste. Gebrion, studying her features and mien, could easily believe this. She was about twenty-five years of age, slightly above average height for a woman, with a fine, delicate face and a glorious tress of auburn-brown hair swept straight down her back. She handled herself well in the saddle, and clearly knew how to wield a bow. Gebrion would have gambled on her ability with sword as well. Clearly this was a woman well capable of running the manor left to her on her husband's death. Two hours later, Gebrion reflected on this as he lay within her house, allowing her to wash and bandage his gashed arm. "You mentioned on the road that you were seeking a rider," Roanna said, startling Gebrion out of his reverie. "Yes," he answered, watching her wrap the bandage around his arm, and feeling the touch of her hands. "A thief, who stole my previous horse and all the silver I owned." "A bay with a white blaze," she recalled, "the rider dressed finely. Such a rider passed here late this morning. He appeared to have a lute case slung over his back." "He did?" Gebrion attempted to sit upright, but Roanna firmly pushed him back. "You are in no condition to ride further this day. If you recall your faint when you dismounted on our arrival here..." "Yes... faint..." But the effort of sitting had taken the blood again from Gebrion's head and he passed from consciousness once more. *** When Gebrion woke, the sun was setting. Recalling where he was, he sat up quickly, thinking to be on his way. The dizziness forced him to lie down again, though this time he remained aware. "I see you are awake," Roanna's voice drifted to his ears. He thought the sound quite lovely. "I must be off," he stated weakly. "No," she said solidly, walking into his field of view with a tray containing a steaming bowl and a large spoon. "You must eat and rest this night. Your quarry is not far ahead of you, and he too must sleep. You will lose no ground and you will be all the better to ride on the morrow. You spilt much blood this afternoon." "For a very worthy cause, if I may say." Gebrion accepted his position with not a little relief and pleasure at spending more time with Roanna. "You flatter me," she said, but did not blush in the slightest Gebrion noted. She dipped the spoon into the bowl and aimed it at his mouth. When he opened it to reply again, she stopped his words with a very agreeable lamb stew. As she fed him over the next few minutes, he could feel some of his strength returning. When she had finished, she smiled at him - a sight which he considered instantly worth all the pain of the day - and said, "It is good to have a man who is neither a steward nor a labourer about the manor." Gebrion, feeling now more hale than any time since his wounding, smiled back, knowing full well the effect this had had on other women. "My husband surely would have liked you." She sat by his side, on the bed, turning slightly away as if seeing things not present in the room with them. Gebrion watched her carefully. "I miss him terribly. He was a very good man, and I consider myself fortunate to have found him and married for the love we shared." She paused a second. "I am thankful for Jennis, who will grow to remind me of his father. Although sometimes when I look at his face, it hurts to see the same features." Her head sagged and Gebrion could see that she was weeping. He took her hand and held it gently between his own. "Milady Roanna, I regret that I cannot help you in your grief. But I thank you for the kindness you have shown me this day - and for sharing this with me. Tending a manor alone cannot be simple, yet I am sure you are doing a job of which your husband would approve." Roanna turned to look earnestly into Gebrion's own eyes, not ashamed of her tears. "Thank you, Milord Gebrion. For saving me, and for..." She closed her eyes and swallowed. "Thank you." She bent to kiss him on the forehead. Then she rose and left the room. Gebrion turned over on to his side and slept soundly the night through. -- David Mar. mar@physics.su.oz.au Astrophysics Department, University of Sydney NSW 2006, Australia.