The Dragon Hammer (Wulf's Saga Book 1) (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Six:
The Earl

Wulf looked down at his father. His face was very pale. The duke lay on the buffalo rug pallet in the wise woman’s wigwam. A small fire burned in a nearby corner.

His father seemed to be sleeping peacefully. His chest was covered with bandages. It rose and fell normally, but there was a rattle in the duke’s throat. Every third or fourth breath the duke would gasp for air.

“He has wandered down the last lonely trail, but he dassn’t want to go the whole way yet,” the wise woman said. Her Kaltish had a full-on west-valley accent, but Wulf could understand her pretty well. He could also tell she was smiling. He’d only recently figured out that the buffalo people
could
smile. It was something you had to look carefully to see—the smallest upturn at the edges of their mouths, and their nostrils flaring out a little wider.

“She means that he almost died,” Ravenelle said. “But she’s pulled him back from the brink.”

“This little southerner knows herbs,” said the wise woman, nodding toward Ravenelle. “Said she learnt from an elf.”

“Saeunn showed me a few things,” Ravenelle said to Wulf.

Wulf pointed toward his father. “Will he be all right?”

“His mind is addled, Lord. That won’t change.”

“But the wounds,” Wulf replied. “Can you maybe tell me when he’ll wake up?”

The wise woman shrugged her shaggy shoulders. “He’ll take a bit of broth today,” she answered.

“Will he really be aware then? I mean—”

“What Wulf is asking,” said Ravenelle, “is when will Duke Otto be awake enough to tell him what to do?”

The wise woman shook her head. She was
not
smiling now. “That matter’s in the hands of the divine ones and the dragon. Never, maybe.”

“He’s got to wake up.”

“No. Rest is what he’s got to do. This man wakes too soon, he’ll go back to sleep forever.”

Wulf knelt and put a hand on his father’s chest. Puidenlehdet, the wise woman, had taken him out of his bloody clothes somehow, and he was dressed in a cotton nightshirt. His bandages were made of the same material. The smell of fresh herbs from under the bandages was strong.

“You have a shadow on the heart, Lord,” said the wise woman softly. She nodded toward Ravenelle. “The southern princess, she goes with
you
. To take care of
you
. Those she-men that got brought in, they can help me.”

She-men meant human women. There were four lady’s maids from the castle who had survived the raid. Two of the maids were wounded, but none too badly, and the wise woman had treated them.

“Okay,” Wulf said. “I’ll go. Soon.”

“You’re not doin’ any good here.” She looked to Ravenelle. “You find him and you some food, eh?”

Ravenelle did not seem at all irritated by the order from the wise woman. She reached down and tugged Wulf to his feet again.

“She’s absolutely right,” Ravenelle said. “You look famished, von Dunstig.”

Wulf gazed once more at his father.

I have no idea what to do, he thought. Tell me.

Nothing.

All he had was Ravenelle. His mother, the rest of his family, and his friends were in Raukenrose.

She
was in Raukenrose.

As he had during the past four watches, whenever his worries started to get to him, he called up a picture of Saeunn in his mind. He didn’t know why it worked, but it did calm him. He’d used his dagger to carve her name on a small piece of wood. He took it out when no one was looking and just held it tightly until his fear and worry died down.

“What are you thinking, von Dunstig?” Ravenelle asked. “As if I didn’t know. I can tell by the look on your face when you’re thinking about her.” She took his arm and led him out of the wigwam. Outside, she located a fire where there was a pot with stew cooking. “Let’s see if they have any extra.”

The buffalo people by the fire did, and soon he and Ravenelle were standing near the warmth sipping thick stew from the lips of wooden bowls.

Ravenelle smiled at the buffalo women who served up the stew and accepted it gratefully. The woman, who dwarfed Ravenelle, curtsied.

Ravenelle seems relaxed, Wulf thought. More relaxed than I think I’ve ever seen her. It was strange. Ravenelle was the last person he would imagine fitting in here at Buffalo Camp, and yet she did.

After they’d eaten enough to take off the edge of hunger, Ravenelle pointed toward the rising sun.

“I suppose that makes this breakfast,” she said. “I kind of lost track of what bell it is.” She dug out a potato from the stew with her fingers and plopped it in her mouth. “You know, von Dunstig, this may be the best breakfast I’ve ever eaten.”

Wulf nodded. “It’s good.”

“That owl of yours looks hungry. Why don’t you feed her a few chunks of meat?”

Wulf blinked. He’d almost forgotten that Nagel was perched on his shoulder and had been since he’d come out of the wise woman’s wigwam. “Oh, right,” he said. He dug a nice piece of meat from the bowl and presented it to Nagel.

“You should say thanks to Ravenelle,” he said to the owl. “I would have forgotten to offer you any.”

Nagel looked at him without betraying the slightest hint that she could talk. She took the meat. After downing two more chunks, she flew away and settled on a nearby birch tree’s lowest branch.

As he was taking another sip, it came to him. He might not have his father for advice, but he might have one of his father’s closest advisors.

“Earl Keiler,” he said to himself. “Why didn’t I think of that before?”

“What did you say, von Dunstig?”

He put a hand on Ravenelle’s shoulder. Keiler had defeated the army of Vall l’Obac at Montserrat. He’d been the one to suggest Ravenelle be fostered at Raukenrose castle.

“We have to go to Bear Hall,” he said.

“You know I used to wake up screaming about bears eating me when I was little.”

“Yes.”

To his surprise, Ravenelle patted his hand. “Yes,” she said. “It makes sense.”

“You used to get in bed with Mother and Father or you couldn’t go back to sleep.”

“Or with Saeunn, and have Ulla sing me a lullaby when all us girls slept in the same room.”

“Yeah.”

“Why’d it have to be
bears
, von Dunstig?”

“I think it’s because those barbarian divine ones you don’t believe in have a sense of humor.”

Ravenelle nodded. “Could be,” she said. “You know, in my dream…the place where the bears were after me was really beautiful. It was this kind of wooden hall with a bunch of lanterns on the walls stuffed with fireflies, and that was where the light came from, and there were huge tapestries with pictures of bears fishing in rivers, and roaming in forests, and standing on the tops of mountains.”

“Maybe it’ll be like that.”

“And a door opened up and…they came in.”

“Then the bears ate you?”

“Yep.”

Saeunn heard clattering from the student armory as she made her way across the bailey on the way to class. She paused and watched the entrance for a moment.

Rainer and several other castle boys rushed out. Rainer was trying to pull a hauberk over his padded arming shirt and having a hard time with it. He saw Saeunn and ran toward her.

Saeunn felt a stab in her chest.

Then darkly fell Amberly Reizend.

The phrase from the poem, the song her star had sung to her, leaped into her mind.

The soul of an elf

Is the starlight itself

Why was she suddenly thinking of this?

Rainer ran toward her, a very serious expression on his face, but his arms in an odd position. One of his arms was jammed up against his cheek, while the other hung down. He seemed to be stuck putting his shirt on.

He stopped abruptly in front of Saeunn.

“Rainer, what’s going on?” she asked.

“Every man in the castle has been called to the town walls,” he replied. “Looks like we’re under attack.”

“I mean with your arm.”

“Oh, yeah. Can you help me with this?” He had yanked his mail shirt on hurriedly and it would not pull down all the way in the back. It was stuck at a spot he couldn’t reach.

“Turn around and I’ll straighten it,” Saeunn said. Rainer did what she asked, and she tugged on the hauberk. “What about armor and a buckler? You don’t have a sword, either.”

“We’re supposed to be issued what we need when we get to the township wall,” Rainer replied.

“It is Sandhaven, then?”

“Yes, we think so. That’s what Captain Geizbart reported.”

Saeunn felt a flush of anger at the stupidity of the situation. “If they can’t take the mark by forcing a marriage, they’ll try to do it with swords.”

“And bows and halberds and spears,” Rainer said.

“I’ll stay with Anya and Ulla,” she said. “You’d better get going.”

“Yeah.” Rainer gazed at her for a moment. Then he reached down and took her hand. “Sister,” he said. He kissed the top of her hand.

“Brother,” she replied and pulled him into a hug.

They stayed that way for only a moment. Then Saeunn watched as Rainer made his way through the front gate and into the town.

Saeunn turned and headed into the castle to find her other sisters, the song still resonating within her.

She gave me her light

To burn out the blight,

Then darkly fell Amberly Reizend.

And again, and again the one phrase repeating . . .

Then darkly fell Amberly Reizend.

Bear Hall was the name of the main town in the Shwartzwald Forest. It was also the name of the meeting place the town was built near. It was where the bears and other Tier of Bear Valley got together for their law-speaks.

Law-speaks were meetings that dealt with everything from politics to marriages and judging personal disputes. Anyone was allowed to speak, but it was the leaders of Tier groups and clans who did most of the talking. They were part of the County Law-speak Council. The chairman of the council was the Earl of Shwartzwald, the bear man named Keiler. Wulf and Ravenelle had met him when he was in Raukenrose to speak with the duke. He was huge, shaggy, gray-haired, and scarred from the Little War. Ravenelle had been afraid of him since she was a toddler.

The road to Bear Hall left Buffalo Camp and headed west five leagues. It crossed the eastern Shenandoah Valley, then switchbacked up the side of Massanutten Mountain through a high gap and descended into Bear Valley, which was on the other side. Bear Valley was strange because it was a valley on top of a large, wide mountain. Some thought it might be the crook between the Shenandoah Dragon’s side and its upper leg.

Bear Valley lived up to its name. The biggest population of bear people east of the Mississippi lived there. But there were many other Tier in the valley. Bear Hall Township was about halfway down the valley. The village was built up around the entrance to a huge cave, which was Bear Hall itself.

The road to Bear Hall was dusty. Ravenelle rode beside Wulf, while Dirty Coat and two other buffalo men were in the lead on the huge draft-size horses the buffalo people rode. Fifty buffalo people armed with spears rode behind them. The horses in front kicked up a cloud of grit that made Wulf’s eyes water. He couldn’t take his hand from the reins to wipe them, though. His left arm was strapped to his chest in a sling. He was glad of this, otherwise the jostling of the horse would have hurt a lot more than it did. But with his whole body bouncing up and down, it hurt enough.

Puidenlehdet had had treated the wound, and it felt much better already. She’d also told him that it would take a week to know whether or not it would have to be cut off due to the green rot, so not to worry until then. Wulf hoped the wise woman had been joking because she thought this was unlikely and not because she was trying to tell him nicely that he was going to lose the arm.

While they were climbing up Massanutten Mountain, it rained.

Dirty Coat gave Wulf and Ravenelle calf hides soaked with beeswax. They wrapped these around themselves and stayed dry, although their heads still got wet. At the top of the ridge, the rain stopped and the sun came out. Dirty Coat took away the calf-hide slickers and tied them back onto a packhorse. A light breeze kicked up.

“Great,” Ravenelle said. “I’m dripping wet.”

After a while, Wulf looked over at Ravenelle and was startled. The breeze had dried her hair. Normally her hair was a mass of ringlets hanging down past her shoulders, thick and shiny black, and she tied it back with a scarf hair band. She used a lot of hair clips to contain it, and had even found a way to brush it in Buffalo Camp.

It wasn’t contained any more. The scarf was out, and her hair had exploded into what looked like a wild hedge bush sitting on her head. Her curls were soaring out in every direction and hung to her shoulders like a tangle of winter briars. Her black-brown eyes, crimson lips, and brown skin were startling in that fountain of black curls.

Wulf had always thought Ravenelle was pretty, but he’d never thought she was
strikingly
beautiful—until now.

She looks like a warrior queen from the sagas, Wulf thought, like Sturmhilde Ragensson from Sigurth’s Saga might appear on her way to battle. A man could totally fall in love with Ravenelle. Even he could, if his heart didn’t already belong to—