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The Four Travelers
There were once four simpletons who decided to take a
journey.
“My friends,” said the first, “beyond this city there is a
large forest. No doubt on the other side of this forest, our fortune awaits us.
Let us therefore depart thither, that we may partake of it!”
The other three agreed with the first, and so they departed.
When they arrived at the forest, the four simpletons were
met by a Raven.
“Where are you going?” the Raven asked.
“We are going to seek our fortune,” declared the first simpleton.
“We are certain it lies just beyond these woods,” said the
next.
“All we must do is keep to the path, and it will lead us
right to it,” explained the other.
“Riches and ease; that is how it is done!” trumpeted the
last.
“Riches and ease come best and last longest when achieved
through toil and honest gain,” said the Raven. “There is a path that runs
straight through these woods; do not leave it, or it will be worse for you!”
“We are men in search of fortune, what could possibly go
wrong?” scoffed the first simpleton.
“Never trust a Raven, for he will always bode ill,” sneered
the next.
“It is only a wood, where is the harm?” taunted the other.
“Nothing can stop us!” maintained the last.
“If you will not heed my warnings, you have only yourselves
to blame,” croaked the Raven.
The four travelers continued on their way. Presently, they
began to get thirsty.
“My friends,” said the first, “let us find water, ere we
die!”
So they left the path through the woods, so great was their
thirst, and they came upon a little spring. The Raven followed, and lighted on
a boulder.
“Do not drink from this spring!” said the Raven. “It has
been enchanted by a witch who lives nearby. All who drink of it are her slaves
for life!”
“Isn’t that just like a Raven, to say such wicked things
about an innocent little spring!” sneered the first simpleton.
“Can’t you see we are suffering? Let us drink in peace!”
said the next.
“Foolish Raven! Don’t you know that modern folk do not
believe in old wives’ tales of witches and sorcery?” sniffed the other.
“It is a free country, we may drink where we wish!” huffed
the last.
“If you will not heed my warnings, you have only yourselves
to blame,” croaked The Raven.
So the four traveling simpletons drank their fill from the
spring. When they had slaked their thirst, they grew very hungry. Having no
food of their own, they set off still further from the main path to find
something to eat. Not far from the spring they discovered a grove of apple
trees. One of them said, “These apples look good, and we are famished; let us
eat some of them!”
The Raven followed, and lighted upon a branch.
“Do not eat of these trees!” said the Raven. “They are
tended by the witch who lives nearby. All who eat of her trees are her slaves
for life!”
“Oh-ho! I see how it is! You would have us starve, then!”
trumpeted the first simpleton.
“These are public lands; no one owns anything, and
everything is free for the taking!” stated the next.
“Where is this witch you speak of? Shouldn’t she put a fence
around the trees if she did not want passersby to eat of them?” asked the
other.
“Leave off telling us what to do!” cried the last.
“If you will not heed my warnings, you have only yourselves
to blame,” croaked The Raven.
Once they had eaten their fill of the apples, the four
travelers continued even further into the forest, until they came upon a
clearing full of thick, soft grass.
“Friends,” said the first traveler, “we have come a long
ways, eaten, drank, and it grows dark. How will we reach our fortunes if we are
over-weary from journeying? Let us rest ourselves in this meadow, that we may
pursue our riches with full strength.” His companions agreed with him, but the
Raven again flew among them, croaking, “Do not lay down in this meadow! It is
covered with the enchantments of the witch that lives nearby. She will surely
have you in her power if you remain but a moment longer!”
“Here now! We have had quite enough of your dolorous
prating!” thundered the first traveler.
“Since we are weary, do we not rest?” demanded the next.
“A little slumber never hurt anyone; it can only do us
good,” asserted the other.
“Be quiet, Old Crow!” chimed the last.
“If you will not heed my warnings, you have only yourselves
to blame,” croaked The Raven.
They had not rested very long when a beautiful voice filled
their ears with a lovely song. All four travelers immediately sat up and rose
to their feet as a ravishing young maiden approached the clearing, carrying a
jug of water and a basket of apples as she went. She stopped when she saw the four
men standing in the field.
“Good morrow, gentlemen!” she called. “What brings you so
far into the forest? Do you not know of the witch who lives nearby?”
“We have heard something of her, fair maiden,” said the
first traveler, “but we do not believe in such fables.”
The maiden shook her head, and trembled with fear. “Oh no!
It is not a fable at all! The hour grows late; soon she will come, and any she
finds in this very clearing, she will indeed kill and eat!”
The four travelers began trembling also, and the next
traveler asked, “What can we do?”
“Follow me,” said the maiden. “I will lead you to my house,
where you may stay until it is safe for you to leave this forest.”
“Thank you, indeed,” said the other traveler.
“What would the world be like without such kind people as
yourself?” wondered the last.
The four men followed the young maiden to a small hovel
nearby. When all four of them had got inside, the maiden locked the door and
barred it. Then she turned around and snapped her fingers, and pop! The four
travelers found themselves locked in enchanted cages, for the young maiden had
been the witch the Raven had warned them about.
“What is the meaning of this?” asked the first traveler.
“Did you not drink of my spring?” asked the witch.
“But we were thirsty,” protested the next simpleton.
“Did you not eat of my trees?” asked the witch.
“But we were hungry,” objected the other.
“Did you not sleep in my meadow?” asked the witch.
“But we were weary,” complained the last.
The witch clapped her hands, and her true appearance was
revealed—an ugly old hag. “You have done all these things, so you are mine!”
she said, and with that, she snapped her fingers and disappeared, leaving the
four travelers as prisoners in the dark hovel.
The four travelers heard a flurry of wings, and the Raven
perched on the windowsill of the hovel.
“Good Raven, tell us what we must do to escape!” begged the
first simpleton.
“You had spoken the truth, if only we would have listened!”
wailed the next.
“Oh, woe to us! Please help us, dear Raven!” pleaded the
other.
“How could we four have been so foolish as to fall into such
awful circumstances?” mourned the last.
“You have only yourselves to blame,” croaked the Raven, and
he flew away.
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“Help! Oh, someone help me quick!”
The cry came from the left branch of the fork. Still Belak
hesitated, his dark eyes shifting back and forth between the two paths.
“Please! Is anyone there?”
Before the person—a woman, by the sound of it—could call
again, Belak led us down the path.
“Wait!” I called after him, even as Larryn, Greyna, and I
fell into step behind him, “How do we know this is the right path? For all we
know, the other road is the one we should have chosen!”
Belak didn’t change his pace. “No, it makes sense: there is
a person who is stuck here, on the only road that leads into the forest from
the side by which we entered. She never passed us, which means she entered the
forest from the side we want to reach. She only just began calling for help, which
means she must have only recently broke down, and not that she is lost on a
road that heads deeper into the forest. This is the right way, Shereya, I just
know it!”
I just know it. How I
despised that phrase; how can one “just know” anything? I had always been
taught that conclusions are the result of careful study and accurate
observation and experimentation—none of which Belak had attempted before we
went charging down this path.
We had not gone more than a dozen yards down the path before
we came to the scene of the accident: a woman sat upon a stump, crying, next to
a wagon with its traces snapped and the front smashed as if by angry hooves.
She wore a dark dress of fine, shimmering material and dabbed her face with a
lace-trimmed silk handkerchief. Her dark hair had been twisted up around her
head in true aristocratic style. She looked up at us, and I gasped at the sight
of her icy blue eyes and delicate features. If anyone looked like she should be
a Wordspinner, it was this woman.
“Oh, praise be!” she sighed when we gathered around her. “I
did not know if anyone else used these woodland roads. I have never been to
this area before, myself. I was on my way to visit a friend who lives not a
mile from here, and my horse suddenly took fright, broke his harness, kicked
the wagon, and very nearly killed me before running off into the forest. Tell
me, the horse didn’t happen to pass you on the road, did it?”
Belak shook his head and—like the true gentleman he was,
offered his hand to help the lady stand. She glanced over the damaged wagon
sadly.
“Oh dear, whatever am I going to do? I must reach my
friend’s house—but how will I do that with no horse?”
I surreptitiously glanced at her feet as she inspected the
hemline of her skirt for mud. She wore a lady’s heeled shoe—completely
unsuitable for walking through the mud.
Larryn nudged me from behind. “Should we trust her?” she
murmured in my ear.
I carefully watched the lady while Belak inspected the
damage to the wagon. There was something familiar about the whole thing that I
couldn’t quite place, until I remembered that one of the scenes from my dream
last night might have involved a woman and a wagon very like this one.
There
was just one detail, according to the voices, that would confirm our
involvement. The nagging whisper coalesced into a single word that I took to
mean some sort of sign that we were on the right path. Onica…
Veron…Ca…Ronic… Ver...Ica…
“Pardon, Madam,” I said, “What is your name?”
The dark-haired lady smiled at me. “I am Lady Veronica. What
is your name?”
There it was: confirmation. “My name is Shereya. We are here
to help you,” I added, for Larryn’s benefit.
Lady Veronica’s blue eyes sparkled. “Thank you!” she said.
Belak turned to her. “Well, if your friend cannot know that
you are stuck so nearby, I believe I could pull the wagon myself and get you
there safely.”
“Could you?” Lady Veronica blinked in surprise.
In answer, Belak lifted the struts protruding from the front
of the wagon and rolled it a few inches to test its weight.
The Lady clapped her hands, “Oh, how lucky I am to have met
you all on this road! But what are four youngsters like yourselves doing in
this forest?”
Before anyone could spill our entire mission, I answered,
“We set out from Aberon yesterday morning and were just on our way to—“
“Carden,” Belak supplied the name of the next town.
Larryn was still glancing at me uneasily. I stepped close to
reassure her.
“Don’t worry, I think I saw something like this on the
tapestry. If there's any danger coming, a raven will serve as our warning. Just as long as we don’t leave the path, and go straight through the
forest without stopping to pick anything from it, we’ll be fine. Lady Veronica
is someone we’re supposed to help.”
Belak pulled the wagon—with Lady Veronica riding inside—up
the road a short ways, and the road we were on turned right into the doorway of
a small mansion situated in a wide clearing. It seemed to be a cross between a
small castle and a large house, with wide, ornate walls of stone and many
windows to let in what light shone through the trees. No raven had appeared
yet, so I believed we were safe.
Lady Veronica alighted and said to Belak. “Thank you, young
man; I don’t know what I would have done without your help. Please, if it will
not be too much trouble, I would love for you to come in and meet my friends!
They will be so glad to meet you!”
Belak glanced at me, and I felt Larryn nudge me again, but I
nodded. She wasn’t anything like Morgianna—we had nothing to fear.
A burly man answered the door when Lady Veronica knocked. He
was tall and swarthy, with many scars and tattoos, but his face broke into a
silver-toothed grin when he saw the Lady.
“Ronni!” he cried roughly. “Good ta see ya! I was beginning
to think I wouldn’t lay eyes on you till kingdom come!”
We had all entered behind her. A change came over Lady
Veronica. She visibly relaxed as she stepped over the threshold and into the
house where she would be safe.
“Ah, don’t worry your poor old head about me, ya great
lump!” she suddenly burst out in the same tone he used. “I’ve got me some
friends—lonely travelers, they are—and always willing to help poor folk in a
jam!”
The burly man closed the door behind us, and I realized only
then how incredibly dark the house was, in spite of all the windows we saw.
“Pleased to meet you all,” said the man who had called Lady
Veronica “Ronni.”
“My name is Kirk, and any friend of Ronni’s is a friend of
mine!” He took each of our hands briefly in his large, rough one—and one by
one, as he pulled away, clapped manacles on each wrist before we knew what was
going to happen.
I lifted my hands. How had he bound us so quickly? My feet
felt weighed down with lead. While Kirk had been “shaking” our hands, “Lady”
Ronni had gone and shackled our feet in the same moment! She joined Kirk and
surveyed their handiwork: four lonely travelers, trussed up like animals for
market-day!
Ronni (I could not even think of her as Veronica anymore)
laughed at my dumbstruck expression. “Well, ain’t we so fine now! How lucky I
am to have met such fine folk as
yourself!” she parodied her own words.
I knew there was something to be said—but I couldn’t think
of anything to say. “You—y-you’re no lady!” I spluttered.
Ronni cackled again. She reached up and removed the pin that
bound up her hair, letting it fall in stringy waves over her shoulders. “No,
but I can do a fair turn, now, can’t I? You’re looking at Ronni Darque, Queen
of the Harbor!”
“What do you want with us?” Belak demanded. Larryn and
Greyna were both too terrified to speak.
“What do I want?” Ronni spat in his face. “Gold! I want gold
and silver! And you lot are going to help me get it!”
Kirk grabbed Belak and Larryn and began dragging them away.
“We will never work for you!” I shrieked. All the dreams—the
raven, the name, the wagon—what were they for, if not to deter me from
situations like this? Why couldn’t I have foreseen the betrayal! And now we
were all going to be killed or left to die in the bowels of this house. How
long would it be before my family ventured outside Mirrorvale to look for us?
Would they ever suspect that we had gone off and gotten killed?
Ronni fixed me with her ice-blue stare. A malicious grin
spread across her face. “Oh, dearie,” she purred, “if I play my cards right, I
won’t have to make you work for me. Tomorrow is market-day at the harbor-town;
do you know what that means? Do they have market-days in your precious Aberon?”
Market-day… “You mean to sell us?”
Ronni laughed and spread her arms wide as Kirk returned
empty-handed. What had he done with my friends?
“That’s what Queen Ronni does, girlie! I recruit strong
young bodies like yourselves—and I must say, it’s been ages since I met such
strong souls—and sell them to the highest
bidder!”
Sold—we were going to be sold! Something within me shriveled
as Kirk grabbed my manacles and dragged me down the hall with Greyna. As we
passed a window, he paused to fumble with the key to the lock on the door, and I distinctly saw the black shape of a raven
landing on the branch of a tree just outside.
Ravens have despicable timing. I hate ravens.
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Also from "Inkweaver":
-The Legend of The Wordspinners
-The Last Inkweaver
-What Are You Afraid Of?
-In The Inkweaver's Cottage
-The Unfinished Tapestry
-Tales of the Inkweaver: "The Three Daughters"
-In The House Of The Talesmith
-"The Invisible Gift" and "Forward Unto Danger"
-Escape From Blackrope
-The Rise and Fall of Morgianna Plontus-Byrmingham
-The Morning After
-In the Court of Count Bergen
-"The Four Travellers" Part 2
-Do You See What I See?
-Welcome to Criansa
-Meeting Delia
-A Nice Cup of (Honest) Tea
-Saving Margo
-Interpreting The Stone
-Confessions
-Tales of The Inkweaver: "Four Animals in Partnership"
-Tark Trades People
-"Plotting" and "Meet Tark's Crew"
-Storytime for Tark
-Tales of The Inkweaver: "The Stone in The Road"
-Moon Valley
-Writer's Eyes
Also from "Inkweaver":
-The Legend of The Wordspinners
-The Last Inkweaver
-What Are You Afraid Of?
-In The Inkweaver's Cottage
-The Unfinished Tapestry
-Tales of the Inkweaver: "The Three Daughters"
-In The House Of The Talesmith
-"The Invisible Gift" and "Forward Unto Danger"
-Escape From Blackrope
-The Rise and Fall of Morgianna Plontus-Byrmingham
-The Morning After
-In the Court of Count Bergen
-"The Four Travellers" Part 2
-Do You See What I See?
-Welcome to Criansa
-Meeting Delia
-A Nice Cup of (Honest) Tea
-Saving Margo
-Interpreting The Stone
-Confessions
-Tales of The Inkweaver: "Four Animals in Partnership"
-Tark Trades People
-"Plotting" and "Meet Tark's Crew"
-Storytime for Tark
-Tales of The Inkweaver: "The Stone in The Road"
-Moon Valley
-Writer's Eyes
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