Chapter Two – The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep by Kelly D. Tolman

Posted by admin on October 6, 2008

The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep is a fantasy novel describing the adventures of Colter Halfspear as he becomes a man and an initiate of magical powers.

I woke up with a poultice on my arms and a bandage on my chest. The sun had risen long hours before. “Get up sleepy head,” Betta said. She had a ribbon in her hair and bounced as merrily as if nothing had happened the night before and as if she had never been ill.

“I see the tyrnwood worked,” I said, and mamma smiled.

“You found an excellent plant. Now, get up and fetch some more water.”

I hurt to move, but boyish pride kept me going. I dragged back a bucket and mamma proffered me some tea in one of our many chipped cups. “You’ll need your strength Colter, drink it.”

“When is Master Wilder coming?” I asked.

“Around mid-day. Are you hurt anywhere else?” Her eyes and voice were full of unusual concern and tenderness. I knew then that she worried about more than just my cuts.

“Just my arms,” I replied.

“Drink your tea. The tyrnwood will help you.” She checked the poultice as I drank the tea. We had no honey or beet sugar, so the drink tasted bitter and thick in my throat, but the warm sensation that covered me from head to toe rested both body and mind.

“I had such an awful dream,” commented Betta in her childish, ever cheerful voice. “There was screaming and darkness, and I was afraid for you Colter. I kept calling and calling, but you had gone and couldn’t hear me. Then I felt warmer and then I woke up and mamma was here.”

“It was just a dream dear,” said mamma.

“Oh, I know that, mamma,” replied Betta. “I’m not scared anymore. I just thought it was a strange dream.”

“Not too strange.” I showed Betta my arms and torn shirt. “You probably woke up partly during your fever. Mamma and I killed a Kaarum last night”

“Did you really?” Her eyes grew as big as saucers, her curiosity insatiable. “Can I see it?”

I laughed because she seemed so happy, and she laughed and giggled as we went to the back of the house. The carcass was cold now and a few flies had gathered around it. I pulled out my arrow and cleaned the sticky black blood from the point. I could still use the unbroken arrow. Somehow it didn’t feel much different from a deer or any other animal I had hunted. The creature wore some kind of hardened armor over its rough black hide. The head was shaped like a dog’s head, but with horns like an ox and eyes more like a great cat. Hard sandals with tight leather thongs padded the broad black feet but didn’t hide the twisted yellow toenails.

“Sure is ugly,” commented Betta. Then she went back into the house.

I took advantage of the hours before Master Wilder came to scout the farm for signs of Kaarum. I followed the trail for a few kilometers north and east before circling back to the south. I found the spot where the tyrnwood grew, and pocketed a few additional leaves. A game trail ran south across the road. The road lead to Havensod. The trail continued over to a stream and onto the only other free hold in the valley, Master Trakkin’s farm. The rest of the farmers rented from the wealthier men in the region.

I nearly reached the stream when I heard movement along the trail. Any meat I could catch now would help, though I doubted I would find anything very fat so early in the summer. I quietly stepped into cover behind a stunted pine tree and waited. After a few moments I saw a tangle of deep auburn curls emerge from the creek bottom.

“Hello, Anaria,” I called as I stepped from behind the tree. “I hoped you were a deer.”

“Denan has a fever, so ma sent me to find some tyrnwood, but I don’t think there will be any this early. I haven’t seen any deer either.” Anaria often roamed the wild in trousers like any of the farm boys, though her father generally disapproved. Her homemade moccasins showed signs of wear, but I knew they were far more comfortable than my bare feet. She always kept a fresh flower over her left ear, just like her mother. That day she had a yellow and purple pansy. As the only neighbor anywhere near my age, we had explored much of the valley together despite her father’s dislike of my father’s adventures and reputation.

I dug the leaves I had gathered earlier out of my pocket. “I found these further up, on our place. You can have them if you want. We’re going to town later, so they would probably just spoil anyway.”

She took the leaves and smiled. “Thanks, Colter. Pa’s going to town later too. I’ll see if I can go along.”

“You haven’t seen any strange tracks, have you?” I asked.

“No, not that I would notice anyway. You read sign better than I do,” she said.

“A Kaarum came to our house last night,” I said. Anaria looked more frightened than I intended. “Don’t worry, we killed it. I just wanted to know if you had seen anything out here.”

“I think I better be getting home,” she replied. “I don’t think ma would want me out if she knew about the Kaarum.”

“If you get a chance, come to the Waystop. I think that’s where we’ll be.” We waved goodbye, and I turned home. I hurried, knowing I didn’t have much time before mamma expected me back.

I heard Harrim Wilder’s voice before I saw him. Deep, booming, friendly, ever ready to engage a visitor, that voice marked the man. He was as grand a figure as his voice, tall, two meters at least, and bulky. The man could consume half a lamb in a sitting if the mood struck and I had watched him drink more wine than the rest of the village combined during festivals. Generally considered handsome by the women, his hair, though graying, curled black and thick and his well-tended beard made for an imposing presence. His inn, the Waystop, served the finest food and drink found in the region. I knew him as a generous and forgiving man, willing to take a loss himself rather than see another hurt.

I entered quietly, and left the rabbits on the table in the back room that served as kitchen, dining hall, and porch.

“Ho, Colter,” bellowed the innkeeper. “Come in and tell me of your adventures in the night. What’s this talk of Kaarum so far south in the empire?”

“One attacked us last night. Mamma and I killed it. There isn’t much to tell.” There really wasn’t much to say about it. I had done no more than stay alive, and that by more luck than skill.

“Are there any more? Did you see any signs?” His voice was earnest, but steady.

“Nothing. I retraced all the way back to where I first heard it, and followed its trail another kilometer out. I didn’t see anything. It trailed down from somewhere north of the valley across the wild. I couldn’t say where.”

“Good, that is very good. I don’t think the village is prepared to handle an attack.”

“You don’t really believe there is any danger of that?” asked my mother.

“I don’t know Lelda,” said Harrim. “Times have changed again, for the worse it seems, or maybe not.” He raised a brow and gave me an odd sort of look that told me he knew something I did not. Whatever he knew, my mother was better at keeping it away from me. Only later, many winters later when time made such things moot, did I realize the pain my mother endured in those winters to keep me from my destiny. But destiny is not to be cheated, nor bargained with, nor spurned. It can only be accepted and fulfilled.

In that moment of silence between my mother and the innkeeper I read some of that pain.

“Put on your boots,” my mother ordered. “Get out the clean shirt and trousers.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” joined Harrim, returning to his usual jovial tone. “See, your sister is all dressed up. Look how pretty you are Betta. What a lovely dress. Oh, and bows and ribbons in your hair. Doesn’t the yellow look lovely?”

Betta really did look her best. Of course with just six winters, she was excited to be noticed by anyone. I preferred to chat and play with her rather than to dwell on the events of the night.

“Bring your spear, Colter, and your bow,” he advised. “You never know when you will need them.” The road to Dunston remains to this day one of the safest, least interesting roads in the empire, but I obeyed.

Copyright 2008 Kelly David Tolman

On to The Cleansing of Darnuth Keep Fantasy Novel Chapter Three

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