Teldin’s thoughts of food were interrupted by a sound different from the whine of the locusts and songs of the field birds. From behind came the groaning creak of wagon wheels and the snap and jingle of a harness. Looking back, he saw a wagon rounding the bend, but the wagon master hadn’t yet seen the pair.
The road at this point passed through a narrow cut. Thick brush and trees grew close to the banks, forming a shaded alley. These would give more than enough cover for Gomja. “Quickly,” Teldin ordered the giff, “get into the bushes and stay out of sight.”
“Yes, sir,” Gomja replied. His huge bulk swaying from side to side, the giff trotted off the road and behind a thicket. From the bushes he called out. “Shall I attack on your command?”
“Don’t do or say anything!” Teldin hissed back in exasperation.
“Yes, sir,” came Gomja’s muffled answer. The bushes rustled and grasshoppers leaped away as the giff settled in.
Teldin brushed the dust from his clothes and stood by the side of the road. He studied the wagon as it drew closer. It was really nothing but a simple farmer’s cart, with two big wheels and high sides. A pair of horses were in the hitch, plodding forward, urged on by a gaunt farmer’s whip. Next to the farmer sat a grubby youth, sucking on an orange. The boy casually spit orange seeds as the cart jolted along.
“Greetings, farmer!” Teldin shouted as the wagon drew near.
The farmer frantically pulled back on the reins as he spotted Teldin, letting the cart rumble to a stop while still a good distance away. The hollow-faced fellow shaded his eyes to scrutinize Teldin. The youth watched curiously, his cheeks covered with orange pulp.
“Greetings to you, stranger," the farmer finally said in a voice dry and dust-cracked. The words were slowly spoken, as if each were precious.
“My companion and I are bound for Kalaman,” Teldin explained as he began walking toward the cart.
“Stand where you are, stranger,” demanded the farmer. The older man spoke a quick, whispered word to the youth. The lad reached down and produced a small crossbow from under the seat. Fumblingly, he started to load the weapon. Before the boy got the bow set, however, he dropped the bolt. “We’ll have no funny business from you!” the farmer called to Teldin.
“We mean no harm. We only want a ride to Kalaman, if that’s where you’re bound,” Teldin shouted back. He spread his arms as if to prove his innocence.
“We? I only see one of you. You look like a brigand. You talk like a brigand.” The farmer, trying-and failing-to be discreet, squinted toward the bushes on either side of the path. The boy, still struggling with the crossbow, scooped up the dropped bolt only to have the empty bow twang as he accidentally released the trigger. The farmer angrily whispered to the lad, and the boy apologetically cowered as he started to work again.
“I’m no brigand,” Teldin protested, taking a few steps forward. The farmer raised his whip menacingly.
“Well, you’re dressed like one,” the old man shouted back.
Teldin was forced to consider his appearance and realized that the accusation fit the image. Here he was, a stranger standing in the middle of the road, wearing old farm clothes, with a battered cutlass slipped through his belt and a fine cloak-which seemed to have lengthened again-dangling from around his neck. It was hardly the dress of the ordinary traveler.
“I’m Teldin Moore of Dargaard Valley, a farmer like you. I’m just going to Kalaman to see family.” The driver squinted fiercely back, but did not relent. Teldin tried a different tact. “I’ll pay for the ride.”
“Just now you said ‘we’," the gaunt farmer countered suspiciously. The lad at his side finally succeed in drawing back the crossbow’s string and fitting a bolt. He pointed the weapon unsteadily in Teldin’s direction, which only made Teldin fearful he’d be shot accidentally. “Which is it, I or we?’’
Teldin thought fast, trying to think of a good explanation for Gomja. “Well.. uh… I have a companion, but… uh… but he suffered cruel misfortune during the war."
“I don’t care if he’s crippled or scarred. Have him out, or my boy shoots!” The lad looked up to his father, waiting for a signal.
“It’s not quite like that. He’s-” Teldin tried to explain. The old man cut him off with a quiver of the whip. “Very well. Trooper Gomja,” Teldin called back over his shoulder, "come on out-slowly.”
The branches of the thicket cracked as Gomja stepped into view. On the wagon, father and son gave a simultaneous gasp. The old man’s eyes widened while his boy almost dropped the crossbow again as he stood there stupidly, mouth agape.
“This is Trooper Gomja,” Teldin hastily said, before the wagon driver did something foolish. “He won’t hurt you. Please, let us ride with you." The wagoneer nodded his head in stunned silence while the boy slowly lowered the crossbow. Human and giff quickly climbed aboard before the man had a chance to come to his senses.
For several hours they rode along in silence. The father and son were too terrified to speak to their passengers. The giff dozed off, basking in the sunshine. Teldin grew bored and clambered up to the front. “I apologize for our meeting,” he offered. “But why were you so frightened? You don’t seem to be carrying anything that valuable.”
“It’s true, all I have are oranges and almonds and such, but this road’s been dangerous ever since the war,” the farmer allowed. “Name’s Jacos, by the way.”
Teldin was puzzled. He had never heard of any trouble, but then, he had not been to Kalaman since he had left the army. ‘The war’s been over for years. I know, I was in it.”
“Maybe over for you, but there’s a lot of men who never learned how to put down the sword.” Jacos flicked the rump of his horses to keep them from straying after a nibble of grass. “A lot of soldiers didn’t want to go back home-or there wasn’t a home to go back to. Now they’ve found an easy life, robbing folks on the road.”
“What about the officials? What about the Knights of Solamnia? Couldn’t they to deal with that?"
“They did, for a while. I suppose it just wasn’t glamorous enough for them knights. Since they left, the local militia can’t keep up. Somebody gets robbed and the militia chases the bandits around for a while till things quiet down. Then everybody goes home.” There was an ominous tone in the old man s voice.
“I don’t mean to be rude,” said Jacos, changing the subject, “but what happened to your friend back there? You said it was something in the war.”
“What?” Teldin stalled. He’d been working up a story for just this question and now he had to remember all the details. He lowered his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.
“Oh, him. He doesn’t like to talk much about it. They-you know, the Highlords-did something to him. Tried to make him over, like they did with draconians." Teldin’s blue eyes took on a mischievous gleam. “Only they got that”-He nodded back toward Gomja-” instead. They called him a giff. It was a terrible thing. He won’t talk about it at all. In fact, I don’t think he even remembers it.
Jacos and his son nodded, their eyes wide with wonder.
“The best thing to do,” Teldin continued, relishing their gullible reaction, “is just never mention it. I wouldn’t want him remembering anything about it. Sometimes he gets nightmares and he’ll just tear a place up in his sleep.” The farmer gulped nervously as he glanced back at the dozing giff.
“So why you stick with him, mister?” asked the boy. Jacos shot his son a dark glance.
“He’s a friend,” Teldin replied hesitantly. “You can’t just leave a friend.”
“That’s enough of that now, boy. Let’s not be rude.” The boy looked disappointed that the topic was closed.
After that the conversation shifted to safer subjects. Teldin told of his cousins in Kalaman and the time he’d been there during the war. The boy was eager for war stories, and Teldin spun him a few yarns filled with dragons, flying citadels, and battles, to pass the time. Teldin was only telling stories he’d heard from others, but it made no difference to the boy. For him, the tales were all exciting. The lad’s enthusiasm made everything seem clear and simple again-who was good, who was evil, the heroics that were performed. It hadn’t quite turned out that way, Teldin thought.