‘I do,’ said Bel. He wondered why Gellan was questioning him about this, but then again, why not …they had plenty of time to kill on this journey, and had already exhausted a number of topics.
‘Certainly exotic,’ continued Gellan. ‘Has a touch of Sprite about her, if I’m not mistaken. But then again so do you. Made for each other, you could say.’
‘You could,’ said Bel, remembering his father’s words about the soul kiss of the Sprites. Where was his father anyway? He shook his head. Later.
Jaya glanced around as if she knew they were talking about her, and stuck her tongue out at Bel.
‘You could indeed.’
Gellan fell into thoughtful reflection, then glanced behind at Fazel bringing up the rear.
‘Come on Fazel, stop dawdling,’ he called, and instantly the mage quickened his step.
Later that day the path grew firmer, and they began to pass dwellings amongst the trees. Coming around a thick grove, they found themselves at the top of a hill looking down upon cleared land, with smoking chimneys in the distance. A wooden sign by the roadside, chipped and faded, read ‘Talforn’.
‘Well,’ said Bel, ‘perhaps we’ll sleep in beds tonight.’
‘After a few mugs of ale,’ said Hiza with a wink.
‘Ale?’ said M’Meska. ‘Weak as cat water.’
‘If they have an inn out here in the middle of nowhere,’ added Jaya gloomily. ‘Personally I’ll be happy if they’ve invented chairs.’
‘Don’t trample on my dreams,’ groaned Hiza.
‘Will you join us, Fazel?’ said Bel. ‘Have you some illusion you can cast to disguise yourself?’
‘I don’t think that wise,’ said Gellan. ‘If there are any mages about, they will sense his presence …and that may cause the villagers unease.’
Fazel gave a stiff nod. ‘I will circle wide, and meet you on the other side tomorrow.’
‘Very well,’ said Bel. ‘Now, let us go and see if we can discover that cat …I mean ale.’
Down the path they went onto flatter land. In fields hats bobbed up and down as their owners tended to crops, though they remained firmly up as the strange procession appeared on the otherwise quiet road.
Talforn didn’t seem to have a clear beginning or end – at a point the buildings simply began to stand closer together. The villagers looked mainly to be farmers, strong and weatherbeaten. The stares Bel received did not quite hold the amazement he had attracted in other places; they contained a more frank and appraising curiosity. He wondered if these fringe dwellers had heard that the blue-haired man had made himself known …or even knew who he was.
‘Ho, strangers,’ called a burly, bronzed fellow who had been digging in his yard. ‘How do you fare?’
From out of the house behind him appeared a buxom woman cradling a toddler.
‘Well enough,’ answered Bel. ‘Maybe a bug or two caught between our teeth, but nothing we can’t swallow. Is there a Citizen Prime here?’
‘No Prime,’ said the man. ‘Though if the village needed a voice, it might be mine.’ He rested on his shovel. ‘I’m Barnus. And, if you don’t mind me sayin’, you don’t look like the kind of folk we normally get through here.’ He frowned at Bel’s hair. ‘That the fashion in the cities these days?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Your hair. Dyed blue as the sky. A strange look, some would think …but each to their own, I s’pose.’
‘You not know child of power legend?’ M’Meska asked incredulously.
‘Well, of course!’ said the man. ‘We’re not totally grown wild. But …well …’ He stared hard at Bel. ‘You don’t mean …? No, surely not.’
‘I’m afraid so,’ said Jaya. ‘Annoying though it is, this is the blue-haired man.’
‘Well, I never!’ exclaimed the woman, speaking for the first time. ‘Imagine that, here in Talforn!’
‘I don’t have to imagine it, woman,’ said Barnus. ‘He’s standin’ right there. Well,’ he went on, a little more carefully now, ‘is there anything we can be doin’ for you?’
‘Is there an inn?’
‘’Course there is,’ said the man, somewhat offended. ‘I’ll take you there myself.’
‘Before you do,’ said Gellan, ‘can you tell me if there are any mages here?’
Barnus nodded briskly. ‘We got Miss Felda, though I ain’t seen her for a couple of days now. She often goes off into the woods lookin’ for herbs – one of those types, all potions and whatnot.’
‘I see,’ said Gellan, and his eyes took on a distant look.
‘What are you doing?’ said Bel.
‘Just warning Fazel,’ replied Gellan quietly, ‘to be on the lookout. Don’t want him getting caught unawares, now, do we?’
‘And then,’ Hiza said, ‘it began to look as if Bel and I had gotten ourselves into a rather sticky situation.’
Sitting at a table in the small, quiet inn, the group nonetheless made the most of a night indoors. Jugs of ale didn’t survive long, while Bel and Hiza gave in to the time-honoured pastime of drinkers everywhere: recounting shared memories. Hiza had just told the story of how, when he and Bel had been boys, they’d poured honey into Corlas’s bottle of leather polish.
‘Not for you,’ put in Bel tipsily. ‘You fled like a rabbit with wolves on his trail. Or tail. Trail.’
‘Both,’ suggested M’Meska.
‘Can you blame me?’ laughed Hiza. ‘When Corlas realised what it was he’d just rubbed onto his armour, his face flamed up redder than a beetroot.’
‘Aye,’ said Bel, ‘and my buttocks were the same colour not long after!’
It was good to see Hiza less serious around him – maybe his friend was finally remembering that Bel was the same person he’d always been. Of the others, only Gellan was not laughing at the relived antics. Instead the mage wore a quizzical expression.
‘What is it, Gellan?’ said Jaya, then drained the last of her mug. ‘Has the immense wit of my fellow and his comrade passed you by?’
Gellan gave a slight chortle, but it sounded rather forced. ‘It just seems a very strange thing to do,’ he said. ‘You put honey in Corlas’s bottle of polish?’
‘Um, yes,’ said Hiza, his hand hovering as he waited for Jaya to finish pouring out the latest jug. ‘That was in fact the point of the whole story.’
‘I see,’ said Gellan. ‘And it was your intention that he unknowingly ruin his armour?’
‘Not ruin,’ said Bel. ‘Gellan, have you quaffed too much ale? Your mind doesn’t seem to be whirring too quickly.’
Gellan glanced at the full mug in front of him, then pulled it towards him. ‘I’m sure that’s why,’ he said, taking a sip. ‘I guess I just don’t understand why irritating someone is funny.’
‘It’s called mischief ,’ said Jaya, rolling her eyes.
‘Speaking of your father,’ said Gellan to Bel, ‘has there been any news on that count?’
Bel frowned, his merry mood turning rapidly grimmer. Why did Gellan have to go and ask him about that now? It was difficult for him to think about his father when the task he’d been born for lay ahead, eclipsing all else. Also, it was troubling that Corlas had not come forward after word had gone out about his pardon, and Bel could not help but feel somewhat abandoned. Unless something bad had happened to him, but that was a dark thought indeed and always quickly shooed away. Corlas was more than able to watch out for himself, Bel knew that. Perhaps he was simply hiding somewhere, unaware that he had been forgiven?
‘No further news,’ he said, trying not to let his annoyance sound in his voice. ‘Fahren’s soldiers continue to search for him.’
‘Ah,’ said Gellan, and then, somewhat distantly, ‘poor unfortunate chap.’
Bel sought to change the subject. ‘What of Fazel?’ he asked quietly. ‘Can you sense him out there?’
Gellan concentrated for a moment, then nodded. ‘Yes. He is away up the hillside, far enough from the village to cause no concern.’