Birthright Tuornen Chapter Four

[ewancummins]

Safana takes the news that she will be sleeping in the squire's quarters with a very slight pause but no visible surprise.

"You are very generous sir! As for the smoke, I could probably hide it for a while, but I would need to concentrate. Furs will do me well, for the time being!"

"If you need anything else in the night, a servant will bring it to you. I'll be in the guestroom just down the hall, should you get bored and wish for conversation or someone to share a drink with. I'm a light sleeper. But nightfall is hours away. Maybe I can persuade you to put on a show for the children? If you like, we might share a meal first. Tell me your pleasure and I will try to make it so. "

[Varrus the Ethical]

Roald's eyes narrow at the guardsman. "I must have one of those faces. Get enough scars an you can look like anyone." Roald drinks from his mug. "And given how deep you are into your cups, I wouldn't be surprised if you mistook your own wife for a Flaertes."

[RocEter]

THE TRAINING GROUND

"I never said it had anything to do with fear I just made the normal comment to people who don't want be instructed by me in unarmed combat is all . But on the question of skill we shall see won't we ."Gunnar says with smile as he is waiting for "the huntsman" to come into the fighting ring that Gunnar has been waiting in .

"What are your motives here, Gunnar?" Foerde says placing his normal hands in front him. "If this is supposed to be a friendly match for instructional purposes, then what has fear to do with this?" He says questioning Gunnar's motives. "This is not about fear, it is about skill. It would be unfair of me to fight you, your skills do not match my own."

Men begin to murmur, then a couple of guys start yelling-
"Boo! The 'battle priest' is a coward! He fears a boxing match with Gunnar- how can he lead anyone in a real fight! Booo!"

Sighing Foerde shakes his head. "Oh a coward am I?" He says in a dark tone. "If this is no duel and only a practice session, then how I am coward? What difference does it make if I fight him or one you fight him for a practice session? There should be none but yet there is." He says. "Gunnar is using the practice session as excuse to fight me because he is too much of coward to actually call me out to a duel. I will not fight some one who is too much of coward to be truthful and honest. Were you a real Tuor you would just come out and challenge me."

"Come find me when you have the courage to challenge like a real Tuor." He says and then walks off.

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

COUNCIL AT CAER HAES

Both priests shake their heads.

"Too much to hope for. Maybe I'll hear from the stranger in the yellow mask again. I don't know if it's one of the Toymaker's creations, but the thought crossed my mind. And there's the page itself. I couldn't make out the writing, but if one of you ere to look at it, maybe it would make more sense. I gave the scrap to His Grace."

And so he continues, focusing on the affairs of Haes because it's his job. But just under the surface, he thinks of goblins.

[ewancummins]

THE TRAINING GROUND

Sighing Foerde shakes his head. "Oh a coward am I?" He says in a dark tone. "If this is no duel and only a practice session, then how I am coward? What difference does it make if I fight him or one you fight him for a practice session? There should be none but yet there is." He says. "Gunnar is using the practice session as excuse to fight me because he is too much of coward to actually call me out to a duel. I will not fight some one who is too much of coward to be truthful and honest. Were you a real Tuor you would just come out and challenge me."

"Come find me when you have the courage to challenge like a real Tuor." He says and then walks off.

A couple of the men look away with reddening faces, as if the shame were their own. Others stare in mute surprise as a battle-priest seems to flee from a mere boxing demonstration. Ranald's servants crack jokes, and soon most of the men join them in mockery. Peals of scornful laughter follow Foerde from the training ground.

[ewancummins]

COUNCIL AT CAER HAES

Both priests shake their heads.

"Too much to hope for. Maybe I'll hear from the stranger in the yellow mask again. I don't know if it's one of the Toymaker's creations, but the thought crossed my mind. And there's the page itself. I couldn't make out the writing, but if one of you ere to look at it, maybe it would make more sense. I gave the scrap to His Grace."

And so he continues, focusing on the affairs of Haes because it's his job. But just under the surface, he thinks of goblins.

The Archprelate says-"I'd be happy to take a look at this page, parchment, whatever it is."

[Lord Skybolt]

THE TRAINING GROUND

"I never said it had anything to do with fear I just made the normal comment to people who don't want be instructed by me in unarmed combat is all . But on the question of skill we shall see won't we ."Gunnar says with smile as he is waiting for "the huntsman" to come into the fighting ring that Gunnar has been waiting in .

"What are your motives here, Gunnar?" Foerde says placing his normal hands in front him. "If this is supposed to be a friendly match for instructional purposes, then what has fear to do with this?" He says questioning Gunnar's motives. "This is not about fear, it is about skill. It would be unfair of me to fight you, your skills do not match my own."

Men begin to murmur, then a couple of guys start yelling-
"Boo! The 'battle priest' is a coward! He fears a boxing match with Gunnar- how can he lead anyone in a real fight! Booo!"

Sighing Foerde shakes his head. "Oh a coward am I?" He says in a dark tone. "If this is no duel and only a practice session, then how I am coward? What difference does it make if I fight him or one you fight him for a practice session? There should be none but yet there is." He says. "Gunnar is using the practice session as excuse to fight me because he is too much of coward to actually call me out to a duel. I will not fight some one who is too much of coward to be truthful and honest. Were you a real Tuor you would just come out and challenge me."

"Come find me when you have the courage to challenge like a real Tuor." He says and then walks off.

Shrugging, Gunnar just calls out to some lumber jacks and others to show them some moves in the ring .

[ewancummins]

Shrugging, Gunnar just calls out to some lumber jacks and others to show them some moves in the ring .

The laughter dies down as the training begins...

[ewancummins]

THE GORGON'S CROWN
ALEHOUSE

Roald's eyes narrow at the guardsman. "I must have one of those faces. Get enough scars an you can look like anyone." Roald drinks from his mug. "And given how deep you are into your cups, I wouldn't be surprised if you mistook your own wife for a Flaertes."

''Hurr, right."
The guardsman knocks back the rest of his drink before wandering away...

[Varrus the Ethical]

Roald finishes his mug and stands up, laying his banner on the table. "Reese, stay here and enjoy yourself. I'm going to going to visit the Caer Haes to see if Sir Rory has my payment ready."

Roald pushes open the alehouse's door and steps out onto the steets of Haes, turning towards the castle.

[ewancummins]

COUNCIL AT CAER HAES



The Castellan speaks to the Archprelate.
"There is something else we need your help with, Your Holiness-- the funeral of our late duke."

The Archprelate steeples his fingers. "The condition?"

Sir Rory, looking very old as he rubs the bags of wrinkles under his eyes, answers
"No open casket, I think. Since the night after his murder, Duke Gilgaed's mortal remains have lain in the ice-cellar with packets of aromatic spices, but we must not delay even another day. He must be interred today."

The old knight glances at Devlin.
"Your Grace, please forgive me if I speak too bluntly of the matter. Death has become a familiar companion to me.''

[ewancummins]

ROALD, THE STREETS OF HAES


The afternoon sunlight does not quite dispel the lingering chill. The streets are packed with people today, and a festival atmosphere prevails. Gentlemen ride through the streets muffled in woolen cloaks trimmed with fur, or stroll along the shop fronts with belted rapiers swinging at their hips. Well-to-do ladies smile politely when Roald, or any other soldier of Tuornen, passes by. Drunken harlots blow kisses and lift their skirts, displaying bare white legs. Street vendors hawk their wares. A stunted man in ragged motley leads a chained bear in a clumsy dance, to the delight of a gaggle of children. A little band of musicians play bagpipes and viols while several dancers jig in an alley beside a noisy tavern. A skinny man dressed in bright green hose, dun jerkin, and faded blue cloak stands on an overturned crate and proclaims to all passers-by that a new play will soon be performed at the local theatre.

[RocEter]

Foerde returns to where the men are shoring up the defenses and uses his skills as carpenter to assist until Cormac is ready to leave.

[ewancummins]

FOERDE

Foerde returns to where the men are shoring up the defenses and uses his skills as carpenter to assist until Cormac is ready to leave.

At first everything goes as before, with the men working alongside Foerde in good cheer.
But not long after he returns to work, a new shift including several of the men that Gunnar had been training comes on duty.
Some of the men stare at Foerde for a moment, shake their heads, and walk away when if comes near them. One older man seems to look right through him as though he were a ghost. Others return his gaze with insolent smirks while mumbling pious language. No one speaks directly to him, not even about the carpentry work at which he is clearly skilled.

[kintire]

Safana looks delighted.

"I will gather the children and see if I can get them to forget their cares for a while. Perhaps some warming soup when I am finished?"

As the squire agrees she descends to the manor below, gathering the children who are willing in an appropriate hall. As they sit there, the room around them shimmers and changes, and they are sitting in a Khinasi chamber, with silken drapes, beautiful tapestries and a view over sweeping, grassy plains.

She dances to a sweet music, and tells them a tale of gallant heroes overcoming peril by wit and skill, to rescue imperiled princesses. As she does, the scene around them changes, and they see the characters enacting the scenes, amid caverns and plains, and bowers of flowers and feasting halls.