The Islix Sword : chapter 1

    The Islix sword

    Chapter 1

    By: S. M. Cornwell

    Rock thought about his father as he  walked alongside the horse  entering the town of Brenshire.  He could have ridden in the wagon but he liked the feel of the earth beneath his feet and the company of the animal beside him. 

    It was his father’s wagon; he had found it several months earlier in one of farmer Blitchwick’s fields where the horse had dragged it to graze.  His father had gone to the Blitchwick farm to repair a broken wagon wheel and  when late afternoon arrived and he had not returned Rock went to see if he needed help with the repairs.  Mrs. Blitchwick told Rock that his father had finished with the wagon several hours earlier.  He had enjoyed a cool glass of tea on the front porch with her and her twelve year old daughter Lizzy, tossed Lizzy in the air a couple of times, far too high in her opinion, and caught the giggling child when she came back down, then he had headed back to the smithy.  Rock looked for some sign of struggle on his way home; highway men were rare in this part of Koth but not unheard of.  He was sure that if someone had tried to rob his father there would be some sign of it, Mangus Smith would not take such matters lightly and he was not a man to be trifled with.  He had found nothing and his father had not been heard from since that day. 

    No one he spoke to had heard or seen anything out of the ordinary, no strangers in the area, no beasts skulking in the dark.  There had been reports of strange goings on of late, creatures glimpsed in the deep shadow of this wood or that, some farm animals mutilated.  He had attributed the animal mutilations to wolfs, though as far as he knew the only wolfs in the area were in Deepmist forest where the witch Moriangus dwelt.  Everyone knew there were wolfs in Deepmist forest, and stranger things besides, no one ever went into that forest.    He had never heard of a wolf being seen outside of Deepmist Forest.

    Now he was responsible for running the family smithy.  He had been his father’s apprentice since he was five years old and there was no job he didn’t feel competent to perform.  He had been doing work on his own since he was sixteen.  But because he was only nineteen years old he was concerned that some of their older customers would take their business to one of the other two other smithies in town.  When he expressed this concern to Jonas Bigsby, the foreman of the mine in Tolsley where they got their iron ore, he was told “Hell, Rock, you was a better smith when you was ten than anybody at Burns or Bitterman is today, and everybody knows it, except Burns and Bitterman.”  Rock found Jonas’s bold declaration such a relief he had chuckled to himself all the way home.  He had a mother and two sisters to care for and he hoped work would remain steady.

    He knew he would probably see Kelvin Cooper when he went to deliver the iron rings he had made for his father.  Rock didn’t have many friends but he counted Kelvin among the best of them, despite being three years his senior.  They had learned their letters and numbers together at Miss. Kirby’s little school house when they were children and had gone fishing and hunting together on the rare occasion when they both had time.  Kelvin, the third of four brothers, had no desire to continue in the family trade of barrel making.  He had been asking Rock to apprentice him as a blacksmith for over a year and Rock had put him off by telling him that he was just an apprentice himself.  It wasn’t that he didn’t want to apprentice Kelvin; he thought he would be a good blacksmith.  He was big, broad shouldered, and had no fear of work.  It just didn’t feel right to him.  When he asked his father what he thought about it he had just shrugged and told him to go ahead if he thought he needed the help.  He didn’t know what he would tell Kelvin now that he was running the smithy on his own.

    Rock didn’t get into town often, usually his mother and sisters did what shopping there was to be done and his father took care of the smithy’s business there.  Since he had to deliver a load of iron rings to the cooper anyway, and mother wanted the girls to help her plant the last of the vegetable garden, he had agreed to pick up what little they needed.  Briz, his younger sister, wanted some blue ribbon and a piece of taffy from Mr. Caferty’s shop.  Rayene, the older of his two sisters, had told him to get her a bolt of heavy cloth so she could make some new work clothes for the summer, and a yard of thin, soft, leather for new work gloves.  Mother had given him a short list, flour, sugar, bacon, dried beans, and salted fish.  As he was leaving Rayene had run up to the wagon and, looking around as if she were about to commit a crime, whispered “Get me some of that taffy too.”

    He delivered the iron rings to the coopers first so he would have room in the wagon for his supplies.  While he was settling affairs with Mr. Cooper Kelvin came out and began unloading the rings from the wagon.

    “Hi Rock’, Kelvin said when he joined him unloading the wagon.  “Heard any news about your Pa?”

    “No, not yet”, Rock said, trying to sound hopeful.

    “I can’t imagine what I’d do if my Pa just up and disappeared one day”, he said.

    “We have searched everywhere and found nothing.  His big hammer was right there in the front of the wagon where it always is” he said, looking down and shaking his head.  He had thought of little else for months.

    “I know your dad, Rock.  He is a solid man, not the sort to go running off with some young floozy or anything of that sort”, Kelvin told him, making Rock wonder what rumors were floating around Brenshire about his father.

    “I’ve never considered such a thing.  My father is so in love with my mother, so totally devoted to her, I think that if anything ever happened to her it would kill him”, he told Kelvin.

    “How is she doing”, Kelvin asked “and the girls?”

    “Mother hides it well, but she is nearly sick with worry”, Rock said.  “Rayene and Briz don’t know what to think; they still go and walk the road near where I found the wagon whenever they get a chance.  They have been all across that field, the woods, and the roadside.  I bet there isn’t an inch in a square mile around that field that they haven’t seen.  They have found nothing either!”

    “At least they haven’t found blood, or a body”, Kelvin said.

    “Ha, that’s what mother said”, Rock told him through a half smile.  “She says that if he were dead she would know it.  Sometimes she sounds more scared than worried.  Sometimes she just sounds confused.”

    “Rock, if you need help I’d be glad to do anything I could”, Kelvin offered.

    “Kelvin, I’m too young to take an apprentice”, Rock told him.  “If I apprenticed you now people would think that I am pretentious and you are a fool.”

    “Do you want to know the truth?” Kelvin asked, “I don’t care if people think I’m the village idiot, smell funny, and that I fornicate with sheep.  You are, right now, aside from your father, the best blacksmith in Brenshire, maybe the best blacksmith in all of Koth.  And I want to learn from the best.  But I wasn’t talking about apprenticing me.  I know you have a lot on your mind and don’t need that bother now.  I was simply offering my help in any way you may need it.”

    “I’m sorry, Kelvin.  Like you said, I have had a lot on my mind lately”, Rock told him.  “You understand that it is not that I don’t want you for an apprentice.  In fact, I think you would be a great blacksmith.  I’m just uncomfortable with it, we being so close in age, that’s all.”

    “Oh, I’ve not given up on being your apprentice”, Kelvin assured him.  “But for now I just thought you might like someone to … I don’t know, make deliveries, clean up the shop, go to Tolsley and fetch ore for the forge, that sort of thing.”

    “I am spread a little thin”, Rock admitted “I am used to the smithy being a two man operation.”

    “I have always thought we were friends, Rock”, Kelvin told him.  “We are friends, aren’t we?”

    “I hope so, Kelvin, I have always considered you my friend” Rock told him.

    “Well, friends help friends, friend.  Just until we find your father”, he added.  The positive assertion about finding his father made Rock feel a little better.

    “You would have to stay at our place, it’s too far to travel every day”, Rock told him.

    “A pallet in the barn or the smithy will be fine for me”, Kelvin assured him.

    “What do you think your father will say?” Rock asked.  “Won’t they miss you around here?”

    “I already told him I intended to make the offer”, Kelvin told him.

    “And he didn’t mind?” Rock asked.

    “Mind?  He slapped me on the back and said good lad”, Kelvin said laughing.  “He told me that if you didn’t take to the idea I was to talk you into it.  He has more sons than he has room for anyway.”

          While Kelvin was packing a bag and gathering his things Mr. Cooper came over to talk with Rock.

    “You make sure the boy earns his keep, now.  Don’t be soft on him”, Mr. Cooper said as he approached.

    “Ha, you don’t have to worry about that, sir, you’ll find little softness in a smithy ‘, Rock assured him, laughing.

    “The boy is a good worker when he puts his mind to it”, Mr. Cooper told him seriously.

    “It is awfully generous of you to let Kelvin come help me this way, Mister Cooper.  I’m sure you could use his help around here”, Rock said.

    “Ah, the boy eats more than he earns, the big ox.  He is a good cooper, but his heart isn’t in it. He does most things pretty well, for that matter.  William and Robert, the two eldest boys, do most of the work around here these days.  They will be running the place on their own soon”, Mr. Cooper told him.

    “I’m sure I can keep him busy”, Rock said.

    “Better he is out there with you anyway; maybe it will keep him from getting in trouble with one of the girls that are always chasing after him around here.  If the army hadn’t gone downhill so bad since Baywin took over I think he would have joined up with them already”, Mr. Cooper told him.

    “Ah, here he comes now”, Rock said loudly as Kelvin came through the door carrying a large duffle bag, a bow and quiver of arrows, and a fishing pole.  “I hope he doesn’t do everything as slowly as he packs.”

    “I hope Mangus turns up soon, he is a good man and a good friend.  You boys be safe”, Mr. Cooper told Rock, slapping him on the back.  “I better go make sure Kelvin didn’t empty the larder on his way out.”

    “Are we ready to go?” Kelvin asked as he climbed into the wagon.

    “Not quite, I have some errands to run first”, Rock told him.  “Here” he said, handing his mother’s list to Kelvin, “if you go to the grocer and get these things I can get the other things I need and meet you in front of the Dancing Bear.”

    “Okay”, Kelvin said, taking the list and jumping down from the wagon.

    “Just tell Mr. Bringstrom that it is for me and to put it on my bill”, Rock said to Kelvin’s back.  Kelvin waved his acknowledgement as he trotted off into town.

    After going to the tannery and Mr. Caferty’s shop Rock pulled up to the Dancing Bear to find Kelvin sitting on a sack of flour talking to Molly Hatcher, one of Mr. Bringstrom’s helpers at the grocer.

    “I thought you had gotten lost”, Kelvin said, hopping up and carrying the sack of flour around to the back of the wagon.

    “Hi Rock”, Molly said, smiling broadly as she twirled a lock of her curly brown hair around a finger.

    “Isn’t Mr. Bringstrom going to be angry with you for being away from the grocer at this busy time of day”, Rock asked her.

    “Well I couldn’t let Kelvin carry all these things over here by himself, could I?” she said.

    When Rock started to get down from the wagon Kelvin motioned for him to stay where he was.  He scooped up the last of the parcels, loaded them into the back of the wagon, and then joined Rock sitting it the front.

    “Let’s go”, he hissed to Rock.

    “I guess we’ll be seeing you later, Molly” Rock said to the still smiling girl.

    “Bye Rock.  Bye Kelvin. I hope I see you again real soon”, she said, waving enthusiastically.

    “If I didn’t know better I would say you were afraid of Molly”, Rock said after they had ridden for a short while.

    “She scares me half to death”, Kelvin confided.  “She’s not following us, is she”, he added, looking back over his shoulder, causing Rock to roar with laughter.

    “Why on Earth would you be afraid of Molly Hatcher?” Rock asked, when he stopped laughing .

    “She is so soft, and so pretty, and so tempting, and so wanting to be married and start having children.  It sends shivers up my spine”, Kelvin told him with a shudder, causing Rock to go into another fit of laughter.

    Kelvin just shook his head and mumbled “It’s not funny”, which just caused Rock to laugh harder.  It felt good, Rock hadn’t laughed in months.

    “Don’t you want to get married and have children?” Rock asked, wiping tears from his eyes.

    “Well … sure, I suppose … eventually, but no time soon.  Gosh Rock, I’m just sixteen.  I want to live a little before I settle down with a wife and kids”, Kelvin said.

    “Yeah, I guess you’re right, I’m not ready for that yet either”, Rock told him.

    “When you’re ready you can have the pick of the town”, Kelvin told him.  “I have noticed that the one thing sure to make the girls stop looking all doe eyed at me is for you to walk into the room.”

      “Is that so?” Rock asked, chuckling.

    “Oh yeah, you should hear them talking about you when they think no one can hear.  Why, they make me blush sometimes”, Kelvin admitted.

    “I’m glad I never heard them, I’m sure it would make me blush too”, Rock told him.

    “So, do you have your eye on anyone special?” Kelvin asked.

    “No, not really” Rock said.  “Do you know Trysta, the barmaid at the Cock and Wattle?”

    “The tall redhead Trysta?  Every man for fifty miles around knows of Trysta Havenshere.  She’s easily the prettiest girl in Brenshire” Kelvin said.

    “I thought I was going to get serious with her for a while” Rock told him.  “But once I got to know her, I don’t know, I just kind of lost interest.”

    “Rock, I’m afraid there is no hope for you at all if you lost interest in Trysta Havenshere”, Kelvin told him, shaking his head woefully.

    “She is very pretty, but not very interesting.  And she is a bit of a snob.  Her only ambition is to marry well, which I am sure she will”, Rock told him.

    “Come on, Rock, there has to be someone in Brenshire that interests you.  Hearts will be breaking all over town at this news”, Kelvin jibed him, slapping him on the arm with the back of his hand.

    “First of all, this news better not get all over town, it’s a private matter and I want it to stay that way.  I have heard what a gossip you are”, Rock told him.

    “I am not a gossip”, Kelvin protested.

    “And besides”, Rock interrupted, “we don’t want any of the lovely ladies of Brenshire throwing themselves from windows or cutting their own wrists on my account.”

    Kelvin sat stock still for a moment, staring at Rock, and then burst out laughing so hard he nearly toppled from the wagon.

    “Kelvin, did you ever go to Summer Festival?” Rock asked when he had stopped laughing.

    “No.  Father wouldn’t let us go until we were twelve, and Baywin ended them when I was just nine.  I have never even been to Albermarl”, Kelvin told him, sounding bitter.

    “It is a long way to the capitol city; it took us three days to get there.  There was a girl there that I still think of sometimes”, Rock told him.

    “Rock, they haven’t had a Summer Festival since Baywin became king, this will be the seventh summer without one”, Kelvin said.

    “I know that”, rock told him.

    “Then you had to have been just a kid when you knew this girl”, Kelvin said.

    “Yeah, the summer I met her she was eleven and I was twelve.  The last time I saw her she was twelve and I was thirteen”, Rock told him.

    “She must have made quite an impression if you still think about her today”, Kelvin said.

    “It may have been because we were so young and were just friends.  They didn’t allow girls to compete in the combat tournaments that we boys fought in.  That is how we met.  She raised such a ruckus about not being able to fight that they had her taken to her father’s tent.  When I saw her the next day I told her that I was sorry that they wouldn’t let her fight and offered to practice with her if she wanted to sneak off somewhere and practice.  Most of us boys used a wood short sword in one hand and a small leather buckler in the other.  When she arrived where we agreed to practice, she didn’t have a shield so I told her I would go get one for her.  I still remember the way she scowled at me and sneered “I need no shield.”

    I have never seen anything like it, before or since.  She wore two curved, wooden swords crisscross on her back and fought with one in each hand, blocking with one while attacking with the other.  She would jump all around and tumble on the ground while we were fighting.  If they had been real swords she would have killed me several times.  She showed me how important speed could be; she was as quick as the blink of an eye.  I won my age group both years that I went,  she was a year younger than me and would have beat me both years.  She tried to teach me her way of fighting but compared to her I was clumbsy and slow.  We became great friends and spent as much time together as we could," Rock finished, looking up as if awakening from a daydream.

    “So, let me get this straight, you don’t want a beautiful, long legged, redhead for a wife.  You want someone who can beat you up”, Kelvin said, raising his eyebrows and grinning.

    “I want someone that I like, someone that I have something in common with, someone who will help make my life interesting “, Rock told him.

    “What was her name”, Kelvin asked.

    “Brianna Gushe”, Rock told him, “not that it matters, I’ll never see her again.”

    “How can you be so sure?” Kelvin asked.

    “She is from a place called Kettering, far to the west, at the base of the Langamore Mountains.  Her family raises horses there”, Rock said

    “Who knows, you may see her again one day.  Never is a long time”, Kelvin said.

    They rode along in silence for a while, enjoying the early spring day.  The section of road they were on cut through a dense wood where the trees came together above their heads, giving the feel of being inside a living green tunnel.    Kelvin leaned  over the side of the wagon and snatched one of the tall grasses growing there , grasping it between his teeth he crossed his hands behind his head, propped his feet  on the front of the wagon, and lay back to watch the sunlight filter through the freshly grown leaves  above them.

    “Rock, why do you suppose Baywin put a stop to the Summer Festival?” Kelvin asked, breaking the silence.

    “I don’t know, Kelvin.  King Byron started them to give people something to look forward to.  A place to meet people from far away that they might otherwise have never met, where people could trade ideas and learn from one another.  Every type of craftsman had shops and tents and we all learned from one another.  I learned how tempering steel with different agents could make steels of varying hardness and flexibility and how to apply them for different uses from a couple of dwarves at Summer Festival.  Father taught several smiths how to make steel from iron by adding a little graphite to iron then forcing air through it to remove impurities from the iron.  It is much better than just plain iron.

    The festival was always at midsummer, when crops were in and farmers could afford to get away for a little while.  They were so much fun, Kelvin.  Foods from all over to try, dancing and music until late into the night”, Rock told him as he lay back on the seat of the wagon and remembered.

    “And you won the sword fighting competition both years that you went, didn’t you say?” Kelvin asked.

    “That was my favorite part”, Rock said, grinning.

    “Where did you ever learn swordsmanship?” Kelvin wanted to know.

    “From father”, Rock said. “Father was in the army for a while.  He also made all of King Byron’s armor and weapons.  Several people told me that father was quite good but he never entered the tournaments at the festival.  I think it worried him that I enjoyed it so much.  Maybe he thought I would run off and join the army one day. “

    “I wonder why Baywin put an end to it”, Kelvin said “It sounds like it was good for everyone.”

    “Maybe he just didn’t like it.  I never saw him there; he always seemed to fall ill about that time of the year.  King Byron and Prince Byran were always there but I never saw Baywin”, Rock told him.

    “The king came to the festival?” Kelvin asked, sounding surprised.

    “He was everywhere”, Rock told him, smiling at the memory.  “He often led the singing at night, laughing and joking with farmer and tradesmen alike.  There was always several of his personal guard close at hand but he went about as if he didn’t even see them. “

    “Did you ever meet him”, Kelvin asked.

    “Several times”, Rock told an astonished Kelvin.

    “What about the queen, did you ever meet the queen?” Kelvin asked.

    “I was introduced to Loreena once or twice when I was very little but I have never met Wistissis.  She stayed at the castle with her sick son and didn’t come to the festival”, Rock told him.

    “And what about Prince Byran, was he a spoiled little brat?” Kelvin wanted to know.

    “He was quite nice, actually.  That’s who I fought for the championship the second year I went there”, Rock said.

    “The prince fought in the tournament” Kelvin said “I wouldn’t think the king would allow it.”

    “Why shouldn’t he?  The king fought in it too”, Rock said.

    “You beat Prince Byran in combat, in front of everyone”, Kelvin said, shaking his head.  “I would have let him win.”

    “He would have known if I hadn’t given my best effort and he would have been furious”, Rock told him.  “Even at thirteen Byran was a person of honor.”

    “Huh, I bet the king never lost”, Kelvin said.

    “You would lose that bet. Everyone who was pitted against the king fought with extreme vigor, since the king promised a week in his deepest dungeon to any man he suspected of holding back while in the ring with him.  Hiram Fitch, the captain of the king’s guard, won the championship both years that I was there”, Rock said.

    “I guess I’ll never get to go to one now that Baywin is king”, Kelvin lamented.

    “No, I don’t see Baywin starting them again anytime soon”, Rock said.

    “Things sure do change fast, don’t they Rock”, Kelvin said.  “I mean, first Queen Loreena dies of an illness that not even the Shisil Healers can cure.  King Byron marries Wistissis less than a year later. I heard that  some of the country was still in mourning for her when he remarried. “

    “I believe King Byron mourned Queen Loreena until the day he died”, Rock told him.

    “Huh, then why did he marry Wistissis the way he did?  I was still just a kid when that happened but I remember it caused quite an uproar when they got married”, Kelvin said.

    “I have heard it said, by men who know about these kind of things, that Byron believed marrying Wistissis was the best way to avoid a war with her home country of Westemia”, Rock told him.

    “A war? You mean a real war?” Kelvin asked.

    “That’s what they say”, Rock told him.  “Westemia and Koth have had bad relations for a long time.  We fought a war with Westemia once before, a long time ago, over the Lowland Swamps.”

    “Oh yeah, no victor, they negotiated a settlement.  My Pa told me about that”, Kelvin said.

    “And in the war to stop Lorath from conquering the entire world Westemia was allied with Lorath”, Rock told Kelvin.

    “Now you are talking ancient history”, Kelvin scoffed.

    “There are some who never forget, or forgive” Rock told him.

    “Do you think King Byron marrying Wistissis really averted a war?” Kelvin asked.

    “I don’t know any more about this kind of thing than you do Kelvin, but I don’t think Byron ever loved Wistissis.  Like I said, I believe he mourned Loreena until he died.  Many think that when Byran was killed in that hunting accident it was just too much for Byron to bear. They say he died of a broken heart”, Rock said.

    “I have heard people talking around Brenshire”, Kelvin said.  “Some people think it mighty suspicious that Byran died in Westemia while hunting with Wistissis’s brothers.  Then a month later Byron dies from something that the healers can’t cure, and bingo, Baywin is King of Koth.”

    “Yeah, I’ve heard the same talk”, was all Rock said.

    “And within a week Baywin starts his no, no, no, proclamations”, Kelvin said.

    “His what?” Rock asks with a chuckle.

      “That’s what Pa called them”, Kelvin said, chuckling too.  “You know, no Summer Festival, no metal farm tools, no private armies, no magic in Koth unless you serve the king, no combat tournaments at county fairs, no privately owned weapons.  It seems like all he is concerned with is what other people can’t do.”

    “I don’t understand it either, Kelvin.  I know there were always a lot of people pressing King Byron to outlaw magic.  They felt it gave some people an unfair advantage over others.  They were celebrating a great victory when Baywin outlawed magic, until they learned that the first thing he did was have all of the Shisil Healers rounded up”, Rock said.

    “Have you ever wondered how many people have died that the healers could have saved over the past seven years?” Kelvin asked.

    “Yes I have”, Rock said. “It makes me appreciate mother’s herbal remedies all the more.”

    “What do you suppose happened to the healers, Rock?  What did Baywin do with them?” Kelvin asked.

    “No one seems to know.  Baywin just says he had them removed and won’t comment on it further, is what I have heard”, Rock told him.

    “And what’s the purpose of not allowing farmers to own metal tools? Or people to have weapons of their own?  It’s just stupid”, Kelvin said, his agitation becoming apparent.

    “Kelvin, why are you asking me all of these questions I can’t answer?” Rock wanted to know.

    “Well, Rock, you have done pretty well, so far, at least telling me something.  These thing have been bothering people for some time now, Rock, but people who speak up to freely have had a way of disappearing.  Rumor has it that Baywin has spies everywhere”, Kelvin told him, looking all about is if he expected a spy to materialize at any moment.

    “Kelvin”, Rock sighed, “Farmers are allowed to own a plowshare, and it is just hand tools that have to be made from wood, pitch forks and hoes, mostly.  Baywin knows that people here don’t like the fact that his mother is from Westemia; and even though King Byron is his father, he knows they don’t trust him.  I think he is worried about civil unrest; he is worried the people will revolt, so he doesn’t want them to have weapons.  He doesn’t want any of the lords or large land owners to have private armies because he is afraid they will band together to oust him.  But I doubt that everyone turned in all of their personal weapons when Baywin’s men came around to collect them.”

    “Oh, I would just about guarantee that they didn’t” Kelvin said.

    “None of this talk in front of the girls”, Rock said as he jumped down from the wagon and opened the gate at the end of the small lane leading to the smithy and their homestead.

    “It would make mother very cross, you wouldn’t like mother when she is cross”, Rock assured him.

    Kelvin didn’t reply, sitting wide eyed he just shook his vigorously.