A Telling of Tilly

"She helplessly hoped her harlequin was still close by."

"But what happened, Grams?"

"Yeah, as if you don't know," Quinn teased his sister. Somehow, she always managed to act surprised, even though he knew she had heard the story at least a half-dozen times.

"Be quiet, you'll ruin it!," she said with a frown.

Mattie, known to all the children, whether they were related or not, as "Grams," paused in her story. "Are you sure this is the story you want to hear, Gem?" The old storyteller lifted her eyes to Quinn and smiled. "Your brother is quite right when he says you have heard it several times."

"Yes, I'm sure. It's my favorite." She turned toward her brother with the most threatening look she could manage and added, "and he knows it."

"Alright, if you're sure." The old woman sat back up and settled further into her chair with its big, soft pillows. "She helplessly hoped her harlequin was still close by."

"You already told us that part," Quinn huffed.

The old woman stopped short, annoyed by her grandson's attitude as much as by his interruption. She considered him for a moment, then said, "Indeed I did. Since you are getting too old to be entertained by hearing the stories as I tell them, perhaps it is time for you to began telling them yourself."

"WHAT!?!," both children yelled at once.

"You heard me. Tell us the story." Mattie's eyes took on a twinkle and she said, "and don't forget this is Gem's favorite tale, and she will know if you leave out anything important."

The boy looked nervous, no doubt regretting his earlier churlishness but now without a choice. He took a deep breath and began, "She helplessly hoped her harlequin was still close by."

"We heard that already," Gem piped up.

"SSSH, don't be mean," Grams scolded her.

"She helplessly hoped harlequin was still close by." Tilly tried to think. It seemed impossible that she could be only right outside the castle walls and still be in a place where no one could see or hear her, but she had been lying here where she fell for a long time now, so it must be.

Her leg hurt so badly. She knew it must be broken, and maybe her arm, too. The rocks at the base of the seaward wall were, she now realized, a terrible place to go exploring. It seemed a fun idea when Harley suggested it earlier, and anything beat sitting in the great hall of the keep.

There was to be a great banquet tonight, to celebrate a new treaty, whatever that was. The noise from all the people scurrying about woke her up this morning and it only grew louder as the day went on.

All the castle seemed to have something to do getting ready. Maids' assistants ran everywhere cleaning, putting out new candles and linens. Chamberlain had a small army of people answering to him. They were turning mattresses and straightening furniture in rooms that Tilly hadn't even known existed. Cook had all the kitchen helpers preparing food.

Harley told her about a bunch of strange, new people in the kitchen. She said they were helping, and when they went to peek around the corner to see, Cook rewarded her curiosity with a swat on the bottom. After that, Tilly sat in a corner of the main hall trying to stay out of the way.

She didn't have to do any work. Grandfather was something called a "king's advisor" and there was also some reason a few of the servants in the castle sometimes seemed to be afraid of her. Tilly didn't know why they would be, and not all of them were, but enough treated her special she noticed. Maybe they feared making Grandfather angry. He did know the king, after all. She wasn't sure what it was. Harley didn't know why, either.

Then she saw Ol' Gert helping to change the table-linens in the great hall. She liked Gert, and they always talked whenever they had a bit of free time. If Gert had a good piece of gossip to share, it always seemed a convenient time. Gert worked in the castle, helping out wherever a hand was needed. Some days she worked as a laundress, some days as a maid, and some days, like today, as a kitchen helper.

"Hiya, Gert," she said as she and Harley walked up behind her.
The woman nearly dropped the basket of tablecloths she carried. "Oh, it's you, Tilly. How are you, child?"

"Oh, I'm as well as expected, with the commotion around here today."
"Commotion?" Gert let out a bark of high-pitched laughter. "Now there's an understatement. Why, the crown prince of the Mekluk Empire is coming to a banquet tonight. It's the formal breaking of bread that shows all that our king and theirs have put their troubles behind them."

"You mean it's that important?"

"I'll say it is. The war between our land and theirs lasted, oh, more years than you are old. It cost both us and them dearly."

Harley had a question and whispered it into Tilly's ear.

Tilly thought it was a good question and asked, "What was it about?"

"You know, now you mention it, I never did really know for sure." Gert drifted into memories, trying to recall something. "Oh, well. Must have been something important for both sides to have sent all those soldiers to die."

"I'm sure you're right." They both jumped at the clatter when somebody dropped a pan in the kitchen. Tilly couldn't make out the words, but she could hear Cook's voice as she fussed at somebody for dropping it.

"Poor dear. That would have to be Sally. She was the one baking the tarts today, and all those strangers in her kitchens have Cook in a snit. She was just waiting for someone to make a mistake so she could go off on them."

"Why are there strangers in the kitchens? Cook's never needed help before."

"No. But it's those Mekluk dishes. Strange things, prepared in even stranger ways. Cook didn't have time to learn to make them before the feast tonight, so the Mekluk prince brought some of his own cooks with him."

"So that's who they are." Another crash from the kitchen made them both jump. Tilly smiled and said, "I'd better let you finish what you were doing. Sounds as if Cook's going to be in a foul mood, and I wouldn't want to delay you and give her any more reason to fuss."

"Right you are, dearie. Be good, now, and stay out of trouble."

Tilly thought of Gert's parting and she laughed aloud. Then she groaned. Laughing hurt almost as bad as falling in the first place.

As much as she knew it would hurt, Tilly needed to move. She pushed herself up and looked around. Now she could understand why none of the castle's lookouts had seen her lying here. One of the jagged boulders that made up the bottom of the seawall stuck out above her. She could see the castle wall, but not the top of it, so it made sense the lookouts couldn't see her.

She felt a splash of water and suddenly knew she was in a whole lot more trouble than just from falling. The breakers would be coming in soon, and the rocks where she was would be underwater. The only way for the lookouts on the castle walls to know she needed help was for her to move out where they could see her, and she had to do it soon.

Just as she started moving, Tilly heard someone wearing boots walking down the top of the seawall. As she listened, she realized there were two of them. Harley must have gone and gotten help. And here she had thought Harley fell when she did.

She was just about to call out to them, when she heard them stop right above her. One of them snorted and hawked up a wad the same way some of the soldiers in the castle did sometimes. When he spat, Tilly heard it splash in the water not far behind her. Tilly opened her mouth to yell at him for almost spitting on her. His words froze hers in her throat.

"What a fool this king be!"

"Aye, he be that! He will surely deserve to feel the business end of a maul tonight. And how fitting that he shall die in his own castle and with his own court assembled to see it."

Tilly couldn't think. She had to warn the king. If these men did kill him, almost everyone else she knew would be in danger, too. Everyone from the kitchen helpers to the soldiers would probably die, and Grandfather would be among the first.

"Now I see one of their castles from the inside, I can understand how they kept us out for all those years. They're ingenious."

Tilly tried to stand up and did her best to be quiet. She needed to see who these men were. No matter how she moved around, though, she could not see anything above their knees. Then she realized with alarm that her feet were wet. Looking down, she saw the water now covered the boulder she had been lying on. She was running out of time.

"We shall crush the head of the serpent this night. After all those years of throwing our all at their castles and not breeching them, we have been invited into one, and we shall not miss the opportunity to take it."

"How fitting that the only one of their fortresses we have ever entered is the home of their king."

"Fitting indeed. It only proves how much a fool this king of theirs truly is. He thinks he can invite his sworn enemies to join him for a feast and call them his friends and all will be forgotten. After we have killed him and his men and accepted the surrender of his courtesans, I think I shall make this the seat of my rule. I rather like it here."

One of them hawked and spat again. Tilly heard it splash next to her foot and her breath caught. What would they do to her if they caught her here?
"They'll not be needed for the taking of this place, but we might need some men to help once we have it, so send a messenger to summon them here on the morrow."

"Aye, milord. Anything else?"

"No, nothing that can't keep until after the breaking of the head, er, bread."

They both laughed wildly at that little joke. Tilly thought she might be sick. She heard the boots scraping on the rough top of the seawall. She breathed a small sigh of relief as she looked down at the water now splashing across the tops of her shoes. Then the bootsteps stopped.

"What is it, milord?"

"Down there, in the water. It's a child's doll. I wonder how in creation it came to be out here. Curious."

The men now stood a little bit down the seawall from her, so Tilly looked over. If the doll was in the water, it was close by her. Her heart lurched. Coming toward her on the current was her Harley.

More bootsteps let her know that the men were moving again, and when she looked up. They were moving further away, going back to the castle so they could prepare for the banquet. Harley floated into her leg. Bending over, she scooped the doll up out of the water with her good hand. Her leg and her arm still hurt, but her heart felt better now.

After the men moved so far away that she couldn't see or hear them any more, Tilly knew it was time to move. If she didn't warn the king, those evil men would kill him and a lot of other people. Another wave came in and she felt the cold water against her legs. It burned wherever there were tears in her stockings. Stopping the men was not her only reason to hurry.

Clutching her doll tight against her side, Tilly started moving along the seawall as best as she could. Every step hurt, and she was thankful the men were not still close, else they would have surely heard her whimpering, even with the waves crashing.

She only had to go a few steps before she would be out from below the overhang and the lookouts would see her and send help, but her leg made every step hurt. It was hard work, and the breakers coming in only made things that much harder. She was already in water up her waist.

They were almost clear of the overhang when Harley told her to hold on. Tilly glanced up, afraid the wave coming in must be especially big if Harley thought she needed to hold on. The wave was big, but it was not moving. She sucked in a breath and hugged Harley close, then she felt some sort of tigle all around herself. Before she could even ask Harley what was going on, they both started to float up.

Just before her head hit against the overhang, she stopped floating up and started moving along the seawall. Once they came clear of the boulder, Tilly looked up and saw Grandfather standing atop the seawall. He stood very still and even though she could feel no wind, his robes blew and flapped around him as if he were standing in a strong gale.

Tilly and Harley floated toward Grandfather and he hugged them to him when they were close enough. The enormous breaker sprayed up all around them as it thundered in. He carried them back up toward the castle gate.

It was so loud near the seawall she decided to wait, but when things grew quieter, Tilly said, "Grandfather, I must tell you something. Those men, they..."

"That is alright, Tilly." Grandfather smiled. He glanced down at the doll she clutched to her and said, "Harley already told me."

Mattie nodded her head. "An excellent telling, especially for a first effort at passing on the histories. What did you think, Gem?"

"I thought it was pretty good. He didn't leave out anything important."

"No, he didn't." Mattie glanced toward the door and then back at Quinn. "You're to be congratulated. You have just taken your first step toward becoming a teller. Your mother and father will be quite proud."

The moment she finished her sentence, the door opened. Her daughter, the children's mother, stepped in. Quinn could barely contain his enthusiasm as he related his triumph.

"I'm so glad you've chosen to follow in your grandmother's footsteps and keep the tellings for the future," she said to him. "For now, though, we are late for meeting your father. Come, we must go. Tell Grams your partings."

When her visitors had all left, Mattie sighed and adjusted the pillows under her bad leg. Winter was just around the corner, and it always hurt worse during the winter.

She pulled back the old blanket on the chair next to hers. "So, what did you think of Quinn's telling, Harley?"