The Shepherd Boys, Part 9 Bearing a Late Kiss [lit]
Summer went onto autumn, fall into winter, ever going south where the cold was less so and sheep could still graze from the land. Mistress Greedix had paid her dues to the local landlords, so their flocks had no issue moving from plot to plot. Tedus had much surprise, meeting humans who didn't quite speak Human, but some other tongue that was neither trasgrin nor something in between. Elly, while aware of the fact, wasn't helped by it as he didn't speak a word of what those foreigners muttered. For three months, every person they met was left to Edra. She had gone through the ordeal for more years than she could remember and could do the greetings, get the warnings for the common threats of wolves and bandits and advise everyone not to touch poor Tedus. Yes, the boy was a real trasgrin, and no, that huge green taint wasn't to fall off his skin any time before his death.
The landscape was different here: rolling hills and sparse rivers ruled the south. Hamlets and villages were closer together, ruins less frequent. In this peaceful region, raids belonged to the old chronicles and wars were far away. That aside, the shepherds' life didn't change that much that winter. Still early to rise, still early to bed and lots of walking in between, lots of scaring carnivores away and perhaps losing a lamb or a ewe. That could haunt them later, for Mistress Greedix could, among other things, sell them off to the mines if loses were too high. In fact, as Ara, the slave girl who brought them supplies, once told them, Mistress Greedix was considering to keep just one of the slave boys for this job and sent the other to some unknown and, thus, terrible, someplace.
Edra was growing sick, though. As the season went on, she made the flock rest longer and longer. Until one day, the darkest of the year, when the reign of the sun is at its shortest. It was then that she couldn't force herself to stand up. She had to make a decission, a flock so large can't be stopped for caring for an old, sick slave, like her. They had to move on, the flock needed new grass as it was depleting the local supply.
“Boys, me think I'm done. My bones don't want to live, me head… works stupid.“
“It's just a fever, Mrs Edra,“ Tedus' command of the Human language had grown quite a bit in the last months.
Elly his his fears under a shiny smile, and put himself to brew some wild flower tea, Edra's favorite.
“Boys, I'm not kidding. I know it. I…“ That said, she passed into dreams, the first time among many that day.
Still, the boys weren't too scared. The mastiffs were relaxed too, and kept the flock in good order, while coyotes kept themselves at quite a distance: the mere smell of the dogs was enough.
When she woke up she insisted though. The sad commands fell into Elly as Tedus was out playing with Enough-good, who, while no longer a pup, was still the one who enjoyed such things.
“Elly, listen, two things I ask.”
Elly tried to feed her some porridge, she refused.
“Elly, stop, this is the end of my soul. Take Freckles with you, one of the dogs will follow you, wave it so it will come close and know that you aren't running away. Go east towards a river that looks like… no, not a river… a line of trees that look like a serpent. You'll know when you see them, follow it and there's a stream, downstream there's a town. Go to the magistrate and tell her that Edra, Mistress Greedix's slave, is dying.“
“No, no… I'll beg for a healer.“
“Elly, she must come, sign me dead and give you a paper. So you can give it to Ara when she comes and Tedus and you are safe. Please.“
“I'll do it as you say.“ Elly said that but thought he'll beg for a healer anyway. Maybe there's one with a good heart in that town.
“Good. Thank you, my dear boy. There's something more, something special. Take my kiss and give it to my love." Edra took a tiny woolen bag that hanged on her chest. "These are pebbles inside and feathers and such treasures as little girls love. Take it to my love, her name is Dalba, tell her I'll wait for her where love doesn't fade.”
Elly nodded and kissed Edra goodbye.
Elly briefed Tedus on his conversation and began his mission with Freckles. As Edra had predicted, Downy followed them and, as the boy waved it, joined the party. This was no attempt at escaping. The trip was short and uneventful; ten miles were nothing for the boy after all his adventures. The town was one of those southern parishes with a small white temple, a lovely wooden wall that served mostly an artistic purpose and a stone pillory where local kids were reprimanded but hadn't seen an execution in years. Elly hadn't come for the views, though. Struggling to say the words, he managed to see the janitor of the courthouse. The junior magistrate would come. Mistress Greedix would be charged, and she'd send the money, nobody doubted her reputation. Still, the junior magistrate, who was as fat as young, needed time to prepare his steed. In the meantime, Elly found Dalba.
She was a healer, a slave too. Many slaves were. Why would a free person tend the sick? It was dangerous, dirty and sometimes unthankful. Dalba rushed to meet her love, daring to tell her mistress that Mistress Greedix would pay. That happened to be true, but she'd lied all the same.
Dalba arrived first. The boy much later, following the magistrate and his servants that would've managed to get lost in these parts. But they both arrived too late. They found Dalba weeping off their tears; thankfully the magistrate didn't bother with such things, he was called to issue a certificate and a certificate he issued, properly and with a proper signed and dry-stamped translation and all. His slave clerk was very good at that.
The lock on their throats was only released as the magistrate and his small retinue marched away. Dalba was uneasy. She had to stay, but couldn't, her mistress would see the magistrate return, she'd ask questions, what has a healer to do with a dead boy?
“Elly…” she told the boy. “Bury her, don't let the crows take her eyes.“ She said that as if it were the dearest tragedy on this sad world.
"I will, trust me." Dalba had to, even as the restless boy turned his gaze to the ground and his feet, bare but warm, quivered. So she went, praying the goddesses, the gods and the weest spirit of the streams to bless that boy if he was true. And she went crying, for she had missed her chance to touch the warm skin of her love.
Elly wasn't restless for lack of honesty, but for Tedus. He wasn't there and the mastiffs, for once, had hesitated on what to do. But not for long. Elly saw them going more and more anxious. They'll go for Tedus who had run away from the flock, as they had been trained since pups, for they considered him either lost or a traitor to the flock. The dogs knew nothing of slavery and why the boys had joined the flock in the first place. Likewise, they just had to make the trasgrin boy back, no matter how, or die trying.
So Elly decided to lead them. He took Uppy and Downy, for they'll go regardless, and signalled the others to keep watch of the flock. And then he ran with the mastiffs, hoping Tedus would somehow make it far, too far away. But he hadn't, the trasgrin boy had, in fact, got stuck in a muddy marsh. There the mastiff reached him. Elly rushed forward, unarmed, Tedus showed his stuff, but that didn't deter his friend one bit. Three seconds and the human had grabbed his hand.
“Come, come with me, come, and they won't do you a bit.“
“Edra's free now… I'm a dead chicken.“
“No, you're my friend.“
“Yeah, like these are!“
“These are the only way they can be.“
“And you?! You can only be a human.“
“I can find a way, I will, but not today, not like this, they'll kill us. You know that.“
Tedus finally conceded to his friend, but at the deepest of his heart, he believed there was no chance Elly could find a way to escape. Someday, he thought, he'll find the way to die trying, and that he'd consider better than a life in slavery with all that that meant.