In search of the past: Gidon the guide

The Chetwood

The forest here seems darker and fouler, and the trees seem to grow crookedly at strange angles. There is a small stream through the forest here that runs east-west. To the east, the stream plunges down into the rank Midgewater Marshes, its clean water mixing in with the brown muck and mire of the swamps. There are several paths here that lead away into all directions, but the most well-worn of them leads to the west.

A small hut has been built into the woods an anvil sits in front of the door.

Obvious exits:

West

================================== Bree Time ==================================

Real time: Sun May 31 15:20:03 2009

Bree time: Before Dawn <05> on Hevensday of Winter - January 25,1447

Moon Phase: Waxing Gibbous Moon

Breelands Weather

The before dawn winter air is cold and dry around you. Heavy snows fall down from the nighttime sky. The moon is above the horizon and in its waxing gibbous phase.

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The short January afternoon is drawing on toward evening. The shadows are lengthening, and from the gloomy sky fat white flakes are just beginning to fall. More snow - and it will soon be heavy, from the looks of it. Not a night to be abroad, if one can help it.

Perhaps the man currently making his way along the track from Archet is reflecting on that, for as he lifts his head and stares up at the sky overhead his lips part to let out a single guttural curse. He tugs the hood of his cloak up over his dark curls, lifts his hand to shade his eyes and peers in the direction of that lone little hut.

[Nob(#16122)] The crack of an axe biting into wood rings through the snowy woods. No one can be seen, and the sounds echo strangely in the snow, making it uncertain where the woodcutter is.

Faced with uncertain persons in unknown direction, the fellow with the dark curls halts a while to listen, then shrugs and bends to examine the ground instead. Tracks may provide more useful information. He carries a hunting spear gripped lightly in one hand, and he is careful to keep it clear of the snowy ground.

[Nob(#16122)] If Brev comes just a little farther, he will still see no tracks, but he may chance to look up and see the bending and straightening figure of Gidon, who is wrestling with a large axe in the woods between the main path and the not-visible-from-the-track house.

The sounds pause for a bit as the boy lets the axe down and wipes sweat from his forehead. He kneels down, picking up a smaller hand axe, and begins to swing it down - apparently making kindling, though much of his actions are obscured by tree trunks and blobs of snowy bushes.

Brev does indeed move forward slowly and cautiously, until he catches sight of Gidon straightening up. He lets out a quiet breath, listens a moment in the quiet that follows the large axe\'s stilling, then calls out clearly, \"Afternoon. Busy, eh? What\'s the wood for?\"

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon looks up, warily, and while he does not quite relax into friendliness at the sight of the Dunlending, he doesn\'t snatch for his axe or bow, or flee either. He looks at the cut wood, down at the kindling that falls around his knees like jackstraws, and says simply, \"Winter\'s cold.\" He finishes the piece he holds, gathers up the kindling and stands, holding the hatchet loosely in one hand, the bundle of cut sticks in the other.

\"True,\" Brev acquiesces. \"You don\'t use the wood for anything, then? Just the fire?\"

He glances at the burdened youth, and the corners of his mouth twitch. \"Need a hand?\" It\'s hard to tell whether he\'s mocking or genuinely offering.

[Nob(#16122)] All around are tumbled half and quarter-cut pieces of log. Gidon looks at them as well, and his own mouth turns wry. \"Aye,\" he says. Then he looks back up at the bulkier man. \"Whittle a little, now and then. This here\'s all for th\'fire though. What else?\"

At the speculative glance, Brev shrugs, then bends to gather up an armful of wood with his free hand. \"I can carry some of this, if you like. Weather\'s not getting any better.\" He grimaces at that. \"Wasn\'t sure if you cut wood for building and the like. What was the word ...?\" He half-frowns, then dismisses the matter with another shrug.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon turns and shifts his hand-axe to his other hand somehow, picking up a bow that has leaned against a tree, and leads the way towards his home. \"Sometimes,\" he replies after a while. \"House is good-built, though I don\' need none for it now. An\' I\'m not big nor fast enough to hire out.\" He sounds philosophical about it.

Brev follows, showing neither surprise nor alarm at the sight of the weapon. \"You\'ve - what? Twelve summers? Thirteen? By then I was apprenticed out to my first master. How else would a lad learn?\" He looks askance at the boy for a moment.

[Nob(#16122)] \"Fourteen,\" Gidon replies. \"Didn\'t say I don\'t do nothing. I don\' cut wood for hire.\" He is a lad of few words, it seems.

They arrive at the house and the boy sets his bow down, then pulls open the door to a small lean-to, vanishing into the darkness. You can hear the small sounds of wood being piled up, and then another door is opened inside and a faint reddish glow illuminates the darkness. Briefly. Gidon comes back out shutting the inner door behind him, and nodding to the woodpile that can be seen alongside the wall. And he heads back into the woods to pick up the rest of the wood he has cut, and to retrieve his axe. It doesn\'t take him long to return, bent against a rope that pulls a rudely made sled piled with the rest of the wood. It is good Brev has come the boy can barely pull what he has now, and couldn\'t have done it all without taking more trips. And it is getting dark fast now, despite the early hour.

Brev deposits his load, showing scant curiosity about the details of the crude hut, though his brow is furrowed slightly. The darkening sky, though, and the whirling snowflakes that are thickening overhead - that does capture his attention. He mutters something softly, then says aloud, \"Bloody weather. How long to Archet now, do you reckon?\" From the scowl on his face, he\'s worried.

[Nob(#16122)] \"Archet?\" Gidon says, straightening up. He glances at the sky. \"Couple hours. Y\'won\'t get there b\'fore dark. Path\'s clear though.\" He begins methodically to stack the wood against the wall, coil the rope, stow the axe away. Then he stands uncertainly in the doorway. Clearly, he wants to go inside... equally clearly, he isn\'t sure what to do about this \'guest\'.

Brev does not give the youth a chance to go inside. He helps with stacking the wood, then leans casually against the wall whilst he watches Gidon tidy the rope and axe. \"Been wanting to have another word with you,\" he announces, leaving aside for now the issue of passing through barely-known woods in dark and blizzard. \"About the east. Given anyone I try to speak to retreats faster than a frightened rabbit into its burrow. Maybe I just haven\'t been using the right persuasion on them.\" He glances to his spear, also leaning casually against the wall.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon says nothing at all to either hint or glance. He looks up at the sky again where the snow falls thicker and thicker, looks back to the man and his spear and waits, resignedly.

Brev arches an eyebrow. \"Not got anything to say, then?\" he queries the other, seemingly irritated by the silence.

[Nob(#16122)] The lad looks a bit taken aback. \"I ...\" he says hesitantly. \"I don\'t know what you want to know. I told you already what my Da told me.\" As the shadows thicken, it gets colder, and Gidon shivers. Standing still in the wind, after getting hot working, is not a good prescription.

\"Fine, then,\" Brev goes on. \"Maybe it\'s him I should be talking to. I\'m sure we can arrange some bargain. Where is he then?\" The words are harsh, almost deliberately provocative - and no doubt he does not appreciate being out in the cold any more than Gidon. He watches the youngster carefully for the effect of his words.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon\'s face stills and his eyes turn wary. \"Hunting,\" he says carefully, and shuts his mouth, darting a glance to one side. The marsh to the east is almost beautiful in the snow pools of murky water hidden beneath a layer of slush and ice.

Brev blinks, as though the answer were not the one he had expected. \"Then where is he hunting?\" The irritation of earlier is kept from his tone, but he adjusts his cloak and sighs. Beautiful or not, it is still cold.

[Nob(#16122)] \"East,\" Gidon says. He nods towards the swamp and adds, \"Sometimes he\'s gone couple days.\" He looks half-worriedly, half-hopefully at Brev. It\'s not exactly the answer the man wants, but will it maybe satisfy him? And there is beneath this still another undercurrent, like a thin line of electricity jolting through the boy\'s thin body. He takes a breath, seems about to say something, but lets it out wordlessly.

At that Brev arcs a brow. \"And at other times ... how long?\" He holds the boy\'s gaze for a moment. \"Tell him that I seek a guide to the east, to the places where the hills rise and men kin my folk lived. And to the ones who can tell me of Uannve. As to price for that guide ... My folk don\'t use coin much. But I\'m sure we find something of common value.\" His message ostensibly delivered, he makes as though to turn away.

[Nob(#16122)] \"I could take you,\" Gidon says in a rush. \"A ways. To the far bridge, Da told me th\'way. B\'yond that, trolls live. It ain\'t safe.\" He ignores the question entirely about how long his father is gone at other times, meeting Brev\'s eyes with a mixture of eagerness and apprehension. \"I don\' know that Oon-vee.\"

Brev shakes his head, and seems to bite back some initial response. \"Why?\" he queries at last. \"Why would you want to do that? Out on the road, death walks at a man\'s shoulder never know when he\'ll catch up. Why leave the safety of Bree?\" From the scowl that accompanies those last words, and the glance up toward the snow-filled sky, one might guess he thinks Bree\'s safety overrrated.

[Nob(#16122)] Gidon\'s shoulders, tense against expectation, slump at the \'no\'. \"Don\' live in Bree,\" he replies, shrugging one shoulder and opening the door behind him to go inside. At last.

Brev snorts. \"Not so interested any more?\" he enquires drily as Gidon turns to go, taking his own conclusion from the action. \"Pity. Let me know if you change your mind. Like I said, been looking for a guide. And I\'m not going to turn greybeard while I sit around waiting for this mythical father of yours. I\'m headed back to Bree town once this snow stops.\" And always assuming he makes it back to Archet tonight first. He does not mention that, however simply picks up his spear and starts to leave.

[Nob(#16122)] The boy stops, unguarded words startled out of him. \"But you said no!\" he replies. \"Thought y\'didn\'t want me.\"

Brev, too, stops, with a grunt. \"I said nothing.\" Carefully he schools his voice, keeping it level - and if he\'s scowling, the hood of his cloak hides his turned-away face from view. \"Just asked why. Want to know why you think I should trust you.\"

[Nob(#16122)] This is a question no one has ever asked Gidon before. Why should they trust him. He blinks. \"I don\' know,\" he says at last. \"Reckon y\'figure I told you th\'truth \'bout what I know?\" If it is a matter of trust, surely it should go the other way - he is highly unlikely to be able to kill the man before him, but this man could easily kill him. This perhaps is the reason he hasn\'t asked Brev to come inside, out of the cold.

Brev twists round at that. \"I reckon you did,\" he says, still keeping his voice level. \"After a fashion. One word of warning - if you\'re going to play around with the truth, it\'s best to choose someone who\'s not an expert in such things.\" The corners of the man\'s mouth twitch, and then, for one brief moment, that twitching becomes a full-blown smirk.

[Nob(#16122)] \"I ain\'t lied none,\" Gidon says indignantly. He pauses, hand on the door.

[Nob(#16122)] Reluctantly, he adds, \"Y\'aint going to get to Archet no time tonight. Snow\'s getting thicker. Better sleep here.\"

Brev lifts a brow at those first words. \"No,\" he agrees amiably. \"But there\'s a lot of truth you\'ve managed not to say.

As the boy\'s offer is made, he sighs. \"Can\'t say I fancy fighting my way through the snow. But - Kiern, you folk aren\'t exactly friendly. Fine. Thanks for the offer. I\'ll sleep in your woodstore and be gone at first light or as soon after as the snow ends. That do, eh?\"

[Nob(#16122)] At this, Gidon says indignantly, \"Y\'won\'t neither. Come in where\'s warm.\" He turns, going inside both doors. There is a fire banked, and the boy kneels to add more wood, then lights a lamp. It\'s a home that clearly more than one person has lived in... at some point. One main room, one small bedroom with both a man\'s and a woman\'s clothing hanging on pegs on the wall.

Brev shrugs, then follows Gidon inside.