table of contents – (spoilers)
Choke spent the rest of the morning with Barrelmender drafting his report to the Brothers of the Holy Stone about the agents Aoelric and Hargarl. He was back with the platoon by lunch and then out with them while they finished up the clearing of the forest near the palisade. It was not going to take the full afternoon to finish. The men were relatively cheerful and working hard in anticipation of being given free time once they were finished.
About two hours into the afternoon’s work, there was a short, shrill whistle from Pinch on watch. The men had almost reached the creek bank, which was the last of the forest to be cleared. Pinch was up at the edge of their clearing, higher up on the hump, with a good view of the Bristlenook road across the creek, as well as the clearing in front of the palisade on up to the north gate.
Choke was near Pinch, leading Knuckle’s original horse up the slope in a harness, dragging three smaller felled trees on a chain. Choke looked up when Pinch whistled and saw that the teamster Balan and his son Gabe, their local guide, were walking down towards them from higher up on the hump. Choke reached Pinch about the same time Balan and Gabe did. Peep came skulking out from the bush from back where Balan and Gabe had come. Balan started a little when he noticed her.
“Woah! Didn’t notice ye back there, miss!” he said.
“Yeah, that’s the idea,” Peep smirked.
“How can we help you, Balan?” Choke asked.
“Well, it’s kinda the opposite, sir. That thing ye asked me to set up is all in hand.”
“That was fast! I hope it didn’t put you out at all. It didn’t disrupt any of your work, did it?” Choke asked.
“Not at all, sir! Not at all!” Balan said cheerfully. As he did, Choke noticed that he was obviously a little drunk. “Coming back from Spitzer as we did yesterday, we have today off, ye see. And besides, I was able to track Daeg down yesterday and then have him over last night, after dinner. It’s been a while, so we had a bit of a drink, and seeing as he’s a foreman and can nurse a hangover on the job from time to time, and I aint working today, we let that get a bit outta hand. He said he’d come round our place again tonight after dinner to meet with ye. So I came here just as soon as I could to let ye know.”
“Oh, no shit?” Peep laughed. “It’s midafternoon, Balan!”
“Yeah, well, I told ye two things that oughta let ye figure that out, miss: I was doing some drinking last night, and I have today off. And I aint young like I used to be. It does get ahold of me these days, and is fit to drag me down the morning after! Damned if I aint gonna just let it pull me right down one of these mornings,” Balan chuckled ruefully.
“It is just fine, Balan. We appreciate it. Thank you very much. So, we’ll come to meet Daeg tonight after dinner. I suppose at your firepit? Should we bring anything?” Choke asked.
“Yeah, firepit, for sure. Actually, may as well get a fire on tonight. This one aint gonna be a secret, right? Oh, shit. Not that there’s been anything secret like that at our place!” Balan said, too loud.
“Yes, that’s right. Thank you,” Choke sighed. “But is there anything we should bring?”
“Yeah, I guess. With this kinda feller out here, if ye wanted to butter him up some, which I guess ye do, it couldn’t hurt to bring him some hootch. Also, I guess I should say, it aint exactly the first time ye met him. He said he cussed ye out some on yar first morning back, on account of yar upsetting everyone by blowing that bandit horn ye took off Burkhard when ye killed him.”
“Oh, that guy?” Peep laughed. “Yeah! He called Choke an asshole jink. So, yeah, I guess we’re gonna wanna butter him up some.”
“Marvelous,” Choke said darkly.
Balan looked contrite for a moment before going on:
“I don’t guess he’s got any kinda big grudge about it. I think ye just startled him, is all. And not just him! We all got pretty jumpy when ye did that! But now we know why ye done it. I mean, ye made yar point pretty good, with it, I reckon. And I’d guess that most folk around here like it now. Starts our day off letting us all know that ye got things settled up here. Least, that’s what I heard a couple of folks say.”
“Well, thank you for that, Balan. It’s good to hear,” Choke said.
“That guy’s got some balls!” Peep said. “So, yeah, it’ll be good to try to get him on our side. As for the hootch, would ye say, Balan, that the stuff yar boy here’s been making is worth a shit?”
“I reckon so. He knows what he’s up to,” Balan answered, with some pride.
“Good. So, Gabe, set aside a big jug for us to give to this Daeg guy tonight. We’ll settle up for it tomorrow when we pay ye for the guiding. Tomorrow’s payday, right?” Peep then asked Choke.
“Yes, it is.”
“You got it!” Gabe said. “A big jug of my very best! And d’ye want me at the meeting tonight?”
“I dunno. We’ll see,” Peep said. “For now, I want ye to go down to the Wilson place and talk to Mariola. See if they need anything. Then, if they’re done thatching that roof, check if they’ve made the archery targets I told her about. We need to set up a range there. Ye got that?”
“Yes, miss. Right now?”
“Did I stutter? Yeah. Get on it.”
Peep, Choke, and Balan watched Gabe jog back up the hump to get to the proper trail down to the Bristle Creek.
“Nice enough kid, but he aint too bright sometimes,” Peep said.
“Yeah, well, he comes by that honestly,” Balan laughed.
***
Peep and Choke arrived at Babs and Balan’s place just after the family had finished their dinner. It was immediately obvious that this meeting was being regarded by their family as a wider social gathering. Their adult boys, Dusty and Garet, were already getting the large fire going up at the spring-side camp just up the hill from the cottage. Babs and their daughter, Polly, greeted Peep and Choke at the front of the cottage. Just after that, Balan hailed them on his way by rolling a good-sized keg of ale up the path to the camp.
“I don’t know if that’s really necessary,” Choke said to Balan as he rolled it on by.
“Yeah, well, when has that ever stopped anyone before? And it’s Saturday night, after all!” Balan said cheerfully.
“Gabe’s just out back at his still shed wrangling that jug ye wanted for Daeg,” Babs said. “Him and the others should be here soon.”
“Others? This is gonna be a bit of a thing, huh?” Peep said.
“Yeah, I suppose so. It aint every day that our types get to have a hand in your type’s affairs, so I reckon we’re all pretty keen about it,” Babs said.
“About that, Babs,” Choke said, “I feel that you and Balan have really taken on too much on our behalf. So I think, seeing as this is official business, I’d like to compensate you for the beer, and whatever else, you’re providing.”
“Well, now, Brother Bartholomew, I’m sure I aint gonna argue about that. Ye can put that as credit towards our rent, if ye don’t mind.”
“I do not, Babs. It’s the very least I can do for all your help,” Choke said.
“So, what’s the story about this Daeg fella? He’s an ornery prick, is he?” Peep asked.
“The story is… here he is!” Babs said cheerfully, glancing up over Peep’s head towards the path to the Bristlenook road. “Welcome to Tipple Crick, Daeg! And Lila! And yar boy, too. Can’t remember yar name at the moment, so pardon me that. Lieutenant Pekot, Miss Otilla, this here is Daeg, his wife Lila, and their boy…”
“Waldo,” the young man said.
Daeg was indeed the large, furry lumberjack that had abused Choke in town after Pinch had first called morning assembly on the bandit horn. His wife, while not as furry, was almost as tall and thick. Their son was in his early twenties and looked a smaller copy of his father. Both men were in their work clothes with big knives on their belts.
“It’s good to meet you, sir,” Choke said, stepping up to shake Daeg’s hand. His tone was polite, but he squared up firm and met Daeg’s eye hard as they clasped hands.
“Sure. Likewise,” Daeg said.
Neither man went overboard with their grip, but each were sufficiently impressed with the other as they let go. Choke next turned to Lila, who smiled and thrust her hand for him to shake as though she were a man. Then Choke and Waldo shook.
Daeg and Lila looked to Peep to gauge what she expected of them. She cracked her smirk and held her palm up, showing them her brand.
“Hey. Yeah, that’s us met. We don’t need to be touching on each other.”
“All right, then. Miss Otilla,” Daeg nodded towards her. Waldo did likewise. Lila did an awkward kind of curtsey.
“Let’s all head up to the firepit and settle in,” Babs said. “And what is it I see ye have there, Lila? Ye brought a basket did ye? I hope that’s what I think it is!”
“It’s my honey oat clusters, if that’s what yar thinking.”
“Oh, indeed! Well we’re gonna have us a time now!” Babs said happily. “Ye head on up now. I just have to wrangle my wastrel. Polly ye go up with them now and see that we have the ale flowing.” Babs then took a couple steps around to the corner of the cottage and leaned around it to holler: “Gabe! Hurry up! The company’s here! It’s time!”
Daeg and his family went up the short trail to the camp with Polly, leaving Choke and Peep with Babs. Once they were gone, Peep turned to Babs:
“There’s other people coming too?”
“Yeah. As far as I know. Guy named Will and his wife. Don’t know her name. And I don’t know nothing about the Will guy beyond his name. Daeg sent word to Balan just a couple hours ago that they’re coming.”
“Does Balan know Will?” Peep asked.
“Nope. But that don’t mean too much, since Balan aint been working the skids outta the bush for a good while now. He’s at the yard or on the Spitzer road these days. So he don’t mix much with the lumberjacks these days.”
“Alrighty, then,” Peep said.
It took another few minutes for Gabe to come around with a jug of his potato wine. He looked flushed and bothered.
“Damn, boy! What’s the matter with ye,” Babs yelled, giving him a smack upside the head. “Ye’ve been stilling solid for a week and ye don’t got stock on hand for yar patrons? Get it together boy! Ye aint meant to be drinking it yarself! Not on the regular!”
Gabe said nothing to his mother. He handed the jug over to Choke.
“That’s a good batch. Good and strong with a nice flavor,” he said.
“Flavor, he says!” Babs hooted. “Flavor? Strong potato wine! Flavor! What flavor would that be? What flavor is pain and burning?”
Once again, Gabe did not respond to his mother. He stared at the ground miserably.
“Alright. Sorted out. Let’s head on up,” Peep said.
Up at the campsite, Polly and Balan were lighting some oil lamps dangling from big nails in the trees around the clearing. There was a big, round-log fire in the pit, with plenty of benches and seating logs set a comfortable distance away from it. The ale keg was set on a rough-hewn log stand off to the side. Babs and Balan’s elder sons, Dusty and Garet were standing near the keg talking with Daeg, Lila, and Waldo, along with another couple with cups of ale in hand.
“Alright, then! Who would ye two be?” Babs asked, her tone only moderately friendly as she approached the couple.
It was not surprising that Babs would be somewhat offput by them. They had not come to the property by the main road to introduce themselves at the house, which would be the normal way to do things. Rather, they must have come to the camp by the back trail. Given that this was their first time to the property, and they had not been specifically invited there, this was a breach of etiquette. Further, their manner of dress and general bearing made them stand out. The man was dressed entirely in deerskin: moccasins, breeches, and a jerkin with a long leather fringe on the shoulders and back of the upper arms. On his left forearm was a well-worn archery bracer. He had a very fine-looking hand axe on one hip and an antler handled buck knife on the other. His wife had on a homespun dress that was even more rustic than anything seen in Bristlehump, with a rabbit-fur shawl around her shoulders, and a buck knife of her own on a braided leather belt. Leaning against the tree nearest them was a mid-sized deer bow and quiver, along with a staff-sling and a shoulder satchel no doubt full of rocks. Both of them were on the younger side, maybe in their mid-twenties.
“Babs, this is Will and his wife, Sif,” Daeg said. “Will’s been lumbering with me for a few good years, now. He’s a good man.”
“Well met, Babs,” Sif said, stepping forward to offer her hand.
“That remains to be seen, I suppose. I aint adverse to it, though,” Babs said as she took it. “Ye and yar man there would be living out Bristlenook way, I’d reckon.”
“We are. That aint a problem, is it?” Sif asked.
“Not to me it aint.”
The women nodded cordially as they separated, clearly with each having gotten a measure of the other.
After this, Choke stepped forward to introduce himself and Peep, before shaking Will and Sif’s hand. Once again, Peep waved off any thought of a handshake herself, but this time she said nothing as she did. Both Will and Sif nodded to her gravely as they beheld the Wheel in her palm.
“Well, let’s all get us a drink and get this thing, whatever it may be, going!” Babs said, her early joviality much returned.
Polly helped everyone get a cup of ale and they all raised them up.
“To new connections and old friends; may they have a chance to lay down roots together!” Babs toasted.
“Cheers!” everyone else exclaimed.
Following this, there was a break while most everyone clustered around the keg to refill their cups. This gave them the chance to size each other up organically, as they mingled and gave way for each other. Finally, all parties were seated off to the side of the firepit, which was not needed for heat. Babs and her family stuck together off to one side, with the lumberjacks to their left. Peep and Choke formed the triangle between them.
Choke cleared his throat and leaned forward in his seat.
“First of all, I thank you all for coming here this evening. This is a little more than I expected, but I am pleased you all came to hear us out. So, to start, as a token of our appreciation, Daeg, this is for you. It was thought it would be a suitable.”
Choke stood up with the jug he had set down next to his seating log. Daeg rose from his and the two met in the middle.
“Thank ye,” Daeg said as he accepted the jug. He returned to his seat and sat down. It was not another second before his wife, Lila, gave him a solid elbow in this side as she hissed something in his ear.
Daeg sighed and then grunted as he took another elbow.
“Right! Fine!” he snapped at Lila, before turning back to Choke. “So, Lieutenant, I reckon that a week ago when ye come back here and blew that horn of Burkhard’s that I said some shit to ye that could be taken as less than respectful.”
Peep snorted in amusement.
“So, anyways,” Daeg continued, “I just wanted to tell ye that it was spoken in heat. And that I don’t now, and didn’t then, I suppose, have any proper intention behind them words.”
He left off here, until another elbow from Lila got him going again:
“So, all that is to say that I’m sorry for having said what I did. Although, I will add that ye blowing that horn the way ye did was a definite call for a response of some sort!”
There was a general pleased murmur from the assembly at the apology.
Choke raised his hand and dipped his head in acknowledgement of it.
“I thank you for that, sir. And accept it. And I assure you that I never assumed anything more than just that from your words.”
“Well, then, that’s laid to rest. Right?” Daeg finished, with his last question directed sharply Lila’s way.
“It is indeed,” Choke said. “Now, this assembly seems to be a little beyond what I originally envisioned. Not that I have any problem with that. I welcome this sort of meeting. As Babs said: a chance to put down some roots together. This is how community is formed.”
Again, there was a pleased murmur, as well as a few raised cups.
“So, in the interest of open dialogue, I am going to lay our position bare,” Choke went on.
“Not too much, so, please! Our daughter’s present!” Babs wisecracked.
Once the laughter from this had settled, Choke continued:
“We are here to protect the community of Bristlehump and the King’s trade on the Spitzer road. As I hope we have shown, this is a duty that we take seriously.”
“Here, here!” Balan said.
There was some thumping agreement from his side of the triangle. Daeg dipped his head in acknowledgement, while Lila nodded happily.
“However, I will add that we can only really be as effective as the people of this community allow us to be. By that I mean that we need you folk of Bristlehump, and beyond,” he gestured Sif and Will’s way, “to help us do our duty. We need to know what you know. We need to know what is going on, so that we may direct our action correctly and to your greatest benefit.”
“Here, here!” Balan exclaimed again, to identical response.
“Alright,” Daeg responded, “I hear ye. And I’m with it. And Balan here reached out that yar looking to get with the lumberjacks around here about that. Just what is it, exactly, that yar looking to find out? Remembering that we gotta work out here in the bush, far out from them walls. So we aint exactly in a position to make our dangerous lot out here even more dangerous, if ye catch my meaning, sir. We all remember what happened to Rodolf,” Daeg finished, referencing the informant that Sneed had killed for testifying to Lieutenant Dixon’s malfeasance.
“I appreciate that, sir. And I don’t seek to put anyone in that position. But I will say that for us to make everyone around here safer, we need solidarity. We are next to certain that Sneed is the man who killed Rodolf and put that fishhook through his lips to terrorize all of you. I have his death warrant, and I mean to serve it. And he is not from here,” Choke said emphatically.
“No, he aint,” Sif interjected with heat. “He’s from the south, like the lot of ye. He’s from the kingdom. He’s yar stink following ye here. He aint shit to do with us!”
“Hey now, woman,” Peep returned, “we aint from the south. We’re from fuckin Pekot. And I come up in Tom Rackam’s bunch. Raised as a scout by his lead scout, Oggy Lightfoot. Ye might have heard of him, if yar the sort to keep yar ear to the ground in that way. And Sneed might not be from yar lot, but the three men he’s got riding with him sure as fuck are. Kerl, Dane, and Ermin, I mean. So whad’ye got to say about them?”
“Fuck all, is what,” Sif said with a cold smile. “Yar with the church. Yar with that Holy Stoner in it. That’s right, aint it?”
“Yeah, that’s right. We’re Stronians over here. What’s that to you?” Peep asked, matching Sif’s smile with a smirk.
“Nothin. Aint nothin to us. And I still aint saying shit about anybody from up our way.”
“Well, ye got some sand, woman. To come from where yar at and say shit like that to me! And ye don’t need to say shit about the folk up yar way for me to know exactly what yar all about. I come up a bandit, remember. I know how yar kind do.”
“We aint no bandits,” Sif said, her tone hard.
“Never said ye were. But I’m fuckin sure ye know a bunch. Because after we got ambushed by Burkhard’s men in that mess that got Rodolf killed, we learned that the woman there with him, Neva, had kinfolk with them that attacked us. When we pressed that, Rodolf got all upset that more of her kin up here were gonna get pulled in on it, and we eased up, on account of him giving us what we wanted on Dixon.”
Sif shrugged. “None of that is anything to us.”
“Neva, huh?” Daeg said to Peep. “She’s the one whose lip ye split.”
“That’s right. And I knocked out a tooth for good measure. But that aint nothing on what I did to her man.”
“Yeah, ye done him a gooder there. That slit face ye give him still aint healed up right, ye know. It’s reckoned he’s been drinking too much for it to heal up. Spit and blood and pus and shit leaks out the slit through the stitches. Gets frothy sometimes. It’s a real mess,” said Daeg, clearly delighting in the discomfort his description caused a number of his listeners, his wife included.
“Well, it’s only been a few weeks,” Peep responded. “That’s how that goes with a wound like that. He put his hands on me. So that’s that.”
“Seems so. Never liked them anyways. Full of themselves up that holler, with all their cow shit and airs,” Daeg said.
“So we agree on something else, then,” Peep smirked.
“Reckon so. So, what is it ye wanted to hear from us about, again?” asked Daeg.
“Sneed and the Outfit. And since the boss lady of Bristlenook over here says he aint shit to them, I don’t suppose she’ll mind ye speaking on him,” Peep said, gesturing towards Sif.
“I don’t care what she minds or not, no offence to her or Will,” Daeg said, sparing the both of them a glance. “But I told ye, I can’t be crossing the likes of him. I gotta work out there.”
“I understand that. But I aint looking for ye to set him up, or anything. Right now I’m more interested in learning how things work out here in a more general sense. So would ye be willing to speak on that, Daeg?”
He shrugged. “No harm in ye asking, I suppose. I don’t got no love for them Outfit pricks, so I’ll do what I can.”
“Well, here we go, then,” Peep said, leaning forward eagerly as she rubbed her palms together. “Now, let’s see if we can’t do some good here tonight.
Muse Vassal 