table of contents – (spoilers)
Peep and Choke were sitting down at Babs and Balan’s firepit with them and their whole family, along with two lumberjacking couples: Daeg and Lila, who lived in Bristlehump, and Will and Sif, who had come from Bristlenook. Daeg had just agreed to be as helpful as he could.
“So, it seems to me that the area around here’s been getting lumbered for a long while. The South Hill was cleared some years back, and now that’s regrowing, and yar all up clearing the hump to the north. I got that right?” Peep asked Daeg.
“That’s right.”
“How many lumberjacks are out working, usually?”
“Around about fifty, on any given day.”
“That’s a lot. And yar just cutting the trees, right? The teamsters are the ones hauling the logs out to the yard,” Peep went on, gesturing Balan’s way.
“That’s right. We fell them, then clean them up to length. Then the teamsters drag them out. They also cut the skid tracks into the hills and keep the road up,” Daeg said.
“That makes sense. And who’s paying ye?”
“Bob, the teamster boss. By the meter by girth.”
There was a murmer of amusement form the listeners at Daeg’s turn of phrase. It was his wife, Lila, who chose to engage with it:
“Yeah, it really is the girth that makes a log worthwhile, aint it?”
This generated a good amount of laughter. Peep waited for this to die down before she continued:
“Now, I’m just curious here, but why the hell are they pulling lumber way the hell out here? They got plenty of trees closer to Spitzer, don’t they?” asked Peep.
“Not like these, they don’t!” Daeg said proudly. “These are proper fir trees we got up here! Tall, straight, and strong for ship masts! And our oaks, too. None better in the kingdom! They cut them to spec for the shipwrights of Strana to make the barges and the big river war galleys. That’s our work, them ships!”
“That is interesting,” Choke said. “So you say the trees here are the best? Now that you mention it, they do seem bigger and more robust than elsewhere.”
“Ye got that right!” Daeg exclaimed. Everyone else nodded their agreement.
“Now, would you say that the further north you go from here, the better the trees get?” Choke asked.
This gave Daeg some pause for thought. To his side, Sif and Will shifted a little as their tension raised.
“Yeah, I reckon that’s right,” Daeg finally said. He did not seem concerned about it, though.
“But ye don’t lumber around Bristlenook, now do ye?” Peep asked. “Even though the trees there are even better.”
“No, we don’t. That aint the King’s land up there. That’s wild. And them that live there don’t take kindly to that sort of enterprise,” Daeg said, matter-of-factly.
“Do they not?” Peep said significantly, looking now to Sif and then Will.
“No, we don’t,” Sif answered.
“Good to know. Now, as to that sort of thing, we’re wondering if ye’ve ever experienced anything strange out in these woods,” Peep asked the group at large.
“What does that mean?” Daeg asked.
“Fair enough. How about skeletons popping up outta the bushes to hang from the trees?”
“Skeletons? Like, undead, ye mean? No, not anything like that,” Daeg said.
However, as he did, Sif and her husband Will exchanged an amused look. Peep took note of it but let it pass as she responded to Daeg:
“Not undead, no. Human skeletons, sure, but like a trick to scare off kids.”
“No, nothing like that,” Daeg repeated.
“Alright, good. And how about a white hart? Any of ye ever see anything like that?” Peep asked, now looking directly at Sif.
Sif looked back and cocked her head to the side quizzically. Peep could see no duplicity in her, the woman seemed genuinely bemused by the question.
“A white hart? Like a deer?” Daeg asked.
“Yeah, that’s right. All white,” Peep said.
Daeg shrugged dismissively. “No.”
“A white animal is said to be a god, or perhaps god-touched,” Will said. “Perhaps not unlike yarself, miss. To see one is a great blessing.”
“So they say. You aint never seen anything like that, have ye?”
“No. I haven’t been so blessed. How was it for you?” Will asked.
Peep thought earnestly about this for a second before shaking off the recollection of the encounter. “It was something. Whatever. So nothing weird and creepy like that going on out there for yar bunch, anyways. Good enough. Now, to get more on the town side of things: do the Outfit give ye any trouble?” Peep asked Daeg.
“They aint nothing to us. And the first we really started hearing about them was when the Chisel come up here with his crew and started offering bounty on yar hides. Then Tully got all wrapped up in it.”
“And Sneed showed up right around that same time, right?”
“I dunno. Guess so. Didn’t hear shit about him until he put Rodolf down. All the Outfit talk was coming outta Tully’s with the Chisel and Burkhard.”
“Now, the Chisel and his boys, they were outta towners, like Sneed, right?” asked Peep.
“That’s right,” Daeg answered.
“But Burkard, he was from up north, right? Aint that so, Sif? Musta been a few folks from around yar parts that lost some kin when we took down Burkhard and his boys,” Peep said.
Sif just stared back at Peep with cold, hard eyes.
“Yeah. No doubt,” Peep said. She turned back to Daeg: “So, what yar telling me, is that none of ye lumberjacks clear the land to the north past a certain point. I have that right?”
“That’s right.”
“How d’ye know where to stop?”
“We just do. Once ye know the forest, it’s easy. We’re just told coming up where ye clear to and where ye stop. And that’s that,” Daeg said, now amused by what he seemed to think was a foolish line of questioning.
“And did ye hear what happened to them that cut too far? Back in the day, I mean?” Peep asked.
Again, Sif and Will shifted in their seats.
“There’s all kinds a stories. They just get took, is all,” Daeg said.
“They get took. Right. But, guys like Will here, from the other side of that line, they cross over and work with ye guys. Are there a bunch of them?”
“Yeah. They’re good. Coin money never hurt no one, I guess. Why don’t ye ask Will about it, if yar so curious?”
“Yeah, why don’t I ask Will? No doubt. So ye like that coin money, do ye, Will?” Peep asked.
Will nodded, but said nothing. Daeg took note of this with some side-eye his way.
“Dood, what the hell, man? Ye say ye wanna come meet these people, and now yar just sitting there like a fuckin mute letting yar woman do all yar talking? What’s up, man?” Daeg asked.
“I’ll speak up when they get around to something worth speaking on.”
Daeg shook his head, obviously offput. “Whatever, man,” he muttered.
“Well, I look forward to that, Will,” Peep said. “But ye aint here to speak, now are ye? Yar hear to listen. Then ye can go back to Bristlenook and report.”
“Woah, now,” Sif said, raising a finger Peep’s way. “Don’t ye get this twisted. In our part of the world, we hear that Holy Stoner Stronians are sniffing around, we gotta wonder how long it’s gonna be before they start lighting people up. We’re here to see where yar at!”
“So yar type of folk get lit up by Stronians a lot, huh? Go figure. Don’t ye worry, we aint after yar type of sinner,” Peep said.
“So which type are ye after?”
“Oh, ye really gotta ask?” Peep smirked as she made the sex gesture of poking her index finger through a hole of the fingers of her other hand. “But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We want Sneed, and whatever muscle he’s recruiting.”
“I told ye we aint got shit to say on that,” Sif said.
“Not to me anyways. Maybe later, though, ye can pass something along to the folks in yar holler. I know Kerl, Dane, and Ermin are from yar part of the world. Now, I reckon that anyone else that takes up with them against us is gonna reckon they’ll have better luck than Burkhard and his bunch, Tully and his boys, the Chisel and his, Goldy and Horsecock and Orcstabber, too. Did I forget anybody? Probably. But that’s only because they didn’t matter,” Peep smirked at Sif.
“What’s yar point? None of them are our people. We live in the forest. He earns coin cutting trees for the King. What’s all this to us?”
“I dunno. But I do know that men such as Sneed and Kerl and Dane and Ermin aren’t the nicest guys to have around for simple folk such as yarselves. So, maybe, you or some other folk like ye might like a chance to get them off their throats. Or, maybe, to get even for some shit or another. Aint no reason that we can’t help with that. Also, as we were just saying: coin money never hurt nobody. Just food for thought.”
“Okay, then. Consider us fed.”
“Sweet. So, now, Daeg, about ye lumberjacks at work. How is it with bandits for ye? Out here generally, I mean,” Peep asked.
Daeg shrugged. “Not bad. I mean, it aint like we’re mining gold out here. Our kids and womenfolk are in town and it aint like we’re weaklings. Not worth a fight, I’d say.”
“But things have been real peaceful that way out here of late, right?”
“Yeah. Until ye showed up. No offense, but yar the ones that drew Burkhard and the Chisel. There aint been no bandits out here, really, since Dixon came. And before that, it was pretty light.”
“And goblins?”
“Nah. Not for a few years, I’d say.”
“Alright. Now, I’m just wondering if any of ye saw them two guys that come through here. The city noble and the woodsman. They stayed in the tavern last night and said they were heading north. Anything on them?”
Daeg shrugged and shook his head before looking to Will, who shook his head curtly. It was actually Sif that answered Peep:
“Yeah, the one guy, the noble I’d guess, he come through Bristlenook this morning. Stopped at Lucky’s. Didn’t see anyone else, but he was leading an extra horse with a riding saddle. That seemed odd.”
“Oh, yeah? Did he stay at Lucky’s a while?”
“A bit, yeah.”
“Anybody come to see him there?” asked Peep.
Sif looked at her shrewdly before answering: “Yeah. Thad come down with some of his women. Doing their whole routine. He always seems to know when someone new comes to town.”
“No doubt. Maybe that magpie told him. The one that used to be a man. What’s his name?”
“Nester. But they don’t get along, Nester and Thad. But Thad’s pretty handy in the woods, in his way, so I’m sure he’s got his own means.”
“But that Nester, he’s a snitch, right? Gotta be for Diya. She’s the one running the show up there in Bristlenook. Aint that so?”
“I got no idea what yar talking about,” Sif said coldly.
“Alright, then. Now, Will, I notice ye got an archery bracer on. That bow over there would be yars, right?” Peep asked.
“That’s right.”
“That’s a nice bow.”
“Thank ye.”
“Ye made it yarself, then,” Peep said.
“That’s right. We make our own bows where we’re from. Aint no one buying one, unless they aint shit,” Will said.
“That’s what I figured. Point of pride, that. Figured so, since the general store in town here doesn’t even sell arrows. But yet Gotthilf makes and sells bows.”
Will shrugged. “Yeah, he does. Him and another fella a bit farther north. Don’t reckon he’d be so friendly to ye, though. They do alright for themselves. Them that ye’d probably call bandits come through looking to buy what they can. And they aint shit, most of them. Not when it comes to bushcraft and proper hunting. Or raiding, for that matter. But folk that aint shit often have coin to spend. Funny how that works.”
“Yeah, aint it?” Peep chuckled.
“That timber ye got on yar back. That looks proper. Ye make that yarself,” Will asked.
Peep grinned and pulled her shortbow from its case on her back.
“Nope! This was made for me special, by a longbowman and old sergeant of archers for the King himself. Over in Callic. Munn’s his name.”
Will nodded appreciatively. Whether at the bow or its maker was not clear.
“Ye gonna say I aint shit because I’m pulling a bow I didn’t make?” Peep asked.
“Ye aint from here, ye said, right? I aint talking about no one but my own.”
“Good answer.”
“I heard ye got a jink stick on yar saddle, too,” Will continued, using the pejorative term for a Scythan warbow.
“That’s right. And I can hit pretty much what I can see. Man sized, at least.”
“That’ll put a twig through mail, won’t it?” Will asked.
“It’s a proper warbow, so yeah. Depending on the arrow and the range, of course.”
“So, I got a question for the lieutenant, now,” Will said, looking from Peep to Choke.
“Alright,” Choke said.
“Lieutenant. I heard that’s Dixon’s sword yar wearing. It’s said ye killed him to take his rank. Is that how things work down south?”
Choke blinked before smiling. “No. It isn’t.”
“But that is his blade. And ye are the lieutenant out here now.”
“That is so. And unlike Dixon, I am maintaining my full platoon and doing my duty here. Funny that Dixon ran off almost all his men, spent almost all his time at Tully’s, and yet still somehow kept this place safe from bandits.”
“I wouldn’t know about all that,” Will said.
“Of course not. So when your wife tells us that Outfit men are nothing to your people, I don’t suppose she’s lying. Because, as you’ve told us, taking coin money from people that aren’t shit isn’t really anything to your people, now is it?” Choke asked.
“No it aint.”
“Right. So, in the interest of clarity, I am going to speak frankly. That seems to be how you prefer to communicate. So I hope you will not take offense at what I say,” said Choke.
“Only one way to find out, Lieutenant,” Will said.
“Indeed. So let’s, shall we? You folk live beyond the King’s law. You are in the wild. I do not paint you all with the same brush, but I do assume that for most of your men, raiding or banditry are a part of your lives. If not through active participation, then by association with those that do take part.”
Will’s gaze was steady as he shrugged in response to Choke’s pause.
“But that is not to say that such men that do engage in some raiding, from time to time, are always so engaged. But if opportunities present themselves, I am sure that most people will take advantage of them,” Choke said.
Again, Will shrugged.
“What I know is this. In Bristlenook and the areas around, there is a ready pool of men who might be drawn to a bandit leader’s banner, if the price is right. That was Burkhard and his men. But for a good while before they gathered, Dixon was here. By being here, without his full platoon, the Outfit was able to steal the wages and upkeep that his men would have cost. To run this larceny, they required peace. The timber had to reach Spitzer. There could be no banditry, or else the Baron would take note of this place.”
“Sure. What’s that to us?” Will asked.
“I’m getting to it. Now, when the Chisel came up here and began throwing Outfit coin around, Burkhard had no problem raising a force to bring at us. So there were no shortage of men ready to step up. But, in the time preceding this, those men did not pester the lumbering here. Or the teamsters hauling it out. And these might not be choice targets, but to have no trouble from any of these men? That strikes me as odd. So, do you know what this tells me about Bristlenook?” Choke asked.
“No,” Will answered, his voice calm.
“It tells me that someone strong is in control of Bristlenook. Someone who can control those men, by one means or another. And the Outfit reached out to them and made a deal. They put the word out that Bristlehump and its people were not to be harassed. And that’s how it was.”
“Okay. Maybe. But I’m a lumberjack. So what’s that to me.”
“And your wife is just a lumberjacks’ wife. And yet she came here to speak her mind and hear us out. You are both intelligent and observant. So I believe that you both are here on behalf of someone. You are here to take a measure of us. I do not need you to say anything on that. What I will say to you, and you may pass it on to anyone that you see fit, is that our concern is Bristlehump. My mission is to protect Bristlehump. Further, I am going to kill Sneed. You asked how I came to possess Dixon’s sword and command. Well, let me tell you. We went to Tully’s and killed Tully and his son, along with the Chisel and all his men. We arrested Dixon and were taking him back to Spitzer to face justice. Sneed and his men killed him as we left Bristlehump, to keep him from testifying against the Outfit. We carried on to Spitzer, taking with us Dixon’s sword. The Baron Hart himself gave me that blade, along with this command, when he accepted our evidence against Dixon. That is how things work down south. Or, at least, how they ought to,” Choke finished, his spirit up and his eyes blazing.
“Alright, then,” Will said, looking down and away.
“So you tell whoever you are supposed to tell: if Sneed and his killers are being sheltered and abetted in Bristlenook, we will come for them there. Let that be known. However, I have no desire to harm anyone in your community who has not taken up arms against us. You have my word on that,” Choke said.
“Oh really? Thad, too? What about him?” Sif asked.
“Oh, he’s got his hooks into ye, too, does he?” Peep smirked.
Sif shot Peep a murderous glare.
“Oh, I don’t blame ye for it, woman. He does have a way about him. Along with his other endowment,” Peep chuckled.
“Oh, fuck off,” Sif sneered. “He’s disgusting! I wouldn’t sully myself stepping on his face to escape a cesspit! But, whatever he is, him and his flock are members of our community. And they have no arms to take up against anybody. So are ye really going to give yar word that ye don’t mean them any harm?”
Peep was about to respond, but Choke leaned forward and raised his hand to preempt her.
“Ma’am,” he said, his tone grave, “I have told you Sneed and his killers are our priority. And I know that Swallowtail has no love for them. So I do not anticipate him being stuck in the middle of this. But, further, if you think a man like Swallowtail needs arms to harm our community, and yours, then you are sorely mistaken.”
“So ye are gonna go after him,” Sif said.
“I will not answer that. But I will point out that I report to the local magistrate. That is, as you are aware, Brother Barrelmender of the Brothers of the Holy Stone. Given the nature of his order, and what I am sure you know of Swallowtail, I will leave you to draw your own conclusions as to his likely course in this matter. However, I will add that Swallowtail seems not to be an acute threat, at least not to Bristlehump.”
“We got bigger fish to fry right now, is what he’s saying,” Peep interjected.
“Okay, then,” Sif said.
Peep stared thoughtfully into the fire for a long moment. Then she turned to Choke:
“Anything else ye wanna bring up, LT?”
“No, I think that’s it,” Choke said to her. He then stood up and nodded deeply before addressing the group:
“Thank you all for coming and for your help and candor. We appreciate it. I just ask that you remember what we said. We are here to protect the good, working folk of Bristlehump. And we have no quarrel with the good folk of Bristlenook. Further, any help that can be provided to bring the murderer Sneed and his killers to justice will be rewarded. Finally, I would like all of you to know, and ask that you spread the word, that if any of you have trouble of any sort, we are here to help you. Come to us and we will do what we can for you. You have my word on it.”
“Here, here! Well said! Well said!” Balan said as he stood up.
Following this, the formal nature of the meeting ended and the group mingled. Ale and potato wine flowed, and pipes of weed were passed. Lila brought out her honey-oat clusters, which were as good as Babs had said. As well, Sif and Will had brought savory venison jerky, which was excellent. It was a party in no time. Within another twenty minutes, the friendly revelry began to attract neighbors, who arrived with offerings of their own. After an hour, there were over twenty people there. The atmosphere was relaxed and jovial.
Understanding that the occasion was an important opportunity for them to strengthen their place within the community, Choke did not rush to leave. Drinking as little as he could, and taking no smoke, he worked his way through the party, talking with nearly everyone. Many were curious about their exploits, and he was asked to recount them. Wishing that Pinch was there to spin the yarns as only he could, Choke did his best. The folk seemed pleased, at least. As the night progressed, Choke could not help but notice that a number of women were being increasingly friendly towards him. Two were getting particularly forward. One was a middle-aged woman with her husband in attendance. The other was a crone who was pushing her widowed granddaughter his way.
After another hour of merriment, Peep reappeared from wherever she had slipped off to and extricated Choke from the press. The folk acted sad to see them go, but accepted their excuse of duty calling. With the warm glow of drink and the good company within them, Choke and Peep took themselves back to Bristlehump.
Muse Vassal 