The Devil's Dreams, Chapter 1, IC

[Brock Marsh Runoff]

Dorgio naturally gravitates to the apple brandy, and as supper continues his thoughts drift back to the possibility of rats, or something worse.

"Did I tell you of the rat demon that took my toe?" he asked Benn. "It happened right before all the mayhem at Sancerre's, so I may have neglected to tell it at the time. It attacked me in the Gundarakite quarter. First I was covered in rats, so many and so viscous I was thinking them scorpions at first. And then the demon itself struck. It nearly brought me my death, and though I smote it again and again I do not think I killed it. I do not know what sort of beast it was, but if the creatures in the caverns are anything like the one I met, we'd best be prepared."

[ewancummins]

That same night, in the countryside not far from the Delapore estate

The young woman has been out in these hills for a couple of hours now, helping a pair of shepherds look for some lost stock. All the sheep but one stray lamb have been found. The sun set not half an hour past, and the rim of western sky is fading rose and purple. In the darkening eastern skies the glittering stars are beginning to show through gaps in the fleecy mantle of clouds. The moon is new tonight, so the girl must rely on a lantern to guide her steps. The folds of the hills, strewn with bone-pale lumps of marl and blanketed with green grass that looks almost black by night, spread out before the maiden like the frozen waves of some vast lake. The lost lamb, and perhaps other things, might be hiding in any of the many dark nooks and crannies of the landscape.


The shepherds, father and son, have moved away from the maiden. They ought to be just round the next hill, or the one past that to the left. Until a few moments ago, she could see the glow of the lantern carried by the boy.

Just now, the girl hears a sound at her back, like that made by a cascade of pebbles.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

Everline turns on her heel, the hand holding the lantern raised high so it forms a half circle of bright light as she spins. When she comes to a stop, her free hand is already holding a morningstar with wicked points up between her and whatever or whoever may be approaching. While this might not be seen as proper behaviour in a young lady, Everline adheres to the school of thought that anyone moving up under cover of night without properly announcing themselves is not entitled to the niceties common in Dementlieu's social scene.

[ewancummins]

The little lamb bleats in alarm, and staggers about confusedly at the edge of the semi- circle of lantern-light.

After a moment, when both it and Everline have recovered from the surprise, the lamb walks towards Everline and bleats again.

[ewancummins]

Everline sees something standing in the gloom beyond the reach of her lantern, a creature about the size of a man. It's hard to tell if the thing is shaped like a man, for a caul or shroud hangs all about its figure. Everline cannot see if it has a face. It makes no sound as it creeps across the rocky ground, retreating from the light.

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Here, here," Everline cooes at the lamb, maneuvring to get between her woolly charge and whatever was sneaking around in the dark.

"Oi, shepherd!" she calls out loud as she starts to carefully move backward, giving the lamb little nudges if it fails to keep up of its own accord. "Regroup! There's something out here with us!"

Everline does her best to keep an eye on her surroundings while she moves to reunite with the people she was working with.

[ewancummins]

Everline avoids tripping as she moves backward.

The strange figure retreats into the gloom , vanishing from sight.

The little lamb bleats a few times, and then Everline sees the glow of a lantern approaching from her left.

The shepherd's son, Piers, raises his lantern higher. The brown haired boy asks-

''Are you alright? I thought you might be in trouble."

The boy's father, Arnaud, looms up behind him. The bearded man looks about, scanning the dark hills for any sign of a stranger.

''I see no man, no beast. You've found the lamb- thank you for that. Come, mademoiselle, let us return to my home. My wife will have a supper ready for us, I'm sure."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"And a stout lock upon the door, I hope," Everline says with a quick grin. "Whatever it was, man or beast, it was shrouded from head to toe. Fair gave me the willies."

Despite the claimed 'willies', the morningstar remains rock solid in Everline's hand.

"Let's be out of here," she says. "Night's no time to be out, now the flock's safe. And 'tis right glad I am that your sheep are safe and sound, sir."

[ewancummins]

''Yes, I'm glad as well. Let us be off, then."

Arnaud begins to walk home, prodding the ground ahead with his shepherd's crook wherever it looks doubtful...

...

Sometime later, the trio arrives at Arnaud's cottage, a humble but sturdy structure built with round stone walls and a thatched roof. A light shines though the two little windows covered in thin-scrapped sheepskin and around the jamb of the door.

Arnaud calls to the house, and a moment later the door opens. A middle aged woman with long dark hair stands in the doorway- the shepherd's wife, Agathe.
She smoothes out her patchwork apron with both work-hardened hands, then comes out to greet her husband and son with kisses on their cheeks.
Turning to Everline she says, a warm smile on her careworn face-


''May the Lady bless you for helping us, mademoiselle. "

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Blessings be always welcomed, ma'am, when they're from the good," Everline says with a polite bow. "And blessings upon yer house for the hospitality. Wouldn't want to sleep outside of a night.

With that in mind," she says with a slightly embarrassed grin, "you kind folks wouldn't maybe know of others in the area that'd need some help and share your kind natures? Preferably people in the area on the way to the nearest town?"

[ewancummins]

Arnaud answers-

''Town, no, there is none near us. We don't have very many large settlements here in the hill country. We are most of us spread out, not clumped together bunches like the flatlanders. When we want to sell some of our sheep, we drive them to the Delapore estate- or at least, we used to do so. Queer happenings there, of late. The earth is unquiet....and now all those robed fellows, with their books and parchments! That place grows stranger by the day."

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Oh, yes?" Everline says, musingly. "Just fer reference, sir... Which way would that there estate with all the cowlies be? Just so's I know where ta steer clear from, see. And as for those flatlands, which way would their closest township be?"

'And so if Ms. Nosy Nancy starts her song an' dance in my brainpan, I know where ta go,' she admits to herself as she enters the warm shelter of the sherpds' homestead. 'One cowl-bearing creep out with the lost sheep, so who's to say what the rest of them are up to.'

[ewancummins]

Arnaud answers-

''The Delapore home is northeast of here, about four or five miles as the crow files. The road to the flatlands and the nearest towns is on the other side, about a mile past the estate. It's easy enough to pick your way round their place, by daylight. Watch for the stone fence.''

[Rock of the Fraternity]

"Good ta know," Everline says with a smile. "Now then, what is this delicious dinner I smell...?"

[RocEter]

Dorgio naturally gravitates to the apple brandy, and as supper continues his thoughts drift back to the possibility of rats, or something worse.

"Did I tell you of the rat demon that took my toe?" he asked Benn. "It happened right before all the mayhem at Sancerre's, so I may have neglected to tell it at the time. It attacked me in the Gundarakite quarter. First I was covered in rats, so many and so viscous I was thinking them scorpions at first. And then the demon itself struck. It nearly brought me my death, and though I smote it again and again I do not think I killed it. I do not know what sort of beast it was, but if the creatures in the caverns are anything like the one I met, we'd best be prepared."

Thom listens with feigned interest to Dorgio's story as he eats his supper fast, but not to fast to cause an upset stomach, once he has finished he sets his plate aside and stands up.

"Gentlemen if you excuse me, I think I will retire early tonight. Best of luck in those caverns tomorrow, I look forward to hearing the story, word for word mind you." He says and then walks off to his room.