Willow's End - Jera Skyspear
Elvish words/phrases linked to Glossary OR hover mouse to see translation.
Curious Correspondence part five

Vosper cocked one wiry eyebrow, "Do they not? Well..." He puffed out a cloud of scented smoke while he held the pipe in one corner of his mouth and waved a hand at his daughter-in-law, "Hildith, fetch it, will ye please?" She smiled and nodded as she jumped up to do that. "Be back in just a bit. We've kept it safe in the back of the pantry. Ye know, if I'd have thought of it, I'd have had it fetched out already and..."

Once she was out of the room, Vosper leaned to whisper, "Aye, but she's likely loaded everything from the mills and fields in front." He chuckled and leaned back. "Maybe I put that other writing in with it. We'll see, but I can tell ye how I came by it." He tapped the pipe on the edge of his boot and haphazardly shuffled the smoldering leavings off toward the hearth before packing the bowl again as he spoke.

"I got out of making and started trading, weapons and such I mean. That was some years after I'd seen you last, milady Jera." He shrugged and wrapped what was left of his fingers around the pipe's bowl. "I just got a bit too old and worn for all that carving, sanding, hammering, and the like. My sons grew into it. Asides, we had a few quiet years, less fighting and more interest in the gear for itself, or so I reckoned. Lots of swapping twixt collectors and, to be honest, poorer folk who took advantage of damaged goods being had for lesser coin."

The man stood up and looked out the window at the fog rising from frost burning off the golden brown grasses. "There's a lot to be picked up and still useful after a battle, as you likely know, milord Ashe. Some were trading in it. I could never do that myself, not directly. Stealing from the dead, I thought. But, I came by a lot of things second and third hand... and that's how I came by this particular one."

He sat again but leaned forward, elbows on his knees. He was excited by the memory and it was visible in his eyes. "A fellow came to me one day wanting to barter something he had. I think he must have been in a bad way, either that or just young and foolish. Never was sure. Maybe he thought I was the fool for taking it. I heard later that a rumor of a curse had followed it for a while. And for a fact, he had it all wrapped up so none could see it and he didn't have to touch it."

Vosper shook his head with a grin, "But, for my part, nothing fearful about it, just a wonder to behold. I thought twas something out of the Ages. I'd never seen anything like it and I'd have thought such a thing would bring better than I could hope to pay. But, we made a deal," Vosper paused to take a sip of tea. "And part of that was 'no questions'. Believe me, I tried, until I was afraid I'd run him off."

"Old it was for sure and strange in ways I couldn't figure out. So, I carried it with me from trade to trade for a while, for years, maybe ten or more, asking all my trusted fellows where it might have come from or who'd made it. Elven, I was fairly sure, but I'd seen a fair number of those by this time and they were not like this one. Nope..." His gaze seemed to go beyond the room again as he mused, "Not like this one."

Jera sipped and her eyes grinned over the rim of her tea as she looked at Ashe. It was humorous and strangely delightful that the elder still had not said what 'it' was! But his winding way was much more interesting than the tavern keeper at Milden and so she was content to listen. In the background, she and Ashe could hear Hildith talking to herself while she unloaded the pantry. Some of what she said was akin to curses, even at the old man, but if he heard them, he showed no sign of it.

"Then I got word to this fellow of mine, Gatsmith, who had more dealings with elfolk as a rule and we talked and passed those letters twixt us til he got a writing from one and they had an idea---"

"Here it is! At last." Hildith appeared in the arched entrance to the round room. She was quite mussed, blowing tangles of hair from her face, brushing flour and other dust from her clothing. One hand held fast to something like a staff but it was very much taller than herself and thickly wrapped in muslin.

"Well, give it to the lady, Hildith, though it'll take two laps or more to hold it. Light, yet the longest I've ever seen, and the markings..." He shook his head and drew on his pipe but made a face when he discovered it had gone out. Or had he not lit it again?

Hildith lay the long bundle across both Ashe and Jera's laps where they sat side by side. As their hands went to it, they could feel through the layers of muslin and see the outline of precisely what it was. Each looked at the other and Ashe nodded, "Bow." He smiled, though reservedly. Jera looked down and began to unwrap it with his help. Her hands slowed then stopped when one end of the bow appeared. Ashe continued until the muslin fell away from the wood at last. He heard and nearly felt his lady swallow hard on a tight throat. "Jera?"

She nodded, slowly, absently, as she stared at the recurved end of the bow. Her long pale fingers followed the gentle curl of yew wood, dark with age but still beautifully swirled with the varied colors of the grain. The bow rested easily in a graceful arch across their knees.

"Aye," Vosper stood before the hearth, having lit his pipe again. "That was the first notion for me as well, plus how tall it is. Not many have I seen done in that curly fashion. Most folk can't get 'em strung properly. Truth be told, I think the crossbow is the way soon. Most any can aim one, steady hand or no, strength or no... well... once ye get the string tensed proper, of course." He laughed at himself and smoked as he continued to watch the elf lady's hands. He was impressed that she seemed to know a good weapon when she saw it, or so he reckoned.

DHP and Bill West © Jan 2003

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