The Jongurian Mission (4 page)

Bryn saw his
Uncle Halam emerge from the house and walk over to the garden, stare down at the vegetables, then walk over to the barn where he leaned up against its stone wall.

“
Uncle Halam,” Bryn called out, waving his arm in the air.

Halam looked in the general direction of the shout, but with dark coming on fast he could
n’ make out where Bryn was.

“
Over here, Uncle Halam, straight ahead,” Bryn shouted.

Halam squinted as he began walking in Bryn’s direction.
Finally, a few paces from him, he spotted Bryn and went to join him.

“
Well, my boy, what’re you thinking of the talk you heard between me and my brother just now?” Halam asked as he pulled a worn wooden pipe from his travel-stained coat along with a pouch of tobacco leaves which he began to push into the pipe’s bowl.

“
I really don’t know, Uncle Halam,” Bryn began, “it just seems like so much all of a sudden. I mean, I’ve never even been to Plowdon, and to now have the chance to go to Baden, well, it just seems so…”

“Overwhelming?” Halam finished for him.

Bryn smiled. “Yes, overwhelming.”

Halam pulled some matches from his coat,
lit one on the side of the rock, then lowered it down to the bowl of the pipe. The tobacco caught fire and glowed orange and red as Halam sucked in the smoke, letting it out quickly until he was satisfied he had the pipe going strong before tossing the match at his feet.

“
It’s a bit much for a man of any age who’s never seen the capital of Adjuria, no matter where he’s coming from. I remember the first time I laid eyes on her wide, bustling streets. I was awed and intimidated. All I wanted to do was run to the nearest alley and hide behind a heap of trash, hoping it would all go away. But I threw my shoulders back and held my head high, and walked those streets.” Halam smiled at the recollection, and Bryn could see him looking back into the past, seeing those streets as only a man who has walked them before can see them.

“
It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t too difficult either. After a time I got used to it, as much as a man from Tillatia can, mind you.” Halam looked down at Bryn, tousling his hair. “She’s the largest city in the land, Bryn, but we’ve plenty of smaller cities that you can see on the way that will prepare you for her immensity.”

“
Which ones,” Bryn asked, his curiosity overcoming his trepidation at the thought of traveling through these wide swaths of civilization.

“
Well, we’d start right here in Tillatia with Plowdon, a sizeable city in itself. From there we’d head down the King’s Road, and pass through Coria on the Tillatia-Culdovian border. From there we’d travel to Lindonis on the eastern edge of the Montino Mountains and just north of the King’s Wood. After that we’d be but a days ride from the capital itself.”

“
The King’s Wood and the Montino Mountains!” Bryn said with excitement. “I’ve read about them so many times, and even seen some drawings in Eston, but to actually walk along them, well, that
would
be something.”

“
Aye, lad,” Halam agree. “See, it’s nothing to be afraid of, now. What’s to be scaring you is the prospect of staying on this farm for the rest of your life, and not taking the opportunity to see the land your hard labor’s done so much to support. A man’s got to see the land he lives in, as I’ve been trying to tell my brother for the past hour.” Halam signed and tapped out the bowl of his pipe against the rock. “That’s an easy thing to be forgetting when you’ve already seen so much of your country, and another’s besides.”

Halam looked off into the distance, past the farm and Tillatia, all the way outside of Pelios, as far as Bryn could tell.
He waited a few moments before venturing to speak.

“
So how did the talk go between you and uncle Trun, anyway? From what I heard, he seemed pretty set on me staying here.”

“
Aye, that he is, lad, that he is.” Halam put his pipe back into his coat pocket and rose from the rock. “I’m thinking it’ll be best if we let it rest for the night, give the idea some time to settle in our minds before we press it further. I don’t have to be in Plowdon for another few days, so I can wait here tomorrow, perhaps even help out with those stones,” he said with a smile. “Now lad, I think I’ll be turning in for the night. I see you’ve just the two beds inside now, so I’ll make up something for myself in the barn.”

“
Oh no, Uncle Halam, you take my bed and I’ll take the barn, it’s-”

“
No lad, I think me and my brother need to spend the evening apart, let our words settle, and start fresh in the morning.”

“
Well, if that’s what you want,” Bryn said hesitantly.

“
Aye, that’s what I want. Now goodnight lad, and say goodnight to Trun for me as well,” Halam said as he ambled off toward the barn. Bryn sat for awhile longer on the rock, thinking of the King’s Road and all of the sights that lay along its path before he got up and headed back to the house.

He
opened the door and stepped inside. The house was warm, the fire of the cook stove spreading its warmth through the small area. Trun was sitting at the table, a cup of tea steaming in front of him. Bryn moved to the stove and poured himself a cup, then sat at the table opposite his uncle.

“
Halam is going to sleep in the barn tonight,” Bryn reported to his uncle. “I offered him my bed inside, but he refused.”

“
Aye, that doesn’t surprise me,” Trun said. “Figured he’d like the chance to sleep out under the stars, enjoy the quiet of the night, which he rarely experiences in the big city.” Trun sipped his tea and leaned back in his chair. His gaze settled on Bryn as he sucked his lips thoughtfully, measuring his words. “So what are you thinking of these plans your uncle has for you, now, lad?”

“
Well, it’s a great opportunity, one most folks around these parts will never have. Seems a shame to pass it up. But I can’t help but think that I’ve never even been to a town larger than Eston. To go all the way to Baden, the largest city in Adjuria, it just seems different from anything I’ve ever thought of before.”

“
Aye, it is at that. She’ll take your breath away, she will, and more than likely take all the money from your pockets too, whether you know it or not,” Trun replied with a laugh.

“
I mean, Uncle Trun, a part of me would really like to go, but another part wants to stay here and help you with the farm. We’ve got the planting to do soon and the sheep to sheer. Once I get done hauling those stones out of the field we can take them around to the neighbors, and shore up the house and barn with the rest. And just getting that field plowed and ready for planting, whether it’s this year or next, will take some time, and lots of back-breaking work to boot.”

Bryn listed all
the other tasks the farm needed as far as he saw it, looking Trun right in the eye in the knowing, responsible fashion of one who has an equal share in the gains and losses of their labor. Trun sat back, nodding his head at Bryn’s recitation, seeming to be in total agreement with the words spilling from the boy’s mouth, while in actuality he was coming to realize the truth of the words his brother had spoken earlier.

Bryn
was
ready to leave the farm and make his way in the world, and probably should have done so well before now. Listening to his nephew expound upon the necessities lying before them which would take them through to another year, Trun knew that Bryn wouldn’t be here to share in their completion. No, Trun knew that the time had come to let the boy go. If he came back in the fall, so be it, there was plenty of work for a strong young man like him; and if he didn’t, well, it was the world’s gain, and she’d be a better place for it.

* * * * *

The stars were well overhead and the moon shone brightly as Halam sat gazing up at them from the edge of the barn’s open side. He sat astride a saddle resting on a log stump, his pipe resting in his hand. The milk cow and horse were both sleeping peacefully, with the soft glow of a lone lantern issuing forth.

Halam shifted himself and turned his head as he heard a sound from the direction of the house.

“Don’t worry, it’s just me,” Trun said as he limped into the lantern’s light.

Halam jumped up from h
is seat, gesturing for Trun to take his arm. “Here, let me–”

“
No, don’t bother,” Trun cut him off, limping over to a bail of hay set up against one stone wall, “I can manage.” He eased himself down, right-leg outstretched just as he’d done earlier in the evening, and sat down with a noticeable grunt.

“
So what do you think of this sight?” Trun asked, gesturing up at the nighttime sky. “Don’t expect you see much of these stars in Plowdon unless you ride out of the city quite a ways.”

“
No, no you don’t,” Halam said, sitting down on the saddle once again. He tapped his pipe on his boot, and reached into his coat for his pouch of tobacco. “To tell you the truth, I don’t much think about it anymore. Seems I’m so caught up in work most days that once I get home I’m often to bed before the stars even have a chance to come out. Then by the time I’m up in the morning before the dawn, there’s just enough light out that they’ve already gone to bed for the day themselves.” He filled his bowl and replaced the pouch in the inside pocket of his coat. “It is a nice change to see them again on this fine night, I must say.”

“
That it is, that it is.”

The two sat in silence, each staring up at the night sky, thinking
their own thoughts, wondering and waiting for what the other had to say. Trun spoke first.

“
I’m thinking you’re right in wanting to take Bryn with you,” he said, shifting his gaze from the sky to his brother. “He’s too smart to be wasting anymore time hauling stones and plowing fields in the middle of Tillatia while the world rushes on without him.” He sat and looked back up at the stars.

Halam kept his gaze on his brother for a few moments longer, then looked back up himself.
Better to let Trun weigh his words and not interrupt his thoughts, he decided. He puffed away at his pipe, waiting for his brother to speak again.

Finally Trun returned his gaze to the darkness beyond the lantern’s light.

“I’d like you to take him to Baden and do whatever it is you do at these trade negotiations, but I don’t want you to bring him back come fall.”

“
But,” Halam began, but he was cut-off by Trun’s outstretched hand.

“
No, listen to what I’ve got to say,” he said. He looked up at the stars again for a moment, then returned his gaze to the darkness around them.

“
This is no place for a lad as smart as Bryn. I want you to find him a task suitable for a young man of his learning when these talks are through, if not in Baden, then closer to home in Plowdon. Heaven knows he’ll not know the difference between the two anyway.”

“
Are you sure about this, Trun, I mean, how will you get along without him?”

“
Don’t you be worrying about me now, you hear? I’ll manage just fine without him. Did just that for many years before he came along anyway, and can do so still.”

Halam glanced down at Trun’s right leg outstretched in front of him.
He looked out into the darkness and nodded his head.

Both men stared into the darkness of the night.
After some time Trun straightened out is left leg and slowly began to rise up from the bail of hay.

“
You get some sleep now. I figure you’ll both be wanting to set out early in the morning to get a good start on making Plowdon by the day after tomorrow.” He began to limp back toward the house, leaving Halam to stare after him and wonder about the sudden change of heart.

THREE

The sun blazed brightly in the afternoon sky
and the spring weather felt more like summer. Birds sang in the trees, butterflies flitted among the grass, and crickets chirped in the distance.

Bryn
was thoroughly enjoying himself. This was an immense change from the drudgery of his life back home. A life on the road! It was what he’d always dreamed of, and now he was actually living it. Traveling far from home, out amidst the world, with adventure looming over the crest of every hill, what more could he possibly want?

Well, to start with, it would be nice if his clothes were
n’t sticking to him because of the heat. The way the saddle was rubbing him wrong on the backside he could also do without. The slight breeze swirling the dust from the road into his eyes and mouth was another nuisance. Not to mention the sheer boredom of it all.

In the adventure tales the heroes never spent hours moving down dusty roads in the sweltering heat.
They set off toward their destination, and were instantly there, fresh as the morning breeze, and ready to take on the world. Bryn was just ready for a bath.

“
What’s that look I see in your eye, boy?” Halam asked. “Not homesick already, I hope. We’ve been gone but half a day.”