Lorcan's Fireside Story Time

The Thief of Dun Traydally

Author's note: Lorcan's country and culture are based on ancient Celtic myths and legends. In the Lorcanverse, Soduaners have a reputation for raiding (not unlike the Snersker) and making off with each other's cattle. This story is Lorcan's attempt to rehabilitate his compatriots in the eyes of the travellers by presenting them as honourable people.

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Bright orange sparks crackled and flew from the fire Cokelli had kindled. Some of the other travellers approached, holding up loaves of bread or skins of wine, and smiling and pointing at the fire.

Lorcan smiled back. "Yes, you can share our fire if we can share your food."

"Your Antican is improving, Lorcan," said a tubby fellow in a red cloak. "Can you speak our language well enough to tell us a tale of your land?"

"I think so," Lorcan replied. "Sit down and give me some of that wine." He took a sip directly from the skin, then wrapped a piece of bread around a small wedge of cheese and ate it. "That is good."

When all of the other travellers who had come to join them had settled down, and were either cooking food or eating it (and sharing it with Lorcan and Cokelli), one of them said, "Lorcan, you ask us questions all the time about our land and the people who live here. Tell us a tale of Soduane."

Lorcan smiled and sat up a little straighter. "It is colder in Soduane than here in sunny Antica. Life there is different; the land is mostly covered in dense forest and it often rains. We mostly live as clans in fortified settlements called 'Duns.' I am the son of Belclam, Chieftain of Dun Daingen, which is in the east of our country by the sea."

Murmurs of appreciation went around the fire as the implications of what Lorcan was saying sank in.

"Though coins are not unknown to us, we mostly barter for what we want," Lorcan continued. "To own a cow is the ambition of every man who has none, and those who own more are wealthy indeed. This is why each of us aims to become the owner of as many as we can possibly get."

The travellers seated around their fire nodded.

Lorcan and Cokelli looked at each other and grinned, then Lorcan said, "A man called Oglor lived at Carracorker, a few miles from Dun Daingen, in a cottage by the sea with his wife and five sons. The lads had red hair like their father, and when they grew to manhood they had thick bushy beards like his. Yarth was the eldest, an inquisitive fellow who loved to travel. Spashter liked to go walking in the hills near his home and knew every bird and beast. Yuss was nosy, always getting into other people's business but a treasury of knowledge when it was required. Talvey prided himself on his ability to coax crops out of the most unpromising soil, and Maydi liked to build and to make things out of wood and stone.

"Their home was a strong house of stone that was taller than the tallest trees. Even the roof was made of stone tiles. Though Oglor was not the richest man in Carracorker, he was certainly doing well. His five cows produced plenty of milk, and his wife Crimyban sold butter and cheese in the village.

"One day, when the family saw storm clouds approaching from the sea, they gathered their cows into the ground floor level of their home. As they were about to lock the door they saw a man at their gate. Oglor went to speak to him, for it is a great disgrace to the family to turn a stranger away from the door.

"The stranger introduced himself as Choctar of Dun Traydally, and Oglor invited him into his home. After supper, the stranger said, 'I have come to tell you that your son Yarth is being held captive until the chieftain's property has been returned to him.'