The Gardener of Nahi

Chapter 32

Nahi

The stars were beginning to reveal themselves when our caravan came to a stop near the beginning of a private cobbled road.  I could see the lit windows of Finn’s massive estate house above the trees – it still seemed quite far away and I told this to the elderly woman leading us. “This is the intercessor’s estate,” she said surely and possibly with a hint of annoyance.  “I told you I would take you here.”

     Akuli had already gotten off the wagon with a nimble jump.  “This is the place,” he said.

     I nodded as I remembered he had been here before, so many washes ago when Jiwea was still alive.

     Climbing off the wagon, I gave Myria my arm.  Tsuru picked up Elindra and jumped off with her.  Seirsy had been sleeping and Akuli gave her a jostle through the wagon’s fenced side.  As the others were saying their goodbyes to the caravan woman and a few of the others they had spoken to during our trip, I looked around.

     Even in the evening light I could tell the gray cobbled path was in far better condition that the public road we had travelled on for most of the day.  Not a single pothole or imperfection was visible, although tall weeds shot out of the spaces between the stones in many places.  Tall slender evergreens flanked the wide path on either side until it was met with what looked like a white sculpture far off into the distance.  Seeing the roof of the estate house rising above the trees, I predicted that the private road took a turn at the sculpture, and continued on further to the right.

     There was a small guard house in front of us which sat where the private cobbled path met the public road.  It was quite small, yet still larger than the seaside hut in the slums where I first met Myria.  The roof was thatched and the walls and chimney were made of stacked stone, and through the single dark window I caught some movement.

     The caravan started to lurch forward again, but I told them to hold up.

     “What’s wrong?” Myria asked.

     “There’s someone in that guardhouse,” I said quietly.

     “I have heard that all intercessors have private guardsmen,” Tsuru said deeply.  “They will surely want to talk to us.”

     Myria nodded.  “That is true.  My father has one at his estate.”

     Akuli was shaking his head though.  “Unless he was asleep, which is a crime punishable by exile, he should be out here already.”  He had his hand on the hilt of his sword as he took a step forward.

     Both Akuli and I cautiously approached the small thatched house, perhaps expecting another incompetent guardsman of the vein similar to those we passed through in Maidentown, or possibly a vagrant simply using the structure as some sort of shelter from the dampness and chill of the approaching evening.  However, as the round-tipped wooden door swung open with a loud squeak, what came out was completely unexpected.

     Two young women stood on the path in front of us.  They looked to be completely undressed except for purple bed sheets which they had wrapped around themselves, seemingly as neatly as they could.  It covered them from their breasts to their knees, but they were wearing bundled and tied rags for shoes and seemed quite cold and hungry.  One had hair which was almost black, whereas the other had lighter brown hair the color of Myria’s.