“I was the Manor Brunie at Laird Duncan’s mansion. But then Redcap Goblins and Trolls came and occupied the place, and ma laird and lady barely escaped alive. I stayed behind, tryin t’think o’ a way t’oust the greedy poltroons.
“I slipped about unseen by the brutes-we Brunies can be verra sneaky-and I list t’their Goblin talk. It seems they were fleein a mighty warrior when they came upon ma laird’s manor, and they thought it e’en better than the castle they fled when the mighty warrior got loose. Y’see, it seems this warrior had been gi’en t’them as their pris’ner, and he had slain two o’ their Redcaps as he broke free. Then, as he was gettin away, he killed two o’ their Trolls as he escaped on a raft, accompanied by a Sprite and a wee little bee. They recked he would nae doubt return wi a warband, and so they fled.”
Liaze laughed and said, “Oh, Gwyd, ’tis my brother Borel whom they fear. And, indeed, he did slay Goblins and Trolls as he escaped their prison. They were Hradian’s lackeys or minions or allies-I know not which.”
Gwyd frowned. “Hradian?”
“A witch. One of Orbane’s acolytes.”
Gwyd made a warding sign at the mention of Orbane, but he motioned Liaze to go on. Liaze nodded and said, “Hradian: she is the one responsible for Borel being imprisoned in the first place. She cast a great spell that bore him away, and when he awoke, in the Troll prison he was, shackled to a wall. But as you know, he escaped, and slew some of his jailors in doing so.”
“Weel,” said Gwyd, “if he comes back and tracks them down, he won’t slay these.”
“Why not?”
“They have some o’ ma elixir o’ life-givin’.”
“Life-giving?”
“Aye. It be made fra the golden apples in a faraway realm, fermented in ma laird’s own special crystal decanters. Brandy it be, and wondrous, but only if given wi’in moments o’ death, or j’st ere dyin.”
“Oh, could we get the elixir, perhaps it will save Luc’s life. Where lies this estate?”
Gwyd gestured at the moonlit twilight border looming in the near distance. “Yon way, I think, though I be not at all certain. Y’see, I was carried away in a sack and didn’t see nought, but if I be right, it be not too far.”
Liaze nodded and said, “Go on with your tale, for I would hear of this Lord Fear you named.”
“Weelanow, Princess, I was caught by the Trolls while tryin t’steal that very life-givin brandy. I thought they were goin t’kill me, but instead they brought me here. It seems in their flight fra y’r brother, they had come upon this cursed place, and they knew how terrible it was. Jeerin and jibin, they bound me and gagged me and threw me in that sack I told ye about and haled me t’that cursed castle yon.
“I knew somethin was up when I heard a great deal o’ snickerin and sneerin, but it was a bloody lot more than j’st two Trolls and a handful o’ Redcaps could make. It was the castle o’ course, echoin back their own cruel glee.
“They dumped me fra the sack and locked me in the cage where y’found me. And then they went away, leavin me bound and gagged, and leavin their derision behind.
“But among the snickerin and sneerin I could hear them takin bottles, and it had t’be wine they were after, f’r why else would they bring me all this way j’st t’throw me into a cage? Nae, ’twas the grape that brought them here, and they took me along f’r the jape o’ it.
“When I got free o’ ma bonds, and ripped the gag fra ma mouth, I called after them, shouted what a filthy lot they be, and so the castle yelled back at me as t’what a filthy lot I maself be.
“I tried everythin I could think of t’quieten the castle adown, but nothin seemed t’work. O’ course, I didn’t try soothin, like y’did. Anyway, I took it as long as I could, and finally I howled out louder than what I had yelled before, and that be the way it hae been f’r nearly a moon. Like t’drive me mad, it did, and I ween ye came j’st in time.”
“In my case,” said Liaze, “I nearly went mad from an ever-blowing wind and then, later on, from silence. I cannot imagine what it must have been like, living in a constant howl as you were, especially for an entire moon.”
“What made it worse,” said Gwyd, “was that it was ma own howl screamin in ma own ears.”
Liaze nodded and reached out and patted Gwyd on the arm. “I am both sorry and not sorry that I found you thus, for I need you to go with me.-Now tell me of the one you call Lord Fear.”
“Ah, him,” said Gwyd, shuddering. “Weel, this be the way o’ that. Y’see, Laird Duncan’s manor was the second home I’ve lost, f’r I used t’be the Brunie o’ a splendid inn. But then Lord Dread and his hideous band came, and everyone fled but me. They sat around drinkin a strange black ale, one I ne’er saw ere then. Me, I hid till Lord Fear got up and he and his followin were gone… but nae gone f’r good, f’r he and his riders continued thereafter t’stop at the end o’ their day-or night, I should say, f’r ’twas always night when they came. I continued t’hide when Lord Death, Lord Dread, Lord Terror, Lord Fear stopped by, and I was ever glad when he and his ghastly bunch rode on toward their mountain fastness each day j’st ere dawn. But I was alone, and the inn fell into disuse, what wi’ him and his band comin there every night. Finally, I could take it no longer, and I fled.”
“When was this?”
“Long past.”
“Is Lord Fear still stopping there at night?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I must ride with him.”
“Oh, m’lady, no matter what the rede says, I think that would be t’y’r doom.”
Liaze shook her head, and again she quoted lines from Lady Wyrd’s rede:
In the long search for your lost true love
You surely must ride with Fear,
With Dread, with Death, with many Torn Souls…
“Gwyd, know you what means the phrase ‘with many Torn Souls’?”
“It be his ghastly band, m’lady. They be not men but the souls o’ men instead.”
Liaze gasped. “Can this be true?”
“Aye, f’r Lord Fear rides the Wild Hunt.”
Liaze paled. “Oh, I see.”
They sat in silence for a moment, and then Liaze took a deep breath and said, “Nevertheless, I must ride with him.”
“There be only one way I ken how that be done,” said Gwyd.
“Tell me.”
“He must find ye in the open at night, on the moors or in the fields or along a lonely stretch o’ road.”
“Know you such a place, Gwyd?”
The Brownie frowned in thought, and then said, “As I was journeyin away fra the inn and-though I didna ken it at the time-toward Laird Duncan’s manor, I crossed a bleak moor and j’st as I got t’the woods on the far side, Lord Death came ridin past. Mayhap it be a place he oft travels nigh. If that be so, we can wait there, and each night y’can stand on the moor until he comes.”
“It does not seem like a certain plan,” said Liaze.
“Nae, Princess, it does not, but hae ye a better one?”
“Can I not merely wait at the inn?”
“Then, m’lady, he would slay ye outright, f’r ye will not hae passed his test.”
“His test?”
“Aye. Ye must suffer his dogs wi’out fleein or e’en flinchin, else they’ll take y’r soul. Those that survive his test are then asked if they would ride wi’ him. That be the only moment y’can politely turn him adown, or take him up on his offer. But those that do are doomed t’ride wi’ him f’r e’er.”
“Ah, there must be some way to ride with him and not suffer that doom.”
“If so, I ken not what it be,” said Gwyd.
“Well, on our way to Laird Duncan’s manor and then to that bleak moor, we’ll just have to think of one,” said Liaze.
“Laird Duncan’s manor? Y’plan on goin into what be now a Troll hole?”
“How else are we going to get the elixir of life-giving?” asked Liaze.
Gwyd laughed aloud and then sobered. “Ah, m’lady, ’twill be dangerous, but, oh my, what a splendid thin’
