There are notes on word usage at the end.
28th of Towin
Still surrounded by his escort, as Thomas walked over to Will he was wondering how many would be remaining in the tent when the newfolk had left for their future lifes.(1) “Slim,(2) I like it,” said Will quietly. “Have the future Folk out and safe first and the malcontents isolaett(3) in such a way that they didn’t have to do aught. You left them expoest(4) with nowhere to hide.” Will was smiling with an expression of pure malice on his face. It taekt(5) some time for the tent to clear, but when it had Thomas saw the six under guard were still there, the nine pregnant young women were still there and there were another two groups with just a few steps separating them. He countet(6) twenty men ranging from their mid-teens to their mid-twenties with one older man in one group and eight women ranging from mid-teens to late twenties in the other.
Kyle was not just a product of the inner city he came from who had little education, less perception and even less self esteem he was also a sadistic psychopathic killer, but as yet the authorities had not managed to connect him to any of his serious crimes, though a number were currently being actively investigated. He knew those in authority: police, magistrates, judges and the like considered people with his background to be sub-human and referred to them as scum which he considered to justify his behaviour. When ever he’d had dealings with them, in a cell or the dock [where the accused is seated in a courtroom] usually, it was obvious to him they would have liked to have dealt with him as he would have dealt with a coney with myxy,(7) though he doubted they would kick him to death.
As a result he had never made eye contact with any of them because despite his outward indifference he didn’t wish to see the contempt, revulsion and lothing he knew was in their eyes. He wasn’t aware of it, but he was an imposter masquerading as himself, a caricature of the person he thought he ought to be. He had no memories of a family, eating anything other than fast food or of ever creating anything other than fear in others. He had spent his adult life with a series of women making each one pregnant in turn, happy enough till his life became difficult and in his need he had taken their money off them by force. All of them had then requested and been granted a court injunction preventing him from approaching within one hundred metres of them and their children.
He was not unintelligent, but he could not perceive all he had ever represented to all the women in his life had been the semen necessary for them to maintain their lifestyle on state benefits, his life had meant nothing to them. Not imaginative enough to feel fear he was naytheless tortured by his own inadequacies. He perceived respect to equal fear, and he enjoyed making people afraid, and he enjoyed hurting them. His only other pleasure was bragging regarding terrorising others. Deep within himself he knew it was living as the inadequate human being he knew he was that tormented him. As a result he was completely unafraid of death, for all it could bring was release.
What he had managed to learn of the place he had inexplicably found himself in had already convinced him these primitive folk were clearly ripe for the plucking, for they couldn’t have him at knife point and watched permanently could they. Despite the bleeding wound on his right arm, which he had acquired from one of his warders when he had tried to grope her, he was still leering at her and had continued telling her what he was going to do to her as soon as he was free.
“Right,” said Thomas, “I’ll try to answer your questions now.”
“You can’t do this to us,” said Kyle, “We got rights, an’ we ʼaven’t seen a loyer, nor ʼad no trial. We got rights we ʼave, ʼnʼ I ain’t taking no shit from a mother fuckinʼ, commune lovin’ ʼippy.” He smirked as if he had maekt(8) a telling point. “An’ I’m gonna kill that bitch that cut me real slow after I’ve fucked her senseless.”
Will interrupted before Thomas could respond, “I don’t understand most of what you just sayt,(9) and it’s a riandet(10) to me. You’re wrong concerning your rights, for the Master at arms hath quoth(11) you your rights under the Way and we can do this to you. Here, the only rights you have are those given to you by the Way as quoth by the Master at arms, and we know more of those than you do. I’ve already suggestet(12) to the Master at arms we kill the six of you and save all the trouble. My friend here is the Master at arms. One nod from him and you’re dogmeat. The only issue here is can you convince him you’re worth a placement with the Folk. If not, you’re dead even if I or one of my office doesn’t kill you.”
“Bollocks!” was his response, and he spat in Will’s face.
Before Will could respond in any way, one of the two guardians who had Kyle at knife point, a young and pretty woman with a delicate face any woman would be forgiven for envying whom Kyle had been leering at since she had begun warding him, the one who had given him his first taste of Folk justice for attempting to put his hand to her breast, instantly lowered her hunting knife, which was longer than her forearm, no more than a span and slid it unhurriedly and deliberately between his ribs. Kyle coughed once and slid off her knife to the floor. He’d been a remorseless killer all his life and had just met a representative of an entire culture that maekt him look like a little girl on a Sunday school picnic. Without any emotion at all Angélique wiped her knife on the dead man’s shirt and then turned to Will, “My sorrow, Cousin Will, knife slipt,(13) must be a loose fit in the sheath.”
In exactly the same tone of voice, he said, “Very poor, Cousine(14) Angélique. Make sure all your equipment is in proper working order before you’re on duty again, but before you do make sure your knife hasn’t loes(15) any of its edge.” He looked caltly(16) at each of the other five men in turn as he continued, “You never know when you may need it again.”
“Yes, Cousin Will,” Angélique said brightly.
“Now where were we?” Will asked the other five who were trying hard not to throw up. “Ah yes, you were politely asking the Master at arms some questions, were you not?” He walked over to the doorway of the tent and shouted, “I will a couple of guardians in here to remove this dogmeat.” A man and a woman came in immediately, taekt in the situation at a glance, and dragging the carcass out by the ankles disappeared out again. At this point, the other incomers in the tent must have realised what had happened. Some of the pregnant women started screaming themselfs(17) into hysterics. The groups of women and men looked shocked. Probably because none was taking any notice, the hysterical screams stopped quite quickly.
Four of the five remaining under guard were gulping and staring with horror at the stains on the trampled grass where their late companion had just been standing. The fifth was now kneeling on the grass vomiting. One of the four, controlling himself at last, muttered, “No questions.” A response that was echoed by the others.
Still spaeking(18) quietly, Thomas said, “That was regrettable, but probably inevitable. I’m going to leave you to bethink yourselfs(19) of your situation, and as the huntsman sayt, if you decide it is your will to join the Folk ask one of his staff to contact me, and we’ll have spaech(20) of it.” He turned to Angélique, who, for the benefit of the five men, and much to the entertainment of Will and the guardians, was making a performance out of checking the edges of her knife with her thumb, and smiled, “My gratitude, Angélique. I’ll put a retrospective deadth(21) warrant in the records.”
Will looked at the five and said in a voice that could have cut granite, “One dead, five to die.” He turned away from the five, wiped the saliva off his face with his cuff and said to Thomas, “Who’s next?”
“The two groups over there. I’ll leave the pregnant till last. Gosellyn hasn’t managt(22) to make any progress with them, and I suspect I’ll do no better.” The two men walked over to the twenty men and eight women.
“That was cold blooded murder, that was,” the older looking man said accusingly. He was a big, unpleasant looking man and Will’s inner senses telt him immediately the Folk would be safer with this one dead.
“Not at all,” said Will, back in granite cutting mode again with his hand on his work knife pommel itching to draw it, “That was a pointet(23) lesson in politth.(24) Just so you understand, my friend here is the Master at arms. If he says a man dies, he dies. I am the Master huntsman, and it’s my rôle to make sure any he wills dead, becomes dead. That’s the law here, and we’re not interestet(25) in your opinions of it. This is Castle, and I just quoten(26) you Castle law, and by the bye, the Folk don’t spit in each other’s faces. If you have any serious questions I suggest you ask them. We are both busy men and have much better things to be doing than having spaech with potential corpses.”
One of the women began to cry, and spaeking through her tears, sobbed, “I don’t understand. I don’t know where I am, and I don’t know what to do, and I want to go home.”
Realising the woman wasn’t overly bright, Thomas said to one of the guardians, who were still surrounding him like leeches, “Find Campion or a senior healer who is able to deal with this sort of thing.” The guardian nodded and left. Thomas turned back to the group of women and asked quietly, “You don’t wish to die do you?”
The women all replied, “No.” All eight were crying now.
Thomas, looking at eight blank, uncomprehending faces, now suspected none of these women were overly bright and they had probably stayed in the tent because they hadn’t understood what he had said earlier. Keeping it easy to understand he asked, “Do you wish to be happy here?”
Bewildered by the situation, the women were looking at him hard. “Yes,” they all eventually whispered.
“Would you like to help?”
Again eight belated and muted responses of, “Yes.”
Thomas thought that was as much as he was going to achieve, and it was enough. These women would settle in. They’d probably all have husbands within a tenner. A lack of intellect didn’t matter to the Folk, and if need be there were any number who could do their thinking for them. They’d have children and be placed in an appropriately supportive craft in no time. Where was that healer? Just then, much to his relief, a pair of healers came in.
The senior of the pair said, “We’ve had it explaint,(27) Thomas. The Keep?”
“Yes please, Scree,” he replied, grateful not to have to explain. Thomas indicated to the healers to take all the women, and they were shepherded out by the pair. He turned to the men.
“Where are you taking them?” demanded one of the younger men of the healers, who both ignored him.
“Home,” replied Will, answering for the healers, “and it’s none of your concern as an incomer where any of the Folk goes. I don’t know what you need to know to join the Folk, but it’s reaching the point where you’re going to have to persuade us to keep you alive, rather than us persuading you to join the Folk.”
“That will do, Will,” said Thomas quietly, turning to the men. “What do you wish to know? Unlike the women, you seem to understand what’s been sayt. I can give you no guarantees of success, affluence or happith.(28) I can guarantee acceptance if you will it. I can also guarantee if you knowingly or deliberately even try to hurt any of the Folk, and that includes those who have sincely(29) joint(30) us, you’re dead. I shall sign your deadth warrant without a second thought and Will here or any of his staff will kill you just because I will it done. That’s how it works here. You help us, we help you. You hurt us, we kill you. It’s simple, straight forward and easy to understand.” Remembering something he’d read in the archives, he added, “We have no prison nor gaol on Castle. Here you are either a free man or a dead one. We take no prisoners.” Thomas wasn’t sure if there were a difference between a gaol and a prison, but didn’t care, for the Folk needed neither, and as far as he was aware the dungeons in the Keep had never been uest for their intended purpose.
“I thought it was all part of a massive hoax,” one of the men said, “till the girl killed the psycho.” Neither Will nor Thomas understood the word psycho, but they neither cared nor were they willing to interrupt the spaeker.(31) “It’s not is it? It’s all for real and there’s no going home.”
“In one sense you’re right,” Thomas replied. “It’s all real, and there’s no going back. In another you’re wrong, if you wish a home it’s here and you know the terms. I’ll let you decide.” He walked away from the men and turned to Will, “I need a mug of leaf before I go any further.” Will motioned to one of his guardians who went out and returned with half a dozen apprentice cooks each carrying a large tray loaded with mugs of leaf. Will and Thomas taekt a mug as did half the guardians who had just rescabbarded their hunting knifes. The other half would drink theirs when the guardians who were drinking rearmed. He was finishing his mug as the group of twenty incomer men approached.
They had been discussing the casual manner of Kyle’s deadth at the hands of a pretty and very young woman, and the virtual non-reaction to it of the Folk, all of which had shocked them. They understood Thomas had expressed gratitude to her for killing Kyle and legalised it after the event, which maekt the authorities here dangerously different from anything they had ever come across before. Thomas’ statement ‘You help us, we help you. You hurt us, we kill you,’ had a terrifying reality to it that none of them questioned the truth of. They had agreed at the least they had to go along with Thomas awhile. None was prepared to risk crossing him and much less Will who appeared to be the leader of his forces, any of who they believed would kill with no warning and think nothing of it.
“What do we do, where do we go?” the same man as had spaken before asked. “We don’t want to die, we believe what you said. It’s just hard to accept and very different from everything we know.”
“I have to ask you formally,” Thomas informed them. “Knowing what you do of us, even though you must realise I cannot have possibly telt you everything, though I’ve telt you everything of importance, and to the best of my knowledge left naught of significance out, is it your wish to join the Folk?” There were a lot of positive responses to the question, but it was difficult for Thomas to see if all twenty had responded in a positive way, so to be sure he said, “If you have agreen,(32) go with the guardians who will take you to another tent where members of my staff will deal with the formalities and answer you questions.”
Will indicated to a number of squad leaders they and their squads were to escort the men saying to the squad leaders, deliberately loudly enough for the incomers to hear, “Keep them separate from the other incomers, and make sure at least four guardians can identify each one of them, but no guardian is to be given more than one to identify. Your only duty till I say elsewise is to ward these men. I’ll tell Gale to reorganise the duties. Angélique, have spaech with Gale. Tell her that in recognition of your services to the Folk I sayt you are to have a squad of twelve and she is to re-organise the squads for me. I’m sure she’ll enjoy hearing how you came by your squad.”
Angélique smiled and said, “I doubt it not. I suspect her only regret will be that I had the opportunity to deal with the matter and not she.” The laughter of the guardians at Angélique’s remarks concerning Gale maekt the incomers more uncomfortable than they already were, for they surmised the women here were all killers too.
Will continued, “Any of the incomers who are acceptet(33) as Folk and taken to the Keep are to be chambert(34) in the south-east outer tower overlooking the Little Arder bridge. I’ll send a runner to inform Basil. Any who aren’t are to be escortet(35) back here. Any trouble I will permanently dealt with.” Will had maekt his last remark in such an ominous tone that both the guardians and the incomers could not mistake his meaning. The squad leaders nodded to Will and assigned four guardians to each of the men before they left with the newly appointed warders and their charges who were trailing behind them.
The tower Will had assigned the men to be chambered in was in a normally uninhabited portion of the Keep, and though Thomas was entirely understanding of Will’s caution he wondered if he were not taking things to extremes. “How long are you planning on keeping them there, Will?”
“Till I bethink me of somewhere better, or they’re dead,” Will replied, with no trace of his usual levity on his face. “However, one dead and fourteen uncommittet,(36) the rest probably in the process of becoming Folk and all within the first day. Matters are proceeding better than acceptably, for we’re far within the loss rates of previous incursions.”
“Before you declare an extra Quarterday,” cautioned Thomas, “I’d wait for the healers’ report on any possible addicts first.”
“I’d forgett(37) that little package of joy that comes with incomers,” Will said, with a grimace.
“Right, Will, the pregnant ones.”
“Right.” The two men still with a guardian escort walked across the tent to the women. Minutes later, they walked out into the fresh air having being shouted at, reviled and subject to a barrage of demands, most of which maekt no sense to them at all. Will shrugged his shoulders and said, “They are willing deadth to themselfs. They didn’t hear you, never mind listen to you.”
“My sorrow to say I don’t even begin to know how to deal with that. I’ve tryt,(38) and it’s up to the healers now. What a waste, eighteen young lifes. Where in the day bethink you(39) we are?” asked Thomas looking at the sky.
“Half four, may hap as late as four, why?”
“We’re meeting at six, and I wish as much as possible of this camp dismantet(40) as fast as possible as soon as Gosellyn’s and my staffs have taken the newfolk to the Keep. Leave a small tent for the five men and any others who return, another for the women, enough guardians to protect the women from those charmers and enough food and fuel for a tenner. Leave the tank for now. Have most of the latrines fillt(41) in. Leave them with the absolute minimum they need for survival. Let’s put as much effort as possible into salvaging those women, and let’s do it as soon as possible.”
“I’ll see it’s done, Thomas. What of the men?”
“I bethink me you were right, Will.”
“You will them dead?”
“No, we may succeed with one or two. The others we’ll let Castle take.”
“Fair enough. Let’s return to the Keep, I need to see Thorn and Geoffrey. They’ll organise striking the camp leaving just what you wish. After all,” chuckled Will, “they put most of it up earlier thisday,(42) and now it’s all out of the stores and down here they can put the Gather tents up early ready for Quarterday. It’s unfortunate they can’t leave them where they are, but they need to be nearer Outgangside in case the weather takes a sudden turn for the worse.” Will chuckled again, “It’s only a three and a half thousand stride journey. I don’t know how you feel, Thomas, but I feel as if I haven’t eaten in a lune. I hope we eat before we convene. I’ll have a word with Yew of that, and I need to find Pilot.” With that, the two headed back to the Keep leaving the guardians behind.
.
Key Word Usage
1 Lifes, lives
2 Slim, crafty, clever, cunning. Considered a little old fashiont,(43) if not actually archaic, by many Folk, and not much uest by most, though Slimlyspoon and to a lesser extent Slimlyspoonful are still popular personal names.
3 Isolaett, isolated.
4 Expoest, exposed.
5 Taekt, took.
6 Countet, counted.
7 Myxy, myxomatosis, caused by the myxoma virus a disease in European coneys causing blindness, skin tumours and fever prior to deadth(21) which occurs in two to fourteen days.
8 Maekt, made.
9 Sayt,said.
10 Riandet, a matter of no significance.
11 Quoth, quoted. Quoth only uest in third person singular, else quoten is uest. Quoth is uest with hath not has.
12 Suggestet, suggested.
13 Slipt, slipped.
14 Cousine, female cousin.
15 Loes, lost.
16 Caltly, coldly.
17 Themselfes, themselves.
18 Spaeking, speaking.
19 Yourselfs, yourselves.
20 Spaech, speech.
21 Deadth, death.
22 Managt, managed.
23 Pointet, pointed.
24 Politth, politeness.
25 Interestet, interested.
26 Quoten, quoted.
27 Explaint, explained.
28 Happith, happiness.
29 Sincely, recently.
30 Joint, joined.
31 Spaeker, speaker.
32 Agreen, agreed.
33 Acceptet, accepted.
34 Chambert, chambered, provided with a chamber, housed.
35 Escortet, escorted.
36 Uncommittet, uncommitted.
37 Forgett, forgotten.
38 Tryt, tried.
39 Bethink you, do you think.
40 Dismantelt, dismantled.
41 Fillt, filled.
42 Thisday, today.
43 Fashiont, fashioned.
