The Journal of Brother Solomon

Part 20

In which our heroes enjoy the wedding feast only for their slumbers to be interrupted by an invasion of Broo!

Clayday, Truthweek, Earthseason, 614 TA – evening

So we’re among the last into the Crossing for the wedding feast, just a couple of the Gowries are behind us, and not by much (they provide background music throughout the meal). We find Tommy (and doubtless his wife and a few other staff) have been very busy while everyone else was watching the play. The main room has four long trestle tables and a top table for Gaillard, Mary and their immediate families. We are on the far left table, which seems to be for the out-of-towners.

There are just two courses, which I find more than ample (being used to priory food). The first course is a ghoulash, which, despite the disturbing name, is a sort of lamb (not ghoul) stew but with various vegetables and exotic spices. It’s served with crunchy bread rolls, still hot from the oven – a wonderful first course, washed down with plenty of drink (one cup of beer and a couple of tots of Glenochre, in my case).

As ever, I’m a little reticent but I enjoy listening to my friends chatting with their neighbours. Ariella and Fatima are sat either side of a guest from out of town; I don’t catch his name but he’s a professional Nemesis gambler. Neither lady accepts his efforts to entice them into a game of chance, but he does vouchsafe Fatima his opinion on Lord Fotheringay whom he describes as ‘a raving chaot’!

Rufus finds himself next to a man who professes to be almost a runepriest of Matar. He seems unsure whether he should stay in the village, under the tutelage of Bailiff Hawthorn, or leave to make his own way in life – Rufus urges him to leave.

George is approached by the stable boy, who asks permission to drive his cart tomorrow when we leave for Fotheringay Hall.

Of course, then it’s the speeches. Tommy is a bit long-winded but he includes several amusing stories about the couple’s early lives which draw a few laughs. Avner keeps to the events of last year, and he thanks my friends and I for our efforts ‘in saving the village from despair’. Gaillard’s speech is a little nervous and uncertain but he thanks the right people in both families, and compliments Mary and the bridesmaids on their dresses. I’m happy to join in the toasts with a fresh glass of Glenochre.

The second course is bread and butter pudding with lashings of custard. This time the gentleman the other side of Ariella from the gambler tries to chat her up, without success, of course – but I thought it a good try.

George and Fatima are both propositioned by merchants wishing to sell excess produce – I suspect this is entirely appropriate for Mercers and Mataris and George agrees to look into the Moonguard markets. However, Fatima is less certain over selling fur coats – but then she is not a merchant and I catch her glancing toward Rufus…

About now, I feel all that Glenochre is catching up with me (I swear my glass never seems to be empty!), and I make my excuses before departing upstairs for a (relatively) early bed but I later learn that things soon begin to wind down. The Gowrie musicians pack up and leave for Fotheringay Hall. After a few wolf whistles and snide comments, Gaillard and Mary depart hand-in-hand for the Matari barn for their Fertility Rite, accompanied by Bailiff Hawthorn.

My friends come upstairs less than an hour after me – I must confess that they find me flat out on my bed, still in mail, plate and other finery. Fearing spiritual attack by Finlay, they decide we’ll all sleep in the same room and keep watches. Of course they don’t include me in their plans and I don’t even learn of all this until later.

George sends Ronnie, his familiar, to curl up outside the barn doors, while Ariella’s Stormcrow, Haley, sleeps in the rafters. Overall, Mary and Gaillard are as well protected as they can be, without us all bedding down on hay-bales around them. Ronnie pricks up his ears when he sees someone sneaking toward the barn, but it turns out to be the young stable hand that approached George earlier, apparently trying to spy on the young couple. But this is perfectly normal behaviour in Matari culture so Ronnie curls up and goes back to sleep.

It’s during the second watch that Rufus hears a dog barking outside – it’s Shep, who is usually a very well-behaved dog and well-disciplined by Jake. Rufus thinks he’s barking in a worried and agitated way. He looks out over the now deserted square to see Jake striding purposefully towards the centre of the village. Shep is barking around him, but Jake angrily aims a kick in his direction – this is quite unlike Jake, who loves that hound like a son.

George wakes up and reports Ronnie also witnessed the exchange. Casting Detect Enemies, Rufus gets a strong return from Jake and guesses he must be possessed by Finlay! They wake up Fatima and Ariella and everyone begins the laborious process of putting armour on. Except me – because I’m still in full armour… and still asleep.

Rufus, since he was on watch, is already fully armed. He goes downstairs, opens the door and shouts at Jake/Finley to stop what he’s doing. George & Ronnie try Disrupts which don’t hit home, but Ariella and Haley try Demoralise which does. Jake, who had been muttering to himself, suddenly looks around despairingly before shouting ‘but you promised!’ in a pleading tone.

Suddenly, in the middle of the square, about two dozen Broo appear from nowhere, armed with battleaxes and medium shields. A third of them head towards the barn, another third towards the inn, whilst the rest spread out across the village.

Not fancying the odds, Rufus closes and bolts the front door of the inn and runs back upstairs. He and Fatima defend the top of the stairs, ready for the inevitable ingress, as they hear axe blows attack the inn’s front door.

George and Ariella go the other way, into the bedrooms above the kitchen, where Tommy is sleeping. After rousing him and returning towards the guest quarters, they hear axe blows coming in on the back doorway into the kitchen area as well – we’re under attack front and back!

Everyone spends a few rounds casting spells. All seems fine, except George reports his Co-ordination spell went off but didn’t seem to affect him. He fears one of the Broo is a (now Coordinated) spell attractor.

Outside, Ronnie and Haley enter the barn to warn the occupants of the impending attack. Gaillard and Mary look up from underneath their blankets, momentarily distracted from each other, but Bailiff Hawthorn orders them to carry on if they don’t want to waste their Runespell! He runs to the barn door entrance, closing it with strong metal re-enforced bars. Broo axes will find this harder work than the inn.

Hawthorn then starts casting Runemagic: the ground truly does move and shake, as a Gnome rises from the dirt floor, quickly morphing into a Golem. Ronnie casts Protection on it, and they all wait inside as axe blows rain down on the barn door.

Back in the inn, Fatima and Rufus face off against 4 broo at the top of the stairs, though only two of them can get attacks in at any one time. At first the fight looks tricky, as one of the broo has an extra arm and is sporting a great axe and medium shield, but he goes down after Fatima shifts her focus to him before disappearing in an apparent Divint.

On the other side, George and Ariella surprise the broo coming through the door into the guest quarters, and one broo quickly falls over but, due to some spells, possible regeneration and a few timid hits from Ariella, he lasts longer than otherwise might be expected.

In the meantime, after passing out I had slipped into a troubled sleep. Maybe the play woke memories of last year but I find myself dreaming of our fight with Finlay at the end. In my dream I’m kind of like the way Harvey portrayed me in the play – I’m valiantly heroic, battling Finlay to a standstill…

But then, just when I’m about to deliver the killing blow, a small army of Broo swarm out of the woods and suddenly it’s a much nastier fight – and suddenly I’m not valiantly heroic, I’m just me – and we’re about to be overwhelmed…

And that’s when I come round to find the clamour of battle is real! Through the open door I see Fatima and Rufus holding the stairs against dark-haired Broo with axes and shields. I roll off the bed and stagger to my feet, groping for my shield and drawing my sword as I bring Strength to mind…