Chapter 21

Two days later I returned to Songless, following my Lord Reinard and his Lady Laurice, but I came as a Bard and not as a servant. A grand wedding feast awaited my lord. Lord Guerney came, bringing all his court and his daughter’s ladies-in-waiting, so that the keep now bloomed with laughter and finery. When Lord Guerney left, however, he took the Lady Victoria with him. She had claimed him as a husband, as I suppose she could aspire no higher.

Over the course of time, Lady Laurice made a proper husband out of Wallen, just as Songless made a proper steward out of Peter. The monk indulged less in wine with honey, though it remained his favorite cure for all ills.

The Spring thaw brought Bards from Slatten. Master Master came to be the new Grandmaster, and under him came Journeymen Sieg and Van. Sharp came as well, though we all knew that he would not stay long – his is the path of wandering, just as mine is the path of habitation. The five of us, as well as two small boys and my own Lord Reinard, raised new beams over the ashes of the old Bardhall. Only the frame stood on the first day of spring, but we stood on rough planking and sang in the dawn while the Cathedral across the way opened its doors to Easter Mass.

In the fall Elise bore me a son. Two years afterwards, we had a daughter. The Lady Laurice was barren.

Each summer I returned to Slatten to sit before the Masters and earn another string on my harp.

And thus life flowed for us, until the fifth summer – but that’s another story, and not all mine to tell.

THE END

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And now, as Porky Pig would say, That's all, folks. For this book, anyway. My plans for it are now to go through it, cleaning up typos and editing what I can, and prepare it for publication through the Dead Fish Press. That project will hopefully be completed in the spring -- but as with all things, this plan is subject to modification by fate and disasters.

On the other tentacle, this is not the end of the blog. I will now start writing up another story set in this world, though in a different country and with a much different cast of characters. It's called Talaski the Starred, and tells the adventures of a hapless Gutter Rat and the Wizard Azygous, whom the Gutter Rat has managed to offend. Not a smart thing to do in the Wizardlands.

Helen E. Davis