The Deepcombers

Chapter Thirty

Zed blew out the candle and Lon knew the rest of the day belonged to him. He'd already planned where he'd continue his Varget hunt this afternoon, but first he wanted to walk and relax. He'd just infused over forty flasks and his smulcrum ached. He barely had any smilk in reserve. How did they ever manage to get through twelve crates without me?

Losing last night's practice time had set him back, and the memory of that event was also a distraction. He liked the idea of luring Melcart away and pummeling him with his fists, but that action wouldn't yield any useful outcomes. He also knew that Clyde's map wasn't that valuable. Sure he might find another glyph down there, but so what? It'd just be one more mark he didn't know how to work. He needed to activate the symbols. That's what he had to do tonight; it didn't make sense to chase runes without being able to use them.

With this in mind, Lon walked the flagstone promenade and headed for the empty stables that he'd spied from his hike atop the east wall. He went there for two reasons. First, he hoped to solve the riddle and learn why the stables by the river are the brightest in the winter. But secondly he sought to explore the empty building precisely because it was unoccupied. The young lad reasoned that this place, heaped high with grassy manure piles and deserted in the summer would make a fine testing ground for lightning rod signs and  hot water steams and whatever else he could bring to mind.

-

The barn complex beside the river was a handsome development and the height of animal husbandry in Atarskal. In the summertime the four story structure was all but deserted. The cows were out to pasture with their calves. But in the winter months this place would shelter the entire herd.

The stables had stone block sides and timber beams supported a huge hayloft with plank walls. The wooden shell had shuttered openings under a shingled roof. Lon reckoned the interior could easily hold five thousand sheaves of hay which was enough to get thirty cows through a long winter. A smaller structure placed perpendicular had a hinged doorway up top and he reckoned it would hold wheat straw, threshed of grain. Such empty wheat stalks were often re-purposed as bedding which soaks up the mud and improves the overall quality of the manure. That small croft was also empty and all the doors and shutters were open as if to air the place out before the harvest.

The fence around the stables was made of mortared shale; pie-plate sized chunks of the riverbed were overlapped and stacked to make a four foot high barrier.  Lon hopped the fence with style. He scissored his legs over top like a proper forest ranger. 

On the other side he found the barnyard heaped high with old manure now overgrown with bright green orchard grass. As he scouted this perimeter, Lon kept a sharp eye out for unusual symbols in the architecture. He reckoned he'd find a sign to make light. On the darkest winter nights the animals would be shut up inside the barn where the heat from their own bodies would keep them warm, and that's when he believed the ancient language would be used. The Calbians could brighten the barn using Varget somehow. This was his theory, but he'd seen a reptilian make steam. That attendant stood by the iron door to make it hot, so too could a similarly enlightened herdsfeigor illuminate the innards of this building. It was good logic and he just hoped to gain more understanding of how it all worked.

Lon rounded a grass-covered manure pile and spotted a patch of brown fur. The furry shape moved and he realized he wasn't alone.

The barnyard wasn't empty. A shaggy cow which Lon imagined must be a yak stood before him. The lad from Dundae wasn't at all familiar with this animal species but he reckoned such a creature must get hot in the summer as it had both long hair and a warm fur coat; long greasy locks from its neck and spine draped all down its back and covered the short fur on its hide. The beast's sandy tresses looked patchy and this was either seasonal or hormonal, or the animal was sick.  Its hair clumped together like so many dirty mopheads and each growth was a slightly different shade of brown.