Mystery at Shadow Peak (2)

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 16th July 2022
Series: Mystery at Shadow Peak

Characters: Jorghan, Viklara
Description: Jorghan continues to investigate the disappearances and deaths at Shadow Peak
Location: Elsewhere on Pern
Date: month 9, day 4 of Turn 10

"This will be yours." The Headwoman took a key from the pocket of her
apron and turned it in the lock. "It's an outside room, with a window,
if you don't mind that?"

"Not at all." Jorghan stepped into the narrow chamber and set down his
pack on the floor by the bed with a sigh of relief. There were more than
enough stairs in this hold, his back ached and it had been a long ride.
The room was plainly furnished but clean, with a faded tapestry on the
opposite wall to the bed showing a view of the mountain peaks. On the
far wall, the window had been shuttered for the evening, but moonlight
gleamed through a crack.

"I'd hoped not. Men in your line of work aren't known for nerves. One of
the drudges will be round to close the Thread shutters in good time
tomorrow, so you needn't worry about that." The woman gave the room a
swift glance to check that everything was in order. She was in her
middle fifties, with curly brown hair and an efficient manner, and the
Warder had introduced her as Viklara. "I'll have someone bring a warming
pan later, the nights are cold up here in the mountains. Bathing room is
down the stairs to the next floor. Will you be wanting dinner? They'll
be ringing the bell any moment now."

"Yes, thank you." He shrugged out of his outer coat and hung it on a
hook at the back of the door, then followed her out. "You've lived here
long?"

She nodded. "I was born here. My da was a mine worker. Retired now, though."

"Then you would have served the former Holder, and his father?"

"Yes, Holder Beliron. He was a good man. Generous, hard-working."
Viklara shook her head. "That family's had more than enough ill luck,
for certain. I hope it's burnt itself out by now."

Jorghen thought he detected a slight emphasis on that last word. His
arrival on the Hold's business was often not entirely welcome, and the
truth was not always comfortable. Still, it was his duty.

"Here's the bathing room, to your right. It's busy now, with the men
cleaning up after a day in the mine, but it'll be quieter in the
morning." She gestured towards a door. "Warder Alekis said you were here
to look into the disappearance of our steward?"

"Yes, that's right." The Warder had told him he'd informed the staff of
that, and though he'd not mentioned the explosion at the smithy, he
expected most of them would have put the two together. "You'll have
worked with him?"

"Yes, though not for long. Sogreal was appointed by Holder Belkas after
he inherited, some friend of his from his travels. We didn't have much
to do with each other. I gave the Holder my reports and he arranged to
buy the supplies we needed. Half the time he was away on business,
making deals, though what good that ever did the Hold I couldn't say.
We've always sent ore and blackrock down to Garnet Valley with the same
trader families."

"Any chance he could have left on one of his trips, the day of the
accident?"

Viklara shook her head. "He always left with a couple of guards as
escort, and usually with the traders. Not many want to travel alone in
these lands. Oh, I was going to give you this." She reached into her
apron pocket again, and brought out a folded sheet of paper, much
creased. "Our harper had this drawn up, and traced out some copies to
send out to the nearby holds in case anyone had seen him. Nobody had."

Jorghen unfolded the paper, which showed a simple line sketch headed
with the word "MISSING", and a brief description. The face was that of a
man in his early thirties, at a guess. Young to be steward of a
prosperous hold like this one. The harper obviously had some talent at
sketching; he'd captured the pouchy face, the faint beginning of a
double chin, the discontented scowl.

"Do you remember that day?" he asked as they continued down the stair.
"Who saw him last?"

"Most likely, Holder Belkas himself. I last saw him after the noon meal.
I was on my way down from dropping off the sevenday's supply records,
and he was on his way up, in a hurry. He was reading something, looked
like a runner message. Brushed past me without a word."

Jorghen thought back to what the Warder had said. Trader Orglev and the
blackrock shipment.

"One of the drudges thought she saw him going out of the main door with
a glowbasket before the evening meal, but she didn't think much of it.
It was a rather chaotic day, actually, a pipe had started leaking in the
laundry and soaked all the fresh sheets. I had to send for Journeyman
Corigale to fix it. That was why he wasn't in the smithy when..."

"Ah." Lucky for the smith, though not for the Holder. "Did he seem
different at all - the steward? Worried about anything?"

"No more than usual. His mood was rather...changeable. He could be
irritable, snapping at the girls - when he wasn't bothering them." She
pursed her lips. "I had to speak to the Holder about that more than
once. But that day, he seemed pleased, if anything. I thought perhaps
one of those deals of his had come through at last."

They emerged into the entrance hall, which was beginning to fill up with
holders. Mine workers, their faces scrubbed clean and smelling of
blackrock dust and sweetsand, men with the weathered skin of outdoor
work and the faint scent of the stables, a couple of guards just come
off shift. Children ran about underfoot, squealing and chasing one
another or jumping into their fathers' arms. Over by one of the
passages, Jorghen saw a man with harper knots, a journeyman, talking to
a slight, pale young woman whose long face shape and pale brown hair
shared a family resemblance with the Warder. Lady Cilara, he thought,
and the young boy holding her hand and fidgeting must be the hold's heir.

The Headwoman followed his gaze. "Warder Alekis told me to seat you with
the crafters, as befits your rank." A senior guard would rank with the
journeymen, though any masters would be above them. "Master Harobben,
who has charge of the mines, has his own cot and usually eats there, but
Master Iovrey of the Beastcraft will be here if he's not busy in the
stables - which he is, often as not." She looked around. "I'd better
warn the drudges to have his meal taken out to him."

"Will I be seeing the journeyman smith at dinner?" Jorghen asked, his
brow furrowed as he recalled the name. "Corigale?"

"No, he returned to his Hall not long after the accident. Until we get a
replacement, the journeyman from Grystan Hold had been coming up once a
month to do repairs for the mine." That couldn't be a very satisfactory
situation for a working minehold, and the frustration showed in her
voice. "Poor man, it wasn't his fault, but young Lannul, the guard who
died, he has family in the Hold. Folk look for someone to blame. It was
best that he went."

"It was his smithy, though." Jorghen hadn't heard anyone mention a
master smith, anyway. The Warder had told him the journeyman had claimed
he'd left the place safe, but then, he would say that. "How can you know - "

"Well, it's Crafter business. You'd be better speaking to Journeyman
Nikolter, the harper. They were friends." She paused. "Will there be
anything else, Guardsman?"

"One more thing." Jorghen spoke before she could turn to bustle away.
"Have there been any other odd events here at the Hold, that you can
think of, during Holder Belkas' time?"

"It was an odd time, altogether, after poor Holder Beliron's accident."
Viklara sighed. "There was a stablehand who ran off, Yulen. That was
last Turn, too, but he was a flighty lad from what I've heard and wanted
to do better for himself. Master Iovrey could tell you more about him.
The family are cotholders, his sister used to work up here too until she
fell ill and went back home. Otherwise..." She shrugged. "It's a
tight-knit Hold. Most folk grew up here and I've known them all their
lives."

Jorghen nodded. "Thank you."

As she left, he looked down again at the face of the missing steward,
seeing the discontent in the line of his mouth, the narrowed eyes. He
was beginning to get a feel for the kind of man he was - and perhaps,
the character of his Holder. What they'd been up to he couldn't say,
yet. But if he wasn't mistaken about who Holder Belkas might had been
dealing with, he suspected he might have brought his untimely end upon
himself.

Last updated on the October 30th 2022

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Mystery at Shadow Peak (2)