The Quarry Hold

Writers: Estelle
Date Posted: 28th November 2022
Series: White Hollow Hold

Characters: Tasni
Description: Tasni arrives at White Hollow Hold
Location: Emerald Falls Hold
Date: month 6, day 2 of Turn 11

As the trader wagons drew closer to the territory of White Hollow Hold,
the land had become barren and empty; rocky hills covered in thin grass
grazed by scattered herds and occasional patches of bare, scorched
ground that were the signs of a burned-out Thread burrow. The road was
muddy with deep ruts from cart wheels, and the only signs of human
habitation were low stone-built shelters that looked more like lodges
for travellers and herders than homes.

**It really is isolated.** Tasni watched the landscape pass, the thought
crossing her mind that it wouldn't be easy to get away in a hurry, if
she needed to. No safe cotholds, and not much cover. It didn't look like
rich land, yet White Hollow was a big hold, prosperous enough to support
a company of guards, and a lady with Blood ties, if distant. That lady
would be her way in.

The road narrowed, winding its way through a valley between steep-sided
hills, and then there was another of those stone huts up ahead, this one
bigger, with a runner tethered outside and the figures of men lounging
beside it. Tasni glanced at the man sitting beside her, sensing the
tension in his body, his hands gripping the reins tightly.

"Guard post. We're nearly there." The trader narrowed his eyes as they
approached. "You're sure you want to do this? You could ride back with
me. No trouble."

"I'm sure." She felt the first tremors of nerves deep inside her, the
heightened sensations of approaching danger that she hadn't felt in a
long time. Hopefully her skills weren't too rusty. She smiled, thinking
to reassure the man. "I know what I'm doing."

"Better hope you do," he replied shortly. "If they find out, I'll have
questions to answer too, next time I come this way."

Tasni hadn't thought of that. She felt a moment's guilt, but also oddly
reassured. Someone who was planning to betray her at the first
opportunity likely wouldn't have such concerns.

"They won't." Then she fell silent as their wagon drew to a halt before
the guard post.

There were three men on duty - one older, maybe in his late forties, his
hair beginning to recede, and two closer to her age. They wore light
grey uniform tunics under their leather brigandines, bracers and
greaves, and swords hung at their belts, in good condition but well
used. They moved in their armour with the ease of familiarity, and they
were big men, the shortest of them a head taller than Tasni with the
build to match.

The hold was well-guarded, then. And though they looked as bored as the
guards on duty around Emerald Falls usually did, there were none of the
usual friendly smiles, though the youngest one did give Tasni a rather
coarse smirk. She quickly lowered her eyes, staring at her folded hands
in her lap like a proper, modest holder girl.

None of the three fit the description of Calenta's husband Gilbek. The
senior man was too old, the one who'd grinned at her too young, and
though she supposed the third might be a young-looking thirtyish, he was
dark and she was looking for a light-haired man. Still, if there were
three just guarding the approach, there were bound to be more at the
hold itself.

"Your business?" the older man asked shortly, approaching the lead
wagon. The other two had stepped into the road, blocking the way.

"Erskenne family, traders. Bringing grain for the Hold, and some small
items for the lady and her household." The trader sounded calm enough.
He handed over a rolled-up hide. "The order, from Holder Obriel."

The guardsman took the hide and unrolled it, studying the contents.
"Dallo. Take a look." He jerked his head towards the back of the wagon,
and the younger guard scowled, but strolled towards them, passing close
enough by Tasni as he did that she could smell sweat and leather, then
lifted the tarpaulin that covered the sacks of grain.

His interest must have attracted the first guard's attention, for he
looked up from the hides. "Who's she?"

"My wife's cousin, Guardsman. We heard Lady Agriona is in need of a
maid, and she has the training. Served the old Lord's family, when she
was a girl."

Tasni risked a quick look upwards - she might be a proper holder woman,
but she didn't intend to play a timid, mousy thing. The man's brow had
lifted a little at the mention of the old Lord Holder, and he nodded
slightly. That had been her suggestion, knowing that they might be loyal
to the old family here, and it looked as though it had paid off.

"Ah." He handed back the hides. "Doesn't she have her own family to take
care of?"

Sometimes the expectation that there was something odd about a woman out
of her teens who wasn't wed with a pack of children could be a real
nuisance, but she'd prepared for this question. "My husband passed away
last Turn, sir. I've been living with my parents since." She looked down
again.

"A young widow? Maybe she'll have more sense than the other girls. Well,
we'll see what the lady thinks. She's particular."

The young guard came back from the rear wagons. "All clear. Just grain
and bales of cloth."

"Right. On your way, then." He stepped back, and gestured to the
dark-haired man, who gave them a long, contemptuous stare, then shrugged
and moved back to the side of the road. Tasni looked over at him as they
passed, mostly to avoid the grinning Dallo, and immediately lowered her
gaze again. There was something in his eyes that prickled down her
spine, waking all the senses that had lain dormant since her last
mission, in the North.

**Let's hope those three stay out guarding the road while I'm here.**
She heard the soft sigh as the trader let out his breath in relief.
Ahead of them, the valley began to widen out, sloping gently upwards,
and she half-closed her eyes as they drove towards the setting sun,
casting long shadows behind them. Ahead, she heard a faint clinking
sound and tasted dust in the air. Then they reached the top of the rise,
the steep hills on either side falling away, and came into view of White
Hollow Hold. Tasni rose in her seat, drawing in a quick, startled breath
despite herself.

"The quarry." The trader pulled to a halt for a moment, and they looked
down on a massive sunken pit carved from the side of the hill across the
valley from the road. The white stone that gave the hold its name
gleamed in the fading light, and small grey, bent figures moved against
it, giving a sense of the scale of it. The sound she'd heard was picks
striking stone, she realised, and she could make out faint shouts, too,
and curses. Some men were dragging a wooden sledge laden with white
blocks up a ramp, alongside a big runnerbeast, straining under the weight.

There were guards here, too. Why, she wondered - she hadn't thought this
was one of the holds that used convicts...

"That must be where the marks come from," she said as they passed. The
stone would be valuable, good for building and repairs.

"Yes. We'll take a load back when we've unloaded the grain. Folk want
good strong walls in a Pass." They left the working quarry behind, the
sounds of the labourers fading behind them, and approached what looked
like an older section. The hold, a three-storey building of the same
white stone, but weathered with the Turns, looked out over a shallower
depression in the ground, the rock cut into steps around it. The harper
in Tasni thought that this old quarry would be a good place for a
concert, the steps providing seating with a view for all, and likely
good acoustics.

Then she thought of the competitions for fighting men that she'd heard
about, with guard positions for the winners. Perhaps this was where they
were held. There was a big, low building close by, also stone-built but
newer. A barracks?

Strange. A quarry was valuable, but it wouldn't be a prime target for
thieves. She'd spent enough time living among them to know they mostly
preferred to take food, supplies, anything light enough to carry easily.
Not stone. And the hold was easily defended, with the one road out
covered by the guard post.

Why, Tasni wondered, did Holder Obriel want so many guards? Surely it
was expensive. Did he have criminals in that quarry after all? Or was it
the prestige of it? Perhaps he enjoyed watching the fights - it didn't
seem like there was much else to do, up here in the hills. You wouldn't
get many folk coming such a distance to a gather. And if he wasn't too
picky about hiring holdless men, who'd be grateful for a roof over their
heads...

Or was there another reason?

That was what she was here to find out. The wagon drew up in the shadow
of the hold, and she started to jump down, before remembering to take
the hand the trader offered her.

There was something in this hold, she could feel it. Though whether it
was the guard she'd been searching for, or something more sinister - or,
she hoped, both - was for her to discover, if she could.

Last updated on the February 19th 2023

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