Yaltar should start dreaming before much longer, and that’ll be a sure sign that there’s trouble in the wind. You might want to have a talk with your big brother about that. When Yaltar does start having those significant dreams, I don’t think you should make a big fuss about it. Don’t alarm the boy. If you frighten him, he might have trouble sleeping, and if he doesn’t sleep, he won’t dream. You don’t want that to happen, do you?’
‘Not even a little bit,’ Veltan agreed. ‘You’re very, very good at this sort of thing, aren’t you?’
‘It’s a gift,’ she replied. And then she laughed for no reason that Omago could see.
As the seasons progressed, Yaltar spent more and more of his time with Veltan in the house on the hill, and Ara took to carrying the little boy’s meals up the hill to Veltan’s house.
‘You miss him, don’t you, Ara?’ Omago asked her.
‘Sort of. He’s doing what he’s supposed to be doing, though, so I won’t interfere. What would you like for supper this evening, Omago?’
‘Anything you want to cook, dear,’ Omago replied. ‘Surprise me.’ He grinned at her.
‘Very funny, Omago,’ she said tartly.
It was not long after Yaltar’s sixth birthday when Veltan stopped by one morning to tell Omago and Ara that he’d be gone for several weeks on a matter of some importance.
‘Go ahead, Veltan,’ Omago said. ‘We’ll take care of Yaltar while you’re gone.’
‘I knew that I could depend on you two,’ Veltan said. And then he left rather hurriedly.
Ara frowned, but she didn’t say anything.
Nanton was a tall, bearded shepherd who had a large flock that grazed in the meadow above the Falls of Vash. Nanton seldom came down to the farmlands, since the voracious appetite of his sheep made the local farmers very nervous.
‘They’re asking a lot of questions that don’t seem to have anything to do with what they’re supposed to be interested in, Omago,’ Nanton reported in his quiet voice. ‘They claim to be traders from Aracia’s Domain, but as far as I could see, they didn’t have anything with them for trades.’
‘Why would traders be wandering around up in the hills?’ Omago asked with a puzzled frown.
‘Exactly. The only people up there are shepherds like me, and we certainly don’t need any of those trinkets the traders from the East keep trying to foist off on silly farmers and their wives. There’s something else, too.’
‘Oh?’
‘They don’t really look like real people. They’re very short, and they all wear grey clothes – with hoods that cover most of their faces – and they mumble.’
‘Mumble?’
‘They don’t speak clearly, and they all seem to have some kind of lisp.’
‘Peculiar. You said that they were asking questions. What sort of questions?’
‘They wanted to know how many people live in the vicinity of the Falls of Vash. I didn’t really think that was any of their business, so I lied to them.’
‘Nanton!’ Omago exclaimed.
‘Grow up, Omago,’ Nanton said. ‘I was catching a strong smell of “unfriendly”, so I gave them something to worry about. I told them that there were thousands of us wandering around in those hills, and that we are all armed. I was going to give them a quick demonstration with my sling, but I decided to keep it out of sight. If my nose was right about “unfriendly”, the less they know about us, the better.’
‘You could be right, I suppose. Did they ask you any other questions?’
‘None that made very much sense. For some reason, they seemed to think that our Veltan and his sister Zelana hated each other, and that there was a perpetual war going on between her people and us. The answer I gave them was just about as vague as I could make it. I told them that over the years I’ve killed dozens of enemies. Of course, I sort of glossed over the fact that the enemies I’ve killed were wolves, not people, so I think they swallowed it whole. Is Veltan going to be gone for much longer?’
‘I don’t know for certain, Nanton. He wasn’t too specific when he left.’ Omago frowned. ‘Where’s your flock right now?’
‘Up in the hill-country. My nephew’s watching over them while I’m gone.’
‘You won’t be going back up into the mountains with your sheep very soon, will you?’
‘Not until the snow melts off and I’ve got them sheared. My flock produced a lot of wool this past winter.’
‘Good. You usually graze your flock up near the Falls of Vash, don’t you?’
‘Almost always. There’s good grass up there and plenty of water.’
‘Keep an eye out for these strangers, will you? And if they come back again, I’d really appreciate it if you’d send your nephew down here to tell me about it. This is something that Veltan should really know about.’
‘I’ll take care of it, Omago.’ Nanton hitched up his belt. ‘I’d better get on back to my flock,’ he said. ‘There’s a young shepherdess near where my flock’s grazing, and my nephew’s breaking out in that sort of rash, so he’s not paying much attention to the flock.’
‘That’s been going around quite a bit here lately,’ Omago said with no hint of a smile.
‘I think spring has a lot to do with it, and spring isn’t really all that far away.’ Nanton shrugged. ‘It helps to increase the flock, I guess.’
‘Are we talking about people or sheep?’
‘Both flocks, probably. As long as there’s good grazing, it doesn’t really hurt anything, I guess. Babies are almost as pretty as lambs, and once they grow up, we can put them to work. Have a nice day, Omago.’ And then he turned and walked away.
‘I think you’d better tell Veltan about them, Omago,’ the little flax-farmer Selga suggested a week or so later. ‘They don’t really belong around here, and they talk sort of strange.’
‘Oh?’ Omago said. ‘Just exactly what do you mean by “strange”, Selga?’
‘It sort of sounded to me like their teeth were getting in the way of their tongues. I think people call it lisping. Anyway, they’re awfully short. I’m not very tall myself, but their heads didn’t even come up as high as my shoulder, and those grey, hooded smocks they wore weren’t made of linen or wool. It was something else entirely. They were asking all kinds of odd questions, but I saw right off that it wasn’t any of their business, so I didn’t give them any straight answers. You might want to tell Veltan about that. If these dinky little strangers are planning to give us trouble, they didn’t get much help from me.’
‘I’m sure he’ll appreciate that, Selga. Were you able to find out which direction they came from?’
‘As close as I could tell, they came down from out of the mountains near the Falls of Vash. If I happen to come across any more of them, I’ll ask them about that. Tell Veltan that I’m keeping my eyes open, and I’ll find out as much as I can about them.’
‘I’m sure he’ll appreciate that, Selga.’
Omago was certain that Veltan should be aware of these strangers, so before supper that evening he went up through the twilight to Veltan’s house to have a word with Yaltar. He went on in, climbed the stone stairway, and rapped on the little boy’s door. ‘It’s only me, Yaltar,’ he called.
Yaltar opened the door. ‘Come inside, Omago,’ he said.
‘Do you have any idea of when he’s coming home?’