Tam and Merrick sat outside of the barracks where Merrick lived and Tam had spent the past seven years of his life. The six chests that contained all of Tam's belongings sat beside them. Both men were silent as the sun sank. The sky was a beautiful red and the wind blew, ushering in an early winter. Tam sniffed, smelling the coming of heavy snow. He did not mind the snow. In his childhood days, he had played with all of his friends, practicing at throwing snowballs, lighting fires, and other things which, though they were fun, were also practice for what life would be when they grew to adulthood. Merrick nudged Tam out of his trance and pointed down the path. Thire was walking towards them, leading pair of oxen that were pulling a cart. Tam recognized it as one of the Kyborite carts. Thire pulled up and the three men began to load without a word. When all six chests were in the back, Merrick gripped Tam in a crushing hug. As the two embraced, he whispered in Tam's ear, "Remember, Tam, that you are always welcome here. Whenever you can, come back and train and visit me in my forge in the market place. " Tam nodded, tears being squeezed from his eyes. Then Merrick let him go and put his hands on his shoulders. Merrick was only five years older than Tam. He sniffed and said in a very husky voice, "Live life to the fullest, and treat everyday as your last. Treat every act as a service to Almighty God, and thank Him for the blessings he has given you. Good by for now, my brother." Tam cleared his throat and managed to say, "I will. Thank you for your hospitality, Merrick. May god bless you for your kindness to me." They two of them shook hands and then Tam climbed up into the wagon seat next to Thire. Thire nodded to Merrick and said, "Good night, Sir Merrick. In the next few days, I will be ordering a special set of swords. I will bring you the description soon." Merrick nodded and bid them both a good night. On the way back to Thire's home, the elder man began to explain what Tam's duties would be, "Your duties will start when the sun hits your mirror. You will be staying in Turgon's room. They will start with feeding, milking, and watering all of the goats. When that is finished, you are to go to the store house and take inventory and organize it. When that is finished, go to the armory and clean, polish and repair all of the weapons and armor in there. After this, ask my wife Leona what you can do. She will probably have you run go into the market square for something or another. You will work until she gives you nothing else to do. When I get home from my daily business I am going to educate you on what it takes to be a Minister of War. I will also train in the old styles of fighting and strategy that very few know in the mountain villages these days. After this, you have time to do as you please, but I must warn you, make sure you get your rest." Thire steered the wagon in between his large house and his even larger barn. He unhitched the oxen and lead them into the bard while Tam pulled the first chest out of the wagon. Suddenly, the door to the house opened, and out stepped four shadowy figures. One was Thire's wife Leona. She was tall and beautiful. On each side of her was a young woman. One was probably fifteen and the other closer to eighteen. Both were also very lovely. A young boy was down in front of Leona, no older than ten or eleven. Tam pulled another chest out of the wagon as Thire walked up and said, "Hello family. This is Tammelo, son of the great warrior Thracken, former Minister of War. he is coming to help lighten our burdens. Tam, come and meet my family." Tam set the chest down and walked stepped closer to them. He had seen them all before, but he could not pick them out by name except the boy, whose name was Feldon. Turgon had brought the him along on a lot of the older boy's games, if only to watch and to learn. The young ladies, he had only seen a handful of time, he just remembered standing back with Turgon and Feldon, watching as the other boys ran races for their attention. Thire walked up and put a gentle and affectioned hand on each of their shoulders, saying there names as he did, "This is my wife Leona, this is my eldest daughter Liana and my second eldest, Mersona, and you know my son Feldon." Tam nodded and said, "I am glad to be serving you and I truly, deeply regret your loss." Leona stepped up to him and took his face between her hands, forcing him to look her in the eyes. After a few moments she smiled at him and said, "Welcome to your new home, Tammelo. Thank you for being willing to help us. You will be put into Turgon's old room. Now let us get your belongings into there." When she released him, Tam bowed low, smiling and with tears in his eyes. Then He and Thire put his belongings in Turgon's room. After that, Tam was alone. He lay out close for the next day and then took off the close he was wearing. He flung himself onto the mattress, and lay there for a long while, thinking of his friend Turgon and the times they had shared together. When he finally fell asleep, the pillow was damp with tears.
Tam woke the next morning with the sun full on his face, as it was reflecting off the mirror. He rolled out of bed and stretched his muscles out. Then he slipped into his clothes and left the house without making any noise. His first task was to feed, water, and milk all the goats. The task was not difficult, but it took three hours as the family of Thire owned forty dairy goats, eighty meat goats, and thirty shaggy goats. The buckets of the milk he stored in a cellar. Inside the cellar were long trenches of water that kept the milk in the buckets nice and cool. After Tam came out of the dark cellar for the last time, he shut it, and stretched his back and arms. He never imagined that buckets of goat milk could get so heavy. With a sigh, he made his way toward the cellar when Leona suddenly called from the kitchen door, "Tammelo, come and eat some breakfast or else you won't make it throughout the day." Tam grinned and ran full tilt towards the house. When he made it to the door, Leona smiled at him, "Come on in, the food is getting cold and breakfast is the most important meal of the day." Tam nodded and went to the table. Thire sat at the head of it while Leona set at the foot. On one side sat Liana and Mersona and on the other sat Feldon and Tam. As soon as everyone was seated and the table was ready, Thire said a prayer for the food and for the family. He also thanked God for the new member of there family and prayed a special blessing over him. With an "Amen" the family dug into the food. There was sourdough bread, good rice, cheese, milk mixed with a black drink made from the beans off of trees imported from a far southern land called Nesromaut, and fruit that was bought from merchants from the cities who traded it for other various items. Thire looked up from his plate and asked Tam, "How are the goats doing today?" Tam swallowed his mouthful and then answered, "They are all fed, watered, and milked. They all appeared to be healthy and the shaggy goats' wool is coming in quite nicely." Thire cocked an eyebrow, "How do you know so much about goats?" Tam smiled and said, "My father wanted to be a goat farmer like you, sir. He wanted to pass his title on to me as soon as I was married and he would simply build a house, raise some goats, and live happily ever after. He learned as much as he could and taught me a lot also." Thire sipped his drink and then said, "Very good. What of the store house and armory?" Tam shook his head, "I have not gotten there yet, but I plan to as soon as I have finished eating. Is there anything I can do once I am done with those tasks?" Thire nodded and swallowed his mouth full. "Yes. I need you to go into town and buy some fabric, some leather, and some good quality sharpening stones. Leona will give you the money. If there is any left when you are done with your buying, you may use the rest to buy yourself something. I would recommend the small baker shop or the tavern if you are hungry, and anything between Merrick's forge and Vron's carpenter shop for other items." Tam nodded respectfully, "Thank you sir. You are generous." Thire just smiled, "You are family now Tam. you can expect to be treated as such." Tam felt a lump in his throat. He quickly drank some of his brew to force it down. As soon as the meal was done, Tam headed for the store house. The building was another cellar except it was far larger and had many more items in it. Everything was in organized chaos. Different herbs and seasonings hung from random rafters, barrels and casts were everywhere and boxes, jars and skins of different liquids were everywhere. Tam was about to get to work when he felt a light tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Laina standing behind him, holding a tablet with a parchment on it. It contained all of what should be in the store house. "You may need this, Tammelo, son of Thracken." she said dispassionately. Tam bowed and said, "Thank you, Liana, daughter of Leona." She turned away and headed towards the house. Tam watched her go and then turned to his daunting task. For the next four hours, Tam checked and rechecked the stock, organized everything, from herbs to barrels, to jars, to boxes, to skins. He checked off the last thing and found that the family seemed to have one more wine skin than they should. He picked it up and looked at it, wondering what to do with it. Then he heard Leona calling from the kitchen again, "Tam, come and eat some lunch." Tam tucked the wine skin under his arm and ran to the door. When Leona looked at it questioningly, Tam said, "According to your records, this one is an extra." Leona looked at it again and then said, "Well then you can have it. Drink it through the day and it will keep you awake and energized, but do not drink too much too fast, or you will intoxicate yourself." Tam nodded and said, "Thank you." He hung the skin by the door and sat in his seat at the table. Thire had left for the council lodge several hours ago. Leona set a plate of fish on the table and then frowned. Walking to the door she called, "Feldon, come and eat, please." Within a few moments, Feldon came running in, covered in dust and hay and straw. He grinned and plopped into the chair next to Tam and said, "Hi Tam, watcha doing?" Tam smiled and ruffled the young boys hair, saying, "Well now I'm eating lunch, but then I am going to the armory to clean off and polish up all the weapons and armor there." Feldon's eyes went wide, "Wow! My father doesn't let me in there alone. Can I come with you?" Tam looked at Leona, who said, "No Feldon. You need to finish taking care of the horses, oxen, and donkey. When you are done with that, you have your education to work on." Feldon pouted a little and Tam said, "Feldon, an education is far more important than any old weapon. Without the know-how, you cannot use a simple stick, much less a mighty war sword. Tell you what, when I get my chores done and you get your studies done, I will teach you a few tricks with the wooden stick and perhaps even the short sword." Feldon's grin returned and he dug into his fish. Tam was about to also when a thought occurred to him, "Leona, you do not mind if I teach him that, do you?" Leona shook her head, "Oh know. By all means. Turgon was going to, so you owe Feldon that much in a way." Tam nodded and took a big bite of fish. The young women came in and sat down. Liana was silent, but Mersona talked as much as she ate. "Mother, what do you want us to bring into town? I mean besides the normal products. Is there anything extra?" Leona shook her head as she chewed. Mersona said, "Tam, when you come into town today, could you bring me something to eat and drink?" Tam swallowed and said, "Yes I can, but it may be some time. I need to clean the armory first and that may take awhile." Mersona nodded and took a bite of her food. As soon as she swallowed that bite, she had another question, and so it went for the entire meal. When Tam was finished, he went to the armory, which was the room across from Turgon's room. Tam opened the door and beheld more weapons in one place than he had ever seen. Swords, bows, glaives, spears, axes, knives, arrows, halberds, and even a few odd ones that he had never seen before but suspected them to be in the whip and chain family. There were also three suites of armor, each one slightly dusty. Inside a small cabinet, Tam found a rag, some small pots of oil for the swords, some skins of water, an empty bucket, and a dark substance that Tam suspected was homemade polish. He set to his tasks with a will. He dusted, cleaned, and polished the blades until he could clearly see his own reflection and then he sharpened them on a rolling grinder until he could shave with the blades. The wood he cleaned and polished the wood until it shined brightly. The cloth and leather objects he scrubbed the then rung out and pressed. The armor, he took apart and cleaned and polished piece by piece, putting all back together correctly when he was finished. When he was finished, he took the polish, oil, and water bottles and put them away in the cabinet. Then he noticed some smaller doors inside the cabinet. Pulling each one open, he found bars of bees wax, extra oil, sharpening stones, files, and extra bowstrings, feathers, and arrow heads. How very resourceful, but I may need to ad bees wax and bow strings to the shopping list, he thought to himself. When he was finished putting everything away he took the rag and rinsed it in the water bucket and then dumped the water out. That done, he went to Leona and she gave him the money and sent him into town.
to be continued...
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