"You don't actually plan on taking this beast with you?" I asked them.  We had visited the stables to get their mount.  As sorry a piece of horseflesh as you ever saw.  A liability in my opinion.  Innkeeper Palen patriotically offered to buy the nag they called "Old Nan".  "You can have it" said Forcellus "after it gets us out and back into the city.  In the meantime, it's our disguise".  I was not so sure that it would not just call attention to ourselves in the state that it was in, but I did not say so.

"We need to get news to Grand Duke Zelen Blaad and we need to know if he has any plans to retake the city before the spring." Forcellus said aloud to no one in particular, his frustration mounting.  "I cannot be everywhere."  We stared at him in silence.  He knew we would be of no help, and we did not disappoint him.  "Let's go" he finally said in exasperation.

Palen gave us a small keg of brandy as a cover.  We donned our peasant rags and made off.  We were three of many peasants queuing up to leave the city by way of Norgat.  By the time we could see the guards examining and confiscating it was too late to leave the line we were in.  Morits on horseback patrolled and took special examination of those suddenly deciding to flee  inspection.  I saw one woman viciously slapped with the flat of a blade for refusing to yield a satchel.  When our turned arrived the Morits looked us over suspiciously.  "Where come, where go?" asked one Morit in very bad Domish, his chiseled face aimed at me.  "We been a hoorin'" I said doing my best to look lascivious.  We had agreed that I should do the talking.  I should be insulted that Forcellus regarded my tongue as being "closer to a peasant brogue" but he was right.  "And now we're a go'on home" I added.  Of course the Morit found the small keg.  "Jes water" I mumbled.  I could have lied better but if this Morit thought he had played me it would go better for us in the end I hoped.  I could see by the change in Forcellus' posture that he though the lie a bad move.  "Water hey?" said the Morit grinning slyly.  He leaned in and sniffed the bung.  He stepped away and as he did he smacked me full in the face with his leather gauntlet.  I reared backward forcing Forcellus to catch me.  I hoped that this would stop any retaliation that Forcellus might be planning.  The Morit used a knife to cut the straps and our little bundle was taken.  The Morit pried it open and shared it with his cronies.  I need to remember to poison it next time.  Well, we were out some refreshment and I had a fat lip but at least old Nan clomped along a little easier as they waved us out of the gate.

At Northway we turned toward the small farm hovel that the others in Forcellus' party had rented.  It was nearly covered by trees.  I must admit I was nervous.  I had never met Lord Tirian nor had I ever expected to.  But there he was, suddenly, framed by the doorway.  He caught my eye and I suddenly felt naked.  I had little doubt that in less than a minute he knew exactly who I was and why I had come.  "This is Vin Verde of the Green Veil" Forcellus announced as we entered the small one room hut "he and the Veil aim to help." he added.  "Then I regret having disliked the secret societies of DOM" said Tirian with a coy smile, "they come in handy after all".

We stoked the fire and sat down to eat and talk.  I nearly fell asleep after the long days walk.  It was decided that Tirian, Karek and Veltek would cross the Dorcer Sea to travel to Petros to speak to Prince Karsh and that Forcellus and I would travel back to DOM to organize.  We would eventually meet again at the Gaping Maw, leaving word with Palen.

Next: Guwek Tyno

Sir Forcellus Blaad, Sir Veltek Malpedi and I were off to Northway to meet up with none other than Lord Tirian of the Church of Elemental Unity.  My circle of friends had definitely elevated.  I would resist the temptation to try to lift the telepathic brooch that Lord Tirian is rumored to have. 

We did have a single stop to make before braving passage through the well watched Norgate Bar.  I did not dare go back home, Forcellus might be recognized if we passed through the center city so getting to Sougat would be off limits unless we wanted to swim or take a boat.  So our only stop would be at the Gaping Maw Tavern.  The Inkeeper, Palen Corva, was a good man and a patriot.  I knew that he would help if at all possible and we needed to have updates on the city both above and below ground.  He was also a member of the Green Veil as I was.  It was handy that Sir Forcellus and Sir Veltek had planned to stay at that very tavern.  We went back to the Maw very late in the evening.  All taverns were to close before ten by Morit edict, and everyone off the streets by midnight.  We were too late for last orders, but we had not yet hit curfew.  "Boarders!" shouted Forcellus as we knocked at the door.  We were let in by a serving wench.  She eyed us suspiciously but said nothing.  I could see Palen in the back room behind the bar sitting at a desk nursing an ale.  Forcellus looked nervous as I took my leave to seek Palen, but he did not try to stop me.  I felt sure that Palen would recognize me, but I hoped my old rep had not substantially outweighed my newer, cleaner rep.  "Mr. Corva?" I opened.  He eyed me stonily.  "Make sure the girl locked the door" was all he said. 

We all sat around a small table in the back.  He had recognized Sir Forcellus earlier, he told us.  "I thought it prudent not to let on" he said "If there is some kind of plan then I am in.  But are you sure you trust him?" he said pointing at me.  I was not shocked by his lack of confidence, but I also knew that he was having me on.  Palen is not chatty like most barkeeps are, but he held a wry wit usually aimed to kill.  Forcellus smiled and answered "for the moment, we have decided simply not to let him out of our sight.  We have to trust someone.  Can we trust either of you?  We cannot know.  "The Green Veil are not traitors" said Palen.  I knew then that he was in.  You don't invoke the Veil to cover a lie.  "I am glad to hear that" Forcellus countered.  "Then perhaps you can help us." 

Lord Forcellus asked many questions and Palen corroborated my stories.  "The city is in a state of shock" he said.  "It all happened so fast.  We are all waiting for some kind of direction.  The only thing we did instinctively was block the underground.  Hide a piece of DOM for ourselves.  But it's only a matter of time before Fortan or some drunken patron bound for the Nightshade reveals it.  They probably already know."  His tale was going from bad to worse.  It seems the town was in depression as well as shock.  "They know" said Veltek with seeming surety.  "But how many places in DOM can they police?  If I were the Morits, I'd happily ignore the underground until it proves a problem.  Then simply batten it down and let the spring wash flush it."  "Veltek is right" said Forcellus "If they start to patrol it - they will lose too many men and thereby lose the fear and respect they count on.  Better to pretend they don't know about it.  But this means they may not know it's extent.  This is a game that we must play to our advantage."  Then Palen look at me and with a straight face delivered "and so you will need this sewer rat here."

Next: Farewells

I had chosen to expose my nature to a celebrity.  One of my drinking buddies of six years earlier was none other than Forcellus Blaad of the DOM Guard.    It was well known prior to the Morit attack, that he had left with Lord Tirian, the abbot of the CEU to battle the great darkness.  So the champion of the DOM Guard was gone when the Morits came blasting in.  That is why it was such a surprise to see his face that afternoon in the Gaping Maw.  His ragged appearance did not fool me.  You don't forget a face under the circumstances of our first meeting.  I could tell that he did not recognize me.  He was waiting for someone.  I felt  sure that the Morits would cart him off if they knew who he was. He finally saw me staring, and quickly looked away.  The tavern was not crowded, but it would be soon.  Perhaps he was waiting for a crowd.  I could not wait any longer, and strolled over to his table carrying an ale.  A smaller man sat with him.  Not the Raylan Abbot Tirian I was sure, but he was no soldier.  He looked nervous.  "Bertram!" I said.  "Game of 5-dice?" and sat down next to them.  Blaad's face went pale.  He was trying to place my face.  "Glad to see you recovered from our binge with Coros and the Castan" I said with a low voice.  Suddenly his face flooded with guarded recognition.  "I am a patriot, Bertram" I said quickly, and quietly.  "Can I help?"  I must have sounded as sincere as I truly was, because he took the bait.  "Perhaps" he answered.  "I am looking for information."  "Then I can help" I said.

We left the Gaping Maw and went to Janos' farm in Wesgat.  Janos was a friend of Heston Coros.  I stayed there after Dorgat was taken.  I did not want to chance crossing the city center or underground to get to the small stone house I call home in Sougat.  Not wanting to involve Janos, we sat in the barn and talked.  Forcellus asked lots of questions.  Most of which I could answer.  The Green Veil was everywhere, and we knew the score.  I told him that the Morits went for the Dorcers first, imprisoning ministers and guard officials.  The castle was taken, and King Lythe Petros II and Queen Lira Coosa Petros were both held within.  The Morits took the central city hostage and threatened slaughter if the gate to the keep was not opened.  The guilds were next. Jonas Fortan was given the choice to stay on or be replaced by a Morit.  He is seen by many as a traitor as he agreed to stay, but I am not so sure he's not just buying time.  The Morits have not asked about the Veil or the Font and unless someone speaks up, they might not think to ask.  The Paternal hostages might squeak though.  The Morits have forbade all assemblies beyond ten men.  There has been a lot of killing and hostage taking to insure the peace."

Concerning Morit military strength I said "the Morits have a force at every Bar Gate in town.  I don't have to tell you that the town is defendable from a land attack even with small numbers.  But they could not withstand an attack by the Blaad, army, say."  I knew by his look that Forcellus did not expect the Blaad army any time soon.  "The DOM Guard and the Royal Army are gone" I said.  "The latter is in Corbam and Castan helping with the dead from the darkness.  The DOM Guard… are all held, or dead."  I could see that these words stung Forcellus deeply.  "Where is Lord Karsh?" he asked hoarsely.  "He had left the city before the attack.  He is at Castle Corvarras in Petros."  "That is at least something" he said sadly.  Gathering his resolve he said "He must be brought this news".  "Sir" I added, "they also have not yet entered the underground."

Next: Until We Meet Again

My son, if you are reading this, you may think by now that I was just a thieving dog.  And you would be right.  But I had honor.  If I told you that I would not steal from you, then I would not.  No matter how drunk you got, or how large a purse you had.  But if I made no such promise, then all bets are off.  I would expect no more from you.

One evening when I was just turned 18, I was outside the Maw.  I was checking the field when three guys as drunk as can be walked past, and into the Maw.  Two of the guys were soldier buddies laughing and carrying on.  A big Blaad and a bigger Castan.  The third was shorter, older and reeked of money.  A Corvarran Land Lord.  The three of them were off together for a night on the town.  The two could grind me up for meat pie, but if they got drunk enough in the Maw, I would still chance it on the old man. 

The amount of drink they  held was amazing.  I followed them around from one tavern to the other.  They caught sight of me at one point, "I know you!" the Blaad soldier said, slurring his words.  Naturally I played along.  They had probably seen me enough that night for me to become a family member.  So I was added to their roving party.  The old man brought the drinks.  His name was Heston Coros.  He apparently owned lots of land in Sougat.  He had a fat purse at his waist that called to me with a sweet voice.  He was a kindly old guy who seemed to like me.  I reminded him of a lost son, he told me.  I just hoped he had no romantic plans for our future.  By the time we worked our way back to the Maw we were all ripping drunk.  We went into the tavern, and then I did three things that I never would have done sober.  One, I never stole from anyone inside the tavern.  Sacred ground. Two, I never steal from those who may later figure out it was you, like three guys that you carouse with all night.  And three, NEVER try to steal something while piss drunk.  Hell I SAWED that purse off with a dull tavern knife while the Corvarran was still talking!  Drink and thieving do not go well together, remember that my son.  Well to make a long and painful story short, the soldiers sobered up quickly enough when they caught me in the act.  At the behest of the barman, I was hauled into the street by the two soldiers.  The Castan wanted to beat me bloody, luckily the Blaadi heeded Coros, who had other plans for me.  They took me to his estate in Sougat and locked me in a room.  They finished their party without me, and luckily the Castan forgot about mincing me for afters.

Heston Coros was just a nice guy.  But he was no innocent.  He was a ranking officer in the Green Veil as well as a rich landowner.  He took me under his wing.  I took an oath and became an emissary for the Green Veil, working for him.  I promised not to steal, unless he asked me to.  I promise to uphold the creeds of the "brothers of the bountiful harvest and the green vale."  I even learned to speak some Corvarran.

Coros did not have to work, but he always did.  He would check on harvests, give advice on feed, but also quietly have a guildsman beaten for cheating a peasant farmer.  He was a good man.  The father I never had.  When the Morits came to DOM, I had been with him for six years.  He was at the Royal docks inspecting a crate of sour apples from Wesgat. Too little sun this year.  He had no idea that he would be the first casualty of the Morit War.  The shot from that damn Morit ship gun went through him and sprayed him into the inner city. 

Heston Coros was a Domish patriot.  He would have been proud to die for his country.  I will miss the old sot.

Next: A Fateful Meeting

I am no great writer.  I will say that upfront.  I write these things down so that my sons and daughters will know who I was and what I did during the Moritanian attack.  I am a worse family man than a writer, so this journal may have to suffice for fatherhood.  Truth be told, I am telling this to someone and they are writing it down.  I never had time for my letters.

I am not a Traisgan.  And my name is not actually "green wine" in that tongue.  I do not know my real name.   This new name was stuck to me by the Corvarran trader who discovered me stowed aboard his vessel, the High Winds.  I was not a willing passenger.  I could easily fit into a leather satchel, and that's exactly where I was.  Who left me there?  I never found out.  I probably never will.  That is why I am writing this to the sons and daughters that I do not know, and one now that I finally do know.  Too old to move my ass across the room now, I have finally settled it and took a bonafide wife.  She's a sweet thing and she's given me a son.  The least that I can do is get something in writing before I fall over dead. 

My new seafaring "dad" turned out to be a drunken gambler who liked to watch sores develop on my body at his hands for fun.  I left him pretty early on and made my own way.  I've had pretty much every job in DOM I think, in my time.  I was not much good at any of them.  The one that I was good at was stealing.  I could steal a melon out of your hands, that you were currently eating.  I knew the contents of your pocket better than you did.  And I was good at gambling.  And so, after awhile, I made my living doing what I was good at.  In those days I would start perhaps outside the Gaping Maw or the Red Fist Inn.  I would frisk a few drunken merchants, then head to the Black Horde Inn or to the underground to the Nightshade where I would hopefully double the lot in five-dice with rich men that would not cry over a lost crown or two.  I took care never to fleece the Font, the Veil or the Paternals.

I don't think I'm telling trade secrets here - this stuff is common knowledge now.  Being able to read, you are probably smart enough to know that the Green Veil is the less-than-above-board wing of the Corvarran Land Lords.  Let's start back a bit further if you don't mind.  You probably already know that the City of DOM was long ago settled by three main groups.  The Dorcers were here first.  They still own most of the land in the center city (Dorgat) and collect rents.  They are ministers and judges.  The damn province is named after them.  They are old money, and the most high-born.  The second group are the Fortans.  The Fortans are a clever lot of business dicks.  They formed the Guilds, and they still pretty much run them, no matter what you hear the crown say.  The third group were the Corvarrans from the south.  They came here in large numbers and helped enlarge the city by working hard and getting huge tracts of what Dorcer thought useless floodplain land too far away from the city in exchange for food and other goods.  But that useless land was built up, and is now Sougat.  The Corvarran landowners are rich.  When King Julian passed the Land Use Law and they were able to purchase land, they did just that.

As you can imagine, there is a lot of shenanigans that go on when you have three powerful clans in the same town.  These three groups all have secret brotherhoods to complete their less than savory tasks.  The Dorcers have "The Paternals", the Fortan have "The Black Font" (House Fortan's crest bears a black fountain), and the Corvarrans have "The Green Veil" (a play on the word "vale" as you probably realize.)

Next: I take an Oath