The Coal Miner's Daughter
The Never Ending Quest - Episode 18854
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Days ago Lord Fred and a small group of fellow adventurers rambled from
the Shreken into Mudspot. They were greeted by the children of the
outpost, all twenty-six of them ranging from five to thirteen (the smaller
ones were home with their mothers, while anyone older than thirteen was
considered an adult in this land of harsh subsistence). Mudspot has only
one inn, the Boar's Head, which serves as the local pub, barbershop
and laundry (it having access to lots of hot water and all). There are
only eight families that permanently live in the out-of-the-way place,
those twenty-
six children plus babies being divided among four fathers and six mothers,
eight aunts and uncles, and with the twelve unhitched miners acting as
uncles. Visitors are rare to
say the least, sure there are the few merchants once in a while and the
occasional trapper, but the place was mostly home to the grumpy miners and
their grumpier wives.
Benchley was the Elder of the place. He was forty-two and had been a resident of the area for most of his life. His father had found a rich deposit of coal years earlier and claims that the Fieflord himself granted this land to him. Whether true or not was of little concern to the others; they all worked, they all worked hard, and they all paid their duty and tax to the Fieflord equally. The taxmen didn't come around as often as perhaps they did in the more citified parts of Allaria, and the Fieflord didn't pay as much attention to all his subjects as perhaps was done in more gentrified locations; this was, after all, the land in the shadow of the Dragon. There were other things to worry about besides one late coal shipment. When Lord Frederigo came down proclaiming the death of the Dragon, Benchley couldn't help but be overjoyed. His first inclination was to down a beer, but his second thought was to let the Fieflord know that Mudspot was the first 'town' to hail the Dragon-Slayer. But who would he send? The ride, by donkey, would last some days. Then came his third thought; the image of Beatrice floated to his mind, lovely, shapely Beatrice. Then he knew, he would send Beatrice's father to the Fieflord and have a relaxing few days without that pestering, protective man. Crowley grumbled, he mumbled, he bumbled from side to side (it was hard not to, riding on an ass and all). They didn't even let him drink one warm beer in toast before they sent him off, all alone, to the Fieflord. ~~atleast I put the girdle on my daughter... no no-good full-a-baloney is gonna bamboozle me nor my daughter out of her rightful goods... no sir, we're gonna wait till we find a rich one to give her away...~~ And so he went, one more day and he would reach the Keep-Town of the Fieflord and tell him of the wonderful news. Of course, he has no idea of any of the intervening horrible, strange, mystic, and downright odd things that have come to pass in the few days since he left Mudspot!
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2/19/2002 1:09:47 PM
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