25. Kulltuft
‘I’ll call you Kulltuft,’ I laughed, tousling the thin wisp of hair that sprouted from the nameless one’s misshapen head. It purred in the low growling rasp that said, ‘Call me what you want, but don’t stop scratching behind my ear.’
A nameless one no longer, Kulltuft came bounding after me as I gathered my forage sack and phraxmusket, and left the pit house. He had grown astonishingly in the short time since I’d brought him home. His diet of lakefish and craycritters seemed to agree with him, though he wasn’t averse to supplementing his diet with barkgrubs and woodmoth larvae that he’d scratch out from the tree trunks we passed on our forages through the Western Woods.
That was where we were heading that sunny morning, the mighty Five Falls shimmering in the distance and great billowing ochre clouds rising from the misty serrations of the Farrow Ridges beyond.
‘Climb aboard, Forden,’ came Captain Ironshank’s booming voice as he steered his phraxlighter down from the treetops to hover by the lakeside. ‘And bring your pup with you. I’m headed to the Western Woods myself this fine morning.’
I must admit I was blushing as I accepted the old sky captain’s invitation, for it was no secret that I’d taken to visiting the Western Woods almost daily, and one ironwood pine in particular.
‘His name’s Kulltuft,’ I told the captain, climbing on board, Kulltuft bounding eagerly after me. The no longer nameless one was now twice my size, and showed no signs of stopping growing.
”So you named him after old Kulltuft Warhammer, tyrant of Hive?’ he smiled and ruffled Kulltuft’s hair. ‘Come to think of it, I can see a resemblance!’
Half an hour later we were steaming over the Western Woods, and the ironwood pine in which the roost marshal lived with his beautiful daughter, Alcestia, came into view. No matter how often I saw it, their hanging cabin still took my breath away.
It was a fine timber-built mansion, with carpentry and joinery that wouldn’t disgrace a rich merchant’s villa in Hightown or the Peak back in Hive. Carved colonades, covered gantries and elegant balconies were constructed of varnished sumpwood of the finest quality, while the spacious cabin from which they sprang was suspended from the huge branch of the ironwood pine on curved buttresses of dark ironwood metal.
As we approached, I saw that Alcestia and her father had come out to greet us, and were waving from the docking gantry. She looked more beautiful than ever, and my heart started thumping in my chest, even though I’d seen her just two days before.
‘What brings you to our humble dwelling?’ Alcestia called, her beautiful brown eyes flashing mischievously.
‘I need a few running repairs,’ smiled Captain Ironshank. ‘An ironwood cooling plate and a few cotter pins… Can’t think what Forden’s business here can be.’
He winked at the roost marshal who, after his recent travails in the Water Caverns, looked fully recovered and the very picture of health.
‘Forden’s always welcome here,’ the roost marshal said warmly. ‘Now tie up that old rust bucket, Gart, and come with me to the forge.’
The two of them went off down the gantry stairs to the ironwood forge beneath the cabin, an extraordinary workshop in which the sap of the ironwood pinecones was extracted and turned into ironwood metal.
Kulltuft leaped onto the gantry and rolled over at Alcestia’s feet, mewling piteously until she tickled him behind the ears.
‘Why, you great lunk!’ she chided him gently. ‘You get bigger every time I see you! Has that muddle-headed friend of yours given you a name yet?’
‘Kulltuft,’ I said, joining them on the gantry. Below us, the Western Woods spread out in all directions, the morning sun dappling them in sparkling light.
Alcestia wrinkled her nose, then turned to me, a smile slowly plucking at the corners of her pretty mouth. ‘Why, Forden, how clever of you!’ she exclaimed. ‘Now when I hear that name, it won’t be that old tyrant of Hive that shall spring to mind, but this dear, lovable creature instead!’
Kulltuft purred contentedly at her feet.
‘Now, about this expedition…’ Alcestia began.
‘Expedition?’ I said.
‘Oh, didn’t I mention it the other day?’ said Alcestia lightly - though by the look in those deep brown eyes, I could tell she’d been waiting to spring this on me. ‘It’s just a little expedition I’ve been thinking about,’ she said, turning and pointing to the distant misty Farrow Ridges. ‘Out there…’
