The clearing had several broken carts on it. My other friend Coill, he... at least I think he's a he... spent some effort in repairing them. He has some special things he can do, and calls them tricks. That is certainly a very handy trick. Having trained a talking bird that actually makes sense when we talk to it instead of always calling for a cracker or saying hello, is an even better trick. I've seen Coill play a game with the bird, but of course he... yes, he... won. Despite being able to talk, Ean the raven is still just a bird.
We heard the forest we had passed through make a rustling noise, and noted several spiders there.. big ones. It was obvious enough that they were linked to the building somehow, or the people in it, so Coill and I decided it's a good idea to be on our best behavior. Maybe that's why he fixed the carts... maybe. Or then he's just a nice person. Unfortunately, entering the hut didn't prove easy, as the door was shut tight and the windows so dirty that we could not see through them. Coill used another trick and had the hut somehow clean itself, which is certainly useful and a nice thing to do, but that didn't mean the door would've opened. I could of course have broken it down, but that wouldn't have been nice. There was another way in, a cellar door with an iron lock on it, but the lock was so rusty that my lock picks didn't work on it. Again, I could've broken through.. but that would've been what a non-music lover would do, and I try not to be like that.
Eventually we noticed that there is a third way in high, near the roof, with a ladder hanging down from it. After some effort we had one of us go in that way.. Rivyre is light to lift.. and I lifted Coill there too. He cleaned the attic.. and we got showered with mouse skeletons and dirt. Seems Coill is the only one cleaning anything around here. Unfortunately Rivyre coun't open the door from the inside either, but she did manage to open a window. and the rest of us got in that way. Even Rivyre's dog, and that was a good thing too, as he spiders got restless and we needed to use the house for shelter.
But once again, we avoided a needless battle. The spiders wouldn't want to be killed by us, and we didn't really want to kill them, nor be killed by them. Whether they wanted to kill us.. well.. I don't speak spider, but they didn't seem hostile, just out to defend the place, so I think not. No battle, everybody happy, whether on two legs or four or eight. Rivyre found and befriended a cat.. Coill had a knowing smile about that, and later said that the cat was a 'familiar'. I don't know about that, though. It didn't seem very familiar to me. Maybe he meant it was familiar to Rivyre sharing a treetop with her. But that came later. For now we were hiding from spiders at the house.
It was spacious too. From the outside if seemed about as tall as all of us combined, sitting on each other's shoulders, dog included. From the inside, at least five times as tall - and mainly consisting of a huge, winding staircase with 20 levels of doors, from the attic at the top.. with a bookshelf on plants and arcane stuff.. to the kitchen and cellar on the ground level. It was time to explore, and Drai and Rivyre got into that. Rivyre is good that way, being so small. And Drai.. has tenacity. If he ever finds a big rock in his path he will probably keep punching it until it goes away and makes way. Or his hair turns to gray he doesn't remember anymore whether he was going to get past the rock or had already passed it. But either way, that guy never, ever gives up. Gotta admire him for that. It makes for great stories too. Heroic when he's right. Hilarious when he's not. But great stories either way.
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