I walked the winding path down into the valley,

Where low stone walls divided the farms and holds

And each measured plot had its place in the scheme

That all who lived there well understood,

To guide their travels and hails in the day

And lend a familiar hand in the darkest night

Back to home’s door and the dancing dogs.

I walked until called up short by an old man

Who straightened from work in challenge,

And smiling to fend his calculation and judgement,

I asked him to tell me all he knew

Of the lands to the west, beyond the vale,

And he was relieved to answer that there were cities,

Vast and teeming with all sorts of strangeness,

And a king and feuding priesthoods and once,

He told me, he saw a cloud of dust flung up

By the passing of an army, off to battle

Somewhere, he was certain, in the chilly south,

And so I gleaned all that he knew, and it was not much,

Beyond the vale he had never been, from birth

Until now, he had never known and had,

Truth to tell, never been for thus it is

That the scheme transpires for the low kind

In all places in all times and curiosity lies unhoned

And pitted, although he gave breath enough to ask

Who I was and how had I come here and where

My destination, leaving me to answer with fading smile,

That I was bound for the teeming cities yet must needs

Pass first through here and had he yet noticed

That his dogs were lying still on the ground,

For I had leave to answer, you see, that I am come,

Mistress of Plague and this, alas, was proof

Of a far grander scheme.

Poliel’s Leave
Fisher kel Tath