Little House on the Wasteland

Thirteen: The Herald's Shrine

Pa and Tobias Goatherd returned from the creek around midday. By then, Mary and Laura had recovered from their experience inside that eerie old building that the Mericans had called the Reptilsoo. In the light of day, Laura felt a little foolish for getting so frightened of a silly old skull.

Nevertheless, Tobias Goatherd apologized to Ma and Pa for letting Mabel take them inside.

"Your girls weren't in any danger, I promise," he assured Pa. "Those brick walls are sturdy, old as they are. The Mericans who built that place knew what they were about. It's not like to collapse on anybody any time soon. And I cleared the worst of the hazards out myself years ago, in days when this back of mine was a good deal stronger."

As he and Pa unloaded a wheelbarrow full of rotted fence posts, Tobias Goatherd tried to explain the mysterious chamber that Mary and Laura had followed Mabel into, with its dramatic murals and strange bones. Back in Lectric Times, he told them, the Reptilsoo of Happy Valley had housed all manner of exotic animals, brought in from the far-flung corners of the Merican Empire and caged there under that very roof. Those animals had all died long ago, of course, but Tobias Goatherd seemed to think that there was still something special about the place. He told them how he had worked for years to restore the site and invited travelers from far and wide to come marvel at the old murals and the strange artifacts he had recovered from the reptilsoo's hidden chambers.

The candlelit shelf with the monstrous skull, he called the Herald's Shrine.

"You wouldn't know it nowadays, but folks used to come from all over to pray at the Herald's Shrine," Tobias Goatherd said. "From up in the Northlands. From way down in Flannerista Territory and the so-called Holy Gulf Confederation. Even had a pair of Tang envoys visit once. Not just Lacorians, neither. Had plenty of Deshi folk from out Lildaka way, even a Desereti or two. Word got out about the relics of Happy Valley, and people just wanted to take a gander."

When the fence posts had all been tossed atop a pile of scrap wood, Tobias Goatherd began wheeling his empty barrow back up towards the main house. He continued talking as he went. He was speaking mostly to Pa, but Laura and Mary trotted alongside, listening in.

"That all changed quite some time back, mind you," the old man said, his breathing growing heavy with the effort of pushing the wheelbarrow up the path. "Been years since we've seen that kind of traffic out this way. Not since Old Man Ortega started suppressing the Faith. Then of course the Spear cut off trade from the Southeast, which was pretty well the nail in the coffin. And beyond that, well, I suppose it's been a combination of causes, like anything else. Things were one way, and now they're a different way."

Tobias Goatherd grunted as he struggled to force his barrow past a rocky patch. Pa tried to take the handles from him, but the old man waved him away.

"Even so," he continued, once the barrow's wheel found traction and began to roll again, "we keep up the shrine to this day, Mabel and me. Try our best to care for the valley's monuments. You never know when a stray pilgrim may show up at our doorstep, seeking the Herald's blessing."

They reached the main house, with its wide white porch, where Ma sat with Baby Grace. As Tobias Goatherd set down his wheelbarrow, Laura tugged on Pa's shirt sleeve. When he bent down towards her, she tried to whisper in his ear.

"What's a herald, Pa?"

Her whisper was too loud, and the old man heard. He turned and laughed.

"That's a right fair question, my dear," he said. "Nowadays, my mind does get jumbled up so. Can't hardly keep straight who I'm talking to nor what I told them not five minutes back. No, you'll not know the first thing about the Prophet's Herald, I suppose. Why, probably your pa has no idea what I'm talking about neither. That fair to say, Ingalls?"