by Allan Joyal
“What do we need?” Shaylin asked.
“We have grains, but I could see some kind of pepper, to add a bit of spice to dishes. We also really need onions, carrots and a few other bulbs or tubers.”
“Onions we can help with,” an unearthly voice said from the grove. “We also have two smaller root plants that can be used to season food. Tomorrow there will be a cask by the first tree at the edge of the grove. Have the young wizardess pick it up.”
Shaylin giggled. “They like me.”
“Which is nice,” I admitted. “Now I should talk to our herders and warn them that we’re getting more animals tomorrow. I also wonder how the puppies are doing.”
Esme waved a hand filled with leaves at me. “Go! I’m sure Gertrilla will be thrilled to see you wander by.”
“I have a wife,” I pointed out causing Esme and Shaylin to giggle again. Their giggles chased me off around the grove in search of our herd.
I had to travel a mile before I finally heard some of the sheep bleating. Out on the plains the snow had piled into irregular drifts that blocked vision. The area was a bit of a maze, but I found a wide swath that had been trampled and followed that as it curved eastward. A few minutes later I could see Yveney standing and looking out at a large cluster of animals.
My feet were making crunching noises as I stepped on the mostly melted snow. Yveney glanced over her shoulder at me and then turned back to look at the animals as I approached.
“How are things?” I asked when I was alongside her.
“The puppies don’t know how to handle a herd,” Yveney said. “Gertrilla took them and Oleiana to the far side so she can start training them. Fortunately Ezker and Unrun are solid and keep this herd from spreading out too much.”
“They do seem to be clustered close together,” I observed. “I should ask, can you handle about twenty more animals?”
“We’re getting more?” Yveney asked.
“Five cows, one being a bull and a dozen goats,” I replied. “We are supposed to receive them tomorrow around midday.”
“It will help if Piemal and Corwar could join in,” Yveney said. “This herd is really too big for Gertrilla and me.”
“I’ll talk to Mary,” I said. “Perhaps she’ll help while we cross the plains. My hope is we can find a box valley and just fence in the opening so that the animals can’t wander off.”
“That would be wonderful,” Yveney admitted. “I love this, but if the animals decide to run, I can’t stop them.”
“I’ll see who we have who can help,” I said. “But when we are moving we’ll have five carts, and each will require someone tending to the animals pulling it. But we should have a couple of new people. There is a new eight year old girl who might help and I’m sure Corwar and Piemal will be glad to help.”
“Thanks,” Yveney said.
“Think I should talk to Gertrilla?” I asked.
“Not right now,” Yveney said. “Training a dog takes a bit of concentration, and we really need those two puppies trained. This herd should be broken up into three separate groups. That would be easier to handle, but we don’t have enough dogs to try that.”
“I doubt we’ll find any more dogs,” I said. “Now, how do I get back to camp? I’m not even sure where it is.”
Yveney giggled. “Do you know which direction is east?” she asked me
I looked up at the setting sun. It was beginning to flirt with the western horizon. “Sure, the sun rises in the east so it’s that way,” I said pointing in the direction opposite from the setting sun.
“Well the camp is west and then north of here,” Yveney said. “So why don’t you look in that direction. Do you notice anything?”
I looked in the suggested direction and could see a small and faint column of smoke rising up from the plains. Left of that single wisp there was a brownish haze hovering at the horizon.
My right palm slapped against my forehead. “I should have thought about that,” I muttered as Yveney burst out laughing.
I started trudging back to the camp while Yveney turned back to watch the herd. As I made my way, I looked back at the herd. It was soon clear that Gertrilla and Yveney had found a rise in the landscape. The recent warming had melted the snow from the rise creating a small island of brown grass in a sea of snow drifts.
The walk back gave me time to consider how I’d like to arrange the wagons once we started moving. The larger wagons would be carrying most of the food so they needed to be in the middle. The rickety cart was going to be carrying the fodder for the animals and probably be used by the children as a way to rest during the day, so it would need to be second. That left the two carts as the first and last ones in the train. I realized that I would want any weapons in the front and rear.
That still left the question about integrating all of the new members. I liked the fact that we had found four adult males to join the expedition, but I had only been able to spend meaningful time with Krysbain. The others were still a mystery to me.
It seemed that the sun had started descending below the horizon when I arrived back at the camp. I looked around to see that Heather and Lydia were standing near the fire and assisting Kariy in preparing a meal. Several others were working with Gerit, carefully pouring a liquid from a cauldron and spreading it over part of the undercarriage of the wagons we had received the day before. I could see Borlan helping the group working on the wagons.
Al was working with a couple of others who were loading the two carts with the tools we had received earlier in the day. I was surprised to see that one cart had an area set aside for the rabbit cages while the other already held all of the chicken cages we had. Joel was assisting Al.
I was trying to figure out where Trexco was. I was glancing around in the dying light when Trexco walked out from behind the rickety cart. He was holding Victoria in front of him and had a knife held to her neck.
“I think it’s time a new leader took over,” Trexco said firmly.
“What is this?” I said.
“The boss heard you were going to gather all these goods,” Trexco said. “He wants the goods and you are in the way. I figure that if I hold your top lady hostage you’ll surrender.”
“Ron surrender?” Victoria said. “After all we’ve gone through to get this far he’d never betray everyone and give up all that we’ve worked for.” She seemed remarkably calm as Trexco forced her to look at me.
Trexco was standing between me and the fire. I shook my head as the young man pointed the knife at me. “Victoria understands,” I said. “If I give up all that we’ve worked for, it will defeat all that we have already fought for. It would be unfair for everyone who has already died on this journey.”
“I will kill her!” Trexco snapped. “And there is nothi…”
Trexco’s left arm dropped to his side. Victoria scrambled away. As she did, I could see blood spreading from the center of Trexco’s chest. His body slumped to the ground as Heather removed the knife she had driven into his back.
“Idiot,” Heather snapped as she looked at the dying boy. “Did you forget that there were people behind you carrying weapons?”
“Women don’t fight,” Trexco gasped out.
“I do,” Heather said. “And I’d never allow you to hurt my friends.”
I could see Lawus, Borlan, and Krysbain staring at my blond lover. They all seemed a bit upset by what had happened, but none moved.
I ran forward and put my hands on Heather’s shoulders as she dropped the knife and covered her face with her hands. “Why did he do that?” she wailed.
“We heard him. Someone wanted to steal the goods we had accumulated,” I said. I looked around as I tried to comfort Heather. “Al, we better double the watch tonight. We’ll want to bank the fire so it doesn’t throw light towards the water. Make sure that at least two if not three people are always awake and watch the river.”
“Can do,” Al answered. “What about the rest of the new people?”
&nb
sp; I looked over at Borlan. The young man was staring at the body of his friend. He gulped and then looked at me. “I didn’t know! Honest, I want a new life. I’ll admit that Trexco suggested that we try joining you, but I didn’t know he’d try that!”
I nodded. Heather seemed to be calmer. Lydia walked over and hugged my wife from behind. “I can take her,” Lydia said. “You need to work out the guard schedule. Put me on near dawn, as that’s when an attack is most likely.”
Chapter 13: An Uneasy Night
Heather slowly unwound from my arms. She had tears in her eyes. I gently kissed her forehead and whispered, “I love you.” Lydia then put an arm around Heather and led her over by the fire. With Heather being comforted, I walked over to stand near Borlan, Kyrsbain, and Lawus.
“First,” I said before any of them had a chance to speak. “No one here will blame you for what Trexco did.”
“I will,” Borlan spat. “I grew up with him. We lived near each other and would help each other complete the tasks our fathers gave. I can’t believe that he would pull something like that. You welcomed us.”
“Well, we did have a reason,” I said as Joel slunk over to join the group. “I pointed out to Krysbain earlier, that we really don’t have as many people as we’d like. I was talking to one of the shepherdesses who are going to be in charge of moving all our livestock. She told me that they’d want to break the herd into three smaller flocks to move them easier, but we only have two trained dogs to help. We did add two puppies this morning, but they aren’t ready. Nor do we have any shepherds ready to command them.”
“It’s that bad?” Joel asked.
“Not that bad,” I said. “The boys Corwar and Piemal know how to shepherd, but are busy at the moment. We also have Oleiana who is being trained. Shaylin knows how, but she’s concentrating on learning magic. We were hoping to ask Haydee to help. That will give us seven herders. I think Mary and Lenoir will help as well during the journey.”
Lawus shook his head. “If Haydee helps, Thom will want to help as well.”
“I was going to ask him to stay with the carts, but to be a messenger. We’ll probably end up spread out a bit as we travel. We have a couple spare horses and mules, so we can put him on one of the mules not pulling a cart, and he can run messages,” I said. “If we can get him secure. I wouldn’t want him to fall.”
Lawus laughed. “He’d glue himself onto a mule if you were going to let him do that.”
“It won’t happen the first day, and he’ll have to convince me that he’ll be safe,” I said. “But I expect we’ll work that out while we travel.”
“Where exactly are we going?” Joel asked in her husky voice. I could see that the three men did not notice, but Natalie was standing just behind them. The coed shook her head as she pushed between Borlan and Krysbain. She nudged Krysbain with her hip as she walked over by me.
“None of us are sure, but Ron has an idea. The idea is to find a river valley that has high walls and a rather narrow entrance we can easily wall off,” Natalie said.
“I never said that,” I pointed out.
Natalie giggled. I could see Krysbain and Lawus relax. Borlan still has a defensive stance, but his lips twitched as Natalie punched me in the shoulder. “We know that!” she said as she got her giggles under control. “But you’ve described the type of valley we want rather well. You have said you’d like a wide mostly flat area we can use to graze the herds and farm, but that it would have to be one with cliffs for walls so that the animals wouldn’t wander too far. And there is no question we are going to have to wall the entrance off.”
“True,” I said. “And I think I described something similar to Krysbain earlier.
“You did,” he admitted. “And it does sound like a viable plan. But do we have the tools and people to make it work?”
“We have the tools, or the ability to make them,” I said. “I do fear we will be short people for everything we’ll need to do. Depending on when we find the right valley, we’ll need to build shelter for the winter, some kind of barn for the animals, storage for the food, and the wall to protect the valley. Everyone will have to work to make it happen.”
Borlan nodded. “Now I understand why you were open to more people joining, but who will be in charge?”
Natalie giggled. “Ron is the mastermind. He’s the one with the big ideas. Esme knows medicine and healing so she’s in charge of that. Gerit worked making carts and wagons, so we have him in charge of taking care and loading them. We met him in Purahomp. Kariy does almost all the cooking, and we rescued her from a village in the mountains about Linktrum. Verval will probably be the one in charge of the farming.”
“You’ll have a lot of input on that,” I reminded Natalie. “You are the one who was studying agriculture.”
“I don’t have the practical experience Verval does, so he’s in charge,” Natalie said firmly.
Krysbain’s eyes widened. “I’ve gotten to know many of you. You have no problem with outsiders gaining leadership positions.”
I shrugged. “Why would we? Our goal is to thrive. If we want to do that we shouldn’t refuse to allow the person with the most knowledge to instruct and guide the rest of us. Part of the reason we’ve been able to get this far is that Kariy kept us from poisoning ourselves with our cooking.”
“You don’t know how to cook?” Joel asked.
“Not in a cauldron over an open fire,” I said. “The techniques I’m used to using aren’t available on Jord. Kariy was being forced to cook in an inn when we found her.”
“And now you force her to cook?” Borlan asked sharply.
I felt a hand on my right shoulder. I glanced back to see Kariy standing there with a wooden ladle in her hand. “No one forces me,” Kariy said firmly. “If I asked to do something else they will quickly allow me. But I enjoy cooking for them. They have praised my work, and many of them accept instruction for me.”
“Some learn faster than others,” I said as I elbowed Natalie.
“Hey!” the coed snapped. “I’m concentrating on learning how to assist Esme. One of these days she’ll have to perform surgery again. We’ve been lucky that the worst injuries have been strained muscles.”
“Henck had his ribs cracked or broken,” I pointed out.
“They will heal fine,” Natalie said. “Esme checks them twice a day. Hencktor just needs to remember not to push himself until they finish healing.”
I nodded and looked at the trio. “Anyways, that’s how it is. Krys, do you have any questions or concerns?”
Krysbain smiled. “Not one,” he said. “Except I’ve learned not to anger Heather. I thought she was the sweet one who wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
Natalie laughed. “Heather as sweet and harmless? Lydia and Aine are definitely more openly dangerous, but Heather isn’t going to let anyone hurt her family. Just don’t make her think you threaten the group.”
“Speaking from experience?” I asked Natalie.
“Not from Heather,” Natalie said. “She is sweetness and light to me. But then again, I’ve made it clear I’m no threat to her.”
I shrugged. “It’s good to hear that you are happy Krysbain. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to have you lead some fighting classes.”
“We have weapons?” he asked.
“Everyone has knives,” I said. “Well, every adult. We also have three axes. One is a dwarven battle-axe. We have a smithing hammer that makes a good weapon, and I have a spear. We should be receiving several spears and spearheads tomorrow from one of the merchants.”
“I can try,” Krysbain said. “But when will we have time, and what about fighting at a distance.”
“We only have the two crossbows,” I said. “Lydia and Aine are going to keep those. Lenoir is working on slings for all of the kids. I know Gertrilla and Yveney have slings and know how to use them, but I couldn’t say if they are accurate. Lenoir is.”
“Gertrilla needs to remember to hold the string firmly,” Lenoi
r called out. “Yveney is learning quickly.”
I nodded. Krysbain relaxed more. “Now that makes sense. I’ll try to come up with something for later. I’m guessing you want people on guard tonight.”
“We have a small fortune in goods here,” I said waving at the piles of goods. “And there are people in that town who know it.”
“Ron!” Aine shouted. “Something is happening on the docks.”
“Excuse me,” I said to everyone. I ran for the edge of the bluff. Aine was kneeling down. She had loaded her crossbow and was using her right thigh to balance the weapon as she took aim.
Across the river I could see three men trying to get into a canoe. Their antics made it clear that none of them was experienced with boats in any way. There were three others in the canoe, attempting to keep it steady as the others boarded.
It was hard to tell in the setting sun, but the appearance of one of the men bothered me. I turned to look back at the camp. “Jeff! Come up here.”
Jeff ran up. He had grabbed one of the axes and was gripping it tightly. “What?” he asked.
I pointed to the man sitting in the back of the canoe. “He is far away, but doesn’t the man in the back look like the one who tried to ambush us yesterday?”
“The one who ended up in the water?” Jeff said as he used his right hand to shield his eyes. “But he didn’t have a canoe.”
“The men carried it here,” Aine said. “That was part of why I called. I’ve seen boats floating up or down the river, but none were launched from the docks. We’ve been the only ones to use it.”
The three men had finally sat down. With six men now in the canoe, the ones in front and back produced paddles and began pushing it out into the current. Their attention was clearly on the shore just below the bluff where the raft sat.
“I don’t think this is a friendly visit,” Jeff said worriedly.
“I’ll get my spear; we should try to meet them before they can stand up from the canoe. Aine, shoot to kill,” I said.
I started to run for the trailhead leading down to the beach. I was passing the fire when Heather stopped me. She was holding the spear in her right hand. As I accepted it she reached her left arm around my neck and gave me a kiss. “Go kill the bandits,” she demanded.
