by Allan Joyal
“Soldrin, come over here,” I shouted to rescue the young man. “Gertrilla, I’m pulling Soldrin over, make sure you spread out to cover his spot.”
The young man jogged over. I could see that he was already beginning to sulk as I nodded for him to walk with me over to the carts. “You weren’t comfortable there,” I observed.
“I’ve never worked with animals,” Soldrin said. “And they all seemed upset with me.”
“I couldn’t do what Gertrilla and the others do,” I admitted. I put an arm around Soldrin. “And the truth is that Gertrilla has a lot of help. I was thinking we should give you a different job.”
“What?” Soldrin said mournfully. “I’m not big enough to run a cart.”
“Well, one thing we need is someone who has energy and is willing to run messages. I noticed yesterday that the carts spread out a bit once we start moving, and the herd can’t be too close to the carts. Right now, if I need to get a message out, I have to run there myself, but I can’t be everywhere at once. Think you have that kind of energy?” I asked.
“I’ll do it!” Soldrin said firmly.
“Good, we start now. Run and let Gertrilla know, also remind her that she needs to separate out the draft animals for the day. I’m guessing that Amalya, Mary and Jeff will be collecting them. Then find Krysbain and ask him if he’s ready. We want to try to head straight east for today. I’ll go find Gerit and help get the carts ready,” I ordered.
Soldrin nodded and then rushed back towards Gertrilla. I was tempted to shout for him to be careful around the herd, but he slowed down before I could speak. He had a spring in his step, so I turned and began making my way down to the carts.
Heather slipped up behind me as I was walking. “You left without the spear,” she pointed out.
“I couldn’t fight a toddler and win today,” I admitted. “I might pretend to be healthy, but my ribs are sore and probably will be for a week or so.”
“Fortunately, we shouldn’t have any more fights,” Heather said. “Now I heard you talk to Soldrin, which was a good idea. But for the rest of the day you can relax. Krysbain isn’t going to try to take over, and the rest of us can handle the wagon train for one day. Just follow along like a good man.”
I put a hand on Heather’s hip, pulling her close. “I am your husband. I could still spank you for saying things like that.”
“Tonight,” Heather said fondly. “For today, we march!”
Heather pointed the spear to the East and held the pose for a moment. She dropped her arm as she started to giggle and continued giggling as we walked down the hill to the carts.
Chapter 20: A Flat Sameness
Those giggles from Heather proved to be the last laughter I would hear for the next four days. The trek itself was not too difficult. Krysbain carefully scouted for mostly level paths that stayed high above the now rising rivers. A rainstorm passed over us during our second day out which turned much of the plains into a muddy bog.
Everyone wanted to halt for a day, but we had seen riders in the distance in the afternoon after we left the ruin. They veered off to the north, but it was clear that someone had sent someone after us. No one wanted to risk halting until we were several more days travel away from Saraloncto.
The days did allow people to heal. Lydia's arm was the first to stop hurting. Lenoir still had a hitch in her step after the four days, but she was clearly healing. Al's arm also healed and Esme removed the bandages three days after I had killed the dire wolf. We still suffered the aches and pains associated with hours of walking and sleeping on uneven ground.
At the same time, the rain combined with the inexperience of our group, resulted in some serious injuries. Dafalia was the first to get hurt. The night after we left the ruin, one of the goats charged at her. Dafalia tried to dive out of the way, but the goat caught her in the side with its head. The young girl fell awkwardly.
Then the goat stood over her, preventing anyone from getting near. Al finally ended the standoff by taking the spear from me and stabbing the goat in the side. Verval and Gerit charged to push it over so that it did not fall on Dafalia as it died.
Dafalia’s fall resulted in a sprained wrist. Esme wrapped it up and said it would be at least ten days before the young girl could use her right arm. Unfortunately, that meant Dafalia could not use a sling. She ended up borrowing Yveney’s staff to try to help with the herding, but it was clear she was struggling.
Haydee, Lawus’ eldest daughter, stepped up and helped, but the eight year old clearly had suffered with an inadequate diet and was small for her age. The cattle ignored her completely. If one of the female puppies had not taken to her and bonded, I think we would have had to keep her near the wagons to avoid her getting stepped on.
Verval suffered the other major injury during those four days. There was another rainstorm on the fourth day, turning the ground to mud that grabbed at the wheels of our carts and wagons. The wagons and carts used solid wheels that bogged down quickly, and it would take everyone pushing to free a stuck wagon. The afternoon it rained saw every cart get stuck at least once, but Gerit and Borlan managed to keep the wagons free. I think part of their success was that we had all three carts leading. They would watch, and if a cart bogged down, they would follow the others around the mud hole. This had worked until the sun was nearly down, and then Gerit misjudged one patch of ground and got the right wheels into a bog.
Krysbain found a small hedge that he thought would provide some shelter from the wind and a barrier to the herds wandering off. There even was an expanse of bare rock that had a concave shape. It was already filled with rainwater, and Krysbain figured we could bring more water from a nearby river to allow the herd to drink. With this in mind the herders moved to get the animals to the hedge while everyone else gathered to help move the wagon.
Heather tried to get me to rest, but Hencktor and I insisted on helping. The right wheels were buried about a quarter of the way into the thick mud. Verval, Jeff, and Al actually marched into the mud so they could try to lift up the right side and help free it.
My chest protested as I pushed the wagon from the rear. At first the wagon remained stuck, but we all heard a pop as if a bubble had burst. The wagon surged forward, quickly pulling out of the bog. However, as most of the group raised a cheer, Verval collapsed to the ground with a scream of pain.
Al and Jeff immediately bent down in the mud to check on him. Verval insisted that his right leg was trapped. Al had to kneel in the mud and dig down nearly a foot before he looked over at me. “It’s some kind of burrow; Verval must have stepped in it.”
“Or the ceiling collapsed under him. Can you free his foot?” I asked.
Al nodded and thrust his hands into the muck. He moved as if he was mixing something with his hands, but there was another pop, and Verval fell forward with a groan. Jeff jumped forward to keep him from falling face first into the mire.
Al looked over at me. “He needs Esme. The ankle is swelling already.”
“Get him up,” Hencktor commanded. “We’ll carry him to the camp. Krysbain said it’s close.”
Jeff and Al picked up our friend. Each man lifted one of Verval’s legs as they lifted him up and carried him from the mire. The wagon had continued forward. I looked to see that Soldrin was standing near. The boy had some mud on him, and I was sure he had joined in the effort to free the wagon.
“Run and find Esme,” I told Soldrin. “Let her know that Verval hurt his ankle, and we are carrying him to the camp.”
Soldrin took off running. Hencktor and I moved to help Al, but the young man shook his head.
“We’ve got this,” Jeff said. Verval’s arms were maneuvered so he had his right arm over Jeff’s shoulders and his left over Al’s. They then lifted his legs from just behind his knees. Verval was soon rocking back and forth between the two men as they carried him after the wagon.
We did not make quick progress, but the camp proved to be only about a half mile away. Kariy was str
uggling to get a fire going. From what I could see they were using branches from the hedge to provide the fuel. Krysbain walked over. The man had a frown on his face.
“We might get a fire going, but the woods rather wet,” he admitted. “And we really need to rest.”
I noticed that Al and Jeff had carefully set Verval down where he could lean against one of the cart wheels. The man was groaning as Esme and Natalie fought to get his boot off.
“Is there enough grass that we can rest here? I think we’ve lost any pursuit by now,” I said.
“And two rainstorms in four days?” Lenoir asked with a grunt. “We weren’t trying to move all that quickly, and it was brutal. Unless those riders had a supply wagon or lots of packhorses, they ran out of food after two days and haven’t had any wood to burn.”
“We haven’t found much either,” I pointed out. “That would be one of my concerns about camping. Will we have warm food?”
“We will,” Victoria said as she staggered over to join us. “Kariy found a few branches that were still dry, and Mary then hunted down several dozen more. The hedge is thick enough to block rain from reaching the ground under it. The branches aren’t big, but with enough we can get a fire going.”
“Until the next rainstorm,” I said worried looking at the sky. Thick clouds blocked most of the dying sunlight.
“We should be fine,” Krysbain said as he looked up as well. “The clouds are drifting to the east rather rapidly, and I can see an opening in the cover. It should be overhead before sundown.”
I sighed in relief. No one seemed to want to say more, and I noticed that there was a roaring sound from the far side of the camp. As the silence extended I noticed Victoria and Hencktor had joined me in looking to the east and the mysterious sound.
“What’s that?” Hencktor asked.
“A flooded stream,” Krysbain said. “It runs just past this point. That’s another reason to camp for a day. Right now the stream is uncrossable, but I found a ford a short distance upstream. If there is no more rain, we might be able to cross in two days.”
“What about snowmelt?” I asked. “Wouldn’t that keep the stream at flood levels for longer?”
Krysbain shook his head. “I don’t think this stream receives snowmelt directly.”
“That makes no sense,” Al said as he walked over to join us. “How could the stream receive it indirectly?”
Krysbain shrugged. “When I found what I thought might be a ford, I walked down to the river and felt the water. It’s too warm to be snowmelt. However, the banks of the stream have a good level of hedges like this one. Hedges need water, so I suspect that the stream is overflow from a lake that does see snowmelt at times.”
“But wouldn’t that mean that the stream stopped receiving water once the lake wasn’t being flooded?” Al asked.
Krysbain looked surprised. “I guess my idea doesn’t work.”
“It’s probably fed by a spring,” I said. “But the rainwater caused it to flood. However, a day of rest is a good idea. We have fresh meat for our rest thanks to that goat deciding it wanted to be on the menu, and we won’t have to hit our stores as hard. Gerit can look at redistributing the goods, and we should now have a better idea of where things should be. I’ll also check with Esme on how all our injured members are doing.”
“You are doing fine,” Esme said as she walked up.
“Shouldn’t you be with Verval?” Victoria asked sharply.
“Natalie can wrap up the ankle,” Esme said with aplomb. “The good news is I don’t think he broke a bone completely.”
I groaned. “Please don’t say it’s a high ankle sprain.”
“What’s that?” Al asked.
Esme was nodding. “I think it is.” She turned to look at Al. “Some sports teams used the term high ankle sprain to describe an injury where there was a minor bone injury to the lower leg. It doesn’t heal quickly even with surgery.”
“It will heal,” Victoria asked.
“It will, but I want him off that foot for at least a day,” Esme said. “And if I knew how to put a cast on his ankle to immobilize it for a week, I would do that to keep him from stressing the bones.”
“More problems,” I groaned. “What about water for the animals. Krysbain, how deep and large is this stone basin?”
“Not big enough for all the animals, but we can pull water from the stream. It undercuts the plains here. We actually are on a bluff, with the water about ten feet below where we are.” He pointed to the east. “Just tie a bucket to some rope and drop it in to get water.”
“Only adults fish for water,” I said firmly. “The kids can carry the buckets to the basin, but no child is to be handling the buckets when they are in the water.”
“Why?” Al asked.
“That current will be pulling on the bucket. I doubt it would pull a child in, but it could. And I’d expect any adult to know to let go if they felt it start to drag them to the edge,” I said. “So again, no children are to throw a bucket down to get water. Jeff, please let everyone know, and remind everyone that staying away from the edge is always a good thing.”
“Worried?” Victoria asked.
“The fall wouldn’t kill, but that’s a torrent. Are you confident that you could swim to shore?” I asked.
Victoria frowned. “No,” she admitted.
Those words ended any more conversation. We all headed into the camp. Gerit had organized the carts to provide a second barrier running at a right angle to the hedge. With the cliff leading to the stream as the third side, we had a nice enclosure for the herd. I could see the four dogs lying on the ground under the wagons, watching as the sheep and cows grazed on the surprisingly lush grass.
Dafalia was over by the carts, working to check on the chickens and rabbits. So far these animals were thriving despite the buffeting their cages had been going through. We all expected to lose several, but we had no problems so far, and three of the hens were continuing to lay eggs as we travelled.
Kariy had succeeded in getting a modest fire going. She and Mary were feeding it more wood while Lydia brought out a large grill. They had a few steaks cut from the troublesome goat, and it was clear the plan was to cook those before they went bad.
I sat down to enjoy dinner. It was a rather raucous affair. Everyone was worried for Verval, but once Natalie had carefully wrapped the ankle, he took to playfully demanding that the ladies serve him. Victoria got into the game, lovingly helping him with dinner.
I even got time to sit with Joelia and Konstanzia. The two women proved to be a bit shy now that we were far from Saraloncto. Joelia in particular seemed to miss her family and status. I finally had to look her in the eye.
“Do you regret coming?” I asked.
“Oh, no!” Joelia said in shock. “This is a great adventure. I won’t deny I miss my father, and I miss being dry.”
“And having a new dress to wear, and the gossip from the maids who clean your house,” Konstanzia added.
“Stanzi!” Joelia protested. “I’m not that bad. I offered to help with the carts.”
“And you do that well,” I added. “Or Gerit would have mentioned it to me.”
Konstanzia sniffed. I looked over to see tears in her eyes and a smile on her face. “To think, Joelia actually contributing.”
“I tried!” Joelia protested. “But father couldn’t allow it.”
“Why not?” Heather asked as she sat down to join us. My love had two bowls filled with freshly cooked pieces of goat. There were no knives present, and I was about to protest when Joelia snatched one from my bowl and tossed it into her mouth.
“Joelia!” Konstanzia protested. “You should go and get your own.”
Heather laughed. “Actually there is enough in these two bowls for all of us. And a little later we’ll have some fruit. Esme is worried that we haven’t been eating enough fruit to stay healthy.”
“We don’t have as much as I’d like,” I admitted. “I have to hope that w
e find remnants of the empire’s orchards near our valley.”
“After two thousand years?” Heather asked.
“It will likely be a bit of a mess, but the trees would have been dropping fruit and seeds. There is a good chance some sprouted and continued the cycle. At least that is what we need to hope,” I said. “After all olive oil would be nice.”
Heather smiled fondly and shook her head. “Even hurt, Ron keeps thinking ahead. And he wonders why he is the leader.”
Joelia giggled and swiped another piece of meat from the bowl I held. I snatched my own and tossed it into my mouth. The meat had a deep rich flavor. I glanced over at Heather as I chewed. “Kariy made some kind of marinade,” she told me. “I think she used some of the sweet tubers from a couple of days ago.”
“I just can’t believe you walked into a tavern and walked out with her,” Joelia said. “Victoria tells me that it was Ron’s idea.”
“I had a lot of help,” I protested.
“Give up Ron,” Heather said fondly. “You are the leader of our group. You come up with the ideas. Do you really think Elizabeth would have asked any questions about Kariy’s indenture on her own?”
“She did,” I pointed out.
“Only because she was still trying to show the group that she should lead,” Heather noted. “But you are in charge.”
I shook my head and concentrated on eating the small cubes of meat. A layer of grease was starting to build up on my hand. Joelia continued to grab occasional pieces of meat while we sat quietly. As we did Joelia looked around.
“Who all is not from Jord?” she asked. I stared at her and she smiled at me. “Oh, don’t be too surprised. I pay a bit more attention than Borlan or Krysbain, and after a while it became clear that some of you were not born anywhere on the plains. I can tell that Shaylin and Cimbra are from Jord. Kariy was explained to me, and I’ve noticed that the kids all appear to be comfortable here, but I haven’t figured out all the adults. So far you two, and Esme I’m sure of.”
“Why me?” Heather asked.
“You are confident,” Konstanzia said. “And you are very comfortable with Ron. I thought you had been married for years.”
