by Allan Joyal
“We let all the kids eat first,” Victoria said. “I didn’t realize she had swiped a skewer to bring to you.”
“I needed a bit of fresh meat,” I admitted. “I guess we’ll have to head out again. I’ve heard that we can expect about forty-five more days of travel. I expect we’ll be able to go east only for a couple of days before we have to turn south to get around the mountains.”
“Why not north?” Victoria asked.
“Remember that the orcs supposedly came from the north. If they really were forced out of the plains because of a lack of food they might still exist in the north,” I said.
“I forgot,” Victoria admitted. “Let’s go over by the fire. I think Lydia has something she wants to say.”
I stood up. Oleiana picked up my spear and held it out to me with her right hand. In her left she held out the meat skewer she had been using to feed me. I took the meat skewer and then used my free hand to ruffle her hair. “Hold the spear for me,” I said with a smile.
Olieana beamed. She lifted the spear to her shoulder and moved to stand by my side. Victoria started to giggle, but I gave her a subtle head shake and started walking over to the fire I could see burning merrily nearby.
Lydia, Heather, and Hencktor waved as I walked up with Victoria. I could see Kariy had set up some kind of wooden frame near the fire. Strips of meat were hanging from the frame where the smoke from the fire could spread over them.
Kariy blushed slightly as she saw me approach. “It will dry the meat out a bit, but we can eat it while we travel.”
I nodded and then looked at Lydia. “So how are we doing?” I asked.
Lydia shrugged. “A couple of the harnesses broke. The animals panicked a bit while walking through the exit from that school or whatever it really was. Gerit and Verval are fixing them.”
“How long?” I asked.
“Not too much longer,” Hencktor said. “We had spare leather for the replacement straps. They just wanted to heat the rivets before they assembled everything. You just missed them collecting the rivets from the fire.”
“Can we rest for a day?” Lydia asked. “We’ve been traveling for a long time without a break.”
I looked over at Heather and Victoria. The two women both shrugged when they realized I was trying to silently ask them a question.
“We still have a long way to go,” I said. “But we do appear to be moving quickly enough that we’ll still have an opportunity to build before winter comes. I think we can look into resting.”
I sat down by the fire using a large boulder to support my back. I could hear the others whispering as I looked up at the sky and considered how much farther we still had to go.
Appendix
Character List
Ronald Dawkins –He worked as a salesman for Hughes and was in Daytona for the semi-annual sales meeting.
Lydia Huff - young, personable and pretty, but skittish around strangers. She was raped while on a business trip for Hughes. After that she worked hard to learn to defend herself while providing sales support from the main office.
Heather Volmund - She was a coed on the same elevator as Ron and Lydia. She was slender and pretty with long blond hair, but also insightful and caring.
Natalie Ginn –She was a botany student and in the elevator in Daytona.
Esme Leland – Esme grew up in France before returning to the United States to enter into a nursing school. She was enjoying spring break and was in the elevator with Ron and the others.
Albert (Al) Davidson – Al was in the Daytona elevator. He knows he lacks many of the skills for Jord and has largely remained in the background.
Victoria Healey – She was in the Liverpool elevator. In the UK, she was a shopgirl for a women's boutique and she’s seen class discrimination in action.
Hencktor – He met the group in the first village they visited. As a young man, he witnessed his father being killed by a collapsing mine tunnel and after that he refused to enter any cave. The village struggled to find work for a young man unwilling to mine. His aunt asked Ron and the group to allow him to join. The man has grown tremendously. Lydia claimed him as her husband, a fact that appears to embarrass the young man to no end.
Kariy – She grew up in the same village as Hencktor, but while Hencktor was helped by the village, it was the “mayor” of the village that used the indenture laws to enslave a young Kariy to the owner of the one inn in the village. Ron and Elizabeth worked together to force the man to free her, and she left the village with the group for her own protection. Despite the group not wanting to take advantage of the young woman, she insists on cooking for them and has not sought to leave when the opportunity was available.
Aine – She was in the Liverpool elevator, but left the clearing with a different group.
Verval – A young farmer who had his fiancée stolen from him by the son of the village mayor, he asked to join the group after they had spent the night in the town where he lived.
Jeff – At first he was just a voice calling for help while the group travelled underground. Ron saved him and they discovered that the young man had been in the New York City Elevator.
Gerit – A young journeyman cart-maker who met Ron and the others when they visited Purahomp.
Amalya – The young and sturdy wife of Gerit, she found that her family would have prevented the marriage in the hopes of collecting a dowry for her.
Lenoir – A young woman from Purahomp who saw her family farm struggle.
Mary – Another Earthling, she was on the New York City elevator.
Former Members of the Group
Edward (Eddie) Hughes – eldest son of the owner of Hughes Engineering. Was placed in charge of the sales department because his four employees were all self-starters who could normally ignore him, but he demands that they attend his semi-annual meetings so he can write off his travels as a business expense. He insulted a sorceress during their hike to the Wizard's Academy and was turned into a pig. The group left him with the sorceress.
Martha Lewis – another coed who was in the elevator in Daytona. She was killed when the group wandered too close to a battle.
Elizabeth Martin – She was a corporate lawyer and in the New York City elevator. She clashed quite a bit with Ron, but eventually began to relax and allow him to lead. She tried to talk to an officer of an army the group encountered and was killed.
William Tuttle – He claimed to be a wealthy and powerful man, but the coeds disliked him and he left the group voluntarily after just one day.
Dave Chase – He worked at Hughes as a salesman. He refused to join the group when they left the initial clearing and was killed by the creatures that attacked when the spell collapsed.
Lisa Rhodes – another coed who was in the elevator for spring break. She later accepted the nickname Dusty to distinguish herself from Lisa Little. She chose to remain in a town along the way.
Steve Johnson – dashing, handsome and smart, another salesman for Hughes who was in the elevator. Sacrificed himself to allow the group to escape slavers the day the group found the rafts
Lisa Little – young secretary from the NYC elevator. She seemed intimidated by the others, in particular William Tuttle and Elizabeth Martin, who arrived in the same elevator. Left the group to join with an elf as a singer.
Jennifer Hamilton – another coed from the Daytona elevator. She's remained quiet and in the background most of the time. Cut her own throat rather than be captured by slavers.
Gorm - A farmer and friend who died when the fight with the slavers began.
New Members
Krysbain - a young former guardsman who joined the group during their stop at Saraloncto.
Joelia - Daughter of a baron who had lands near Saraloncto. She initially snuck into the camp disguised as a man, but admitted the truth. She had her father's blessing to join the group.
Konstanzi - Companion and childhood friend of Joelia, joined to provide some support for the young woman.
> Borlan - a young man who initially was talked into visiting the group by a friend who planned to betray them. He realized he had no future and asked to join, bringing his fiancé and her younger brother.
Ximenia - Young woman, Borlan's fiancé and the sister to the friend he arrived with. Willful and unhappy to be part of the expedition when she does talk.
Lawus - a widower with three young children, he comes along hoping to be able to feed his family.
Children (members of the caravan – in order of joining)
Shaylin – a twelve year old woman who has the ability to use magic. Her father asked the group to accept her to prevent her from being seized by the wizards, who claim that any woman using magic is evil.
Gertrilla – Shaylin’s childhood friend who met the group as they were escaping the Wizard’s Academy and joined the group then.
Corwar – Verval’s younger brother. He followed his brother.
Yveney – Tall, willowy and beautiful at a young age, Yveney’s parents approached Ron while he was in Purahomp and asked him to take their daughter as a slaver had said he was going to seize her the next time he visited the city.
Piemal – He’s a small boy who got a break when Ron offered to take him with the group.
Dafalia – A young woman who approaches Ron when the ground is in in Crayolyn Falls.
Soldrin - Ximenia's pre-teen brother
Haydee - Lawus' eldest daughter. She's younger than the other girls, but old enough to help
Thom - Lawus' son, he's about six, but already knows quite a bit. He's an inquisitive child who always wants to help
Jesame - Lawus' youngest daughter, she's just started walking and talking. Most of the time she rides one of the mules as otherwise she can't keep up.
About the Author
Allan Joyal is one of those people who has lived multiple places and worked for many companies during his time on Earth. During his travels, he discovered that he loved to write tales of adventure as a way of forgetting the stress that comes with everyday life. The only problem is that Allan has discovered that the characters in his books rarely want to keep to the original outline.
Allan can be found on Facebook, or you can e-mail him at [email protected]
Published Books by Allen Joyal
Lost on Jord (Jord Book 1)
Journey Across Jord (Jord Book 2)
Upcoming books by Allan Joyal
Homesteading on Jord (Jord Book 4) - August 1
