by Allan Joyal
I took another big bite of cheese and then backed up so I was standing next to one of the trees we were going to leave near the river. Jeff walked around the tree one last time. He placed four more undercuts on the east side of the tree before stepping around and using one mighty heave to cleave the trunk from the roots.
The tree seemed to pause in the air for a moment. It started to fall to the east, but then spun around and fell across the path. The crown fell against the tree I was standing next to.
“Damn,” Al said. “Ron, what do we do?”
I looked up at the tree I was using for shelter. “We’ll have to take this one down as well. Hopefully we’ll have better luck with the rest of the trees.”
I finished eating the cheese as Al walked around the tree he had nearly completed cutting. He was still checking the undercuts when I gave Cimbra a kiss and then picked up my axe and started working on chopping down the next tree.
Al’s tree dropped before I had made a dozen swings. He got his to drop mostly eastward, but that only caused it to land across the trunk of the tree Jeff had felled. The additional weight caused the trunk of the tree I was cutting to flex and bite at my axe, but I kept working.
“How are things going with the herds?” I asked Cimbra. “I’ve been concentrating on this.”
The weight against the tree caused the trunk to fail before I had finished my primary cut. This time the fall was predictable as the weight came from the west of the tree, so it fell eastward as the trunk collapsed. Cimbra watched it fall and then looked at me.
“All the sheep are across and moving to the meadow. Gertrilla is splitting the cows and goats into several groups. They have three herders bring the animals down to the ford and then coax them across. Once they are across, Gertrilla and Corwar cross back to work with the next group while the other herder takes the herd upriver,” Cimbra told me.
I heard another tree crack and start to fall. Cimbra and I stood and watched as this time Jeff perfectly placed the trunk. “Nice drop!” Al shouted.
“We better move so I can start on the next tree,” I said. “How many groups are left for Gertrilla?” I asked.
“She’s leaving some of the mules behind, and the horses will wait on that side of the ford for the carts to be lowered,” Cimbra said as we walked along the river. We could see which tree would need to come down next, and I moved between two that we were going to leave alone to reach it.
Al laughed as I looked at the tree and sighed. “Tired already?” he asked.
I hefted the axe. “You realize that if the distance is correct we could have two thousand trees to chop down if we are going to get the wagons to the meadow we saw? We’ve barely chopped down six.”
“Why just us?” Al asked as another tree came down with a crash. “I mean, we’re in the best shape of our lives I bet, but I can’t cut down that many trees in one day.”
“Maybe they’ll thin out, or we’ll be able to shift the route so that the carts are following the river,” I said. “Until then, we chop.”
“Someone is coming,” Cimbra said as I finished my undercuts and began making the main cut on the tree.
“We have people scattered from the meadow to the bluff,” I said. “Which direction are they coming from?”
“The meadow,” Cimbra said. “He or she is running fast.”
“Find out what he wants,” I gasped out. “Cutting these trees is a bit too important to stop right now.”
I kept up my chopping. My shoulders were already burning. This tree was tough, and it was not until after I had struck it sixty times that the trunk finally broke, sending the tree crashing to the east.
The sounds of two others hard at work chopping trees were easy to pick out when my tree stopped bouncing. I found that Al was working just to the west of me so I dashed around him before setting my axe on the ground. I was trying to work some feeling back into my right shoulder when Cimbra brought Soldrin up to me.
“I found another ford,” Soldrin told me. “But we also might have problems.”
I sighed. “Today has been nothing but problems. I’ve got a moment. What is the problem?”
“I tested the ford,” Soldrin said proudly. “It’s not bad, but it’s very narrow.”
“Define very,” I said as Jeff brought down another tree. “And stay back a bit. It’s my turn to chop at a tree, and I don’t want you getting hurt.”
I walked up to the next tree on the path we were cutting. Soldrin followed me, but stood about eight feet behind me as I set up to start chopping.
“I stepped off of the ford,” he told me. “It was when I was walking back. There is a spot where Jesame is taller than the ford is wide.”
“Damn,” I said. “That is going to make moving a herd across nearly impossible. We’ll need to find another ford. How far upstream did you go?”
“Just to the edge of the meadow,” Soldrin said. “There are also marks on the trees that make me think a predator lives in the valley. But I don’t recognize the scratches in the trees.”
“Al,” I called out as I worked on bringing down my fifth tree of the morning. “It sounds like we’ll need to send out a scouting party up the river. Do you think Aine would go?”
“Why her?” Al asked.
“It would be Lydia or her,” I said. “And Lydia is working to get the caravan down from the bluff. “I’d say we also send Soldrin and someone else carrying two of the bone spears we have. Heck they can take my spear if they want. I’ll be using an axe all day.”
“What about Krysbain?” Jeff asked as Al and I brought down our trees in quick succession. “He has experience in scouting.”
“If he did what I hoped, he’s checking the lands north and east of here,” I said. “I expect we can control the valley, unless it’s a lot bigger than it appeared. But we know nothing about the region. I’m hoping he can discover something useful.”
“Do you think there might be a problem?” Al asked as we both walked to new trees.
“We are strangers to this land,” I pointed out. “And we have no idea if any humans might have survived the fall of the empire. The legends said they were all killed, but those Aztec Orcs looked pretty human to me. And if they were never in this area, I’d have to ask why. The valley looks perfect for a village.”
“Too far from other valleys?” Al said. “Or maybe it was something to do with how much magic the empire used. Perhaps they needed a wizard to agree to the setup and never got it.”
“Hey!” Jeff called out as another tree fell. “Are we here to chop trees or chat? Because if we are going to chat I’d rather be with Konstanzia.”
“The foreman has spoken,” I mock grumbled. “Back to pounding rails.”
“Ron,” Al said as I walked over to another tree. “We aren’t building a railroad.”
“I know,” I said as I hefted the axe. “But somehow the song is stuck in my head.”
“Which song?” Jeff asked.
I broke out singing “I’ve Been Working on the Railroad”. As I began chopping down another tree, I timed the swings of my axe to the song.. Energy seemed to flow into my arms as I worked to bring the tree down.
I had to repeat the song nearly a dozen times, but the tree finally succumbed to the axe and slowly crashed to the ground. I stepped back and looked around. Al was standing next to another tree, but Jeff was just staring at me.
“What was that?” he spat.
“I believe that is what one of my anthropology professors called a working song,” Al said. “We were reviewing traditions and the reasons they were followed. Singing was used by many groups as a way to establish a rhythm for work.”
I shrugged. “It just seemed to work. I certainly felt like I had some extra energy.”
“Like we need that,” Jeff said.
Al pointed to the east. I followed his finger and noticed that our efforts had only generated a path of about eighty yards through the trees. The path was still strewn with fallen trees. “That�
�s all we’ve done,” Al said.
“So?” Jeff commented as he stumbled over to another tree. I could see that the young man was tired.
“Wait!” I called to Jeff. “You need rest. The last thing we need is a tired person making a mistake and someone getting hurt. If this takes longer, so be it.”
“But!” Jeff called out as he turned to look at me. He tried to stand up straight, but started sagging. I watched as he leaned against the tree he had walked up to. Konstanzia ran over and carefully forced him to put the axe on the ground. The young woman smiled at me as she pulled Jeff towards the river.
“Thank you,” she whispered as they passed.
I watched her go and then looked across the river. It looked like two carts and the first wagon were on the ground by the river. Another wagon was being lowered down the slope.
Chapter 12: Thunder of a Crash
I started walking over to Al. My arms and shoulders were tired from the efforts of the morning, and I thought I’d grab a quick break. Cimbra ran over and plucked the axe from my hands. “You need to rest too,” she informed me firmly.
I nodded towards the bluff where the wagon was being lowered. “How long have they been at that? I never even realized they had started.”
“Some time,” Cimbra said. “It’s been…”
Cimbra halted speaking. I glanced at her and noticed her hand was over her mouth. She pointed to the top of the bluff.
I whirled to see what had disturbed her. Two of our mules were being dragged backwards. It looked like someone was being dragged on the ground with them.
“Let go,” I murmured. “Oh God, please let go.”
I saw a flash of long hair and then the person did let go. The mules staggered backwards until both were pulled off their feet. A cloud of dirt and dust was kicked up.
A crash rang out from the bottom of the bluff. I looked over to see that the wagon had come to a rest up against both carts. Several of my friends swarmed over the wagon as others ran forward on the bluff.
“Put the axe by Al,” I informed Cimbra. “Al no one cuts trees until I find out how things are over there.”
I began running back to the ford. Ahead I could hear Esme shouting. “Who was dragged?”
“It was Joelia,” Hencktor called back. “Natalie is checking on her. She’s already sitting up. The mules both broke legs. They are done.”
“The wagon snapped its front axle,” Gerit called out. “We have a spare, but we’ll have to unload the wagon to put it in.”
I waded across the ford to join Gerit by the broken wagon. “How are the carts?” I asked.
“The two we got down here are fine,” Gerit said pointing at the two I had purchased in Purahomp when he joined the group. “The last one should make it down intact.”
“The reason I’m asking is that I don’t think we’ll need both wagons once we set up our farm,” I said. “The carts are easier to use and require less effort to move. A person could pull one if necessary. I can see keeping the one wagon, but if we lose one, it’s not a loss, and we can salvage parts for the good wagon.”
Gerit paused and then nodded. “That makes sense. And you’re right. We can’t really use a wagon much once we get the farms set up. A wagon is great for moving goods long distances, but we don’t have anyone to trade with.”
“We might need it to move salt if we search for the coast and set up some evaporation ponds, but otherwise it will be useless.” I said.
Gerit shrugged. “If you can set a road cut through the trees, we can definitely make two trips, and that would make more sense. I’m afraid that right now we’ll still need to unload the wagon and drag it out of the way.”
“That I can help with,” I said. “Let’s get this wagon out of the way so they can lower the final cart once they move the mules.”
Gerit laughed as we walked to the sides of the wagon. I looked in and could see that the bed was covered in barrels. I picked up the first one. It was heavy, and I staggered a bit as I stepped away from the wagon.
“Most of these are full,” Gerit observed. “I think Kariy has been holding back a lot of the flour and preserved fruit.”
“It needs to last until we can harvest more,” I said. “That’s going to be difficult if we ate it all on the trip. Hopefully, we’ll discover that there are some wild grains growing nearby. It’s a bit late in the year to plant as much as we’d like. And Natalie hasn’t had time to design any of the better tools, so we’ll likely be planting mostly by hand this year.”
Gerit nodded. “And we lost Gorm. He knew how to make a farm successful.”
“Verval knows,” I said. “Where is he?”
“He’s up on the bluff helping lower each cart. Esme and Victoria have been helping down here.”
“I heard Esme shout,” I said. “Victoria can you let everyone up the cliff know that we need time to get the wagon moved.”
“You probably can shout it yourself,” Victoria said. “Someone’s looking over the edge right now.”
I glanced over at Victoria and could see she was pointing up the cliff. I looked up to see Heather and Amalya looking down at the broken wagon. “Ron,” Heather called out. “The wagon is in the way of the last cart. What should we do?”
“We need to empty it so we can pull it out of the way,” I called back. “What about the Joelia and the two mules?”
“Hencktor has put the two mules down,” Amalya said. “Joelia will be fine. I was going to have Kariy help her walk down now though. She’s scratched up.”
“Have Hencktor and someone else bring the bodies of the mules down,” I called back. “We can butcher them so Kariy can cook something for us tonight. I know it will probably be tough, but it’s an option.”
Amalya giggled. “Hencktor just muttered that he’s going to blame you if we have to eat tough meat tonight. But he’ll bring the bodies down. How long until we can travel to the meadow we saw?”
“Hours,” I said. “We only have three men cutting trees and no one clearing the stumps while you get the carts down. And now I’m helping move this wagon out of the way.”
“I’ll let you go then. We have to get the final cart properly hooked up so we can lower it,” Amalya said.
I waved and returned to unloading the wagon with the help of Gerit, Esme, and Victoria. There were thirty full barrels of various sizes in the wagon. Each one had to be carefully lifted from the wagon and carried to the side. Victoria and Esme could not help much with the larger barrels, but worked to clear any tools they found. My back started to ache with the strain of moving the barrels. I had moved at least six when I felt a hand on my shoulder.
I looked and found Cimbra standing there holding a canteen. “You need to take a break Ron,” she said firmly. “You are trying to do too much.”
“We don’t have enough people that I can take a break,” I pointed out. “We really need to get everything to the meadow before the sun goes down. Right now I don’t think we will pull that off.”
Cimbra laughed. “You didn’t get a chance to look at the forest you were trying to cut down did you?”
“You saw what I was doing,” I replied as I accepted the canteen and took a drink. Pure, clean water flowed into my mouth as I stepped away from the stacked barrels.
“I did,” Cimbra said. “You cut down more trees than either Jeff or Al, and you seemed to try to find the larger ones when you were looking for the next one to cut down. But what you missed was that the forest was thinning as you headed westward. Jeff and Al each cut down two more trees and were able to then open up a path along the riverside that is wide enough to take the wagons and carts. They are already working to move the trunks out of the way.”
“Some good news,” I muttered. “Anyone heard from Krysbain or Gertrilla?”
“Soldrin only headed back a short time ago,” Cimbra claimed.
“No, the fall of the wagon occurred after he reported the discoveries,” I said. “So he went back some time ago. And I’m wo
rried about Krysbain. He’s been gone all morning.”
Cimbra nodded. “I think we all are worried. I know Lenoir asked me where he was when she headed west to check the animal tracks that Soldrin reported. And you shouldn’t be worried about the tracks. If there was a real problem someone would have come back asking for more help.”
I nodded. “The fact that we have so few members makes this twice as difficult for me. We are scattered and can’t really support each other right now.”
Gerit had brought over a pair of mules and was carefully harnessing them to the broken wagon. He was talking to Hencktor and Verval as he got the mules tied in.
The two big men set up next to the front wheels of the now empty wagon. Gerit nodded to both men and then carefully coaxed the mules into walking forward. Verval and Hencktor reached out and lifted the front of the wagon. They walked sideways, carrying the front of the wagon forward as the mules pulled it.
I wanted to join them, but it was clear that Verval and Hencktor had the wagon under control as they carefully walked forward. Gerit nodded to me as they brought the wagon to the edge of the riverbank just upstream from the ford. The hooves of the mules were just inches from the water when he halted them.
“That should give us enough space,” Gerit said. “Ron, did Cimbra just say that there is a path through the trees across the water?”
“There is,” I replied, but we still have to remove the stumps.”
“I’ll work with Borlan and Ximenia on that,” Verval said. “You should get to the meadow.”
“I need to help. I am not going to be some puppet master telling you all what to do while I do nothing,” I said.
“Nothing?” Hencktor said with a snort. “You were cutting trees before most of us were even awake. Then you came over and helped unload the wagon after it broke. You are tired, but are trying to do more. We need you awake and alert. Especially if there really is a predator in the valley. Go and take a look.”
“But,” I protested.
