by John Ringo
“Are you going to be able to keep it together?” Jody asked Herzer, releasing him.
“Yeah,” the boy said, shaking his head and picking at torn skin from a blister. It was only halfway through the morning and he was already starved. Missing lunch was going to hurt. “But I didn’t start this.”
“If you have a problem, you come to me,” Jody said. “You don’t start a fight.”
“I was just trying…”
“You don’t start a fight,” Jody said dangerously. “You come to me.”
“Okay, I’m coming to you,” Herzer said, quietly, turning towards the boss. “I don’t care what you set me on, but I’m not going to try to cut down this big-ass tree with this useless asshole.”
“The hell with you, punk,” Earnon said, charging forward.
“Hold it!” Jody said, stepping between the two. “Watch your tongue, Herzer. Okay, if you two can’t work together, that’s fine.” He looked around and shook his head at the total lack of work out of the rest of the group. “What does this look like, street theater?” he shouted. “Are you guys a bunch of minstrels to sit around on your butts? Get back to work!” Then he waved at one of the men. “Tempie, get over here.”
He waited until the other young man came over then waved at Herzer. “Go clear limbs if you can’t work in a pair.”
“I can work in a pair…” Herzer said hotly.
“Go,” Jody said, waving at the axe that Tempie had dropped.
Herzer stalked over to the axe without another word and started chopping at the limb that Tempie had left.
The axe was broad bladed with a rounded head wrapped around a circular haft. It was designed more like a battle-axe than a standard wood cutting axe but it was sharp enough and each of Herzer’s furious blows took out a huge chunk of wood. The tree he was working on was large like the others. Instead of the branches spreading out they were fairly short and tight together. Nonetheless they were rather thick at the base and took some cutting. Which was fortunate for Herzer because it gave him a chance to work out his rage at the injustice of the previous incident. Unable to let go of his anger he rang blow after blow on the branch until it broke free, then started immediately on another. As he worked the rhythm of the blows, and the physical exhaustion that working at the pace induced, tended to relieve the anger and he slowly started to gain equilibrium and think about the incident instead of just running around in a fugue of anger at the injustice.
“You need to slow down or you’ll kill yourself,” Courtney said, coming up behind him.
As she said it the axe bounced sideways barely missing his leg and he swung it back into line carefully then set it down, panting.
“You’ve got a point,” Herzer said, turning around.
Some of the females had started to help with the cutting but the greater muscle mass of the males quickly proved that they could do it faster and longer. In general they had taken over the “lighter” jobs like dragging aside cut limbs, replacing broken equipment and watering the workers. On the other hand, two of the women were still at it, as if to prove that they were as good as, or better than, any of the males. One of them was Deann Allen, who just attacked everything like Herzer had been attacking the tree, and the other was Karlyn Karakas, who must have had some major body mods; she was over two meters tall and built like a male body-builder. Deann, on the other hand, was much smaller but if anything more aggressive about the work; she seemed to have a chip on her shoulder about a mile wide. So since she was clearing limbs just as well as any of the males, Jody hadn’t even suggested that she leave off.
The other three women, Courtney, Nergui Slovag and Hsu Shilan had taken up the lighter tasks. They were pulling the lighter branches aside as they were cut and piling them up, bringing tools, driving wedges and carrying water.
Which was why Courtney thrust a pottery cup at him, half filled with water.
He shook his head and downed the water then stared at the cup. It was poorly made and the impression of a finger was still visible, cast into the interior by the firing. It was already cracked at the top and slightly porous so his hand holding it was dampened by the water seeping through.
It was at that moment that things really caught up with him and he thought he would break down, right there, and cry. He was really here, having to work or starve. And he was never, ever going back. He suddenly, desperately, wanted to see his small cabin in the woods. It had never been much more than a place for him to sleep and keep a few things he treasured. But he wanted to lie in his bed and have the genie bring him a glass of beer and a great big steak. He wanted this to all be a strange dream and just be over.
“You look like somebody killed your dog,” Courtney said. “Is the water that bad?”
“No,” Herzer said, trying not to sob. “No. It’s just… I just suddenly realized, this is it. This is what I’m going to be doing for the rest of my life!”
“Well, hopefully not this,” Courtney said cheerfully, then nodded soberly. “But… yeah.”
“I just…” Herzer stopped and shook his head. “Never mind. Thanks for the water.”
“LUNCH BREAK!” Jody yelled, banging two pieces of metal together. He waved at Herzer. “You can take a break until it’s over.”
“Why?” Herzer said with a shrug, picking the axe back up. “I’ll keep working.”
Jody looked at him with an inscrutable expression for a moment, then nodded, and headed over to the pots that had been smoking over a fire.
“It’s not fair,” Courtney said hotly. “You didn’t start that.”
“I know,” Herzer said, spitting on his hands and wincing when the spittle hit his now bleeding blisters. “But I think I kind of understand it.”
“What, telling you you can’t eat? Because you complained about that useless jackass?” Mike asked, walking up.
“Because of how it ended up going,” Herzer replied, taking his first hit at the next branch. “None of us have ever had to work for a living. We’re having to learn how. How to work in groups, too. Jody’s got a tough job and the only way he can do it is to be a hard-ass.”
“Well he pissed a lot of people off today,” Courtney said hotly, looking over at where the foreman was being harangued by Earnon. It was clear that the man couldn’t believe he wasn’t going to be permitted to eat.
“I know, Earnon’s already got friends,” Herzer nodded.
“Oh, not that,” Courtney said. “I suppose a few of them don’t like it because of him. But most of us are pissed off that you got caught up in it. Earnon’s the problem, not you.”
“Oh,” Herzer said. “Uh. Thanks.”
“We need to go eat,” Mike said, taking Courtney by the arm. “Herzer, we can hold a little by…”
“If Jody finds out, he’s likely to dock you two, too,” Herzer said, shaking his head. “You go eat.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
By the middle of the afternoon Herzer was swaying from fatigue and hunger. He was still clearing branches and doing it at a pretty good pace, but he didn’t know how much longer he could go on. His arms felt like lead and he was light-headed. Every now and again he started to sway and his axe blows no longer hit where he wanted them to.
He didn’t even notice Jody when he came up behind him and started when the man cleared his throat, the axe glancing off the branch and flying out of his hands.
“I thought so,” Jody said. “Mike told me you didn’t get the full three days rest.”
“Courtney or Mike?” Herzer asked, blinking his eyes as it seemed the edges of his vision were going gray.
“Mike, but I suspect Courtney put him up to it,” Jody said. “Do you realize you’ve cleared about twice as many branches as anyone else?”
“No, I wasn’t paying attention,” Herzer said with the honesty of the punch drunk.
“You need to take a break and get some water. The ones that are working hard are just about worn out and the ones that are slacking are getting better and better at act
ing that way, so I’m moving dinner up and we’ll break before sunset. But we’re starting tomorrow at dawn.”
“Okay,” Herzer said, stepping back and sitting down on a cleared log. “Works for me.”
“Take a break, Herzer, that’s an order,” Jody said, waving at one of the water carriers.
“Here,” Nergui said, shoving a cup at him and slopping half of it on the ground.
“Thank you,” Herzer said tiredly and drained it. “Now could I have some more.”
“Only one,” the girl said angrily. “It’s a long walk to the spring. You need to slow down, you’re making the rest of them look bad.”
“Not all of them,” Herzer said, draining the second half filled cup. “Just some.”
“Hmmph,” the girl snorted, snatching the cup back and walking away with a flounce.
“Well, are you happy you son-of-a-bitch?” Mike said, sitting down next to him.
“Not you too!” Herzer said.
“I’m joking,” Mike replied, stone faced. “Really. But I wouldn’t have worked as hard as I did if it hadn’t been trying to keep up with you. You made out of damned iron or something?”
“Not right now,” Herzer said. “I feel like rubber. What’s with Nergui, anyway?”
“She and Earnon hit it off right away,” Mike said. “You didn’t notice?”
“Nope.”
“Two peas in a pod. Anyway, she’s mad cause Earnon didn’t get any lunch and she nearly got caught passing him some food. And then you’re working like a damned machine and that made him look twice as bad. You know Jody’s had to change partners on him twice and that tree still isn’t half sawed through?”
“Hmmm…” Herzer replied, really taking a look around for the first time since early morning. Several trees had been downed and mostly cleared and topped, their logs now lying on the muddy ground in preparation for hauling off. The branches, leaves and other detritus had been collected in large piles and he suddenly realized, identifying trees, how much of those piles had been his work.
But the giant spreading tree that had been the source of contention was still standing, the trunk not even half sawed through as Mike had said.
“Well, I guess that proves who was working and who wasn’t,” Herzer chuckled then guffawed. “And Jody’s had him on that tree all day?”
“Yeah, I complained, lightly in the middle of the afternoon. I’ve been on the other saw all damned day and we’ve downed three trees. They’ve not even gone through one.”
Herzer looked at the other trees and had to admit that, while the others were smaller, that was much more work than that single tree.
“I think Jody’s just trying to make a point,” Herzer said. “I’m not sure what the point is, but I’m pretty sure there is one.”
“Oh, I know what the point is,” Mike growled. “Earnon is a useless slacker.”
“Have you had other partners?” Herzer asked.
“Yeah, he’s run just about everybody by my saw. Some of ’em are okay. Guy and Cruz and Emory pull their own weight, I guess so do Tempie and Glayds but they don’t really work at it, they just do what they have to do. Frederic, Cleo and Earnon are fisking useless.”
Herzer chuckled and gestured with his chin at Karlyn who was lifting a branch the size of a small tree onto her shoulder to drag it off.
“Yeah, Karlyn, too. Mostly. She doesn’t have the mass sometimes, I guess. And neither does Deann but she just makes up for it with anger.”
The latter was topping one of the trees that had been mostly cleared of branches. Once the trunk narrowed to a certain point it wasn’t worth clearing the rest and the top was cut off, “topping”, and dragged into the brush pile. Deann had one of the battle-axe type axes and was attacking the tree as if it were the neck of a hostile dragon, an expression of absolute fury on her face.
“Trees! She hates trees!” Herzer whispered with a chuckle.
“Well, if you think that’s bad, you should have seen you when you started out,” Courtney said, coming over and sitting down by Mike. “I was afraid you were going to take that axe to Jody’s neck!”
“Not Jody,” Herzer said. “But if Earnon had come over to continue the discussion, I’m not making any bets.”
“I was thinking about what you said earlier,” Courtney said. “And you’re right. But there’s more.”
“Oh?”
“It’s what you just said. There’s no PPFs. If you took it in your head to go kill Earnon with that axe, there wouldn’t have been much anyone could do about it.”
“So Jody comes down with both feet on fighting,” Mike added. “I started to tell off Frederic when he was on the saw and then I just walked over and talked to Jody. Frederic tried to interrupt but Jody just shut him up and put him to topping. I didn’t cuss him out or anything, just told Jody he was riding the saw and I wanted him off.”
“I guess that’s what I should have done,” Herzer said with a shake of his head.
“Well, if I hadn’t seen the example, I would have done what you did,” Mike admitted. “And I probably would have cracked that useless fisker’s head on top of it. So I’m not exactly glad you screwed up first but…” he grinned and picked up a twig to chew on, using it to pick at his teeth.
“FOOD’S ON!”
Herzer joined the others in line for food and took his bowl of beans and cornbread. That was it again and after getting it he sat down on one of the logs and contemplated the food for just a moment.
“You going to eat it or just look at it?” Mike asked, spooning up his beans between bites of bread.
“I get such pleasure from the anticipation,” Herzer said lightly. “But soon it will be all gone!” He picked up his spoon then set it back down and lifted the bowl to his lips, sucking down the mixture. There was a small, very small, piece of pork in the bowl and he worried that for a few moments then wiped out the bowl with his cornbread. When that was gone he was done.
He contemplated licking the bowl out but finally convinced himself not to. Instead he carried it over to the stack of dirty dishes and got a large dipper of water from a barrel.
“Herzer, here,” Jody said, coming up behind him with a large bowl of cornmeal mush. Herzer could see some bits of mystery meat embedded in it.
“Hey!” Earnon shouted. “I didn’t get any lunch, neither! Why the hell does he get extra?!”
“Because he didn’t sit on his ass all afternoon,” Jody answered to a chorus of chuckles. “If you don’t have something to eat, you’ll be useless in the morning. And you deserve it.”
“Thank you,” Herzer said, taking the bowl carefully. After a moment he shrugged and sucked it down just as fast as the beans.
Jody chuckled and set the bowl on the pile with the rest. “Don’t worry about it; the cooks will clean up.”
“Okay, folks, here’s the deal,” Jody said, striding over to where most of the cutting crew was finishing eating. “You can walk back to Raven’s Mill or you can stay over on this side of the river. If you stay here, I’ll show you some ways to make a shelter. Either way, breakfast is before dawn tomorrow. So if you stay over there you’d better get somebody to wake you up and walk back or you’ll miss it.”
“What’s for breakfast?” Earnon asked. “And why can’t we just eat over there?”
“Because you don’t get chits for meals, yet,” Jody said. “We’re feeding you for your work. And this is where we’re feeding you. Any other questions?”
“How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?” Cleo Ronson asked with a bitter laugh.
“Any time you want you can walk away,” Jody said. “And if I hear enough complaints you will be out of this outfit. Any more questions?”
“Same thing on the agenda tomorrow?” Mike asked.
“Pretty much,” Jody said. “We need to clear a large area by a couple of weeks from now. We’re going to work on cutting for three more days, then clear the logs and burn the trash. After that we’ll work on making some rough
buildings. Then you’ll be done with this portion and I’ll get another crew.” He looked around and nodded. “Okay, grab the tools and stack them and we’ll start making some shelters from all this trash.”
Herzer grabbed his axe and carefully stacked it, feeling a massive and unexpected wave of fatigue flow over him. Before he knew it, it was all he could do to stay on his feet. He listened while Jody explained how to make a lean-to. But in the end, between his swollen and puffy hands and his overwhelming fatigue, he couldn’t find the energy for the effort. Taking one of the blankets that had been provided he went over to the giant tree that had missed felling and collapsed onto one of the large roots, resting his head partially on it and partially on the dirt. Before he could even squiggle around to get comfortable he was asleep.
* * *
“You need some sleep,” Edmund said as he entered the wooden hut that had been set up as a temporary hospital until there was time to build a real one. Daneh was at a bucket of steaming water, washing her hands as Rachel and another woman scrubbed at blood-covered tools.
“Don’t start,” she said tiredly. “I’ve had to do two amputations today, one major and one minor, while trying to get the heads of all the women in the camp around the fact that they’re about to start bleeding.”
“We need to talk about that,” Edmund said. “You’ve requisitioned just about every scrap of cloth in the town for this and all the unspun cosilk. We have other needs, Daneh.”
“I know, but this one is a right now need, Edmund,” she snapped. “I’m running out of bandages. And the women are either going to have the material or they’re going to run around bleeding all over the place. Which would you prefer?”
“Do you need so much is what I’m asking, as pleasantly as possible,” Talbot replied, taking a deep breath. “We need the cloth in making tools. We need it to repair clothes; most of the people’s clothes are getting to be in tatters.”
