by Allan Joyal
Chapter 3: It’s a Big City.
The sun had just kissed the horizon when the river we were on met another larger river. Our path curved to the right as the currents of the two rivers merged. Soon Jeff and Mary indicated that their poles were not always reaching the riverbed when they tried to use them.
At this point everyone started to get to their feet. Lydia was the next to speak up. “Oh god! I recognize that smell, but…”
I wondered what it was and then the wind shifted, and I could smell what seemed to be a combination of decomposing flesh, human feces, and rotten eggs. The smell was nauseating.
“We can’t stay near that,” I said. “Can anyone see the city?”
“I can,” Piemal shouted from the other raft. “I see buildings on the right bank of the river.”
“What about the left bank?” I asked. “And which way is the wind blowing?”
“The wind blows from the left bank to the right bank, and I see no buildings on the left bank,” Piemal answered.
“Jeff, Mary, let’s find a good place to pull up on the left bank. It looks like we can camp there and be out of the smell,” I said.
“Where is it coming from?” Aine asked.
“I hate to say this, but probably the river itself. The water would be seen as a way to get rid of refuse, but a large city would produce too much for the river to quickly wash it away,” I responded.
Jeff and Mary were struggling to get the rafts to cut across the current and head to the left bank. We continued to advance toward the smells. I watched and could see that there were no bridges spanning the river and no buildings on the left bank.
On the right bank most of the buildings we could see were simple wooden structures. Workers were actually disassembling several of the houses, carefully putting the wood into wagons. I waved towards them, but none responded.
“What are they doing?” Aine asked.
“The buildings are probably on the flood plain. They are moving them to avoid having them destroyed by the coming spring floods,” I said.
“I would have thought the city would be out of the flood plain,” Victoria said.
“Hey!” Corwar shouted. “I see a path off the riverbank, and there is a grove of trees up on the plain. It might be a good place to camp.”
I looked over at the other raft to see Corwar pointing to a spot downstream on the left bank of the river. I turned my gaze in the direction he was pointing and found that the left side of the river was mostly a ten foot or taller wall of dirt, but a spot had collapsed into the river, leaving a gentle slope up onto the plains.
“Can we land there?” I asked Jeff and Mary.
“Watch us,” Jeff said as he thrust the pole he had been using into the river. The smaller raft sped up as Jeff pushed it out of the main current and toward the shore.
The larger raft followed. At first I thought we would miss the bank completely, but Gerit moved to help Mary and soon had the raft angled toward the riverbank just downstream of the spot Jeff was aiming for.
“Yveney, Gertrilla, get the animals off first and up the bank. Find a spot you can patrol and keep the animals in, but with grass to eat. I don’t see a lot of snow, so there should be grazing. Do watch for predators,” I called out.
“I’ll go with them,” Lenoir said. “I have some practice in discouraging predators.”
“Be careful,” I said quietly.
The raft Jeff was poling grounded on the riverbank. Verval jumped from the wood to the shore. The man immediately turned around and caught a coil of rope thrown by Corwar. The rope uncoiled as it flew and I could see that one end was tied around the logs of the raft. Verval looked around and then looped the rope around a large boulder on the shore. The current attempted to pull the raft back toward the center of the river, but the rope held, keeping the raft by the riverbank. Several of the goats on the raft bleated in alarm.
Yveney immediately began using her crook to get the animals to move off the raft and onto the sandy strip of riverbank. One of the puppies started barking, urging the animals to move. As the flock began to slowly exit the raft, I could see Piemal rush ahead and scramble up the dirt ramp to the plain above. He turned back to look at us.
“It looks clear, and I see a small stand of trees downstream. That might be a good place to guide the animals to, the trees should discourage them from wandering in that direction when there is grass all around,” he called back.
The flock was heading up the slope now. Verval and Jeff waited for all of the animals to leave and then checked the rope. Jeff boarded the raft and found a second rope which was soon set up to hold the raft against the shore line. We were still about ten feet away when they turned to look at us.
“Sorry,” Mary said tiredly. “Fighting the current slowed us down. I had to aim a bit upstream to break free, and that slowed us down.”
“No harm,” Al said. “We are going to… Ron, I see someone waving from the other shore.”
I turned around to look. There was a man standing on the end of a dock connected to the far bank. He was frantically waving. At one point he removed his hat to try to get our attention. I listened to see if he was shouting anything, but heard nothing except the quiet sounds from the river and Mary’s grunts as she poled the raft to the shore.
“Not going to do anything?” Heather asked.
“I can’t see that we are violating any laws,” I said. “We aren’t going to set up any permanent structure here and landing to allow the animals to eat shouldn’t be a crime. If it’s important, they’ll send a boat.”
The raft scraped on the shoreline. Verval and Jeff bent down to grab the coils of rope that had secured the raft when we found it. Moments later they had the raft securely tied to a boulder on the riverbank. Once they had it firmly beached, Gertrilla and Shaylin began directing the flock off the boat.
“Leave the mules and horses,” Gerit reminded her. “We need to get the carts off. And then what do we do with the rafts?”
“We’ll use the smaller one to travel to Saraloncto and back here while we finish provisioning for our trip. I know it will be hard, but it can carry enough cargo to be useful. It's not like we have any other way to move back and forth. I’ll try to sell one in the next day or two and the other we’ll sell on the final day as long as we get a ride back to this side of the river,” I said. “We won’t need them again.”
Gertrilla had guided all of the sheep off the raft, leaving just the three mules and two horses. Gerit called over to Amalya and pointed to the cart nearest the shore. “We’ll start with this one. But we need it on the shore. Can we push it off without dumping it?”
I stood up carefully. “We will do that,” I said. “Henck, with your ribs I don’t want you helping. Allow them to heal before you do too much.”
“We’ll help,” Jeff promised. “We have enough people to do this. None of these carts is as heavy as a car.”
“What’s a car?” Amalya asked as all of the men gathered near the first cart. Al struggled to help with only his right arm, but we were able to lift the cart and carry it onto the sand.
Gerit turned to his wife. “Could you hook up the mule to pull the cart? We’ll get the next cart off the raft.”
Buoyed by the success at getting the first cart off the raft, we quickly moved the other two carts from the raft to the shore. We were gathering next to the sled in preparation to move it when Lydia called out. “Ron, that man who was waving has found a boat. He’s approaching with a few of his friends.”
Heather ran over and thrust the spear into my hands. Someone had removed the bola, so I was able to balance it easily. “I’ll help with the cart,” she said.
“Aine, Lydia, get your crossbows loaded and have them visibly out. We take no chances,” I said.
I moved to the side of the raft that still bobbed in the river. Out on the river, a small canoe with five men in it cut through the current on a direct path to our shore. The man who had been waving to us was in the bow,
and he continued to wave as the rest of the group pulled the sled from the raft.
“You can’t be there,” I finally heard him shout.
“Why not?” I called back. “I see no buildings on this side of the river.”
“The elves control that side, they don’t like anyone invading their turf,” the man called again.
“We talked to an elf about our plans long ago,” I shouted back. “He said that as long as we avoided the forest which lines the Elfwall River south of here, the elves should have no issues with our party. Humans lived on this side of the river in the past.”
“But you’ll have no protection!” the man shouted.
“Like that is a problem,” Aine said coldly. “We aren’t exactly without weapons.”
The man looked to my left where Aine was. I had to smile as his eyes widened. Aine had taken a classic shooters pose with her right knee on the ground and her crossbow held at shoulder level.
“That woman has a weapon pointed at me!” the man screamed.
“We have a bit of a trust issue right now. Three members of our group were killed earlier today when we ran into a slaving party,” I said coldly.
“Where?” the man exclaimed, turning to look at me.
“Just outside of Crayolyn Falls. And it was actually two different parties. The first one had two archers. The archers killed one member of our group. We fought them off only to have a second group appear. Their actions caused the death of two more members of our group before we could escape,” I said.
“On rafts?” the man asked.
“No, we ran through a tunnel while one member of our party sacrificed himself to collapse the entrance so the slavers couldn’t follow,” I snapped. “Now I could understand you getting upset if we were in danger of angering the elves, but it sounds like you have no authority on this side of the river.”
The man looked at me again. “Look, I’m just trying… please, can we talk when I’m not in this boat?”
“Lydia, Aine, back up a bit,” I said. “Sir, your friends can row the boat to the shore and let you off. Only you though. After you have exited they are to retire to the dock you came from and wait for you there.”
“I’ll be alone with all of you!” the man protested.
“You have my word that you will be unharmed,” I said. “But like I already said. We don’t trust others at the moment.”
The man turned back to talk to one of the rowers. The conversation was quite heated. I remained standing on the raft. Finally, the man seemed to win the argument, because he turned back to me. “I want to bring one bodyguard.”
I shrugged. “Just one,” I said. “But please don’t try anything. I’d like to settle this peacefully.”
I backed off the raft and moved to stand at the bottom of the ramp made from the collapsed bank. Aine and Lydia dashed past me, rushing up the ramp. From my left high on the bank I could hear Lenoir speak. “Are you sure we can trust them?”
“No, but that’s why we are doing it this way,” I said.
We watched as the boat was brought to the shore. The man stepped onto the shore and looked up at us. I could hear the whirring sound of Lenoir’s sling in motion. The man looked upset, but said nothing as one of the rowers carefully got out of the boat.
Once both men were out of the boat, the remaining rowers pushed away from the shore and quickly made for the docks on the far bank. Lenoir allowed the sling to slow down, but waited until they were more than halfway across the river before stopping it. The two men on the shore looked up at her and waited.
“Sorry, but as I said, we aren’t very trusting,” I said.
“If you really fought slavers I can imagine,” the man said. “But are we going to shout or can we come up?”
I nodded to the men. “Lenoir, watch the boat until Aine or Lydia can join you,” I commanded. “Come up, we might have a chair. I know we packed a couple of camp chairs, but I have no idea how much unpacking has been done.”
I shouldered my spear and limped up the dirt ramp. A moment later I could hear the two men scrambling to follow me. They seemed to want to catch up to me before I reached the top, but none of my watching friends said anything to indicate that there was a problem.
When I reached the top of the ramp I looked around. Our carts were set up in a rough circle to the right of the ramp. Between the circle and the edge of the bluff, Kariy and Mary were laying out bedrolls and clearing a spot for a fire pit. The cauldron and tripod were already set out ready to put over a fire.
“Where are we getting wood?” I asked.
“From the stand of trees,” Kariy said nodding toward the small grove. “Piemal and Dafalia are collecting it.”
“We don’t know if the forest is safe,” I said worriedly.
“Henck went with them. He won’t carry anything, but he can look intimidating,” Heather said. “So who are these two men?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “But one of them was rather insistent that we not land on this side of the river. We have agreed to talk.”
“Well, they appear to be walking to the camp,” Heather said. “I’ll join you there. At least this will be interesting.”
Chapter 4: Angry Men
I walked over near the still unlit fire pit. “Natalie, didn’t we pack a few camp chairs we got from Relway?” I asked.
“They are in the sled,” the young woman said. “Stay there and I’ll get them. The one man looks angry.”
She ran over to the sleds as the two men approached the campsite. “You are camping over here? I told you that no one comes to this side of the river. We can’t afford to offend the elves,” the man who spoke earlier ranted.
“How about we introduce ourselves first,” I suggested. I switched the spear to my left hand and held out my right. “I am Ron, I lead the group Daytona Trade. We are a peaceful group of pioneers looking to found a new homestead. It has been suggested to us by several parties that we might find what we seek far to the east.”
“Sofilt,” the man replied absently. “But this side of the river belongs to the elves. You cannot be here.”
“We asked an elf who lives in their kingdom what their reaction would be if we crossed. He said that as long as we stayed well clear of the forest, they would not mind a small group like ours striking out from Saraloncto. As I said, we plan on heading far to the east once spring comes,” I said.
“You met an elf? I’m supposed to believe that?” the man said scornfully.
“It was nearly sixty days ago, but yes, we did,” I said. “His name is Elrolethlyn, and he is a bard who wanders the plains. We just happened to be in the same city during out travels.”
The second man leaned forward and whispered in the ear of his friend. “I know of the elf. He’s an excellent musician. They might have met him. He was in Saraloncto in the early summer, so it is likely he was travelling.”
Sofilt scowled. “But why not stay at the caravanserai? Camping over here…”
“Like I said, we encountered slavers earlier today. And we’ve had other problems. This way we are protected from many of those problems, and we are already on this side of the river when we are ready to leave,” I said.
“Ready?” the man snapped.
“There are some goods we hope to purchase,” I admitted. “I expect that for the next ten days or so we will be moving back and forth to Saraloncto while we make purchases. We also may allow a few more people to join us.”
The two men stared at me. Dafalia walked up. Her arms were filled with small branches. She set the branches into the fire pit and then walked over to where I stood. “Who are these men?” she asked.
“Dafalia, this is Sofilt and his as of yet unnamed friend,” I said.
The man who had not been introduced blushed. “Nordalt,” he said. “My name is Nordalt.”
“Why are they here?” Dafalia asked. “Are we breaking a law?”
“I can’t see how we would be breaking a law that they could enforce since Sofi
lt keeps insisting that the elves will be upset if we stay,” I said.
“No they won’t,” Dafalia replied. “Rowena told us that we were fine.”
“Rowena?” Sofilt snapped. “Who is that?”
“I am Rowena,” a voice filled with sunlight and song called out. Everyone turned to see a statuesque and stunning elven woman walk from the trees. She was wearing a gown of white silk that shimmered in the late afternoon sun. “Your passion in protecting this side of the river is admirable,” the elven woman said to Sofilt, but we are not offended by the presence of these humans.”
“What?” Sofilt shouted. He stepped forward to get in Rowena’s face. “We are banned from visiting this side of the reason for any reason, but you allow these vagabonds to cross freely!”
The elven woman stepped back. There was a flash of light as her right arm moved to her waist and came back up to sit between her chest and Sofilt. The man froze. I could see a bead of sweat appear on his brow as he halted.
I looked more closely and could see a thin sword just touching Sofilt’s neck. Rowena’s eyes were blazing. “I did not ask for your opinion human,” she said coldly. “This group of humans has our permission to remain on this side of the river. That is all you need to know.”
“But your people have violently opposed any attempt to settle or even graze animals on this side of the river,” Sofilt protested. I noticed that Nordalt had stepped away from the two.
Rowena ignored everyone except Sofilt. “Your people have never honored their agreements. Every time we attempted to find a way ease your constant shortage of wood by permitting some logging, you’d find a way to violate the treaty. Our council finally issued an edict that until we saw a true change in the government of Saraloncto, we would not permit any citizen of the city to come to this side of the river.”
“What about them?” Sofilt continued to complain.
“Which one of them is a citizen of Saraloncto?” Rowena asked pleasantly and poisonously.