by Allan Joyal
Chapter 8: A Return to Camp
Humbart must have noticed my attention on the shore. I could see him turn to look over there. He frowned and turned back to me. “The women appear to be holding weapons.”
“We have had a few problems,” I pointed out. “They will take no action as long as you come in peace.”
Humbart said nothing. The raft had managed to slip through the worst of the current and was now gliding to shore. Aine jumped out when it was about five feet away, landing softly on the shore and quickly running past the welcoming party.
Henck waited until the raft was touching the shore and then nodded. “Ron,” he said. “The camp has been secure except for Mary’s injury. Those men never reached the shore.”
“I heard,” I replied as I stepped onto the land and then began helping moor the raft. “We have another wagon to bring across, and then this raft belongs to the merchant here.”
“What about the rider?” Amalya asked.
I looked back at the far shore. We could see a man riding a horse at the end of the dock looking out at us. Heather was carrying one of the cages off the raft. She turned back to the shore.
“Damn,” she muttered. “Ron, did we ever ask his name?”
“Who?” Hencktor asked.
“A young man who lost everything when his father died,” I replied. “He asked to come with us, and we told him to meet us at the dock.”
Hencktor sighed and then turned to look up the bluff. “Lydia, get Al and that boy Piemal down here. We need to unload and then send the raft back. It looks like we have another wagon and a rider waiting to cross.”
Lydia waved. She turned to say something to Lenoir before turning her back to the riverside and shouting toward our camp. I turned back to find that Gerit and the teamster had managed to get the mules hooked up to the wagon. They were coaxing the animals up the ramp and towards the camp. Humbart stood to the side and watched them.
I moved over by Humbart. “Do you want to get the tour now, or should we send you and the raft back for the other wagon.”
“Send the raft back,” Humbart said. “If you have the people.”
Mary, Al and Piemal were coming down the trail. “We’ll get the other raft over here,” Al affirmed.
“I’ll help,” Jeff said. “And I remember the young man, so I’ll make sure he boards as well.”
“In that case, I’d love to see the camp,” Humbart said.
I used my hands to wave Humbart forward. He shook his head as he followed the wagon up the ramp. The soil had loosened a bit due to the number of people walking back and forth. Humbart stumbled a bit as the ground shifted, but was able to walk up to the bluff without any major incidents. When he reached the top he froze. I was just behind him and looked up to see Cimbra and Shaylin standing just to the left of the ramp. Cimbra was demonstrating a hand gesture to the teenage girl.
“What is that?” Humbart asked.
“I think it’s two members of our group,” I said. “I’d guess that Cimbra is helping Shaylin learn a spell.”
“The girl can cast spells?” Humbart asked in a shrill voice.
“Only a few,” I admitted. “The wizards would never have properly taught her.”
“But women wizards were the cause of the cataclysm that wiped out the old Empire,” Humbart complained.
“No, they weren’t,” Cimbra said. “It was the Prime Sealer Frodoken and the Oceanic Primarch Tolstiln who started the civil war. Frodoken thought he should have been granted a seat on the summoner’s board, and when they refused him, decided to force them to accept him.”
“How would you know?” Humbart asked.
“The war did not stay on the surface world,” Cimbra replied sorrowfully. “My people were dragged in as the wizards from the surface offered enticements. Later, some demanded that we subjugate ourselves. As our own citizens fought each other, more than one city of my people was destroyed. It was a war with no winners.”
“The orcs and goblins seemed to do well,” Humbart pointed out.
“Only for a very short time and mostly because the start of the war allowed more of their young to survive. Once they conquered the stricken cities, they lost as well. Orcs are not farmers or hunters. They survive by conquest and scavenging. Usually they exist as small tribes. The huge force that swarmed over the remnants of the empire was starving even as they conquered,” Cimbra said.
Humbart looked at me. “You believe her?” he demanded.
“Do you think she has a reason to lie?” I asked.
Humbart watched the two for a few minutes and then shook his head. “No, but it is completely different from all that we have been taught. We’ve all been told that it was a female wizard who started the wars.”
“Think about who is saying that. I’m sure the wizards were able to figure out what happened and recorded the information, but if they were to admit it was a greedy member of their order, who would trust them. This way they can avoid risking that loss of trust,” I said as I nudged Humbart to turn to the right to head toward the center of camp. I could see Hencktor was standing with the teamster and helping unhitch the mules.
While we were gone the carts, had been completely unloaded. The food was all neatly stacked near the fire, while the hay had been stacked up under large sheet of some kind. The tools and seeds were all in one place, but it looked like someone had been still trying to organize them when we arrived. Humbart took all of this in.
The man said nothing until he noticed the sled. It had been dragged near the carts, but was now sitting on the ground separate from the rest. “What is that?” he asked.
“We think it started out as a sled designed to be dragged over snow by dogs. We used it that way for part of our journey, since we were crossing the north part of the plains right after the first snows stopped. Later some dwarves from Clan Skyve offered us an opportunity to use their underground passages. To make that work they added the wheels to the sled,” I said.
“Are you keeping it?” Humbart asked.
“We’re hoping we can sell it,” I admitted. “On roads or over snow it’s useful, but we plan on entering the wilderness. There it would just slow us down.”
“I can’t use it, but I can think of a couple merchants who might be able to make it work,” Humbart said. “They stick to roads and would love to travel in the winter.”
“More needs and less competition,” I agreed.
“You understand trading,” Humbart said. “And farming from the tools and the barrels that are marked as if they contain seeds.”
“They do,” Natalie said as she limped over to see us. “Ron, did Mary get on the raft to help pole it?” she asked me.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“Damn! She’s going to cause her wound to reopen,” Natalie cursed. “Esme told her to rest for the rest of the day. You did that yesterday after you got hurt.”
“I’m sure Al and Verval will watch out for her,” I said. “Especially Verval.”
Natalie nodded. “He’s pretty upset about Jennifer and was livid that someone shot Mary. He would have tried to swim to the canoe if Hencktor and Al had not held him back.”
I looked around. “Where’s our flock?” I asked.
Natalie pointed just past the grove of trees. “Gertrilla and Yveney took them around the forest. Victoria pointed out that it would be best to move them away from camp to graze during the day and then bring them back at night. That way they won’t need to wander off to find food at night.”
“We do have the hay,” I pointed out.
“We want to keep that and use it on the road if we run into areas without much grass,” Natalie said.
Humbart put a hand on my shoulder. “You have more women than men in your group,” he pointed out.
Natalie giggled. “Is that a problem?” she asked cheekily.
Humbart looked at Natalie and then looked at me. “I don’t understand,” he said.
“The core of our group comes from a l
and where we discovered ways to reduce the amount of effort required to perform many functions. Instead of having to labor in the fields, many of our citizens were able to move to the cities and work for businesses producing goods. Over time, we learned that women could be as effective if not more effective at many jobs,” I began. “We do understand that in a job requiring strength they are at a disadvantage, but elsewhere they can do quite well. We have no problem having more women than men.”
“But your farms,” Humbart said. “Farming requires hours in the fields.”
“We are going to work to reduce that,” Natalie said. “We won’t be able to make all of the tools our people do where we come from, but even with the ideas we have, we should be able to increase our crop yields.”
“How?” Humbart asked.
“I can’t explain it all quickly,” Natalie said. “There are many elements. Better methods for planting seeds will help. Using proper irrigation to maintain the fields. Oh, Ron, we need to see if there is any hollow wood like bamboo. I realized the best way to water the fields will be a pressure shower system. We’ll use a pump to fill a cistern that is above the field and then release the water through pipes so it can shower on the fields like rain. It’s the best way to water.”
“That….” Humbart snapped. He paused for a moment and then looked over at the river. “That actually makes sense,” he said quietly. “But I can’t imagine how you’d put it together.”
Natalie shrugged. “I’m not sure either. I know of plants like bamboo that have a hollow core and would be perfect for moving the water, but I’m still trying to picture how to make the rest work. I’ll probably end up working with Hencktor.”
Humbart just looked baffled. He stared at Natalie for a moment. I realized I had almost forgotten something and looked around for Dafalia. The young girl had used a number of barrels and cages to form a closed circle. I could see her standing in it watching something on the ground.
“Dafalia!” I called out. “Got a second?”
The girl bent down and picked something up. I realized it must have been one of the rabbits she had brought. She carefully placed the struggling creature into a cage and then vaulted over the wall of barrels before jogging over to join us.
“What do you need?” she asked.
“Can I trust you to care for the small animals?” I asked. “The rabbits and chickens? Gertrilla and Yveney will be handling the flock and herd, so I need a capable young lady to keep the rabbits and chickens alive.”
Dafalia giggled. “I can.”
“Good,” I said. “Check with Heather. We should have some new chickens. We brought back a rooster, five hens and a few chicks. Also see what happened to Oleiana.”
“Oleiana?” Natalie asked.
“A young orphan who latched onto us while we were at the market. She’ll join our group. Hopefully she can help with the flock eventually. With the number of sheep we have, we’ll need quite a few herders,” I replied.
Humbart was shaking his head. “I came here to see what you need, and I can’t figure out anything you are missing. You seem to have everything well organized. Far better than any of my family’s caravans.”
“Tools,” I said. “We do have a few saws and axes, but more will be useful. We especially need a drill or auger so we can make holes in things. We need smithing tools as well. Right now we have one hammer and no anvil. More seeds would be nice. And of course, we need preserved food so we can make the journey. We will do some hunting, but if we have to halt to hunt often we might get caught by next year’s snows.”
“You have that far to go?” Humbart asked.
“Unfortunately, we do,” I replied. “Oh, and our cook wants a large quantity of salt. We can use that to preserve what we do find.”
“What do you have to trade for all that?” Humbart asked.
“The sled you looked at; the larger raft; and I do have some coin,” I said. “We know we’ll probably not get everything we want, but we’ll try.”
The two teamsters walked up to Humbart. One of them was shaking his head. “We’ve finished transferring the wagons,” he said. “Shall we head back? I know the mill is waiting for those logs.”
Humbart looked a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry, but Jochain is right, we should be going.”
I held out my hand. “We completely understand. I have to check with everyone here. They were supposed to be putting together an inventory of what we need.”
Humbart looked at my hand and then took my wrist and shook it. “I’ll spread the word that you are here. Will someone be watching the dock?”
“Always,” I said. “We’ve already had a problem with someone shooting at us, so we’ll keep a watch on the river. If someone is on the dock and waving we can bring the raft across.”
Humbart laughed. “That I can understand. But some merchants won’t want to bring goods out here only to take them back.”
“If they bring out samples, we can arrange the trade and then they can come back with everything,” I said.
Humbart nodded. “I’ll let them know. And now I need to take my raft up to the mill. Thanks again.”
I nodded as the merchant and his teamsters headed down to the riverside. Verval was still there. He handed the teamsters a pair of poles and then moved to check on the larger raft. I could see an expression of frustration on Humbart’s face, but he said nothing as he boarded his raft and helped the teamsters launch it into the river. They began poling it upstream.
Once they were about twenty feet from shore I turned to look around. Dafalia was walking with Corwal as they carried the new chicken cages over to a small cluster of boxes I guessed were the cages for the other small animals. Oleiana followed tentatively.
“Oh my god!” Natalie blurted out. “That poor girl.”
“I thought Heather was going to take care of her,” I said. “Be gentle and see if you can get her comfortable enough for Esme to look at.”
Natalie said nothing, but swooped down on the orphan and hugged the dirty girl. Oleiana stiffened. When she realized that Natalie had no intention of harming her she returned the hug.
“Ron!” I heard Heather shout. I turned to see her escorting the young man we had talked to in the market. He was leading a saddled horse. A mule followed the horse. I could see several packages hanging from the back and sides of the mule.
Heather was waving, so I walked over to greet her. She smiled as I walked up. “Ron, this is Krysbain. He realized as he got off the raft that we had completely forgotten to handle introductions.”
I held my hand out to the young man. He reached out to grasp my forearm and smiled. “At least it was easy to find you. I have to admit I’m surprised that Humbart was willing to come over here. That boy rarely leaves the tavern his uncle owns.”
Heather turned to stare at Krysbain. “You know him? You said nothing.”
I was humming ‘it’s a small world’ as Krysbain smiled at Heather. “I rarely dealt with his type. The merchant families are extremely secretive and avoid allowing the guard to look into their actions. But Humbart was well known. He had a habit of getting involved in some rather shady transactions.”
“Hopefully he won’t try anything here,” I said.
“How can you stop him?” Krysbain asked. “I can see that many of you are hurt and no one is carrying a sword.”
I pointed at the river. “The river will do much of the work for us. It will slow any attack. We have several people who are skilled with ranged weapons. They can strike against anyone attempting to row to this side.”
Kyrsbain looked worried. “But you might not see them at night.”
His eyes widened as he looked past me. I glanced over my shoulder. Cimbra was engaged in a lively conversation with Kariy. “I see you’ve noticed the young woman who will help reduce the chances of someone sneaking by at night.”
“I’ve never,” Krysbain gasped. “I mean I’ve heard that there were stories of elves living under the earth, but they
were creatures of legend used to frighten children.”
“She’s very real,” I said. “I rescued her from some slavers.”
“Wow,” Krysbain said. “I think I should have asked more questions before I came over. Now that I see your group I’m…”
“Impressed?” Heather provided when Krysbain paused. “Surprised? Happy? Ready to help? Tell me that I’m getting close.”
I laughed as Krysbain looked over at Heather. “A bit worried,” he admitted. “This group doesn’t look like they have a lot of fighters. What if we run into a problem?”
“We walked from Linktrum to Saraloncto safely,” Heather said. “Just yesterday we ended up fighting with some slavers who sought to capture us.”
Krysbain’s eyes were looking at someone moving behind Heather. “I can understand that,” he said with a sigh.
I looked back at what he was watching. Mary and Aine were walking towards the campfire. Both women were carrying a handful of branches. I noticed that Heather was watching Krysbain. She threw a confused look my way.
“Mary and Aine bringing more wood for the fire,” I said.
Heather giggled. “I could understand his pause then. They were attractive before and all the exercise we get has toned their bodies nicely. Krys, both ladies are unattached and might welcome getting to know you better.”
“What?” Krysbain spat. “Are they immoral? A woman should be looking to get married!”
I sighed. “If they find the right man that still might happen. They are from the land I come from. There a woman could live independently with skills they could learn allowing them to earn what they needed to survive. Also our alchemists came up with a brew that prevented a woman from becoming pregnant, so the need to be married was less. Do not condemn them out of hand. Get to know them.”
Krysbain looked at me for a moment and nodded. “I’ll unload Hicks,” he said. “Where should I take the animals?”
“Corwal is leading the animal over to our herd,” Heather offered. “I’d suggest unloading your stuff near our organized area. That way we can plan on loading any tools on the wagons.”