by Allan Joyal
"Fishing equipment," Al said as he smacked his forehead with an open palm. "We never even inquired about it."
"We can check in villages we pass," I said. "For now, how about everyone eat and then we should bunk for the night. Steve, take first watch, Henck will get second, Al third and I'll wake for the dawn watch. Choose a lady to stay up with you."
Heather put a hand on my arm. I looked at her. She seemed almost frightened. "Do you not want to have me with you?"
"I do," I told her as I put an arm around the young lady. "But we do need to talk a bit more. I just didn't want to make you feel forced to stay up with me."
Heather giggled. "I sleep in your arms. I'm not going to mind sitting with you as we watch the fire."
"Stew is ready," Kariy called out.
We lined up for our final dinner in the lodge. Conversation was muted as everyone thought about what tomorrow might bring. I could see Steve chatting with both Esme and Natalie, it seemed he was asking both of them to sit with him for the first watch. I concentrated on getting a meal and then preparing for sleep, the consequences of the decisions I had made weighed heavily on me, and I was exhausted.
"Ron?" Al called out. "What do we do about the sleds? They will be hard to move now that they are full."
"We can move them out here," I said. "How full are they?"
Chapter 11: Wizards Make Poor Neighbors
I woke when someone gently pushed against my shoulder. My eyes popped open, but it took a moment before they adjusted to the dim light of the fire. I sat up to see that the fire was mostly coals. Victoria was sitting on the floor next to me as she tried to wake Heather.
"Where's Al?" I asked.
"He went out for a moment," Victoria said. "He thought he heard something and wanted to check."
I twisted around to look at the doorway. Al slipped back inside. He had a worried smile on his face as he approached me.
"The sled out there is fine," he said. "I don't know what I heard. It was like a shriek of agony, and yet it wasn't. Then I thought I heard some kind of crash. I went outside to see if there was more sound, but it's very quiet out there."
"Clear sky?" I asked.
Al nodded. "Yes, and the number of stars you can see boggles my mind. I never imagined there were so many."
Heather had gotten up. She walked over to the kitchen area and set a couple of small logs on the coals under the cauldron. She stirred the cauldron a couple of times while Al and Victoria made their way to their bedrolls.
I crawled out of the bedroll Heather and I shared and rolled it up, placing it near the fire where it could be gathered up to add to a pack. Victoria noticed and shook her head. "Put it on one of the sleds," she suggested. "There should be space for the bedrolls on at least one of them."
I nodded and picked up the bedroll before I crept to the door, hoping not to wake anyone. I carried the bedroll over to the sled that had been delivered during the night. There was a spot right behind the wood at the front that was empty. I set the bedroll in there and realized that you could probably squeeze four bedrolls in if you were patient.
The night was a bit cold, so I quickly returned to the fire inside. Heather brought over two bundles of fur and sat down next to me. "Our outfits for the day," she said.
I nodded. "I hate this," I said.
"What? The traveling?" Heather asked.
"No. I never minded traveling. I would have been a terrible salesperson if I hated to travel."
"How did that work? You never explained what you sold. All I knew was you worked for Eddie's father."
"Yes. The thought behind the company was based on the fact that different bartenders have different recipes for mixing drinks. Over time, this can end up costing the owner of a company quite a bit of money if the barkeep is too generous. If the barkeep is the type to water down drinks, it can ruin the place's reputation. So Eddie's father figured out a way to use computers and pump technology to mix the drinks. The bartender only has to enter the order into a computer, and the system dispenses the correct mix."
"But what about different kinds of tequila or rum that someone might want? I heard that much from a couple of the frat parties I attended," Heather inquired.
"I never figured you for a party girl," I responded. "The system could be set up simply with only a few selected offerings, or it could be able to handle up to five hundred different liquors. The really powerful units were rarely ordered. Many places used them for beer and wine only and then only the most commonly ordered ones. It was a waste in some ways, but the system kept a computerized inventory which many pubs preferred."
"I was not a party girl!" Heather said. "But I did rush a sorority and that meant you had to attend some frat parties. I hated dealing with all the drunken guys there."
"What university did you go to?" I asked. "We never talked much about our pasts."
"Does it matter?" Heather said with a giggle. "It's not like we are going to turn a corner and run into my father."
"And I am very thankful for that. I'm a bit old for you; your father certainly would not approve."
"He'd want me to be happy. I was his favorite. No, I should be honest; I was the only child who lived with him. He was married to a woman who left him and took their two sons away. He remarried, and I was born three years later. Sadly, my mother was killed during a botched drive-by shooting. The idiots didn't even have the right street, but my mother ended up being a victim," Heather said with a curse.
"That must have been rough," I said.
Heather nodded sadly. "I grew up with my father being my only parent. He dated some but never found a lasting connection after my mother died. He rarely got to see my half-brothers, which always upset him. To try to cheer him up, I went out for every sport I could. At least until high school, then he convinced me to become a cheerleader."
"What's wrong with that?" I asked.
"They wouldn't let me be a cheerleader and also participate in some sports. I missed volleyball in the fall and then would miss basketball because I was a cheerleader. At least they allowed me to join the swim team and to run cross country if there was no conflict with football," Heather complained.
"Well all those activities are helping you now," I said. "You are probably the strongest of the women."
"Not really," Heather said. "Physically I am, but Natalie has already suffered far more than I ever hope to. She's an inspiration because she refuses to quit. Lydia is another one. We've talked some, and I can't imagine what she went through."
"Steve and I ended that," I said.
"You didn't tell Eddie the truth," she accused me.
"It wouldn't have helped him, and Lydia doesn't want people to know what really happened," I replied. "She's a lot stronger now."
Heather nodded. "Ron, why won't you make love to me every night? You know that Lydia and Hencktor do it."
"Heather, I never want you to feel like it's some kind of obligation. And I'm definitely not comfortable doing it in front of the rest of the group."
"Why?" Heather said with a giggle. "If you are worried about comparisons with the other men, I've seen all of them while we were trapped in this lodge. You are fine compared to them."
"It's not that," I fumbled. "Heather ... ."
"Look Ron, I know what I'm getting into," Heather said. "And I know I'm not that pretty."
"You lie!" I said. "Heather, some men might like their women to have huge tracts of land, but I don't. You are slim, athletic with perfectly perky breasts, and long blond hair. You even have an adorable look when you are concentrating. There isn't a thing about how you look that I do not love."
Heather turned to glare at me. "Ron, don't lie. You know how many guys I've had who asked me out on a second date? Two! The first was during my senior year of high school. He was fine until our fifth date when he suggested that I must be desperate for sex with a man. I guess two of my fellow cheerleaders told him that I preferred girls."
I shrugged. "I hope you slapped hi
m silly."
"I just dumped him," Heather said. "But after that I refused dates. Then I hooked up with this guy in college. I thought he was nice and all, until he told me that he wanted to put his penis in my ass."
"Yuck," I said with a frown. "I never liked that idea."
"Well, his excuse was that if I looked like a boy, I would love sex the way little boys get it. I kicked him out, and four weeks later the guy was arrested when he went home. He got caught drugging his younger brother's best friend."
"Double yuck," I said. "But they are not me."
"But you seem to push me away," Heather said. "Did you have someone back on Earth?"
"No," I said. "I was not home often enough to be comfortable with any kind of long term relationship. I had a few close friends, but when you only get to see someone once every two months, it's hard to develop a strong bond. As for pushing you away, Heather, I said I'm not comfortable having sex in front of the others. Not yet."
"Can you try a bit more for me?" Heather asked. "I don't want to be needy, but I'm scared."
I put my arm around her and pulled her to my chest. I placed a kiss on her forehead. "I am too, we all are."
We sat holding one another and watching the flames. Neither of us seemed to be in a hurry to break the embrace, but finally Heather stirred. "I love this, but I should check the stew. It's going to be wooden bowls today," she said. "Drinks will be melted snow. Kariy set it all up last night before we all turned in."
I got up to follow her, but she shook her head. "Get the furs on. We'll be leaving as soon as everyone is up and fed. We'll just be the first to eat."
The furs were lying on the ground at my feet. I picked them up and discovered that there were three pieces. The main one was a heavy fur cloak that would cover me from neck to my ankles. Someone had sewn in a pair of what looked like metal buttons near the top. One had a piece of thin leather wrapped around it. It was clear that this was to be used to hold it around my neck.
The other two pieces were thick and looked like they would fit around my calves and cover my feet once they were in boots. I slipped the boots I had obtained long ago in Linktrum on and then wrapped the first fur around my leg. There was another long leather strip that I wound around my leg to secure the covering. I copied the procedure on my other leg, then slipped the cloak around my shoulders and stood up.
The outfit was bulky, but I could still move comfortably. My feet were definitely warmer than they were during our hike in the snow two days before. I hoped this would work for a day traveling in the open.
Heather coughed. She was standing behind me and held up a bowl filled with hot and steaming stew. A wooden spoon stood up in the thick stew as I claimed the bowl.
"How does that feel?" Heather asked.
"Warm, but bulky," I said. "I'd want to drop the cloak before getting into any fights. I'm sure the cloak would offer some protection from weapons, but it also will interfere with my movements."
Heather nodded. "Jennifer worried about that, but it was the best she could come up with."
"Where did the buttons come from?" I asked.
"She must have picked them up when we visited Relway."
I shook my head, wondering what else I had missed during our visit. I settled down to eat the stew. It was thicker than usual, but warming. Heather and I were cleaning the bottom of our bowls when the ground shook violently.
The sudden movement woke everyone in the lodge. I stumbled for a moment and then hurried over to the door. I could hear a loud roaring from somewhere nearby. I yanked open the door and looked up into the sky.
With the door open, I could now hear screams in the distance. The roar I could not identify. I scanned the sky for a moment until movement got my attention. I watched a winged being with blue fur flying toward the city walls at a high rate of speed. Several balls of light chased it. The first two missed, but then one struck it in the back of its right wing. The creature's whole body lit up for a moment, and then it rolled over in the air. It fell from the sky, the right wing fluttering away after being torn from its body.
I ducked back inside, but did not force the door closed. "Everyone get up, get dressed, grab a bowl of stew and we are out of here!" I shouted.
"Is it dawn?" Jennifer moaned. I could see Steve and Henck crawling slowly to their feet.
"The wizards are fighting," I said coldly. "We either leave now, or we probably will have a new residence six feet underground. Move, people."
Heather rushed over to the pile of clothing she had set out and started dressing. Kariy jumped up in a panic. She took several steps toward the stew pit.
"It's fine," Heather shouted. "I remembered to put some wood on the fire some time ago. Get dressed first. I'll dish up some bowls as soon as I get the cloak on."
"What about you and Ron?" Lydia asked Heather.
"We had just finished eating when the ground shook," I said as I ran through the room. I got to the sleds and looked at them. "Steve, Henck, let's get these to the door. Lydia, can you roll up their bedrolls?"
Steve dashed over to the sleds. He had pulled pants and boots on. "I'll take the front," he said. "Don't try to lift it too high, it's heavy."
"Can we just slide it?" I asked as I moved to the back of the sled.
Steve shook his head as he grabbed the front of the sled and lifted it about six inches. "Not on stone. We tried that last night when we brought them out."
I grabbed the bar that separated the runners and lifted. The strain on my back and arms was incredible, and I grunted as I raised the sled about a foot. Steve immediately began carrying the sled towards the door.
I thought we would stop at the doorway, but Steve continued out into the snow. We were about ten feet from the door and standing in the knee-deep snow of the path, when Steve released the front of the sled and stepped away. I squatted down enough to release the sled and fell backwards.
Steve was working his way around the sled, taking care to leave the steep walls of the snow canyon we stood in undisturbed. He passed me with a nod. "It's too cold for me to be dressed like this," he muttered.
I looked down at my feet. The fur leggings that Jennifer had supplied were keeping the snow away from my feet. They were not warm, but I did not feel the cold as I stood and recovered my strength. I listened for additional sounds of the wizard's battle while catching my breath and then turned back toward the lodge.
Al and Hencktor were carrying the second sled out into the snow. I could hear Al grunt with each step as they strained to get the sled fully over the snow. Once they had cleared the doorway, both men dropped the sled.
"Careful," I said. "We can't afford for a sled to get broken now."
Al nodded and then leaned forward to put his hands on his knees. He said nothing as he took deep heaving breaths.
I had recovered, so I started to walk past him. The path through the snow was not much wider than the sleds so I had to carefully sidestep along one side of the sled. Snow from the drift tumbled onto me, but not enough to block the path. I reached the back of the sled and stepped into the middle of the path with a sigh. Inside the hut, I could hear confused shouts.
Heather then rushed out of the lodge. She was now fully dressed and carried a cauldron. She scooped several handfuls of snow and tossed them in the cauldron before swirling it around. I watched her dump the cauldron out and then repeat the process. She then looked into the cauldron.
"Kariy? Do I wipe the cauldron down?" Heather shouted toward the doorway.
A moment later, Kariy appeared in the doorway. She was carrying the stand that had held the cauldron over the fire. "No," she said to Heather. "The grease will keep it from rusting. I'll finish cleaning it when we stop tonight. Ron, where should I put this?"
I turned around to look at the nearest sled. I could see a cleared spot near the rear bar. "It looks like a place was made here to hold everything," I said.
Kariy came over and handed the stand to me. "I need to dress," she said.
Heather smacked me on the back of the head. "Don't do that! Kariy needs to see you as a father, not a lecherous pervert."
I rubbed the back of my head. "Sorry, I was a bit surprised to realize she walked out wearing only a skirt."
Heather laughed. "Ron, everyone has been sleeping naked for the last week. Sometimes your ability to not see something is amazing."
I shrugged. "We better check on everyone and grab our packs. I'm not sure if we have any time."
Heather nodded. She placed the cauldron on the back of the sled and dashed toward the door. I carefully folded the three legs of the stand together and then slid it into a pocket of space on the sled. It fit much like a sword in a scabbard. With my hands empty, I returned to the lodge.
Inside, I found the ladies were all struggling to get dressed. I saw Heather helping Kariy tie a bodice over her blouse. Esme and Natalie were kneeling on the floor and securing fur leggings over their boots. Everyone seemed to have a bowl of steaming stew next to them. They would get an article of clothing on and then quickly devour several spoonfuls.
"Ron," Lydia called, "how do things look out there?"
I was about to reply when the building shook. Part of the back wall collapsed as a large boulder shattered several supports.
"That would be the answer," Steve shouted. "Who doesn't have leggings on?"
No one answered that. Steve looked around and then nodded to me. "Everyone, grab your fur cloak and pack. We'll eat as we run out of here."
"Heather, Victoria, you'll have to pull the front sled. Go first and be careful walking around the sleds, we don't want one of the drifts to collapse and block the path," I commanded. "Jennifer, Kariy, you'll take the second one, again be careful walking around the sled. Heather, you'll be leading us until we reach a wide spot and people can get around the sleds safely."