by Allan Joyal
Guldrim looked at me. "Did you expect dwarves to provide you with help?" he asked.
"We knew that there had been dwarf outposts in the mountains to the west, but Clan Skyve could not tell us which ones had survived. If we found one we were going to talk to them about trade, but there is not much to trade this year. At best we'll have the wool of a few of our sheep, but much of that from this year we need for our own use," I replied.
Guldrim looked pensive. He stroked his beard as he gazed out over our meadow. "You truly plan to stay?" he asked.
"We have nowhere else we can really go," I admitted. "We found the cities in the west to be uninviting. We could try to move on, but we've already planted seeds and started building. Our tools will wear out eventually, so it’s best if we make this valley our home. It has everything we need."
"It took us four days to walk here from our cave," Guldrim said. "We saw the beast had vanished, but waited a full day to see if it returned. It had left before to find food, but always returned the instant any dwarf left the cave. When we realized it was gone, we sent scouts off in all directions to find out what had changed. We never expected to find a human colony in this valley."
"Is it special?" I asked.
The dwarf shrugged. "It was a lake when the empire fell. One of the emperors wanted a great lake he could fish in. He had his mages block the mouth of the valley with a wall of magical glass so that all could see the power he had."
"Obviously that spell failed eventually," I said.
"And left a valley that you can settle," Guldrim said looking at the south wall of the valley. "You have strong walls that will prevent anyone from sneaking up on you."
"You managed," I pointed out.
"We had to march down the valley, and few would dare to climb into it. We climbed down last night and camped at the base of the western wall of the valley," Guldrim said.
I stood there in shock. "You walked for half a day to get here? That means this valley goes back for several miles. I can't imagine it being that large."
"Wizards," Guldrim said gruffly. "They did far worse to the landscape. At least you know. And I can say that there are at least four more meadows this size or larger as you travel to the west."
"What about the streams that feed this river?" I asked. "We know of one just on the other side of that strip of trees, but we also believe there is at least one hot spring."
"Four streams feed this river. The closest one you know. There is one hot spring that feeds a stream on the bluff north of the valley. The other two come from the west," Guldrim said. "Now, are you willing to trade your wool with us after you shear the sheep?"
"Do you want it as thread, cloth or just raw wool? It will take time to process," I said.
Guldrim snorted. "Our women have forced us to allow them to work in the mines so they might have something to do. Our outpost has been starving for food and clothing. They will be very happy."
"What do you offer?" I asked.
"We have been mining since the fall of the empire without having a place to sell or trade the ore too. We can build the plow your friend described, but that will take time. We can also provide anything else you might need," the dwarf said.
"Ron?" Heather called out. "Your talk got serious. What's the subject?"
"They are offering us a trade for the wool of five sheep and some future considerations. What do we need immediately?" I asked.
"Spikes," Al said. "It would be a lot better if we had some spikes we could use to help stabilize the wall we are building. We could nail some crosspieces into place and that would hold it up."
I turned to Guldrim. "Our most pressing need is for metal nails or spikes. Preferably ones that are fairly long, as we are doing some building and could use them to help secure what we are making."
"Apprentice work," Guldrim said with a snort. "But welcome as it will give the smiths some practice. We can deliver some in twenty days. Will you have the wool by then?"
"Gertrilla, can we shear the sheep in the next few days," I asked.
"We probably should," she said. "It's almost summer. Why?"
I turned to Guldrim. "We'll have the wool ready. I'm not sure how we'll set it up to be transported. We are still getting everything together."
"We'll be back then," Guldrim said as he turned and walked over to Roldulm. The two dwarves whispered briefly and then turned and marched off to the west. I sank to my knees as they followed the river out of the meadow.
Chapter 18: Shelter from the Storm
My friends remained silent until the dwarves had vanished from sight. The instant they could no longer be seen I was swarmed.
"Ron, what are we getting?"
"Ron, where are they from?"
"Ron, are they really friendly?"
Everyone seemed to have a question. I could not track who was speaking and finally raised my hand for silence. "Please, slow down," I said.
Heather grabbed me and threw me into the water. She followed up by pouncing on me and holding me so my head was barely above the water. "You have to tell us everything! All we understood was the little bit you told us directly."
I nodded. "Very well, I'll try. To start with the dwarves were actually searching for the monster."
"Why?" Lydia asked. "I can't imagine why they wanted to know where it was."
"Well, the creature was some kind of magic creation from the time of the empire. They told me that it had trapped them in their mine outpost for two thousand years until it vanished just a few days back," I began.
"Oh," Lydia responded. "So by killing it."
"We allowed them to exit their mines for the first time in two thousand years. And it does appear they are grateful. They are going to make us a new plow," I began.
"It won't be perfect, but it should help a lot. It will be all metal, wheeled, and have the ability to cut five furrows at the same time. As long as we don't break the plowshares, we should be able to get a lot more land ready. And from what Roldulm said there are several more meadows to the west we can expand to," Natalie said.
"If we do, I suggest we leave the cattle here and we move. That way we are upstream from them," I said. "Anyway, they are going to make us a new plow in the hope that we'll be able to offer them grain next year. Verval, we definitely will want to plant any winter wheat we have available."
"Will the mill be ready?" he asked.
"We need to build a raft to get the stones across the river. And we need to build the wall. I'm sure we can get it done, but not right away," I said.
"But you also said something about wool?" Gertrilla asked.
"Yes, the wool of five of our sheep for some spikes we can use in building," I said. "That way we can build a stronger wall."
"Do we really need it?" Jeff whined. "It’s taking a lot of effort."
"Hopefully we never do," I replied. "But it’s better to have it and not need it than have creatures like those Aztec Orcs invade because we failed to build it."
Jeff shivered. "Enough said."
I looked to return to swimming, but a sudden gust of wind blowing through the valley chilled my body. I looked to the west and could see clouds on the horizon.
"Is that?" Aine asked.
"A storm is coming," Joelia said almost robotically. "We need shelter."
"What can we expect?" I asked as I ran for my clothing. "This is a late spring storm."
"High winds, some rain, "Joelia said. "Probably lightning, but I'm not sure that will be a danger in the valley if we shelter close to one of the walls."
"Gertrilla, we need to get the cattle into the woods. Are there woods for the sheep to shelter in?" I asked.
"I already moved them near the bamboo forest," Haydee said. "The grass was thicker there. They should move into the bamboo on their own, it’s the only shelter on that side of the river."
"We'll need to build a barn as soon as we can. That's something we need to consider. We need to develop a way to cut logs into planks. We have saws that
would work, but no way to hold them while we cut through them," I said.
"I'll come up with something," Al confirmed. He had already thrown his pants on and was struggling to get into the linen shirt. "Meanwhile, we need to move our goods to they are as sheltered as possible."
"The wind is from the west," Joelia said. "The goods are against the north wall and close to the grove to the west. All we can do is cover them with any spare hides we have."
"Mary, what about Thom's tannery? Is there anything left out at the moment?" I asked.
"No," Mary said. "He keeps everything up against the cliff."
"The hide might get wet, but that won't damage it," Thom shouted. "I've already treated the inside, and the fur will shed water. The water just might slow the process right now."
"That storm is moving fast," Esme said in an awestruck voice. "We don't have much time."
I looked up and could see that the storm was visibly moving towards us. "Get boots on, grab any other clothing and run for the trees!" I shouted as I sat down to pull my boots on. The grass scratched at my bare legs, but I ignored that as I rushed to get my boots over my feet.
The kids were the first to take off running. Al and Verval were after them almost immediately. I stood up to run and remembered the injuries to Jeff and Natalie's legs. I looked around to see that Konstanzia was helping Jeff hobble across the meadow. Esme had stayed near Natalie, but the young coed surprised both of us as she took off running.
"She's been healing for months," I pointed out when Esme frowned. "We shouldn't be too surprised."
"I wanted to help her," Esme muttered as we took off running. We were the last to start running across the meadow. I looked up to see that the clouds were definitely over the valley.
The gusts of wind were irregular, but when they came they nearly swept me from my feet. I did have to catch Dafalia after one gust knocked her down and carried her several feet across the meadow. When I did I could see that Mary had a tight hold on Jesame and Lawus was now carrying Thom. The other children were hunched over as they continued to race for the trees.
The cattle and goats of our herd had already retreated to the shelter of the trees when we finally reached the grove. The gusts were becoming more frequent but the trees diminished their power. I looked back over the meadow to the cultivated fields on the eastern edge. "Our fields will be ruined," I mourned.
"We watered them this morning," Verval pointed out. "Before you called for a day of rest. And I can feel rain coming. If it’s not too hard the fields will be fine. But we do need to find if this happens regularly. A storm like this when we have plants sprouting could ruin a crop."
I looked up to see that the clouds were now overhead. "It came in fast," I said. "That surprises me."
I could see that Kariy and Ximenia were throwing a few spare bedrolls over our collection of barrels. They had already pushed everything up against the valley wall and put the fire out. The others were huddling in groups among the trees. Lydia waved for me to join one group.
The trees blocked most of the wind, so I was able to struggle over to the group and sit down. Heather and Cimbra immediately came over to sit by me and cuddle with me under a pair of bedrolls. "Ron?" Heather asked. "Is this normal?"
"It could be the storm of the century," I muttered. "We just don't know enough. But it does prove that we need to build shelter for us soon."
"How?" Al asked. His voice was full of self-pity. "What kind of house do we build in this place?"
I looked at everyone and could see them all looking at me. "Long term I'm still hoping we find clay that we can use to make bricks," I said. "Brick or stone is better than wood since it won't burn if a spark from the fire happens to escape whatever fire pit we put in. But if we have to, we'll build a log cabin."
"A what?" Verval asked.
"I can remember pioneers used them where we came from," I said. "Basically you build a large rectangular structure using large logs. You fill the gaps between each log with mud and rocks. We'd need to come up with a way to put in a roof, and it would probably require everyone working, but it would be the fastest way to build something. But it would also probably mean we all live together the first winter, unless we have a mild one and time to build a second. You don't want to build one if the ground is frozen."
Verval looked surprised. "It would work, and I can believe it might be easier. But we have more farming to do, and you want the wall built first."
"We need it," I said as the wind started howling louder. We could hear rain falling. It was not as hard as I feared. I risked looking out into the meadow and could see that the rain was falling nearly sideways due to the force of the wind.
Heather leaned against me as she looked at the meadow. "I'm glad we hadn't cut down these trees," she said softly.
"We'll leave these trees up," I said. "It might mean we have to look for wood, but I think we'll need this band of trees as a shelter for now. After the storm we should bring all of our stores under the trees."
"Will they be damaged?" Lydia asked.
I looked over at Verval. The farmer frowned. "I've never seen a storm quite like this. I think our stores will be fine. They are covered and many of the barrels are enchanted. But we might see some damage, and our meal tonight will be cold."
"I can live with that," I replied. "Is everyone here though?"
Lydia giggled. "Always checking on everyone. Yes Ron, everyone is here and huddled under a bedroll. It looks like we'll be here for a while. I just hope the trees keep the rain from reaching us."
"Could we be washed away?" Ximenia asked. Her voice sounded panicked. I looked for her and realized that it was already quite dark.
"We shouldn't have a problem," I replied. "The ground slopes toward the river, so the only way we'd see enough water to cause a problem would be if water fell from the bluff. I expect that the bluff slopes towards the north so we won't see much."
"Why do you think that?" Krysbain asked.
I pointed upward even though I wondered if he could see me. "If the bluff sloped toward the valley we'd have more waterfalls. I expect that the waterfall to the west includes the water from the bluff."
"I hadn't thought about that," Krysbain admitted. "And I hadn't realized that this place was subject to summer storms like this one."
The wind howled above the trees as the storm intensified. Cimbra and Heather pressed their bodies against mine as the temperature seemed to drop. I thought about the herds and sighed. "I hope all the animals will be alright," I shouted.
The cattle and sheep will shelter in the trees," Gertrilla said. "I'm sure the dogs will join them. I can't say how the chickens and rabbits will do."
"I already had built an enclosure for the chickens. They'll be fine. The rabbits are sheltered to the west on a slab of granite. I had not finished an enclosure, but they should be out of the wind and rain," Dafalia called out.
I felt Heather clinging to me. "Make it stop Ron," she begged. "Please!"
My blond love sounded panicked. I put my arms around her and whispered in her ear as the storm spent its fury on the valley.
Chapter 19: The Haze of Summer
The storm continued for hours. Everyone remained huddled in the trees as we waited for the wind to finally die down. Rain came at intermittent intervals and never seemed to fall hard. I held my loves and listened until exhaustion finally dragged me to sleep.
I woke when warm sunlight struck my face. I opened my eye and could see the sun rising over the eastern end of the valley. Heather was spooned against my back. I noticed that Cimbra was missing and sat up to look around.
At first I thought Cimbra had run off, but once my eyes adjusted to the sunlight I could see her clearing dirt from the area where we usually laid our fire. She appeared to be the only other person awake so I unwound from Heather's embrace and moved to join her.
She looked up as I approached. "It might be good to get dressed," she noted.
I looked down and realized that o
ther than my boots I had not pulled on any clothing the day before during our mad rush to shelter. Sighing I looked around. "Do we have anything that's dry?"
"For you?" Cimbra asked merrily. "But I like what I see."
"Cimbra," I said allowing my fatigue and exasperation to set the tone.
"The bedrolls over our goods kept them dry, and I found several packs with clothing. I think some might actually be yours," Cimbra said pointing to the stack of barrels and packs.
I sighed and started to walk over to the packs. I was about halfway to them when Cimbra's right hand touched my bare shoulder. "Ron, are you mad at me?" she asked shyly.
"I'm tired," I said. "The storm might have ruined the crops. I have no idea if any of the herd died or ran off. We need to build a better shelter, but we need the wall built as well. There is too much to do, and we are going to struggle with how few people we have."
"I've tried to help," Cimbra said.
I put my arms around Cimbra and pulled her in for a hug. As I held her I pressed my lips to hear. "Love," I whispered. "You help every day. I have never denied that. I'm just tired. None of us slept well last night, but we will have a lot to do this morning."
Cimbra put her arms around me and returned the kiss. She held me close for several moments until I could feel drops falling onto my shoulder. I pushed her away and could see tears glistening in her eyes.
"Heather said," she said with a sob. "Heather said that you loved me and would never hurt me. She said that she had grown to love me and would always share you. I couldn't believe it. I was going to ask if I could leave the valley because I thought I'd never be with you fully."
"I'd never allow you to wander alone," I said firmly. "You mean too much to me."
"I know that now," Cimbra said. "But it was so hard to believe that you could love me."
I shrugged and moved to start checking the packs. At first all I was finding were scraps of leather and linen, but in the third pack I checked I found my original pants and shirt from the time I had boarded the elevator. They were stained, but I sat on a barrel and worked to put them on.
The pants did not want to stay on my hips, even though I tightened the belt and the shirt was tight. I finally left the buttons on the shirt undone as I rose to join Cimbra in clearing the fire pit. "Do we have any dry firewood?" I asked.