by James Wymore
"Doesn't help us here," Bowen said.
"What if we divert the stream?" Elwood erased his wall and Bowen's hypothetical trench with a swipe of his finger. Then he drew a new line over the top of the peak and down the other side. "If we can get the stream to go over or through this peak somehow, how far will the next stream be?"
"Another two leagues," Bowen said. He was scratching his beard again.
Elwood drew a new wall with his finger on the far side of the closer spring.
"We need a pump," Bowen said.
"Can you build one of those?"
"I haven't, before. But I've seen one. They used one in Southwall during the flood season when I was younger. Worked like a bellows, with goats turning a big wheel. We could divert the stream back this far, and we'd only have to lift it a hundred feet to get over the saddle." He wiped out the old stream and drew a line back toward the houses. Then he extended it up over the peak.
"Brings the water very close to home," Elwood said.
Bowen nodded. "So we better not lose the wall."
Chapter Thirteen
If you don't get that roof on soon, you'll be getting mighty cold sleeping out here," Jewel said with a smile to the men leaning against the walls of the new barn. "Mighty convenient, her getting a new barn just for the wedding," one man grumbled.
"I thought Elwood was supposed to be the general," another added.
Jewel pretended she didn't hear them as she crunched through the snow toward the kitchen. She was happy to see Elwood waiting along her path.
"Isn't it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?" he teased.
"In Winigh, we make our own luck. And somebody must have called in some big favors to get me you." He gave her a small kiss.
"Doesn't look like the barn's going to be done," he said.
"It'll be done. I'll just send some lads over to help with the thatch once they get the framing up."
"I think he was right. You make a better general than me."
"I don't know anything about war. I can be your quartermaster."
"It's settled then. You're in charge."
She took his hand and pulled him toward the big house. "Several people tried to insist we have roast for the celebration, but I put a stop to it. I put Macey in charge of stew, because we don't have meat to waste."
"Macey's magic stew," he nodded. "Perfect wedding feast."
"Things are going well, but I wonder if they will keep up the pace after we're gone. Using the marriage inspired them enough to get everybody started. I just don't know how to keep them going when we're gone." She took a deep breath of freezing air.
"Maybe some rest will do them good," he said. "I know it will for me." He let go of her hand at the door.
"Don't want to join me in the kitchen?"
"I think I'll go check on Bowen." He gave her one quick hug before they parted.
The sun was near setting. Men were still tying down the roofing thatch when the women started decorating with lashed trusses and fanned rods. Soon everything was in place, and people began chatting as they waited in the new barn. Elwood strapped on his sword and tried to straighten his uniform. Months of farm labor had made his clothing match the wood. Macey produced a purple Selene cloak, which she fastened around his neck.
"So what do I do, exactly?"
"Just say what you feel in your heart," Macey said. "Make your promise loud enough so everybody can hear it."
"No candles, or wine, or rope, or anything?"
"Do you want any of those things?"
"Not really."
"Then hush and stand over there." She smiled and pushed gently against his elbow.
When he arrived beneath the lashed wood gazebo in the middle of the new barn, everybody's eyes turned to him. Elwood felt strange and uncomfortable as everybody continued to chat around him. When Bowen arrived, Elwood took a deep breath.
"Still here, I see," Bowen said with a nod. "Jewel said to give this back to you." He handed Elwood the ring.
"Did she say how long before she was coming?"
"Women never do."
A few minutes later, Macey brought Jewel in. Everybody moved out of her way so Jewel could join Elwood in the center structure. She had fabric cut like flowers woven into her hair. The big smile on her face seemed to make the room brighter.
In a few minutes, everybody in the room quieted down. Since they were all looking toward the middle, Elwood knew something was supposed to happen. Jewel just waited, grinning. Elwood looked at Bowen, who gave a little nod. They really expected him to just say something? The ugly monster of doubt was again ringing the alarm in his head. He refused to heed it.
"Without memories or ties, I found myself among wonderful people. Whatever my life may have been before, I cannot believe it to be any better than the one I have found now. This ring represents all I have left of my past. I give it to you, Jewel, as a symbol of my dedication. Take it with a warning. As long as we live, I will honor your words, as if I had sworn them. All oaths I have taken and all promises I will yet make are beneath the contract I make with you now. If death leaves us both alive forever, I will never leave you."
The room was silent. Women throughout began wiping tears from their eyes. Jewel was breathing hard, unable to smile through the emotions filling her. She took the ring and held it as she looked in his eyes.
"I waited all my life for a great purpose. I looked always forward to an unknown day. Now the day has come, and exceeded anything I dared imagine. Winigh has nothing to compare with the glory of Sel. Yet you have deigned to look on it as beautiful, and to favor me with your love. So I make you master of all I own, and of all I am. With the magic of my family's women, I name you my king."
He pulled her close and kissed her as all the families of Winigh cheered. When they stopped, everybody cheered again. An old man Elwood didn't recognize produced a guitar and began playing a lively tune. Elwood took Jewel's hands and began to dance. She followed his lead well. However, it was clear he knew how to dance and she was just adapting quickly. He didn't let curiosity break his expression, but the unknown skill definitely made him wonder. What kind of life must he have led that necessitated dancing? Once he started, he realized he knew many dances for all kinds of music, and even various occasions. What's more, without words, he could see in Jewel's expression that she was resisting the urge to ask him about it, too.
When the first song ended, other couples lined up. They all started dancing when the next song began. Nobody else knew any real steps, but they had a lot of fun. Somewhere in the mix of people around the edges talking and the people in the middle dancing, trays of drinks, bread, and hot stew began circulating. Without tables or chairs, people began eating where they stood, talking the whole time.
Eventually, Elwood could see that Jewel wanted a break. They finished the song and moved to the side, hand in hand. "It's too dark to leave in the sleigh tonight," Elwood said when he saw the black night behind one of the girls bringing in a tray of dried fruit. He had visions of trying to assemble a strange tent in the freezing dark of night along an unknown road.
"Of course," Jewel nodded. "We'll be staying in my cottage tonight.
Well, our cottage."
"It's only a couple of leagues to the site. Do we need to stay there at all?" he wondered.
"No. I just thought it would be fun."
"Have you ever camped in the winter before? It gets pretty cold."
"I don't think it will be a problem," she said with a half smile.
"So how long do we have to stay here?"
"We can go now if you want."
"Don't you want to eat first?"
"My house has a door to the storage room, remember?"
A wide grin stretched Elwood's face. "Do we need to make an announcement or something?"
"I think they'll figure it out," she said. She let go of his hand and walked right out the front door, as if she was heading to the kitchen to help out.
Elwood l
ooked around, briefly making eye contact with Bowen. Bowen nodded. Elwood returned it. Then he turned and followed Jewel out.
"I'm not sure I even know how to drive this thing," Elwood said the next morning, as they put several packages into the sleigh. His breath left long trails in the cold, early morning.
"What's to know?" Jewel asked. "You just sit in the chair and get the goats running."
"Goats aren't like horses," he said.
"They both have four legs and hooves," Jewel said. "They both have two eyes and two ears. They both have fur and eat plants."
"Okay, they are alike in some ways," he said. "But when it comes to pulling a sleigh, they are not alike. Goats are as likely to run the wrong way, if you can get them going at all."
"You'll figure it out," she said as she sat on the front chair and patted for him to join her.
"You already know how to drive one of these, don't you?"
"Of course. It's been my sleigh for years. Now it's your sleigh, too. So you get to drive it. Just be glad it's not our wagon. Sleighs are much easier."
Elwood took a deep breath. He pushed the lever over to lift the brake out of the snow. He waited for the goats to start, but they didn't seem to have the same idea he did. He said, "Ya." Nothing happened. "Go. Move. Start. A horse would be moving already."
Jewel just smiled at him. "If you take too long, people are going to come out here and ask what all the commotion is."
Elwood picked up the long stick with a small leather thong on the end and whipped one of the goats on the butt. It kicked and jumped, but with the other goat standing still the sleigh only turned to one side before coming back to rest. Elwood whipped the other one. It reared, but didn't right the sleigh. So he whipped them both twice and yelled, "Go!"
The goats started trotting forward slowly. Seeing the sleigh heading toward the nearby forest, Elwood commanded them to turn, then whipped the goat on the left. They veered slightly and made an arc. Finally Elwood surrendered and just whipped them both ten times in turn until they started going faster.
They often twitched to one side or the other and a couple of times the sleigh turned until it slid sideways on the skis.
Elwood tried not to curse at the stubborn beasts. After a while, he had the thing going on a straight course, then the path turned left. He whipped the outside goat, but the result wasn't enough. The sleigh hit a bank and turned over.
They slid to a stop. Jewel was laughing. Elwood had to employ all his self-control not to curse at the goats like a sailor.
They righted the sleigh and packed it up again. Then they sat back down and he offered the whip to Jewel.
"No thanks," she said.
He wasn't enjoying her smile as much now. After more whipping and calling out, he got the goats trotting at a nice medium speed again.
"See," Jewel said.
Elwood wagged his head. "Bowen always talks to them."
"It is easier than always whipping them," Jewel said. "Just say things you want when you whip them and eventually they will start figuring out what you tell them to do."
"Teaching goats," Elwood said. "Interesting."
"Why?" Jewel asked. She could see something in his expression.
"I was just thinking the other day how the people of Winigh are similar to goats in some ways. Not in a bad way. Just in the way they are hard to get together and direct."
"I see what you mean," Jewel said. "You are used to horses. You want to train them to be soldiers in the same way you train horses. But they are goats. So you have to train them a different way."
"Exactly," Elwood said.
"Goats have horns," Jewel said. "If you do train them, they are much better fighters, because they already come with a natural weapon."
"And what are the horns of the people of Winigh in this example?" Elwood asked.
"You aren't going to like it," Jewel said.
"Why? I need to exploit every possible advantage."
"Because," Jewel said, "our horns are our magic."
Chapter Fourteen
Please stay in the sleigh," Elwood said as the sleigh approached the wide opening. "Don't come anywhere near the ice. If I come running, get the sleigh moving before I get there." "Okay," Jewel said. She was playing with the ring on the thong around her neck. She slipped off one mitten and measured it against her fingers. Realizing it was hopelessly too big, she tipped it in the new light and admired the dazzling reflections in the yellow gem. "But I don't think there are any Hyzoi hiding in that little stream." She pronounced it 'hi-swah.' Elwood thought it made her cute. "It's empty and covered with snow now. You'll have a hard time even finding it."
"Left, left!" He whipped the goat on the right, trying to teach them to follow his voice. "It shouldn't be so hard for them to just follow the road."
"Goats don't use roads," Jewel said. "They make their own paths, through the trees and rocks." The sun had come over the peak and found a space between the clouds, so her breath wasn't showing. The ground was reflecting the light, so it became hard to see.
"Bowen said there's a spring."
"It's on the side of the rocks. But it's dry this time of year. Sometimes when the sun's high, we can break the ice off and water will flow. In winter, it's not enough water to reach across the meadow and go over the side of the hill."
The sleigh entered a long, sliver-shaped meadow. The hills on the left had an opening where the water had carved an exit to the west. On the right was brown, rocky cliff rising up to meet the near noon sun just breaking over it.
"Right, you filthy monster. I said right!" Despite whipping the left goat repeatedly, he couldn't overcome their urge to trot up the hill on the left.
"Give them a minute," Jewel said. "They are used to stopping here."
"Do they graze here?" he asked.
"No. I just always stop here before getting water because I like the view." As the sleigh came to a stop without any prompt from him, she waved one hand over the side of the rail. The hills rolled down between crags, offering a winding path for the stream. Covered in snow, the descending bumps stretched all the way to the sea.
Elwood pulled the brake down into the icy snow and jumped out of the cab, eyes constantly glued to the sweeping view. The crusty top layer held him for a few seconds, then he sunk up to his knees. He began pushing toward the hill when Jewel interrupted. "Don't forget the goats."
Elwood smiled and went over to the panting beasts, ruffling the shaggy fur behind their horns and giving them raisins from his pocket, as he'd seen Bowen do.
When he turned back, he traced the switchback path of the stream. He saw the small paths of other streams connecting below where it all turned south, below the steep cliffs. He estimated the distances in his mind. He could see the frozen ice where the stream turned to a waterfall over the steep cliffs to the south. The fall there saved Winigh, he knew. The Hyzoi could always get to it, but not up and over it. They were terrible climbers because their clawed hands and feet, webbed for swimming, lacked the finger strength to pull their heavy bodies up. It was more than a league around the wide cliffs to the cascading streams beneath him. This natural barrier had been impassible before. Not now. Whatever had extended the reach of the Hyzoi to take the south dam would let them easily come around these cliffs.
"So these streams are fed by the run-off of melting snow," Elwood said. "What is the flow rate in late summer and early fall?"
"Not much," she said, preferring her view of him to the natural wonder he was intent on. "We get enough rain to fill the streamlets off and on, but it runs dry by July. Besides collecting water here, we use these hills and meadow to grow potatoes."
Elwood nodded. Whatever extended the reach of the Hyzoi must have come about in autumn. That fit the timeline for Sel sending soldiers to try to hold the reservoir.
As he watched the sun touch a jutting rock exposed by the wind, he saw glistening water form where the snow nearest the dark surface had melted. This snow, the very stuff he was stand
ing in now, was the vehicle ordained to bring the Hyzoi up to kill everybody he knew, including his new wife.
For a moment, he let himself ponder throwing all this snow over the edge. Enough men and beasts could clear this meadow. However, the peaks rising to the north held more snow then all of Winigh could move in twenty years. The snow up there would melt into the earthy parts of the mountain, finding small cracks and fissures in the rock, until it gathered at the spring and popped out. It would travel across this meadow and down through the gap. He could see it all in his head, having studied, intimately, the course of the water he both hated and coveted in the forgotten grayness of his past. He could see where the mountain curved. Snow on the other side would join streams north of here.
Elwood carefully examined the evidence of the land. Bowen's plan was good. If they diverted this one stream away, they could build a wall across this meadow from cliff to cliff. It would give them the bulk of the meadow for their own armaments and shelters, creating a bottleneck at the far path. During pauses in battle, they could dump the dead bodies over the side if needed. He looked up at Jewel. Like all of the town's people, she was so innocent. They would balk at the idea of throwing their precious dead over a cliff to make room for more fighting. They saw him as a general who could lead them to victory, but they did not know the cost of victory in war. When they did, he would no longer be a hero. They would think of him as a butcher. His only comfort would be in knowing they would still be alive to have those thoughts.
He turned to Jewel and said, "Let's go see the spring."
Later in the afternoon, they took the road north. The path began to narrow as it descended. Jewel said, "The snow helps now, but after it melts, this road is pretty bumpy."
"How far can we go safely?" he asked.
"The next meadow is the end. Whenever there is snow, anybody trying to cross triggers an avalanche and goes over the side."
The sleigh pulled into a small flat section. "Whoa!" Elwood called as he pulled the reigns. When the goats didn't respond, he pulled on the side brake. The sleigh turned, upsetting the goats, as it dragged the brake sideways through the snow. A few seconds later, the brake came entirely off. Then the goats stopped.