by Logan Jacobs
To absolutely no avail, it seemed.
Suddenly, a warm, soft hand on the back of my neck stirred me from my thoughts.
“You have a very serious expression on your face,” Jemma murmured into my ear, and the auburn-haired woman started to massage the back of my neck and shoulders, right in that sweet spot where the tension knotted them up.
“That feels nice,” I sighed.
“I will keep going,” she promised as she swung a leg over the log I sat on and plopped down. “What are you thinking about?”
“Just trying to figure out a solution to our tunnel problem.” I shrugged. “I don’t feel comfortable sending anyone back down there without solving it. We don’t know how moist the ground could be, or when another cave-in could happen.”
“They rely on you, now,” Jemma pointed out as she nodded toward Nadir and Lezan. “Just as we all do.”
“How do you feel about that?” I asked her curiously.
Jemma tilted her head in hesitation for a moment before she flicked her chartreuse eyes back over to me.
“I love it.” She grinned. “When we first met them, I will admit, I was not sure they could ever be a part of our camp. Mostly because Lezan attacked me in that tree. She was absolutely relentless.”
“She’s a feisty little savage, that one,” I chuckled.
“Very true,” Jemma replied. “But now, they feel to me the same way Mira does. A part of our people, and I’m very happy they will soon be having your babies.”
“I’m glad,” I sighed.
“And, Ben, if they are a part of our people, just like the rest of us are, you must help defeat the orcs on this island,” Jemma murmured. “I do not think it will be easy to just steal the egg away from them. I think they will battle us the moment they find it is gone. We must have the advantage.”
Her eyes were far away as she spoke, and I could tell she thought not only of our current issue with the orcs, but also of the many battles they’d waged on her home island, before the wargs had all but destroyed it.
I thought over her words for a moment.
Whether or not she was right, it was probably a good idea to go into this robbery with enough troops for a battle. If all they had to do was stay in the tunnel, and there was no giant fight over the egg, then that was the best-case scenario.
But it would have been idiotic of me to lead my women in there when we were ill prepared.
“You’re right.” I smiled at her. “First things first, though. We have got to figure out how to make those tunnels safer for everyone.”
Jemma fell silent as I retreated back into my thoughts.
Seconds later, it hit me. Jemma must have been my muse, or something, because the very presence of the tall, thin woman made my brain put two and two together all of a sudden.
“We need to use the wood to reinforce the tunnel!” I gasped.
“I do not understand,” Jemma replied slowly as she stared at me in confusion.
“It’s something they do back where I come from,” I told her. “I can’t believe I didn’t think of this solution before. This place is full of trees.”
“What will you do?” she asked.
I turned toward the rest of the women and clapped my hands to get their attention.
“Everyone, we need to get some sleep!” I announced. “We have a shit ton of work to do in the morning.”
“I suppose you are right, Ben,” Nadir sighed.
The women broke apart and all scattered to their separate sleeping quarters. Some in tents, some on the ship, and many of the raccoon women outside under the twinkling blanket of bright white stars. Jemma crawled into bed beside me and curled up by my side, and the woman was fast asleep within minutes.
I was not so lucky. My brain was so excited it had gone nearly haywire with all sorts of racing thoughts.
The next morning, I led them all into the forest on the edge of the ravine so we could harvest lumber and cut the trees into the long, thin planks we would need in order to reinforce the tunnels the way miners did.
Jemma, Mira, Sela, and the other women who’d been with me for a while helped to show Nadir and her people how to cut down the trees and harvest the usable lumber from them. The crude axes and daggers Lezan, Nadir, and the rest of the women carried wouldn’t do much good against the thick, enormous trunks of the redwood-like trees, so they borrowed some sea glass swords from aboard our ship and used those instead.
The process to harvest lumber from the big red trees took much longer than it ever had before, because the trunks were much thicker than the trees on Jemma’s island. Thankfully, though, none of my crew was a weak human. Between George, the strong and crafty raccoon-women, my dragon-kin warriors, and the nimble and deft deer-women, we were able to do more work in one day than a group of human loggers could do in several days. By the time we’d gathered enough trunks and cut them into usable pieces of lumber, the sun was already about to set, and we still had the nearly hour-long hike to get back to the beach.
I stared at our piles of big, long pieces of wood. Each piece was about six feet long, two inches wide, and an inch thick. As I looked at them, I decided it was time to call it a day. In all the excitement I’d had after the solution had come to me the night before, I hadn’t really stopped to give anyone a break.
“Alright, everyone, let’s call it a day,” I announced. We were all tired and sweaty, with achy muscles, but the women seemed disappointed when I told them it was time to stop.
I couldn’t blame them. When I got an idea in my head, it seemed absolutely ludicrous to stop right in the middle of carrying it to fruition, but we would have a terrible time trying to fix everything in the dark of night.
Still, as soon as the sun peeked up over the ocean again the next morning, we were all right back at it. In fact, I wasn’t even the first person to wake up in the camp, to my absolute surprise. Nadir and Lezan beat me to the punch, and I found the two women chowing down on some raw fish for breakfast when I woke up.
Lezan offered me her headless fish with a grin when I sat down beside them, but I shook my head quickly.
“Sushi’s not really my thing,” I told her.
“Sushi?” she asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Raw fish,” I explained. “Some people where I’m from, see it as a delicacy. Me… not so much. I like my fish cooked if I can help it.”
“Strange.” Lezan shrugged, but it was a completely non-judgmental gesture.
“So, Ben, what is the plan with these massive pieces of wood we have carved?” Nadir asked curiously. “I do not understand yet.”
“We’re going to use them sort of like a brace,” I explained. “It’s actually a good idea to put in all the tunnels, just in case. You never know when one of them is going to break down or have another cave-in. You put the wood against the dirt walls to hold it together in case it’s no longer structurally sound.”
Nadir tilted her head as she considered this prospect.
“That is certainly clever,” she said after a long moment. “I am happy about carrying your child. None of my ancestors thought of this before. I wonder why?”
“You guys don’t exactly have the tools to make lumber,” I told her. “You just didn’t have the technology.”
“Now, we do.” The woman grinned earnestly. “Thanks to you, Ben.”
“True,” I chuckled.
I gave the rest of the women about fifteen more minutes of sleep, and then I wandered through the camp and ship and woke them all up as gently as I possibly could.
Although, when Lezan decided it was her duty to help me, that gentle wakeup call turned into a screech no one had expected. Begrudgingly, the women rose, and a few threw glares in Lezan’s direction for their rude awakenings, but most went straight for their breakfasts, ready to fuel up and get started with the day.
We all finished our breakfasts hurriedly, gathered our harvested lumber, and headed down into the tunnel on the other side of the ravine. Since we had
n’t gathered enough lumber to line the entirety of the tunnel, I decided that, for now, it was best to save it for the problem areas we encountered. If I’d had days or weeks on my hands, I would have been able to get enough lumber for the whole tunnel, and then my mind would have been put completely at ease.
But we didn’t have an unlimited amount of time. We’d already spent an extra two days between the cave-in and gathering the lumber. Who knew how much time we actually had left before the dragon egg hatched?
“Mira, Sela, and Lezan, I need you guys to go scout out the orcs,” I turned and told the three women. “We need to know how far along they are in their rebuilding process. If they’re anywhere close to being done with the ship repairs, then we’re going to have to work through the night to make sure this tunnel is done before they decide to set sail.”
“If they look like they are about to run off with the treasure, I will rip their throats out,” Lezan growled menacingly.
I chuckled and tapped her shoulder proudly.
“I know that’s what you would like to do,” I replied. “So would the rest of us. But if we rip their throats out now, we might not be able to get to the treasure.”
“You are right.” Lezan deflated like a kid who’d just been told she couldn’t have a second cookie. “It sounds fun, though. I would like to take a long drink of their orc blood.”
“It’ll probably taste like shit.” I shrugged. “But when we raid them, be my guest. Now, go, and hurry. I don’t want to waste any more time unnecessarily.”
I watched the three women set out across the plains with weapons in hand. It made me a little nervous to send them out on their own, but I knew I couldn’t go with them. I was needed here at the tunnels to make sure there wasn’t a second cave-in.
“Alright.” I turned back to Nadir and the rest of her women. “So, how do you guys normally go about this?”
Nadir quirked a confused eyebrow at me.
“We move the dirt,” she replied, as if it was supposed to be obvious. “And we keep moving the dirt until our way is clear.”
“Okay,” I laughed. “I think I might know what the beginnings of our problems are. So, here, let me show you a different way of doing it. If you don’t mind?”
Nadir shrugged, and I gently took the crude shovel from her hands. It wasn’t exactly Home Depot level good, but it was an awful lot better than having to work with my hands. I didn’t have time to try and make an entirely new set of shovels and tools for all of us, since we were on a time crunch with the orc ship. If they finished their repairs before we were ready with the tunnel, we were as good as screwed.
I really hoped Mira and her scout team came back with good news. Like, say, telling me the orcs’ mast was still hanging halfway off the backend of their ship. I could really get behind that problem.
“Everyone, I want you to keep your eyes and ears peeled,” I announced as I started to head down into the tunnel, but when I was met with a plethora of strange and confused looks, I realized I probably ought to explain myself. “I just mean, be ready for another cave-in. If you see anything that looks suspicious, or you hear anything out of the ordinary, please let me know immediately. We don’t want to get trapped down here. Or worse.”
Half the women gulped heavily at my last two words, but they all nodded their understanding.
We headed down into the dark of the tunnel, lit only by a bouquet of the fireflies that Nadir carried with her.
By the time we approached the spot where the cave-in happened, we were all ready and anxious to get this show on the road.
First, we started by carting out all of the dirt that had fallen, along with rocks, when the tunnel had nearly collapsed. Removing all of the debris was a slow process, since we needed to make sure to brace the lumber against the walls and ceiling as we went to avoid a secondary cave-in in the exact same area.
Nadir and her women had brought the buckets they used to cart out the dirt in with them, and we started an assembly line to take the dirt out and pile it near the entrance. When we filled one bucket, one of the women would run it down to the next, about a half a mile away, and so on and so forth, until we’d dumped the dirt outside the tunnel and had a fresh bucket to fill up.
Once we’d cleared all of the debris, we were faced with a massive wall of dirt. The sides of the tunnel had been reinforced with the lumber we’d harvested, but I was still a little nervous about what we might encounter when we started digging now.
“Here, let me,” I told the women. “I’ll get it started and just make sure we’re safe to dig.”
They nodded and stepped back, so I hoisted the rock shovel up and took a small chunk right out of the very center of the dirt.
And then I waited a few seconds to see if it was still stable. The dirt was moist, but it was thick and heavy, so I didn’t think it would cave-in again.
I took another few scoops out, growing my hole bigger and bigger, until I was satisfied we hadn’t hit another rough patch.
“Alright, we can all dig now,” I told them. “Just be careful.”
We kept digging that way for about another half a mile, and judging by how far it had been from the ravine to the orc encampment before, I was pretty sure we didn’t have too much further to go.
And that was when I hit a soft patch of dirt so thick with moisture it was nearly mud.
“Shit,” I muttered as the thick sludge started to pour down the wall of dirt.
“Oh, no!” Nadir gasped and stepped back in terror.
The other women squealed and shifted backward, and they craned their necks to look above them and see if the tunnel was about to cave-in there, too.
“It’s okay,” I reassured them. “We just need to be careful here and reinforce the walls with some of our lumber. That’s what it’s here for, remember?”
Nadir nodded slowly and came forward once more.
The spot I’d hit didn’t seem to be too bad off, but I wanted to be careful. So, I slowly started to clear away some of the mud, and I plopped it into buckets with thick, wet splurches. When the hole was about the size of a soccer ball, I motioned for the woman to bring some of the lumber forward.
I used three pieces and formed a triangle shape, and as the hole grew, I widened the triangle and reinforced every part of the walls so we didn’t risk another cave-in. Eventually, the hole was big enough that it matched the rest of the tunnel, and we had some triangle supports against it.
Quickly, we built out our reinforcements to fill more tunnel space, and we made sure all of the muddy parts of the wall were solidly built. The wood served to hold everything together, but I still found myself wishing we had time to make some cement, or some other sort of material I could slap against the wall and forcibly keep it in place with.
The wood was sturdy, though, and I knew it would hold for the next few days. And that was all the time we needed.
We got another quarter of a mile or so before a cry started up behind us. It was quickly followed by running footsteps and heavy pants, and then Mira, Sela, and Lezan appeared from the dark depths behind us.
“You’re back!” I grinned. “What did you find out?”
The women stopped in front of me and doubled over as they panted heavily. Mira put up a hand to indicate she needed to pause, and she sucked in a few shaky, deep breaths.
“Okay…” she finally panted out. “We have just… run… the whole way… down these tunnels… I do not advise it.”
“Good to know,” I laughed and looked at the rest of the women. “Ladies, let’s plan not to run down these tunnels, got it?”
A few chuckles came up from the crowd, but most of the women were too focused on our three scouts to even register my joke.
Finally, Mira, Sela, and Lezan had regained their breaths, and the three stood up straight and squared their shoulders.
That was when I noticed Mira’s sword had dried blood on the end of it, but she caught my stare and quickly shook her head.
“We en
countered one of those tunnel moles near the ravine,” she told me quickly. “It was coming out for some sunshine or a drink of water, possibly. I decided it was best to slay the beast. One less monster for us to have to contend with.”
“Very understandable way of thinking,” I replied. “So, what about the orcs? How much time do we have?”
“Not much,” Sela growled. “For an army of stupid, fat men, they are able to build rather quickly. Their sail has already been mended. We think it will only be another two days or so before they are able to fix their masts.”
“Were they harvesting lumber?” I frowned.
“Not as of yet,” Mira replied. “But I do not think it will take them long to start. They do have quite the trek to get to the trees, since they have to cross the ravine, so it might take them some time. And it does not appear they have many tools with them, which also buy us a little more time.”
“And the dragon?” I asked. If the egg had hatched before we got to the orcs, then I didn’t know what we would do. I wasn’t sure what to expect out of that pretty silver egg. The dragon could hatch and be like a newborn puppy, with closed eyes and deaf ears, or it could hatch and be a full-fledged dragon, already able to breath fire and do all sorts of terrifying things.
“The egg has not hatched yet,” Mira replied, “but we noticed it wobbling. I think it will be soon, Ben.”
“Shit,” I breathed. “The fact those bastards have already fixed the sail doesn’t make me happy. And if the egg hatches too fast… We’ve got to finish the tunnel, stat.”
There wasn’t really anything I could do about it, except make us all work that much faster. At this rate, we’d need to finish the tunnels by the end of the day so we could attempt the raid within the next twenty-four hours. It was probably best to do it under the cover of night, too, so that bought us even less time.