50 Zi'da 721
Dan swung himself up onto the seat of the front wagon, beside the driver who nodded to him. "You've been to this new settlement site before, they tell me," he said, jerking his thumb at the handful of Lightning Knights roaming up and down the line of wagons. "I'll look to you for directions."
Dan nodded back and stretched his neck to get a good view past the horse's head. "It isn't that far. Quicker in wagons than on foot though." He avoided looking at the knights and pointed off down the road instead. "It's that way a bit, until it veers off into the trees. Might not get the wagon through."
"Well, we have spare horses, we can log the path and drag them in."
"Fair enough." Dan folded his hands together before said anything he shouldn't about angering a forest being a foolish way to start a settlement that depended on it, and waited for the knights to give permission to head out. Now that the fields were all harvested, some of the farmers were being diverted to the new site, along with food and tools, and Dandelion found himself tagging along out of a morbid curiousity.
The order came finally, and the wagon driver picked up the reins and clucked his tongue at the horse. It plodded forward, and Dan braced himself against the seat as he felt the jolts from the rutted road hammering his backside. He pointed out the turn away from the river when they came to it and listened to the clucks and rumbles trail away behind him as the other wagon drivers steered their horses around the turn.
Now he was watching for the trail. He almost missed it, then hissed through his teeth and pointed urgently. "There. Careful, it's rough going." It looked different from last time. Wider, and there were gaps and stumps where trees had already been felled. The wagon driver swore under his breath and steered the horse off the road onto the track. The jolting got worse. The insects, of course, descended on them all the moment they veered into the woods. That was only to be expected. It also felt like they were being watched, and by more than the flies, though he couldn't tell from where or by what. They probably were, he figured. The forest was like that.
The wagons stopped in a manmade clearing a short distance inside the woods, and pulled into a circle beside a row of treetrunks. Dan jumped down from the wagon seat to join the others as they headed for the trunks. One of the escorting knights divided them into three task groups, one to carry the supplies up the hill, one to trim branches off tree trunks, and one to split trimmed trunks into rough planks.
Dan found himself assigned to make planks, which was better than tackling the slope repeatedly with heavy loads at least. He'd have prefered to be trimming, but he wasn't going to argue. He took a mallet, ready to hammer wedges into place.
One of the older, more experienced, labourers started a split by driving a small axe into the end of the first log. A wedge went into the narrow end of the split, which Dan applied the mallet to, and the split grew longer. Another wedge went in further along, and then another, each hammered to the sound of tearing wood as the log split apart. Finally it fell into two halves. The old labourer grinned, examined them, then turned one over and started another split to create quarters. Dan missed one blow. It hit the trunk and jarred his hands badly enough that he made sure not to do it a second time. The quarters went down into eighths - thin wedges suitable for fencing, plank walls, and roofs.
Dan put down his mallet and helped to carry and stack the new planks against the wagons ready for the supply haulers to carry up the hill. One of the planks stuck a splinter into his finger, and he winced. Examining the finger, he saw that the splinter was only in shallowly. he grasped it carefully with his other hand and eased it out, then sucked hard on the finger to ease the sting. He dropped the spinter itself onto the forest floor.
On the second trunk, Dan found herself setting the wedges as well as hitting them. The other more experienced labourer had been redirected to felling new trees. He tried to put it in too close to the narrow end of the crack, but it bounced out again and landed on his foot. He winced, and hurriedly picked it up and tried again. This time it stuck and the crack lengthened as he hit. He grabbed another wedge, pushed it in, and hit again. This time he didn't quite hit it straight, and as a result, the crack veered off the straight too, so that he found herself with a split that only went two thirds of the way down the trunk and then split off. The axeman rolled his eyes and started another crack at the other end to split the last third off. Dan winced and hit slower and more carefully. Maybe the odd bit could be used for firewood.
He got through the rest of that log eventually, but then he was switched onto carrying duty. He handed back the mallet, sure it was because he'd wrecked the log and they didn't want any more bad planks, and hoisted a sack onto his shoulder. He trudged it up the slope to find a lot of the root mat had been cleared back and post holes cut in the stone underneath. Half the hillock already had a rough palisade around it and more posts and fencing were going up as he watched. So was a long cruck house for shelter. As he looked, one of the uprights wobbled dangerously and began to fall. He hastily dumped his sack with a pile of others and ran to help. He got there just in time to shove it back where it should be before it brought down the upper half and the people working there. One of them waved, "Thanks! Hold it steady a moment, while we fix up here. Then we'll come get it nailed down!"
Dan nodded and braced hard earned muscles to hold it in place. It twisted like a loose tooth in his grip, as if the forest was trying to get rid of it, and a chill ran down Dan's spine. The stumps were regrowing. Not all the way, just enough to be taller and more jagged - like more teeth made of wood. Like the forest was becoming some kind of predator to take revenge on those who dared to wield the hated axes against it. Dan dug his feet into the dirt, his eyes and nerves alert for danger as he swept his gaze back and forth. No one else seemed to have noticed anything at all, they were working cheerfully and noisily on the building as if this was as safe as a well tended field.
A shiver went through him as the builders dropped down from the upper level and came to take over from him on the support. "Wonderful job, we'll be done in no time. Won't it be grand?"
All Dan dared to answer was a stiff, fearful, nod. Everything was telling him to run, to leave - and to go alone. He was of the wild and the wild wood knew him for - not perhaps a friend, he got the impression that the wood had no friends - but at least one who didn't delight in this destruction, who did his best to move through the wood as part of it rather than tear it apart and impose his will on it.
He took off at a steady trot as if to take up his carrying duties once more, waited until he was as out of sight as he was going to get, then abandoned any attempts at deception and simply ran for the open air. All around him now there was an ever-quickening thudding in the air, like a heart ramping up its pace with excitement and anticipation - and hunger.
The screams started the moment his foot touched the safety of the road, as if the forest had been waiting for him to do so. He turned in spite of himself, but all he saw was the forest closing in on itself, like a mouth swallowing down a treat. The budding settlement was gone as if it had never been there at all.
Filler Text, Filler Text
"Signed words" Spoken words
Dan swung himself up onto the seat of the front wagon, beside the driver who nodded to him. "You've been to this new settlement site before, they tell me," he said, jerking his thumb at the handful of Lightning Knights roaming up and down the line of wagons. "I'll look to you for directions."
Dan nodded back and stretched his neck to get a good view past the horse's head. "It isn't that far. Quicker in wagons than on foot though." He avoided looking at the knights and pointed off down the road instead. "It's that way a bit, until it veers off into the trees. Might not get the wagon through."
"Well, we have spare horses, we can log the path and drag them in."
"Fair enough." Dan folded his hands together before said anything he shouldn't about angering a forest being a foolish way to start a settlement that depended on it, and waited for the knights to give permission to head out. Now that the fields were all harvested, some of the farmers were being diverted to the new site, along with food and tools, and Dandelion found himself tagging along out of a morbid curiousity.
The order came finally, and the wagon driver picked up the reins and clucked his tongue at the horse. It plodded forward, and Dan braced himself against the seat as he felt the jolts from the rutted road hammering his backside. He pointed out the turn away from the river when they came to it and listened to the clucks and rumbles trail away behind him as the other wagon drivers steered their horses around the turn.
Now he was watching for the trail. He almost missed it, then hissed through his teeth and pointed urgently. "There. Careful, it's rough going." It looked different from last time. Wider, and there were gaps and stumps where trees had already been felled. The wagon driver swore under his breath and steered the horse off the road onto the track. The jolting got worse. The insects, of course, descended on them all the moment they veered into the woods. That was only to be expected. It also felt like they were being watched, and by more than the flies, though he couldn't tell from where or by what. They probably were, he figured. The forest was like that.
The wagons stopped in a manmade clearing a short distance inside the woods, and pulled into a circle beside a row of treetrunks. Dan jumped down from the wagon seat to join the others as they headed for the trunks. One of the escorting knights divided them into three task groups, one to carry the supplies up the hill, one to trim branches off tree trunks, and one to split trimmed trunks into rough planks.
Dan found himself assigned to make planks, which was better than tackling the slope repeatedly with heavy loads at least. He'd have prefered to be trimming, but he wasn't going to argue. He took a mallet, ready to hammer wedges into place.
One of the older, more experienced, labourers started a split by driving a small axe into the end of the first log. A wedge went into the narrow end of the split, which Dan applied the mallet to, and the split grew longer. Another wedge went in further along, and then another, each hammered to the sound of tearing wood as the log split apart. Finally it fell into two halves. The old labourer grinned, examined them, then turned one over and started another split to create quarters. Dan missed one blow. It hit the trunk and jarred his hands badly enough that he made sure not to do it a second time. The quarters went down into eighths - thin wedges suitable for fencing, plank walls, and roofs.
Dan put down his mallet and helped to carry and stack the new planks against the wagons ready for the supply haulers to carry up the hill. One of the planks stuck a splinter into his finger, and he winced. Examining the finger, he saw that the splinter was only in shallowly. he grasped it carefully with his other hand and eased it out, then sucked hard on the finger to ease the sting. He dropped the spinter itself onto the forest floor.
On the second trunk, Dan found herself setting the wedges as well as hitting them. The other more experienced labourer had been redirected to felling new trees. He tried to put it in too close to the narrow end of the crack, but it bounced out again and landed on his foot. He winced, and hurriedly picked it up and tried again. This time it stuck and the crack lengthened as he hit. He grabbed another wedge, pushed it in, and hit again. This time he didn't quite hit it straight, and as a result, the crack veered off the straight too, so that he found herself with a split that only went two thirds of the way down the trunk and then split off. The axeman rolled his eyes and started another crack at the other end to split the last third off. Dan winced and hit slower and more carefully. Maybe the odd bit could be used for firewood.
He got through the rest of that log eventually, but then he was switched onto carrying duty. He handed back the mallet, sure it was because he'd wrecked the log and they didn't want any more bad planks, and hoisted a sack onto his shoulder. He trudged it up the slope to find a lot of the root mat had been cleared back and post holes cut in the stone underneath. Half the hillock already had a rough palisade around it and more posts and fencing were going up as he watched. So was a long cruck house for shelter. As he looked, one of the uprights wobbled dangerously and began to fall. He hastily dumped his sack with a pile of others and ran to help. He got there just in time to shove it back where it should be before it brought down the upper half and the people working there. One of them waved, "Thanks! Hold it steady a moment, while we fix up here. Then we'll come get it nailed down!"
Dan nodded and braced hard earned muscles to hold it in place. It twisted like a loose tooth in his grip, as if the forest was trying to get rid of it, and a chill ran down Dan's spine. The stumps were regrowing. Not all the way, just enough to be taller and more jagged - like more teeth made of wood. Like the forest was becoming some kind of predator to take revenge on those who dared to wield the hated axes against it. Dan dug his feet into the dirt, his eyes and nerves alert for danger as he swept his gaze back and forth. No one else seemed to have noticed anything at all, they were working cheerfully and noisily on the building as if this was as safe as a well tended field.
A shiver went through him as the builders dropped down from the upper level and came to take over from him on the support. "Wonderful job, we'll be done in no time. Won't it be grand?"
All Dan dared to answer was a stiff, fearful, nod. Everything was telling him to run, to leave - and to go alone. He was of the wild and the wild wood knew him for - not perhaps a friend, he got the impression that the wood had no friends - but at least one who didn't delight in this destruction, who did his best to move through the wood as part of it rather than tear it apart and impose his will on it.
He took off at a steady trot as if to take up his carrying duties once more, waited until he was as out of sight as he was going to get, then abandoned any attempts at deception and simply ran for the open air. All around him now there was an ever-quickening thudding in the air, like a heart ramping up its pace with excitement and anticipation - and hunger.
The screams started the moment his foot touched the safety of the road, as if the forest had been waiting for him to do so. He turned in spite of himself, but all he saw was the forest closing in on itself, like a mouth swallowing down a treat. The budding settlement was gone as if it had never been there at all.
Filler Text, Filler Text
"Signed words" Spoken words
