Anxious, and pale faced, I sat at the table in Hag’s cabin with a wooden fork in my grasp. Hadn't realized where I'd picked it up, and I sat it back on the table. Across the room was retired athlete Ulrich, and against the wall beyond him were Aubrey, and her crew of two.

Regarding the local celebrity with reverence, on his maple wood seat, were these other prominent locals themselves, outside of Proctor and myself of course, and one of them raised their hand. The important woman sitting second from the end, Mayor Judith Jorn.

Next to Judith were her councilors George, Brunth, and Viv.

Judith waited quietly, her dark, mysterious gaze studied me, Proctor, and the other newcomers across the room. She glanced at Hag standing with her hands folded against the wall. Her glare scanned to the tanned man in front of us.

Numerous times the people of Moonlight under Judith’s leadership had suffered ambushes by monstrous beasts, and every time had left the village scarred. Proctor apparently knew this, and had educated me. The total losses counted into the dozens.

Now they had to contend with the imposition of a ‘System’, a word she’d likely scarcely dealt with before. Judith had the air of someone who’d been skeptical, and she was in the room with me to decide on her own who this person was who would lead the baseball effort, the thing which could ultimately determine her fate. She came to take my measure. It helped to see how someone she respected like Ulrich would regard me too.

Those who’d been lost to the monster attacks were some of the village’s finest hunters. Proctor had expressed to me he worried the village could reject us, or rather reject the idea of this proposed security perimeter. As in, ‘how dare you newcomer to arrogantly propose you have the solution to a problem which has devastated us for years’.

I detected a hint of condescension in Judith’s glare upon hearing Ulrich’s assertion I had plans to build a wall. Truth was, I hadn’t planned on that, but I’ll admit as soon as I’d heard him say it, I liked the idea.

“Building a wall, are we?” Judith said.

“Well, it isn’t the worst idea in the world,” I said. My tone held the blandness I’d intended, but inside my guts churned with nerves. Judith might’ve had an idea to keep me reined in by any means necessary should she be angry or resistant enough at whatever I’d proposed. It sounded as though I might be able to overcome it with help from the System itself, but the idea of that level of conflict still made me tense.

“When were you told this?” Judith said, turning her eyes back toward Ulrich. “This news about a wall?”

Ulrich grinned. “Got word the night before,” he said. “Indeed they’ve already begun building at Murphy Mountain.”

Judith’s expression remained flat. Hard to get a read on her.

“This is where you received the inspiration?” Judith said to me. “You’d seen Murphy Mountain start to build, and decided then?”

“Honestly, I had no plans for a wall,” I said. Might as well avoid playing coy.

“It’s true,” Proctor said. “He’d made no mention of such a thing to me, and he well would have if it were a part of his plans.”

“But upon hearing the idea, I have to say, it makes a load of sense,” I said. “What kind of wall are they building?”

Then my mind turned to Murphy Mountain. I remember that name in the League 17 table, and I could only guess if they were to be playing in our league, then geographically they must be close by. Not that it mattered. But, I also had to keep in mind, that village would also have a person like me who’d arrived from the modern world, taken one look at a marauding T. Rex, and thought ‘nope!’.

Good on them for having the wherewithal to build some kind of barrier around their place. I wondered about the size of Murphy Mountain though. How much wall were they going to have to build? Moonlight’s area was pretty dang big. To wall the whole thing would be a huge undertaking… and with medieval technology and know-how? Yikes.

“I cannot say,” Ulrich said. “What I was told by the men who made the ride, they said it was unlike anything they’d yet witnessed.”

“A stone wall?” Judith said.

Loud bangs rapped against Hag’s door. She rushed to open it, and found a group of men anxious to barge inside.

“What you want?” Hag shouted at the men.

“We’ve waited loads,” yelled back one of the men. “How long?”

“Close that door,” Judith commanded.

As soon as the yelling man saw Judith seated inside, he cowered away like a mouse. Hag slammed her door shut.

“The people is wanting seen,” Hag said. “You spend to long with this man.”

“The interviews take as long as they take,” I said. “We’re doing our best.”

“What kind of wall was being raised?” Brunth the councilor was just as curious as the rest of us.

Ulrich hesitated. His eyes scanned in such a way, it was as if he was searching for words.

“How could Murphy Mountain afford the stone?” Judith said. “Would be thousands. They don’t have the gold.”

Ulrich shook his head. “‘Twas not stone, Mayor,” Ulrich said. “No, pardon. Stone. Yet, smooth. All was one, they said.”

He frowned, and he came across as frustrated, as if articulating what he’d been told was incoherent.

Judith gazed at him with eyebrows raised. “You are not speaking sense,” she said. “All one stone?”

Oh! I put it together in my mind. I snapped my fingers, and looked at Proctor. “Concrete!” I said. “He’s talking about concrete.”

The others at the table stared at me like I was an alien. When I said the word, I seemed to have shaken Aubrey and Zane from their boredom. Chai, as per usual, appeared zoned out.

“Right,” Proctor said. He sounded incredulous.

“Is it even possible to build a concrete wall in this time?” I said to him.

“I can’t imagine,” Proctor said. “We don’t know who was placed in charge of that village’s team. With the System’s help, I should keep in mind, it’s possible. If they deemed it so, that they should have that technology… then it shall be.”

“Well, that’s what I want then,” I said.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

“How are you going to get concrete here?” Proctor said. “Do you even know how concrete is made? What ingredients you’d require?”

“Murphy Mountain has it,” I said. “If they have it, we can have it too. Right?”

“What do you suggest?” Proctor said. “We go to Murphy Mountain, and ask them to supply us with concrete?”

“Why not?” I said. “They’re from the modern world, like us. Why wouldn’t they help?”

“Aren’t they against you?” Aubrey said, piping up from the back wall.

“Exactly right,” Proctor said. “They’re a competitor. You need to alter your thinking. You’re not here to cooperate, or collaborate with people like you. You’re here to win. You’re here to beat the other teams, the other villages.”

Judith scowled. “I don’t know of this con… crete…” she said. “But, I loathe Murphy Mountain.”

“Truly vile,” Ulrich said. “All of them. May they stay on their own side of their smooth stone wall for all their days.”

Any notion I’d had about this medieval utopia where a bunch of us ‘moderns’ got together, and brought these stone age people up to date, was quickly quashed.

“Fine,” I said. “Then we steal the tech.”

“You seek to build a smooth stone wall here?” Ulrich said. “‘Twas thinking you’d wish for one sprung from wood. We have a great many trees.”

“A wall around Moonlight would take unknowable effort,” Judith said.

“And gold,” Brunth added. “Where would we find such wealth?”

“I believe I have a role there,” I said. “The System is interested in funding our efforts. Right, Proctor?”

“To an extent,” Proctor said. “I’m not sure you have a blank check.”

“I do not understand some of your words,” Judith said. “‘Tis discomfiting.”

The people in this era were tough to pin down. Every time I thought they spoke so simply, they also seemed to have a better vocabulary than I’d expected.

I waved my arms, because I realized we had reached a point of serious digression, and the crowd outside could soon morph into a mob.

“Anyway, anyway,” I said. “Back to the task at hand. Ulrich, we’re still going to need people to watch our backs. Even if we got a wall built, we’re still going to need people to staff it. You feel you’re up to that?”

Ulrich nodded, almost angrily. “Why else would I come?” He said.

“There’s no glory in what I’m asking our security personnel to do,” I said.

“My glory’s long passed,” Ulrich said. He stroked his chin contemplating what he’d just said, I assumed. An air of melancholy set about him. “This is my calling now.”

That was enough for me. I looked to my left and right.

“Anyone else have questions for him?” I asked.

All remained quiet.

“Alright,” I said. “As far as I’m concerned, you’re hired. And, apparently, we have means of helping your injured leg.”

“We do,” Proctor said.

“Excellent,” Ulrich said, and the gray clouds over his head must’ve lifted temporarily. “I’m glad for this.”

“See me tomorrow, midday, at the inn,” I said.

He smiled, and struggled to stand. Once he ambled up to the table, we shook, and he shuffled out into the loud hordes waiting for their turn.

Hag slammed her door shut behind him. We took a moment as a panel to have a breather.

“Two hired,” I said. “We’re off and running.”

“How many more do you seek?” Judith said.

“We can only afford so many,” Brunth said.

“Hold on. You’re not paying them, I am,” I said. “Stop worrying about the money.”

“And who shall feed them?” Councilor George asked. “You wish to employ them. Where will they be receiving meals as they watch over the village? What about their stores of water?”

“I still wish to know how you plan to erect such an elaborate wall?” Viv said. “How can it be done? What will it mean? How will we travel in and out of Moonlight? How tall would such a barrier be?”

“That’s a lot of questions,” I said. “We’ll have to tour the village’s perimeter. Figure out where we want to build it, how we’d go about it.”

“You realize that means more hiring,” Proctor said. “It would mean a lot of builders.”

“We have many builders here,” Judith said. “Many. But, they haven’t enough work. So many are poor here.”

Another brain storm gripped me. What a boon this all would be for the village. We were talking about major works projects with the potential to bring so many of these people out of poverty. Okay, maybe not a worldwide utopia where we’re all working together across vast regions, but I envisioned something akin to that albeit on a smaller scale, within the peoples of Moonlight village itself. Overly optimistic? Probably.

“Shall we bring in the next interviewee?” I said. “The wall is something we’ll revisit in short order.”

The others agreed, and Hag swung the heavy wooden door open to let through the next person in line. We were surprised when a small, hunched old woman entered. Couldn’t help but think, this was someone who’d received the wrong memo. I should’ve stopped her before she’d even reached the chair facing us, but I was caught up watching this tiny, elderly person hobble into place. She looked like she could easily pass as Hag’s sister.

Once sat in the chair, with her toes dangling just above the floor. She grinned at us, and I could see only two bottom teeth in her mouth. I wondered if the System would consider providing for dental health in this village. After all, dental health was an important part of one’s overall health, and I liked the idea of providing care to anyone I’d be employing a as a professional player. Maybe if there was some kind of modern health apparatus set up, we could use it to treat the rest of the villagers too. I told myself to try and remember to question Proctor on this later.

“Thank you for seeing me,” the small woman said. She rubbed her hands, and I could see they were full of warts, and gnarled. “There are so many outside. I was afraid, I would not make it. I do not venture crowds lightly.”

“Thank you for coming,” I said.

“I must ask you to leave,” Judith said.

Her bluntness shocked me.

“What?” I said. “What’s wrong?”

“This is your wish?” The old woman said. “I came here in spite of the numbers of others I knew I’d be forced to endure.”

“No,” I said. “Stay.”

I turned angrily toward the Mayor. “What’s wrong with you?” I said.

“We don’t need her,” Judith said.

“You must leave,” Brunth said.

The other councilors nodded in agreement.

Neither Proctor nor I understood what was happening.

“Please,” I said to the woman. “Tell me your name.”

“I’m Mora,” she said. “I’ve heard you are Adam.”

“I am.”

“Mora must go,” Judith said. “Clearly she is not physically able to do this job.”

“Clearly,” said Viv.

“Why are you all being so rude?” I said.

The elderly woman reached a hand out in my direction. She had a sly grin on her face. “They know I am not here for myself,” she said.

There was a history in the room, a backstory I wasn’t aware of, neither was Proctor.

“Tell her to leave,” Judith said. “We do not need her help.”

“Does someone want to tell me what’s going on?” I said.

“She will be of great assistance,” Hag said. “You should hear what she has to offer.”

“No, you should not,” Brunth said. “You must listen to the Mayor.”

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who was this woman to cause such a response?

“Please,” I said to Mora. “Please let me know why you came.”

“Adam Bridger,” Mayor Judith said, “if you persist, we will pull our support.”

I shook my head. “If you pull your support, you know you’ll get what’s coming,” I said. “We’re here at the behest of the System.”

“We don’t want her help,” Judith said.

“Why?”

Mora grinned more deeply until I could see deep crags set in the dimples on her cheeks. “They know I’ve come as a proxy,” she said.

My face twisted into a knot. Proctor appeared similarly at a loss.

“A proxy for what?”

“I have something,” Mora said. “Or, I must say, I have someone, he can be of great use to you.”

“Excellent,” I said. “And why are you here as his proxy? Why isn’t he here himself?”

“He draws a crowd,” Mora said. “He does not endure crowds. He is afraid.”

“We must insist that you stop with this,” Judith said. “Her kind… they are not welcome.”

“Her kind?”

“I’m here to speak for my son,” Mora said. “He can help you keep Moonlight safe. He’s a giant.”