The sun was hot, beating down on Ronin’s head as he dug. He was already starting to sweat, and it had only been an hour. Drops of perspiration beaded up on his forehead and he wiped them away with the back of a dirty hand. Looking down to find that he’d barely started, Ronin grinned. He felt great, getting out and actually doing something to help these people himself. It was weird, but digging a bathroom felt more fulfilling than slaughtering a thousand locust drones had.
“How deep are you planning to go?” K3 asked, since Ronin had stopped working. The latrine he was working on was currently two feet wide by just over seven feet long. He’d currently dug down about a foot.
“The raised seats I asked Harken to make are eight feet long and seat four. I’m basing this on a picture book of an old war earth had. couldn’t read the title, but it had a diagram for one of these. It’s going to be two feet by seven and a half feet by six feet deep. We’ll need to make thirty-two of them by days end.” Ronin said with a smile, driving his shovel back into the ground.
“Thirty-two” K3 asked, from where he stood on guard duty nearby. “Why so many?” The Kaldarr looked even bigger from a foot below ground level, and Ronin had to crane his neck up to see his friend’s helmeted head.
“That book said you needed enough bathrooms to support five percent of the soldiers at any given time. We’ve got roughly twenty-five hundred people. Each of these pits will support four people, so that’s thirty-two pits.” He said proudly, having worked the math out himself. He’d still needed a piece of scratch paper, but his mind was sharper than it had been on earth. He’d never have been able to do that before.
“Seems like fairly useless knowledge to have.” K3 said with a chuckle, “Our ships had plumbing, when the tanks were full, we just vented them into space… shame we couldn’t just conquer the Kaldarr ship.” They’d had the discussion weeks before, K3 had said the ship was more than large enough to support all their people.
“Like I said before,” Ronin said with a grunt, flinging another shovel full of dirt out of the pit. “We need to build a solid core of fighters, armed well enough to make an attack on the Kaldarr mother ship feasible. If we went up there now, we’d get slaughtered… trust me, I’d love to get my hands on a ship. But we have to settle everyone in before we can devote the fabrication unit to producing that level of equipment.”
“I still don’t see why you are so focused on rescuing all these people. From what Owl two and five have said, originally you just wanted to travel around and adventure.” K3 wasn’t criticizing, he just didn’t understand Ronin’s reasoning. Ronin wasn’t going to explain how he was doing it to earn credits outside this world that technically wasn’t even real, so he just shrugged with a smile.
“If you have enough time to watch and talk, you have enough time to dig and watch instead.” Guts said from his own pit, some distance away. His pit wasn’t as large as Ronin’s, but he was digging industriously.
“Can’t Guts,” K3 said with a laugh, “I’m on guard duty.”
“Yea, yea,” Guts said with a laugh of his own. “I got your guard duty right here.” He added with a shake of his fist.
The three friends laughed together. It looked like Ronin wasn’t the only one who felt good about the work they were doing. Of course, it was always possible they were simply happy he was feeling better. He’d read that people could take their cues on how they felt from their leaders, without even realizing it. Ronin vowed to improve his own attitude going forward. If there was anything to that, then he’d be making his people happier just by being happy himself.
“We’re here, sorry it took so long boss.” Ronin poked his head out of his now three-foot-deep hole to see that Hunter had arrived with her scout team. “We found a group of people willing to gather the resources for the cards, but Unyielding oak wanted to put someone on the team too. She was concerned that novices would damage the forest too much or something.”
“What are you doing here?” K3 asked, looking down at Hunter and her scout team from his towering height. “And what’s with the shovel?”
“It’s for you, big boy.” Hunter said with a wicked laugh. “The boss asked us to get a few civilians out gathering card supplies so we could spot you on guard duty.” She elaborated, holding out the shovel. “So, here ya go. Find a spot and start digging.” The shovel she held was larger than she was, but she’d been training her body for months now and held it out with ease.
“Really boss?” K3 asked, looking down at Ronin. Ronin couldn’t see his face through the helmet, but his voice was plaintive. “I’ve got my armor on and everything…” a lovely sound filled the air, and everyone turned to take in Song, who was laughing.
“I’ve got you a change of clothes, so don’t complain so much.” She was holding out a bundle of clothes, which were nearly identical to the workers’ garb Ronin and Guts had on, except several times larger.
“It’s a conspiracy I tell you,” K3 grumbled as he took the bundle and the shovel. “Ok fine, no need to twist my arm… Give me a minute boss, I’ll change and be right back.” Stabbing the shovel into the ground, the giant jogged off to his tent.
“Thanks Hunter, Song, all you guys.” Ronin said with a smile at his first scout team. It might have been better for morale if he’d picked a different scout team to keep watch for him. Still, he’d been working with Hunter since day one. He looked at her team, Hunter, Song, Soft step, Whisper, shadow, and breeze.
Whisper, shadow and breeze were the goblins Owl five had picked from the second batch of goblins they’d recovered, to fill out the first scout team. Ronin hadn’t talked with them much, again preferring to interact with Hunter who’d been around longer. He thought about his tendency to stick with the familiar people he’d come to know. It was comfortable, but it wasn’t the way to make more friends.
“I’m back. Hope you don’t expect me to finish at the same time as you two, you’ve got nearly two hours head start.” K3 said as he jogged back over. Ronin looked at the grey skinned man. Outside his armor, he had dark eyes, and his hair and beard were black, thick, and bristly. The book that had described them said it was like a pig’s, Ronin had no idea having never seen a pig. The kaldarr’s thick muscles bulged as he drove the shovel into the ground on the other side of Ronin from guts.
“With as big as you are?” Guts called out jokingly, “if you don’t catch up to little old me, I’ll be embarrassed for you.”
“Oh man, that sounds like a challenge.” Ronin said with a chuckle, “looks like we are going to have to step it up.” The three laughed again, before redoubling their efforts. They dug for another hour, finishing the pits and turning them over to the carpenters that Harken had sent by to cover them over with the raised seats.
“Alright boys,” Hunter called out once they’d marked out their next three pits. “You’re all starting from the same point, and I know how fast you three recover, so I don’t wanna hear about how you were digging longer, Guts.” She added with a finger wag at the Goblin. “So, starting now I wanna see who can finish this pit the fastest.”
The three of them started digging. Honestly it was an unfair competition, Guts was only around five four, and he hadn’t had any muscle upgrades. Still, the goblin laid into his digging with a will. Ronin dug at a steady pace, not wanting to leave the goblin too far behind, but K3 had no such compunctions. He attacked the ground with his shovel like it owed him credits. Flinging dirt out in a constant rain that grew into a small hill in minutes.
“No fair, you long armed freak.” Guts complained light heartedly as he tried his best to keep up. Ronin and the scouts all laughed as they watched the pair going at it.
“Uh… lord, ah… flame?” called a soft voice, which had the scouts instantly on alert. They stopped laughing and had their crossbows out so fast, one could be mistaken for thinking they’d been holding them the whole time.
“No, stop.” Ronin said, looking up at the elven boy, who’d been on trial the other day. He was dressed in rags without any shoes. His dark hair was a matted mess filled with leaves and twigs and his face was covered with dirt. He was holding a leather pouch and trembling in fear at the goblin women who weren’t any taller than he was.
“Hi Dandelion,” he said, remembering the name Benjamin had called him. “What can I do for you?” he asked gently. Looking around to see that there were several other people who’d been gathering around slowly without his noticing.
“I… I wanted to, to say… thank you for getting me out of that scary place… and, thank you for the food and… for these pretty paintings.” He said holding up the leather pouch. It was a White flame syndicate deck. The kid had called them paintings, hadn’t anyone explained what they were to him?
“Of course, Dandelion,” he said with a smile. “That’s a game, did the person who gave it too you tell you how to play?” he asked, pointing at the cards.
“Um, no my uh lord flame.” The kid said looking like he was afraid he’d done something wrong. “He just said they were from the flame…” tears were welling up in the kids’ eyes. Ronin wondered what the poor kid had gone through in his life to get here all alone.
“That’s ok Dandelion,” he said reassuringly. “This is Song,” he continued motioning her to come closer, “she’s called that because she has such a pretty voice.” He said introducing her to the kid.
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“Hello Dandelion,” Song said waving to the kid. She blushed a little when Ronin complemented her voice but didn’t comment.
“She’s really good with the paintings… would you like her to teach you how to play? I’d love to play a game with you after I finish my chores if you think it’s fun.”
“Um… ok.” The kid said with a shy smile at song. Ronin had picked her to tutor the kid for the same reason he’d picked her to represent him to the moon elves. She was pretty, well spoken and had a beautiful voice. She was a good shot with her bow too, but she lacked the vicious streak that Hunter and Soft step had.
“Great,” she said with a dazzling smile bringing her elbows tight to her sides and shaking her hands around in excitement. “Let’s come sit over here so we don’t get any dirt on us, ok?” she asked gently, holding her hand out for the elven boy to take. Ronin watched them move together to a downed tree stump, where she started explaining to him how his cards worked.
“Oh, wow.” He heard her saying as he got back to digging. “You have an Elyria card. She’s super strong!” The crowd moved in closer as she spoke and pretty soon, they were getting out their own cards. Trying to figure them out based on what Song was saying.
“Breeze, Shadow, would you and Whisper please go among the people gathered around us and explain how to play the game? Hunter and Soft step will be able to guard me well enough on their own.” He asked with an encouraging smile. The girls looked to Hunter for permission before they did as he asked. That was good, he probably should have asked her himself first to respect the chain of command. After they turned away, he shot her an apologetic look, to which she only shrugged.
“Looks like Owl two did exactly what you told him too boss,” Guts said having to stand on his toes to see over the lip of his pit. “Think he needs another reminder on how to… behave?” He asked, crawling up and out of the pit. “I win by the way,” he said sticking his tongue out at K3.
“What?” The Kaldarr said with shock. Ronin snickered at the surprised giant, who’d stopped working when Dandelion had shown up. Guts on the other hand, had kept right on going. “Now, how is that fair?” He asked in mock outrage.
“It’s fine guys.” Ronin said, partially to calm them down and partially to answer the question about Owl two. “It’s my fault, I forgot his limitations and just let him do whatever he wanted, without supervision for too long.” He tossed his shovel out, before doing a vertical jump to exit the six-foot-deep hole.
“Showoffs,” Guts muttered as K3 repeated the move.
“He’s got a point though boss,” K3 said as he watched the goblins teaching the mixed group how to play White flame syndicate. “Benjamin and Owl two have been getting away with whatever they want for quite a while.”
“Yea,” Ronin said not knowing what else to say. “That’s why we have some catching up to do. It starts with toilets, then we’ll work on the other living conditions… Owl five should be back tomorrow with the food, which will help a lot.” He shrugged, unhappy himself but knowing they could only do one thing at a time. “Come on, we have a lot of these to finish.” He said motioning his men back to work.
* * *
The sun was setting by the time the trio finished the last latrine. They’d put several around the camp near the cave, a few out around the garden fields and the last two next to the mine. That’s where they were now, having finished digging the final pits. Harken’s carpenters were just now putting the raised seats over the pits. It wasn’t anything fancy, just a box with four holes in it. But it allowed his people a place to sit down while they used the bathroom, and a wash bucket to clean up afterwards.
“I can’t believe Owl two hadn’t given the workers near the fields a proper latrine.” Guts said spitting to the side, and wiping his grime covered mouth. “It’s got nothing to do with military service. Those working-class goblins are growing our food. How is he going to just let them go wherever they want like that?” K3 nodded at the words. Truth be told, Ronin was pissed about it too, but he’d fixed the problem. That was all they could do at this point.
“We’re here,” Song called out from the forest’s edge where she was coming out with Dandelion and the other three members of Hunter’s scout team. “We had so much fun playing that we forgot you wanted a game ‘Lord White flame’.” She said emphasizing the title for Dandelion’s benefit. Poor kid hadn’t even known Ronin was the boss of the whole camp. He’d just thought he was a nice man who’d taken pity on him.
“Perfect timing.” Ronin said with a grin, “you ready to take me on little man?” He asked, leaning down to look Dandelion in the eyes. The kid turned away from him however, pressing his head into Song’s shoulder and refusing to look at Ronin.
“What’s the matter with him?” Ronin asked Song with a frown. Looking at the kid who’d been beaming just a second before.
“She’s, just shy boss,” Song said with a heavy emphasis on the word ‘she’. Ronin blinked, looking closely at the kid while K3 and Guts burst into laughter behind him. They stopped quickly when Hunter gave them each a glare hard enough to strip leaves from a tree.
“Right,” Ronin said not seeing how the kid could be a girl, she looked just like a young boy… of course he’d gotten the goblin\Kaldarr girl confused with a boy too so who knew. Maybe he was just blind… “Sorry Dandelion,” he said with a weak chuckle. “I’ve been out in the sun too long swinging this shovel. How about we go get something to eat and play a game afterwards huh?” The kid perked up at the mention of food, but she still didn’t look at Ronin as she followed his team back towards the camp.
K3 made to take them passed the communal food distribution center where the food corps were handing out the day’s rations. Ronin stopped him with a grunt though, and the whole group got into line. None of them were wearing their armor, so they didn’t draw very much attention from the crowd. That is, until they reached the front of the line.
“Lord White flame,” squeaked a frightened food corps cook. “AH I’m so sorry, my lord.” He added as he fumbled the soup bowl and spilled a portion of the weak broth at Ronin’s feet.
“Ha-ha, don’t worry about it,” Ronin said with a grin as he picked up the dropped bowl and presented it to the cook to be filled.
“My lord, no I uh, let me get you a new bowl at least.” The cook said, reaching for the bowl.
“Nonsense,” Ronin said with another forced chuckle. “Just fill this one up, we’ve been digging all day and this bowl is a lot cleaner than I am.” Ronin was doing his best to come across as likable, but he didn’t have any experience at it. So, he didn’t know how he was doing.
“Put a little extra in my friends bowl, will you?” He asked pleasantly when Dandelion lifted her bowl shyly. The cook nodded his head as he complied with Ronin’s request.
There were murmurs starting all around them as people came closer to watch their lord eating with the civilians. Owl two and Benjamin had done an excellent job the last few days making these people feel like second-class citizens. So, they thought it was odd to see him here, without armor and covered in dirt.
“Hey, isn’t that the team who was digging the new latrines?” A voice carried over on the breeze, “why is everybody staring at them? I know that Kaldarr is big, but he’s got nothing on the K brothers.”
“Shut up you idiot,” hissed another voice. “That’s the White flame, and that Kaldarr is K3. Rumer has it the lord got angry that Benjamin neglected us and made him run laps.”
“No way, really? But why are they…” the voice faded away into the growing mutterings of the crowd as they gathered around to watch, as Ronin ate the thin soup.
“Benjamin isn’t really popular with this bunch, is he?” Guts asked with a chuckle, “serves him right. I still can’t believe we found the workers shi… I mean using the bathroom in the vegetable fields.” The goblin changed what he was saying mid word, when he looked over at the small form of Dandelion sitting in their midst.
“He’s not a nice man,” the girl said as she slurped her soup down. “The metal box smelled really bad, and we didn’t get to eat at all the whole time.” Ronin looked at the kid sadly.
“Hey Dandelion, do you know anyone in camp? Any relatives, or friends that you stay with?” He asked trying to sound casual.
“Nope,” she said seemingly unconcerned. “My mom died when we were running from the forest, and my daddy died in the town trying to get us something to eat. The other elves stopped talking to me after that.” She’d emptied her bowl and was staring at it sadly, when Ronin passed his over to her. She was hesitant at first, but eventually she took it and began drinking it down.
“Hunter,” Ronin said quietly to his head scout. “When we’re done here, I want you to take Dandelion into the scouts. Check with Owl two or maybe Frank, there are probably more elven kids that got abandoned after the food riot. Gather them in and separate out the girls. Pick a team and put them in charge of training. I don’t want these kids to starve or get abused out here alone.”
“Guts,” he continued looking to his food corps leader. “I want you to take in all the boys. Add them to the corps, and make sure they learn everything you can teach them.”
“You got it boss,” they said in unison. The wood elves had lost more of their population to the locusts than anyone else. From tens of thousands living freely in the woods, they’d been whittled down to less than one thousand. It had made them hard, and they’d abandoned those who couldn’t keep up. It meant that those who were left were the strongest their species had to offer. It also meant that anyone who was weak was left behind.
“Thank you.” He said with a nod, knowing his goblins would take care of the kids.
“So, are you ready to lose or what?” Dandelion said with a giggle, holding onto her deck of cards. “Hunter told me to say that to you,” she said, a flush climbing up her cheeks.
“Yea, let’s do it.” Ronin said with a smile, looking around as the crowd’s muttering grew when he pulled out his own deck.
“Hey, aren’t those the pouches the soldiers were handing out this morning?”
“Yea, I tossed mine away when I saw there was no food in it. What did they expect me to do with those things anyway? Not like I know how to read.”
“It’s a card game the soldiers play, you idiot. I heard the White flame got angry we didn’t get one and made them hand them out… see, I’ve got a card with Guts on it…”
“Oh wow, it looks just like him… damn, I wonder if I can find where I threw those?” Several chuckles echoed out as the unfortunate man ran off to find his cards. Ronin tried not to sigh. Elyria was right again, his dressing down of Benjamin and Owl two was causing problems. He just hoped this was as bad as it got, he really didn’t want to try to run this place without them. Owl two was irreplaceable, for his technological knowledge if nothing else.
“Let’s see… I have to start with a ration card.” Dandelion said after she drew her hand of cards from the deck. She looked through them and placed a card that showed a loaf of bread onto the table.
“Alright, then I’ll do the same.” Ronin replied placing his own ration card down. His showed a canteen on it. All the ration cards were the same, game wise, but there were several different food items shown on them.
“Hehe, since I have a ration card out, I can afford to feed a common citizen.” The girl said with a smile as she laid a goblin worker on the table. Ronin tried to hide his smile when he saw the goblin worker, since he recognized it.
“Darn,” Ronin said looking at his hand. “I don’t have any common citizens in my hand, so I’ll lay another ration.” He said laying down a card that showed a large fruit covered in purple spikes.
“Uh-oh,” Dandelion said putting down another card with bread on it. “That means I get to attack you directly. Go White hair, attack him.” Dandelion said shoving the card forward an inch or so.
“Ouch, just a few more of those and I’ll be out.” Ronin said with a wince. “I just drew a character card though, so I can fight back now.” He said putting his own goblin worker onto the table. He didn’t recognize this one. It was a fellow called busted nose; poor guy, looked like it had happened more than once.
“Better get ready,” the little elf said coming out of her shell a little more with each round. She’d put down her third ration card. “I’m about to place my Elyria card. Song said she’s a rare card and really strong.” The little girl said happily putting the card down next to White hair. Ronin hadn’t seen an Elyria card before, she was dressed in her smoky grey silks with her white flame patterned silver armor on. She had a hand placed on a cocked hip and was smirking out of the card in a very lifelike manner.
“Oh wow, she does look really strong.” Said a voice from right beside Ronin’s ear, which made him jump. He jerked his head around to see who it was, but he’d recognized that voice already.
“Hey,” Dandelion said with happy surprise, “you’re on my card.”