CHAPTER 75: A place called Mayor’s escape
On another typically beautiful Obon morning, at the time the last stars bid farewell to the dawn, carts made ready to leave, loaded up with people and goods. Finally, the day of our departure for the southern part of the Blister Oak forests arrived. We planned to head for the Old Forest Road, as people more commonly called it, to start another woodcutter’s camp. In the first cart sat me, Hana, Grenfell, Elle, and our guide, Karato. There was an unexpected guest with us.
“Karato?”
I asked softly.
“Why is Olivia coming with?”
“Shane, that’s your fault. You wanted her to get some adventuring and here she is. The good news is she can help you with anything related to the adventurer guild, you may find her more useful that you think.”
I wasn’t too sure about that. I suppose the guild were keeping an eye on their investment. Sheesh, what a pep talk Rupert, the guild master, must have given Olivia when she left Shimmerstal. She must be the first guild administrator willing to follow the adventurers into the thick of things. I didn’t know it at the time, but sometimes guild administrators would go with their key adventurers as monitors on big quests.
“I got no problem with that if she contributes.”
“Bwahaha, you sound just like a boss now.”
He gave me a slap on the back that nearly knocked my wind out.
Following us in the cart train were the five woodcutter carts, each with ten woodcutters and Orilay leading them all. Next, the supporting families in their covered wagons and similarly, the kitchen logistics team.
Surprisingly, the day before, Matilda asked if she could join our troupe to which I readily agreed. When I asked why she would come without her husband, since he was still technically the supervisor for the mayor’s camp, I was told she thought she would be of more value to our kitchen. I didn’t realise it at the time, but the mayor’s woodcutting exploits came to a grinding halt. All but a handful turned up to the camp and they were forced to close early due to lack of business.
The last two wagons following us belonged to Mr. Papadopoulos, who having completed a splendid paving job on our main road, decided to help us set up a new woodcutter’s camp. To help minimise the number of carts, I placed all the camp’s bulk provisions in my transfer storage along with all our blacksmithing gear and group’s tents. I would release those goods once we reached our final campsite.
One adventurer group missing from our troupe, the Red Sparrows, escorted a hasty merchant who wanted to take the faster route along on the main road from Shimmerstal. When Olivia related the details to me, I couldn’t believe there were people dumb enough to still travel that route. The only consolation to me was that the Red Sparrows were good enough to get anyone through that situation, they were worth the cost. They planned to meet up with us later at our new camp on their return trip to Obon. Karato commented that there was more than enough military strength in our group to sort out anything a monster scouting team could throw our way. Although he didn’t say as much, Karato knew as well as I did, that I already dispatched close to twenty ogres and three ogre generals in the past. He probably thought it would be safer for everyone with me tagging along, but I didn’t share his optimism.
We started our journey heading south, passing the outskirts of the town. Now that they were aware of our activities, a good gross of the mayor’s thugs waited for us, although they didn’t stop us, and wordlessly let us through. Judging by their scornful looks, they were sending us a clear message that they weren’t finished with us. I didn’t let them spoil my joy in the moment, I looked forward to doing something exciting again. They could suck eggs for all I cared.
Our expedition planned to take three days to reach the planned camp site. Since both Hana and I never travelled that road before, we found everything new and exciting. At first the road was sparsely vegetated with low scrub, typical of the Obon surrounds, and we were still in the scrub when our team stopped for a quick afternoon lunch. Each of the woodcutter’s carts also tethered two spare horses with them, those we intended using for the daily round timber deliveries to Shimmerstal. Up to then, there was a meandering road of sorts although it looked more like an ancient riverbed than a road.
Since we intended using the road more often, we dropped poles off every so often to which Mr. Papadopoulos’ team left two men with horses to plant the poles. Like that, we sign posted the road as we moved along so that future travellers could more easily follow the road. The men caught up with us later as we continued planting poles.
Later along our journey that day, the forest appeared on our left as we approached the point we intended turning east. At some point Karato turned us ninety degrees to the left and we approached an opening in the forest. I must be honest. If Karato didn’t know to turn there, we would have continued south until we hit the Ironwood Forest. No marker or natural feature indicated where to turn. I can only attribute his uncanny ability to find that road down to a lifetime of travel in that environment. Regardless, I insisted that Mr. Papadopoulos’ men mark that turning well because I didn’t have that much faith in myself to find that road again. Perhaps in the future, the forest might burn down, but those signposts would survive just fine.
As we entered the outer reaches of the forest, Karato offered a bit of interesting information.
“Obon’s territory heads further south for about two days travel until you reach the outer reaches of the Ironwood Forest which is far denser than the Blister Oak Forest. There are a few interspersed villages that survive in those woods before it becomes the Estyl kingdom, although there’s no clear boundary. Whoever visits those villages shouldn’t veer off the road for any reason.”
“Why’s that?”
I asked the dumb question.
“Because after leaving the road, no one has ever come back who can tell us otherwise.”
Sheesh, I couldn’t believe there were places in Obon’s territory that could be like that. Even during the mesa incident, deep in the Blister Oak Forest, I never felt entirely lost or fearful. The Ironwood Forest didn’t give me the same confidence, especially if it already came with a back-story as awful as that.
Soon we came upon what was once a forest road. I say once, because although the narrow road was generally clear of trees, small shrubs covered the road which for most part the carts simply trampled over. However, the heavy boughs of nearby overhanging branches sometimes forced cart occupants to take evasive manoeuvres. On the whole, the road felt in reasonable condition due to lack of cart traffic, but I suspected it might change for the worst given rain and increased traffic.
There were noticeably less valleys than the Shimmerstal road, and the path meandered a bit more. We continued marking the road, but we waited for the men to finish before continuing because it was too easy for them to get lost if they lost sight of us. Fortunately, our first campsite turned out to be next to small grassy field, free of trees. The old man offered some history about the area.
“We usually stop here for the night. I suspect this used to be a regular rest area before they built the current road to Shimmerstal. It’s a good stop. This place’s only downside is that it doesn’t have any water sources, so travellers need to carry some with them when deciding to camp here.”
“What is this place called?”
“Called?”
“You mean it doesn’t have a name?”
He stroked his beard deep in thought.
“I don’t think it has one.”
“Then, how about we give this place a name? Let’s ask the others later what they think. On the other side. Are you okay with me taking on this role?”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m not actively working as your apprentice as the leader of this expedition, so I’m wondering if you’re happy for me to put aside my blacksmith apprenticeship while I focus on this?”
“Oh potash! I know you’re more than capable of doing both.”
“What do mean both?”
“You’re all grown up. You can deal with it. Besides, other than the regular weapon orders and the odd one here and there I’ll only ask you to help out with the smithy work once in a while.”
I couldn’t complain against that arrangement since I bounced between jobs at will, often without consulting Grenfell first. Yes, it would cramp my schedule but at least I earned some gold through the process.
We decided to turn that camp into a travel stopover site when heading to Obon. With the remaining sunlight, the woodcutters cut poles out of smaller trees in the area, while the labour team under Mr. Papadopoulos planted poles into the ground. Late into the evening the men finally finished with a basic layout of a camp. We had basic amenities, closed pens for the horses, campfire spots and some seating arrangements. There wasn’t enough time to put up any fencing, besides it probably needed at least a few days’ worth of work.
Hana sat next to me around the campfire. Especially in those times I appreciated her company.
“How does it feel to be leading something like this?”
She asked me thoughtfully.
“It feels good, like it’s something that’s right. I know this will bring a better future for everyone in future.”
She didn’t comment but I could see thoughts in her mind.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“How do you feel?”
She smiled at that question, knowing I had reciprocated her question out of mild curiosity.
“The same. I sense the good it will bring, and the trouble.”
It was my turn not to comment. No matter what, I would make that endeavour work. We quietly watched Grenfell’s approach from the camp’s kitchen.
“Hey, there’s still metalsmithing to do still. Don’t relax now and give these hard-working folks the wrong impression.”
Trust him to use the industrious nature of these folks as a leverage on me.
“Hey Grenfell. Change of subject, I’m thinking of calling our woodcutter’s camp, Endeavour.”
“Interesting name for a place. Come to think of it, no one has ever given a woodcutter’s camp a name before. Did anyone decide on a name for this one?”
“We’ll ask around and see what others feel we should call it.”
“Fine. And don’t change the subject. The kitchen staff asked if you could do some knife sharpening for them. It seems you’ve developed a reputation. And by the way, I’m not running a charity so don’t do it for nothing.”
Just when I start loving the guy, the scrooge side of him popped out and poked me in the eye. Adding insult to injury, he poked me in my remaining good eye when he added another comment.
“First thing tomorrow morning before we leave, there’s some smithy work to do. A cart horse slipped a shoe during today’s travel; I’ll need the furnace stoked. Since Antonetta couldn’t come, you’re it.”
What could I say? How could I drag Antonetta into that expedition without knowing what the next day would bring? The next morning started as expected. By the time we sorted out the thrown horseshoe issue the others already packed their carts and planned to leave. We couldn’t make them wait so we let them continue, promising to catch up. I recommended placing the furnace in my transfer storage because it didn’t have enough time to cool down. There was no way I planned to throw that heated furnace into the back of a wooden cart. Even including the time saving of my transfer storage option, it still took us a couple of hours to finally pack before we followed the others on the road. Since the old man already knew the road well, we managed to catch up with the others later that day as the evening twilight started. By then, the temporary camp already sported similar facilities to the last. Thankfully, Grenfell didn’t have any tasks for me that evening, so I decided to admire the camp’s construction workmanship instead.
By now you know my interest in things related to personal hygiene so naturally I stopped over at the ablutions facility to give it a test run using the contents of my bursting bladder. The boma arrangement sported the normal low wall, covering only the necessary bits. While enjoying the moment, I couldn’t help but notice how well they put the boma together. Despite its rudimentary look, their level of skill gave it a homey feel.
Suitably impressed, I tested the facility with my internal water skill. You needn’t worry, it replenished itself within a few hours, depending on my level of hydration. Suddenly, I felt the all too familiar heat of rancid breath wash over my face. A bipedal creature just snorted at me an arm length away.
“Whatthebloodyheck? No way, I can’t believe it’s you!”
It was that blasted lizard again. Either it, or all lizard kind decided to pick on me for some ungodly reason. I didn’t even bother to look up as I reached into my pouch. In both hands I held one packet of beef jerky, the other more of Haruhime’s cookies. I hoped it didn’t mind if I never wash my hands. Go figure, it preferred jerky that night. It seemed no part of the kingdom was safe from that bullying lizard. I watched its shadow turn around and leave in the dim night. With my adrenaline working on overdrive, my plumbing shut closed like a rusted tap valve so I couldn’t use the WC even if I wanted to. As I turned to leave, I nearly tripped over something lying on the ground.
“What the heck?”
A long-dead goblin in a state of rigor mortis lay there. Judging by its face, it didn’t look like it had a good time before it died either. Why did I get the same feeling as back on earth where my pet cat left a dead rat lying in the hallway for me. I couldn’t shake the idea that a dinosaur just left me an offering for some jerky and bit of appreciation. I had no idea how I was going to tell others how it landed up there. I decided to leave it be, it lay far enough outside the camp. I hoped some hungry forest creature would make off with it and save me the embarrassing explanation. The next morning, as if something granted my wish, the goblin body was gone without a trace. Thank goodness.
For the next camp there was a similar setting up arrangement to the first. It also got a name…Shane’s Camp. I gave up trying to complain. It sounded more like a mayoral campaign.
The following day, before the team broke camp for our final destination, Karato, Hana, Orilay and I headed out by horseback to our next camp. I’d only ridden horseback once in my life on a summer camp and from the start my horse didn’t like me. For some weird reason, horses and I never got along very well. Regardless, we needed to decide in advance where to settle Endeavour Camp. Orilay and Karato offered to go ahead on their own without me, saying I didn’t need to bother myself with it, but my father always said to me, location, location, location was critical to a good attack or defence. I wanted to start with the best place we could find, and I had a cheat, Ara, and the creation core. Each night along our route I released scolems designed for forest investigation. It was a trial by fire, but it was the best occasion to try them out. I would only get information once I arrive back in the area again. Based on a radio signal I would send, the scolems would come back
Occasionally, along our route, I would stop and do a good scan. I could sense just over a kilometre and a half. With all the vegetation, it took me a few seconds to get a good understanding of the surrounding terrain. With a detailed look I could even determine what trees were in the area given their feel. On my heads-up display Ara coloured in those sensations to create a coloured map, showing the groupings of trees to make it easier to choose a good area. Without any success we were getting to a point where we needed to consider turning back to the main group when Ara called my attention to something.
“Hey guys, let’s go this way for a short while, I think we may find something interesting there.”
They all looked puzzled as to why I would say something like that out of the blue, without any reason they could fathom. I’ll give it to them, they didn’t complain, and we all turned southwards, heading deeper into the forest. The forest around us looked different somehow, as if there was a larger variety of vegetation at ground level. Even the trees looked more ancient somehow.
Half an hour later we arrived at a wooded hill, evident by the upwards sloping ground. At the top, we discovered a peculiar stone poking out of the ground. There was no doubt it was a cut stone and not a naturally weathered rock. I jumped off my horse, put my hand on the stone and did an earth sense around us.
“This looks like a stone from a keep.”
“You can tell that just by touching the stone?”
“A keep you say?”
A keep was another word for a small fort. No doubt this hill was clear at one time, a very long time ago judging by the number of older trees in the area.
“Judging by its proximity, I suspect this keep may have been used to protect this road a long time ago. Karato, I think this would be a good placement for our camp.”
Orilay looked around as if observing the trees for the first time.
“There are some good trees here to make a camp with, and I hear a river not far away. We could even start exporting some of the wood quite soon.”
“Then Karato, could you leave Hana and I here while you and Orilay fetch the rest of the team? I’m going to be busy here for a while.”
He just smiled and nodded knowingly.
“Come Orilay, you and I need to get the others.”
“You just going to leave him here?”
Orilay protested.
“He’s probably far better able to look after himself than you give him credit for. He’ll be okay.”
Orilay felt a bit perplexed but trusted the both of us.
“We’ll come and get you again, just wait here for us.”
“Don’t worry Orilay, you’ll find me just fine. Just keep an eye out for the fort.”
“What fort?”
Orilay didn’t have a clue what I was talking about but decided he had enough of mystery for one day and followed Karato’s horse back to the road. Hana looked ready for business.
“So, Shane, what’s your plan?”
“I’m going to build something called a Motte and Bailey. It’s a basic type of fort arrangement from where I come from. It’s a small fort with a village attached to it. The fort acts as a last-ditch defence when attacked, allowing the villagers a place to hide if there’s big trouble. The village is normally surrounded by a defendable palisade fence which acts as the first line of defence. The village is attached to the fort by a ramp over a moat or steep hill. I can sense the top of the hill is just south of us, come let’s start there.”
She followed me upwards until we felt the ground levelled out. She made a casual observation.
“We’re going to have to remove these trees if you’re planning to move the earth for a fort.”
“I’ve given a lot of thought about that, let me try something. You may want to step back. I’m going to fell this tree.”
I stepped up to a blister oak tree, there were lots of them around. They tended to be squat trees with wide bases. To start with I took out three orichalcum spheres in my hand and transmutated them into flat disks with extremely sharp edges. Each disk was large enough to cut off a thick branch off the tree. The disks positioned themselves in front of the bases of the branches then shot through them with ease. I didn’t even need to think it was so second nature to me. Within seconds it was raining massive branches as the disks whipped around the tree lopping off boughs until just the main trunk stood in its naked glory. Before Hana could say a word I opened a transfer storage inside the tree, just above the roots as we watched the entire trunk disappear like spaghetti down a drain. When I closed the storage, just a low stump remained behind.
“Right, once I’ve cleared this hill of trees, I’ll show you what fort we’ll build. It’s going to be at least five storeys high. By the time the others arrive, I’ll have the village are cleared of trees as well. Bwhahaha.”
“Baka.”
Was Hana’s only comment.