OHE?, OHE? Anybody home?

From a tower killer hole, I saw a couple and a child on the cart containing goods.

"My horses are tired, can I take water from the well to drink?

You are the new inhabitants? I see that the ruin has been repaired as well as the inn and the smokehouse."

I answered through the door:

"Take whatever you want, but don't hurt me out of pity." I replied through the door.

"My name is Henri and this is my wife Juliette. We are going north to sell spices and trinkets from the southern valleys.

The place here is very dangerous! There is a dragon here that destroyed the village about a year ago."

"I won't hurt you, I have no weapons."

No," I said, "I am very ugly and I might scare you with my appearance. But you can sleep in the inn. There is just a hearth and a roof and the well.

Henri, just what I need.

Me, it's Marc.

Henry: Ah a Christian name! You are a Christian? because sometimes there are barbarians and Visigoths who destroy our villages.

Yes, I am and I know my prayers.

Henri: Ah, that's reassuring! But for the pilgrims passing through here, there was a chapel, I remember.

Me: It burned down, there is nothing left, but I will rebuild it in the coming days.

Mr. Henri, what year is it again? I am very distracted these days.

We are in 620!

Crying...

Are you all right, Marc?

Leave me alone! I've lost everything!

If you want, there are other orphans in the village and a priest will come to bless the chapel if you have rebuilt it when we come back here in two weeks. If you know how to fish or hunt, we can exchange the dried meat for spices and flour, but I see that there is a mill here, if it works, you can have flour and make your bread.

If you don't want to show yourself, it's nothing, we'll put the cart in the entrance, close the doors and you put down what you want and we'll load what you bring. Here is a scroll with what we buy from the hunters and the equivalent value in gold. Each trader uses these barter sheets to trade with trappers who can't read.

Spices and seeds of medicinal plants I would like and know where there is salt.

Oh, the salt, before there was the mine but it is guarded by a ferocious dragon that ravages the surroundings.

Fifty people lived here last year and it killed almost everyone. It's a black dragon!

It spits acid and attacks at night when the moon doesn't shine. It has ravaged our farms even though the forest is full of game and even with human sacrifices, as an offering it has continued. He kills for pleasure. He even spoke! He said he loved to make his victims suffer so that the flesh was full of adrenaline and the taste was better. He loved to hear the cracking of his victims' skulls when he made them scream in pain. A real monster.

There are almost no men left in the country because the soldiers have almost all been killed by the dragons and the farmers are fleeing the fields where they are prime targets.

Famine reigns and food is scarce yet abundant.

Is it worth a dead dragon?

Extremely, but no one has yet managed to kill one.

And none of them are nice?

Not one!

We will settle down at night in the inn.

Good night then.

I have smoked fish, you can take some for eating and some fruits too.

Thanks Marc.

Aurélie stayed close to the horses and she was afraid of the wolves then she approached the murderer, too high for her to see inside and shouted: Marc? Marc? Marc?

Aren't you afraid of the wolves here alone?

Yes, I answered her.

Stolen story; please report.

Aurélie asked me: Mark, what's your story? Are you an orphan like me?

Me: You're an orphan?

Yes, Henri and Juliette took me in when my village was burned by goblins, evil beings and I was hidden under fire in a trap door and they did not find me. Afterwards there was no one left and people had gone everywhere and I don't know if mom or dad are still alive but Henri took me in through my village and now they are my new parents. What about you?

I come from another country and I was playing with friends. We were happy and I had my mom and dad and I went into a dragon cave and when I came out, I was here. I was hungry and thirsty and I fed in the forest and I found the village burnt and I repaired 2-3 buildings. and then you arrived.

Why are you hiding then? the monks could help you to find a family without children. maybe you could learn to read and count.

But I can read and count.

And to feed you?

No problem.

And the wolves, do you take them into account? Just one and you're dead. They are big and dangerous! You can only pass when they've eaten!

No problem. I am afraid of wolves but not of a wolf!

Ah, you're strong then and big!

Yes, but I am 11 years old

One more year and you can get married! Yet you don't sound hideous in your voice. Can I look at you?

NO, I don't want to and if you do I will be very unhappy and we won't be able to be friends anymore.

OK OK, I understand, Mr. MARC!

Sorry Aurelie, but I really can't! You would cry and you would be scared and so would your parents. Please respect me. I still have my honor and pride. That's all I have left.

Aurelie: I understand but you seem so nice.

The next morning, Henri came to the door and shouted, MARC?

Yes, I answered?

Be careful, there are lots of fresh dragon tracks. It must have passed through here in the last few days and there are also wolf tracks. Be careful with the storage of the meat, it could attract them.

[https://i.imgur.com/qUcpCQm.jpg]

See you in 2 weeks and try to survive!

The cart resumed its course and on the table they left some salt and a whistle to play. Trriiit I did and Henri turned around and shouted from afar: it's to call for help!

Thank you" I shouted.

I set up the airlock to barter and I started to repair the stone altar and I put the stone blocks back and mixed the sand from the lake with ashes to make lime and with water I had my cement. I plated the walls and the blocks pulled together and I rebuilt a very simple chapel with an overhanging shelter for the travelers, a cross that I carved out of an old beam and a figure of Christ that I carved with my sharp claws.

I made an alcove with two wooden doors and put in it a wooden chalice and some wine that was left over. A bowl for the bread. A stoup and especially a large hearth for the travelers to shelter from the rain and to warm themselves.

Then I started hunting and the prey appeared in bright red even in the dark. A bit like in a movie I had seen before: Predator.

I saw fallow deer and I stole it and just like hawks, I picked them up and brought them back to an enclosure. or I could devour them as I pleased. nothing like living things to preserve.

That's how I brought back pigs, chickens, rabbits and even a dog.

He quickly understood who the master was and he soon obeyed me to the letter.

Now I really had something to keep me busy.

Feeding the cattle, fixing the wall and repairing the mill. The mill needed a new shaft and I needed carpenter's tools. or gears. Dad had a mechanic shop and I knew how to do it but I needed more sophisticated tools.

A lathe, and a foundry. ore and cast it all. Except that the foundry technique didn't exist because the temperature wasn't high enough to do it.

GRRR.

The forest was like a self-service.

I then undertook to rebuild the surrounding wall.

I advanced like 50 men.

Then with my very keen senses I spotted Henri and Juliette. Aurélie was not well.

Sometimes I had a bar or two on my mobile phone but I couldn't make calls, but the internet was downloading. The request was sent but that was all. No mail, no account.

Wow, says Henri, what a change: The surrounding wall is almost finished and the grid is missing. Oh you found it but it's twisted by the dragon.

The chapel, oh how beautiful it is! and what a style with ogive windows and cement. What quality! It's hard, I see. And you even have a porch for shelter and a place to dry off and eat! You're moving fast. You should be working for the church and building abbeys and cathedrals. If you joined a group of companions you would become famous! wouldn't you?

Me: Oh yes, that would be nice but you forget how I look. They will kill me on the spot!

Henri: There are a lot of cripples and invalids in the Court of Miracles and they don't kill them, even lepers they don't kill them. Don't be afraid.

Henri, I want to remain a friend and your priest can come here to bless the chapel, but I am so afraid that I will be killed.

As you wish, Mark. What do you have to trade?

Me: Go look in the courtyard behind.

Henri: What the hell is that? You could feed a whole village with that!

Yes, but I eat a lot!

There are skins and the guts are eaten by the pigs who eat everything.

Salt is needed for the salt works and carpenter's tools to repair the mill.

There are dwarves sometimes coming through the pass and they could make you the tools you need but you seem to know a lot about it.

ALL OF THEM!

My poor Aurelie, she has a cough that doesn't go away and she has a fever.

Henry: We need a caretaker but we don't have enough money and if she is not strong she will die. Can she stay here? to rest she is no longer able to travel. We will pay you again when the priest comes.

But, but isn't she your daughter?

No, she is our apprentice, but we can't risk losing everything. There is a dragon and goblins coming and if they attack the city, she will be better off here. We can't stop for more than one night or everything will be out of date and we will be ruined. And ruined here means starving and the taxes of the local baroness are terrible.

I have elderflower and it should bring down the fever, I tell them. And I have plenty of honey.

Honey? But it's dangerous!

But not with my scales .... I stopped before!

Here!, put it in the warmth, I beg you!

Ok I say, put it in the entrance, I'll take it as soon as you close the door.

Aurelie didn't know where she was, the fever made her delirious.

I was angry with Henri and Juliette. Leaving the poor girl to strangers. If necessary, she will live here with me then! and I will teach her. I lifted her up and took her to the cave, on a bed of straw, nice and warm, and I gave her fruit juice with honey to make her stronger and I needed ice to bring down her fever.

SALT I need salt. My great-grandfather made ice by salting water in a water bath and the ice was forming!

I flew to the salt mine and I saw human carcasses, swords, halberds and countless traces of battle, but I continued on my way and landed near the mine. There were several galleries and I could hear snoring and crying. Some children were in a gallery of a stone cave and some were bleeding and were all red with blood.

What a horrible sight. Then I saw a dragon as black as ash gnawing at the leg of a child still alive, pressing its claws on his chest and reveling in its cries. The dragon was smaller than me but big and fat. It was eating its fill all day long and had been a real live pantry.