Chapter 44. The Sundering.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen it rain this hard.”, Minnie said, sitting under the walkway. Will had to agree, it was coming down in buckets. They were sitting in deck chair’s, completely protected, but the Rose was actually rocking under the force of the drops. Not hail, nor sleet or frozen rain, just plain old water torrenting down. “We’ll be pumping the bilge by noon at this rate.”, Will sighed. “Oh yuck, let’s get the kiddies doing that, tell them it’s so much fun, or has to be done or else, dunno or else what but we could find something horrible.”, Minnie argued. Laughing, Will shook his head, “We can’t do that, sorry sweetie.”. Naomi came and joined them “Can”t do what now?” Before Will could answer Minnie replied “Dad wanted to make the poor kids pump out the bilge, I tried to argue with him but he was like nah, they’re gonna do it or else.”. Naomi gasped with horror “You monster, those poor innocent children, by the way I heard you both while I was coming up here. Nice try.”. Minnie shrugged, “Oh well, next time. What’re we going to do today, I don’t think we are going to get much coal.”. “Yeah that’s out, not many chores to do onboard either. Hard to have a lazy day with all the children around.”, Will was at a loss. Naomi smiled “You forgot to ask me about something yesterday, last night really.”. Hmmm Will had a think about this. “Was it about Minnie skipping laundry detail?”. He got poked in the ribs, that wasn’t it. “If we found a turkey for our Christmas dinner?”. This time Naomi shook her head. Then it hit him. “Oh right, I was going to ask you about the, I can’t remember the name.”.

He got comfortable on his deck chair, checked that his tea was hot, notebook ready, no rain getting on them. Minnie nearly laughed at his preparations but she knew his ways. Naomi started. “Now this is mostly legends about our world. There isn’t really any evidence except for the way it is.”. She went on…

Our history has been passed on from mother to daughters. There were no books until a hundred years ago, so it was songs about the world. Learned and practiced while we are young, sung to each other while working. Living on the water, on the shores, we were fisher folk, hunters and gatherers, until that day. We remember there was a light in the sky, starting where the sun rises. For a time there were two suns, then the noises came, they didn’t know what it was but the dust rose and blanketed the sky. There were screams of rage and anger, roars of pain, shouted by giants or demons. All the horrors, all the legends of our past came to life. Raging across the lands, ripping the mountains down and clawing the earth deep and dark. Until our familiar world was no more. Eventually the warring titans left or died, the lost fallen to dust and rot. The lake or ocean, whatever you call it, changed to what it is now. Poisoned and lost to us. Never fish or swim again, our songs changed. Sadness and loss were taught, the future was bleak.

It was dark for weeks, the crops died and most of the animals on land. Dust swirled over all, the people huddled in what was left of villages, some in caves in the new mountains. The supplies were gone, the people were dying. No hope.

That long last night. Some hoped never to wake, to have to face the struggle of life, to raise their children in a world of nothing. A wind blew outside, all night long. The low breeze was somehow comforting. Some of the sleepers dreamed of hearing a voice, a sad voice promising the world would be healed, that the air would be sweet, the rivers and streams pure and full of life. That the lake, now forbidden to the people, would have a new purpose.

“Hold on.”, Minnie asked, “They heard an actual voice, telling them this?”. Naomi shrugged “It’s a story from a long long time ago, three hundred years. Who knows?”. “Okay, go on.”, Will said.

When the next morning came the air was clean again, not choked with dust. The sun shone down on a changed world. What had been barren fields were now orchards, trees heavy with fruit. The fields were no longer trampled muddy pits but full of crops, wheat, corn ready to harvest. A gift or an apology from the gods, maybe. The waters of the lake however were changed. The peoples had gathered near the lake to wash on the familiar beaches were suddenly overcome with the miasma and had to flee. Over time they got used to this part of their lives being gone. Becoming farmers not fisherfolk. Adventurous souls travelled the coast but found there was no way past the barriers that had been raised. Tremendous canyons, impassable rivers, mountains where none had been before. No way past to visit the other communities, all were cut off and alone now.

For nearly a hundred years the world went on. Things changed, farms flourished and so did the people. The turmoil of the past was not exactly forgotten but was sunk deep in peoples minds. Those times were gone, when history started to be written those events became legends. Stories to scare children with while sitting around a campfire. The songs of the elders were written down and taught no more. Life went on, civilization grew. The single town became larger and a network of farms and communes grew. Out from the forbidden lake, spreading over the fertile lands.

Then one day something happened, something amazing. It was an early spring day, crops had been planted, lambs and calves born. A loud sound echoed over and over, a trumpet blast coming from the lake. When the people of what was now called Laketown rushed to see, an incredible sight met them. A boat, a wondrous boat. Under full sail she was cruising toward the abandoned beach. Her name proudly blazoned on her hull, the Rose had arrived.

Naomi had been talking for a while. William had joined them and had added some interesting points as well. The ore deposits had been discovered, very poor ones near his town of Newton but they were there. The fact that the young could go on the waters, and that the captain of the Rose was immune to the miasma. These men and women could bring the young people aboard with no ill effects. It took time to work out but work it out they did. The ship brought back what the growing towns needed. “I remember the Rose having sails before.”, Will said. This startled William, that was ancient history to him, then Minnie added something else. “Before that she was rowed somehow, that’s a really deep memory though, hard to get at.”. Naomi nodded, “It’s still weird to do that, I don’t feel right for a while after.”. Will had to agree, it was an odd feeling.

He had managed to take a few notes and was eager to get back to Newton to find any books on the…, “What did you call it again, that time?”, he asked. “The sundering.”, William answered. “Well as you can imagine I have a ton of questions but they’re going to have to wait.”, he pointed to wards the shore, “Gathering takes priority, the rains quit and the suns out. Let’s hit the beach for a few hours.”.

The tents had kept all the supplies dry, mostly. Some clothes were damp from touching the tent walls, that had wicked moisture from inside. Will remembered his wife talking about that, she had been a guide leader for years and knew all the ins and outs of tent camping. But opening the tent flaps and letting the wind blow in and through would clear out all the moisture. A clothesline had been hung and the damp gear was drying nicely. The teens were working away, one boatload had been dumped already and Will hoped to get at least two more today. Naomi had planned to use the last of their fresh meat today, cheeseburgers, or plain for those that don’t care for cheese. And camp potatoes, a favourite of the crew. Perhaps gingerbread or a nice fruitcake for afters, it was up to the cooks.

As they walked the gathering area he or Minnie would smash the coal deposits into small pieces that were easily gathered. No point in hundred pound lumps being levered into the bags. They were talking about the stories that they had been told. “Have you ever heard of that kind of thing happening before?”, Minnie asked. Will nodded, breaking a massive block with a easy blow, “The old world had many legends, religions told stories of divine beings helping or interfering with people. One story had the whole world destroyed by a flood, except for one family who saved all the animals in a giant boat.”. Mins eyes widened “Must have been a big boat.”. They gathered the glistening coal into a bag, lugged it to the pile by the shore and started loading the dory. A few minutes later they were tossing bags from the boat into the hold of the barge. Still talking of myths and legends. “He was forty axe handles high and had a blue ox for a pet? Weird.”, Minnie was a bit suspicious of the stories. “I think a lot of these stories just grew out of real life events, there might have been a big lumberjack and people just told stories about him.”, Will explained. “Like fishing, the fish get bigger and there’s more every time you tell the tale. Or your just having fun with the new person, and you joke around with them to take it easy.”. Minnie asked “Like when you asked Naomi to go fetch you ten yards of shoreline or a jug of fresh prop wash?”. “I was just kidding around with her, having fun. She was pretty nervous the first couple of trips.”. Will replied. They were sitting in the dory, rowing back slowly, cruising along the coastline, making sure everything was okay near the working kids.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The afternoon sun was getting low on the horizon when Will called quitting time. They had managed four full loads and the first barge was getting full, one more load would do it. Things were going along quite well even with the wet start today. The weary teens doffed their gathering gear and hung it in the on shore tents and piled into the boats for a quick trip back to the Rose. Dinner would be along a little after sundown but there were ample snacks to tide them over until then. Will had asked Minnie to make a potato slicing mandolin, to slice the spuds very thin. He had a surprise planned for the weekend, in a couple of days. But tonight was business as usual. The children were encouraged to have a good wash, shower if they needed to and dump dirty clothes in the laundry room. A rota had been established for laundry duty and it didn’t take long to cycle a few loads through and get them hang drying in the holds. Minnie had taken charge of this and had helped the kids throughout. She really liked working with the littles. Will was in the galley helping with meal prep, a chore he delighted in.

As he peeled, chopped, sliced, diced he also asked more about the sundering. “Is there any physical evidence left of the, what did you call them, the creatures that nearly wrecked the world?”. William answered that one, he had been hanging around the galley trying to catch Naomi’s eye. “There were some bones, in the fields east of Newton. Huge things, longer than a tall tree and as big around as barrels. Dad said they were from the Enders , but it could have been anything.”. Will picked up that word immediately “Enders hmmm, rings a bell but I can’t quite place it. That’s how your history refers to them, the Enders?”. Willam nodded “Dad was annoyed a few years ago. The teachers, elders, they decided not to teach about those years anymore. They said it was pointless, it probably never happened anyway.”, he sighed, “That’s when mom left, she was one of the people that didn’t want anyone to know about that time.”. Naomi patted his shoulder, “That’s sad, that she left you too. Now quite enough moping, go check that Minnie’s finished up with your group and tell Greta she can get her kids cleaned up.”. She shooed him out, turned to Will with a laugh. “He’s like a puppy, always under foot but too cute to get angry at. Greta will have her hands full with him.”. “Those two are a couple, I thought he liked you a bit.”, he teased. “Nah. Not for me.” she cut her eyes at Sally and Mike who hadn’t said a word but heard everything. “And you two, keep what you hear to yourselves, got it?”. Will gave them a bit of a glare and they nodded in a hurry, “We will, no tale telling from us, right Mike?”, Sally said.

“Did that happen in Laketown too, no more stories from those times allowed?”, Will asked after a few moments working quietly. “In a way yes, not discouraged just not…it’s hard to describe. Everyone got on living in that changed world and the times before were like a dream. The more you try to remember, it just slips away.”, Naomi replied. Sally piped up “We learned in school but only for one day. The teachers always bring it up near the end of school, before harvest, we get time off then cause lots of us have to help on farms, we don’t, Howard and me, cause we have cows and you don’t harvest them.”. She took a breath, still kneading the dough for dinner rolls, then went on. “They tell us what happened, like Naomi said, we can ask questions for a while then it’s done, one teacher told us he didn’t think it really happened, that it was just a story.”. Mike finally spoke up, “I was there when he did that, he got told off by some of the other teachers, now he’s not a teacher anymore.”. Naomi laughed, “Got what he deserved.”. Will had to agree, he had encountered deniers before. People that, for some reason, didn’t believe some event or some fact was real. In the face of overwhelming evidence they would still dig in their heels and say it was faked or never happened. He made a note to check in the booksellers when they got back to Newton.

Minnie popped her head in, “Anymore biscuits? There’s none left in the mess and I’m dying, laundry nearly did me in, it was horrible.”. Naomi reached into the jar that she kept on the counter for emergencies and took out one. Minnie’s eyes widened “One? If I take one biscuit out there they might start to eat me.”. Her ears drooped, tail down, chin quivering, big brown eyes began to swim with tears. “Oh my, I can’t stand it, take the jar but just stop it.”, laughed Naomi handing the biscuits to her. “Hurray, thanks, hey how long til food?” Minnie asked on her way out. Will looked around “I’ll be tossing burgers on the grill in twenty minutes, wanna help?”. “Oh yeah, that way I get dibs.”, and she was gone. “Eating on deck or in the mess?” Will asked. Naomi thought for a second, “On deck, I like all the fresh air we can get.”. He nodded “I’ll get the tables set up.”.

He gathered up two volunteers and they piled tables on chairs in a cargo net and lifted it up. The lake was calm tonight but it was nearly full dark, next chore was lantern lighting. Will always marvelled at the way the deck lanterns came on with just a pull cord. The igniters had been a little finicky but Minnie had tinkered with them and now they were perfect. They also hung a few small lanterns along the rails and lit the big bow light as well. While the two lads, Sigurd and his brother Bjorn set up the tables, Will lit the grill. Sally and Mike had come up with trays carrying condiments, silverware, then back down for plates. Then the covered pans of burgers. Minnie had joined him and together they put the first load of meat on the sizzling grill. “Oooh, that smells wonderful dad, let’s test one out real quick, make sure it’s good, okay.”, Minnie asked. She got no argument from Will and a few minutes later they were heroically testing the first burger to make sure it was safe.

As Will watched the kids make several trips up on deck he was thinking of a way to put in a dumbwaiter system, but then realized there wasn’t much point. There were so many willing helpers that any chore was done in minutes. Sally let him know that Naomi was ready to bring up the potatoes. He pointed to the dinner bell, she broke out in a smile and started hammering on it. With a stampede of feet and whoops the hungry teens arrived on deck. Greta and William keeping a firm hand, sending back three with no lifebelts, the same ones as before. Will wasn’t sure if it was forgetting or just not caring, he would have a word about it.

As the meat cooked Minnie flipped them and slapped a slice of cheese on top, Will toasted the buns and then put it all together into the glory that is the cheeseburger. Minnie yelled out that the first set was ready, Mike popped up to grab them. Carefully holding the loaded tray he made his way back to the tables and Naomi doled out dinner. “Should we test another one, I’m not sure about the cheese.” Minnie worried. “Definitely, I wasn’t sure about the buns, one looked weird, make it a double though.”, Will laughed. Naomi came over to see what they were laughing about, “Are you guys testing the food, to see if it’s okay. Better let me check it too, that last piece of cheese was crooked.”. Minnie passed her a fresh one and they both waited to see if she was okay. It took a minute but she pronounced them perfect in every way. Will called out another dozen were ready and this time Sally fetched the tray. “Are you and Minnie coming to sit down, I can watch the grill if you like.”, she asked. Will was a bit loathe to but Naomi assured him she would stay to keep an eye on and shooed Minnie and him to the table.

Taking his place at the head, Minnie beside, he watched the happy teens tear into the food. There was a slight commotion at the far end but William was there and handled things quickly. From what Will heard there had been a bit of a to and from between four teens about eating too much, or wasting what they took. Not wanting to get involved unless he had too he returned to his meal. Minnie had of course heard everything, “That one big guy told the smaller girl she should eat more or she would stay a stick, she told him he was fat and wasted food, then his friend said he’s not fat, then her friend said he’s a hog, that’s when Willy stopped it.”. Will nodded “ At least he settled it, wait a sec, when did you start calling him Willy.”. She laughed “Just today, he hates it.”. Will understood that, only one person was allowed to call him Willy, his wife. And his mother but only when she had been annoyed with him, which was most of the time. “Keep an ear open, let me know if things heat up again.” he asked Minnie.

She nodded, unable to talk through her burger. Will knew she would pick up any ruckus long before he would. But it looked as though whatever happened had been forgotten or forgiven. Looking over at the teens and seeing that they had mostly finished up eating Will knocked on the table to get their attention. Minnie and Naomi joined in and the kids quieted down. “Good days work guys, one barge nearly full. If we keep this up we’ll be sailing home in a week. Couple of things, wearing a lifebelt while on deck is an absolute must. We all wear them.”, he paused and sipped his tea. “Next and last thing, it can be close quarters but try to get along. It’s only for a few days. Now who’s for dessert.”.