Chapter 5. Winter

After waking up as humans and not octopuses was good Will considered. They had anchored off shore the previous night and he could feel that the weather was still fair. The boat would be heaving much more if there was a change but it was still a gentle rocking. His usual routine of dressing and slipping out to start the day only took a few minutes, and he was in the corridor without waking Minnie. He loved her so and seeing her sleeping peacefully made him happy. Intending to go to the galley but he stopped by the stairs to the deck. They had taken to closing both top and bottom now to keep cooler air out and something had made him pause. Not sure what it was he continued to the galley for his morning tea. Hopefully the embers of last night were still hot but no, he had to start anew. There was always a good supply of wood and kindling though, and there were several cords kept in one of the holds.

Something still felt off so while the kettle boiled he headed up to the deck. Opening the bottom doors brought a rush of chilly air, oh oh he thought. He opened one of the closets inside the stairwell and pulled out a warm jacket. Throwing it on he pushed on the upper doors, heavier than usual, he knew what that meant. Pushing a little harder the doors flung back and revealed an unexpected sight. Apparently a snow storm had blown through the night before and dumped a few inches of snow on the Rose. Sounds were muffled because of this, and the sun still low, the only light was from their deck lantern. It’s warm yellow light showed the snow in low drifts across the deck. It was a pretty magical sight. Snow piled on the railing like icing on a cake, the usually polished deck covered, the bench’s disguised as ice blocks. He had to wake Minnie. But first to make a snowball to take with him.

She was still sleeping but he didn’t want her to sleep through this. It would melt fast enough soon. “Hey you, wakey wakey, eggs and bakey.”, he called out coming in to the warm cabin. A sleepy eye opened “Why, why so early dad, I’m so nice and warm, dreamed of milk.”. Will laughed “Something special happened, look at this.”, and he held out the snowball to her. Her sleepy eyes now opened wide and she reached out to take it in her little hand. “A snowball, is that a snowball, did it snow last night, can I throw this at Naomi?”, she asked. Also jumping out of bed, quickly going to the head band throwing on clothes. “Dress warmly, it’s chilly out.”, Will said, changing his shorts to longer wool pants and a thick jumper. And, he shuddered at the thought, socks. “I hate socks.”, he said. “Why’s that dad, they keep my feet warm and toasty, and stop my boots from rubbing my toeses.”, Minnie asked. “I just don’t like them, make my feet tight.”, Will answered. But both were dressed warmly so out they went. “Should we wake up Naomi and throw snowballs at her?”, Minnie asked. Will laughed “Lets bang on her door and find out.”. The only answer from Naomi was a muffled “No thanks.”, so it was just the two of them. They quietly walked up to the stairway and put coats and boots on, then went up.

Minnie’s eyes went wide as she saw the snow covering the boat and she galloped off. Kicking and sliding as she ran through the snow. Will helped by tossing snowballs at her which she threw back while laughing happily. The sun had started to rise higher in the sky now and the snow was melting away as they played. After a while it was all gone and it was just wet now, but still chilly. They were soaked through and shivering but Minnie was ecstatic. “I’ve seen snow dad, got you a good one with a snowball too, that was so much fun, let’s do it again huh?”, she laughed. “Oh yeah, every time we can sweetie, every time.” he promised.

The lure of warmth below was too strong and down they went for dry clothes and a warm meal and hot tea. Will was tempted by the comfy looking bed and was soon lying under the soft heavy covers, a chilly Minnie snuggled up beside him. “We gonna sleep all day, cause that would be nice, lay here and wake up and then sleep some more, eat in bed, then sleep all night.”. she murmured. That was all Will heard before he was gone.

They woke a second time when Naomi knocked on the door and hollered Breakfast’s ready!”. With much stretching and moaning they got up and dressed again. Warm clothes at the start this time, it looked like shorts weather was over for a while. It was still early but not horribly so like before, at least the sun was up now. The boat sounded normal as the snow was gone, the usual creaks and knocking noises were sharper and clearer. The smell of breakfast had dragged Minnie to the galley but Will went on deck first.

There was no trace of the early morning snow and the deck was mostly dry, the day was very clear and fresh. Sun well risen and a few high grey and white clouds. To the north the clouds were heavier but that wasn’t going to change their minds. This was only the beginning he thought. He turned off the deck lantern and headed down to the galley.

He was greeted with Minnies happy voice “Hey dad, finally decided to join us huh.”. He laughed “Yeah I was just on deck…”, “Checking the weather.”, chorused Minnie and Naomi. Will just snorted and poured a cuppa, “You’ll be sorry when there’s six feet of snow on deck and we’re stuck in a snowdrift.”. Taking a sip of tea, he started filling his plate with potatoes and bacon. One of his favourite meals, mind you just about everything made on the boat was his favourite meal. It was weird how that worked out. Minnie was talking about how much fun the snow was this morning, when it was going to snow again, and could they build a snowman next time. It was heartwarming to see how the smallest things made her happy. “I think it’s going to snow a lot from now on Minnie, if you want we could make a snowdad, and throw lots of snowballs.”, said Naomi. “Nice, thanks kid. Didn’t want to see first snow today?”, Will asked. “No, too wet and my bed was so warm”, Naomi replied. “Yeah, ours too, we went back for a nice snoozy.”said Minnie.

After everyone had eaten their fill it was time to get cracking on. Filling the coal bunkers, shovelling in enough to get the boiler going and waiting on pressure to build. Cranking in the anchors and checking that the boat was fully ready to go took just a short while. In the wheelhouse Minnie was showing Naomi how to con the Rose. Will was glad that she was confident enough to finally give this a shot. And it would be nice to have someone else to stand a watch if they needed. From the look of the stacks the boiler was heating nicely, black wisps rising up and the smell of burning coal was stronger. Minnie stuck her head out and asked “Hey you guy, we good to go?”. “You bet Min, let’s go.”,Will called back. He felt the Rose surge forward, bow lifting as the stern lowered. Prop churning the blue water and leaving a wake that could be seen for miles.

All three crew were standing on the bow as they steamed along, grey overcast skies and blue water. It had been two weeks since leaving Newton and they had found nothing. Well, not nothing, but no sign of people. Will had steered the boat closer to shore and the land was magnificent. The usual shoals of ore were absent here, but there was the occasional line of black coal showing. Huge spruce trees crowded near to the water with just a few yards of a rocky beach showing. Covered with driftwood and dried lake weeds that had washed up from past storms. Miles back from shore you could make out the high cliffs that were always present, separating inland from lake side. Here though the cliffs were getting much higher, nearly mountains. Snow topped and grey. Living here would be a challenge, he did not hold much hope of finding villages.

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The days passed, continually heading northward. Ten hours of steaming ahead then anchoring for the night. Each day there was more and more snow being dumped on them. Many snowmen had been built, many snowballs had been thrown. Much more snow had been shovelled and swept off the deck. That had become an early morning chore, in fact so much snow had starting falling overnight that there was a problem. The main steps to belowdecks usually were covered with flat doors to prevent water getting in. And it was easy enough to just push these open from below during normal weather. With three feet of snow, that was a different story. Thick wet snow, turning to ice, then more wet snow on top of that. After being frozen in a couple of times Will started planning. A shed like structure over the hatch to belowdecks, doors opening to the aft. It hadn’t taken long to plan and build. Minnie helped by pelting Will with snowballs when he wasn’t looking. He had to enlist Naomi as protection. Luckily it only took him a few hours and it was done. It wasn’t the prettiest work but it would serve the purpose..

The landscape was changing. Becoming more and more uninhabitable and unwelcoming, the trees were thinning. Just long sweeping valleys of scrub land. They had gone ashore a couple of times, to set up some snares for rabbit. Didn’t catch anything, this was desolate land. It was very cold now, the wind tore along the land finding every hole in their clothes. Not too much snow, but there were some high drifts against the few trees showing there had been some bad weather before they got here.

Supplies were still good but fresh goods were being missed. Mostly milk, “Yeah.”, said Minnie, looking over Wills shoulder as he wrote the log, “I miss that the most.”. Will nodded, “I know, pretty soon. We’re not having much luck finding anyone this way, I think it’s time to head back.”.

Naomi was at the wheel, keeping an eye out as Minnie and Will entered the wheelhouse. “Oh oh, what’s going on?”, she asked. Minnie answered first “We’re heading back, dad figured out that no one lives here and it’s time to go home.”. Hearing this Naomi cheered up visibly, “It’s pretty quiet this far, I’ll be glad to go south again.”. “Me too, snows fun, but it’s too cold, no one’s around, let’s go.”. Will agreed “Well now we know, turn us around Naomi, south for a few days then west.”. The Rose surged ahead and began to make a wide swinging turn away from land. Minnie was pulling on the steam whistle and yelling out of the window “Goodbye north, it’s been fun.”.

It was odd but when he heard the whistle there was a feeling he had been this way before, “Hold on Naomi, keep her straight for a little while.”. “What’s up dad?”, Minnie asked. He patted her shoulder “Got a feeling, I have to sit for a bit and get into the deep memories, the ones I received when I got this.”, he held up his right hand to show the rose tattoo. As he did Minnie showed hers, reaching up to hold his hand. They both bowed their heads and closed their eyes.

Around a far point on the coast, about three miles further on from where the Rose was turning, was a small bay. A protected little area surrounded by trees, was a small village. Consisting of a few earthen mounds, leading to dwellings below ground. Tunnels cut into the frozen ground going deep down into the soft limestone below. Chimneys and ventilation had been carved through the rock and barely showed above ground. The wind was from lake ward today and was blowing all the smoke in toward land. The mounds surrounding the entrances to these Burroughs were the leftovers from the digging.

Here lived the people called, oddly enough, the burrowers. Subsiding on shore gathering of float weed, hunting and fishing in the wild rivers further inland. As a people they had lived in this manner of life for hundreds of years. Communal life, eating as one huge family, each with their roles. A rich oral history passed down to each new generation.

Over the years a boat, the heartboat had stopped by infrequently to trade for furs and unique carvings of driftwood and antlers from the herds of elk and reindeer that migrated far inland. Trading oils, iron tools and copper pans and such, and glass products. This boat only came a few times over the years, but when it did it was an occasion for a great festival. The only warning that it was coming was the shriek of the whistle in the distance. It was always the same boat, but never the same captain and crew. When the whistle was heard the great fire on the high point had to be lit.

Today the Obb family had been out, checking traps and gathering firewood from the far forests. A two day trip but they had been successful, three sleds stacked high with logs and one with furs from previous trips and some meat.

The mother and father were starting the sleds off and their grown sons were pulling them across the wind smoothed snow. Their twin daughters, around the age of eight, were helping with everything. Picking up the wood that dropped, throwing snowballs at the brothers, the usual stuff. “If I get one more snowball down my back I’m gonna eat you for supper!”, threatened Tor, the eldest son. His little sisters, Uma and Oona, ran off laughing, to get to the next sled. The second eldest brother, Din, held up a giant snowball, saying nothing. The two girls tried the last sled pulled by the youngest brother, Cal. He might have been youngest but he was the largest by far. He easily pulled his sled of firewood, and as the twins approached he lifted them to his hulking shoulders for a ride.

There was no sound but the hiss of runners on snow and grunts of exertion from the men pulling. Katya and Therd were watching their children and smiling. A very close family with older members waiting at the burrows for their return. They were walking beside the sleds lending a hand on up slopes, pulling back on downs, keeping a watchful eye on all the children. There weren’t any predators that were a threat to them, but the snow could be dangerous. Deep crevasses covered with a thin layer of snow and ice, when crossing rivers the ice could be rotten.

They were nearing the village when Therd held his hand up, “Hold it here boys, quiet down all of you.”. The children stopped as quick as they could, sleds creaking to a stop. The twins stood beside Katya but didn’t speak, they knew when to listen. After a few seconds the sound came again, the high shriek of a steam whistle, far away but coming closer it seemed. With a start Katya realized what it was “The signal fire, we have to light the fire or they’ll miss us.”, she said urgently. Therd started strapping on his gliders, “Tor, your in charge, get this to the village as fast as you can, we’re going to light the fire. Pray we make it in time.”, Katya had her glides on already and the two were stroking away on the direction of the huge fire pit. “Girls, listen to your brothers, no mischief.”, she called over her shoulder.

Will woke with a start, Minnie was sitting on his crossed legs, head buried on his chest. She blinked at him with sleepy eyes “That was weird dad, it’s like we were someone else for a minute.”. Resting a hand on his little friends shoulder “Yeah it was, I don’t like to do that very much. I feel like I’m losing myself in memories.”. Naomi was still holding steady on the same course, “Are you all right, you just went away, the two of you just sitting.”. Will carefully lifted Minnie to her feet then stood himself. “Sorry to worry you sweetie, we were, well it’s hard to describe where we were.”. Naomi’s face brightened as Will addressed her “I was just scared dad, I was feeling alone.”.

“Well we’re not as alone as we thought”, Will said “Maybe.”. Minnie was drinking a cup of warmed apple juice “Why maybe?”. Will explained “There has been contact with a people up here, a few times. But many years ago and years between. There’s a sign that shows they’re still here, keep an eye out.”. Telling Naomi and Min he needed a minute Will went below for a pot of tea, he also needed to get the other peoples memories out of his head. Familiar surroundings helped, doing familiar things, after making tea he returned to the wheelhouse.

The Rose was steaming on, nearer to the coast when they saw it, a huge bonfire lighted on a hill above the lake. “Lemme guess dad, that’s where we’re going?”, asked Minnie.