CHAPTER 5 - RATIONS AND BANDAGES
TENGSU IS WELL KNOWN FOR ITS LONG WINTERS. DUE TO ITS SLOW ELLIPTICAL ORBIT THE WINTERS LAST FOR SLIGHTLY LESS THAT FIVE STANDARD YEARS. WHILE THE EARLY TENGSUN STRUGGLED MIGHTILY WITH THE LACK OF FOOD IT TURNED THEM INTO A STRONG AND HARDY PEOPLE.
TENGSU, A HISTORY 1.2
The next morning Ash was trying to take his mind off of Syskon. He found himself wandering into the armory despite the sounds of pain and injury coming from there. The armory doubled as an infirmary. Both the weapons and the bandages were kept there ready for use. There were only a few cots set in the infirmary so there had been some temporary beds set up and a number of the weapons were put outside to make room.
Ash walked past some of the injured. He noticed Mikell in the corner of the room. The gash in his leg had been bandaged. Ash noticed the handiwork of his sister. Anna had a good hand when it came to healing. Then again Anna was good at everything. Even though she trained with the sword rarely, Ash still struggled to beat her in sparring. Given the amount of time she had put into the art of healing she was considered the best in Bjorn. As he stood in front of Mikell, Anna came up alongside him.
“Oh good, I could use an extra hand.” Anna said. “These bandages need to be redressed. Keep it tight. There needs to be pressure on the wound. Also apply this salve directly on the wound it will help with infection.”
Anna handed the materials over to Ash and then hurried on her way to tend to the others. Ash began to work the bandages on Mikell’s leg. As he loosened the dressing Mikell started to stir. He started to groan and moan as he came to. Once he noticed Ash working on his wound he tried to toughen up and hide his pain.
“Morning Ash.” Mikell said through gritted teeth. “Thank you for caring for me on the battlefield.”
“It’s nothing Mikell.” Ash responded. “You are part of Bjorn, part of my family. I would have done it for any of us.”
“Nonetheless I thank you Ash. It was good to have your words and someone by my side.” Mikell said.
Mikell grimaced as Ash tightened the bandage around the wound. “There that should be good enough.’’ Ash said. “We will have you back on your feet in no time.”
“I hope so, Ash. I’m not one to be bedridden. My place is out working for Bjorn.” Mikell responded.
Mikell started to nod off again. Ash decided to leave him be and started to leave the armory. As he left the building his thoughts started to turn to Frae.
What should I do with the pup? Should I still keep him? If I had not been caring for him at the beginning of the battle I would have been there for Syskon. Maybe I should just tell father about him. I could bring him into the town and care for Frae here… But father doesn’t even like to talk about the Rev-vissir. He probably wouldn’t like the idea of a Rev-vissir in the town. Whatever I do Frae is probably hungry by now. I should go get him some meat.
Ash crossed the square to the smokehouse. He looked around to see if anybody was around before walking up to the door. He heard voices coming from inside as he walked closer and decided to hide out by the door to see if he could figure out who was inside. He heard the voices of Chief Mir, Reykr, the keeper of the smokehouse, and Gamall, the village elder coming from inside.
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As Ash got closer he started to pick out the words coming from Chief Mir. “... should have planned for something like this. It is my responsibility to protect the people of Bjorn. I need to have the foresight to keep the town itself safe during battles.”
“You are wise Chief Mir but not as wise as the great Hoolekyr. Only one with a future sight of a God could have foreseen this. The Yfir are not crafty. They attack like a hammer beating on an anvil. The same strike over and over. One would have no reason to think that the Yfir would attack our stores as such.” Gammall said.
“He is right, you know Chief.” Reykr said. “No one could have been prepared for this sneak attack. The Yfir have long been honorable and would only fight us on the battlefield. Something or someone must have happened to them to make them use such a tactic.”
There was a momentary pause before Chief Mir continued. “You are right. I cannot blame myself. I must focus on what we can do now and going forward. We will set guard on the storehouse in future battles. As for the winter, Reykr, what is the state of the stores? How much did they get away with?”
“Those vile rauda were able to get away with 16 racks of duran meat and 31 racks of beara meat.That leaves us with a total of 317 racks. Gamall, how many fell during the battle?”
“4 souls died and are on a journey to Hrafa.” Gamall responded.
Reykr muttered to himself for a second before responding. Ash heard the clicks of an abaci, a device grown to hold hard beads that could be moved from side to side to count and calculate. “So that leaves us with 62 adults and 23 children for the coming winter. We were already running short on full reserves before the attack. Each person needing five racks for a winter leaves us 98 racks short. Even a three quarter ration would leave us short..”
“We have never had a ration for a whole winter. They have held on for half a moon but for 5 full moons. Many would die from wanting a full stomach.” Chief Mir responded. “What about the Veytrmar”
“We never know how much meat the Veytrmar will bring in. Even in a good winter we could hope for an extra 20 racks or so…” Reykr said.
Chief Mir sat with his back against the hard exterior of the smoke house. Its curved wall bent his neck into his chin as he leaned further back. His hands ran through his long reddish beard as it would when he was deep in thought. The smokehouse keeper and Gamall sat patiently for Chief Mir to speak.
The Chief was not a man quick to his words. It was not because he was slow to think but because he metered his words carefully. Especially in moments such as this where so many people depended on him and the magnitude of the decision not only weighed upon him but upon him but also upon the lives of the people of Bjorn.
“First we will need to train more Veytrmar.” Chief said carefully. “This will buy us time both by taking some mouths to feed out of Bjorn but also bringing in what more meat they may find.”
“A plan that could bear success Chief, but we have not any youth of age for this winter sir.” Gammall responded. “All of our hunters still have apprentices as well so there is no training to be had.”
“Ash is old enough now, he and the others his age will have to be. Their town and families need them to be…” said Chief Mir.
“Send those with so few moons out to the perils of the long winter sir?” questioned the smokehouse keeper “Your son himself has only 15 moons by now. He must hardly remember his first winter sir. He and the other boys would be facing unfamiliar hardship.”
Chief Mir sat continuing to stroke his beard with a look of contemplation on his face.
After a significant pause from the chief the smokehouse keeper continued. “And who would train the boys? All of the Veytrmar already have their apprentices like Gamall said. We can’t send them out in trios. Too many mouths to feed in one group. The apprentice hunters are not much more prepared themselves then the boys we ask to be trained. They also have not seen more than one winter. They are just boys themselves.”