The next Jack woke up and for the first time saw the island by daylight. Last night they landed on the island on northern beach after not seeing any natural bay in the cliffs on the eastern side. In broad daylight the island looked like a perfect home. Cliffs to the east. A plain and some trees in the middle of the island. Perfect for farming. And to the west one huge forest covering hills and valleys. The Northern coast looked extremely shallow. Bilsor even estimated that between the island and the mainland the depth shouldn’t exceed twenty metres.
After they enjoyed their usual fish soup breakfast, Jack called Bilsor and Karl so that they can form a team to explore the island. Taking with them some throwing axes and bone spears they set out. Before setting out Jack gave Haf command over the village and told him to start harvesting the trees nearby for houses and maybe send three people fishing in the late afternoon. Even Ragna could help, because her stump was healing nicely.
Setting out along the northern coast of the island, Jack and his companions roughly counted how long it takes them to reach the western coast. Jack estimated that they were travelling at about five to six metres per second. It took them roughly an hour of walking on the beach until the coast started going south instead of west. Calculating in his head, Jack estimated the island to be about twenty kilometres long, give or take.
Their next exploration goal was the forrest on the hills on the western tip of the island. Jack asked Bilsor, “ How do you want to do it? Walk through the plains until we meet the southern coast to get an idea of how big the forrest and the island is, or should we just cross the forrest and on the way back check the depth of the island?”
“It would be better to first walk through the plains and get a grasp on the size of the island. It could end bad if there are predators in the forrest and we get lost in it because we underestimated its size.”
Looking at Karl, who was covered in some fur coat, nodding as well, Jack decided to walk along the forrest instead through it. Since the terrain was less ideal than on the beach it took them about half an hour to cross what Jack esteemed to be about five kilometres of ground. As they met the southern coast Jack and Bilsor agreed to both go diving off the coast to see if it was as shallow as the northern coast.
The water was balls-disappearing cold, but Jack could clearly feel his body slowly getting used to the cold. While swimming Jack asked, “Bilsor, are you sure there are no beast attacking us here if we swim in these waters? I don’t think we can fight in the water without any weapons. Plus we could have just let Haf explore the southern coast with the boat.”
“Jack, don’t worry. The water is clear enough so that you can just dive and look around. You will see predators early enough to go back to land. Plus I haven’t seen any wildlife that resembles us so any predator that might be around won’t even see us as prey.” By the time they confirmed that the water was deeper than the northern coastal area and cam back, Karl was doing jumping jacks because he got cold waiting for them. ‘Ironic that the one not in the freezing water is the most cold.’ Thinks Jack to himself while he drys off.
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“Next item on the agenda is the forrest. Be vigilant and don’t stray too far from the others. I saw some claw marks on the trees as we walked by. There should be at least one bear family in this forrest.” Said Bilsor once they were ready to continue their little expedition.
‘I hope that family of bears is no magical monster or even under the control of a human like me.’
They entered the forrest and started crossing it in the hopes of getting back to the northwestern tip of the island. On the way they were on the lookout for herbs and edible mushrooms and berries. As they went deeper into the heart of the forrest, the sightings of claw marks became more and more frequent.
“There is definitely a bear around. Maybe even a female with cubs. If it’s a lonesome bear then just start screaming and make yourself look big. If the bear still doesn’t move then we can start throwing some hatchets and my harpoon.”
They continued deeper into the forrest and soon they saw a bear. From far away they saw him snack on some berries growing on a bush.
“ Keep calm now. Let’s get closer. It doesn’t look very big so maybe we can kill it and use its hide.” Whispered Bilsor.
‘He is right. It looks more like a small black bear than anything else. Im just glad it’s not some magically enhanced giant brown bear or even a polar bear.’ Thinks Jack to himself as he and the other two Nordar slowly step closer with their weapons at the ready.
As they got as close as about twenty meters the bear turned around and saw them. Without any hesitation he started charging straight at them. As he got closer Bilsor started shouting and threw his only iron harpoon. It hit the bear in his right shoulder but that didn’t stop his charge in the slightest. He charged right at Jack, leaving him no time to jump to the side. Jack managed to hurl one hatched in the bears face before the bear hit him with a roar. Jack was hit by a heavy bear that, if he stood up, came almost up to his chin and heard something break in his throwing arm and. That small mountain of flesh was heavier than he expected and managed to topple him to the ground.
With a high pitched shout Karl jumped onto the bears back and started hacking at it with his axe. Few seconds later the bear was dead, but Jack was almost suffocated by the weight of the bear and Karl on him.
“ Are you okay leader? Let me get this corpse of you. Help me Karl.” Asked Bilsor as he motioned a blood-soaked Karl to help him take the bear off Jack. “ Yeah im okay. Just a little winded thats all. Can you do something to stabilise my arm though? I think it’s broken.”
It was dark by the time they got the bear carcass back to the others on the other side of the island. Jack was of limited help since he his right arm was broken and had to carry their weapons with the other. Haf came to them as soon as he saw Jack and his two brothers in arms and reported what everyone accomplished that day. Haf got some fish with Ragna while Asa and Isgerd got busy with cutting down trees for a day. Though nobody had an experience quite like Jack.
They ate some fish with soup by the fire and discussed what they would do tomorrow. Before falling asleep Jack was looking forward to what kind of Nordar would join them the day after since by the next day it will have been two days since Isgerd joined.