Hendden let out a snort, “More than you’ll convince me to carry away!”
Dag felt his grin widen further. “This is good. This is really good.”
Hendden looked shrewd for a moment, “How good, and what do you want to trade for it?”
Dag smirked, “A bag that size... a bag of salt half again as big?”
Hendden’s eyes boggled, “Oh, you do really want this stuff... What exactly for?”
Dag laughed, “Is that all you have with you?”
Hendden nodded, “Until I knew it was what you really wanted... this stuff is a pain to carry.”
Dag chuckled, “Yeah, I’m sure it is, but I have some ideas about that, too. Tell you what, trade me what you have, and any hides your people have to spare for what you want from the fort here, and with any luck, you’ll get to see the finished project in a week or so.”
Hendden shrugged, “Okay, I have had my people tanning every scrap of hide they could get their hands on.”
Dag grinned, “Good boy. We’re going to make you a wealthy chief yet.”
Hendden looked a bit embarrassed, “Well, don’t let my father hear you say that. Ever since I got back from that trade mission with you last year, he has been on my ass day and night about how to lead the clan and learning clan traditions.”
Dag laughed, “He just sees himself being eclipsed by the greatness you will become. Don’t worry about it. Success has a way of smoothing over such things.”
◆◆◆
More Canoes
With tar to waterproof the seams, Dag could now build canoes with smaller skins sewn together. He had enough to complete two canoes with two layers of hide and a layer of tar in between. Unlike the original canoes, these weren’t at risk of becoming waterlogged as the water soaked into the skins.
It was still too wild on the flooded river to take them out, but Hendden’s eyes went wide when he realized what had been built with his tar. “This is a game changer for you, isn’t it?”
Dag grinned at him, “Yes. More importantly, this is only one use. There are many things that the tar is useful for. Given the chance to make up a few more tools, I might even be able to get more out of it.”
Hendden frowned, “This is important, isn’t it?”
Dag nodded, “A clan could do very well supplying us with this, and eventually, as the other clans start to learn things that can be done with it...” He just captured Hendden’s eye and shrugged, leaving his own mind to work through it.
Hendden sighed, “My father will never agree to spend all of our time moving large amounts of this. It won’t matter to him who much salt or hides or even food we get for it. At best, he will treat it as an unpleasant side venture.”
Dag nodded, “I understand. Unfortunately, I don’t have the people to spread out and get it for ourselves. Maintaining an outpost here, and an outpost on the river, and we have a new one up the beach a way where they will be shipping us down the supplies to make the liquid rock you see going up on the outside walls of the fort.”
Hendden looked at him, “You’re asking me to challenge my father?”
Dag shook his head. “You don’t have to openly oppose him to bring some people with you to join my clan. It would allow you to build a real future. You might not become chief like you would in your current clan, but you and your children would all live better than you ever could, holding to the traditional ways.” He let out a long sigh, “It is a big decision, and I’m not asking you to make it quick. I just think you should think long and hard about it. After all, what is a chief for, if not to lead his people to prosperity? Your father’s ways leave all of you just one run of bad luck from disaster.”
Hendden looked crest fallen, “I understand.”
Dag smiled at him, “There is no hurry to decide. You’re roughly the same age as Bren. Maybe talk to him about the choice he recently made, and the circumstances that more or less pushed him into it. I think you might find out that you’re not alone in all of this. I’d be surprised if there aren’t young men, and especially young women in all of the clans who aren’t trying to think of a way to make the leap. They just don’t want to abandon those who depend on them. Change is always hard, but the right change can bring prosperity not only for you, but every generation after you.” Dag walked off after that. He thought it best to leave Hendden alone to think things over. Either decision he made, Dag had already decided that he would get from him the location of the tar pits. Even if it cost him something he didn’t want to let go of, it was too valuable to allow to become lost to them if something happened to Hendden on a hunt.
He put all of it out of his mind for the moment, and went off to see how the trading had been going. He hadn’t noticed as many people around the fort, but they may have conducted their trades earlier. With the permanent presence they now had in the area, there wasn’t quite the rush to get there as soon as they arrived. He hoped that was what had happened, and they weren’t still hard feelings from last year, leading to some sort of informal boycott.
Population
Changes
Dag mostly stayed holed up in the fort for the next few weeks. Lavern was heavy with child, and he didn’t want to be out on a hunt if she went into labor. He spent much of his time with quill and papyrus, writing down his knowledge. It made for tedious days, but evenings were spent with his family. John was well past the walking stage, and talking up a storm. Dag had always assumed that one day he would get married and have a family, but had been in no hurry for any of it. Now, he couldn’t think of anything more rewarding. Even given all of the changes he had brought to the lives of so many here, teaching John to count brought him more personal fulfillment.
A little excitement came when Ajax decided to take one of the girls of Bren’s tribe as a wife, in addition to Shirley. Dag just knew it was going to be nothing but drama, but surprisingly, without the social conditioning to expect exclusive pair bonds that were so common in his old world, everyone more or less accepted the situation for what it was. Lavern told him that there was plenty of petty jealousy between the women, but from what Dag could see, it was far less than what many women of his time had with their mother-in-laws. Dag just chalked it up to women sorting out the pecking order. Men did the same thing, and there was always rivalry between them, even those who were closer than brothers, so just because women did it differently, he didn’t see it as something worthy of interfering with.
As for himself, Lavern was all the headache he needed. He smiled at that thought. She was a good woman and had really stepped up to make their little clan function. She headed off more trouble and headaches for him than she ever caused. That didn’t mean she wasn’t a pain in his ass from time to time. Thinking on relationships here versus those that he knew back in his old world, and things seemed simpler. Emphasis placed on what worked for the people involved, and very little outside social pressures from either religion or secular cultural norms. Best of all, there was no ‘war between the sexes’ that had become the entrenched social norm in the old world. Here, men knew that they needed the women in their lives, and women knew that without a man’s provision and protection, their lives and the lives of their children would be brutish and short. Dag gave a mental sigh as he amended more brutish and shorter, but he was working to offset all of that.
He had been so caught up in his thoughts and his writings that Jack caught him completely off guard when he stormed into the little supply room that Dag was using as an office. The boy’s eyes were a bit wild, and he was out of breath as he gasped, “Dag, we have a situation. I don’t know what to do, and I think you’re going to need to sort it all out.”
Frowning, Dag reached for his bow, and checked to be certain his axe was still at his belt as he headed for the door. “What now?”
Jack stammered, “I... I’m not completely sure. I just know that there are two groups of people at the gates, and they’re screaming at each other.”
Dag rolled his eyes. Nothing like going in blind, he thought to himself as he hit the ground just inside of the gates, which Jack had ordered closed when he saw hordes of people streaming their way. He glanced up to see Jill had gotten the other archers up on the wall, just in case this turned ugly. Dag called out to the shield men that he still had inside, and three of them formed up around him. “Open the gate, but stand ready to close it again if this goes bad,” he informed Jack.
Everyone pulled back a bit when they saw Dag and three armed men step out of the gate. He looked the groups over, and found to his surprise, one side had Ajax, Bren, and Hendden, along with about two dozen men and four times that of women and children. The other side was Hendden’s father and a lot of the clan chiefs. The group with the clan chiefs were nearly all men of middle years and what looked to be a few of their adult sons.
Dag roared and both sides when silent, “What the fuck is going on here?” Only Ajax and a few on his side understood the question, as it was asked in English.
Ajax came forward, “Bren and Hendden were talking about our home, and how Bren was now one of us. Hendden said that he was thinking about it too. Others wanted to come and ask if there was room for them, but then the chiefs got word of it, and came out to stop them.” Axel shrugged, “I tried to tell everyone that they would need to talk to you about all of this, but when the chiefs started to smack around those who didn’t obey them and go back, it got a little out of hand. I thought we could at least keep them safe in the fort until it was all sorted out.”
Dag hung his head in frustration. He really didn’t need this. Voting with their feet was the most democratic option he could think of, but did he really need all of these mouths to feed? Could he feed them? Assuming, of course, he could trust them to do their part, and not backstab him in an attempt to seize power. “Okay...” He turned to the chiefs, “Do you really want to bring this trouble to my door? Haven’t you learned anything about bringing angry mobs against my walls and archers?” When he saw their faces pale and then redden, he knew he had struck fear in them, and that they were wanting to bluster to cover it. So, instead of allowing them to do so, he turned his back on them and addressed the others. “You only think that you want to come to my clan? We work hard all the time and not just on hunt days.” He shook his head. “I’ll bet the others didn’t tell you about that part. Everything in life is a trade, and you’ll trade plenty of bad for the good you’ll get.”
He turned away from them as well before they could reply. He looked up to Jill, “Anyone storms the gates or throws the first punch, shoot them.” That order delivered in a loud calm voice settled on both sides. He turned back to the chiefs, “Who I let in my clan is my business, and if you want to go to war with me over it, you know how that will end. I don’t really want all of these mouths to feed, but the choice is mine and theirs, not yours. If you can’t abide by that, I can make certain you have no other choices, ever again.” They were angry, but also within bow shot and would have a long run to get out of range.
