There were still hunts that needed to happen for the now massive amounts of meat that they needed to be gathered, but with the greater access to lumber, larger corals were built, and a few of the older women from the defeated clans were more or less permanently put on shepherdess duty. Shearing this year was a bit of a challenge, and Dag once again realized how badly he needed just the slightest bit of metal. Even so, most of the clan was now sporting a fine felt cloak to fend off the cooler evenings.
Dag only wished that they had access to cotton. Changing diapers in the here and now was so much more of an ordeal. Though, his introduction of coconut oil into the process had won over most of the women responsible for child rearing. Dag had to admit that he suggested it for the adults as well. If nothing else it smelled better than most of them did without it, even after baths became part of normal daily routine.
Ajax and Shirley had gotten used to their privacy, and were building another tower up on the ridge to connect with the two that were already up there. Dag was of a mind to keep building on to his original castle, rather than trying to build a new one. The newer towers were certainly larger and better built than the older towers. As time to do the job right was found, and everyone improved their building skills, things seemed to be improving on their own, without Dag needing to be directly involved.
◆◆◆
Visitors
Dag sat with a bow drill and a pile of fine sand, drilling through the new timbers for the next stage of the water wheel. A small power drill could have had these holes drilled in seconds, but he had been at it for over an hour, and was still only halfway through the piece. Drilling out and pegging each joint was torture. It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if he didn’t know that there was a much better way, if only he had the right tools. Unfortunately, he did know that, so the fight to remain patient and simply complete the tasks he began was harder than actually designing out the systems they would need.
It was while working on the project, with sweat dripping off his nose and falling on the wood before him, that he heard a great clamoring from outside the walls. With a few choice words that he knew he would need to remove from his vocabulary before Jack could start repeating them, Dag tossed down his tools, and snatched up a wicker shield from beside the gate as he went out to see what was on fire this time. Under his breath he said, “Damnit Jim, I’m an archeologist, not a fireman!” The old joke from a long-lost world brought a small smile to his face, and put him in a better frame of mind to tackle whatever life threw at him next.
His people were running back and forth, and tools were strewn everywhere. Fortunately, he found Oona trying to restore some order as he arrived. “What is it this time?” he asked.
Oona gave him a worried look, “Clans approach. Don’t know who.”
Dag nodded, “Get yourself and the children inside the walls, and take anyone close enough to get quickly with you. I’ll organize the welcome wagon.” She looked at him funny, not knowing what a wagon was, but deciding that she didn’t want to find out, so she set off to gather in noncombatants behind the castle walls.
Dag was frustrated that they didn’t have a bell, or an early warning system, but suddenly breathed easier as he heard Ajax sounding a conch shell horn. Dag looked about and found him high on one of the castle walls. Dag waved to him, and the young man waved back, still blowing the horn and directing things with hand signals. Long before he could see faces from the clan approaching, he had three spearmen with him, and the walls of the castle were lined with archers. Many had the light hunting bows preferred by the girls and young boys, but even such were perfectly capable of ruining the day of any attackers.
Dag turned to the spearmen, “If this turns into a fight, we go all defense and fall back on the castle gate. Let the archers do the attacking. Your job is just to protect each other while we get to the gate. Understood?”
Dag could tell by the grim look on their faces and the suddenly serious way that they held the spears that his orders were in fact understood, and that they would much prefer to rush off at any attacker than to run away and leave it to the archers. He repeated, “Understood?” and this time got affirmative replies from each of them.
Dag was tense. If this was a unified force, attempting to take vengeance for the battle at the gathering, he was going to be fighting a hard fight, and worse, even if he won, would be facing more unpleasant decisions...
It seemed to take the clans approaching an eternity to cross the distance. Standing in the sun with sweat rolling off of him wasn’t doing anything to ease Dag’s nerves either. He didn’t dare show any signs of his concerns though, or the men around him might lose courage and run, and then they would have an even bigger mess. It was one thing to feel the initial rush of anger, and think you want to run into the fight, and a wholly different thing if you saw those around you acting scared. Especially if you had time to stand around and think about it for a while.
Fortunately for Dag, he recognized the man leading the people toward him. It was Handden. While that didn’t mean that there wouldn’t be a fight, if he were there on his father’s orders, it did mean that the chances for a fight went way down. Even Handden’s father didn’t want a full-fledged war between them. At least Dag believed him to be a better leader than that.
Handden approached with a smile and a wave, and Dag’s knees felt weak with relief. Dag told the spearmen to hang back, as Handden was approaching well ahead of his people, Dag went out to meet him alone.
“Handden, it is good to see you, but I did not expect to see you until next year.” Dag said, returning Handden’s open smile.
Handden grinned, “My father believes we are out hunting, but I brought things to trade for meat, fish, and salt... if you have it to spare.”
Dag laughed, “Yes, I believe we have some we can spare. Please, come. Your hunters should go down to the village and enjoy the fountain. You can come to the castle, have a look around, and we can talk trade.”
Handden’s eyes went a bit wide with surprise, “Fountain?”
Dag grinned at him, “Good point. You’ll need to see this to believe it, and you shouldn’t miss out either. Come on, I suppose I could do with a little cool off as well.”
With everyone closer, Dag could see that there were only ten of them. Six hunters, in addition to Handden, and three youths who were probably along for some experience and to help carry the kill home. Dag waved to Ajax who sounded the conch shell again and then waved an all clear sign to those below.
Handden looked to Dag, “What was that?”
Dag shrugged, “Just letting everyone know that this wasn’t an attack or raid.” They were nearly to the castle gate as everyone started coming out. “We got those who needed protecting in where it would be safe and put out the archers... just in case.” Dag gave him a small, apologetic smile. “How did you find us?”
Handden shrugged, “We knew you were near the mouth of the river, so we followed it to the sea, and set out a scout in each direction. Wasn’t long before we noticed you here.”
Dag nodded, “Must have been what my people saw to sound the alarm. You’re most welcome, but after the last Gathering, we can’t be too careful.”
Handden sighed, “We made peace.” he said rather feebly.
Dag raised an eyebrow, “For how long?”
Handden hung his head, “From my clan, as long as I am in charge. I’d like to say my father too, but he is still pretty upset about what happened.”
All conversation cut off immediately as the fountain and bathing pool came into sight. Watching their faces, Dag couldn’t help but grin with pride.
A Path Forward
Tourists
Hendden and his people spent much of the rest of the day gaping in wonder. Everything from water that fountained up in the air on command, to concrete lined store rooms carved back in the cliff, left them amazed. By the time that they had settled in for a meal and talk of trade, Dag could see an overwhelmed look on the face of his ally, and he had to fight back a smirk. He wondered how they would react to something like the dive suit, but decided not to take things too far this first visit.
Hendden shook his head, “Truly a place of wonders!”
Dag chuckled, “Oh, it is still a bit rough. I’ve got a lot of projects, but unfortunately, until our farming capacity improves, a lot of time will still have to be dedicated to hunting. Which, of course, means less time to work on the ‘wonders’ as you call them. I could add more people, and that helps somewhat, but until my agriculture catches up, it also adds more time hunting to keep everyone fed.”
Hendden’s brows drew down in confusion, “You have more plans?”
Dag hung his head and let out a long sigh, “Many more plans, but all of it takes time and manpower.” Eventually he simply shrugged, “You saw the project I was working on out in the courtyard?” When Hendden nodded, Dag continued. “Well, it is called a water wheel. When it is done, it will make the water coming off of the cliff face over a canal turn the wheel, in a way that will turn lathes, like the spring pole lathe that I showed you earlier. The one that was spinning the grinding stone for making better axes?”
Hendden grinned broadly at the memory, “That was like magic! Push a little pedal with your foot, and the wheel starts to spin in a way that is useful... magic!”
Dag snorted, “Hardly, but I suppose I can see why you would view it that way. This is a lot like that, only instead of needing to work the pedal, the water falling makes it work. So as long as there is water to flow off the ridge there, it keeps working all day long.” He caught Hendden’s eye and held it, “Right now everything you do is from your own muscle power, but in the near future, we’ll have animals to provide labor, and falling water, and maybe eventually even the waves themselves.” He gave a little grunt, then stared off into the distance, “Where I come from, food is planted and then gathered in and stored in great store rooms larger than this whole castle. Same goes for the workshops. One building designed for making transportation vehicles was as long as from here, to halfway to the village. All in one building. So, what I’ve managed to accomplish here so far... it is a little thing, but it is always growing.”
