Council War - There Will Be Dragons - Council War - There will be Dragons Part 31
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Council War - There will be Dragons Part 31

"And Jody's had him on that tree all day?"

"Yeah, I complained, lightly in the middle of the afternoon. I've been on the other saw all damned day and we've downed three trees. They've not even gone through one."

Herzer looked at the other trees and had to admit that, while the others were smaller, that was much more work than that single tree.

"I think Jody's just trying to make a point," Herzer said. "I'm not sure what the pointis, but I'm pretty sure there is one."

"Oh, I know what the point is," Mike growled. "Earnon is a useless slacker."

"Have you had other partners?" Herzer asked.

"Yeah, he's run just about everybody by my saw. Some of 'em are okay. Guy and Cruz and Emory pull their own weight, I guess so do Tempie and Glayds but they don't reallywork at it, they just do what they have to do. Frederic, Cleo and Earnon are fisking useless."

Herzer chuckled and gestured with his chin at Karlyn who was lifting a branch the size of a smalltree onto her shoulder to drag it off.

"Yeah, Karlyn, too. Mostly. She doesn't have the mass sometimes, I guess. And neither does Deann but she just makes up for it with anger."

The latter was topping one of the trees that had been mostly cleared of branches. Once the trunk narrowed to a certain point it wasn't worth clearing the rest and the top was cut off, "topping", and dragged into the brush pile. Deann had one of the battle-axe type axes and was attacking the tree as if it were the neck of a hostile dragon, an expression of absolute fury on her face.

"Trees! She hates trees!" Herzer whispered with a chuckle.

"Well, if you thinkthat's bad, you should have seen you when you started out," Courtney said, coming over and sitting down by Mike. "I was afraid you were going to take that axe to Jody's neck!"

"Not Jody," Herzer said. "But if Earnon had come over to continue the discussion, I'm not making any bets."

"I was thinking about what you said earlier," Courtney said. "And you're right. But there's more."

"Oh?"

"It's what you just said. There's no PPFs. If you took it in your head to go kill Earnon with that axe, there wouldn't have been much anyone could do about it."

"So Jody comes down with both feet on fighting," Mike added. "I started to tell off Frederic when he was on the saw and then I just walked over and talked to Jody. Frederic tried to interrupt but Jody just shut him up and put him to topping. I didn't cuss him out or anything, just told Jody he was riding the saw and I wanted him off."

"I guess that's what I should have done," Herzer said with a shake of his head.

"Well, if I hadn't seen the example, I would have done what you did," Mike admitted. "And I probably would have cracked that useless fisker's head on top of it. So I'm not exactlyglad you screwed up first but . . ." he grinned and picked up a twig to chew on, using it to pick at his teeth.

"FOOD'S ON!".

Herzer joined the others in line for food and took his bowl of beans and cornbread. That was it again and after getting it he sat down on one of the logs and contemplated the food for just a moment.

"You going to eat it or just look at it?" Mike asked, spooning up his beans between bites of bread.

"I get such pleasure from the anticipation," Herzer said lightly. "But soon it will be all gone!" He picked up his spoon then set it back down and lifted the bowl to his lips, sucking down the mixture.

There was a small, very small, piece of pork in the bowl and he worried that for a few moments then wiped out the bowl with his cornbread. When that was gone he was done.

He contemplated licking the bowl out but finally convinced himself not to. Instead he carried it over to the stack of dirty dishes and got a large dipper of water from a barrel.

"Herzer, here," Jody said, coming up behind him with a large bowl of cornmeal mush. Herzer could see some bits of mystery meat embedded in it.

"Hey!" Earnon shouted. "I didn't get any lunch, neither! Why the hell doeshe get extra?!"

"Because he didn't sit on his ass all afternoon," Jody answered to a chorus of chuckles. "If you don't have something to eat, you'll be useless in the morning. And you deserve it."

"Thank you," Herzer said, taking the bowl carefully. After a moment he shrugged and sucked it down just as fast as the beans.

Jody chuckled and set the bowl on the pile with the rest. "Don't worry about it; the cooks will clean up."

"Okay, folks, here's the deal," Jody said, striding over to where most of the cutting crew was finishing eating. "You can walk back to Raven's Mill or you can stay over on this side of the river. If you stay here, I'll show you some ways to make a shelter. Either way, breakfast is before dawn tomorrow.

So if you stay over there you'd better get somebody to wake you up and walk back or you'll miss it."

"What's for breakfast?" Earnon asked. "And why can't we just eat over there?""Because you don't get chits for meals, yet," Jody said. "We're feeding you for your work. And this iswhere we're feeding you. Any other questions?"

"How do I get out of this chicken-shit outfit?" Cleo Ronson asked with a bitter laugh.

"Any time you want you can walk away," Jody said. "And if I hear enough complaints youwill be out of this outfit. Anymore questions?"

"Same thing on the agenda tomorrow?" Mike asked.

"Pretty much," Jody said. "We need to clear a large area by a couple of weeks from now. We're going to work on cutting for three more days, then clear the logs and burn the trash. After that we'll work on making some rough buildings. Then you'll be done with this portion and I'll get another crew."

He looked around and nodded. "Okay, grab the tools and stack them and we'll start making some shelters from all this trash."

Herzer grabbed his axe and carefully stacked it, feeling a massive and unexpected wave of fatigue flow over him. Before he knew it, it was all he could do to stay on his feet. He listened while Jody explained how to make a lean-to. But in the end, between his swollen and puffy hands and his overwhelming fatigue, he couldn't find the energy for the effort. Taking one of the blankets that had been provided he went over to the giant tree that had missed felling and collapsed onto one of the large roots, resting his head partially on it and partially on the dirt. Before he could even squiggle around to get comfortable he was asleep.

"You need some sleep," Edmund said as he entered the wooden hut that had been set up as a temporary hospital until there was time to build a real one. Daneh was at a bucket of steaming water, washing her hands as Rachel and another woman scrubbed at blood-covered tools.

"Don't start," she said tiredly. "I've had to do two amputations today, one major and one minor, while trying to get the heads of all the women in the camp around the fact that they're about to start bleeding."

"We need to talk about that," Edmund said. "You've requisitioned just about every scrap of cloth in the town for this andall the unspun cosilk. We haveother needs, Daneh."

"I know, but this one is aright now need, Edmund," she snapped. "I'm running out of bandages.

And the women are either going to have the material or they're going to run around bleeding all over the place. Which would you prefer?"

"Do you need somuch is what I'm asking, as pleasantly as possible," Talbot replied, taking a deep breath. "We need the cloth in making tools. We need it to repair clothes; most of the people's clothes are getting to be in tatters."

"If we don't need it all, we'll turn it back in," she replied. "We won't be throwing any of it away; the women are being told to wash the material and reuse it. We'll only use as much as is needed. And this is for the benefit of the whole camp, Edmund."

"All right, Daneh," he said with a sigh. "You said that you've talked to the women in the town, what about out in the camps?"

"I hadn't even given it a thought," she said tiredly, looking out the open window to the darkness.

"It's too late now . . ."

"And you're needed here," Edmund continued. "Rachel. You're doing it. Tomorrow. Go to each of the camps and all of the groups that are going through familiarization. If anyone gives you any trouble tell them to come see me. Talk to all the women, tell them what's going to happen and that we're getting materials ready."

"Yes, sir!" she said sarcastically.

"You're still young enough for me to turn over my knee, young lady," Edmund said with a smile.

"Watch that tone."

"Oh, I wouldn't wantDaddy mad at me," Rachel said, again snippily. "You realizeI'm going to start any time, don't you?""Yes, I had thought about that," Talbot replied with another smile. "Take the appropriate precautions."

"Appropriate precautions," Daneh said with another sigh. "You realize that includes avoiding pregnancy?"

"Or terminating it after it starts," Talbot answered with a nod. "Sheep guts for the first and tansy for the second."

"You're serious," Daneh said with a shake of her head. "What dosheep guts have to do with preventing pregnancy?"

"Well, see, you rub them all over your body . . ." Edmund started and then laughed at her expression.

"Edmund . . ."

"Okay, seriously, you use the outer, hard, layer of sheep intestines as a prophylactic condom."

"Awhat ?" Rachel asked. "What in the hell does that mean?"

"Prophylactic is a term for a preventative . . ." Daneh replied. "But . . ."

"You take a section of sheep intestine that is of appropriate length, cut it off and sew one end shut,"

Edmund said dryly. "The male slips the sheep intestine, which can be kept dry but has to be softened with water before use, over his penis. This prevents the ejacula from entering the woman's body."

"That's . . . obscene," Rachel said with a grimace.

"And of course some men have to use bigger animals than sheep," Edmund continued with a chuckle, shifting up his belt theatrically.

"That would probably work," Daneh said with a nod. "But the seam would tend to leak. And I'd have to find you a rabbit . . ."

"I think they probably waxed it," Edmund said thoughtfully, ignoring the jibe. "You'd test it by filling it with water and seeing if it held."

"I can't believe you're talking about this," Rachel said. "Comeon ."

"Rachel, you've long wanted to be treated like an adult," Edmund replied without turning around.

"Welcome to being treated like an adult. We could treat you like a child and tell you to leave if you wish."

Rachel opened her mouth to reply hotly then snapped it shut.

"Okay, I had that coming," she admitted. "But let me point out that you're mymother and father .

Maybe Iam too young to handle some conversations because discussions of my father's penis size is definitely one of them. Okay?"

"Okay," Edmund said with a laugh. "Sorry."

"What's 'tansy'?" Daneh asked.

"Oh, an herb," Edmund replied. "That's really all that I know about it. And that it's an abortifacient that's apparently pretty strong."

"There's so much I don't know," Daneh said with a sigh and a shake of her head. "Edmund,please, the next time you talk to Sheida, tell her that she will sustain a sister's curse if she doesn't figure out some way for me to get access to medical texts."

"I'll tell her," Edmund promised.

"It shouldn't be all that power intensive," Daneh argued.

"I'll tell her."

"And we really need it."

"I'lltell her," he said.

"Okay. And another thing, people are working themselves to death."

"Somepeople are working themselves to death," Edmund corrected. "What is your point."

"We need to start briefing people on safety. We've got people who have never held an axe before in their lives doing lumberjack work and people working with heavy machinery who have never donethat. The major amputation was a person working in the mill who didn't have the sense to use some sort of lifting device to pick up one end of a huge beam. He's lost the bottom of his foot permanently; it was too crushed to even think about repairing. I know in the old days nobody really cared about safety except for 'try not to get yourself killed.' But I think we can do better than that, can't we?"

"I'll look into it," he said, pulling out a bundle of paper and a pencil. He held up his hand to forestall her outburst. "I'lllook into it . You're right, in the old days nobody tried because nobody cared except the people getting hurt. And it might be possible to do better. But Ican't guarantee it. Cutting down trees is inherently dangerous unless you have power systems and a cage. And even then accidents happen. So is farming. It never got much better the whole time men were doing it. So I don't know what exactly we can do. But we'lltry . Okay?"

"Okay," she answered. "Last thing for you; we need to schedule a rest day."

"Daneh . . ."

"Every society in history had a rest day," she continued, ignoring the interruption. "Mostly they were religious in nature but they don't have to be. People working this hardhave to have some time off. I'd suggest one day in seven since that was the old standard and it seemed to work."

"Sunday perhaps?" he said, amused.

"I don't care which day of the week you choose, as long as you choose one," she answered, firmly.

"All right, I'll figure out which one is the most prevalent. We do have a couple of Jews and at least one Muslim, I think they take Fridays off."

"Saturday," Rachel interjected. "For the Jews anyway. Friday night to Saturday night if I remember correctly."

"Saturday then," Edmund said with a shrug. "We'll want to think about holidays as well. Not many.

But you're right, people need some time off."

"Kane's brought his herd in. Tomorrow get a horse from him or from Tom Raeburn," Daneh said to Rachel. "Take a bag with some bandages and go around to the camps. Brief the women on what's happening and check on everyone's overall health. There's a lot of minor injuries here in town; I imagine there are out at the camps too."

"Yes, Mother," Rachel said, tiredly then looked up with a blush. "I'm sorry. You're right. And it's a responsibility. Thank you."

"You'll do well," Daneh said. "If there's anyone seriously hurt who hasn't been reported in, get them to me."