Chapter 28 — Ten Days

Chapter 28: Chapter 28 — Ten Days

Chapter 28 — Ten Days

Wilfred Ross’s people began work before anyone told them where to go.

Christopher found five of the men outside the eastern field with Cedric Palmer. Two carried spades borrowed from the storehouse, and another had brought his own hoe from the cart, its blade narrow from years of sharpening.

Cedric pointed toward the unfinished turnip plot. "The stones come out first."

Wilfred checked the sky. "The drain comes first."

"We cleared that part of the channel yesterday."

"The bank slid during the night and filled it again."

They walked away while arguing.

Christopher followed until Bennet caught his sleeve.

"Let Cedric handle the argument. That’s why we appointed a reeve."

"I appointed him so people could explain things to me."

"He can explain after deciding whether he needs a ditch or a pile of stones."

Christopher eyed the two men standing ankle-deep in the drainage cut. Cedric drove a stick into the mud; Wilfred took it from him and pushed it into a different place.

"They may kill each other before Cedric settles it."

"Then we appoint the survivor and save ourselves another argument," Godfrey said.

Bennet handed Christopher the morning work count.

The twenty-three northerners had seven children too young for full work. Two older women would help Joan and Martha with meals, washing and the smaller children, and the others could work in the fields, gather firewood, repair houses or fish. None possessed a useful trade they had forgotten to mention yesterday.

One man had helped a village carpenter during a winter. Another knew how to mend a net. Wilfred understood sheep and northern crops. Dragonwatch needed all three skills, along with people willing to carry stone, cut wood and work the fields.

"Owen wants six for the houses," Bennet said. "Cedric wants five in the field. Bertram can take two to collect wood for the smoking shed. That leaves three."

"Put the last three on firewood. Every kitchen and barracks needs it."

"That was their own suggestion, my lord."

Christopher returned the board. "Good."

The northerners worked for their meals and sleeping space. Christopher had promised nothing else. The weapons they had carried remained wrapped in the gatehouse, though Godfrey allowed Wilfred to keep his belt knife while working.

The first trouble came before midday.

One of the southern farmers found a northerner using a House Drake spade and demanded it back. The tool had been assigned to his family in the south, but Wilfred’s man refused because Cedric had given it to him for the drainage crew.

By the time Christopher arrived, both men held the handle.

"That plot is mine," the southern farmer said. "My family cleared it."

"It belongs to House Drake," Bennet replied.

The farmer released it at once.

The northerner did not. "Then whose work matters?"

Cedric came from the field wiping his hands on his trousers. "The drain. Give him the spade."

"My seed is in that ground," the southern farmer said.

"So is everyone else’s seed. Cedric assigned the plots for this season."

The man looked toward Christopher. "My lord, we came all the way from the Drake estate. Now strangers take our tools."

His calm voice carried across the yard.

The fifty families had been ordered north; Wilfred’s people had entered Dragonwatch on their own.

"Cedric assigns the field tools," Christopher said. "If your family needs another, tell him."

The farmer lowered his eyes. "Yes, my lord."

He returned to the barley without another word.

The northerner watched him go. "He could have left the south."

"No," Cedric said. "He could not sell or abandon the land without permission."

The man finally let go of the spade. Neither spoke after that.

Christopher asked Bennet about it that evening.

"Can any of the serf families leave?"

"Not without your permission as lord of the holding."

"Could I permit a family to leave after the harvest?"

Bennet stopped writing. "To one family?"

"To any household here, if you choose to release them."

"You could free them. House Drake might object because it transferred them with the Dragonwatch estate instead of giving them to you by name."

"How many families would leave if I offered that choice?"

"Some would. Others have nowhere better to go."

Christopher considered the eastern barracks. "And the others?"

"They would wonder why they still owed labor when their neighbors did not."

Christopher looked from the workers to the unfinished roofs and fields.

"We’re not changing anything tonight," Christopher said.

"I hoped not. I have enough records."

The days settled around the problem.

Christopher trained with Godfrey before sunrise and stopped missing the sessions, even when Cedric wanted decisions before breakfast. Walter and Ivo drilled the Knight Apprentices separately. Bram continued carrying stones, turning between markers and following short instructions that taught him balance and control.

After breakfast, Christopher moved between the fields, wall and houses. Cedric brought him one list each morning instead of sending farmers to find him throughout the day. Some requests were simple, such as another ox team, a repaired handle, or four people to clear stones; others ended when Bennet explained that the requested tool or seed did not exist.

Wilfred attended those meetings but stood beside Cedric instead. He spoke to Cedric first, and sometimes Cedric agreed; sometimes they argued and brought Robert Miller into it.

Their two barley strips became a source of daily attention despite showing nothing but dark soil.

"There are still no sprouts," Christopher said on the third morning.

"It has only been three days, my lord," Cedric replied.

"How many days should barley take to emerge?"

"It depends on the warmth, rain and how deep it was sown."

Wilfred laughed from the drainage cut.

The northerners slept in the eastern barracks and kept their cart packed near the gate. Each evening, one of them checked its cover and wheels. The children became less cautious; by the fourth day, two were carrying water with Dragonwatch’s children, and by the fifth, Walter had made all seven learn the shelter routes, though none was added to the alarm group.

Meg did not like the addition.

"He keeps going to the wrong tower," she told Christopher.

"You went to the wrong tower during the first drill."

"I made that mistake once," Meg said.

"Then show him the proper route instead of laughing."

She looked unhappy with the answer but did it.

The adults remained harder to mix. The northern women ate together near one end of the common hall, and southern families whispered that the newcomers received free food. The newcomers answered that they worked beside everyone else and could not eat promises.

Joan ended one argument by putting an empty grain pot between both groups.

"Anyone who wants more can scrape it," she said.

The workers obeyed.

On the sixth day, Aldwin took Wilfred’s man with the bow on a short hunting trip. They returned with two rabbits and a bird barely large enough for the pot, and Aldwin reported that the man could move quietly and shoot straight at close range.

"Was the man an experienced hunter?" Christopher asked.

"No," Aldwin said. "He was a farmer who happened to own a bow."

Owen tested the northern men at the damaged houses. They could carry, pry boards free and follow directions. One tried to brace a floor without asking and was thrown out of the building before he brought it down.

"He said he repaired his own roof," Christopher said.

"His roof is three days southeast," Owen replied. "Perhaps that is why it fell."

The man spent the rest of the day hauling rubble.

By the eighth day, green shoots appeared in the first barley section. They were small enough for Christopher to miss until Cedric pointed them out: thin blades broke through the soil along the furrows, though some places remained bare where roots or standing water had slowed the work.

The comparison strips began showing green the following morning. Cedric’s thicker strip produced more shoots close together, while Wilfred’s had wider gaps but stronger-looking clumps.

"Mine is better," Cedric said.

"Too early," Wilfred answered.

"You said that before anything grew."

"Still true."

Christopher left them to wait for an answer the field had not given yet.

On the tenth morning, Wilfred found him near the gate.

The northerners’ cart remained packed, a blanket covering the bundles, tied down with the same three ropes they had used on arrival.

"We spoke last night," Wilfred said.

"All sixteen of you discussed it together?"

"Everyone old enough to complain was there."

"Then I suppose every objection was heard."

Wilfred ignored the joke. "Seventeen want to stay. Four will stay if their families stay. Two want to see Dunmar before deciding."

"Will some households leave while the others remain?"

"Not now. We agreed to remain together through planting."

Christopher had inspected two areas with Cedric and Wilfred. The nearest ground lay east of the existing fields, on a gentle rise beyond the wet plot. It needed clearing, but not years of it, and enough damaged houses stood inside the outer settlement for the families to shelter while better homes were repaired.

They met in the common hall after breakfast.

Christopher gave them the terms himself. They would remain free people. Each household would receive a house plot and farmland after Cedric marked the boundaries. They owed nothing before the first harvest, and afterward they would pay a fixed share of grain and help maintain the road and walls. Every household owed alarm duty and had to help defend the walls during an attack.

"And if we leave after planting?" Wilfred asked.

"The land returns to Dragonwatch," Christopher said. "You keep your cart, animals and tools. Any seed taken from our stores stays here."

Wilfred looked along the benches. None of his people objected. Bennet began taking the household names and noting the plots Cedric would mark.

After the meeting, the cart remained beside the gate for another hour.

Then Wilfred untied the first rope.

The northerners carried out blankets, pots, seed saved from their old homes and the tools they had guarded through the winter. Their children ran between the cart and the eastern barracks, and one of the women shook out the patched cover and hung it where the wind could dry it.

Cedric watched from the road to the fields. When Christopher joined him, he nodded toward the families carrying their belongings inside.

"You brought more mouths behind the walls."

"They also brought more hands for the fields."

"Then we had better put those hands to work before the mouths empty the stores."

They walked toward the barley. The green shoots were still small, the houses still broken and part of the outer wall still open to anyone willing to climb rubble.

Twenty-three northerners had chosen to stay. Tomorrow, they would begin arguing over land.

Godfrey drew a line across the map with one finger.

"You follow the riders no farther than this ridge."

Simon Atwood leaned over the gatehouse table. The southern track left the eastern road near the rise, crossed a narrow stream and disappeared into land the old map showed as forest.

Godfrey’s finger stopped where the track passed beyond a low hill.

"What if the trail continues beyond the ridge?" Simon asked.

"You return and report where it leads."

"What if we see the riders before then?"

"You return without letting them see you."

Adam Fletcher checked the straps on his sword belt. "If they see us?"

"Then you return faster and warn the walls."

Christopher stood opposite them. "Do not try to capture anyone."

Simon looked at Godfrey.

"The baron has given an order," Godfrey said.

"Yes, Sir."

The two apprentices left through the eastern passage shortly after sunrise, wearing plain riding coats over light mail and carrying spears, swords and food for one day. Neither carried a Drake banner. Christopher watched them until the road turned behind the trees.

"Should we have sent Perrin?" he asked.

"Perrin is hunting," Godfrey replied. "Two riders left a clear trail. If Simon and Adam cannot follow it, they should not be scouting."

"And what happens if they find something worth following?"

"Then we learn whether they can obey the second half of the order."

Godfrey left for the training yard.

Christopher followed.

His attention remained on the eastern road through most of the morning lesson. Godfrey struck his wooden sword aside three times before stopping.

"Where are your eyes supposed to be while you move?"

"On you and the ground in front of me."

Godfrey hit him across the ribs.

"Your eyes were on the road, not on my shoulders."

Christopher reset his stance. "They could meet the riders."

"They could fall from their horses. They could be struck by a branch. They could decide to ignore every order and ride south until night."

"Was that meant to help me understand?"

"No. It is meant to make you raise your sword."

Christopher raised it.

Simon found the southern track where Walter had marked it with three stones.

The hoofprints remained visible in the soft ground. Rain had rounded their edges, but the trail was easy to follow between the trees. Two horses had passed for certain, and a third set appeared beside them in several muddy stretches before vanishing on firmer ground.

Adam dismounted. "Three."

"Maybe. The print is too damaged to be certain."

"Perrin counted three riders."

"He said there might have been three. That’s not the same thing."

"That means three when he wants to annoy you."

Simon led his horse around a low branch. "Keep looking."

The track crossed the stream less than a mile from the eastern road. The riders had used a shallow place where flat stones broke the current, and one hoof had slipped on the far bank, cutting a long mark through the mud.

Simon crouched beside it.

"The horses wore iron shoes," he said.

"Most riding horses have shoes."

"Most of the Black Hollow horses were unshod."

"Some were shod. They stole horses from travellers."

Simon stood. He missed scouting with Perrin.

They continued on foot, leading their mounts to keep the noise down. The forest thinned beyond the stream, old tree stumps showing where the land had once been cleared, thorn and young pine covering what might have been another field.

The trail climbed the low hill marked by Godfrey.

At its top, Simon stopped.

Through a break in the trees, he could see Dragonwatch.

The stronghold stood several miles away across the valley. The kitchens and forge were already smoking, tiny figures moved near the eastern fields, and the repaired outer gate faced away from the hill, though part of the wall and two watchtowers were visible.

Adam came beside him. "Good place to watch."

"Yes. Someone stopped here long enough to water the horses."

The riders had thought the same.

Three patches of flattened grass lay beneath the trees. A small firepit had been dug between stones and covered with loose soil before the riders left. Simon pushed the soil aside with the butt of his spear. Grey ash remained beneath it.

Adam examined the nearest tree. A branch had been cut to open the view toward Dragonwatch, the cut clean, made by a sharp blade rather than broken by hand.

"How long were they here?" he asked.

Simon searched the ground. Horse droppings had been moved into a shallow hollow and covered with leaves, though a few pieces remained where one pile had been missed. Near the firepit, he found a strip of hard bread no larger than his thumb.

"Long enough to eat and let the horses drink."

"That tells us they were not fleeing from anyone."

"Then find something better before we leave."

They searched without spreading beyond sight of each other. No badge hung from a branch. No letter waited beneath a stone. The riders had taken their food, blankets and feed sacks with them.

Adam found two short lengths of cord and a wooden peg driven into the ground. The horses had been tied beneath the trees, hidden from the valley.

Simon walked to the southern edge of the hill. The hoofprints continued down the far slope.

Godfrey’s line lay behind them.

"We could see where they went," Adam said.

"We already know they went south beyond the hill."

"I meant that we could learn where they turned after the hill."

"So did I. The order still says we return here."

Simon studied the descending trail. It remained clear for perhaps a hundred paces before entering thicker forest. If they followed for another mile, they might find a road, and another mile after that might reveal a farm, camp or patrol.

Or the riders might be waiting where the trail narrowed.

"We turn back," he said.

Adam complied, though he looked down the slope once more before following.

They filled the firepit with wet soil and left the cut branch untouched. If the riders returned, Simon wanted the place to look as they had left it, and he marked a tree twenty paces north with a shallow cut where it could not be seen from the observation point.

On the way down, they found a second trail crossing the first.

It came from the west and continued east through the trees. The marks were older and less distinct, though several horses had used it more than once.

"Could this be an old patrol road?" Adam asked.

"It does not appear on the map we carry."

"The map is older than either of us. The road may be newer."

Simon checked the sun through the branches. Following the second trail would take them beyond the order even if they remained north of Godfrey’s line.

He copied its direction onto the small wax tablet in his coat.

They returned to the eastern road before midday.

Neither spoke until Dragonwatch’s rough marker appeared beside the flooded quarry. Simon checked the ground around it. One set of bootprints crossed their tracks from yesterday.

Someone had approached the marker after the patrol left.

The print led to the wooden post and back toward the quarry shelter. It could belong to the person who had made the small fire, or to one of the riders. The soft ground held no clear trail leaving the shelter.

Adam touched the rough hawk Nicholas had carved. "They know who holds the road now."

"They probably knew before."

They mounted and rode home.

Christopher spent the afternoon inspecting land promised to Wilfred’s families.

Bennet had divided the northerners into five households. Wilfred objected to two boundaries because they separated a house plot from the nearest field, and Cedric objected to moving them because the revised line cut through land intended for one of the southern families.

Christopher listened to both, then walked the ground himself.

The argument concerned less than twenty paces of stony soil.

"Move the line to the old wall," he said. "The southern family keeps the better ground below it. Wilfred’s household gets the house plot and the narrow strip beside the road."

Cedric considered the change. "That will work."

Wilfred studied the stones. "The strip is poor."

"Then give them the first boundary and mark it before sunset."

Wilfred scratched his beard. "The wall is fine."

That settled the matter.

The eastern watch called before Christopher reached the next plot.

Simon and Adam entered through the passage with mud on their boots and no blood on their clothes. Christopher noticed both before asking what they had found.

They reported inside the gatehouse. Simon described the hill, the view, the hidden horses and the buried firepit. Adam placed the two cords and wooden peg on the table.

Godfrey barely looked at them.

"They tied horses," he said. "We knew they had horses."

"They covered their fire and droppings," Simon said.

"Which means they did not want their camp easily noticed."

"Not ordinary bandits," Christopher said.

Godfrey faced him. "Some bandits know how to hide."

"Black Hollow did not."

"Black Hollow built a camp for fifty people. These were two or three riders."

Simon showed them the crossing trail on the wax tablet.

"This may matter more," Godfrey said. "A route used by several horses. Perhaps a local patrol path. Perhaps a messenger road."

"Can we follow the road far enough to learn where it leads?" Christopher asked.

"Later. With Perrin and enough men to return safely."

"The riders may be several days away by the time we are ready."

"They’re already gone. Following now only weakens Dragonwatch."

Christopher turned toward the south wall. Somewhere beyond it, a road absent from the Drake map crossed the forest, and someone had watched Dragonwatch long enough to eat and hide their horses.

"Do we close the eastern road?" he asked.

"With what?" Godfrey replied. "A sign?"

"We place more patrols on the southern and eastern approaches."

"Yes. Different times and routes. Do not send the same pair every morning."

Walter suggested moving one watch position from the inner courtyard to the southeastern tower. It would weaken the view of the western wall but cover more of the eastern road. Ivo argued for keeping both and reducing the gate guard by one apprentice during daylight.

Godfrey chose the second plan.

"Do we warn the settlers?" Christopher asked.

"They already know strangers use the north," Walter said.

"Tell Cedric and Wilfred that no one works beyond the eastern fields alone," Godfrey said. "No speeches. No horn unless someone approaches."

Christopher agreed.

The meeting ended without identifying the riders.

Outside, workers continued repairing roofs. Cedric returned to marking fields. The forge sounded from across the courtyard, and children carried water past the gatehouse in pairs.

Dragonwatch had been watched.

Christopher strengthened the watches and waited for the riders to return.