Beyond the Valley of Mist (13 page)

***

Just as the sun rose, they
began their day.

“
Would those of you who
work with bronze come with me?” Zen asked. “The rest of you may go
with Jok. He will start your training.”

When Zen’s group got to the
bronze workers' site, Zen drew a picture of a knife and a shield in
the sand and asked the leader, “Can you make these?”

“
Yes, but we’ll need more
blue and gray stones.” He asked a group of men, “Bring me plenty of
these stones.” He requested of two more men, “Build a fire hot
enough to remove the copper and tin from the stones. While you’re
doing that, Zen will show me the details of what he wants, and I’ll
make the first knife and shield from the bronze we already
have.”

The first knife was too
thin, and the bronze wasn’t strong enough.

“
Ah,” Zen said. “This is a
good start, but the knife needs to be thicker, heavier, and
stronger.”

Zen was very pleased with
the second knife.

“
This is a good weapon,”
Zen said, as he swung the knife around. “Very effective when used
against anything soft, like the flesh of a man or an animal, and
yet strong enough to cut wood. We’ll make several different
sizes.”

In time, the bronze workers
were able to produce a blade about as long as a man’s arm that was
sharp and easy to use. It was a lethal weapon for defending
themselves against any attacker.

Next, they made a shield
that a man could carry by putting his arm through a loop that went
around his shoulder, with another loop for his wrist. With the
shield, a man could deflect the blow of a club or knife and also
ward off spears and arrows.

***

Jok was busy with the
Zorians, teaching them how to use the bow and arrow so they could
shoot moving targets, such as a man on horseback. The Zorian men
had been using bows and arrows all their lives, but had not learned
to use them in battle. After training for only a couple of weeks,
they had become a formidable fighting force.

Jok and Zen encouraged Lela
and Ador to go through the training right along with the men. The
girls became very adept at using their lightweight bows and shorter
arrows. Their new skills would come in handy, should they be
attacked by the priests and soldiers back in Lalock.

Zen told Gar that he should
post sentries to warn the villagers of an impending attack. This
precaution proved effective very quickly. One morning just after
the sun came up, the sentry sounded the alarm, and the warriors all
rushed out to their assigned stations to intercept the invaders. It
was a group of horsemen from the same tribe as the ones who had
raided earlier; they had returned to see why the other warriors had
not returned from the village. Not expecting the Zorians to be
well-organized and well-trained, they lost nearly half their
raiding force. Frightened, the remaining invaders rode off, leaving
their companions lying where they had fallen. Again, the Zorians
claimed the dead raiders' horses.

The only two Zorians who
were injured would recover with care and rest. Gar was happy; for
the first time, he and his people had turned the raiders away. Lela
and Ador had been a big help in driving off the attackers, each
scoring more than one hit with their arrows. Zen and Jok were proud
of them, and the girls felt good about themselves because they knew
they would be able to help when they went to rescue their
parents.

The village celebrated its
victory with a feast honoring the warriors and giving thanks to Jok
and Zen for teaching them how to defend themselves. Now the people
had plenty of domesticated horses and could start their own
herd.

***

Chapter 15

The New Village

Zen told Gar and Lox that
he and his party would be leaving the next day. He explained that
they had to start building their own village and then return to
their home village of Lalock to rescue their families. They
requested four horses and an extra horse to carry
supplies.

Zen thanked Gar for his
offer to help, and told him that they would bring them a good
supply of firestones after they had rescued their families. But
first, they had to find a way around the Valley of Mist.

***

Early the following
morning, the two couples loaded their supplies and mounted their
horses. It was sad to bid farewell to their many Zorian friends,
but they were eager to build their new village and to see their
families in Lalock.

It was much more difficult
traveling up the river on horseback than it had been floating down
the river on a raft. The journey up the river had taken Lox and his
companions many cycles of the moon. Zen and his friends would take
less than half that time, since they had horses to ride.

Each evening when they
camped, they took turns being lookouts in pairs. By having two
guards, they could make sure the other person stayed awake, plus
the two people sleeping were afforded a few hours of
privacy.

The guards kept a big fire
going. At first, the horses were afraid of the fire, but after a
few nights, they got used to it. The big cats were always trying to
reach the horses, but they were afraid of the fire. The two guards
kept the predators at bay by standing behind the fire and shooting
them with arrows. After a few nights, though, they started to run
out of arrows. When they shot a predator, some animals would run
off, the arrows still in their hides. During the still nights, the
guards could hear other animals attacking the wounded animals. The
following morning, they found the spot where the fighting had taken
place and were sometimes able to retrieve the arrows from the dead
animals.

The Zorians had made an
extra supply of arrowheads, so there were enough to replace the
ones that were lost. All they had to do to make new arrows was to
place the arrowheads in new shafts and install feathers in the
ends.

***

After traveling up the
river for several cycles of the moon, the four friends came to the
place where the two rivers joined. The sun had passed its highest
point by the time they arrived.

“
I think we should build
our village on the other side,” Zen said, “so let’s cross the river
before it gets too dark.”

“
How do we get the horses
across?” Ador asked. She jumped off her horse, looking worried at
the stretch of water before them.

“
I saw horses swimming in
the river at Village by the Sea; we’ll just swim them across,” Zen
answered.

“
Can we ride them while
they are swimming?” Lela asked.

“
I don’t think we should,”
Jok, the practical one, said, “but we can hold onto their tails and
let them pull us across. I’ll go first with the pack mare. If that
works, the rest of you can follow.”

Jok led the packhorse and
the horse he was riding into the water. The horses were reluctant
at first, but when they saw what he was doing, they followed him
without hesitation. Jok allowed the horses to swim past him, then
grasped the tail of the last horse and let it pull him across. When
he reached the other side, he called to the others, “Come on, it’s
fun!”

Soon all the horses were
across.

“
When we were here before,”
Zen said, “I noticed two blind canyons, with small streams running
out of them. I think that would be a good place to camp and to
build our village. We could corral the horses and prevent them from
wandering away by dragging brush across the mouth of one of the
canyons.”

Zen then led them directly
to the blind canyons.

“
You're right, this would
be a good place to build,” Jok agreed. “The canyon contains plenty
of stones that we can use for building our homes. The walls of the
canyon will form one end of our houses, which will make them easier
to build because we will have a stable wall on which to attach the
buildings. The little streams flowing out of the canyon will
provide water, and the separate canyon will provide shelter for the
horses we have now and for all the animals we will raise in the
future.”

Ador and Lela were excited;
they wanted to get started right away.

“
Let’s pitch camp for the
night,” Zen said. “We’re all tired, and we can begin building
tomorrow.”

***

The sun rose on another
beautiful day. Soft clouds floated by and a gentle breeze kept
everyone cool. They surveyed the canyons and were pleased with the
location of their new village.

Flowering trees of many
different hues dotted the canyon; other trees were filled with
fruit ready for picking. Multi-colored flowers were splashed over
the ground.

After eating a quick bite
of breakfast, they addressed the problem of containing the horses
by dragging brush across the mouth of the canyon. The canyon was a
perfect place for the horses; they had grass to eat and water to
drink. With that problem solved, they turned their attention to
home-building.

“
Now, where shall we build
our first home?” Jok asked.

They discussed it for a
little while and agreed on a location near a stream.

Jok, the house builder,
said, “We’ll build the first house with three rooms--one large one
and two smaller ones to sleep in. That will have to do until we can
build a house for each of us.”

They gathered a pile of
flat rocks, dug an outline for the foundation, and then scraped
away a smooth area for the floor.

“
The bottom stones have got
to be partly buried so they’ll be secure and not shift; otherwise,
the walls could fall,” Jok instructed.

Zen and Jok placed the
large stones while the girls made mud from clay and mixed it with
straw. The combination of mud and straw would hold the stones in
place, preventing any creature from crawling between them, and
would also keep the rocks from falling. This was hard work, and
took days to complete.

Jok told them to make one
side of the wall higher than the other. When they asked him why, he
explained that the roof has to slant to allow rainwater to drain,
thereby preventing the roof from leaking.

The roof was made of poles
with sticks placed between the poles. Heavy grass and mud were
stuffed between the sticks and covered with a mixture of straw and
clay. The sun would bake the clay, so that the house would remain
dry in the worst weather. They created an opening in the roof to
allow the smoke from a fire to escape.

Soon the outside of the
house was finished, and the four friends looked at it with pride.
Nothing harmful could enter their home, and it would shelter them
from animals and bad weather.

Next, they made beds to
sleep in and stools to sit on. The girls adorned the rooms with
flowers. Finally, their home was completed. They hugged each other
and thanked the Zorians, who gave them the home-building
knowledge.

Now they could turn their
full attention to rescuing their families.

***

“
We must plan this rescue
very carefully,” Zen said. “The priests failed to kill us when we
escaped the first time, and they will be determined not to fail
again. If they allow us to defy them, they cannot maintain
authority over the people, and they have an army to send against
us. We’ll have to organize the villagers who want to return with us
and provide them with weapons. The weapons, plus the element of
surprise, will give us a big advantage over the priests and their
soldiers, who have no knowledge of bows and arrows or bronze knives
and shields.”

“
First, we have to find a
way around the Valley of Mist,” Jok reminded them.

“
Perhaps if we follow this
new river, it will show us a way,” Lela suggested.

“
I think Lela is right,”
Zen said. “The river that we followed through the Valley of Mist
flows from the north. This new river flows from the west. After
we’ve followed it for a time, perhaps we’ll be able to climb to the
top of a mountain and see a way around the valley.”

“
Do you think we’ll find
where Sun enters Earth?” Ador asked.

“
I don’t know, but I don’t
think so,” Zen replied and smiled at her. She was still concerned
about Sun and Earth.

“
We’ll have to load the
packhorse with dried food, blankets, and supplies,” Jok said. “It
will be cold when we go over the mountains. You can see the snow on
the mountain tops from here.”

“
Yes, and we must pack
extra weapons for the people we rescue. We’ll need their help if
we’re going to defeat the soldiers and the priests.”

“
We have no idea what
hardships we may encounter,” Ador commented, “We have to be
prepared for whatever may happen.”

“
Yes, you’re right, Ador,”
Zen agreed. “We encountered some pretty bad things while we were
getting here, and there are undoubtedly more bad things we'll have
to conquer. I suggest we retire now. Tomorrow we’ll get everything
ready, and the next day we can depart.”