Chương 23: A Small Adventure

This world is full of secrets. Every time you think you've found them all, there are fifteen more waiting just around the corner. —The Artificer's Guide to Adventuring"Watch your head!" Danny yelled out a warning as a massive beam swung across the middle of the room. I ducked just in time to avoid getting my head smashed. The past several days had been a rush to get our main structure up.

"Pick up your end higher. I can't lift this damn thing on my own!" Darby grunted, climbing up stones I'd placed as some makeshift stairs, and heaved the thick support up and onto the stone column assembled at his end of the room. The stones made a small grinding sound as the wooden beam settled into place, but remained solid. Danny repeated the action on his end while I observed. I wasn't much use when it came to lifting.

I'd quickly realized that I was more of an obstacle than anything and restricted myself to helping guide the pair and providing an extra set of eyes for the smaller adjustments. The longhouse was really coming along nicely. Everyone pitched in to haul stone from the mountainside while Danny constructed our new shelter. The walls went up first, made of interlocked stones.

Any open gaps were filled in with the soft clay and mud from the nearby stream to keep the heat in—a necessity, with each day bringing colder weather as fall wore on. The roof and some supports were the only parts to be made from wood. We were taking an abundance of caution in our building approach until we knew more about the valley.

There were plenty of trees in the surrounding areas, and we were far from the ancient forest beside the old logging operation, so we felt comfortable in using them if no other option was available. Even after fifty years, the scars on the land near the logging expedition could still be seen. I hoped that whatever beings inhabited this valley had forgotten their last encounter with humans.

"Logan, you gonna just stand there or help with these cross sections?"

"Sorry!" I shook off the wandering thoughts and picked up the next timber.

"Soon as these are up I gotta bail. Gene's taking a couple of us out to map out the nearby area." Darby grunted.

"Anything to get out of a little work, huh?"

"I saw how fast you hid when he asked who wanted to go with him," I teased him back and pushed the end of my support into place. Before the girder had gone up, I'd cut notches into it to fit each of the supports, the other ends fitting on top of the stone walls. A stone on either side and some clay pressed in kept it firmly in place. Brush from the few trees we'd felled was ready to be placed, creating a base for the layers of moss that would complete the roof.

I repeated the process in my corner of the room while the others set up theirs. Once all of the supports were up, I left them to finish the roof while I sought out Gene.

"You're late!" Emmie tapped her wrist when I approached the group standing next to one of the horses.

"You all set?" Beside her, Greg was leaning on a spear. He was a short, stocky man who I'd found to be of the 'no nonsense' variety. Kind of a dick, really, or at least seemed like it from the few times I'd interacted with him. Not sure I was excited to have him along, but an additional person capable of combat was welcome.

"Couldn't help it. Darby was making me do all the work while he watched." I gave my satchel a pat.

"All ready though." She rolled her eyes.

"Uh huh. Sure." My blacksmith hammer was looped through my belt. It had a weight to it that just felt right. The hatchet might be sharp, but I was pretty sure if we ran into anything, a heavy swing with the hammer would deal a lot more damage. I kept it in my bag, just in case I did end up needing it. Our scouting mission had a few reasons for being set up. Ernie wanted to show that we were actively learning about our environment for everyone's peace of mind.

Gene's tracking abilities would give valuable information on whether there were any local threats. I wanted to come along to find any useful materials, and Emmie… she just wanted to punch things. If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

"I hope we don't run into any turtles. I'm not sure I can sit by while you commit war crimes."

"Jesus Christ. I knew I shouldn't have ever mentioned that." Gene cocked an eyebrow.

"What's that about turtles?"

"She just doesn't like—""He thinks he's funny—" Gene waved a hand when we cut each other off.

"Forget I asked. I don't even want to know." He finished tightening straps holding several bags onto the horse and patted it.

"Let's get going while the going's good." He whistled sharply, and within moments, Nibbles was bounding over to us. Gene's open invite to go out had garnered little interest outside of Greg, Emmie, and myself. With Nibbles, the five of us would prove an intimidating enough force. The other, more combat-oriented people were all too busy with the village. High strength stats were in hot demand right now. We exited Mossbrook, heading north.

The first hour went by quickly, and we kept a brisk pace, taking in the scenery. I stopped several times to inspect the flora, finding more than a few interesting specimens. Large ferns grew underneath a copse of trees on the other side of the stream. We noted the location, as they would make decent mattress stuffing until we could start trading for sheep or wool. The most notable plant I found was a 'Thistledown Vine'. It was thick and fibrous, and I had to chop at it several times to cut away a section.

Tiny hairs along its length irritated my hands, but what caught my attention was the thick, milky sap that leaked from the cut. It was incredibly sticky, and I could already see the uses in crafting. We continued this way, picking each new variety of plant we came across for further study. Tamil's Folly, Bloodroot, Tenderfrill—the names meant nothing to me, nor did they adequately describe the plant itself.

Bloodroot was a leafy plant with a tiny root that wasn't red, though I felt safe in my assumption that Tamil's Folly was potentially poisonous. Shortly before the sun reached its apex, the environment took on a drastic change. Great chunks of stone had fallen from the mountain, creating huge jagged boulders, easily twenty feet wide and just as tall. The terrain was littered with them.

"Looks like an old rockslide," Gene drawled quietly.

"I'm sure it don't happen often, but I reckon we might want to do a bit o' surveyin' of the mountain over the town sometime. We're further away than we are now, but these big ones can tumble pretty far." My hand tightened on my hammer and the group grew quiet. I found myself wishing I had grabbed the other spear. Nothing was overtly out of the ordinary, but the reduced line of sight from the large boulders had set us on edge.

"This don't feel right." Greg gripped his spear with both hands.

"I don't know what it is, but something feels—" Emmie gasped and pointed at one of the boulders. I tracked her hand to the spot she indicated, and my eyes widened. A hole had been cut into the side of the stone, and it wasn't natural. Faint carvings flowed around the opening, too faint to decipher with the passage of time, but intentional nonetheless.

"That's a doorway arch…" I trailed off, taking it all in. The reason for our discomfort became apparent as we studied the stones around us, in light of this new information. What I'd taken for natural formations suddenly took on a whole new meaning.

"This had to have been a castle, or something." Emmie swiveled in a circle on her crutches.

"What could have destroyed it this badly?" I had been wondering the same thing. Approaching the doorway, I reached out and brushed a hand against the carving, trailing my fingers across the weathered design. It was smooth. How long ago was this still standing? Damn… It must have been beautiful. I left it behind and moved to the next.

The wreckage grew more dense as we slowly worked our way forward, and after needing to reroute several times with the horse to find an easier path, we made the decision to tie it and leave it behind. At Gene's command, Nibbles lay down, guarding the horse. Within twenty yards, the ground turned from grass spotted with rubble to rubble with the occasional spot of grass.

The architecture of the larger remains took on more apparent shapes of civilization, arches, and more carvings that better survived the weather, shielded by the outer destruction. Suddenly we found ourselves in the open. All of the large segments of stone were replaced with a hill of much smaller rubble.

"Careful here," Gene said, "We should go up next to each other. I don't fancy getting a rock in the noggin when one of you fumbles in front of me." We took the advice and cautiously crawled upwards in a row. The sharp rocks dug into my hands and knees, cascading down in small waves when I dug a foot in. We crested the jagged hill and stopped in stunned silence. A massive crater lay at the base of the mountain, putting to rest any notion that a rockslide or some other mundane event had caused the devastation.

Massive cracks in the bottom spidered out from where a central explosion had lifted up the earth in great chunks. Whatever happened had come from below. Nestled into the mountain, far above the crater, was the rest of the structure. The blast had shot away from the mountain, leaving the back half crumbling, but not completely destroyed. I looked to Gene.

"You think we could get up there?"