Chapter 31

Summertime

It had been two weeks since they arrived at Lake Silverwood. The day was winding down and Torger returned to the village. He smelled venison roasting and realized he was very hungry. He had been a busy man and often forgot to eat a meal. That day he didn’t have breakfast. He was pleased with the sight of two wooden buildings going up, managed by Graul. One was large, thirty by thirty feet, the other small, fifteen by seventeen feet.

They were being built in the style of log cabins, one as a tavern and the other as a brewery. He wanted to wait until a kitchen and dining hall were built before starting on the tavern and brewery. Even though they were only going to be there another five months, the dwarves really wanted something to drink besides water, and since most of them had nothing to do during the days, he gave in.

He wished they could be mining silver. It wasn’t too hot underground in Calico, but that’s what he and Stone Fist had been doing for two weeks. A stone aqueduct held together with a weak cement ran from the lake down the hill. He had six dwarves working on it, in addition to himself and Stone Fist managing it. A sluice had been set up near the lake, and once it was completed someone could simply slide up a metal plate and water would flow into the aqueduct and down to Calico. Sliding down the plate would cut off the water. Their water worries would be over. This was Graul’s idea of an improvement compared to Stone Fist wanting dwarves to pour water in with buckets. But at the rate things were going, it wouldn’t be done for a couple more months.

Torger was happy that all the dwarves worked together as a community, even without pay coming in from the mines, but it was clear they were less earnest in their work ethic without pay. He suspected his high respect rating with them kept them working together at all, otherwise it would be every dwarf for himself.

Arden saw him and came over. “Hi Torger. I know all this building stuff is important, but it’s really not my style. Let’s go exploring tomorrow.”

“I would absolutely love to Arden, but there’s too much going on here. We’ve gotta get these buildings up and the aqueduct done.”

“Dude it’s summertime. Take a day off. Let’s see if we can make it to Big Bear Lake and back in one day.”

The offer was temping. Back on Earth only Torger and Arden would have tried that, but here everyone was in great health and had nearly equal stamina. Maybe they should take a day off.

“OK we’ll do it. But first I have to do something tonight.”

“Alright Torger! I’ll pack the stuff we need.”

Arden left and Torger knew his friend’s ADD wouldn’t let him get much packing done. But that wasn’t all that important right now. He walked over and found the weaver. “Do you have a strong rope?”

An hour later everyone was sitting on the ground eating dinner and talking, just like every other night had been since they got there. As the dwarves were close to finishing their mundane dinner at the end of another dull day, Torger stood up.

“Attention everyone. I have an announcement. Thank you all for working so hard trying to build up this temporary village. I know it’s a lot of work for a short reward. I think we need a day off. Tomorrow I want everyone to either go swimming in the lake or go on a hike. Arden and I are going to take a long strenuous hike. If your stamina is high and your whining is low, you can come with us. For those of you who want to swim, I tied a rope swing to a high tree branch. Enjoy the day off tomorrow!”

There was thunderous applause and cheers. The dwarves didn’t know the concept of swinging on a rope and letting go over the water, but Brun and Rome said they would be happy to show them.

Graul and Strong Arm joined the hike in the morning. It was difficult to guess the right direction with no path, and there was a real possibility they would get lost, but it was just the way Torger and Arden liked to hike. Along the way they saw a grizzly in the distance, and a roc fly overhead carrying a deer. Strong Arm hoped to find signs of minerals, hoping a mine was nearby, but just as the others suspected there were no signs of buried treasures.

Strong Arm quietly noticed some rare plants growing along the hike, but didn’t tell the humans. He would let the potion masters know about them quietly. Dwarves would never share the secret of potion making with humans, even if one was a mayor.

At noon Torger said “We haven’t made it there yet. Do we go on or turn around? If we keep going we won’t make it back tonight.”

Arden wanted to go on, but Graul and Strong Arm said it was too dangerous to sleep away from camp at night. They turned back. Not long after they saw another grizzly, but much closer. And this one saw them. They calmly walked away from it, hoping to look powerful and unafraid. It followed them at a distance for a mile or so, and they quickened their pace, but then Strong Arm spotted a deer. Torger shot it with Jex’s bow, and they left it for the bear. Fortunately, the bear followed the blood trail.

They made it back safely after dark, and so the summer went; a lot of building, with some fun. There were two more bear attacks during the summer, and two rocs attacked at the same time one morning. They were able to fight off each attack, but serious injuries occurred each time.

In early September Jex came to talk to Torger alone. “I know you have this idea of building up this village and we’re all trying to make life as normal as possible. I mean, even Rome is nearly completed with a water wheel that makes electricity, for no real reason. We all want normal lives, but the countdown is still ticking. We need to start making real preparations for when the tyters arrive. What I’m saying is after the summer, let’s go to the beach and try to sail to Catalina. We might be able to use whatever’s there to transport back home.”

Home. Torger and the others tried to not think about it too much because they missed it. He would be a fool if he didn’t at least try. He could get a few dwarves to follow him to the beach. They’ve shown they’re good at cutting trees. He could probably make a decent raft and try to float out there.

“OK Jex. We’ll go to the beach as soon as it rains. If we could get home it would be dumb to stay here.”

“Thanks Torger. I think we’ve finally got our feet under us and it won’t be so dangerous to travel there with a few dwarves. I mean, none of us are afraid of a one on one fight with a huge coyote anymore. We’ve come a long ways.”

At the end of September the brewery produced its first barrel of ale. The tavern was crowded, but that’s because everyone in the village was there. It was standing room only and Torger had never seen everyone so happy. There was a wonderful sense of accomplishment. This wasn’t ale bought from another village. This wasn’t drinking under the stars, although the weather was perfect. This was their beer they made in their tavern they made with their own lake water. Pride and pats on the back were plentiful in the tavern that night, and Torger was especially happy knowing the village was getting a copper coin tax on every glass sold. After all, what else did the dwarves have to spend their money on?