Stone

Chapter 40 – Dragons, part 2

Stone rode Doug out to the site where his dragon dreams had occurred, and pulled up, feeling more than a little trepidation. This caused him to pull out Pate, even though he had felt no imminent danger. He immediately went into battle mode, where everything appeared slow motion with wire frame shapes.

A red wire-frame dragon appeared in the distance, a sign of danger. Then Stone noticed the young dragon-rider atop it. It apparently thought it was invisible, and decided that the huge man and big horse would make a tasty snack, and started to swoop in. Immediately Stone remembered the dreams he had last year about fighting the dragon, and hoped he could defeat it in real life.

As the dragon swooped at Doug, the big horse jumped to the left, and Pate snaked out to slice off the dragon’s front foreleg. It made a hideous screech, unable to imagine how the man had seen it while the dragon-rider wore the invisibility corset. The dragon flapped its wings to regain altitude, but before it had lifted more than five feet from the ground, Pate swung again, and struck its tail on the far side of the body. Another massive screech, and flame spurted out of the gaping hole in the tail. Stone had remembered to cut on the far side to prevent the flames from pouring out at Doug and him.

With the hole in its tail, the dragon could not fly, and Pate made quick work of it by slicing through the neck. The dragon-rider fell off, and suddenly the beast could be seen in real vision as the magic sword hacked off the left wing. The animal was dead.

Meanwhile, he noticed a wavering of the air around the tip of Pate. «I am drawing magic from the dragon and from the corset,» Pate sang. «So much power.»

Stone looked around, and saw the dragon-rider on the ground, the golden corset next to her. “Thank you sir,” she said feebly. “You don’t know what a curse immortality can be.” Stone noticed that she was rapidly aging, and now looked to be an old woman and not the teenager she was a minute ago.

“You should harvest the dragon scales,” her voice said weakly. “The silver underside and the gold on top are on sheets that are a fireproof material. The scales are hard to remove at first, but later can easily be rubbed off. They are valuable. Thank you again,” and with that she died: a withered up carcass. Meanwhile, Pate was continuing to draw magic in from the dead dragon, and the corset. It looked like a stream of brightly colored steam rushing into the point of the sword.

Stone had harvested scales in his dreams, and in real life managed to get twelve sheets of silver and 15 of gold before the dragon started to disintegrate. The last item to disappear was the severed claw, but four long talons remained, along with a small dewclaw. The girl had dissolved into dust as well, with only her dress remaining: and the corset.

Stone picked up the corset, and immediately disappeared into a wireframe world. He gasped, and flung the corset away, watching it strike Doug’s head. At the instant it touched him; the big horse disappeared.

Stone gasped again, and moved over to where the horse was standing.

«Get this damned thing off me,» Doug said as soon as Stone bumped into the invisible horse. He also could see the wireframes while he was touching his horse. No doubt he was invisible.

“Not yet,” Stone said. “Let’s use this trick to get our loot back to the camp.” So Stone piled the sheets of scales onto his saddle, followed by the talons and dewclaw. He picked up Pate, which was now longer drawing magic and placed her back into the scabbard. They walked back to the camp, with Stone balancing the scales onto the saddle as they moved to the empty wagon Stone was planning to sleep under. He piled the scales into his wagon, along with the talons, and then went to Doug’s head and was able to peel the corset off the horse’s neck. Finally freed, the horse whinnied mightily and the others finally noticed them.

“We didn’t see you return,” one of the wagoneers said. “Do you want me to unsaddle your horse?”

“No, I will do it,” Stone said. “He needs some attention from me.”

«Damned right I do,” Doug said. «That damned thing just felt so wrong. It tightened around my neck and for a few seconds I thought it was going to choke me. But it was just tight, not crippling. But it felt horrible.»

When Doug was unsaddled, Stone noticed all the men staring at him. “What?” he finally asked.

“Yer glowing’,” one of the wagoneers said, “An’ all kinda sparkly.”

Stone looked down, and noticed that his arms and legs were sparkling in different colors. Except for the color it looked like electricity from the old world, but Pate sang that it was the surplus magic. She said she was overloaded with the stuff.

Stone drew the sword, which was much more sparkly than his arms were. He pointed Pate to the sky, and she started singing so loud that the men could near her. Blasts of light, about one per second, shot out the end of the sword, which was pointed to the south. As they got to the area above Westport, they exploded like fireworks, exploding in the sky above the town.

“I hope that doesn’t scare the people,” Stone thought. “It really is quite pretty from here.”

Over 500 blasts of light went up, taking less than a quarter of an hour, and then Pate gently sang that the surplus was gone. The men could no longer hear her but Stone could.

“That were right purty,” the wagoneer said.

“Yeah, but the show’s over, so into your bedroll. I want to get into town early tomorrow.”

In town, the sound of the exploding fireworks woke most people in town. The whites noticed that the brilliant colors were largely exploding over the Kithren areas. From town it looked like a shooting star, except going up rather than down, and mostly colored rather than just white. When the “stars” exploded into different shapes and patterns it became clear that they were not harmful. But every explosion left a small, cold, and dark lump of magic that fell to earth, almost each landing on a garden.

Later Stone would learn later that this was why the magic was concentrated above the Kithren areas. The white homes seldom had a garden while almost every Kithren home did, to allow for free food to stretch their budget.

Rayla was out early in the show, and soon was joined by Cass. Jason and Emily soon woke, and came out to join their mother. Sissy was last to waken, coming out for the final part of the show.

“What is it mommy?” Emily asked.

“I don’t know, but I think that your father is involved. Can you hear the woman singing? That is Pate,” his sword.”

“I hear it,” Jason said, and soon the others did too. “Does that mean Daddy is near?”

“I hope so,” Rayla said. “It looks like the lights were coming from about where the last camp is. If so, he should be home just after noon time.”

Both of the children cheered. “Come on now, back to bed for all of you. Especially Cass if she is getting up early to make bread.”

Cass did get a few hours of sleep, and rose early to start a batch of bread. It was not needed for the breakfast: the children got oatmeal and a piece of fruit for that. But when the bread was rising, she went out into the morning sun to weed her garden. It had been rather feeble when she joined the family. There had been nothing new planted in the spring when the houses were empty, and only a few things came up from the prior year. But she had tended it faithfully, planting a few late vegetables and knocking down the weeds.

But she was amazed at what she found. The garden was full and lush, with tomato bushes heavily laden with large, red, ripe fruits. The late corn she had planted weeks ago was now six feet high with several cobs on each stalk. It looked as though it would be ready to harvest in weeks, not months. The single lettuce she was nursing from last year was ripe, and nearly the size of a basketball. She plucked it, and some tomatoes and she noticed more lettuce heads, not quite as large or ripe, but looking wonderful.

Rayla came out and was amazed as well. “It is like magic,” Cass whispered to her. “Those lights last night? Do you think they are related?”

“Possibly,” the white woman said. “We will have to see if Stone knows anything about it. He should be home for dinner. And make him lunch as well, in case he shows up hungry.”

“Lettuce and Tomato sandwiches on fresh bread,” Cass said with a smile. “And the kids will get the same for lunch.”

The school was booming. There were 140 students now, from ages six to 16. Rayla taught a group of older students, and had found five other teachers from town. Only two were Kithren: the others were young white girls who had finished the feeble excuse for education that white girls were allowed. But they could read, write and do their numbers so were qualified to teach beginners.

The Kithren teachers taught home economics to both boys and girls, and one taught Geography, although it was really Jason who taught the class since he had been in most of the towns in the valley.

The entire house was now used as classrooms, with four different rooms in use at one time. There were four classes in the morning, and three in the afternoon, with an average of 20 students per class. The morning (or noon) oatmeal was the lure that brought the students in: the sandwich at the end of the classes kept the students interested in learning, and after a month Rayla was pleased with her little school, even though it was starting to burst at the seams. Cass no longer could provide all the food: Rayla had hired three other Kithren ladies to assist her.

Kalosun was an affiliate teacher, and took the odd class outdoors to learn about the environment and Kithren culture. These were always morning classes: in the afternoon he was down at the waterfront, getting to know the sailors that Stone needed for his ship, and occasionally going to the shipbuilders to check on progress there.

Stone also saw some of the work on his ship about an hour out of the camp on the trail that morning. His wagons passed several work crews in an oak grove. He sent the wagons on and visited the lumbermen. There were three crews of two men each felling big oaks. Once down, about 20 men would hop onto a felled tree and strip it of branches. There were wagons waiting to haul the timbers away. Stone wandered over to the man clearly in charge.

“Who are the trees for?” he asked the man.

“For the shipyard,” the man answered tersely as he surveyed his crews to make sure all were working efficiently.

“They are for me then,” Stone announced. “I am having a ship built there.” The man immediately turned to Stone, realizing this was an important person. He then explained what the various crews were doing, and his hope that they would get twelve oaks down and shipped off to the waterfront each day. Apparently the contract was for 144 trees.

“What happens to all the branches and such that are cut from the trees?” Stone asked. “They seem to be in the way of the other work.”

“Aye,” the man said. “Usually Kithrens come clear the limbs away for firewood. But they are a lazy lot, and with little need for firewood at this time of year, it just sits here. They’ll be sad when they come for it in late fall or winter. It will have dried out by then and dry wood is much harder to cut or split.”

Stone decided he had let his wagons get far enough ahead of him, and hurried to catch up. Their early start had paid off, and they entered the town at noon, and were at the house a half hour later. Stone saw Kalosun walking down the street towards the dock eating a sandwich, and got him to jump up on a wagon as Stone rode Doug alongside.

“Do you have any good men? They are cutting trees down out in the oak grove, and there is a need for men to clear away the undergrowth. There is a lot of good firewood up there and I’d like to get some wood collected for winter. A cord should do for the two houses, and if we get more we can sell it.”

“Aye,” Kalo said. “I’ve been lining up men for the ship. Sailors aren’t great woodsmen, but a couple are hurting for work. And I’ve met some unemployed woodsmen too. Do you need wagons?”

“It would be best,” Stone said. “I don’t want to delay the caravan trip north, and all those are needed. If your men have wagons, they could be hired: if not we should buy a couple.”

“I’ll get right on it,” the black man said, hopping off the slow-moving wagon and heading back to the waterfront.

Stone then trotted off ahead, wanting to meet his wife, and also hoping to get a good lunch. The sandwich Kalo was eating looked and smelled amazing.

Rayla, enjoying her mid day break, saw her man dismount, and squealed and ran towards him, leaping onto his waist and allowing him to carry her into the kitchen. Cass was there, and as soon as she saw the Captain, she placed a fry pan on the stove, and filled it with bacon. The students had gotten Tomato and Lettuce sandwiches, but the Captain would get a full BLT, with six strips of bacon. Five, as Jason filched one as Cass was making the sandwich. He darted out the door as Stone yelled at him. Emily heard the yells, and ran to her father, hugging his legs since he hadn’t let his wife go yet.

“How is the school going?” the giant asked as he started munching the huge sandwich.

“Fine,” Rayla said, finally ending her kiss to avoid getting smeared with his meal. “No. Actually the house is too small. We need another building, but nothing else is for sale near here. Or we can build a school house: that would be ideal.”

“Spending more of our gold, are we?” Stone said.

“We have lots, and you’re lucky you say ‘our’ and not ‘my’,” the pretty woman said. “No sense having a fight on the first day home. Speaking of home, are you responsible for the light show last night just after dusk? I thought I heard Pate singing.”

“Yes. A bit of magic to get rid of after slaying a dragon.”

“The one from your dreams?” Stone nodded. “Anyway, the weirdest thing happened. Our garden just bloomed. And more than a dozen students say the same thing happened at the gardens at their house. People are harvesting months early, and everything is so big and tasty. The lettuce and tomatoes you are devouring are from our garden.”

“It must be the magic,” Stone said. “It seemed to be a lot of magic just for some pretty lights. So it made the gardens grow.”

That evening the family dinner was delightful, with fresh vegetables from the garden, as well as a roast pig. Kalosun suggested a Kithren feast would have been better, but couldn’t complain. The family ate Kithren food three times a week, occasionally four. He told Stone that he had found two men with wagons, and each was planning to take five men to the oak grove to gather firewood. Stone explained the areas alongside the houses where he wanted the cordwood stacked, and delegated Kalo to find an empty lot where the surplus wood could be stored.

Rayla then took over the discussion, pleading for her new school building. Kalo chimed in: “You should build it Kithren style.”

“What is that?” Stone asked.

“The traditional Kithren buildings are roundhouses,” the black man said. “About half the houses on this side of town are round, although there seems to be more and more square houses built that do not honor our lady the sun.”

“I’ve seen those round houses,” Stone said. “Surely they are too small for a school?”

“Not really,” Kalo explained. “The houses are small because they need to be. But you can build a round house as big as your trees allow. The shipbuilder controls all the oak in the area, but if you use pines you can get usable trees 100 to 120 feet high in the area to the east. That would allow a round house of 60 feet high, with a floor space a circle 200 feet in diameter.”

“That is a big room. We could get all the students in the one room for assemblies or events,” Rayla noted. But what about classrooms: do we use smaller round houses?”

“No,” Kalo said. “We build another structure leaning against the walls of the big house. You could make it any width, say 40 feet, and surround the big room.”

Rayla jumped up, got a sheet of paper and a pencil and sketched the round house and surrounding collar of space. Then she did some math and calculated that the outer area would be about 628 feet long. “If each classroom is 60 feet long, we could have 10 classrooms,” she said.

And you could add an aisle and then another 10 classrooms outside of that,” Kalo said.

“More,” Rayla pointed out. If the hall was 10 feet wide, then that circle would be 300 feet wide, and the circumference would be 942 feet long. Another 15 rooms. That would be larger than the school could ever get.”

“So you need a building lot that is at least 300 feet wide and deep,” Stone said.

“More,” Rayla said. “We really need a playground attached to it. In winter students will play in the big room, but we need to let them get fresh air when the weather is nice. Can we afford it?”

“We can afford a dozen buildings like that,” Stone said. “I came into some wealth after slaying the dragon, and we can’t take all our gold with us when we sail over the ocean. Kalo, ask around and see if there are any lots of the size we need. We should start work as soon as possible: there are a lot of men looking for work these days. We will also need a builder. A Kithren if we are building it in that style.”