From The Jackals To The Shepherds 21: Five of Diamonds

From The Jackals To The Shepherds

The Woods:

The Map:

Dave – Taylor

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Battlebards Tracks used:

Elven Dirge – Farewell – Score Music – Philippe Payet

Heavenly Plane – Caelum – Score Music – Maria Milewska

Transcription:

For a long time, we were at war with The Jackals. But now, we’ve driven them off, and we have this – a year of relative peace. In this moment, there is an opportunity to build something.

A week has passed.

White, glittering sunlight fills the community square, spotted and sprigged with shadows. Double rows of bartering booths spread out their tempting shows of harvested golden fruit, the morning air smells sweet with ripeness, on the pathway there a wicker basket gapes and crashes down spilling out small, meek plums. The market glows, and flaunts, and clatters in its busy care. This week we finish the project to build the centerpiece of this square and as the final touches are put upon the magnificent monument the sun peers out from behind a cloud and glints off of the model skyscraper, throwing reflections across the camp in beautiful sparkle. A stately Eileen at the northern side lifts her voice to the distant sky, and through the wide clear camp peals a song, suddenly — crashing, triumphant in its joyful tide, quenching the square in vibrant harmony.

The summer warms not only our bodies but also our determined hearts. Addressing our food shortage has been a concern since we first set up camp in this wooded clearing, from farms and fields, to river catches. Today Eileen’s song brings us warmth but melodies and song can’t replace the warmth of a full belly.

We double down efforts to bring food to our tables, more hands assist with the farm, repairs are made to the tangled nets of the fisheries, and most importantly, a cadre of brazen individuals set forth across the river to forage in the thicker woods. Our hunger outweighs our fear of The Beast and while we sometimes hear the rumbled growls in the woods we manage to bring back overflowing handfuls of mushrooms, berries, and roots unimpeded. We start a project to organize protected details of foragers to address this bounty of untapped resources. We estimate small groups at first but if we see success we plan on having fully stocked market stalls and food storages within four weeks.

The only ones opposed to this plan are Eileen, Drach, and the nervous girl who has been with us a long time. Every time we venture into The Beast’s home she watches at the river’s shore. The children say she mumbles under her breath and seems to see things they cannot but we pass this as worry for our safety.

One afternoon as we explore our limits in the woods she sits unseen on the river’s bank and watches The Beast, who looks on our explorers with a great hunger. The Beast is now barely a set of fur over bones, kept from meals by the watchful gaze of the torrential girl who has been with us a long time. It lets out a ravenous whimper and meets her eyes, but she shakes her head and we walk into the woods, wary yet unaware.

In the absence of Old Miley, lost in the earthen tunnel weeks ago, a younger man named Shaddock works to repair the fish farms near the river’s bank. Cold, wet leaves floating on moss-coloured water, and the croaking of frogs – cracked bell-notes in the twilight. Tonight he sits with Yuen & Ezekiel and shows them the ropes, encouraging them as they splash lines into the water. When the three get tired, they sit on the shore and stare at the stars overhead. Shaddock recites a rhyme from the days in the City to teach the children about the constellations overhead:

By day you cannot see the sky for it is up so very high. You look and look, but it’s so blue that you can never see right through.

But when night comes it is quite plain, and all the stars are there again. They seem just like old friends to me, I’ve known them all my life you see.

There is the dipper first, and there is Cassiopeia in her chair, Orion’s belt, the Milky Way, and lots I know but cannot say.

One group looks like a swarm of bees, Papa says they’re the Pleiades; but I think they must be the toy of some nice little angel boy.

Perhaps his jackstones which to-day he has forgot to put away, and left them lying on the sky where he will find them bye and bye.

I wish he’d come and play with me. We’d have such fun, for it would be a most unusual thing for boys to feel that they had stars for toys!

As they watch the stars sparkle in the warm summer night, a dim point of light in the sky sparks to life in a supernova infinitely far away. The three of them watch as the star, almost so small as to be unseen before, grows and grows until it outshines the other sparks in the night. When the sun rises the next day, the light from this blaze is still strong enough to be seen in the blue air.

And a week passes.

Thank you for joining us for the twenty first episode of From The Jackals To The Shepherds. If you like this show please give us a rating on iTunes, tell a friend, or share us on social media. As always the intro for the show was read by Dave Lapru, who is also our mapkeeper. You can find Dave on twitter at plantbird, and I’m at leviathan files. Please consider visiting our website at Riverhouse Games dot com, or supporting this show and other Riverhouse Games work on Patreon at patreon dot com slash Riverhouse Games. Music for this episode was provided by Battlebards dot com. Until next week, I hope your week goes well.

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