From Book 6
Dol had five wagons plying the trade routes, carrying goods and people. The wolves continued to guard his wagons, but none were brave enough to risk an angry wolf. Besides, all the traders carried a small bag of treats Nellie had dreamed up. She mixed honey, cream and berries and boiled it until it became stiff. She then twirled short sticks in the mixture until there was a glob of sweet candy stuck to the stick. When it cooled, it became hard. When a trader appeared in the village, the children would crowd around him, begging for a Nellie Bar! If someone would have dared to steal something from a Trader Wagon, they would have been mobbed by the children! Needless to say, when a trader wagon appeared in a village, all work came to a halt!
Chapter 1 THE COMMUNITIES
The troubles caused by the Raiders left all the communities nervous. Most folks figured that if one group of criminals was around, there likely were more.
Dol started bringing back stories of the villager's concerns.
When parents came to visit their children at the school, Carey questioned them about their concerns and worries. They all related that they were worried about another violent band of raiders coming into the area.
Carey sent out invitations with Dol and his traders, inviting a delegation from each village to come to Haven and discuss the problem. He set the first day of the next new moon as the day of the meeting. All food would be provided and a place to stay overnight would be made available. He had no idea how many people would show up, but there were twelve communities which Dol and his traders visited regularly.
Two days before the planned meeting, the women began baking flatbread and shredding the meat the hunters brought to make "tacos", there were fresh tomatoes ripe, along with chilies and Nellie had a large store of cheese on hand.
The day of the meeting began with a "carnival-like" atmosphere, delegates from the villages brought their families along with them.
The villages of Root, Fork, Mile, Peak, Two Peaks, Camp, High Point, Meadow, Three Falls, Lost Creek, Jumbles and Long Path were all represented.
By the time everyone had arrived and gotten settled, it was time for the noon meal. Some of the visitors had never seen a taco before, but all the children knew exactly what to do with them! There were mothers chasing after their children to wipe their greasy faces.
They were served a honey and berry juice drink and sweet cookies for dessert.
The delegates met in the school and Carey outlined what he thought the problem was.
Kor, the delegate from Three Falls stood, "Us no have warriors un village be. Us ned all mins un womins work food mak."
Carey replied, "Mins un womins be all warriors be. Not ned work be, warrior be."
Aldun of Fork asked, "We do not have enough spears or knives to ward off an attack."
Carey said, "Haven giv spears un knives, trade later."
Merg from Meadow asked, "Us cal help get how?"
Carey smiled, "Us drum mak" and he motioned Davie and Carl to bring out a huge drum made of staves and a hard-tanned hide. Carl beat the drum with a stick that had a padded hide wrapped around the end of it.
The noise was so loud, everyone was holding their ears.
Carey said, "Drum alarm be. When peple her drum, peple, beat own drum be. Village have own mark be." Haven be un beat be."
He beat the drum a number of times and then paused before he beat a single time.
He passed out pieces of slate to each village headman or headwoman with the number of stokes of their village marked on it.
The talks continued all afternoon, finally, everyone agreed to take a drum and also to come to whatever village sounded the alarm to help beat off any enemies.
Before the delegates left the meeting, Carl and Davie jumped up, "Us train drum beaters un village be. Send drum beaters un us next day be"
The next day, twelve drummers assembled at the central fire, nine young men and three women. Carl and Davie had devised a code that could be used to transmit simple messages and the drummers practiced all day.
At the end of the day, Nel led twelve huge male wolves into the circle. Each wolf went over 200 pounds and had paws as big as plates! He walked around the circle of drummers, leaving a wolf beside each, clearly indicating that the wolf, the drum and the drummer were a team!
As they were getting ready to depart the next day, Carey announced, "Each morn be Haven send All Clear un all villages be. Village send No Report bac un Haven be. No sen men truble be."
The delegations departed, each drummer walking proudly at their responsibility, beside each was a huge timber wolf, alert in all directions.
After a few days, the drummers became expert and each morning, the air was full of reports from each village. Carey placed a large slate on a pole next to the Haven Drum and Gali, the Haven Drummer, would mark off each village as they reported in and he acknowledged.
After the "morning reports", private messages were allowed, Gali would send a village's code, followed by a simple message. The village would acknowledge with their code that they had received the message.
Each time a trader arrived at a village, that message was sent back to Haven, Dol was able to tell exactly where each of his traders was each day.
The drummers learned to send in sequence so that no village overrode the message of another.
Each village was required to support their drummer, it was a full-time job and they could not be far away from their drum in case of emergency.
The villages took their drummer seriously, they built a home for him or her, with an awning to protect the drum from the rain. The drummer was supplied with food and drink, along with clothing and the necessities of life. It became an occupation!
Carey decided to hold a Council the first morning after every new moon. Many problems were solved at these meetings before they became a festering sore in community relations.
At one meeting, Pali asked that each village appoint six warriors to protect their village and also to send in assistance to other villages. Small villages complained that they could not spare the men and Pali told them, that it was a part-time job and what was worse, the loss of six men for short periods or the enslavement of their whole village?
Each Warrior was to have his own wolf, when they came to Haven to train, a wolf would be assigned to them. Despite the hardship, each village headman or headwoman as in the case of Fork and Mile, realized that the danger was real.
Pali became the de facto General and he made regular rounds with Dol's Traders checking on the village warriors and their equipment. Nel would go with him on these trips and Pali reported to Carey that he was sure Nel was checking each Warrior Wolf, as well as the Drummer Wolf!
Chapter 2 FIRE
Summer turned to winter, a particularly hard winter. The snow was deep and frigid. It had been a fortunate summer, the crops were good and much meat had been preserved.
There was a break in the weather in time for the Short Day Celebration. In Haven, breads were baked, along with hams, potatoes, corn meal, dried peas and root vegetables taken from the root cellar. It was nearly the same in each village, except that two young women from Three Falls, with a wolf to accompany them, arrived as guests.
It soon became apparent, the reason for their visit - Carl and Davie! Carey chuckled as he watched his two son/nephews fall under the spell of two attractive young women. At the end of the "holiday" period, the two young women, Kali and Mara returned to their village, amongst ardent promises from the two brothers that they would visit soon. Every meal, it was Kali this and Mara that, Carey asked the boys if they were serious about the two girls. Both boys' faces turned bright red, but they nodded yes.
The weather began to loosen its hold and, each day, ice and snow would melt, only to refreeze again at night. In the early hours of one morning, the silence was broken by a staccato of drum beats, followed by a village code and the three-beat code for FIRE! Gali acknowledged the message and then began to ring the brass bell, alerting everyone in Haven.
The fire was in Three Falls and they needed help!
Just as it was getting light, Pali and six of his Warriors, along with twenty volunteers raced out Haven's Main Gate, followed by their wolves. Gali sent a message to Three Falls that help was on its way. Two other villages, Two Trees and Camp were the closest to Three Falls and they messaged that they were sending help also!
As soon as the sun was up, Dol put together a wagon of emergency supplies, food and medicines and headed out the gate with two wolves and Dr. Eddy sitting on the seat beside him.
As they departed, Gali sent the message that even more help was on the way.
Half the homes in Three Falls were destroyed and several villagers, including children, were badly burned. Eddy did everything he could for the burned folk and then had the burned children and the worst of the burned adults placed in the wagon for a slow and cautious trip back to Haven, where they would spend time in the hospital.
Pali found his wolf, Jorg, pawing at something near the village wall. He looked at it closely, it was a torch soaked in cooking fat, half burned before it had gone out! He said nothing, wanting to discuss it with Carey before he made the evidence known.
Pali carried the half burned torch back to Haven with him, wrapped in an old hide, He presented it to Carey, saying, "Mins this do. Mins bad be. Raiders be?" Carey considered the evidence and sniffed the grease on the torch. He concluded it was pork grease. He told Pali to increase the patrols and to warn each village headman or woman what they suspected.
The hospital was full of burn patients, it was especially hard on the children. Each child patient had a young wolfling pup sitting beside his or her bed, giving what comfort they could. Whenever a child was especially agitated or crying from the hurt, the wolfling would go and get Verona or Millie. They would even climb up onto the bed and cuddle the child, they would suffer any indignity to distract the child from his or her pain.
As the children healed, many of the wolflings went with them when their parents came to take them back home, the bond between wolfling and child was strong and permanent.
It was a hot summer and all the villages had an abundance of farm produce to trade. Dol's wagons were fully loaded as they travelled between the villages, almost more than the Not Cows could pull.
One trader arrived in Three Falls, Kali and Mara were waiting for him. They requested carriage to Haven. The trader, Pol, grinned and said, "Womins un Carl be un Davi be?" The two young women blushed and said, "Womins us be un Carl be un Davi be"
The two had set their sights on Carl and Davie, they didn't have a chance! Two weeks later Carey was saying "the words" over the two pair! The whole village of Haven turned out in celebration for them and the young men of the village guarded the two homes that they spent their first night as married couples. Carey couldn't help but tease his sons the next morning, their faces were bright red and they both had grins from ear to ear.
Little did Carey suspect that a young woman from Fork had set her sights upon him!
Chapter 3 THE BATTLE
As fall approached, the wolves were acting uneasy, they patrolled the walls vigorously and frequently were seen growling at the gate. Each village reported the same thing, they were all sure that they were being scouted for an attack. As dawn broke, the drummer of High Point sent the emergency code and then the code for attack!
Gali roused all of Haven and then relayed the message to all the other villages. Pali organized his warriors, appointing the "Home Guard" to protect their village and then raced out the gate with twelve heavily armed warriors and two dozen angry wolves.
Dol and his traders loaded weapons and supplies into a wagon and followed with more wolves.
Pali and his force descended upon the rear of the attackers, showing no mercy. The wolves were tossing body parts right and left and the warriors gave no quarter, accepted no surrender! When it was all over, no attacker survived and only two warriors were slightly injured. Three homes suffered minor damage and the gate required repairs. The Headman, Por, hugged Pali and each of his warriors, thanking them for their assistance. He was amazed when Dol showed up with supplies and food. Por became a leading voice in future councils for a standing army of warriors to protect the villages. He proposed Pali as the leader of the warriors. It was to take another attack on the village of Lost Creek before a majority of the council agreed.
Pali sent his warriors out, searching for where the attackers were coming from. The warriors and their wolves roamed the mountains and found nothing, other than a few scattered villages that immediately asked to join the community of Haven.
Winter passed and at the Short Day Celebration, both Carl and Davie both announced that Carey was going to be a Gandpa!
There was a visitor from Fork attending the Short Day Festivities, her name was Ora and she stuck close to Carey. Carl noticed her first and nudged his brother. Both giggled and smiled at Carey.
Carey looked at his sons/nephews and asked, "What?" They both laughed and replied, "Oh, nothing!" Nel came up and thoroughly sniffed the woman and then curled up at her feet.
Ora had plotted her course carefully, day by day Carey began to fall under her spell. Soon, they were seen walking around Haven, hand in hand.
The villagers began to take note, snickering behind Carey's back. As spring started its slow arrival, Carey asked Ora to be his womin!
With Nelli's help, Carl and Davie planned a grand wedding celebration, they asked the Headman of High Point, Por, to say the words over the couple and they invited everyone from the Villages of Haven to attend.
They set the wedding day as the first full moon of spring. Villagers from all the villages of Haven arrived, most camped outside the walls. There was singing and dancing, the warriors entertained the folk with feats of arms and a ring of wolves kept the happy couple surrounded.
The full moon arrived and Por said the words making Carey and Ora "Min un Womin"! Carl and Davie escorted Carey and Ora to their home and stood guard with all their wolves so that nothing would disturb their wedding night.
It was a red-faced Carey who appeared the next morning. Carl and Davie grinned at him and Carey stammered and sputtered. The boys hugged him and they all had a good laugh.
Dol took Carey and Ora to each village in his wagon so that they could thank everyone for their good wishes and attendance at their wedding. Each village feted the couple, wishing them many happy years and many children.
Pali's warriors continued their search for the raider's and finally found a village down in the valley, next to the river, that was suspect. He sent spies, disguised as traders into the village, their reports confirmed that it was the source of the raiders.
It was a dirty, filthy place and they kept slaves in pens behind each house. It was all Pali could do to restrain his warriors from attacking at once, even the wolves growled and bristled whenever they came near.
Pali left six warriors to keep watch on the village and he rushed back with the remainder of his force to report to Carey. Soon, the drums began to speak, calling for an emergency council.
The Headmen and Headwomen of each village arrived to Council, determined to end this threat once and for all time. Their first decision was to form the County of Haven and elect Carey as Head Councilor of Haven. Each village promised warriors for Pali's Army, he soon found himself in command of a force of one hundred warriors and twice that many wolves!
As warriors began to arrive from their villages, Pali and Carey divided them into Cohorts of ten warriors, each with a Warrior Leader.
Pali drilled and practiced his troops, his signaler had a small drum hanging at his side. The troops responded to codes beat out by the signaler and were equipped with two spears each, a short sword and personal knives.
Each warrior had two huge wolves at his side and, after two weeks of practice, they were judged ready to mount a campaign against the raider village.
In small groups, the warriors travelled down the mountains of their home, headed for the village beside the river.
Pali assembled his men in a dense forest some distance from the raider village. Their spies told them that the raiders did not use wolves and depended upon their log walls to protect them.
He decided to attack the village at dawn and moved his men to the edge of the forest. During the darkest part of the night, the men moved nearer to the log walls and waited.
Just as the sun rose over the mountains to the east, the signaler beat out the command, "ATTACK"! Each Cohort Leader knew his position in the attack and led his men forward.
When the command, "GO" was beat out, they charged the gates and crashed them open.
The village guards were slovenly and ill-prepared to combat a disciplined force, let alone two hundred howling angry wolves! The village guards were mowed under and the Haven forces spread out, torching every building they came to.
Women and children, they spared, but every adult man was cut down. Like grim reapers, the Haven forces swept through the village, many of the defenders were still in a drunken stupor from their revelries the night before.
They surrounded the Headman's home, demanding he come out. Their answer was a thrown knife, grazing one warrior.
They charged the house, tearing the walls down as they searched for the headman. They found him cowering in a closet, half-dressed and whimpering in fear.
They bound him with ropes and goose-stepped him before Pali. Every time the man tried to run, wolves bit at his heels, forcing him to stop. He was held at spearpoint while the warriors freed those being held as captive slaves.
The prisoners were in pitiful shape, women and children hardly more than skin surrounding their bones.
The warriors dug into their own pouches to give food to those unfortunates. Pali came back from the slave pens in a fury, his hands were shaking and he could not speak in his anger. He pointed to a tree and to the leader of the raiders, clearly meaning, "HANG HIM"! The raiders who survived the attack were also hanged alongside their leader.
Dol and his wagons arrived with food and medicines for the captives.
They treated and fed the former slaves, then they cared for the children of the defeated raiders.
Their women, they turned out into the fields to fend for themselves.
They freed nearly a hundred former slaves, caring for them and feeding them to build up their bodies. The children of the raiders were in hardly any better condition, their clothes in rags and their bodies starving. They questioned the older children, none of them wanted anything to do with their parents!
It was nearly a month before those abused folk were strong enough to travel. They found a number of Not Cows penned up in the Raider Village, along with wagons. Even the Not Cows showed signed of starvation and abuse and had to be cared for before they were of any use. They hitched up the wagons and loaded the children and the most disabled of the rescued adults for the trip back to Haven.
As they left the Raider Village in ruins of burned-out buildings and broken walls, they could see the bodies of the headman and his comrades swinging in the wind from the limbs of the trees, a warning to those who might follow them.
They began the slow march back to their homes, the Not Cows moving at a slow walk. They sent runners ahead, that food and supplies be made ready for the refugees. As they passed villages on their way to Haven, people brought out food and clothing for the children and former slaves.
The adults marveled at the lush fields and gardens as they passed by. By the time the group arrived at the village of Haven itself, the shrunken tummies and matchstick limbs of the children had begun to fill out.
The folk of the surrounding villages came and offered homes and families that the refugees might make their place.
Children who had never before known loving arms and warm beds were taken into families and homes.
The former slaves were led, weeping, to new homes and villages, made welcome and a part of the new society of Haven.
Carey led his people through the difficult times of assimilating the rescued people, made easier by the wolves attaching themselves to the frightened adults and children.
A young wolfling cuddling a frightened child in his or her bed at night, chasing the nightmares and frights away with its own body, welcoming the children each morning as they awoke.
A huge adult wolf walking calmly beside every man or woman as they made their place in this new society; free and accepted by the Haven folk in their new homes and kept safe by their own, personal Wolf Guardian.
The days passed into weeks and months, eventually years passed as Haven Society grew and prospered. The school and hospital were enlarged several times and trade between the individual Villages of Haven increased. Dol's Traders became an enterprise, carrying goods, messages and folk. Pali's Warriors became a permanent force, respected by all.
Carey and Ora had four children, one set of twin boys and two single girls. Davie and Kali had three children, all boys and Carl and Mara had two girls. Carey doted on his family, grandchildren and children. They were all precocious children, smart as whips and ready leaders for the other children of their age groups.
They kept alert for further trouble, but none ever appeared. Haven and all its villages grew, sometimes splitting off into partner villages.
A plowshare was developed from hardened oak and a Not Cow enticed to pull it, making farming easier.
Soda salts were discovered bubbling up in a cave and found to be suitable for making leavened bread.
The grains, corn, wheat and milo did well and all of Haven was well-fed. It was an agrarian life, but few had problems or were less than pleased. The children were happy and their parents safe and content. The Short Day Festival became the highlight of each year, there was dancing and music in each Haven Village, it became a day that young men declared their love for a girl and asked their village headman or headwoman to marry them. They were a happy people.