From Book 4
That night, Carey ordered a campfire to be built after all had eaten and when all the villagers and all the new folks were gathered around, he said, "Us hav nu peple un us, new pepl ned homes un us. Nu peple Haven be. Papa speks." He continued, "Nu peple And un Ali un Tok me com." When the three came before Carey, he said, "Ali u be womin un And. And u be min un Ali?"They both nodded their heads yes, then Carey said, "Tok want mama un papa be?"
The little boy began to cry, "Want me mama un papa be."
Carey then said, "Ali be womin un And be. And be min un Ali be. Tok bebe be And un Ali. Papa speks"
As Carey started to turn away, he heard, "Me Ver spek. Nar bebe be, no mama un no papa. Nar bebe be un Ver be. Ver be mama un Nar be."
Carey asked, "U Nar be bebe un Ver mama be?"
Nar's child voice sang out, "Me Nar, be bebe Ver be."
Carey said to the assembled folk, "Nar be bebe be un Ver. Papa speks"
Chapter - 1 - THE WOLVES OF HAVEN
Nel's family of wolves had grown and two of his sons had brought home mates. There were wolf puppies in the village for the children to play with. Carey had devised some balls out of old hides and the boys and wolves would play for hours chasing the ball. On school days, there would be a row of young wolves sitting just outside the classroom, patiently waiting for their playmates to come outside. The wolves, however, were not just playmates, they took seriously the protection of "their people". They patrolled the perimeter wall during the night and had recently joined the hunters in gathering food for the village. They seemed instinctive, they knew to drive the game towards the hunters and to warn their hunters of dangerous animals nearby.
It was late spring and the weather had finally warmed. Some teen boys were preparing a field to be planted with corn. One of the young wolves came up to Dol and started pawing his leg and running off a short distance. Finally, Dol realized that the wolf wanted him to follow, so, using his planting stick as a crude spear, he followed the young wolf.
Down in the stream bed, several wolves were crowded around a child. A little boy, who was giggling at the antics of the wolflings. Dol went to the child, he was not of their village. He scooped the child up in his arms and shouted to the wolves, "Cari un me be!"
A young female wolf they had named "Shado" went racing back to the village and started pawing Carey's leg until he followed her. The young wolf conveyed her anxiety to Carey and he followed her at a dead run. Carey saw the child in Dol's arms, fearing that the child had been hurt. Dol explained that the child was not of their village. Carey asked the child where his people were. All the child could do is point downstream.
They took the child back to Haven to have him checked out by Eddy. They finally learned the boy was named Bic and he had four summers. When asked about his parents, he would reply, "Ded be," and cry. Dol stayed with the child, hugging him and caring for him. He finally asked Carey if he could take the child as his son and Carey agreed. The two were inseparable, Dol even partitioned off part of a house just for him and Bic.
As summer progressed, Dol came again to Carey, "Papa Cari, me Dol be, me want other peples find be. Me un Toc un Rel us hunt peples be bring Haven be. Shado un Flee wit us be"
Chapter - 2 - THE SEARCHERS
Dol gathered his team of Toc and Rel and they collected trail food and weapons for the search for other people. He also decided to take Bic, as the child might be able to direct them to his village. They started off, he whistled for Shado and Flee to follow and they headed down the stream bed where he had discovered Bic. They spent the night camped along a larger stream. They wrapped themselves and Bic in warm fur robes they had carried on their backs. As they slept, the two wolves kept a roving patrol, letting nothing endanger their people!
At a junction, where the stream they were following joined a larger stream, Bic became very excited and wanted the young men to follow him. The wolves went on ahead and shortly, they heard their excited barking. The party stumbled into a clearing, filled with burned huts and bones. The bones were of Bic's people, there was none alive in the village. Shado and Flee were barking and wanting their people to follow them. By now, Dol and his companions totally trusted the instinct of their wolves and they followed as fast as they could. The wolves led them upstream and into a narrow canyon.
They raced all day long after the wolves and, at dark, were forced to make camp. During the night, the wolves stood an agitated guard, their hair bristled and frequently growled at something unseen in the darkness.
As soon as it was light, they shared some trail rations with the wolves and the wolves paced anxiously to be off. Dol was carrying little Bic as the canyon rose steeply. They stopped to rest and catch their breath. Rel smelled smoke. They crept cautiously through the underbrush and saw a small encampment of people. They all appeared to be injured and two men stood guard with clubs protecting the women tending a small fire.
Dol told Toc to stay hidden with Bic and he and Rel walked into the camp, both wolves flanking them. He held his hands out and said, "Us Haven peple be. Wut hapin yus be?"
One of the men with clubs replied, "Us be peple liv be, no ded be.Ottr peple mek us peple ded be." Shado went up to the man and began licking his hand. The man looked down and screamed, "Wuf! Wuf!" and started to run.
By then, Bic had escaped from Toc and ran to his daddy, Dol. He put his arm around Shado and hugged the animal. The man looked on in amazement that a little boy had no fear of a full grown wolf!
He looked at Dol, "U gud peple be?"
Dol replied, "Us gud peple be, Haven be. Got fud yus be, yus et!" He pulled out the last of their trail rations and laid them on the stones surrounding the small fire. The women looked at the food warily, Dol said, "Yus et fud be."
Despite their fear of the wolves, the starving people gobbled the food down, casting suspicious looks at the two wolves who were now curled up at Bic's side. One of the women looked closely at the child and exclaimed, "BIC?"
The boy replied, "Nu peple got me, nu papa got me!" and he ran over to Dol. The wolves following him at a gentle lope.
The man asked, "Yus no be us peple ded?"
Dol and little Bic came over to the man and held his hands, "Us Haven be yus com us Haven un yus Haven be."
The people finally understood that they were safe with the teens and wolves and that they were being invited to come to their village. They finished off the last of the trail rations and started back the way they had come. The wolves were guarding the party front and behind. By the time they had gotten back to Haven the next day, the new people had lost their fear of the wolves and even laughed when Bic rode on the back of Shado for a short distance. The new people were welcomed by the folk of Haven and they were soon part of the community.
Dol asked one of the new villagers if he would like to accompany them on their trips looking for other people. The man agreed, telling Dol that there were bad people around that killed those living in small villages. Dol asked Pali for some spears and Pali gave him enough spears to equip all his men, plus he assigned two Haven Warriors to go with them.
They set out, not taking little Bic with them, much to the little boy's disgust. He was staying with Carey while his daddy went trotting off, down the hill and out of sight. They were camping alongside a stream, eating some trail rations and a broiled rabbit that one of the men brought down.
Suddenly, Shado and Flee began growling and their fur stood straight up. The two wolves dashed into the underbrush, with the party on their heels. Huddled against a tree were two youths a boy and a girl. They were covered with briar scratches and the boy's arm was in a makeshift sling.
The boy screamed, "Don't hurt us, please......"
Dol knew immediately that the two were "Before People". He motioned for his men to put down their spears and back away. Dol, said, "Yus befor peple be. Us peple Haven be. No hirt yus." He called Shado to him and patted her back, "Shado fren be, no hirt yus." He brought the wolf over to the frightened pair and let her sniff them, suddenly, she put her paws up on the boy's chest and licked his face. The startled youth suddenly sat down, crying and holding his arm. Dol asked the girl, "He brotter un u?"
The girls struggled for a moment, trying to make sense of the unfamiliar words, she replied, "He brotter me."
Dol said, "Haven be un healer, him brotter fix?"
She said to her brother, "I think he is telling us that there is a healer or a doctor in this place called Haven."
The boy looked up, "Please,.." and he passed out from the pain.
The girl held her brother's head and looked up at the men, "Us ned healer, yus us tak?"
Dol nodded yes and had his men fashion a litter of two stout poles and their sleeping furs. It took them two days struggling up the canyon to reach Haven. Shado ran ahead and started barking at the gate, alerting the village of their problem. Pali and his warriors rushed out and helped carry the injured boy to their village. Flee had gone inside the gate and was barking at the door of the hospital.
When Eddy came to the door, Flee took his hand gently in her mouth and tugged him in the direction of the gate. He realized that the wolf was trying to get him to come with her, so he followed the wolf down the hill. Pali and his men were following as they come up to the party. Dol explained to Eddy, "Min hurt be, ned fix yu."
Eddy gave him a quick examination and told the men to take him to the hospital. Pali's warriors grabbed up the stretcher poles and hurried up the hill to Haven. Verona and Millie cleaned the boy up and Verona gave him some of her willow bark elixir to dull his pain. When he was ready, Eddy and Millie set his broken arm and immobilized it in splints and leather thongs.
When the boy regained consciousness, he told them his name was Alex and his twin sister was Betty. They had been part of a mixed group of before people and now people and had become separated from the group. Their small enclave had been hit by raiders and their homes burned.
Dol questioned the two closely, trying to determine which way they had run in hopes of finding the raiders. He started out the next morning with his crew and four of Pali's warriors, they were expecting trouble! Shado and Flee accompanied them. When they arrived where they had found Alix and Beti, they backtracked their trail until they found tracks of the main group.
Dol commanded the wolves, "FIND!" and the wolves took off at a steady lope, the men close behind them. The warriors carried their spears at the ready as they ran after the wolves. Late that afternoon, they heard voices and Dol held up his hand to stop. Dol called out, "Us fren be yus. Us not hirt yus." They walked slowly towards the group, trailing their spears and holding a hand out to the strangers. Dol stopped his men and called again, "Us Haven be. Alix un Beti us be, Haven be."
A man ran from the group, "You have Alex and Betty, are they alright?"
Dol smiled, "U Papa be Alix un Beti be?"
The man replied, "Yes. Yes. Where are they? Are they hurt?" The man eyed the wolf standing between him and the boy doing the speaking, not daring to come any closer.
Dol smiled and said, "Me Dol be. Shado hirt no yus, she fren be. Alix wit healer be, Beti un Haven be, et fud."
The man said, "Thank God they are alright. Can you take me to them?"
Dol addressed the group, "Me Dol be, us be Haven be. You com wit us un Haven?" He continued, "Yus ned healer? Yus ned fud? Yus com Haven be!"
One of the women called out, "What about your women?"
Dol looked perplexed, "Us womins be Haven un mins same be. Me not hav womin, me un bebe only hav be."
The woman asked again, "The Haven women are slaves?"
Dol shook his head, "Womin be Haven be no slav be. Womins be fre min same be." He did not understand what the woman was asking, he had no real knowledge about the word, "slave", only what he had heard in school, but the woman he was going to ask to be his wife would knock him silly if he tried anything like that on her! He finally said, "Us go Haven be, take min un bebes be him. Yus com wit us, yus et Haven fud, sleep saf un Haven be."
The group agreed to follow the search party as they returned to their home. The two wolves marched in front, leading the way. At the bottom of the hill, Shado and Flee let out a series of howls and sharp barks, they heard it repeated at the top of the canyon. They were about half way up when they were met by a party from Haven, coming to assist them, led by Pel and Bom, two wolfling males. The four wolves flanked the party and escorted them to the Gates of Haven.
Dol and his team made several more forays, collecting refugees each time. Each group reported being preyed upon by a group they had started calling, "The Bandits". Two of their trips resulted in only bodies and bones to bury, they could locate no survivors.
Pali had their walls strengthened and a double bar installed to keep the gate closed against intruders. Water was their big worry, but the matter was resolved when they moved the wall outward, towards the cornfield. They were clearing some large boulders that were in the way of the wall. When all of the boulders were rolled down the hill, they found a spring under the largest boulder. They cleared the dirt from the area and placed small stones around the wall of the spring. Try as they might, they were unable to lower the water level in the spring.
Dol was planning a final rescue trip before the winter snows came. He had carefully listened to the stories the refugees told and where they had encounters with "The Bandits". He asked Pali for six of his warriors and he equipped his men with clubs and short spears. When they were ready to leave, he whistled up the wolves. Shado and Flee came immediately, then Pel and Bom joined them. Fara came to goodbye to Dol, he whispered to her, "Me com Haven, us spek un Papa. Bic bebe be Fara un Dol be." Fara was holding little Bic, who was nestled in her arms and a big smile on his face.
The team started down the canyon, in a different direction than they had ever gone before. The underbrush was heavy until they reached the large stream in the bottom. They followed it for a day, they encountered a smaller stream coming down a small canyon they had not seen before so they camped for the night at the junction. The four wolves were nervous the entire night. They would get up and glare into the darkness and growl before returning to their nest place.
The next morning, the wolves were anxious to be off, they would go to the edge of the camp and bark, urging their people to "come along"! The further up the canyon, they went, the more agitated the wolves became. Finally, the wolves would go no further, they stood there with their teeth bared and their hair standing upright, growling ferociously.
Dol and two of his men crept through the underbrush and looked out on a clearing. There was a large group of men and women, even small children working at various projects. Several large men, carrying leather whips, were walking among the workers as guards. Every so often, a guard would lash out with his whip for no observable reason, drawing blood on the bare backs of those doing the work.
They crept back to their party and reported what they had seen. They decided to wait until dark began to close in and they would attack the camp. The word, "Slave" jumped into Dol's mind. He thought, "THAT is what the woman was afraid of!"
The slave masters seemed to have no idea they were being watched or that they were in any danger. They sat, laughing and eating, occasionally tossing a gnawed bone to the slaves. As darkness began to fall, Dol's force of four searchers, six of Pali's Warriors and four angry wolves descended on the slave encampment. In minutes, all but two of the slavers were dead, spears sticking through their chests. The two remaining alive were flat on their backs, staring up at angry wolves, ready to tear their throats out should they move!
There were sixteen adults, four teen boys and three small children all tied together so they could not escape. While the warriors were tying the two remaining slavers up, Dol's men went through the group, slitting the leather thongs holding them captive. The rescued folk huddled together, expecting to be enslaved by yet another group. Dol asked, "Yus be befor peples be or us peples be?" They discovered that there were some before people and some current-era folk. The teen boys were all before people, but the small children belonged to current-era parents. Dol said, "Us Haven be. Us gud peple be, not hirt yus. Us giv fud un yus."
They started handing out trail rations to the former slaves, they were starving and ate everything their rescuers had to give them. One woman screamed, "WUF! WUF!" as she saw the small children rolling on the ground, wrestling playfully with the wolflings.
Dol said, "Shado un Flee un Pel un Bom frens be, no hirt yus." He called Shado to him and scratched her ears, Shado rolled over on her back so he could rub her tummy! Dol continued, "Healer be Haven be. Help yus."
They left the slavers tied up and shared their sleeping furs with the rescued folk as best they could. They told them that they would take them to Haven the next day. A young woman came up to Dol and kissed him, saying, "Yu be gud fren be us." Dol found his face bright red and he was breathing hard!
The next day they untied the thongs around the slavers' feet and retied their hands behind their backs. Instead of following the creek bed, they went to the top of the ridge and followed it home, thereby cutting the distance they needed to travel. Pel and Bom, the male wolflings, followed the restrained slavers, every time they lagged, their heels got nipped by sharp wolf teeth.
As they approached the gate, Shado and Flee let out a howl that was answered from inside the gate. Pali and two of his warriors came out to investigate, they took charge of the prisoners and tied them to a tree in the center of the village. Several wolflings came and sat down in front of them, every time one of them moved, a wolfling nipped their legs.
Dol took all the refugees to see Eddy so that their hurts could be tended. He then reported to Carey and told him about the two slavers they had captured. Carey wasn't sure just what to do about them, he surely didn't want them staying in Haven! Carey went to question the two.
One of them was just a teen and he started crying, "Sir, I had no choice, they told me if I didn't do as they said, they would kill me."
The older man growled and tried to hit the youth, a young male wolfling, Tas, clamped his teeth down on the man's arm, they could hear bones crunching and he screamed in pain.
Carey had the teen untied and led him away from the older man. The teen was obviously a before people and he asked him, "If I free you, will you promise to behave and not hurt anyone in Haven?"
The teen boy dropped to his knees and clutched Carey's legs, "Sir, I would do anything to be away from these horrible people! ANYTHING!"
Carey picked up the crying teen and held him until his sobs abated, "Son, if you will promise not to hurt anyone and do your share of the work here, I will release you on bond until you prove yourself to us."
The boy told him that his name was Corky and he would do any task asked of him, "Just keep those horrible people away." Corky proved to be a willing worker and performed any task asked of him. He was particularly adept in the gardens. Anything he planted or transplanted was almost guaranteed to thrive. One day, Dol asked him if he knew where the slavers lived, Corky grew fearful, "They would kill me if I told!"
Dol replied, "Thems not no yu tel". Dol went to Carey and told him his plan, to let the man escape and they pretend to follow him. It would be Corky, however, who would show them the way.
They put their plan into operation two nights later, the man slipped his bonds and climbed over the fence. He had looked for Corky, to either take him or to silence him, but Carey had hidden Corky in his own house with the wolflings standing guard inside and out. The moment the man approached Carey's house, he was confronted by snarling wolves, their eyes glowing red in the firelight. He decided that it was better to escape than chance another encounter with those beasts! Unknown to him, Carey and Dol were watching the man escape.
At first light, Pali assembled his warriors and Dol called his searchers. They armed themselves with spears, knives and clubs and made ready to track the fleeing man. Corky said, "Me wit yus be." He had an angry and determined look on his face. He was determined to prove himself to these people who had taken a chance and trusted him. Pali said nothing, just handed him a spear and pointed to the stack of clubs and knives.
When they approached the gate, Nel was there with six of his wolflings. He was not going to let his people out the gate without them. Shado and Flee were waiting patiently, they knew their humans would not go without them! They went out the gate and around to where the man had climbed the wall, Dol commanded, "FIND" and Shado led the pack. They didn't bark or howl, the wolflings and Nel loped along the man's trail silently. They followed the man at an easy pace, not wanting to catch up to him before he reached his destination.
It was nearing dusk when Pali called a halt, they could see smoke from cooking fires rising above the trees ahead. They crept through the underbrush to see what the slavers' village looked like. What they saw appalled them, women and children tied together working gardens and crops. Men attached to crude plows, turning the soil, tiny children carrying buckets of water to the rows of corn and vegetables. Overseers were everywhere, their whips in their hands for ready use.
They crept back to the next hill to hold a council of war. They decided their only chance of defeating these awful folk was a surprise attack. They decided to attack just as the sun was rising. They bedded down and ate cold trail rations, not wanting to risk a fire that might be seen.
Just before sunrise, Carey was awaked by a cold wolf nose in his ear, Nel was telling him it was time to get busy! They moved silently through the brush, the wolves spreading out to encircle the village. When Pali gave the word they rushed the village in the lingering darkness, the wolves coming from all directions, snarling and howling.
The confused slavers were unable to determine from what direction their attackers were coming. The man had been sure that he had not been followed, so they had no clue as to the identity of their attackers. The wolflings were ferocious, snarling and crunching arms and hands.
One slaver tried to club Carey, Nel landed on him and tore his throat out, the man died gurgling in his own blood! In minutes, only a few of the slavers remained standing, they were encircled by a ring of angry wolves, their teeth bared, gleaming in the early light. Behind the wolves stood warriors with their spears pointed at the slavers, just daring them to even twitch!
Before the morning was out, all the still living slavers were hanged on limbs of the surrounding trees and the bodies of their fallen piled on the ground beneath them. The last living slaver was the man who had escaped. He pleaded for mercy. Corky hanged the man himself.
They freed all those being held in slavery, offering them sanctuary in Haven. The march back home began, and many of the former slaves were hurt, sick or so starved, and their pace was slow. Pali's Warriors and Dol's searchers killed game animals to feed the starving people and they stripped the slavers' gardens of everything edible.
Shado and Flee ran ahead to warn those still in Haven of their approach, Eddy opened the doors of the hospital and Millie and Verona made ready with medicines and salves to treat the injured.
It would be weeks before those who had been rescued were returned to health, some would carry the mental scars for the rest of their lives.
Dol and his searchers continued their effort to locate the scattered humans surviving in the surrounding mountains, they nearly doubled the population of Haven. Dol married the girl of his dreams and they started a family almost immediately. Little Bic became the big brother to twin boys in less than a year.
Corky asked to assist in the school and by the following summer, all three teachers were just barely keeping up with their students! Carey sent teams to all the nearby before people settlements to collect books and teaching supplies for the school.
Most of the medical supplies were a complete loss, but some of the equipment could be salvaged for the hospital. A find of great importance was the discovery of an old warehouse filled with seeds and gardening supplies. These treasures were brought back to Haven and incorporated into their daily lives.
The wolves, in their close association with their humans, seemed to increase in intelligence., Carey was almost positive that they could talk among themselves and that they understood human speech!
Civilization was slowly climbing back, more will be told of this journey.
TBC
The village of Haven will continue to grow. More new children will be born and the seeds of a new civilization will sprout. Two peoples are becoming one, using the best of each as humankind survives and flourishes. Read as THE TRADERS OF HAVEN help those of other villages, other peoples and trade begins.