Chapter 7: Decisions

While my ham and bean stew was cooking, I went to check out Davin’s books.

To my surprise sitting on his desk was my old box. I have no bloody idea how it could have possibly got here. I put it towards the back of the desk. I wondered how I’d get it to take a new owner, but then got distracted by the books.

The last book in the row covered his previous ten years here. It wasn’t a day to day type diary, more anything of interest and often went for months without any entries. Skimming through his books, I had found he had determined that a standard day here was shorter than an Earth day.

The people here measured a day in ten parts or hours to me. Each hour had 100 minutes. Each minute had 100 seconds. Their second was shorter than our second was apparently. The fifth-hour was mid-day and the end of the tenth, mid-night. It was going to take me some time to get used to the way things worked here.

Davin’s notes said that he had determined their day was closer to about twenty-three Earth hours. He had acquired a mechanical watch on one of his weird short trips to Earth to use as a comparator with a local version.

They also had roughly four hundred of their days to a year, divided into ten months of forty days, or four ten-day weeks to a month. Their year was shorter than an Earth year by about fourteen to fifteen days.

They hadn’t had a messiah here, but they did have several religions that believed in only one God and others that believed in many goddesses like the Keltrian people did. He believed the Galatia calendar had restarted several times, each after some catastrophe. Their year when he left was 3059.

He mentioned that most workers worked a half week for an employer and the other half week that was theirs to do their own thing. Many of the farmers that had their own smallholdings worked alternate days on someone else’s to earn more money.

He believed this planet was a little smaller than Earth but had similar ratios of land to sea. It was a little closer to its sun but it was also smaller. The luminosity and the heat it generated was less than Earths sun. So while the planet had a similar range of temperatures, it was a few degrees cooler than Earth at the equator and at the poles.

The axial tilt was possibly more. It and the faster rotation would explain the short summers and winters. It was so drastic that he had noticed a difference in this region anyway. It was also a little lighter in gravity.

Iron Hills was in a sub-tropical to temperate region. It got cold up here in the mountains, and if it did snow, it was only for about two to three weeks in the first month to the second month, their winter.

Summers were warm but the shorter day didn’t seem to let it get too hot. Summer and winter were considered two months long and spring and autumn three. They got what he thought of average rainfall, and they generally got rain at least once every week (ten days). The wettest months were around early spring and late autumn.

The plant life was abundant, and there was a mixed bag of animals. He believed his ancestors had seeded this planet with Keltrian animals as they had camla (a cross between a camel and a cow) and reptii’s (a reptilian animal with a pig like behaviour that laid eggs) like on Utopia.

They weren’t as abundant in this region preferring the warmer plains. He had also found many varieties of birds here like on Earth. He thought they must have borrowed a lot of different mammals, birds and the oddest animals from Earth and other planets too.

The varieties of insects, spiders, frogs and reptiles aren’t as common or dominant here as on either Earth or Utopia. It was as if the ancestors had seeded this planet at a time when the insects and amphibians had died off, or possibly, they hadn’t developed here. Then they had added the others animals later.

Tiny birds seemed to do the job of propagation that insects on earth did. Many of the smaller reptiles and frogs on Earth were insect eaters in his experience so that could explain their lack.

He had noted other oddities like this on several of the other planets he had visited. But at least there was plenty of variety in the food here. Some of the worlds he had visited hadn’t been seeded as well as here and Utopia.

This comment made me smile as he certainly put a good variety of provisions away. The fact they were still edible made we wonder how long he had actually been gone from here. I had certainly eaten well while I read his books.

I was still getting my head around that there were many worlds for us Earthlings to find. There had been a lot of progress of late in getting faster bigger ships into space.

Many still considered that the Earth was overpopulated despite the epidemic. They were looking for planets just like the very one I was now on. It was mind boggling.

I yawned and headed to bed.

I’d slept well.

I’d found the alcove he’d obviously used as his sleep chamber and happily crawled into his bed. It had a nice feather mattress, and the room had a little airflow from somewhere. The linen still smelt fresh, and I detected several spells on the bed.

In the morning, I felt like a bath, so I had a leisurely one. I’d left the stove banked, so it kept the tank hot and even added a spell I’d found in one of his books to help. Since I’d put the new bling on I was finding little spells on all sorts of thing to make them more efficient, to preserve them or even to make the hard chairs feel softer.

I couldn’t tell how many of the spells worked the first time I looked at them, but I could feel them and in some cases, see them. However, the more I learnt, the more I understood, and I could even unravel the spells and redo them. I often found the right words coming to my lips.

Most of the good spells didn’t need any ingredients other than what was available in the area or the item being spelled. I had actually been in the cavern for three days before I remembered the box of books Davin had mentioned that I should have gotten with the bling.

I pulled out my crystal ball and asked it to locate my box of books. I had no idea if it would work, but then the crystal clouded and then showed me a room. It was full of all sorts of junk. I asked how to get to the room.

I was amused when a map showing the layout of the cave system was displayed. I realised the caverns were on several levels. A dotted line appeared showing where I was at his desk and traced around through different rooms to the one the box was located.

I wondered why he hadn’t been able to locate it if he had been here nearly a hundred years. I memorised the map and went in search of my book box. I followed the directions and ended at a blank wall. I now understood why he couldn’t find the box.

I placed both hands on the wall and felt a hot spot to my left, so I shifted a hand over it and said, “Open.” The door slid back and pivoted in the centre. Lights flicked on in the room.

I entered the room to look around. I then had to pick my jaw up off the floor. “Bloody hell,” I exhaled. I’d thought Davin had amassed some crap, but his was nothing compared to what was in this room.

I found another four, slightly smaller caverns that linked off of the main one, on other levels. I decided that in all, they covered enough area for four basketball courts and seating for the spectators for each.

I noticed the rooms had little clumps of crystals uses as lighting, so the caverns were well light. I hadn’t yet worked out why they turned on and off. It was as if the rooms had proximity sensors in them, but I did suspect spells.

Davin’s writings had indicated the people here reinvented themselves about every ten to twenty thousand years. They get to a certain level of technology and then some disaster practically wiped them out, and they started all over again. However, not always to the same degree.

The current reincarnation indicated they had only climbed back to the late Iron Age. That, of course, depended on if I was here not long after Davin left or eleven hundred years later as his writing indicated it had been since he was last on Earth.

There was stuff in this room that I had no idea as to what its original purpose was. This cavern system was massive, and I surmised Lord Wizards of different reincarnations had kept them as their treasure and workrooms.

I did notice several of the caverns had different access points as if the successor hadn’t known of one or more of the other rooms. I didn’t feel that any more rooms were hidden from me.

Looking around I decided it could take me years to work out what half the stuff did or was for. A large variety of furniture was also scattered around the different rooms. I assumed that the items came from many different periods in time. Most notable by the designs and the room they were in.

I even found a variation of a grandfather clock in one room. It was set up in their hours. I opened random chests and found them stuffed with all sorts of goodies that you would find in any very wealthy man’s home.

Weapons, ornate trunks, mirrors, vases, paintings and sculptures also littered the floor, walls and shelves. Many of the trunks were filled with clothing of very rich materials and many different styles, indicating different fashions of the ages. One of my past girlfriends would have been in seventh heaven trying to date the stuff.

I noted a lot of the stuff was too small for me and wondered how much I’d stand out here being close to 2m tall. Davin indicated my complexion shouldn’t be a problem. I wandered around and put aside several items that might be useful and finally came across my book box in one of the workrooms.

I retrieved it and took it back to Davin’s cavern. I found one book called a Primer and decided it was a good place to start. I hit the kitchen for a snack and then settled into his comfy chair I had moved near the stove where it was warm and started reading.

I started feeling hungry again and realised I had been reading for hours, so I raided the kitchen again and made a fresh stew. I also made more flatbread and was more than happy with my results. Being a bachelor, I’d learned to cook a many years before.

I stayed in the kitchen in case I got involved with the book and forgot to stir the stew. I played with several of the new simpler spells and found I had no problems doing them. I had all sorts of objects floating around the room.

I even managed to get a spoon to slowly stir the stew for me. I thought this was cool, as it stopped it burning. I even opened the door and put more wood in the stove from my seat. I improved the spell on the stove, so it didn’t burn the wood so fast and controlled the heat output better.

I soon worked out that if I expended a lot of energy on the spells, I got ravenous. I knew the crystals in my bling helped store magical energy that I could reuse and wondered if I wore a couple more of them if it would help.

I moved the stew off the stove, went back to the treasure room, and rattled through the dozens of small chests that contained jewellery. I found two thin cuff-like wristbands with several crystals embedded in them. I put them on and told them to be invisible.

When I went back to the kitchen and went to drop more wood in the fire, I felt them charging up. I also felt better, and my hunger and horniness eased a bit, but the smell of my stew and bread had me filling a bowl and tucking in.

I’d been in the cave for nearly six days in Earth time, and I decided I needed some sunshine. I told my wrist phone that doubled as my watch to be invisible and was amused when it disappeared.

It was a smartphone and had quite a few features that I found were handy including a compass that seemed to work here, so I’d rather keep it for now. I also noticed since I’d put the bands on it kept saying it was charged. I was pleased with this.

I headed back out to the crystal ball. I asked the crystal to show me the nearest settlement. It seemed to give me an eye in the sky view over the town. I decided it was late afternoon and people appeared to be closing their businesses and heading to their homes.

They looked tiny in the view I had, but I could pick them out. I asked the crystal if it could make the picture bigger or project it onto the wall. To my amusement, it complied, and I now had a 90cm by 50cm picture on the wall so I could view the town better.

I determined that their primary transport was an animal that looked a lot more like a cross between donkeys and ponies rather than horses. They had a stocky build and looked like they could pull a decent weight, but I don’t think they were designed for any real speed, I vaguely remember they were called mules on Earth.

I noticed the iron rims on the large wooden wheels on the waggons. I even picked out a couple of what I assumed, were private coaches. It made me think of films about old England when people were just starting to form larger cities. The dress was also strangely similar.

I also determined there were about three distinct classes of people. The rich were easy to pick by their more elaborate clothing, and they rode in the carriages. The second class, being the merchants and shop owners were more conservatively but respectably dressed.

They tended to ride the mules or on better-looking drays designed to hold their wares. The lower or poorer class were a lot plainer dressed, and they walked or rode older looking waggons.

The men of this time tended to prefer a lose-legged pants and shirts with a styled coat and a vest, like what I was wearing. The women were a mixed bag.

The richer ones seemed to like brightly coloured tight chested dresses with low bodices and lots of flounces and ribbons with billowing long semi-transparent skirts. The middle class appeared to prefer a less fussy skirt and a more modest blouse. Some even wore a form of loose-legged very wide pants that had a skirt-like look.

The poor also seemed to prefer the pants, but their material was not of the same quality from what I could discern. Some, particularly the older women, wore the longer skirts.

I decided my current dress let me fit in as a higher middle, lower upper class and this suited me. The clothing got plainer as the class level dropped.

I asked the crystal to indicate on a map how I got from here to there. I worked out the best route. I was probably about a two-hour walk from the town. I decided to have a camp and go for a look-see in the morning.

Hopefully, my timeline wouldn’t be too far off from when Davin left going by the dress. I wanted to case the place for a couple of days and then enquire about the Broker, Novice Ben Greyson. Hopefully, he was still around.

I cleaned up and headed off to bed.

Iron Hills was a tidy enough town, despite the smells.

It was built on the side of the mountain the cavern was in and across a short, high valley. It dropped down gradually into a wider valley with small undulating hillocks.

The other side was a slightly smaller mountain range about 5km away. A decent sized river meandered along the lower valley floor that was crisscrossed with farm lands.

One of the exits showed a building on the other side. I suspected one of Davin’s properties might even have a secret entrance to the building. It was built back into a curve in the mountains between two of the tops. Possibly, it had been a small valley at one time.

I decided it would be more prudent to enter town from one of the side exits. It came out onto a road. The map Davin had supplied indicated it was the road to Trenton. It was a major port to the east about 40km away.

Most of this region’s excess produce travelled along this road. So seeing me coming from this direction wouldn’t look suspect. I planned to just walk around a bit and see how things were. Hopefully, I didn’t stand out too much.

Davin had included copies of letters he had given the Broker and a guy called Lord Jim Manard, the town’s magistrate. They said that Davin was going to be away for a while. Hopefully, he was coming back with his nephew, whom he was going to meet up with in Orient. He could be away for many years.

It also mentioned that the Broker was to receive a percentage of his income to manage his affairs while gone. But he couldn’t sell any of the properties. I hoped he hadn’t sold the one with the secret exit.

The exit I used dropped me about 4km out of town and down the mountain a ways. It was early morning, and the sun was just clearing the horizon when I peered up the road and then down. No one was on it, so I turned towards town.

I noted the two blazes in the two trees that lead to the little-used path I had used once clear of the exit that was in the back of a cave. The cave had looked like it had been used recently and I decided a different entrance may be required in the future if I needed to return to the caverns often.

As I walked up the hill path, I checked out the layout of the town. It was nestled in the inner curve of the mountains. Several large areas had been cleared and flatted sometime in the past. They were separated by different levels that had steps and winding roads linking them together.

I noted an area off to one side facing east that consisted of about four levels above the central area of the town. Each level had a short wall topping the retaining wall and a two-way street behind leading off to curve around the mountain.

The highest level housed large brick dwellings, and they even had glass windows. The front gardens had lots of tiered lawns. They had roads going up and carriage houses near the houses. The next level had twice as many houses, but they were closer together and not as large as the higher level. The next two rows had twice as many again.

Between about every fourth house on the lower two levels where sets of steps leading to the higher levels. The second top level had the same set of stairs continuing to the top, but now there were only two houses were between the steps. Open channels ran down the sides of the steps and roads for sewerage and rain run-off.

I agreed with Davin that a decent sewerage system wouldn’t go astray. In the flatter town area, deep narrow drains ran down the sides of the roads. They were only closed over where people needed to cross them.

The streets while not very wide did allow two carts to pass each other and enough room for a cart to be parked on either side of the road. Side streets met up with the ones that climbed up the different levels to the rich people’s homes or led off to other housing and business areas.