Chapter 2

Trae got water on to boil once he was happy with his fire.

While he waited for his boiling water, he started making the first drying rack. By the time he was done, he’d removed the billy and put his tea leaves in it. He stirred the tea with a slice of the shukra cane to sweeten it.

Tea made, he started slicing the meat up thinly, to dry it. He shifted coals under the rack and used some of the long thick leaves of the cane and some of the green oak branches he had collected, to create smoke.

He’d managed to hook his second tarp onto a ledge, so that it draped over the top of the rack to keep the smoke and heat in longer. He put some of the thicker slices in a pan for himself with some wild onions and mushrooms that he has found. He looked after his cooking as he kept working. He knew it would be a long night tending the rack and the fires.

He was feeding himself when he heard Kitty mewling. He collected her and attached her to one of Della’s teats again. This time Della checked out what he was doing. Since Kitty smelt of him, her and the colt, she just stood and let him hold the cub while it happily had its second feed.

The foal also checked out the cub and decided he too would have a suck since mum was standing still. Trae was pleased with his size. He was a fine black colt with four white socks and he had long strong legs. Della was one of his largest mares and she’d had no difficulties with the birth.

He decided that if he left it until mid-morning, Soot, as he decided to call the colt, should be strong enough to keep up with them. He’d have to set a slower pace, but he should have them home mid-afternoon. He was happy to be going home after being away for several weeks.

Once Kitty was full again, he put her back in his old shirt but placed it closer to the fire. He placed some warmed rocks under the shirt, so she stayed warmer. She happily snuggled into his shirt and was soon asleep.

Trae checked the rack and decided he had room for a second. He turned the meat and quickly put the second rack together and under the tarp. He angled the tarp, so the excess smoke drifted out of the cave. Soon he had more meat drying.

He went outside and relieved himself. The cave faced more east than south and darkness was trying to blanket the land. The shelf was high enough that he could still see the road for some way in either direction. It was deserted, as he would expect for this time of the evening.

He decided that he still had enough light to collect some more cane and refill his water bags after he watered the lankys. He retrieved the pan he used when they weren’t near water. It was also used it for panning the gold in the streams when he travelled.

Della was happy with being watered. He took Sage with him so she could pull his make-shift hauler. She could also get a drink and crop the grass while he worked. He cut some of the long grass and bundled it to take back for Della to eat and to soften the cave floor, as the colt would spend most of the night lying down.

Once back in the cave he let the lankys settle down and checked his drying racks. He spread out the two hides, salted them and made sure they were rolled tight. He finally got out his bedroll. He decided Kitty would make a good alarm clock and he was soon asleep.

Her loud meowing in his ear woke him two hours later. He had no idea how she had found him, but she was curled around his head. He got up and refuelled the fire. Della let him feed Kitty again, and once she was fed, he went and checked his racks again. He shifted more coals and added more leaves.

The first rack was dry enough to store. So he exchanged it for fresh slivers. He’d put them in the smokehouse for longer when he got home. He just needed them dry enough to not spoil and soak his storage bags in blood. He got up twice more before the sun sent its rays into the cave to wake him again.

It wasn’t the best way to sleep, but he’d had enough rest that by the time he put the last of the meat on the racks and in his pan to fry for breakfast, he was alert and ready for the day. He spent some time making the hauler more substantial and loaded the cut cane and hides on it.

He’d rubbed more salt into the four haunches that he was going to cure when he got home, before he hung them back up. Taking the tarp that the meat had been wrapped into the stream, he gave it a quick wash. He then wrapped the four haunches in it and attached them to the carrier.

He packed the smoked meat into the spare sacks he kept for when he got a kill and checked on the last slivers on the rack. He decided he’d need another hour or two for them, so he fed Kitty again and let Della and Sage forage near the cave.

He went back in to finish cleaning up.

Now that he had some more light in the cave, he realised that there was a cleft on one side near the back.

Grabbing his oil lantern, he walked down the back and checked it out. It was a very narrow entrance, and he guessed a bigger man would have difficulties wiggling through the opening. However, the light he shone down it indicated it went somewhere.

Curiosity got the better of him, so he squeezed through the first tight 3m long section. The cleft opened out more, and he was able to work his way down it over the uneven floor. He guessed he had been following it downwards for at least twenty minutes when it suddenly opened into a larger cavern.

He couldn’t see any evidence of animals or humans having ventured this far down. The cavern had a slight sulphuric smell, but it was cool and dry. Shining his lantern up, he noticed some very strange crystal growth more towards the back of the cavern. He approached them, but they were several metres over his head.

Searching around he found some small rocks that fitted into his palm. He put the lantern down and then he threw a rock at one bunch of crystals over his head. He heard it crack and it dropped. Instinctively he caught the tree of crystals that was as big as his head.

Several branched cracked off. He placed the main bunch on the ground, squatted down and picked up one of the broken pieces that was about 15cm long and 2cm square. He held it near the lantern and watched as the dark green colour lightened and took on a brightness of its own.

Fascinated he watched as it changed to become pale yellow and more translucent. As he moved it in the light of his oil lantern, he accidentally touched the metal lantern with his other hand. He yelped in pain and dropped the crystal as he shook his hands.

“Buggar me!” he exclaimed, shaking his hands as they still tingled. He bent down and looked at the crystal. It was dull again, but as he watched, it started to lighten again. He then realised that it was sucking up energy from the lamp. He racked his brain as he felt he should know what type of crystal it was. He knew damn well he would be taking some of them with him when he left.

He took off his jacket and turned it inside out, so the waterproof layer was now inside. Pulling the sleeve of his shirt down over his fingers, he placed the crystal shards onto his jacket. He looked up and decided he could carry another bunch as well and threw more stones to break off more pieces and finally another big cluster.

Once happy, he secured them in his jacket and picking up his lantern, he made the hike back to the top cavern. It was a bit of squeeze getting back through the small cleft, but he managed not to drop his find. Now he had to put them in something. He rattled through his pack and pulled out two pairs of long socks that he’d already worn.

They were thick wool and knee length. He put his hand in one and used it to load the crystals into the other socks. He soon learnt they would only snap off square to the shaft and only if they were hit a certain way. It was much easier to pack them into the socks as short square rods.

He was surprised that he managed to fill all four socks and just leave enough on the ends so he could tie them closed. He still had about eight, 10cm long rods that were about 1cm square left over, so he put them into the inside pockets of his jacket. He hoped they were safe enough in these pockets. At least he could put his jacket back on.

He didn’t give much thought to the fact that the oiled layer of the leather jacket had become impregnated with tiny pieces of crystal from when they rubbed together, while he was trying to get back through the cleft. Nor, about the fact, that he had showered himself in crystal shards when he had been throwing the rocks. Several had even fallen down his shirt front.

Trae checked his racks and decided the meat was dry enough to finish packing. He got it packed and dowsed his fires and disassembled his racks as he wanted to keep the cane. He finished packing and went to get Della settled with the hauler strapped to a girth strap.

He didn’t expect her to have any problem pulling it despite having only given birth the day before. He was going to have to set a slower pace for her and Soot as it was. He tied his spare shirt into a sling, and after he gave Kitty a short feed, he dropped her into the sling and mounted Sage.

It was time to head home.

He stopped twice so Soot and Kitty could feed.

He dropped the hauler off Della for a spell and tied it onto Sage. He then walked with the lankys when he went through the narrow pass that led into his valley. It wasn’t wide enough in some places for a full-sized cart to travel through, but it suited his needs.

He had made a smaller, narrow cart that Della or one of his other lankys could pull when he was taking his hides and excess produce to market to sell. Once through the tight 500m section between two peaks, his path followed along to the northern ridge for another kilometre before the land widened out and he started down into his valley.

The southern peak formed an almost sheer cliff for several hundred metres before one of the rivers that fed from an even higher peak to his south-west dropped down into his valley. This river then wound its way north through the valley.

The other side of the valley had an even higher ridge that spread for many kilometres north of north-east to south of south-west. The ridge he was on, curved around his valley and finally joined back onto the other ridge of mountains that then climbed even higher.

On the other side of the western ridge, was the start of the grasslands and then the desert. The two rivers ran down his valley and formed a lake near the centre that then drained out through a cleft in the other ridge before flowing across the western grasslands.

His land claimed the valley up the mountainsides to their peaks. Theoretically, he didn’t actually own the lake, but since he owned all of the lands around it, it became his by default. The huge lake was on the map of the land he had claimed, and Tomin had approved his ownership, so as far as Trae was concerned he owned the lake and the rivers too.

He stopped to survey his valley, basking in the warm mid-afternoon sun and smiled. As far as he was concerned, he was a King. It was a rich, lush valley with plenty of tall trees that climbed up the mountain ridges and spread across his valley floor.

He was high enough that it didn’t get as hot or as humid as the lower regions and the trees were not as densely packed as the lowland rain forests, so he had plenty of low grasses and shrubs to feed his animals. He had been thinning them out in the main area he farmed.

The animals were also fairly well protected in the valley and none of his animals had left it during his absence. Wild animals could get in but it was harder for them to get out. The high cliffs and wards discouraged cuttails and wolves from entering and turned people whom he hadn’t invited here away.

Only four people had ever entered his valley with his permission. They included Chief Hollows, Billie Smithers and two other Rangers he had worked with, Mark Burrows and David Peters.

Since his property wasn’t exactly easy to access and it was a good 5km from the pass and then another 65km to town, even they had only visited once or twice a year since he had lived here.

Trae was perfectly happy with this situation.

Trae walked the lankys down the path.