Chapter 27: Middle Ring

Ki Jung’s group arrives at the border the next day. It isn’t visible to the eye, but one feels it when they step across. The sensations could be described as being covered with thousands of fire ants that are biting you. It is enough to stop most from crossing if they lacked the determination to push on. This is most likely what keeps most travelers within the inner ring.

As soon as they crossed the border, Ki Jung started to look for an appropriate place to set up their camp for the next few weeks. It takes a few hours, but the site she finds is about as perfect as one could hope for.

The terrain they cover is always changing. There are hills of varying sizes, plains, thick forest, and a minor deserts along with rivers and lakes. There is life to be found everywhere. The site of their home for the next few weeks is a natural cave set in a cliff. In front of the cave there is a clearing of hard stone worn smooth by eons of erosion. The cave entrance is just big enough for a single person, hunched over, to enter. What starts as a 1.2-meter tall by 50cm wide entrance opens out into a two-meter tall room after ten meters. The ceiling gradually rises higher until it is no less than ten meters high. The width went from three meters at the entrance to twenty meters wide at the rear. Plenty of space for their needs.

A careful inspection shows that there are no other entrances unless there is one up in the ceiling. Nor are there any signs current inhabitants. Signs of past habitation does exist, but Ki Jung concludes that they had been gone for a long time.

Having ensured that the cave is both safe and secure, Ki Jung has them set up their cots and privacy screens as necessary. Once everyone has their sleeping areas set up, Ki Jung leads them out to gather materials to build a fire pit and wood to burn in it. They manage to find a large dead tree that will serve two purposes. It will provide firewood, and act as a barrier to block the cave entrance. Ki Jung cuts the tree into sections that each of them help move to the cave.

Once back at the cave, they cut off the branches and move them inside. The majority of the tree is cut into smaller sections and wedges to bring it inside, too. One final piece is shaped to fit like a loose plug in the cave entrance. It would not be a tight fit, as that isn’t necessary. It is shaped to slow down any large intrusion, which would give them time to prepare and fight off the unwanted guest(s). Insects and creatures the size of mice would be able to enter, but that’s about it.

Once they the is wood taken care of, they go out and found rocks for the fire pit. This task takes a while. They soon find the appropriate rocks, worn smooth, in a stream a few kilometers from the cave.

Ki Jung tasks Chanming with digging the pit and hands him her entrenching tool for the job. She shows him how it use it, and then marks the hole to be excavated. She also instructs him on the depth of the pit, which is to be no more than 30mm deep. This job takes him an hour to complete.

Phong Ahn has the task of watching the cave and preparing meat to be cooked, while Min Joon and Ki Jung go out looking for fresh edibles. These are all simple but necessary tasks. For the meat, Phong Ahn cuts up half of one of the Shark like creatures. This amounted to fifty kilos of fresh meat. She creates steaks and cubes out of the tender flesh. The cubes are placed on skewers. The steaks will be cooked in a wok when desired.