Chapter 23: Disappointment

Our village is beginning to be quite large, so some explanation is given on its layout. I will start as if it was a clock with north being 12 o'clock.

The open area, which we are going to plant this year, until we can clear the trees and remove the stumps in an area away from the village, is about the size of a small cricket ground, or the size of a soccer pitch. The road leading to the pine forest is at 12 o'clock, Northhelm's home, with his goat enclosure behind is at about 1-30. Wiferth's home and his forge is at 3 o'clock. Ine's home is at 4 o'clock. The single women's home is at 5 o'clock. Our latrines are at 7 o'clock and next to them at 8 o'clock are the washhouse and hot water drum; there is a slight drop in the ground behind all the buildings at this side of the village.

Our new home is 9-30 and 10 o'clock. Finally the cabin is at 11-30, with a pathway between our house and the cabin to the stream.

The 92nd day came and there was no sign at all the time warp ever existed, I checked and rechecked my dates and every time the date came out right. It now looks as if we are really stranded here in the past. Marjorie wasn't at all worried about this. I felt that while the gateway was present, I had a way back to my own time, but there was nothing I could do about it. I hope I do nothing which will affect the future now I am stranded here.

We managed to rig up a harness for the plough, and we have turned over most of the centre ground, which we are going to plant. The harrows were the easiest to attach the horses to; we will get that done once the ploughing is completed.

We lost half the seed potatoes I had brought with us to the frost, even though we had covered them up and stored them under the van. I have been very tempted to eat the spuds, and forget about waiting to plant them. We decided to plant four ground plants in half of the area. That is if we are careful with the planting of the seed. Rather than running the Swede turnip, parsnip and carrot seeds in rows and thinning after, we are going to do it the hard way and plant individual seeds spaced apart and hope we get the maximum germination. Potatoes planted on the remainder of the half section.

The cabbage, Brussels sprouts and kale to be planted in the other half. We also have a couple of packets of lettuce, peas and beans, which we will plant in any empty space. We must let some mature to seed, to be able to plant the following year.

The goats will be well fed with all the material we leave after harvesting.

We have had good news, Marjorie thinks she is pregnant, so now we have all the women who live in our house pregnant and two in the other houses, if we keep this up we will soon increase our community.

Northhelm has finished all the extensions, and his idea of building them on slides was a good idea, as they were easy to tow into place. He left one side, the side that was to be connected to the other building open and once we pushed the two together and flashing on the roof to prevent water entry. Knocked out a connecting door, there was little disruption to that household while the extension was being connected.

Marjorie at long last got the bows and arrows out, they were nothing like the renowned English longbow, the same style, but with a lighter pull. The highest we had was 56lb, which I thought quite heavy, but even the women could pull that weight with no bother. It looks as though modern man has lost something along the way. Considering the English longbow was over 100lb pull and the length over 6 ft, I don't think I would have managed it at all.

Marjory gave them all a bow each and a box of 12 arrows for them to practice with. As a target all we had was an old hide packed with straw, not representing a target but an animal on the ground. Better to practice on the shape you were going to meet than a round object stuck up on a trestle.

Hild has moved into the attached room, but Marjorie was in a real passionate mood, and we were celebrating her pregnancy. She says that she is going to stop like Hild, and move in with her until after her confinement.

Northhelm is now making furniture, and has even rigged up a foot-operated lath, that he designed himself. It is a pity we had no turning chisels, but he makes do with putting longer handles on the spare chisels he had. In fact, it was the handles he turned first. He tried his hand at making a cup, but the water soaked right through the bottom.

Wiferth made an anvil from the engine block of a wrecked car, and seems to be mastering working with the grey metal. He is going to try to make arrowheads for the practice arrows. We only managed to get a few tips, so he has a pattern to work with, no doubt he will make some improvements. Wiferth managed to make a better holder for my Sauna stones; it even has legs on it to keep it off the floor.

Ine is our farmer, he has taken to the plough; I suppose they will have to wait many hundreds of years before another iron plough turns the sod of England, so Ine was about three thousand years before his time.

A pathway is going to be built circumventing the common ground. So it will give us easy access and not carry mud into the buildings.

This explanation has been long, but it shows that now we are acting as an entity, pulling together to the betterment of us all.

The Bathroom wasn't a great success, but the sauna was. So we are erecting a larger sauna, so we can all enjoy its pleasurable and relaxing atmosphere.

That morning our peace was shattered, Ethel and Northhelm had been working cutting wood for his stockpile, when a group of blue painted warriors broke into the clearing, and started throwing their spears at them. They downed their saw and ran like mad back to the village, shouting. 'Invaders.'

I had left off wearing my pistol, in the false security that we were safe. So I dashed back into our house, grabbed my pistol and my pump action shotgun. Marjorie grabbed her shotgun, and Hild got hers. All the others, when I went outside, were armed with the bows and arrows and well spread out covering the roadway.

About five of these fierce yelling blue painted nude men, got to the northern edge of our village, stopped and stared at our village. The one in the middle, who was obviously the leader of the group, went to advance and I put a pistol shot in the ground in front of him.

"Chally stop I know these people, they are from a Clann up north, I will speak to them," Wiferth shouted.

Marjorie came to my side, "They were Celts, but not like the ones we had met at Dunstan's hilltop fort. They look like a war party."

"I thought that it was only the Picts, who painted themselves blue," I answered

"All Celt war parties paint themselves blue, and most probably they will have their families with them," Marjorie explained.

Wiferth called me over as he was speaking to the leader, and the rest of the war party was staring at us curiously.

"Chally this is Cedric leader of this group, Cedric this is Chally our head of the village of Janesville."

Cedric grunted something which I did not catch.

"He has heard of the warrior who commands the thunder God, that kills from great distances. Your fame has spread Chally, he is afraid of you, which is rare in Celts, he must have heard some weird exaggerated tales."

Cedric was staring at the windmill turning in the sky, and the parked trucks only metres away from him, with mouth open wonder.

Behind the warriors appeared a group of men, women and children all loaded up with furs.

"My village has been destroyed, and I am looking for land to settle my people. I like your village, will you accept us?"

"Cedric we have different rules here than in most of your villages. Here everyone has an equal say. I cannot say you can stay, it must me taken to the vote and if the majority approve then you can stay. You would have to abide by the same rules, if you want to be members of our community. Also everyone works and does his share. Everyone here is a warrior, if you want proof, try to approach one of the women and she will kill you before you get even near her."