Chapter 17: Hard Decision

With Marjorie gone the place felt empty. Now I know how it feels to be lonely in the middle of a crowd. The three months won't be long in passing, but it will be mid winter when she returns. At least this time we have a very warm home to return to.

Preparation for the winter has begun, and we have been collecting wood ready cut for the fires. All the thick branches taken from the trees which were felled for lumber, have been cut up, and distributed to each individual's home. I made use of the chain saw, since the logs I had to cut for our fire was quarter the size the others. Then they had to be axe split so that they would be small enough to be fed into the fire. That was the only thing wrong with the range, but then our home had the added advantage of hot water and a sealed fire.

I decided to visit the other villages before winter set in, I was going to take the prime mover, as the windows were still in it and the weather was getting bitter. Hild and Cedric were going to come with me. I don't know what they will think of him being a Celt, but at least now he was clean, and his rough woven shirt like dress was clean, He had shown an aptitude for the bow, which he proudly carried everywhere with him. Hild was armed with her shotgun.

We roared out the south gate, and within 20 minutes we were in the village of Wistan. Wistan the headman came out to greet us, and was again amazed at the prime mover, but this time there was no tray only the connection plate on the back with the four pairs of drive wheels, and the two at the front. The good thing about the prime mover was there was no great bonnet out the front, and you had a great view.

Cedric, they were doubtful of, he was dressed different to me, and them, and the bow he carried also was a curio. All in the village was well, they had had six births, but only two had survived and they were well pleased with that survival rate.

We then proceeded to Hroth's village, where they showed more open hostility to Cedric. I doubt if they would be so brave, if four or five of his men had come with him. Hroth had died, and now Regen was the headman of the village. He never once mentioned his sister, it seems that death was a constant companion to these people and didn't warrant any mourning.

They were well prepared for the winter, and it was obvious that they didn't like our presence for some reason or other, I suspect because I had told them of the Celts, which now inhabited our village.

I thought that I had done my duty by visited them, but I found that still, they were each living in closed communities, and not mixing. They may very well rue the advice I gave them, from the stories that Cedric had told me about the new raiding parties.

We returned to Janesville, and continue our preparation for the winter, for this time I was determined that out harvest of potatoes were not wasted, or damaged by frost. I was surprised at the yield we got from the seed potatoes we planted, as well as the other ground growing plants. Maybe it was the fact that the soil was virgin and still full of natural nutrients.

We prepared pits for these crops, and layered grass and soil over them to prevent the frost entering. There was still the cabbage and the sprouts in the ground. The potatoes seemed not to appeal to the others, but I am sure by the time winter is over they will appreciate them.

Being army, I decided to try and train our villagers, in a way to repel an attacking force, as I had been, as part of my training. I had been shown how the English bowmen at the Battle of Agincourt had defeated the French, by forming two rows and send a combined volley of arrows into the French heavy Cavalry, and desecrated them. I eventually managed to get this formation, which would give us a better chance of repelling any attacking force, if they wanted to try and attack our village. Once we had perfected it, Cedric once a week got everyone together to practice for about an hour.

Hild was beginning to waddle a bit when she walked. She was as proud as punch, and looking forward to her delivery. I had got the cot which we had brought back with us, set up in preparation, hoping that this time we would use it. All the women had seen it, and Stigand was inundated with orders for their expected children.

The days were now spent south of the village, clearing the land for our fields; I think we were a bit over adventurous in the size of the area we marked out. I doubt that we would be able to clear all the area this year. All the small branches we piled on the stumps, and we tried to burn them out. Previously we dug them out, but the ground was becoming hard with frost, and this made the task of trying to dig the stumps out very hard. So that was when we tried using fire.

If we can't get enough cleared, we would have to use the common ground in the centre of the village again next year.

Once the weather became too cold, there was nothing for it, than to either stay at home or meet in the cabin, which was always warm, because we never let the fire go out. And play a type of draughts, or chat.

Hild gave birth to a lovely boy, and this time both are doing well. He was named after me, but this time I made sure that they were going to call him Charlie. There was enough attention plied on this child, that he daren't be sick.

Mothers in this time breast feed there child for the first six months or more, and nothing else, so the feeding problem wasn't the problem it is in my time. All we had to do was make sure that the mothers were well fed, and the babies feed was secure I went hunting twice a week, the game was still plentiful, the storing of the meat was easy, you left it outside and it froze.

I had tinkered around, and made a large meat safe, which I had mounted on the outside wall of our home. It was covered on three sides with fine wire mesh, which I had found on the crashed truck 18 months previous, and didn't know what to do with. It was too large a mesh to keep flies out but it allowed the air to circulate, anyway there were no flies in the winter. After I had made the meat safe I gave the remainder of metal mesh to Stigand. Who had made one for himself, Ide and Wiferth, and still had some left over.

I killed three deer in one day, and everyone shared in its distribution. Our meat supply was excellent. My tea supply was doing well, since now I was the only one drinking it, and I managed to use the tea leaves twice before having to throw them out.

After the 80th day the time seemed to drag, each day seemed like a week. I was looking forward to seeing Marjorie again, and our baby.

The night prior to Marjorie's return. I just couldn't rest; I took the shotgun and went for a walk. As I was about to go through the gate, Brand who was one of the young Celts, asked if he could accompany me. I knew that he wanted to ask me something important. He started a sentence then stopped and then tried several times.

"Come on Brand spit it out what do you want?"

"I would like to take Fritho for my woman. I know she is a bit older than me, but we have been seeing one another, and I thought I would ask you since she has no father and you are the village headman."

"Brand, Fritho is a single woman. So if you both want to become a unit then that is up to the both of you. We can't build you a house at this time of the year but, come the spring, we will help you and Fritho build a house."

"Good we will wait till then; do you think that I could visit Fritho in her home?"

"I'm sure she would have no objections at all Brand, best of luck to you both."

Now we were having the Celts inter-marry with the locals, which could only be to the betterment of the whole village, and I really encouraged the marriage.

We walked the woods together, and I managed to retrieve four rabbits from snares I had set earlier. I gave two rabbits to Brand, as a gift from him to Fritho. He then bounded back towards Fritho's home.

I was up waiting on the shimmering, and the shape of the Mercedes came into the clearing. My heart skipped a beat, and I rushed to the driver's door. It was Carol, Marjorie's maid who was sitting behind the wheel. The car was stacked with clothing and god knows what else.