Chapter 32: A strange day

"Sharmon, Cinnamon, breakfast is ready," Muriel called out.

Cinnamon groaned and snuggled closer to Sharmon for warmth. "Do I have to?" she murmured.

Sharmon chuckled, and stroked Cinnamon's back. "I'm afraid so."

Cinnamon pulled the blankets tighter around her and replied sleepily, "But it's cold."

"Yes it is. So, let's get dressed and go over to the fire to warm up," Sharmon said with false cheer. The cold had her worried.

"Okay," Cinnamon grumbled as she pushed the blankets back and sat up. She gasped as the cold hit her, her nipples hardening painfully from the cold. She pulled the blankets up and lay back down. "Can't we skip breakfast today?" she asked, shivering.

"And risk insulting Muriel's cooking?" Sharmon teased.

That caused Cinnamon to pause as she considered which would be worse — the cold, or Muriel's wrath. Finally, Cinnamon pulled the blankets up over her head and reached out for her clothes.

Sharmon laughed silently while Cinnamon dressed.

Once Cinnamon had gotten her underwear on, she asked, "Aren't you going to get dressed, Sharmon?"

"I don't think there's room for both of us under there."

Cinnamon responded with a, "Thbbbbb," making Sharmon laugh out loud.

Several minutes later, Cinnamon crawled out of the tent fully dressed. When she stood up, she gasped in delight. "Sharmon! Come quick, you have to see this!"

Sharmon hurriedly finished dressing. She heard the wonder in Cinnamon's voice, and was curious about what was exciting her. She crawled out and looked around. The air was crisp and clean with a blue cloudless sky, and there was a light layering of snow everywhere. Cinnamon was out in the middle of the clearing, slowly turning in a circle as she looked at the snow.

Cinnamon looked at Sharmon and said, "Isn't it beautiful?"

Sharmon nodded. "Yes it is." However, she was primarily referring to the look of joy and amazement on Cinnamon's face, rather than the beautiful scenery.

"Tis enough te make ye think the lass 'as never seen snow before." Harnley said, good naturedly, from the fire. He and the others were watching from the fire, and were thrilled with Cinnamon's excitement.

"I've seen snow." Cinnamon stooped over to gather some up. "I've just never got to play in it." With that, she threw a snowball towards the group.

The snowball splattered against the tree behind Harnley. "Arr! So that's how it be!" He set his plate aside, and, with mock anger, charged out into the clearing. Cinnamon gave a squeal and ran away laughing. The others started laughing as well — even Sharmon. That is until Harnley hit her in the head with a snowball. Then she cried, "Alright! That does it!" A snowball fight then began in earnest.

When they'd worn themselves out, as well as run out of ammunition, they went back to the fire to get warm and eat heartily. They all had smiles on their faces as they ate and made plans for the day,

Sharmon sat back and gazed at Cinnamon in wonder. It had been ages since she'd participated in a snowball fight. In fact, she'd thrown a rock at the last person who'd tried to entice her into one. She'd forgotten how much fun they were.

Muriel leaned over, while watching Cinnamon laugh at one of Lancos's jokes, and whispered, "She's quite a girl, isn't she?"

Sharmon nodded. "Yes she is." She then took a sip of tea, without even noticing the terrible taste, as she continued to watch Cinnamon.

They decided to wait until the next day before striking camp. The snow had frozen the mud on the trail, but none of them thought it would last long, and no-one wanted to climb the slope when it was muddy. However, they would leave the next day, regardless whether the trail was covered in mud or snow. They were hoping that it would dry out, and there would be no snow. As much as they'd enjoyed seeing how much Cinnamon enjoyed the snow and how much they had enjoyed it with her, they knew she was in danger without proper clothing. No matter what, they would push on the next day. If it was snowy or muddy, they hoped to get past the worst of it before it became impassable.

They spent the day gathering more provisions for their trip. Sharmon, Lancos, and Ernon went hunting, while Vanessa and Muriel searched for more berries and edible roots. Harnley and Cinnamon stayed at the camp to keep the fire going. They also built a frame to attach to Sharmon's backpack to allow Cinnamon to carry more. They wanted to be able to carry as much food as they could, so they wouldn't have to stop and hunt. This would allow them to travel farther faster. It would also give them more supplies in case they ran into another storm. They had enough supplies for a few more days, but they didn't want to take any chances.

The frame for the backpack consisted of two long ironwood sticks about half an inch thick, with several shorter cross pieces for stability. The frame was attached to the backpack with two support cross pieces going across the straps where the straps connected to the backpack. The long pieces stuck out several inches below the bottom of the backpack with a crosspiece between the backpack and the bottoms of the long sticks. The long sticks also stuck up about a foot above the backpack and had two cross pieces. The extra cross pieces would provide extra stability and a place to tie extras, such as game, to the pack.

Harnley tied some of the firewood to the backpack, and had Cinnamon try moving around in it. She had trouble lifting it, and going uphill was a bit of a struggle, but just walking around wasn't too bad.

Of course, by the time Harnley had figured out how much extra weight Cinnamon could carry, her legs felt like Jell-O. Cinnamon collapsed into a grateful heap by the fire when he finally helped her take off the pack. "Good job lass, that'll do."

A short while later, all the others, save Lancos, had come back. Muriel and Vanessa had managed to find a few more taters and sweet roots, Ernon had bagged another small deer, and Sharmon several ducks. Cinnamon helped to pluck the ducks, although she did turn an alarming shade of green when the head of the duck she was plucking landed in her lap and stuck it's tongue out at her. Vanessa quickly took over for her, and sent her to wash, and help cut up the meat. That, she managed to do better, as it wasn't too much different from what she'd done at home — other than being outside, and the meat was very fresh venison, of course.

After she'd washed up, Muriel had Cinnamon lay down for a while, saying that she'd call when lunch was ready. Cinnamon gave her a weak smile and said, "Thanks." She managed to have a small nap, and woke feeling refreshed. She suspected Muriel had something to do with that, so she said, "Thanks," again as she sat down between her and Sharmon for lunch.

When the dishes from lunch were done, Ernon asked Cinnamon if she'd be up for trying some more archery. Cinnamon tried to beg off, saying that Sharmon's bow was too strong for her.

"That's alright, you can use my crossbow."

Reluctantly, Cinnamon agreed, and she, Ernon, and Sharmon went to shoot at the same tree as her last archery lesson. Harnley, Muriel, and Vanessa remained by the fire, watching.

Ernon instructed Cinnamon on how to load, aim, and shoot the crossbow, showing her each step, and then firing a bolt into the tree. He handed it over to Cinnamon. She put the crossbow nose on the ground and put her foot through the stirrup; she pulled up on the bowstring with both hands until it locked. She went through all the motions of aiming and firing, without actually doing it. When he was confident she knew what to do, Ernon handed her a bolt.

Cinnamon put it in place and took aim. She lowered it, and brushed some stray hair back from her face, tucking it behind her ear. However the hair wouldn't stay, and she had to tuck it back again. Just as she was about ready to shoot, her hair came loose again, tickling her nose. She sneezed, her arms jerked up, and, with a THWACK, Ernon's bolt was fired into the air. It sailed up over the trees to their left and disappeared into the forest.

Sharmon said, "Oh good grief!" and covered her eyes with her hand. Ernon blinked slowly and then looked up into the sky, shaking his head.

Over by the fire, Muriel said, "I don't believe it." Vanessa nodded her head in stunned agreement. They hadn't really believed the explanation of how Lancos had gotten shot the last time. Now they knew it was true.

Harnley patted Muriel's shoulder. "Believe it lass. Believe it."

Cinnamon murmured, "I'm sorry."

A few seconds after the bolt disappeared, they heard Lancos angrily yell, "ERNON!"

Ernon yelled back, "Sorry Lancos!" Sharmon threw her hands up into the air, and Harnley burst out laughing.

A minute later, Lancos stalked out of the forest. He dumped a large bundle on the ground and came towards them holding Ernon's bolt. When he saw Cinnamon holding the crossbow, he stopped and blinked before waving his hands in front of him, and saying, "I don't even want to know.":

He gently took the crossbow from Cinnamon as she said, "I'm sorry." He just nodded and thrust it and the bolt into Ernon's arms and said, "You hang on to that." Then he turned to Cinnamon, and, waving a finger at Cinnamon, told her firmly, "As for you, young lady, NO MORE SHOOTING!"

Cinnamon nodded, tearfully, and sniffled.

"Come now Lancos, don't be sore at the lass. Think on the bright side."

"What bright side?"

"Her aim's improving."

Vanessa snorted and burst out laughing.

Muriel moaned, "Oh, Goddess!" and buried her face in her hands.

Sharmon stood with her back to Lancos, one hand over her mouth and one over her stomach, as she shook with laughter.

Ernon was biting his lip to keep from laughing, but lost it when Lancos threw his hands into the air with a cry of frustration.

That cry opened the floodgates. Even Cinnamon was giggling while Lancos went to pick up his kill. Her aim had improved; she'd missed him.

The others joined Lancos at the fire as he dropped his bundle again, saying, "You can clean him."

Still smiling, Cinnamon asked, "What is it?" The animal Lancos had brought had the size and body of a pig, the head and horns of a longhorn steer, and the nose horn and the skin of a rhinoceros.

Still chuckling, Ernon said, "It's a neef." Then he asked Lancos, "Where did you find it?"

"It was grazing up on the other trail. I figure some rancher lost it during a stampede in the storm."

"I hope the rancher doesn't get mad," Cinnamon said.

"If it's this far down the trail, I think the rancher's already given up on it," Sharmon replied. "We're several days from where they bring their herds through."

"Besides, it hasn't been branded yet, so who knows who it belonged to," added Ernon.

Lancos shrugged. "Oh well, it belongs to us now," and then went to clean up.

This time, Cinnamon was not involved in the butchering, as she was having sword lessons. Lancos had a good laugh when he offered to loan her his sword. It was a very large and heavy broadsword that looked more like it was made to smash opponents rather than cut them. To Cinnamon it looked like the sword used in a Bonan The Savage movie she'd seen on TV.

He'd taken it off his back and handed it to her by the scabbard. When she had both hands on the handle, he let go, and she was immediately pulled down by the weight. When the end of the sword hit the ground, Cinnamon was bent over at the waist so it looked like she was practicing her putting. Lancos continued to laugh as Cinnamon tried to lift it.

Sharmon grunted in disgust, and handed Cinnamon her sword. Cinnamon took it nervously, but at least it looked like other swords she'd seen in movies. While it was still a little bit heavy, she could at least lift and swing it.

Sharmon went through several motions with her, and then let her practice on her own before Ernon asked if she was ready to spar.

Cinnamon gulped and said. nervously, "I guess so."

Ernon nodded. "Now remember, we're only using the flat of the blades to make contact with each other. We don't want to overwork Muriel now, do we?"

Cinnamon shook her head. "She hoped Muriel wouldn't have to do any praying at all."

"Good," Ernon said, agreeing with Cinnamon, even though he didn't know it. "Anything else?"

"Stop when the command is given?"

"Good girl. Ready?"

"No."

Ernon gave her a smile and drew his sword. Cinnamon thought it looked like a Katana. "Don't worry, we'll go slow." They went through several attacks slowly, and gradually sped up.

Cinnamon jumped with a yelp as the flat of Ernon's blade landed on her behind. The others laughed, even as they offered encouragement to her. Cinnamon rubbed her bottom, picked up Sharmon's sword, and again dropped it with a yelp.