Chapter 5

Leon woke up to a warm and comfortable on the 12^th morning, lying naked in his bed. He wished he could stay here all day but the work with the horses dictated that he rise and get started.

He got dressed, took care of his morning business and had some of the elk he had killed the day before for breakfast before he went outside. The horses seemed calm enough in their corral so Leon went into the smithy cave and set to work heating up some more of the ore. He was going to make another spear in case his first was damaged.

While the ore was heating, Leon thought about what he had done and what he felt he needed to do.

Since he had arrived, Leon had managed to successfully make a spear and hunt with it so it seemed that food wouldn't be a problem. It was problematic to go all the way to the river to drink but nothing major. If his plans went well then he would soon have a horse to ride and several to pull the wagon. Now all he had to do was decide what to do next.

He could live as a hermit, alone for the rest of his life but that didn't really appeal to him. Humans are social animals, they live in groups and Leon was beginning to feel lonely in his cave. He couldn't really start a group as everyone in this time was likely in a group or alone for a good reason. That left joining a group and Leon felt that that would be difficult unless he had something to endear himself to them for. And then it struck him; he could kill the dark one and then go to Gara and ask to join his group.

With a plan in mind, Leon focused on his work and poured the molten ore into the pair of ingots he had previously used. Leaving them to cool, Leon got a halter out of the wagon and decided to try if he could get it on the stallion and start to try and teach him to follow. He didn't feel he would have to use a rope to catch him as he wasn't a threat, so he thought.

As he approached the corral, the horses started to mill about and the stallion came forward, as if he sensed that Leon wanted him. Leon thought this was strange but didn't know what to do but continue with his plan. He laid the halter on the fence and climbed through, straightening up to find the stallion standing right in front of him.

Leon slowly reached out his hand so that the horse could smell it. He didn't know much about breaking horses but had seen enough movies and overheard enough conversations that he felt that being a friend was better then a master, especially if these horses could feel his intentions.

The horse looked at him but slowly lowered head to smell the proffered hand. It seemed to like what it smelt as it nudged the hand several times and neighed softly. Leon took this as a positive sign and reached for the halter. He held it in front of the horse's head and let it examine it. When it seemed to accept it, he carefully moved it over the horse's head and fastened it on. The horse shook its head for a bit but seemed to accept it after it wouldn't be shook off.

"That's right; it's not going to hurt you, just like I'm not going to. You get used to it a bit and I'll be back in a moment," Leon said to the horse as he climbed back through the fence. Leon could have sworn the horse nodded its head as he took a last look at it before turning and heading back for his cave.

In the smithy, Leon checked on the ingots and found them starting to solidify. This confused Leon. When he had poured for the nails the day before, it took a ling time for them to solidify and yet the larger ingots didn't seem to take as long. As he stared at the ingots, he realised why; surface area.

The larger ingots had a larger exposed surface area to the air while the nails had only a tiny one. Leon touched the side of the mould and it was cool to touch, that explained everything. For some reason, the moulds didn't accept heat from the molten ore and so it could only escape through the area exposed to air. The nails, with a smaller exposed area, took longer to cool.

Laying the moulds back down, Leon went to the back of the wagon and extracted a lead line. Thinking for a moment, he also grabbed a bridle and the saddle. He carried the whole kit back to the corral and laid it over the fence. As he climbed back into the corral, the stallion came over to look at him and examine the new gear he had brought.