Chapter 3

We weren't in any real hurry. I viewed this as a honeymoon and more time for Elena and I to get to know each other better. It also was a time for us to learn each others' language. We talked until we wanted to love more and then communicated that way.

We decided to skip Meriesk and head east and south for warmer climes. I knew roughly where we were and where we were headed. I knew the Black Sea was east somewhere and hoped that it would be more temperate. I didn't want to have to survive a Russian winter! However, as we had traveled, it became warmer and I saw trees and plants that suggested a warmer year round climate.

We eventually reached the Black Sea. Elena had no name for it, so that's what we called it. The land was still deserted. We went swimming in the water which was warm and not as salty as I had expected. We set up camp where a creek came into the sea but back in an area with trees which was comfortably cool in the middle of the day. I began to work on this being a more permanent camp for us. In exploring the region, we found what might have been wheat fields. We neither found nor saw any people during this time nor even any sign that anyone had lived here in recent memory.

Elena thought Meriesk was around to the north from our location but we didn't check it out at this time. We built a one room cabin. I went up the creek and found a higher point. I cut and split trees creating a trough. It took some trial and error, a lot of error. Eventually, we had water to the cabin. I built a valve to divert the flow when we weren't using it. I then set about covering the trough to keep out leaves and animals. We worked hard and loved even harder. I'm not sure what had happened to me but was glad I was here with this wonderful woman.

Fall came and we were able to take a crop of wheat. I made a wooden sickle which made the chore easier but it was still some of the hardest work I had ever done. We had to race the animals for our wheat as they liked it as much as we. It made hunting easy and we smoked deer meat and tanned hides. I made some rope by braiding strips into one piece about thirty feet long. I made other ropes for lashing. Elena made bags for our wheat with other hides. She made me some pants to replace my original pair which were in bad shape. I was going to throw them away but she wanted to keep them. She made me a shirt with breathing slits. She was working on winter clothes for both of us but I suggested that she wait. My world geography was sketchy but I thought we were now in a more temperate area.

Before winter and after taking our crop, I told Elena that I would like for us to go to Meriesk. One morning, we loaded up two lighter packs and closed the cabin walking north and west around the sea.

It was early afternoon of the second day when we arrived. We had met a farmer and slept the night in his house with his wife and four children. We left that morning with Zaccus' and Anna's good byes ringing in our ears. We promised to stop on the way back.

We walked in to the small town. There were perhaps a hundred or so adults living in the town. We met a cousin of hers, Jonas, and I was introduced to him as husband. His eyes widened a little at that. They were even wider as Elena explained what happened when and just before we met. He seemed genuinely glad to see us. Elena didn't know who Buckskin was so his name was a mystery. Though Jonas seemed to be glad for her, I had a feeling in the back of my mind that he knew more about Buckskin and the situation than he was admitting.

We walked through the town and talked with shopkeepers of various types. Knives were for sale at many places but all were of bronze or, even iron but not steel. I talked with a blacksmith about how he operated. I looked at his bellows and saw two or three ways that it could be improved and made easier to operate. Silver work was performed as was woodworking and pottery. For two thousand years after Christ, there had been few, if any, advances in any mechanical art. I continued to see very little cloth. It turned out that what I thought it was cloth was finely tanned leather. There were no spinning wheels or like apparatus anywhere.

We joined another cousin, Igor, for supper. He and his wife were truly welcoming and, from one comment, I realized he was not in favor of Jonas. Elena and her mother were remembered as was Elena's father. Igor and Lisa were genuinely sad to hear of both their deaths. We stayed with them for the evening intending to stop at Zaccus' farm on the way back to our cabin. Igor entered our names as married in his family Bible and said he would report it to the parish priest. We thanked him and took our leave. No one asked where we lived and neither Elena nor I volunteered any information other than misleading bits and that to Jonas when we met him the next morning on our way out of town. The smithy agreed to try a couple of my ideas on his bellows. If he liked it, we would come to agreement on payment. If he didn't use my ideas, then he owed nothing. He seemed honest and I left him with my thinking and how to make it happen.

We left Meriesk and, as we walked, my neck prickled. I kept having the feeling we were being followed or watched. I saw a bend in the trail about a hundred feet or so ahead and whispered to Elena, "Run and laugh with me." She did and we rounded the bend and I pulled her to one side and we crouched down hidden from followers. Sure enough, Jonas came down the trail looking furtive. I waited until he was beside us and jumped him. I had him down, tied, and gagged in a second. I pulled him off the trail into our hiding place. I told Elena to stay out of sight but watch our back trail for more people.

I knelt beside Jonas and said quietly, "If you make a loud sound, it will be your last. If you lie to me, you will die. I plan to hurt you. The question is how much do you want to hurt before telling everything. Do you understand?"

A quick prod with my knife blade and a little blood got a nod. I had taken my pocket knife and opened it to the small blade when I cut him. Now, I planted the blade on the top of his hand between the bones and pushed. He hissed, "I talk. Hurts."

"Who else is with you?"

"E-Ernst and Josef. They follow and wait for my signal."

"What is the signal?"

"A cairn of rocks, three high with one in the direction to go. If a fork in the trail, it's two high. At three high, they come fast for my call to attack."

"Why attack?"

"Capture Elena to sell as slave. We have buyer."

"Who?"

"I cannot tell." I pressed the entire knife blade through the palm of his hand.

"Who?"

"Boyar."

"Where is Boyar?"