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The nation Chapter 99
The morale was low, people were suffering from sore feet, twisted ankles, even broken bones were not uncommon on the road. The attitude of the people was shifting, the helping people they once were slowly turned into selfishness, the sharing with neighbors, the caring for others way of life they had all lived was dying. The people who walked were the most upset, they had to sleep on the ground, some with little to no shelter to speak of, they saw the big carts of the leadership and were envious and jealous of their position. The tempers of the travelers flared up more often now as well, fights over pieces of land to sleep on, shoving matches over food, and yelling at one another were increasing among the travelers. Tensions ran high every day, every day there were new injuries or equipment failures, predators killed livestock. The horses they relied on struggled under increasing burdens. The caravan was a time bomb and Rognvald was its short fuse.None of the people in the caravan kne
The nation Chapter 100
Kaya’s shirt drooped open; it exposed some more of her chest to Rollins as the baby rooted for a nipple. “Talia.” Called Kaya, Talia was sitting in the back of the cart, “I think the baby is hungry.”“Ok Kaya, lemme climb up to the front where you are.” Said Talia, Gorman was dying to say something but the rebuke from Kaya moments ago had his lips closed firmly.“No need Talia, I think we are going to stop up here. This looks like a good place to rest doesn’t it Rollins?” “It does.” Was Rollins reply.The spot was shaded by a stand of trees that formed a natural archway. The grass was tall and blew in the breeze, the trees were willows and there branches drooped onto the ground, gently swaying with the grass. The smell of the water from the river was refreshing, the sound the river made was audible from a hundred meters or more. The sun was moving closer to the western horizon, it was getting close to dusk. The group stopped in the stand of trees, they used some fallen branches to ma
The nation Chapter 101
They didn’t speak to each other, Rognvald and Lilly, they said things like hello and goodnight, but they did not talk to each other anymore. Oren was doing things to small animals that he caught daily, he broke their legs, or plucked feathers, and delighted in the animals painful cries. Lilly and Claudia have seen this behavior and they both tried to talk to Rognvald about it, he seemed unmoved by his sons twisted actions. Oren was growing as well, it has been known that some children can experience growth spurts over the summer months, Oren was in the middle of one of those spurts. He enjoyed the pain he felt in his body, his bones ached fiercely from the quick growth, he didn’t complain about it once but the suffering showed in his eyes, along with a growing madness. Claudia missed her life back in Ondu, she would give up her brother in a heartbeat to go back there, but she was stuck in this frickin cart, with her frickin brother. She had trouble occupying her mind, there was alway
The nation Chapter 102
Something was happening to his mind, he is losing it, thought Oscar. Oscar left Rognvald sitting with a mug of beer in the front of his wagon. Oscar would send a hunter across but first he would send out scouts to see if there was a better, safer, place to cross. Oscar was a lot of things, but a fool his mother did not raise. Gorman was an asshole but he didn’t know that he was, he never put two and two together, he thought that the women he tried to talk to weren’t into him for some odd reason. He was tall, attractive, and competent, his mother always said so. It confounded him each time a woman walked away from him or paid him no attention. His mouth and attitude may have turned them off. Gorman was upfront about his needs, he wanted to take all of the beautiful women to bed and couldn’t understand his lack of success. He would tell them how beautiful they were, how they smelled nice, he often complimented something the women did; cooking, bead work, things like that. If they didn’
The nation Chapter 103
Rollins was never popular with anyone in Ondu, especially the boys and girls her age. She knew she was different, but in a special way as her mother put it, her mother would always say, you are here to teach all of The People an important lesson, and I love you for that. It had been a long time since she had thought about those words, and all of the hatred she endured from her peers, she had only known the touch of a few people. Her mother’s touch of course, her mother was the only female to ever touch her, Rollins had only breastfed from her mother’s nipples, the midwives would have nothing to do with her. Two men would touch her, much in the same loving way as her mother, but one of their touches was different. Davyn was the closest man to her in Ondu, he was like a father to her, the only one she would ever know. The other man was Morgan, he was a mentor to her and his touch was that of a teacher. He helped her to hold her bow better, his hands over hers, he stood behind her showin
The nation Chapter 104
They were about to cross the river; the sun was cresting over the mountain’s peak but they remained in its shadow. They had eaten breakfast and talked about what they would do to cross the river, Rollins reiterated how dangerous it was, even in this place where the buffalo cross. Gorman was sullen at breakfast, Lorne was upset with the dog’s gas, Talia slept in and Kaya helped Rollins cook the meal. The horses and cart would go last, Erek wanted to be across the river with a rope tied to them to help guide the horses across, Rollins liked that idea and suggested that they cross using the wedge. When everyone looked at her in ignorance, she explained.“Erek is the strongest so he will be first, we will all be tied together with the rope,” she held it up for emphasis, “the next person will go but position themselves ten steps downstream from Erek, then the third person will go and they will be ten steps behind the second person and so on.”Rollins went on to explain that everyone should
The nation Chapter 105
Erek watched the rest of the party as they carried on, he didn’t see the dog get up, he felt the dog though, the dog bumped him sharply just above his knee. The one dog got up and was anxious to get going, he knew that it was time and wanted to get this over with. The big two-leg was watching the others chatter again, so the one dog bumped the big man with his hip, it was a little harder than he thought so he turned and smiled at the man. Erek stumbled and almost fell over when the dog bumped his leg, the rest of the group stopped talking when Erek yipped.“You alright with that dog?” Asked Rollins.“Yeah, I guess I have to carry him. Besides he looks as eager as I feel about getting this over with.” Said Erek as the river flowed bye at nineteen kilometers per hour.They were all in the water now, they were in the formation that Rollins had described, Erek out front, now burdened with the dog, then Lorne, Talia, Gorman, and Rollins. Kaya would have to watch them cross first, as long a
The nation Chapter 106
“Oh fuck!” Yelled Erek, “Percy is too scared, pull, everyone pull hard.” Even Gorman pulled.Erek watched as the horses teetered on the edge of losing it, Percy bucked next to Gerard who bucked back in response. He saw Kaya, who’s hair was growing back now, she was frantic with fear. The river flowed by uncaring. Erek pulled, he felt the rope behind him as the others pulled with him, he couldn’t let anything happen to this girl, he didn’t know why he felt this way about her but she was special and he was to help her any way he could. His heart told him to pull harder. Percy came back down to all fours, Gerard followed him, then Percy pushed hard with his back legs and Gerard followed. Kaya could see Percy trying to move the cart, she knew that he would have made it across easily without the cart but it had all of their gear and supplies, they couldn’t leave it. The cart moved forward again, it crept behind the struggling horses, her companions pulled from the bank. As the cart got goi