Anarchistbanjo's World

Chapter 15

Several hours later the sun was coming up. There was a fire blazing in the fireplace of one of the log buildings at the gathering spot and two Masters were standing guard outside the door as Ellen finished questioning Tobal. She absent mindedly pushed his parent’s things toward him and indicated that he should pick them up.

“I don’t know what to do,” she murmured softly. “There is no doubt in my mind that these things truly belong to you and that you should have them. If they had belonged to my parents I know I would want to have them. I am now also inclined to believe the rogues were somehow able to follow you. Perhaps they do have monitors. That would explain why we rarely see any of them. They would know when we are in the area and would hide.”

She turned a puzzled expression toward Tobal, “But that would also mean they are not from the village to the west of here. That village is totally primitive and has no technology. These rogues must be coming from somewhere else and they are interested in what you found at the lake. This might be very dangerous and your life might be in danger, all our lives might be in danger and we don’t know from whom.

I suggest we keep this quiet for now and don’t talk to anyone else about it.”

“I need to talk with Rafe about it,” Tobal protested. “He already knows something is out there and so does Melanie. She was with me when we first found the gathering spot at the waterfall. I don’t want them to be in danger too!”

Ellen sighed, “Well, I will have to trust your judgement in this. Don’t talk to anyone unless you really trust them ok?”

Tobal nodded, “I wasn’t going to anyway” He chuckled. “I wasn’t even going to tell you until you cornered me about it.” He didn’t mention the slender silvery wand that was hidden safely in his pack.

Both Ellen and Tobal decided it would be a good idea for him to stay close to the gathering spot and around other people in case the rogues had specifically targeted him. So he spent most of the month helping Dirk and Rafe working up wood for circle.

They were trying to get wood ahead so there would be an ample supply during a snowstorm or blizzard. There was already over one foot of snow and travel was getting difficult.

With Tobal’s help Rafe and Dirk got a lot of wood brought into camp. Rafe was becoming more confident and sure of himself. He was also growing taller and filling out. The constant back breaking work of chopping wood with stone axes seemed to be putting muscle on him too. The Chevrons on his sleeve proclaimed he had won three fights and he was learning how to take care of himself.

Tobal wore the jet and amber necklace around his neck and kept the ceremonial dagger in the sheath strapped to his ankle. Each day he took them out and looked at them. They were the only things he had that came from his parents. He wanted to go back to the cave but knew it was more dangerous than ever. He put the two plastic hospital bracelets in his medicine bag and carried it on a leather thong around his neck.

It was the wand that he didn’t know what to do with. It was about a foot long and one inch in diameter. He had examined it more completely and still didn’t know much about it. There were five buttons on the thing. He had tried the first and second buttons in the cave. Out doors they worked much the same. The first button made the wand act as a light. When he activated the second button it melted a circle of snow about fifteen feet in front of where he was pointing. It seemed to have a range of about fifteen feet and the heat kept increasing as long as he held the button down.

The third button caused a blade of light to extend out of the wand about two inches. This was some type of laser used for cutting. He tried it on a few rocks and cut deeply into them without melting the rock. The fourth button acted as a sighting device shining a point of red light on anything it was pointed at without apparent harm to the object. The fifth button however, would flash a pulse of light burning a hole through whatever it hit. The fifth button could only be pushed at the same time the fourth one was pushed and needed to be re-pushed for each new pulse of light.

It apparently acted as some type of safety device limiting the damage that could be done with the wand. He tried it once killing a deer at twice normal bow range. The deer dropped without a sound. Close examination showed a hole that went completely through the deer.

As he butchered the deer and brought it back into camp he reflected on the nature of the wand itself. It was obviously a tool or a weapon using pulsed energy of some type he had never heard about. That meant it was probably part of some secret military technology his parents had been involved in. In any case it was extremely dangerous and even more dangerous to be caught with. On the other hand he didn’t want to loose it or have it stolen. He guessed he might have to talk with Ellen about it sometime. In the meantime he made a sheath for it on his other ankle and kept it on his person.

Rafe asked him about his trip and was very interested but Dirk was always around and Tobal felt he needed to talk with Ellen first so he told Rafe to wait till circle. Rafe’s eyes narrowed a bit eyeing the amber and jade necklace. He didn’t say anything more about the trip.

Samhain was a major festival and Tobal was surprised at how many showed up for it. It started as the other celebrations did with proclaiming newbies ready to solo. Nikki and Char both proclaimed their newbies ready to solo. There were several initiations scheduled.

Wayne’s newbie wasn’t ready yet but was going to be initiated. The Same thing happened with Zee’s newbie and Kevin’s newbie. They were going to be initiated into the clan but they needed another month of training. With the advent of cold weather the training was taken seriously by all clan members.

Most clansmen had already partnered up for the winter and would not be doing anymore training till next spring or they would partner up at this circle. He thought about Tara and Zee. They had both asked him about partnering up for the winter. Now they both had partners selected even if Zee and Kevin still had one more month of training till their newbies soloed.

Soon there would be no one to ask or partner up with unless it was a newbie. Was he really being so different in not partnering up with anyone? Rafe had trained newbies all winter long. He caught Char a bit later and talked with her about it.

“I notice your newbie is soloing this month,” he congratulated her. “What are you going to do now?”

“Well, I was going to see if Wayne wanted to partner back up for the winter,” she said bitterly. “But he is not speaking to me and in the middle of training his newbie. If he is training her like he trained me, she will probably be spending the winter with him. I hate that man!” She started crying and Tobal put an arm around her shoulder to comfort her. He felt her shoulders shaking against him.

“He’s just training newbies like you are Char, what are you mad at him for?”

“He’s not talking to me or looking at me, that’s why,” she snapped at him. “All he does is spend time with her.”

Tobal sighed and wished he were anywhere else. “You sound just like he did last month when I was talking to him.

Don’t you remember how jealous he was? You were afraid he was going to pick a fight with Rory. Look, this will make one chevron for you and two for him. What are you going to do now? Try training another newbie or wait out the winter? You can’t control what he does. You can only control what you do. What is it that you really want to do?”

“Become a citizen and get a real life.”

“Ok, so what do you need to do?”

“I guess I’m going to train one more newbie this winter. Thanks Tobal,” she told him. “I know that I need to move ahead but it’s hard sometimes. These old habits are so hard to break. It’s easy to get depressed about things.”

“Let me know if you need any help,” he told her. “I’m planning on training newbies all winter myself. It’s kind of strange but I’m a little afraid of partnering up with anyone for the entire winter.”

“Why would you feel that way Tobal?” She asked curiously.

“Well partnering up with a girl for the winter kind of implies a sexual relationship,” he flustered.

“What’s wrong with a sexual relationship?” She asked. “You do want sex with girls don’t you?”

Now he was red and embarrassed, “ Wanting sex and having sex are two different things Char. At least for me they are. I don’t want to hurt anyone and what if it doesn’t work out between us. What if she gets pregnant or something.”

Char laughed. “You are taking this much too seriously Tobal. For one thing, no one is going to get pregnant out here. Once a year we get birth control shots that last the entire year. In fact, we get them during Samhain, which is this month. The medics will make sure we get our shots if we want to continue in the Apprentice program. I thought you knew that.”

Tobal looked confused.

She continued, “It might not be a good idea for two Apprentices to get together like Wayne and I did. It is really hard having a permanent love relationship with someone when you need to train and live with other people like Wayne and I need to do. But it is normal to be sexual with others. Having sex is a form of sharing and a way of deepening a relationship. It is no big deal really. None of us are experts at love. We all need to have experiences and learn from those experiences. Our love partners help us and we teach each other about what pleases us.”

“Tobal,” she looked at him intently and unfastened her robe. “Do you want to have sex with me?”

He found himself staring at her body. Her soft breasts and the mound of blonde pubic hair stirred something inside him. Tobal found himself uncomfortable with the subject and with his own feelings. She had a good looking body.

“I think I will wait until I get to Journeyman before I worry about it too much,” he said awkwardly.

She laughed. “Well at least give me a hug and a kiss then.” She moved closer so her bare body was against him as they hugged. It was a long hug and a long kiss.

It took a while to recover and Tobal wandered around the gathering spot trying to collect his wits together. He thought about what Char had said and wondered if she was right. Maybe he was making too big of a thing about it. Maybe sex could be as casual as shaking hands for some people but he knew it was not that way for him. For one thing there were a lot of attractive girls around the camp and only one or two had ever really drawn his eye.

He thought of Melanie, yes, he was sexually attracted to Melanie. Then Becca came unbidden into his mind and he hastily pushed her back out. He didn’t know what was going on between him and Becca but it was more like electric shock therapy than sexual attraction.

Sarah, Mike and Butch had all completed their solos and were talking together when he came up to them. They were going to take this month off and work on their own base camps getting prepared for winter. It seemed most clansmen were either doing that or had already done that. None of them were talking about partnering up for the winter but they were thinking about working together setting up winter camps. Once their winter camps were set up they would decide if they were going to do any training or not.

Melanie, Becca, Nikki and he were the only ones interested in newbies this month. They each received a new chevron except Nikki. Her first newbie was going to solo that month. That made three for him, and one each for Becca and Melanie.

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To his relief it was Ellen in her red medic’s tunic.

“Are you alright?” she asked sharply.

“I’m fine,” he said. “Why?”

“You’ve been appearing and disappearing from our monitors the last several days. Can I check your med-alert bracelet please?”

The way she was holding her hand out told Tobal that she was telling him and not asking. Wordlessly he took off the med-alert bracelet and handed it to her.

Immediately an alarm sounded at the air-sled and she went over to shut it off. She was on the radio a few minutes and then started to do some tests on the med-alert bracelet. It seemed to test out ok and she finally handed it back to him.

“What were you doing over by the waterfall?”

“When I soloed I came out here,” he told her, “and decided to make my base camp on the lake over there.”

He pointed to the area where his burned out camp had been.

“I spent a lot of time and work building things up,” he continued. “Then I was training Melanie and brought her out here with me. We found my entire camp destroyed and burned by rogues. I was only able to find one food cache left intact. We didn’t want to meet any more rogues and felt it was not safe to stay in the area.”

“What does that have to do with the waterfall?” Ellen interrupted.

“Everything,” said Tobal.” We headed around the lake and saw the waterfall. We decided to try finding a way up the stream and explore in that direction while I was training Melanie.”

“Did you know there is an abandoned gathering spot there?” He interrupted excitedly. “It has a huge pile of stones in the center of it too!”

He was watching carefully to see what effect the news of the cairn had upon her. He was disappointed since she didn’t seem to care either way about it.

“Anyway,” he continued, “we went up the stream and then cut cross country to where my base camp is. That’s how I originally found my base camp. That was last summer but I always wondered what really happened to my first base camp and wanted to come back here before snowfall and see if I could find anything of value the rogues had missed. I was worried about Melanie before and didn’t want to endanger her. I thought I could come down here and check my old base camp real quick and be back in plenty of time for circle.”

“I never heard your camp had been burned out,” she said. “Did you tell anyone else?”

“I talked with Rafe about it quite a bit. He was pretty upset too and told me the lake wasn’t a good place for a base camp.”

“Rafe was right,” she said grimly. “It’s not a good place to hang around anytime, especially by the waterfall. As medics we are given explicit instructions to keep a very close eye on anyone in this area because this is where most of the rogue attacks happen. Get on and we’ll go look at your old camp.”

Hardly believing his luck, he carefully climbed on the back of her air sled and directed her to what was left of his burned out camp. Together they poked around and he showed her the remains of his teepee, smoke rack and sweat lodge. They did find a stone axe. He looked at it and recognized it as the first stone ax he had ever made. He told Ellen and she grinned. She seemed more relaxed now that his story had proven true.

“There have been other people whose camps have been destroyed,” she said. “These attacks seem to be coming more frequently and I don’t know what we are going to do about them. They are centered around this area but we have been told the rogues live in a settlement about two hundred miles west of us. That doesn’t make sense to me somehow.”

“A settlement to the west?” Tobal asked.

Ellen nodded, “It’s a village made up of people that decided to drop out of training and not be citizens. You may have heard rumors about it but only we medics know where it is. I’ve actually checked it out and there are children and old people in it. None of them wear med-alert bracelets and we don’t really know anything about them. If these raids continue I’ve heard rumors that the city might attack the village and close it down.”

“Is that what happened to the gathering spot by the waterfall?” Tobal asked, fishing for information.

“You must never mention that place to anyone,” she said sharply. “It is a forbidden area and we have been told to keep people away from it.”

“Why is it a forbidden area?” Tobal said belligerently. “I should be able to go anywhere I want. This is a wide open wilderness and no one has ever told me that certain places are off limits.”

“Well they are,” she said matter of factly. “We don’t tell people about them unless they stumble into them like you have. I don’t really know why myself,” she said. “I think is has something to do with the rogues and keeping clansmen safe from them. There are some other areas that are “off limits” because they are dangerous for people on foot.”

It was mid afternoon and Ellen said she needed to get back on patrol. She was sorry to hear Tobal had been burnt out and was going to make a note of it in her report. She advised him not to stay in the area as it might be dangerous and she recommended he get another med-alert bracelet the next time he was in sanctuary.

Tobal was in agreement and headed straight for sanctuary. He knew the route and more importantly knew a small cave where he could shelter for the night. It would give him a location where his med-alert bracelet would not give him away as he slept. Somehow that felt very important right now. He didn’t know whom he could trust. He had been very lucky Ellen had been the medic that found him.

It was dark when he turned sharply to the left and stepped along a ridge he remembered having a small cave in it. Cautiously he poked his walking stick into the opening making sure no one else was using it before crawling inside. He wrapped himself in warm furs and fell into a sleep of exhaustion with eerie dreams of his father and mother in a cave doing some type of ritual.

Before dawn the next morning he was back on the trail toward sanctuary. He was prompted by a sense of urgency and a sixth sense that told him he was being followed. It was only a half hour later when an air sled circled and waved. He waved back and continued on. This time at a dog trot that ate up the miles. That day two more air sleds circled overhead making certain of his destination, but none stopped him.

That night he again crawled into a small cave and slept without a fire of any kind, munching on cold jerky and rinsing it down with water from his canteen. He was making good time and with any luck at all should be at sanctuary the next evening. The sense of being pursued stayed with him that night and all of the next day. Again he was up before dawn on the trail and again an air sled appeared, this time only fifteen minutes after he had gotten under way. They had obviously been out looking for him and wondering what was wrong with his med-alert bracelet.

Well he at least felt better with the air sleds since they were medics and not rogues. But he still didn’t waste any time getting to sanctuary. It was twilight when he finally got to the edge of the wooded area that opened onto the meadow leading to sanctuary itself. He took a few minutes to hide the things from his parents before going into sanctuary with the rest of his supplies and pack.

No one was there and he wasted no time setting his pack and clothing under one cot and stepping into the medical center as Ellen had suggested. He felt relief as the door slid shut behind him and locked. He took off his med-alert bracelet, dropped it on the floor and pounded it with the heavy hilt of the knife he had brought with him. Under the heavy pounding it broke into three pieces and he left it there. He knew the medics would be alerted when he had taken it off and then would be even more alerted when it suddenly stopped broadcasting. He was hoping one of them would be there when he came out the other end in a few hours.

Three hours later he had a new med-alert bracelet and fresh clothing and equipment. As the door slid open he cautiously stepped out into the gloom and stood still waiting for his eyes to adjust in the dark. His knife was in his hand and he knew he was not the only one in the room. He stood silently waiting for someone to make the first move.

“Tobal, is that you?” He heard Ellen’s voice coming from near one of the cots.

Relief spilled through him, “Yes, is it safe?”

“For now,” she said. “Come, we’ve got some talking to do.”

He shouldered his new equipment and carried it over to the cot where he had stored the rest of his stuff. He searched under the cot and found he had been right. His things had been searched and gone through carefully while he had been in the medical chamber. He laid everything on the bed and tried to determine in the dim light if he was missing anything. Everything seemed to be there. Ellen stood silently by and watched as he sorted and repacked things. Tobal saw there two other very serious Masters standing guard at the entrance.

“What’s going on?” She demanded. “We were monitoring your signal and then the alarm went off as if you were dead. Then the signal stopped completely and we came immediately to see what was wrong. The first one here saw three rogues dressed in black running out of the sanctuary building and into the woods. It was dark and they didn’t show up on the air sled monitors so we lost them. We don’t know where they are now.”

“We went inside and saw that your pack had been searched but you were not here. Then your signal showed up once more on the monitors and we figured you must be in the medical chamber so we waited for you to come out.”

“They followed me from the lake,” Tobal said. “I knew they were following me. I could feel it and hid at night. I came here as fast as I could just like you said to.”

“How could they follow you from the lake?” Ellen frowned. “They don’t have monitors like we do on our air sleds.”

“They must have some way of tracking me,” he repeated. “They would have gotten me if you hadn’t shown up when you did. It’s not safe out here anymore!”

“We’re going to take you back to the gathering spot where you and I are going to have a little chat,” Ellen whispered. “You are holding something back and I want to know what it is.”

They walked toward Ellen’s air sled and Tobal suddenly remembered his package in the woods.

“Wait here,” he shouted “I’ll be right back” and he ran into the woods to retrieve the rest of his things.

Ellen was on the air sled waiting when he ran back up and climbed on behind her. The three air sleds sped into the night toward the gathering spot.

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Chapter 14

After grabbing a bite to eat and changing into his robe Tobal wandered around chatting with friends till circle started. He found a place near the fire to sit with Melanie and Becca during the initiations. The two girls spent most of the time gaily chatting back and forth about where they were going to go and he felt left out. The past month had really brought Melanie and Becca closer together as friends. He wasn’t in the mood for such levity and moved off for a little solitude.

This time Misty was the High Priestess as Ellen stood in the back ground waiting to help out if needed. He was surprised to see Angel wearing the red robes of a Master. She had certainly come quite a way since he had first seen her laid up with a leg injury in sanctuary.

He finally caught up with Rafe after circle. This was Tobal’s last chance before winter to go back to the lake and check out the abandoned gathering spot. It was Rafe that provided him with the seed of an idea.

“I’ve been thinking about this,” Rafe said. “I’m not supposed to talk about Journeyman stuff with you but I don’t think it really matters. We meet in a large cave and have our fights. There are always several medics because people get hurt during the fights and the signals from the med-alert bracelets don’t go through the rock.”

“You can’t take the med-alert bracelet off because the monitors would show you as dead. Also if you are found without a med-alert bracelet you need to start training from the beginning. You don’t want to do that.”

Tobal nodded his agreement. “What should I do then?”

“Hide in small caves or under rock ledges during the day so no air sleds can find you. If you are under or within the rock they should not be able to pick you up on the monitor screen. Then travel quickly at night. When you travel at night it will be seen that your med-alert bracelet is working properly after all and they don’t need to worry about it. They might try to find you at night but it is getting colder and no one wants to be out on an air sled in the middle of a cold night.”

“Besides,” Rafe said with a grin. “You are not doing anything wrong. At least no one has told you that you can’t go there. They probably will once they catch you. Try to get there in the middle of the night. It’s a full moon so there will be enough light to see. Give yourself about three hours and then get the hell out of there as fast as you can. It will be interesting to see what happens when they do catch up with you.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Tobal told him. “I think I’ll do exactly as you said.”

They talked a little more about his upcoming journey and then the talk wandered around to Rafe and how he got his second chevron. It was late before Tobal got to sleep.

Tobal started out the next morning as if he were heading toward his base camp. There was nothing unusual about that and it shouldn’t draw attention. The area between his base camp and the abandoned gathering spot was very rocky and there were a few caves and outcroppings he remembered seeing. He used them now travelling at night and holing up during the day. It should make them think his med-alert was malfunctioning.

He made cold camps during the day and gradually worked his way closer to the waterfall moving quickly at night and hiding during the day. He was glad for the furs since they provided the protection from the elements that he needed.

He tried sleeping during the day without much success and when he did sleep it was troubled with nightmarish images that became more intense the closer he got to the waterfall.

It was midnight on the fourth day when he stood in front of the cairn in the haunted gathering spot and felt the ghosts around him. There was enough moonlight to see and he searched as much of the cairn as possible without lighting a torch. He examined some of the objects that had been laid there but they simply seemed to be offerings.

He was baffled and frustrated. The answer certainly did not seem to be here and the rest of the camp looked to have been thoroughly cleansed. There was nothing to see and his instinct kept telling him to leave as quickly as possible.

He hated the thought of going down the cliff face in the dark but an inner prompting kept screaming that is was not safe to be here and that he had to leave as soon as possible. Going down the rock chimney was much easier than going up and soon he was scrambling over the edge of the cliff trying to find the toe holds he knew were there.

It was with relief his searching toe finally found the first hole and from then on the descent went quickly. Soon he was standing in the small patio area near the pool at the base of the waterfall. He figured about an hour had passed which gave him two hours more.

He stripped off his clothes and put them in a small pile in a corner of the patio where they were hidden by some rocks. He kept the knife strapped around his leg and the magnesium fire starter on a small chain around his neck. He had carefully thought this out during the past month and knew he needed to at least try exploring the pool.

Bracing himself he stepped into the icy water with his foot reaching for the first step he knew was there. Three more steps and he was up to his waist in the freezing water and facing the waterfall itself. He knew what he had to do as if some unknown hand was guiding him.

He plunged into the deep pool and began swimming strongly toward the waterfall. Right before he reached it he dove deeply and explored the rock face with his fingers. As he suspected there was an opening about three feet below the surface of the pool going under the waterfall itself.

Bobbing to the surface he took a deep breath and dived again swimming as deeply into the opening as possible and rose feeling the rock surface above his head sloping upward until it opened into a silent pool. His head broke the surface as he gasped for breath. It had not been a bad swim but it had been a frightening one.

The water was icy and he pulled himself out of it onto a rocky ledge. He was shivering in the dark as his fingers searched and found what felt a pack of some type and a torch. Tearing the pack open by touch his fingers closed on the heavy wool like material of a robe. Gratefully he slipped it on and pounded his body until the circulation started coming back.

His fingers searched and found a pouch of tinder. He soon had the torch going and was warming himself as he was looking around. The pool looked only six feet across and was his only way back. His heart was racing wildly. He knew this was the secret the lake hid and he also knew he only had two hours to explore before he had to leave. The good news was he felt certain the med-alert bracelet would not give him away within the cavern. He was safe as long as he stayed inside.

The torch flickered as he walked barefoot deeper into the cave. The thundering of the waterfall made the entire cave seem to vibrate even though the sound was muted and it was hard to tell where it was coming from. The floor of the cave sloped sharply downward for twenty feet and then leveled out into an open area.

There was an opening that turned sharply to the right but Tobal ignored it, his entire attention was focussed on the chamber ahead of him. There was a rough stone altar with unlit torches set into the wall on each side and the emblem painted on the rock behind the altar took his breath away. It was the same symbol of a man and woman holding hands within a circle that had been on the gold medallion his parents had left him.

He lit the two altar torches and stepped back to examine the chamber he found himself in. There was a rough circle in front of the altar for circle members to sit and many of the places seemed to have personal belongings placed carefully around them.

On sudden impulse he moved to one of the cushions near the altar and picked up a clay bowl that held some dust covered items. In the torchlight he carefully emptied the contents of the bowl on the ground and picked two plastic bracelets up. He recognized them as hospital bracelets.

Wiping the dust off them he held the larger one closer to the light of the torch. He saw the words “Rachel Kane” written plainly on it. With his heart thundering in his chest he picked the smaller one up and examined it. Under a coating of grime and dust he saw “Tobal Kane” written and then the date of his birth.

It was his baby bracelet from when he had been born. These things must have belonged to his mother. Blinking away tears, he moved the other items with his finger to examine them more closely. A jade and amber necklace caught his eye. Static electrical energy seemed to crackle from it as he ran it through his fingers wiping the dust off. Thinking quickly he put the necklace over his head and thrilled at the intense feeling of love and peace that swept over him.

He didn’t have much time. One of these piles belonged to his father and he hastily searched the area nearest his mother. Somehow that didn’t seem right. On impulse he moved over to the other side of the altar and the cushion nearest it on that side.

There were items that belonged to the High Priest and he remembered similar items that had been placed around his mother’s seat. His eye was drawn to a ceremonial dagger and sheath that lay in front of the cushion. Picking it up he saw that R.K. had been burned into the sheath and he knew it belonged to his father. He slipped his own knife out of its sheath and strapped the dagger hurriedly into it. He didn’t have time to find a belt for the dagger and sheath.

Taking his own torch he walked around the chamber trying to get an idea of its true size. There was an opening off to the left of the altar that led deeper into the cave through some type of corridor. He stooped and walked down the corridor gasping in surprise as he turned a quick corner and gazed upon an unbelievable sight.

It was another large cavern but filled with artifacts like those at the antique shop in Old Seattle. His torch reflected off burnished armor and weapons of steel and bronze.

Even stranger was one area that was set aside from the others. The items collected here were not of the world he knew. They did not belong to either the present or the past. He didn’t even know if human hands made these items.

There was a slender silver rod that glinted in the torchlight and he picked it up. It had some small buttons on the side near the grip and a cord that went around the wrist to keep from loosing it. Pushing the first button made the tip of the rod glow with a comfortable light that lit up the room.

He pushed the second button and a beam shot out from the wand touching the wall of the cave. Within seconds the cave wall began glowing red with heat. He hastily released the button and prayed nothing else would happen.

He slipped the cord around his wrist for carrying the wand and retraced his steps back to the other cavern. He snuffed out the two torches on the wall above the altar and made his way back to the pool.

At the edge of the pool he set the tinder and another torch ready for the next time he came and then carefully set the torch where it would burn out on its own without hurting anything.

Then he slipped off the woolen robe, put the two hospital bracelets in his mouth and taking a deep breath dove into the black pool of freezing water. Moments later he was outside climbing the stone stairs out of the pool.

He wasted no time sliding into his tunic and furs. He was still wet as he hastily donned his boots and grabbed his pack and equipment. He put the wand into his pack and the hospital bracelets in a leather pouch on his waist for safe keeping. He guessed it was about 3:00 a.m. and the air sleds would be looking for him anytime.

He headed at a dog trot through the maze of rock toward the edge of the lake. He hurried toward his burned out campsite planning to stop there and rest. He was halfway around the lake in the predawn light and walking normally when the first air sled appeared. He was not surprised to see the air sled drop to the ground on the beach in front of him and a medic step toward him.

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His little valley was protected and full of browse. There would be deer and elk in it all winter and trapping fur bearing animals for winter clothing shouldn’t be hard if everyone was working at it. They could also work at shelter building and be welcome to stay as long as they needed to. By blind luck his little valley was the perfect location for a training camp.

He had most of it built already and making a few more shelters would go quickly. Together they could make what they needed and share resources. What they really needed was winter clothing and equipment. Making it would be time consuming. This fall furs would be prime enough to make good winter clothing and it was time to start trapping.

Late September brought snow in the mountains but it didn’t stay. There was just enough to make things seem white. They worked as a team. Melanie was the best trapper and she worked with the others on getting enough pelts for winter clothing.

They practiced intensely with the bow, making arrows and working on a permanent shelter. In all there were six of them. They were Tobal and his trainee, Sarah; Melanie and her trainee, Butch; Becca and her trainee, Mike.

At first they thought the best type of shelter would be a log cabin but that presented difficulties since they had no axes to cut the trees. In addition finding and laying rock for a fireplace and chimney would be too time consuming. Thatching material for a roof was no longer available. They had waited too long and winter was too close.

What they did settle on was to continue using the teepee shelters and further insulate them with furs on the outside. They built two other teepees that could be used for storage and for privacy or work space as needed. That solution was quick, simple, and effective allowing them to focus on other things like winter clothing, snow shoes and food caches.

They rigged more deadly traps and dead falls. They noticed the airsleds more often checking them out during the days. The medics were keeping closer tabs on everyone and making sure they were prepared for the coming months.

It was easier to hunt with some tracking snow. One hunter would track the animal and it would move toward one of the others that waited hidden in a blind. They got plenty of deer that way. Still the final weeks in October were increasingly difficult and Tobal understood at last why most people didn’t try training newbies during the winter.

His group was prepared though and each member of the group was outfitted with warm fur outer clothing and boots, blankets, emergency food rations, snowshoes for when needed and a small sled to pull and carry their supplies when they traveled. There was too much to carry in a pack.

The weather was still fairly nice but could change any time. Mike, Butch and Sarah were anxious to solo since they had been training for almost two months. They felt more than prepared and wanted to get it over with.

Becca and Melanie wanted to find their own base camps, set up for the winter and start training newbies. They were going to help each other get set up right after the coming circle. Tobal was not accustomed to being around so many people for such a prolonged amount of time and anxious to get away and have some time alone. He wanted to get back to the lake.

They made the trip back to the gathering spot together in high spirits. Mike, Butch and Sarah were proclaimed ready to solo and the elders agreed since they came into camp with a full assortment of winter clothing and gear and because they had two months of training. They had done a lot of work and really felt prepared about the coming winter. It had been time well spent and it had been fun as well.

Tara’s newbie was also ready to solo and one more Tobal didn’t recognize.

Nikki had a newbie ready to be initiated along with Char’s newbie and two others.

But Char’s newbie wasn’t ready to solo yet. He spoke with Char briefly after leaving the others at the Circle of Elders.

“Hi Char,” he grinned. “Who is your new friend?”

She grinned back and blushed a bit. “Hi Tobal, this is Rory. He’s a newbie that I’ve been working with this past month. He’s pretty sharp too.”.

Tobal noticed Rory’s eyes light up at the compliment. He grinned and shook his hand. “You watch that she doesn’t feed you too much now. Char is the best cook out here.” Then he turned back to Char.

“I’ve been looking for Wayne, have you seen him?” He asked. The grim look in her eyes and flash of anger told him he had just made a mistake.

He’s out there somewhere being a jerk,“ she snapped. “I finally told him to just stay away from me. He is so jealous about Rory here. I’m afraid he is going to start a fight with him and that is so very stupid. Other couples don’t have this problem do they?” She asked.

“I wouldn’t know about that,“ Tobal said. “What I’ve heard in general is most people try not to get into serious relationships with each other until they are at least Journeymen. Then they can at least live together and keep working toward citizenship.”

“That was our mistake,” she sighed. “We should have waited till we each trained our newbies but it’s so hard now since we have become so used to each other. I did talk to him though and we are both going to work on training newbies so we can move on to the Journeyman level at least.”

“That sounds like a really good plan,“ Tobal said. He gave Char a hug and kiss nodding to Rory. “I’ll see you both around later.”

He watched as Kevin, Zee, Nikki and Ox each got chevrons. That made one for Kevin, Two for Zee and one for Nikki. For the Ox it was six and he would finally get his initiation to Journeyman. He was happy about it since he had been almost two years as an Apprentice.

Kevin and Zee were standing together chatting as he walked over to congratulate them on their chevrons.

“Hey did you two finally decide to partner up for the winter?” He asked curiously.

Kevin had his arm around Zee’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. She gave Kevin a quick kiss and smiled at Tobal. “It’s kind of complicated,“ she said. “We both want to train one more newbie before Yule and then partner up for the rest of the winter. Winters get pretty long and partnering up for three months sounds a lot better to both of us then partnering up for five if you know what we are talking about.”

Kevin laughed, “Yeah, we’d still like to be friends next spring so we are taking this kind of slow.”

“Hey that’s great!” Tobal grinned and gave them both a big hug. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

They chatted a bit longer and watched Nick and Tara kissing.

“You think they will be friends next spring?” Tobal asked jokingly.

“Who knows,” Kevin replied. I wouldn’t talk if I were you though. You need a little romance in your life so you are not so sour all the time. There are lots of girls around here that would be interested in partnering up for the winter with you.”

“Newbies are just fine.” Tobal said blushing. “They do what I tell them to most of the time and are glad to leave after training. The Apprentice degree is not really good for romance. I just got an earful about it from Char. She’s afraid Wayne is going to tear her newbie’s head off.”

Tobal’s distraction was successful and they gossiped about Char and Wayne a bit. He excused himself after a few minutes and said he was going to bring wood in for the fires. He headed off looking for Rafe or Dirk intending to work with them for a bit. He found Dirk near one of the fire pits splitting logs with a stone hammer and some stone wedges.

“Hey Dirk, have you seen Rafe around?” He asked casually.

“Don’t know and don’t care,” came Dirk’s surly reply.

“What’s up, you sound kind of grumpy,” Tobal quipped and picked up a second hammer and wedge to help.

Dirk sighed and rubbed his shoulder. “The weather is getting to my shoulder. It aches and makes me grumpier than usual.”

They worked together for an hour splitting the larger logs into sizes that would burn in the fire pits.

“You still at two chevrons?” Tobal inquired.

“Yeah, been having some tough luck lately. Rafe won his second fight and crowing about it. You will have to let him tell you about it. I’m tired of hearing it so many times.”

“That sounds interesting,” Tobal replied. “I was planning on talking with him later anyway. I’ll have to ask him how it went.”

They finished the last log and Tobal put the stone hammer and wedge down.

“I’m going to get something to eat. That was hard work. I’ll see you later ok?”

“See you around Tobal and thanks for the help.”

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Chapter 13

“Hey Rafe,” he changed the subject. “ I really need to talk to you about something. Remember when I tried building my base camp on the lake and those rogues destroyed it? Do you remember that abandoned gathering spot I told you about?”

“Yeah, what about it. I hope you haven’t been snooping around there.”

“I think Sarah’s mother is buried there and two older brothers that she doesn’t even know about. I also think it’s where my parents died.”

“What!” Rafe exclaimed. “You’d better tell me what you are talking about.”

For the first time Tobal told Rafe about his parents and how they had been the creators of the sanctuary program, how it had been first a social experiment and then a classified Federation project. He told how his uncle had been the military officer in charge of the program and how his parents had been found floating dead on the lake. He added the part about Uncle Harry getting injured and closing down the project.

Then he went on to mention what Sarah’s father had told him about knowing his parents and working on a classified matter transmission project and an even more secret project concerning bi-location and a shaman named Howling Wolf. He told how his parents and a small group including Sarah’s father had been at a secret meeting when the entire village by the lake had been attacked and everyone massacred.

It had been right after that his parents were found dead and two surviving members of the secret group were hunted down and executed. Howling Wolf and Sarah’s father were both members of the secret group that had survived along with a few children.

“What I don’t understand,” he told Rafe. “Is my uncle never told me about any of the stuff Sarah’s dad told me about. He didn’t tell me anything about the sanctuary program either and he must have known quite a bit about it. All he did was give me a letter from my parents and a ticket to Heliopolis.

He didn’t want me to go to Old Seattle like the letter said. He said no one lived there anymore. I had to change the ticket myself at the last minute. I felt I ‘needed’ to go to Old Seattle first and do what the letter told me to. That’s where I met Sarah and her father.”

“My uncle said the same thing about Howling Wolf, that he wasn’t alive anymore. I need to go back Rafe. I need to check it out and find out anything I can about my parents. That place is haunted and something doesn’t feel right. The Lord and Lady keep telling me that I need to go there.”

Rafe was startled, “The Lord and Lady? They talk to you and tell you to go to the lake?”

“Well they don’t really talk to me,” he said. “It’s more like they put thoughts in my head and my heart. It’s like they are guiding me or something.”

Rafe ran a hand through his tousled hair with a worried look on his face. “This is too much man! I’ve got to think about this awhile. I never heard of the Lord and Lady talking to anyone except the High Priest and High Priestess. The rest of what you said is just crazy. If I didn’t know you, I would say you were making the whole thing up.”

His eyes searched Tobal’s and probed deeply with no hint of his grin. “But you’re not making it up are you?”

“No,” Tobal answered quietly.

Rafe sighed in frustration. “I didn’t think so.” He rubbed his hair again. “Promise me you won’t go there until we talk about this again, ok? It might be dangerous and we have to be careful.”

“I’ll talk to you at circle next month then,” Tobal said. “I need to go back there before it gets snowed in.”

He left Rafe and went back to watch the other initiations. There were five initiations this month. Sarah was going to be initiated with Melanie’s newbie, Butch and Becca’s newbie, Mike. There were two others Tobal didn’t know. It was going to be a long night at circle again.

Tobal couldn’t stop the thoughts running through his head. He looked around the circle at some of the others he knew. Char was watching her newbie get initiated. Apparently Char and Wayne had broken up. Tobal looked around and didn’t see Wayne at circle and wondered if he was at sanctuary waiting for his own newbie.

It was late after the initiations when he finally caught up with Melanie and told her about his plan. He was relieved when she seemed to like it.

“That’s a good idea,” she told him. “This past month was hard for me and I don’t think Butch is ready for winter yet. I don’t even know if I am. I didn’t want to tell you but I am a bit worried. We didn’t do a lot of winter stuff when you trained me and food is getting harder to come by. I know how to make snow shoes and winter clothing in theory but it’s a lot different in real life.”

“I’m pretty much the same way,” he told her. “Rafe taught me at the end of winter when we really didn’t need anything. I made some things then and they’ve been sitting at Rafe’s ever since. I need to stop by there and pick some of that stuff up to help me remember. That’s why I thought maybe a bunch of us could get ready for winter together. I was going to ask Nick too if that is alright with you.”

“Sure,” she said. “Maybe we can have Becca and Mike over too. I know she was having the same troubles because I talked with her earlier this morning and she was worried about Mike too. She was thinking she might have to hole up for the winter with him before he gets a chance to solo because he wouldn’t be ready to survive a real blizzard yet.”

“Well, I hadn’t really thought about anyone but you, Butch, Nick, and Sarah,” he replied. He really wasn’t keen on the idea of having Becca around that much. It was uncomfortable for him and her presence always seemed to prevent his thoughts from going where they should.
“Oh, please!” She pleaded. “Becca really likes you. You should get to know her a little better and give her a chance. It would be fun!”

Tobal felt his face getting red. “I’ll see what Nick has to say first. He should have a say in this too.”

“Ok, maybe I’ll talk to him too,” she smiled and gave him a big hug and a kiss. “You are so nice to all of us.”

Tobal didn’t feel so nice. In fact he was hoping he could talk Nick into saying seven people would be too many. Still he couldn’t help feeling a little guilty as he searched around the camp looking for Nick. He didn’t see him or Tara either. Not knowing what else to do he went over to the beer barrel for a brew.

When Tobal tracked down Nick later that night, he was with Tara. Tobal congratulated Nick on his solo and proposed his plan. Nick wasn’t really interested. He had just soloed and was happy about it. He didn’t think he needed anymore training and was partnering up with Tara for the winter anyway. He needed to be helping her get their winter camp together.

“Tara, I thought you were training someone this month?”

She regarded him with cool eyes and said, “I thought you were training someone this month too. What does it matter if I have Nick over this month when you are going to have six people at your place. I wouldn’t point too many fingers if I were you,” she cautioned. “Maybe you should just mind your own business.”

With a glum face he found Melanie and Becca and told them Nick wouldn’t be joining them. Becca was so excited about the plan she jumped up giving him a big hug and a kiss. As she kissed him, he felt an electric spark that tingled his ears and worked its way down to his tail bone. She had already turned and was hugging Melanie so she didn’t see his face turn white in shock.

He was not at all comfortable with the way he felt around her. She jangled his nerves and shook him up. He still hadn’t dared explore his feelings about her. Forcing his mind back to the subject at hand Tobal suggested they all go to his base camp for the next month and prepare for winter by working together. They agreed to start out the next day after breakfast.

PS: I have started a new Facebook discussion group called Organic Gnosticism. Feel free to join if you are interested.

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The weather and shelter were going to be serious problems during below zero weather. He realized it would be important to hunt the larger animals like the deer and elk. They would migrate with the weather and he needed to know where they liked to go in the winter time so he could find them when he needed to. The cold weather would allow fresh meat to keep longer and he would only have to hunt once a week or so to keep two people in fresh meat.

With that in mind he spent the next two weeks teaching Sarah how to hunt with a bow. He taught how to set dead falls and other traps for larger animals. These were things he realized the others needed to know also.

At nights they worked on the hides and talked. Sarah’s father had told her quite a bit about claiming sanctuary and she had known pretty much what to expect. Still it was a lot harder than she had imagined and it took a while to get her toughened in to the daily grind. She was used to a much softer lifestyle. They joked about how different this was from the day she had taken him into the big city for a visit.

The bright side was she had been used to handling the items in her father’s store and came up with interesting ways to use leather and how to make tools that Tobal never even thought of making. He asked her about where his father got all those items and she said she didn’t really know. She only knew he would leave on trips from time to time and bring them back with him. He used to tell her there was no other store in the world like the one they had and that she should be very proud of it.

Sarah spoke of her mother and wanting to visit her grave. Tobal asked if she knew where it was and she didn’t. It was by some waterfall and shouldn’t be too hard to find. She was a little put off that it would be several years before she would finish training though.

Tobal felt a chill at the base of his spine as she talked about this and something deep inside him was screaming that Sarah’s mother had died at the lake like his parents and she was buried in that mass grave at the abandoned gathering spot. He didn’t know how to bring this up to Sarah yet, especially since they were so closely watched. He felt he would go back there himself first and check things out before talking to her about it.

The month went by quickly and all too soon it was time to go to the gathering spot. He didn’t think Sarah was quite ready to solo and wanted to work with the others in preparing them for the coming winter months.

The days were getting shorter by early September and there was a chill in the air at night and frost in the mornings. The first major snowstorm could come any time and they could be snowed in for weeks. He talked with Sarah and she thought spending another month on winter preparation was a good idea. She needed more winter training and he thought the others did too.

The morning of circle Zee, Nikki, Kevin and Ox all proclaimed their newbies ready to solo. They were all interviewed and questioned by the elders and approved for soloing. Each of them had winter gear they had to show the elders. It was very clear the elders were concerned about the training newbies were getting now that a sudden storm could snow a person in for weeks at a time. Tobal made a point of congratulating the two girls and Kevin. He didn’t care about Ox and avoided him as much as possible.

Zee was a little cool toward him but returned his congratulatory hug and started talking a little.

“I was mad at you for awhile,” she said. “I didn’t really think you meant it about training all winter. I thought you were just rejecting me and no woman likes that.” She put her hands on her hips and wiggled them a little with a grin. “ Then I remembered Rafe and how last year he trained at least two newbies and I wasn’t so sure anymore.”.

“Zee,” I really am training newbies this winter. If I weren’t, you would be a good partner. We’ve always gotten along pretty good. Have you found anyone to partner up with yet?”

She sighed, “You are serious aren’t you. I have a few people in mind but I haven’t really made a decision yet. I want to take this month off and work on my winter base camp first.”

He noticed she hadn’t specifically mentioned Kevin and decided to ask him, but first he wanted to congratulate Nikki on training her first newbie and wandered off to find her after wishing Zee well on her base camp project.

Nikki was getting her robe from Angel as he got his. They went to the teepee where they had left their packs and were changing into the robes..

“How did you like training you first newbie?” He asked casually.

“It was great! I’m training another this month.” she looked at him. “I really want to train another one before winter sets in. Do you think I can?”

“I don’t know,” he told her. “I’ve already decided I need to go back and help Melanie and Sarah get better prepared for winter. Their newbies could use a little extra training too.”

She thought about that a bit. “Zee did a really good job of getting me prepared for winter weather and my newbie is well prepared too. I don’t think we will have any trouble. I know it’s a sore spot, but perhaps two months of training is needed. Have you ever thought about it?”

He bit back an angry retort and instead simply said. “I do think training newbies during the winter should take two months. There is too much to learn about winter gear like snowshoes and working with furs for winter clothing. Anyone that I train this winter will get two months of training.”

Nikki beamed, “I’m so glad to hear that Tobal. We all worry about the newbies and how hard it must be for them in the winter. I haven’t spent a winter here yet but I’m pretty confident things will go well. That’s why I want one more newbie. I will probably end up spending the winter with them unless they decide to solo and go out on their own.”

Nikki’s plan sounded uncomfortably like his own. He still planned to train through the winter but didn’t really have any idea if it would work out or not. What if his newbie didn’t want to solo or move out and build a base camp on their own in the middle of the winter?

He was still thinking about these things as he wandered over to see how Kevin was doing. Kevin was helping set up some of the teepee shelters for the night. Tobal joined in until all the teepees were set up and fires laid in them.

Kevin didn’t know what he was going to do.

“I’m still hoping Zee will partner up with me for the winter,” he told Tobal with a blush. “She hasn’t said yes and she hasn’t said no. It’s driving me crazy because I really need some sort of plan. I don’t want to work on my own base camp if I’m not going to be living there.”

“Say, that’s an idea,” Tobal reflected. “Zee says she wants to spend this month getting her camp ready for winter. Perhaps you can offer to help and it will allow each of you to see how you get along together. That way she won’t need to commit to anything until she gets to know you better.”

Kevin brightened, “I’m going to try,” he said. “I’ll talk to her about it later tonight.”

“Good Luck!”

During circle he noticed Ellen was training Misty to be High Priestess. He had forgotten that Misty was a Master now. He was going to miss Ellen and wondered what she would be doing next. It was strange to see people he knew advance on to different positions.

He noticed earlier that Rafe had been put on wood crew along with Dirk. That meant they were responsible for there being enough fire wood at the gathering spot for circle. Everyone was encouraged to help, but only a few Journeymen were actually tasked to ensure there was enough wood. Angel would be given new duties next month as well. He noticed this morning that she now had four chevrons and seemed to be moving up the ranks more quickly than Rafe was.

Since Journeymen didn’t spend all of their time training newbies, they were each assigned duties that normally lasted two or at the most three months before being assigned to the next duty. The wood supply for the Circle was usually gathered well in advance and there was little work to be done during circle itself except tending fires as needed. That’s what Rafe was doing when Tobal spied him between initiations.

“Hey stranger,” he teased. “Who did you kill to get that?”

Rafe grinned as he turned in surprise. He postured and showed off his first chevron.

“One of the girls challenged me. She thought she could beat me. Bad mistake! She almost did too.” He admitted ruefully but then brightened. His mischievous smile was still the same. “Now I’ve got all the girls fighting over me. I must be the most popular Journeyman ever.”

Tobal looked at his friend. Rafe was filling out, getting taller and stronger.

“I think you will be winning quite a few fights soon,” he said. “You’re not so little any more. Pretty soon you might have to start picking on the girls instead of having them pick on you.”

“You really think so?” Rafe laughed. “Guess I can give up on the idea of fighting babies then. So what have you been up too? Is Sarah ready to solo yet? I’ve been hearing some good things about how you taught Nick and Melanie.”

“Well, I’ve run into a bit of a snag,” he confessed. Sarah isn’t ready to solo yet and I’m thinking about having Melanie, Nick, Becca, Mike, Butch and Sarah all over to my place this month. We can all make our winter gear together. None of us is really that good at it and maybe helping each other out will work.”

“That’s a terrific idea,” Rafe said. “I wish I had thought of it when I was training newbies. I guess we really didn’t do that much training for winter did we? There was only about one week of snow in your training before it melted away. Is there anything I can help with that you don’t remember?”

“I remember how to do most of it,” he replied. “But I will need to go back to your base camp and get some of my things if that is all right?”

“Sure, take anything you need. I probably won’t be around there very much this winter. I’ll be hanging around the Journeyman area most of the time. Either that or be out here getting wood or doing some other duty. Being a Journeyman is nothing at all like being an Apprentice.”

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Chapter 12

Circle that month was eventful, Tobal had never seen eight people get initiated at the same time. The initiations started early and they continued late into the night. Everyone was tired and the party didn’t get going until well after midnight. After the initiations the drum circle began and it was party time. In all it was a good time and the night went by very fast. It was early August and the sight of naked bodies dancing wildly around the central fire was as intoxicating as the home brewed beer.

One of the wilder dancers was Zee. She beckoned him to join in the dance and on impulse he threw his robe to the ground and leapt into the circle of cavorting bodies, giving himself away to the driving rhythm. The energy in the circle was intense and the drummers never seemed to tire or stop.

Later during a break she was leaning on him with her arm around his shoulder and he felt her breast against him. She told him she was sitting out the winter and wondering if he would like to partner up with her. He was flattered and she was an inviting partner. Regretfully he squeezed one of her cheeks.

“I’m sorry Zee, I’m going to be training newbies all winter. Otherwise I would, really.”

“Fine then,” she pouted and abruptly turned back to the dance.

Kevin had been watching and came over casually asking how things were going.

“She’s really something, isn’t she?” Kevin watched her retreating rear move in time to the drums as her braided raven hair flew about like a whip.

“I think she’s looking for a winter partner,” Tobal volunteered.

Kevin shot a quick look at him, “Are you interested?”

“No, I’m training newbies this winter.”

“That’s really hard they say,” Kevin glanced once more at Zee. “I’m not even thinking about it myself. I might have to go over and introduce myself.”

Kevin chuckled and drained his mug of beer. He set it down beside his robe and disappeared into the dance slowly working his way over to Zee and cavorting his lanky muscular body in front of her.

Tired of the dance Tobal donned his robe and headed to the keg for another refill of beer. He noticed Melanie and Becca sitting off to the side. Neither of them had joined in the dance or partied much. It seemed they preferred each other’s company to that of the group. As he approached Melanie looked up.

“Hey Tobal, is it alright if Becca goes with us. We can all travel together and get to know each other better.

He muttered something about it being all right with him and made an excuse to go look for Nikki and ask how things were going with her newbie. There was a lot of tension between him and Becca and he didn’t know how to make things better, hell, he didn’t know if he wanted to make things better. He was irritated at how close Melanie had gotten with her though. It looked like they were best friends or something.

Tobal avoided Ox who was drunk, belligerent and telling stories about training his last newbie. Ox was complaining how no one could get newbies any more because some people were taking them all and not training them properly. Everyone knew that newbies needed more than a month to train before they could solo. He didn’t think the elders should have let Nick solo and he was letting everyone in camp know about it too.

The next day it was more fun travelling with the two girls than alone Tobal reflected. Even if they did tease him a lot. They seemed to have boundless energy and a sense of fun that made the trip go by quickly. He found himself laughing with them in spite of his normal taciturn self. They were both surprised when he told his first joke and pinched each other to see if they were awake or not.

Winter was going to hit the mountains and it was a pleasant surprise to find eight newbies at sanctuary. This was the last chance to get training in good weather before the winter months hit. Most Apprentices didn’t like training during the winter because it was hard enough to survive alone without trying to teach someone else He figured that was why both Tara and Zee had asked him about partnering up for the winter. He was even considering asking Melanie if she wanted to partner up with him for a month or two. The timing just never seemed right.

Two other Apprentices were already there. They had missed circle to get newbies and it was just dumb luck there were enough newbies to go around.

Early August had blasts of cold that reminded Tobal of the bitter winter months ahead. He needed to be thinking about his own permanent winter camp. During the winter travel and temporary camps were both dangerous. Winter clothing was essential and food critical to replace the heat given off by the body.

In addition the nights were longer and there was less sunlight. The chance of getting caught in mountain storms was very real and likely. Rafe had talked some about winter survival but there had not been any need to do much preparation then. Now it was time to do some serious thinking and integrate it into his training.

Tobal found himself with his third trainee. To his delight it was Sarah. He had forgotten she would be claiming sanctuary in the late summer. When she saw him, she raised a scene by running over and hugging him. She refused to go with anyone else and there were a few tense moments. Since there were enough newbies things were soon straightened out and everyone was happy.

The days were getting shorter and travel would soon be getting harder. The leaves were turning and there was not as much ready vegetation for fresh salads. They relied on dried fruit and meat. They scavenged for herbs and nuts that would be impossible to find after the snows came and began collecting and drying them. They stayed on the lookout for Hazelnuts, acorns, walnuts and chestnuts.

Acorns needed to be roasted but any nuts were good protein for the winter months and kept well in storage. Some tubers and inner bark of trees were collected to be made into flour later on. Tobal was hoping to make some bread this winter if he could figure out how to do it.

Trapping became the most important thing since they needed furs to make clothing for the coming winter. The easiest fur bearing animals were the beaver and muskrats. They spent much time near the streams during that first week living off fish and small animals they snared. They even tried eating beaver and muskrat. Tobal decided he could eat it if needed but used most of the meat for baiting traps and snares for more pleasant tasting game.

The skinned pelts needed to be fleshed by scraping off every bit of fat, flesh and membrane from the back of the hide and then stretching it on a stretching board with the fur on the inside leaving it to dry. It was hard nasty work that dulled knives and took up most of the day.

The muskrat pelts were stretched over specially whittled and sized boards but the beaver pelts were stretched in circular wood hoops and laced into place tightly. The wooden hoops were made by steaming the wood and gently bending it into the desired shape and then lashing the wood tightly into place. This was also the way snowshoes would be made later when they had more time.

After the pelts had dried a few days they were tanned with a cooked smelly mixture of brains, bone marrow, and liver spread liberally over the hides, worked into them and left for a few days. The foul mixture was then washed off and the process of “pulling” the leather began. Enzymes in the bad smelling mixture softened the leather enough to tan it.

Pulling the leather was a process of bending it sharply and making it pliable. This was done by pulling the pelt across the sharp edge of a stone or around a small smooth wooden pole set in the ground. After the pelt was soft and pliable the last step was for the tanned side to be smoked so the leather would not become stiff after it had gotten wet. It was only then the pelts could be cut and sewn into winter clothing.

Making the stretching boards and the stretching frames took several days and Tobal knew Sarah would not be ready to solo at the next circle. There was too much to be done. By the end of the 2nd week they had trapped enough beaver and muskrat for their own use and were busy tanning and smoking the pelts. What worried him was they hadn’t had time to do much else and the weather was getting colder. They were running out of time.

He worried about Melanie and Nick. He had not taught them much about tanning leather and making winter clothing because it had been the middle of summer. Rafe had not spent much time on it because the weather had been getting warmer. But he had shown Tobal the basics of tanning leather and making winter equipment. Rafe had also shown Tobal his own finished products at his base camp. Tobal still had things stored away at Rafe’s camp and he needed to get them.

Rafe was no longer available and busy with Journeyman things. It was Tobal’s responsibility to make sure those he trained were able to survive the harsh mountain winters. Most Apprentices would simply hole up in their base camps and wait the winter out.

Rafe had told him the entire purpose and spirit of being an Apprentice was to learn and train people to survive during any time of the year, not just the good months. In fact, the reason Rafe trained six people so quickly was because he trained them in the winter when few people were willing to train. Last winter medics on air sleds twice sought out Rafe and told him there was a newbie waiting at sanctuary that needed training and they asked if he would do it. They only asked this of the best and most experienced teachers. Rafe had even talked them into giving him an air sled ride to sanctuary so he didn’t have to travel in the bitter weather any more than was needed.

In the snow travel would be almost impossible unless snowshoes were made and now was the time to be making them. The green wood needed to be steamed until it could be bent into the snowshoe shapes and then lashed together for drying. They would be laced later.

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Nick was strong and liked working with his hands building things out of stone. He got the idea of chipping flint much more easily than Tobal, which was good, because it was just about the only thing Nick found easy.

They spent most of their time trapping and hunting. Tobal wanted to be sure Nick would be able to get enough food when winter came. Nick was a total klutz in the woods and seemed to lack an intuitive sense about anything dealing with animals and hunting. But they kept at it until he was getting good results simply from repetition. Nick was a person that couldn’t be told anything. He had to learn by doing it himself and that took time.

It was a long hard month but at least the weather cooperated. Nick was a little slower than Melanie was. He required more work and didn’t get things quite as quickly. There were times when Tobal’s patience wore completely out and he felt ready to explode, especially after going over the same thing for the fourth or fifth time until Nick got it right. Nick required a lot of personal attention and hands on experience but once he got it, he really got it and he was ready to solo by the time of the next gathering.

Nick was the only one of five new initiates ready to solo and that made quite a stir within the clan. Tobal was proving himself to be quite a trainer following in the footsteps of Rafe and even doing a little better as long as his students were trained properly and he knew they were. The elders were inclined to agree and allowed Nick his solo after questioning him at length about what he had learned. The weather was getting colder and they were getting more careful.

Nikki, Kevin and Zee were each spending another month training their newbies even though they would be initiated tonight.

The elders called Melanie and Becca to the front of the circle for completing their solos. Then it was his turn. He had his 1st chevron sewn on his shoulder and it felt very good indeed.

“Hey Melanie! Wait up!” He hurried to catch up as they headed to get robes. “How was your solo?”

“Oh, I found the perfect place and it’s not that far from yours,” she said excitedly. “It’s east of yours on the other side of the stream that feeds into the lake. I’ve already started building my base camp. You need to stop by and see it some time.”

“I will,” he promised. “Is it easy to find?”

“Give me your map and I’ll mark it for you,” she held out her hand for his map.

“I don’t have it with me,” he said. “It’s in my pack.”

“Well, let’s get it then,” she said and they wandered over to his pack. He handed her his map and a pencil. She put a quick mark on the map and he looked. It was about ten miles east of his own camp and in some even rougher territory.

“I know this is going to be hard to find,” he told her. “You might have to show me how to get there the first time.”

She smiled quite pleased and replied. “Sure, I’ll take you out there anytime. I really want to train one newbie before winter sets in though. I’m leaving very soon.”

“Well, good luck and take care of yourself,” he gave her a hug and a kiss. “I miss you a lot more than I’m going to miss Nick. Say, I’m going to sanctuary after circle. If you want to we can go together.”

She laughed and waved as she turned around. “Let me think on it. I was going to leave before circle. I’ll get back to you.”

With that she wandered over to the food table and he went back to where the robes were being given out and changed into his. Angel was handing out the robes this month. Most clan members wore tunics during the day but were required to wear robes during ritual. Everyone was responsible for their own robe and was expected to turn it back in by noon of the next day.

“I see you’ve got four chevrons now.” He kidded her. “Your leg must be getting a lot better.”

She laughed, “I beat up one of your friends to get it.”

“Really,” he said suddenly interested. “Who’d you fight?”

“Oh, it was just Rafe,” she said. “But he really is getting better. I used to feel so sorry for him getting picked on all the time and then it was my turn and I thought “why not.” It was a tough fight though. He almost beat me.” She grinned, “Don’t tell him that though. That’s just between you and me ok?”

“Ok,” he said, but was already thinking about kidding Rafe and went looking for him.

Tobal roamed the gathering spot talking and mingling with his friends and other clansmen. Everyone seemed friendlier then last month. He spent time talking with Wayne and separately with Char.

Wayne was a burly salt of the earth type that was friendly and open. He and Char had been the first one’s to welcome Tobal into the clan and make him feel wanted. He always made a point to speak with them and see how they were doing. Wayne had one chevron because he had trained Char. They had stayed together over the past winter and summer but there were growing problems. They both needed to train newbies and didn’t want to loose each other as romantic partners. Char wanted to leave and train someone else over the winter.

“I think she’s tired of me and doesn’t love me any more,” Wayne complained to Tobal. “She wants another boyfriend. If she thinks she can do that, I’ll rip his head off.” Wayne stamped his foot on the ground in anger. “I don’t want to share her with anyone else.”

Tobal didn’t really know what to say since his own track record with girls wasn’t that good. He patted Wayne on the shoulder and tried calming him down.

“Hey, things might not be all that bad,” he said. “Tell you what. I’ll go over and talk with Char and see what’s up. Will that help?”

“Thanks Tobal, I’d really appreciate that.” “I owe you one,” he said.

Tobal went looking for Char about the same time Tara walked by with Nick. She was getting him pumped up about his coming solo. Tobal thought he knew what was on her mind but it wasn’t any of his business so he kept his mouth shut. He remembered going up to her one night after seeing her dancing naked at the drum circle after ritual. There was no doubt she was hot and liked to have men look at her. Under ordinary circumstances he might have been inclined to take up her offer to spend the winter. Nick was old enough to look out for himself.

“There you are,” he called out as he caught up with Char at the roasting pit where she was cooking a monstrous venison roast. Char was a stout round faced blond and the best cook in the entire camp. Her cooking was legendary and this roast was no exception. It looked and smelled wonderful. A roast that size took several people to handle and there were five or six others taking turns watching the roast, turning it as needed and coating it with spices and sauces. There were three fire pits with different things cooking in each one. The cooks kept an eye on all of them and helped each other as needed.

“Need any help?” He asked with a smile.

“Sure, turn this for a quarter turn and hold it if you would. It’s not balanced right and that spot never gets cooked enough.

Tobal did as directed and levered the roast around. She had been right. It was not balanced properly and wanted to fall back to its original position.

“There’s got to be a way to hold this in place,” he complained. “Do you have any rope around?”

He let the roast drop back to its original position and rummaged around for some lashing material and a long pole. He set the pole up with the lashing material so it worked like a very long handle that would spin the roast. It was not pretty but it did lock the roast in several new positions for more even cooking.

“I talked with Wayne.” He ventured cautiously.

Char sighed, “I’ve been out here for one year and I still haven’t trained anyone. I don’t want to spend the rest of my life living in a teepee. Wayne doesn’t understand that. He’s like a big child yet. He thinks this Daniel Boone stuff is fun.”

“Well, I don’t,” she said”. “ I’d like a regular bath with warm water and soap, nice clothes and both of us leading a normal life, even having kids some day. I love Wayne and want to spend the rest of my life with him, but I don’t love him enough to spend it out here. We both need to train six people and get to the next level of training.”

“ I understand,” Tobal told her. “I’m trying as hard as I can to train people. I want to be a citizen and don’t have any intention of living this way the rest of my life.” He added, “I’ve often wondered when the two of you were going to start training newbies. I knew you were in love but it seemed like it couldn’t just go forever without training people. Maybe you can talk to Wayne like you did to me and let him know how important it is for you to start training. Winter is a hard time to train anyone though.

“Yes, I suppose I’d better try talking with him again,” she sighed “but he is slow as an ox at times. He’s a Taurus you know.”

“So am I,” Tobal grinned at her. “Well I’d better be going. I think circle is about to start and I want to be there.”

He gave her a hug and a kiss and walked back toward the circle. If she was talking about kids he didn’t think Wayne really had much to worry about.

Later he kidded Rafe about being beaten by Angel but Rafe wasn’t in a good mood about it and changed the subject quickly.

“Hey you remember the dark haired girl that initiated you?” Rafe asked.

“Yeah, what about her?”

“Her name is Misty and she only needs one more fight.”

“I already knew that. I was talking to Angel about her last week. I thought maybe you had something new about her.”

“Not really but she is kind of fun to talk to. I wouldn’t want to fight her though.” Rafe joked. “Pretty soon babies will start challenging me and then I might win once in awhile.”

“You will get your turn Rafe. Don’t worry so much about it. Angel said you almost beat her.”

“She did?” Rafe eyed him hopefully. “What else did she say?”

“I wasn’t even supposed to say that,” Tobal shrugged. “You were just feeling so down I thought I had to say something. I know I’m really going to have trouble fighting when it’s my turn. Still I try not to think about it any more than I need to.”

“How long do you do guard duty for the initiations anyway?” He asked to change the subject.

“This is going to be my last month,” Rafe said. “Then I’ll get some other duty. Did you know we lost two Apprentices already this month?”

“What do you mean ‘Lost?” Tobal asked curiously. “I thought the medics looked out for all of us.”

“Oh, I don’t mean they got lost in the woods or died,” Rafe corrected. “I mean they got fed up and headed back to civilization before winter set in.”

“People can leave?” Tobal asked in surprise.

“Sure,” this is a voluntary program and you can leave anytime you want. There is nothing keeping you here except two hundred miles of wilderness. Remember New Seattle is only a hundred and fifty miles straight south of here. You can make that in three or four days pretty easy.”

“I had forgotten all about that.” Tobal said. “Do people take time off and go to the city once in awhile for fun?”

“It’s not allowed,” Rafe said. “If you get out of range of the air sleds and they can’t monitor your med-alert bracelet you are considered to have quit the program and need to start all over from scratch. Each year someone finds that out the hard way. Most of the times a medic will stop you and give you a warning though.”

Changing the subject Tobal asked, “How’s Dirk doing anyway? I feel real bad about what happened last month at Melanie’s initiation. I should have warned her or something.”

“No, people aren’t supposed to know what’s going to happen. Dirk is doing fine and his wound is healing fine. That whole thing was just bad luck, that’s all. Dirk’s a good sport and taking it pretty well even though some of the kids are razzing him.”

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Chapter 11

Wayne and Char were still working on their base camp and making good progress. They invited him to stop by if he was ever in the neighborhood and gave him directions. At least they were not mad at him. Tara was still looking for someone to partner up with for the winter and wasn’t doing so well with the construction of her base camp. It was pretty obvious she was looking for a man.

Tobal saw some of his other friends gathered by the kitchen and waved. Only a couple waved back and a few looked the other direction and moved away. He saw the Ox glower at him and sulk past silently.

Apparently there were no other candidates that month and Melanie’s initiation was going to be the only one. There was a highly charged atmosphere about the camp with an under current of anger and many were curious to get their first sight of this hell cat that was also rumor had it, prepared to take her solo! She was going to do this without even the traditional month of training and it was causing quite a stir.

Later he learned from Ellen the Ox had waited at sanctuary for another student and none had appeared. Both Zee and Kevin had gone there after the storm and waited too but no one had shown up. That’s why they were upset with him. While they had been worried about him he had been out training the only newbie available.

She warned him there could really be some hard feelings and resentment among Apprentices unless more newbies started coming in. The last couple months had been abnormally slow and people planning on becoming Journeymen were still one or two trainees away. Ox was obviously on the war path and it would pay to stay well out of his way if possible.

He excused himself from Ellen and was thinking about what she had said when he suddenly remembered the attack on his camp and the mysterious mass grave at the abandoned gathering spot. He wanted to ask Rafe about these things. Unfortunately Rafe was involved in Melanie’s initiation as a guard. Tobal also wanted to share his secret camp location with Rafe so he could find it.

As Melanie’s initiation began, Tobal found himself casting furtive glances toward the red haired girl. She was talking rapidly and excitedly to an Apprentice that was sitting next to her. He recognized the gray robed figure as the instructor that brought her into circle last time. He suddenly realized Becca was going to be soloing this month along with Melanie.

His feelings of responsibility toward Melanie were stronger than his curiosity and he felt himself drawn back into Melanie’s initiation ceremony as the drums started beating in deep rhythm. He was drawn into the dance with the other circle members.

Disoriented, she stood hoodwinked and tied before the central fire. Her tunic had been cut a little too high and he caught glimpses of her pubic hair in the firelight. It seemed that some dancers jostled her too roughly but she stood proudly through it all as the power grew within the circle. Tobal could feel the power growing and soon sensed the presence of the Lord and Lady. He saw them with his inner eye. It seemed they were not as happy as before and the energy had an angry tinge to it that had not been there during his initiation.

He was happy for Melanie and gave her a big hug at the end of the ceremony. She was now wearing the gray trousers and there were tears of happiness in her eyes.

“Thank you Tobal,” she whispered as she clung to him. “This is sanctuary and the safest place I have ever been in my life. I’m among friends I can trust in a place where I belong and you are my closest and dearest friend.”

She pulled him close and kissed him deeply, her lips crushing his in a fierce embrace.

The party was getting into full swing when some raucous voices called Tobal over in their direction. Tobal saw his friends drinking home brewed beer out of leather drinking jacks and hurried over to help drink it up. This evening was in Melanie’s honor and he made introductions. It was Melanie that made the greatest hit by passing out honeycomb and honey to people greedy for the unaccustomed sweets. The drums beat again and the party shifted into high gear with people dancing just for the pleasure of dancing.

Rafe came over in his new black outfit. They exchanged stories and caught each other up on what had been going on. Rafe was concerned about Tobal’s camp being destroyed and mentioned there had been other camps that had been destroyed in that general area. He had never heard about the abandoned camp with its mass grave site and found the story interesting, especially the part about the air sleds that came and buzzed them without waving back. He considered going there and checking it out himself.

Rafe also brought him up to date on circle and clan politics. It seemed that fewer people were coming to circle these days. The shortage of newbies had caused division among the clan members. The heat of the summer months made food abundant and many treated it as a holiday. Others formed romantic partnerships that lasted several months.

Often love turned sour and couples once in love with each other separated in anger and jealousy looking for new partners or newbies to train. The total effect was too many clan members stuck in the Apprentice degree without a means of self promotion. They were going elsewhere and turning their attention to other things. There was even talk of a new gathering spot that had different laws and customs.

Rafe’s students had managed to corner the market on newbies and were moving up the ranks faster than others. The incident with Ox brought things to a head and guide lines needed to be set up. Ox had come back from waiting over a week at sanctuary and no one had shown up. Furious he had gone to the elders complaining that Tobal had threatened him with a knife and forcibly taken Melanie away from him. The circle elders took this very seriously and they were very interested in talking with Tobal about it.

The incident between Melanie and the guard had defused the situation and Melanie had told her own version of the story to Ellen. That was probably why none of the elders had approached Tobal yet and now they might not.

What the elders had done was decree anyone wishing to train a newbie was welcome to wait at sanctuary as long as they liked and take turns as newbies showed up on a first come, first served basis. Some got tired of waiting and left in disgust without anyone to train. Others stayed and waited for as long as three weeks before a newbie showed up to train. Everyone now felt they had an equal chance to train someone and much of the earlier resentment was fading away.

There was still a crisis though. The average length of training had gone from two months to less than 28 days and some newbies were not being trained properly. One of the newbies trying to solo had gotten lost without water and almost died. Luckily the med-alert bracelet called the medics before it was too late.

Given this, there was a lot of concern about Tobal declaring Melanie ready to solo in not quite four weeks. There had been some discussion about letting her solo at all. Only the fact that Tobal had been Rafe’s student caused the elders to go along with it.

None of Rafe’s students had any trouble soloing and it was obvious they were happier and healthier than most of the other trainees before and after their solo. It was also very obvious they knew their stuff. Rafe had gotten his Journeyman degree in one year and he was highly respected in the circle of elders as a talented trainer. Not only was he a good trainer but his students had proven themselves to be good trainers. They were willing to give Tobal the benefit of the doubt.

“And,” Rafe continued with a chuckle,” It seems Melanie can take care of herself!”

In other areas it seemed Rafe wasn’t doing so hot. While Rafe was glad to meet him and participate in circle ceremonies, he also had the obligation of Journeyman circle during the new moon at a different location. The Journeyman degree was devoted to self defense and combat. There were constant challenges for combat.

Because of Rafe’s age and small size, he was a prime target and considered an easy win. Most of the Journeymen wasted no time challenging Rafe whenever they could. Luckily the six victories needed to be six different people. After having fought and won they left Rafe alone. If Rafe wanted to rechallenge anyone he had the right to do that as the loser. But in general the winner could not rechallenge someone for another official fight. This was a hard time for Rafe. He was frustrated and having trouble dealing with it.

Tobal’s reverie was halted abruptly by the appearance of the red haired girl, Becca. She walked up in front of him and stood silently with her head bowed. His friends turned silent with curiosity. Not comprehending they looked from her to him and back to her again. She had tears in her eyes as she looked at him.

“I’m sorry,” she said, “Please forgive me. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”

Tobal’s nerves snapped, “Get away from me! Get away from me!” He screamed.

Her hand flew to her mouth and she stumbled away into the night crying. As she turned and ran Tobal got up and left. He moved over to a place in the shadows and savagely fought back tears. His thoughts were lost in bitterness and despair.

Rafe came looking for him first.

“What was that all about,” he asked? “Do you know her? Have you met before?”

Tobal looked at Rafe. The pain was gleaming darkly in his eyes as he raised his hand and touched the scars on his face.

“She did this to me,” he choked and breaking into sobs turned away.

“Oh, God!” Rafe started and gasped. Then Rafe turned and left him crying against the trunk of the tree he had been sitting against.

Tobal guessed Rafe had gotten the word out and felt even more humiliated and angry. It was not fair, now the entire camp was going to know what happened. He’d told everyone he had been attacked by a wild animal and now was caught in his own lie. He was going to be the laughing stock of the whole camp.

Melanie came to him toward morning. She had been crying. Her eyes were puffed and red and she was sniffling. She ran to him and held him in her arms. It took a few minutes but he put his arms around her too and held her close. He had to admit she did feel good in his arms. Soon she had him smiling and was trying to get him to join the rest of the group. When he finally walked over to the others he noticed a strange silence. Ellen turned to him.

“Becca ran away last night and no one has seen or heard from her. We think she is starting her solo early, but we are not really sure of anything at this point.”

Zee and Kevin both came over and apologized for their bad behavior toward him last night. They hadn’t understood about Becca and assumed he had raced to sanctuary in spite of their earlier agreement to get a newbie. They were heading for sanctuary with Nikki and invited him to travel with them. He thanked them but said no. He would be coming a bit later and needed to talk with Rafe first. If it was going to be such a big deal he would let the others go ahead this time. Ox would be there and that made four people he knew would be at sanctuary. He just didn’t feel social right now.

August was the month of Melanie’s and Becca’s solos. Tobal had gotten his second newbie, a boy named Nick. August was an unusual month with eight newbies at sanctuary. That is the first time all summer for so many newbies. Tobal had gotten lucky because Nick was number eight and waiting at sanctuary. The Ox, Zee, Nikki and Kevin had each gotten newbies to train. Tobal had resigned himself to waiting out the entire month and was astounded to find Nick waiting when he arrived a few days later. The others had already left but told Nick he would be coming.

They went straight to Tobal’s main camp and spent the first week completing some permanent winter shelters he and Melanie had started. They also worked on stone axes since axes were so desperately needed for chopping wood. The knives didn’t work well for the heavier and thicker logs.

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It was an hour later when the first air sled appeared and circled over them. By then they were three miles away from the abandoned camp and heading upstream. They waved but the medic didn’t wave back. After circling a few times he simply left.

Tobal was feeling uneasy about the situation and knew continuing upstream was a mistake. It would give the impression they might follow the stream back down again to return into the forbidden area. With this in mind he checked his location on the map and set out directly cross-country toward the gathering spot. Twice that day air sleds checked on them but simply flew over without circling.

They made a few dry camps before reaching water again and the going was extremely rough. The terrain was much more rocky with less vegetation and animal life. More than once Tobal was grateful for Melanie’s prowess with snare and sling. Things would have been much more difficult if he had been on his own out here.

There were no more air sleds and Tobal felt relief but remained careful. Camps he chose now were secret, hidden and very hard to find. People could pass a few yards from his shelter without knowing he or Melanie was there. They found caves to sleep in and built fires with dry wood that would not smoke and give away their location.

Melanie took to this new training like a duck takes to water. She was naturally secretive and suspicious of strangers. She moved so quietly with the ability to appear and disappear that she seemed like a ghost. She laughed when he told her that though.

Basically Tobal was an even tempered teacher and she was quick and eager to learn. After two weeks of training she had learned navigating by map and compass. While she was an expert with the sling, it took her a while to get her first deer with the bow, mainly because of the terrain they were traveling in.

She was now providing the food for both of them and learning to construct various shelters. It was mid July and there were plenty of berries to eat as well. They saw larger animals like deer, bear, cougar and mountain goats. It was certainly an area not occupied by anyone else.

After two weeks of wandering they found a small hidden canyon with it’s own small waterfall and plenty of game. It was a box canyon with only one entrance that was a narrow crack in a rock face. They only found it by accident when Melanie was checking places to set out snares for the night.

It was this remote little canyon that he decided to make his permanent base camp. They spent the remaining time building shelters. He finished his teepee and used the blanket material they brought as outer covering. Together they built a permanent smoker and rack for sun drying jerky in the hot summer sun and completed a sweat lodge they were both dying to try out.

One morning Melanie came running to him all excited. She had found a honey tree. It was a rare treat and Tobal knew it would make a big hit at circle if they could find a way to get the honey without killing the bees. In the end they covered themselves with poncho material and smoked the bees out reaching into the tree with heavily protected hands and arms. They took two canteen cups full of the rich honey comb and honey leaving the rest for later. Tobal wanted the bees to survive and keep a constant supply of honey available.

Time passed quickly, it was almost the full moon and they were far from the gathering spot. To make things even more complicated they would be coming into the gathering spot from the valley and not from the cliff trail most newbies entered on their first time into the area. He didn’t know how that was going to work out and decided to think about it later when they got closer to circle.

With a smirk of satisfaction he stepped around the boulder from the wide trail onto the narrow ledge and sat down to wait. He had decided the best course was to simply take her up the trail to where the guards would be waiting. He told her to wait five minutes before following him back down and thought the guards would understand what was going on. He passed the area where they had taken him without incident and felt things were going all right. He was totally unprepared for the blood curdling scream and sounds of struggle he heard coming from the other side of the boulder. He should have given her some kind of warning he realized. It was too late now.

Racing back around the boulder he saw Melanie standing with her back to the cliff face, a bloody knife in her hand and a crazed look on her face. She saw Tobal and flung herself into his arms sobbing hysterically and trembling violently.

“They attacked me.” She kept sobbing. “I didn’t mean to hurt anyone.”

One of the guards lay sprawled on the trail bleeding fiercely from a gash in his shoulder. Tobal recognized him as a Journeyman named Dirk. The dark haired girl was applying first aid to her fallen companion and ignoring Melanie as if she didn’t exist. The third guard was presumably running for assistance back to the camp.

Tobal held her shaking body keeping her steady until she cried herself out. He didn’t know what to do. Other guards would be coming soon and he was going to be in big trouble. He couldn’t think of anything to say and quietly led Melanie back down the trail. They heard the sound of running feet and moved quickly into the shadows as a group of six guards raced up the trail toward their fallen comrade.

Getting back on the trail they entered the camp and Tobal tried finding someone with a red robe that could straighten this whole mess out. He found Ellen, the High Priestess, by the circle and turned Melanie over to her. Melanie clung first to him as he tried to leave and then to Ellen for reassurance and safety after Ellen convinced her that every thing was going to be all right.

Tobal explained the situation to Ellen and Melanie was aghast and horrified to find out she had attacked and wounded someone that was only trying to initiate her into circle. She was furious at Tobal for setting the thing up and Ellen had to forcibly restrain her from attacking Tobal in her fury. Ellen took it in stride and chuckled a bit.

“You certainly have what it takes to belong to our clan,” she said. “Things will be alright. Don’t worry about it.”

When the guards came to get her Ellen suggested not to fight but go along with them peacefully for her initiation and entry into the clan. Tobal saw with amusement that Rafe was one of them and the dark haired girl another. There were six guards coming over to where Ellen, Tobal and Melanie were talking. Although some of the guards looked angry, Rafe was smiling. Tobal gave him a bear hug and couldn’t help but notice that Rafe flinched as if he were injured or hurt. But Rafe gave no sign anything was wrong and the guards took a peaceful and submissive Melanie to get ready for her initiation.

As they left Ellen turned to him with a grim look on her face and said, “I think you’ve got a little explaining to do to Zee and Kevin. They were looking all over for you after circle last month. I’ll be wanting to talk with you a bit later myself, ok?”

“Oh, damn!” he said. “I forgot all about them! When do you want to talk with me?”

“Sometime after circle.”

Word soon spread that Tobal’s newbie had skewered one of the guards on the way into camp. The guard was doing fine and in no danger. Most clansmen treated it as something that was highly funny but Tobal was not amused. Things had gone horribly wrong and someone could have been hurt or even killed and he felt responsible.

He was at the center of the circle proclaiming Melanie ready for her first solo when he noticed the red-haired girl, Becca, staring at him from the left side of the fire. Turning away, he continued talking and then resolutely returned to his sitting spot determined not to look in her direction again. He had seen the wonder and astonishment on her face and knew she was as surprised to see him as he had been to see her.

Tobal’s situation was unique in that he was acting as a sponsor bringing a person into the clan for the first time and at the same time proclaiming that person ready to solo on their own in less than a month. This was not a normal situation and Melanie’s escapade with the guards made a lively buzz of conversation around the camp as people congregated before the circle and chatted together. To his relief the elders approved her solo.

There were some farewells as some three year Masters left to become citizens. August was hot, very hot even in the mountains. He was thirsty and walked over to the beer barrel.

“Hi Nikki,” he said.

“Oh,” she looked startled and turned around toward him. “Hi.”

“Congratulations on soloing.”

“Thanks.” She said and bit her lip. For some reason she seemed a bit cool towards him.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“No,” she said, “ I’ve just got to get going. I want to train a newbie and need to get my things ready to leave early.” She turned and walked away from him.

“Good luck,” he said to her back as she walked away. There was something definitely wrong and it seemed to be him for some reason.

Moving over by the circle he saw Angel dressed in a black robe and was surprised that she was a Journeyman with three chevrons.

“I thought you were an Apprentice,” he told her. “When I saw you in sanctuary with your broken leg you were dressed in gray.”

“That was because of my injury,” she told him. “When I went through processing for treatment I was given the old gray stuff and my other clothes were ruined.”

They chatted for a bit and she was pleasant. It must just be the Apprentices that were pissed at him.

“Who is that dark haired girl with Dirk?” he asked suddenly. “I’ve been meaning to find out her name for two months now.” He blushed a bit.

Angel laughed. “That’s Misty, she’s only got one more fight to win before she makes Master. Perhaps she can fight you, get you ready for being a real Journeyman?” She winked.

Tobal was embarrassed and changed the subject. He always had trouble with girls and didn’t really know how to take them.

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