The Walled Cities

Chapter 27

Two weeks had passed since Kaelyn woke up and we first talked about staying here for Winter. Even with her conscious and healing, I was busy dawn to dusk every day. Winter was coming and I had spent as much time as possible harvesting every herb I could, along with piles of greens for salads and stews. Most of the plants that were around would die soon, if they had not already. There were some many that I had spent two days digging a second freezer, this time inside the sructure. It was nearly as deep as I was tall, and half as wide. Poles had been set into the sides of it like racks, from which clumps of plants hung on. They would not last the winter, but at least we would have choices for a portion of it.

While all of this was going on, I was confident that the bears in the area had donned up for the Winter. Wolves howled at night, but they knew better than to come to here. Rabbits, squirrels, otters, beavers, and muskrats still moved about and I had caught a few of them in the various traps I had set out in a various lines and circles around camp. The bear that I had killed was gone, some of its meat in the outdoor freezer I had expanded, some of it dragged off so that scavengers could eat it. The legs I had cut up and placed in various traps for Bobcats, whose fur was warm and prized throughout the area.

Ideally I wanted to kill a deer, elk, or moose, as they would provide another good hide and the carcass I would put up high if the snow came soon. This would keep it away from predators and give us emergency food if we needed it. Unfortunately without a rifle I could not kill any of them.

Even without the rifle I had been able to continually put food in the freezer. Kaelyn had taken over working with the hides and furs of the animals, turning them into useful items. The beaver I had killed was now a bucket that we used to fetch water with. Both her and I now had otter lined hats and warm thick gloves. The bear skin had been finished and was a thick blanket that she used each night.

Though this was a good head start on Winter, the weather was beginning to worry me. The nights were getting so cold that I felt them even with the wool blanket and the fire. I had taken to wearing my socks at night to keep my feet warm. All of this meant that the freeze was coming, and with it, snow. I was worried that even with the bear skin, Kaelyn would not make it this Winter. Her body was still healing and she had never experienced Winter like this.

There was a way to keep us both warm in the coming nights, but I did not want to suggest it. Sleeping together under the same blankets and sharing each other's heat would give us a better chance at staying warm, especially as it got colder. This was not something that could be easily suggested as it was something that only married couples or siblings did. We were neither and Kaelyn would not agree to it easily right now.

Technically I could marry her in a few months when I turned eighteen years old, but that was not going to happen. I had agreed to wait until Spring to talk to her about my feelings if they were still there, and I was not going to change that. Besides I was not even sure if she would want to marry someone like me. Compared to anyone of The Walled Cities, I was poor and has little propescts for a good life. Though she could not marry anyone from the Walled Cities now, as she was no longer one of them. Whoever she married would be an Outlander, either by choice or birth, if she married at all.

Of course I would think of all this while I was out looking for bear dens. Kaelyn was back at camp weaving a pack basket out of tall grasses, willow, and alder. I had told her I was not going to be long and so far I had only traveled a mile. There was plenty of sign of small game and I had set a few traps that I could check in a few days. I stopped at a small pond and been disappointed to not find any beaver or muskrat activity. Now I was back in the forest searching for bear dens again.

Aaaaahhhh!

Ahhoooooo!

Alert with the scream and then the wolf howl, I listened for where it had come from. I was carrying one of my pistols and my crutch. The scream sounded again and without hesitation I scrambled in the direction of it. Wolves were viscous, and I would never let anyone die to a wolf if I could help it. All thought of finding a bear den or of Kaelyn left my mind as I focused on reaching the screams.