The Fire and The Storm - The Nexus of Kellaran #2 novel Chapter 67

Part 12

“And it’s time we got to work. Prepare yourself for Translocation.”

A moment later she Translocated the entire group, using the power she and her companions had stored in their batteries, most of which they’d received from the Sylvan magic attack.

They arrived on a beach on the north-east coast of Hiliani. A line of small but jagged mountains paralleled the coast about a kilometer inland for as far as the eye could see, curving out of sight to the north-east and south-west. Between the beach and the mountains was fairly level land covered with forest.

“This will be your new community, from here to the mountains.” Reggie announced. “The first thing we need is latrine pits dug. A quarter of you will work on that with Karzog. A quarter will gather building materials with Valentia. Those who didn’t choose to attack or fight us earlier are probably the smart ones among you, so you’ll work with me on community planning. The remainder will work with Helemia on altering the courses of the streams and building bridges over them so you all have access to water and we won’t be fouling them with silt by walking in them.

“If you’ve made good progress in two hours, we’ll take a break for a meal.

“And by the way, if any of you even think of escaping, disrupting the work, or sabotaging anything, we’ll know.”

Soon Karzog, Valentia, and Helemia had chosen their teams, and work began. Since all of the Sylvan were capable wizards with about as much power as an equivalent number of elves, and were physically fit and larger than humans their ages by about a quarter, the work progressed quickly. Some grumbled and complained, but most seemed to think their new circumstances weren’t so bad, and a few actively supported the changes in their lives.

Valentia’s team scoured the area for driftwood, fallen trees and large branches, and loose stone. By the time that was done, Reggie’s team had decided on locations for eight large long-houses in the forest near the beach with garden plots and livestock enclosures.

The teams were re-organized and construction began, and proceeded with an eclectic mixture of elven, human, and Sylvan building techniques.

When the building had been going on for an hour, Valentia spent a few minutes casting hundreds of automated spells and sent them out all over the land and waters of Hiliani. In a few minutes they’d located and started retrieving foodstuffs from all over the islands; plucking fish out of water, picking berries, fruits, and vegetables, and digging edible roots from the soil and shellfish from the shoreline. These all flew back to her, and she had to cast a few more spells to protect her bounty from the local birds and insects as it was retrieved.

Once the retrieval of food was dealt with, she recruited fifty Sylvan to help wash and prepare it and cook what needed cooking.

The savory scents her team was producing wafted over the entire area, and when the supper break was declared they all set to with gusto. For most of the young Sylvan, it was the best meal they’d had in years.

As they were finishing up amidst a beautiful sunset, Karzog addressed them;

“You’ve done well. We’ll all take the rest of the night off and celebrate your new lives. First we’ll cast the Contraceptions on the females, then we’ll make some bonfires and provide some music.

“If there are any songs or musical pieces that you’d like to hear, just let us know and we’ll get them from you with a Reading. We’ll provide all the music psionicly since we don’t have any instruments, but we encourage any who know the words to sing along, and we encourage you all to dance.

“We’ll mark a Challenge Circle on the beach for those who want to fight, and if any of you bear any grudges against one another, we encourage you to get them settled tonight. You can challenge one another to fights, and if you bear a grudge against one who is far mightier than you, you can ask someone who is about as dangerous as the one you hate to be your champion. I will referee all combat, and a victory will be declared when a fighter surrenders, is rendered unconscious, or is too injured to continue. You can use lethal moves, but I’ll end the match before death can occur, and I’ll provide Healing to both fighters after every match.