Chapter 9

They fought their way west along the trunk. The rain chilled Paul's head as it slicked his hair. Cold drips ran down the back of his neck. The forest ran with water and their clothes clung to them and pulled heat from their bodies. Wet clothes chaffed them in uncomfortable places. Even the sheepskin cloak wasn't impervious to the deluge. It weighed Paul down like the full pack had, but with no promise of food. They took most of the morning to reach the place where the tree had torn itself from the forest floor. Paul looked nervously down into the hole the tree had left. He saw just a glint of a reflection from the bottom. The wet earth wouldn't be easy to climb. They made sure to stay well back from the edge.

Once around the hole they had to fight their way back to the road. There was a little more space on the north side of the tree and they were able to hug the massive trunk and make better time.

"Well that was a good morning's work," Daniel said. "We took half the day to travel fifteen feet." He grunted and pushed away from the tree. "Let's hope there aren't any more this size. He walked off down the road. Paul followed. The combined weight of the wet sheepskin cloak and the pack made him stumble a little.

The rain lasted all that day. They had no fire at supper either. Daniel gave them extra bread.

"It's going to go to mold in this wet anyway," he said, "I'd rather eat the bread than throw it away."

The rain continued all night. Paul didn't argue when Daniel again handed him extra slices. He was shivering too much to talk.

They walked through the rain for two more days. Daniel had to pick mold off the bread before he sliced it. The last day there was more mold than bread and he threw the remains away.

"That was the last of it." Daniel said, "We didn't do too bad. We'll need a fire tonight or we'll be chewing dry oats."

They didn't eat dry oats that next morning, but only because the mold had gotten into the oats and turned them green. Instead, Daniel used the little knife to poke a hole in the eggs and they ate raw eggs for breakfast. It was disgusting, but it was food.

The rain stopped that day and the temperature plummeted. Their wet clothes stuck to them sucking the heat from their bodies.

"We'll have to get a fire going," Daniel said, "or the cold will kill us."

The pack held everything they owned and still it hung mostly empty on Paul's back. They pushed on. Paul looked at the Page.

Keep walking.

"Not terribly helpful," Daniel muttered.

Soon after that Paul fell to the road. He pushed himself to his feet, but Daniel had to help him walk. Paul didn't think Daniel was in much better shape. They were stumbling along the road when the foresters found them.

One second, the road was bleak and empty; the next it was full of rough looking men dressed in furs.

"What have we here?" One of the men asked.

"H h h help us," Paul stammered.

"Sure, we'll help you, but it needs to be a fair trade," the man walked around Paul and Daniel. "I've never seen a cloak like this before. We'd feed and warm you in exchange for the cloak."

Paul just nodded.

"OK then," the man said, "Help them along, quick now." The other men took Paul and Daniel's arms and half carried, half dragged them along a narrow track to where a large tent stood. The inside of the tent was so warm that Paul felt immediately sleepy. It reeked of stale food and drink and unwashed bodies. He thought it was heavenly.

"No going to sleep before you eat, or you might not wake up." A bowl was placed in Paul's hands. He ate the food and barely tasted it, but it was warm and filling. When the bowl was empty, he closed his eyes and let sleep take him.

They spent the next day in the tent. The man who had traded for the sheepskin seemed to be the leader. All the men did what he said without hesitation.

"Where are your Books?" asked Paul when it was just the leader and him and Daniel in the tent.

"I have my Book in my tent," the man said, "and I am the Book for the rest of them. We'd never get any work done if they were always dashing off to check what the Book wanted them to do. When they sign on with me, their Books will just say to obey me."

"Ah," said Daniel, "I wondered how that would work." Paul looked at him and raised his eyebrows. "In our village everybody's job is different, so we each have our book that tells us how to do our job to not displease God. In a place where a lot of people do the same job, they wouldn't need different books if they knew who to follow."

"Smart guy," the other man said. "I've got to go check on the others. Stay here."

"Be careful," Daniel said when the man had left. "There is something going on here that I don't understand."