A Long Road Chapter 6 Ficbit – Mystery

“What we have here,” Arvil murmured for Graya’s ears alone, leaning against her side as he diligently took more notes out of Rabbit Hole’s weather records, “is a mystery. How can any outland clan know enough to run to Valdemar, and yet not know they’re safe?”

“And heave!”

Arvil tried not to whistle as half-a-dozen Wens used hoist, tackle, and enthusiasm to rebuild Rabbit Hole’s weather-beaten cottages. The local villagers were just as enthusiastic, instructing their new neighbors on the best way to lay foundations that wouldn’t freeze before winter, how to repair and expand the stables with ancient cut stones pried out of dirt and moss, and where would be the best spot for Wen Qing to build a house all the healers could use for complicated cases without trampling herb-healer Rian’s gardens. The Wen clan might look odd, and sound odder, but Meigui, A-Yuan, and tiny Banli had made up the village elders’ minds, just as Arvil had hoped they would. No matter how strange, any clan willing to pick up small children who needed a home and treat them all as their own was welcome in Valdemar.

And horses – good, sound horses, that hadn’t yet shied at any Pelagirs weirdness – would make the difference between Rabbit Hole shivering together to survive and getting through the winter in relative safety. Horses meant that even in the depths of winter, skis and snowshoes weren’t the only options. Getting to or from Foxton with a heavy load wouldn’t take more than a day; Roeswood or Crispinstown, only a few more.

Rabbit Hole had had good horses, back when the frontier village had been founded. Two decades ago the village elders had meant to take advantage of furs, lumber, charcoal, and everything else that could be won from the Pelagirs. They’d brought in some of the best horses this side of Valdemar had seen to pack it all out.

But seven years of war with Hardorn had drained Valdemar. Horses had died; some lost to fearsome beasts, others sent west with most of Rabbit Hole’s young men and women, for Haven and the Army. Those who’d stayed, human and beast – Rian and Granny Shay had tugged him aside when he’d come through a few weeks back, and confided that they needed a Gifted Healer’s help. There’d been far too many miscarriages the past year to be coincidence.

Well, now they had one. Wen Qing and Granny Wen had consulted with the locals, checked out the afflicted women and livestock under Granny Shay’s watchful eye, gone through the local herbs and wild-harvests with Rian, and finally sent their clan and the villagers alike beating the bushes and turning over ancient ruins until they flushed out the culprit.

A/N: Still working on this chapter, but here’s a bit. 🙂