13, Coming together

For a week, they worked with the villagers to try to find a solution to the issue. The riders that had gone out tracking the wolves came back with the news that the tracks led them further up into the mountain. They had also found tracks that showed that the wolves had a large territory and after talking with the chief and consulting the maps. They concluded it was possible other villages were affected as well. The chief sent out messengers to check with the closest villages. For the immediate issue, the most obvious answer should have been to make a fence, or something similar, around the gracing fields. The idea had two weaknesses. The size of the fields made the labour of fencing it in enormous. It would also take lumber to make the fence. Lumber that they needed to get from the woods, that would make them vulnerable for attack from the wolves. It was problems they spent hours debating. In the end, the decision was made to dig a ditch around the fields. In the ditch, they would place dried bushes, twigs, and some firewood and soak it all in melted goat fat. If the wolves were to attack, the herders would be able to light the ditch. It wasn’t a perfect plan. There were several dangers with it. But it was the best they could do. 

“I’m going to check on the progress of the ditch,” Ayya said. They had spent the morning with the chief and his advisors. The messengers they had sent to the other villages should return any moment and there was a nervous atmosphere in the village. The fear that something had happened to them was big, and it was easy to understand why. Sinhera, two riders, and Kahane followed her. Even though Ayya and the riders found their way in the village now, Kahane stayed by Ayya’s side. Ayya didn’t mind. Since he got over his aversion to magic, he was pleasant company and when they had the time, he loved to ask questions about the outside world, the Che’hul being his favourite topic. 

“Couldn’t you just use magic to make the ditch?” he asked as they walked out into the field. Ayya smiled at him.

“I could, but it would put me down for a couple of days. Magic may be faster, but it requires almost the same amount of energy, just not the physical kind. I would rather that we use my magic where it is needed or in an emergency. But if we need to get the ditch done in a hurry and there is no alternative, then I can make it happen,” Ayya explained. 

“So it’s not just waving your hands around?” Kahane asked, and Ayya laughed. 

“No, there is more to it than that. There is a reason the aari study for three years.” They walked along the part of the ditch that had already been dug and then stopped and talked to some men that were digging. They had piled the soil they were excavating on the outside of the ditch. It made a small barrier, but not enough to stop wolves. As they turned around to go back to the village, Ayya spotted Miri trying not to be seen. The woman had been following Ayya since their second day in the village. Ayya didn’t know why. Every time she tried to talk to Miri, the woman hurried away. Sinhera didn’t like it and had asked Ayya to speak to the chief about it. But Ayya didn’t see that it was necessary. Ayya guessed Miri was jealous of the amount of time Ayya spent with Kahane, who Miri obviously had feelings for. As Ayya had no interest in the man and she didn’t think he had any in her either, she was happy to let Miri watch them. Either she would realise she had nothing to fear from Ayya, or she would keep watching them until Ayya and the riders left the village. 

“Rider!” one of the lookouts called out. Everyone in the group turned around to look towards the road. Two riders came trotting along the road. Ayya thought it was two of the messengers they had sent out to one of the other villages. She felt relief wash over her. 

“Let’s head back to the village hall,” Kahane said, and Ayya nodded. They hurried back and as they came walking, the chief and his advisors came out of the hall. Together, they all stood on the steps, waiting for the riders. The messengers dismounted and bowed to the chief and then to Ayya. 

“I think we will take this conversation inside. Please join us,” the chief said to the two men. They all walked into the hall and sat around the table. Ayya and the riders had all gotten permanent seats around the table. “Go on, let’s hear all what you have learned,” the chief said to the two messengers, they were the only one still standing. 

“We rode to Ferihim village,” one of them started. That was the closest village to the west. “They have the same issue as we do, but the wolves haven’t been active as long there as they have been here. The chief of the village is happy to work together. He accepts your invitation for a grand meeting, they will arrive in three days’ time.”

“That is good, we will make the preparations. How were your travels?” the chief asked. 

“We didn’t encounter anything out of the normal.”

“Good, good. Thank you for your work. Now go home to your families. They will be eager to see you. You are excepted from work for three days.” The men thanked the chief and made their way out of the hall. 

“We can move to the barn with the injured men,” Ayya offered the chief. 

“Out of the question, we will make room for the other villages’ chiefs and their men somewhere else,” he insisted. Ayya nodded. 

“It’s worrying that the wolves are working over such a large area,” one man around the table said. The others nodded. 

“It worries me that if we manage to find a way to fend them off from us, we will just be sending them onto someone else,” Kahane said. There was an agreeing murmur.

“We will not do that. No matter how desperate we are, we will not condemn another village to suffer as we have,” the chief said. Again, there was an agreeing murmur. The people in the north stuck together. They needed each other to survive and there was no discussion about shifting the burden onto someone else. Ayya agreed. It wasn’t a solution to move the issue from one place to another. They needed to find a way to keep all the villages safe. they were just about to break the meeting when they got word the next pair of messengers had been spotted. Once again, they all waited for them on the steps of the hall. The messengers were unharmed and had a similar message to the first ones. As the messengers kept returning throughout the day and the day after, they all had the same message. The wolves seemed to roam throughout the entire foot of the mountain. All the villages were willing to come together to solve this. Ayya and the riders worked alongside the villagers to prepare for the meeting and get the ditch finished. Ayya had been introduced to the chief’s wife and offered to help the women to cook, to Sinhera’s dismay. As always, Ayya found it fascinating to learn new recipes and new ways to cook and prepare food. 

The days had been full of work, but quiet when it came to attacks. The villagers were still tense and kept expecting the worst, but Ayya had been lulled into a false sense of security. That all changed on the night before the other village chiefs would arrive. Ayya and Sinhera had gone to bed and Ayya had just drifted off when she was awakened by loud noises and shouting. 

“The wolves have been spotted,” Sinhera shouted, and they both banged on the walls to the adjacent rooms. Then they sprinted out of the room, joined by the other riders as they made their way down the stairs. “All to Ayya,” Sinhera ordered.

“I can take care of myself. We need to help the villages,” Ayya objected. But it was clear that the riders didn’t listen to her as they took to the street, and they formed a protective wall around her. Kahane came running towards them.

“Let’s get up on the wall. We can see what is happening from there,” he shouted, and they all followed him up on the wall. The summer nights this far north didn’t go completely dark, there was a hint of sunlight still guiding their way. As they stood on the palisade, looking out over the fields, they could see where the herders were gathering and on the other side of the ditch there was a flock of wolves moving with determination towards the humans. 

“The ditch. They need to light it,” Ayya said just before the first wolf took a giant leap and landed on the inside of the ditch. Two more followed the first and Ayya realised the herders were so focused on the wolves that they had forgotten about the ditch. She summoned her magic and sent a spark to the ditch. The spark instantly took hold and a fire roared and spread throughout the parts of the ditch that were finished. The wolves outside of the ditch came to a screeching halt and yelped in surprised, they backed off and then started walking back and forth as if waiting for the fire to die down. They had been lucky that the wolves had attacked where the ditch were completed and not on the other side of the village where a large part were still to be dug. 

“We need to kill those three,” Sinhera shouted. Ayya looked to where she was pointing and saw that the three wolves that had jumped the ditch also were moving away from the fire. Unfortunately, that pushed them right towards the herd and the people. If they didn’t stop them, there would be a bloodbath.