The terrain changed little as they followed the trail. An observation struck Lisa along the way. Unlike White Rocks, the settled area on this world seemed devoid of straight lines. The hills were round in contrast to the sharp angles White Rocks’ mountains. Many tree trunks had odd bends and twists. Most of the rocks in the two creeks they crossed were rounded. She knew that natural forces had made these shapes, but she had to wonder if the hand of someone wasn’t behind all those curves.
Maybe it’s a sign that this region was chosen, she thought. Maybe the people who came here didn’t like straight lines. Maybe the curves reminded them of something. Maybe this is what the land around their home looked like.
The two travelers hadn’t arrived at the end of the trail as the sun began to set. Again deciding to camp instead of travel at night, they stopped at sunset. Little Wolf could see signs that hunters had been there very recently. Lisa reread her map; they should be close to Cave City.
“Could people live off what they can hunt?” she wondered.
“Unless their range is farther than here,” Little Wolf said, “I do not think so. My people hunt over an area that takes four days to cross on a swift pony.”
“Maybe game is more plentiful here.”
“Maybe. I see no signs of that.”
The two understood the situation better when the arrived in Cave City the following morning. Lisa counted slightly less than a hundred people in the village. Everyone and everything appeared worn out by life. There were three modest fields and no gardens. The folks were friendly enough, but had nothing to share except their company.
Lisa did learn that the trail was indeed new. A family or two each year took the trail, hoping to find a better life in another town. She asked why they didn’t take the roads. The reply was simple: “Ain’t safe.”
“Have you see outlaws on the roads?”
“Don’t want to.”
“But do you know if there are any?”
“No, but why chance it?”
That night she decided to chance it. “We have to head up to Cookeville on the road,” she told Little Wolf. “We have to find out if travel is safe.”
“If it is?”
“We see if the folks up there are better off. Maybe they can spare something to help out here.”
“What if they can’t?”
“Then we’ll get it elsewhere. We can’t let these people fade away.”
The duo headed out the next morning, and got to Cookeville by late afternoon. The difference between the “neighboring” towns was strong. Cookeville was a larger town with at least two ranches and a dozen good-sized farm fields. The residents had cleaner, sharper clothes, solid homes, a few businesses, even a small lumberyard.
The leader of the town, Paul Huttin, invited the pair to dinner at his home. As the meal got under way he asked them, “Did you make it up here from Cave City?”
“Yes,” Lisa answered.
He gave them a hard look. “You sure?”
“Yes.”
“I thought there were still robbers on the roads.”
“Mister Huttin, my friend and I came through the hyperspace portal at Springdale,” she said. She chose her words carefully. “We didn’t see a soul in the city. We followed a tiny trail from there to Cave City. Folks there aren’t even sure if any other towns exist.”
“You came through the portal?”
“That’s right.”
“Why?”
“To try to help people. To make people’s lives better, like it was before the Savage Rain.”
“We’re doing all right.”
“I can see that. Do you know if any of the other towns on this world are doing as well?”
Huttin frowned, and glanced at his plate. “Sometimes we wonder the same thing.”
“You haven’t tried to find out?”
“Miss, we’ve had to struggle like Hell to get where we are. Things only started getting better in my father’s day. He managed to bring back some books from Springdale. He lost a couple friends in the effort. Ee’ve been too busy to think about much more than how we’ll get through.”
Huttin took a breath. “I’m sorry, Miss. I hope I wasn’t too harsh. It’s just that...” His voice trailed off.
“Believe me, I do understand. I’m from Fairfield, one of the worlds connected to your portal. All our towns are doing well, like yours. We try to keep in touch with each other. We help each other out. That’s why I left. I wanted to do my part, and I knew I wouldn’t have much to do there.”
“Fair enough. So, tell me, how are the folks in Cave City?”
“Terrible. They’re live off of whatever game their men can hunt. They have small, weak fields. Their clothes are little better than rags, their homes crumbling shacks.”
“Damn shame.”
“It is.” Lisa paused. “Could you spare some of what you have here to send to them?”
“I don’t know if we could spare much.”
“Let’s get your people together in the morning and ask. If we could fill just one wagon, that might be enough.”
“For now. What about later?”
“If we get a wagon there and back, would you consider keeping it going after we’re gone? I mean, Little Wolf and I ought to check out the rest of the towns on this world. We wouldn’t want to get in your way.”
“I’ll think about it.”
Lisa left it at that. The next morning the people of Cookeville assembled and listened to her describe the plight of Cave City. Over the rest of that day goods trickled to her. There were plenty of clothes and blankets, several small sacks of seed, and a few tools. It was enough to fill a wagon, but came in too late for a day’s journey to Cave City. Lisa and Little Wolf were again guests of Paul Huttin.
A short time after dinner, someone knocked on the door of Lisa’s room at Huttin’s house. She and Little Wolf were discussing what they would say to the folks of Cave City. She let him open the door.
A young woman entered. She was half a head taller than Lisa, fairly thin, with long blonde hair and brown eyes that seemed focused on the floor. “My name is Susan,” she said quietly. “You’re heading to Cave City, tomorrow, right?”
“That’s right,” Lisa answered. She waved to the edge of her bed. “Sit down. Why are you interested? Is there something we can help you with?”
“Thanks.” Susan sat down quickly. “When I was a kid, I decided to be a teacher, like Annie is. I read all the books we have, and watched her teach, and all that. Well, Annie didn’t have no children with Pat, so she’s still teaching, and she’s isn’t too old, so...” She stopped speaking, and shrugged her shoulders.
Lisa knew exactly where this woman was heading. She had faced a similar situation back home. “You’re not sure if you’ll become a teacher anytime soon, is that it?” she asked.
Susan nodded slightly. “Yeah, and, well, I’m not the best looking girl in town, see...”
“Ah.” The truth comes out, and it sounds so familiar. Lisa moved closer to the other woman. “I can tell you for a fact that Cave City does not have a teacher. I know there are some single men who just might marry a teacher, without worrying about what she looks like.”
Susan looked up at Lisa. “I can come with you?”
“Sure, if your folks will agree.” Susan’s face lit up. Lisa raised her hands and added, “I have to tell you, I don’t really know anyone in Cave City. I won’t make a promise I can’t keep. You might have to convince them that they need someone to teach their children to read and write.”
“I know more than just reading and writing.”
“Good.”
Lisa took hold of Susan’s hands and looked her over. The girl wasn’t ugly, not by any stretch of the imagination. What was it Leslie used to say? “A good bath puts the bloom back on any rose.”
“Susan, I want you to come here first thing in the morning. Bring your cleanest dress. A little care, and you’ll be fighting off boys with a stick.”
&
nbsp; Susan grinned. “Thanks a whole lot. I’ll be here at dawn.” She stood, nodded briefly to Little Wolf, then left.
Little Wolf folded his arms across his chest. He looked at Lisa with a serious expression. “I do not see how you will find her a husband.”
Lisa stretched, stepped off the bed, and pulled back the sheets. “We don’t have to find her a husband. We just have to get her an introduction. I think nature can take things from there.”
Little Wolf shook his head. “What if you can get no... introduction?”
Lisa sat back down and stuck her legs under the sheets. “Then, we’ll have to push a little. I’m going to sleep. Good night.”
Little Wolf nodded and left. Lisa blew out the candle next to her bed. A little push. How to push without shoving too hard?
***
Susan knocked on Lisa’s door just as she was getting out of bed. She and the other girl took a bath together. Lisa made Susan wash her hair, an act the other said she only did “once a month.” Lisa helped Susan comb her hair, told her to smile a bit more, and tried to give her as much courage as she could.
On the trip back to Cave City Lisa peppered Susan with questions. She probed the depths of the other woman’s knowledge. She discovered that Susan knew how to raise crops, how to preserve meat, and the right way to craft long-lasting clothes. Susan even knew how to build a wagon.
“Why are you asking me all these things?”
“To find out what you know,” Lisa told her. “The more you know, the better your chances of fitting in.”
Once again the journey ended in the afternoon. The leaders of the village were surprised to see Lisa and Little Wolf return, much less that they came back so soon. They were pleased that the two had brought goods with them. They were so happy that they decided to have a celebration that night.
Lisa told Little Wolf to let Susan help him unload the goods. She wanted a few moments to talk to the man in charge of the village. She got them.
“See the girl helping Little Wolf?” she asked.
“Yeah?”
“I think she could help you folks out. She knows about farming, making clothes, that sort of thing.”
“I don’t think we could feed another...”
“She’ll make herself useful. She’ll show you how to get better crops. She’ll teach your kids to read and write. Talk to her yourself. I think you’ll find a place for a smart girl like her.”
The man did so. After the wagon was unloaded, he took Susan to the town’s shambling farm fields. They were there for rest of the afternoon. Lisa noticed this, and pointed that out to Little Wolf. “I think he’s sold on her,” she said.
“He has a family. You shall have to... sell her to a single man.”
“I have a plan.” She grinned. “You have to agree to go along with anything I say.”
“Why?”
“Just follow my lead. Trust me.”
Little Wolf gave in. The two joined their new friend and the townsfolk at the evening celebration. Lisa hoped that there would be a dance after, and there was. She had never really gotten the hang of dancing, so it was easy for her to stay on side most of the evening. She told Little Wolf not to dance at all with Susan, and he obeyed. Susan turned out to be fairly light on her feet. She danced with the handful of single young men once each, then waited for them to ask her to dance. One man, a hand’s breath shorter than her with fair hair, danced with her a second time. When his turn was up and he sat down to rest, Lisa approached him.
“Having fun?” he asked her. His voice was high and sharp.
“Sort of. I’m not much of dancer. Susan’s pretty good, isn’t she?”
“Oh, yeah.” He smiled. “She isn’t married, is she?”
“Nope.” In the half-light of evening, it was hard to discern faces. She finally recognized the young man: he’d been giving both her and Susan the eye during dinner. “You like her?”
“I guess. Uh, you and that other guy, you two a couple?”
“Not really. We just travel together. I saved his life, so he protects me.”
“That so?”
“Uh-huh.” Let’s get his attention back onto Susan. “I suppose I’m lucky, having saved his life.”
“Why do you say that?”
“He was exiled from his people. He really wants to get home. The only way his chief will let him back in is if he brings back a sacrifice.”
“Sacrifice?”
Lisa smiled to herself. One of the sad things she had discovered about about the Rain was that few traveled beyond where they were born. Few people knew about other people on their world, much less on other worlds. Wild rumors had replaced hard facts. This ignorance was becoming a hindrance to her.
Now, though, she decided to use that ignorance to her advantage. She put on her most somber expression for the short young man. “Yes. He must sacrifice an unmarried young woman. I saved his life, so he couldn’t sacrifice me. He’d have to kill himself, too.”
The young man frowned. “That ain’t why you came back this way? I mean, Susan ain’t...?”
Lisa shrugged her shoulders. “No man in Cookeville wants to marry her, and they don’t have anything for her to do. I guess she thinks, this way she can do some good for somebody. Not that she really wants to,” she added quickly. She glanced away from him. “You know, if nobody wants you around,...”
The dance came to an end. “If you’ve got your breath back,...” Lisa began. She stood and offered him a hand.
The young man glanced at Susan. “Thanks anyway. I think I’ll see if Susan wants to go again.”
Lisa nodded vigorously and waved towards the crowd. “Be my guest!” She smiled as he left her company and rejoined Susan. She looked to Little Wolf, and waved him to her.
“You want to try again?” he asked, barely winded. “I think I know how to do this dance.”
“No. I think we’d better talk a moment first.”
***
Just after dawn the next morning, the young man, Ned, and a handful of other men came to where the travelers were camped, next to a barn on the fringe of Cave City. The oldest man in the group, Lisa noticed, was the man who seemed to be village’s leader. He nodded to Ned, and Ned took a step forward.
“I been talking to my dad and my friends,” he said.
Lisa stood up and approached the villagers. “If this is about Susan, well, she’s made her choice.”
“Unless you have something here for me,” Susan said quickly. She looked at Ned and smiled. “You would like me to stay, wouldn’t you?”
Ned smiled back at her. “Oh, yeah.” After a moment, the older villager cleared his throat. Ned suddenly turned back to Lisa. “I mean, we would like to give her a chance here.”
Lisa turned to Little Wolf. His face was stern. She guessed that he didn’t need to try to look that way. Just bear with me, she thought. “Can you put off going home just yet?” she asked him.
“Of course I can,” he answered stiffly.
“Well, then, that’s all settled,” the older man said.
Lisa raised her hands. “Not just yet. Do you have anyone here that’s really good at skinning animals to make leather?”
“Yeah.” The older man frowned in puzzlement. “Why?”
“Well, sir, it just occurred to me that those folks back in Cookeville are good with cloth, but they’re having an awful time making leather shoes and boots. They’d like to have someone teach them.”
Lisa spoke to the whole group. “You folks wouldn’t have to let your leather-worker move to Cookeville. If it’s okay, when we head back there, we’ll ask Mr. Huttin to send someone here that you could teach. When they’ve learned all they can, they can go back home.”
“Well,...”
“It would be such a nice way of sayings ’thanks.’ They helped you, so you help them. Isn’t that a neighborly thing to do?”
***
As soon as Cave City was past the horizon, Little Wolf shot a stern glare at Lisa
. “I do not like you making up stories about me.” He edged his horse alongside hers. “I dislike savage stories most of all.”
“Next time, I’ll warn you first.”
“I do not want a ’next time.’”
“Oh, come on. Wasn’t it worth it? We found Susan a good place, and maybe a husband, and we put these towns together. Isn’t that worth a few nasty looks?”
He eased, slightly. “Only a few.”
They rode on. Lisa couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. Not her little fib, but finding Susan a place. She had always thought trading was about goods. At that moment, she understood that people can trade skills, or knowledge.
Maybe I don’t have to solve every problem. Maybe just getting people to rely on each other can fix what’s been broken.
CHAPTER 7
Their hopes buoyed by their good deeds, Lisa and Little Wolf decided to visit at least one more town on Big Springs. They agreed that if things kept going well, they’d visit every town on Lisa’s map of that world. They chose to go north from the ruins Springdale to Richmond. The trip took only a half-day’s journey. Past the ruins the road was clear of vehicles and debris.
The town was the biggest they’d seen on this world. It appeared to have a population of a few hundred. Many buildings clearly dated from before the Rain, and they were in good shape. Newer buildings, mostly homes, also seemed in good condition. However, there was a fence around the town and a half-dozen guard towers along it. Lisa and Little Wolf had to stand and wait for the guards at the city gate to inspect their horses and packs. The guards examined their weapons, but didn’t seize them.
“Why all this trouble?” Lisa asked one of the guards.
“Bandits up to the north,” the older of the guards replied.
“We didn’t see any around Cookeville or Cave City.”
“Those towns might not be rich enough for them. There’s also the feud between Poplar Ridge and Butler.”
The inspection complete, the older guard pointed at a white and brown building in the center of town. “You two should talk to the Mayor. He should be in his office.”
“Why?” Lisa asked. “You get visitors from other worlds?”
“No, you’re the first. The last few years we have got people moving in from Cave City, Greenville, even Cookeville. Mayor Ross would know everything. And he’d want to talk to you anyway.” The man reached into a coat pocket and handed Lisa a wooden disc. “Show this at the clerk’s office. She’ll let you through.”