The trees broke into a slow slope towards a lake, woods and what she realized were the Worldwall Mountain range in the distance. Tree stumps were scattered along the edge of the woods and she realized they were clearing the land. By the late was a wooden palisade, the thick trunks lashed together. What drew her attention though as the old man took of his cap and sighed, taking in the sight, and the woman patted Alla on the back and smiled was the stone tower. “How long has this been here?” she said, blurting it out, feeling like a backwoods rube for the first time. It was huge, she felt, looking up at it. Old, but huge, the top part open where the stones had collapsed, but still taller than any building than she’d ever seen. It even came above the nearby trees. “Can you see far from the top?” she turned to Quick, who grinned. “Oh, far enough. Used to be higher, I hear, ‘til it collapsed, or caught fire.”
“Lightnin’, I heard,” Simple said, tucking his cap into his belt as the three walked toward a building build up against the wooden wall, a long building that looked like Milo’s longhall. The door to it opened and a man strode out in a tunic over a shiny metal shirt, mail rings, a sword and dagger on his belt too, and Alla realized this must be the lord. She stuttered as he shook hands with Quick and Simple, bowing. “M-m’lord,” she said, not looking up.
“Hunter we met, lookin’ for work. She’s from Bear’s Son, you can believe it,” Simple said, and the lord laughed. “Look up, girl, I’m just the yeoman, I don’t know why these two told you I was a lord,” he said. “Name’s Lin, though most have called me Ironmouth, since I did a lot of talkin’ with this,” he smiled broadly. “Welcome to Deepvalley.” Quick leaned into his ear, speaking softly, and he nodded. “So, you a hunter? We could use one honestly, come on,” he said. “Sten and Quinn said they saw your smoke a day ago, wanted to see who was out there,” the man continued, Alla and the woman, Quinn she assumed, followed him towards the stone tower. “Won this, y’might say, for fighting for the lord of Old Stump.
“Got a smith, couple of farmer families willing to take a chance, a dozen guards, and a healer, but mostly woodsmen and their families. Last lordling who tried to settle here had the dock set up for fishing, which is...something, I guess,” Lin said, as they all sat at a round table in the tower’s first floor. The walls were rough gray stone, a few rotten tapestries hanging, torches shoved into crude sconces and a fire pit smoldering. “Not much, but I’m trying to make something here, so m’lord telling me to start and run a lumber camp here, well, figured it’s a good way to make a claim for myself in the world, if you know what I mean.” The older soldier appeared as the yeoman poured wine, Sten leaning down with a sheaf of papers. “Piss...excuse me,” he said, immediately getting back up to stride back outside, Alla alone now with Quinn. “He’s not bad, just busy,” she said, sipping her wine, feet up on another chair. “This place was a dump when we got here. First thing we did was build the wall and then that house for him, though he insists on using it as an “office,” sleeping in this dump.” The warrior motioned at the tower around them. “Anyway,” she said, “We brought supplies for this first winter with us, and fish what we can, but someone hunting and foraging regularly would be a boon, honestly. Old Gara the healer, he’ll pay for anything you can gather for him, he’s usually looking for whatever. Had some run-ins with shitty wolves too.
“You could sleep in the barracks, got a bunk next to mine that’s free,” Quinn continued, and Alla looked down at her cup, untouched, feeling overwhlemed. She hadn’t had a drink in...how long had it been? How long had she been travelling? People, again? Someplace loud with others around, again not like her small room in Bear’s Son. It felt good to be warm and dry, even in the draftiness of the stone keep. She kept still, the moment quiet and awkward, until she heard a cough. “Actually,” the older woman said, a look in her eye, standing up, “Get your stuff, got a better idea.”
The two of them outside, walked along the northern wall, past the gate that wasn’t so much built, Alla thought, as cut into the wood, a barricade across it, another in the gambeson shirt and leather tunic standing watch with axe and shield, something painted on it. The two nodded to each other, and Alla realized she shouldn’t dawdle too much, following in a haze. “Wh...who are you all?”
“Fought with Lin for Old Stump, followed him when he asked after he got his yeoman reward running this ol’lovely spot.” Quinn was looking for something along the tree line, half paying attention, and pointed vaguely. “I’m from Fireseat up a ways, originally, figured this was a good halfway between my ma and my loyalty to Lin,” she said, “Quinn’s the same, fought with Lin and Lin’s father, most of us did, made sense to follow him here. Got away from fighting against Reed, at least” she spit on the ground. “There it is,”
“Against Reed? What? But...I thought…” Alla wavered, the sentence lost as she saw what Quinn was motioning to, her voice trailing. It was a cabin, a small one, the door crooked, but inside, she looked as Quinn watched, arms crossed. There was a chest, a hearth made of blackened stone, a frame for a bed criss-crossed with rope. “I can bring ya some kindling for fire, some stuff for bedding if you need,” the woman said, “there’s an axe somewhere for firewood, I think too, you could use, and a pot if you need.” Alla let her pack fall onto the wooden frames of the bed, touching the walls. She looked back out the open doorway as Quinn kept talking, “We found this when we showed up, probably some hunter’s spot or was going to be a watchtower for the keep. Falls in th’range of our authority, so to speak,” she spit on the ground outside the doorway, “Figured a hunter working to clear wolves and get some rabbit and fowl for the communal stew pot, would be able to keep this place, make it somethin’ nice, ya know?”
Alla looked around, brushing fingertips against the wood, and sat down on the pallet, feeling the worn ropes creaking underneath her weight. She looked at Quinn, and smiled back at the woman. “That...that sounds like a good idea.”
