Day 4 Ebril 13th (Sunday)

  The next morning I hooked up the seed drill and then left the tractor in the woods. We didn’t strictly need it, and I wanted to conserve fuel. Plus, I wasn’t quite ready for anyone else to see the tractor, and tomorrow a team would be out to drop off our supplies.

  Our goal for today was to get the posts for the garden fence in the ground and put together the animal fencing.

  The almanac gave pretty detailed instructions on how to build the zigzag fence using only rocks and lumber. If it were done correctly, it wouldn’t need any nails or rope.

  We weren’t making huge animal pens for our few goats and pigs, so we planned on making pens forty by forty. This was mostly just to keep them safe at night, and to keep them around for now until they got used to the place. They would only take a few days to adapt, then they would be compelled to stay on the homestead unless there wasn’t enough food. This was thanks to some sort of System shenanigans that I was happy about.

  The first step was to gather some nice, large, flat rocks to keep our bottom layer off the ground to delay rot. We took the short walk down to the river and were able to find enough rocks that we could set them down every eight feet.

  We sorted until we had logs roughly ten-feet long so there would be a foot of overhang on each side for the other logs to rest on top of each other at the stones.

  After that, we cut flat notches in each of our bottom layer of logs so that they sat level on the flat rocks. We cut notches on the tops too so that the next layer of logs would sit flat.

  The logs were placed in a zigzag or snake formation. After the first layer, a second layer was added on every other section. Then the next layer would be added on the spots that we’d skipped the previous time. This enabled a solid layering.

  We made sure that we put the largest-diameter logs on the bottom and then made our way up.

  At each of our endpoints, we also placed a log on each side of where the logs stacked to create an A-frame at the corners. We drove those into the ground to help provide stability. To save time and add even more stability, we made the two pens connect with the middle rail.

  Once we were done, we stacked more rocks around the four corners.

  The almanac wasn’t exactly a YouTube video, but it did include plenty of pictures and diagrams, so it was pretty easy to see what we needed to do. There was a lot of tinkering to get everything right, but we did manage to build a couple of pens I was reasonably certain would hold in goats or pigs.

  My extra strength and stamina were definitely showing. I wasn’t Superman or anything, but I was stronger and felt like I didn’t tire nearly as fast. The only breaks we took were for lunch, and whenever Colin needed a break.

  The poor kid might have been a lot younger than I was, but he was suffering from some mild malnutrition. We’d eaten decently since I’d been here, but what Colin really needed was some carbs to give him some fat reserves.

  Every time I looked at Emily, I thought the same thing. She was too thin as well. I hoped that they’d both be eating better moving forward.

  I was shocked that the job only took us a single day. I liked to say, take things one day at a time, but the phrase was literal in this case.

  During the breaks that Colin needed, I dug holes for the garden fence and then placed the straightest logs I could find that were around ten feet tall. I placed them four feet into the ground and left them six feet tall.

  We had enough barbed wire for four full strands. We placed the first strand a foot off the ground, then another at two, three, then four. That would keep goats and pigs out. I also planned to make a top and bottom rail, but I didn’t have any nails or wire for now.

  I wasn’t sure why the System didn’t have something that would keep the animals out of the garden in the same way it kept them out of farm plots, but I assumed there must be a reason I’d likely never know about.

  Today was my fourth day on Talamh. I found out that it was also their equivalent of Sunday. That was the day of the week that Colin and Emily usually took a full bath. They used a cloth and a bucket to rinse off gamey areas every day, but a full bath was a lot of work.

  Today was the first day I’d really gotten sweaty, so I too was interested in bathing somewhere other than the river.

  My first thought was from what I’d learned in school about how on earth homesteaders would also take a bath weekly. The father would get the first bath, then the mother, and so on. The water got filthier and filthier with each bather.

  Luckily, that was not the plan here.

  The pair had managed to grab almost everything that could reasonably be picked up from their previous homestead. That included multiple water troughs that were each about six feet long, four feet wide, and three feet deep. They were made ?of a surprisingly light wood. They still had help from neighbors to bring them over, but Colin and I easily pulled a third trough out from where it had been sitting under the back eaves of the house to put one next to Colin’s tub for me.

  Colin and I would bathe on one side of the cabin, and Emily on the other. Emily filled each trough about two-thirds of the way full using a bucket and grabbed water from the well next to the house while we were working on the fences. It had good clean water that apparently had a magical filter on the bottom of the hole to guarantee it was clean.

  Germ theory was a little iffy here, but it existed in a rudimentary form. Priests and some water-based Wizards could filter out impurities.

  To give it a little more warmth, Emily boiled a couple of gallons of water for me and Colin before doing the same for herself.

  It was absolutely not what I’d call a hot bath, but it sure beat the river. The troughs were plenty large enough to sit in, and there weren’t any splinters.

  I definitely needed to look at the days of the week and the months in the almanac tonight. I’d ask Emily or Colin, but they would be suspicious if I didn’t even know the days of the week.

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  Colin and I made small talk while we relaxed in the water. He was excited to see the seed drill in action. At twelve he’d been old enough to help his parents sow wheat a few years back and was interested to see how much different this would be.

  I also convinced him to regale me with some of his stories about hunting across the river.

  “Yeah, John. I shot a moose last fall!” he mimed taking a shot the best he could while sitting in the tub. “It’s what really got us through last winter. That, and our cow. The neighbors bought some vinegar for us to help pickle what we could from the garden, and Ma and I did what we could with some of the wild rice, but we still would have had a bad time of it without the moose.”

  I nodded. “Well, I’d love to go hunting with you once we have some time. Did your dad teach you to shoot before he died?” I asked, probing, hoping it didn’t sour the mood too much.

  Colin smiled weakly. “Yeah. Pa said it was important I know how to shoot to help out if I ever needed to protect Ma. I’m not the greatest shot, but the deer and elk out here aren’t too scared of people yet. They held still while I took my shot. There aren’t very many people hunting them.”

  “Most people won’t go across the river. Lots of people are worried that the goblins and trolls are just waiting across the river for someone to go across and then kill them.”

  I laughed at that. “Yeah, that would just be terrible governance if the empire allowed that.”

  Colin laughed then said, “I know! But it’s helped me and Ma out so far. I’ve never gone more than a few miles west of the river. That’s how long it takes to get to the foothills. I’ve never ventured into the real mountains.

  That piqued my curiosity. “What are the soldiers like? And how often do they patrol?”

  Colin shrugged. “Like soldiers?”

  I laughed and splashed some water at him. “No, I mean, were they friendly towards you even though the bishop doesn’t want you here?”

  “Oh!” he exclaimed and then laughed at himself. “Yeah. They’re pretty nice. They come by in late winter, when the snow is already done but not fully melted yet, on their way to Westfort. It’s about two hundred miles south of here. It’s placed in the only spot in this territory that the empire thought maybe something could get over the mountains. A full garrison of two hundred and fifty troops stays there from the beginning of Mawrth, until just about the time it snows in Tachwedd. They winter in Riverton. They do a patrol that goes all the way up to here each way.”

  This was ?good info to have. I needed to figure out the names of the months and days of the week soon.

  I asked Colin. “How many of each type of soldier comes?”

  He looked excited to be talking about this. His face was animated, and his voice showed obvious enthusiasm. “They have musketmen, obviously. But there’s also fifty pikemen, and twenty cavalry! The commander is one of the few people in the entire territory over level 20. Captain Blackstone told me he’ss level 24! I don’t know his actual class though. He actually talks a bit more like you.”

  “What do you mean?” I said. As far as I could tell, my accent was actually correct to the Empire for some unknown reason. It was helpful, so I didn’t question it.

  “I don’t know, just the way he says things reminds me of you. Anyway, there’s also ten Wizards! A couple of fire types, some Water Wizards, and a few Earth Wizards last time. A Water Wizard made sure our filter was still good last time they were here.”

  He grinned then said, “If the bishop does tell them not to help us they ignore him. They only stay long enough to make sure we’re okay, then they head south and check out the border.”

  This was all good info to know.

  As Colin was finishing speaking, I heard Emily call out. “Get dressed, you two slackers. It’s going to be time for dinner soon. After dinner, we should go to the river again.”

  That sounded absolutely lovely to me. I wished we weren’t putting dirty clothes back on, but none of the three of us had many spare clothes. I hoped that would change tomorrow.

  We ate the rest of the chicken soup for dinner. It was even better after stewing for a day.

  After dinner, Colin searched for crawdads in the river. While he did that, Emily and I relaxed and made small talk. Another wonderful day in the books.

  ———————————————

  The modern 365-day calendar of Talamh was introduced by Arturos and Merlotus. The Pre-Arturian calendar was the calendar used by the Orcs during the time of our bondage. It was a fifteen-day fortnight-based lunar calendar. It did not strictly account for Talamh’s year lasting 365 days. The Orcs kept their season cycles correct by resetting the calendar at the summer and winter solstices. The summer solstice brought about the “light” side of the year, and the winter solstice the “dark” side of the year.

  There are no longer any records of what, if anything, the Orcs called each of those fifteen days. Historic records mention that they did not have names for their fifteen-day cycles, or for months.

  Merlotus is credited with teaching humanity its written language, and with creating the 7-day week, 12-month, 30-day calendar, with a 5-day blank period to end the year, with a 6th day every four years to keep the seasons aligned.

  The days of the week are: Dydd Llun, Dydd Mawrth, Dydd Mercher, Dydd Lau, Dydd Gwener, Dydd Sadwrn, and Dydd Sul. Usually the word “Dydd,” which means “Day” is omitted in casual speech.

  The 12 months of the year are as follows.

  January: Ionawr

  February: Chwefror

  March: Mawrth

  April: Ebril

  May: Mai June: Merlotus

  July: Arturos

  August: Awst

  September: Medi

  October: Hydref

  November: Tachwedd

  December: Rhagfyr

  The major festivals are as follows:

  Imbolc: The first two days of Chwefror(February 1-2). Celebrates the end of winter.

  Bealtaine: The first day of Mai(May 1). Celebrates the beginning of summer.

  Lughnasadh: The first day of Awst (August 1st). Celebrates the beginning of harvest.

  Samhain: Last day of Hydref (October 30). Celebrates the end of harvest.

  Summer Solstice: Longest day of the year.

  Winter Solstice: Shortest day of the year.

  Author’s Note. Merlotus was once asked by his first disciple, and early chronicler, Archwizard Cynan, why he named the calendar the Arturian Calendar instead of the Merlotian Calendar. Merlotus is said to have responded that the name just rolled off the tongue better. That, and Arturos had main character syndrome, and it wasn’t worth the headache.

  All written and apocryphal anecdotes suggest that Arturos and Merlotus were great friends and had a lighthearted relationship, so surely he must have made the claim in jest.

  Excerpt from The Origins of the Arturian Calendar by Archbishop Bleddyn. This book is not available in the Albion Shop Interface.