He couldn’t help but be impressed by how quickly Charles organised everyone. As soon as his copies of the herb sketch were completed, the herb-hunter group set off, accompanied by the two wolves. Laura and another woman from her group scavenged some old riding gear, turning one into a water-carrying harness for Cinder.

  Sarah led a group of men and women with axes they scavenged to start cutting down the trees, though it quickly became obvious that it was a challenging and dangerous job. Martin took the younger men and women to the river to search for clay.

  “Are you sure this is a good idea in your state?” Charles asked as Alaric opened yet another door.

  “I’m fine – it’s not an open wound.” He grunted. “You’re coming along because I need help carrying stuff. See, I am being careful.” He smirked while looking around the dusty room.

  The storage area of the castle was surprising large. Located near the cistern below the structure, it was full of stuff. Unfortunately, most of the stuff they found up until now didn’t prove to be particularly useful. Boxes full of textile would be useful later down the line, but they were pretty useless at this point.

  “Why are we searching for wheels anyways?” Charles asked.

  “Because it’ll take days to make them. I want the cart done sooner.” Alaric replied as he closed the door and moved onto the next chamber.

  “It’d be nice if we found some seeds… but I suppose they’d be all useless by now.” Charles scowled. “I don’t know how we’ll start the farms.”

  “We need to clear the land before we can do that.” Alaric forced a box open, then smirked. “Ah, see, this is good!”

  Screws and bolts, and oddly shaped pieces of metal filled the box. “This will make things easier.” He muttered, then took a deep breath. “Edward! Over here!” His voice echoed across the hall and through the rooms. Running footsteps soon sounded, and a panting Edward appeared at the door.

  “Did you find the wheels?” He asked, excited.

  “Next best thing – bolts and screws. Can you two carry these to the ground floor?”

  “Sure!” The young man quickly grabbed one side of the box, then looked at Charles. The other man sighed, then grabbed the other side. With a grunt, they picked it up and started carrying it.

  As dusk approached, people started returning to the castle in groups. Martin and the young were rather cheerful as they carried a bucket of clay, and lots of sacks full of small rocks. Victoria’s group returned with slouched backs and hanging shoulders, clearly somewhat distraught as they failed to find the plant.

  Sarah’s group returned wounded and battered, prompting panic from Clara and Harriet. They reported to Martin that they needed some time to figure out how to clear that path without wounding themselves every five minutes.

  The scavengers and hunters also returned with sacks and baskets full of food, but despite having a good haul, they knew it would last so many people only a few days at most.

  It was almost surprising how quickly things settled into a routine. Edward and his father helped clear the courtyard of dead plants and stray rocks. That place quickly became Alaric’s little workshop as he started working on the cart.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The path to the lake continued being cleared slowly. Less and less people started coming back wounded, giving Harriet some much needed time to breathe. The elderly woman spent most of her time helping Reuban as the young man could still not walk more than a few steps.

  The first time Alaric visited Reuban, the young man was horrified about what happened after their first encounter with the knight. He filled the young man in on everything that was going on. When he heard about the herb that could cure his leg, he nearly cried from relief before begging Alaric to find it.

  Days passed surprisingly quickly with little input from the system. A part of him feared that this was the calm before the storm, but day after day, things remained calm. Mostly.

  Clara still had her hands full with people constantly getting wounded. Not only was it the workers, but the hunters also returned with gaping wounds, complaining about some predator they came across while hunting deer or similar game.

  “How’s it going?” Sarah leaned against the wall. She kept her eye on Arthur, who was playing with some rocks and sticks.

  “Slowly.” Alaric lifted his head from sanding and tapering the axle. “Both wheels are done, so is the axle. The actual cart shouldn’t take more than two days, but…” he winced as he straightened his back. “I really wish Clara was able to heal Wyrdflame.”

  Sarah chuckled. “Victoria and the girls will find it.”

  I hope so.

  “Hey, Charles said you’ve been spending your evenings up on that bloody tower. What’s up with that?” She tilted her head towards the tall tower.

  Alaric awkwardly chuckled. “Well… It’s full of books, and I can read them now. I figured the Witch has been around for a long time, she probably has a lot of important knowledge stored in her study.”

  “And? Did she?”

  Alaric let out a sigh. “I can safely say I know an uncomfortable amount of blood magic now.” Not that he ever intended to use it. “I did find a few spells for Victoria last night though. I want her to try to learn them.”

  “Blood magic spells?” Sarah asked with horror in her voice.

  “What? No. Victoria is able to manipulate things around her – particularly, plants. But she should be able to do the same thing to water, wind, dirt… you get my point, right? She moves stuff around, makes them do what she wants to do.”

  A wave of relief washed over Sarah’s face. “Oh, ok. Yeah, sounds about right. What did you find for her then?”

  “Some spells the Witch had on manipulating earth. She’s been trying to do to more for a while now but I think she’s missing something. She’s still only capable of making plants to her bidding.” He frowned. She could have cut down the time it would take to dig that waterway by half if she was able to learn this.

  “What kind of something?”

  Alaric shrugged. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “Well, maybe some sort mark?” Seeing his confused expression, she tapped on the back of her right hand. “You know, like yours. All you magic people have marks on you. Victoria does it too, I saw it when I was helping her.”

  Alaric put the sanding paper down and folded his arms. “Yeah, she did say she got a system message when her powers appeared. She shouldn’t be any different than us in that regard.”

  Sarah scowled. “I’m not sure about that. Besides, Alaric, she can do more than just manipulate plants and things, you’re aware of that, right?”

  He shot her an odd glance. “What are you talking about?”

  “She’s like the witch. She can turn into smoke, and she can feel magic around her. That’s how she saved your life, remember?”

  Oh, right. He had completely forgotten about that. “It feels like it was years ago.”

  “Well, it’s not. You’re underestimating her. She’s probably the strongest here. Stronger than you even. So… stop trying to turn her into an excavator and get her some real magic.” Sarah straightened her back. “If we want to be able to stand up against the Profaned Legion, we’ll need her powers just as much as we need yours.”

  I don’t know if we can ever stand up against the Profaned Legion.

  He didn’t voice that thought. “I’ll try and find her something better, Sarah, but not blood magic. That is vile, I’m not going to let her use her own life like that.”

  A faint smile appeared on Sarah’s lips. “That’s fair. At least she should learn to do what she did before though. When she saved you.”

  He hadn’t come across that in any of the books he skimmed through just yet. “I’ll search for it, but I’m just one person, and there are hundreds of books there. It will take time.”