We finally get the family safely into Westport: Dawn.

Stone

Chapter 36 – Arriving at Westport

Stone returned to the camp, set up a mile outside of Westport. He had decided to camp for one more night, because he didn’t want to take all the wagons loaded with gold into town in the evening. He climbed into the caravan, where the rest of the family was eating. He took his bowl of stew. There were still-fresh rolls from the Three Rivers bakery.

“You won’t believe where I was,” he told Rayla.

“Your girlfriend’s house,” Rayla jokingly guessed.

“No, it was the place from all my dreams. Where the dragon was,” he said. “But there was no dragon.”

“Is a dragon what you call a big bird that breathes fire,” Sissy asked.

“Yes, I guess you could say that.”

“The big bird is away over the sea and won’t be back here for a couple years.” Sissy said. “A dream last night said so.”

Stone and Rayla were a bit perplexed. How had the handicapped girl known about the dragon dreams? She didn’t know how she knew, of course, only that she knew.

“She’s right,” Stone said. “I was in the place where I saw the dragons. I wonder if I should stay there in case it comes by.”

“But Sissy says it won’t be back for a few years. You could be waiting a long time,” Rayla pointed out.

Stone thought on it for a while, then agreed. “I will ask in town tomorrow, along with all the other things I hope to learn. I think you will need to plan on us being here two or three months.”

“I will have to find Sissy a seamstress to work for, then,” she said. “She needs to sew and I don’t think there is enough for her to do just for us. And I’ll have to decide on the kids. Do we put them into a school, or do I keep teaching them. And if they are in school I will need something to do myself.”

The next morning Stone was up with the sun, leaving the rest of the men to guard the train and the family. He noticed a few people of both races up at that time, going to their jobs on foot probably. There was a good selection of shops on the main street, usually two or more for every trade. It was the jewelers that interested him the most. There were three, with two looking quite prosperous. Stone headed back to the wagon, where he found a breakfast was underway. When the men had eaten he had one of the wagons harnessed up and it followed him into town. “You better come along, Kalo,” Stone said to his friend. “There looked to be a lot of your people in town.”

They pulled up in front of the largest jeweler. Stone went inside, and soon the owner was out front, looking at the wagon. Kalosun pulled aside the covering, and the man gaped at all the gold in the bottom of the wagon. “I could buy two or three bars,” the jeweler said, “but I don’t have the cash to buy all that.”

“The question is: do you have room to store it safely?” Stone asked. “I will pay a small fee for storage.”

“Oh, yes,” the man said. “I built a new safe room and cellar a year back when there was a lull in the building trades in town. I got an excellent price for the work.”

“I was thinking that I could pay you 1 gold per year for every 200 gold you store. And you would be able to take gold out if you need it for your work, so long as you credit it to my account.”

The jeweler called two apprentices out, and Kalosun and the wagoneer helped carry the gold into the building. Stone stood at the wagon, and guarded the gold, which created an attraction once people saw what it was.

In an hour the wagon was empty and was taken back to the camp. Stone noticed two shady looking men following. The second wagon was harnessed and ready to go.

“Can we go into town now,” Jason begged.

“You can, but I want your mother and the girls to stay out here a little longer.” Rayla raised her eyes at this. “I think there is going to be trouble,” Stone said. “Two men followed us back, but seem to have disappeared. I suspect they went to get help. If you and the girls go out ‘picking flowers’ about 50 yards out, you might be able to help the soldiers defend our wagons, especially if you bring your bow and arrows.” Rayla got a look of understanding, and nodded.

Stone took the second wagon back into town. Stone noticed men hiding badly in bushes about half way out, so a few minutes later he told Kalosun he was in charge, and turned back. He was fairly sure Rayla and the soldiers could look after the gang of thieves he saw, but perhaps there were more, better at hiding.

In town Kalosun pulled up in front of the jeweler’s. The man was surprised not to see Stone, but since he had met Kalo before, he took the man’s word that the big man would be along soon. The men started to unload, with Kalo and Jason standing in front to guard the wagon.

Back at the camp the gang of about 20 thugs charged as soon as they saw the wagons, and the two soldiers mounted and counter attacked. Three men were dead with arrows in their necks before the soldiers met the men. Five attacked the soldiers and were quickly hewn down. Another five then turned and ran. But the ploy was that while those ran, the other ten would run to the wagons and take them. It was a good plan, but one that had not counted on an expert archer in the fields, picking them off. Not one of the 10 lived to reach the wagon.

The men who ran had planned on getting to relative safety in the woods before the soldiers could run them down. This was another flaw in the plan. They hadn’t counted on Stone coming in behind them, with Pate singing in the air as she split bodies apart. None made it to the forest.

Stone ordered the soldiers to put the dead men into the first wagon, now empty. He had Rayla and the girls get into the third gold wagon, and they rode it into town, leaving the camp empty.

In town Stone pulled the last gold wagon in front of the jewelers. The man looked in awe. “So much? I hope it will all fit.”

“I will spend a bit over the next few days, so that might make some room,” Stone said.

“And that wagon has no gold: just something less valuable I think. Where should it be dumped?” Stone added. The jeweler glanced into the wagon and its grisly load. He recoiled. “The undertaker is down at the end of Lake Street”: he pointed. The wagon headed down there, with Stone riding along to ensure that the undertaker would take on the job.

Stone had to flash some gold at the man, who agreed to prepare pauper’s funerals for the men. Stone headed back to see an incensed Rayla with the three kids.

“I don’t like this place,” she snorted. “I took the kids down to the school you had pointed out, and they refused to take them, even after I showed them the gold. They claim that they don’t take Kithrens. They said blacks don’t need to be educated.”

“Sounds like we have another Greenford here,” Stone said. “But here half the population seems to be Kithren. It seems that they need a school here for the black children. Jason, walk along with your mother. I think she needs to find a house to hold your new school.”

Rayla smiled when she realized she would be the new teacher at that school. Sissy and Emily stayed at the jeweler’s: it is possible they couldn’t be moved anyway when they had found the picture window of the store, and were staring at the pretty goods on display, and dreaming.

Both wagons were unloaded by the time Rayla returned. There was very little room left in the storage areas, but all the gold was safely stored, and Stone and the jeweler had signed receipts and agreements on usage.

“Did you find a house?” Stone asked as Rayla entered the shop.

“Two,” she replied. “Side by side. Apparently they are at the very edge between the white and black sections of town, so they are quite cheap, according to the neighbors.”

“Those would be Stan Hunter’s houses,” the jeweler said. He passed on three months ago, and his son’s wife has no interest in living in that part of town. My wife is looking after selling them, and she has keys to get in.”

“That would be nice. One was locked up, the nicer one, but the door on the other one was ripped off. We went inside and it looked like vagrants were living there.”

The jeweler’s wife took the whole family down to the houses, at the far end of Lake Street. She was dismayed to see that people had been trespassing in the one. It had three large rooms downstairs, and a small kitchen. There were five small bedrooms upstairs and a washroom.

The other house was nicer with a sitting room, living room, dining room and a nice kitchen downstairs. The upper floor had a large master bedroom and three smaller rooms, which the three kids tore through, picking the ones they wanted after Stone said they would each get their own room. Jason insisted his must be next to Emily’s: they had never slept apart, but with the boy now eight and the girl five, it was time, Rayla said.

In the back of the two houses was a large yard that would hold all the wagons. A barn was large enough for the horses and included a loft with three rooms in it, so the men not living in the school house could live there.

They walked back to the jewelry shop and found that the young Mr. Hunter was there, having heard that someone was finally interested in his father’s houses.

“Does he have ready money to pay?” Stone heard the young man ask as they entered the shop.

“Oh, I think he does,” the jeweler said with a smile. “Here he is now.”

The young man looked up at Stone, who nearly reached the ceiling of the shop. Stone made an offer of three quarters of the asking price for the buildings.”

Mr. Hunter countered with a higher price, and Stone stared at him for several minutes, then turned and looked at the jeweler’s wife: “Do you know of other places in town? They don’t need to be together.”

“One minute please,” Hunter said quickly. “I will meet your price, but only if it is gold paid today.”

“That is fair, so long as we take possession as soon as the deed is signed over,” Stone said. He turned to the jeweler, and asked the man to get the needed gold, two small bars and some coin. Papers were signed and keys handed over.

Stone then came out of the shop and addressed his people. He sent the soldiers to the house, where they were to keep an eye out for the vagrants as well as cleaning up the filth. One wagon was assigned to Rayla, who was to take Sissy and Emily to find goods to furnish the house and the schoolhouse. And the other wagoneers were sent to the houses to start cleaning up the barn and doing needed repairs to the houses. One wagon eventually went to pick up feed for the animals, and lumber and nails for the repairs.

Stone turned to Kalo and told him that he was to go to the Kithren pubs and start finding out what he could about the other side of the sea. He handed the man a handful of silver. Stone was going to the white pubs, and trying to find a captain and crew for the ship he hoped to build. Jason accompanied him.

Rayla and the girls were in heaven. Stone had given her 12 gold, and instructions to come to the jewelers if she needed more. She probably would. She needed four good beds for the family, and eight cheaper ones for the other men. They needed chairs for the rooms, and a nice dining room set. There were both food and utensils needed for the kitchen.

It was when she was in the food market that she lucked out. The store had a large chalkboard with prices written on it: perfect for a schoolroom. The store owner was reluctant to sell, even when Rayla put a gold on the counter. She added three silvers, and he still hesitated. It was only when Rayla started to pick up the coins that he agreed to sell, at the end of the day.

She was disturbed by a commotion at the other side of the shop. A huge black woman, nearly as wide as she was tall, had a basket of goods and was trying to leave.

“You must pay,” the clerk was insisting. “Your family hasn’t paid for three months. No more credit!”

“They will whip me if I don’t have food for them,” the woman whimpered. “You have to let me take this.”

“The Wheelers are frauds,” the shop owner said. “Living in that big house, with a Kithren cook. If they want my food they will have to buy it.” With that the woman set down her basket and started crying.

“Don’t cry dear,” Rayla said wrapping her arms around the ample bosom of the woman. “Do your employers pay you?”

“Not for the last few months,” she sobbed. “They say what I eat is enough pay.”

“Well then would you like to come work for us? I need a cook, and my family really like Kithren food.”

“Really?” she said. “The Wheelers won’t let me cook that. But you are white?”

“I am, but my son is Kithreen, and Emily here is half-Kithren. We have another Kithren man living in the house, along with a bunch of whites. I am starting a school for Kithren children in the house next to mine, and will need a cook to make lunches for them.”

“My name is Cass,” the woman said. “What food do you need in your house?”

“Everything,” Rayla said. “Let’s start loading up: we can pay coin for everything we need. We also need pots and pans, place settings for six, and anything else you can think of.”

While Rayla was shopping, including a trip to the fabric shop to get Sissy some bolts of cloth to make curtains for the house, Stone was in a bar. He discovered that the big topic of conversation was the wagonload of bodies that had been dumped at the undertakers that morning. When it was discovered that he had been at the battle, he became the center of conversation.

Thus for the next few hours he didn’t manage to get any of the information he wanted about sailors and the other side of the sea … instead the only conversation of interest was the battle. He did learn that all 20 men were unemployed drifters and sponges on the town, and not missed by many. Except one.

A big man entered the bar. He was 6’5” and probably the biggest man in town … before the arrival of Stone. “War’s the bastard what kilt my little brother,” the man shouted from the door. He took a step back when Stone stood up, a full foot taller than him. The man had not brought a sword, thinking he could take any man in town with his fists. He couldn’t. When the man came at Stone with a wild swing, the big man just stepped back, out of his attacker’s reach, and then popped a jab into the man’s jaw. A second punch hit the side of his head, and the attacker just rolled his eyes into the back of his head and fell to the floor. The bar was quiet for a few seconds, and then burst out in applause. Apparently the man was a bully and everyone was glad to see him put in his place.

Stone decided that was enough for the night, and gathered Jason up and they walked home to the new house, which was fitted up with much of the goods Rayla had bought.