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One Week Later
After breakfast, Aizor took my hand, and we left the dining area. “Would you like to see my shop? I still haven’t had a chance to take you there.”
“Yes, I have an idea for a game we could build if you have any scrap wood lying around.”
“I have plenty.”
We’d been busy over the last week, dealing with the aftereffect of Muzzire’s treachery.
When we returned home, we found Muzzire lying in the central dining area on the floor, his arms and legs bound with vines.
The clan had gathered, and he had a chance to state his reasoning for his actions. Our clan was in complete agreement that he was wrong, that he had no right to try to harm me despite his concerns, that the gods had spoken, and their wishes needed to be respected. The last seemed to be the part that horrified many the most, though my new friends expressed grave concern for my safety and were glad to know he hadn’t hurt me.
As traedor, it was part of Aizor’s job to pronounce Muzzire’s sentence: Banishment to the wasteland beyond the great forest. Krute would travel with him and make sure he didn’t come back, though Muzzire had declared he welcomed the chance to redeem himself in the eyes of his gods. He wouldn’t be allowed to return to the clan for a year and only then if he vowed to put aside his anger with the gods’ plan for the Zuldruxians’ future.
I couldn’t wish him well, and I wasn’t eager for his return, but I’d forgiven him for causing me pain.
Aizor and I walked down the hill and through the woods, though we took a different direction than the one leading to the meadow with the oven he’d built me. I planned to make dough this afternoon and tonight, we’d finally have pizza. I was starting simple, with only a cheese topping. I also had ideas for the smoked meat his clan had in abundance. It tasted a lot like brisket.
I’d bribed the crystal aliens to produce chips, and some of them had a nice corn flavor.
Nachos anyone?
We left the woods and took a trail weaving around the base of a stiff cliff. I hadn’t traveled this way before.
Aizor stopped, frowning at the woods to our right.
“What are you looking at?” I asked, peering in that direction but not seeing anything. A memory of the abominable who’d nearly eaten me when I first arrived stomped through my mind, making my skin quiver.
“It’s nothing.” He led me farther along the cliff, still shooting speculative looks toward the woods.
I still didn’t see anything, and the skin on the back of my neck crawled. “Should we go back?”
“I have a surprise for you at my shop.”
“Okay but being ground to dust by the abominable would ruin your surprise.”
He hefted his spear and grunted. “Do you think your mate can’t defeat any foe we might face in the forest?”
“One of these days, you’ll meet your match.”
“I already have in you, my pretty mate.” His smile made everything better. Hearing absolutely nothing in the woods sent my mood in a completely different direction. Maybe we could take a nap later today inside our home . . .
“Alright.” I lifted my chin and tightened my spine. “Let’s keep going.” My nervousness gone; I started chattering. “Where do you find trees big enough for your projects?”
“They grow taller farther down the mountain. I drop them and ask Voolon to drag them to my shop.”
“Is that where you mill the wood?” I explained what I meant, though I didn’t know much about sawmills.
“Yes, that’s what I do. The gods kindly gave me a mill to saw my wood like you describe.”
How was it powered? I guessed I was about to find out.
At the end of the tall cliff, we entered the woods and walked downhill some more.
The path exited out into a big clearing full of tall, wavering grass, lots of little pink flowers, and a crystal building on the right side. Why had I thought his shop would be constructed from wood?
A metal monstrosity sat to one side of it; that must be his sawmill since a pile of logs had been stacked nearby.
