Everglade: The Underaged

Chapter 40

Where are you going?" Ailwin asked.

"I have an idea. I'm going to tell everyone about it." Luke answered, still limping. He heard Eclipse stand up. She followed him. There were no angry whispers as he walked through town. His ears were visible to everyone, so they all knew he was an Elf. Powerful Beings were always held in respect and the highest esteem. He went to the square.

When he turned around, he was surprised to find that the whole town was there. He didn't even need to ask the Earl to get the town together. Even his friends had followed. With Eclipse's help, Luke got up onto the ruined fountain.

"I have come up with a solution to our problem," Luke began bravely. But when he saw everyone staring at him, his courage failed. "Um..." Eclipse looked at him.

Can do this. She said. Luke's courage came back.

"There is a quarry not far from here. We can rebuild with stone, it may take longer, but if we get ourselves ahead of the forest fire, there is enough wood to build frames for the houses. If we use the stone around those frames so that the wood is on the inside, we can lessen the chance of our home being destroyed again."

"What of the fire?" someone asked.

"If we cut the trees around the burning ones, we can take away fuel for the fire and the fire can burn out on its own. We can use that extra wood for firewood for the winter." Luke answered. The Earl spoke up.

"I say it's a fine idea. We have stone masons who have been looking for work, I will pay anyone who helps a fair and ample amount and they will not have to pay taxes for a year." He said. The entire town agreed to help.

They started to clear out the burned wood and looked for things to salvage. Luke pitched in to help, despite his leg. They cleared away bodies and burned the ones of The Crows in a giant bonfire outside of town. They prepped the ones of the townspeople for burial. Korman's parents hadn't survived and he was devastated. Luke had already offered him a home once the manor was rebuilt. Luke had given him Ruben, whom he had packed, for comfort and the Earl excused him from helping to mourn. Luke checked on him regularly, regretting making him immortal. Diamianus and Slade came to help, too, Diamianus had only agreed because the people of Everglade didn't have anywhere to take Slade.

After a few hours, the pain came back in Luke's leg. He limped over to Eclipse, who was watching over his things and Korman. He went over to his Elven bag and took more pain medicine. He waited for it to take effect.

While he waited, he looked at his sword. The blade was cracked and several of the jewels on it's hilt were missing. The ruby was dull with dirt. When the pain medicine took effect, he looked over at Korman. He was sitting with his knees up to his chest. There were tear streaks in the soot on his face. He was crushing Ruben in his hands. He stared unseeingly ahead. Luke hadn't had much time to mourn his parents. He'd been busy getting hit by rotten tomatoes. He sat next to him and hugged him to comfort him. Korman began to cry again so Luke pulled away. He went back to helping. Within a couple days, progress began to show. Luke guessed it would only be a couple months before Everglade was back to normal. Well, new and improved.