Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Chapter 17.5: Omen of Wild Warriors

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ILIAS VAN PAYNE

About a week had passed since the hidden gear was revealed. The tensions were high after that, but it had mostly died since then. All seven of us ended up staying and seeing our promise through.

Enough time had passed that most of the timber we needed to build the wall was collected. We only needed about fifty or so more logs and the plan was to begin construction tomorrow.

I had been doing most of the transporting of the logs from the forest to the village. Stone Free's earth hands were useful in moving large and heavy pieces of timber over short distances.

"Big brother, again, again," Kodomo, the child that had been clinging to my back, cheered. "Give us a ride again."

A brigade of children had been following me, finding my jynx mesmerizing.

"Again? How many times have you ridden the logs?"

They giggled. "Can we show you our secret base?"

"You should've asked when I wasn't busy. I have to work now. Everyone is relying on me to move these trees around."

"Aww."

"You can give me a tour of your secret base the next time we have free time. Promise me that?"

The children all nodded.

When I first started summoning the earth hands to transport the logs, a crowd gathered to watch me. If I were in their shoes, I would've been nosy too. These people probably had little understanding of jynx so what I was doing were miracles.

They were soon chased off by the twins, who ordered them to get back to work.

The kids, however, had no work to do. So they just sat at the edge of the village watching me. Seeing as it would do no harm, I let them ride the logs as the earth hands carrying them travelled back and forth to the village.

There were about eighteen children in total that followed me to the forest. We gathered around a sizeable log and I had them sit in an orderly fashion while holding the person in front of them.

"Is everyone locked in?" I asked enthusiastically.

"Yes!"

I cupped a hand around my ear. "What? I don't hear any energy. It sounds like you don't want to ride."

"Yes! Go! Do it again!"

"Alright then." I lifted the log using Stone Free and had them carry it to the village. "Go! Go! Go!"

The log carrying the children was filled with fading giggles as it made its way to the village. "Weeeeee!"

The rest of the free hands carried much more than one log and trailed behind the children.

Mondatta approached me, embedding the axe she was carrying into a tree. "For a kid yourself, you're pretty good with kids."

"Jaime and I grew up with good childhoods. These kids don't. I just want to add joy to our situation."

"Keep at it. The woodcutters are working harder when they hear the children laugh." She drank from her waterskin. "You plan on having kids?"

"Hopefully, and why are you asking a twelve-year-old that question?"

"How old was your mother when she had you?"

"Twenty."

"So you have about eight years. However, you certainly seem popular. Maybe you'll have one by the time you're sixteen."