When Given a Lemon

Part 4

It was the middle of the fifth day when we reached a narrow pass.

The air up here was frigid. More than a few of us struggled to keep ourselves warm if we stopped moving for more than a few seconds, myself included. I feel like my nose and fingertips are about to fall off. I had heard stories that such a thing was possible if you were cold enough. But they said your fingers would turn black while mine were only red. Hopefully that means I'm still okay even if it feels like it's not. I had never spent any time in colder regions like this so I and my body were unfamiliar with it. Nor do I wish to be. My two closest marching companions seemed to be holding up well enough.

"It's not much different than the Northern Sea. All the lands and water there are coated with a sheet of ice and snow." He spoke jovially, stooping to scoop up a fluffy handful of frozen powder only to watch it sift through his fingers. The thought of touching something so cold myself seemed like a terrible idea but Bill didn't seem to be bothered by it. Kipol nodded in agreement saying her home was far enough north that it saw both hot summers and cold winters, though not as intensely as the Northern Sea 's. I'm just glad we weren't getting shipped out there.

At this side of the pass there was an area of open space just before the start of the narrow entrance. In the open space was a dell halfway hidden between all the rock enclosures that made up most of the landscape in this area. It was here that they told us to set up a more permanent camp.

Several of us were sent down a steep track that led to a small enclosed vale full of stunted old trees and overgrown junipers. Beyond them a little ways was a small ledge with a magnificent drop downward that disappeared into the mists below. Not wanting to slip and take the short way back down the mountain, we all gave that area a very wide berth. A lieutenant had come with us along with two other more junior officers that I was never introduced to, it was them that gave the orders for us and handed out heavy axes. Most of us were given orders to cut down a handful of the trees, shave off their branches, then split them into usable boards to haul back up. A few luckier individuals were given the much easier task of harvesting juniper berries as well as collecting some of their branches full of their prickly bluish leaves to carry back in burlap bags.

"Can we harvest the cone-seeds too?" Someone in the group asked. I hadn't realized that conifers had seeds but I guess it would make sense for them to, otherwise how else would they reproduce? I just hadn't ever thought of the cones as being the seed itself. Nor had I ever thought about trees reproducing I guess. Because he had come up with the idea, the officers let him be the one to harvest all the cones he wanted after he had tempted them with promises to make them all syrup with it.

I hated that I was selected to be part of this group. I don't know the first thing about cutting timber. Unless they brought me to call out in warning as it's falling, I'm not going to be much of a help to them. I was handed an axe and told to get to work.

Oh great, I sighed up at the unruly bark. Let's hope I don't cut a tree down on myself!

It took hours. Not only was I horrible at cutting down trees, the officers in charge made sure I was very aware of it, yelling at me until my ears bled that I was doing it all wrong and to stop swinging this way or cutting that way or I would topple it over onto everyone! If only that would mean they'd shut up! Better yet, they could have shown me how it was done rather than wasting both our time waiting for me to mess up just to bark at me! The thought of the soggy sock made me keep my thoughts to myself though so instead I tried to watch how the others were doing it. That didn't make me much better or faster but it did get them off my back for a little while. Then we had to haul this all the way back up to the camp! At least the lieutenant made himself a little useful and instructed someone to run back to camp to grab more help. Otherwise we could have been out here long past dark still trying to get everything cleaned up and brought back.