Between The Crystals

Ch 98 Chopping Wood

My eyes never left the distant airship gradually curving toward us as it came closer. "We have company."

Clyde shaded his eyes as he followed my gaze. "We haven't even been here fifteen minutes. They must have been waiting for the axes or spears to move."

Cruz glanced over his shoulder. "For anyone chopping, try to keep your back to them so they don't mistake our work as a threat."

"Are you sure you want to try this?" I asked, gazing down at the man. I'd feel terrible if any of them got hurt, and I'd never forgive myself if someone was killed.

"If this is the same two, they know us. We should be fine as long as we're careful."

"They gave these to us to chop wood," Liam pointed out, sounding more confident than his uneasy glance at the airship.

I nodded slowly. "The tile did show the axes chopping into wood, so it shouldn't surprise them."

With a hard swing, Cruz's axe bit into a log just above where it rested on another log, and with the crackling of wood, the end propped in the air dropped down.

"Good timing," Clyde said. "Let's see if we can get this into the cart so it's clear what we're doing."

The four without axes began dragging the cut section. The back wall on the cart had been left in the village since the logs would be too long to fit inside. It took them some wrestling to get it onto the cart, although so much stuck off the end that it kept wanting to teeter-totter.

Liam examined the unbalanced log and looked up at me on my perch. "If it touches the ground, it'll still port with the cart, right?"

"Yes," I replied absently, most of my attention on the airship that was getting much closer. It was flying sideways, somewhat curving its approach. As if the lack of a head-on direct approach might not be sufficient, the door opened and a dark brown Saursune stuck her head out.

"They're definitely trying not to scare us off," Clyde said as he paused to watch the airship fly lower and slower.

Still facing away from the airship while chopping a log, Tib commented, "Scaring Natalie into a bounce is kind of counterproductive."

"True. Now we just have to see if they mind us working this close or if we have to move farther away. We can always chop the trees into movable pieces and carry them later."

I remained perched on the log pile as the airship settled into the grass about eighty paces away. Citrine stepped out and wandered this way, lightly jumping over logs with an unusually slow approach. She barely even glanced at the woodchoppers, so it wasn't the axes that concerned her.

I tilted my head as I tried to figure out what was causing the slight change in behavior. It was almost like...like she was trying to avoid scaring me. But that didn't make much sense since she'd trotted over far more readily yesterday, even after startling me into bouncing half my group away. She stopped about halfway and simply looked at me.

Clyde quietly called up to me. "Try coming down. I'm not sure if they can't climb well or if it's because you're in a sentry position, but something about you being up there seems to be making her reluctant."

I sent him a surprised glance but began descending. I hadn't even gotten halfway down before Citrine trotted forward in her usual fashion. On the ground, I was somewhat surprised to discover that her swift approach only made me vaguely uneasy. Citrine hummed a greeting and bumped her nose against my shoulder.

I stroked her neck. "Hello."

Her hum deepened in reply before she looked around. The woodchoppers were only about thirty paces away, and I watched worriedly, but her gaze skimmed over them, apparently unconcerned by the sharp tools. The tension in my chest dissipated. Cruz had been right: she knew us and seemed to trust us enough that she wasn't worried about an attack.