Abandoned - Orchard Grove - Story 83

[Abandoned]

Chapter 10




  One hut was built next to the new papaya patch and another a bit farther back next to the blacksmith's hut.  The opening in the fence was closed up because that family had a young child.  Torches would be kept lit by the other openings.  Another hut was built behind the coconut patch and the last hut across from the school.  That left 2 young men in the communal hut.  They spent a lot of time out front in the hammocks.




  We hoped one or both of those young men would go to work at the forester's hut that was built outside the fence behind the communal hut.   I potted up some of the many saplings that were sprouting up around the village.  As hoped the 2 young men volunteer to be our foresters.  They would not have an easy job, there was a lot of stone and iron in that area that they would have to clear away while planting the trees.

[Glenn]

Ah, the hammock, it beckons  - the sky is blue, the sun is high, the tropical fruit is growing.
Work at the forester? 
Not today - its time for another Mai-Tai 

[Abandoned]

 

Chapter 11

  A gatherer's hut was built on the east side of the fence just past the school.  There was less stone and iron so there was more wild foods.  There was even some wild flax that spawned from the wild grass.  There were wild oats to be gathered and we did have a little corn from our one crop patch, but we could have used more grain.   We planted another crop patch there by the gatherer's hut when the east wall was completed.  A small storage hut was built by the stockpile.




Hoping for more grain, we decided to build a trading post on the river.  We hoped a river boatman could make it past the pirates to our port.   We saw the pirates had a trading post, probably to trade their ill-gotten goods, but whether or not a trader visited, we didn't know.  If one made it to our port, we had a lot of fruit we could trade, maybe even some iron.



  Even though the pirate men were gone, we continued to keep an eye on the pirate town.  All the watching must have been getting to me because I sometimes felt like I was being watched.  As far as we knew, no one has been near that pirate lookout tower.  Now that we had more workers, and the pirate men were gone, we took the opportunity to check out the shipwreck and the smuggler's cave. 



  The shipwrecked merchant ship had been cleared out, probably by the pirates.  There was wood and iron that could be scavenged, and there was some firewood laying around but that was about it.  Surprisingly there were some full barrels of rum in one of the cargo holds.  One or two barrels that were floating in the water also contained rum.  Valentice said the merchandise from the shipwreck might still be in the smuggler's cave.  He was right.  There were some foods that were older than I would want to eat, but there were also textiles, clothes, and tools too.  We left everything exactly as we found it.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 12


  The road from the main storage hut was extended to the trading post which was being stocked with some of each of our 5 tropical fruits.  In late summer of year 6, our top-of-the-hill pirate watcher saw a riverboat coming down the river.  It was Almers, the food merchant. 




  Almers was happy to accept fruit in exchange for the nut bread he had.  The river boatmen would always accept fruit but what was really needed was fruit tree seedlings.  Many customers only wanted a few fruit trees, not seeds for a whole orchard.  They wanted to grow more of their own food because there were food shortages and delivery problems because of weather and pirates.   He admitted there is some trade with pirates.  Merchants are willing to pay to get their looted goods back.  All he would tell us about the pirates upriver was that they lost most of their crew during the giant frog invasion a few years back, some from diseases after the attack, and some from the attack itself. Two of the survivors have peg legs.  There was still a lot of diseases going around.  These pirates weren't really bad, they were just trying to survive. 

  Almers left saying he would spread the word that we had tropical fruit to trade.  I said we would have seedling too.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 13


  After Almers left, we immediately built a small storage shed and a seedling hut across from my house.  With a neighbor's help, I began collecting and potting fruit tree seedlings.  Almers said we would get a good trade value of 10 units for each of them.  It was nice working so close to home, Valentice and I had a 2nd child, a boy, who was just starting to toddle around. 



  After talking with Almers, we realized that we were ill-prepared for any illnesses or disease outbreaks.  We only had a few herbs we gathered ourselves.  We rectified that situation by first building an herbalist hut back by the communal hut and a healing clinic by the main storage hut.  There were always herbs sprouting in the forest area just behind the fence.  The clinic may not have been in the wisest location next to the busy storage hut, but it was convenient and easy to reach by everyone.




  Two strange incidents occurred after the buildings were completed.  First off, the young singles living in the communal hut reported seeing someone lurking about the herbalist hut at dusk while it was still being built.  Then at dawn the next morning after it was completed, they thought they heard strange chanting coming from that direction.  No one else heard or saw anything.   However, someone thought they saw someone lurking near the healing clinic.  It was a week or two later that a few of the village children became ill with stomach aches.  One of the mothers would watch over them if they were all taken to the clinic.  The children were settled in hammocks and napping when the mother too dozed off.  She awoke to the sound of chanting but saw nothing.  Strangely, when the children awoke, they all felt fine.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 14


  We continued to keep watch, not only on the pirates but on our own people as well.  All citizens were advised to report anything suspicious.  We doubted that the strange lurking figure could have been one of the pirates.  The 3 pirate women continued as usual fishing, tending the wheat field, and doing chores.  The pirate men did not return until early autumn of year 7.



When the 3 pirate men returned, they did not return alone.  They brought 7 adults and 1 child with them plus a cow and some chickens and sheep.  Some of the newcomers were not dressed as pirates, we wondered if they were captives.  They did not act like captives and did not seem to be taking orders.  They began building houses with weathered wood from the stockpile.   They built 2 houses and a sheep shed, then another house and an animal shed for the cow and chickens.





The family with the child moved into the first house that was built and it appeared to be young singles that moved into the other 2.  They were preparing to build more, and they were gathering branches closer to our hill than the pirates had been before.  No one approached us or acknowledged that they were aware of our presence.

[Glenn]

 "No one approached us or acknowledged that they were aware of our presence"

But the pirates are aware - they always have been aware.
The shipwreck and cave were there when you arrived.
They watched your arrival, heard your words, watched what you did, what you built, what you grew, and they waited - wanting to keep to themselves.

For years travellers have come and gone - staying for a year or two, occasionally more, before returning to their homeland.
Some of the buildings in the pirate town were built by these people.

This time, however, things may be different - your group of settlers has been here for longer - this time the pirates wonder if you will stay.
Even so the pirates are wary.

For in that, you are correct, the pirates, like your group, are simply trying to survive, they are good people.
They have watched the outside world for decades - seeing, listening, observing - learning.

Now may be the time for your group to reach out, make contact, make friends -  seek, and offer help and guidance when needed.
See what pearls of wisdom may be imparted.

How peace and prosperity is, and will be maintained for both communities.
How lasting friendship will be forged.

[Abandoned]

   Nice try but you cannot change story or history. 

Pirate men were not there when settlers arrived, only their women and children. They were in Summerset Swamp, no one was watching but us from the top of the hill.  Pirates first aware of settlers when they sailed by on next trip, more important things on their minds. Pirates had not been there long themselves, pirate town was not on the map.  No one else had been this way, except stray ship they ran aground and looted.  No abandoned settlement, no one else had come and gone, just a river boatman now and then on his way to Riverboat Junction, stopping to trade with pirates to recover merchant's goods. 

Nice that story is inspiring thought though.

[taniu]

@Abandoned Fantastic story, very nice to read, a little cheer will be useful to the exiled - great story Crash Site - History 82, surprising endings - thanks. Regards

[Abandoned]

   Thanks @taniu 


Old Hovel update, with animal sheds and new houses, has been released.  Find info and link to download here:

http://worldofbanished.com/index.php?topic=3744.0

[Abandoned]

Chapter 15


  In late autumn, Gradyn, a seed merchant, stopped at our trading dock.  He had banana seeds with him but he did not want to sell them to us.  He had a message from Riverboat Junction.  They'd be willing to sell us any seeds we needed in exchange for fruit tree seedlings, as long as we had a proper trading post for the seeds.  The seeds would not keep well or sprout well when planted if they had been stored out in the open or in a grass structure.  Likewise, if we had a proper storage port to keep the fruit fresh, they would sent a special merchant ship to pick up all the fruit a warehouse could hold and we would be issued a credit for all future purchases.   The fast light-weight merchant ship would insure that the fruit would not be thrown overboard while trying to escape pirates.



   No, not the pirates upriver from us.  Gradyn said we were not likely to have any problems with them.  Since the frog invasion they had been getting help from some pirates back in the swamp.  From what Melana, the resource merchant told him, our pirates recently agreed to help some families and survivors.  From what he saw passing their town, it looked like they brought some back here and got a few new crew members in the deal.  They ordered firewood from the resource merchant.  We thought that must have been the riverboat that passed by us a month or so ago.



   When told, Gradyn doubted that it was a pirate lurking around our village.  If we heard chanting then in all likelihood it was one of the local witch doctors roaming this area.  They were harmless if not provoked, just don't mind if a little fruit goes missing now and then.  A witch doctor could prove helpful if we have a disease outbreak.  A witch doctor!

[taniu]

@Abandoned  Thanks, I like these old thatched huts, I'm very glad that there are also functional buildings.Regards

[Abandoned]

@taniu The pirate town buildings in the picture right above your post are the Old Hovels - they are not made of thatch.  The grass huts in the other village are.  Both sets consist of functional buildings. 

[Abandoned]

Chapter 16


  We decided to take Riverboat Junctions offer.  Having lived and worked there, we knew there were a lot of hungry people worldwide that needed fruit.  Our living and working conditions were so much better here than back in the Junction where our job was growing food.  We wanted to help.



  We decided the area east of the village was large enough for 5 orchards.  There was a lot of land clearing that had to be done and the gatherer's hut would have to be moved, but the first thing we did was build a grass cutter hut to clear the grass from the area.  We found that when the laborers gathered the grass, it grew back.  The foresters dig out the whole plant and the grass cutter cuts the grass very short, the grass does not grow back.  We did not want grass growing in our orchard area.



  A new gatherer's hut was built back by the forester's hut.  There was little grass growing there now but there was still some flax and plenty of wild foods.  We would keep the first gatherer's hut as long as there was flax and food to gather in the orchard area.  One 9'x13' orchard was already cleared by the time a non-grass trading post was built to trade for and store the seeds properly until planted.  We began stocking the new trading post with seedlings.

[Abandoned]

Chapter 17


  We were not the only ones doing some building.  The pirates built a bridge across the small stream and built another lookout tower and a house on the other side.  We could see why they ordered firewood, their stockpile was almost empty.   We saw no one working but we saw they also built what looked like a small market or open storage place.  They built it with stone rather than wood.  We thought it a bit far from their houses, not all that far from our hill.




  Meanwhile, we began building a non-grass warehouse dock for storing the fruit for Riverboat Junction.   We continue clearing land for the other orchards we would plant as soon as we got the seeds.  Our fruit patches were doing well but we got a report from Lonniel, who took care of the lemon patch, that several crates of lemons went missing.  He'd picked the lemons late one day and planned to take them to storage first thing the next morning, but in the morning they were gone.  No one admitted to taking them to storage for him.  We would not consider several crates to be a little fruit that a witch doctor might take.

  We thought we knew what happened to that fruit when, a short time later, the pirate ship again went sailing past.  We knew that the river boatmen and pirates liked taking lemons with them on long trips, lemons prevented scurvy. We thought our lemons were on that ship.  Valentice, who was fishing when the ship passed by, said they had 2 new crew members with them.




  A few days later, another of the new pirates paid us a visit. He approached our two foresters and said he had a good deal to offer us.  He wanted to know if we would be interested in trading ale for merchandise in the smuggler's cave.  Just let him know and he'd try to arrange it when the ship came back, he'd be by the cave.  Other than that, all he said was that he and some of the others were orphaned by the swamp invasion and were happy to have the chance to get out of the swamp.  The next day there was a sack of wheat left outside our forester's hut.