parents send him away?
"And the Old Wolf said we should bring you home for dinner. All the boys are camping out in the attic. Some of the girls are going with Lady Gisele to the Temple until she builds a house." Brandon was about the same age. Showing a bit more hurt, but perhaps feeling a bit less.
Harry levered himself carefully out of bed and took his time climbing the low hill to the winery. The Old Wolf had pulled two beds out of nowhere and stuck them in his back rooms.
"That one's all yours. Romeau’s taking the other. I've got twenty boys sleeping on the floor upstairs. Gisele's got fifteen girls across in the Temple. The older girls are still in that bus. I think they think we'll enslave them, or steal their bus, or something."
"We're going to need a hotel for them all." Harry wrinkled his nose. "Maybe a boarding school."
"Tavern and Inn." Brandon looked around and shook his head. "Harry, you should think about living there, too. You know you'll outgrow this room almost instantly."
"And then you can mentor all the older kids, and be a male role model for the younger ones." Dane stuck his head in the door.
Harry snorted. "Kid, you are proof that it is possible to read too much. What are you? Twelve?"
"Fourteen. You know, a bunch of us kids have power genes. With a bit of training, we could be serious assets to the village."
Wolf eyed the boy. "Can you gather power?" He compacted a ball of light between his hands.
Dane squirmed. "Are you doing something?"
"Yep. You're still a bit young. I couldn't do it until I was sixteen, almost seventeen. But I should start teaching some preliminaries. Meditation. Yoga and Tai chi."
"Karate! And how about sword fighting, if we're headed for medieval times?" Dane's enthusiasm flooded back. "Do you know how to sword fight?"
"Is that why you have the black colt? To be a war horse when he grows up?" Pete brightened as well. "He's going to need a stable this winter, you know."
"We could build stables onto the Inn." Chris's voice came from beyond them.
Wolf and Harry swapped grins.
"I think we're being managed, Harry. So, where do you want your inn, tavern and stables?"
Harry snorted. “I s uspect it’ll go wherever the kids want it. And children cannot have a tavern. They can have a restaurant.”
They didn’t let him share the night watch, either. Bonfires and rifles at ready. But the lions, leopard s, wild dogs and hyenas stayed away.
***
Chris gave a brief lesson in shotgun handling to all the bus kids. And worried about whether his buckshot would stop a lion. The loaded shotgun was left by the driver's seat, in case of emergencies. "No body touches it, otherwise. Until all of you get more lessons, and some target time." He mentally increased the order he was going to place for ammunition, when the gate opened in a month. If.
By late the next morning, the wall was complete to the north, west and south. The two buildings crowning the west ridge were built into the walls. The east wall was going up fast. Gates, roughly centered in each wall were a bit of a problem. The farm gate hinges seemed to be holding, they'd just have to brace them shut until they got a blacksmith shop up and working for the brackets they needed for a crossbar to secure it at night. Inside the wall, they had a confused mass of cars and livestock.
Jack Otts kept trying to organize the chaos.
"Cattle and sheep pens to the north. Then a nice broad street running north and south, and another running east and west. Anyone who wants to have a shop, you get a lot on one of those streets. Everyone else gets a parcel back behind them." He frowned a bit at the two buildings on the ridge. "Guess we'll just ignore them for now."
Chris, once again the designated spokes person waved a hand for Jack's attention. "We're a group of forty-two kids whose parents didn't emigrate. We want to build something with long term use potential." Milly had written a speech and made him memorize it. "A big
"And the Old Wolf said we should bring you home for dinner. All the boys are camping out in the attic. Some of the girls are going with Lady Gisele to the Temple until she builds a house." Brandon was about the same age. Showing a bit more hurt, but perhaps feeling a bit less.
Harry levered himself carefully out of bed and took his time climbing the low hill to the winery. The Old Wolf had pulled two beds out of nowhere and stuck them in his back rooms.
"That one's all yours. Romeau’s taking the other. I've got twenty boys sleeping on the floor upstairs. Gisele's got fifteen girls across in the Temple. The older girls are still in that bus. I think they think we'll enslave them, or steal their bus, or something."
"We're going to need a hotel for them all." Harry wrinkled his nose. "Maybe a boarding school."
"Tavern and Inn." Brandon looked around and shook his head. "Harry, you should think about living there, too. You know you'll outgrow this room almost instantly."
"And then you can mentor all the older kids, and be a male role model for the younger ones." Dane stuck his head in the door.
Harry snorted. "Kid, you are proof that it is possible to read too much. What are you? Twelve?"
"Fourteen. You know, a bunch of us kids have power genes. With a bit of training, we could be serious assets to the village."
Wolf eyed the boy. "Can you gather power?" He compacted a ball of light between his hands.
Dane squirmed. "Are you doing something?"
"Yep. You're still a bit young. I couldn't do it until I was sixteen, almost seventeen. But I should start teaching some preliminaries. Meditation. Yoga and Tai chi."
"Karate! And how about sword fighting, if we're headed for medieval times?" Dane's enthusiasm flooded back. "Do you know how to sword fight?"
"Is that why you have the black colt? To be a war horse when he grows up?" Pete brightened as well. "He's going to need a stable this winter, you know."
"We could build stables onto the Inn." Chris's voice came from beyond them.
Wolf and Harry swapped grins.
"I think we're being managed, Harry. So, where do you want your inn, tavern and stables?"
Harry snorted. “I s uspect it’ll go wherever the kids want it. And children cannot have a tavern. They can have a restaurant.”
They didn’t let him share the night watch, either. Bonfires and rifles at ready. But the lions, leopard s, wild dogs and hyenas stayed away.
***
Chris gave a brief lesson in shotgun handling to all the bus kids. And worried about whether his buckshot would stop a lion. The loaded shotgun was left by the driver's seat, in case of emergencies. "No body touches it, otherwise. Until all of you get more lessons, and some target time." He mentally increased the order he was going to place for ammunition, when the gate opened in a month. If.
By late the next morning, the wall was complete to the north, west and south. The two buildings crowning the west ridge were built into the walls. The east wall was going up fast. Gates, roughly centered in each wall were a bit of a problem. The farm gate hinges seemed to be holding, they'd just have to brace them shut until they got a blacksmith shop up and working for the brackets they needed for a crossbar to secure it at night. Inside the wall, they had a confused mass of cars and livestock.
Jack Otts kept trying to organize the chaos.
"Cattle and sheep pens to the north. Then a nice broad street running north and south, and another running east and west. Anyone who wants to have a shop, you get a lot on one of those streets. Everyone else gets a parcel back behind them." He frowned a bit at the two buildings on the ridge. "Guess we'll just ignore them for now."
Chris, once again the designated spokes person waved a hand for Jack's attention. "We're a group of forty-two kids whose parents didn't emigrate. We want to build something with long term use potential." Milly had written a speech and made him memorize it. "A big
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