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The strike
force returns soon after the battle with many horses and oxen and
nearly no losses. The commander of the strike force explains that the
tribe was all women, children and elders. Most of the horses have been
broken for riding and the oxen are well aware of the yoke. They are
enough of them to fill the needs of the norse. Before the travelling
season ends Raevil sends back the third ship loaded with skins and news
of the developing city. Then, they settle in the cold weather, putting
the rest of the building on hold. The prisoners are housed in the hold
for the winter, though they remain seperated from the rest of the men.
When the seasons get warm again, Raevil and the forest
folk leader, whose name he learns is Vertin, spend much of their time
together. They learn each others' languages while the weather remains
cold. Raevil learns much of the forest folk and their ways, he also
learns of the area; native creatures, habits of the animals, and the
history of the valley.
The snow melts and the prisoners are treated like the
other workers and sent to assist in the building of the wall around the
clearing. The master stonecutters report that a foundation for the wall
already exists. Vertin tells them that the ruins predate the forest
folk, who call themselves the Para. The clearing is used for religious
purposes and in fact the original attack had been when the Parans had
come to the valley for their yearly ceremony and found the norse
intruders.
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The master
builders tell Raevil that the foundation will increase the speed at
which they can build the wall by nearly three times. To thank Vertin
and to give the Parans some incentive, Raevil commands that when the
wall is complete he will release the prisoners if they will first
assist with the gathering of further horses and oxen, along with any
food animals they can domesticate. He will also allow them to take a
share of the horses and oxen home with them.
Vertin is silent but the other men are ecstatic. Raevil
asks him why they never tried to escape back to their homes. Vertin
explains that they did not wish to lead the norse back to their
families and homes. Raevil is confused and tells Vertin that he knows
they are from the tribe they stole the horses and oxen from before the
cold set in. He also knows they sent one man back to their tribe.
Vertin seems disturbed, until he is told that the man was allowed to
escape and the tribe was not harmed. At this he settles down and
replies that the Paran are a warring people often attacking neighboring
tribes for their horses, animals, and weapons. The tribe may not have
survived the frost. With the norse raiding the coasts and the Vaaga
holding them from the southern lands, they are not able to expand into
new lands. This means the tribe is not safe from their neighbors. To
grow as a tribe they must attack their neighbors and defend against
those same neighboring tribes.
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