Tor was glad he'd managed to find a flat piece of earth though.
The water got there half an hour later and everyone rushed to hook up the water pumps on the little houses to the stream that was equal in flow to the secret river that ran to the military bases north of the Capital. Tor was supposed to get word from the King on that as soon as he heard a report that it existed. Either that had been forgotten or the whole kingdom needed to freak out, that river was huge and nearly twice the flow of the King's river. Someone had to have noticed it and reported by now, didn't they? The flight training school would be getting almost all their water from it for goodness sakes. They'd be flying over it daily too.
Maybe they just didn't know it was supposed to be reported officially?
All the houses had been set up, but no one had bothered to save a spot for Tor. At least no one ran out to wave him in. He could have walked into any of them and demanded a place, of course, he literally owned them all, but it didn't matter. Tor just found a spot and dug through the faintly clicking amulets on his neck, the noise of stone and in a few cases metal clanking together as he found and untangled the right one.
An emergency house.
The idea was simple enough, it was basically a tent, meant for situations like this, or even ones where you had to hide. His flight from Ward with everyone in tow had spurred the idea in him. It was about ten feet across and hid itself by blending with the surrounding environment, pretending to be a small hill. In this case one made of dirt. That was the real point. You didn't have to build the disguise yourself, so that if you were tired, working in the dark, or just not artistic, you could still vanish into it almost seamlessly. There was a bed inside and a dry toilet, as well as a little shower that could be hooked up to water, letting a holding tank fill and then the water line would shut off to hide itself, only turning back on to keep the tank filled. It was basic, black and brown inside, the ceiling glowing softly so he could see everything. Once the water was hooked up he showered and headed to bed. Then at a single touch to a sigil on the wall, things went dark.
The light increased when daylight hit, signaling it was time for all good little bakers to be up for the day. No cooking today, of course, but he wanted to try reconfiguring the carriages and see if that would work out at all. No one else was up, so he made a flat platform, small, just big enough for one giant to stand on, inside a strong cage that came to his shoulders. It had to be that high for the larger people, though he could use it by putting his hands through the bars if it came to that. Almost directly underneath the cage, a little to the front for visibility was the drivers station. He made it bright pink so that it would be easy to see in the air. Good enough. Now he just had to get someone to try it. His vote this time was Trice, who was a better magic carriage driver than he was, along with one of the guys slated to do the excavation work anyway. Looking around he saw a sleepy looking Trice walk out of a stone house with several contented looking men following her.
Really, it didn't take a genius to figure out what had been going on in there. Well, at least those guys wouldn't be all sexually frustrated the whole time. Seeing him she ran over and gave him a hug.
“Tor! You made it back. We were all a bit worried about you. What's the plan?”
Food first, then try the new idea he had, he shared with her, accepting a kiss on the lips hoping she'd brushed her teeth at least after doing whatever she had with all those guys. It wasn't a disease problem, sexual diseases hadn't survived the great change, which was probably due to genetic changes made to the people that survived back then, maybe on purpose. That much he'd gotten from Mutta when she was talking about medical matters. That there used to be diseases for sex was interesting. No, it was just that he didn't want to taste five other guys on her breath this early in the day. Or ever.
Yeah, he was a prude. He knew it, still…
The taste was of cinnamon. His own toothpaste was the same still, though when it was gone he was switching back to the normal anise flavor.
His own body started to respond, so Tor let go of her and winked. They didn't have time for that now and she was probably tired of it anyway for the time being. Instead they went to the food area where a box of fat and nut bars had been opened. A pack of crackers in waxed paper sitting on the top left hand side. People took them but ate slowly as if it was a chore, after the first bite he could see why. The flavor was bland, but not bad, just a slight nut flavor with a very light hint of berry and shreds of chewy meat, all coated in fat. Yum. They were dried, the nuts, meat and berries, so the flavors didn't carry well in the mouth. The texture was waxy, and probably had to be, to not melt in the heat, and sickening after the first few bites. One the good side, he decided, a few bites would really do the trick for a while and they could carry them along, eating when they got hungry.
“What is this crap.” The big Baron, Havor, muttered looking at the bar in his hand, not even taking a bite.
Tor didn't bother glaring. Really, he expected less complaints from a member of the secret army. He’d have to get with Kolb on that. Maybe some kind of special training? It wasn't the Baron's fault, but if he complained, others would be more likely to as well.
“Survival rations. Eat it or starve, but we have work to do and a time limit. It's food and won't make you sick, so get some in you, and eat when you get hungry, we don't have time to whine about the food here. This is one of the biggest missions your unit has ever been on. Maybe one of the biggest anyone has ever done. So eat it, and don't think about it.” Tor's voice surprised him and made Trice sit up and look at him funny. He'd sounded enough like Kolb that several people looked around for the weapons master.
The Baron looked at the bar, grimaced and took a bite, chewing as if it were poisoned and then trying it again. It wasn't of course, Tor had checked without even thinking of it. He always did now. Across from him Trice smirked, which was her go to look with him, he wondered if it was really a smirk or just her small smile? She seemed happy enough. She actually felt happy when Tor bumped into her field for a second.
He'd been reading that look wrong the whole time he'd known her? Oops. What else had he been just getting wrong, he wondered, staring at her a little as he tried to figure her out. Her smile went mischievous and playful, which made him instantly check her field, feeling relived when that guess actually turned out to be correct.
“Oooh, Commander Tor… ready for duty sir!” Going low her voice went happy and teasing too, “have any commands for me… sir?”
A year before Tor would have blushed, flustered and gone over how he'd misunderstood her or how she was obviously just playing with him. This time, a year older and wiser, he got it.
Finally.
“I do, in fact. Right now we have work to do, but later I want to see you in my quarters. Naked and on your knees. Understood?” That he blushed as he said it didn't come through in his voice at all, he thought, almost proud of the fact.
“Oohhh, fierce! Well then, yes sir, understood Commander Tor sir.”
They both laughed.
Chapter twelve
The rivers didn't go in without a hitch, they had two floods in places where the water just wouldn't follow the pits dug, choosing to make its own way. The water in one flattened and spread into what would probably be a swamp if they didn't fix it, but Mutta asked if they could leave that alone.
“Wetlands are excellent for water purification and holding the air temperature steady. There seems to be several streams developing on the other side so it should drain, we should wait and see what happens.” Her look was oddly excited by the prospect, which Tor didn't get. If she'd wanted a swamp, she could have just asked. That wouldn't have been too hard to come up with at all.