Scarburg Meadhall

[littlemanpoet]

"He tried to run away, my lord," Rowenna answered quickly, her grip still tight as ever on Javan's trapped arms.

"I wasn't-!" he blurted.

"Quiet!" Eodwine cut him off. "You were assigned work and a guardian. At least she did her job. You have earned yet another day of work to pay off your debt. We have no dungeon or I'd put you there. In the meantime, you will be bound and tethered between those two trees until you learn obedience. Once you have become sorry for your deeds in stead of merely sorry that you got caught, then we will see about you paying your debt.

"Garwine, take the boy and tie him up." Garwine stepped forth, chose another man at arms, and between the two of them tied the boy securely but not painfully at wrists and ankles, then took him to the trees Eodwine had pointed out.

Eodwine turned to Rowenna, his face unreadable. "I saw you there. You were ruthless."

She bowed her head. "I am sorry, my lord."

"No, you should not be sorry for having no ruth for doing as you were told." She raised her head, more hopeful. "You have done well."

Eodwine looked around at the others, who were now standing silently, watching. "That is all! Let us keep up the work for there is much to do!"

[Kath]

Kara had watched the whole sorry affair with Javan from a distance as she, Frodides and Ginna sorted through the things they had brought from the Hall. It would be a while before space for a kitchen was created but there were still things to be done in the meantime and some of those could be done on the cart.

Frodides had set herself up in the centre of the small wagon and was sorting through the various things needed to make an impromptu meal, calling out instructions as she went. In fact she kept up such a steady litany that it was only when she fell silent that Kara and Ginna looked up and saw that there was to be yet another confrontation between young Javan and Eodwine.

It seemed that everyone who had come from the Hall had stopped whatever they were doing to watch as Eodwine's usually generous nature, already stressed from discovering his new holdings to be a burnt out shell, finally snapped and he ordered Javan to be trussed up. The boy struggled all the way but got no sympathy from the kitchen crew, who fully agreed with Eodwine that he needed more punishment than he was currently receving if he was still breaking the rules.

"That boy is going to have to learn fast." Frodides stated, casting a critical eye over the furious form of Javan. "He asked to stay, he'll have to take the consequences. Now," she continued, switching right back into her job, "we're going to need some firewood if we want anything hot tonight. You two go and see if you can find some and I'll get everything set up here."

Kara and Ginna nodded and moved off, searching the immediate area for something to burn.

[Firefoot]

Placed in charge of securing the horses and livestock, Léof was at first at a loss. The stables looked unusable, and he wouldn’t be able to tell whether the fencing around the pastures was sound until he walked the whole perimeter. Trying to hobble them all would be impractical, especially if this arrangement lasted very long. So what to do? Then the obvious answer hit him: he could set up a picket line. There were enough trees standing nearby that it shouldn’t be too difficult, and Stigend and Garstan would probably have extra rope that he could use. At least, he hoped they would – builders used rope, right? He would be able to do it on his own, too, if no one lined up to help him out.

He waited until Thornden was finished conferring with Stigend and Garstan before approaching Stigend. “Say,” he said, “would you have enough extra rope for me to use for a picket line for the horses? There doesn’t seem to be any better way to secure them until I know whether the fencing in the pasture is in good repair.”

“How much do you need?” asked Stigend.

Léof glanced over the number of horses and decided there were too many to really fit comfortably on one line. “Two lengths of thirty or forty foot rope if you have it,” he said, hoping he wasn’t asking for too much.

Just then his eye was caught by Javan streaking off toward the scar, and Rowenna in quick pursuit after him. What ever is the fool boy trying to do now? He watched the struggle dumbfoundedly, his request for rope temporarily forgotten. When Eodwine ordered Javan tied up, Léof was not surprised, nor did he feel any pity for him. After everything he had done, he more than deserved it. There was work to be done here, and plenty of it, but not only was Javan not helping out, he was distracting others from theirs – which reminded him of his own duties. He turned back to Stigend expectantly.