FARHAYVEN: VENGEANCE (90 page)

     ‘The opportunity is now
!
Provincial Governor Sheppal will be promoted soon and he will name a successor, and that successor has got to be me
!
’ he said to himself. A hundred lousy sacks of wheat flour
!?
What an insult
!
These villages had the potential of paying three times as much
!

     The young bureaucrat began scribbling a stack of angry letters. When he was done, he walked out of his office and yelled at his secretary to get him a despatch rider. She nodded in obedience and rung a handheld bell out of her window.

     A few moments later a young teenage boy ran up into the bureaucrat’s office. He knocked on the door and entered when told to do so.

     “Good morning, Deputy Governor Greel
!
” greeted the teenage boy.

     “Right, whatever
!
Now listen here
!
Get these messages to the mayor of Southverge and these ten village headmen,” said the young bureaucrat as he handed the teenage rider a stack of letters and then dismissed him with the wave of his hand.

     The despatch rider bowed, turned around and exited the office in a hurry. The young bureaucrat sat back in his chair with a bitter frown on his face. ‘I shall get you yet, you dumb farm folks
!
’ he whispered in his heart.

     A horse-drawn cart pulled up alongside two brothers in a sea of wheat plants. The elder brother looked up.

     “Good morning, Rake
!
Look at these,” said the guest as he got down off the cart, produced a bunch of wheat stalks and showed them to Rake

     “Good morning, Pine
!
Looks like stem rusts,” replied Village Headman Rake Breven as he examined the brown spotted stalks.

     “Yes, I thought so too. I had to burn off a third of my field just to contain this. I can’t deliver the five sacks of wheat flour that I need to pay as tax, Rake. I barely earn enough as it is,” pleaded Pine.

     “I understand. I’m sure Provincial Governor Sheppal would too. I’ll explain to his subordinates when they come around again to collect the remainder of our tax payments. They should be coming around next week,” assured Rake.

     “Thanks for understanding, Rake, but are you sure the Provincial Governor will understand
?
His collectors looked very unhappy when they came over last month. I saw the heated argument Headman Sorrin had with them. Threats and abuses hurled out freely at each other. It wasn’t pretty
!
” doubted Pine.

     “Well, Pine, we do what we can,” said Rake.

     “Guess so
!
” said Pine.

     The guest who went by the name of Pine turned his cart around and went off. The newly elected village headman went back to harvesting his wheat plants and cursing himself for accepting a job that sounded good but felt the exact opposite, with pathetic remuneration and perks. He felt he was walking with a bull’s-eye painted on his back.

     The bright morning sky began to darken. The wind began to pick up. Wheat stems started to sway back and forth. Rake and Tiller looked at each other, both mirroring the look of utter surprise that the other wore on his face. Up overhead, thick dark cauliflower-like cumulonimbus clouds collided with each other. There was a brilliant flash of light and then the loud explosion ensued.

     “It’s too early
!
” said Tiller.

     “I know,” said Rake.

     “But this doesn’t make any sense
!
What do we do
?
” asked Tiller.

     “What else can we do
?
Secure the granary and shelter up
!
” concluded Rake and both siblings gathered their tools and baskets of harvest and ran back to their house.

     The first drops felt cool and gentle. The gusty winds brought comfort to their exhausted bodies. But pretty soon, the heavy downpour burst from the skies and came smashing down on them. Root and Bud Swerrell hurried to secure their granary. The wind was causing its windows to swing violently. Grains were being blown away from their storage pots. The brothers secured the window, replaced the lids of the pots that were blown off earlier and then ran out to lock the wooden door.

     “It came too soon,” said Bud.

     “Yes, it did
!
” agreed Root.

     “But what about the rest of the harvest
?
The rain will ruin it all
!
” stressed Bud.

     “Not much we can do about it, little brother
!
” commented Root.

     “If we keep working, we might still salvage a few pots worth of grain
!
” argued Bud.

     “I’ll run back to the house and get the raincoats,” offered Root.

     So the brothers Swerrell kept harvesting despite the gusty winds and torrential downpour that soaked their bodies wet and embedded them knee-deep in sticky mud.

     In Hopecreek Village, Venom Collart sat down on his chair by the fireplace. He stared at the flickering flames, its swaying dance soothing to his heart somehow. Suddenly a loud explosion of thunder startled him and woke him up from his dreamy daze.

     “The rain is coming early this year,” said Pearl.

     “Yes, it is,” answered Venom casually.

     “Will our harvest be sufficient
?
” asked Pearl.

     “Just barely,” answered Venom.

     “Why do these bad things happen to us
?
” asked Pearl in desperation, barely containing her tears.

     “I don’t know,” replied a hollowed Venom.

     The creaking sound was loud and long. Venom looked up at the ceiling. So did Pearl. The loud billowing of the wind outside was intimidating but their attention was fully focused on the main beam of their roof. The beam creaked again. Then there was a snapping sound. They could see the crack line that formed in the middle of it.

     “Run out of the house now
!
” shouted Venom as he ran to grab Hay, who was playing with a toy nearby, and ran towards the door.

     Moments later, another long and loud creak followed by a short and sharp snap could be heard, and then the loud rumbling of the entire roof collapsing deafened them.

     “Our… our house
!
” said Pearl in disbelief as she stood with her husband and son outside, in the freezing rain and gusty winds.

     “Forget about it
!
It’s gone
!
Get over to the tool shed. Stay in there with Hay while I build us a shelter,” instructed Venom.

     The Collarts headed towards their small wooden tool shed. Venom emptied it out and then Pearl and Hay squeezed in. The shed was so small that Pearl and Hay had to stand side by side and could not even sit down. Venom secured the door in an almost closed position with two small rocks and then went to work building a shelter. Three hours later, the Collarts were lying down soaking wet and shivering in a simple triangle shaped wooden structure made of planks, poles, beams, broken-off tree branches, large stones and whatever material Venom could find. In the middle of the shelter, there was a very small fire burning in a makeshift fireplace, which was really just a deep hole dug into the ground with stones planted at the bottom and along the side walls and channels cut into it for ventilation purposes.

     Night found the misfortunate people of Leafdreams Village on the outskirts of Southverge wailing and crying. The rain and winds were still lashing out in full force and some of the less sturdy houses ended up in a similar fate as the Collart’s home. A fair number of people were seriously injured and a few were killed.

     A frantic knocking sound was heard at the door of the home of the Swerrells.

     “Oh, Moss, it’s you
!
What brings you out this late at night in the middle of a storm
?
Come on in,” said a surprise Bud Swerrell as he opened the door.

     “No, Bud. You guys have to get out
!
” yelled Moss.

     “What
?
What’re you talking about
?
” said Bud in disbelief.

     “Bud, listen to me
!
I’ve come from the Grennell’s. The roof of their house was blown off and the walls had collapsed on them. Ambience Grennell and two of her kids are dead
!
Stork and the remaining kids are seriously injured. The same thing happened at the Groven’s as well. Luckily, they had managed to get out in time. They were the ones who rode out to warn the rest of us. Then they discovered what happened at the Grennell’s and called the rest of us to help. You need to take whatever provisions you can muster, along with tents, blankets and whatever spare wood you have in your tool shed and get everybody out, now
!
Headman Kinden says we’re all to congregate at the village hall and we’re to build our shelters there. This way, we can pool our resources, tend to the injured and rescue each other if our shelters collapse or anything of that sort. See you all at the village hall,” said Moss in a firm tone, after which, he mounted his horse and rode away into the darkness of the night.

     Bud briefed the rest of his family. Within half an hour, the Swerrells were riding their cart on the way to their village hall. But as they left their home, a loud crack, followed immediately by a thunderous smash and a low rumbling sound made their hearts skip a beat. They turned their heads to look at the house and their jaws dropped in shock to see that only three of the four walls remained. The entire roof was missing, no doubt smashed in by the uprooted trunk of a huge tree that used to grow a few paces from their house.

     The next morning was as dark as the evening before. Howling winds, bright flashes of lightning and angry thunder dominated the ambience of this gloomy morning.

     “You’re worried
!
” said Tiller Breven, looking at his brother.

     “Yes, I am,” admitted Rake Breven, who sat near a window and was constantly staring out of it.

     “What worries you
?
We’ve endured the first night. Everything that could go wrong would’ve gone wrong already,” said Tiller.

     “No, not really
!
We’ve been lucky so far. Two collapsed houses. Everyone got out in time. No injuries. I’ve arranged for them to stay with their immediate neighbours. But it’s not over yet. The patches on the ground are beginning to turn into pools. If this keeps up, it’s going to flood,” disagreed Rake.

     “What’s your plan if it does flood
?
” asked Tiller.

     “What else can we do
?
Tell everybody to pack up and move to the mountains. Let’s start packing things up now. Tell Fragrance and Drizzle to get ready to move. If this gets any worse, I’ll need you to ride out with me to warn the rest, so the girls must have everything packed and secured when we get back. If we’re to head for the mountains, it’s best that we do so early, before the flood waters reach dangerous levels,” answered Rake.

     It was already midday, but no one could tell. The people of Wheatparadise Village congregated at their village hall, standing in ankle deep water. Their carts were loaded with all the necessary essentials. Their facial expressions were gloomy and subdued.

     With a silent wave, Rake commanded his villagers to move out. He had two teenagers walk up in front of their column, one looking forward to make out the outline of the submerged road and to look out for any danger while the other gave guidance signals to the carts to follow. The first ‘scout’ would determine the boundary of the sunken road and position himself in the middle of the road as he walked. With one of his hands, he grabbed on to the belt of the second scout, who was facing aft, and placed him in the middle of the road as well. The second scout would manage the progress of the column as well as guiding them to stay on the submerged road. And if the column was getting too slow or catching up too quickly, the second scout would ask the first scout to slow down or speed up. It was a slow and tedious process, but it was safe. If any of the carts went off the road by accident, their horses would be injured or the cart could get stuck in the mud.  Therefore, staying on the even-surfaced, obstacle-free gravel road was absolutely essential. Most of the cart-driving was done by the women folk as the men walked along the back of the cart and helped pushed them along so that they did not get bogged down in the mud.