Halls of the Dead

~Chapter 1- Grave News~

~Chapter 1- Grave news~

~1156~

To the east of the modest town of Ragoh was an immense pine forest, one that had stood there for many centuries. On a foggy dawn, a crew of men wielding axes and saws walked through the woods.

At the head of the group was an older woman in overalls and work boots. She had strands of silver hair intermingled with her brown hair, tied into a bun behind her. A small hand axe was looped through her belt, and she moved with a commanding gait. Beside her was a wiry man with intense eyes and matching brown hair - the foreman.

The older woman eyed the trees as they passed through, occasionally grazing her hand across the pines as she went. All watched her movements.

Her steps slowed, and she eyed a set of thick pine trees, "These will do!"

She and the foreman took a saw and began drawing it along the base of a pine tree. Without hesitation, the workers went to work alongside them. Duos of men used their saws to gnaw through trees, sputtering sawdust around them as they did. Others took turns whittling down the base of trees with their axes.

"T-Timber!" A man frantically shouted.

The crew looked and saw that a tree had already begun to bend and fall after the man had laid a decisive strike to the base of the tree. The foreman immediately placed a hand on the back of the older woman and nudged her away from the impact zone. Everyone scattered as the tree struck the earth with a quake that reverberated through the forest.

The older woman marched to the man who had felled the tree. "Warn us before you bring down a tree like that! Someone could've died!"

"I-I'm sorry, Ceptance," The burly man apologized to the little woman. He was a newer worker.

The woman, Ceptance, shook her head, "Take the rest of the day off. Come back into work with a clearer head tomorrow."

The crew turned their attention to the fallen tree, chopping it into smaller portions now that it was grounded. Once they were down to manageable sizes, groups of men lifted the logs onto their shoulders and began to ferry them to the lumber mill resting just outside the forest.

Once that tree had been completely processed, leaving only the base of a trunk in the forest, the crew turned their attention back to one of the trees that were still standing.

The foreman worked right alongside the rest of the crew, but he wasn't as burly and strong as most of them. He managed to keep up with the rest, but not without great exertion on his part. Ceptance worked alongside them as well, but when the old woman tired, she allowed one of the others to take her place as she supervised the group.

Ceptance tapped the foreman foreman on his shoulder, "Lumb, I'm going to check on the men at the bridge. Can you handle things here?"

The foreman, Lumb, took another swing with his axe at the tree before turning to her, "Let me go with you. I'm sure they'll be fine on their own."

She raised an eyebrow, "What sense does that make? One of us should stay."

"Isn't Quincy already watching the bridge?"

"Yes, but they should be finishing up soon."

"It could be dangerous work over there, mum," Lumb replied.

She scoffed and grinned, "I've been doing this long before you could walk, I'll be fine. Stay with the men in the forest."

Lumb groaned and nodded, "Alright."

She walked away, and several of the other crew members looked at Lumb with amused smiles.

He snapped at them, "What're you laughing about? Get back to work."