I turned and we fell in beside his men. He kept looking at my rifle but didn’t say anything. It was a few hours later that he gestured off the road, “We make camp there for the night.”
I looked around and nodded before turning with him. The area was beside a moderate stream with lots of tall grass. I picked an area to the side and unsaddled my horses before staking them out on long pickets. It only took me about twenty minutes to catch a couple of large fish. I brought fresh clothes down and stripped beside the stream.
I waded out into the water and was surprised when after a few minutes several male and female dwarfs joined me. I grinned and finished washing before wading ashore while they played. I dressed and went back to camp to clean, fillet and cook the fish. The well dressed dwarf squatted across from me and looked curiously at the fish frying.
I held a wooden plate out to him that I had traded a farmer for a couple of days earlier. I had also found a pepper tree and had a large bag of peppercorns, all I needed now was salt. The dwarf looked at me and then accepted the plate gingerly. He tasted a small piece of fish with his knife point and then stared at the fish.
He grinned and looked at me as he took another bite, “I have never tasted these in one hundred and twenty seven years. You can call me Bris.”
I grinned, “Catching them is just as fun. I’m Sam.”
I talked about fly fishing while we ate and he seemed fascinated. After dinner he went to check his camp and men while I checked my horses and put them on a single picket line. I began my evening exercises as several of the dwarfs watched and finished as the sun sank down over the horizon. It was a quiet night that had me more relaxed then in a long time.
I woke with the false dawn and headed for the stream, hoping to catch another couple of fish. Before I had caught my second fish, Bris was there. By the way he was staring I knew he wanted to try it. I waved him out and started teaching him. Several of the others lined up behind us to watch and on his third cast Bris got a hit that bent the pole.
He was hooked along with every one of the dwarfs that was watching. He reeled in a huge fish and I helped him get it off the hook and he was right back in the stream. After his fourth fish I managed to get him out of the stream so we could clean and cook the fish. He watched closely as I cleaned them and had one of his men bring a small pouch of salt.
We were late getting started and all they talked about was catching the fish. Bris kept looking at me as we rode along and finally turned in his saddle, “How much for your fishing pole?”
I grinned and then laughed, I shook my head no and he looked grumpy until I mentioned that I would make a pole for him. He grinned, “How do you make them?”
I nodded to a stream we were coming to, “Find a strait sapling and cut it to length…”
We spent the day talking about fishing and how to make fishing poles and flies. I tried to explain the difference between wet flies and dry flies and when to use each. We made an early stop for the night beside a stream. I let Bris use my fishing pole and took my bow to go looking for something else.
I was watching a young buck and slowly placing an arrow on the string when I felt something watching me. It was like the times when I was in combat and had felt something out of place. I slowly looked around and found myself looking at several wolves as they crept closer. They were huge, easily the size of a Great Dane.
I dropped the bow and spun as I pulled my pistol. The wolves rushed towards me and I barely had time to aim. I took the first one in the chest and the second through the head. I had to spin away from the third and shot the forth straight through its mouth as it leaped. I shifted sideways and turned to shoot the third wolf behind the ear.
