The Unknown Quest (Book One of The Horns of Elfland)

Chapter Ten

"This is the silt trough," said Kuli, patting the upper trough. "It catches any silt, so the water in the main trough is cleaner. There's a big wooden plug in here," – he demonstrated – "so that the silt can be cleared out. And the water from this trough can be run two ways, depending on where this sluice is. In this position it goes on down into the original stream, and in this one" – he demonstrated again – "it runs through the latrines to flush them out."

The latrine house stood somewhat downhill from and to the rear of the cookhouse, with its doorway facing out into the woodland area behind it.

"You've already seen that," said Linka, smiling shyly up at Farinka.

"Yes, sweetheart, I have. One side for liquids and the other for solids! And the solids go down into a cart with soil and kitchen waste, don't they?"

"Yup," said Lekki. "And then get carted away to the muckheap down there." He pointed down a path which sloped away down into the woodland.

"And the overflow from the cookhouse trough comes out here, on the stream side of the sluice," added Kuli. "That all rejoins the original stream."

"And the flush from the latrines? Where does that go?" asked Farinka.

"Down through that hollow log pipe into the boggy patch in the dip in the woodlands," replied Taari, twisting the end of one auburn braid between her fingers. "It soaks away there and eventually, when the bog has filtered it, it trickles away to join a different stream lower down the woods. Our water comes from the stream that runs from the spring in the cave, away up there." She pointed up the rocky hillside.

"It's all incredibly well thought through," remarked Farinka. "The way you've directed the water and so on. Did all of you build all of that, too?"

"No, most of that was here when we came. That's how you can tell this was an Elven place; Men just don't do water management systems like Elves do," said Thani.

"We think that's why they get sick so much more," added Shiffih, as they made their way back to the central hearth and the four remaining roundhouses which surrounded it.

The hearth area was a veritable hive of activity.

"There's one real major problem about travelling during the winter," Tarke was saying as she divided a heap of assorted clothing into two smaller piles, "and that is food."

"Nut and fruit season is only just starting," said Louka, sitting with her back to the fire and restitching the side seam of a sheepskin jacket.

"Yes, but we'd be hard put to it to gather enough not only to feed us as we travel but also to keep for later on. No matter how much ground we cover in a day, we're still going to be travelling during the hungry gap. Meat won't be a problem – the hunting on the plains is always good, though everything will be a bit lean by the time the hungry gap hits us."

"Including ourselves," murmured Sienne, sorting through a collection of pieces of hide and cloth.

"Quite," said Tarke. "And we will need fat as well as meat – for energy as well as warmth. Which means we either need to carry a fair bit of fat from the word go, or else a fair quantity of nuts and oily seeds, which would do just as well. The problem being that either of those options adds to the weight, which adds to the amount of work anyone carrying that weight is doing, which in turn adds to the amount they need to eat to do the work."

"What about fruit and grain?" asked Sienne.

"Fruit can be dried, which makes it a lot lighter," said Louka, "and also makes it last longer. But it does need to be carried in something that keeps the rain out. And it will rain."