It was one of the most amazing things Dillon had ever seen. People working together to rebuild a barn. There must have been a hundred men who came out to help. Orson coordinated everything and split the groups up. Chad and Claude group was tasked with clearing the debris and sorting out the useful items to help rebuild the barn. Brandon was tasked with cutting down any trees on the property that could be used in the construction of the barn, the men he had were also could at shaping wood into useful planks. They had to be careful, they couldn’t cut trees along the road or at he nearby forest. That would be taken as thief and could land them in the dungeons or have a hand cut off. However if a tree had fallen and it was blown onto the property they had full rights to it. On and off some of the queens men including the collector would watch them as they worked. Sam went about collecting stones to repair some walls and stone foundations of some smaller structures. Mire had a group of men working on the frame work. They used nails pulled out from some boards and Orson also had a large stock prepared for emergencies. Master Dudlow worked on the roof of the barn laying seeder shingles down. Not all the roofs had shingles some were thatched and a man name Fergun a thatcher from a nearby village that had been untouched y the storm had brought carts of thatch with him. He set about fixing the straw roofs.
It was an incredible affair and the first Barn they worked on took no more than a day. Then they moved on to the next property to do the same. Dillon himself did not simply just watch, his skills as a hunter was not needed for this so he joined Claude and Chad looking for useful debris. It was sobering when going through the wreckage seeing personal memories crushed by the storm. Simple drawings of people he did not know were torn, heirlooms, not of much value, but significant in their history shattered.
The work was hard, but he had the strength ad the resolve to help these people out. Dillon wondered how his home fared. Was his village untouched or were they rebuilding it as these people were helping each other rebuild their homes?
The men were not the only ones who labored. The woman eventually came later in the day, bringing simple fair, ale and water. Even Beth was there helping out. He had spied Missus Dudlow dirtying the girls face with ash and tied a bonnet to her head. He didn’t understand what that was about. It seemed like she wanted Beth’s face hidden. He wondered if they were afraid that the people who had kidnapped her were in the large group of helpers. He couldn’t see that, people who would help their fellow man out would not be they type to hurt a girl. After a while the dirt on her face didn’t make much of a difference all the other ladies didn’t remain clean after working as hard as the men.
Beth came to him with a bucket of water and ladle some water out for him to drink. He set down a a rotten board he was taking to the discard pile and gladly drank from the ladle.
“These people are working so hard and not receiving any recompense for it. Why would they bother?”
Dillon looked at the people laboring on the barn. “It makes sense. If these people didn’t help each other out then they would be worse off. They all rely on each other one way or another. The miller would not have any work if the farmers stopped producing grains. Same for the Brewster's they rely on the barley and hops grown here and if they could not produce ale the cooper would not be making barrels to store it in or to store the produce the farmers would normally grow. The smith would loose out on selling the beaten metal used to wrap around the barrels and he would have no one to sell the farm equipment he makes.” Dillon pointed to Sam “The logger he pays a fee to cut down the queens tree’s and he is given a license to sell a percentage of his labor to benefit the local trades. Without the materials he provides most of the people here would have no way to make a living. Even th smith who’s trade is in metal would not have the fuel for his fire.”
“I never thought of it that way before.”
“To be honest I hadn’t either, not until I saw how these people got together and helped each other out. I only knew that we had to taxes to pay and for my uncle it was with furs. Without these people even the kingdom would suffer. The kingdom runs on the backs of these people. These people are far more important then the nobles who live a life of privilege.”
Beth furled her eyebrows “Thank you.” She then left to continue to water the other men. Dillon looked at her walk away. Somehow the way she walked enticed him into thoughts he didn’t want to have about her.
The work continued on for over a week. The last property to work on was Master Dudlow’s, he insisted on having his home done last since his fields were not too bad and he had a barn. They still slept in the barn but they had been given some warm blankets to cover themselves with. They did get used to the noise of the animals and even Beth seemed to like being close to silhouette.
Working on Master Dudlow’s home were a much larger number of people. Barnab the man who had lost his cattle even had come to help. He was a fat pocked faced man, but he worked hard and had a great respect for master Dudlow. Master Dudlow gave him some egg laying chickens help him with his misfortune. Dillon didn’t trust the man. At first he seemed to be a good person, but he kept leering at Beth and that bothered Dillon. Every time she walked by the man he would just keep on staring, eventually it got to the point where he looked furious at her. Dillon was nervous for Beth made sure to keep his eye on her and Barnab.
It was difficult keeping to his tasks and watching both of them. If one disappeared from his sight then he would make sure to keep an eye on another. Even though he was keen with keeping her safe he messed up Beth disappeared behind the barn and when he went to look for Barnab he could not find him in his usual spot. He looked all over, but there was no sight of them. He dropped what he was doing and ran behind the barn where beth had disappeared to.
He caught Barnab holding Beth around her waist and covering her mouth with his hand so she would not scream. Beth looked frightened. Barnab didn’t see Dillon and he tried to sneak up on him.
Spittle covered the corners of Barnab’s mouth. “I don’t know what your doing here? You don’t have the right. But what you did to me was no better than the storm. You ruined me you selfish brat.”
All Dillon could here from beth was her muffled voice, she was pleading with her eyes, but Barnab couldn’t see them. “What do I do with a queen. I could make a fortune selling you to another country, maybe more if I held you for ransom. If I killed you some people would look to me as a hero. It would be so easy to snap that neck of yours.”
Beth squeaked
Dillon was ready to bounce on Barnab, but he was discovered. “What? Don’t interrupt.”
“Let beth go.”
“Beth? This is not Beth this is the queen.”
“I don’t know what your talking about but she is no queen.”
“She’s fooled you boy hasn’t she.” Barnab looked down on Beth. “I bet you got this one wrapped around your royal hands, your smarter than I thought. What I don’t understand is why the queen would be mixed in with a bunch of common folk.”
Dillon edged closer. “Stop or I’ll snap her neck.”
Dillon’s heart pounded, one wrong move and Beth would be dead. He could never forgive himself he he cost Beth her life. Something was wrong with Barnab, how could he think this girl was the queen. “She’s no queen, she doesn’t act like one, her manners are awful, she’s rude and her temper flares out like a storm. No queen would act like that.” Beth despite being held and her life threatened gave Dillon a dirty look.
“Oh she’s the queen, I’ve seen the queen in her throne room when she harshly punished me. I’ll never forget her face. Do you even know what the queen looks like boy?”
“No.”
“No surprise there, she’s locked herself up in the castle not many get to see her face. I know that face even with dirt covering it and a bonnet to cover her hair. I want justice and she will give it to me one way or another.”
“What if she’s not the queen? You’ll be killing an innocent girl.”
“She’s the queen.”
Dillon felt helpless if he had a better plan things would not have ended up this way, but if he had not acted Beth may have already been dead. He felt relief when he saw Orson coming from the other side. Orson took noticed and quietly walked behind Barnab and grabbed Barnab’s hand that was covering beth’s face. His other hand loosed in surprise and Beth pulled away from him and ran to Dillon, he caught her and held her tight. She sobbed into his shoulder and he held her tighter. Orson had a good hold of Barnab and his eyes were wild.
“Let me go, that’s the queen, I want revenge for what she did to me.”
“Queen? Don’t be a fool Barnab. Would you think a queen would allow herself to be comforted by a commoner. Look at those two, they belong with each other and our queen sits safely in the castle away from the hard labor of us folk. Why would royalty such has her sully herself?”
“It is the queen,can’t you see. She looks exactly like the queen.”
Orson squinted. “I met her once, when she was younger, Her father had commissioned me to work on a dragon scale vest with a caster. I measured her up made the vest larger for her growth. I’ll admit that she is the very likeness of the queen, but we know there are people who can look like each other though they come from different worlds.”
“Can you prove she’s not the queen?”
“In fact I can.” Orson removed one arm away from Barnab though he tried to get free Orson still managed to hold him. Orson pulled a parchment from his pocket and handed it to Barnab.
“I can’t read. What does it say?”
“You really should have learned your letters long ago. Its an invitation to all the good people in the kingdom to come witness the queen being wed to the church. The ceremony takes place tomorrow. Food and drink will be given to all and taxes will be waved for the next couple of months in celebration of the wedding and to provide releif to those who were devastated by the storm.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means everything. This girl has been with the Dudlow’s for over a week. If the queen was gone this proclamation would not have been made and her guards would be searching for her.”
“She could have snuck out to spy on us.”
“She has her own spies and after the kidnapping the guards have been on high alert. This is not her. She just happens to have the misfortune of having the queens looks. Dillon take the girl away, while I deal with Banab.”
Dillon obeyed and walked away with Beth. Beth still clung to him. He brought her to Missus Dudlow, but when he went to work she grabbed his hand and pulled him to her.
“Don’t leave”
Missus Dudlow rubbed Beth’s shoulders. “So thats the way it is. Let him go, he’ll be back.”
Dilln didn’t know what Missus comment mean and he didn’t try to think too much on it. He was trying to sort out why the queens chambermaid looked like the queen.