Chapter 20 In Which We Begin Preparations For The Long Haul
“These are fantastic turkeys,” Liesel said.
She was standing near a large vat of water that was hanging over an open fire in the yard.
One of the turkeys had already been scalded, and it was on a makeshift picnic table, where Geoff was plucking it.
Liesel had just lowered the second one into the water, and was counting the seconds till she took it out.
“How long does it take to scald them?” I asked.
“Just a minute or two. The larger the bird, the longer it takes, but it’s never over a couple minutes.
At least not for turkeys. For chickens, it’s thirty seconds or so.
There, that should be it,” she said, using tongs to test the feathers.
She motioned to Geoff, who came over and helped her lift the bird out of the boiling water. It was tied to a wooden X by the feet.
He carried it over to the opposite end of the table on which he was plucking the first one, and Liesel got busy, removing the feathers.
“When do you …clean it?” I asked. I’d never watched someone clean any animal. Even a fish.
“After the feathers are out, we eviscerate the turkeys and removing everything that needs removed,” she said.
“I had to learn all sorts of homesteading techniques when I signed up for this job. Abarria Game-Guides runs you though a six-week training camp. We got paid for our training time, and then—if we want to continue—we sign a contract for five years. There are a few escape clauses, but you must really commit if you want to work inside the game.”
It was growing dark when we finished up with the turkeys. Liesel had put together a makeshift smoker—it wasn’t great, but it would do until we could make a good one.
While she and Geoff salted the turkeys, spiced them, and got most of them into the smoker, I hunted for the root cellar. It wasn’t long before I found it, out behind the back of the house.
Using Liesel’s flashlight, I opened the door and crept down the stairs. They were solid—cut into the dirt and reinforced with stone, and the steps led me into a large storage room. It was cool, shaded well away from the sun, and there was an enclosed trough.
The trough looked like it was meant for holding something but I wasn’t sure what. I cleaned out the spiders that had made themselves at home, and looked for any signs of rodents, but there weren’t any droppings or telltale smell.
Against one side of the cellar, there were a couple of benches.
Build in shelves lined the rest of the walls, and then several bins in the center were obviously meant for holding crops like apples or squash or potatoes.
I found a couple LED lights that still worked, and turned them on to finish tidying up.
By the time I was done, the place looked ready for new crops and I turned off the lights, one of which was by the door, and headed out, firmly closing the door behind me.
As I returned to the front yard, Ray and Reggie returned from the stream, a bucket full of fat trout in hand.
As Ray and Reggie began to clean and gut the fish, Liesel prepared a batter to fry them up.
Brynn and Thornhold had gone to the orchards to gather the fallen apples.
They returned as dusk fell, pulling a small cart behind them that was overflowing with fruit, along with scattered potatoes, pumpkins, and cabbages that had been left behind in the fields.
“I’ve got the root cellar ready,” I said. “What’s the rule on using it? And what’s that trough for? It’s not like the other bins.”
“The trough is used for ice. During winter, the streams and lakes freeze over, and we can cut blocks of ice. I think they were going to move to making it all for show—but now I’m glad they didn’t.
Who knows whether all the systems would have held up.
As for storing produce, you just must make certain not to put any bruised or damaged produce in there, or it will rot and destroy everything,” Liesel said.
“What’s this?” Brynn had discovered my Frazzle cat—who was still sleeping soundly in the corner on a blanket.
“I found her when we were out hunting turkeys,” I said. “By the way, Geoff and I managed to catch two of the birds. She’s apparently a Frazzle cat—”
“Oh!” Brynn said. “I’ve heard of them. One of my friends who plays the game found one. She’ll grow up to be a huge protector.”
“Yeah, but for now, she’s a kitten. I’ll need to hunt down some bigger game. She’s going to have quite an appetite,” I said. “Later on, she’ll be able to hunt for herself, but until then, she’s another mouth to feed. Do they only eat meat?”
Liesel nodded. “They’re obligate carnivores, just like most cats.
” She motioned for Reggie and Ray to bring the cleaned and filleted fish inside.
“Come on, the batter’s ready. Fried fish will be a nice addition to dinner.
I sliced up some potatoes and will make fries with them.
By the way, tomorrow we have a bunch of produce from my root cellar at the other house to move up here. ”
“I’ll go out hunting again,” I said. Turning to Geoff, I asked, “Do you want to come with me? I’m hoping to find a deer or some sort of bigger game.”
“Sounds good,” he said.
“We’ll move the produce,” Thornhold said, motioning to Brynn, who nodded.
“And we can start building a real smoker. We’ll need it for fish and bigger hauls of meat.” Ray sighed, leaning back against the wall. “We also need better furniture. Did anything else survive the fire?”
Liesel shook her head. “Not much. If we want a sofa or mattresses, we’re either going to have to find an abandoned house to raid, or make them.
We could buy them at Dusmaria, but I don’t trust anything with upholstery not to have bedbugs or fleas.
We could also ask the neighbors near the trailhead leading into the forest. I know one’s a seamstress, but I’m not certain about furniture. ”
I sat by the fire, staring into the flames. The key was still heavy around my neck and—while hunting and finding the Frazzle cat had distracted me—now it flooded back that I was a walking bullseye for a necromancer I’d never met.
The Frazzle cat woke and came over to me, rubbing against my legs.
I lifted her onto my lap, grunting at her weight.
She leaned in against my chest and let out a squeak.
As she did, I knew immediately she was hungry.
I scratched her behind the ears and she let out a gushing purr, along with a little slobber.
“Liesel, is there any meat I can feed her?”
“Of course. I’ll fry a couple of these fish for her, though I won’t use breading or too much oil.
But she should like it.” Liesel plopped a couple of the fish into a separate skillet and added some water to poach them.
“Another thing we’re going to need is a goat or a cow, and a male counterpart, if we want milk and cheese.
We can trade for it, but the more self-sufficient we are, the better. ”
“Where do we find them? Can we buy them from somebody?” Thornhold asked, sitting beside me. He cautiously reached out a hand for the Frazzle cat, and she sniffed him. After a careful look at him, she blinked and licked his fingers.
“We could, but they’re pricey. There are a few wild goats running around the woods. If you can catch one and bring it back, we can start a flock. Well, catch two—male and female. Cows are harder to find. Goat’s milk makes great cheese though.”
“What about butter?” Brynn asked.
“Much better to have a cow for that, although the game devs developed a hybrid goat whose milk is much better suited for both butter and cream. Trouble is, their kids may turn out to be hybrid in nature, or they might revert to the original stock. They were working on perfecting them, but now that’s shot to hell.
” Liesel, shrugged. “I have a stock of butter and oil, but those will go fast. We’ll have to render fat…
which means it would be good if we could catch some of the wild boar and tame them. ”
I sighed. “This is beginning to sound like a lot of work. I never expected to be turned into a homesteader as well as an adventurer.”
“I don’t think anybody did,” Ray said. “So, while you two hunt for meat tomorrow, Reggie and I can try to corral a couple wild boars. We can build a quick pen for them, and then maybe get them to chase us, leading them back to captivity.”
I blinked. “That sounds dangerous. Those things have tusks.”
“Yeah, but we need them, so we might as well try to trap them,” he said. “After all, we’ve now fought werespiders, zombies, and ghosts or spirits or whatever those things were. We took down a Trogger, and we’ve fought ogres.”
“Well, let’s do it,” I said. I accepted the bowl of fish and fish broth from Liesel and set it down for the cat. “I have to give her a name,” I said. “I think I’ll call her…Star. Because we need a star to guide us by as we settle into life here.”
“That’s a good name,” Liesel said. As she finished up making dinner, Thornhold and I talked in low tones by the fireplace. Brynn and Reggie found an old checkers board and set up a game. Geoff went outside to bring in a load of wood, and Ray tried to commune with his god in the game.
“After all,” he said. “We have no idea how much it might help us if we made contact.”
When Liesel called us to dinner, it suddenly hit me, just how much we now had to depend on each other. And how much trust that involved.