People of the Valley

We were such a quiet people, one main town and several villages in the surrounding valley. Peace was our name, we knew of other people outside of our valley, we knew the tinkers that caravan through occasionally, yeah, and we got news of the outside world. Yet our beloved elders never pictured the year of death.

They came over the back hills, they slaughtered us; like the sheep at midweek roast. At the final count, more than half of our population were dead, fields destroyed forever, roads torn up, they even caved in our black rock mine; it was all such a mess.

We learnt well from this time. The people decided that we would not be caught like that again. Good call.

We took their weapons and armour. We fashioned more of our own. There was a lot of anger and sadness throughout the people. Revenge was a hot subject for quite some time. This led to the big question of the year; revenge upon whom?

For the first week, we were shocked pretty badly. We fortified ourselves in the remaining part of town, sending our small parties to scavenge materials that we needed from our own homes and stores, as if we were the invaders. This was not a long-term issue. We were soon to understand that there were no more of these fierce warriors coming.

Then we had to come out of the hole we had that was our fort. It was time for us to take stock and then rebuild our lives, our fields, and homes. The spirit of the clan is what saved us in the end. We were all so used to helping each other with our chores that we soon got the shelter and food organised. The big picture was to take longer, but we got stuck into it. The fields were replanted, the black rock mine reopened, and scouts posted on several vantage points around the valley. We considered ourselves warned, and bloody lucky to survive.

All of this took a lot of hard work, and it was several seasons until we were able to rebuild my favourite place in the whole valley. It is “The Bird Club”, a comfortable place to sit and enjoy the evening over a long brew or three. This is where a good meal can be prepared, a long drink indulged, or you can just sit back and smoke your favourite pipe, all the while feeling relaxed and settled. The Bird Club was another casualty, burnt to the ground, the lawns were a mess, and the prized gardens looked more like a bog after the battle had finished. That entire side of town had been decimated. Yet the skill and desire of the people to restore that which we had to its glory was not to be dismissed. As I said, it was not all completed in one year, but here we are several good seasons later, late week eve, cold brews in hand, and steaks on the fires. Ahh I live in paradise. To sit back here and look out over the back valley into the snow capped ridges, what a beautiful sight. The sun is setting and the back colouring sets the snow to a fantastic purple gold hew.

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