Meanwhile. . .

Back at the Sandflea, Old Toby was getting crankier (not to mention smellier) by the minute. Unfortunately for him, neither Kennia nor Tira were particularly sympathetic to his complaints.

“I’m gettin’ mighty tired of your moaning and groaning. Stuff it or you can walk back”
“I’m hungry” he whined. “And I don’t have no place to walk back to anyways.”
“Then you’d best not be too much of an aggravation to us, wouldn’t you say?”
“All I want is to get outa this airship and go someplace civilized. And I ain’t had a smoke in days practically.”
“Or a bath in years” snorted Tira. In all fairness she managed to remain impeccably groomed no matter the crisis. “You are awful demanding for a man who has nothing going for him.” She turned and walked away, not easily since the Sandflea’s interior was anything but spacious.

Kennia followed  her crewmate until they had walked as far away as possible and then whispered, “You know we can’t keep him stashed in that hammock for all eternity. We’ve gotta let him go before he stinks up the whole airship.”
“Too late if you ask me,” snickered Tira. “Fix him up some stew. At least he can’t say that we are starving him.”
“Captain should be back soon and  I say we pressure him for answers.” Kennia shrugged and headed towards the Sandflea’s tiny excuse for a galley while Tira turned back to Old Toby.

“Say, what’ve you got against Indians anyway?”
“I ain’t got nothin’ against ‘em. I just try to stay away from them.”
“Yeah, cause you don’t like ‘em.”
He shrugged. “You think what you wanna. Matter ain’t got nothin’ to do with you. Now leave me in peace. I got no quarrel with you least ways.”

Meta

My initial plan was to post once a week, maybe a story chapter or maybe some history or ethnology, etc. Realistically, I seem to manage 1 story chapter a month so that's the plan from now on. At the same time I plan on posting one "other" type post a month as well.

BTW, feel free to comment!!! What would you like to see more of for example? And are the Swedes who come here just looking for my  Vänsterpartiblogg or do some of y'all stay and read about South Carolina?!!!

Uneasy times

He looked somewhat disdainfully at the them both and said, “Captain Chavis will meet with you now. Assuming of course that you two are finished with your sartorial discourse.” Captain Willie suspected he saw a slight smirk on the man’s face as he turned away but he could have been mistaken.

The wooden fort contained more of the same inside. Same log walls, log cabins, wooden benches made from sturdy hardwood. Captain Willie followed his guide into one of the larger cabins where Captain Chavis awaited them. He was somewhat stout and smoked a pipe but otherwise was dressed much the same as his men in tunic and leggings. He strode towards Captain Willie, hand extended.
“Ah, you must be the new courier we were told to expect.”
Captain Willie shrugged, “Courier, taxi service, postal service, conveyor of packages both large and small.”
“I see,” although Captain Chavis clearly didn’t. “Please join us and dine. Then we can discuss your business.” He gestured towards a fairly large table across the room from the open door.
“This is my lieutenant, Martin Turner,” mentioned Captain Chavis.
The tall indian then took a seat at the table as the two captains each settled into a chair.

First they ate a hearty meal of bean bread, apple cobbler and venison. Captain Willie knew from long experience that there was no point in trying to hurry the process. Besides, this was his second “home cooked” meal in two days!. The Sandflea had tinned and dried foods and not much variety in them. Why not make the most of the opportunity?

“That was real good, y’all. Now let’s down to some business. Maybe you can tell me if you Cherokee have seen some weird goings on?”
“Tsalagi”
“Huh? What’s that? Somethin’ you’ve run-across in the woods?”
“Tsalagi is our name for ourselves. Cherokee is the name outsiders use.”
“You don’t say. Really? Somebody might of told me. Didn’t mean to be rude,” said Captain Willie.
“Yeah, we’ve seen a few things. And Captain Ross wouldn’t have taken her ship this far into the mountains without a damn good reason.”
“Funny, that’s what she said about the Virginian ship,” remarked Captain Willie.
Captain Chavis hmmphed his agreement but his companion was slightly more communicative.
“What do you think is goin’ on?”
“No notion and that’s what makes me twitchy. I don’t know what to expect. Don’t even know what to watch out for. We’re headin’ southeast down to the coast and then southwards to Charleston. And I aim to keep a real sharp eye on the border while I’m at it.”
“We’ve had reports from almost all our scouts that have noticed oddities. The remains of campfires where none of us have reason to build them. Abandoned hunting blinds where one of us would not normally be hunting. No signs of a sucessful hunt either. We patrol more often now and perhaps that has settled the matter. Even so, we caution all our folk to stay close to home and not to go alone to gather wild plants in the woods.”