Early in the morning, loud thuds were heard throughout the tribe.
The place that was quiet for four years was once again noisy.
Stone and thick logs were constantly moved towards the hill the tribe was located on.
Even the potters were busy. Everything about this land was great, except the soil here wasn’t suitable for pottery. Hence, the potters scouted around the area to find suitable mud. In the end, they located three areas. Any untrained eye wouldn’t be able to notice it. They weren’t sure if they hadn’t noticed these areas before or the mud appeared recently because of the changes.
The three spots were some distance away from the tribe but the people here were strong so it wasn’t a tough task for them to move the mud back.
After the mud was transported back, with Xing as the leader, they found a new type of clay that was of higher quality. He treasured the old pots the ancestors left, safely tucking it away. After he was exposed to more pots and gained some skills, he was obsessed with pottery. Currently, he was in charge of all things pottery.
After the fusion with the fire seed, Xing and some other elders were much healthier than before as if their age was cut in half.
Xing said he would get started on making tiles for the tribespeople but everyone couldn’t just wait around. Hence, many of the houses were still made from wood, they could always just upgrade to tiles later on.
The farmers in the tribe went around looking for new farmlands. They had a man-made lake here before they left. The lake was still there but the trail irrigating the lake from the large river was cut off.
Later on, the tribespeople would connect the lake to the river again by digging a new channel. Crops that needed more water would be planted near the lake while the others would be planted on the hills.
Duo Kang had already led a team of people to dig for stones.
The warriors had swept the area clean, clearing out any dangerous beasts or plants. They cooked the ones that were edible and burned the others. Ta and Gui He had already brought some people out to hunt for food. There wasn’t enough food left in the tribe and people needed more energy to rebuild the tribe.
Zheng Luo’s side wasn’t familiar with the area so they left with the others to familiarize themselves.
Shao Xuan had a deer Chacha brought back for breakfast. Caesar sent off into the forest with the other beasts in the tribe to hunt. Shao Xuan wasn’t particularly worried about them.
As Shao Xuan repaired his home without rest, he saw Lang Ga drag a net over.
“I caught this in the river, look.” Lang Ga opened the net to release some fish.
Shao Xuan met Lang Ga while he was walking back from the river. He told him to come by his house when he was done. Shao Xuan wanted to know what kind of fish were in the river.
“There aren’t many fish but Drumming tribe’s crocodiles were there. I didn’t dare swim to the middle of the river, I stuck to the sides,” explained Lang Ga.
When the great river was still there, the nets were always destroyed by the river beasts. They had to use fish fences instead but they always caught all sorts of aquatic animals. Now, they were able to use nets but the fishes they caught were rather plain.
There were only two to three piranha fish. They seemed healthy which was a pity because they would only end up as food for the crocodiles. Shao Xuan even saw a crocodile eating one of the fishes as he passed by just now.
As long as the Drumming tribe was here, the crocodiles would not leave.
“I think the river is much safer now,” said Lang Ga.
The river water had risen quite a lot since yesterday. The tribespeople added some logs to the bridge in the morning. The river water rose slower as time passed, this seemed to be the water level the river would have for now unless another large tectonic activity changed it again.
“Right, when I was fishing, I met some people from the Drumming tribe here to borrow some logs. I talked to them for a while.” Lang Ga detailed his morning to Shao Xuan.
The forest near Drumming tribe was severely damaged, a few hills had even disappeared. There wasn’t enough wood for them to repair their houses, the only trees left were some young ones, unless they went further out to look for some.
If the Flaming Horn tribe wasn’t around they would have to use the thin trees first. Luckily the Flaming Horn tribe came back and they were able to get them some thick and sturdy wood. Most of their water moon stones went missing after the disaster, the small portion that was left was taken by a team heading out to trade for food.
Ao and Zheng Luo knew about this so they didn’t mind sharing their resources, it was only wood. This brought the two tribes much closer. The people from the Drumming tribe would come over to the Flaming Horn tribe to chat from time to time too.
Lang Ga found out about all these through the workers from the Drumming tribe.
“Do you remember the Luo tribe?” ask Lang Ga
Shao Xuan thought for a while and said, “Yes, the tribe good at making fishing nets.”
The Luo tribe was near a river and the mountains, they frequently traded with the Pu tribe. Shao Xuan traded with them before. He got some fish skin shirts and some fishing nets. The nets they made were very strong, even those river beasts that could bite through rattan couldn’t bite through them.
“What is up with the Luo tribe?” asked Shao Xuan.
“That tribe is gone,” said Lang Ga with a face full of pity. “I’m not sure if anyone escaped but most of them... even their fire seed is gone.”
The people of the Luo tribe didn’t have the warnings from crocodiles like the Drumming tribe. They didn’t have any time to escape the area so they disappeared with the river.
The Drumming tribe people spoke with much sadness. A tribe they once knew had disappeared just like that.
“Not just the Luo tribe, from what the scouts from the Drumming tribe said, a few other smaller river tribes are gone too.”
Lang Ga sighed. When he headed someone calling from him, he answered and left
Soon after Lang Luo went away, he came back and said, “Ah Xuan, someone’s looking for you there!”
“Who is it?” Shao Xuan thought someone from the Drumming tribe was looking for him.
“I think the person is called Yang Sui.”