Reclamation (Best Laid Plans Book 4) (10 page)

Just after sunset they reached a rise in the road, which overlooked a nice sheltered meadow full of grayish-white sheep with a handful of brown ones standing out among the herd. The Normans had gotten around to shearing them all before the raiders came, and the short wool hadn't snagged nearly as much dirt and debris as it otherwise would've so they all looked fairly clean and healthy.

Lewis counted 19, which meant roughly a third of the Normans' herd had been killed or lost in the last few weeks since the raiders scattered them. That was less than he could've hoped for, but more than he'd expected.

They walked their bikes down to where Matt and the Hardings were waiting a reasonable distance from the herd, so as not to spook the sheep. There they quietly congratulated each other, especially Pete, who'd been searching longer and harder than anyone in town.

Finding the animals was good news for Aspen Hill, but it was also good news for them personally. Catherine had agreed that anyone who found the flock or aided in bringing it back to town would be given one sheep each as a reward. There was some grumbling at the announcement, about finder's keepers and the town claiming the remaining animals, but it couldn't be argued that anyone had a better claim. Or for that matter that everyone wouldn't benefit more equally if the herd was cared for by the community.

It was also a fair assumption that it would take multiple people to bring the herd in, so it was possible the town wouldn't get quite as many of the sheep after all was said and done.

“It looks like we've got 2 rams, one adult and the other a few months old,” Tom said. The older man didn't have more than a passing knowledge of sheep, but he'd raised goats for a few years and that experience was better than none. “The rest are ewes, all still young enough for breeding I think. Not too surprising since usually only one or so rams is kept to maintain the herd, and the Normans sold the wethers and older ewes to the town for meat over a month ago.”

Alvin nearly danced with excitement as his father spoke. “Dad thinks a few might be pregnant, too!” he said. “That means the herd is really a bit bigger than it looks, right? Or it will be soon?”

All of that was good news, since it meant every one of the sheep was potentially useful for growing the herd. The Normans had been raising them for wool, which would be their best use, but if need be they could also provide meat in an emergency. Maybe even milk, although ewes weren't supposed to be great producers unless they'd been selectively bred for it.

Lewis wondered how the Mayor would feel about rewarding them with the pregnant ewes. That would be an unexpected boon, especially since ideally at least one of them would need to take one of the rams as their reward if they wanted to start their own herd.

 Of course, it was probably not the best idea to count their eggs before they hatched. They still had to get the herd back to Aspen Hill, with only Tom's limited experience with goats to go on. At least the older man had assured them that sheep were for the most part more docile than goats and would tend to stick together.

“What's their mood?” Lewis asked. At Matt's confused look he motioned to the generous distance between them and the nearest animals. “Have you tried getting closer?”

“Not yet,” Matt admitted. He glanced at Tom. “We agreed that since it's so close to nightfall we'd set up camp now and start moving the herd back to town in the morning.”

Lewis could get behind that idea. The idea of trying to figure out shepherding during the twilight hours sounded just awful, and they wouldn't get the herd very far before they'd have to stop anyway. There was also the fact that the sheep seemed to be settling down for the night themselves, clumping together for warmth with the few lambs stubbornly frolicking away then returning to the group until they, too, settled down.

“Why don't we set up camp next to the herd?” Jane suggested. “If we're careful we can give the sheep an opportunity to get used to us being around without spooking them, which should make things easier in the morning.”

Lewis glanced at Tom, noticing the others doing the same. The older man shrugged. “Worth a shot. We can at least see how close they'll let us get and set up there. Get that water heating up under the frog before we bring it to a boil.”

Decided, they slowly approached the sheep, calling out friendly and inane greetings in low, calm tones. Whenever one of the animals spooked, usually by scrambling to its feet and standing there with ears pricked ready to bolt, they'd stop where they were and keep talking to each other in the same calm tones.

The Normans had done a good job caring for their animals, and while the sheep were skittish at first they didn't seem overly frightened of humans. The bolder of the lambs, the young ram, even came over to nose at them as they reached what they decided was a reasonable distance. The little guy scampered back to his mom as they began lowering their bikes and getting out their tents, but soon he was back nosing at the cloth and nibbling on the tent poles.

Jane soon had the lamb nuzzling her hand as she petted it, and Alvin and Pete managed to keep it in place long enough to pet it as well. That was a reassuring sight to see, and gave Lewis some hope that getting the sheep back to Aspen Hill the next day wouldn't be too hard after all.

After a quick meal they all agreed to turn in early, tired from the ride, and split off to their tents for the night. Lewis fell asleep to the soft rustle of animals moving nearby and the occasional
baa
. They were some of the sweetest sounds he'd ever heard.

Lewis's group started early the next morning, wakened by the noise of sheep grazing around their tents. The animals still didn't seem bothered by the presence of humans as everyone ate breakfast and broke camp, and once they were ready and holding their bikes they all looked at each other in silent question.

Finally Tom snorted, wheeled his bike around to the side of the herd opposite the direction of Aspen Hill, and began slowly and calmly walking towards the animals.

At first the sheep didn't seem to care, but after the older man whistled a few times they finally started drifting away from him towards the road,
baaing
to each other in mild complaint. A few started drifting off to one side to continue grazing, and Alvin wheeled his bike around to usher them back towards the herd.

Once the sheep reached the road they started to cross it, and Lewis pedaled over to try to steer them back towards the road. Unfortunately he moved too quickly and too close and spooked the animals, so before he could get where he wanted to be they began trotting off at a diagonal from him and the road both.

Jane, observing from farther up the road, circled far around to get in front and to the side of the oncoming animals and with some whistling managed to get them headed towards the road again, where Pete and Alvin waited to hem them in and keep them from crossing back to the original meadow. It took a bit of finagling, but finally they managed to get the herd moving down the road the direction they wanted at a decent pace.

Herding sheep wasn't exactly rocket science, but that didn't make it easy, either. They had to be in constant motion around the edges of the small herd, keeping the strays from breaking away and bolting off, which at best meant the stray had to be rounded up, and at worst could lead to more of the sheep making a break after the stray to keep together.

Jane proved to have the temperament for that sort of task, keeping cool and calm even when the animals balked, and more importantly keeping her tone soothing as she talked to the sheep. Lewis wasn't able to stay quite that levelheaded, but at least he managed to keep his temper bottled in so he wouldn't spook the herd.

Matt . . . not so much. The first time a stray got past their friend he made the mistake of chasing it rather than trying to circle around and head it off back towards the rest of the herd. Which caused the sheep to bolt in fright, leading him on a merry chase for several minutes as he shouted after it angrily.

Even on his bike he had trouble keeping up with the running animal, and whenever he closed the distance the stray would veer away in an unexpected direction. He'd have to brake hard, unable to skid on the grass, and then pedal even harder to catch up again. From what Lewis could see Matt's efforts weren't doing any good, and probably quite a bit of harm as the fleeing sheep got more and more frightened and exhausted.

Finally the animal rejoined the herd on its own. Once Matt realized it he hopped off his bike and pushed it back towards them, stomping and muttering angrily about whether it was even worth it to bring in all of them. Their friend's bad mood was so apparent that even the sheep noticed it, and he couldn't get to within twice the distance of the rest of them before the herd started shying away nervously. Which led to other strays breaking away and even more hassle.

Finally Lewis pulled his friend aside. “Someone needs to ride ahead and let Aspen Hill know we're bringing the herd in. They'll need a fenced in area, fodder, that sort of thing.”

Matt glared at him. “Are you just trying to get rid of me because I'm making a mess of this?”

“A bit of both,” Lewis admitted, trying not to smile.

His friend didn't share his amusement. “One of these ewes is going to be mine, and we'll probably keep our own herd together. I need to learn how to handle them so I can help you.”

“There's plenty of time to learn. For the moment you should probably give them some space until you can earn their trust again.” Lewis leaned far off his bike and clapped him on the shoulder. “It
is
important that the town gets a place ready for them. And if you've got any spare time you could maybe see about getting your family and Jane's group busy building an enclosure for our animals when they arrive.”

Matt sighed. “I guess you're right. To be honest riding ahead sounds pretty tempting, so I don't really mind admitting defeat this time. I'll see you guys back at home. Tomorrow or the day after at the latest, right?”

Lewis nodded, then watched as his friend circled cautiously around the herd, keeping well away to avoid further spooking them, and took off down the road. The combination of hard pedaling and a downhill slope got him to an almost dangerous pace within a few hundred feet, and Matt was soon out of sight around the next bend.

“Where's he off to?” Pete called from near the front of the herd.

With a start Lewis stepped up onto his pedals and rode back to his place, just in time to turn back a few opportunistic strays. “He's going ahead to let Aspen Hill know we're coming.”

“Probably a good thing,” Alvin said from the other side of the road. “When it comes to being a shepherd he was pretty
baa
d.”

“Ugh no, we're not doing that,” Pete said, glaring over his shoulder.

“Doing what?” Alvin asked innocently. “When it comes to bad puns I never feel sheepish.”

Lewis shook his head. “Sheep puns are too easy to even be funny.”

The young man shrugged. “Sorry. They're just something I herd.”

Jane snickered and Tom guffawed loudly. Lewis couldn't help his own smile. Pete glanced backwards again, still glaring. “I should've gone with Matt,” he muttered loud enough for everyone to hear.

Herding the sheep they had to go much slower than they had yesterday, but not quite at the constant walk Lewis had feared as an intolerable pace. The sheep could move faster than that for short periods, which allowed them to ride faster for brief stretches as they herded the animals along the road. The main thing that slowed them wasn't the pace the animals could manage but their tendency to wander, slowing the group down as they were rounded up again.

Last night they'd all anticipated that even going from sunup to sundown there was no way they'd reach Aspen Hill that day, and possibly not the next either. Even the slightly increased pace only gave them hope of reaching home before sundown tomorrow, but at least it was something.

One major delay, and a major concern as well, was making sure the animals had enough time to graze and places to water. With Matt gone on ahead to alert the town, as well as get a place ready for the herd once it arrived, they decided Pete would be the next best candidate for scouting ahead for water sources and ideal areas to stop and rest. He'd shown he had the energy to ride circles around them, and he actually seemed relieved at the chance to move faster going on ahead.

Getting away from Alvin's puns was probably also an incentive.

Near noon they descended down into the single ravine they'd encountered on this mostly uphill road, not nearly as low elevation as Aspen Hill at the base of the canyon but low enough that the spring weather was milder. Pete had also briefly returned to report the stream flowing along the bottom, even though they all remembered the distinctive landmark from the previous day's ride.

It was an ideal place to stop and give the sheep a chance to graze and water, and themselves an opportunity to rest and eat a decent meal. Lewis ran the stream water through his filter, and everyone seemed to appreciate a chance to drink their fill of the cool, crisp water and refill their canteens.

The slow pace hadn't really tired Lewis out, and Jane was feeling up to a hike, so while Tom rested and Alvin kept an eye on the herd they made their way upstream to look for signs of game. It was a good hunting spot, if a bit far from the town, and if things dried up in the valley below it might be worth considering for future expeditions.

The ground to either side of the ravine was steep enough to make footing awkward, and often densely overgrown with underbrush. At some points they even found themselves hopping stones in the stream or leaping from bank to bank as the easiest way forward. The going got easier after a few minutes when they came across a game trail, and although neither of them had planned to make the hike a long one they agreed to go a bit farther.

Lewis was glad they had a few minutes later, when the stream cut through a grove of mingled aspen and evergreens that was almost completely choked with undergrowth that would make further travel impossible. Although that wasn't what had cheered him up.