Loch pushed the shovel, tossing it into the wheelbarrow. He threw a couple more loads and the Clanmember pushed the wheelbarrow away, working his way through the somewhat random trails already shoveled. It had snowed again the previous night. About six inches, which was starting to be a very common occurrence. The wind whipped through the open yard, pushing snow into drifts and across the yard to blind the people out working.

  Shaking, Loch sent loose snow off his coat and onto the ground. He rubbed at his beard, trying to get the snow and ice out of it. He hated when his beard iced up.

  Setting the edge of the shovel onto the ground, Loch pushed it, catching the snow he’d just dropped and then continuing into the newly fallen snow. He pushed the snow into a pile, moving around it and pushing more into the same pile, growing it quickly. Another Clanmember with a wagon dragging behind him came over. Loch shoveled the snow into the wagon, which was removed to go to the pile further down the hill where they were moving all the snow.

  It seemed to snow at least once a week, six to ten inches or so. Sometimes it was twice a week but the second storm wasn’t as bad as the first. It was still bad, snow piling up everywhere no matter how hard they worked to remove it. They seemed to be going through their wood quickly too. The temperature dropped with each storm, something even their Adapted bodies were having a hard time dealing with. Loch hoped the series of storms would end and the winter would settle off. During the day, lumberjacks worked hard to cut down more trees and chop it into more wood to burn, but it was going to take a lot of wood to keep the Clan warm.

  “It’s my turn Lord Lochlan,” a man said, walking over to take the shovel from Loch.

  “Thanks,” Loch replied, leaving the man to start shoveling.

  The Clanmember with the wheelbarrow returned.

  “Thank you Lord Lochlan,” he said.

  Loch nodded and waved.

  He hated that the people thought he deserved thanks for just doing what they were. The entire Clan had to work at removing the snow. Even the Adventurers, during their few moments of downtime, helped out. Some, like Roger Lewis and Josh Hauser, complained every second. But the rest did it without complaint.

  It needed to be done and so everyone did it.

  Most of the time, the Adventurers had to spend their time clearing the Dungeons. No one wanted to run the risk of letting the Dungeons overload and have to deal with the monster surge. There were already so many new monsters in the woods. With each storm, it seemed a new threat emerged.

  Luckily there were no more Dungeons like the Nidan one that Loch had found, but the hunters and guards had seen Winter Dire Wolves, more of the Iceclaw Raptors and other monsters. Killing the threats kept the Clan in meat and more hides to make warmer clothes, but it wasn’t meat that Loch really worried about.

  He moved to the back of the school where an area had been cleared of snow, again. Poles were set in the ground, pushed through the remains of the asphalt, which had been completely removed to expose the dirt and soil underneath. That left the cleared space a foot or so below the top of the surrounding asphalt. Other poles had been laid horizontally as beams, along the top and bottom. A roof with gable ends topped the whole thing. No one was currently working on it, that would start again when the snow stopped. The area had been chosen as it got the most sun throughout the day, which was needed for a greenhouse.

  It had been the Glassmith, Lloyd Harriman, who had come up with the idea. He had discovered that he could convert sand to glass using the forge and his Abilities. He was currently set up in the school’s basement, converting piles and piles of sand into stacks of glass. The sand came from the Blighted Grove Dungeon, which had contained some beaches. When a team went in, they came out with buckets of sand. Like Resource Dungeons, the sand respawned, giving them a nearly unlimited supply.

  A team had been sent to the herb Resource Dungeon off Harvey Lake Road, looking to see if they could find anything that would be edible and a good replacement for vegetables and fruit. If they were successful, it would be another steady supply of food.

  The greenhouse was something they should have thought of before the winter. Loch hated that they’d completely blanked on it. They didn’t know they could make glass, but they could have used some of the clear tarps they had found. Loch had a neighbor that used to cover their chicken coop in plastic during the winter. The sun shone through the plastic and created a kind of greenhouse effect in the coop, keeping the chickens warm throughout the winter.

  The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

  If this greenhouse worked, they would start construction on another. The structure had to be strong to deal with the winter winds. Loch hoped the glass Lloyd would make could handle the ice, freezing temperatures and the fierce wind.

  Moving back around to the front of the school, Loch stopped, staring at a group of hunters running through the gate, rushing up the path toward him. They saw him, changing their direction.

  “Lord Lochlan,” the one in the lead said, coming to a stop, looking excited or panicked. Maybe both. All four were breathing heavily as if they’d just run for miles. “We found…,” the man starting, having to stop to catch his breath.

  “Calm down,” Loch said. “Take your time.”

  He steadied himself, glancing back at the others, maybe hoping one of them would step up. They motioned at him to continue. He turned back to Loch and took a deep breath.

  “We ran across a bunch of elementals,” he said, pointing to the west. “They were surrounding this glowing thing that looked like one of those portals.”

  “How far away?”

  The man glanced back at the last hunter.

  “An hour,” the man said, glancing at a random spot, accessing his mental map.

  “Can you share your map?” Loch asked.

  “Yeah,” he said.

  Loch felt a strange sensation, something pushing against his mind. He opened his own mental map, seeing a marker appear.

  “My Evaluate had the Elementals stronger than my Level Nine,” the lead Hunter said. “I’m the highest Level of the four, so we ran as fast as we could,” he finished, sounding a little ashamed.

  “You did good,” Loch said, clapping him on the shoulder. “All of you. Go get some food and warm up. I’ll take a team out to investigate.”

  “Yes sir,” the four said, walking toward the school.

  Loch thought about who was at the school that was around Level Fifteen. Davis and his team were out in a Dungeon. Roger and his team were at another. That left Drew’s team and Loch’s bannermen. One of them would have to stay behind. The rule was that at least one of the high Leveled teams remained at the school at all times. He headed for the school, to gather the two groups and see who wanted to go out in the cold.

  ***

  “Rock, paper, scissors,” Drew asked Randy.

  The older man rolled his eyes, but smiled. No one had wanted to go out in the snow but both groups had volunteered. Piper and Harper had wanted to go as well, which Loch had agreed with. They had both been cooped up in the school for a couple of days, only going out to help with the shoveling. Piper’s inkcreations were a big help, being able to create a larger shovel, wheelbarrow or even a humanoid that could push the shovel.

  “One, two, three… Shoot,” Piper said, acting as referee.

  Randy put down rock with Drew putting down paper.

  “Dammit Drew,” Graham, the tank of his group, muttered. “You never start with paper.”

  “Next round,” Piper said. “One, two, three…. Shoot!”

  Both put out scissors.

  They did a third round, Drew winning. The fourth round was both throwing down rock. The fifth round finally ended it, Randy winning with rock.

  “Ugh,” Drew muttered, stepping away. “Come on gang, since we’re all up and gathered here in the lobby, let’s go play some Catan or something.”

  “Fine, but I’d rather fight elementals,” Sarah, a Striker, said, walking toward the cafeteria.

  Loch turned to Randy and the others, including Julia Montgomery.

  “Go get geared up, we’ll leave in thirty minutes.”

  “How are we supposed to tell when it’s been thirty minutes?,” one of the twins asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t have a watch,” the other replied.

  “Neither do I. None of us do. That’s my point,” the first said.

  “It means to just hurry up,” Elora grumbled, pushing past the two.

  The group disappeared up the stairs. Loch went to follow but a voice from the doors to the cafeteria stopped him. Loch turned to see the newcomer, Jake Warrick, standing there.

  “Can I come?”

  “Sure,” Loch replied.

  “Awesome,” Jake said, running up the stairs to the room he’d been given.

  Loch followed, hoping Piper had run upstairs and she could help him with his armor.