44. The Lake

Novum nodded his head and headed out of the shop and towards city hall. The mayor was waiting out front and led him to the back room they used before and Peter was standing beside the table with several old maps on them. "So what am I looking at here Peter?"

"Maps from just over a hundred years ago. Let me clarify, maps of this immediate area from a hundred years ago. There was no lake."

The mayor looked at the map again. "What do you mean there was no lake? Even two hundred years is not enough time for a lake that size to just appear. Something falling from the sky might do it but this town is that old and that would be in the history books somewhere. Maybe a mine collapsing would do it but he are no where close to that area."

Novum nodded his head in agreement. "But what about a magical explanation. A mage's tower exploding or something like that?"

"Well I took you advice and talked to a few of the elders to include the lender and he told me of a story that his grandmother told him. When she was young there was a tower out in the woods that just one day disappeared and suddenly the lake was there. By this time she was not quite right in the head and everyone just thought that she was seeing or remembering things that were never there. Since everyone thought she was crazy no one bother to look at a map and see if anything was different."

"So there is a chance that there is a wizard's tower in the bottom of the lake or something from the original explosion was sealed until recently. Given it has been a hundred years if something like that had happened it would be long before now. So now the only thing left to do it to go and take a look and see what I can find."

Peter looked at him. "But it is on the bottom of the lake. How do you plan on looking for it?"

"I picked up a few things in the capitol during my visit and one of them should help me get to the bottom of this." He chuckled at his own joke but the other two did not appear to realized that he made a joke. "Anyways, I have a potion that will let me breath water for a few minutes and I will use that to see what I can find. The entire reason that I asked you the other day was that I thought I saw something under he water but I wanted to know a little more before I dove in blindly."

"So what are you planning?"

"First I am going to go and take a look at the lake and see if there is some clue or hint or anything that might tell me about what in the world is going on. If there is nothing then I will start looking in a different direction. If it is something then I will decide once I get my eyes on it. But since it has already taken this long to really affect the area I am going to go back and rest up. The fight with those bears was pretty rough. Then tomorrow I will see what I can find out and then the day after I will go to the capitol."

"Huh?" Both the mayor and Peter had looks of confusion on their faces.

"If I can figure something out then more than likely I will need magical support from the capitol and if not I still need to expand my supplies and livestock. Damn it, I still need a barn for that. I may have to push the trip or move it around. I am not sure when I am going to go. But first things first I need some rest. I will let you guys know if I find anything and we will go from there."

The mayor looked at him with concern. "Be careful Novum. Don't be a hero run and fight another day if you need to."

"I am all on board with that sentiment." He gave them both a nod of his head and then headed back out front. By the time that he was done both of the wagons were back out front and they all headed back out to the house. As they got close he could smell dinner was already cooking and it smelled delicious.

They had fresh bear for dinner and there was even some biscuits and honey to go with it and Novum ate until he was full. After dinner he found a spot on the porch and pulled out his papers and rolls a cigarette he realized that this was his first one since the bears. That was when he realized that this was the real and natural stuff and not the chemically treated stuff from his old world. The addiction was not there. Well it might have been there but after what he used to smoke this did not even phase him. Even though it was still a little early as soon as everything was cleaned up he headed for bed. It had been a long day and he was exhausted.

Novum woke up the next morning and stretched out. He did not feel someone sleeping against him this morning but when he looked over he saw that the little one was cuddled up next to Fang. He smiled and got up as quietly as he could. Fang saw him getting up and his tail started to wag. Novum held out his hand and stopped him from getting up. Fang looked over and saw the girl and then licked her forehead and laid back down.

Novum lit a smoke and saw Jane walked towards the house. "She is in there curled up with Fang. Nothing is going to bother her while he is there."

"I am sorry Baron. She has never wandered off like this before and now she has done it twice. I am not sure what I am going to do about it."

"We might have to put you two in the first house that gets built so you can lock the door at night. I hate to think about you having to lock a door but it might be the only thing to keep her safe."

"I do not think that we need the first house. I will figure out something. I am going to get started with breakfast. Man I wish we had some chickens."

"I have to get a good coup built. I am worried that Fang might not be able to resist the temptation."

"That would be hard for most animals to resist. Maybe put them in the pen with those goats they sure do pretty good at keeping Fang in check."

"That is not a bad idea but honestly I am not sure the goats would not attack the chickens."

Jane walked away and he just sat there and waited for the sun to come the rest of the way up. A few minutes later Jane brought him over a large cup of coffee. He gave her a smile. "Thanks." She gave him a bow of her head and went to finish up with breakfast. The sun was all the way up and breakfast was served. Novum ate with Rurik.

"I am going to drink my potion and check out the lake today. I need to see what is going on and I think there is something in the lake that is altering things on the surface. Apparently that lake was not there a hundred years ago."

"Lakes don't for that fast without help."

"Yeah I know. I thought I saw something under the water the other day when I was out there but I was not going under there without knowing a little something."

"I will come and keep watch from the bank. Might be such a thing as an animal in the water got altered and you might need some help fighting it."

"You have the mine to take care of I will take one of the hunters."

"Nope I will be there. Without the lumber there is nothing for me to do in the mine. For all we know there is a giant catfish or turtle down there. A regular turtle would be bad enough not to mention one that is gigantic. Thought I am interested to see what I could do with a giant turtle shell."

"Well it would probably be better to have at least you along with me. Though I am starting to worry that you may have jinxed it."

"Huh, yeah that might be a possibility. I will take the wagon and a few barrels with me so that I can get some water for the brewing and still."

"Bring them but we are not going to full them up if there is something funny in the lake. It would be horrible for you to brew a lot of beer and it start making people mutate. That just does not sit right."

"Yeah, that would ruin my reputation as a brewer."

"And mutate a lot of people."

"Eh, not to big of a concern."

"While you get the barrels loaded I will make a few checks to see if anyone here has anything that they need from me or any questions that need answered."

"See you shortly." Rurik got up and headed for the stable to get the horses ready to go.

Novum checked on each of the sections and every one was ready to get their day started. The lumber jacks were curious about how many more trees needed to come down and he told them the entire area needed to be cleared out for houses so they would find something to build if there was to much wood. And they still had some stuff that needed to be smoked.

He had Hank one of the hunters and the cooks lake care of the big steer to get it cleaned and split up. Part of it would be smoked and part would be put in the cellar and some would be salted. He was trying to make it so that they had options over the next could of months. Ray the other hunter headed out to try and bag a few more deer. All of the others we already taking care of the things that they needed to take care of and were getting things marked and prepared for the future.

Novum saw that Rurik had the wagon ready to go and he threw his saddle on Noctis and they took off for the lake and whatever they may find. The trip took a little longer than going to the town since the wagon was going off the main trails but they finally made it. Novum walked out to the end of the inlet and smoked a cigarette and looked over the area where he thought he saw something the other day. When he didn't see anything he knew he was out of options. He put the smoke out and pulled out the potion. He willed his armor away and took off his cloak as well.

Before he chugged the bottle he saw Fang and remembered that he saved him the bear organs. He pulled out the huge liver and tossed it to him. Without a word he downed the drink and gave it about thirty seconds to take affect and then he dove into the cold waters of the lake.