When I returned to River’s village, I was covered in caked blood. Blood that merely days before had soaked me, face, clothes and body.
I didn’t care to clean myself up before making my way back. I had been far too distracted.
When I reached the village, news of my return spread quickly, though none of the villagers seemed keen to approach me.
After all, we must have looked like wild beastss, half-starved and covered in blood.
I hadn’t eaten for four days, as I hadn’t cared to bring with me provisions as I left the village to track down the hunters. And Crusoe hadn’t had anything to eat either. I immediately fetched some smoked meat for myself and Crusoe, and I then went to the river, eating while I walked.
The dry, tough meat tasted far less enticing than I remembered, but I ate it none the less.
I threw myself in the river, washing away the blood and grime of the travel, while Crusoe seemed content to sit himself beneath his usual tree, licking himself clean.
River approached me as I surfaced again.
“What happened? They say you returned covered in blood. Are you hurt? Where are the hunters?”
I cup my hands in the stream, and bring it up to my lips, wetting my dried lips and my coarse throat.
“Dead. I killed them. I killed them all.”
There was silence, and when I turned towards River I saw fear in her eyes again.
That hurt me more than anything, save for the image of the dead children burned into my eyes.
I didn’t care if anyone feared me, but not her.
Whatever happened, I didn’t want her to fear me.
I rose out of the water and walked towards her, reaching out with my hand towards her. I could see her momentarily flinching, but she reached back towards me and took my hand.
Even though what I just had said, she still trusted me. That gave me a sense of ease I had all but lost.
She broke the silence.
“Why?”
I could feel the tears burning in the corners of my eyes, threatening to well up again.
“I followed them to the village near the cave. They had killed the men and children, and were raping the women.
They used the bows I had made for them to hunt to murder children…”
I couldn’t keep my voice stable any longer, so I stopped. But I could see she understood.
She stepped in and embraced me as tightly as she could.
We just stood there for a very long time.
The following days I was far more cautious about what technology I gave the tribe. I kept teaching them writing, how to build houses, and then I even helped them construct pretty crude aqueducts to give their homes running water from the river and very basic plumbing.
I also started to see some of the grasses I was experimenting with start to pierce the dirt in my little patch of farmland.
I didn’t construct the forge I had planned to make, and I didn’t make any more bows. They weren’t ready for that technology, and that had been shown clearly to me.
And it didn’t take long until the events that happened at the other village got out into the surrounding villages.
I didn’t quite understand what was happening, but it started with a few natives simply showing up out of the jungle, and joining the villagers in their work around the place.
But as the days went by, they became larger and larger in number.
Soon, the village that had been a couple of dozen in number when I arrived had nearly doubled in size.
And the newcomers seemed to take every opportunity given to them to throw themselves at my, or Crusoe’s feet.
When I asked River to find out why (because they started stammering and seemed flustered when I talked to them directly) she returned to me saying that the tale that the women of the destroyed tribe had told about me was that I was a god that had come to their village, and saved them from the men who had killed their children and mates.
I guess everything save the god part is true.
I soon learned to live with it, and the natives kept coming, and the village was soon transformed into a small town.
Within another month, the people of the town had started to build houses and construct aqueducts without needing my direct guidance, and there was never a shortage of natives who wished to learn English, and how to read and write.
As I was no longer needed in the way of construction (except checking that the buildings wouldn’t collapse on their inhabitants), I spent most of my time teaching. And beyond teaching English, as well as reading and writing, I taught them mathematics and everything about physics I could remember from college.
All of this was outside of my field, but I did my best to teach them everything I could that couldn’t be used to kill.
Well, at least without some serious ingenuity.
And the town didn’t stop growing.
A few months later I had ensured that fields had been cut out of the forest, and that eatable grasses had been planted.
But I realized that it wasn’t sustainable. There weren’t enough food produced in the valley to sustain the town, so I organized for smaller settlements to be placed further away from the town.
With the construction of these hunting, gathering and farming settlements I also introduced them to roads and the wheel.
I think that the first cart I helped make really blew their minds.
In a few months we had made a sustainable little nation, and I made sure to put into place a core set of laws, and ensured their enforcing.
It was then that I felt confident with reintroducing the bow and also resuming my work with metallurgy.
I began with simple items made out of smelted iron that had been fished out of the rivers. I eventually managed to figure out how to make hammers, hoes, and plows. And soon construction and farming went a huge deal smoother.
Now I couldn’t just make sure that everyone in the city and its’ surrounding villages could eat, but I had also made it so that the food could be transported around and that people were healthy.
And I had made sure that my laws ensured the people’s safety and wellbeing.
I realize that some of the laws may be harsh, but at least this way I feel that I can sleep well with giving out the knowledge I have.
But beyond the basic “thou shalt not kill” and “treat others like you would want others to treat you” I did my best to avoid controlling the people directly, but as the village grew into a town, and then into a city, people relied on me more and more for guidance.
Eventually, I guess I became as close to a regent as this people has. And there seemed to be a large number in the city who reveres, even worships me.
Maybe I should introduce them to Democracy?
Better that than the rise of a dictatorship when I eventually leave them.
When I was pondering this, I was reminded of the supplies and the beacon I had left behind by the cave.
I had planned to stay away a few days, and it has been months already.
I noticed I hadn’t really been paying much attention to the passage of time. There had always been something to distract myself with.
There was just so much to do.