Ace seemed his normal self in the morning, but that didn't stop Amber from insisting that he take it easy today. She had already spread the word to the others who had donated blood. Diane seemed quite amused as she watched Ace oil the squeaky hinge on the small cubby door under the table.

Diane chuckled, "Well, there goes my wakeup call if I doze off."

Ace tested the now silent door, "If I had realized just how terrible that thing sounded when one was half asleep, I would have fixed it long ago."

Diane grinned silently in mirth and I was pretty sure I knew the source of her amusement. Ace was refusing to admit that he had fallen asleep last night in that chair. It was pretty funny.

We headed off for breakfast. I nibbled on some fried eggs as I listened to Ace and Diane.

"So what do you feel like doing today? Amber and Todd are keeping a close eye on everyone today and I think they will object if they see you doing our usual tasks."

He made a face as he realized that they were going to be keeping him from most of the tasks we normally helped with, "Why don't we help collect eggs? Laura enjoyed that previously and they don't mind additional help when collecting that many eggs. We can help pump water to the drier fields afterwards."

It sounded good to me. Once we finished eating, we headed off to the largest chicken enclosure. The run for the chickens was the size of a football field and some hens didn't like using the nesting boxes, so it was like an easter egg hunt some days.

We went to the pens of all the egg laying birds. Sanctuary also had pens or coops for egg-laying ducks, turkeys, quail, and other breeds of chickens. That made for a lot of eggs. In the end it took us four hours to help others collect all the eggs.

Diane pushed a cart that was loaded with eggs in carefully packed layers. I skipped along beside her as she pushed the cart. We would have to make several trips to get all of the eggs to the kitchen's coldroom.

A couple of guys with blue eyes intercepted us, "Here, we can take that for you. Amber is looking for you two. She is up in her office. Laura, can you please show us where these eggs go?"

Diane glanced at Ace in surprise, but he also did not look like he had been expecting to have Amber looking for them. We hadn't been working that hard, so I wasn't sure why Amber wanted to talk with them alone. Diane gave me a nod, and I looked at the fired men as one started pushing the cart, "We are taking them to the kitchen's coldroom. It is this way."

Ace and Diane headed off towards a different part of the cliff where Amber's office was located. I looked at the one man, "Do you know why Amber wanted to see them?"

He shrugged, "All I know is that Amber was talking with two Messengers and requested Diane and Ace to join them."

It sounded secretive. Sanctuary had never had any secrets before. It sounded funny to me, and Diane clearly had no idea what it was about. Perhaps the two Messengers had done something wrong and Amber wanted advice on how to handle it until Roland returned from his current trading expedition.

The only thing was that I couldn't see the Messengers doing anything wrong. Diane and Ace put them through a lot of training before even letting them approach Roland to be released for their first official trip.

I showed the men how to move and stack the trays of eggs before we went back for a second load. Once the eggs were all moved, the men kept me company on the playground. The game of tag was fun. They had a hard time fitting into places I could easily go. They weren't used to my speed either, then again, perhaps I was just accustomed to dodging Diane and Ace.

Amber's door opened and the two Messengers came out, but Amber, Ace, and Diane were still inside. I kept playing with the two men, but part of my attention was on that door. The Messengers were deep in thought, but didn't seem worried or in trouble.

After what seemed like forever, Diane and Ace left the office and came over. As much as I wanted to ask what they spoke about, I refrained. There would have been a reason for Amber to exclude me from that meeting.

The two men were looking at Diane and Ace in curiosity, hoping they would mention something. Diane glanced between me and them before raising an eyebrow at Ace. Ace shrugged, "News like this won't remain quiet for long. Might as well tell them."

The Messengers had brought news? That made sense. They went all over the province, and sometimes even into the other provinces, but I was wondering what news was so important that it had to be told to Amber first. Ace glanced at me before looking at the men, "A remote settlement far to the east burnt down and nothing was left. There are no survivors as far as we can tell."

I gasped and one of the men did too. Fire was an evil thing if it got loose in a settlement. It was the very reason our buildings were all made of rock or cement. For an entire settlement to disappear was a terrible thing...

One of the men looked shocked, "Which settlement?"

"White Rock settlement. It is close to the eastern Alberta border and the most northern settlement we know of. It would take at least a week on a lightly loaded horse to make it there."

"Any idea what caused the fire?"

The pause was noticeable. Combining his pause with the Messengers original secrecy raised red flags in my mind. I looked at Diane in worry and she was already watching me. She crouched down and I went over to her. When she did stuff like this, it was either to plan a small prank or a serious talk. I knew which one this would be.

Diane watched me steadily, "From the signs the Messengers saw, it looks like the place was struck by bandits." I inhaled in shock, this was too close to what happened at Bethany Fort. Diane reassured me, "But there are no traces of the people living there, so they likely went to a different settlement. That place is a long ways away from here and it is doubtful that the bandits even know we exist. However, we will be taking precautions just in case any bandits ever show up in this remote place."

I tilted my head, "What kind of precautions?" I hoped that they weren't going to restrict our running. It got boring if we had to run the same trails every day.

Diane blinked slowly, "We will keep our eyes open for anyone approaching Sanctuary since so many run so far every day. At the moment, we will put horns in various locations in case someone spots something. We will also see if we can do something to fireproof the gate. There are a few others things, but we may think of more as we go. This settlement was a long ways away and there are other settlements between here and there."

I tilted my head, "So we are safe for now?"

Diane smiled, "Yes, we are safe. Don't worry, we won't let anything happen to you. All else fails, we will climb up the cliff and run away through the forest. We can always return and rebuild if needed. Most things here won't burn down anyway."

That was a relief. Diane was right, it was the people who made Sanctuary. We could always replace a bed, a rug, or even rebuild the wood frames of the trucks shelters, but it was the people who truly made Sanctuary what it was. Regardless, if everyone packed up and moved, we would still be Sanctuary.

I ran full tilt towards the gate as the alarm bell rang. Others also ran towards the gates as guards on the walls watched for any strangers among our ranks. Not that our glowing blue eyes could ever be counterfeited. Most who were not fired didn't range out as far as we had been.

No one bothered trying to bring the animals in for this drill though. We had done that yesterday and they had done just fine. I slowed to a stop once I was inside and grinned at Diane. Diane smiled at me as she watched the last few stragglers dart inside. Some ran for spare crossbows along the wall as others went to other prearranged posts.

"Good job!" The megaphone amplified Ace's voice so anyone near the gate could hear him. A guard on the gate rang the bell in a sequence that stood for 'Drill over. Good job.'

People scattered to whatever they had been doing before. A small group of people were talking with Diane and Ace about which parts had gone well and which ones still needed practice. A bell rang out above 'Traders return'.

They timed that just right. Most people were still in the meadow and the big gate was open. Those steam trucks could move fast if they were aiming for speed, which they often did when they were on the open highway. To my surprise, the trucks stopped outside the fence even though the gates were open.

We went over to investigate since we were right inside the gates anyways. Roland was grinning at us and waved an arm at his load, "Think that is sufficient?"

Each trailer had a second logging trailer behind it loaded to the brim with heavy steel I beams used for constructing huge buildings. Roland continued, "Each of the trailers is also loaded with thick steel plates to form a solid wall of steel in front of the wooden palisade. Dave is getting the cement powder and rebar to fill the gap between the two palisades."

Diane grinned, "So we are back to digging holes for those giant posts?"

Roland chuckled, "Yep."

Diane shook her head with a grin, "I am going to wear out that shovel at this rate..."

We all chuckled and glancing at the stacks of steel beams, I could believe it. We had been doing a lot of digging the last few months. A palisade made of steel... It couldn't be burnt down and I was eager to see what I could do to help put this thing up.

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