The next morning Kama took the arrows they had made and the ones she had repaired to Lex before dawn, so that he could take them to Mik. Feather was grateful, as it meant the leader would not invade their hut again. She hid until she heard the men leave the camp after breakfast.
This time their hunt was successful, and they came back carrying the carcasses of a wild boar and an antelope. Lex brought the fractured arrows that needed repair this time. He looked keenly at Feather’s face but said nothing as he handed the arrows to Kama.
The next day they left the village and moved on, roving ever southward.
Feather’s days were difficult. Now and then she walked with Tag, but Cade and the other young people did not seem to want her around.
“They’re jealous,” Tag told her when they were alone in the evening. He let Feather hold Patch, but the cat was growing larger and hardly fit in her lap now. “You have skills they do not have, and they fear you will receive better treatment than they do.”
“That’s crazy,” she said. “I’m cuffed about and made to work all the time.”
“Yes, but a lot of that is so you won’t start having ideas. Even Hana watches you with an anxious eye. Her husband values you. She might be just as happy if he traded you away.”
“Traded me?” Feather stared at him in horror.
“Lex usually does what Hana wants.”
“But he needs me to make arrows.”
“He got by without you before. If Hana persuades him to use you to enrich himself—and her, of course—he will do it.”
Feather gulped. “What should I do?”
“What you’ve been doing. Make yourself valuable to Lex, but prepare to escape. If he turns against you, then you must flee.”
“I don’t want to be sold to a master more cruel,” she said slowly.
Tag frowned. “It was not Lex who struck you.”
“No.”
Patch rolled on his back in the grass beside Feather, and she scratched his belly.
“Let’s not think about it,” Tag said softly. “You cannot leave until spring when we go north again. When we are near your people.”
She nodded. “Until then I will try to do what they want.”
“Good. When the time comes, we will make plans.” He smiled, and Feather wondered if he was possibly considering joining her flight. Before she could voice the thought, he asked, “Where is the secret I gave you?”
Feather looked around to be sure they were secure, then pulled the small book from her pouch. The sun was setting, but there was still enough light to see by. Only once before had they been able to look at it together, but Feather had examined it many times in solitude. It contained many pages of black runes, some in rows and some in columns. She could make no sense of it whatever. Tag had tried to read from it that other time, but had given up after a few minutes.
Now he took it in his hands and opened to the first leaf. “This is the name of the book,” he said with certainty. He stared at it, and his mouth skewed into a scowl. “It may be in another language. This word has no meaning for me.” He touched the black squiggles. “But this. This says tables. I’m sure. It couldn’t be anything else.”
Feather pondered that. “Why would anyone write a book about tables?”
“Maybe it tells how to make a table.”
“Maybe it is shaped like the word tables, but it means something else in another language.”
Tag sighed. “Perhaps.”
“I thought you could read.”
“So did I. After a sort. But it has been a long time since I practiced, and I was only beginning to learn when the Blens took me.” He paged through the small volume. “But some of these symbols are numbers. Many, many numbers.”
“What good is it?”
He shrugged and handed it back to her. “It must be some good, or they would not have made it into a book.”
“Who is they?”
Tag grimaced. “You ask too many questions. Maybe we should use it to start a fire.”
“No!” Feather put the little book back in her pouch. Patch was rubbing his head against her leg and purring. She reached down and petted him. “Good kitty.” That afternoon he had brought down a plump prairie bird and presented it to Tag, and Hana had cooked it for Tag and Patch’s supper.
“I should have taken a different book,” Tag said.
“There were others?”
He nodded. “They were big, though. That was the only one I could hide. A lot of good it did.”
Feather yawned. “You’d better go. If we don’t sleep soon, we’ll be tired in the morning. I expect we have a long day’s march ahead of us.”
Tag leaned toward her. “I heard something. When we were out hunting.”
Feather’s heart began pounding in fear. “What?”
“The men were talking of your people.”
“My people?” Feather squawked.
Tag nodded. “Lex was saying that your people have great knowledge of weapons. He wants to raid them next spring. He wants their weapons and tools, but he is afraid. If your people are many, or if their knowledge is more powerful than his . . .”
Feather pulled in a deep breath. Her people were few, and although some of the men were very strong, they would not be a match for the ruthless Blens.
“We must not let that happen.”
“Do not tell anyone about your village. Do not speak of your people or of the way they live. Don’t speak a word about them.” Tag’s gray eyes were as intense as his voice.
“I won’t.”
He nodded. “I learned something else.”
“What?”
“Patch is afraid of the fire.”
“Of course. All wild animals are. That’s why we build the fire high at night when we are camping in the country of wolves or cats.”
Tag lifted one hand impatiently. “It’s more than that. He won’t even go near the cook fire with me to get our food. He loathes the sight of it. The smell of it too, maybe.”
Feather nodded. “Where he was born, there was no fire. It is strange and terrible to him.” She stroked the cat’s head. “It’s all right, Patch. We’re all afraid of something.” A week later the band came upon an abandoned town. After searching it fruitlessly, they moved on. The people were getting hungry again, growing tired of the steady diet of game.
One night a quarrel broke out in the camp, and Feather burrowed under her blanket and jacket trying to block out the angry voices.
Suddenly a hand shook her shoulder roughly.
“Feather Girl! Get up!”
She sat up and blinked in the darkness. Hana was squatting beside her.
“Come! Gather your things! We move away from here!”
“What is it?” Feather asked, bundling up her blanket and reaching for the small pack she now carried.
“My husband and Mik part ways tonight.”
“That was Lex and Mik fighting? But they’re friends!”
“No more.”
Hana seized her wrist and pulled her along, and Feather stumbled after her. They hurried into the woods. Feather tripped over a tree root and sprawled on the ground.
“Over here,” said another woman’s voice.
“You stay with Sinda,” Hana whispered. “I go to see what is happening.”
Feather crawled toward the other woman. Sinda was the woman who carried the baby on all their travels. The little boy was beginning to toddle now, and Feather had often wondered how the mother could bear his weight, but he could not yet go fast enough on his own feet to keep up with the tribe.
“What happened?” Feather asked.
Sinda was sitting with her back to a large tree, cuddling the baby against her chest.
“Mik said we move too slow. He said we leave Tarni and Cade behind.”
Feather caught her breath. Cade was healing, and she had assumed he was safe now. Apparently Mik disagreed and wanted to be rid of the wounded boy and Tarni, the baby.
“How c
ould he even think of that?”
“He says they slow us down.” The catch in Sinda’s voice revealed her fear to Feather.
“What about your husband?”
“He stood up to Mik. My man Dell said we would not leave Tarni, and Mik bared his knife.” Sinda was crying now. “They fight, and I do not know if Dell lives.”
Feather reached out and patted Sinda’s shoulder. “Of course Dell won’t leave your baby behind. Tarni is his son.”
“But the Blens . . . this is their way,” Sinda said with resignation. “They did not want me to bring Tarni along in the first place. Now we have to decide. If Mik does not kill my husband, we will leave the tribe.”
“Can you survive alone?” Feather asked.
“I hope we will not be alone.”
Feather tried to put the bits of information together. The noise of strife in the camp was loud as women screamed and metal clashed on metal.
“Hana said Lex and Mik were fighting,” Feather said.
“Yes. Lex took our part. I couldn’t believe it. He is a hard man, but he sided with my husband. Mik said Dell could not leave him. He is one of the best hunters and a strong warrior. Mik said Dell must go with him, even if he leaves me here with Tarni. But Lex said no. We all go on, or we become two bands.”
Feather drew in a shaky breath. “Hana came to get me and hide me.”
“She wants you in Lex’s band now. She did not want Mik to steal you from Lex.”
“I’m glad.” Feather bit her lip. She hoped Lex’s mercy would also extend to Cade in his weakened state.
“Lex wants the Panther Boy too,” Sinda said suddenly, and Feather stared at her.
“He’s taking Tag?”
“He wants the medicine of the cat.” Sinda shrugged and wrapped her shawl closer about Tarni. “We shall see if he takes anyone. Mik is a powerful man.”
“But he is older than Lex,” Feather said, thinking of Mik’s gray-streaked beard.
“Yes. Perhaps some of the other warriors will side with Lex and Dell. If they defeat Mik, we will have a new leader. That is all. It has happened before.”
Feather shivered.
It was a long time before Hana returned.
“Come, Sinda. Feather, come too. It is safe now.”
Feather stood and reached to help Sinda to her feet.
“What happened?” Sinda asked as they emerged from the trees.
“We have the camp,” Hana said.
Amazed, Feather followed her to the fire pit. Lex and several other men were drinking from the water skins. Feather looked about quickly. To her relief, she saw Tag sitting with Cade, offering him a drink, and Patch stalking back and forth near them.
It took her a moment to realize that anyone was missing, other than Mik. Denna was also there, and the two newest members of the tribe, the two men who had been captured the night of Tag’s first raid.
Lex held up one hand and roared for silence.
“We are the tribe,” he said. Feather supposed he thought that was a profound statement. He looked around at them, sizing up his followers. “I see that more than half of the band remains with me. That is good. I will take care of you.”
Feather edged toward Tag and Cade. She wondered if Mik and his men would come back to ambush them. Lex’s new band seemed to have all the weak ones. Besides Denna, there were two other girls, Riah and Mist. Dell was one of ten proven warriors, including Tag and Lex. There were also two boys who were not yet wearing the necklace.
“I make a new rule,” Lex said. “There will be no more talk of leaving the baby behind. Dell agrees that he will help carry his son.”
A murmur of wonder went up from the women. The men never carried anything unless they had to, and no one had ever helped Sinda carry the child before.
“This is my rule. If a baby comes to this band, we will keep it. And you.” He glared at the two captives. “You are no longer slaves. You chose to stay with me and help me oppose Mik. You are now Blens. You will hunt with us and keep watch with us. I will no longer keep you in bonds, but if you try to escape, I will kill you.”
It was said so flatly that Feather shuddered. She did not doubt Lex would make good his word.
“In the fall,” the leader said, “you will be tested at the City of Cats, to see if you are worthy of the freedom I give you. But now we march. Mik and his band have gone west. We go east. We will put many miles between us before daylight.”
The people hurried to pack up the supplies and bedding. There was not much food, but even so Feather realized that Lex now controlled what was left of it. Mik’s people had been run off without any provisions.
As she hefted a pack containing cooking utensils and beans, Tag came near and said to Hana, “What would Lex’s wife have me carry?”
Hana smiled at his implication that she was now wife of the leader. “That and that. And can you also take this?” She loaded Tag with bulging packs, then left to fetch her own clothing and blanket.
“Where is Kama?” Feather asked.
“She went with Mik,” Tag told her.
“He took her?”
“No, it was her own choice.”
“But we need her to make the arrows.”
“You will have to make do,” Tag said. “Cade and I will cut shafts for you when we are settled for a while. Maybe you can teach me to do part of the work.”
Lex barked an order, and Tag pulled on Patch’s leash. “Come, Patch. Time to march.”
The cat walked along beside them in the moonlight. Cade fell in on the other side of Tag, using a walking stick. He grimaced with each step, but Feather could see that he was determined to keep up. He will prove that Lex has not been foolish to keep him, she thought. She must do the same and keep Lex supplied with the best arrows possible. She wondered if Kama had taken all the tools and glue, and the assortment of feathers they had collected.
It was not until daybreak, when they stopped for breakfast, that she became aware of the extent of the men’s wounds. Dell, Lex, and Potter, the young ex-slave, all bore cuts, and Ulden, a burly young warrior, was limping. Even Tag had an ugly bruise on his arm.
“You were hurt in the fight,” Feather said.
He looked down at his arm and nodded. “I’m glad it was not worse. But Mik flees now with claw marks on his face.”
Feather stared, waiting for him to explain. “You fought him yourself?”
“I saw that one of Mik’s men was attacking Cade, and Cade was in trouble. I went to help him, and all of a sudden, Mik was there. He didn’t have a blade in his hand, or I would probably be dead now. He said, ‘You dare to side against me?’ and grabbed my arm. Then Patch growled and leaped at him. He slammed into Mik, head first on Mik’s chest, and knocked him over. One swipe of his claws, and Mik was running.”
Feather inhaled slowly. “I’m surprised Patch didn’t chase him down like a deer.”
Tag smiled grimly. “I whistled, and he came back. But I know now that he will always be loyal to me and defend me.”
Hana opened the meager stores of food and let Denna and Riah serve breakfast while she fixed a portion for her husband and carried it to him. Feather followed her, carrying a water skin.
Lex looked up at Hana for a long moment, then reached for the food. “How many are we?”
“Twenty-seven. Twenty-eight, counting the babe. We lost nine men and four women. Several of our people are wounded and weak.”
Lex nodded. “The same is true of Mik and his followers. But we have more people.” He looked past Hana at Feather. “And we have the best archers and the brightest children.”
Feather turned away quickly to hide her confusion. Was Lex planning to build a new tribe with ways that differed from those of the rampaging Blens? Or was he just counting his assets—food stuffs, weapons, people who would be useful?
Her hopes were dashed when she heard Hana say, “We need a stopping place.”
“Yes,” said Lex. “We need to find a village that we can
defeat with our numbers, so we can regain our strength. You women may have to help raid this time.”
“You think Mik will come after us after he rests and attack us?” Hana asked.
“I think I have shown him the folly of that. But he may join another band. If he does that quickly, he might urge them to pursue us. Then we must watch out!”
Feather heard no more, but she hoped Mik’s fear of the cat would keep him away from Lex’s people.
Chapter Twelve
The snow was deep in the Wobans valley.
The people spent most of their days in the big lodge, and Sam gave daily lessons in the arts of reading and writing.
In the morning he taught the people to form the letters that made up the words in their new books. Karsh used a sharp stone to scratch the shapes on a piece of slate. Some of the others used charcoal from the fireplace to write on thin sheets of bark.
After lunch Karsh sometimes went to the family house to play with Cricket and Flame. He and the other boys tended the goats and sheep, feeding them morning and evening, and they continually hauled firewood and water to the lodge and the house. Now and then Karsh was called upon to put on snowshoes and climb the ridge to stand watch. It was cold up there in the wind, but the watches were shorter in cold weather. Weave and the other women supplied all the sentries with woolen wraps and stockings, and Karsh was proud to be numbered with the men in this duty.
In the late afternoon Sam held another session, concentrating on reading. Karsh and the other children were quick to learn the sounds of all the symbols. With delight they read Sam’s name, and then those of some of the children. Kim and Lil were easy. Karsh’s name was harder, but very soon he could write it from memory, and he began to scratch it into the bark of a tree trunk on the ridge high above the village.
In the evening Sam read to them from the books. They all listened avidly as he read about the ancient times or taught them amazing new things about the plants they thought they knew. Tansy could hardly wait for spring when the herbs would leaf out again and she could gather them to begin brewing new teas and medicines.
The men sat for hours discussing what they had learned from the books. Alomar always grew excited when they spoke of the old kingdom. Instead of fading with age, his memory seemed to be restored as he studied, and he recalled more and more incidents from his youth. His face took on a contented look that made Karsh feel safe. For the first time, he did not hate the winter.
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