Page 136 of Circle of Days

“Well, we felt we had to. So in the end we slithered on our stomachs across the ground, and we reached the herd without being seen. I got a rope around a cow’s neck, that wasn’t difficult.”

Gida said: “But then you had to escape across open ground—with the cow.”

“We tried to. I made the cow gallop, and Forn ran alongside, but the beast didn’t want to run, and it slowed down. So the herders got close enough to shoot. And they hit Forn, and he fell.” She began to cry. “He must have turned around to look, because the arrow was in the front of his thigh, and he was bleeding so much. And I knew he was going to die, and I would, too, if I stayed, so I ran, leaving him behind. And one arrow hit me but it wasn’t bad and I could run faster than the herders.”

Bez kissed her. “You’re a brave girl,” he said. He was close to tears himself.

Gida said: “I wonder if they have done this, doubled the watch, for all parts of the herd.”

Bez said: “If they haven’t yet, they will soon. It’s their new strategy to stop us stealing.”

Gida nodded. “It’s clever. We have to find a way around it.”

“Yes,” said Bez. “Or rob someone else.”

Ignore the houses,” Bez whispered to the others. “The food is in the little stores.”

They were a small group of woodlanders, and they were at Farmplace in the dead of night. There was no moon. Bez had split them into three groups of three. The plan was that each group would rob one farm and they would rendezvous in the remnant of West Wood.

Bez was sounding more confident than he felt. This was their first attempt to rob farmers, and he did not know what difficulties they might encounter. He knew it was dangerous, but they had to do it or starve. If they got into trouble, he would try to save Lali and Gida.

“Let me show you how to deal with the dogs,” he whispered. “And from now on, silence.”

He had a plan, but he did not know if it would work.

He led them across a field of stubble, then approached a house with a dog tethered outside. The dog saw them and barked. Bez lay flat, and the others followed suit.

They watched as a man came out of the house and looked around. Seeing nothing, he muttered a curse at the dog and went back inside.

Bez stood up and walked closer. The dog barked again, and the woodlanders again lay flat.

The man reappeared, this time carrying a bow. He would not be expecting to see thieves, which were little known in Farmplace, but he was ready to shoot foxes or possibly a wolf.

He walked all around the house, then went to the nearby store, walked in a circle around it, and looked inside. Bez hoped he would not come where the woodlanders were lying. He seemed to look straight at them, and Bez held his breath, but a moment later the man turned away. As Bez had hoped, in the dark they were indistinguishable from the ground around them.

Seeing nothing unusual, the man spoke angrily to the dog and returned to his house.

The woodlanders crept forward on their bellies. The dog probably could not see them, but could surely smell them. Confused now, it growled, barked briefly and uncertainly, and fell silent.

When they got close, Bez stood up. The dog barked loudly. Bez stepped forward, knife in hand, and cut its throat. It died quickly and silently.

He stared at the doorway to the house. The knife in his hand dripped dog’s blood. But the man did not come out.

Without speaking, Bez directed two teams to neighboring farms, then led his own team—himself, Gida, and Lali—to this farm’s store.

It was pitch dark, so they had to leave the door open for the sake of the little light it let in. They stood still while their eyes adapted. Eventually Bez dimly saw three large pottery jars. On top of one was a cup with a long handle. Bez picked up the cup, removed the lid of the jar, and dipped the cup into some kind of liquid in the jar. He tasted the liquid: it was milk. He spat it out. Milk gave people stomachache.

The second jar contained curds and whey, milk that had soured and separated into lumps and a watery liquid. It was not part of the woodlander diet, and Bez guessed it would have the same unpleasant effect as milk.

But the third jar contained wheat grains, the staple food of the farmers. Woodlanders did not grow wheat but ate the grains of wild grasses. Cultivated grains were similar but fatter.

Meanwhile Gida and Lali explored the store, mainly by touch. Gida found a big leather bag full of apples, and Lali a wooden box containing cheese. They took all three prizes.

They left the store, Bez closing the door quietly.

They crossed the fields, staying away from the buildings. Bez kept looking around, fearful that some sleepless nightwalker might see them and raise the alarm. However, it was not a human but an animal that saw them.

They passed a farmhouse at a distance and then, from behind the house, came the biggest bull Bez had ever seen. Its shoulder was higher than his head, and its huge curved horns spread as wide as Bez’s legs were long. It bellowed, and Lali gave a little scream.