Page 137 of Circle of Days

Bez realized it was an aurochs, a type of wild cattle that was rarely seen. He guessed it was on its way to the river to drink. Hehefted his club, but knew that such a weapon would not save him from those mighty horns.

The beast looked at the three of them as if trying to decide whether they were food. They were paralyzed in its stare. Then, seeming to lose interest, it turned and trotted away, heading down to the waterside.

Weak with relief, the three woodlanders hurried on. Bez thought the people in the house must have heard the bellow, and possibly Lali’s scream too, but they seemed to have decided it was safer to stay inside than to investigate.

Lali whispered: “What was it?”

“A wild bull,” Bez said quietly. “A type called an aurochs. You don’t see them often.”

“I’m glad about that,” she said.

After that they reached the edge of the cultivated land without incident, and headed across the ashy former woods. As they got farther away from Farmplace, Bez began to feel safe. He hoped the other two teams had had the same luck.

They reached the little village at the far end of what had been West Wood. Bez woke Naro. “Get the children up,” he said. “We have food for them.”

The children came rubbing their eyes. They seized on the apples, and Naro gave them cheese too. The old folks tucked in, too, as did the pregnant woman and the nursing mother. Soon the children went back to bed with full stomachs.

The other two teams arrived safely, bringing smoked pork, nuts, and the carcass of a wild boar. They gave some of the loot toNaro, who wrapped it in leaves and dug a shallow pit in which to hide it, in case Troon came looking tomorrow morning.

Bez and his thieves left carrying the rest of the food. They crossed the plain in starlight and headed for their hideout.

The news spread across the fields on the following morning. Pia heard that three families had lost precious stores, food laid away for the winter. In each case a dog had been killed. The robbed people were especially anguished about the wheat they had lost. They had toiled all summer, carrying the water from the river to the fields, then reaping the wheat—stoop, slash, gather, bind, and stoop again, all in the heat of the sun—and now the reward for all that labor had been snatched away by people who came creeping in the night to steal.

She was grateful that she and her mother had lost nothing. They had stores of wheat and cheese and root vegetables, for all of which they had worked until they ached, and they were relying on those stores to keep them and baby Olin alive through the winter. It would have broken her heart to lose them.

Troon was angry—not blustering, as was his usual way, but coldly furious and determined. What he was determined to do was not clear to Pia, nor to Duff or anyone else she spoke to. But he gathered together the usual group of Young Dogs. Even they did not know his intentions, though he had told them to arm themselves.

Perhaps they would go looking for Bez and his tribe. But howcould Troon know where to find them? He could spend weeks searching and not come across any trace of them.

Some of the farmers gathered around Troon’s house as the Young Dogs prepared to leave. It was Duff who had the nerve to stand in front of Troon and say: “Who are you going to kill, Troon?”

Troon gave him an evil look and said: “You—if you don’t shut your mouth and get out of the way.”

Pia feared that he meant it, but Duff was not scared. He said: “The woodlanders are robbing people because they have to. Did you not think of that possibility when you decided to plow up their land?”

“I’m not answerable to you, you young fool.”

“The Big Man ought to explain himself to the farmer folk, don’t you think?”

Pia was full of admiration. Duff was not giving in.

Troon put the point of his knife to Duff’s chest, exactly over the heart, and Pia felt it would take only the slightest provocation for him to push it in. “You don’t tell me what to do,” he said. “I tell you what to do. Now get out of my way.”

There was a pause. Pia wanted to sayGive in now, Duff, you’ve made your point, you don’t need to die for it.

Duff seemed to have a similar thought. “As you wish,” he said, and to Pia’s relief he stepped aside.

Troon grinned, as if he had made a fool of Duff, but Pia saw it the other way around. She said quietly to Duff: “Troon couldn’t defend his actions, and you made everyone see it.”

“Good.”

“Weren’t you scared when he drew his knife?”

“Terrified. But someone’s got to tell him. His foolishness makes trouble for all of us.”

“You’re very brave,” she said.

“I’m glad you think so.”