Page 138 of Circle of Days

Troon marched down to the riverbank, followed by the Young Dogs. They turned west and headed upstream. They might have been going to the remnant of West Wood, but they would not find Bez there, not in broad daylight, Pia felt sure. So what was Troon up to?

As she walked back to the farm, she noticed that the sun on her back had lost some of its heat, and she looked up to see clouds in the sky. Her heart leaped. Could it be that rain was on the way?

She half expected Troon to be away for days, but he and the Young Dogs came back that afternoon. Everyone went to Troon’s house to see whether he had found the tribe. But Troon did not speak, and no one had the nerve to ask him questions.

After he disappeared inside, the Young Dogs went to their homes in silence. People who shouted questions at them were ignored. None of them spoke.

Once again they all returned to their homes.

It would come out one day, Pia thought.

Few things remained secret forever.

Bez and his tribe raided the far eastern end of the farming country, almost halfway to the Monument, where the strip between river and woodland was narrow, and the houses were far apart. The trick with the dogs worked a second time, and they came away withlavish prizes of meat, grain, and cheese. They made their escape through East Wood and met up on the edge of the Great Plain. From there they set off west, following the border line between wood and plain. They had a long walk ahead of them, but Bez thought they could make it before daybreak.

Everything was going well. Bez congratulated himself on a second triumph. They would go to the remnant of West Wood and give some of this food to the young and old there, then carry the rest to their hideout. His tribe would survive, despite all efforts to wipe it out.

They had almost reached the Break when they came upon a herd, and quickly knelt down to be less visible. They had no interest in stealing cattle—they already had too much to carry—but the herders would assume the opposite. However, they could not see any herders, and they moved on cautiously.

A strong wind sprang up, and it began to rain.

It came down so hard that Bez could not even see the length of a cow. In no time he was drenched. It was difficult to maintain his grip on the slippery pottery jar he was carrying.

It was exactly like the rainstorm that had occurred at this time last year, and Bez wondered whether it represented a new pattern.

He heard dogs barking in the distance. They must belong to herders, Bez thought. Fortunately they sounded far away—though it was difficult to be sure in the wind and rain.

They stumbled on, slipping on the muddy ground, wiping the water from their blinded eyes. The rain would revive the dried-up hazelnut bushes, Bez thought, then he remembered that nearly all his bushes had gone up in flames.

The barking was suddenly loud and close, and before Bez could react, a pause in the rain revealed a line of herders, no doubt alerted by their two dogs. Every herder had an arrow to his bow, ready to shoot.

In a moment that lasted as long as the blink of an eye, Bez considered sayingWe’re not robbing you, we’re robbing the farmers!then realized the herders would kill them anyway; and he decided to flee.

The woodlanders dropped their burdens and ran, but Bez saw two fall to arrows beside him, and another stumble then run on. While the herders were putting fresh arrows to their bowstrings, the woodlanders made it to the edge of the wood and burst into the vegetation with two dogs at their heels.

They split up then, all finding different routes away from the herders, who were crashing through the bushes behind them. Now, Bez thought, his people were in their element, and could move a lot faster than the herders. If they had remained together, they might have turned and fought back, but it was too late to wish for that now.

However, they could not outrun the dogs. One was behind Bez. He turned and struck it with his club. The dog whimpered and ran away.

He came to a tall tree and considered taking refuge in its invisible heights, but decided it was wiser to put more distance between his pursuers and himself.

The herders quickly became discouraged. They must have realized they were losing ground, and anyway, they were probably tripping over tree roots and falling in puddles, being unused to theterrain. Soon Bez could no longer hear them, and he stopped to rest. They would not be able to sneak up on him because, unlike the woodlanders, herders could not move silently.

He hooted like an owl, and immediately heard an answering hoot. He repeated the sound, and a few moments later Omun appeared. They both hooted, and a second woodlander, Arav, arrived. Then three more.

Two had fallen to arrows, and another had been hit and probably had not escaped the herders. This was all that was left of the raiding party.

“Our bounty is lost,” Bez said to the others. “The herders will have taken everything. We should head west, through the wood as far as it goes, to make sure we don’t encounter them again.”

They were a dismal party, trekking through the rain in the dark. Three companions had died and they were empty-handed. Bez’s idea that they could live by stealing was not working out. Still, he did not know what else they could have done.

They reached the Break. There was no risk that they might be seen at a distance by farmers, for the rain was still blinding. The sky was black with rain clouds, but Bez sensed that a hidden dawn was near. They hurried across the fields in the dark. When the ground underfoot changed, they knew they had reached what had been West Wood.

As they continued to walk west, the rain eased from downpour to drizzle, and Bez saw a faint light in the east.

There was no sunrise, for the clouds were still thick, but the light strengthened, and as they approached the remnant of woodland they were able to see clearly.

Before they reached the houses, Bez was shocked to see a woman lying on the ground in the rain-wet mud. She was on her front, but her head was turned to one side, and he could see her face. It was Naro.