Page 8 of Circle of Days

Seft woke up in the house near the pit. His body hurt all over. He had a pain in his belly, his head ached, and when he touched his face he found a swollen, tender patch near his left eye.

But the shame of it was worse than the pain.

All those people had seen him beaten like a bad dog.

He had crawled away on his hands and knees.

Once upright he had kept his head down and slunk through the crowd, trying to avoid attention, but he had been unlucky and had met Joia.

Now Neen would know how he had been degraded.

How could she possibly respect him after that?

He had gone so quickly from happiness to misery.

He got up and went to the nearby spring, where he drank and dipped his head in the cool water. Back at the house, he found cold pork in a leather bag and ate some for breakfast. It made him feel better.

Then he looked down into the pit. It was a mess.

The ground was littered with lumps of chalk and flakes of flint, meat bones, discarded antler picks, broken shovels, and worn-out shoes.

His father had told him to clean it up. We should just clean up every day, he thought, then we wouldn’t spend our lives wallowing in filth.

He decided he had better get on with it. It was a necessary chore, he had nothing else to do, and he would be in trouble if he disobeyed orders.

He went back to the house to get a basket, but when he looked at the building he saw that it was in danger of collapse.

The doorway consisted of two posts and a lintel lashed to the posts with leather straps.

While the family had been away, the straps had broken and the lintel had shifted.

It was still on top of one doorpost but its other end hung loose.

He had not noticed this last night, because he had been in such distress.

The rafters above the lintel now had no support, and would fall sooner or later, bringing down part of the roof, if not all. It needed to be repaired right away.

The easy way to do it would be to get some new leather straps and retie the lintel to the doorposts. However, he did not have any leather straps. And anyway, that approach seemed unsatisfactory to him. The straps would eventually rot again.

He wanted to take a closer look at the lintel, but it was too high. He gathered some pieces of chalk rubble from the rubbish pile and made a little platform in the doorway. Standing on that, he could look down on the lintel.

It was a tree trunk about as thick as his thigh and as long as his arm. He saw that it was rotten with damp, and it would have collapsed soon if the straps had not gone first. So he needed another lintel.

There was a hidden place in the house, a hole in the ground with a wooden lid, covered with a layer of earth, underneath the hide that served as a floor covering. He lifted all the layers and took out a flint axe. Then he hid the hole again.

He searched the territory around the pit and eventually found a young tree of about the right size. Chopping it down and cutting the trunk to length with his flint axe took him the rest of the morning, and he had to sharpen the edge of his axe several times.

At midday he ate some more cold pork, drank at the spring, and lay down to rest for a while. He still hurt all over but the work took his mind off his aches.

He removed the old lintel and replaced it with the new one, but of course it was not stable, and he did not have any straps. However, he wondered if there was another way to attach the lintel to the doorposts.

Perhaps he could use a flint bradawl to dig two holes in the lintel, make matching holes in the tops of the doorposts, and drive a long peg through the lintel and into the doorposts. He did not much like that solution: it would be a lot of work with the bradawl, and the pegs might break.

He thought a bit more and had a better idea.

With a flint chisel he could shave the tops of the doorposts, leaving a bit sticking up in the middle, like a peg.

Then he could dig out matching holes in the lintel.

It would have to be carefully measured so that when he placed the lintel across the two doorposts, the pegs would fit exactly and firmly into the holes.

He could not see any reason why that would not work.

He spent the afternoon doing it and thinking about Neen.

Recalling his time with her cheered him up.

During their night together she had taught him things he had never dreamed of.

He smiled as he remembered. In his fantasy, Neen would become a wise and kind mother like Ani.

He and Neen would be loving parents, and their happy children would never be hurt.

But she had refused to talk about their future together, which meant—he became more sure of this as he mulled it over—that she was still thinking about Enwood.

He longed to talk to her again. But when would he see her? Did he have the nerve to defy his father again and run away? It was a possibility he could not contemplate while he still hurt all over. And what would she say, next time he showed up outside her house?

The pegs fit the holes the first time. He fixed the loose rafters to the lintel. Their weight would make the peg-and-hole joints even stronger.

He heard a noise and turned to see that his family had arrived home. Cog, Olf, and Cam stood at the edge of the pit, looking down. Cog’s nose was red and swollen, Seft saw with secret satisfaction.

Cog said: “You haven’t cleaned up!”

Olf said: “There’s loads of rubbish left.”

Cam said: “You lazy dog!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Seft said. “I’ve stopped the house falling down.” He stepped off his platform.

“Don’t tell me it doesn’t matter,” his father said angrily. “I ordered you to clear up the floor of the pit, and you haven’t done it.”

Seft’s heart sank. Was Cog really going to pretend that he had done nothing useful? How could he be so stupid? “The lintel was rotten and it had slipped off one doorpost. The house was about to fall down. But I’ve made a new lintel.”

Cog was unyielding. “It’s no good. You haven’t even strapped the lintel to the doorposts. You’ve just been shirking hard work, boy. You should have followed my orders. Now get on with clearing up.”

Seft said: “Aren’t you even going to look at how I’ve done it?”

“No, I’m not. I’m going to cook a piece of beef I got at Upriver.”

Seft was surprised by the reference to Upriver. Cog and the other two must have left the Monument early and gone to Upriver to trade their flints there. He wondered why. Perhaps they had got into trouble over the fight.

Seft hoped so.

Cog went on: “And you don’t get any supper until the pit is clean.”

This was outrageous. “I’m entitled to that beef. I mined the flints that you gave for it. Are you going to steal it from me now, like a common thief?”

“Not if you finish cleaning the pit.” And with that Cog withdrew from the edge of the pit, and the brothers did the same.

Seft could have wept. But he took a basket and went down the climbing pole, a tree trunk with notches cut in its sides to serve as handholds and footholds. He picked up litter until the basket was full, then climbed the pole to the surface and dumped its contents on the rubbish pile.

Cog, Olf, and Cam were now resting on the ground outside the house. They had made a fire and Seft smelled the roasting meat. He went back down the pole and picked up more rubbish.

The next time he climbed the pole he saw that Wun, the nosy flint miner, was here. He was a small man who made quick movements and thought fast. He was asking Cog how he had got on at Upriver.

“Very well,” Cog said briskly. “I sold everything.”

“Well done,” said Wun.

“I shan’t go back to the Monument. No point.”

“I don’t suppose they’d have you, anyway,” Wun said. “They were very cross.”

That annoyed Cog, and Seft saw his mouth turn down at the corners. But Wun was not intimidated. He had no fear of Cog. Seft liked him for that.

Wun said to Cog: “That beef looks just about ready. Smells good, too.”

“Does it?” said Cog. He was not going to offer Wun any.

Seft dumped the rubbish from the basket and returned to the edge of the pit. Wun caught sight of him and said: “Here’s the cause of all the trouble. I gather you’ve had a lazy day, Seft.”

Seft wanted someone to acknowledge his achievement. “If you want to know how I’ve spent the day, Wun, look at the lintel over that doorway. It had collapsed, and the house was going to fall down.”

Wun said: “But you haven’t strapped it.”

“Yet it looks sturdy, doesn’t it? Give the lintel a push, Wun. See if it moves.”

Wun did so and the lintel did not budge. “How did you do that?” Wun said.

“The lintel is fixed to the doorposts with pegs.”

Wun was fascinated. “Who told you how to do that?”

“No one. I was thinking about the problem, here on my own, and I tried out some ideas.”

Wun stared at Seft with his yellow eyes. “Truly?”

Seft was irritated by Wun’s skepticism. “No one else knows how to do this!” he said indignantly. “I invented it.”

“Well done.” There was admiration in Wun’s expression now. That partly made up for Cog’s rejection. Wun turned to Cog and said: “You must be pleased.”

Cog did not look at Wun. “I told him to clear up the pit floor.”

Wun laughed and shook his head incredulously. “That’s my friend Cog.” Looking thoughtful, he went on: “I like your boy and I’d be glad to employ him. Would you let him go?”

“No, thanks,” said Cog.

“Really?” Wun was surprised. “The way you treat him I thought you’d be glad to get rid of him.”

“That’s my business.”

“Of course, Cog, of course it’s your business, but I’d make it worth your while.”

“The answer’s no,” Cog said obstinately. “And it’s not going to change.”

“Oh, well.” Wun accepted the decision. “Congratulations, anyway, Seft.” He swept the group with his glance. “Enjoy your beef. May the Sun God smile on you all.”

“And on you,” said Seft, but the others remained silent.

Seft watched Wun go.

Cog said to him: “Why are you standing around? That pit isn’t clean yet.”

Seft went back down the pole.

Seft carried on after dark, working by starlight. When at last he finished, everyone else had retired, and the gate of the house was in place.

It was the usual basketwork hurdle. He lifted it silently, stepped inside, and replaced it.

Cog, Olf, and Cam were asleep, Cog snoring.

Seft was starving. He looked for the beef, but there was only a bone left.

Fury boiled up inside him. He had the flint axe in his hand. He gripped it hard: he could kill them all now. But he relaxed his grip and lay down. Perhaps I’m not the killing kind, he thought, and he closed his eyes.

He was exhausted, but his mind was restless and he did not fall asleep. Wun had changed everything. Cog had rejected Wun’s proposal but Seft had not. For some time Seft had been asking himself: How could I make a living if I ran away? Today Wun had answered the question.

Seft felt a surge of hope, but there were snags. Would Wun let Seft join his team against Cog’s will? Seft thought he might. Wun was not easily bullied, and did not seem afraid of Cog. He had sons of his own to protect him, and other kin too. He might well defy Cog.

Could Seft get away from here without waking the family? They were full of beef and fast asleep, and his footsteps would make little noise. But what if one of them woke up? He would murmur something about going outside to piss.

His father would surely come after him. It would be wise to disappear for a day or two. Let them waste time looking for him and get fed up with the search. Then he could go to Wun’s pit.

Anyway, now that freedom beckoned he could not say no to it.

He imagined himself telling Neen about it. I just got up and went , he would say.

No more dreams. I’m going to do it, he thought, and he stood up.

Olf grunted, rolled over, and stopped snoring. Seft stood as still as a tree. Olf’s eyes did not open. Soon he snored again.

Seft stepped to the doorway and put his hands on the gate.

His father said: “What are you doing?”

Seft turned and looked. Cog was still half asleep, but his eyes were open.

Seft was inspired. In an angry voice he said: “Where’s the beef for my dinner?”

“All gone,” said Cog. He closed his eyes and turned over.

Seft lifted the gate silently, stepped outside, and replaced the gate. If necessary he was ready to run for it.

No more was said.

He stepped away. The night was warm and the moon had risen. He headed north. When he was too far away for his footsteps to be heard back in the house, he turned and looked back.

All was quiet.

“Goodbye, you miserable pigs,” he whispered.

He broke into a run.

Seft went north. He left the plain, entered the hill country, and walked on, taking no chances.

He had explored this area often. His father observed the twelve-day week, with two days of rest, and Seft had liked to get away from his family and wander.

Now he came to a valley he remembered from one such trip.

It had stuck in his memory because he had seen an aurochs here, one of a species of giant cattle with wide pointed horns.

They were rare and he had not seen one before or since.

He had been scared and climbed a tree until it wandered away.

Hoping the beast was not still around, he lay down on the ground. He heard an owl hoot, and then he fell asleep.

He woke at dawn. The place was familiar.

A few sheep grazed between the trees. Looking around, he saw hundreds of flat stones on the ground, as if scattered there by the gods.

Some of them were enormous, as long as four men lying head to toe.

He had privately called the place Stony Valley.

Somewhere nearby lived a shepherd, the only inhabitant for a long way.

He ate some wild raspberries, then returned south to a hill from which he could see the pit and the house in the distance.

He stood under a tree whose shadow hid him from view, and watched while his family got up and ate breakfast. Then the three of them set out westward, undoubtedly heading for Wun’s pit.

Seft stayed at his vantage point all day, until he saw Cog, Olf, and Cam come back, their bodies slumped and weary with walking and discouragement. They had found Wun’s pit, and Seft had not been there.

He would sleep in Stony Valley again tonight. Perhaps the shepherd would give him something to eat.

In the morning he would go to Wun’s pit.