Page 82 of Circle of Days

Ani was standing in the shallows of the river, washing a cow hide prior to scraping it, when she saw Biddy, dusty and perspiring, evidently having walked here from Old Oak. “Hello,” Ani said. “What are you doing here? Where’s Zad?”

“Zad’s minding the herd, and Dini’s with him,” she said. “She loves working with her father.”

“And you’re here.”

“I came to see you.”

“Then I’d better get out of the water.” Ani climbed the low bank, dragging the hide behind her. It was as clean as water could make it, she decided. But before she started scraping it she had better find out what was on Biddy’s mind.

“I’m worried about Pia,” said Biddy.

Ani suddenly felt cold. Something was wrong with her daughter and perhaps her grandchild. “Tell me why, quickly,” she said.

“I wanted to get some goat cheese from her.”

Ani wanted to tell her to spare her the narrative, but suppressed the wish and tried to summon patience.

Biddy went on: “There are guards all around the farmer country now, stopping people going in and out.”

Ani was startled, and wondered what the reason was for such a bizarre happening, but she said nothing.

“I said I was going into East Wood for hazelnuts, and they let me pass. So I got as far as Pia’s house, but there was another guard there.”

Ani was now mystified. “Why?”

“He wouldn’t say. But he did tell me that they were all in the house—Pia, Yana, Duff, and the little brat for that matter, he said—but I couldn’t see or speak to them.”

“Did he offer any explanation?”

“No, he just said they would be released after midsummer. Then he told me to go back through the wood.”

“So this is something to do with the Midsummer Rite?”

“I suppose so.”

“Come with me. We’ve got to tell Joia.” She glanced up at the sky. “It’s almost suppertime, anyway.”

They walked to the Monument and found Joia in the priestesses’ dining hall. Someone was cooking sheep livers with onions in a big pot. Ani asked Biddy to repeat her story. Joia asked the same questions and got the same unsatisfactory answers.

They discussed the mystery while eating a rich liver stew. Joia said: “Troon is planning some mischief at the Midsummer Rite.”

Ani nodded. “And Troon is afraid that Pia will find out about it and tell people. That’s why she and her family are being kept inside until then.”

Joia said: “Our Rites are more popular than his feast, especially since we brought the giant stone. Troon might want to blight our celebration so that more people will go to his.”

Ani felt frustrated. “I can’t just sit here wondering! I must at least try to see Pia. I’ve got to go to Farmplace.”

Biddy said: “I’m going home tomorrow. We could travel together.”

“Perfect,” said Ani.

Two days later Ani did what Biddy had done, and approached Farmplace through East Wood so that she would be hidden until she emerged a few steps from Pia’s house. But when she was halfway there she heard the voices of a group of men and she stopped, listening.

She could not make out the words, but she could tell that they were farmers, not woodlanders. The voices seemed casual and amiable. The men were involved in some more or less harmless activity, she guessed.

She crept closer, staying in thick vegetation, until she glimpsed them. She saw one carrying a bow, then another shooting. There was quiet while he aimed, then muted comment afterward, presumably on how accurate he had been.

They were doing archery practice.

She diverted around them, well out of their sight, and continued on her journey. She asked herself why farmers needed shooting practice. It seemed unnecessary. Arrows could bring down the largest deer, but farmers rarely hunted: they were too busy tending their crops.

She reached the southern edge of the wood and stood in the shade, taking in what was in front of her.

A burly guard stood outside Pia’s house. The doorway was firmly blocked by a full-size wicker gate, which was unusual at this time of year: in warm weather everyone used a half gate, which let the air in. Pia’s goats were roaming free, and eating the wheat shoots in the plowed field.

Ani could not see a way to get into the house, so she decided to shout through the walls.

The guard was sitting down and concentrating on something he was doing with his hands.

Ani watched for a moment and figured out that he was making string.

He was rolling tough, flexible animal sinews on his thigh to twist them together, and he had a basket beside him that probably contained more cleaned and dried sinews.

A long, thin branch leaning against the side of the house was the right length and heft for a bow.

It lacked a bowstring, and clearly that was what the guard was making.

It seemed the farmers were arming. But what for?

She walked across the field toward the house, stepping softly. The guard continued to focus on his string.

She was almost there when he saw her out of the corner of his eye. He looked up, stared for a moment, then shouted: “Hey, you! Go away!”

She spoke without stopping. “I just want to talk to Pia. You wouldn’t stop me, would you?”

He stood up and strode toward her.

Ani yelled at the top of her voice: “Pia! Are you there? It’s Ani!”

Pia’s voice answered her, muffled by the walls of the house but just audible. “Ani! I’m in here!”

“Are you all right?”

“We’re prisoners.”

The guard came close to Ani but she dodged him and shouted: “Is Olin all right?”

“Yes, but I have to tell you something.”

The guard struck Ani with his club from behind, a hard blow on the head that was agony.

She fell to the ground, hurt and dazed. She could hear Pia shouting but could not make out the words.

She wanted to get up but she could not summon the energy.

She got on her hands and knees and tried to focus her eyes.

Pia was shouting something about Joia’s mission, but Ani could not make it out, and the guard started yelling at her.

She felt herself picked up off the ground and carried away across the field. Every step of the guard’s stride hurt her head. “You’ve got to leave Farmplace and never come back,” he said to her. “But I’m not leaving you at the wood. I’m taking you all the way to the Break.”

He stopped and let her down, holding her arm so tightly it hurt, then he marched her across the fields, past farmhouses and stores. The people at work stared at her. Many of them would recognize her. Probably they all knew what had been done to Pia and her family.

Ani took everything in and would reflect on it all when her head stopped hurting.

The guard did not let her go until they were at the northern edge of the Break, where grassland took over from cultivation. He pushed her on and said: “If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you.”

She staggered on until she was out of sight of the farmland, then she lay down on the turf and rested. Slowly the pain in her head receded and she began to think straight.

Pia and her family were all right, though living very uncomfortably. But something dangerous was developing in Farmplace. Target practice, bowstrings, guards: the farmers were getting ready for war. And it was going to start on Midsummer Day.

“I told you so!” Scagga roared. “I said we’d have a war with the farmers one day, and now I’ve been proved right!”

Keff said: “Yes, Scagga, you were right. Now, how do we prepare for it?”

Scagga was enjoying himself. “Luckily for you,” he said, “I’ve got a store full of bows and arrows that I had made after the stampede three midsummers ago. We can arm practically our whole adult population.”

“Weapons still in good condition?”

“The bows might need new strings, that’s all.”

Ani said: “I saw the farmers doing target practice. We should do the same.”

“I’ll gather together the fittest young men and women, as I did last time, and train them.”

Ani really did not want Scagga in charge. He would be impulsive and reckless. But she had taken discreet soundings before the meeting and, of the few people who knew what was going on, most thought Scagga should lead. He had the right attitude. Ani would have to find ways to restrain him.

Ani said: “Pia has been shut away until Midsummer Day, which must mean the attack will come then. We will have crowds of visitors for the Rite that day. How shall we manage our defense?”

Scagga said: “I’d like to see our people striding around with their weapons, looking so fierce that no one would dare touch them.”

That was obviously a terrible idea, and Keff stamped on it right away.

“That doesn’t give us what we need, Scagga.

We don’t want to wait until they’ve reached us before we fight them.

We’ll be able to see them from some distance away, across the plain, and we should meet them long before they get to the Monument. ”

Jara agreed, surprising Ani by going against her brother. “We should have lookouts north, south, and west, and they should be briefed to light a big, smoky fire as soon as they see the enemy. Scagga, you should be watching for those fires and ready to lead our force into battle.”

Scagga liked that idea.

Ani said: “I think it’s important to keep our weapons out of sight of the visitors.

They could be stashed in the priestesses’ dining hall.

We can’t be sure the farmer army will come—something may go wrong, Troon could change his mind.

And don’t forget that the Monument may not be the target.

Pia seemed to think the farmers would attack the volunteers on the mission.

Let’s not scare our visitors before it becomes absolutely necessary. ”

Scagga disagreed, of course. “We should show people that we’re strong and ready to fight, and that anyone who attacks us is in for a beating.”