by Vance Huxley
“I’ll bear it in mind while sorting out their pay. Maybe Rubyn would like his own feather pillow if the right fowl wander in front of the bow?” Rubyn’s enthusiastic nod settled that. “Thank you for the warning about the Hunters.” Billi sighed again. “I’ll see the Eldest tomorrow and make it official.” He would, first thing because if anyone realised how many stones were there they’d all be digging! Billi realised it was all the people in ‘his’ quiet spot that bothered him more than the digging, fishing or hunting.
“Thank you for the thought, because Rubyn does like the pillow. Did you want a second?” Her humour flashed. “Just in case you manage to catch a slow one?”
“I would love one, so we need feathers for two or Rubyn will be out here using mine.” Billi let his humour show, the lad could use it while he was away, in fact... Billi quickly didn’t offer his pillow for a maid’s room and bed. “You’d better get used to swan.”
A flash of alarm showed on Ellibeth’s face and Billi remembered that a swan was too much. Once again he wondered if someone had a list of these rules? “Swans because I’ll also need to pay you for the sewing, and also plucking and cleaning. Anyway swan will make a better pillow according to the Tinkerers.”
“Thank ye kind sir.” Ellibeth mimed a curtsy from where she sat. “Now unless I’m to make more pillows quickly you’d best get me home. In spite of that big bar on the door, ‘twould not be right for a maid to stay with the Hunter home.” Ellibeth sounded teasing again, but gently as the maids sometimes did just for fun, a new situation for Billi.
Well, he’d try some. “But you’ll be safe, since you’ve got a big bear to guard you.”
“Ah, but look what happened to the last maid that stayed too near, too long.” Ellibeth kept smiling, but she might not if she knew what really happened to Dancer. Billi braced his hands on the chair arms.
“We’d best get you safe then, because I wouldn’t want your littlun shocked.” Her laughter sounded like music, and Billi felt very pleased with himself because he hadn’t stuttered or retreated into silence. Maybe building his resistance to beguiling had another result? Perhaps he could talk to a maid he liked as if she was a person?
Ellibeth stopped and stared. “That is a fresh skin and the meat’s not frozen! When did you catch that, or where?”
“This side of the old Wood Hunt place. A small herd ran and one ended up stuck in the snow so I thought it would do as your wages, or most anyway.”
Instead of arguing Ellibeth looked almost awed. “Nobody has brought meat in since this snow started, yet you come hopping along and a deer gets stuck in front of you. No wonder there’s folk say the Wild likes you.” She looked alarmed. “Not in a bad way, the Hunters especially just seem to think your luck goes beyond just that, somehow.” Ellibeth gave a short, uncertain laugh. “I must be tired, going on like this.” And with that she went into her room to put her coat on.
They made their way to the Village and Ellibeth thanked him and went in. Rubyn had run ahead as they came near, balancing the need to keep his eggs safe against the need to show off his deer teeth. Then as Billi stumped away, Perry came out to let him know the Thatcher had been looking for him. Also to ask very privately if he could have a couple of fowl with good feathers for a pillow this time please? Billi told him no problem, and on the way back he wondered if he might need to make a bit of noise coming home when Perry looked after the place. The smell of bread still filled his hut as Billi drifted off to sleep and his dreams were both interesting and confused.
Being home seemed to have cleared up Billi’s bemusement with regard to the Dancer and her visit, though he never would sort out the days. She became a warm, private and precious memory. In an odd way Dancer left him less worried about his stump, or rather of its effect on others. Billi still didn’t let anyone else see the stump but he began to realise that folk looked at him and not, as he’d always thought, at the shortened leg of his trews. Maybe they didn’t all think cripple whenever he came in sight? A really new idea to wrestle with.
Hunting and Chasing
The day after his talk with Ellibeth, some talk that, Billi went to see the Eldest and explained what he’d done, and that he wished to lay landclaim. A proper landclaim so if he had anyone to leave it to they could trade it as their landshare, to a Hunter if they’d no Hound of their own. Several elders were called, and Kina brought out ale and juice. Billi soon realised as more arrived that the elders had been getting really curious about the fish farm. From the looks of it, none wanted to miss out on the description.
Billi had to describe just how to find the valley, and they laughed at “just follow the stream.” The description of his valley became much more detailed than he’d expected as they kept asking questions about the size of the clear land in the valley, and the valley sides. The elders also asked about some being fertile enough for a crop, and all the dead timber, and even about the open woodland just in front of the dam. For a start Billi had never paced any of it, even stumpy paces, which everyone seemed to think he should have done.
Billi confirmed the open land up on the hillsides and further back had no trees, no Forest. Billi thought that the grazing would support sheep but outside of the little valley had seen no water, except a trickle over the waterfall that dried in midsummer and froze in winter. There might be a stream or pool up on top of the hill but Billi pointed out that if so it wasn’t supporting heavy growth. There were no treetops visible even when looking at the upland from a distance. After Billi estimated the area of land, he explained the amount of water in the middle.
The elders all started laughing. Kina, the Eldest, pointed at him and shook her head. “You called it a fish farm. All this land you never even a mentioned, and the fish farm is just a lake in the middle.” She glanced at her parchment. “Two lakes. Have you no idea how many are trying to work out how to trap fish in open Forest?”
Billi grinned. “I never mentioned open Forest. There’s only Forest at the front, one side of the dam, though it comes awful close in one spot. That’s where I leave the tithe.”
“Why a tithe if it’s Farm?”
“Why not? ‘Tis a small piece of Farm, and a big Forest, and this way I’m making a boundary.” Billi watched the elders, because he wasn’t sure on this himself.
They were looking from one to another. “Ye could be right Billi.” Devved spoke slowly, thoughtfully. “How does the first bit of Farm happen? There is no record of how Trail’s End began, no hint of how the first hut was raised and why the Forest and the Wild accepted it.”
“I’ve put up a hut.” They all stared at him and Billi shrugged. “For the winter. That’s why I can stay out a week in the snow.”
“How did ye manage that? No offence, Billi, but is it a few bits of wood and hide, or a real dwelling? ‘Tis important.” Guthra seemed intent and the rest were leaning forward now. Billi explained about using whole trees and boulders, and then reeds from a bed by the lake. He told them about his stone table and big rocks making a cold room, and the crude bed and pot-bellied stove.
A long silence followed when he finished, and then Kina sighed. “Ye may have already done it, Billi. Ye may have already made it Farm.” She shook her head. “Maybe this is how we started, with the broken rock that must have been laid around Skull rock. The first hut may even have leaned against it.” All the elders were looking a little awed now.
Billi was puzzled. “Why is that so important to the landclaim?”
“Not the landclaim, Billi, though that will bring food into Trail’s End for many long years. ‘Tis the area around. If there is enough to split, eventually, then there’ll be a Farmer there as well as a Hunter. Then maybe a Shepherd, if flocks can be grazed above.” Starr was looking inward, a quiet smile on her lips. “I can see it, a little community nestled in the valley bottom, all because a Hunter had one itchy foot. We must record this, so it isn’t lost.”
“We must, because this landclaim must never be let back to the Forest.” K
ina sounded determined. “We are always short of land as families grow, bit by bit. The Forest does not give ground easily and families grow faster than the Farm.”
“I can keep an eye open for another bit like this or maybe without the lakes? Someplace with water and a bit of open ground.” Despite what had been said here and there, Billi had never truly realised the food shortage came down to lack of land. The worry about the size of Bliss’s brideshare suddenly made more sense. “If a Hunter can claim it, ‘twill leave land free on the Farm.”
Guthra laughed. “There are already Hunters looking for reed beds or a similar piece of land to claim, but there is nothing within a day’s hunting, or even two.” He smiled. “Or nothing big enough to be worth the effort though a few have mentioned a line of youths with hoes.” Billi smiled as he heard his own joke come round.
“There is no big timber, but one Hunter seemed to find some when he needed a tree’s worth for something important.” Starr seemed very satisfied with that idea. “There might be more land a bit further out. Some of the younger Hunters are talking of going further as you do, Billi. They reckon that if you can stay out two or three nights then so can they. ‘Tis the lure of a whole new landshare beckoning.”
“Not just that. Those are chasing and maybe close to catching a maid. Others are attracted by whole trees and fancy stones for either chasing Village maids or tempting Tinkerer beguilers. Word is out that Wandering Billi finds more stones than others, since he is looking where nobody else has?” They all waited so Billi answered Devved’s question.
“I do, and part of it is because I don’t always hunt. Sometimes I just like travelling fast, sort of.” Billi gestured to his peg. “I like to see new country and then I find a stream, and a likely spot. I catch a few fish, have my bite to eat, and we search a bit.” Billi sniggered. “If the other Hounds are as smart as Rabbit that will help, since Rabbit finds stones all by himself.” Billi hoped the rumour came from the Traders, not the Tinkerer, and thought so as nobody mentioned sparkuls.
The Eldest, Kina, sounded a note of caution. “Everyone has always said that you are a cautious Hunter, Billi. Some meant it as a slur, but not anymore, not given how many nights you spend out in the Forest and what you come back with. But we must make sure the young Hunters understand that you really are cautious, or they’ll take too many chances. Some things they might get away with and still stagger home from a half-day away, but the same injury two days out will leave their bones out there.”
“We lose two or three Hunters and Hounds every winter, and maybe one in the summer, and no insult meant but they have two legs or four. Even your luck may run out some day, Billi, or maybe Rabbit’s.” As an elder, Guthra understood a Hunter wouldn’t leave a wounded Hound to face the Wild alone. “With all this land, ye can’t leave it all hanging. Ye must decide, properly, who is to get the reed bed and landclaim if ye don’t come home one day.” Guthra grinned. “Else half the Hunters on the Farm will get trampled in the rush.”
A fair question since not coming home came as a part of the Hunter’s job, though from the alert looks he’d best not give them any grounds for gossiping. Billi realised that, back in his head somewhere, he and Rabbit had sorted it out. They knew who they wanted on their little patches of wilderness, or in the valley at least. “The profit from the reed bed is to be split as I said before, among my sibs. They can hire a Hunter or trade for land on the Farm and split that.” Billi took a deep breath. “The valley landclaim is to go to Rubyn, Ellibeth’s littlun, but nobody must be told unless I don’t come home for at least a twenty-day past when I’m due.” Billi smiled. “I can get held up and have to take my time.”
“But why say nothing?” At least three wanted to say something else and all had mischievous smiles, which was why Billi had a reason that didn’t include Ellibeth.
“Rubyn is almost nine summers, but his Ma is still young and his Ganda is still here. Rubyn will have to wait out his Ganda, for his Ma to get her share, then wait for her to go to the rock before he can have a home. This is a way for him to break free and set up home earlier if he finds a maid.” Billi waited, and sure enough some smiles broke into laughter.
“Just how young d’you reckon a maid might catch him with a landclaim like that?” Starr said it but others were nodding.
“Which is why he’s not to know until he’s bonded, then he won’t be caught by a maid just after the land. Until then it is to be rented to a Hunter and the silver given to his Ma, to help raise him.” Billi leant back with a big smile, because that also meant there’d be no loose tongues about the why either. Both Billi and Rabbit liked the idea of Rubyn in that valley. His sheer wonder at the descriptions of the Wild, and eagerness to help and learn, meant Billi had taken to the littlun.
Kina frowned. “How do you think that’s to be explained. To his Ma, let alone everyone else?”
Billi laughed at them. “I’ll be gone to the rock, or they’ll never find our bones, so that will be a problem for the elders.” Billi also knew that meant ‘twould be too late for Ellibeth to say ‘too much’ and refuse.
“That’s, that’s.” Kina scowled. “Time for me to go to the rock I reckon. I’ve just been outsmarted by a youngster still wet behind the ears. Scat, before I spank you for insolence.” Though she kept smiling as she started writing on the parchment while the rest had their heads together scandal-mongering, but ‘twould only be between them.
* * *
The landclaim could wait a bit now, because the reed would be ready for harvesting. A calf in the larder is worth a bull still in the Forest so Billi called by to see Fellip on the way home. Twice while going through the Village a voice warned a maid to watch out or the bear might catch her. The shrieks and laughter were in jest, not mockery; clearly the story had spread.
The Thatcher could start reed cutting any time Billi liked but a day or so didn’t matter, as long as the snow didn’t get any worse or thaw into mud. They arranged the trip for two days’ time and Billi went home. He found Rubyn with the chickens when he arrived back, on his own which he shouldn’t be. “Rubyn, you shouldn’t come out here without someone looking out for you.” Billi tried hard to be stern when faced by a smiling littlun with straw in his hair.
“But the chickens need checking, and er, I’m sure someone could see me?” Rubyn tried to look penitent but it wasn’t working.
“Where does your Ma think you are?”
That brought some foot shuffling and downward glances. “Playing with Eddwyn, maybe. I didn’t say, quite.”
“Come on, we’d best let her know the truth.” Billi hesitated, then gave up. “I suppose you’d better have your pay.” Then Billi took Rubyn home, but only clutching one egg and starting to actually get apprehensive.
* * *
He looked even more worried when Ma took him by the ear and led him off for a quick lecture, though Ellibeth soon came back with a chastened Rubyn following. Rubyn hung back by the doorway, looking a little embarrassed. “I’m sorry Billi. He gets used to racing about out where your hut is, and the yard isn’t big enough. Though he’ll be only coming out there with someone else in the future.” She sighed. “He’ll no doubt talk Timath into it.” A bit of mischief sounded in the next bit. “Perry might not want company all the time.”
“Well Rubyn will get five days out there soon. It’s reed cutting time.” Billi remembered what he’d intended doing when the snows came and lowered his voice. “There is something I wanted show him, something Rubyn shouldn’t hear unless you say yes.”
Ellibeth moved closer and lowered her voice, though mischief sparkled in her eyes. “Have you found another cheesecloth?”
Billi laughed, but kept his voice down. “No. But if you can spare Rubyn for a while, he can help me set out a trapline in the fields. It’s time to take the tithe there and collect some winter pelts.”
Ellibeth glanced back and moved even closer, speaking very quietly though as yet Rubyn still wasn’t paying attention to them. “Are
you sure? He’ll be running all over and not a lot of help.”
Billi answered just as quietly. “He’ll be really quiet and well behaved, because I’m going to teach him how to do it properly. Then if he gets the idea, he can tend them while I’m cutting reed.” Billi winked. “He might even earn a couple of furs.”
Ellibeth opened her mouth and Billi waited for the objection and then she hesitated, and smiled. “That would be kind, and be useful to him in the future. I thank ye, Billi.”
“No need, since I’m supposed to trap the fields anyway for my Sis. Rubyn will be doing my chores, and he will pay a share to the Farmer if he catches anything. I’ll bring him back at dusk, and the same tomorrow?”
“You’ll bring him back well before then so I can scrape the fields off him before he eats and goes to bed.” Ellibeth smirked. “Tomorrow ye can stay and eat my food for a change.”
That startled Billi. “But what about Viktor? ‘Tis his house and table.”
“This will come out of my meat, my wages, and I’m cooking it, so Da won’t mind at all.” Ellibeth turned to Rubyn and raised her voice. “Ye don’t really deserve it, not after running off like that, but Billi is going to take you out to the fields.” Rubyn’s eyes lit up. “Not to play, there’ll be no messing about. You’ve to behave because he’s going to teach you to lay a trapline, like a real Hunter.
Rubyn looked from one to the other, unsure, until Billi nodded and then a big smile broke over his face. “Can I tell Ganda? Please?”
“Yes, but be quick.” Ellibeth barely got the words out before Rubyn raced away.
“Ganda, Ganda. I’m to go and learn to hunt with Billi. I’ll be a real Hunter. Ganda!” Ellibeth and Billi smiled at each other and shrugged.
