by Vance Huxley
“To find your new home?”
“And yours. Maybe?”
“I will like that, and Rubyn will love every minute.” Ellibeth sighed. “It hasn’t been easy for him, since he had to stay close to home with no Da to take him out here and there.” She chuckled. “He’ll be following Gerant all over the place.”
“That will give you a bit of freedom as well.”
“To wander about? In the dark?” Ellibeth kissed him. “But there are bears out in the dark.” Ellibeth hugged Billi. “You must think me a terrible careless maid, to be caught so easily.” Her finger went over Billi’s lips before he could speak. “Shush, and listen. I was bonded for five years, and now I’ve been alone for nearly the same, and sometimes I miss strong arms in the night.” Ellibeth giggled. “This might not look like it, but I’ve been very careful of my reputation. And you, you silly sweet man, have done your share with that. I’ve never found someone I liked enough, and trusted enough, to risk my name.”
Billi hugged her tight. “I swear, Ellibeth, I’ll never let anyone know.” Which was a shame, he’d have liked to let everyone know but having him stumping alongside would be embarrassing for a bonnie maid.
“I know, silly Billi.” Ellibeth hugged him just as tight. “Is this why you wanted me to live out here? In case I wandered at night?”
“No! I swear, it was to give Rubyn a landclaim in the end, instead of waiting.” Billi felt horrified that Ellibeth even thought that!
Ellibeth giggled. “So you won’t be sleeping outside all the time, just in case I sleepwalk, or wander a little?”
Billi chuckled. “Tempting. After all, if a maid wanders about in the dark she should expect to get caught by a bear now and then.”
Billi saw her teeth show white in the moonlight as she smiled, then Ellibeth murmured “That’s all I need, Billi.” She bussed him, gently, slipped out of the furs and crept back into the hut.
Billi waited for the voices as someone roused but nobody raised an alarm. Then he laid thinking about what had just happened. Ellibeth didn’t want to be bonded, to be a lass, she just wanted strong arms in the night now and then. Billi could live with that, because ‘twas a lot better than he’d ever imagined or hoped for. If Billi could have that with Ellibeth the other maids could flirt as they liked, because ‘twould be enough for him as well. It did cross Billi’s mind that this valley had a strange effect on maids, though not one he would ever complain about.
* * *
The next day Ellibeth and Lilith greeted him cheerfully and hoped he’d slept well, and by mid-morning the two came back from the moors. Hektor had to go straight back up with Rubyn to check the snares and this time they brought back a bigger bird, not as mottled, and two of the snares were broken. Hektor thought that might be the really big, fast, long eared rabbits he’d seen during the day. Billi told him they were called hares. He’d described them to the Tinkerers when he saw the first ones up on the slope but he hadn’t seen this bird before.
Billi ended up describing the two types he had seen, in pretty plumage so probably the males. The birds had been strutting about on top of the cliff and Gerant and Hektor confirmed that they’d seen some strutting on wide flat stretches of rock. The birds flew off but not far or high, and everyone agreed both were some sort of ground living bird that must live in the heather, or the sinkholes. Whatever they were, snares caught them and the meat turned out to be stronger than chicken or duck, different and tasty once Ellibeth and Lilith got to work. Better yet, they were extra food that could be caught by those tending the sheep.
The sinkholes were in clumps and Gerant thought that with other men herding up there some low walls could be built with the loose rocks, high enough to deter the sheep or the daft creatures would fall down the holes. There were bones in some holes and Hektor thought from the remains of their fleece some sort of browser or grazer came through. Perhaps a different sort of goat or sheep, a wild one, though none were in sight. If there were grazers, there’d be predators, so the sheep would need extra guarding until a bit of culling made the predators wary of Hounds and bows.
The five of them squatted around the valley plan on the parchment and scratched it into the mud so the parchment could be put away safe, in the hut. Gerant and Hektor paced it out and Billi, Ellibeth and Lilith marked the landclaim boundaries with sticks driven into the soil with Billi’s hammer and the back of his axe. Gerant chose the hut at the front of the valley so he could graze a few cattle in the open woodland and also take his sheep up the hillside to the moor.
Billi had to keep stopping to add extras to the provisional Law of the Farm, this Farm, as the group came up with suggestions on how to make sure the new settlement didn’t ruin the fishing, the hunting, and the grazing. He swore he could feel the beard growing every time he did. The rest laughed at him, bright-eyed with excitement because this wasn’t a dream any more. There really would be a new Village, and suggestions came thick and fast for names.
Lilith’s excitement wasn’t just that she and Gerant would be bonded and out of the family home before their parents passed, she absolutely loved the whole idea of living out here. “Look at the trees and bushes on the hillside, and flowers. Even that hillside is so different from the flat land of the Farm around the Village.” Lilith waved her hands around. “It’s, it’s, magical, like the tales about piskies and fey.”
She didn’t care about trekking for water, being isolated, or living rough to start with. Farmers with big ponds in the middle of the Farm considered frogs a treat, and Lilith loved having them and fish on her doorstep. She also wanted flowers from the Wild planted in her garden, and a window to look out on the Forest every morning. Lilith’s main concern lived on the other side of the lakes, in that piece of Forest. “I’m pleased the water is betwixt us and that Great Hunter. ‘Tis best the Forest borders your landclaim, Billi, and not someone else’s, because everyone knows the Wild likes you.”
“True. This valley would be too dangerous without you, Billi, and your way with the Wild.” Gerant sounded totally serious.
“I haven’t got a way. The Wild will scoop me up if a I make a mistake.” Billi felt certain of that. He’d already had a few close calls with a Wild hunter, or wounded game.
“Everyone thinks the same Billi. Not that the Wild won’t take you, but that it maybe gives you a little more leeway.” Ellibeth sounded serious as well. “I’ve seen you when you’ve been out here and can sort of feel the Wild on you, and in the way you speak of the Forest.”
“Well I’ll feel better with strong stone walls rather than relying on the Wild being friendly, so we’d best finish this job.” They’d made Billi feel a bit uncomfortable, talking of him and the Wild like that. Though Billi did love the green, and the Wild did seem to be letting have this valley.
Even as they marked the plots with the pale coloured stones or sticks Rubyn found for them, Lilith carried on talking about her new home. She wanted to bring two young cats, ones trained as mousers. “Though out here I reckon I’ll lose one to the Wild before they work out which bit is safe.”
“Maybe not. After all, everyone says a cat is part Wild anyway?” Ellibeth paused. “One-shut certainly is and I reckon he’ll fit in fine.” She sniggered. “A few of the smaller Wild hunters round here could get a shock when that one eye shows up in the night.”
“I can’t make my mind up about One-shut. Maybe he’d be happier left in the hut?” Billi wasn’t sure One-shut would take to moving house. Cats weren’t keen on moving once they were grown and if One-shut tried to go home from here, the Wild would snap him up.
“Bring the chicken coop. One-shut will sleep in there and stuff himself with rats, and never notice the move.” Hektor laughed. “As long as there’s a warm spot by the fire.”
“I’d best bring two females then. A litter off a big tom like One-shut, growing up here, will sort out the rats and mice.” Lilith seemed happier with that sorted, but then rats and mice were the bane of a Farmer’s life. “Wh
at about you, Hektor. Don’t you fancy moving in?”
Hektor stopped pacing a measurement and looked round. “I would love to. Look at all that Forest, barely hunted, barely explored. Then there’s the moors on top, who knows what a Hunter might find there?” Hektor looked round again. “We can’t, not with Bliss having a babe. By the time the babe is old enough to come out here, another Hunter will have taken up the place.”
“I think we can find room for another Hunter, Hektor, especially if you’ll be content with a small plot like mine at the Village? That would ease the pressure on the two Hunters here as they will be spending a lot of time guarding sheep. On top of that I don’t want Ellibeth bending my ears over seeing her Sis and the babe.” Billi grinned at Ellibeth and she grinned back. “How long will it be before you would want to come?”
“I don’t know until I talk to Bliss. She might not want to come.”
Ellibeth laughed. “Bring her out here to visit. She’ll be moving as soon as possible after that.”
“That would be a comfort, another new Ma when I have my first.” Ellibeth blushed a little. “After all, I’ll be having my first out here, once Gerant and me are bonded proper-like. You’ll be a comfort as well, Ellibeth. A Ma who’s already raised a fine littlun.”
“And a handy babysitter?”
“I wouldn’t say no.”
“Helping me babysit will tire Rubyn out.” Ellibeth looked over at Rubyn, now sat watching them. “Though his eyelids are drooping right now.”
“No surprise at that. He’s been finding marker stones and thin sticks to mark boundaries nearly non-stop.” Billi looked over at the littlun. “We’d best eat before he’s asleep.”
Rubyn did go to sleep as soon as he finished eating, and his Unk Hektor carried him into the hut. Then the rest sat around the fire for a while and beat some more details to death, in between watching falling stars and listening to Billi and Hektor explain the night sounds. Billi had heard these calls all his adult life, ever since he started hunting, and understood what they meant. But as the three non-Hunters asked more and more questions the calls were becoming more real, not just a noise that meant the way was clear or that danger lurked. The men slept in a close group around the fire again and the party headed out first thing in the morning, with a good load of fresh fish.
* * *
The trip back kept everyone entertained. Ellibeth had remembered some of the names for birds and flowers from the last trip and invented more, and now Rubyn tried to memorise them. So did Billi because most hadn’t been named before, and Lilith joined in to name even more. “We wondered about that a time or two Billi, out on the Winter Hunt. If everything had a name once?” Hektor nodded towards the maids and Rubyn, exclaiming at each new blossom or creature and trying to name them all.
Billi had often wondered. “Maybe this is how the named ones became that way? Perhaps we should do that instead of sticking to dappled hunter and suchlike.”
“Shade-cat?” Hektor smiled. “It’ll be up to Hunters because the maids won’t see them, and I’m realising that’s a pity.” He’d picked a flower and now realised he couldn’t give it to a maid.
“There. That has to be a Dancing Maid” Billi looked at where Ellibeth pointed, and so did the rest. “If you squint a little bit, you can see her scarf.”
“Ooh yes. All the coloured and embroidered scarves and ribbons when the maids dance with the Bearr.” Lilith laughed, and Billi realised she meant the long trailing courtship feathers, dangling and twisting as the bird posed.
“That one is the Bramble Bee, I remember from last time. If you go close to the bramble blossoms so they fly near, the wings make a soft buzz.” Lilith, Rubyn and Gerant all went nearer the brambles to check, and agreed. Ellibeth named the Beguiler after the riot of colour on the breast of the otherwise innocuous little blue-grey bird. She also tried hard to find a Careless Button for Eddwyn’s sis, because she kept leaving one on her blouse undone while dancing. In the end Billi showed her a small button mushroom. If a Hunter put one of them in his stew he’d get interesting dreams and be very careless.
“Peek, peek.” Rubyn kept pointing when he saw one because the Peeker did just that, sticking its white capped head out from behind a bush or tree with quick, furtive movements. The day passed quickly as the two Farmers were also caught up in the naming. Though even Ellibeth and Rubyn had to give up on naming the different Flutterbyes. The myriad patterns and colours overwhelmed them though Billi had to agree that the Sparkul, named by Hektor, fitted since ‘twas a rainbow on the wing when it flitted through a sunbeam.
All three from the Village were startled by the different colours of the Hawkflies, and at first thought they were something different. “No, look.” Hektor had relaxed, getting into the swing of this naming as well now. “The crimson and sky blue ones chasing flies are flying backwards as well as darting forward. That’s just the same as the usual black and brown ones do near the Village.”
“I’ll never manage to name all those.” Ellibeth laughed because even with Rubyn and Lilith helping, there were just too many new things to remember.
“I’ll catch one, a pretty one.” Rubyn darted forward.
“You’ll come away from the stream.” Ellibeth glared at him. “You’ll end up in the water and it’s too cold to walk home dripping wet.” Rubyn continued trying to catch any that came his way and Billi wondered if that might be why there were no pretty ones around the Village. Had the littles caught them all? Was that perhaps the reason there were no Bramble Bees in the Village berry patch, or Dancing Maids in the orchards? They’d all been caught for the pretty feathers?
The tiny multi-coloured flowers of early spring were gone, buried by the eager grass and the sprouting leaves and creepers. Already the first big blousy blooms shouted for their turn, beckoning to bird and bug, calling them to pillage their treasures. They were all calling to Ellibeth as well, apparently, demanding names. Billi pointed. “You see the long trail of pale blue funnels hanging from the tree?”
“Yes?”
Billi pulled one blossom loose, carefully. “Now suck the bottom there, where it came free. That is what the bees are after.”
“That is sweet, really sweet.” Ellibeth reached out and carefully pulled another. “Rubyn, try this.”
“Can we try as well?” Lilith and Garten were reaching as well.
“Honeypot. That has to be the Honeypot.” Ellibeth reached again and then stopped. “No, we must leave them for the bees, and then Billi might find us some honey later in the year.”
“Wild honey?” Hektor’s big smile echoed everyone else’s.
“That one, the clump deep in shadow, is shy. The pale pink ones.” Lilith pointed into the shadows. “They are blushing. Shy Maid! That one has to be Shy Maid.”
Billi wished he could have taken Ellibeth along the tunnels in the green, so that she could have seen the beauty that waited in clearings and hollows. But this was the Forest, and despite the beauty the Wild still lurked in all its guises, as proved when Rubyn caught the wrong pretty flier and had a red, stinging bump on his thumb! Both of the maids wanted to know if some of the flowers could be moved to the edges of the valley, or maybe the Hunters could collect some seeds?
The first two days of the return trip consisted of laughing and naming, then trying hard to remember some of them. By then both maids had a bunch of flowers, ones they’d picked themselves or with Gerant helping Lilith. The third afternoon and the following morning the new and the named dropped off rapidly as the party approached the Farm, and this trip really drove it home. There would have to be a line in the new Laws of the Farm to try and avoid that, to stop the new villagers driving the Wild deeper into the green where it couldn’t be seen
* * *
On their return, Fellip the Thatcher produced another two sheets of reed parchment when Billi asked, pointing out that he’d made it out of Billi’s reed so ‘twas cheap. Billi drew the final plan after a dozen trial runs in the dirt and on a f
lat rock with chalk to see how it looked. He put in all the measurements they’d paced and tried to get the proportions right. Drawing the final version turned into a busy and exciting day with Hektor, Bliss and Dapple there so Hektor could help, as well as Gerant and Lilith. Then Patre, and Eddmune and Mikkel came with their Hounds, to help with the proportions and where boundaries should run. The boundaries in the valley and where claims ran onto the moors were clear but their outer boundary wasn’t marked. Then after rain or if someone found a pool sufficient to water stock, the grazing could be extended.
Ellibeth and Rubyn helped, and Rubyn entertained them all with a blow by blow account of his trip and his trapping and fishing. Gerant’s and Lilith’s name went onto their claim, to their great excitement. When everyone agreed the dirt version looked right, Billi carefully copied it twice onto reed-paper. Kina the Eldest would keep one as the Village record and the elders would show the second to those interested in applying for a landclaim. Applying, because the Eldest, Billi, must approve the landclaims. With that in mind, Ellibeth insisted that Billi made a third copy to keep so he could check who had which plots when folk asked.
The meeting with the elders seemed strange, because they kept deferring to whatever Billi suggested. Not only that, but Lilith, Ellibeth, Patre, Bettram and Mikkel came along as well to give their opinions on the possibilities there. The extra lines to the new Law of the Farm were added, with a comment from Kina that if anyone disagreed they shouldn’t apply for a claim.
* * *
Billi went out hunting again and when he came home dealt with a succession of people, both parents and potential settlers, wanting to ask about this detail or that. Because of that Billi only went overnight at the most. He didn’t want to go out for too long just now in any case, since he didn’t want to miss the next Trader caravan. Though now he started to bring back a few flowers because after the trip Ellibeth had put some in a mug in his hut, so he had a little of the Forest there. Billi also brought back any pretty feathers he found and left them lying about. Sure enough Rubyn would claim them, and twice they’d reappeared on Ellibeth’s coat.
