The morning came soon enough. After sleeping the night in shifts they were both weary. It was Wills turn to sleep but he woke halfway through with a start.
“What time is it Raya” he asked.
“It's about an hour after sunrise, it should be a glorious day by the feel of it.” She replied.
“I had a dream about the wolf, it was lying on my bed like a dog. I thought that if I moved, I would wake it up, then while I was watching the wolf it opened its eyes and looked at me. Then I woke up.” said Will.
“Freaky dream, I was just wondering how we go about seeing if it is still there, you game for a look?” asked Raya.
“I suppose we have to at some stage, maybe the dream was a good omen” said Will with a grin.
“You can't have a pet wolf Will, that’s crazy even for you.” said Raya affectionately.
They made a plan for Will call Tonic over thinking that if it was the same wolf as the one at the deer carcass then it seemed to be scared of the eagle. Raya drew her bow, and they crept out together. To their relief there was no sign of the wolf in the wee clearing at the front of the cave.
“Breakfast then” Raya asked Will. Tonic stretched out his wings and they saw something rustle the low shrubs. Just off the clearing.
“That looked too big for a rabbit” said Raya raising her bow again.
Will crept slowly towards the shrubs. There was the wolf lying on the ground with a rip down its side finishing with a stick lodged in the top of its back leg. The wolf looked up at Will.
“It's the same look as in my dream, it has a stick stuck in its leg, I'm going to see if I can get closer.”
“Be careful Will this is not your dream now and that is a wolf,” said Raya.
Will kept approaching cautiously. The wolf lowered its head submissively and whimpered. Will took a breath and gently assured the wolf that he was going to help. As soon as he touched the stick the wolf winced and looked over its shoulder at Will.
“This is going to hurt buddy” said Will to the wolf.
With one mighty jerk Will pulled with all his strength the stick came free with a gush of blood and a howl from the wolf.
"Grab some starbinders Raya" Will called out.
The gush of blood slowed down to where the starbinders would probably halt the flow. Raya dashed inside and ground up the starbinders with a few other beneficial herbs.
"That boy is nuts," she muttered to herself.
Will applied the mix to the long gash and the puncture wound without any complaint from the wolf. Once he was done, he went inside and sliced a piece of meat from one of the deer legs that was hanging.
"I don't know if you are brave or stupid, but I can see that you are good with animals. That was impressive." Raya said.
Will smiled and headed out to feed the wolf. When he got to it, he saw it was asleep, so he went back to the cave. After sending Tonic off to hunt they spent the rest of the morning spreading out the starbinders on the woven racks and hung them in the trees to dry.
"Make sure they don't get in the direct sunlight, it lessens the quality of the flowers. If we get a few days like this they should dry beautifully, we need to turn them every few hours today as there are so many in the racks. Tomorrow, they won't need turning so often so I will go and collect some honey between the turnings," Raya told Will.
"So organized, this is an impressive setup for something so simple" said Will.
Just after lunch the wolf woke up. Will took out the slice of meat that he had diced up for easy eating. The wolf was cautious of him but gobbled up the meal. It tried to stand up but sat back down quickly.
"You might be here for a day or two while that heals, we will have to give you a name, how about Stick" Will told the wolf as it lay its head down.
Stick was still there the next morning so Will decided to stay behind and watch him and turn the starbinders. Raya headed out with her cart and bee kit to some of the of the closer hives. Gravity seemed to be playing up a bit, which always made the process easier. Walking through the woods Raya was always on high sensory alert like some small animal. Because of this she noticed the woods around her picking mushrooms, leaves and berries as she went.
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The first hive was an easy one to access without too much of a climb. It looked like the bees had been doing well for the spring which was a good indicator for the other hives as well. Raya smiled as she filled her leather bag with the sticky combs. At the next hive the tree was blown over and a bear or something similar had ripped the hive apart, it looked like it was more than a few weeks since it had happened.
"Thats a shame that has been a great hive." thought Raya.
By the fourth hive she had a good load on the cart and was on her way back camp when she spotted a swarm of bees in a low tree. Using her knife 'bitie' she carved enough wood off the base of the branch to gently bend it down to ground level. Once it was there she hunted out a small ornate wooden box from her bee kit. Carefully going through the swarm, she found the queen and placed her carefully in the wee box. Bees are super chill when they swarm so the operation was easy. Next, she cut the end of the branch that the swarm had settled on and put it on top of the cart over the queen be in her isolator box.
Will heard Raya before he saw her. A low hum emitted from the bees on the cart, and they now covered most of its surfaces.
"Looks like you got some new friends, how was collecting" Will asked.
"Great thanks, I lost one hive but found another can you bring that box from under the shelves?"
Will bought out the wooden box and Raya took the queen bee in her isolator box and placed it in the larger box. She shook the bees that were still on the branch into the box then stood back. Will was amazed to watch the rest of the bees slowly make their way into the box.
"They are following the scent of their queen. Now we just have to find a new home for them." Raya told Will.
"Too easy" said Will.
"If we can find a home in time and if they stay in it then yes, it is. how is you wolf?"
"Well, he isn't really mine, but I have called him Stick in light of how he came to us" said Will.
"Better than Creep after he followed us home in the dark" joked Raya.
To Wills disappointment Stick disappeared into the Vior a couple of days after they rehomed the bee swarm. Stick had got used to Will coming to feed him, and Will kind of hoped he would stay.
"Don't worry Will we will be out soon, and you will have Flow to look after, I'm sure she would hate a wolf to join your company as well as an eagle" consoled Raya.
"That's for sure, I have never been up close with a wolf before, it was pretty cool."
Over the next week they slowly dried the starbinders to the point they could be safely stored. During that time Raya and Will worked on a technique to get a rope up the tree with Tonics help. He was already trained to go to a red target so Will proposed that he could be taught to retrieve a rope if a red cloth was tied to the end of it. Slowly they made the rope higher using a tall stick with the rope wedged into a split. Holding the stick beside a branch Tonic learned to pull the rope over the branch and take his end to Will. Raya was excited
“This is great. It is only limited by how long a stick I can hold up.”
Finally, it was time to head to the city. They loaded up the cave with firewood for the next trip and the cart with everything they had gathered. They had made jerky out of the last leg of venison and left the bones out for Stick in case he came back that way.
"Better a wolf who knows you are ok than a random one" said Will.
"I can't argue with that" said Raya smiling
They had just arrived at the edge of the Vior when Raya spotted another swarm.
"I think we can get to that one" said Raya.
"What are we going to do with it?" asked Will.
"Why don't we give it to Parsley and Rosie, I'm looking forward to seeing them."
The swarm was high in an oak tree and out at the end of a limb. Raya convinced Will to climb up and tie the rope to the branch, as close to the swarm as he could. From there he would cut the branch off with his axe and Raya would gather the swarm. Unfortunately, as he started to strike the branch with the axe the swarm broke up and came towards him. Will freaked out and was out of the tree in no time at all. Raya could hardly contain her laughter,
"and what about my rope?"
"If they leave the tree then I will get it back, if not then I owe you a rope because I'm not going up there with those tiny attack drones." said Will firmly.
Raya smiled and climbed up to retrieve the rope. By the time she was down again the swarm had settled on a young sapling not too far away. Raya offered to show Will how to do it but he politely declined. Instead, Will stood well back.
"I would rather deal with an animal I can actually see than a mass of insects like that" he called.
"Well, you pull the cart and I will bring the mass of terror then," said Raya.
"No problem," replied Will and they were on their way again.
They arrived at the farm in the middle of the afternoon Emma ran out to meet them. Rosie and Parsley were out with Flow in the field running a plough over a patch of ground near the house.
“We hope you don’t mind. Parsley found an old plough behind the barn and the harness fits well too. Are you staying for the night I can put some extra dinner on.”
“We would love to, it looks like Flow has had a good stay too, she likes a bit of work and wouldn’t do it for you if she didn’t like you.” said Will.
Will stayed out with Rosie to finish the last bit of the ground they wanted to turn while Raya and Parsley took the kids to find a spot for the bees.
They had three lovely days at the farm before they headed into town. Will promised to cart in some goods for the Tushney’s next time he came out with Raya and to take some of their smoked pork to Arwin to see if she would sell it. It was another warm day, the cart was full of the smell of honey and wood smoke. Will found it hard to get used to the frequent bee visits.
"Those little blighters come out of everywhere." he said edging across the seat to get away from a bee.
"And how many times have you been stung on this trip?" asked Raya smiling.
"Surely if Flow can get used to an eagle, then you can get used to bees. I'm afraid that if you are going to be a friend of mine then there will always be some bees floating around."