---Stick---

---Pawel’s perspective---

I walk through the door and see my mama, dressed for work, standing in the middle of our house.

She turns to me, letting me see the heavy dark circles under her eyes.

“There you are, puszek!” she says “Where were you?”

“I went to go and see Wit-I mean… the Bzowy, Mamo. I had a question about something.”

I won’t tell her about the blue lightning and the strange moving star if I don’t have to… she has enough to worry about…

“Alright, Pawel…” she walks to me and licks her thumb, rubbing some dirt (that may or may not have actually been there) off my cheek “…Stefcia’s cough got worse so I took her to Babcia Kornelia’s place… but I have to go and help Lech and Ludmilla bring in the turnip harvest so would you do me a huge favour and go gather some sticks from the forest?”

“Of course, Mamo!” I say, smiling.

She smiles back a smile that, like mine, doesn’t touch her eyes and pulls me into a hug.

“Thank you, puszek! I know we’ve got lots… but I really don’t want to run out in the middle of Winter!” then she brings her hand to my fluffy dark hair and ruffles it “*Psi-psi-psi-psi*!”

“Maaaaamo!” I say, laughing while I try and fight off her hand.

“What? You too grown up to have your hair fluffed(?)” she grins “Too bad! I’m gonna keep doing it until you’re two metres tall and I can’t reach anymore(!)”

“Nobody’s that tall, Mamo!” I say, shaking my head.

“Then you’ll be the first(!) You’re already so big!” she says then the smile goes from her face as she bends to put it level with mine and says “You know what to do when you’re past the Second Palisade, don’t you?”

“Yes Mamo… get through the Killing Field as quickly as I can and afterward only travel by the narrow paths through the dense woods and the secret ways through the marshes… stay out of wide open areas with solid ground!”

“Good!” she says, kissing my cheek “And, *kiss* if you don’t *kiss* and the zmory don’t get you *kiss* I WILL!!!”

“Alright Mamo! I’m going, I’m going…!”

She releases me from the hug and I go to fetch the lengths of rope I’ll need for the bundles, coming back. I grab my sling too, just in case I see any zające… it’d be nice to get a big, fat one for dinner!

I give Nala a good scritch between her ears.

She’s way too old to come with me, unfortunately.

Tata apparently got her when he was a boy!

I’m very glad dogs managed to survive on Nowe Mazury with us!

I go to the door but Mama catches me to give me one more cuddle and kiss on the top of my head.

“Goodbye, Pawel…”

“Goodbye, Mamo…” I say, before we break and I walk out of the door.

As I pass the coop, our jajonosy swarm the fence, making their *hoodloodloodloodloodloodloo* noise.

I look down into their stupid, four-eyed faces and laugh “I fed you guys earlier! There’s still feed in your trough you idiots!” They don’t listen to me, only flapping their red and green feathered wings.

I shake my head and walk towards the First Palisade.

It’s unmanned, like always. Thankfully, the Second Palisade has never been breached while I’ve been alive, so we’ve never needed to fall back to the First. I hear it’s happened once or twice in the past though, in famine years when the zmory get desperate… oh and that time, one or two hundred years ago, when there was a war between us and a colony we tried to establish on the coast of Lake Kryształowe! They lasted a few years before a guy announced himself ‘king’, then came back and tried to conquer us too!

After his army was beaten and ‘King’ Jarosław executed, the survivors were reincorporated here.

No one’s suggested making a colony since then… even though it is a bit crowded here in Malbork!

I walk along the path through the farm fields filled with green leafed crops that take up the wide space between the First and Second Palisades.

It looks like a good harvest this year… but Mama thinks it’ll be cold this winter!

As I get near the Second Palisade, I see Ratimyr’s men marching along it.

There’s a brief moment where I look for Tata before, with a sinking stomach, I remember he won’t be there…

“Where are you going, lad?” challenges one of the guards at the gate.

“My Mama asked me to gather wood for Winter…” I say, holding up the ropes to show him.

He nods “Alright… you know what to do and what not to do when you’re outside the walls?”

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“I hurry across the Killing Field, ready to sprint back for the first half and sprint forward for the second. Once I’m in the woods, I stick to the narrow paths. When I come to a marsh, I stick to the secret paths… I never linger on solid ground where any zmory might be!” I recite.

“Good, good… off you go.” he says, stepping aside to let me pass.

I walk (don’t run) across the wide open space we keep clear outside the wall, to not let zmory sneak up on us.

As I go, my head swivels left and right just in case one appears.

I gag at the smell of rotting zmora flesh. Whenever we need to hunt one that starts targeting us, its body gets brought back to town. The leather we harvest, the bones have uses too… but the most valuable part of a zmora is the meat! We don’t eat it (bleurgh!) we just let it fester, then move it to the Killing Field to repel other zmory.

I’m anxious as I reach the middle of the open space, putting me the furthest away from either the safety of the walls or the safety of the trees!

I cross the halfway point and begin including behind me in my head swivel, just in case!

I finally make it to the tunnel through the trees, walk around 20m inside and stop to let my pulse slow down and my breathing settle.

Once I’ve recovered, I walk down the path of safety through the dense underbrush.

Even though I’m in a wood, I’ve still got a long way to go before I’m in the right place to gather sticks.

There probably is a lot of deadwood here but more trouble than it’s worth to find and get to.

Pahorek Peak is where I’m going… and, as I reach the other side of the tunnel, I see it, rising a few hundred metres above Mecklemburg Marsh and blocking the view South.

It’s well known to be a safe place and a good one to gather fallen branches… but, to get to it… I need to cross the Mecklemburg and that means I need to find some eteryk!

I hunt through the blue leaves of the undergrowth at the edge of Tyemny Wood, looking around myself constantly, ready to dart for safety.

There! I spot the diamond shaped blue leaves of the herb I’m looking for. I pick some, making sure to leave enough there to let it grow back, and grind what I’ve picked between my hands.

I smear the wet lump of plant matter over the bare skin of my arms, face, neck, ankles and the tops of my feet, through my sandal straps.

Now covered in eteryk juice, I’m reasonably protected from the dense clouds of krwossaje that hang over the Mecklemburg.

I’ll probably still get a few bites but I won’t get covered in them!

I hurry across the solid ground between the wood and the start of the secret path.

The curtain of insects parts as I approach, smelling the eteryk.

I look to where the scraps of cloth have been staked into the ground, marking out the places where you won’t sink into several metres of mud if you try to walk!

They can’t be too noticeable or the zmory might figure them out!

I trudge my way across the relatively safe, open ground… looking around for danger at the edges of the marsh.

It’s been more than an hour since I crossed the gate when I get to the bottom of Pahorek.

I find the entrance to the tunnel, through the dense woods that ring its base, and begin climbing.

The orangey-yellow trunks quickly thin out to where zmory would be able to move between them… if they could get through the brush lower down!

If I just wanted to get the sticks and go home, here would be fine but I decide I want the view of Lake Śniade, so I keep climbing. It’ll mean a bit more work coming back but I don’t mind.

I come to the top, where the trees are sparsest, and take a moment to appreciate the view.

Below me is a large, muddy brown lake… I say ‘large’ but I can easily see the other side of it from this high. Apparently, there are lakes on Mazury so large that you’d never be able to see the other side, no matter how high up you got!

Later in the year, when Autumn fully arrives, I don’t think I’ll be able to have this place to myself like this. Enough families will be stocking up for Winter that there probably won’t be a time when there aren’t at least a half dozen other kids here!

For now, though, I’m alone.

I lay the ropes I brought on the ground, both in V shapes, and begin foraging to find just the right types of stick to lay across them.

It takes a while before I’ve nearly gathered enough.

On one of the last sticks I pick up, I’m about to take it back to the bundles, when I realise… it’s quite nice to hold… it’s got a nice length to it and feels strong and sturdy.

Experimentally, I give it a swing. Very satisfying!

I grip the thick end with both hands and it immediately becomes the finest sword that Sławoj has ever made! Long, sharp and flawlessly smooth!

I cease to be Pawel, the 11 year old stick gatherer, and become Pawel the Mighty! Strongest warrior ever born to Nowe Mazury! Bravest Human ever to live!

Half a dozen gigantic, bloodthirsty zmory appear through the trees and I roar and charge at them.

I swing my sword through the first and shout “That’s for Malbork!”

I spin and jump to land onto some rocks and stab the pointy end up into the belly of the next and yell “That’s for Mama and Stefcia!”

I leap to decapitate the third with a downward slash “That’s for Tata!”

The final three all rush me at once and I kill them all with a single slash “And that’s for ME!!!” I scream.

I stand, catching my breath from the exercise.

I’d be way too self conscious to play pretend like that if anyone else were here… especially if it was Zofia… I’d die of embarrassment!… Though I’m not sure exactly… why…? It’s not like she bullies people for being childish!

I look to the stick and think about what to do with it.

Eventually, I decide to put it with the others and just ask Mama if she doesn’t mind me keeping it, already preparing the defence that it’d make a good walkingstick, as well as a sword(!)

I bring the ends of the ropes over the sticks and tie them off to themselves.

“OK… moment of truth…” I say, lifting both bundles by their rope handles.

“Mmmmmm…” I hum, considering if they’re light enough for me to carry all the way back to town or if they’re too heavy and I need to take a couple out.

I decide that, even though they’re a tiny bit on the heavy side, I’ll carry them back anyway.

I’ll drop them if I run into any zmory and… it’ll be good training!

Tata used to say the way to get stronger was to always do just a little more than you’re comfortable with.

My chore done (except for the walk home) I decide to have a little practice with my sling before I go.

I spend a few minutes gathering a small pile of suitable stones on a flat rock and then stand next to them, facing the lake.

I take out my leather sling and wind one of the cords into the fingers of my right hand.

I fold the leather pouch in half and grasp the other cord before choosing a stone to put into it.

I bring back my arm, rotating my body with it, and fiercely swipe it forward, releasing the cord to let the stone fly through the air toward Lake Śniade, with a *vzzzzz*. That release was perfect and the stone looks like it’ll land all the way in the water (even though I know I’m too far away for that to be possible!)

I pick up another stone and repeat.

Most of them I’m able to get a proper release on and it’s only a few that I botch.

I’m more than halfway through the pile I gathered when I spot something.

Far away to the South, just above the Grodno Hills, there’s something in the sky… another new star! Only… it’s the middle of the day! And this star looks dark against the sky… like an… antistar!

It won’t be visible from town… Pahorek will be blocking it from view.

As I watch it, I realise something… it’s getting bigger! It’s coming towards me!

Realising that, I dash for the safety of the brush! I don’t know what that thing is but I know I don’t want it to see me when it gets here!