Chapter 38

Hilda was impossible. She wanted to know everything, right now. Mato couldn’t possibly talk fast enough to answer all of her questions, and he couldn’t get one answer out before the next question hit.

At their first break Ezhno pointed at Hilda. “What mistake have you been making all morning?”

That stopped her. Sort of.

“I’ve been asking too many questions?”

“No.”

“I’ve been interrupting Mato when he tries to answer my questions?”

“No.”

Ezhno pointed downhill and east. Mato squinted, then realized that one of the boulders out there had black specks moving around on it.

Hilda gasped. “I’m supposed to be scouting, and I missed another anthill.”

“That’s the one. We all made that mistake before, but I want to make certain it doesn’t happen again. We were very lucky last time.”

“What do we do?” she asked.

“You and Mato will go back to the caravan and warn them. Specifically, you, Hilda, are going to warn them. Don’t say anything about who saw it first. Let them think it was you. We want them to understand that you bring a lot of strength to the group when you do this work.”

They left Ezhno to continue scouting and turned back. Their return trip was much quieter, and they spotted a couple of snakes and two large lizards that Mato shot with his bow.

Erik was at the front of the column when they arrived, and he scowled at them as they approached.

“There is another anthill about six hundred paces that way,” Hilda said, and pointed.

“Good. I’ll pass the word along. Hilda, you’re supposed to be with the women. There are complaints that you’re just out in the bushes humping.”

She stiffened. Mato took a second to consider whether he should help, or let her fight her own battles, then gambled on helping.

“Erik, Hilda is my wife, and my student now. I am training her to be a trail master, and Ezhno is making certain I do it correctly. I will decide where her time is best spent.”

Erik’s face twisted with anger. “Is that so, boy?”

“That is so. Her name is Hilda Stone Foot.”

Erik flinched. “And how are we to make up the loss of her aid with the children and chores?”

Mato handed Erik the lizards. “Hilda spotted these, so she is helping to feed the children. And spotting the ants helps keep the women and children alive.”

“And how am I to convince them that you’re not just out humping?”

Hilda tensed, and Mato put a hand on her arm. “We’re allowed breaks, Erik.” He flexed his muscles. “And I can see why the other women would be jealous.”

Erik huffed a grudging laugh. “I may have utterly bungled things, but you’re just the man she needed. Go on with your duties.”

Mato grinned and turned, pulling Hilda after him.

“And Mato,” Erik said, “please keep her safe.”

“With everything in my being, Erik. Everything.”

Once they were out of earshot of the caravan Hilda laughed and clapped her hands. “How did you do that? He’s not even angry.”

“I’m not sure. It just seemed like the right thing to do. I hope you’re not angry with me for stepping in?”

“No. Most times I want to fight for myself, but with Father, perhaps it is best if you are there.”

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

* * *

They found Ezhno about a clip up the trail and he waved for them to follow him, then jogged into the scrub to the west.

A long insect hurtled past, and Mato ducked instinctively.

“What was that?” Hilda asked.

“I don’t know. Let’s catch up with Ezhno.”

As they traveled west they saw more and more of the insects. They were brown and orange, with long, slender bodies about the size of a finger.

When they’d gone a couple of clips, they began to hear a constant buzz in the air, and they found Ezhno squatting and pointing to a large crack in a massive rock. There was a continuous train of the creatures in and out.

“What are they?” Mato asked.

“Usually when creatures are infected with essence they turn into monsters,” Ezhno said. “These are honey bees infected by essence. They get bigger, faster, and they bring in nectar from much farther away than a normal hive. If we leave them alone they’re no threat. You can walk right up to the hive and look at them, as long as you’re careful not to disturb them. Be very careful not to stir them up. Their stings can kill, and they can fly far faster than we can run.”

“Are they essence bees, then?” Hilda asked.

“We call them honey darts,” Ezhno said. “Come on, we’re going to raid the hive.”

Ezhno had Mato cast a long, low shield that allowed them to crawl into the crack underneath the hive. The ground was sticky with dripped honey and dead darts.

“Make another one that touches this one, and captures the bottom of the hive.”

Above them they could see the crack was full of honeycomb, stretching up into the darkness. The buzz of thousands of darts was almost uncomfortably loud. Mato cast the requested shield, and then Ezhno forced his sword up through the shields at an angle and cut off a large piece of the honeycomb.

“Drink as much water as you can hold, then pour out your waterskins. We’re going to fill them with honey,” he said.

Ezhno cut the comb up with his sword until honey collected in the bottom of the extra shield. Then he held a waterskin underneath.

“Make a small hole.”

Mato did as instructed, and they got a steady flow of beautiful yellow-orange liquid. It took a few minutes to fill their six waterskins, and then they retreated to the far end of the shield.

The honey darts were livid, hurtling around the area, and examining everything they thought might be responsible.

“How do we get away?” Mato asked.

“They’re not ants,” Ezhno said. “They’ll calm down in a few more minutes, and then you can drop your shield, and we’ll leave.”

It was probably closer to half an hour, but they did go back to their normal business. Mato let the shields go, and they walked back toward the caravan’s plotted route.

“I’m going to keep scouting,” Ezhno said. “You two take these skins to the caravan, and get new ones. Bring them empty; we’ll get fresh water up ahead.”

“That sounds nice,” Hilda said, stretching her fingers out. No matter how careful you were, when you handled honey, you got sticky. “How do you raid a hive if you don’t have Mato’s shield?”

“You do it at night, and you build a smokey fire as close to the hive as you can get,” Ezhno said. “It’s still dangerous, but it works.”

Thyra was at the head of the caravan when they arrived with the honey. She gave them a disapproving look that turned into a big smile when she found out what they had.

“Dichali killed four mountain goats several clips to the east. Erik and a couple of the other men have gone to fetch them. We’re going to have honey-roasted meat tonight.”

****

They found Ezhno up the trail. The land changed abruptly as it went over the slope, and they could see fir and pine, with a few leafy trees mixed in.

“We’re about there,” Ezhno said. “Did you get the waterskins?”

“Yes,” Hilda said.

He led them about half a clip west where the creek had wandered out from the foot of the ridge quite a ways. Up stream a few hundred paces they found a nice pool. It even had grass beside it.

“I’ve checked the area, and it looks safe. You should still keep your eyes and ears open. This is a new country for us. I’ll leave you here to get cleaned up. I’ll be downstream, so scream if you need me.”

They washed their clothes, and themselves. It wasn’t fair, Mato reflected, that cold water made Hilda’s nipples stand up, but made his little spirit go into hiding.

It worked out just fine though. They rolled out a bedroll in the sun and enjoyed themselves for a while before packing up and going to find Ezhno.

He was sitting by the water, half asleep when they found him. “You kids get everything taken care of?”

“We were very thorough,” Hilda said.

Ezhno chuckled and smiled. “It’s nice to see the next generation learning good habits.”

* * *

The long slope they’d climbed gave way to a gently sloping valley floor. The valley was days of marching long, and wide enough to have a town on each side of the creek. At the head a snow capped mountain reached into the sky. The stream they’d been using ran down the center, and leafy trees crowded the banks. Fir and pines grew on the slopes of the valley’s sides, and here and there they could see a meadow.

“It’s beautiful,” Hilda said.

“That’s selling it too cheap,” Ezhno said softly. “This first winter is going to be hard, but in a place like this, we can make it.”

“We’ll make ourselves a nice little shelter and spend the winter studying,” Mato said, gripping Hilda’s hand. “When spring arrives, we need you to be ready for your trial.”

Hilda tackled him into the grass and kissed him until he could barely breathe.