Page 21 of Circle of Days
It was the usual basketwork hurdle. He lifted it silently, stepped inside, and replaced it.
Cog, Olf, and Cam were asleep, Cog snoring.
Seft was starving. He looked for the beef, but there was only a bone left.
Fury boiled up inside him. He had the flint axe in his hand. He gripped it hard: he could kill them all now. But he relaxed his grip and lay down. Perhaps I’m not the killing kind, he thought, and he closed his eyes.
He was exhausted, but his mind was restless and he did not fall asleep. Wun had changed everything. Cog had rejected Wun’s proposal but Seft had not. For some time Seft had been asking himself: How could I make a living if I ran away? Today Wun had answered the question.
Seft felt a surge of hope, but there were snags. Would Wun let Seft join his team against Cog’s will? Seft thought he might. Wun was not easily bullied, and did not seem afraid of Cog. He had sons of his own to protect him, and other kin too. He might well defy Cog.
Could Seft get away from here without waking the family? They were full of beef and fast asleep, and his footsteps would make little noise. But what if one of them woke up? He would murmur something about going outside to piss.
His father would surely come after him. It would be wise to disappear for a day or two. Let them waste time looking for him and get fed up with the search. Then he could go to Wun’s pit.
Anyway, now that freedom beckoned he could not say no to it.
He imagined himself telling Neen about it.I just got up and went, he would say.
No more dreams. I’m going to do it, he thought, and he stood up.
Olf grunted, rolled over, and stopped snoring. Seft stood as still as a tree. Olf’s eyes did not open. Soon he snored again.
Seft stepped to the doorway and put his hands on the gate.
His father said: “What are you doing?”
Seft turned and looked. Cog was still half asleep, but his eyes were open.
Seft was inspired. In an angry voice he said: “Where’s the beef for my dinner?”
“All gone,” said Cog. He closed his eyes and turned over.
Seft lifted the gate silently, stepped outside, and replaced the gate. If necessary he was ready to run for it.
No more was said.
He stepped away. The night was warm and the moon had risen. He headed north. When he was too far away for his footsteps to be heard back in the house, he turned and looked back.
All was quiet.
“Goodbye, you miserable pigs,” he whispered.
He broke into a run.
Seft went north. He left the plain, entered the hill country, and walked on, taking no chances.
He had explored this area often. His father observed the twelve-day week, with two days of rest, and Seft had liked to get away from his family and wander. Now he came to a valley he remembered from one such trip. It had stuck in his memory because he had seen an aurochs here, one of a species of giant cattle with wide pointed horns. They were rare and he had not seen one before or since. He had been scared and climbed a tree until it wandered away.
Hoping the beast was not still around, he lay down on the ground. He heard an owl hoot, and then he fell asleep.
He woke at dawn. The place was familiar. A few sheep grazed between the trees. Looking around, he saw hundreds of flat stones on the ground, as if scattered there by the gods. Some of them were enormous, as long as four men lying head to toe. He had privately called the place Stony Valley. Somewhere nearby lived a shepherd, the only inhabitant for a long way.
He ate some wild raspberries, then returned south to a hill from which he could see the pit and the house in the distance. He stood under a tree whose shadow hid him from view, and watched while his family got up and ate breakfast. Then the three of them set out westward, undoubtedly heading for Wun’s pit.
Seft stayed at his vantage point all day, until he saw Cog,Olf, and Cam come back, their bodies slumped and weary with walking and discouragement. They had found Wun’s pit, and Seft had not been there.
He would sleep in Stony Valley again tonight. Perhaps the shepherd would give him something to eat.
