Page 93 of Circle of Days
“But they might do that. And whatever happened would be violent. It’s hard to predict how things would end up. Your mother’s an elder: if the farmers killed you, the herders might go to war. I don’t want our love to be the cause of a war.”
“Nor do I, but there’s nowhere else to go.”
“On the contrary, there are many places: north, south, east, and west.”
“You mean we should leave the Great Plain?”
“Yes.”
“But we hardly know what there is beyond the plain.”
“We know that the woodlanders spend every summer in the Northwest Hills. There’s an established path that they use, so we could find our way easily.”
“What would we do for food? The deer have already returned to the plain.”
“We could take a cow.”
“You mean steal one?”
“Would that be necessary? If you took Zad into your confidence, might he not feel that as a herder you’re entitled to one cow?”
Han grinned. “I think you’re probably right.” He turned serious. “But winter in the hills…”
She nodded. It was already getting colder here on the plain. “We’d have to build a house. I’m sure we could manage that.”
“Yes.” He looked thoughtful. “You and me and a cow…”
“And a baby.”
“It sounds cozy.”
Pia nodded. It sounded cozy to her too. She knew there would be difficulties and struggles, but the joy of being together and being free would give them the strength to cope with problems. Just the thought of it made her happy.
There was one big drawback. “I’ll miss my mother, though.”
Han clearly had not thought about Yana. “Can’t she come with us?”
“I’ve talked to her about it. She refuses. She says she’s too old. She can no longer walk very far or very fast—the carrying of water all summer has worn her out. She’s afraid she would slow us down, then we’d all be caught.”
“I don’t know…”
“She won’t change her mind.”
Han nodded. It made sense to him. But he said: “It may be a long while until you see her. Do you imagine we’ll live in the Northwest Hills indefinitely?”
“No. In a year or two we can return to the plain. Tempers will have cooled and a lot of people will have forgotten about us. We’llhave a baby, and that will change everything. If Troon tried to take a mother and baby away from the father, the herders might well go to war, and Troon would know that.”
Han said: “Anyway, that’s a long time in the future.”
Not so long, she thought, but she did not say it. “We’ll have to take some necessities. A cookpot, two bowls and two spoons, some flints, and a big leather bag to put them in.”
“And my bow and arrows. When shall we go?”
“Tomorrow night.”
“So soon!”
“Listen. It’s the Autumn Rite in four days. We should leave tomorrow, but not go far, and hide in West Wood. Next day they’ll search the farmer country and the woods, and visit herder settlements nearby. Not finding us, they’ll think we’ve gone to Riverbend. The following day they’ll go to the Monument for the Rite and search for us there. Next day, after the Rite, they’ll come back here. That gives us four clear days to get ahead of them. They’ll never catch us.”
