A Time of Tigers - From Peasant to Emperor

Chapter 63  The Colour Red - Part 4

She scowled at his question. "Is that so strange?"

"Well, yeah," Beam didn't try to hide his surprise. "I don't think I've ever seen a girl hunting before."

"So you're stupid, then?" She asked back, immediately growing heated. Beam guessed it was a sore spot for her, so he just shrugged and said nothing further.

"Well, I'm going to get going then. Just how much wood are you lacking?" He asked, as he began walking towards the forest, dragging his sled.

"Pretty much all of it," Nila said, not bothering to hide their lacking. She caught the look Beam was shooting her. "What? We were just going to use blankets, like my mother said."

"Didn't you just call me stupid half a second ago?" Beam pointed out. "When the snows set in, without a fire on the night, you'll freeze to death on the first night."

"No, we wouldn't," Nila disagreed as she hurried on after him.

"Yes, you would," Beam said impatiently.

"Well, how did you manage?" Nila asked, and Beam turned to look at her sharply. She held up her hands in defence. "Just I've seen you walking around before – you've got no friends or family, do you? And you're a digger. You're poorer than me. How did you manage to get through the winter with no food and no wood? You won't have had time for any of it, right? 'Cos you're only one person, and you had to work."

Beam was struck by a peculiar feeling as he heard her say that. He knew that people had noticed him before, and he knew that in a village as small as this, no one really went unnoticed. But still, there was a feeling that came with Nila's words that shook his view of reality slightly. He'd always felt far more invisible than he was. After all, he never really paid attention to the people around him. He would have expected the same from them.

"I lived in the forest," Beam told her. "So when the snows set in, I didn't have far to go for wood."

"Mm…" Nila said thoughtfully as she looked at him.

Beam looked over his shoulder. She'd fallen a few steps behind already, despite the fact that Beam was wrestling with a log cart that he was pulling behind him. "Can you walk faster? I have things to do."

"Tsch. I have things to do as well, idiot. Besides, why do I even need to walk with you? Mother wouldn't know if I just ditched you here and went hunting," Nila said, threatening to run away.

"Hurry up and get on with it," Beam said. "Since I know how much wood you need, you've now served your purpose. I'll get you two carts full and if you manage it properly, you'll get through the winter. Now, you go running and pretend to hunt."

He almost regretted his last comment as he saw the hurt flash over her face. But she just let out a "hmph," and turned on her heel and jogged ahead.

"What was that?" He muttered to himself, almost feeling bad, recalling the offended look that she shot him. But losing his temper with her – if only slightly – was what he regret more. Not necessarily out of consideration for her feelings, but more for his own. It felt like weakness to let himself be so easily swayed.

"Hah…" He sighed to himself and scratched his head, continuing his walk towards the forest. His axe and knife at his belt kept bouncing off the handle of his sled as he walked. The axe was lent by Greeves for a copper – provided that he didn't break it. It was a loan that Beam was grateful for, else his only option would have been to buy one, and with steel being as expensive as it was, it might have cost as much as 5 silvers. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

The knife was something he'd begged his master to allow him to keep for a little while, so that he might practise with it in moments of quiet and between work. He always imagined the Hobgoblin as he did, imagining how he might have been able to notice it earlier and defeat it.

Once he was in the forest, he followed the path for a time, knowing that there would be no suitable firewood anywhere near the border, for that would have been the first to go as people took their share for the winter.

He continued up over a hill, where his sled got snagged on rocks several times and he had to shake it to free it.

Beyond there, he went to the east, in a different direction to where his house used to be. This was a spot that he'd been entreating in recent times, and he knew that there was a good amount of lumber to be had there still.

He went off the path, dragging his sled with him, further into the trees.

Spying a familiar spot, he unburdened himself, leaving his sled where it was, amongst a pile of autumn leaves and unhooking his axe from his belt.

He stood there a moment, glancing around, wondering what direction to head in. Just in time to see a rabbit sprint past him and disappear behind a tree.

There was the whoosh of something flying past, then a sharp squeal of pain from the rabbit. And then, there was nothing at all.

Beam glanced behind him, axe in hand, giving Nila a raised eyebrow as she walked past with a smug grin on her face. "Did you happen to see a rabbit run past?" She asked smugly. "It seems to have stolen my arrow."

Beam sighed, imitating his master, as he pointed to where the rabbit was. "It's over there, I expect."

"Why, thank you very much," she said with a sunny smile. It seemed securing the animal had reversed her mood entirely. Beam wasn't one to complain, she seemed far easier to deal with when she wasn't wasting time picking a fight every thirty seconds. "Oh, make sure you get us hardwood, won't you? The sap in the pine makes it burn too fast to last us over winter."