White Ghost and the Poison Arrow (7 page)

The rain did
not last for long, and by the next day it was all but gone. The
clouds has dissipated, and the skies were once again blue. Arella’s
stomach growled as she rolled over in her fur bed. She was growing
sick of eating grue roots, and decided that this was the day she
would learn to hunt fish. Her house was nearly finished, she only
had to put up some basic walls to stop her falling out and to
shield her from the wind, then perhaps add a layer of moss or
animal skins to the floor of the house for comfort.

With the spear
in her hand, Arella climbs down from her tree house and moves
towards the lake. The sun shines off the backs of the silver fish
in the water, making Arella’s stomach growl even more. She removes
her boots and rolls her trousers up to her knees and steps into the
water. As she does so the fish scatter. Arella remembers something
Nayleen used to tell her. “Be patient my child. People may run from
you know, but wait and see, they will flock to you if you just wait
long enough.” Perhaps this was the same with fish. Maybe if she
waited still in the water for long enough, they would come close to
her. So this is what she did. Arella waited and waited until the
sun was high in the sky. Slowly the fish began to gather once again
in the water by her feet. She watched them for a couple of minutes,
not wanting to scare them off with any sudden movements. Arella
raises her spear slightly higher, aims at one of the bigger slow
moving fish and brings the weapon down. The blade cuts into the
fish’s scaly body and she putts it out of the water. It is a
triumphant feeling, but strange to know she has taken the life on
an animal. The other fish scatter as Arella moves her feet and
walks out of the water, the fish still on the end of her spear,
wriggling and wiggling, the life slowly leaving its scaly body.

Arella builds a
fire using some wood she had stored in the tree house to keep it
from getting wet, and begins preparing her fish. She pulls its body
from the end of the spear and takes out her dagger. Holding the
slippery fish hard in her hand so it doesn’t slip, she takes the
dagger and drives it into the fish’s belly, cutting just deep
enough to break the skin, but not so deep as to slice into its
guts. She the loops her finger around its innards and pulls them
out, throwing them into the water out of the way. Arella then
places the fish on a black rock and cute off its hear. She doesn’t
like looking at its sad dead eyes, and it will make it much easier
to eat this way. She tosses the head into the water too.

Using a long
sharp stick, Arella cooks the fish over the fire until its flesh it
white and flaky, and the skin crispy and dark. The meat tastes so
sweet and mouth-watering. Arella had almost forgotten what good
meat tasted like. All the food she had ever eaten before had either
been burnt from being the last on the fire or the nasty parts no
one wanted to eat. Eating this fish tasted like heaven, and Arella
never wanted it to stop. All too soon though the fish was finished,
and Arella was full.

Now fuelled and
full on food, Arella once again set out on finishing her house. She
wandered into the forest to gather more long branches, having to
travel further and further away to fine ones of decent quality.
With the deer skin bag now empty, Arella can use if for carrying
useful items, and it works well for holding the branches she
gathers. They sick out of both ends, but it holds them together and
makes them a little easier to carry. She tucks her blood glass
dagger into the holder in her boot, straps the deer skin bag to her
back and sets off into the forest towards the other village. She
had not been this way since before she was spotted by Nashoba, not
wanting to be seen again near their village, but her need for
materials was drawing her there. Besides, Arella knew she could be
quiet and stay hidden. She would not be foolish enough to be seen
by anyone she didn't want to see her again.

In the distance
she can head the sound of the young men training again. The sound
is a familiar one, and she recognizes the different noises they
make, and can match them up with the movements they would be
making. She stops and closes her eyes for a minute, imagining what
moves the men are making, smiling at the thought of watching them
again, before continuing to walk towards the sound. Arella comes to
the edge of the trees lining the clearing in which they practice,
and finds a nice bushy tree to climb where she will be well hidden.
From up there she watches the young men, listens to the noises they
make, studies the way they move. This makes her happy, to be able
to watch.

“Are you sure
the ghosts aren't going to get you Nashoba?” Nootau mocks.

“You know
what...?” Nashoba spits with anger. “I've had just about enough of
you. He launches himself at Nootau at full pelt knocking him off
his feet.

“You two are
like a couple of children.” Mato says as he pulls them apart. We
are here to train, not to bicker like little girls.” He pushes them
both away from each other and stands with his arms crossed. “How
can we expect to be called men if we cannot act life men?”

“You're right
Mato.” Nashoba puts his hands down and steps back. “Just tell him
to stop it please? I know what I saw, and I'm not crazy!”

“I beg to
differ.”

“I SAID
ENOUGH!” Mato bellows. An awkward silence follows but the bickering
stops. Arella can't help but laugh softly to herself. This is all
because she was silly enough to let Nashoba see her in the tree.
It's nice seeing people fight like this. However strange that
sounds. Its friendly fighting, like brothers arguing. It's nice to
see such closeness. With that the training continues again.
Sparring with each other. Arella watches closely. She watches the
way the men move, and how the others counter it. Doahte changes
subject to something a little more serious and the faces of all of
the young men change, become darker and more worried.

“So how long is
this trial we are going on then?” Doahte asked.

“As long as it
takes I guess. Most men are away for years. You know that.” Mato
answers. “My brother only just got back a couple of weeks ago
remember, and he was gone for a little over two years.” He pauses.
“At least all four of us are going at the same time, rather than
separately. It could have been worse... You could have been going
on your own Doahte.”

“So we walk all
the way to the snowy mountains, through the black wood on the other
side, visit the elders and they test whether we are ready to become
men or not, then we come home? Is that right?” Nashoba asks.

“Well I'll be
coming back... But I don't know about you ghost boy.” Nootau
quips.

“I swear to the
gods Nootau. One more time. Go on I dare you!”

“Oooohhhhhh.
You dare me do you?” With this Nashoba moves to strike Nootau
again. Mato catches his fist in mid-air and squeezes it till
Nashoba falls to his knees.

“I think
training is over for now boys. Back home before these two knuckle
heads kill each other.” Mato lets go of Nashoba's hand. “Come on
lets go.” As the men walk away, Arella can still hear their
conversation.

“It doesn’t
sound too hard Mato. Are you sure your brother wasn’t exaggerating
when he said it was hard?” Nootau asks.

“And when was
the last time my brother exaggerated about anything?”

“When was the
last time he didn’t exaggerate?”

“Name one
time?” Mato is getting agitated now, but the sound is moving away
and getting harder to hear.

“He is always
exaggerating about how many girls follow him around and the size of
his…” Arella can’t hear anymore, but she can guess what they were
saying. She laughs to herself. A slight sadness reaches Arella,
knowing the young men will be leaving soon, but she will see them
again before they go. She will make sure of this.

So the men will be leaving soon to go on a quest to become
men. All the men in her village had to do was start to grow hair on
their faces, and they were considered men. Arella must remember
that she is no longer a member of her old village, she is now
technically a lone wolf, living and hunting on her own. She has
learnt a lot from the men in the village, and she will continue to
learn as she practices things herself. The men leave and Arella
climbs down from the tree once again. “
Soon
I'll have been in so many trees that I actually become one of
them.”
Arella thinks.

Arella then
continues what she set out to do and collects the larger branches
and loads them into her deer skin bag. On her way back to her home,
with a deer skin bag getting heavier and heavier, Arella starts
thinking about the trail the young men in the tribe have to do, and
what kind of things it must entail. Obviously the walk through the
snowy mountains is to test endurance, the ability to climb and
withstand the cold temperatures. This must also mean things like
making a fire, shelter and hunting. Can’t be too hard. These are
skills the men are taught from birth. The endurance might be a
little harder however. Even Arella knows how far away the snowy
mountains are, and they cover a vase expanse themselves. She also
knows of the animals that live in those mountains. Big black bears
bigger than two men stood on top of each other, and strong enough
to lift a tree from the ground if they wanted, and Lyron cats, much
like the auron cats but with white fur and a little bigger. They
are much more vicious, and will not hesitate to kill a man if they
come across them. Arella has no doubt the men would be able to
protect themselves against such creatures ordinarily, but when they
have not eaten or slept in weeks, would this be quite so easy? Then
there’s the shelter making. This isn’t too hard when you have the
materials. Even Arella manages to get a house made from wood
erected in less than a week, or nearly finished anyway, but in the
mountains with no materials, how would they fend? But then why
should she care? What had these men, or any men at all done for her
to make her care for them? Perhaps she is too soft, letting her
emotions get to her. But what harm could it do? She asked herself.
Nothing. Nothing was her answer.

The next
obstacle would be the black woods with their dense canopy and
minimal light. Arella heard stories of this forest, none of them
good. The bears from the snowy mountains make this their winter
home, and auron cats prowl these woodland, in number much greater
than the ones that live in the forest she inhabits. Even the
herbivores in the black wood are dangerous. The deer have great
spiked horns, capable of impaling a man and killing him outright,
and a lot of the food that looks edible isn’t. Arella’s elders used
to tell the children stories of men who, in the distant past, went
into this forest in search of wisdom and never returned. The only
man who ever made it back came back half-mad. Talking of giant
bears and auron cats hunting in packs and food that tastes nice but
makes you temporarily blind or paralyses you. He spoke often of
watching his friends get torn apart, or eaten, or starving to death
from not knowing what to eat, from watching others go insane and
kill themselves. Come to think of it, he was insane himself. How
can Arella believe any of what the elders told her. Maybe those
lands aren’t that bad. I mean, the forest isn’t anywhere near as
bad as the elders of her old tribe made it out to be. She is still
living there, and nothing has tried to kill her yet.

The next part of the young men’s trial is to visit the elders
and gain their blessing to go back men. Arella has no idea what
this might involve. Then the final trial is to make it back to the
village alive. Arella would love to be able to go with the young
men. To taste adventure up close. What she would give to have been
born a man in that tribe, and to be given the opportunity to prove
herself. “
Don’t run before you can walk
Arella.”
She thinks. “
First I must finish my house and make sure I can live there
myself before I think about anything else.”

The deer skin
bag is beginning to get very heavy by the time she makes it back to
her tree house. She drags them up into the tree and is exhausted.
She sits on the floor of her tree house and looks at the tree
around her. She was lucky to find three trees so close together to
make her home, and with the branches flat and spread out beneath
her, there is loads of room. It is tall enough for her to walk, and
big enough that she can lie sideways and not touch the sides, while
she could lie three times on her head from one end of the platform
to the other. When she thinks about it that way, it is no wonder it
took so long to get it this far.

Arella looks around herself. “
Something’s not right. I can see the floor around myself. That
must mean that others would be able to see me up here too.”
She thinks for a moment. Even if she puts up basic
walls around her house, she will still be seen.
“
Maybe I can train the branches of the tree
and the ivy to grow over the edges of the house?”
It is a good idea, and while it might take a few
weeks for the branches to grow in the right direction, being spring
things grow quickly.

As the sky begins to turn a bright shade of orange, Arella
starts to add the finishing touches to her tree house by placing
the thicker branches in crosses along the edges of the platform,
joining them from the floor to the roof, leaving a gap big enough
for her to comfortably climb through. “
Now
all I need to do is train the ivy and branches.”
She thinks to herself as she crosses branches over
each other, tying them as tight as she can with the reed strings.
She gives each one a hard push once it is in place, and has to
re-do a few of them as they are not stable enough to take her
weight. Once she is happy all branches are secure, Arella sits back
and relaxes. “
Now I just need to add a few
more branches here and there to bridge the gaps, then train the
leaves and ivy to cover my home and I will be done.”
Arella thinks to herself. She yawns and stretches,
bringing tears to her eyes. “
But that is a
job for tomorrow. I think I should go to sleep now.”
She yawns, stretches out her muscles, joints
popping as she does so and climbs into her furry bed. Tiredness
comes over her quickly and she falls asleep within seconds of lying
down, listening to the soothing sounds of the world around her,
stars in the sky watching over her as she sleeps.