The Forest and the Farm Read online

  The Forest and the Farm

  by

  Vance Huxley

  This is a work of fiction. Any names or characters, businesses or places, events or incidents, are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author.

  © 2016 Vance Huxley

  Published by Entrada Publishing.

  Printed in the United States of America.

  To my Noeline and to the Joy of my life

  Thank you to my editor Sharon Umbaugh,

  for turning my words into a book worth reading.

  My thanks to Rachel at Entrada

  for all her hard work and encouragement.

  The Wood HUnt

  “Come on Stumpy, hop to it!” Laughter followed and Billi sighed because by now they really shouldn’t find it funny. Unfortunately, the mothers had used the same words since being at school with Billi and their littluns picked it up. No point in him complaining since that ‘joke’ would still be funny to someone when Billi was old and grey. He gripped the chair arms and rose smoothly, about the only smooth movement Billi could manage. Billi tucked the crutches with the big wads of soft fur under his arms and Rabbit roused in the corner, tail thumping.

  “Come on Rabbit, let’s go chase sticks.” The song in Billi’s head, the connection between Hunter and Hound, answered eagerly, happily, and Rabbit came to his feet just as smoothly. Then he hopped forward on three legs towards the door. Despite his missing leg, Rabbit still moved much faster than Billi, or any man for that matter. A yellow eye opened in the corner by the fire, then slowly closed because One-shut wouldn’t be going out in the cold until after dark.

  At night the big tomcat, One-shut, dozed in the chicken coop and collected his supper from the rodents that never could resist the spilled feed. One leg, three legs and one eye, the three of them were one big joke really but it all worked. Billi reached for the bow and quiver and smiled a little. Crippled he might be, but the other Hunters were pleased to give him a share of their catch because Villagers needed a Hunter and Hound along if they ventured into the Forest.

  Each Hunter gave Billi a very small share to escort their kin to gather wood or herbs, but a small share from many added up to several good meals. Add that to the meagre amount of prey Billi could take and carry with one leg along with any foolish deer that strayed too near the hut, and Billi ended up with enough meat. In addition, he gave the nearby farmer a tenth of the take in return for running traplines in the fields for rabbits in summer and pelts in winter. With the chickens and three goats and the vegetables from his little patch of land Billi and Rabbit ate well enough, and sometimes had meat as well as pelts to trade.

  Billi’s little patch didn’t even come close to a full landshare, and he couldn’t blame Da for that since Billi would never be able to farm. He didn’t need to when, during his sixteenth summer, Rabbit turned up on the doorstep. A Hound, even three-legged, meant Billi could hunt, and even if he couldn’t bring in much he could support himself. Only those with a Hound could venture beneath the Forest trees with impunity, which meant the Village relied on the Hunters to bring in meat. Extra meat that the Farm couldn’t produce, meat to feed the villagers in winter. Even if he couldn’t bring in extra, Billi could escort villagers while collecting firewood or Forest fruit and berries so the other Hunters didn’t have to.

  Billi’s landshare had been split between his two Bro’s landshares and his Sis’s brideshare. In return they raised this hut for him and split the posts and rails for the fencing. They would occasionally drop off cabbages, roots such as carrots, or a sack of taters, and in return Billi sometimes looked after their littluns. The door rattled again and youths shouted. “Brr, ‘tis cold out here. Hippety-hop, Rabbit.”

  As soon as the door opened far enough, Billi lunged outside, and as Rabbit followed, he slammed the thick timber closed behind him to keep the heat in. “Since ‘tis cold, I needed to be wrapped up.”

  Nobody answered directly. The five older lasses were too polite, and it hadn’t been them complaining. The comments came from the six youths though they wouldn’t be cheeky to Billi’s face. The seven unbonded girls, the maids, were why the youths were acting up and showing off. “No littluns today?” Usually there would be half a dozen youngsters running about underfoot, enjoying the outing.

  “No Billi. The snow is too deep today and would chill and tire them. We want to make good time because we must go further.” Mandy looked at Billi’s crutches. “We wondered if it is too deep for you?”

  Billi weighed up the depth of the drifts, and some were deep enough to be hard work but he would avoid those. “We may have to walk even slower, but I can manage thank ye Mandy.” The crutches sank deeper into the snow than his foot, so Billi knew he would have to take care even where the snow wasn’t deep.

  Billi could hear the first quiet grumbles from the youths as he set off. “This will take forever.”

  “We could guard everyone.”

  “I’m good enough with a bow.”

  “Nothing will bother a party this big.” Though they, and everyone in the party, knew that the party needed a Hunter and Hound or none might come back. At least one grumble had some truth; without littluns the party would have pushed on faster than Billi could. Billi braced his shoulders and set off at a steady pace that he could keep up for hours, if need be, ignoring the mutters. They couldn’t go without him because the Law of the Wild and the Forest forbade it. Any human stepping off the carefully tended acres and under the spreading branches without a Hound and a bow or spear became prey.

  Billi had his bow, strung and across his shoulder, and other Hunters reckoned Billi one of the best archers if he had the chance to set himself properly first. He also had a spear of course, slung across his back along with the ropes and hatchet for firewood. Billi hoped the situation never got that serious because using the spear on unwounded animals required some agility. Billi carried a spear solely for finishing wounded prey.

  Billi kept going along the track at his steady pace and eventually the trees reached across the sky, and the party halted before entering the Forest. The stark contrast between Forest and Farm made sure nobody made a mistake, as not even the smallest shrub survived on the tilled fields and pastures. The title, Farm, covered all the farms surrounding the Village of Trail’s End. In contrast the Forest included all land not classed as Farm with only the trails made by the animals breaking the untamed riot of growth. Most of the branches were bare and gaunt against the grey winter sky, but not all and Billi kept a close eye on the evergreens. The Wild, the creatures of the Forest, would be hungry in this weather and one of the hunting beasts might take a chance.

  “Since there seems to be some doubt, perhaps we had better make sure everyone remembers the Laws.” Mandy raised a hand to still the muttering and complaints, and glared at the youths. “From a few of the comments, some have forgotten why we have a Hunter and Hound with us. Edan, you seemed to be having most trouble, so you can start us off.”

  Edan, a tall thin youth of nearly seventeen summers, glanced around as some of the maids sniggered, but Mandy kept glaring at him. Normally the youngest would recite the Laws before entering the Forest, because the maids and youths should already know them. “But everyone here knows the Laws, Mandy. We are all grown up, not littluns.”

  “Some aren’t grown up yet.” Hektor’s words were quiet but Edan rounded on him, then scowled at the big smiles on the faces of the maids.

  “That m
ight take another five or six summers for some,” said Bliss, the Tanner’s maid, who tried not to giggle.

  Though she did, as did several other maids, a quieter voice from the back said “a score of summers for some.”

  “Enough!” Mandy cut into the banter. “Unless you all like standing in the cold, I want to hear the Laws, and sharpish. Edan?”

  Edan straightened his face before turning back to Mandy, then sighed dramatically. “The Law of the Wild is what we call the laws that keep us all safe. The Law of the Wild is the agreement between Man and the Wild, the Forest and the Farm.” He delivered the words in a monotone voice and then stopped and turned towards the Forest.

  “That isn’t the Laws.” He’d really annoyed Mandy now, since ‘twas Edan that claimed the wood gatherers didn’t need a Hunter and Hound, in direct conflict with the Laws. “Now recite them.”

  Edan went to sigh, thought better of it when he caught the gleam in Mandy’s eye, and recited the Laws just as he had at school. “There are six main Laws that all villagers must heed.

  Only hunt for meat, not sport. If you hunt it, eat it, or take the meat back to the Farm to be eaten there.

  No hunting without a Hound, as all wounded Prey must be tracked and finished.

  All Prey will be gutted where it falls, and the offal left as a tithe to the Wild.

  No pits, traps, or snares may be dug or set in the Forest. All can be used in the fields and farmyard, where the Law of the Farm rules, but must be checked regularly so the prey does not suffer overlong.

  No live Forest tree may be felled. Only dead wood can be taken from the Forest. The trees on the Farm, the orchards and hedgerows, are not Forest and may be felled or pruned.

  All people or stock venturing into the Forest are Prey unless there is a Hound and a Hunter with his bow. With a Hunter and Hound, everything else is Prey.” As he finished Edan glanced at Billi’s bow, sticking up from behind his shoulder.

  “Good. Now since we have a Hunter and a Hound we can go and find wood. Will you lead the way Edan, since you’ve said your piece? Break the drifts as you go to make the path easier for my old bones.” Mandy glanced at Billi as she said it and smiled, since that would also make life easier for a one-legged man.

  Edan stomped off, which did a good job of clearing the path, and Billi followed because he had to be near the front so his bow and Rabbit kept the Wild hunters away. Behind him Billi could hear Mandy, who had apparently decided that the youths and maids needed something to occupy themselves. “Hektor, since you seem to think you are much more grown up, explain the other times that either farm animals or the villagers can become Prey.”

  A definite edge of humour sounded in Hektor’s answer, since he and the rest had also had this drummed into them at school and home. “All the land that is not in the Forest belongs to the Farm, but the creatures of the Wild do not always respect boundaries. Any flocks and herds without a guardian can become Prey though anyone can kill the creatures of the Wild if they venture out to take them. There is no need for a Hunter. The greatest hunting beasts may be killed by a Farmer’s or a youth’s arrow.” Hektor paused. “Though my Da says that ‘tis best to have a Hound and Hunter nearby if the flocks and herds are close to the Forest edge.”

  Mandy sounded a bit happier now. “True, though even that won’t stop a few of them risking it if they are hungry enough. Nor does it stop the deer from raiding the crops at night when most folk are abed.”

  “My Da doesn’t mind the deer getting a mouthful of greenery from the fields now and then.” Laughter rippled around the group, since Bliss was the Tanner’s daughter. The deer didn’t eat his greenery, but Viktor would get a share of the meat from any that were caught, for curing the hide.

  “Since you’ve enough breath for chatter you can remind us how the Farm grows, how we can wrest more land from the Forest.” Mandy had cheered up and so did the rest as they heard the smile in her voice. All except Edan, who still stomped and muttered just ahead of Billi.

  “The Farm grows slowly because we cannot take land straight from the Forest. We can only take land that has been cleared by fire or flood.” Bliss stopped reciting for a moment. “Have we ever had a flood, Mandy?”

  “Not in Trail’s End, but when the Laws were agreed there must have been places where there were floods.” Mandy paused and from her tone of voice Billi knew her brow would be furrowed as she thought about that. “After all, if the trees are drowned, they will be just as dead as if they burned.”

  “More firewood though, once they dried out. Then there’d be no need to go wood gathering.”

  “You’ll be back in the warm soon enough, Seifort. If you want to go faster, you can give Edan a break?” Mandy chuckled. “Since you volunteered, how is land claimed after a fire or flood?”

  Seifort recited his part in the same sing-song fashion the teachers used. “Man can claim the burned Forest if it is cleared and has stock or a crop on it before the following midsummer. The land is claimed by the farmer whose landclaim borders the new section, or by the one who found it, or sometimes by a partnership. The Hunters guard them as they claim it, for yearly shares or a single, larger payment. The fields become part of the family landclaim, and part of the Farm.”

  “Perfectly recited.” A crashing and excited shouts interrupted Mandy.

  “Yes! Go on Billi. Hurry up with the bow.” The youths were pointing at a bounding shape heading off through the trees as they urged the Hunter to take the chance at getting some meat.

  “Moving at that speed and away? It would not be a clean kill, and Rabbit would have to track so we could finish it. You know the Law, that no wounded animal can be left.” Billi kept stumping along and glanced at the nearest youths. “Rabbit might not be able to turn it quickly, and by the time I’d caught up there’d be no time for wood collection.”

  If Billi had raised his bow, he would have heard a firm rejection in his mind, a clear signal in that continual little tune in his head that connected Billi to Rabbit. Rabbit would be reminding Billi that chasing a wounded animal in the snow was a bad idea for one-legged Hunters and three-legged Hounds. Right now Rabbit sang a happy, lilting tune, as he always did when he first stepped among the trees. Billi sometimes thought that happiness might be the only reason he still struggled out here to hunt with his one leg.

  Edan sneered. “I could have hit it. I’ve spent hours on the practice targets and my Da and Bro brought me out on their last two hunts.”

  “When’s the last time you tried to hit something going that fast? Or even something moving at all?” Seifort taunted Edan because everyone knew that even though others could come into the Forest if they were guarded, only a Hunter could loosen an arrow there. That meant a youth rarely, if ever, aimed a bow at a moving animal until he already had a Hound.

  “Not just that, but you seem to have recited the Laws without listening to them, Edan.” Mandy had her next victim. “Perhaps you could try with some more. How can the Forest claim land back from the Farm?”

  Stomping as Edan broke through a drift was her only answer for a few moments, but Edan had his voice under control by the time he spoke and stayed polite. “The Forest cannot claim land back from the Farm. If a Farmer neglects their land and allows bushes and young trees to grow, it becomes Forest again. This will never happen in a well-run Village because the Eldest will step in to arrange for the land to be maintained. Then the landclaim becomes common land for all to use.”

  “But that’s not quite right, is it Mandy? The Wild can come and claim land back and then the trees grow and it becomes Forest.” The maid’s voice sounded unsure. “That’s what the Winter Tales tell us.” Those stories were usually aired in the winter. They formed the Histories of Man and the Wild, to be repeated when everyone huddled around the big fire in the alehouse or the hall. The shorter tales were retold when a family gathered around the hearth and the littluns needed amusing, and all the tales had a moral. They were at least partly to teach the littluns that t
he Laws must be kept, though that didn’t stop them from being entertaining, or popular.

  “You are right Eweyna, but only after Man broke the Laws. The Tinkerers and the Traders travel the trails to trade with us, and they know of whole villages that have gone back to Forest betwixt one visit and the next.” Mandy raised her voice. “That’s enough Edan. Seifort will take over for a while and then we’ll see who else has spare breath.”

  Eweyna hadn’t finished. “But it can be just one cottage or farmhouse, especially one belonging to a careless or arrogant Hunter. Then noises in the night, and in the morning there are marks of great paws and hooves and the stock and crops are gone.” Despite her lowered, sombre tones, Eweyna obviously enjoyed those parts. “The tales speak of broken doors and shattered shutters, smashed fences and even the bodies of the family gone for ever. Then the buildings are left for the Wild to reclaim as the price Man must pay if the Law is broken.”

  “I think we should get you to tell a few winter tales, with a voice like that.”

  “Ooh, Mandy, are you saying that Eweyna is an elder?” Edan had recovered enough to tease Eweyna, and elders did usually recite the tales.

  “I don’t mind telling a tale or two.” Hektor laughed as several others mentioned that at sixteen summers he didn’t look old enough. “I’ll tell the ones about big beautiful pelts taken when the Wild has broken the Law of Man and hunted in the farmland or even farmyards.”

  “There’s a Winter Tale about the Great-Wolf’s head in the alehouse. I’ve never seen it because a maid can’t go in the alehouse, but I’ve been told the fangs are this long.” Bliss really sounded interested in seeing that head. Billi smiled because the giant wolf’s head was old and threadbare, and stories of the size of its teeth were probably exaggerated. The real size of the massive canines still in the head were a valuable warning of what might lurk behind the green wall of the Forest. Though not valuable enough to stop the occasional youth from risking the Forest to gather the extravagant, brightly coloured blooms for a maid he wanted to impress, or in response to a dare from his mates after an ale or two.