White Ghost and the Poison Arrow (12 page)

Arella looks around herself. The sky starting to darken, the
air growing colder, the wolf below her attacking the men and them
keeping it at arm’s length, barely managing to keep from harm. She
is looking for anything she can use to get the wolf away from them,
but nothing comes to mind. There is no way she could fight the wolf
herself, she has no strength in her body, and distracting it is out
of the window. A low buzzing is keeping Arella from thinking
straight, and a bee flies into her chest, bumping into her the
flying away in the opposite direction. It is heading back to its
nest. Arella’s eyes follows the direction in which the bee
travelled. “
Perfect. The nest it just above
the wolf.”
Arella notices. If Arella is
going to do something about saving the men on the ground below, she
must overcome her fear of bees and move quickly. She doesn't have
much time to act before the wolf inflicts some serious damage on
someone.

She shifts herself from the tree she is currently in, and
moves through the canopy slowly towards the bees nest. It is a
difficult climb, and Arella has to jump from one tree to another at
one point, nearly falling at one point. She finally makes it over
to the bee hive tree and looks down at the ground.
“
If I smash open the nest the bees are
going to attack them men below too. I have to warn them out of the
way.”
Arella thinks. With the low hum of
the bees in the hive next to her, uses her dagger and reaches for
the nest. Although Arella has a fear of being stung, it would be
worth it if she could save the lives of the young men below
her.

“Move out of
the way, bee’s coming from above!” Arella shouts down. Nashoba
looks up, looking directly at Arella with the nest.

“Move boys
move!” He echoes. Nootau, Mato and Doahte all move out of the way,
leaving Nashoba standing in the clearing with the wolf staring
directly at him. The wolfs eyes dart to the others, deciding who he
should chase. “Look at me.” Nashoba says to it. The wolfs eyes
focus on his and it snarls. “That’s right, keep looking at me.”
Nashoba’s eyes dart up to Arella in the tree above him. She thrusts
her dagger into the top of the nest, dislodging it from the branch
it rests on causing it to fall.

“Now!” She
shouts, as the nest falls from the tree towards the ground. Nashoba
dives to the side the other men ran to and hide in the bushes. As
the hive hits the ground it explodes. A cloud of orange and black
fill the clearing. The wolf howls as the bees attack and sting him,
causing him to run for cover in the opposite direction.

Arella uses the
distraction of the bees to move back to the tree where Maska was
still hiding. He meows as she gets close and starts purring again
when she reaches him. “See Maska, I told you everything would be
okay if you watched me” Maska meows again. “We have to be quiet for
a bit again little one.” She whispers. Maska stops purring and
nuzzles close to her. “Then we will go back home soon.” Bees
surround Arella in the tree too, but do not sting her. Arella uses
her cloak to shield herself and Maska until the humming of bees
becomes more and more distant.

After a while,
the air clears and the bees all dissipate. They will all move on to
find another nest somewhere far from here. The broken nest lies on
the ground. The men come out of their hiding place in the bushes
and walk into the clearing. “What on earth happened there?” Mato
asks. “A rouge wolf trying to eat us, then a strange voice shouting
and bees falling from the sky.”

“It was the
white ghost Mato.” Nashoba insists. “I was her again. And this time
you all heard her too.”

“I head someone
shouting Nashoba. I didn’t know who it was though.” Nootau
says.

“I’m telling
you she was here again. It’s like she’s following me.”

“Oh come on Nashoba. Why would anyone want to follow you”
Nootau says. Arella giggles to herself. “
It’s those green eyes”
She thinks to
herself. There is something mesmerising about those
eyes.

“We’d better
get back anyway before that wolf comes looking for us again.”
Doahte says.

“Collect up the
bows arrows and targets then. Then we can go.” Mato instructs. They
all begin the clear up of the glade while keeping one eye on the
forest around them, not relaxing with the threat that the wolf
might come back to finish the job that it started.

“These arrows
are broken.” Doahte says as he holds up seven arrows with broken
shafts. “What do we do with them?”

“No point
keeping them. We can just get some more made when we go back home.”
Nashoba answers. “I just want to get out of here quickly.” He says
with one last glance at the tree where Arella cut the hive down to
save them, then they leave. Arella watches them go as they walk
through the woodland back towards their village, all looking over
their shoulders for a sign of the wolf returning.

Chapter 9

Once the men are long gone, Arella and Maska climb down from
their tree and to the clearing. “I can use these broken Arrows
Maska. I can take the heads and tails and replace the shafts.” She
goes around picking up the broken arrows, all seven in total. “Then
that way I can study them better and make new ones too.” Maska just
stares at her and yawns. “Okay I get it, I’m boring you again.
Should we go back before that wolf comes back again?” Maska nudges
her leg as if to say “
Yes let’s go
now.”
Arella adds the arrows to her deer
skin bag and her and Maska walk back towards their tree
house.

The woodland around them has grown darker, and the sky above
them is a bright orange. As the sun sets in the sky, Arella and
Maska come to the area where they set the rabbit traps. Arella
looks at them but finds that they have caught nothing. Not one of
the snares has been set off. She takes a small handful of berries
out of her bag and places a few of them in the snare. “That might
help us catch the rabbits.” She says. Arella turns around to look
for Maska but he isn’t behind her. She stands up and searches for
him. “Maska? Where are you?” She starts to panic.
“
What if he’s run away, or if something’s
taken him.”

A rustle in the
bushes draws Arella’s attention. She moves over to it. Just as she
gets there a noise she could only describe as a scream comes from
the bush. Arella drops to her knees and moves the branches of the
bush apart, her heart pounding. What she reveals is not what she
expected. Inside the bush sits an auron kitten, purring and wagging
his tail, a fully grown rabbit not much smaller than he is himself
hanging limply in his jaws. “Looks like you don’t need snares to
catch food.” Arella laughs, a sigh of relief escapes her. “But I
think I will still need them.” Maska pulls the rabbit towards
Arella with great effort and drops it at her feet. He then sits on
his haunches, tilts his head to the side and meows at her. “Is that
for me? Maska you shouldn’t have.” He just blinks. “I tell you
what. We will share it when we get back to the tree house How does
that sound.” The auron kitten seems to smile at this idea. Which
makes Arella laugh. She has never met a creature as animated and
human-like as this kitten.

Once back at
the tree house, Arella and Maska sit down with a fire to cook and
share the rabbit Maska caught. Arella watches the stars cross the
sky as they eat, thinking about how big the world out there must
be. A wolf in the distance howls, and suddenly this isn’t such a
pleasant sound to Arella. “Let’s go up to bed little one. We can
plant the bushes tomorrow.” Maska agrees with this and moves to
Arella’s arm. She picks him up and helps him up into the tree
before climbing up herself. Arella takes off her boots and sets
them to the side of the house and climbs inside her fur bedding.
Maska snuggles up close to her and purrs again. With full bellies
and tired bones, both Arella and Maska fall into a deep sleep.

As Arella and
Maska sleep, the forest is alive beneath them. Rabbits and foxes
come out of their holes to play, eat and hunt, the wolves in the
distance howl, the stars and the moon shine bright in the sky, the
crickets sing songs, the owls hoot and fly high in the sky and the
bats flit around eating bugs and chirping. Maska bats his paws in
his sleep, chasing something that runs from him, a big smile on his
face as he does so. He sleeps soundly through the night. Arella’s
dreams are not so sweet. Her mind is filled with the jaws of the
wolf from earlier. His snapping jaws eating everything in sight. He
kills the rabbits in the field close by, attacks deer and tears
them apart, he even kills Maska and the men from the other tribe,
and with Nashoba’s arm with the wolf tattoo in his jaws steps
towards Arella. Upon dropping the arm, the wolf lunges at Arella,
red saliva dripping from his teeth.

Maska is already awake when Arella opens her eyes. The kitten
is chasing butterflies around the tree house Arella laughs at the
sight. He seems to be growing quickly, even though she has only had
him a couple of days. His confidence is growing, and he’s coming
out of himself more. “
I wonder how big
Maska will get.”
Arella thinks to herself.
“
I’ve heard that male auron cats are bigger
than the females, and Maska’s mother was up to my belly button, so
he must get bigger than that.”
She just
lies and watches Maska for a couple of minutes, enjoying watching
him do what he should be doing as a kitten and having fun.
“
I feel bad for him not having a mum, but
maybe I can treat him right and he will grow up to be big and
strong.”
Arella then has a sudden worrying
thought. “
But what if he grows up to be big
and strong, decides he doesn’t need me anymore and that I’d be
better off as food?”
She looks at him
again, chasing the butterflies. “
Well I’ll
have to make sure that doesn’t happen and treat him right.”
She stretches out, alerting Maska to the idea that
she is now awake. He comes over to her and jumps on her chest,
knocking the air out of her. “You weigh quite a lot you know
Maska.” She says through broken breaths. He rubs his face on
Arella’s cheek, licks her nose with a rough tongue and purrs. “I
guess it’s time to get up then.” She says to him.

Arella climbs
out of her fur bed, puts on her boots and starts to climb down the
tree. She gets about half way down then calls for Maska to come to
her so she can lift him down. He comes to the edge of the house and
Arella grabs him with her right hand. She pulls him to her side and
takes another step down. Maska jumps from here and lands safely on
the floor. “It won’t be long before you’re jumping all the way down
will it?” Arella says to him. Maska simply sits at the bottom of
the tree and purrs. Once at the bottom, Arella takes the clothes
she left drying on a branch over to the water’s edge, strips off
the clothes she was wearing and climbs into the lake. She takes her
clothes in with her and washes them in the water. Once all of the
dirt is scrubbed off of them, she lays them over a low hanging
branch to dry and proceeds to wash herself. Maska sits at the side
of the lake, watching her and looking intently at the water. Arella
looks back to him, fully submerged in the cool water. “You can come
in you know Maska. I’m sure you’ll like the water.” He puts a paw
in the water, pulling it out and flicking the water off, not sure
if he likes it. He then looks up at Arella with his odd eyes. “No,
you have to get all the way in to find out if you like it.” She
says to him. Maska takes her advice and steps into the water. He is
waste deep and looking unimpressed. A fish nips at his toes and
Maska decides he’s had enough. Arella roars with laughter at this.
“Okay so maybe you don’t like water all that much.” She stifles
another laugh at the sight of the wet auron cat. “I won’t be a
minute Maska, then I will get out again.” As Arella continues to
get washed, Maska licks the water off himself. His fur puffs up a
little with the humidity, making him look fat and inflated. This
again makes Arella laugh. Maska is deeply unimpressed by Arella's
reaction to his reaction to water, and turns so his back is facing
her, periodically looking over his shoulder to see if she is still
laughing at him, which she is... Every time.

With all her
troubles and worries washed away, Arella climbs back out of the
lake and dresses herself in her clean clothes. She doesn’t bother
putting her cloak back on, the sun is well hidden behind cloud and
they are under the shelter of the trees anyway. Arella walks over
to the deerskin bag she left hanging on one of the branches of her
tree house and takes it down. She pulls out all of the different
cuttings from the bushes and small trees and begins planting them
on the far side of the clearing. She plants them a few feet away
from each other, giving them room to grow. When left alone, these
bushes mature very quickly into big bushes, and should all have
fruit on them come autumn.

Arella
stretches out her arms. They crack as she does so, and so do her
shoulders. “I think I need a stretch and some exercise Maska.” She
says to the kitten. He is playing with butterflies again, chasing
them through the long grass, never catching them but still as
determined as when he started hours ago. “How about a run?” She
asks him. Maska stops chasing butterflies and looks at Arella.
“Just a light job to warm me up, then I want to do some balance
exercises and combat training.” The look on Maska’s face suggests
he was laughing at Arella. “Yeah I know right. Look at me. Tiny
little me wanting to learn to fight. I’ve heard it so many times
Maska. ‘Why should a girl learn to fight?’ And I’ve had enough. I
have as much right to learn to fight as anyone else, and I’m going
to learn to do it.” She folds her arms. Maska purrs at her,
softening her cold expression. “You’re right. I shouldn’t be taking
it out on you. You’ve never said anything to say I can’t fight.”
Arella pauses. “What am I saying? You’ve never said anything. Am I
going insane Maska?” Ask asks, not really expecting to get an
answer. Maska just blinks his odd eyes at her and tilts his head to
the side. “Well, what does it matter if I’m insane. It’s just you
and me in this world, and one of us has to be the nuts one.” Maska
takes another swat at a butterfly. “Although I’m beginning to think
it might be you who’s nuts.” Maska scowls at Arella for this
comment. She simply laughs at him.