White Ghost and the Poison Arrow (17 page)

A herd of motto
deer run in front of Arella and Maska. Each of them catching their
eyes and staring at them for a second as they go. Neither Maska nor
Arella make a move towards the deer, and they carry on going as is
they were not even there. Arella wonders for a second why the deer
were running, but seen as though they did not seem frightened, she
concludes that they must have just been running for run. She can’t
be the only person that does this surely.

A bunch of blue
grapes hang from a tree close to the edge of the lake. Arella takes
out her dagger and cuts one of the vines down. “These berries are
really nice you know Maska.” She says as she pops one in her mouth.
“When I was living in the village they used to eat these. You know,
on special occasions.” Maska looks at her blankly. “Birthdays,
weddings, when children were born, things like that.” She puts
another grape in her mouth. “I never got to eat them, but they
really are nice.” Maska just keeps walking, purring as he does.
Arella knows how Maska feels, she was even boring herself with that
conversation. Arella decides she is going to sing to pass the time
as they walk. She has a beautiful singing voice, but doesn’t use it
very often. The song she sings is one Nayleen taught her when she
way young, to help her get off to sleep and to keep the nightmares
away.

“
While Owls fly through the sky,

Stars shine
bright and watch over me,

In the distance
wolves do cry,

For on this
night darkness shall flee,

The moon chases
dark spirits away,

And in the
Pamola shall play.

You my child
with dance all night,

Safe and sound
where spirits touch,

Under the moon
and in the light,

Far away from
darkness’ clutch,

Into the night
they’ll keep you from harm,

and darkness
light shall disarm.

Never fear the
dark my sweet,

Light will
watch you when you sleep,

So close your
eyes and dream away,

And with Pamola
you will play.”

It’s really
more of a poem than a song, but Arella sings is beautifully.
Nayleen would sing that to get every night before Arella went to
sleep. She used to have a fear of the dark, and think that the evil
spirits would come for her when darkness fell, but that was quickly
taken away by Nayleen’s song. Maska rubs his head on Arella’s hip
to comfort her. It is only then that she realises there is a tear
on her cheek. She quickly wipes it away and continues eating the
blue grapes. “I’m fine Maska, just remembering is all.” She smiles
to comfort him. They walk in silence for a little while, both just
taking in the landscape around them. Nayleen was as close to a
mother as Arella had ever knows, and losing her was a big deal. She
still feels pain when she thinks about it. When Arella gets sad,
she just looks up into the night sky, knowing that Nayleen is still
watching over her, keeping her safe.

A flock of
small brown birds with green bellies fly around above Arella and
Maska, picking bugs out of the sky and munching them as they go.
Maska is watching them with intent. He would love to be able to
chase them, but knows they are on a mission and must keep going. He
also knows Arella is not particularly keen on him catching animals
that are not even worth eating. He keeps walking, keeping one eye
on the birds and the other on the path ahead.

The lake is a
lot bigger than it first appears to be. Arella looks up at the sky,
clearly viable now most of the trees have gone, replaced by low
bushes and dry scrub. “We should find somewhere to camp soon
Maska.” She says as she looks at the position of the sun. It is on
its way down, and they have maybe two hours before dark. She spots
a small rocky outcrop. “I think there would be good. We will have
shelter at our backs and one side, and we can make a quick roof
over us for the night. Arella walks over to one of the many fern
bushes in the area and begins picking the leaves from it. Each leaf
is almost as tall as she is, and will make great roofing once
interlocked inside each other. Arella does this, then once the
structure is complete, she places it on top of the rocky outcrop,
creating a makeshift shelter. She turns around to look for Maska,
who has gotten bored waiting and is hunting his own food. “Maska?”
Arella shouts, unable to see him. He pops his head up from behind a
fern bush, a hare in his mouth. “Well I see you’re sorted for food
anyway.” She laughs.

Making a fire
is the next thing Arella needs to do. While the moon and stars will
be out tonight, and the reflection of these on the water will
create light, the temperature at night is a little nippy without a
fire, close to autumn as it is,and a fire will help protect Maska
and Arella from any predators that think trying their luck on an
adolescent auron cat would be a good idea. Arella has grown very
quick at making a fire, and with all the dry grass and bushes
around, it is extremely easy tonight. Arella's fire quickly
crackles into life, instantly making her aware of the dropping
temperature in the air. It is not so bad when moving, but sleeping
in the cold may not be so easy.

Arella lays out her fur bed, sits down on it and takes off her
boots, allowing her feet to breath and her toes to stretch. “It
feels nice to not be wearing my boots now.” She says as she wiggles
her toes. Maska stretches out his feet and yawns as if to say
“
I can always wiggle mine.”

“Alright show
off. I get it.” She laughs at him, tucking into her leg of venison.
It still tastes good cold, although nowhere near as good as hot.
“So do you think we will find those people Maska?” She asks him
honestly. He looks at her with his odd coloured eyes.

“Well I hope we do.”
His eyes tell
her.

“Yeah me too
Maska.” She takes another bite out of the venison. “Makes me sick
to think someone could just kill like that, with no regard for the
life of the animal.” She eats for a minute more before talking
again. “How many of them do you think there are? I mean… Do you
think it’s just one person, or a group of them?” Maska blinks.
“Because I don’t know how many people I can handle. I mean, I’ve
gotten stronger…” She flexes her arm muscles. “But I’m still only
little old me. I’m sure you could do some damage though. You’ve
grown up a lot, and there’s a lot of power behind your muscles.”
Maska bristles with pride and holds his head up high. “Okay, let’s
not get too big headed. You’re still quite clumsy Maska.” She
laughs, eating more of the venison leg. “You still hungry?” She
asks as she hears Maska’s stomach growl. He licks his lips to
confirm this. She tosses him the remainder of the venison. “You can
finish this off. I still have some of those grapes left.” Maska
tucks into the venison, happy for more food. “I swear you eat more
than ten people put together some days.” Arella laughs as Maska
chomps down on the bone, crunching it between his sharp white
teeth. This sound used to make Arella cringe, but she has grown
used to it recently, just as she has grown used to the sight of
Maska catching and eating food raw and bleeding. It is now
normal.

Lying back
staring at the stars through the gaps in the fern roof, Arella
watches the night go by without sleep. With Maska snoring lightly
beside her, and the embers of the fire keeping the chill off,
Arella lies on her fur bedding failing to fall asleep. The stars
and constellations move across the sky, the moon rises and travels
through the sky, but dreamland does not take hold of Arella. After
lying there for what seems like hours, Arella decides she should
get up and go for a short walk, maybe practice some fighting,
anything to make her tired again. She gets up from the bed, careful
not to disturb Maska and steps over the dying fire.

The lands
around her look strange in the night light. The rocky ground an
eerie silver, like everything around, and the dry grass and lack of
plant life make it feel like the dead lands. It is strange that
land this close to a lake would be this dry and lifeless, but that
is the way it is. Such a difference from the forest only a short
walk from here.

Arella walks on
the floor without boots on, the feeling of the rough stones on her
feet soothing. She has always found different textures underfoot
nice, and walking barefoot is the nicest of all. Arella lets her
cloak fall back from her head, taking in the moonlight on her face.
It feels nice. She has always felt at ease during the night, ever
since Nayleen taught her about the spirits the protect her at
night. She feels invincible in the moonlight, like it gives her
power. Nayleen once told Arella that the reason she is as white as
the moon, and her hair is so pale, is because the moon gave her its
power. She said that Arella is the daughter of the moon, and that
the moon spirits have blessed her with the paleness of the moon
because she was meant for great things. Arella likes this story,
but isn’t sure how true it is.

A chirp in a
tuft of dead grass by Arella’s feet catches her attention. She
squats down on the ground to find where the noise is coming from.
To her surprise, in this land where everything is dead, Arella
finds a pale green cricket, bigger than the crickets she has seen
before. It sits on a blade of grass, rubbing its legs together and
singing. Arella sits down on the ground to watch the cricket. As
she does so, more and more crickets begin to sing their song. As
others join in with the chorus, the cricket in front of Arella
begins to glow a bright blue. Arella is a little taken aback by
this, but it is beautiful to watch. All around her, other crickets
begin to glow, hundreds of them all surrounding her. The dead lands
around her now look like the night sky, beautiful and eerie. Arella
cannot take her eyes away from the glowing crickets around her. The
sight is truly mesmerising.

Joining the
chorus of crickets soon comes frogs. Arella hears them before she
sees them, loud deep croaking sounds full the air, in harmony with
the light chirp of the crickets. There aren’t as many of them, but
the sound matches the crickets in volume. Arella turns around to
see the frogs, some sat on Lillie pads, others on the bank of the
lake, all croaking, catching flying bugs with sticky tongues. The
frogs are eating the crickets, smaller ones that Arella did not see
until the frogs appeared. One lands on her arm, making her jump,
tiny black cricket no bigger than the nail on her thumb. A frog
jumps next to Arella, picking the cricket off her arm and munching
it, making her laugh. The frog croaks at her before hopping off
again in search of more crickets to eat. Arella realises what she
is watching. This must be a cricket making ritual. The big crickets
with the glowing abdomen and the males trying to attract mates, and
the much smaller but greater in number black crickets are the
females.

Soon a great owl joins the parts, swooping in and taking a
frog from the ground where it sat. Its big white wings beating
soundlessly as it flies. It catches the frog in its talons and
lifts it high into the air, flying it back to a tall dead tree not
far away. Arella looks up into that tree and sees the owl feeding
the freshly caught frog to a young owlet. She marvels at the beauty
of the lands around her, the land she thought was dead and
lifeless. “
You really shouldn’t judge
something before you know it.”
She thinks
to herself. This got her thinking. “
What if
the people who are killing the animals are doing it for a reason?
What if they are not just doing it needlessly?”
It is a valid question, but Arella cannot think of an answer
for killing without taking the meat of the fur from the animal.
Arella continues to watch the event for a while, just enjoying
nature at its best, watching the circle of life pass on.
“Maybe there is life even in the most unlikely
places.”
Arella watches as the cricket in
front of her is met by a female. The males abdomen is brighter than
the others and he is attracting the most attention.
“Looks like being different is good in some
species.”

Chapter
14

On the horizon,
daylight is breaking. The yellow glow of the sun has started to
peer over the edge and cast dim shadows on the ground. A few clouds
move through the sky, coloured gold on the edges, lit up by the
sun. The crickets all retreat in the light, soon followed by the
frogs. The last thing to go to bed is the great owl. She was joined
by her mate late in the night, who brought back a field vole. They
both now sit guarding their nest with the owlets in, on in the
nest, the other on a branch close by. The day time creatures take
over from the night, with birds tweeting at each other from the
dead trees, and a paloa fox crosses her path some distance away in
search of food. Harsh calling can be heard from a black clawed
rook, deep and rasping in the early morning light. 

Maska roars a
yawning growl and stretches not far from Arella. He does not panic
anymore if he wakes up an she is not there. Arella often gets up in
the night and walks. She does not sleep so well, and a walk in the
night is the best thing to get her off to sleep. It did not work
last night however, Arella is still not tired. She stand up, moving
over to join Maska as he stretches. “Sleep well?” She asks, leaning
down to rub the sleep from his eyes. He purrs at her touch and rubs
his face in her hand. “Shall we go then, or do you need a minute to
wake up?” Maska answers by padding over to the makeshift camp and
picking up the deerskin back with most of their supplies attaches
to it and shoving it at Arella. “You’re ready then.” She says.
“Just let me pack everything away then we can go.”