Chapter 63 The Colour Red - Part 4

Chapter 63 The Colour Red - Part 4

She scowled at his question. "Is that so strange?" Nôv(el)B\\jnn

"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."

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."