White Ghost and the Poison Arrow (10 page)

Arella walks
towards the tree house and turns around to ask Maska to follow,
which he is already doing, his little legs going ten to the dozen
to keep up with her fast pace. “Do you want to go up into the tree
house while I catch us some fish for breakfast? You can sleep up
there safely.” Maska purrs and huffs at her. At the base of the
tree, Maska does a small rough roaring noise. Just a short burst of
noise. “Come here then and I’ll carry you up.” Arella says to the
kitten. He pads to her feet and she picks him up, wraps her cloak
around him once more to secure him and climbs the tree. It is hard
going with the auron kitten under her arm, and harder still with
the sore muscles she has.

Although the
house isn’t very high up the tree, about double the height of
Arella, and there are plenty of hand and foot holes for her to
climb with, it is difficult and she is tired by the time she
reaches the top. Once she gets to the base of the house, Arella
realises that it might not be so easy to get Maska into the house.
“Okay little one. If I hold you up, can you climb into the house so
I can pull myself in?” She asks the kitten, knowing he will not
answer. She does it anyway, taking him from under her arm, holding
onto the tree with one hand, and lifts him above her head so he is
close to the platform. Maska instinctively grabs at the platform
with his claws and pulls himself onto it. “Good boy Maska!” Arella
says to him. When she hauls herself up onto the platform, the first
thing she sees is his big black face, yellow and green eyes staring
straight at her. He licks her nose, then steps back so she can
climb up.

“Careful you
don’t’ fall through the gaps at the side Maska. I’m going to fill
them in, but I don’t want you getting hurt before I do so. I will
start on that when we have eaten though. How do you feel about
fish?” Maska looks at her confused, tilting his head to the side.
One of his ears flops over, making Arella laugh. “Let me guess.
You’ve never eaten fish before? Well trust me, you’re going to love
it.” Arella promises. “You just get yourself comfortable up here
Maska, you can sleep on my bed if you want.” She points at the pile
of furs in the centre of the platform. “I will be just down there
by the lake. Just call out if you need me okay?” Maska purrs at her
then moves over to the furs. He bites one of the furs. “Maska
that’s not food, what are you doing?” He tugs on the furs and pulls
them towards the opening in the house then drops them again, walks
around on them a couple of times then sits down. “Oh I see. You
were moving it so you can see me from where you’re laid. Clever
Maska, very clever.” Arella steps over the kitten, patting his soft
head as she does and climbs down the tree again. She picks up the
grathon she left at the bottom and heads for the lake to catch her
and Maska some breakfast.

Arella takes
off her boots, rolls her trousers up to her knees, and wades into
the water. The fish briefly swim away from her when she walks into
the water, but return quickly and continue to swim around in the
reeds close to Arella’s feet. Fishing soon becomes second nature to
Arella, and it is like she has been fishing for years. Arella hopes
that everything she does comes with such ease. She spots a nice big
fish with dark blue scales spotted through the silver ones. Pulling
the grathon high into the air, Arella takes aim and brings the
weapon down on the fish, spearing him through the side, killing it
outright. She pulls the big fish out of the water, pleased with her
catch. Arella takes one of the reed strings she keeps as spares out
of her pocket and pulls the grathon out of the fish. She uses the
hole the weapon made and ties the string through it, then hooks it
over a low hanging branch close to the water, tying it off on a
nearby branch so it doesn’t fall back into the water. The fish
around her feet have scattered and the water is now cloudy from the
mud and sand that was thrown up when Arella brought her weapon
down. The sun is now beating down or Arella, and she is thankful
that the water is so cool. She pulls her hood up higher, making
sure the shadow it casts covers her face so she does not get
burnt.

The reeds on the bank of the lake, and the shadows caused by
the trees mean that fishing here is very productive. Fish like to
gather in these sheltered area's and Arella knows this. After a
while of standing in the water, the fish start to swim close to her
again. “
They must like this area on the
lake. I think it’s got something to do with the reeds. Fish always
seem to gather in the reed. Makes things much easier for me though.
The more fish that gather in the reeds, the more dinner I can catch
for me and Maska.”
She repeats the process
a few more times, missing fish every now and then, although her aim
is very good. By the time she is finished she has three big fat
fish all tied to the tree. Her stomach growls and Maska roars
gently, indicating that he is also hungry. Arella grabs the three
fish from the tree and picks a grue root out of the ground also.
She then wades back out of the water, collects her shoes and heads
to the bottom of the tree. She then ties two of the fish to a
branch on a nearby tree in the clearing so she can prepare hers
without Maska’s getting dirty. She then places her grathon in the
hollow of the tree where she has been keeping her weapons, safe so
no one can see them.

With some spare
branches left under the tree, and some of the drier reeds, Arella
builds a fire in the pit she made for her food to be cooked on. She
prepares the grue bulb with her dagger and guts one of the fish,
leaving the other two hole. She then takes a long stick with a
sharp end and threads the bulb and fish onto it, placing them over
the fire in the contraption she made last time she cooked fish.
While that is cooking, she climbs up the tree to retrieve Maska so
he can eat his fish. When she gets to the top of the tree, he is
sitting waiting for her, hunger and excitement in his eyes. She
holds him with one hand, tucks him under her arm and descends the
tree. “Coming down with you is a lot easier than going up that’s
for sure. The sooner you get big enough to climb up here on your
own the better little one.”

Once Maska is
on the floor, he runs over towards the fire where Arella’s food is
cooking. “Maska stop!” Arella shouts after him as she follows.
“That’s my food. Yours is still hanging in this tree. Let me just
sort it out for you.” She walks over to the lake where the black
rocks are and picks up one of the large flat stones, about the size
of her head. She carries it over to the fire and places it close.
“If I put your fish on there do you promise not to drag them off? I
want to keep this area safe and that means no blood on the grass.”
Maska purrs in response. “Good, now here you go. Enjoy.” Arella
pulls both fish down from the tree she temporarily hung them in
while she prepared hers and puts them on the black rock. He looks
at them a little confused, but after one bite, demolishes that
faster than you can say ‘Wow Maska that was fast’. “So I take it
you like fish then?” Arella asks Maska as he sits cleaning his face
and paws, purring loudly. Arella eats her fish and grue root a lot
slower than Maska, but she enjoys them just the same.

After eating,
Arella feels a little sleepy. “I’m going to have to get up and do
something Maska, or I’m going to fall asleep.” The auron kitten
yawns. “Looks like you’re already falling asleep.” She pauses. “I
tell you what little one. You go to sleep and I will put the
finishing touches on the house.” Maska looks at her with his big
eyes. Arella takes off her cloak. “I don’t need this if I’m working
in the shade.” She places it on the ground. Maska climbs on top of
it and curls up facing Arella so he can watch her. “Just call me if
you need me.” Arella says to him as she walks back towards the lake
to gather more reed strings. The job of collecting branches and
reeds, bringing them back to the house and fitting them it becoming
monotonous and boring for Arella. She knows however that when the
job is done, it will be well worth it, and her and Maska will have
a safe and protected place to call their home. This makes all of
the sore muscles, blistered hands, blood, sweat and tears worth
it.

Arella gathers the reed strings she will use to tie the leafy
branches to the sides of her house then makes her way back over to
the tree house She puts her boots back on, making sure her dagger
is secured to her ankle, then climbs the tree. Once up in the tree
she starts on weaving some of the hanging vines through the crosses
on the house. “
These will now grow through
here, helping to camouflage the wood.”
This
takes her about an hour to do all over the house. Arella then moves
on to tying branches with leaves still living to the outside of the
house. This is a little harder to do. She has to lean through the
gaps and pull in the branches, before securing them to the outside
of the house. She cuts her arms several times, and by the end of
the day she is covered in bright purple bruises, blood, scratches
and sore muscles. She climbs down from the tree and admires her
work. “Well… It’s not quite invisible, but in a few months it won’t
be far off.” She looks at Maska curled up comfortable on her cloak.
“Well I think it looks pretty good even if you’re too sleepy to
look.” Then she laughs.

Arella thinks
that she can use the time Maska is sleeping to practice making
traps to catch rabbits. She’s seen it being done before. It’s just
a simple noose knot hung from a branch over a run. She gathers
reeds and practices the knots and nooses. After an hour of
practising and getting herself tied in knots, Arella thinks she has
made the perfect noose. “It’s harder than you’d think Maska.” She’d
say to the auron kitten who was ignoring her, sound asleep and
dreaming.

Upon getting up
from her seated position on the ground tying knots and nooses,
Arella's back clicks, then so do her knees. She is sore and achy
all over. “I think a bath might help me loosen up.” She says to
herself, walking over towards to lake to bathe. She removes her
clothes, unties her hair and slinks into the water, letting the
cool lake wash away the dirt and blood from her skin. She ducks her
head under the water and washes out her hair. After a few minutes
relaxing in the water, Arella feels as though she is clean again,
and the pain in her muscles seems to have all but gone away. She
hauls herself out of the water again, her body feeling heavy and
tired. Once dry, Arella puts on some clean clothes and washes her
dirty ones in the water before hanging them on a low hanging tree
by the lake to dry.

Rabbits are
forever running around in the woodland close to where Arella has
made her home, and she knows exactly where to put the traps to have
the best chance at catching them. She knows she needs to go into
the forest to plant the noose she has made, but she also knows she
cannot leave Maska on his own. If he wakes up and Arella is not
there he might panic. “He has had a good four hours sleep, so maybe
he will be awake enough to walk with me if I get him up.” Arella
says as she moves over to him. She strokes his head gently to wake
him. “Maska, wake up little one. I need you to come for a walk with
me into the forest.” The little kitten begins to stir and stretch.
“We need to find the right place to plant this trap so I can catch
us rabbits to eat. I don’t think I could live on fish all day, and
I want to see if we can find the bushes close to us for picking
fruit. Then maybe I can take some cuttings so we can grow our own.”
Maska yawns. “Look. The berries aren’t only good for eating. You
can make medicine out of them too, so we can keep ourselves from
getting ill and treat wounds.” Arella knows Maska probably doesn’t
understand half of what she says, but it doesn’t matter. He is
someone to talk to, and the company is nice. Arella picks up her
deer skin bags and walks into the forest. The auron kitten follows
her as she walks into the woodland, close to her heels and purring
the whole way.

After walking
for a few minutes, Arella comes across a barrow berry bush. It has
big broad pale green leaves, doesn’t sit very high off the grounds
and is covered in berries. Strange for a bush to have fruit at this
time of year, but it is one of the few that seeds in spring rather
than autumn. The bright red berries look tasty. “I’ve seen deer
eating these berries before, so they’re safe to eat.” Arella says
as she plucks one from a branch. She pops it in her mouth, the skin
exploding with sweet tangy juice as she chews. “I will have to take
a cutting of this back with me.” Arella takes out her dagger and
cuts a few growing stems from the bush. She places them inside the
deer skin bag on her back. She takes a few handfuls of the berries
from the bush and eats them as she walks.

In a clearing
just beyond the barrow berry bush, Arella spots a warren of
rabbits. There are dozens of them hopping around in the grasses.
Baby rabbits chase each other around, while the adults either graze
on the grass and sweet flowers, or stand guard keeping watch on the
rest of their troop. Careful not to disturb the rabbits or alert
them to her presence, Arella scouts out the area, looking for
places the rabbits use to get through the thick undergrowth. She
spots what looks to be a well-used run and decides she should put
the noose. She sets it up then backs away. Arella sets up three of
these snares in the area. She whispers to Maska. “We will have to
come back to check them in the morning little one.”

Maska and
Arella continue on their walk through the forest, Arella collecting
cuttings from an orash bush, with white green leaves and pale
berries when they are in fruit, and also cuttings from the mosa
tree. This tree grows short, but the fruit that grow on it are very
large and full of nutrients. With a bag full of bush clippings, and
three rabbit traps set, Arella feels like her walk into the forest
with Maska has been a success.