Pagan Siege (Tribes of Britain Book 5) by Sam Taw (10 best novels of all time TXT) 📕

We sat and drank his beer for half the evening before hunger called me home. Ren offered to find me something to eat, but I knew that he was not strong enough to go hunting just for me. I’d avoided it for long enough. I had to sort out the grudge between my two young friends. My head spun a little when the cooler evening air hit me outside. My first attempt to mount the boardwalk resulted in a misstep that sent me tumbling along the ground. Nursing a bashed head, I righted myself quickly and peered about to see if I was spotted losing my dignity. I think I got away with it, although you can never be sure who is watching about camp.

Embarrassed and bruised, I hurried towards Kewri’s shelter to find him lying on his bunk with his head poking out of the door. Opposite him, the skins covering my door were pinned back, allowing Vina to hurl abuse across the way.

“Well, you’re an ugly brute who’s freakishly tall.” She screamed.

“You’re mean and bitter,” came his retort, bellowed at the top of his voice.

“At least I don’t stink like a pig with the squits.”

“No, you just reek of being a Duro spy. No wonder the camp kids spit at you.”

That was one snipe too far. She howled in anguish. I feared that this feud would not be quelled with a stern talk and a pat on the back from me. This rivalry was far too deep rooted for that. In the absence of a solution, I took a breath, blew out my cheeks and headed inside. The poor little mite was all snot and tears. Her first instinct upon seeing me was to back herself into a corner defensively and hold her fists high in protection.

“No one will hurt you, child,” I said. “Come here.” I held open my arms and beckoned her towards me. After a moment or two of pondering, she let the tears flow and ran into my embrace. Rocking her to and fro for a time, the hysteria lessened.

She pulled away and wiped her eyes. “I want to go home.” She sniffed.

“I know, but that decision is out of our hands. If I can teach you quickly, and you agree to learn all you can, I can send you home to be the Duro healer in no time at all.” I lied. It would take many full cycles of learning to absorb all I had to teach, supposing she was prepared to learn.

“You know Kewri is a lovely person when you get to know him, child. You’d do well to make your peace.”

“Will you stop calling me that, Fur Benyn? I’m not a child. I’m almost sixteen summers now.”

I couldn’t stop myself snorting. “Dear girl, I have tunics older than that. You are a child to me, but I will do my best.”

My small gesture of compassion seemed to spur her on. She walked to the fire and raked the coals, before placing a cooking pot into the embers. Cutting a nob of butter off into the pan, she cracked two of my duck eggs and stirred the sticky mess until it was fluffy and golden. When she tipped the mixture out into a single bowl, I gave her an odd look.

“I couldn’t wait, I had mine earlier.”

Satisfied that she’d taken care of her own hunger, I spooned a heap into my mouth. With a pinch of salt, they tasted like gifts from the gods. It was after I’d cleared the plate that I thought about Kewri, dangling half out of the shelter. It was too much to ask her to cook some more. I cracked the rest of the eggs into the warm pan and fluffed up a fresh batch.

“You know, the quickest way to make peace is to give them something they want, a small token of friendship.” I emptied the pan into a clean bowl and tipped my head towards the door. “I shall need both you and Kewri to help me in the coming moons, and that can’t happen until you stop bickering.” I held out the scrambled eggs for her to take.

For a moment, I thought she might return to her old wilful and stubborn self, but she took the bowl with grace and walked to the door. Curiosity got the better of me. I sneaked closer to see in the failing light. Vina walked so slowly, I thought she was going to bolt, maybe hide away and eat the food herself. Kewri had turned himself around on his bunk. As she neared the huge feet, once again poking out of the door, she quickened her step.

“Fur Benyn thought you might be hungry.” Her small frame was not much bigger than mine. Next to Kewri, she was tiny.

His feet retracted from my view and then returned with him standing outside the doorway. He reached out a massive hand and gently took the bowl from her. “Thank you. That was kind of you to bring it over.” His smile was awkward as though he begrudged giving it to her. They stood for a short while, each waiting for the other to fill the silence. It was painful to watch.

Eventually, Vina took the initiative. “I don’t want to fight anymore. Fur Benyn needs us both. If you want to bring your bed back into the house, I won’t make a fuss.”

Not the best apology, but certainly not the worst. I wondered if Kewri would take offence at the notion that Vina considered my house as hers to do with as she pleased. I decided who stayed and who left. Kewri had more than earned his place at my table and here she was pretending that he was only welcome if she deemed it so.  At least she tried. With bowl in hand, he turned his back on her and sat on his bed.

I moved away from the door, pretending that I was ignorant of their