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Chapter Four

As the moon grew big and small again the leaves started to fall and the cold winds of winter began to waft around the House of Humility. Our admiration for the skill and knowledge of Delticos increased as each day passed. Delticos told us that when he was relieved by the next presiding healer he would take us to Klynos before journeying on to Klinbil to study in the Great Library. He told us that Klynos always makes healers welcome and provides a big fire in the centre of the town where those with no lodgings in the town can sleep and keep warm.
      Bantius and I discussed our next move one night in our own room when Delticos was comforting a sick child. Although we were both keen to visit Klynos again, Bantius was certain that we must first go to the coast and make our boat secure for our voyage home next summer. "The winds and high tides of winter could damage it. We must pull it further up the beach, turn it over and secure it with stones."
      "You are wise in that thought. On our journey we will hunt and collect pelts to trade in Klynos. We must also visit the family who sheltered us when we were wrecked."
      "And the boat might need repairs. Maybe some of the planking is broken and the iron clamps might have bent in the storm."
      Our discussion about sailing home brought many sad thoughts behind my eyes. I thought of Halsa and my children living with Mother Mine and the Father of Far Island with whom she was blanketed. What would they be wondering? Did they think Bantius and me lost at sea? Or would they put their trust in the Hidden Ones to keep us safe?
      And then I thought of Larok, the Father of All, in the Great Cave in the centre of the world. He would be telling Calcis and Baltok to prepare for the Falling Leaves Hunt and the old groans would be watching Larok counting the coloured stones in his large box. Each stone represented a cow, a sheep, pig or goat. My people could tell how hungry they would be during the winter simply by looking into the box.
      Then my mindseeings turned to the sickness afflicting our people. What kind of sickness was it? Would we be able to recognise it as something Delticos had shown us or would we begin to see many sicknesses, different types of sickness that required different potions? And how would we make the potions?
      "You are lost behind your eyes," said Bantius. "Tell me your thoughts."
      I think that was the first time I fully realised how isolated Bantius must have felt since we first came to the Land of the Faraway People. I had enjoyed speaking with Delticos and the Revered One because I had mastered many of their words, but Bantius had not so many. When I had first found Bantius many moons past near the coast by the Valley of the Broken Tooth he had only ever really spoken to Bantol; nobody spoke to outcasts. And then when Bantol died he had no one to speak with until I found him. The simple act of talking had delighted him when first we met.
      I felt guilty and resolved to share my mindseeings more fully with Bantius. I looked at him in the dying light of that day and remembered the dirty outcast who lived on eels and whatever he could scavenge from the sea and the forests. And then I remembered his tenderness with the Men Half Made without whose help we would never have challenged the ancient beliefs of our people. I smiled broadly at him and my smile was reflected in his face. "You are right Bantius. I think we should leave the House of Humility with Delticos when the new presiding healer comes and travel together to the coast to find our boat. And then when you are satisfied with the boat we should join Delticos in Klynos."
      Three days later we left with Delticos and took the trail for Klynos. The trail was familiar to us and we recalled the excitement we felt when we came this way with Delticos after being closely questioned by the Elder Scribe of Klynos. We bade farewell to Delticos where the trail to Klynos separated from the trail to Klinbil and another to the coast. We could remember the path to the coast well as we had travelled it with Delticos when we first arrived.
      The day was bright with a brisk breeze blowing in off the sea and Bantius and I felt free and young again. The hunting was fairly easy and we took rabbits and two large hares whose pelts would make warm winter hats for us. We spent two nights on the trail lighting our fires with a piece of flint Bantius always carried in a pouch on his belt. "The Faraway People do not fully understand the ways of flint, Kadrik. They do not work it properly. There is much we can teach them."
      A thought was beginning to take shape behind my eyes. It was a huge thought and at first I was afraid to mention it to Bantius. But that night as we lay by our fire cooking a rabbit I had killed with my slings I said cautiously: "We have come here to learn from the Faraway People but we have things they do not, strong iron and skilful ironers to work it into ploughshares and knives. We also have better flint working. Do you think that we could trade with them, perhaps sending a boat once a year, say each summer?"
      Bantius was quiet and deep in thought. After a few moments he said: "I know our boat was built to carry four of us, you and me and two Men Half Made who were going to catch fish for us; but we could carry very little heavy flint and iron."
      "Could we make bigger boats like those that sail between Far Island and the Harbour Settlement?"
      "Perhaps," he said. "Perhaps."
      We reached the coast and went to the house of the family who had rescued us. At first they were apprehensive but we gave them two rabbits and a large bird I had brought down with my slings. They let us sleep on the floor of their house near their fire. They were kind to us and we spent some happy days with them. Bantius used our blade to build up their pile of winter firewood and I hunted each day and provided food for us all.
      Bantius was anxious and did not want any further delay in attending to our boat which these good people had hauled up the beach for us when we were washed ashore in the storm. We spent a whole day there with Bantius examining the boat and me sitting quietly in the sand dunes ready to use my slings if a large bird landed close by.
      Bantius joined me as the sun was beginning to slide down the day. "I will need to cut some wood for new planks, but the iron clamps are still strong. I want to strengthen the front of the boat and raise the sides to keep out more water."
      "What about the pots?"
      "Broken as I expected," said Bantius, shaking his head. "And our blankets have gone, probably washed overboard. And the oars; I will need to make new oars."
      We spent the rest of that day hauling the boat further up the beach and then we collected large flat stones to build a wall all around it to keep out the winter gales. The next day we saw some Tall People out fishing. Their boats were little more than logs tied together with twine made from animal pelts. They sat astride the boats with their legs dangling in the water and cast their nets.
      "They wouldn't dangle their legs in the sea if there were Men Half Made in these waters," said Bantius. "Perhaps there are no Men Half Made in the Land of the Faraway People."
      We spent two more days searching for a suitable tree to make planks and oars for the boat. Bantius said we must cut the wood now and shape it ready for use in repairing the boat in the early summer. "Wood has to rest and understand what we want of it. I will shape it now and leave it to rest during the winter."
      I watched Bantius and admired his skill. He would cut a suitable piece of timber, soak it with fresh water from a stream, heat it over the fire and bend it into shape. He then clamped it with stones and weighted it down.
      "When summer comes," he said, "the wood will know the shape we want and then we can fix it to the broken parts of the boat. Fear not, this little boat brought us here and it will take us home again."
     The days were getting shorter and we could feel winter coming on. We decided to tarry no longer on the coast but to take the trail for Klynos where we knew we would meet Delticos.

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