Had the woyaks gone? Iwa wondered. Still she was cautious, her ears straining to catch the faintest sound as she pushed herself hard against the ground and wondered if she dare risk calling out. In the distance, she could pick out the sounds of the river. They were too close to the camp and the well-worn paths for Iwa’s liking. What if the woyaks hadn’t gone and this was a trap?
Down below, Alia’s song continued, her voice sweet as she bent over a clutch of herbs. She was close now, almost at the foot of the ridge. She was alone and her clothes had been cleaned, the white dress which gripped tight around her hips fluttered in the light breeze. Her hair was combed and braided, and behind her ears a few bronze rings jangled. Iwa recognised them as the ones a trader had given to Alia during the last clan meet. She’d always been proud of those rings, always keeping them well-oiled and only ever wearing them on special occasions.
Could the woyaks have gone? Suddenly from the depths Iwa’s heart leapt. Now there would be no need for woyaks and krols and things would be as they always were. So the spirits had driven the Poles away. Perhaps the hunters had returned and brought her father back.
Giving thanks to the Leszy, Iwa was about to signal when she heard the sound of footsteps and the scuff of hardened leather from further down the track. She drew back and ducked behind a bush. This was not one of the clan.
‘You shouldn’t have followed me.’ Alia smiled as she turned to face a woyak. He was young and his head was bare, but he must have recently been wearing a helmet because his long blond hair was pressed flat against his skull and matted with sweat. ‘I’ve known these paths since I was a girl; I have nothing to fear from the Leszy.’
‘Maybe not. I doubt any of the Leszy would wish harm on one so fair.’ The woyak smiled too but there was a trace of unease in his voice, a hint of desperation as he scanned the top of the ridge. ‘Still, there’s something wrong about this place.’
‘Don’t they have trees in the lands of the Poles?’ Alia mocked. ‘Do you think these trees so awful? You should have more reverence for Matka Ziemia, who gives so generously of her bounty.’
‘It is not the trees I’m worried about. Nor Matka Ziemia.’
‘The hunters have gone.’ Alia danced forward, the basket swinging carelessly from her arms. ‘We’ve had no sign or trace of them. So do not be afraid, my little woyak.’
‘It’s not the hunters,’ he said sharply.
‘No curse lurks here.’ Now she’d grown serious, the basket still in her arms. ‘The Leszy of these trees have ever been kind.’
‘There is a curse upon this place.’
‘Then it is you who have brought it here.’ She drew back and bowed under the woyak’s scowl. ‘Nothing here has ever caused me hurt.’
‘We should be getting back all the same, I don’t want to be caught out here.’
‘Whatever lurks within the forest comes only by night, and long before then we’ll be back in the camp. Don’t you trust your priest?’
‘Wislaw has an instinct for such, it’s true,’ the woyak said, but he kept his gaze firmly on the forest, hungry eyes peering into the briars.
‘Don’t worry,’ Alia said, as she knelt down and began to dig away at a clutch of roots, ‘there is enough marjoram here to cure your Krol’s aching head.’ With that, she took out a thin bladed knife and began to scrape the earth away. ‘You can go back to the others if you want, I’ll be fine.’
‘Grunmir said to keep watch. We don’t want your friends to catch a hold of you.’
‘As you wish,’ Alia replied, and began to hum the sacred tune of gathering, her tiny curved knife working in short careful strokes as she cleared away a clod of earth from the tangle of roots.
Iwa was about to slip away when there was a snap of a twig. Suddenly the woyak tensed, his spear drawn ready. ‘You can come out,’ he yelled to cover his fear, ‘there’s no use hiding.’ Another twig snapped – some fox cub playing in the undergrowth perhaps. Iwa lay perfectly still and pressed her head to the ground. If only she’d kept further into the scrub.
‘It’s no use,’ the woyak called, as he scanned the tree line. Behind him Alia smirked as she gathered up her basket. ‘You can’t hide.’
Suddenly Iwa realised how much her hands were trembling, the temptation to run growing with each breath. Move and you are lost. The words of the hunters came back to her. You must be as still as the mountains, still as the earth, for even the tiniest flicker will give you away.
‘Come out,’ the woyak called, his voice more urgent now, ‘or else I’ll gut you like a spit-roasted boar!’
Iwa lay still, fighting down the temptation to run as she pressed herself into the ground. Maybe she could get under cover before the woyak could climb the ridge. Would he even dare follow me into the forest? She kept her body close to the earth, hardly moving as she heard the woyak come closer. Now was the time to prove that she would wait. The mockery of Kazik and the others came back to her. Desperately she gulped back her fear, her limbs almost willing her to break cover and rush for the safety of the forest.
And, in her panic, part of her almost believed that she could get up and start to run before the woyak was upon her. Safety seemed such a short distance away, surely it
