Read We Will Hunt Together for Free Online Page B

again, treading quietly and lightly on bare feet and seeing a glimmer of why Camille preferred her light shoes.
    She roasted a rabbit on the spit, skinning it whole and turning it over the fire to cook slowly. Some carrots, a halved onion and some diced beets went in the cauldron dry to roast.
    As soon as her length of binding was dry, she went inside the cabin to re-apply it.
    When Camille returned, as the sun was dipping below the tops of the tallest pines, her nose twitched as soon as she was inside the clearing.
    She was carrying a small sack slung over her back.
    She nodded in greeting at Helgaer, peered appreciatively at the rabbit and the roasting vegetables, then began emptying the contents of the sack into the food chest—more farmed tubers, some leeks and another loaf of bread. The final item in the sack was a stoppered clay jug that Camille put in the middle of the bench.
    "Will that take long?"
    Helgaer sliced into the rabbit with her dagger so she could peer at the flesh inside. "Not very."
    Camille cut the wax off the top of the jug, then twisted out the cork and took a swig.
    Helgaer could smell the sweet-sour of mead as Camille passed her the jug. She took a cautious sip that she nearly spat out. She had met mead before, but never tried it herself. She took a bigger swig before handing it back. It was an odd taste, but she felt as though she needed something. "I was born in a land of ales, not fermented honey," she confessed.
    Camille grinned as she took the jug back. "I was born in a land of grapes, but was never allowed to try wine until the Gharaj gave it to me. I have still not seen wine's appeal, but I can appreciate mead or ale."
    They passed the jug back and forth twice more until Helgaer carved the rabbit and fished vegetables out of the cauldron into bowls.
    "You know how to cook," Camille said halfway through her bowl. Helgaer was getting used to Camille—the simple statement sounded like a compliment, not condescension.
    *~*~*
    Helgaer awoke even earlier the next morning, but still not early enough to catch Camille who returned after midday. She was not carrying any game.
    Helgaer had changed her dressings again, seeing the first signs of healing at the edges of the wound in front, but not able to look closely at the wound behind.
    She had sent a steady stream of stones flying into the centre of one of Camille's targets, moving freely from the knees.
    She had finished sorting through the clothes Camille had rescued from the farmhouse and kept only another shirt and a pair of the man's woollen hose, although they fit her muscular legs as tightly as a second skin.
    That night, they fed the unwanted clothes to the fire.
    To Helgaer, Camille seemed to be thawing further with each day.
    *~*~*
    The next day, Camille headed down to the village again, carrying more skins. Helgaer changed her dressings, took a cautious walk through the forest to begin learning the land, then went down to the creek to bathe.
    She practised with her sling again, regaining a little more speed.
    But mostly, she fretted, trying not to pace from the frustration of being constrained by her injury. She could not train, could not effectively hunt, and was no closer to tracking down Captain Koda.
    She began moodily carving herself a practice sword from a fallen branch, producing a very serviceable weapon. She roasted a pheasant whole in the cauldron, surrounded by vegetables and the mead they had, somehow, not finished. She was hunting for more stones by the time Camille returned.
    "Here."
    Camille dropped a parcel in Helgaer's lap.
    "The blacksmith owes me a few favours. I asked him to make this a few days ago."
    Helgaer was at first too stunned to speak. Then she unwrapped a lamellar cuirass made of boiled leather scales tightly laced onto a thick but pliant leather base. She held it up in disbelief.
    Camille said, "The Ortlin say that if you save a man's life, you have the obligation to give them either a weapon so they may save