The Shepherd Boys, Part 8 The Charge of the Giant Spiders[lit]
Summer was coming. Lambing was over. The chief shepherdess, the boys, the sheep and the mastiffs smelled almost the same by then. Life was becoming easier, but for the boys, nothing marked the passage of the days as the arrival of the provisions. This time it was a girl Ara coming up the slope, leading two mules. Elly, the human boy, liked Ara best. She was only two years his elder, rather pretty and, besides, always sneaked a bit of contraband: tea, bits of crystal honey, a few grains of pepper and slices of Trasgrin ham. Tedus loved these, but never called it “Trasgrin“, only bohboh humans did that. “Hill ham“ was how you called it, preserved in cold caves naturally filled with salt, and each tribe had a different variety and only his grandfather prepared the best one. Anyway, it was a cheerful occasion, so why did Edra look worried?
"Welcome, Ara, welcome!" Shouted Elly standing on top of a rock.
Tedus ran down shouting, two mastiffs, Up-with-you and Freckles, by his side. "Ara, did you bring ham?" Asked Tedus as soon as he reached her.
"Yes." She answered. Tedus jumped. trasgrin-mama, the trasgrin grandmother goddess, had been good to him again.
"Can I have one? I'm hungry!"
"One... just one." She chuckled.
And so began a slow evening. The sun was still high in the sky, so it would last long. This time, they only had a ledge protruding out of a huge rock as shelter. But it was enough to be together. Besides, it made it easier to guard the flock, already gathered tight. Fire, food and stories again; only this time the stories were more troublesome. Orcs have crossed the river and were torching farms and villages as they went.
"Take care!"
Nobody liked orcs, trasgrins less than anyone because they were bossy and could force entire tribes into their hordes, sharing most of the effort but none of the loot.
Edra shrugged. “They won't get this far, they never get. What's here for them? Look around. Also, we are moving. Tedus, Elly, our sheep need better fodder than this grass. We'll move north, up to the hills, they won't see us there, even if they come and they won't. And now, you go and sleep, I'm taking first watch.”
The boys and Ara laid on their lambskins. Tedus was the first to fall asleep, then Ara, while Elly, with one little eye, savored the beauty of his impossible love. By dawn Ara would go to other shepherds, surely one with another boy, older, more handsome and wiser. As he ran his imagination, the unknown shepherd boy turned into a squire, and then a knight who would be seen fighting off two, no!, four barbaric orcs. Then, he would come for Ara and they would be happy ever after. It was at their imaginary wedding that Elly, shedding a tear, finally fell into sleep. No, he won't ever be that fate, he was just a scared slave boy, doomed to die young.
Edra had taught him “love” went among slaves. Whenever Mistress wanted to have new slave babies to grow up or sell out, Mistress would make him see a slave girl of her choice and...
Two days later, they arrived at the mouth of Erdwater Glen. This was a narrow valley, split in two by the cold Erdwater River, and surrounded north and south by forests. To manage a sheep flock inside those woods was beyond the reach of mortals. So while exposed and tough, Erdwater was the only possible route to the greener bush and the yummy bushes of the clean hills above.
By then, the boys had learnt to fashion themselves moccasins from animal skins. Any ram who died of old age provided the materials as Edra had done with the instructions. They weren't the sturdiest of shoes, so they only donned when necessary, as in that particular occasion.
At the shepherdess command, the flock was set in formation. She went to the rear, with 'Uppy', Up-with-you, the boys at the front brandishing staffs and slings and the rest of the mastiffs patrolling the sides. These were by far the more dangerous positions, as they were closer to the woods, from where all manner of trouble could approach unseen.
Soon after, from the acutest of dogs, to the boys, everybody became wary. The air was quiet, like when a hunter walks slowly and hides behind a log ready to hurl a javelin at the first unsuspecting fowl. But Edra did not command to stop, so everyone followed, without incident, for another hour.
The hounds grew restless, barking at the trees. Edra made them withdraw, while bringing the flock together. The boys were whistled to help and be alert. What was there? Could it be? No, those monster haven't been seen since she was the boys' age... it couldn't!
Finally, not from the sides, not from the rear, but to their front three spiders, giant and terrible appeared. Larger than wolves, monstrous on their eight legs, they shrieked and charged. The sheep tightened themselves up, older rams coming to the front, lambs gluing themselves to their mother. The mastiffs charged back, despite the unreal threat they were facing. Edra went too, as fast as her old knees allowed her.
Elly stood where he was, shooting stones out of his sling. Tedus ran away at once, "Elly, run, not our sheep! Run!" Tedus shouted at Elly, but the human boy didn't and Tedus forced himself to run back to help his friend. 'Bohboh!', the trasgrin thought of himself. 'How could anyone offer his life for a bohboh human?'
One of the spiders rushed at the boy. A stone to its head did nothing to stop it. Was it mad, scared or hungry? There was no way to tell, but it was coming and there'd be no time to hurl another stone. Elly switched to his staff and brandished it as a spear. Tedus did the same, but moved to place himself by the side of the spider. His uncle, back home, would had been proud. The giant bug charged, its frontal leg up, but Elly dodged and landed a solid thump on its back. Tedus did the same at one of the legs. The monster whirled but didn't yield and attack again. This time it was Tedus who hit it, but Elly fell, his right hand injured. He still could fight, except he'd have to get himself on his legs, and that was difficult when a giant spider is about to tear your chest open.
All over the glen, the mastiffs and Edra were fighting. A few lambs had been lost, one of a mess of flesh and blood in the mouth of one lucky spider. Elly was about to share that fate.
But right then, darting as a falcon, 'Downy' appeared at the rear of the terrible spider and jumped on it, digging its teeth on the monster's armor. The spider tossed it off with a jump, and finding the dog laying on the ground, heavy in pain for the fall, it landed one of its sharp legs onto the dog's thigh. Downy barked in a sorrowful pain. By then Tedus and Elly had recovered, and pounded the monster with their staffs until it withdrew back to the forest.
Soon the other spiders were put to flight too. The mastiffs and Edra taking care of that. The boys run to Downy, while Edra and the other dogs, walked to them, panting.
“Edra, will Downy live?“ Elly asked.
“I don't think so.“
“Can we try?" Added Teddus.
“He won't be able to walk, for a long time.“
“I'll carry him.”
Elly did so, for two weeks. He kept the wound clean, he made sure Downy ate more than its share and slept with it, and the other dogs. Not for a second, boy and dog separated, until the day the shadow of death, perhaps by the mercy of some small god, departed from the animal.
All to much joy and merriment.
Navigation
- Start: Part 1: On the Anvil
- Previous: Part 7: To be a raven
- Next: Part 9: Bearing a Late Kiss