Chapter 2

“That hole wasn’t natural Jade. There were no roots sticking out of the hole. And, come on, the hole was perfectly round. And the dirt around it was freshly churned too. Someone dug that hole Jade.” Eve explained to Jade. “And the break on the birds wing wasn’t natural either.” Jade put in. “You know, I think we should call him Pecket.” Just then, there was a rustle just behind the ring of flickering light that the fire made. A shiny black boot fell into the light, followed by a leg, and another boot. The belt of the jeans were visible, glinting in the firelight. Whoever the legs and boots belonged to, his upper torso was cleverly hidden, but the two girls could just barely see the ominous gleam of an eye. Eve set the wolf pup down on her hammock, and stood up. Jade carefully put the little wood pecker down, and quickly stood up too. “What do you want?” Eve asked, in her commanding voice, which was rather harsh. Then, a smooth but somewhat raspy voice said, “I’ve come for my wolf and my wood pecker.” “Why should we give them to you?” Eve said mockingly-it wasn’t really a question. “If you were the one who set those traps, then we would have the right not to give them to you.” Eve said, a little more harsher then before. “Ah, but there you are wrong young girl. But any way, give me the wood pecker and the pup, and, if you don’t, I will take your horses as well. Besides, I have a gun, so don’t mess with me.” The unknown man rasped, in a superior-ish voice. “Well, we aren’t afraid of you.” Eve said tartly. “Yeah, so get outta here before we show you our fighting skills.” Jade voiced up. The two girls were very experienced in the martial arts, and in sword fighting. “Oh, so scary. Two little girls are going to kick a thirty year old man’s butt huh? Well, you can say goodbye to that little dream, cause I am going to get those animals no matter what.” He stated boldly. He stepped forward, and his face was revealed. His face was square, and well built, with high cheek bones like a Shoshone Indian. His face was dark, and his ink black hair was tied with a leather thong. His ears were hidden beneath wings of hair, and he had no beard. His long nose, reaching down until it was a half inch before his upper lip, was slightly hooked. His jet black eyes shone with fury, and something less definable. Greed. His shirt was red and plain, with brass buttons along the front. His breast pocket was bulging, with, the girls did not know what. Eve picked up a stick, after drinking in the stranger’s features. She tested it with all of her might on a tree, and it did not break. Then, she held it in a threatening position. “Leave now, or face the pain of staying here.” She said maliciously. His eyes grew wide. “What’s your names?” he asked, defiantly. “We will tell you our names, when you tell us yours.” Jade said, a little defensively. “Fine, my names Orvis, James Orvis. Now tell me yours.” He rasped. “Ah, I see you put a little James Bond in the way you said your name,” Eve stated, “well, my names Eve, and this is Jade.” “What might your last names be?” Orvis said suspiciously. “I don’t see it fit to tell you our last name.” Eve told him. “Very well.” Orvis said. Then he turned and ran. Eve took off after him, but it seemed that he had disappeared. She made her way back to camp. “Well, he is gone.” “Good riddance. He was unpleasant.” Jade stated. “Yeah, I know. Well, continuing with that earlier discussion, now we know who dug that hole.” “Definitely.” “Hey, you should name that wolf. After you fix him up and stuff like that.” “Yeah, well, I think he should be named Storm, because his fur is the color of a storm cloud, and there is a coming storm. Oh, man! There is a coming storm!” The two girls quickly pulled a tarp out of Eve’s rucksack, and tied it to the trees over the clearing. Jade pulled a smaller one out of her rucksack, and tied it over the horses. “There, now we will be somewhat protected from the rain.” Jade said, panting after the running around the camp, she had run from this tree and that, to tie ropes with her awesome rope tying skills, as some people would call them. But, like their enhanced senses, it was just an improved skill. Eve snorted. “What was that for?” Jade asked indignantly. “Well, Mr. High and Mighty probably wont have a shelter to sleep in. But you know, we should map this place, so we will know it, when we build our barn.” “Yeah, well, we don’t have anything to write with do we?” Jade asked, sarcastically. Eve pulled a saddle bag towards her, and from its depths, she pulled a sheaf of papers, five mechanical pencils, lead -or, graphite- and ten wooden pencils, with a sharpener. She pulled three large pink erasers, and five small pencil erasers. “As a matter of fact, we do.” Jade’s mouth fell open. Eve started drawing the map, starting with their clearing. She mapped the creek, and the site for their future barn. “Where will our cottage go?” asked Jade. “Well,” answered Eve, “we should put it about, oh, lets say, ten feet from the barn.” and with that, she drew a square box with a triangle for a roof, five inches from the barn. “Where will we get the supplies for the barn?” Jade asked. “Well, if we turn on the old charm that got us all of our supplies, then we should have help building it ourselves.” Plunk, plunk, plunk. Rain was falling now, steady, and getting faster by the minute. “Should we feed the horses?” Jade asked, for it had been a while since the herd had grazed, and now their two horses were no longer part of the herd, so Eve and Jade had to figure two meals a day, grazing and hay. “Sure, lets do it now.” Eve replied. So they pulled out two flakes of hay each, and placed them on the ground in front of the horses. Then they pulled out a handful of grain from saddle bags each, and sprinkled it on the ground in front of the horses, and sat back down on their hammocks. Storm whined from his nest on the ground. Eve had put a blanket down, and brought up the sides to form a little crater, and put the wolf pup in it. She had cleaned his leg and bandaged it with the supplies from one of her saddle bags in the rucksack. She pulled a slab of meat from a wood box, tied together with vines from the trees, and fed it to the wolf pup. They had shot the deer a while earlier, with a bow and arrow, before they had set out to capture the horses. It was currently hanging from a branch of a tree. Jade was busy with a small bowl, at the water bucket the girls used- the ones that the horses used were quickly filling up with rain water- dipping the bowl in and pouring it out. “What the heck are you doing?” Eve asked. “Well, I am getting water for Pecket.” She stated. “Then why…” Eve trailed off. “Well, the water has bugs in it so I am trying to get it out.” “Oh suck it up.” Jade grunted. She pulled the bowl out of the water, pulled a bag of sugar from her rucksack, grabbed a small handful, and started sliding it into the water. Pecket watched with interest as Jade started to come to his little hut-like shelter. She had built that a little while after Orvis left, during their conversation. She placed it in front of the entryway, and the little bird started slurping it up with all of his might. “Well, goodnight Eve, don’t let Pecket bite.” Jade said. “Yeah, yeah, just go to sleep.”
The next day, Eve decided to start training on the grey. She unclipped his lead rope, and replaced it with a lunge line. She led him to a large meadow that they had passed on the way to their clearing, and walked to the middle. She fed out the line, and got the lunge whip ready. She clicked her tongue, and drew the tassel on the end of the long whip across his back. He reared, and started at a run. She let him run for about a minute, revolving on the spot, keeping the whip out as far as it could go so he didn’t break the circle that he was running. “Whoa, steady boy, easy, lope.” He didn’t do any thing, but she had not expected him too. The rest of the day dragged by, and Eve tried various techniques with the grey, which she had decided to call Black Thunder. By the end of the day, they were both exhausted, both walking wearily back to the campsite. Eve had managed to get a hackamore on him, and she started training him with long reins, steering him around the meadow, until she had it mastered. She used the ten foot long lead rope when she clipped him back up to the rope. He wandered to the end of the rope, and stretched his neck out to graze. Eve sat down on her hammock. Jade and the white were still out training, in a large hollow, not far from camp. Just for something to do, Eve decided to make a broom out of willow branches. She picked up a long, narrow stick from beside the campfire, and laid it on her hammock. She decided she could take Storm for a walk while she walked to the giant willow tree, which would soon be in front of their barn. Then she grabbed a spare rope from her rucksack, and fashioned it into a lasso. She then looped it around his neck, and started walking forward. The little pup followed. They would have to cross the stream, so she pulled off Storm’s bandages so the cool water could clean the wound. She decided that she wanted to test the grey, with weights on his back. Eve decided that she could do that later, after they collected the willow vines. The girl and wolf walked through the forest, their strides equally matched, but the wolf with a small limp. Leaves rustled while the wind whistled its evening tune. Eve sighed. It was so beautiful here, but it came with a price. She had to kill nature to live, and Orvis was still running around the woods. Eve couldn’t shake the feeling that something was lurking in the shadows, patiently watching, and it made her nervous. She tried not to show it, but her paranoia was being literally telegraphed down the rope and she could sense the tension in his small body. He looked around like her, and lifted his nose to the air. Then, they reached the stream. Eve looked down at her tennis-shoes. She didn’t want them to get wet, and she didn’t want to leave them on the bank. Eve spied a spot a little downstream, and she and Storm walked down to it. They were large flat stones, placed about a foot away from each other. She stepped on the first one. Nothing happened. Storm put his injured leg into the river, and yelped, as the cold water stung his wound. They finished crossing the river, and they moved on, toward the great willow tree. Eve heard a twig on the leaf strewn ground snap.