Chapter Seven (Of Knives and Absence)
Nathor had kept watch as the boy had confronted his warg, hand tightening on the grip of his sword in case the beast decided to lunge. As he had last time though, the boy had growled back and then proceeded to rebuke the creature? Halfway through he must have been a bit more distressed then any of them had thought as the Drughu language was abandoned for Westron. It didn't seem as if the boy had realized his slip and the man wasn't going to say anything since it confirmed what he had suspected all along. He wasn't sure what to think about the boy's act that the warg only understood the language of the Drúedain. If the boy felt safer with the bow while the warg was gone he wouldn't begrudge him it up until it was pointed at him.
Having the boy's word about the warg and having no reason to not trust it at the moment, Nathor had turned his attention to the rope that had been discarded. He had been sure that it had been tied securely and wouldn't have come off with a bit of squirming. Squatting, he gave the area a good look as he picked up the rope and then offered it to his subordinate. "What do you think?"
"It looks like it was cut," came the reply not seeing what his captain saw and was trying to figure out what was so important about this odd fact.
Gesturing as he stood, Nathor gave a nod and handed the pieces to the other. "With what?"
Thandir was brought up short as he gazed about finally noticing what he should have before. There were no rocks around and there hadn't been a knife or any sharp implement their prisoner could have used to cut himself free. The boy's mouth hadn't had fangs and the warg had been helping them take down the boar. At first he had thought the rope had maybe frayed enough for the boy to be able to use whatever strength he had to break through it. The ends were too neat for that which could only be made by a very sharp precise strike.
"Do you think he really had been living with the Drúedain?" Thandir queried with interest. They didn't know much about them but did know they had a magic of their own. A quirked brow was the only response he got from his captain which could have said he was wondering the same thing about the forest dwellers teaching their art to the strange boy. Or it could have simply been Nathor wondering about the route his thoughts took him.
Neither man said anything about the boy's feat of escape and Nathor didn't expect an explanation to come from the boy either. The Rangers kept an eye on the boy while they figured out what to do with the carcass of the boar. They discussed burying it versus burning it and the dangers that both possibilities presented. They couldn't allow other animals to get to the carcass if it was contaminated. They didn't want the smell of the cooking meat to draw any predators or alert others to their location either. In the end they decided to dig a hole that would encompass most of the boar then they loaded heavy stones that would be hard for an animal to shift atop the body.
While they dug with sturdy sticks, Harry had watched curiously. "Why don't you use your swords?"
"To do so would blunt them," Nathor replied with a grunt as he jerked his makeshift shovel towards himself as the gouge he was working on deepened.
"Feel like helping?" Thandir asked in such a way that the boy knew that it wasn't really a sincere question.
In response, Harry had given his own reply with an expression that clearly showed he wasn't going anywhere near the rangers and the hole they were digging. He still didn't trust them at all. He was feeling petty enough to let them do all the work for the situation they were in. If it hadn't been for them, he and Padfoot wouldn't have been in the area to be attacked by the boar. If anything they would have run, but with Harry bound that hadn't been an option. The men would have likely hunted them again too. That line of thought caused the boy to frown in thought as he gazed at the arrow he hadn't let go of. He hadn't really gotten a good look at the arrow that had gone through the deer cloak. There had been more pressing matters but he was sure that it had been different then the ones the men used. Glancing at the men he placed the arrow into his satchel thankful that they hadn't taken it back after he'd seen to the wounds they gave Padfoot. The Ranger might get his bow back when they gave Harry back his blow pipe and darts.
Showing interest at the rocks around them, Harry smiled victoriously when he spotted a few that would work for what he wanted to do. While the Rangers were busy, the boy found a place to sit comfortably after he'd taken his deer cloak off so he could work unencumbered. Deciding to sit atop it, he smiled in contentment as he worked at chipping at a few of the stones being as careful and precise as he could. They weren't ideal, but they were a lot better then the rock he'd chosen back at the beach for the first time. After a moment he paused in his work and looked up to see how the men were doing. Leaving his prospective knives on the cloak, he made his way to the boar with his 'hammer' rock in hand. Chewing on his lip he gazed at the animal in consideration before he grabbed one of the tusks and whacked it at the base with the rock. Whether it was the boy's audible noise of a mixed grunt/exclaim, or the sound of the tusk breaking had gotten both men's attention.
"What are you doing?" The elder asked him curiously.
Without hesitation or stopping what he'd been doing when he'd startled the Rangers, Harry slammed the rock into the other tusk as he replied. "Spoils." It wasn't as if the disease would be in the bone like protrusions since it was in the blood and meat of the creature. Or that was the reasoning the boy was going with as he tried to get the stubborn long jutting lower teeth to break off.
"Spoils," Nathor repeated.
Harry nodded and with a grunt and a satisfied exclamation he moved on to the last one. "Padfoot helped to kill it. These belong to him."
"What use has a warg of spoils of battle?"
With his last trophy in hand, Harry looked at the Ranger and shrugged. "Don't know what these will come in handy for. They're his though since he did most of the work." So saying, the boy went back to his cloak, carefully placed his new treasures into his satchel and went back to work on his knives ignoring the men's stares. The big flakes he studied and either set aside carefully or would discard it carelessly. After a little bit it he heard the sound of the wood gouging the earth again but it seemed only one of the men had gone back to work.
"What are you doing?" This time it was Thandir who appeared to be completely baffled to see the boy continuously hitting one stone with another making the one being hit smaller and thinner as the flakes and chips broke off.
"Making a knife." Harry replied in a tone that stated that it should have been obvious. Then let out a hiss of pain as he cut his fingers. That was bound to happen as he worked on it. Ignoring the small cuts and spots of blood, he continued. He disliked being at a disadvantage and would prefer not to be so helpless if they run into any other wild animals, mountain creatures, or anything else that decided they had an issue with either the Rangers or Harry. "Lost the last one on the mountain."
If he happened in the same situation again, the boy hoped he remembered to pull the blade out rather than letting go after he stabbed his opponent. Considering he was in shock, he allowed himself some leeway for his stupidity. Next time would be different, he'd make sure of it. It wouldn't be bad to have a back up which was why he was making more than one knife.
"How'd that happen?"
Harry looked up from his work briefly to survey the man's interest before resuming with a frown on his face. "I left it in the neck of a mountain creature."
"Mountain creature?" After a description provided from Harry, the Ranger stated, "That sounds like a goblin."
"Thandir," the name was called in a commanding and irritated tone. Nathor was annoyed with his subordinate for becoming distracted. They really needed to get the boar seen to before too much longer and move locations. The younger man startled and quickly and bashfully returned to helping his captain.
While the men completed their hole and shoved the boar into it which only took two thirds of the animal, Harry completed one of his knives. He completed the second while the Rangers placed a mound of stones over the boar completely covering it. After cutting a swath of the deer hide, he carefully gathered his extra rock flakes he'd set aside to keep into the hide and placed it into his satchel along with one of the knives. The other was back into the sheathe at his hip.
"Be alert," Nathor cautioned as they broke camp to put some much needed distance between themselves and the bloodshed that would bring the predators calling. Thandir had been sullen and shot Harry a nasty look when the boy refused to hand over the bow again and his captain allowed him it. The younger Ranger's hand stayed on his sword pommel as they walked.
Harry didn't worry about leaving scent markers confident in Padfoot's ability to find him, but he was worried about where they were going. At the end of their trek lay the Rangers' chieftain and whatever punishment they thought he and Padfoot warranted for defending themselves. Where ever they were going hopefully was far enough that Padfoot would catch up before then.
An itch had the boy scratch at his throat but then hissed in pain as his fingers met the small cut the Ranger had made earlier. He had almost forgotten about it along with the cut on his arm with everything else that had happened. Moving his arm out of his hide, he glanced at the cut the best he could as they walked and didn't see any redness which was good. It was probably just sore because he'd worked his arm so much making his knives earlier.
His arm wasn't the only thing sore though. Harry's legs weren't very happy with him either. Over the last couple of days the only sleep the boy had was the brief nap he'd gotten before he'd been rudely awakened with a dagger to his throat. The brief resurgence of adrenaline he'd gotten from the boar attack was already leaving him. Stubbornness could only keep him awake and moving for so long before his body began to protest its lack of sleep. It caused him to stumble a bit and slowed his movements but Harry refused to ask if they were anywhere close to stopping yet.
Either they decided to humor the boy or they had decided they were far enough away from their previous camp because Harry nearly ran into the younger Ranger when the men stopped. Stumbling backwards he blinked and glanced about. When he saw a certain marsh in the distance he stared before his brows furrowed. He was pretty sure that it was the same one that he and Padfoot had traversed when they were trying to get away from the men. Were they taking him back to that Shire place they didn't want them? Glancing back along the path that the trio had walked, the boy sincerely hoped that Padfoot would hurry. He would try and not get too panicky or worried until they reached the broken city.
The men talked quietly among themselves while Harry sat with his back against an old broken tree stump keeping his gaze on his unwanted traveling companions while trying not to fall asleep. It was strange and unpleasant to not have his furry friend with him to curl up with knowing he was safe and wouldn't get cold. Even though it was Spring, the nights still had a bit of a bite to them that Padfoot usually was able to keep at bay. There was no sound of the wolf's irritated huff when Harry would squirm because sleep was taking longer than it should or he couldn't get comfortably situated. There was no earthy smell mixed with a bit of wet dog that he was used to. The most disturbing lack that Harry felt aside from the wolf's actual presence was the slow beating heart he could feel under Padfoot's fur along with the sound of the air moving in and out of his lungs as he breathed. It might seem silly to some, but Harry had gotten used and dependent upon those smells and sounds that subconsciously soothed him.
Nathor and Thandir watched as the boy's heavy lidded gaze began to lose focus and soon his head was jerking as he tried to stay awake but failed. Eventually, his chin dropped and his body relaxed as he succumbed to his exhausted state. Both Rangers had wondered when the boy would give in since they had both known he'd been rousted from sleep when they had corned him and his warg. The elder breathed out, "About time."
It wasn't that he completely distrusted Harry, but he didn't like puzzles that had the chance to be dangerous. Everything in his gut was telling Nathor that the unlikely duo were exactly that.