By later the next week the last of the winter snow had finally melted and spring was beginning to come in earnest. Making sure he had a full load of arrows and bait he hefted his bow onto his shoulder and headed out for a day of hunting. Reaching the grassy field outside town he found that it was already claimed. Carolyn on a rock at the top of the hill, her book in hand. She seemed to be enjoying the warmer weather and instead of the dark colors he had seen her in so far sported a pale blue linen dress today. Mentally he reviewed the other locations that he had spotted deer as he felt their goals were likely not compatible. This time he made sure she spotted him before approaching.
"Miss Blair, good morning. " She smiled up at him. "To you as well! Though if I'm to call you Connor it's only fair that you call me Carolyn. Oh! I meant to ask you. Rabbits, right?" She handed up a bunch of wild flowers laying by her knee and handed them to him. Sure enough the stalks were bent and broken and several of the leaves had sharp bite marks. "Very good! Did you see the rabbit?" he asked?
Carolyn chucked at that and held up the book. The flowers were first, drawn while still in the ground, the broken pieces dangling. Next to that was a series of pictures of a rabbit sitting and eating. At the bottom of the page was a rougher quick sketch of a fox stalking something and then running away, a limp figure in its mouth. "Oh dear. Well you did want to learn about nature. That is part of it." She laughed at that. "True. It does appear to be rather bloody. There were deer earlier. " She flipped back a page showing drawings of deer grazing. Eyeing the bow on his back she continued "But I suspect you already knew that. Should I leave?" He shook his head. "I'll track them further in. You would be safer here close to the town. Did you bring your knife?" She smiled at that and reached down the holder in the leather belt he hadn't previously noticed. She drew out a beautiful silver dagger and offered it to him. He expected given the silver of the handle for it to be purely decorative but testing the blade it turned out to have a sharp blade and good heft. "It's a very good blade." He handed it back to her carefully. "It was a gift." Taking it with both hands she tucked it back into her belt with a smile. "Good luck hunting!" He nodded at that and headed up the hill.
He picked a nice size buck and felled it and was just beginning to skin it when he heard her scream.
Shortly after Connor left the wildlife resumed their normal behavior. Carolyn sat as quiet and still as she could and watched them run around in the grass. Suddenly fox and hare alike stood up and took off. She was just looking around when she spotted the first of the pack. A large gray wolf stalked towards her, the pack spreading out to circle the rock. Climbing to her feet she tried to make herself look as big as possible and pulled her knife. The wolf began to run towards her and she braced herself as best she could but the force knocked her flat and stole the breath from her. The wolf snapped to her throat and she got her arm up just in time for it to latch onto that instead. Sinking its teeth in it began to worry and shake at her left arm and she screamed. With her right she plunged her dagger into the beast's neck again and again. When it finally collapsed on top of her she rolled the body off and climbed shakily to her feet again. Eyeing the circling wolves she dried the slippery handle of the dagger on her skirt as best she could.
Her focus on the wolves she did not see Connor until he was almost upon them. "Stay still, I'll draw their attention." He shouted and pulling a dagger from nowhere she could see stabbed the closest one to him through the spine killing it instantly. For some reason that defied all logic the wolves seemed drawn to him, attacking him one by one. She had never seen anything so fast and deadly as he was as he dispatched two more of the wolves but she could see he was slowing down.
"Connor!" she shouted. "Can you throw me your bow?" He slid it from his shoulder and threw it in her direction, the next wolf already approaching him. Knocking an arrow she pulled on the string but the draw was much harder than she was used to. Her arms shaking she spotted on one of the other wolves circling and loosed the arrow. The shot missed its mark, hitting the wolf but not killing it and it turned its focus now on her. Knocking another arrow she put all her strength into holding the bow steady and was rewarded with a clear kill. A second wolf fell on the first shot. She turned her attention back to Connor who was being approached by the final member of the pack. Putting his dagger away he grabbed the wolf's head in his bare hands and broke its neck with a wet snap.
Her arms burning and her breathing ragged she handed him back his bow with a shaky "Thank you". He slung it back onto his shoulder and looked around the meadow. Spotting the shot wolves he offered "You're not a bad shot. I would not have thought you for a hunter. " She shook her head "I've been on hunts, I just don't care for it. Target shooting is an acceptable activity though. Though the bows for ladies are not quite so hard to draw. That isn't normal behavior for wolves is it?" Connor looked over the scrawny animals. "They were probably hungry. It's unusual for them to come this close to town." He noticed her clutching her arm to her chest "Were you bit?" he assumed the blood on her was from the wolf that she had stabbed just as he reached the meadow. She held her arm out for him to see "I don't think it's bad ,thank God wolves kill clean, but I'll need to bandage it."
He leaned over and picked her up as if she weighed nothing. "What are you doing?!" she pushed herself away from him and thrashed briefly until he deposited her back on the ground with a concerned look. "I was going to carry you to the doctor." She sighed "It's my arm that's hurt. My legs are fine. I just need to clean and bandage it. I have everything I need at the school." At the word school her eyes went wide and unfocused and her she began to gasp for air. She pulled at the top of her dress and finally reached behind her frantically loosening the laces until she could breathe. Connor looked on concerned but unsure of what to do. Finally she seemed to get enough air and up at him in horror. "The school! My God, Connor I was going to bring the children out here. What would have happened?" She had only known her pupils for a week but the image of them being attacked by a pack of wolves made her heart race. "You're the only one who was hurt." He tried to reassure her. "The children are fine." He steered her towards the school building, her breathing finally evening out.
Once inside she dug out a jug of water, some rags and a roll of bandages. Sitting on the edge of the desk she allowed him to examine her arm. He tugged at the tight fitting sleeve. "Here, I'd like to salvage what I can of the dress." she said, taking out her dagger and breaking the stitches on the seam of the sleeve at the wrist. Pulling the remaining stitches by hand she folded the cloth back revealing the bloody mess of her arm. "It looks worse than it is." She pointed out and gritted her teeth as he cleaned the area with a wet cloth. "I really did want to teach the children about nature though." She sighed her eyes falling on the expanse of white wall in the back of the classroom. A thought occurred to her. "Connor, you travel to the city, don't you?" "Frequently" he agreed as he began to wrap a bandage around the wound. "If I ordered something do you think you could pick it up for me there? I would like to get some paints."
He tied off the bandage on her arm and she sat up, reaching behind herself to retighten the laces of the dress. Just to be safe he walked her to Ellen's where he explained what happened. Carolyn waived off the situation but asked him to wait until she could make a quick list of the items she needed. When he did finally go to Boston a few days later he returned with the supplies and left them at the school as she requested after the children had left. On the back wall she had already begun a mural roughed out in charcoal on the broad expanse of white. Pushing back his hood he leaned in to examine it. It caught the edge of the meadow where it turned to forest and was bordered by a steam. A fat family of beavers had built a damn on the river and a fox stalked through the grass where a doe grazed serenely. At the edge of the forest a wolf stood overlooking the scene. It was unlike anything he had ever seen.
The door opened and Carolyn came in, her arms full of supplies. "Connor! Did you get the paints?" He nodded and gestured to the box on the table as she tied on an apron. "What do you think?" "It's incredible. Do you do things like this often?" She laughed and pulled out a charcoal pencil and began to add detail to one of the trees. "Hardly! I've painted landscapes and portraits before but nothing on this scale." Satisfied with the tree she began to mix paints on a scrap of wood. "Have you ever had a portrait painted, Connor?" He shook his head. "You should. I would think you would be interesting to paint. You have very interesting eyes. " He looked confused at that. "Eyes?" She laughed. "The eyes are the window to the soul, they say. Whether that's true or not you can tell a lot about someone by their eyes. You can tell if they're hurt, if they're scared, if they're lying, if they're telling the truth." She began to paint the background in broad swathes of green. "Your eyes are kind though. They seem rather out of place with the rest of you armed to the teeth as you always seem to be. You're quite intimidating with that hood all the time. I really didn't know what to think at the inn. " She cleaned brush and loading it with brown and, kneeling down, began to paint in the riverbed.
Connor was not quite sure what to say to that. Eventually he offered "Maybe I will let you paint me someday." She smiled up at that. "I think I would like that. I haven't painted a portrait in ages." She backed away from the wall surveying her work and cleaning the brush. "That will have to do for now. This layer will need to dry before I can start any of the detail work."
She put away the brush and paints and stood back to contemplate the scene. "Wolves, deer, beavers, rabbits. What else am I missing?" "Elk and raccoons, though raccoons primarily come out at night so you would rarely see them with the others." She smiled at that. "True but I imagine you rarely see the deer near the wolf like this too. Sometimes you have to tell a small lie for the bigger truth."
She untied her apron and hanging it on a hook on the wall and turned to Connor who suddenly offered "There are bobcats on the homestead too though the children will hopefully never see one. They stay up in the mountains." She looked surprised at that "Bobcats, really? I'll bet they're beautiful." He shook his head at the thought of calling what in his experience was a vicious animal beautiful. She continued "But I suspect they're too dangerous to watch. I certainly didn't go looking for the wolves." Connor thought on that "Actually it could be done fairly safely. They tend to sun on a particular ledge half way up the mountain. If you get to the top you have a good view of them. It is not a very hard climb. Though you would want to wear pants…" he eyed her full skirt. "If you don't have pants no doubt Ellen could make you some. I think she makes Myriam's." "I could probably make my own but if she makes Myriam's no doubt she knows what she's doing. When would you be free?" He shrugged and glanced around. " I'm always free these days. Would Sunday work?" She startled briefly "I think Ellen would prefer that I give her more than 2 days. How about next Sunday? When would we go?" He though briefly. "Meet me at the bridge around sunrise. That will give us the most time." "Deal. How much do I owe you for the supplies?" He shook his head. "That is not necessary." She frowned at him slightly. "I have money." He shook his head and laughed. "I went back and skinned those wolves. The three you killed where plenty to pay for some paints." She flushed slightly.
She looked at him curiously. "I was actually hoping you might do me another favor. I really would like to take the children to see the dam. It's not too far from town but I'm a little nervous to take them alone. Myriam said she would come with us but I thought if we had a 3rd adult that would be safest."
Four days later Connor found himself explaining beaver habitats and behavior to a group of seven children by the lake. Carolyn had insisted he give the lesson on the grounds that she would just be repeating what he said and encouraged the children to ask him lots of questions. Unfortunately they took this opportunity to ask him any number of questions completely unrelated to the lesson. The Clark children lead the way and eventually the originally reticent children from the frontier joined in clambering for his attention. Myriam and Carolyn exchanged looks and grinned but continued to scan the area for any approaching dangers.
Eventually Carolyn called the children off and announced it was time to go back to school so they could gather their things and head home. Taking the youngest, a girl of 6, by the hand she herded the children down the hill to the classroom. Myriam waived them off at the building but Connor lingered, watching Carolyn get everybody ready for the walk home. She sent them on their way and closed up the building, watching until the last students were out of sight. She nodded at the receding pair, a girl of 12 and a boy of 10. "Those are the O'Connors. They've got the farthest to go. It's almost an hour walk to school and back for them. " She shook her head. "My education always came to me. I never really considered just how privileged I've been."
Connor watched the children disappear around the hill. "You're very good with them. Do you have siblings?" She paused and shook her head. "Not really. I had a brother but he died at birth. I've been around children all my life though. Do you have any siblings?" Connor turned and started to walk with her back towards the main part of town. "No. My village had a few other children though and we lived together so it was like having brothers." She nodded. " I can see that might be the case." They reached the turn off to Ellen's and she nodded at him. "The pants are finished. Are we still on for Sunday?"