Language of the Bear by Nathanael Green & Evan Ronan

Author:Nathanael Green & Evan Ronan [Green, Nathanael & Ronan, Evan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Calhoun Publishing
Published: 2015-05-05T23:00:00+00:00

Fifteen – An Arrow Unloosed

Wolf Tongue crossed his arms and frowned at the man across from him. Brown was a big man with shoulders as wide as Wolf Tongue’s, though he was half a head shorter. The smith had a thick, gray beard over an open collar and an odd mustache that curled up towards his eyes on either side of his nose. He seemed friendly enough, but his prices were no bargain.

“What you’re asking for is three times what it’s worth,” said Wolf Tongue with exasperation in his voice.

The smith wiggled his mustache and leaned back with one hairy, bear-paw of a hand on top of a hunk of steel he’d sunk into a tree stump as an anvil. He spoke in a slow, odd accent. “Then it’s not worth it to you, aye?”

“Keep your pistol, the powder and the bullets,” said Wolf Tongue. “What would you ask for two deer hides, a couple of flints, four days’ rations, and a pouch of tobacco?”

The mustache twitched again, the eyes narrowed shrewdly. This man was no stranger to trading. “I’ll take the coins, those two knives, the necklace, your powder horn and that tomahawk.”

“For some stale bread, poorly tanned hides, and crumbly flint? I could get that with just the coins themselves with some to spare.”

Brown shrugged and brushed some unseen thing off his makeshift anvil. “Thing is, I’m the quartermaster, but I don’t got much to trade ’cause I don’t got much at all. Those coins and necklace don’t do me much good out here. And I don’t see us heading back to civilization anytime soon.”

Wolf Tongue narrowed his eyes and watched the smith for a moment as he thought of his options. There was little he could do to improve his situation. He needed food and warmth at least for a few days, and he had nothing else to trade with.

Four exchanges later, Wolf Tongue walked away with two plain deerskins, a handful of crunchy tobacco, and a few days worth of food. It had cost him both knives, the coin, and one of the powder horns he’d taken off the men who’d ambushed them.

Once away from Brown’s house, Wolf Tongue threw both the skins over one shoulder and tucked what little food he’d managed to get into his bag. The quartermaster admitted that the little town didn’t have a baker and that he distributed some of the supplies, but at least he’d had a full loaf, a few strips of salted pork and a handful of dried vegetables. It would be enough to last them at least a day or two—long enough to forage or fish, or else move on to somewhere with more reasonable prices. Or perhaps Pyke would be treated to food and supplies as a British officer.

Wolf Tongue looked up from arranging his gear. He’d momentarily forgotten that here, he was supposed to be separated from Pyke, to appear as strangers. The grayness of town and the absence of the sun resurged in his mind and again he felt the tingling of hostility that seemed to emanate from the earth itself.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.