Run to the Western Shore by Tim Pears

Author:Tim Pears
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Roman;Welsh;Wales;tribe;Rosemary Sutcliff;historical fiction;centurion;West Country trilogy;In A Land of Plenty
Publisher: Swift Press
Published: 2023-10-12T20:38:25+00:00

A wind from the north had picked up through the afternoon. It blustered around rocks and rustled leaves in the trees. In a covert of buckthorn and hazel Olwen spotted a young deer. She laid a hand on Quintus’s arm. He stood and watched her slowly take the bow over her shoulder and load it with an arrow from the quiver.

She stood side-on to the animal nibbling grass, and slowly raised her bow. The fawn moved as it grazed, from one mouthful of fodder to the next, and edged around a tree. If it thought to evade the hunter it could not have made a better plan. It inched out of shot. Quintus looked across and saw that Olwen had drawn back the arrow a little. He watched as she held it there. He glanced towards the tree and saw the fawn’s head emerging slowly on the other side. When he looked back at Olwen, she had drawn the arrow fully back, the feathers now grazing her chin, yet she had done it so slowly he had not seen it happening.

The bow was bent and the string of the bow was tense. The deer grazed, oblivious, and moved into full view. Suddenly Olwen tugged the string back a last inch, as far as she could, then let go, all in a split second. Quintus did not see the arrow fly, but looked towards the deer and saw it stagger and fall.

Olwen crudely butchered the animal with her sword, hacking at the warm meat. They ate the liver and the kidneys raw, and the heart, and packed rump steaks in the bag to roast later. As they walked away, Quintus asked if the carcass would not help their pursuers track them.

‘Other animals will aid us,’ she said. ‘We have provided them with food they do not need to catch.’

They heard a scuffle behind them and turned to see a black bird descend awkwardly through the canopy and land beside the feast laid before it.

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