The Spirit Child by Alison Naomi Holt

Author:Alison Naomi Holt [Holt, Alison Naomi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Alison Holt

CHAPTER 8

Bree left the cave angry with herself and angry with Kaiti and Becca. The two of them were moving closer to each other and farther away from her. A month ago, she wouldn’t have cared, and she wished she didn’t care now, but she did. The sound of someone chopping wood startled her, and she moved cautiously toward the log where she’d left her ax. As she drew nearer to the sound, she spotted Nolgee, who didn’t realize she was there until he stopped to wipe his brow.

The young warrior caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye, and he spun around with the ax hefted, ready to defend himself if necessary. When he recognized Bree, he lowered his arm and sneered at her. “I can provide for my grandfather’s needs. Go back to your trash, White Woman.”

Bree didn’t understand the words, but she did recognize the disrespect in his tone. She watched as he returned to his clumsy way of splitting the log. It was obvious he’d never been taught how to properly wield an ax, and she wondered whether he’d led a pampered life as Taklishim’s grandson. When she couldn’t stand his bungling attempts any longer, she grabbed the handle of the ax to get his attention. “Here. It’ll be easier if you do it like this.” She held her fingers stiff and made an angled chopping motion down onto the log, then lifted her hand and angled it the other way before bringing it down on the log a second time.

Nolgee jerked the handle out of her hand and began hacking away again, completely ignoring her instructions. She watched him for a while. There had been many young noblemen in the ranks of the King’s army whose arrogance meant they were destined to learn their lessons the hard way. She shrugged and began gathering several logs into her arms to take back to the cave.

Nolgee watched Bree take the logs. He almost told her to leave them, but his father, Tsoe, always said that gathering wood was woman’s work. Even when his mother had been sick with fever, his father had demanded she go out to gather logs for the family. Once, after his father had beaten his mother for talking back, she couldn’t use her right arm without pain. Nolgee had offered to help her gather wood, and his father had laughed at him. “What, Nolgee? Have you become a woman, that you’d do a woman’s work? Let her do her job. Maybe Taklishim let his daughter get away with doing nothing, but she’ll earn her keep with me.”

Tsoe and Nolgee cut wood only for the sacred fires. Tsoe would never allow a woman to touch anything sacred, and neither would he. Once more, he thought about stopping Bree and taking the wood from her. After all, he’d cut the logs to take to the sacred cave, but as he watched her retreating figure, he decided he’d deal with her and Horse Dung when the time was right.

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