Crisscross Moon - 14. Chapter 14

14.

But the warriors were wrong. The boy had never been part of a trap. The women may

have been closer to right. He might be a little crazy. Either way, it had the same effect.

The boy wanted the girl. He didn't know why. If he already had a wife, maybe the girl wouldn't have mattered. But the girl he was supposed to marry had died. After that happened, two fathers from his village offered him their daughters. But those girls were already promised, one to one of his friends and the other to one of his brothers. Taking either girl would cause trouble.

Since the boy was a warrior, he could simply take the promised wife of a younger boy, but it was easier to wait for a still younger girl to grow up. Or for another warrior to die and to marry his wife. That happened often enough. Or the boy could marry outside his village.

That happened when two villages were trying to join. Or to make peace. Or to keep a peace. Or when a warrior in a friendly village was killed, leaving his wife and family with no one to protect them. Sometimes, it just happened.

A boy saw a girl he wanted. A man saw a woman he wanted. Sometimes the girl or woman realized the man would be a better trade from her husband, but she couldn't do anything about it. Sometimes, she realized it would be a worse trade, but she could only accept the decision.

A man and his warriors would arrive, kill the husband, and take the girl and her family. Or a man and his warriors would arrive and be killed themselves. Or a man and his warriors would arrive, and several men would die, but nothing would change for the woman.

And there was no reason for the boy to want this girl. She already had a husband. She had sons and a family to take care of her. The boy had watched the girl so often he knew that much about her.

He didn't even think about marrying outside his village until he was hurt. That happened in an attack, when he was separated from his warriors. He was sure he wouldn't get home. He was sure the warriors from this village would kill him. He could either hide or die.

But once the girl helped him, he knew he wanted her. He didn't know then that she had a husband. Though when he found out, he didn't think about it. Warriors died. Some of the women in his village had two or three husbands. When the women finally got too old to marry, they lived with their sons. That's why it was important to marry quickly and have children. Especially sons. And the girl already had two.

She'd make a good wife. She was responsible, and her sons would grow up to be his. And he'd have other children with the girl. She'd soon forget her village because everyone important to her would be with her.

Though after the boy was strong, he couldn't simply go into her village and ask for the girl, even if he brought warriors. From watching, the boy knew, the girl's husband was well liked, and he seemed to be a good man. But the boy knew he was a good man, too, and he could be killed, for no reason, if someone wanted that to happen.

So he didn't think about how the husband would die, but he knew he needed a plan to get the girl once she was free. He thought about that every day while he followed her. And he thought about it at night before he fell asleep in his cave. He'd started his plan one way, but that changed when he saw the hidden cave.

He first thought he'd simply take the girl in the forest. He knew she collected firewood far from the village and sometimes far from the women she went out with. He thought he'd come with his warriors and leave part of the girl's clothing covered with blood. When the other women found her clothes, they'd figure she'd been killed by bears.

Though the boy worried that the girl's warriors might not believe that and would go hunting for her. And that they'd be faster and stronger than his. The boy knew he'd only get a small group of men from his village leader. He wouldn't leave their village unprotected. And the girl might fight these warriors on their way back. Even without a husband, she might not want to leave her sons.

The boy planned to come back for the girl's sons once she was used to him and his village. He thought about taking her and her sons while her warriors were away, to give him more time. But when her warriors were on a hunt, the women and children stayed in their village. So the boy and his men could be more easily attacked.

The one thing the boy wasn't was proud. He didn't need the girl to want him, at least not at first. But once her husband was dead, and it clearly wasn't the boy's fault, he wanted the girl see him as her best choice. That meant she needed to see him at his strongest.

He first explored the hidden cave right after the women and children had left. The cave was large, but not very high. It was long but without natural water. There were clay jars of food, enough to feed everyone in the village for two or three days. They didn't seem to be expecting to stay for long. There were jars of water, too, enough for several days. And there were twigs, for fires.

But the first day he explored the cave, he made a torch from some twigs to see, and the smoke gathered slowly against the rocks above him. And the first night he slept in the cave and made a fire to stay warm, smoke continued to gather. By the time he woke, the cave was filled with smoke, and he had to stay low and crawl to the entrance. That's when he knew how to get the women and children out.

(continued)