(Photo by Sanndy Anghan)

It was dusk when Nis finally completed her basket. She’d learned a lot from this first real attempt, having needed to go back and undo sections from time to time as she would recognize mistakes or remember steps she’d missed. Skav, to Nis’ great surprise, never complained about these corrections. He just unwound his basket and began again. Even more surprising was the fact that his basket, completed not long after Nis’ basket, was the superior trap. He’d even added a few pointed sticks he’d whittled, angled in towards the bottom of the basket.

“Fish goes in,” he explained, “and figures it can’t go that way so it tries to turn around but the sticks will poke it and keep it in.”

Nis wasn’t entirely convinced at first that it would work exactly how he envisioned but agreed that it seemed like an improvement on her design. At the very least it would make escape more difficult for the fish.

“Let’s give them a try, shall we?” Skav asked as he waded out into the stream and then began scooping the basket through the water as though he expected to just snatch up a fish.

“You’re supposed to just stick it in the water and wait,” Nis told him. “You can weigh it down with rocks or shove a stick through it and into the ground.”

“How long does that take?” There was a noticeable whine in Skav’s voice and Nis had to wonder at how often, if ever, Skav had needed to go without eating. Nis hadn’t had much experience with prolonged hunger, but there were definitely some times when harvests were poor and her parents had limited the amount of food they could eat until the next harvest.

“I don’t know this stream or how many fish are in it,” Nis admitted. “So until we start catching fish we won’t know how long it’ll take.”

Skav’s expression darkened as he bent down and shoved his basket into the stream. Rocks were plentiful along the stream bed and it didn’t take long for either Skav or Nis to have their baskets set in place. The mouths of each basket was wide enough that the upper lip poked up above the water.

“When a fish gets trapped,” she said, “it should start splashing and then all we have to do is pull the basket out of the water.”

“Yeah,” Skav muttered.

He sat down beside the berry bush and began groping through the boughs in search of berries. Most of what was left weren’t ripe yet as it seemed he’d already picked his way through the bush. There was a noticeable shake to his hands and even though the evening was cool, Nis saw him wiping sweat from his brow.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“I’m fine,” Skav said, cutting each word short.

Nis was tired and wanted to go back into the copse more than ever. Being around Skav wasn’t pleasant at the best of times and with him so clearly upset she felt even more uncomfortable. She’d never known anyone who was so prone to such sudden swings in mood and behavior.

Her stomach growled and Nis realized she hadn’t yet eaten her meal that day. Her bag, laying mostly forgotten at the foot of the stone she’d been sitting on, still held a few strips of meat and a small lump of cheese. Would it be worth it to give Skav the last of her food if it would mean keeping him in a good mood? Would she just be leaning into his demands or rewarding this sort of behavior? There was no way of knowing just how long she’d have to continue to deal with Skav and if he always got whatever he wanted whenever he was in a bad mood what would that mean for Nis?

“Skav,” Nis said and he spun his head around to face her.

“Hm? What’d you call me?”

Nis hesitated. In the growing dark she couldn’t make out his expression well enough to tell whether he was upset or not. She hadn’t called him by name yet, so perhaps he was just surprised that she knew it, or maybe ‘Skav’ was a sort of insulting nickname that Kyv and Sheza used instead of his actual name.

“Um, sorry, it’s what I heard the others call you,” Nis apologized quickly. “I thought it was your name.”

Skav was quiet for a moment, his hunched silhouette seeming to swell and deflate with each breath. There was an intensity to his posture and he flexed his hands several times before he relaxed enough and sat down on the bank of the stream. He wiped his brow again and then scooped a handful of water into his hands which he splashed onto his face.

“It’s fine,” he finally stated. “Just surprised me to hear you say it. Anyway, what is it you want so bad that you’re being all polite now and calling me by name?”

“Well,” she began, still uncertain if this was the right thing to do. “I haven’t eaten yet, so I’ve still got some food left.”

Skav stiffened but gave no other sign as to what he would do with this information.

“Do you want some meat or some cheese?” she asked him, making up her mind that she wouldn’t just give him everything.

She expected Skav to reply right away, or even to demand that she give him both. Instead, he remained silent. Night set in rather quickly in the forest and already it was becoming difficult to make out clear forms. She wished she could see his face so she could at least know whether or not she needed to begin looking for the best escape routes.

Skav finally broke the silence.

“What game are you playing at?” he asked.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand,” Nis replied, utterly perplexed. This was not the response she was expecting.

“Are you on the run or not?” Skav demanded but didn’t wait for Nis to answer. “You just like sitting out here, weaving baskets crawling through thorns or what? You give me food, then say you’re out of food, then give me more food anyway? Eh? I thought you’d have been smart enough to try and sneak off once I’m asleep or something, or bash my head in or something.”

“Are you upset that I helped you?” Nis asked, still not knowing which way this conversation was going.

“No,” Skav shot back at her, “but I don’t get why you’re still here or why you’re doing any of the things you’re doing!”

“You came here to kidnap me,” Nis replied, matching Skav’s intensity for once, “Why would I tell you anything?”

“Exactly! Why help me at all?”

“What else could I do? I don’t know if Kyv is still out there, or anyone else like him. At least staying here I had some sort of idea of what I was dealing with.”

“Ha!” Skav barked. “So you were just too scared to do anything, well at least that makes sense.”

Nis heard him get up but then he stopped making any sound at all. Even his breathing, which was usually heavy and nasally, was gone.

This is it, she thought, rising to her feet and gripping her makeshift spear.

The moon had yet to rise and so the forest was at its darkest with Nis only barely able to see the rock she was sitting on, let alone where Skav had gone. She had an idea of where the game trail was but feared she’d miss it and then waste precious time searching for it. Even if she did make it into the copse, where would she go from there? It wasn’t as if the thorns would keep Skav out if he was really determined.

Running for it wasn’t likely to serve her very well either, though. Skav had been blind for a couple days now and was clearly adjusting to it whereas Nis would be at a clear disadvantage. All Skav would have to do would be to keep close enough behind her and just wait for her to trip or get caught up in some brambles and then it would be all too easy for him to catch her.

Nis was just beginning to angle her stick out toward the direction where Skav had been sitting when a powerful set of arms wrapped around her from behind.

“Gotcha!” Skav crowed.

Fortunately for Nis, she was still on the rock which meant her head was nearly at the same height as Skav’s. He was just beginning to lift Nis when she rocked her head back as hard as she could. Her vision flashed briefly white from the impact and she felt a sickening crunch as she knocked out several of Skav’s teeth. He let her go at once, spluttering and spitting both teeth and insults.

Nis paid no attention to what he was saying, focusing instead on where the sound was coming and she thrust with her stick at him over and over. She missed as many times as she hit but she didn’t dare relent. Panic and a manic energy drove her forward as she attacked. Each successful thrust was followed by more exclamations of pain by Skav. She wasn’t sure if her stick was actually piercing into him but as long as it kept him from continuing his own attack on her she wasn’t going to stop.

Finally, as she struck out, it seemed she and Skav had both moved towards one another at the same time, compounding the force of her spear point. Nis braced herself against the stick, keeping Skav from driving her back, and for a moment there was a stalemate between the two of them. Then all the built up pressure gave way and her makeshift spear sank deep into whatever part of Skav she’d hit.

“Hrmph,” Skav grunted but no curses or other shouting followed.

The weight on the other end of the spear increased and it was yanked out of her hands as she heard Skav slump to the ground.

“You,” gasped Skav, “they’ll find…you.”

“Why is Kyv looking for me?” Nis demanded, still burning with fear and glad to have anything she could latch onto.

“Kyv’s long gone,” Skav said, each word a struggle, “you…not easy picking…so give up…but the King…King sent others…”

He trailed off and his breathing grew more labored.

It made sense that people would be sent to find her, but Nis had never heard of the King getting involved when someone had taken a particularly valuable tome from the archives that they weren’t supposed to take. The archivists would simply notify the city guard and let them deal with it.

Before Nis could question Skav any further, however, his breathing turned into wheezing. He gave the ground a few weak thumps before going quiet and at last a deep silence settled into the forest.

A cold chill that had nothing to do with the actual temperature washed over Nis and all the frantic energy that had previously kept her fighting now drained out of her, leaving her weak and shaking. Nis collapsed to her knees and for a long while she wept, her arms wrapped tightly around herself while she wished she were anywhere else besides this forest.

She probably would have gone on like that for much longer had it not been for the splashing that eventually disrupted the quiet night. At once her mind conjured up visions of more assailants but as she turned she quickly realized the splashing was far too weak to be someone approaching. The moon was high enough now that she could just make out the baskets in the stream and see the reflected ripples around the basket she’d made.

She’d caught a fish.