“This is just the start, Vega Jane. There’s a lot more for you to learn. And you’ve got to build up your strength too.”
“I’m pretty strong.”
“That’s not good enough.”
“How do I get stronger? I work all light at Stacks building straps for the Wall. When will I have a sliver? I have to sleep.”
“We’ll think of a way.”
“When will we know who we have to fight?”
“They’ll post the first bouts seven nights before the Duelum starts,” he replied.
We worked some more on various moves and strategies until I was exhausted.
Before taking my leave, I glanced over at the adar.
“Delph, that adar —”
“Dad’s been having no end of trouble with the durn thing,” he grumbled.
“What kind of trouble?”
Delph would not meet my eye. “Saying things we got no idea where he heard ’em. Dad says some adars have minds of their own, they do.”
“But adars can’t naturally stutter, can —”
“Gotta go, Vega Jane.”
And then he disappeared into his cottage and closed the door tight.
TRIGINTA DUO: A Single Care
NEXT LIGHT, I rose early. I wanted to get out of Wormwood proper before other Wugs got up.
As Harry Two and I walked down the cobblestones, we passed an old Wug I didn’t know but had seen before. He glared at me and aimed a slop of spit at my boot. I hopped away and kept going, my head down. Obviously, word had gotten around about my arrest and sentencing to fight in the Duelum. It might be that the entire village loathed me now, although it was hard to fathom that Wugs could turn against me so quickly.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Roman Picus coming down the cobblestones. I braced myself for his insults and slurs. But he did something that bruised me even more. He pulled down his hat and cut between two buildings, apparently so he would not have to talk to or perhaps be seen with me.
I kept shuffling along, my energy sapped, and I had a full light of work ahead.
As I passed the Loons, Hestia Loon stepped out to put some rubbish in the dustbin. I tried not to make eye contact, but she called out, “Vega?”
I stopped, fearing the worst. Hestia had always been nice to me, but she was under Loon’s thumb completely. I eyed the broom in her hand and wondered if she was going to take a swat at me.
“Yes?” I said quietly.
She walked over, gave Harry Two a pat and said, “’Tis a beautiful canine.”
My spirits lifted a bit at her kind words. “Thank you. His name is Harry Two.”
She glanced up at me, her features hardening. “It’s rubbish, what they’re saying ’bout you. Know that as well as I know me own frying pan.”
I felt my face grow warm and moisture crept into my eyes. I hastily rubbed this away and continued to stare at her.
She looked over her shoulder back at the Loons and came forward, drawing something from her pocket. She held it up. It was a little chain with a metal disc on the end.
“Me mum gave this to me when I was but a nipper. For good luck, they say.” I looked at her in confusion. She hurried on. “Luck, for in the Duelum. Heard you had to fight. Bloody mental Council is, ask me, but no Wug did.” She gripped my hand and placed the good luck charm in it and curled my fingers over it.
“You take this, Vega Jane. You take this and you beat them males. I know you can do it. Bloody Outliers! Like you’d be helping them, and your grandfather being Virgil Alfadir Jane. Bloody mental, that’s what they are. Barmy, the lot of ’em.”
She looked down at my thin, dirty frame, and I saw her heavy cheeks start to quiver. “Give me a mo’,” she said.
She nipped into the Loons and was back a half sliver later with a small cloth bag. She handed it to me. “Just between us,” she said and gave my cheek a pinch. Then she was gone.
I looked in the bag and saw a loaf of freshly baked bread, two apples, a jar of pickles and a wedge of cheese and two sausages. My stomach rumbled in anticipation of devouring it.
I looked at the charm she had given me. The disc of metal was copper and had the image of a star with seven points to it. I lifted it over my head, and the chain settled around my neck. I stared back at the Loons and found Hestia peering at me from a window. She disappeared quickly when she saw me looking.
I continued on, my spirits heartened by her gesture of kindness.
When I got to my tree I stopped, dropped my tin and cloth bag, and ran forward screaming.
“No. No!” I yelled. “That’s my tree.”
There were four Wugs, all males, all twice my size. One of them was Non. He had an ax and was about to strike my tree a vicious blow. Two other Wugs stood ready with a long saw, while the fourth Wug had a morta, which he now pointed at me while Harry Two growled and snapped at him.
They were going to chop down my tree.
Non stopped, but still holding the ax up high, he said viciously, “Traitors dinnae get to have trees, female.”
He started his downswing with the huge ax.
“No,” I screamed. “You can’t. You can’t.” I paused and then said, “You won’t!”
Non hit my tree with a staggering blow, and the most amazing thing happened. There was not a dent or cut in the bark. Instead, the ax broke in half and fell to the ground.
Non stood there looking in disbelief at where he had hit my tree and then down at his shattered tool.
“What the Hel?” he roared. He pointed at the two Wugs holding the long saw and motioned them forward while the other Wug cocked the hammer back on his morta and kept it pointed at my head.
I just stood there, staring at my tree, willing with all my heart for it to survive this unjust attack. Even if I were a traitor — which I wasn’t — my poor tree should not suffer.
The two Wugs set the saw’s teeth against my tree’s bark and started to cut. Or they tried to. The teeth disintegrated against the trunk.
The Wugs straightened and looked in puzzlement at their ruined saw.
Non stared fiercely over at me. “What sort of tree is this?” he demanded.
“It’s my tree,” I said, pushing past the Wug holding the morta. “Now, clear off.”
“It’s bedeviled,” exclaimed Non. “You’re working with them Outliers. Evil scum. They’ve bedeviled this tree, they have!”
“That is utter nonsense.”
We all looked around and saw Thansius standing about five yards from us. He was dressed in a long gray cloak. He held a long stick in one massive hand, and I imagined he had gone for an early light walk.
“A bedeviled tree?” said Thansius as he drew nearer and looked up at my beautiful poplar. “How do you mean?”
Non shuffled his feet nervously and kept his gaze downcast. The other Wugs had all taken steps back and were studying the ground. I’m sure none of them had ever been in conversation with Thansius.
Non said haltingly, “Well, Thansius … sir, ax and … and saw don’t touch it, did they … sir?”
“Easily explained,” said Thansius, looking at me.
He rapped my tree with his knuckles. “You see, over time some trees that are ancient become petrified. That is to say their bark hardens to such a degree that it becomes stronger than iron. It’s no wonder your tools fell victim to its armored husk.”
He picked up the pieces of the broken ax and the toothless saw and handed them back to Non and the other two Wugs. “I would say that this tree will still be standing when we are all long since dust.” He looked directly at Non. “So be off with you, Non. I’m sure you and your colleagues have labors on the Wall to perform.”
Non and his cronies hastily made their way down the path and were soon out of sight.