"Thank you. I'll probably be back in time for horsemeat and flatbread."
He took Ahn-Kha over to the supply wagon. They each threw a bag made out of old long-sleeved shirts over their shoulders. The shirt-sacks contained bread. Mr. Smalls rose from where he squatted next to his wife.
"Everything all right with you two?" Valentine asked them.
"Just a little tired, Mr. Ghost," Mrs. Smalls said, her belly prominent through the opening in the coat.
"We're stopping for a day or two. Fix yourselves up under the bed of the wagon. Looks like we might get some rain."
"Hank's been picking up sharp quartz crystals; there's lots of them in these hills," Mr. Smalls said. "If we attach 'em to the front of those wooden spear points, they might serve you a little better." He reached into his shoulder bag and pulled out a spear point.
Valentine looked at it. The boy had set a piece of quartz into the front, carving the wood into four prongs, like a gem-holder on a ring. Valentine tested the point on the quartz. It was sharp enough. "How'd he fix the quartz in so tight?"
"He soaked the wood after he carved it," Mrs. Smalls said proudly. "When it dried, it shrank down on the crystal."
"Good thinking," Valentine replied, handing it to Ahn-Kha for his opinion. The Golden Ones were accomplished craftsmen in their own right.
"This is fine work," Ahn-Kha agreed, fingering the point.
"Have him make some more, if he can," Valentine said.
Smalls nodded, and Valentine led Ahn-Kha off. They watched the Smalls boy search the tree limbs, but the squirrels were making themselves scarce. "Smart kid. In the Wolves we used to take boys on patrols, called them 'aspirants." That spear point alone would have got him a place with my company."
"He thinks quickly. Remember what he did with the wagon."
"We could use another sharp set of eyes," Valentine said. "Want to bring him along?"
"He'd have a better chance at a squirrel with us," Ahn-Kha replied, his long ears twisting this way and that.
"Settled," Valentine said. He put two fingers in his mouth and whistled. "Hey, Hank, come over here."
The boy ran up to them. "Yes, Mr. Ghost?"
"We're going out on an all-night scout. You want to come?"
"Yes, sir!" Hank answered, his voice breaking with excitement.
"Go on, ask your parents. If it's okay with them, catch up to us."
"Thanks, Mr. Ghost," the boy said, and ran off toward the wagon.
Valentine and Ahn-Kha moved off into the woods. After a hundred yards, Valentine touched Ahn-Kha's shoulder.
"Time for his first lesson," Valentine said. "Keep going."
Valentine held his sheathed knife in his hand and waited next to the trail. Ahn-Kha disappeared into the brush, leaving a Grog-wide trail. Soon he heard the boy's footsteps as Hank ran to catch up with Ahn-Kha's furry back.
As Hank passed, Valentine stepped out from behind the tree. Quick as a Reaper, he got the slim youth in the fold of his left arm and put the sheathed knife to the boy's throat. Hank let out a squeal of fear.
"Just me, Hank," Valentine said, releasing him. "Don't pass so close to trees big enough to hide somebody"
"You didn't have to grab me!" Hank said.
"Your heart beating hard?" Valentine asked.
"Yeah. I don't like being grabbed."
"Then move a little more carefully when you're going through the woods. Long time ago, over on the other side of Arkansas, some friends and I weren't. They're both dead. The Hood stepped right out from behind the tree and grabbed