Mary's Path

Zerden and the hunting team did not return until the Tuesday after they had gone hunting. They had had good hunt, this meant that in addition to butcher the crudely butchered animals, the kitchen would be cooking and preserving it. That was on top of cooking the regular meals.

Mary was so busy that she had not been able to meet Zerden to ask how he had been doing or about the hunt. But she took comfort in the fact that the next day it was Wednesday and then she would be able to meet him.

She wondered if Erik would come up to the castle, maybe all three of them could take a trip in the city. The weather seemed to be holding up and Mary was really looking forward to Wednesday.

Wednesday morning dragged itself forward, Mary stood and cut thin strips of deer meat that would be dried over the fire. Her hands had a couple of wounds from the knife. She wasn’t used to cutting such thin slices and sometimes the knife slipped.

But she continued stubbornly, trying to concentrate on her task, she knew it was soon time for her to stop for the day. Once she was done with the venison, Mrs. Karrots told her that she could go earlier, she didn’t have any smaller task to give her.

Mary hurried to wash up and ran off to the room to change into another dress. Soon she was sitting on the manhole cover waiting for Zerden, the weather was still sunny, but it felt like autumn had arrived.

Zerden came running across the yard. He looked so happy, Mary thought, it must have been a fun hunt.

“Hi,” she said as he got closer.

“Hello,” he replied. “I don’t have time to stay that long today, dad will let me help store the weapons that we used on the hunt,” he continued.

“Okay” said Mary, feeling a little disappointed, it was the second Wednesday that he didn’t have time for her. But to hide that she was disappointed, she smiled and asked.

“Did you have fun on the hunt?”

“It was amazing, I got to go and drive the deer and the prince shot one of the deer that I drove” Zerden said cheerfully, then quickly continued to tell her about all the highlights of the hunt.

Mary listened wide-eyed to everything he had been through, imagine being out in a large forest for almost a week and sneaking around in the bushes.

“Weren’t you afraid? I think it would be a little scary” Mary said.

“Not at all, I just thought it was fun. Dad said that you don’t have to be afraid in the woods, you just need to be careful and thinking about what you’re doing,” Zerden said.

“But hey, I really have to go. Dad’s waiting for me,” he quickly continued, turning toward the courtyard as if he expected his dad to stand there waiting for him.

“Okay, see you next Wednesday then” Mary said, waving at him as he ran away across the yard.

She stayed on the well for a while, a little disappointed that he hadn’t had time for her today either. But she reminded herself that Zerden’s father would need him more now.

Zerden was getting to the age where he could start training seriously to become a soldier and then him and Mary wouldn’t have much time together. Mary stood up and hoped that Erik would have time to come anyway.

She walked towards the gate leading out into the city and discovered that he was actually waiting for her a bit outside it.

“Hello,” he said.

“Hi, I’m glad you were able to come,” Mary said.

“Dad thought I’d deserved to go earlier, I’ve been working extra a hard this week,” he said. “Where is the other one?” he asked.

“Zerden has to help his dad clean up after the hunt,” she said.

“Okay,” Erik replied, and didn’t seem to think it was too bad that it would just be the two of them.

They began to walk along the streets and, out of pure habit, took their favorite roads and allieways and soon they were deep inside the labyrinth that made up the city’s infrastructure.

Mary told Erik what Zerden had told her about the hunt.

“I don’t know if I’d like to go hunting,” Erik said. “I don’t think it sounds fun to be out in the woods for a whole week. It must be boring to walk around all alone among lots of trees.”

“He wasn’t alone, they were in groups. But I probably wouldn’t want to go hunting either, I think I’d be scared in the woods. Although the castellan told Zerden that you didn’t have to be afraid of the forest, but I would probably be afraid anyway,” Mary said.

“I don’t know if there’s anything to be afraid of, it’s not dangerous as it is in this city” Erik said thoughtfully.

“No, there are no robbers and so on in the woods. But what if you get lost and don’t find your way home?” thought Mary aloud.

“Yes, that could happen” Erik admitted. “There are people who get lost in this town” he continued.

“Yes, I think it depends on what you’re used to. We who have always lived here in the city would never get lost here but it probably wouldn’t be hard to get lost in the forest. But if you had always lived in the forest then you would probably have gotten lost quite easily in the city,” Mary said, feeling very satisfied with that answer. That sounded very sensible.

“You’re probably right,” Erik said.

The subject changed to more mundane things and after a while they stopped and climbed onto an abandoned city gate. It had once been a part of the city walls when the city had been smaller. But when the city had grown, a new wall had been built and the only thing left of the old one was a couple of dilapidated gates.

If you knew how to get up on them, they were excellent lookout points, and you could see large parts of the city. Mary and Erik climbed up on the gate and sat down at one corner where a couple of stones offered some lee.

The sun was shining and when the wind wasn’t blowing too much, it was nice. They sat there and looked out over the city for a while. Erik brought out a cloth that contained apple rolls that his mother had sent with him.

They ate them with good appetite and then started with a game they used to engage in up here. One of them started by saying a place in the city and the other would point it out.

They took turns asking and pointing. After a while, they both got tired because they were both equally good at it. They sat quietly for a while before Erik asked.

“Why do you work up in the castle?“.

Mary thought for a while about what to say, would she tell him about everything that had happened to her? She looked at Erik and felt the familiar feeling of being able to tell him everything, he was her best friend.

She started telling him, not everything, but in large parts what had happened. She pointed out over the city when she told him how she had run, and she told him about the branch she had climbed out on.

It felt different to tell Erik everything than it had felt to tell Zerden’s parents. Erik commented on the things that he thought were important and in this way the story took on a different tone.