henry stopped and squatted in the underbrush, well hidden from the path but close enough to see the coming group. within a minute they became visible. there were twenty-five to thirty boys, girls and youths walking slowly in ragged groups, talking and laughing. the youngest were ahead, a group just entering their teens, dressed like the rest in jackets and shorts, with sandals of plast on their feet. the dark, synthetic cloth made them a uniformed body.
henry's nose wrinkled in distaste. again his hideaway would be invaded and he would have to move on. but where to?
they were opposite him now, a bare twenty feet away. most of them looked as alike as brothers and sisters, logically enough; there was not one who wasn't a cousin in some degree to the others. plump, round-faced and dull-eyed, they lived from cradle to grave according to custom. it was the custom, when they were old enough to feel the urge, to join a group like this. together they tramped the valley from spring to fall, gathering fruit and nuts as they came in season. when a couple felt like settling down they awaited a vacant mastership—a plot of orchard and the house that went with it—and moved in. they took over the responsibilities of the place and bred or adopted the three children necessary to hold it. they remained there until they became elders. then they moved into town, where they worked in the factories, idled and gossiped until death overtook them.
they were ignorant, superstitious, living out their dull routine as generations before them had. only a few questioned it. almost none made any active challenge.
the youngsters sighted the tavern and made for it at a dead run, wanting to claim favorable bunks before the others arrived.
henry was impatient. ants were crawling over his foot, but it would never do for him to be seen, especially in the woods. one didn't go into them. they were inhabited by goblins, ghosts and fearsome animals.
finally they were past. he straightened, started to step into the path, then squatted again quickly. coming alone, behind the others, was the girl.
her slimness and pale hair made her stand out from the rest. his thoughts had been upon her since that day when his group passed the house of her father, an avocado master, down in the lower valley. she had called to them to wait, had run inside to come back with her two pouches, one for her personal belongings, the other for food. living on a fruit diet as they did, they ate most of their awakened hours.
"i'm theta!" she called out happily as she joined them. "mama says i'm old enough to go with you." she recognized a cousin and ran over to join her, her hair a spot of brightness among the dark. he wanted her from that moment, but she was far too young. he would have to wait.
coming towards theta from the opposite direction was the slap of flat feet.
in a moment henry recognized ole. he was considerably older than the others; his only object in life was enjoying all the young girls who joined the group. he was a bulky dullard and a bully, his eyes small and mean.
it was evident that he was looking for the girl. a pleased expression spread over his face when he saw her. she stopped abruptly, looking about for a way to flee, but the path was enclosed by woods and ole was on her.
"leave me alone!" she cried in anger as his hand closed about her wrist. henry could see disgust for him in her eyes. why didn't she let him have what he wanted and be done with him? that was the way most of the girls responded.
"won't have anything to do with me, eh?" gloated ole. "think you are too good for us! i been watching you, asking about you. none of the boys have had you ... but you won't get by me!"
henry felt a surge of sympathy for her, fed by his dislike for the other. he slipped into the path. he was almost up to them before he was seen. ole swung about, still holding the girl. henry stopped six feet off.
"why don't you let her alone if she doesn't want you?" he asked with deceiving mildness, apparently relaxed.
there was startled fright in ole's eyes. henry had appeared so suddenly, from nowhere. worse, he was proscribed. he was accused of learning witchery.
henry was taller than ole, but thin and almost weak looking. this would be something to boast about: capturing the witch singlehanded, bringing him in for punishment!
"make me let her alone, then!" he challenged.
it was usual to boast and strut before fighting. henry took the advantage of immediate attack. he sprang at the other, catching him before he unhanded the girl, with a right to the jaw, a left to the belly.
theta ran about fifty feet down the path, then turned to watch. ole, head down, was closing in to grip his opponent, but henry stepped to one side, coming up with a blow to ole's right eye. ole raised his guard and henry sank both fists into the other's stomach.
ole doubled up.
there was no fight in him. he plunged past henry, down the path towards the tavern. henry faced the girl. she came towards him without hesitation.
"thank you," she said. "i shouldn't have left the others. i didn't think he had noticed."
she walked slowly towards the tavern, henry beside her. the past year had made her taller, filled her out. yet the sweetness of her expression was the same, and the vitality in her face and eyes.
"he's been after you then?"
she nodded. "him and a couple of others."
it was just a turn in the path to sight of the tavern. henry halted.
"you seem to forget i'm proscribed," he reminded her.
"i don't care! i like you—always have." her voice became tragic, "why did you go into that awful learning house?"
"i got tired of wondering—wondering what kept the food in the bins fresh, how it got from the hoppers in the fields to the bins. what made the light and heat. where the water came from."
"but the old ones did it all by magic!"
"what kind of magic?" his face had a slightly mocking expression. "if that was so why are things beginning to break down? magic should go on forever."
from the direction of the tavern came sounds of shouting. he smiled at her. "you'd better go on before they think i've turned you into a bat."
"henry—" she began, but she had lingered too long. the whole group rounded the turn, trotting, their faces twisted in superstitious fury. they raised their arms when they sighted the two. each hand had a stone in it.
"she's one of them too!" screamed fat, malicious hecla, seeing a chance to vent her envy. "they're planning something! throw! throw!"
her voice was a hysterical shriek. henry saw the stones in the air. grasping the girl's wrist he drew her into the brush beside the path.
he stopped his flight under an ancient tree and let go her wrist.
"see," he said, "even to speak to me is dangerous."
she tossed her head and brushed the hair from her brow, her eyes scornful. "i don't care. i'm sick of them."
"you can go back. give them some fancy tale about my hexing you, but say that you crossed two sticks or something and got away."
she looked him squarely in the face, her own composed and determined. "i'd rather stay with you."
he dropped to a jutting rock and scraped at the dead leaves with the heel of his sandal.
"it's not nice," he began, "the life i live. hiding in the woods by day, sneaking into deserted houses or taverns at night for food and warmth. i've been doing it all summer now, and that's bad enough. in a month the masters of these upper levels will be closing their houses and the taverns, moving to town for the winter. everything on the lower levels will be taken up. they expect me to be starved into surrender."
theta dropped to her knees beside him.
"i'd rather be with you. i've wanted to be with you ever since i first saw you. but you never seemed to notice me."
"i noticed you." he placed a hand over hers. "but you were so young looking, so sweet. i was waiting for you to grow up a little more. then, when i found an open mastership, i was going to ask you to share it with me."
theta felt a tingling happiness. her face flushed, her eyes brightened.
"henry!" she cried. "i've always wanted you! that's why i never...."
he put an arm about her and pulled her close. they sat that way for minutes.
"i'll give you a mastership!" he cried out. "i'll give you the whole valley!" he pushed her shoulders around until she was facing him. "what is your first wish, mistress of the valley?"
"something to eat," she said promptly.
henry made a rueful face. "my dear, that is something you will have to become used to: being hungry. but fortunately i know of a ruined and deserted house where the bins are still operating."
the forest they were in filled a steep-sided ravine. he followed it for some distance, then started abruptly up the left-hand slope to a low-crowned crest planted with apple trees. a hundred yards away was the house.
one corner of it was crushed by a fallen tree. the low sun made shafts of light through the trees as henry approached it cautiously, theta behind him. he entered through the broken wall into what was once a bedroom, then through a door into the remainder of the house.
it was a typical living room they entered, with the regular ration of furnishings. the visiphone and visiscreen were set into the inner wall; a calendar clock was over the front door, its dial marked with symbols for planting, pruning, cutting and picking. the hand was approaching the latter symbol, henry went through into the kitchen, leaving her to watch through the window. he returned with a basket of mixed fruit.
she reached for an avocado, plucking her knife from its sheath with the other hand.
"hey! wait a minute!" henry cried. "you are a sinner now, remember?" he pushed the basket towards her. "fill your pouch first, eat later."
they ate, keeping an eye on the path towards the house until dark. no one moved at night except on extreme emergency, and then only with lanterns and noise. without lights on other than the normal glow of the walls they retired to one of the undamaged bedrooms.
"see?" she said, with a rippling, contented laugh. "i waited for you."
