Page 80 of Tiger's Trek
Narrowing her eyes, Veru bit her bottom lip. It was one of her tells, and she typically had to force herself to avoid doing it, but she allowed it now since she knew the old woman couldn’t see her anyway. Glancing down at the cat in her lap, she stopped petting him and purposely picked him up and set him down on the floor. He meowed and rolled to his side and began licking his paw as if he didn’t care.
“How interesting,” Veru said demurely. “Do go on. I find what you said fascinating.”
It was one of her catchall lines that she’d memorized long ago when she didn’t know what else to say. She was sure it wouldn’t work with the old woman, but she figured it would at least buy her some time to come up with something else. Luckily for Veru, the woman chose to further explain.
“The boy was easy. Wasn’t much left there to find. Just a nudge here and a push there, and I was able to get all I needed from him. But you? You’re a much harder read. Shifty. Like I said.”
“Am I to assume by all this that you are implying you can read our minds?” Danik asked.
“There’s no implying about it, boy,” Yuga said. “Let’s call it one of my gifts.”
Danik pressed, “And what exactly are you seeking?”
“Not the secrets of the universe, if that’s what you’re worried about.” Yuga snickered in a condescending tone, and Veru frowned. She didn’t like how the woman was treating Danik. It was as if he was too simpleminded for her to take notice of him. From what Veru knew about the young man, he was anything but simple. He was a man of deep feeling. Danik was sensitive. He noticed things. Things that others didn’t.
Veru’s parents had taught her that intelligence shouldn’t be measured by certificates, degrees, power, money, or anything else most people put stock into, but that it should be weighed more by how a person observed and evaluated the items that impacted their worldview. This meant that wisdom could be found just as much while seated at the feet of a humble sheep farmer as it could listening to a clergyman. That answers might be sought at the table of a baker making rolls or at a table of diplomats.
She knew that there was a difference between intelligence and knowledge. Natural gifts and talents could be something one was born with, but if a gift wasn’t developed, it could decline or never develop its potential. On the other hand, a person with a mediocre ability could work hard and practice until they became a master craftsman.
Knowledge could be taught, but it didn’t come only from teachers and mentors. She’d seen some develop great gifts on their own, simply by reading. Others would take to the mountaintops, meditate, or commune with the skies until they achieved wisdom or enlightenment. This, also, was knowledge that descended from above, dropping like dew from the heavens, to bestow truths upon the minds of those who diligently sought answers.
“If a person wanted to discover the secrets of the universe,” Veru said, “I would think someone capable of and willing to unlock the mind of a hunter who loves animals might just be worthy of such a treasure.”
Yuga pursed her lips, wrinkling them as she considered first Veru and then Danik. Then she shook her head and smiled craftily. “Ya get nothin’ for free, young miss. Told you flattery won’t work on me, pretty though the words may be.”
Veru folded her arms. “That wasn’t flattery. That was truth.”
“Bah. Let’s get on with it. Now I’ve heard your exhausting list. And in exchange, here’s mine.”
She started listing things on her knobby fingers, but Veru stopped her immediately by grabbing her hands. “Before you continue, you should know that the eternal servitude is the only thing we’re putting on the table. You demand anything else, and we’re done.”
“Is that so?”
“It is.”
“What if I were to offer up something else? A prize you didn’t consider?” she tempted.
“Such as?” Veru asked.
The woman drummed her fingers on the table, considering. “Tell you what—I’ll agree to your terms. In fact, I’ll give you everything you’ve asked for, including the aforementioned prize, if the two of you agree to complete not one but three more tasks before I return with the ingredients I need to finish this potion I’m making.”
“Tell us the tasks, and we’ll decide if we agree.”
“Very well. Since you’ve been helped by my knights—and losing them would prove a huge loss to me—the tasks will be associated with them. If they are meant to be freed, then perhaps the tasks will not be so hard for you, eh?” Yuga began cackling, and it made the hairs stand up on Veru’s arms.
“The first task is to take this cup and dip it into the water where the white knight’s emblem rises each day. Then fill my barrel here with the water. The second is to shear all the sheep guarded by the red knight, then weave it into a bolt of cloth. The third is to take this jar of white sesame seeds and this jar of black sesame seeds and give them to the black knight. While he holds them, you will be allowed to gather the wheat he watches over.
“When this is complete, he will allow you to come collect the sesame seeds once more, whichyouwill then return to me, along with the wheat. Once I have all these items in my possession—the water, the wheat and sesame seeds, and the cloth—your tasks are complete and you will have won your freedom, along with the prizes you have stipulated and the gift I have promised you.”
“And you’ll put all of this in writing?” Veru asked.
“I will.”
Veru turned the paper to the woman. But when she said she couldn’t write, as she couldn’t see well, she proceeded to dictate her words and had Veru copy them down for her, trusting that the tsarevna would complete it, as she put it forth after she ensured such by murmuring a truth incantation. When Veru tested it by deliberately trying to write the wrong word, the ink kept drying up. The cackle from Yuga every time that happened told her all she needed to know. There would be no tricking the woman.
When all the items were listed, and the tasks were marked down in order, Veru pored over it, searching for traps.
“And we can accomplish these tasks in any way we see fit?” Veru asked.
