Chapter 23: A Strange Accident

When they arrived back at camp, Harnley and Sharmon were sitting by the fire. Sharmon was cutting meat into smaller pieces and tossing them into a skillet. Harnley was poking at the fire with a stick.

They'd just joined them when Ernon came up the trail carrying his game bag over one shoulder. They all compared their catches. They all praised Cinnamon on finding the fruit, and said they'd have them with breakfast the next morning. Not that they weren't also pleased with everyone else's findings, as they were.

Ernon said, sitting down with them, "Since Sharmon's Jacquelopes are destined for lunch, how about we use these for soup tonight?" With that, he pulled out a couple of game birds from his bag.

Muriel said, "That's a great idea, and just what this weather calls for." She then offered to help pluck them.

Cinnamon had mixed feelings seeing the birds like that. She didn't exactly like seeing things hurt, but she also knew they had to eat. Then curious, she asked, "What kind of birds are they?"

"Ducks," Ernon answered her. Then he added, "But you'll want to be careful around these - they bite." He lifted one of the ducks heads and showed it to her.

It had a large wide bill that curled up a bit at the end, like that of a famous cartoon duck, but this one also had a pair of large sharp fangs sticking out of the sides.

"Oh my," Cinnamon said, surprised. It looks like a vampire Daffy or Count Duckula, or something, she thought. She couldn't help wondering if there were white ducks that looked like Donald. She giggled as she imagined Huey, Louie, and Dewey running around with capes and fangs,

Then she realized the others were looking at her with worried expressions on their, faces and blushed with embarrassment. "I'm sorry," she said, "They just reminded me of some cartoon ducks back home, and I couldn't help it."

"Cartoon? What might that be, lass?" Harnley asked.

"Um," Cinnamon scrambled for a way to explain. "It's... it's a moving picture show that uses hand drawn pictures instead of people."

"But why would that be funny?" Ernon asked.

"Um, well, ducks back home, real ones, don't look like that. They only look like that in cartoons, and cartoons are usually made to entertain kids," Cinnamon explained.

"Ah!" They all seemed relieved to know that Cinnamon wasn't cracking under the strain she must be feeling.of being away from home.

"What do ducks look like where you come from?" Muriel asked.

"Well, they don't have fangs," Cinnamon answered, "and their bills aren't that big."

"Oh, we have ducks like that too," Vanessa said.

"They just live further east," Ernon added.

"Oh!" Cinnamon said.

Before she could say anything else, Lancos came up the trail and called out, "Hey all, look what I've got!" He held out a long stick from which dangled several good-sized fish.

"Fish!" Cinnamon said, surprised, and then said, "Uh," as she saw one flap its tail.

"Nice catch," Ernon said.

"Aye, lad," Harnley agreed. The others agreed as well.

Muriel got up and went to take them from him. "I'll go put them in the stream to keep fresh," she said, taking the stick from him. She turned to take the fish to the stream, and then stopped. "Wait a minute!" she said, turning back towards him. "Lancos, don't tell me you've been goofing off while the rest of us have been working!" she demanded crossly.

"Of course not!" Lancos denied hastily. "I've been fishing."

"You've been napping while the rest of us have been working!" Muriel accused angrily.

"Uh, no, fishing - see the fish?" he said, warily, pointing to the still flopping fish.

"Yeah, right, you've been napping while waiting for the fish to bite," she said, angrily.

"I have not!" he denied, "I've,,, I've just been lying in wait. That's it, lying in wait."

"Uh, oh," Cinnamon whispered, seeing energy begin to crackle around Muriel's hands. The others saw it too.

"Ye might want to duck, lass," Harnley whispered to her, while raising an empty pot with which to deflect any stray shots.

Cinnamon swallowed nervously.

"Muriel, whether he slept or not, he did catch the fish," Ernon said, softly.

"Yeah, Hon, and they are nice ones," Vanessa added.

Muriel hesitated, "I suppose."

"Good, now why don't you come help me wash the veggies?" Vanessa asked.

"Ok," Muriel said, haltingly, but then turned to glare at Lancos, making him gulp, "but he can clean them himself!"

"Ah, Muriel," Lancos said, dejectedly, as she thrust the pole back in his hands and walked off to join Vanessa.

"Poor Lancos," Cinnamon said softly after he'd gone through the bushes to the stream.

"Aye, but he knows that lass has a temper," Harnley said. "He shouldn't have pushed his luck."

"Don't worry about him," Ernon said. "Muriel will calm down and apologize to him later."

Sharmon tossed the last piece of meat into the skillet, and moved the others around so they'd brown evenly. "Harnley, can you watch this? I'm going to dispose of this," indicating the bag at her feet, "and wash."

Harnley nodded. "Aye, lass."

Sharmon nodded back.

"After that, how about some archery practice while the food is cooking, Cinnamon?"

Startled Cinnamon said, "O... Ok."

Sharmon nodded to her, picked up the bag and headed towards where their bathroom area was. To bury it, Cinnamon presumed, and then shivered.

Sharmon came back a couple minutes later, and led Cinnamon towards the path. She stopped her several paces before it, and handed Cinnamon her bow. "Ok, your target is the tree on the other side of the path,"

Cinnamon gulped and said, "Ok."

Before Sharmon could give Cinnamon an arrow, Ernon, who'd followed them, said, "Cinnamon, Sharmon's bow may be a bit stronger than the ones you used back home. Why don't you take a practice pull first?"

Sharmon nodded to him at the wisdom of his suggestion.

Cinnamon said, "Ok," slowly brought the bow up and pulled the string back. When she lowered it again she was breathing heavily from the strain. Sweat had broken out along her brow, and her arms ached. Sharmon's bow was a lot heavier than the ones she'd used in class, but she had managed to pull it all the way back.

"Nice form," Sharmon complemented. Ernon agreed.

Cinnamon blushed and said, "Thanks."

"The bow does look a bit heavy for you though," Ernon said.

"It is more than I'm used too," Cinnamon agreed.

"I think you can manage it though. Give it another try," Sharmon told her.

Cinnamon brought the bow up, slowly pulled the string back, and then lowered it again. She did this twice more before Sharmon asked, "Ready to try it with an arrow?"