Mut-Bity started walking even faster. The old man had trouble keeping up with her and had to yank his reluctant donkey by the rope to make it get a move on in the heat.
"He did not speak to me, but I heard him talking to someone. Then he strode off towards the fields," the old man kept on talking.
"Did you hear what he said?" Mut-Bity asked.
"Something about a pale child... So he must have been coming to find you. He must have been one of your family, child."
I took a few quicker steps to grab Mut-Bity's hand and did not look at the man.
"Her family is not here, and I know this man is not of her kin, despite their similar skin." Mut-Bity said, "And a word of warning to you – if you ever see him again, try not to draw his attention to you in any way. You very life may depend on you staying unnoticed. He is dangerous."
The man stopped in his tracks.
"He is no longer here. He's gone," Mut-Bity said, before the man asked, "and I very much doubt he will come back anymore. But still, keep away from the pale ones, especially if they have golden eyes."
The man was obviously very nervous after this. He led the donkey to the side of the field and clearly wanted the deal to be done with as soon as possible.
"You only have nine hives?" he asked. "That doesn't give much honey."
"Here I have only these nine, yes," Mut-Bity said.
Her little fire was still alive and she took a piece of dung that was smoking well. Then she stood and started humming with a low voice. The sound always turned my skin to goose bumps. While she hummed, she bound a special leather- and fabric saddle on the small donkey. It had two great pouches made of the coarsest linen, one on each side of the donkey, and thin ropes threaded over the top of the saddle, so that they hung freely on either side.
And the bees came. They flew in a swarm through the air, and into the hives. All went in, none came out. Mut-Bity kept on humming until no bees were flying anymore, and then gently wafted the smoke around the hives and placed stops made of tightly wrapped linen in the openings. It kept the bees inside but let air through.
Then she just lifted the hives, one by one, and put them in the pouches which kept them parallel to the little donkey's sides. She tied each hive to its place inside the pouch with one of the ropes hanging from top of the saddle so they stayed on top of each other - carefully twisting the loose ends around the hives and back up again. The ropes were long enough so that she could tie them back up to a special wooden knob at the top. I knew the frame of the saddle was made of wood, and the knob was attached to this frame.
Four hives on one side, five on the other. The pouches themselves were carefully made to wrap tightly around the hives and so limited their movement, especially after Mut-Bity tied the pouches together with yet another rope, under the donkey's belly, which made the animal look at her with such a hilarious disbelief I started to giggle.
"I have never seen such a thing..." the old man said admiringly. "You invented this yourself?"
Mut-Bity nodded, but did not speak. Instead she kept on humming – and the bees answered. You could hear them buzzing to her. She raised her voice - they buzzed higher, she lowered her hum - theirs soothed to a sleepy hum too.
The man did not know if he should believe his ears or not.
"You... talk their language?" he finally asked.
Mut-Bity only smiled.
"You are a powerful magician!" the man almost bowed to Mut-Bity.
He kept silent until the donkey reached the River, listening to Mut-Bity and the bees humming to each other. Once the hives had been lifted off his donkey and into the waiting boat - how Mut-Bity had known our boat would be there waiting I had no idea - and he received his precious pot of honey, he turned and began almost running back towards the village, turning once to glance at us with a scared look. His donkey trotted happily behind him, eager to get back to the village from the hot fields.
I was certain that by the time the evening came, all of this would turn into a good story where he would be the hero who chased away a dangerous stranger and met a magician who spoke the language of the bees.
xxxx
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Link to Amazon: http://amzn.to/1T5GgnE - you can also click on the "external link" below.
If you prefer the printed version of the book, you find it here:
https://www.createspace.com/6308329
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Nephilim Quest Book 1: Shadowhunter
FantasyDana's best friend Kitty has died in a car accident, and the only ray of light in the misery is when her grandmother appears in her spiffy red sports car to cheer her up. At the same time a nightmarish shadow appears to hunt Dana and she has to flee...
