Chapter 22
A Forced Bond
Veles hacked at the young fir tree four times in fluid strokes. Four strokes, and four perfectly spaced notches, one above the other. The tree, weakened by the notches, could not withstand his fifth blow. What was left was an exact half of a trunk. The sixth blow was a sideways chop, felling the tree at its middle. Antomír had seen him do it more than ten times already over the last few weeks. It took him a long time to realize that Veles was making a large animal trap, set between the felled stumps of young trees. Then Veles, in three easy-looking strokes, made a U-shaped notch in the stump where the sharp stake would fit perfectly for the trap. He threw the axe to Antomír.
“Your turn.”
Antomír looked at his hands. They were half blue, half red from bruises an
