Wild boy Tarin is determined not to be captured by the men who live in the decaying Before Times buildings on the other side of Tarin’s woodland home, but he’s just as determined to protect the younger boys in the woods.

No one remembers being a child or knows where all the women have gone or how society crumbled, but for as long as they can remember, boys have lived in the woods and are hunted by the men each Fall. Some boys believe in a mysterious Lady who protects them, while others think the men are magic. Tarin knows better – he’s met a man, and escaped by stabbing him.

Hunted through the woods as he tries to protect the weaker Cory, Tarin is trapped and claimed by the very man he knifed. All Tarin wants is to stay in the woods and not have to get ‘civilized,’ but he’s carried off into a different world of rules and discipline. Will he be able to survive now that he is Out of the Woods?

Coming on September 28, 2011.

Tarin curled his toes a bit tighter against the bark as he scooted his butt back and leaned against the tree trunk. He huffed out a breath and watched his mouth-air swirl in the cold. His toes twitched. Stupid socks meant he could hardly hold on. He wriggled his ass, and his trousers unpuckered from his crack. Having a layer between him and the cold wasn't ungood. But it wasn't good either. He scowled and sucked hard on his honey treat. He was in a tree. It was a reward and he should enjoy it. If he didn't look down and see how close the ground was, he could imagine he was high up and solitary. Safe and alone.

He sighed. His reward wasn't the freeness he'd hoped for when he'd begged for a scramble up a tree. The bare limbs meant he was plainly visible. No private moment. He plucked at his snug top. His holly berry Shortest Day clothes stopped him feeling the world and were not going to help him be not-being-seen Tarin.

He squirmed. The no leaves and scarlet sweatshirt were not the real problem. The tree was in the middle of the Before Times quad. Cadets were running in groups through the slush and shouting songs. Tarin knew his freedom was just a few minutes of play. That wasn't the problem either. Tarin swallowed some honey juice. The real problem was stamping around under the tree slapping his own sides to keep warm. Tarin glowered at the yellow flop of hair, the bony beak, and straw jut of beard that were all he could see of his man's face.

"Bonded," growled Tarin, and rubbed his stupid tingling spine against the trunk. "Candle Day," he hissed to himself. "Be quiet, spine. Tarin waits!" Either his promise or the bark scratched the conscience itch enough. Tarin watched Garrick march in place. It wasn't warm clothes, good food, or even men that had Tarin trapped. It was his own self that kept him here.

And sitting in a tree, playing at being free, only heightened the civilized trap.

"Coming down," he hollered. "Not land on you!"

Garrick had already taken a precautionary pace back.

"Woof," said Tarin as he plummeted down and grinned at Garrick's teasing clutch at his own ribs. "Not squash you!"

"Not twice squashed," said Garrick, rubbing where Tarin had once cracked his man's chest. "Get your feet in those go-sloshes before you take another step. Gideon will kill us both if your feet get cold."

"Socks," grumbled Tarin, glaring at the hated things. "Wearing them."

Tarin's Treats, Games,  and Songs

Wild boy Tarin is a fine hunter and misses his woodland foods. Hot deer and wobbly eggs are very, very tasty and white happy lumps are better than sharing gifts on a spring day, but men really don’t know all the good things there are to eat. Here’s what he misses the most since he became Twice-Caught Tarin and is suffering through being “civilized.”

Squirrel on a Stick! 

Catch your squirrel. Skin and gut. Save its skin.  Spit it on a stick. Hold it over the fire. Eat! Yum.

Rabbit on a Stick! 

Catch your rabbit. Skin and gut. Save its skin.  Spit it on a stick. Hold it over the fire. Eat! Yum.

Possum on a Stick!

Catch your possum. Skin and gut. Save its skin.  Spit it on a stick. Hold it over the fire. Eat! Yum.

Fish on a Stick!

Catch your fish. Gut it. Do not skin it.  Only men would need to be told that!  Spit it on a stick. Hold it over the fire. Be ready to catch the falling apart bits. Eat! Yum.

Eggs Not on a Stick.

Climb a tree. Look in the nest.  Do not get pecked.  Only take one egg.  Crack egg over mouth and swallow. Yum!

Tarin’s Song Book

The men in Tarin’s world love to sing!  They have a variety of old songs -- some re-created correctly from the Before Times and others less well -- that they use to celebrate, to teach their boys, and to comfort the boys (and themselves!) 

All the songs in Out of the Woods are real folk songs, camp songs, nursery rhymes, or lullabies.  By their nature these songs rarely have one set form, and they continued to evolve in Tarin’s world as they are misremembered or deliberately adapted. 

The cadets sing about greasy gopher guts and accuse each other of stealing as they clap and stamp. 

There are songs about their crafts and labors such as “Inch by inch, row by row, boys make this garden grow” and “Oats and beans and barley grow.”  There are also gratitude songs during Mothers’ Services.  Tarin likes to sing and has begun to join in during the gratitude songs -- they have lots of clapping and stamping. 

Tarin also likes the lullabies.  Early on Ofer sings “I see the moon” to the new boys as a lullaby and Tarin thinks it’s spoiled by having a “poxy mother” added in.  However, he is soothed by Titus when he sings “Bye baby bunting, Garrick’s gone a hunting” and Tarin even sings it to himself later and adds “Gone to get a rabbit skin, To wrap his bonded Tarin in…”

When Garrick lies ill, Tarin sings a lullaby and even accepts the men’s Mother Adapted version: 

I my loving vigil keeping

All through the night.

While the moon’s a mother’s watch is keeping

All through the night.

In Twice Caught, a boy gets melancholy with the song The Water is Wide. 

Sometimes the men tease their boys with songs and affectionate ditties.  Tarin, of course, doesn’t care for being patronized or teased.  He is irritated by Jonas and Aran singing “Three Little Kittens” during boys’ lessons, and is tricked by Socorro singing "three Little Pigs."  So far he’s narrowly avoided Edon’s “foo foo song”  -- a version of the camp song Little Bunny Foo Foo adapted to Tarin.

Out of the Woods has a cast of thousands, and, when it’s combined with the boys’ system of classifying themselves and the men’s ranking system, it can all get a bit mind boggling. Here’s a guide to who’s who, but I can’t promise that there aren’t a few details or people left out to avoid spoilers.

The Boys live in the woods and believe in the Lady. They count their age by how many summers they have spent in the woods. They usually arrive in the woods when they are eleven or twelve. During the year, the men may catch a few unwary boys, but they are bonuses. No boy escapes past his seventh summer. The official boy hunt takes place in late fall. The men classify newly-caught boys as one- or two-band boys to indicate how long before they are available as partners. A one-band boy is available at the end of that winter. A two-band boy will be available the next winter as a partner, but can provide community labor during his first year since all boys learn a skill to contribute to the community’s progress.

The men try to catch ten to twelve one-band boys each year, but not enough of that age are always available, hence the need for two-band boys. Even though two-band boys are not sexually available, they do work. When Tarin is caught, the community has just over one hundred boys living in it, and there about two hundred men and cadets. Exclusive relationships are reserved for officers, and, since boys are rarely designated as community property, available boys are at a premium. In this year’s boy hunt, the men caught seven one-band boys – all about nineteen – and five two-band boys – all about eighteen.

Example boys:

Twice-Caught Tarin (our hero!) is a seven-summer boy and has just turned nineteen when the men capture him in the hunt. He is a one-band boy and would usually be assigned to an officer at the end of the winter. Tarin is an exception because he’s been pre-assigned to Captain Garrick (Beak-face) as a result of being temporarily caught in early fall.

Cory (the weasel!) is a six-summer boy, and has just turned eighteen. He is a two-band boy, and will be trained in a skill for a year before he is assigned to an officer.

Here are the other boys.

Eloi is twenty-five. He belongs to the commander, Sten. He works in the kitchens and is proficient in butchery.

Simeon is twenty-five. He belongs to Titus, the religious leader. He helps train new boys in understanding the Mothers and works in the herb gardens.

Socorro is twenty-five. He belongs to Gideon, the healer. He and Simeon are twins. He tends the herb gardens and specializes in making salves and calm tea. He is the first-aid provider for boys and younger cadets.

Matok is twenty-two and belongs to Helem, the blacksmith and armorer. He was caught the same year as Ofer. His community task is tailoring and leatherwork.

Ofer is twenty-two and was Aran’s protector. Ofer ran away, and, as a result, has been gelded, had his big toes removed, and lost officer’s boy status. He is now a community possession and does general chores. He was a gardener.

Aran is twenty-one and was Mart’s woodland protector. He is assigned to the librarian and also works in the library as his community task.

Mart is twenty and was Tarin’s protector back in the woods. He is Lieutenant Cale’s boy, and his community task is bath attendant. He is an expert in massage and soothing vapors.

Perry is the same age as Tarin, and was caught in the same hunt.  He is worried about being seen as a troublemaker if he is known as Tarin’s friend.

Kerr is also the same age as Tarin, and was caught with him.

Daol and Damon are eighteen-year-old twins. They are newly caught two-band boys. The men joke that they are symbiotic since they only commune with each other, won’t be separated, and are hard for others to understand.

Gram is sixteen and still in the woods. Tarin used to try to look out for him.

The Men organize themselves in a military manner. Their younger members arrive at the barracks at the same age as new boys arrive in the woods. They spend their teens as cadets learning to fight, hunt, study, and worship the Mothers.

The men count ages from birth, and this confuses Tarin who can’t fathom actually being nineteen -- that’s ancient and ready to die in his opinion. Around fifteen, cadets apprentice to one of the main skills. All men are soldiers, but, like the boys, they all acquire a community skill. At eighteen, they are eligible to enter the ranks of men, and can start working their way up.

In their final year as cadet, they have some supervised sexual access to communal boys. All men have more privacy than cadets and boys, but until they reach the rank of sergeant they have shared quarters. After the rank of lieutenant, they are eligible for a personal boy, and an apartment. Colonels and generals may have two boys to run their private houses.

Men progress up the ranks through skill and leadership, and in their pre-officer years they are collectively responsible, under the command of sergeants and master sergeants, for the cadets and new boys. Promotions only happen once a year on Candle Day, but are not automatic. Becoming an officer before twenty-five years old is unlikely, and many are closer to thirty when they finally become lieutenant. There is no stigma attached to not seeking promotion, but there is a lack of communally available boys so being an officer is desirable. To progress to officer, men must continue to study and train, and contribute some new knowledge to the community. This could be something researched and rediscovered from the Before Times or something new all together.

The officers form a democracy, but they have a ruling council made up of the highest ranking officer from their main skill groups. The community has two co-leaders: the head of the religious group and the head of the hunters.

Main Skill Groups

·         Religious Guides. They are the conduit to the Mothers, in charge of moral and spiritual needs, and perform all initiation and promotion ceremonies. The group includes some teachers. They are also in charge of morale and entertainment.

·         Hunters. As well as hunting for food, hunters also scavenge for technology, search Before Times buildings for goods, and explore and map the area. While all men are soldiers, some of the hunters are those who have chosen to specialize as warriors. All men provide watch duty, but they are commanded by warriors.

·         Teachers and Scribes. This group includes librarians and researchers as well as the community record keepers. The librarians are a vital source of knowledge for all new projects and especially so in guiding and evaluating officer projects. All men are taught to read and write. Their cadet years are spent in education as well as military training. Since all groups have apprentices, most men are teachers to some degree.

·         Healers – they provide all medical care, but also include chemists and herbalists. They work closely with the gardeners and the religious guides as herbs and Mothers’ intervention are vital in cures.  

·         Builders – as well as maintaining the Before Times buildings and keeping old technology working, they invent and build new technology. They are engineers, mechanics, and carpenters, but they also include other “makers” such as tailors, and leatherworkers.

·         Gardeners and cooks – as well as growing produce and cooking, they also keep chickens and bees and work closely with the healers.

The groups work together and share knowledge. All loyalty is to the overall community; any competition is friendly group rivalry. Members can transfer to a different group with a simple request to Sten or Titus although their rank may need to be adjusted.

Examples:

Lieutenant Cale is twenty-nine, and was elevated to officer rank from master sergeant last winter, and has owned Mart for a year. He was surprised to have his request for a boy granted in his first year. As well as being a soldier, Cale is an engineer and mechanic, and his officer project was a new technique for generator fuel. In part, it was his contribution of improving reliable power in winter that earned him a boy so early in his officer career.

Captain Garrick (Beak-face) is a hunter. He is thirty-two. He has waited a few years for a personal boy through a combination of a lack of boys and none of them catching his fancy. His officer project was recreating effective rod-and-line fishing techniques from Before Times supplies. Against his better judgment, he is determined to tame twice-caught Tarin.

Here are the other men.

Titus is the head of the religious group, and sits on the council. With the military leader, he is co-commander of the community. Although he is a religious leader, he is still a soldier and is a general. At thirty-nine, he is the oldest of the men. He is prematurely grey-haired. His boy is Simeon, brother of Gideon’s boy.

Sten is the head of the hunters and warriors, and sits on the council. He is a general. He is a few months younger than Titus. He is co-commander, with Titus, of the community. His boy is Eloi.

Gideon is a colonel, senior officer among the healers, and sits on the council. His boy is Socorro.

Helem is a colonel and the community’s blacksmith / armorer. He chooses to be in the hunter / warrior group rather than the builder / engineer group. He is second in command in that group, and substitutes for Sten on the council when Sten is away hunting. His boy is Matok.

Jonas is a major and up for promotion to colonel this year. He is a librarian and the head of the teachers and scribes, and therefore sits on the council. His boy is Aran.  Jonas is Jadon’s younger brother.

Jadon is a major. His promotion to colonel has been put on hold as a disciplinary measure. He used to own Ofer. He is not eligible to own a boy until he makes colonel.  He is still the head of the builders and engineers as he is too skilled to demote. His officer project was a team project with Jonas, his “little” brother. They figured out what the mysterious shiny divids were, how the divid players worked, and how to conserve enough fuel each month for a divid night.

Lorn is a major and up for promotion to colonel this year. He is the head of the gardeners and cooks. He has never chosen a boy.

Edon is a sergeant and is currently in charge of cadets and brand new boys. He is due for promotion to master sergeant this winter; however, he is worried about qualifying for officer. He’s a very good leader, but is not big on studying. He is not eligible for a personal boy yet, but as the sergeant directly supervising the new boys’ training he has access to them. He wants to be an officer as he has his eye on a certain boy.

Micah – aka fat cadet – is one of two cadets who helps capture Tarin. He is in his final year as a cadet. He is in charge of supervising the two-band cohort of boys.

Kenan is the other cadet who helps capture Tarin. He is in his final year as a cadet. He is in charge of supervising the one-band cohort of boys.