Текст книги "Quest for the Faradawn"

Автор книги: Richard Ford

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CHAPTER XV

The animals walked through the frozen fields in silence, each nursing his grief privately like a wound. With the loss of their home they felt as if they had been cut adrift and were floating aimlessly in nothing; the lifeline that had always reached out to them wherever they might be had gone for there was nowhere to go back to. They walked in a dream; their only security now was the security of the journey, and their only home wherever they happened to be at any particular moment. They had just lost everything and were not yet able to appreciate the safety of having nothing more to lose. They would never forget the pain of their grief that night but in time it would become less sharp and would become simply a part of themselves instead of this huge dark cloud which dominated and threatened them constantly, hanging over them so that they were unable to escape its shadow. And Brock and Nab, although they could never think of Tara without the tears coming to their eyes, would eventually be able to talk about her and their times together with some happiness at their recollection.

They had to walk slowly because of Sam’s injured leg, which was getting worse the farther they went so that now his limp was very pronounced and the wound had opened up and begun to bleed again. Worse even than that was the fact that the cold got into the gash on his head, making it throb terribly and giving him a splitting headache.

Perryfoot had found it impossible to walk at all and very early on, when they had just passed out of sight of the wood, Beth had torn off part of one of her tee-shirts and fashioned a makeshift sling which she tied around Nab’s neck and then placed the hare in, much to the boy’s surprise and Perryfoot’s delight. At first he had been apprehensive but as he got more used to the idea of being carried in this way he began looking around with some of his old arrogance and Nab detected a familiar twinkle of mischief in his black eyes. When he was alert like this his ears stuck up erect and now they kept getting in Nab’s face, but after a while the combination of utter exhaustion and the rhythm and warmth of Nab’s body as he walked, lulled the hare into a deep sleep so that his ears fell flat along his back out of the way.

Warrigal flew ahead of them, low over the fields at about hedge height and it seemed to Nab, watching him swoop and glide like a shadow, that he had spent the last half of his life travelling like that with the owl always just in sight leading them to their destination.

He looked down at Perryfoot’s closed eyes and smiled inwardly at the thought that the hare at least was in peaceful oblivion. Beth, holding his hand by his side, had long since given up trying to make any sense out of what she was doing and abandoned herself to the rhythm of the walk. It seemed a long time now since she had left the cottage, and the image of her mother crying frantically for her as she stood in the doorway flashed back into her mind as a memory from a forgotten world. Even the magical happiness of their walk to Silver Wood seemed to have taken place an age ago so dark was the cloud of misery that now hung over the animals. And she shared their grief for, in a sense, she too had lost her home and her loved ones as well as having seen the ruin of theirs. Already she felt as if she had known the boy for years, so easy and relaxed did she feel with him and despite the fact that they had not been able to say two words to each other which could be understood. Yet this did not seem to matter, so close was the empathy and understanding which for some miraculous reason seemed to exist between them. She turned her head slightly to the right to look at him as he walked by her side. His head was bowed now and the anger that had filled his dark eyes seemed to have given way to a dull sorrow which had even touched the way he walked so that instead of the limitless energy which had seemed to propel him before, his steps seemed plodding and tired. She suddenly felt an enormous wave of sympathy towards him and a wish to protect him and look after him and make him happy again. She had no idea of where they were travelling or why but she sensed that in some way they were involved in the making of history and that the boy was somehow in the centre of it and that he would need all the love and care she could give him in the days ahead. She gently squeezed his hand and he looked at her as if he understood all that she was thinking and was grateful. She smiled and he returned her smile and for a moment he escaped the clutches of the nightmare that was pulling at his mind. When she smiled it was as if a shaft of sunlight had pierced a darkened room, providing hope and encouragement for the future; a glimmer of joy at the end of a tunnel of gloom, urging him to go forward to meet it and to become lost in its brilliance. Nab wondered whether or not, without her, he would have had any will to carry on. He glanced quickly behind him and saw, some way behind, the limping figure of Sam and by his side Brock, looking old and worn. In the sling at his front lay Perryfoot, unable even to walk and only Warrigal, in front, seemed remotely capable of undertaking the enormity of the task which they had to accomplish.

When the Christmas bells tolled at midnight, sending peals of music over the moonlit fields, Beth’s heart was touched by a pang of homesickness but the animals stopped and looked at each other grimly in anticipation of the slaughter it foretold.

In Silver Wood, in the old days, a Council Meeting would have been called to discuss tactics and to prepare the wood in readiness. ‘They have nearly all gone now,’ thought Brock. ‘Only Wythen is left.’

His mind flashed back with a little thrill of recollection to that Council Meeting, so many seasons ago, when he had broken the news of the arrival of a baby Urkku in the wood. And then he realized, as did the others, that although by the time the killing began they would be a long distance away from the wood nevertheless they would still have to be extremely careful, wherever they were, for the slaughter went on all over the land.

And so they trudged on slowly with their thoughts drifting between the past, the future and the present, and the only sound the crunching of the frozen surface of the snow as they walked. The trees, dark, shadowy and mysterious in the moonlight, seemed to move in acknowledgement as they passed, the boughs dipping slightly, and the sound of the breeze in the branches seeming to greet them and wish them good fortune on their journey.

In the distance the little copse towards which their eyes were fixed stood out clearly on the skyline where it stood encircling the top of a large hummock which grew like an enormous molehill on the relatively flat stretch of moors surrounding it. Soon the colour of the sky behind the copse grew lighter and the animals found themselves among the gently rolling foothills which led up to the flat summit of this small range of hills and, as the first rose-pink streaks of dawn began to appear in the sky to herald the beginning of a new day, Christmas Day, they stood looking across a bleak expanse of moorland in the middle of which was the copse. The snow here was deeper and the wind was quite strong so that it had drifted in the little hollows and against the tussocks and the walking was difficult. Brock and Sam could now only go very slowly because of the dog’s injury and the others had to keep waiting for them. The wind was much colder up here and Beth was thankful that she had brought so many clothes; looking at Nab’s bare legs she gave a little shiver and huddled deep into her grandmother’s cape. They saw no other animals but there was the occasional track of a hare in the snow and once or twice they heard the chuckling of a grouse in the distance. Finally, as a pale watery sun appeared in the clear morning sky, they climbed up the slope of the hummock and entered the copse. They carried on climbing through firs and the occasional twisted oak until they reached the top which was bare of trees and through which sharp angular outcrops of rock showed, where the wind had blown away the snow. The snow had also been blown off the heather and clumps of it clung on to the patches of earth between the rock or else seemingly grew out of the rock itself, its roots finding a precarious foothold in the cracks. It moved with the wind as seaweed moves with the waves and the strong gusts seemed to be trying to pull it away, yanking at it savagely.

Amongst these rocks each of the travellers found a sheltered spot and sat looking down across the bleak expanse below them where the moors stretched away into the distance before dropping down sharply into the valleys and clefts of more foothills and then finally levelling out into a huge plain; and although they could not see it they knew that at the far end of that plain was the ocean towards which they were heading. As they sat with the wind blowing in their faces and making their eyes water and with what seemed to be the whole world laid out beneath them they felt the power of the place fill them with strength and energy. Each of them seemed to grow inwardly until their spirit was bigger than their body and escaped the physical confines in which it had been trapped for so long to leap out into the mountain air and dance joyously in the wind. No longer did the sufferings of their bodies seem important; they seemed to be outside themselves, looking down as they soared into the sky and flew on the wind. This place was one of the Scyttels or places of power, guessed at by many, and whose existence is hinted at in legend and song, but known only to the elves and those with the power of magic. It is at the Scyttels that the elves gather for rejuvenation of their magic and at the greatest of them it is said that the Elflords are visited by Ashgaroth. Thus it was that the Lord Wychnor had chosen this copse as their starting place, for there Nab, as one with the power of magic, would be enabled to get his bearings and to follow the currents of the earth to the Elflords of the Sea and of the Mountains by means of the secret ways, or Roosdyche, which join the Scyttels one to the other.

Nab and Beth were perched together in a little rocky crevice between two enormous boulders, their bodies braced against the wind, exulting in the power of the place and the warmth of each other as they huddled close. They sat like that until the sun was high in the blue sky and then weariness overtook them and they lay down together behind the rock out of the wind and went to sleep. Nab had dropped straight off as soon as his eyes had closed but Beth had lain awake for a while thinking and staring at a sparrowhawk hovering way above them in the distance. She was marvelling at the deep contentment which she felt within herself and luxuriating in the peacefulness of it. Finally when the sparrowhawk had swooped away out of sight she turned to look at Nab lying beside her, his body moving rhythmically as he breathed the deep breath of sleep and his legs curled up into his chest with his head resting on his two hands clasped together under it for a pillow. Then smiling to herself she gently wrapped her arms around him from behind, snuggled up, against him and went off to sleep.

The rest of the animals had also gone to sleep; Sam, Brock and Perryfoot together in a little hollow behind a boulder just beneath Nab and Beth, and Warrigal perched on an old root of heather which he had found on one side of the hollow. They slept all the rest of Christmas Day and all that night, finally waking up the following dawn feeling marvellously refreshed; the cloud of sorrow which they had carried with them from Silver Wood seemed to have been blown away in the wind, leaving them with sad memories but freeing them from the claustrophobia of their earlier misery. Now they felt ready and eager to press on; they got up from the warmth of their sleeping places and, looking back fondly at their first home of the journey, they began to make their way back down from the rocks.

They had just reached the bottom of the belt of trees and were about to emerge on to the heather covered slope at the base of the little hill when, ahead of them, Warrigal stopped and, perching on a low branch moved his wings slowly up and down. That was the signal to wait and, an instant later, they saw a line of Urkku come into sight walking slowly along the flat stretch of moors at the bottom of the hill beneath them. They all held guns resting in the crooks of their arms so that they pointed out from their bodies and down to the ground. They were just like the organized slaughterers that the animals had seen coming through Silver Wood and they made those same funny shouting and whooping noises to frighten the animals into showing themselves. Nab and the others froze where they were and then sank down slowly behind the trees; Beth felt her wrist gripped tightly and she responded as quietly and carefully as she was able to the boy’s gestures. The line slowly passed by them, hardly looking to left or right, and to the relief of the animals not turning and coming towards them up the hill as they had dreaded. Soon all that could be seen was a row of backs retreating into the distance but then they heard the rapid frightened chatter of some grouse and, a second later, the cracks of the guns as the morning yielded up its toll of death. Then Perryfoot, lying at Nab’s side, saw to his horror a large mountain hare suddenly jump up from its night time resting place and race off in front of the guns. The shots, as they were fired, seemed to jerk the hare back as if there was a length of string attached to its neck which had suddenly run out and pulled it up short. They watched as it lay twitching and crying on the ground until one of the Urkku came up to it, kicked it over with his foot and then beat it over the head with the butt of his gun. Perryfoot was whimpering and shivering uncontrollably with fear at the sight of what had so nearly happened to him and at the other side of him Nab could feel Beth trying to free her hand and get up. She was not yet used to sights such as this, as were the others, and the anger in her burnt fierce and keen like a flame which has just burst into life. Nab motioned to her to get down and stop pulling but she took no heed. However she was no match for the iron grip of the boy and soon she gave up and began to sob quietly. Nab and the others found to their surprise that Wythen’s parting words enabled them to control their emotions; ‘… yet channel your hatred into determination for success in what you must do, for that will lead to the ultimate victory.’ So their anger became submerged in their overall purpose; they were fighting the Urkku now in the pursuit of their wider goal. This was merely a battle; they were fighting the war. What they had just seen, and would doubtless see again many times before the end, merely strengthened their resolve to succeed.

And yet, watching the magnificent creature that a second ago had been vibrant with life and grace being clubbed to death slowly over the head, it was impossible to remain totally detached and objective and Nab felt tears start from the corners of his eyes and trickle down his face.

Eventually the Urkku vanished into the far distance and the animals felt able to relax again. Warrigal flew back to them where they lay amongst the trees and they all decided to stay where they were until after Sun-High to give the Urkku plenty of time to get clear.

‘We shall rest here, then, until mid-afternoon,’ said Warrigal, ‘and then we shall have to travel through the night.’ This of course suited him and Brock but Sam and Perryfoot felt more at home in the daylight. Nab did not mind travelling by day or night as he was equally comfortable in either, but on balance it was agreed by them all that it was generally safer in the evening and at night as there were less likely to be Urkku abroad. The sky was still bright and clear and the mid-morning sun was quite warm in any shelter they could find from the cold wind. So once again they settled down behind clumps of heather and tree trunks and were soon lightly sleeping with the warmth of the sun on their eyelids.

Sam was the first to wake up in the afternoon and he roused the others. It was quite a different day to the one they had closed their eyes on. The sky was full of large ominous black clouds and the wind had died down slightly and changed direction so that it was also warmer.

‘Rain,’ said Brock as he lifted his nose and sniffed at the air, and just as they left the trees the first large wet spots began to fall. Beth put up the hood of her cloak and felt grateful for its cover as she heard the rain pattering down on it. They headed out over the stretch of moors through which the Urkku had walked that morning with Warrigal once again in the lead. However, he had to keep stopping now and conferring with Nab for it was the boy who was able to feel most strongly the currents in the earth which told them the way to follow. The rain soon began to turn the hard crisp surface of the snow into a wet soft slush and the going became more difficult as they departed from the route along which the shoot had gone and headed into an area of bog where the green spongy surface of moss and rushes squelched beneath their feet and Beth found her wellingtons sinking in almost to the top. Perryfoot, although he was much better, was still unable to keep pace with the others so he was being carried again by Nab but Sam was having great difficulty behind them as his legs kept sinking in the mulch and Brock had to help him out.

Fortunately they were soon clear of the bog and now they began to descend through the foothills. It was less sharp and craggy here; instead gentle green slopes and soft valleys surrounded them and here and there they saw flocks of sheep grazing, seemingly oblivious to the weather. Soon they were walking through a particularly deep valley with a rushing stream on one side and they were completely hidden from view by the steep banks on either side which were covered with gorse bushes, thorn trees and the strewn remains of last year’s bracken, standing out dark brown with the wet. The sky ahead was full of the pinks and crimsons of sunset and the dark clouds had broken up allowing shafts of cold winter sunlight to break through. The rain had stopped but with its departure the cold wind had returned adding to the discomfort they all felt at still being soaked from the rain. In a way the sunlight made them feel worse as it gave the illusion of warmth and made them even more aware of how cold and damp they were. Wearily they trudged on through the valley along a muddy path that ran next to the stream. Sam’s wounds had begun to ache badly again and he and Brock were falling further and further behind until, as dusk drew in, the others had to keep stopping to let them catch up or they would have been out of sight. Gone now was the magic euphoria of the Scyttel when the power of the rocks and the wind had filled them with a feeling of limitless energy and invincibility. Now the thought of plodding on through the night filled them with unutterable despair. To make matters worse the rain had started to fall heavily again and it was so cold that the drops were coming down as hail, stinging their faces and necks and making them smart with soreness where they hit. And they were hungry. The animals had not really stopped to eat since they had left Ellmondrill so long ago and Beth had not eaten since lunchtime two days ago. Strangely she had not realized it until now and was only at this moment beginning to feel hungry; the excitement of everything had allowed her no room for thoughts of food; but now she became scared as her stomach began to rumble and feel hollow and empty. ‘What am I going to eat?’ she thought to herself. She would have to eat what the boy ate, whatever that was. She wondered when they would stop for food, if ever, and, gripping Nab’s hand tightly to make him look at her, she pointed a finger to her open mouth. To her relief he nodded and stopped.

Softly and very low, Nab called to Warrigal and the owl flew back and perched on a branch of the alder tree under which they had stopped. There the four of them waited for Sam and Brock and when they had arrived it was arranged that Perryfoot and Sam would stay under the shelter of the tree and try to keep as dry as they could while the others went off in search of food. Warrigal would bring something back for Sam and Brock for Perryfoot while Nab and Beth would look after themselves. Then they separated and Beth found herself being led by the boy down into the stream where they splashed along looking minutely at the damp dripping banks and picking out little green shoots and roots which he handed to her and she ate. The tastes were mostly strange: some were vaguely familiar and reminded her of salad vegetables, like the water-cress which he found and which she had had many times before, but others were tangy and acidic or else bland and tasteless. Sometimes she recognized the plant but had never eaten it before, like chickweed, but more often she had no idea what she was eating. Occasionally he would find a fungus growing and hand it to her with a look of pride and satisfaction, for edible fungi were difficult to find at this time of year. Then she closed her eyes and chewed little bits off and swallowed them without thinking. She loved mushrooms but some of these were slimy as they slid down her throat and she had to fight hard to avoid being sick even though they tasted of very little.

When they had walked along the stream for some little while they clambered up the steep bank and Nab led her to a patch of scrubland where he again proceeded to produce little pieces of green foliage and leaves for her to eat. Finally after what Beth guessed must have been about two hours of searching for food, he stood up and they began the long walk back to the alder where they had left Perryfoot and Sam. She felt very little better and just hoped that what she had eaten would keep her going through the night. She thought with longing of the meals at home and the wonderfully satisfied feeling of warmth and fullness after a good supper and began to panic a little. Still, if it kept the boy going it must be all right for her, she thought, and tried to put all thoughts of food out of her mind although to her intense annoyance visions of large chunks of whole nut chocolate kept appearing and making her mouth water and her tummy rumble.

When they got back they found that Warrigal and Brock had returned and that Perryfoot and Sam had gratefully finished the food that had been brought for them.

‘Come on then,’ said Nab. ‘We must put some distance behind us before dawn. ’ Then he looked at Perryfoot who had put his ears down so that they hung limply on either side of his face. He looked indescribably miserable. ‘I suppose you still want to be carried,’ said the boy, and the hare visibly brightened. Sam looked on enviously as Perryfoot was again hoisted into his sling and the little procession set off once more. It was dark now so they moved more slowly and kept closer together. To their relief the rain had stopped and nearly all the snow had been washed away but the wind was still very cold. Above them the moon occasionally peeped out from behind a black cloud and sometimes a star could be seen twinkling merrily. The rest had done Sam’s leg good and they made steady progress through the night until, by the time that dawn broke through on another grey wintry day, they had almost reached the bottom of the foothills and could see a huge plain stretching as far as the eye could see with only an odd hummock dotted here and there to break the flatness. On the very far edge of the plain, almost out of sight in the distance, one of these hummocks stood out larger than the rest and they could just make out, on the summit, a number of large standing stones.

‘There is where we make for,’ said Nab.

They were standing on top of a small hill which fell away steeply in front into a sheltered grassy hollow. The travellers made their way down into it and curled up close together at the bottom so that they were well out of the wind. They all fell asleep almost immediately, exhausted as they were, and did not wake up until late afternoon. Beth felt terrible; her legs were shaky and she was so dizzy and faint that she could hardly stand. Nevertheless she was afraid to show the others; she must persevere and start walking: perhaps once she was on the move she would feel better. Speed was obviously important and she must not hold them back from their destination wherever it was. She was also worried deep inside about how they would react if she became a burden to them, and for the first time she began to wonder why they had brought her with them in any case. Perhaps it was just as a favour to the boy because he wanted her with him after their meeting by the stream and if she became ill he would choose, or perhaps be forced, to go on with them and leave her behind.

She moved forward slowly and carefully so that she would not stumble and fall but instead of feeling better her legs felt more unsteady than before. They started walking and she steeled herself for the ordeal but after a few paces Nab looked at her and there was anxiety and compassion deep in his eyes. Then suddenly her legs collapsed under her and she felt herself falling to the grass; it was as if she were outside her body watching somebody else fall and it all seemed to happen in slow motion. The last thing she remembered, before she blacked out completely was a circle of worried faces framed against the yellow evening sky as they looked down on her.

‘We must get her somewhere warm and dry, quickly,’ said Nab.

‘I saw a stone building just over that ridge,’ Warrigal said. ‘I’ll go and see if there are Urkku around and whether it would be safe,’ and he flew off.

While he was gone Nab tried to nurse the girl back to normal by cradling her head on his lap but her face remained pale and ashen and he was scared. Sam spoke quietly.

‘She’s not used to living outside. They live differently from us; they have different food. It even took me some time to learn how to live like you. You were all born to it; I wasn’t and neither was she.’

They waited in silence until the dark shape of the owl flew back over the ridge of the hollow and settled on the grass beside them.

‘Perfect, perfect,’ he said. ‘It’s full of hay so it will be warm and there is a smaller building on one side where there are a number of hens. They will warn us if any Urkku come near. I didn’t tell them about the girl or you, Nab, so you must stay out of sight with her. They are probably trustworthy but we can’t be too careful. I gave them a story about looking for new homes; I think they believed me.

It took a long time to get through to them though; they found great difficulty understanding our language and I couldn’t follow much of theirs. Still there was an old cock there who seemed brave and wise so we should be all right.’

Sam broke in, ‘We could give her some eggs; they like eggs and it will do her good.’

Greatly relieved, Nab hoisted the limp body of the girl over his shoulder and they set off for the hay barn. They were soon there and they pushed open the great wooden door at the front which, luckily, had been left ajar, and found themselves at the bottom of a flight of stairs which led up into the hayloft. The ground floor was full of farm machinery and there were other oddments lying around which were obviously not used very often judging by the cobwebs that hung on them. Gingerly Nab climbed the stairs and when he got to the top lifted Beth carefully up on to the pile of hay. Climbing up after her he then dragged her away from the edge until he found a little hollow in the middle and there he made her comfortable. All the others except the hare had waited downstairs and Nab left Perryfoot beside her before going back down to rejoin them. He found that Warrigal and Sam had been next door to where the hens lived and had brought some eggs; the dog had carried one in his mouth and the owl had gripped one in each talon and placed them very carefully on the floor of the barn before landing.

‘We took them when no one was looking,’ said Sam, a little note of secret triumph in his voice for this had been his idea.

They all followed Nab back up the old wooden stairs and over to where Beth was lying in her nest of hay.

‘Cover her over to keep her warm,’ said Warrigal, and they pulled folds of the hay out of the surrounding bales and laid them on top of her so that only her face showed and, around it like a pool of gold, her tangled hair.

‘All we can do now is wait and hope she gets back to normal,’ said Warrigal. ‘I’ll go and perch in that open window at the far end to keep a look out,’ and he flew off in the narrow space between the top of the hay and the roof.

‘I’ll go and keep watch at the bottom,' said Sam, and he limped back over the hay and made his way slowly down the stairs, which were open-backed, a bit slippery and rather awkward.

Brock curled up against the girl on top of the hay and was soon asleep while Perryfoot nestled up against Brock’s deep fur where he too was soon lost in oblivion, his nose twitching and his leg occasionally jerking as he dreamt. Nab sat, feeling strangely at peace. The smell of the hay barn was new to him; he had smelt hay faintly on the wind before as it had been drying in the hot summer sun on the fields down by the stream but they had never made hay in any of the fields near Silver Wood. Now he found himself almost overpowered by its sweet, almost sickly scent. There was not a sound that could penetrate here either and the unreal stillness contributed to his sense of being in a different world. And it was warm. If warmth was what she needed then she should soon be better. He looked down at her face and wallowed in the luxury of being able to really look at every part of it closely and for as long as he wanted. He became absorbed in the delicacy of her features; her mouth, her hose, her chin, every aspect of her face entranced him. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by a desire to kiss her; it seemed the only way in which he could express all the tangled emotions towards her which he felt. Slowly he bent his face over hers and in his gentle kiss all the warmth, compassion and love he had seemed to flow out and fill her with new strength and energy. As he drew his face away Nab saw her eyelids flicker and then to his joy they opened and she looked at him and smiled.