by Lynn Mann
We were all moved beyond words by what we were witnessing, by the message the horses were conveying in such a profound way.
Our horses peeled away from the wild herd and cantered back to where we sat, and then dropped their heads down to graze as if nothing had happened. There was a split second when I questioned whether anything actually had. But then my eyes were drawn to the last few horses of the wild herd as they disappeared over the hilltop in front of us and I allowed the scene that we had just witnessed, with our eyes and our Awareness, to play over and over in my mind.
We were all still sitting in silence when the Kindred reached us. They took up places alongside us on our boulders and watched our horses graze. None of us spoke, indeed we felt to a one that we would break the spell of what we had just witnessed if we did. Our group of sixteen was the product of all of the horses’ efforts since the beginning of The New. Their species had triumphed and now it was down to us to ensure that both of ours did the same.
We were quiet in the weeks that followed. The horses’ dance had been so beautiful, so powerful and their message so simple, that the thought of having any discussions about what we were aiming to achieve seemed an over-complication. We travelled doggedly on as the weather worsened, covering as many miles as we could each day and then hunkering down companionably in as much shelter as we could find by nightfall. Often, the horses would lie down behind us as we circled the campfire, sharing our warmth and shelter. The mornings that I woke curled up against Infinity always found me warm, well rested and less than eager to rise, and I know that the other Horse-Bonded had feelings that matched mine as they awoke next to their own Bond-Partners. But rise we did and onward we journeyed.
As we got closer to Rockwood, we began to come back to ourselves a bit more. There was more banter around the camp fire, more grumbling by Foxstep and more discussion about the welcome we were likely to receive. What we would do once there, however, none of us felt the need to discuss. As a group, we were who we were and we would know what to do.
It was as the snow arrived one evening that I heard my sister scream. My ears picked up no sound but my mind shuddered with her pain.
‘Her baby is early, but he’s coming,’ Justin said and squeezed my hand. ‘You’re going to be an auntie!’
My grin turned into a grimace as another contraction held Katonia in its grasp. I was sorry not to be there with her, but I knew Jack would be all the comfort and source of healing she would need. She would have a few weeks to enjoy her baby before we arrived to shatter the peace.
Twenty-Six
Evolution
The villagers of Rockwood were just beginning to leave their houses and go about their daily tasks when Infinity’s, Serene’s and Flame’s hooves touched the first cobblestones. There were startled glances and voices questioning one another urgently and then the first screams rang out.
‘THAT’S A WOEFUL! THERE’S A WOEFUL IN ROCKWOOD!’ shouted a boy, pointing at Fitt.
‘It’s on a horse! Curse the clouds, it’s on a horse! And there are more on foot! RUN!’ screamed his mother.
More screaming followed as some people ran back into their houses, slamming and bolting their doors behind them, while others ran off down the street, shouting that the village was under attack.
‘I don’t know whether to be amused or insulted,’ said Aleks from somewhere behind Fitt and me. ‘There are just as many humans as Kindred in this group, yet we all appear to be invisible!’
Justin chuckled as he and Gas appeared beside Infinity and me. ‘Shall we place bets over how long it takes for anyone to notice that not only are there humans here, but that the most visible two were born and have family here? I’m going to guess at ten minutes.’
Levitsson immediately went for twenty and Aleks for twenty-five.
‘I’m going to have more faith in Amarilla’s and Holly’s kin and say five minutes,’ said Marvel.
We waited. Fitt, Holly, Justin and I sat our horses in a line, with Lacemore and Ashwell standing at Flame’s side and Mother Elder standing at mine. Vickery, Rowena and Marvel sat their horses just behind us along with Levitsson and Foxstep, and Aleks, Sonja and their horses waited at the back with Harperlake and Harperleaf.
There was an uneasy silence emanating from the houses at our end of the village but we could hear shouting and screaming spreading through the village in all directions away from us, as if it were being dispersed by the chill winter wind that buffeted past us.
Ten minutes passed before I saw two figures hurrying towards us against the wind. One of them was bent over the wailing bundle that she carried in her arms as she tried to shelter it from the snowflakes that had just begun to fall.
‘KATONIA!’ someone shouted from a window. ‘GET IN HERE, YOU TOO JACK, THERE ARE WOEFUL DOWN THERE! KATONIA! DIDN’T YOU HEAR ME? AND FLAMING LANTERNS, YOU’VE GOT WILL WITH YOU, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING? GET IN HERE! KATONIA!’
‘AMARILLA! INFINITY! OH, AND HOLLY AND SERENE ARE THERE, THEY’RE ALL THERE! CAN’T YOU SEE WHO IT IS, EVERYONE?’ Katonia shouted at the closed doors and windows as she passed them. She waved frantically to me and then her waving faltered as she drank in the presence of Fitt astride Flame, and then the rest of the Kindred.
People began to open doors and appear on their doorsteps to watch as my sister and her husband continued down the street towards us. We could have sent them all our light in order to ease their fears, but it would not be necessary. My sister was here.
‘The Woeful must have done something to them, captured them and enslaved them in revenge for what was done to them in The Old. Jack don’t go any closer, think of your wife and child,’ a woman pleaded from the safety of her doorway.
‘AND THEIR HORSES?’ My sister continued to shout, ensuring that all in the vicinity could hear her whether their doors were barred or not. ‘DO YOU THINK THEIR HORSES WOULD BE STANDING THERE SO CALMLY IF THOSE WOEFUL ARE TRULY A DANGER? DO YOU? REALLY? AFTER EVERYTHING THE HORSES HAVE DONE FOR US ALL? YOU REALLY THINK THEY WOULD ENDANGER THEMSELVES, THEIR BOND-PARTNERS AND US? YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF YOURSELVES!’
Jack kept quiet but nodded at his wife’s words as he looked about him at the villagers who were beginning to gather in the street some distance behind.
‘KATONIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!’ A gut-wrenching scream wove its way down the street.
‘Brace yourself Justin, you’re about to have your first glimpse of my mother,’ I told him as she burst through the crowd of villagers and ran to Katonia, grabbing her arm and pulling her behind herself so that she shielded her daughter and grandchild from us. Her eyes widened as she took in Fitt, her parents and Mother Elder, and then she saw me. ‘Amarilla, oh my goodness, my poor baby Amarilla...’ she said and promptly fainted.
Jack caught her as she fell, just as my father and brothers appeared out of the sizeable crowd that was gathering in front of us. Con immediately took off his coat and put it beneath my mother’s head as Jack laid her on the cobblestones and my father put his coat over her to keep her warm.
‘They have practised roles,’ observed Levitsson from behind me.
I nodded and said, ‘she does this a lot.’
‘Amarilla? Is that really you? With these... these...’ called out my father.
‘Kindred. They’re the Kindred, and they’re our friends,’ I called back. ‘And Dad, yes of course it’s me. Holly’s here, too, and this is Justin, and this is Fitt, the newest of the Horse-Bonded.’
Whispering spread through the crowd as my father and brothers stared at me.
‘Am are you sure? Are you telling us the truth or are they making you say that?’ Robbie said.
‘THEY’RE MAKING AMARILLA SAY SHE’S THEIR FRIEND, THEY’RE TRYING TO TRICK US!’ someone shouted from the middle of the crowd and the whispering turned to angry muttering.
As voices began to be raised everywhere, Katonia stepped a little closer to us, jiggling her baby in her arms to try to quieten his wailing.
‘KATONIA DON’T!�
��
‘WHAT ARE YOU DOING?’
‘JACK STOP HER,’ came more cries.
Jack’s eyes roved over all of the Kindred. As they broadcast their calm determination to help the villagers, their wish to integrate, he felt it. When his eyes rested on Fitt, he smiled. I felt him recognise her from our first encounter with her. He and Candour exchanged thoughts and Jack’s smile broadened.
‘None of us are in any danger,’ he said, loudly to the crowd. ‘Allow yourselves to trust what I know you can feel from the Kindred. They want our friendship, not our blood.’
‘THAT’S NOT POSSIBLE!’ shouted a voice. ‘THEY’RE USING SOME SORT OT TRICKERY ON US ALL!’
Katonia spoke loudly but without shouting. ‘Amarilla, maybe it would help to prove that you aren’t a prisoner if you and Infinity come over to us? And Holly and Serene?’
Our group knew that that would prove nothing while the rest of our friends were still among the Kindred and further, would fuel the fear of the crowd if we even entertained the idea that our imprisonment was possible.
I smiled at my sister. ‘Did I hear right that my nephew’s name is Will?’ I called out to her.
She looked at me, her face full of question and then finally looked down at her wailing baby. ‘Yes, we called him Will, because he has such a strong one. He wouldn’t stay inside me full term, he wouldn’t even be born at a safe speed, he was in such a hurry to be here and he’s been acting his strength of character out on us ever since.’
‘You have healed him where he needed it after he was birthed and you feed and love him yet he does not have everything he needs,’ said Lacemore. Her voice was smoother and stronger than it had been, yet the rasp that persisted within it clearly distinguished it from the voices of humans.
Someone screamed and while part of the crowd stepped back, others surged forward.
Jack stood firm and raised a hand to those behind him. ‘HOLD YOUR PLACES,’ he bellowed and then turned back to Lacemore. ‘What does he need?’ he asked her as his son began to cry in earnest.
‘I cannot tell you but I can show you,’ Lacemore replied. ‘We would have had many sleepless nights with my daughter had I not known how to nurture her, but as you see, she is healthy and strong and is now counted among the Horse-Bonded.’ She looked up and smiled at Fitt, proudly.
There was more muttering from the crowd.
Lacemore spoke again to Katonia. ‘I know that your son has barely allowed you to rest since he was born. He cries out for what he needs and because he senses that you have the ability to give it to him, he will continue to cry until he gets it – as you say, his will is strong. If you’ll trust me with your son, I can help you.’ She slowly lifted her hands, her sharp talons outstretched at the end of her fingers, and then held out her arms.
‘No!’ said my father.
‘Kat, no!’ Robbie said, moving to block her from us.
I watched my sister step from behind Robbie. She looked up into my eyes. I smiled at her with all the love that my heart held for my sister. She was strong, beautiful and sensitive. I could feel her love for her baby and what that had awakened inside of her. She would know what was right for him, she would always know. My eyes spoke of my confidence in her. I knew that she would do what was right for her baby and I knew that she would remember our agreement. The two were one and the same thing.
Katonia’s blue eyes widened and then mirrored my own in more than their colour. We remembered together.
‘Jack, the Woeful – sorry, the Kindred – can help me to help Will and if I accept her help, it will help everyone else. I’m going to hand him to her,’ she said.
Jack nodded, slowly. ‘You have my support.’
‘Dad, Rob, don’t stand in our way, this is important. You have to trust us. Trust us and Amarilla, okay?’ Katonia said to them.
My family looked from Katonia to me, frantically. Finally, my father nodded and took a step back and my brothers followed suit.
Jack and Katonia walked towards us.
‘STOP! HE’S ONLY A BABY!’ shouted someone and the crowd began to surge forward once more.
Jack left Katonia’s side and marched back to them with his hands up. ‘HOLD!’ he shouted. ‘YOU ALL REFUSE TO LISTEN TO WHAT YOU CAN FEEL FROM THESE KINDRED, BUT YOU ALL KNOW AND LOVE CANDOUR. HE’S GIVEN YOU COUNSEL THROUGH ME WHENEVER YOU NEEDED IT AND HE TELLS ME, AS IF I NEEDED TO BE TOLD, AS IF ANY OF YOU NEEDED TO BE TOLD, THAT THE KINDRED ARE HERE TO HELP. WE HAVE A WEIRD SIGHT IN FRONT OF US ALL, THERE’S NO DOUBT ABOUT IT, BUT IF YOU CAN’T FIND IT IN YOURSELVES TO TRUST AMARILLA, HOLLY AND THE OTHER HORSE-BONDED WHO ARE HERE, IF YOU CAN’T EVEN TRUST ME AND MY WIFE, THEN TRUST CANDOUR.’
The crowd stopped short of him. There was much muttering and shaking of heads, and a few uncertain nods. Jack remained where he was but turned and winked at Katonia. She smiled back at him and then continued on her way to us. She put her baby in Lacemore’s arms and tucked his blanket back around him where it had fallen open.
‘There’s a cold wind,’ she explained to Lacemore in a shaky voice.
‘I will keep him warm,’ Lacemore told her, enfolding him in her arms and holding him close.
Immediately, I felt her weave her energy into a warm, nurturing net that surrounded Will and then gently closed around him. His screaming quietened. A cold blast of air hit us all from the side and caught the top of Will’s head. Immediately the energy net closed more tightly there, soothing the chill away. He made not a murmur.
‘How...how did you do that?’ said Katonia, peering at her baby. ‘Flaming lanterns, he’s gone to sleep! He hardly does that at night, let alone during the day. How? How?’ she repeated, more urgently.
‘I can show you, but first, I will need to help you to be Aware,’ said Lacemore.
‘Aware? Like Am is?’
‘As all of us here are, Kat,’ I told her. ‘The Kindred have always been Aware and now, finally, this lot all are too.’ I grinned cheekily at my friends.
‘I object to the word “finally”,’ said Aleks.
‘You object to everything Aleks, put a sock in it,’ said Rowena with a scowl at him and then a wink at Katonia, who smiled, uncertainly.
I dismounted from Infinity and gave her neck a rub as I left her to go to my sister. ‘I’m prouder of you than I can ever tell you,’ I whispered to Katonia as we hugged one another, fiercely. ‘Now can I hold my nephew while Lacemore helps you to be the first of the non-bonded to be Aware? You know that it has to be you and Will has made sure that it will be.’
Katonia nodded and looked at Lacemore. ‘Thank you Lacemore, I would love your help,’ she said.
I held my arms out to accept my sleeping nephew from Lacemore and then held him closely. He was exhausted. His soul had been determined to ensure that Katonia became the mother she had promised to be to him before they incarnated and he had played his role to perfection. He had my sister’s nose, I realised, and Jack’s white-blond hair. He would be the first child to have a Horse-Bonded father and a mother who was Aware. He was here to help them fulfil the unique role that they were carving for themselves, before treading the difficult path he had chosen for himself. It was a good job that he was named for his strongest characteristic.
‘We would normally do this for a youngling rather than an adult, and it would usually be done in privacy by an Elder,’ Lacemore was explaining to Katonia, ‘but in your case, you have the opportunity to help your friends and family by allowing them to bear witness as you come to your Awareness. And as you have already trusted me with your baby, I think you will find it easier if it is me who helps you to know yourself, rather than Elder Hobday, here? If you are willing?’
Katonia nodded. ‘I’m willing. What do you need me to do?’
‘You do not need to do anything other than observe what I will show you.’
Our group all felt the ease with which Lacemore resonated and then connected with Katonia. And then she revealed the whole of herself to my sister’s mind �
� not just her uppermost thoughts and feelings that any human could pick up from a Kindred’s natural tendency to broadcast, but everything about herself. Katonia’s mind opened easily and she drank in all the information she was being given. She smiled the most beautiful smile at Lacemore. She knew her as the loving, devoted wife and mother that she was and she saw how Lacemore’s priorities mirrored her own in a life that had been lived so differently. As Katonia absorbed all that made Lacemore who she was, Lacemore guided her blossoming Awareness towards Fitt.
Welcome, sister of my friend, Fitt spoke in Katonia’s mind.
Katonia jumped on the spot and then laughed, delightedly. Jack appeared by her side, having been enlightened by Candour as to what was transpiring.
‘I can hear her, Jack, the Kindred Horse-Bonded, her name is Fitt but her parents call her Lacejoy, and she’s talking in my mind! Her horse is called Flame and she’s just showing me how they came to find each other and bond... oh my goodness, there’s so much to know and it’s so much quicker when you can just know it instead of having to ask someone to describe it to you, oh this is wonderful!’
My father and Robbie supported my newly awakened mother as they and Con all moved closer so that they could hear what Katonia was saying. The rest of the crowd came with them.
‘And this is Elder Hobday, she’s very dear to Amarilla because...’ Katonia looked horrified as she looked from me to Mother Elder and then to my own mother. She flushed red and looked at me, desperately.
‘Because she’s been through a lot to help us,’ I explained. Nice one, Sis, I thought to her.
Katonia’s eyes widened as she heard me in her mind for the first time, and then she flung her arms around me, waking up her son. Lacemore drew back her energy net and Will began to wail again. I handed him back to Katonia.