Cycle of Life, the rise and fall of Tanya Vine

by Hannah Robinson

  Chapter 5

  of Arrivals and Departures

  South Farm

  Connie Nesbitt called a halt before they left the trees, and asked for quiet while she surveyed the open country before them.

  “Tanya, tell me who’s down there at South Farm today.” Billie had promised Tanya a thrashing when they were alone and the worried girl wrinkled her brow in thought.

  “Well, obviously there’s Sali and her mum, but not Tilly, cos she was going to North pasture to gather some romero, or some such weed like that, and Ellen was gonna go with her to try and get a yoke on that big bastard ox with the odd horns, so that leaves Georgie. I think.” She shrugged her shoulders and added, “maybe.”

  “So, if I understands your ramblings aright, you reckon three down there then. Lets see now.” The old guru cocked her head to one side as if straining to hear something only just audible. “Mmmm. You’re probably right girl, but there’s company coming on the road from Gap. Can’t see them proper yet, but more than one I think.” She motioned for them to gather round, and told them to walk the last couple of kilometres to the farm in pairs. “One of us and one of you,” she instructed. “No more than one pair in the open at a time. Never know who’s looking, and we don’t want you seen yet by the wrong eyes. And as for you,” she indicated towards Anton, “Lady alone knows how you get there unseen. You’re so big you might have to wait till night fall.”

  Anton gave a low laugh, “It’ll be a pleasure just to sit and rest, knowing that there’s nothing out there trying to kill me all the time.”

  Gudrun confirmed his sentiment, “too true honey bear. It’s been a long time since we could sleep without at least one of us crying or screaming in the night.”

  There were murmurs of agreement from the others, and Ma Nesbitt answered Gudrun. “Sounds as if you come from a terrible world, and though the Lady’s sent you to help us, maybe it’s us that’ll be helping you? Much to think about, in this mystery.”

  She left the shelter of the trees for the farm, and when she was about half way there, Gudrun set off with Sara Cowslip. Then, with nearly two hours gone by, the only ones still to leave the wood were Margaret, Anton, Billie Forster and Jan Crane. The ‘company’ on the road from Gap was the peddler woman, Fran Collier, with an ox cart driven by her daughter Jean. They had stopped to water their two pairs of oxen at the far pond, but had eventually moved on and out of sight again. Jan returned from the woods edge and sat down with the others.

  “They’ve gone. It should be safe now, but it won’t be dark for about an hour and a half?” She looked at Billie, who glanced up at the sky.

  “Probably. You take Margret now, and we’ll be along in a couple of hours. Can’t let this one be seen in daylight, he’ll frighten the chickens.”

  Margaret asked if they would be alright in the wood on their own.

  Billie laughed, “course we will missus, there’s nothing scarier in these woods than us two, now is there?” Jan confirmed Billie’s words, and she and Margaret started out on the journey over the fields to South Farm.

  Billie watched them for ten minutes then went to sit with Anton. “Is it right that you’ve been fighting for hundreds of years then?”

  “Not really, but it seemed like it at times when all we could do was slow the enemy down and watch our friends die. It’s very complicated.”

  “And you saw Hood? Really actually saw her?”

  Anton closed his eyes briefly and smiled, “I was there from the beginning. She was beautiful. We all loved her.”

  “Will she be back? Nessie says that Margret’s been talking to her. We've been praying to her proper, every month, like it says in the book. It was my turn last week. Don’t know if she listens though.”

  All this was a mystery to Anton, who frowned as he answered, “Yes, the old Hood’s still there, and Margaret did get a strange message from her. Seems that she wants to talk to us soon, but she’s got things to do first.”

  “It’ll be good to see the village grow again, now that we’ve got a man of our own. Hasn’t been a regular man in Homestead for…” She shook her head slowly, “...three generations, probably. Six men. Lady, that’ll be worth fighting for when the patrol comes back again.”

  Anton turned to her in surprise, “I don’t understand.”

  “Nothing to understand, bear man. We have trouble with Martha’s patrol twice a year, but with men in the village, it’ll turn into bloodshed. They’ll try to steal you from us. The only men we ever saw were over in Central, and we haven’t been sent for in years. Ivy Tulip got the call ten years ago, said it were the worst thing she ever did. Said he was pathetic. You won’t be pathetic, I can tell.” There was a brief silence as they both contemplated her words.

  “Damn,” she said suddenly, “Tanya were right, I ain’t no lady. Kiss me bear man, I’ve waited long enough,” and she threw her arms around him in a rough embrace.

  Gudrun and Sara had nearly caught up with the guru when she was met at the farm’s gate by Wandra Vorden, mother to Tilly and Sali.

  “Ma Nesbitt? You’re looking a mite peaky. Are them two cause for trouble?” “Trouble right enough Wandra, but not like you would think. You’re going to have guests for a while, hope yon cottage is fit to live in,” indicating the dilapidated building opposite the house. The bemused farmer contemplated the two approaching figures.

  “They can sleep in the kitchen if they like, save mucking out the other place.”

  “Aye, well there’s the thing you see. Happen there’ll be at least eight extra mouths for you to feed for a time.”

  Wandra’s voice went up an octave. “Eight? Why isn’t Frankie taking them in? She can cope with dozens, she can.”

  “Hush now, this is… secret like. When you meet them, you’ll see they’re something special. And as for food, last time I looked, this was a farm. There’s enough to go round.”

  Wandra wasn’t convinced, “Aye, and it’s all spoken for. Central have got first pick when Martha comes back.”

  “Well then, when Mad Martha returns, mayhap she’ll get a surprise.” She took the unhappy farmer by the arm and urged her back to the house. During the next two hours or so, four more couples came in from the field, and after Wandra and Georgie’s initial surprise at the nature of their guests, they set about the task of catering for them all, while the miners tried to get the cottage habitable again.

  At nearly fourteen years old, the two friends Sali and Tanya were the youngest in the village. Sali worked on the farm and Tanya was a skivvy in her mum’s taverna, but three years ago, she had started behaving very strangely, and had suddenly taken an abnormal interest in goats, so now she also helped out on the farm as a goatherd. They sat by the well watching the frantic activity in the farm yard, and Tanya nudged her soul mate.

  “That’s the one I told you about. No, don’t point, he’ll see you. Rude to point any
way. Not a single hair on his head, bald as a frog’s arse he is. It all fell out cos they’ve been fighting for 2,000 years. No it’s true, that Walter told me about it when we was waiting for that pedlar woman to move her wagon.”

  “What sort of a name’s Walter. Never heard a name like Walter before.”

  “Don’t you ever listen, Sali? I told you, it’s cos he’s a man, and they’ve all got names like that. Except the women folk of course, They’ve got proper names, and don’t look at me like that Sali Vorden. We was only hiding in the bushes, not making babies. If he tried that with me, he’d get a sharp surprise.”

  Sali’s eyes widened as Tanya showed her the knife she had taken from the trooper she had killed. “Lady above, it’s a nasty looking blade. Don’t let old Nessie know you’ve got it, or you’ll not have it long.”

  “No intentions of sharing this with anyone. It’ll go with the rest of my treasures in my secret hiding place. Anyway, Walter.” She paused, savouring the sound of the strange name. “Walter’s nice, for a man that is, even if he is really old.”

  Sali frowned. “Don’t look 2,000 years old to me. Don’t look no older than Queenie, an’ Mum says she’s nearly 60.”

  “No, I don’t mean that old. He’s just a bit past his best, and anyway they’ve got two angels living with them, no, I’ve seen them. All shining armour an’ chuffing great swords, an’ they stop them getting older. It’s magic you see.”

  “Georgie said it’s magic as well. Said she’ll be getting some hormones soon.”

  “What you girls doing there? Go see if them miserable hens have laid any more eggs, we’ve got some hungry folks to feed.”

  “Yes mum,” said Sali, and they reluctantly went back to work.

  After the hastily prepared dinner, served in the barn, the miners listened while Connie Nesbitt outlined the local political situation to them. Violet in Central was ruler by force of arms, and Mad Martha’s patrol would be back within six months to collect ‘taxes’ and gather recruits for the army. Taxes was another term for bribery, theft and corruption, and the recruits had no choice but to enrol as troopers, or else.

  “What I don’t understand,” said Jimmy, “is where have all the men gone?”

  “It’s just fairy tales now,” answered Wandra, “but we believe it could be true. Many hundreds of years ago, this was a fair land, but invaders came from the skies.”

  They gave her their full attention, the Homesteaders enraptured by the old story, the miners in anticipation of learning what had become of the world they had known.

  “Evil beasts they were, with eyes like hot coals and lightning coming from their fingers, and none could stand against them. All over the world they made great sorrow, and everywhere they went the land was poisoned, but the three sisters of the night hunted them down and destroyed them all. That was when we lost our Lady, Hood, and she looked away from us. But when she turns to us once more every month, we pray for her to return again.”

  “Hasta la vista,” intoned all the Homesteaders, much to the miners surprise.

  “After the land and air were spoiled by the evil ones blood, many animals and birds were gone, never to return again, and only one in ten children born to woman was a boy child, but in Homestead, we have kept the faith according to the word of Speck the warrior priest. Now, you’re the only men that we know of this side of the sierras. There are rumours of men to the South, but none here have seen them.”

  There was a slight pause, and Marcus said, “Three sisters, treble H.”

  Then Walter joined in with, “Hood, Hawk and Hind. But who’s ‘Speck’?”

  “He was a great warrior, and after destroying the last monster, he declared that the cave was a holy site, and should be kept ready for Hood to return.”

  Gudrun spoke aloud what some of them were thinking. “Is there a family round here called Donovan? We knew a Specs Donovan, but last we saw him, the medics were probably going to take his legs.”

  “Not heard that name before,” replied Wandra, “we only know him as Speck.”

  Connie Nesbitt turned to Margaret. “The one called Denzil said that her travelling machine is broken, which means that you can go nowhere. Is that right?”

  Margaret nodded. “From what we have seen, that certainly seems to be true.”

  “Then I propose,” said the guru slowly, “to invite you all to join our community, which means that we shall probably have to shed blood against Central. If we stand firm, then I think that Dockside and Crampton will be with us. More than those two, I cannot say.

  Margaret butted in, “We’ve been fighting for our lives, your lives as well, for nearly half a year now. We were going to die, but suddenly we’re snatched away from it, and it’s a miracle that we have survived. I’ve had enough. I’m only an administrator, not a trained soldier.” The others murmured their agreement and she continued, “I see no reason to take sides in what is, to us, a local dispute. We can’t commit ourselves to any cause until Hood has spoken with us again. First, we are Hood, but if what you want, is what we all want, then, and only then, shall we join you.”

  All this talk of ‘our Lady, Hood’ was very strange and needed a lot of thinking about.

  “Margaret dear,” Gudrun butted in, “wait for the angels as well. They probably know more about this than any of us.”

  “And,” said Jimmy, “If we still work for Hood, then I’m owed about 24,000 months back pay.”

  This was greeted by jeers and hoots of laughter from the miners, and baffled silence from the villagers. The meeting was over and shortly before sunset, Constance Nesbitt and the four women, Sara, Lottie, Posy and Jan left for Homestead, after giving instructions that the miners should not be seen by anyone, especially travelling folk like that Fran Collier.

  Anton and Billie arrived after dark, and had a cold supper before going their separate ways, Anton to the cottage, while Billie went to talk to Georgie, sitting on the porch. Georgie was 25, a drover, and had nearly as much muscle as Billie the blacksmith.

  “What do you make of all this Billie? Can we keep them to ourselves, or is it the start of the end for us?”

  “If it’s up to me Jo, we’ll keep them here, I’ll fight tooth and nail for it, and so will you after a week or so.”

  Georgie raised her eyebrows sceptically at her friends vehement statement, “You’re very uppity tonight, why’s that then?”

  Billie smiled and flashed her eyes at her, “Don’t be angry with me Georgie love, but I’ve been with him. On my own, in the woods. Lady he’s heavy, thought he was going to squash me flat. Then I lay on him, and we did it again. Didn’t think I could walk this far after that.”

  “Flaming hells girl, didn’t take you long to stake your claim, did it.”

  “Hi daddy bear,” Gudrun called out in greeting as Anton entered the cottage, “been arm wrestling the local blacksmith?”

  Anton smiled at her, �
�wasn’t my arm she was wrestling Goodie.”

  She stared at him, hands on hips, “you two timing heart breaker. You promised that I was your true love,” and burst out laughing.

  “Taking advantage of the poor natives already,” said Jimmy, shaking his head.

  There was no animosity intended. Gudrun and Margaret had taken all the miners in their group as lovers, and some who had died in the Jalon Valley as well.

  “Margaret,” Gudrun called out, “come and tell him, he’s been naughty again.”

  Midday the following day, Gilda came to the farm with Simon and Ricardo, but after kissing them both goodbye, left immediately for Homestead. They reported that there was no change with the time machine, which seemed to have had a serious malfunction in it’s operating system. Other than that, Caren estimated that Sylvia would be in the medico for nine or ten days, and would then need another week or so to recover.

  No one actually said, 'we are staying'” but over the next few days, a sense of belonging grew within all of them, and they knew an inner peace that had been missing from their lives for a long time.

  Preparations

  “Tanya,” called Sali, “over here.” They sat behind the potting shed. “You should have heard them, Tan.”

  “Heard what Sali Vorden?”

  “I’m telling you ain’t I? Georgie had grabbed that Simon, you know, the bald one. Well, she grabbed him and dragged him in here, right into this shed, and they was making such a noise, moaning and all that, I thought they was fighting, but then they came out looking right pleased with themselves, and just wandered off as if nothing had happened. And you’ll never guess what Tanya Vine.”

  “What then?”

  “She kissed him!” said Sali forcefully.

  Tanya looked thoughtful for a moment with narrowing eyes. “Trollop.”

  “And, his hair’s growing back. No, it’s true, I’ve seen it.”

  “Well you know what that was, don’t you? Hormones and magic, that’s what Sali Vorden.”

  “Sali, Tanya. What you sitting there for? Go and get some more potatoes for us.”

  “Oh I hate digging taters,” moaned Tanya.

  Within the first week, the miners had realised the full extent of the deteriorating situation between Homestead and Central, and Anton and Simon, who had both graduated from army college, had been persuaded to give the villagers the benefit of their military upbringing. After initial resistance, Margaret finally agreed that it would be a good move. They had talked with the farm girls and the guru, and had accepted that the women were as tough as most men they had known, and were going to be more than equal partners in any future events. They sat, as usual, in the barn. Ricardo had been a shuttle pilot, and was drawing maps in the dirt floor from memory.

  “So, if this is us at Jalon, then this,” he made another cross in the dirt, “is Villena, now called Central. No direct route and hard country to negotiate.”

  “Hopefully, we’ll not have to go there,” offered Simon, “this Martha woman’s coming to us first anyway. And at least we don’t have to worry about cavalry.”

  Their earlier comments about riding into battle had been met with blank looks from the women. Apparently, Queenie Oates had seen a picture of a horse in Central one time, and it seemed that horses, like pigs, had been bred out of existence by the aliens biological weapons. They looked up at the sound of approaching voices.

  “They’re here,” said Marcus, standing by the barn door, “about eight of them, I think.” Moments later, nine villagers carrying spears came into the barn, ranging in age from mid teens to about fortyish? Some of them had been to ‘training camp’ before, but the newcomers gave the men appraising looks, one of the older women brushing up against Marcus in passing, pursing her lips in a mock kiss as she did so. Anton welcomed them in, and they began a morning of ancient arms drill and tactics theory that they remembered from Vegetius and Sun Tzu. The world of war had gone full circle, and copies of their ancient books would have been best sellers again.

  On the first day, Anton had asked how battles were fought now, but no one could give a definite answer as the last war had been about two hundred years ago.

  The one plain fact they got backed up what Denny and Caren had told their sceptical audience in the time machine. Any energy source on the planets surface was liable to attract a thunderbolt from the heavens. Hawk and Hind had been in orbit for 2,100 years and Hind’s deranged logic core had been unable to differentiate between friendly and enemy power transmissions. The thunderbolts were rocks from the miners dwindling cargoes, so energy weapons had been replaced with spears and swords.

  The girls gave their own, varied accounts about how they would charge pell-mell into the waiting unorganised mob of poorly armed and cowardly troopers facing them, then all emerge heroes at the end of the day.

  Jimmy watched in horror as they acted out their words and whispered to Anton, “they know nothing, it’ll be a fiasco. They’re all going to die.”

  Anton nodded slowly. “So might we, if we let them carry on like that.”

  So the villagers were slowly, and reluctantly at first, retrained as a phalanx, or ‘shield wall’, which depended on rigid discipline to hold firmly together. Each warrior had to stand firm and protect the person to her left. Like bricks in a wall, they would stand together or the wall would collapse, with deadly results for them all.

  Anton picked out thirty to become hoplites in two rows of fifteen, and then a third row of lightly armed ‘cleaners’, armed with knives, short swords and axes, who would have the job of making sure the enemy wounded didn’t get up again. The first two rows would be given whatever armour was available, including boots and leggings reinforced with steel strips for extra protection.

  The weeks passed and the little army grew more confident, and finally Caren, Denny, Jade and Sylvia came over the meadow to the farm. Georgie came running out of the makeshift forge and hugged Sylvia.

  “Bless the Lady for giving you back to us, Sylvie, and for sending these heroes to help us.”

  Sylvia held her off a little, “gently now Jo, I’m still a bit delicate. Don’t feel quite right yet, but it’ll pass I’m sure. Now, I must meet the heroes who are going to save us all from the end of the world.”

  Caren and Denny had given Sylvie and Jade all the ‘history/future’ that they thought was safe and proper, so both of the villagers were aware of where the Never had been to and originally come from, and what was probably going to occur in the near future. They had been deliberately vague about certain points, as the prayer book ‘Mother and Lady’ was proving to be general, rather than specific. Anton urged Simon to show off the weapons and armour that Georgie and Billie were producing in the forge they had built in one of the sheds next to the barn. Most of the armour was actually made of leather, but would be vital in any conflict to come, especially the wrist guards studded with short steel spikes, which mad
e them as much a weapon as a protector, and the boots reinforced with steel strips. Sylvia was impressed by the progress made, and said that she barely recognised some of the girls in their new attire when they demonstrated the phalanx in full armour.

  Simon stood in the centre of the second line and surveyed his little band with pride. “Lock shields,” he bellowed suddenly, and the clash of wooden shields made Sylvia jump as the front rows of Homesteaders became a single unit.

  His voice rang out again. “Who are we?”

  The fifty villagers answered him, “Hood!”

  “Who are we?” he called out louder.

  “Hood.” was the louder reply.

  “What do we do?”

  “Hold the wall.”

  “Advance.”

  With lowered spears, the lines moved cautiously forward without losing their cohesion.

  “Who’s that behind Georgie?” Sylvia asked Jade.

  “Tanya.” was the short reply.

  Sylvia turned and looked questioningly at her friend. “Tanya Vine?”

  Jade nodded. “Don’t judge her by her years. I’ve watched her, and agree with Connie that she should be in the line.”

  Wide eyed with surprise, Sylvia turned back to watch the manoeuvres.

  She joined in mild training, and during the next couple of weeks, slowly regained her strength, and then surpassed what she had been able to do before.

  “It’s because you were so badly hurt,” Caren told her, “the medico had to rebuild some parts of you totally.

  “Does that mean that I’m less than human, or more?”

  “Neither sweetie. It means you’re different now, but more like us, I think,” and she looked to Denny for confirmation.

  “More like you Caz. Lets hope she’s not too much like me.”

  “Don’t put yourself down Denny. It’s only your mind that’s different, after all.”

  They were interrupted by Kirsty Vine, Tanya’s sister, she was red faced and breathing heavily. “Ran all the way,” she gasped, “message from Gap, Martha’ll be here in less than four weeks. Picking up recruits in Gap and Dockside.”

  Sylvia was elated, “Now we have you Martha Torrent, better sooner than later.” She saw their blank looks and explained. “Haven’t you noticed, at least half a dozen of our army seem to be pregnant. If Martha was to be much later, then we’d be going to battle with big bellies and even bigger armour.”

  They gathered all the armed villagers and miners as often as possible for full scale manoeuvres and they practised all possible scenarios they could think of, and one afternoon, Denny was sitting with Sylvia on the grass between exercises.

  “What about the dogs?”

  “Meaning, what?” Asked Sylvia quickly with narrowed eyes.

  “How are they reacting to the men being here? Will they fight for us?”

  Sylvia slowly nodded her head, “they’re still running and hunting with the girls in the woods, but they’re unpredictable. They don’t like walls, so won’t come into the village, but out in the open…. Who knows?”

  Denny shrugged her shoulders, “well, it’s good that they’re still on friendly terms,” and gave a little laugh as she quoted in Jade’s voice, “by night, we’re invincible.”

  Anton signalled for them to rejoin the group, “Oh well, back to wheeling and squealing again.”

  They were in full battle gear again, and the solar powered helmets of the miners all received the message relayed through Margaret.

  “MOTHERHOOD, VALANCE MARGARET.”

  “Hello Hood, Margaret here. It’s been longer than I expected.”

  “IF I WERE A CARBON BASED BIPEDAL LIFE FORM, THEN I WOULD CONSIDER THAT TO BE A RUDE JOKE. OR WOULD I? TOKSVIG GUDRUN TAUGHT ME THAT MANY THINGS THAT ARE SPOKEN ARE NOT SPOKEN AS INTENDED. CURIOUS. NOW, A REPORT WOULD BE GOOD, PLEASE.”

  The miners waited expectantly, and Anton drew Billie to him so she could hear the voice of Hood. Likewise, Sylvia had her head close to Gudrun’s helmet.

  “WHAT IS YOUR SITUATION GROUNDSIDE?”

  “We are still together, proximity of Jalon, now called Homestead, with population of about eighty or so, all female. We are contemplating taking active role in civil war between coastal area and inland centres. Advice and air reconnaissance report would be appreciated.”

  “NOT POSSIBLE AT THIS TIME, BUT THE SITUATION WITH HIND MAY ALTER.”

  “So we continue preparations, conflict expected in no more than twenty two days.”

  “ALTERNATIVE STRATEGY. I HAVE A TASK FOR YOU WHICH WILL BE OF MUTUAL BENEFIT TO ALL