High The Vanes (The Change Book 2)

by Kearns, David

  “So why are we going there?”

  “We will know when we arrive, my lady.”

  “That’s all? ‘We will know when we arrive’? You mean you don’t know why we are going to this ‘Uricon’?”

  “It is not for me to know this. I am only a humble maidservant of the Lady. The high servants will inform us when they are ready.”

  “Well, I’m glad somebody seems to know what’s happening. I’m tired now, I think I will try to sleep.”

  Eluned rose from her blanket and snuffed out the candle. The darkness was profound.

  Chapter 4

  The sun rose early the following morning. I awoke stiff and cold. The stone floor was unforgiving and uncomfortable. Nevertheless, I must have slept reasonably well, as I did feel refreshed. Eluned lay still asleep nearby. As quietly as I could, I crept out of my blanket and wandered outside the building.

  There was still a low-lying mist, but the sun was over the horizon, a bright, dazzling disc casting its rays all around me. The previous night, in the darkness, I had thought this was a solitary place. I was wrong. There were the remains of a number of buildings, some collapsed down to their foundations, others with walls still standing to roof height. They were all regular in shape. Rectangular, with what looked like a dividing wall about two-thirds down each. What was left of the doors or doorways all faced onto the pathway I was now standing on. To my right, the way we had come in, there was a low green bank. It ran away in both directions around the ruined buildings. Several minutes passed as I wandered up and down the path, in and out of the buildings.

  “My lady?” Eluned’s voice startled me. I turned. “There is food. We must leave soon.”

  I returned to her side. “What is this place, Eluned?”

  She smiled at yet another of my questions.

  “Sorry. Still asking questions.”

  “It was once a home for the old Roman soldiers, my lady. They came here long ago. And left long ago. But their walls are firm. Even though they are broken now. They say three or four would live in one of these dwellings. With their horses.”

  “Men and horses in the same building?”

  “That was always the way. Horses provide warmth in the winter. Men give them shelter.”

  “I must learn more about these old Romans of yours, Eluned.”

  “Surely they are in the book of your people, my lady?”

  “The Bible? Yes, there is talk of the Romans, but they cannot be the same as the ones who lived here. The Bible tells of the far land of Jerusalem. No one has ever been there.”

  “It is the same people, my lady. The old Romans knew the whole world. Or so it is said. So the old tales tell us. I will tell you the story of Macsen Wledig one day, my lady. You would like that. My grandfather’s grandfather knew of him. Before the old Romans vanished.”

  Baffled, I smiled and re-entered the building in which we had slept. Eluned had placed some cheese and another loaf on the floor, with the same brown bottle as before. The blankets were neatly rolled, ready for her to carry. Without sitting, we ate the food and drank from the bottle. Once she had packed her bag, Eluned pulled it over her shoulder, with the blankets, and stepped out through the doorway.

  I quickly picked up my bag from where it had lain beneath my head and followed her.

  “Today we must reach the dyke, my lady. I think it is not so far.”

  We headed back to the road and strode off.

  Chapter 5

  As on the previous day, Eluned set a demanding pace and, once again, I only kept up with her with some difficulty. As we progressed through the morning, the landscape around us began to change. From the empty moorland we began to pass through what had once been cultivated land, though now it was wild and uncared-for. After a couple of hours this became the remains of fields, the once defining hedges now equally unkempt and straggling. The pathway we were following was occasionally almost overgrown with these thick hedges and we were forced to push our way through, receiving many scratches on arms and legs as we did so.

  Just about what I guessed was mid-day I was seriously thinking of asking Eluned to pause, as we had done the previous day. I knew she would not be happy to do so, but I needed to take even a five or ten minute breather. For the last half hour or so, the fields had given way to more open ground again, and there were trees becoming visible on the horizon. The road, having been winding through the fields, now straightened again and it was easy to see it as it stretched ahead, climbing a hill up to the trees.

  “Eluned,” I started, but before I could complete my sentence she stopped and raised her arm. As I caught up with her I was about to continue my request to stop when she put her finger to my mouth and pointed with her free hand. She was indicating something on the road, at present far ahead, seemingly just emerging from the tree line. At such a distance it was barely visible, and I’m not sure I would have seen it myself if Eluned had not indicated it to me.

  “What is it?” I whispered, wondering why I was whispering.

  “Shhh,” Eluned said. “Wait.” She was looking up the road, one hand now over her brow to shield the sun.

  I waited. The object, whatever it was, continued along the road in our direction. As it approached it was easier to make out its shape. It was clearly moving much faster than we were. Slowly, it dawned on me what we were seeing.

  “Isn’t that a ...”

  “Never mind, my lady. It must not see us. We must leave the road. Quickly.”

  She took my hand and dashed off across the open ground to our right. I stumbled along behind her. Before long she threw herself down on the ground, pulling me down beside her. She pulled the grass around us as best she could before lifting her head a little to see the road, now some distance to our left. If whoever was coming towards us had already spotted us they would have no difficulty seeing us in our dull white shifts, standing out amidst the greens around us. Our one hope was that they had not seen us, in which case perhaps they would not notice us.

  Soon I could hear a strange mechanical sound that grew louder as it drew nearer. I raised my head just a little to look. As I did the object disappeared as it approached a dip in the road, still some distance away.

  “What is it?” I whispered.

  “Crwydwyr, my lady. Bad men. You would call them ‘vagabondi’ I think.”

  I had never heard the word. The roaring sound drew quickly nearer and nearer. I lowered my head as far as I could into the grass, clutching at the soil with one hand, my other clutching the waist of Eluned’s shift. She had thrown her bag and the blankets on the ground before us. Now she scrabbled for one of the blankets, unrolled it and pulled it over our heads. Muffled a little, the roaring came closer and closer. Soon it sounded as if it was on top of us and I had to bite the earth beneath me to stifle a scream. I could feel Eluned’s rapid breathing under my fingers as I gripped her shift.

  As quickly as it had approached, the roaring sound slowly began to fade. Having come from our right where we lay it now moved away to our left, back the way we had come. We still dared not move. Eluned’s breathing at last slowed. She lifted the edge of the blanket. Where the road lay was a cloud of dust, slowly settling. Eluned removed the blanket completely. As the sound continued to diminish she eventually pushed herself up on to her knees, brushing earth and grass seeds from the front of her shift. As she did so, I released my hold, rolled over and sat up.

  The cloud of dust had almost gone by now, and as the sound dwindled into the distance all that was visible was a smaller and smaller cloud. Before long the silence returned. Eluned rolled the blanket once more, stood up and hitched up her bag with the blankets. She held out her hand to me.

  “We must move on, quickly, my lady. They will be back.”

  “Who are they?”

  “Crwydwyr. Vagabondi. Wanderers. Men who harbour evil in their hearts. I fear they know you are on the road.”

  “But what was that they were travelling in?”

  “I have heard
it said they travel in machines with an engine. I had not wanted to believe such things existed. Now I know.”

  “But engines don’t make that much noise, Eluned. The engines that existed in my world were silent. They ran on electricity.”

  “The engines of the vagabondi use some sort of liquid. They found it in places that existed in the old times and worked out how to use it. I know no more, but now I know they exist I must believe that they are as dangerous as the old ones told me.”

  “They are not of my world, then?”

  “Maybe once. But they broke free in the early days. Now they live in the forests, feeding on wild animals and plants. On any poor creature they find, it is said.”

  “Creatures like us?”

  “Creatures like us, my lady. Somehow they know when some one travels the old roads. This the high servants warned me. We must hurry. We have to reach the dyke before night falls. We cannot let the crwydwyr find us.”

  She set off once more. I followed quickly behind her, my hunger and thirst forgotten.

  Chapter 6

  By the time we reached the tree line, we were nearing exhaustion. Although it had not seemed that far away while we awaited the arrival of the vagabondi, it was much further on foot, as we were. Stepping out of the open, I fell against the first tree. Eluned followed. For minutes we leaned against the tree and each other, our breath coming in short, gasping bursts.

  “How much further?” I managed.

  “When the trees are finished, we should see the dyke. I do not know how long it will be before the trees are finished. We must go, my lady.”

  “Two more minutes, Eluned.”

  “We cannot stop, my lady. The crwydwyr are surely seeking us. They will have reached the place where we slept. They will have seen that we have passed through. They will return. With their engine they will soon be upon us.”

  “So your idea is to carry on. Into this forest that clearly gets deeper. They will be upon us before we see them in here. Why don’t we run off to the side and hide, as we did before?”

  “They will surely wait for us at the Dyke, my lady. All will be lost.”

  “What if I use the skills that the Teacher taught me? Confront them. He told me never to avoid a task. Isn’t that what we are doing now?”

  “Your skills are in protecting your own life, my lady. Not in fighting others. We cannot defend ourselves. You do not know what these crwydwyr are capable of doing to us. Two women. Alone on the road.”

  She was right, but I still believed that I had learned some of the skills of a warrior. How I could put them into practice was another matter. The Teacher had not given me any weapons for this journey, though I had learned how to use the bow and the axe.

  Eluned smiled at me. “The dyke will be our sanctuary from these men. We must go.”

  “I hope you are right. This dyke, whatever it is, had better live up to your expectations.”

  We set off, again at a killing pace, deep into the forest where the path led. Soon the trees began to block out the daylight. We kept to the path by extending our left arms and veering to the right when we struck a tree. At the darkest point we could see daylight neither behind us or before us. It seemed the forest went on for ever.

  Eluned grasped my arm in the dark. “I hear them.” In the silence of the forest I could just make out a faint sound far behind us.

  “We must hide, Eluned. Into the forest.”

  “I fear we will lose the path should we do so.”

  “It’s a risk we have to take. Come on. We don’t need to go too far. It’s dark enough on the path. They will never see us under the trees.”

  Stumbling and crashing into the trees, which seemed to grow closer and closer together, we plunged into the utter darkness of the forest. We clung to each other, totally blind and, very soon, totally lost. Eluned stopped, throwing her arm around me, her face close to mine.

  “‘The children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness.’ Lady, I am afraid.”

  I felt rather than saw her raise her face.

  “‘The wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.’ Lady, aid us. We are in peril.”

  The sound of the vagabondi engine was coming nearer. Even though we had stumbled what seemed to be a far way into the forest, it sounded close. Something suddenly disturbed the edge of my vision. At first I thought it was a trick of the darkness, but as I continued to stare I saw it again.

  “There’s a light,” I whispered, pointing uselessly.

  “I see it not, my lady.”

  “Wait. There! There now, again.”

  “Oh, my lady. It is the crwydwyr. They have a light. We are lost. ‘Let me not be ashamed, O Lady, for I have called upon thee.’ They will find us. I am truly sorry, my lady. I have failed you.”

  I put my fingers to her face, feeling the wet tears run down her cheeks. She took hold of my hand and kissed the fingers. We had to do something. We could not simply stand here in the forest and wait for the vagabondi to find us. To do whatever evil to us they wished. I shuddered.

  With Eluned still clutching my one hand, I put out the other. Inches away, I felt the rough bark of a tree. I ran my fingers over it. It was wide, much wider than those we had encountered so far. I pulled away from her.

  “No, my lady,” she screamed. “Stay. I cannot lose you now.”

  “Keep holding my hand, Eluned. I think there may be a way.”

  Keeping my free hand on the tree I followed the trunk around until I felt a thick branch striking out.

  “We can climb this tree, Eluned. Maybe the light will not find us if we are not on the ground. Here, climb up onto this branch. Leave your bags at the base. We can collect them later.”

  I pulled up her hand, still clutching mine, until it was holding the top surface of the branch.

  “Now, pull yourself onto the branch. When you are up, feel for the next branch up. There will be one.”

  With difficulty, Eluned scrambled up onto the first branch. As she let go of my hand to grip the branch she whispered, “Stay with me, my lady.”

  “I’m right behind you. Keep going.”

  I felt her stand, shivering, beside me and reach upwards. She found another branch.

  “There is another, my lady. You were right.”

  “Climb it, then. Quickly!”

  I could see the light clearly now as I looked back into the forest. It was flashing from side to side as the roar of the engine increased.

  Catching on, Eluned quickly scaled another two branches. As I pulled myself up onto the fourth I told her to stop. I sat back on my haunches as best I could, pulling Eluned down with me. She began very quietly humming as we perched there. Occasionally the humming turned to words in a language that I did not understand.

  The light and the noise came closer and closer. It was difficult to tell exactly how far away they were as it was impossible to guess which way and how far from us the path lay. Very soon the engine was roaring and the light flashed from side to side very close to us. As it passed through the trees, it lit everything in its path with an eerie yellow light. Small animals that had been long without light scurried away into the further darkness.

  Suddenly, the roaring engine changed to a low rumble. It seemed they had stopped. The light also stopped moving forward, instead moving slowly side to side in a line that struck and struck again the trunk of our tree. Although there was enough light cast for the two of us to be able to see each other clearly, it seemed that they could not see us.