Hunters: A Trilogy

by Paul A. Rice

  Yet she still ran towards the man, ran like the wind, long silken legs racing across the grassy field, white tennis shoes barely touching the earth beneath her – she couldn’t stop herself. Tori ran towards him, jet-black hair soaring out behind her head like a shimmering wedding veil.

  As she approached him, she called out: ‘Who are you, is that you? Are you the one, hello?’ Tori felt the fear grow within her chest, it made her hands heavy, she looked down, half-expecting to see them turning to stone. There was nothing except the blackness of her dream. She heard chuckling, an awful sound of rusty metal, twisting and tearing, echoed through her mind.

  Then she had the almost physical sensation of having run into a wall – thick, impassable, and made of glass. Tori looked through the invisible barrier and watched. She saw the man fall to his knees underneath the apple tree, kneeling in the grass he remained there, kneeling and waiting for her – kneeling and screaming. Tori knew that she would be able to go no further, not yet, not in this dream. Not tonight. Later would be the time for her to go, and go she would, gladly.

  26

  Fate Recognised

  It wasn’t to be too many days that passed before the two women visited the farm. With a squeal of worn brake-pads, Maggie’s red Mazda eased to a halt on the dry forecourt and she gave a short toot on the horn. Jane heard the sound and made her way outside from where she had been finishing one of the paintings. She and Red had been doing a scene of the mountains and it was coming along rather well. He was the ideal student as his natural talent and untarnished view of the world allowed his imagination to run free. If the truth be told, it was he who taught Jane more than she managed to get across to him. His was an amazing gift and together they fed each other a constant stream of ideas. There was already a fairly sizeable crop of finished paintings and sketches stacked neatly by the window.

  Stepping onto the porch, Jane held her hand up to guard against the warm glare of the mid-morning sun, which flooded across the house. After she had ratcheted the handbrake on, Maggie climbed from the Mazda, waited for Tori, and then made her way over to the house with the young woman in tow.

  Jane beckoned them up the stairs, pulling two chairs into the shade of the canopy. ‘Hi girls!’ she said. ‘Oh lovely, I have some female company at last. I was beginning to wonder if you two were going to let me down!’ She laughed and asked if they would like a cool drink. Shortly afterwards, she re-joined them on the porch and placed a large jug of fresh lemonade and three glasses onto the table. ‘There we go, ladies – Red and I made it this morning. He has quite a talent for things like that!’ she said, pouring them all a cool drink. They sat for a while, savouring the concoction and enjoying the warm sunshine.

  Maggie was the first to break their pleasant silence. ‘So, what do you know, Jane?’ she asked. ‘How are things here on the farm?’ She leaned forward and placed her empty glass back on the table, before looking around at the tidy courtyard and the dazzling white walls of the house. She commented: ‘My-my, you guys have sure made some changes around here, just look at those flowers, Tori, my dear!’ Tori nodded and smiled.

  Jane looked at her and was breath taken by her beauty once more. Breaking away from Tori’s gaze, she answered Maggie. ‘Yes we have, and it’s been so much fun – come on, let me show you around, you’ll love it!’ Jane stood and waited for the other two to join her on the grand tour. The old house never let her down.

  Maggie, who hadn’t been out to the place for ‘at least ten years,’ was hardly able to believe her eyes. ‘You have done such a wonderful job, Jane,’ she praised. ‘Yes, my goodness, a wonderful job indeed! It’s just what that poor boy needed, exactly what he needed!’ She looked at Jane and smiled warmly.

  Tori loved the place. ‘It feels like…like home,’ she said to them. ‘I can smell the country, the earth and the lake, too…it does have a lake, doesn’t it, Jane?’ She looked down as if expecting to see the expanse of water in question, magically appearing between her feet. Looking up sheepishly, she laughed, saying: ‘Why, I do believe that I may be losing my mind, it must be this fine country air that seems to have gone straight to my head!’ She shook that head and Jane saw the sun glisten off the ebony locks as they jumbled on the girl’s shoulders.

  They continued with the guided tour and spent a long time looking at the artwork that Jane and Red had completed. Maggie asked if she could buy a few of the pieces. Jane smiled and told her to take her pick. ‘If ever I’m down on my luck, Maggie,’ she said, ‘then you can repay me in kind.’

  Maggie laughed and spent a few moments choosing her favourites with Tori. After making a cup of coffee in the kitchen, the three women retired back to the porch once more. As they sat in the warm flower-scented breeze, they heard the sound of men’s voices drifting up from the fields below. Red’s braying laugh reached out to the house.

  ‘Here comes trouble, I expect they’ll need a drink,’ Jane said, and stood up. ‘The boys have been out since dawn, ‘fixing fences and things’, well, that’s their story, but it’s more likely that they’ve just been fishing and messing about!’ She left the two women for a while before returning with a recharged jug of cool lemonade and some additional glasses. She was just in time to see the back gate opening as the men arrived.

  Her guests watched, too – Tori never taking her eyes off Red.

  He was the last one through the gate, after closing it he turned back towards the house and looked up at the veranda. It was then Jane felt it, absolutely one hundred per cent she felt it. The immediate link that flashed between Tori and Red was so tangible that it may as well have been a bolt of brilliant white lightning. Red stood stock still for a moment and looked at Tori over the heads of Ken and Mike.

  Red, as Jane had done earlier, placed one hand above his eyes to shield them, then stood there and gazed at the dark-haired girl sitting calmly on the porch. If Jane hadn’t have known any better she would have sworn she heard him say: ‘It’s you, ain’t it? You’re the one, I know you…’ But it wasn’t possible, he was at least fifty yards away and as far as Jane knew, Red had never seen the girl before.

  Tori’s movement broke the spell – she rose to her feet and moved to the front of the veranda. Mike stepped lightly up the stairs; he was followed closely by Ken who was clutching a brace of dead birds in his hand.

  ‘Well,’ he said, ‘this is a lovely gaggle of trouble-makers, if ever I saw one!’ He smiled at Maggie and then both he and Mike were introduced to Tori. She hardly noticed them. Her eyes kept slipping to one side, the side where Red was approaching from.

  ‘Tori…oh, do wake up my dear, hello – earth calling Tori!’ Maggie clapped her hands once and Tori snapped out of the trance she had been sharing with Red.

  ‘Oh, I’m sorry, it’s just that…’ She looked at the men and then stepped forward to shake hands with first Ken, and then Mike. ‘So, you’re the saviours I’ve heard so much about,’ she said. ‘My grandma has told me all about you – it’s a fine thing you’ve done here, both for the farm and also for…’ She paused to alter her sentence, and then said, ‘…that you’ve done for this young man,’ nodding towards Red as she spoke.

  The young man in question approached the porch. Red climbed the wooden steps and then paused at the top tread to say: ‘Hi y’all, Missus Jones, its real fine to see you, ma’am, and…’ He stopped and looked at Tori. The static between them became almost audible. Then, as if startled into action, Red said to her: ‘Hi to you too, ma’am, I’m Dwayne – Dwayne Tolder. But most o’ my friends just call me by the name o’ Red!’

  Tori stepped towards him, saying: ‘So I’ve heard – Red it shall be then! I’m sure that we will be friends, too. Oh, I’m Tori, by the way.’

  Red took the last of the stairs and joined her on the veranda. Jane had the distinct impression that she, along with Maggie, Ken and Mike, had been transferred to a cinema where they were just about to witness a sneak preview from a forthcoming blockbuster. They were excluded from this d
imension, this moment, a slice of time that only existed for Red and Tori. They watched as the two young adults touched for the first time.

  If she had been expecting a clap of thunder or that bolt of white lightning perhaps, Jane would have been sadly disappointed. The only thing that did happen, as Tori and Red touched hands, was a deep reddening of the young man’s neck. They all saw it flush upwards and settle just below his ears. That’s all, no pyrotechnics or flashing lights, just a long pause – during which the sound of a pin dropping would have been as loud as a lump hammer striking an anvil.

  The two young adults disengaged from their handshake and stood looking at each other for a few moments. For a second it almost looked as though they might have been quite content to stay there all night, perhaps all week, or maybe just forever. Whatever the time span would have been, it was broken by Jane.

  ‘Right then,’ she said, ‘who would care for some refreshments?’

  Red looked up and smiled at her, Tori returned to her previous position on the chair next to her grandmother. After one last glance in the young woman’s direction, Red said he was going to get cleaned up, before moving away to join the other two men in the kitchen.

  Ken and Jane decided that their guests should stay for some food.

  ‘Are you sure? We don’t want to be of any trouble, my dear,’ Maggie asked.

  Her concerns were laid to rest when Jane laughed and handed the old woman a salad knife. ‘You peel and I’ll chop!’ she said, turning to the fridge.

  Mike lit some kindling in the metal barbeque, which he had made during the week, and in no time at all the old oil drum was smouldering away. Red and Tori were still hanging around on the veranda, and as he tramped up the stairs to get some more charcoal for the fire, Mike said, ‘Why don’t you two clear off for a bit? There’s nothing happening here just yet, and anyway, you look like you have ants in your pants!’ He grinned at their relieved faces. ‘Hey, Red, why don’t you take Tori out on the Harley? It needs a good run,’ he said, nodding towards the barn.

  Not waiting for a second invitation, Red grabbed Tori’s hand, and with a wide grin, flew down the steps and headed for the barn with the girl in tow – moments later, the two of them popped and banged their way out of the barn. Hearing the commotion, Jane joined Mike on the veranda and together they watched as Red wobbled down to the gate. Tori dismounted expertly and lifted the latch. She waited until Red had passed through and then closed the gate behind them.

  Just before she turned back to the bike, Tori looked up at Mike and Jane saw her mouth the words: ‘Thank you!’ Mike gave her a thumbs-up; Tori waved back, their casual gestures were almost as though they had known each other forever.

  The girl turned, and with the ease of an expert, vaulted straight onto the pillion seat. Red twisted the throttle, with the sound of laughter, and a few misfires, they clattered off towards the lake. Mike and Jane waved again and stood watching them until they had disappeared.

  Mike and Red had spent hours getting the old bike into some kind of working order, it had lain under an old tarpaulin for years and Red said that he doubted it would ever start. Mike had told Red not to worry about it. Red had watched in wonderment as Mike did his thing. By that night, the Australian had the bike running and had also shown Red how to ride – the two of them puttering around the courtyard like school kids. There were a couple of things on the bike that still needed sorting out, but Mike had said it was good enough for now.

  He appeared to have been right, because at present, Red and Tori seemed to be making the very best of his efforts. It was four hours later when the young couple returned. The others had long since finished their meal and had kept some steak sandwiches on hold for the two riders.

  Well, actually they turned out to be ‘walkers’…

  Hearing the back gate creaking, Jane, who was relaxing on the porch with the other three, looked up in time to see Red and Tori walking out of the darkness. They were pushing the old bike back to the house.

  Jane shouted out: ‘Hey, are you guys okay, did it break down?’ hearing Mike snort derisively next to her as she did so.

  The couple pushed the machine up to the porch, Red leaned it against the balustrade. He grinned up at them. ‘No ma’am, we were having such a fine time, it’s just that, well…I forgot to put any juice in her!’ he said, sheepishly patting the tank with his hand.

  Tori laughed. ‘It’s as empty as our heads,’ she chimed. ‘But we had such fun! We went everywhere and we had just the best time! The old girl only ran out a little ways down the path, so I guess that we’re lucky,’ her eyes reflected the burning coals from the smouldering barbeque. ‘Yes, I think I just had the best day of my life!’ the young woman said, as she turned to Red and touched his arm. Her touch made his eyes shine too, but their gleam didn’t have much to do with any glowing fire, well… not the one Mike had lit, anyway.

  Red looked at Mike and said, ‘Mike, uuh…do you mind ifen I give this-here machine a name, sir?’ Mike said he should go right ahead. Red looked up at them happily. ‘Well, ma’am,’ he said, looking at Tori. ‘I was thinking of naming her Glory, Tori’s Glory!’ His face beamed in the flickering light. Tori shrieked with delight, clapped her hands and leaned forward to plant a soft kiss on his cheek – it was about then that Red’s face made a damned fine attempt at drowning out the red firelight.

  The on-looking adults laughed at the name, and also at the reactions of the young ‘couple’. It’s the way in which Jane had already started to think of them, a couple. She said, ‘Red, that’s a lovely gesture, Tori is such an unusual name anyway, ‘Tori’s Glory’ it must be then – that’s brilliant!’

  Red and Tori grinned up at her, and then together they pushed the old grey Harley into the barn before returning to be with the others on the porch. Jane fetched some food for them, and with tales of Red and Tori’s adventures, accompanying the heaps of beef and mustard sandwiches, they wound the day down to a close. After clearing away the remnants of their meal, and collecting her paintings, Maggie said it was time for them to depart.

  ‘My goodness me – look at the time, young lady! Goodness, these fine folk must be waiting to see the back of us, come along my dear, tomorrow’s another day!’ Tori gathered her things and accompanied the old woman down to the car.

  They all said their goodbyes, during which Jane reassured them. ‘You’re more than welcome to come by anytime, anytime at all!’ she said, giving each of the other women a hug.

  They stood and watched as Maggie turned the car around and drove down the track, its headlights making the shadows run like wild animals from the car as it bumped its way back to the main road. They watched the lights fade into the distance. Jane turned and said, ‘Well, I don’t know about you guys, but I’m completely done in! It’s this beautiful fresh air I think – it makes me so tired.’

  ‘Yeah, that and old age, they knock the hell out of you, don’t they?’ Ken said, squawking in fake agony as she poked him in the ribs.

  Laughing loudly, husband and wife made their way over to the comfort of the big bed in the RV. Within minutes the farmhouse was in almost complete darkness, only the shadow of the barn owl disturbed the silver moonlight cascading over the land outside. She had a growing family to feed and the silent predator made the most of the welcome light, many rodents would sense the sudden pulse of air that night. But, once the rush of her wings is felt, that sudden beating pressure from above, then it’s too late, far too late. Death rides in the rush of those silent wings.

  In the distance, beyond the hills, the storm clouds were gathering. Big, black, mushrooming clouds began to rise menacingly in the invisible air as it lifted like a barrier from the warm earth below. Eventually they would have their way and sooner or later the clouds would breach the top of the hills, breaking free from their invisible clutches to run down the valley – their coming would cover everything in a sinister cloak of darkness.

  The clouds weren’t the only dark thing approaching th
rough the night. Billowing smoke and crashing gears signalled the coming of another type of blackness, a different kind of Darkness altogether. It raced towards the farm with only a cloud of blue smoke and a half-empty bottle of cheap rye for company. Oh, a big chunk of madness had hitched a ride with it as well, just for the hell of it.

  And, rather like the beautiful owl, their passing also caused a rush of wind, a hot blast of thick, oily wind. It, too, carried death upon its wings.

  27

  Gifts

  Over the next few weeks the relationship between the young couple blossomed like the proverbial flowers in springtime. They became constant companions and were very rarely seen apart. The only periods of separation they endured were during the working week. Maggie ensured that Tori earned her keep and kept the headstrong young lady gainfully employed alongside her good self in the shop.

  Red, in the meantime, had his hands full on the farm. Mike had decided it would a good idea to get the old windmill back into some kind of working order; the three men had no previous experience at such a project and the task did daunt them somewhat. But, as Mike had said: ‘It’s only a machine, guys; just some bits of wood, a few cogs and a couple of drive-shafts. How hard can it be?’

  And that was that, it became an obsession for all of them…the second of Red’s…and they worked tirelessly at it. Ken spent hours up to his knees in mud and water, clearing out the overgrown and collapsed water channels. It wasn’t long before the old mill began to regain some of its former glory.