by Jon Jacks
Just as she had handled Hew so ridiculously naturally, Beth found that she relished being on horseback.
With a slight clenching of her knees or heels, or a sharp tug on the reins (all of which Heddy had managed to rescue from an area of the sheds only partially damaged by the fire), she could command her mount to turn first this way then that, even to playfully rear up on its hind legs.
Galilee returned with Khalid’s carthorse, signalling that he wanted everyone to follow him as he headed towards the burnt-out archway.
Beth only needed to press lightly with a knee to coax her mount into a casual, relaxing trot.
Clearing the archway, they immediately saw one of many groups of people descending on the farm. Like them, they were generally a mix of people on horseback or on foot. Some had carts, drawn either by other horses or even cows.
‘They come to you, my Lord Machal!’ Khalid asserted proudly. ‘They, too, have heard the calling!’
*
As Galilee and Beth’s own band moved away from the farm, the crowds who had been heading towards it now changed direction to account for their movement.
Some of these groups were on a parallel course, passing through the fields to their left and right. Others were behind them, either skirting around the farm or walking directly through the farmyard.
The groups ahead of them turned sharply and slowed down, slowly converging on either side of their own, smaller band.
No one shouted or even spoke. No one appeared willing to draw too close for the moment.
‘What’s happening?’
Beth gently spurred her mount until she was riding alongside Galilee.
‘If they’ve come because you’re calling them, why aren’t they coming any closer?’
‘Machal.’ Galilee spoke the name of his own inner spirit grimly, perhaps even angrily. ‘As part of his calling, he’s now warning them to hold off from greeting us just a little longer.’
‘They look like they don’t know what to do next; like they’re wondering if they should really have bothered coming here.’
They were surrounded by a host of troubled, uneasy faces.
It was an eerie gathering, a growing rabble of an army, stolidly marching along under a cloud of nervous silence.
‘And who can blame them?’ Galilee sounded frustrated. ‘Machal shouldn’t have called them without informing me. Now we have to resolve our differences; not that he’s left me much choice. I’ll have to greet them all soon, as soon as I’m ready.’
‘So…you’re saying you haven’t got Machal under control, like you thought you had?’
Galilee whirled angrily on Beth. ‘Haven’t I told you we have to be careful? That it isn’t easy?’
‘And it’s easier to get angry with me rather than with Machal or yourself, obviously!’
Beth irritably drew her mount away from Galilee’s.
‘Beth; I’m sorry!’ Galilee shouted after her.
He urged his horse on to follow her.
‘Look,’ he said as he drew alongside her, ‘yes, I’m sorry. I’m in a furious mood and I shouldn’t have taken it out on you.’
‘That’s all right.’ She smiled. ‘I understand what it’s like to feel you’re not in control of your own body anymore.’
‘Yeah, that was a bit of a shock for me too, to be honest; I admit that. He should have waited until we were ready. But he says we’re short of time. We didn’t have time to argue about it anymore.’
‘You’ve been arguing?’
He hung his head in embarrassment.
‘Fortunately, we agree on most things, so arguments don’t really come up.’
He raised his head, turning it from side to side to look over his growing, ragtag medieval army.
‘We agreed, too, that this would have to happen at some point. They would have to rally around someone if we’re going to make a proper fight of it.’
‘So, what’s the problem? Here they are.’
‘But it’s the calling Machal has sent out Beth. He says it should only be our followers who have heard and responded to it. But, of course, he’s not in full control of his powers because I’m still mainly in control.’
He emphasised this point, like he was trying to reassert his temporarily slipped right to authority.
‘You’re saying, I think, that it might not be such a perfect bit of magic after all?’
Galilee nodded. ‘So he can’t be sure that others haven’t sensed it too.’
Beth observed the edgy faces of the converging people with growing alarm.
‘So, now you’re saying that some those people out there could be here to do us harm, right?’
Galilee nodded again.
*
Chapter 53
The people gathering around them were a mix of ages and races.
Despite this, even the oldest amongst them seemed to be keeping pace with everyone else.
Ah, of course, Beth thought; just as Farmer Hayart had seemed a little younger than when Beth had last seen him, just as Heddy had appeared a little older – and just, too, as the hospitals had emptied of people who suddenly found themselves apparently miraculously cured – they would no longer be suffering the aches and stiffness of age.
Besides, wouldn’t their inner, magical spirit help them out where necessary?
Would there be magical beings from Chinese, Japanese, African and other worldwide legends amongst them? Surely, yes, there would be.
In which case the battles to come would be different to the ones that originally took place all those thousands of years ago.
‘This squat of yours,’ Galilee abruptly growled irritably. ‘I take it it’s in a disused farm – and there are lots of barn, sheds, that kind of thing?’
‘Yeah, plenty of them, though in a bit of a poor state.’
Beth could guess why Galilee was asking about the sheds.
‘They could be fixed up though, with a few bits of wood and what have you. Would be pretty crowded, with all this lot; but they could fit in at a push.’
Galilee smiled, like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
‘Good. We’ll head there then.’
Abruptly, everyone around them smiled too.
Some of the younger ones actually began to gaily skip along. Horses were nudged into a sprightly trot. With a snap of the reins, carts speeded up.
There were busts of laughter, strings of song.
The atmosphere had completely changed. Now it was more like a crowd heading towards a popular fair.
Galilee and Machal had obviously come to some form of agreement. Everything was fine between them once more.
*
There was a rushed clomping of hooves.
A short, squat man, incongruously wearing a smart business suit, galloped up and pulled his horse alongside Galilee.
He offered his hand, greeting Galilee and introducing himself in a loud, barked mumble. He tried to keep a large cigar in the corner of his mouth as he spoke.
‘My Lord Machal! Rie-card Folster – Beldeg!’
Despite the cigar tightly clamped between his teeth, he smiled hugely. It was the smile, Beth surmised, that he used when he was about to propose some huge financial deal.
As if he could read Beth’s thoughts, he turned sharply towards her. His smile abruptly transformed into a distrustful scowl.
Taking the hint that she wasn’t wanted, Beth allowed her mount to drop back, leaving Folster and Galilee to talk.
‘Rie-card?’ she sulkily mumbled to herself. ‘Bet that’s just the way he pronounces “Richard”.’
; And I bet he does too! Quite ironic, though, don’t you think, that such a pompous little man has ended up as a walking prison for goody two-shoes?
‘Goody two-shoes?’ Beth kept her voice low, so no one would hear.
Beldeg! Oh, how I used to tire of the fawning descriptions of that tiresome man! Innocence, purity, joy, light! I mean, what sort of man wants to be talked about in those terms, eh?
Another man had approached Galilee, this one thin and tall.
His legs hung low down his horse’s sides. Although he was humped forward, his head was still higher than Galilee’s.
He introduced himself first as Sahsgintyr, then as Philip Tull. Like Folster, he briefly interrupted his smiling greeting to glower at Beth.
Why did everyone do that?
Had she ever done anything wrong to them?
No!
Was she even thinking of doing anything wrong to them?
No – although, if they keep on glaring at her like that, perhaps she might!
*
Out of the corner of her eye, Beth caught a glimpse of Foal forlornly trotting alongside their small group.
Poor Foal! Poor little wolf!
Beth might be distrusted, but at least she could ride amongst everyone else. Foal had to stay way off to one side, to avoid frightening the horses.
And none of the newcomers would draw near to her either, keeping their distance. They observed her with the same distrustful, hateful glares that Beth had to suffer.
‘Lynese; is there anything we can do for Foal?’
Once again, she kept her voice low, so no one would hear her.
You mean change her back? Back into a cute little dog? Of course–
‘No, no! Nothing so, er, elaborate, thanks!’
The eagerness in Lynese’s comment had put Beth on her guard; would this just provide Lynese with another opportunity to gain more control over her? Probably.
‘Couldn’t we, er, just calm my horse, say? So that Foal could come over here and be with me?’
Why not?
Now there was a definite touch of sarcasm in Lynese’s voice.
It will be so much fun, seeing all the other horse’s panicking and bolting as the little wolf makes her way over to you.
‘Okay, okay sarky; so how about we calm the other horses too, eh?’
Wouldn’t it be better if we just placed a calming charm around your little pet? Otherwise, what happens if any other horses come closer to her? Chaos, darling! It would be absolute mayhem, believe me!
Beth bit her lip. What harm could it do, allowing Lynese just a little more leeway?
‘All right. Let’s do it!’
Beth didn’t even need to call Foal over.
As if the little wolf herself had recognised that something had changed, she gambolled over towards Beth, skilfully darting between the rising and falling legs and hooves of the other horses.
In one supple, fluid motion, she leapt up behind Beth. Then, shifting carefully from leg to leg until she achieved the correct balance, she sat down on the horse’s wide rear.
The baleful looks Beth had been receiving before were nothing to the glares directed at her now.
Obviously, having a wolf sitting behind her confirmed everything everyone had already been thinking about her.
*
Chapter 54
If felt as if hate, loathing, anger and fear were all being physically rained upon Beth. A bombardment of emotional missiles.
Yet through it all she felt the hard, penetrating gaze of Philip Tull.
His face was now almost skeletal in the way the skin had tightened across the bone.
His eyes had grown and darkened. What little hair he’d had was now plastered to his head with the sweat of a furious heat.
‘Why’s he looking at me like that?’ Beth hissed fearfully under her breath.
Well, you…
‘What do you expect?’ Khalid’s face was etched with the surprise of someone asked an obvious question.
Beth hadn’t realised she had dropped so far back from Galilee that she was now riding alongside him.
She realised immediately, however, that Khalid had assumed she had asked him why she was so disliked.
‘What do you think being friends with a wolf signifies?’ Khalid said. ‘Especially to people who were hunted down by packs as efficiently organised as an army?’
‘A wolf that just a few hours ago was nothing more than a pretty little sausage dog?’ Beth snorted dismissively.
‘In spirit, every dog could be said to be a wolf. But not everyone can or would wish to call that aspect into being!’
She shot him an angry glare.
‘For your information, Khalid, I didn’t “call it”! Foal changed because we were fighting to save Galilee’s life! While you were prancing around on that carthorse you stole!’
‘Then it makes no sense, no sense at all!’ He shook his head, mystified.
‘Why does it make no sense? What makes no sense?’
‘That you are feared, that everyone distrusts you! Yet you fight for Galilee!’
‘Well, while you’re pondering that,’ she snapped with a brusque nod towards the still glowering Philip Tull, ‘could you let him know that please?’
Although Tull was now surrounded by a number of other riders who had drawn closer to Galilee, he and Folster still tended to monopolise the young boy’s attention.
During every pause in their conversation, however, Tull’s long body would twist around, snake-like, his bulging eyes fixing on Beth as if he were about to strike.
Beth was amazed when Khalid chuckled.
‘I can’t see what you find so funny!’
‘But, I wonder, can he help what he’s doing? It’s now in his nature, of course! But it may be he’s every bit as surprised by his hate as you are.’
‘You know, it may just be me, Khalid, but I don’t exactly find that in any way reassuring.’
‘I think I heard him say he was SahsginTyr, yes? Can’t you sense the connections with legend? Sahsgint, the Saxon name for Tyr, or Tiwaz; the Shining One. A god of the sky, of war, battle, and honour.’
‘So he hates me because…what? I don’t like war?’
Khalid chuckled mischievously again, his narrowed eyes flicking towards Foal.
‘I suspect your little wolf particularly doesn’t help endear you to SahsginTyr. He lost a hand to Fenri, who was more wolf than man. Even the dwarves feared Fenri. Even those on his side; well, especially those on his side!’
‘How can you know all this? What did you spend all your time doing in that garage shop – reading legends?’
He frowned, puzzled.
‘But can’t you sense that stories like these are…well, yes, a part of us? Like they’re a part of our DNA, our makeup. Passed on from generation to generation! The myths that are trying to make sense of an unbelievable reality that took place all those thousands of years ago. But we have an extra advantage, because we’re aware of the reality. So we can now – as I said – see the connections!’
Beth couldn’t see the connections.
She couldn’t sense the legends that Khalid claimed were flowing through her DNA.
Perhaps she was keeping too tight a hold on Lynese. Perhaps, if she just somehow loosened the constraints just a little bit, she would be able to access all this inherent knowledge without constantly having to ask someone else.
She pulled herself up sharply.
Were these really her thoughts, her thoughts alone? Or was Lynese intruding on – manipulating – her thoughts?
‘So, what of him?’
Beth turned her gaze on the stocky Folster as, leaning back in a self-s
atisfied manner, he drew hard, long and lovingly on his cigar.
‘What do you know of Beldeg?’
‘Beldeg?’ Khalid grinned, like he was about to regale her with his favourite joke. ‘That would be gentle and wise Baldur; full of innocence, joy, light!’
Yes, yes! She’s heard all this already, thank you!
Beth ignored Lynese’s complaining wail.
‘He doesn’t look gentle or full of innocence to me!’
Riding alongside Galilee, Folster emanated an undoubted air of pride and arrogance.
He rode with his shoulders back, his head held high, his nose and cigar in the air. His laughter was loud and raucous, like he wanted everyone to know that he was regarded as a leader.
Khalid chuckled with satisfaction that Beth had appreciated the irony.
‘It happens this way, obviously; sometimes, our inner spirit is at odds with our outer being! Another of life’s many mischievous jokes! What troubles it must cause! What turmoil of conscience!’
‘And you Khalid?’ She eyed him inquisitively. ‘Was a similar joke played on you?’
He shrugged nonchalantly.
‘What else could I expect, when I’m inhabited by a trickster like Atalicas? But in my case, naturally, the joke was played differently! My mother always said I must be possessed by a wicked spirit, for – unlike my more observant brother who, fortunately, was religious enough for both of us! – I found myself uncomfortably drawn to the pleasures in life. Wine, women, song; the old story, I’m afraid. And a profound disappointment to my parents, of course.’
‘Atalicas; he doesn’t sound – well, Indian.’
‘Greek!’ Once again, Khalid deflected Beth’s rude probing with light laughter. ‘My family traces its ancestry back to when Alexander’s army marched into India.’
Beth’s attention had been drawn once again to the people congregating around Galilee.
They had been joined by a number of women, a smattering of eager-faced girls. The latter glared back at Beth with something more than fear and mistrust; there was a challenge to their stares, jealousy too.
Ignore them, Beth told herself.
Ah, but you can’t, can you?
‘Of course I can!’
‘You can what?’ a perplexed Khalid asked, assuming Beth was still talking to him.
‘Oh, er, sorry! I have to talk to Lynese – Lynese, the spirit inside me.’
‘Ah.’ Khalid nodded as if he understood. Despite this, he still held her eyes with a questioning gaze.
Well, lover boy is a good-looking catch, I suppose. Or can you really ignore that burgundy-haired beauty? She’s not making any attempt to hide her interest, I see!