The Tessellation Saga. Book Two. 'The One' (23 page)

‘Ello, is
anybody ‘ere?’ Young Jed called as his twin stood beside him as
white as a sheet, staring at her home with tears filling her
eyes.

‘Why would they
leave jus’ the inn…?’ Mayan whispered as the tears fell.

‘Jed...,’ Sonal
called to Gideon’s father as he was about to follow the younger
twins into the inn. ‘Jed, come here…’ Sonal said again urgently.
Jed turned to see Sonal squatting beside a bundle of rags on the
far edge of the green. He walked back down the steps and made his
way over the trampled wet mud and grass to his friend, as he drew
closer, he could see what the pile was.

‘Selda...,
Tom...,’ his voice broke as his knees gave way and he fell to the
ground kneeling in the mud, ‘Tom…’, he whispered, his onetime
friend’s face, bruised but wet and clean, was lying in a puddle
staring sightlessly up at the grey sky.

“By the
Journey’ why, all of it… why?’ He said looking up at Sonal, his
home, his village and his friends were all gone, the truth of the
scene suddenly hit him hard. With tears running down his face and
his throat burning, Jed roared in fury before leaning forward and
gently closing Tom’s eyes. Sonal placed a hand on his shoulder and
opened his mouth to speak just as a piercing scream emanated from
the inn. ‘Mayan…!’ Jed exclaimed, hastily wiping his face as he
jumped up to follow Sonal, who was running back toward the inn.

Inside, they
found Mayan sobbing loudly in Gideon’s arms, young Jed throwing up
in a corner and Lemba crying large silent tears. On the floor of
the parlour, where the villagers had danced and where the three
youngsters had played as children, lay the near naked body of a
girl, her head burst open with blood and brain matter rotting
amidst the insects feeding on both it and the congealed blood
between her legs.

‘By the
Journey!’ exclaimed Jed, whilst Sonal hastily removed his wet cloak
and threw it over the distressing sight.

‘It’s Bea… it’s
Bea,’ cried Mayan, sobbing and holding her face fast against
Gideon’s broad chest.

‘Gid, take the
twins and Lemba, go into the kitchen,’ said Gideon’s father as he
gently gathered the corpse into his arms, ‘Sonal, Varan and I will
deal with this,’ he added sadly.

He cradled
Bea’s soft, cold body and sighed, realising by the lack of rigor
that she had been dead for quite a while. The older twins followed
him out of the inn and onto the green where he placed her body
gently beside those of Selda and his friend Tom. He stared at the
senseless scene unable to find reason for the deaths, Bea, whose
smile had been like sunshine, Selda, once so full of love and
compassion and then Tom. Tears rolled down his face once more as in
his mind, Jed saw Tom as the man he once was, young and full of
life, laughing at himself as he walked Jed home the night of the
fire, the night his wife Mayan and their son had died, Tom, who had
refused to forgive himself.

‘You were
always me friend Tom, an’ I never blamed yer...’ he whispered with
tears in his eyes.

Linking arms
Sonal and Varan began to sing, softly and plaintively. Jed stood
and watched the earth as it loosened and opened, flowing up and out
of the ground like water and the bodies of Bea and his friends sank
softly to their rest beneath the welcoming blanket of darkness. As
the soil finally covered them, Jed sank to his knees on the hard
ground once more and rested his chin on his chest. As the song
ended the elder twins began to speak, one after the other and Jed,
whispering, joined them.

‘May yer be
blessed on yer Journey, me friends’, an’ not judge too ‘arshly,’ he
said quietly wiping a tear from his eye.

‘Blessed on
your journey…,’ he heard echoed behind him. Turning around, Jed saw
the others had joined him. Slowly, Varan, Rhoàld and Lemba moved
quietly leaving the last inhabitants of Green Home Village to mourn
their dead.

The next
morning, after eating and collecting a few essentials, the group
moved on toward the forest with a sombre mood still hanging over
them. Despite Rhoàld and the younger members of the group now
wearing clean, dry clothing, gleaned from the various bed chambers
at the inn, all were worried and uncomfortable with what had
happened at the village and it was not until they turned into the
lane that led to Sonal’s home, that their spirits raised once
more.

Blue appeared.
The silver wolf pranced and played like a puppy, clearly pleased to
see Jed with Gideon and the men climbed down from their horses to
greet the creature. It stood on its hind legs with its front paws
on their shoulders in turn, licking ferociously until both men
climbed back onto their mounts, the horses themselves stood firm
but wild eyed and trembling as the wolf gambolled around them. The
group could not help but be cheered and Lemba, at first afraid of
the wolf that was bigger than she was soon delighted in its antics
as it rolled and raced, darting off as she leant down from her
horse to stroke it and coming close as she sat up once more. Rhoàld
was clearly terrified, Blue constantly went to him to sniff
inquisitively and refused to be put off, as in vain Rhoàld tried to
shoo him away.

‘Ok, Blue I be
mighty pleased ter see you too,’ Jed laughed as he pushed the hairy
wolf away for the umpteenth time.

Briefly, the
company stopped at the cottage Sonal had called home for so many
years and Varan, on seeing Sonal’s garishly coloured and decorated
legerdemains’ cloak laughed aloud.

‘You always did
want to be a famous magician Sonal,’ he said, as he placed the
cloak on the bed.

‘It was a good
life …for a while...,’ Sonal replied, retrieving his grandfather’s
book and stuffing the cloak and its box back under the bed.

Quickly the
older twins changed into some of Sonal’s clean clothing and leaving
the house walked around it carefully creating wards of protection.
Finally finished, the elder twins re-joined their companions in the
lane looking like two peas from the same pod.

‘It was so much
easier when yer looked like yersel’,’ grumbled Jed, as he walked
his horse next to Sonal.

‘I still look
like myself, Jed,’ exclaimed Sonal a puzzled expression on his
face.

‘Yer, but now
yer looks like Varan too.’ Jed said with finality and Varan,
walking on Sonal’s other side smiled at Jed’s confusion.

‘It’s easy to
tell us apart Jed... I’m the handsome one’, he laughed as Sonal
punched his brother on the arm. Jed, on catching the punch out of
the corner of his eye grinned.

‘I’ll bet yer
played some motley tricks on yer folks when yer was little,’ he
laughed and reddened abruptly, realising how he had alluded to
Sonal’s tale of his twin vanishing behind a barrier and of the
guardians. Sonal reached out to his friend understanding the reason
for his embarrassment.

‘Jed, it’s all
right…’ he said, looking at his brother and adding, ‘and yes, we
had lots of fun as children.’

‘We all live by
the ‘Journey’s Will’ Jed.’ Varan added softly.

‘Journeys
will…,’ repeated Jed as he thought of the long and often painful
road he himself had walked since he was a child. ‘Yeah,’ he said,
‘Journeys will,’ and he walked his horse on in silence as a light
rain began to fall once more.

The sky was
still dark and full of cloud as they entered the forest and under
the diverse canopy of both deciduous and evergreen trees, the air
smelt fresh and washed clean. To Varan, Rhoàld and Lemba it felt
quiet and just a little strange. Bright yellow forsythia bushes
were flowering, making their leafless stems heavy, the bark of the
silver birch, white, patchy and flaked with brown curls of bark,
sat with the evergreen pines and huge oaks. Ivy grew in abundance,
curling around the great boles and along branches of every tree,
each bright green or dark yellow leaf showing its face to the
light, each leaf eager to see the sun. Underfoot the ground was
soft and earthy despite the recent frosts, with pine needles and
cones from all manner of coniferous trees paving the way for the
small party, now mostly quiet and thoughtful once more. Rhoàld
wondered at the variety of growth and flowering shrubs for the time
of year but the thought was lost as Varan spoke in alarm.

‘I can no
longer feel you Sonal.’ He said abruptly.

‘Yer won’t not
in ‘ere,’ young Jed answered before Sonal could reply, adding,
‘Mayan an’ I ‘ave never been able to do the twin thing whilst we’re
‘ere.’ Varan looked at Jed in puzzlement, a twin himself and of the
blood, he had always been able to feel Sonal’s whereabouts, until
of course, he disappeared behind the barrier and he had lost him.
He also knew that while Mayan and young Jed were also twins they
were not born of the blood, so it surprised him that they were
gifted in this way too, a magic he had thought solely belonging to
the ancients. The path narrowed, forcing him to walk behind his
brother and he resolved to ask about it at a more convenient
time.

It seemed only
moments later that they arrived at Jed’s cottage deep inside the
confines of the forest and were sitting beside a roaring fire.
Blue, was acting strangely, pacing up and down and unable to
settle.

‘Lay down Blue
or go out,’ exclaimed an exasperated Jed, as he opened the front
door and gestured to the wolf, the wolf turned its back on the open
door with an expression of distaste on its muzzle and walked to the
fire, plopping himself down on the rug with its back to the door.
‘Well, at least yer made a decision.’ Jed laughed.

The enormous
pressure the entire group had been under over the past few weeks
showed in their individual faces and they all looked clearly
exhausted.

‘We be safe
‘ere,’ Jed sighed as he broke open a bottle or two of his favourite
wine and proceeded to pour it into various glasses and cups enough
for all.

‘Yes, for the
time being,’ replied Varan, accepting a pewter tankard from his
friend, smiling wryly at the choice of receptacle and looking to
young Jed. Speaking solemnly he said, ‘Jed lad, as I promised the
time for explanations has arrived and you have been very patient
but…I don’t think anyone would benefit from any explanation just
now,’ he looked pointedly at the sleepy folk around him. Sonal also
looked at the assembled company.

‘Gideon, how do
you feel?’ He asked the boy sitting on the rug in front of the
fire, his arms and upper body lying across the silver wolf.

‘Now me ‘ead
feels jus’ fine, but I’m really tired… can we talk in t’ mornin’?’
He asked, yawning widely.

‘Yeah boy,
finish yer wine an’ go ter yer bed,’ said his father making the
decision for the entire company. ‘We should all go ter bed; the hay
in the barn is clean and soft, leastways t’was when we were last
‘ome. We’ll talk in the mornin’ ...the tales can all be told in the
mornin’.’ He added with conviction as he stood and opened the
cottage door, ‘I s’pect the girlies would prefer the beds though
Gid,’ he smiled, as he took the empty cup from his son and ushered
him through the door.

So the company
broke up, each to beds they knew or to the barn where the hay, as
predicted by Gideon’s father was warm, dry and clean. Blue, without
looking back, loped off slowly and disappeared under the rich dark
canopy of trees and young Jed, anxious as he was to learn what was
driving them all fell asleep at last, his mind too weary to stay
awake past a cursory good night to his fellow travellers.

The next
morning a succession of men threaded their way down the banks of
the stream beside to house to wash. Jed heated water for the girls
to bathe in privacy inside the cottage and both were feeling much
more refreshed but Lemba could not help being embarrassed as Mayan
stared at the still colourful collection of bruises adorning her
body. Mayan had not said a word but looked sorrowfully at her new
friend as she also dressed, Lemba smiled as she saw the tears in
Mayan’s eyes and wished she could tell her they were better now and
she was happy, despite all they were going through. She took her
friends hand to convey her feelings and held it as they sat with
their hair loose and drying beside the fire. Rhoàld entering the
room picked up a brush and stood behind them brushing the deep
silver-blond and rich red-gold tresses lovingly.

Young Jed,
knowing he was about to be told why his life and that of his family
had changed so dramatically over the past few months was as nervous
as a kitten and lingered back with Gideon. The fate of his family
and that of the villagers was paramount in his mind, after all,
last night the older twins confirmed that they at least, were all
safe for the time being,
but what of the others,
Jed
thought,
what of me fam’ly?
He stood watching Gideon as he
walked toward the stream with a large bucket to collect fresh wash
water, just as he had so many times in the past. He was still
tired, his eyes felt as if they were full of grit and were watering
at every opportunity, ashamed he was about to cry, he shook his
head and called out.

‘Wait fer me
then Gid,’ he said as he passed Varan and Sonal making their way
back to the cottage, having finished their own ablutions. On
reaching the bank, he stripped off to wash in the icy cold water
just as Sonal and Varan entered the cottage. In his peripheral
vision, he saw Blue, as fast as quicksilver dart in ahead of them
and a feeling of foreboding grew inside him. Again, he began to
ponder the fate of his family and as dark depression attempted to
claim him, freezing cold water fell over his naked back; Gideon
stood beside the stream trying not to laugh an empty dripping
bucket in his hand.

‘It slipped,’
he said innocently.

‘Aaaawwww!’ Jed
shouted as he leapt after his brother ensuring Gideon was to be as
wet and cold as he was himself. Time stopped and worries
disappeared as the two played like the children they had been when
they had first entered these very waters so long ago.