The Mountains Rise
The Mountains Rise
By
Michael G. Manning
© 2014 by Michael G. Manning
Editing by Grace Bryan Butler
Cover Artwork by Amalia Chitulescu
All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
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Foreword
I waited until the book was finished before writing this foreword
. N
ow I find it difficult to encapsulate the book in a short summary, but I felt the
need to forewarn you,
The R
eader. Many of you have probably read my previous series, Mageborn, which is set
two millennia after the events in this book, so you may have some misconceptions about
what you’ll find here.
Unlike Mageborn, this story encounters more adult issues. The main character does
not always do the ‘right’ thing, and in fact, cannot be called a hero. Events conspire
to darken his future and twist his morality
,
but his choices are his own. Most importantly, the story delves into some topics
of a sensitive nature, particularly sex
ual abuse and violence, though there is nothing graphic in the telling.
I didn’t set out to write a book about those things, but they came up as part of the
course of this tale
,
and I couldn’t avoid them. Before allowing some of the situations in this book,
before writing them, I sought advice from a number of friends; people who have confided
in me over the years. Several of them have been through experiences that correlate
to a surprising degree with some of the darker elements within this tale.
Fortunately
,
they had much better outcomes, and in fact
,
I doubt any of them would condone the choices that the main character in this story
makes. My main purpose in writing this foreword
is
to make sure that my audience understands that I don’t take the subject matter lightly.
Daniel chewed a long stem he had pulled from the ground beside him. The sun warmed
his face even as a cold wind chilled his hands. Spring had arrived
,
but winter hadn’t given up completely yet
,
and the two of them had at least another month of fighting before Mothe
r Nature would declare a winner;
in the meantime Daniel enjoyed the dichotomy of warm and cold.
He lay on a gently sloping hillside, watching his father’s sheep grazing. Since he
had turned twelve last year
,
he had been deemed old enough to contribute to the family’s livelihood by taking
on chores more suited to a man. He had been a little nervous the first time his father
had sent him out to watch the flock alone, but his pride at being given such an important
task had kept him from admitting to his fear.
That was a year gone now, and tending the flock seemed a much less daunting task now.
At thirteen he was just beginning to grow into a larger frame
,
and he felt much more mature. In fact, on days like today it was practically a vacation.
A flash of blue caught his eye
,
and he spotted Catherine Sayer heading down toward the riverbank. Her dress was
a light green
,
but the blue came from a bright kerchief her father had bought her a few years back,
before he had disappeared. Kate wore it regularly now
,
and Daniel thought it looked exceptionally nice tying back her vivid red hair.
He waved at her from his place on the hillside, but of course she didn’t see him.
He was over a half a mile distant from where she walked, hauling two large wooden
buckets. More than likely her mother had sent her to fill them before doing the wash.
The river ran directly behind their house, less than a couple hundred yards from their
back door. Her parents had never had a well dug, but being this far back in the mountains
the river
water
was safe enough to drink.
Turning his eye back to the sheep
,
Daniel considered his options. This time of day things were quiet
,
and it was unlikely that anything would spook them, plus he had Blue with him. Stretching
out his hand
,
he rubbed the wiry sheep dog’s head before giving him a more serious bit of instruction,
“Keep the flock close, Blue. Don’t let them wander far. I’ll be back in a little
while.”
Blue’s eyes stared straight into his own for a long minute before the tricolored dog
looked away. It almost seemed as if he nodded, indicating his perfect comprehension
of the boy’s words. He very well might have, for the herding dog was uncommonly smart
and had been doing the job for more years than Daniel had. Blue was a large part
of the reason Daniel’s father had felt comfortable sending him out alone with the
flock at such an early age.
Daniel began picking his way down the hillside. While much of it was smooth, there
were large rocks scattered about and the slope was steep enough to make a fall potentially
dangerous. He sped up as he got into the small trees closer to the bottom, if he
hurried he could talk to Kate and help her with the water buckets. He gave no thought
to why he wanted to help. The two of them had been friends for most of their lives
and tending the flock wasn’t exactly an exciting job. Seeing Kate would probably
be the most interesting moment of a long day.
He was close to the bottom when he heard a voice. He had been expecting hers, but
this was a male voice, young by the sound of it, but already over the cusp of boyhood
and its higher pitches.
Who is that?
he wondered. Another voice answered it, and this one he recognized, Billy Hedger,
another of his neighbors.
Billy was about his own age
,
but the two of them didn’t get along well. The other boy tended to hang out with
Ronnie Banks and some of the other ‘townies’ as they referred to the people
who
lived in the nearby community of Colne.
Daniel froze in place, listening. If Billy was with a group of friends
,
it would probably be a bad idea to make his presence known. They would tease him
unmercifully. Unlike
them,
most of the farm children had to work by Daniel’s age, and for some reason
the townies
found that amusing.
“Hey it’s pumpkin-head Kate!” came the deeper voice again. This time Daniel recognized
it. It was Ronnie Banks, although he sounded much older than the last time Daniel
had met him.
“Hello,” responded Kate, but her answer was unenthusiastic.
“Ain’t you happy to see old friends?” said a third voice. That would be Aston Hayes
,
unless Daniel missed his guess.
Kate didn’t reply
,
but Daniel could hear the sound of her buckets in the water. She was probably trying
to fill them
,
so she could leave as quickly as possible.
“She’s probably embarrassed ‘cause it looks like a dog dropped a pile of bloody shit
on her head,” suggested Billy, referring to Kate’s obvious fiery hair.
Daniel’s heart was beating faster now. He could hear the ugly tone in the townies’
voices. They were looking for someone to torment
,
and Kate was an easy target. He had been on the receiving end of their taunts before
and knew well how cruel they could be. Last year they had held him down while Ronnie
pissed on him
,
and the time before that they had forced him to eat dirt.
Kate hadn’t replied to Billy’s insult
,
but the sound of her buckets dropping alerted Daniel that they had approached her.
Easing further down, Daniel made his way to the shallow ford so that he could cross
over to her side
of the river
. Stepping out of the underbrush exposed him
,
but the three townies were too engrossed in their sport to notice him moving on the
bank.
“Let go of me!” yelled Kate angrily
,
and then Daniel heard a thump. Looking over he saw she had fallen after Aston
had
kicked her legs out from under her. Billy stood over her sneering down.
Daniel was fully in the grip of terror now, experiencing the sort of world wrenching
fear that few besides children fully experience. Ronnie Banks was at least two years
older and much taller and heavier than
Daniel
. Billy and Aston were his own size, but three on one was bad odds, even if it weren’t
for Ronnie’s larger frame.
He knew that the minute they noticed him
,
he’d be in trouble. At best he’d come home with bruises, at worst—he had no idea
what that would be, but he doubted he wanted to find out. He crossed the r
iver without them spotting him. E
very instinct told him to run and hide
,
and for a moment he started to turn away.
Then he heard Kate again, “Leave me alone, Billy!” Looking up
,
he saw her kick upward with one leg, trying to catch her tormentor in his more tender
regions.
Billy was ready for it though
,
and bending one leg inward
,
he caught her kick on his thigh instead of what she had been aiming for. Clearing
his throat
,
he brought up a disgusting lump of phlegm and spat on her. “Now you look even more
like someone’s loose bowels,” he leered.
Without thinking
,
Daniel spoke, “Leave her alone.” It was the sort of thing that he should have shouted,
like
a
hero in some of his daytime fantasies. Instead the words came out quietly, barely
loud enough to be heard, his boyish voice pitching even higher than normal.
It was enough to get their attention, though. Ronnie, the closest to him, spun around
,
and the other two looked back in his direction.
“Look who came to visit!” said Ronnie gleefully. “If it isn’t old piss-boy! Did
you get bored? Looking to have some fun with the big boys?”
“N-n-no,” stammered Daniel. “J-just leave Kate alone. Sh-she didn’t do nothin’ to
you.”
“Are you trying to protect her, Daniel?” asked Billy. “Do you think you can be a
hero?” Aston and Ronnie both laughed at that.
“You messed up bad today, Danny,” pronounced the blond-headed Aston, moving toward
him.
Over Aston’s shoulder Daniel could see Kate had scooted back and was standing now.
Billy’s attention had been diverted long enough for her to get away. Slipping sideways
he dodged Aston’s first wild roundhouse swing and stepped even closer, hoping to hold
their interest long enough for her to escape. Billy was watching him carefully now,
failing to see that the girl he had been taunting was now more than fifteen feet away.
Kate’s a fast runner,
thought Daniel.
If she gets a decent head start
,
I doubt he can catch her.
Jumping backward
,
he avoided Aston’s second swing
,
but Ronnie was moving around now, trying to get behind him to make sure he couldn’t
escape. Once he moved in
,
the fight would be over.
Billy glanced around to see that his quarry had slipped away.
“Run Kate!” shouted Daniel, his voice at full volume now, “He’s too slow to catch
y…”
Ronnie had closed faster than Daniel expected
,
and something hard struck him in the side of the head, cutting off his words. Daniel’s
vision blurred a bit as he fell
,
but he could see Kate running back up the trail toward her home. Billy was standing
indecisively, unsure whether to give chase or join the battle. His hesitation made
the choice for him
;
it was far too late to catch the girl now.
A second blow arrived, this one striking Daniel in the midsection. Bereft of air
now
,
he found himself
on all fours, struggling to breathe.
The other boys moved to surround him and took their time, kicking him whenever he
seemed close to recovering. Some of the attacks were mild, using their feet to shove
him back down, or blows to his legs and buttocks, but occasionally one of them would
deliver a brutal blow to his midsection or lower back. Soon he had given up any hope
of escape and curled into a ball, shifting now and then to try and avoid the most
painful strikes.
“You better leave! I’m going to tell! You’ll get in trouble if you don’t let him
alone!” Kate’s voice rang out. She hadn’t run far and was now shouting down at them
from a short distance up the trail, hoping her threat might persuade the boys to give
up their sport.
“You think she’s serious?” asked Aston. “Maybe we should go.”
Bill
y spoke up then, “Nah, she ain’t
got nobody.” Raising his voice he shouted back, “Who you gonna tell? Your daddy?!
He’s dead! Run tell your momma
,
little girl! She ain’t gonna come down here!” To punctuate his remark
,
he broke with tradition and kicked Daniel hard in the side of the head, causing his
ear to bleed. It was the first time any of them had attacked him there.
“Careful, Billy,” said Ronnie. “That sort of thing can get dangerous.”
“You scared he might die?” said the younger boy.
“I don’t give a damn about that,” replied the older boy, stomping on Daniel’s lower
leg to emphasize the point. “But if we hurt him too bad it’s bound to cause trouble.”
He never got a chance to say more, as a flash of brown, grey and black leapt from
the brush and knocked him sideways. Blue had arrived in a snarling fury of teeth,
biting down savagely on Ronnie’s arm even as he fell.
“Shit
!
I
t’s his damn dog!” shouted Aston, backing away and looking for a weapon to use. Recalling
a heavy limb he had spotted in the grass a few minutes ago
,
he looked that way just in time to see Kate lifting it from the ground. Her swing
might have knocked him silly if he hadn’t brought his arm up to guard his head, even
so the weight of the blow sent pain shivering through his body and left his arm numb.
Blue’s ferocity and Kate’s club broke their morale and the bullies withdrew quickly,
leaving Daniel bloody but still conscious on the ground.
“Daniel? Are you alright?” asked Kate, leaning over him. His vision was blurred
,
but he could hear the tears in her voice
,
even if his eyes refused to focus on her properly.
“Yeah,” he answered awkwardly. Shame burned through him more powerfully than even
the pain of his injuries. He had tried to protect her but had only wound up being
beaten in front of his friend.