The Tessellation Saga, book two. The One

By D. J. Ridgway

Absent without leave, young Jed is heading home to Green Home Village to warn his blood brother, Gideon of King Gath’s intentions. On the way, he stumbles on a slave camp filled with the villagers he knows and loves. Angry but relieved that Gideon and his sister are missing from the caravan he rushes away hoping to catch up to Varen who could help him. Running blindly in the dark he stumbles across the unconscious body of his friend Toby, who is suffering from hypothermia and a broken leg, the leg, a legacy of Toby's battle with Gideon. Toby reveals that Gideon has raped and murdered Mayan and hands him Mayan’s locket as proof. Leaving Toby to the soldiers, Jed storms off with revenge in his heart, ‘Gideon’ll die fer this.’ He says as Toby smiles.
Transported back to Green Home Village in a wooden box is uncomfortable but it allows Gideon to recover from his ordeal. With shock, the companions find the village razed to the ground. The magical wolf Blue, leads the company to the relative safety of the forest and to a clearing neither he, nor his father have seen before. As the others talk, Gideon discovers the answer to a riddle and opens a magical portal in time and space, as the portal tessellates his friends watch in horror as he calmly walks through and disappears.
Power mad Gath, reaches Green Home hours after Gideon, enraged at losing him again he decides to go on to the Bleak to wait for him there, ‘it began there, it will end there.’ He says, believing he is the only person alive who can teach Gideon the control he needs before his magic kills him. If Gideon is dies, the magic in his blood will be lost and Gath, needs that power!

• Language: English
• Publisher: D. J. Ridgway
• Release date: Sep 27, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301192960

D. J. Ridgway

Hi there, I'm married with five grown up children, seven grandchildren and two cats. I love to read, write and walk. I currently drive a really sexy little blue Peugeot 206 and work full time at London's Heathrow Airport.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Seekers

The cart rolled steadily over the cobbles and Jed stared out at the darkness. To his amazement, they had managed to pass through the Devilly City Gates without the guards even noticing them, though he had felt nauseous at the sudden smell of rotting vegetables emanating from the crate he was sitting on. Rubbing his arms at the distinctive telltale sign of magic in the itching and crawling of his skin, he looked across to see if Lemba felt it too but she gave no sign of feeling the magic as she stared out at the rough taverns, warehouses and hidden brothels that she knew were on this side of the city gates. He took her hand instinctively knowing what she was thinking.

‘Ner love,’ he said ‘never fer you.’ He squeezed her hand and felt her smile though she continued to watch the gaudily dressed women and bawdy men as they cavorted outside the numerous taverns and inns. He stood up carefully to light a small lamp that swung from a hook behind the driver’s seat, the soft muted light illuminated the young girl sitting directly beneath it and dressed once more as the charcoal burners son. He smiled, even covered in dirt and ashes he thought her the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, he shook his head knowing that here is where Hackman would eventually have left her, if, he had not killed her first. A shout interrupted his thoughts as two drunken men began fighting, a sad faced whore stood to one side holding her bloodied cheek, her dress soaked in the ale that was as plentiful as the water in the river. Lemba trembled slightly, holding her own cheek in silent sympathy and leant against Jed’s legs for support, this was where her father had sold her so long ago, this or somewhere like this, she thought. The whore got smaller and smaller as the cart rumbled on but Lemba continued to stare as Jed sat down once more and again took her tiny hand in his. Finally, she turned toward him and buried her face in his warm shoulder, accepting his arms as they protectively curled around her. One day I will be able to explain to him, she thought, one day.

Rhoàld sat the other side of Lemba and smiled weakly as he felt Jed pull the girl toward him noticing the smile, Jed smiled in return. He looked quietly at the frail old man thinking he looked a little different from the man he had met in the kitchen of Dotty’s home; at that time, he had thought perhaps the old man had also been ill. Now, despite the poor light, Jed could see colour in his cheeks that before had seemed washed-out or pale and his eyes were not quite as sunken as they had been.

‘My boy do I look so different from when we first met?’ Rhoàld asked. ‘Do you not remember me?’

‘Surr,’ Jed replied, ‘I don’t recall us ever meetin’ afore two days ago, though I confess I did think yer looked kinda familiar,’ he answered.

‘I am …was, the Kings aide.’ Rhoàld said quietly, Jed reeled.

‘Yer presented me with the Champion Student cup,’ he said, shocked at the change in the man he knew from experience was no older than his father was.

‘Shh...,’ interrupted Varan who was riding alongside the cart on a gentle beast from Dotty’s small stable. ‘We must get a little further away before we start talking without wards.’

The company fell into a deep silence as they moved quietly but steadily away from Devilly, although Rhoàld felt Jed’s eyes turn to him repeatedly in disbelief.

Soon the only audible sounds were Varan’s singsong mumbling and the clip clop of the horse as it pulled the creaky cart. The darkness deepened and the noise of the city gave way to the peace of the night as gradually the streets turned to rough roads and then into dirt tracks and the city fell far behind them but still the little group travelled in silence.

Night turned once more into day as the group continued to move ever forward, each member of the party lost in his or her own thoughts and Jed repeatedly went over in his mind the conversation he had partially overheard through the window of the tavern. Why send Toby to get Gideon? He wondered, because, Toby knows Gideon, his thoughts continued. Then iffen ‘e’s the king’s son, what’s ‘e doin’ at Green Home Village in the first place, ‘n’, why would the village be in danger? The more he thought about it the more confused he became, the same thoughts rolled around and around in his head before eventually, he fell into a fitful sleep.

Itching skin and the smell of tea woke him, they were still on the move but Dotty, managing to heat a little water on a small-unlit stove was busy handing out tea, bread, ham, fruit and cheese, he could still feel the faint itching in his skin as he took his tea.

‘I did tell you that I might have need of my herbs,’ she said, smiling as she handed Jed a mug and a small platter.

‘Hot?’ Jed queried, staring at the stove, acknowledging the fact that it was not actually burning.

‘Ah now, I did also mention that I could do things…,’ she added with a grin as she offered a second steaming cup to Varan, still riding alongside the cart.

Day turned slowly once more into night and the company stopped beside a quiet brook to rest the horses and stretch their legs. Varan, as usual when they stopped, walked in a tight circle around the group mumbling in his singsong way and although Jed tried hard to ignore the movement in his peripheral vision, found the constant circling irritating. As they travelled, Lemba had been by his side day and night and had noticed his irritation.

‘Close your eyes to it!’ She said, using her finger-speak.

‘I can’t’, Jed replied, adding, ‘I won’t be able to talk with you!’ Lemba smiled shyly and their lessons continued until the moon had gone behind clouds and it became too dark to see.

Rhoàld seemed to have become pale and wan once more and was trying to sleep on the floor of the cart, he had watched Jed and Lemba, happy in each other’s company and he wished them well but their burgeoning love had only served to make him miss his Bastian even more.

Before light, they prepared to continue their journey, loading up the cart in the dark and sweeping the area to ensure they had left no sign of their passing. Jed thought constantly of home and of Toby and his crack troopers all travelling on king’s horses and without a doubt, a lot faster than they were.

Dawn approached once more and Rhoàld began to feel uneasy again, Bastian was gone from him and he felt alone. He thought of Gath and the way he would smile welcoming him into his presence. He will have missed me by now, he mused as he watched the sun trying to rise behind the trees in the distance, turning part of the sky a dappled red and yellow and cloaking the rest of the earth with a grey blanket. Gath’s handsome face swam before him and he felt the loss and loneliness of his king. Guilt plagued him; he could feel Gath’s presence growing in his head. I should never have left when my king needed me so badly, his guilty thoughts consumed him and he cried out in his mind. Here, my lord I am here…!

Varan stopped his weary horse and stared back the way he had come.

‘Seekers…,’ he hissed, ‘hold hands quickly...’ he shouted, jumping lithely from the horse and clambering onto the back of the small cart. Jed who had been dozing felt his hand grabbed tightly by Rhoàld who had leant forward as if in great pain, immediately his palm began to burn hot and his neck itched. He tried to pull away unaware of the trauma escalating within the man’s mind, Rhoàld was crying and keening like a child who had lost his mama as droplets of blood began to ooze from his brow. Dotty grabbed his other hand and felt the power coursing through him.

‘Varan,’ she called, her voice sounding shrill, ‘he seeks Rhoàld… do something.’

‘Fool,’ Varan shouted at Jed who had finally managed to loosen his hand from Rhoàld’s vice like grip. ‘Help him man, pour your strength into him.’ Jed took the hand once more and stared at the blood beginning to run down the face of the king’s aide, Rhoàld slumped into unconsciousness. Confused and scared, Jed looked at the man before him, he looked near to death, not at all like the man who had presented him with his award and he thought of Rhoàld as he had first seen him, a tall strong man of about fifty summers.

The wind had been blowing quite fiercely as the championship competition had come to a finale and the last of the bouts were completed despite the worsening weather. Gath had left the ceremony as the wind had grown stronger leaving Rhoàld, to act in his stead, high up on the Dias the officers and their wives stood to acknowledge the champions each one holding onto a railing or even each other as they braced themselves against the strength of the wind. Rhoàld alone had stood firm as the champions approached, the wind just did not seem to touch him. At the time, he had been reminded of the mighty sentinel oak he and Gideon had often climbed as children. It stood tall and broad, seemingly immovable, a giant on top of his tower, steady and sound. So that’s why I didn’t recognise yer, Jed thought as the blood ceased to flow from the man’s forehead and the air around them cooled rapidly.

‘Well done my boy,’ said Varan wearily. ‘That vision of Rhoàld was perfect. I remember him the same way,’ he added as Lemba and Dotty nodded their heads.

‘You saw me thoughts!’ Jed stated in a stunned voice.

‘I will explain my boy but first I will need to put up stronger wards,’ he answered and moved, ready to jump off the cart. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the charm that once mended, again hung around Rhoàld’s neck, he remembered when he had last seen it; he had been in the king’s chamber within the castle, a prisoner, chained and bound as entertainment for the king just as Rhoàld had lately been. No wonder it’s taken so long for Gath to find us…, he mused, somebody loved you very much..., smiling wearily, he passed a finger over the small charm and mumbled once more adding strength to the amulets protection.

‘Dotty would you assist me with the wards please, I am bone weary,’ he asked as he climbed down from the wagon and taking the reins of the loose horse lightly tied them to the tailgate of the cart. Lemba laid the now naturally sleeping Rhoàld onto the floor of the cart and covered him with a woollen rug taken from one of Dotty’s boxes as Jed stared after Varan and Dotty.

‘I will explain my boy’, he said aloud, peevishly copying Varan’s clear speech, ‘when, when will yer explain?’ Jed asked Varan’s back. Jumping down from the cart, he began to walk ahead kicking stones and dust up in front of him and looking for the world like a petulant child. Lemba, watching him, hid a small frown, noticing again the dejection and frustration in the set of his shoulders, before she too leapt lightly from the back of the cart and jogging to catch him up, took his hand.

‘Lemba, I can travel faster on me own,’ Jed began. Her continued silence became an invitation for Jed to talk and once he started talking he found he could not stop. Lemba smiled remembering the charcoal burners shed when he had talked for what seemed hours and she had fallen in love. He spoke of his worry for his family, his frustrations about the whole magic/blood thing, as he called it and his wish to understand. That and the fact that he felt Varan and Dotty were treating him like a child, he spoke of Toby and the reason he had turned back to join the group fleeing the city. Lemba shuddered, remembering that Toby was to be her new owner and his promise to her, I’ll tell Jed about Toby just as soon as I can, she vowed.

‘We should make our way toward the river,’ a loud voice interrupted Jed’s speech, ‘we should cross; Gath’s seekers will not be able to locate us so quickly over the water,’ Varan said. Dotty nodded her head and pointedly looked from Varan to Jed who was still slowly walking ahead with Lemba at his side.

‘He wants to go ahead on his own,’ she said, ‘he doesn’t understand what we are to do.’

‘Madam,’ Varan replied in an exhausted voice, ‘even I don’t know what we are supposed to do.’ Despite his fatigue, he helped Dotty climb back on to the cart giving her instructions to head toward a nearby copse. Carefully she drove the cart off the road toward the grove of small but dense trees as Varan quickly walked to catch up with the young couple and gently steer them in the same direction.

Cautiously watching their footing in the still lightening sky the three made their way unerringly through the tall grasses with the creaky cart bouncing and jogging along merrily behind them. The sleeping man in the back of the cart lay undisturbed, despite the incline of the land lending gravity to his prone body and occasionally knocking his head against the buckboard.

Jed felt bound; he did not know why but somehow he knew his fate had entwined with this strange group. He had known it really from when he had overheard Toby through the window of the Inn. He looked through his lashes at Varan, Sonal’s brother and he found it difficult not to like the man who reminded him so much of his friend. The sun was still rising and in the early morning light and Varan looked clearly exhausted, his skin was grey and deep dark circles rimmed his piercing blue eyes.

‘Have I grown an extra head lad, in the few minutes that you have been staring at me I mean?’ Varan laughed to take the sting from his words.

‘I be sorry Sonal, err, I mean Varan...,’ Lemba laughed aloud at the look of consternation on her beloved’s face. She was much relieved to see more than just the unhappiness and frustration that had been so evident since he had returned silently to Dotty’s house what seemed now to be a lifetime ago but in reality was only two days. Her laughter stopped abruptly as both men turned to stare at her.

‘You laughed aloud child!’ Varan exclaimed. Lemba flushed a bright red echoing the newly birthed sun as it continued lightening the shadows around them. ‘Lemba,’ asked Varan looking at the girl intently, ‘do you have any voice at all?’ Lemba, horrified at the question felt her face burn, tears filled her eyes but she refused to let them fall. I have no tongue, her heart was screaming in anger and sorrow believing that they wanted her to try to speak. She pulled her hand from Jed’s and stood with one small fist clenched tightly at her side, the other she clasped across her jerkin feeling the small ornate box sitting inside the lining, the box that she carried everywhere with her.

‘You have such a pretty laugh…,’ said Jed as he stared at her and despite his worry over his family and friends, he smiled and reached once more for her hand.

‘Of course, now I understand…,’ began Varan as Lemba stepped away from Jed and turned to run back to the cart, ‘it’s just your tongue, it was cut from your mouth!’ Varan called after her as she fled her humiliation complete.

‘Lemba…,’ Jed called, angry with himself for being part of the cause of her distress as she stumbled away across the grassy ground and back up the hill.

‘Leave her lad, her anger will soften…,’ Varan said, also staring at the departing figure of the seemingly small city boy. He tapped his teeth with a fingernail, a thoughtful look upon his face. Jed had seen the same action repeated more than once over the last few days and knew it meant Varan was deep in thought.

‘Could I have been any more stupid?’ Varan asked himself aloud as Jed looking more perplexed than ever, walked over to the hollow trunk of a large dead tree lying in the long grass, home to tiny creatures feeding of its bark and bole. Nearby a large ant mound seemed alive with tiny bodies climbing over its surface. He watched a long line of red ants scurrying back and forth like an army on the march, their beautiful copper heads and dark bodies all shapes and sizes following one another in perfectly ordered lines. Now and again, one would brush its antennae up against a fellow and a new direction would be undertaken. Was I like that? He wondered, likening himself and his fellow soldiers to the ants marching relentlessly back and forth for no apparent purpose but on instruction of the queen. His frustration complete he sat down heavily on the damp, still dewy grass and rested his back against the tree, he looked at Varan pointedly.

‘If yer don’t tell me what on the journey is goin’ on ‘ere, I swear by … by… me ma’s bread I’m going ter leave an’ make me own way ‘ome...’ he said, as the cart creaked to a halt beside him forestalling any further conversation as it stood between the two men.

The tired horse with his reins finally loosened, began nibbling at the long dew-filled grass and Jed had to move away before the animal accidently bit him, Varan’s sleepy old mount still tied to the back of the wagon snorted and strained at his tethers unable to reach the sweet green grass all around him.

Jed stood and stared at his companions. Dotty, looking like an old gypsy woman and Varan, brother to his friend, so alike that at times Jed found himself talking as if it were the man he knew and trusted with his life, then Lemba, his Lemba looking like a slim built boy standing at the top of the rise staring back the way they had come. Jed knew Lemba was hurting badly and that he and Varan had caused her pain, he took a deep breath and sighed.

‘I need ter get ‘ome Varan, and as soon as possible. I ‘ave this feeling in me belly that sommats wrong, real wrong, nobody is tellin’ me anything an’ this magic stuff is all a bit too much. I mean it, either someone tells me what’s goin’ on, without all that later my boy crap, or I’ll be leaving now ter make me own way, bound ter yer though I am…’ he said finally, as Varan, moving around the cart sat down beside him.

***

Lemba was staring back the way they had come, she was sure she had seen something moving behind the trees. The sun finally broke free and bathed the earth in its light casting away the shadows and revealing the autumnal lush beauty of the hill country through which they were travelling. In the distance, she saw swiftly moving flashes of red amongst the green and they were moving rapidly toward them. Soldiers! She thought with horror and looked toward her friends sitting unsuspecting in the grass down below. Immediately, she turned and ran, fiercely clapping her hands to draw everyone’s attention, a fat round partridge ran from the copse disturbed by the sudden noise, its white face in contrast to the black tuft of feathers guarding its throat, red flanks and legs moved quickly through the grass as the fat bird tried once more to hide.

Dotty, watching her sister as she ran down the slight hill looked puzzled as Lemba’s fingers flashed and as she drew nearer, then she realised what Lemba was trying to say.

‘Varan,’ she called quietly in a panic, ‘Varan, soldiers from Devilly, Lemba say’s they are about a mile away and coming fast.’

‘He’s found us then.’ Varan replied quietly.

Chapter 2

The Village Green

Toby sat atop his stallion with almost the entire populace of Green Home Village before him. Riders, soldiers all, surrounded the frightened people and a number of slavers, professional men, hired for the occasion from the allowance the king had generously given him had also accompanied the group from Devilly. It amused him to see the slavers eyeing up the people Toby had known all his life and totting up their potential cut of the takings.

Several cottages lay in smoking ruin, with furniture, clothing and goods of varying description scattered across the green he had played on as a child and fear in the village had become a tangible thing, Toby could smell it, taste it, and he revelled in the power it gave him. Silently he thanked Gath.

‘I don’t care who else you kill, or whatever you have to do to get him…but get him,’ Gath had said as he gave Toby Hollins, a nobody from the Beaut Valley one of the finest, well trained bodies of fighting men Derova had to offer. These men, fresh from the skirmishes on the borders were ready for a little fun and Toby intended for them to have it.

I’ll get ‘im fer yer me lord, whatever it takes, I’ll get ‘im, he had answered and true to his words, there had been nothing gentle in the way Toby and the soldiers had entered his home village. As dawn came upon the sleepy settlement, the noise of pounding and braking open of doors joined in unison with the bird song and the early cockerels’ crow. Fierce looking soldiers dragged women and children from their beds as fathers’ fought to preserve their homes. Not one soldier had spoken; adding to the fear the villagers felt and Toby saw more than one young maiden dragged off, only to return weeping and dishevelled.

‘Take yer time men,’ Toby said before the raid began. ‘Gideon Green is fer the King, ser don’t touch ‘im an’ should yer see him, bring ‘im ter me un’armed, same as the inn, its outa bounds but the rest o’ the village is yorn... Go,’ he had said, flinging his arms wide as if bestowing a generous gift.

The elite unit took Toby, their new commander, at his word and they had indeed had their fun. Silence answered every question and violence was widespread from the bloody and broken men attempting to protect their families to the burnt out homes and crying children. Hours of screaming had left this, this gathering of life, the inhabitants of Green Home Village, all at Toby’s mercy. He was ecstatic.

‘Where are yer Gideon?’ Toby whispered as he thought of his triumph and continued to stare around him at the frightened people. No matter Gid, I’ll be ‘ere fer a bit then me an’ the men’ll come ter yer woods ter get yer. He thought.

‘Why?’ Voices were whispering from a dozen different directions, he ignored them all revelling in the fact that not one villager recognised him and knowing they all feared him, the man on the horse who sat quietly watching.

He was no longer the stumpy, plump youth with bad skin that drank too much ale on the eve of Jed leaving to join the army. He, now, was strong and fit, his skin had weathered and he sported a distinctive black scar down the left side of his face stretching from the corner of his eye to the side of his mouth. A scar he would one day repay Mayan for giving him, Mayan…, he thought as he ran his fingers down the scar, remembering how her nails had raked into his face when he had tried to make her his. His father had stopped him and left him in the dirt, the open wound on his face sucking up the dirt like a sponge, the scar now pulled the side of his face tightly and permanently into a sardonic sneer. You should be ‘ere Mayan, where are yer? He wondered as he again scanned through the crowd of frightened villagers, angry that she was not amongst them.

‘Please Surr...’ a young boy called to him in tears as another house fell victim to a blazing torch. Drunner, you be one of the Drunner boys... Toby recognised the boy as the brother of one of the men who had once laughed at him, yer don’t know me either, he thought, knowing he had aged in more than just years, they really don’t know who I am! Toby mused, relishing the power the anonymity gave him. He fingered the simple blue stone in his pocket, the stone he had watched Gideon tying around Mayan’s neck and he ached to see her, imagining her here, kneeling at his feet begging for his love and forgiveness in front of everyone. It was a very pleasing thought.

At last, Toby saw his parents as they stumbled into the village behind the horsemen sent to get them, a line bound their wrists tightly and a taut rope ensured they had to run to keep up with the huge animals. Toby looked on, a happy smile on his face, he was not like the lowly tanner his father was or the mistress of nothing his mother had always been; he was special and he knew it. Did I no’ tell ‘em that all along? He thought as his mother tripped in the dirt and losing her balance fell under the hooves of the great horse that pulled his father, its hoof grazed her skull, the loud sound was hollow and sharp as it connected. His father bruised and bloody from resisting arrest tried in vain to go to her aid as her bloody form quivered in the dirt and dust.

‘Toby…’ she whispered her voice soft and low but still somehow reaching her son, finally she lay still as Toby watched dispassionately, he had dismissed his parents from his life long ago, just as they had dismissed him. The soldier pulling his father cut the bonds holding him to the rear of his horse to allow him to go to the old woman, while Toby’s mind drifted back to the day his father had first beaten and then thrown him out like garbage.

‘Animal,’ his father had sneered as his mother cried for Mayan. ‘Animals rape their mates,’ he said, adding, ‘yer ‘ave no ‘onour boy, an’ yer be no son o’ mine…’ before he’d thrown Toby’s bleeding body on to the floor of the barn. ‘Yer deserve ter be scarred boy, marked like the animal yer be...’ Toby could remember him speaking coldly, even if he could not remember the tears coursing down his father’s face as he spoke them, but then, Toby himself had wept too, not for shame but because he was disappointed, he believed his father had lied to him.

"Next year, we’ll try again lad, she’s no promised yet!’ Da had said,’ Toby cried as his father beat him.

‘Yer promised me Da,’ he had added as he finally realised Mayan was not his, was never to be his. Then after Mayan left, his mother hurried after her husband and returned a little while later with a bag.

‘Yer gotta leave now Toby,’ she said, still crying, ‘yer gotta go as soon as I ‘ave cleaned yer face up a bit. I love yer boy, always ‘ave but yer were no meant fer this.’ Toby remembered her crying as she tried to clean the dirt out from the nasty wound caused by Mayan’s nails but he pushed her away violently causing her to misstep.

‘Leave me woman, yer lied ter me too...’ he remembered shouting angrily, he was angry with both his parents, they were supposed to love him, supposed give him everything they promised, he wanted the wound to scar; a scar would remind him of his father’s worthless word and Mayan’s treachery. He remembered looking at his mother through one swollen eye, the side of his face a mass of congealed blood, his broken nose crooked and equally bloody.

‘She be mine,’ he said as he looked for understanding and found none, ‘she be mine, an’ Gideon ‘as ‘er, ‘e promised me… Da promised me, yer lied, yer both lied.’ Toby scowled, blame for his misfortunes landing squarely between his parents and Gideon himself.

‘No Toby,’ his mother said through her tears, ‘Da asked Jack fer yer but Mayan ‘ad ter choose you too, an’ she made ‘er choice, she chose Gideon!’ Again, she tried to comfort him but he shrugged her off not noticing her weeping as if her heart were broken. He dismissed them then as if they had never been and became consumed with hatred, hatred for them, for Gideon and for the whole village, he vowed that one day, one day, he would pay them all back, even Mayan.

After all, he thought absently, shrugging off his memories and watching his father struggle to reach the body of his dying mother; they all laughed, even as I crawled through t’ beer ‘an piss, they laughed, even Mayan, my precious Mayan. He saw himself again as the young man he had been, hanging his head, staring at the floor in despair and embarrassment, his Mayan, holding Gideon’s arm, smiling at him, laughing and pulling Gideon away. Where are yer May, yer teasing bitch, yer’ll soon be on yer knees before me, beggin’ fer me ter take yer, he thought, remembering that the token she had deliberately left for him so long ago, a token he could easily have missed. A draft caused by his mother’s closing the heavy barn door behind her had whisked briskly across the floor playing with the loose straw by his feet sending it dancing and swirling in gentle circles. The small blue stone with its broken leather thong up to then hidden under the dust and dry stalks became exposed and he had smiled knowing just what it meant. Mayan, yer do want me, yer still playin’ yer games... he had thought as he bent down stiffly and picked it up before kissing it lovingly and putting it safely in his pocket. He had carried it with him ever since.

A deep silence around him pulled him from his reverie, even the children amongst the assembled populace of his former home had become quiet, every local inhabitant that could be rounded up, had been. Toby felt the power over life and death at his fingertips and his cock hardened painfully, he looked up, not trying to hide his smile.

The pall of dense smoke from burning buildings became a blanket in the sky above the village before reaching up like a great grey pillar and stretching into the heavens. He could see more smoke rising above the trees from the direction of his former home and as he stared, a gentle whuff, from a nearby cottage alerted him to yet another building engulfed by flames. The inhabitants, an elderly couple Toby barely remembered were being supported in their grief by a young man he also recognised but could not quite put a name too, he watched as they were ushered forcefully into the crowd of villagers by his men and left to stare as their home and worldly possessions succumbed to the hungry fire. The boy who had spoken to him earlier ran over to hold the old woman upright as her knees gave way and he looked once more toward Toby, his eyes pleading. Toby dismissed them as he continued to scan the crowd looking for Mayan. Until now he had enjoyed himself immeasurably but he was beginning to get bored, he had expected her to be here to witness his triumph and for her to be grateful that he had prevented the ransacking of the Inn. He had even spared her parents and sister in law from too much abuse. The fam’ly is all here… but where are yer my sweet girl? Toby asked himself silently. He could see the Brewster family on the green, Apple wringing her hands together and tiny Sámia nursing Jackie her husband, who was bleeding profusely after being badly beaten. Jack stood with his arms around his wife looking angry and confused, nursing a swollen eye that was rapidly turning black. As Toby continued to survey the unhappy villagers before him he realised he had not seen Gideon or his father Jed either, though this didn’t surprise him too much as both were more than likely to be within the confines of the great forest and he was headed there next. He had been up to the boundary of the great forest on numerous occasions since he was a child and then again, often as a young man he would follow Mayan up past Sonal’s cottage, always waiting for some sign that she knew he was there and waiting for her.

‘Even then yer knew ‘ow ter tease...’ he whispered aloud and shaking himself free from his thoughts once more, he rose up in his stirrups to address the silent crowd.

‘I’m under orders from the king, the king on ’oose bounty we all turn durin’ ‘arsh times an’ these are such times me friends, a man named Gideon Green ‘as committed treason ‘gainst our beloved king an’ I’m ordered ter offer freedom to whomever will aid me in entering the forest an’ bringin’ this man ter justice.’ Toby sat back onto his saddle as he watched the crowd. His time in the army had taught him how to read people, how to turn a fast coin and to see how things could be profitable for him, here, he believed the people would be no different. He could usually see where news, whilst incredulous to some became, would become as money to others and these types of people were always good for his pockets.

He closed his eyes and listened as his words sunk in; voices and mutterings circled the crowd, a growing cacophony of sound from the people who knew Gideon.

‘Why’ and ‘what for?’ He heard repeatedly, until the sound of children crying and the sounds of scuffling, as men were subdued violently by the soldiers became one. The noise intensified waxing and waning like a wave on the great ocean churning up the pebbles as it hit the beach, it was almost hypnotic. Toby was elated, all he needed now was Mayan to be here to witness his greatness, he felt like a God, all matters were his to control, life was his to give or take. The power flowed through him and he felt an erection building again as the blood rushed around his body.

A rock flew from the crowd and struck Toby on the face, his scar reopened and blood slowly oozed and dripped down his chin, a hushed silence returned to the people before him.

"Oo struck me?’ He demanded, enraged that his moment of glory was spoiled. Rising in his stirrups once more, he asked again, his voice shrieking in anger. ‘Who. Struck. Me?’ The crowd remained quiet, heads turning left to right worried and scared.

"Twas me…,’ said a voice Toby knew and hated, ‘I know who yer be boy, me who prayed fer yer, me who raised yer an’ me who wishes I never ‘ad. Animal, I called yer, an’ animal yer be Toby, yer no be welcome here, in yer fancy clothes, ye or yer vermin.’ Toby stared at his father whose face was wet with tears mingling with the deep red blood of his mother. ‘We’ll no ‘elp yer, nor tell yer nowt.’ Tom finished and turning his back on his son, he crouched down once more and again cradled his dead wife Selda, in his arms.

‘Stand and look at me old man,’ Toby called as his father’s sobs became audible. ‘Stand I say…’ Toby called again and for a moment, his father looked as if he were going to comply, Toby smiled coldly as his father hunched over as he struggled to rise, eventually coming into a standing position holding his wife’s body in his arms. Without a backward glance to his son, he began to walk away in the direction of his burning home. The riders stood aside to let him and his dreadful burden pass. Immediately the air whistled and a thorn suddenly appeared to be growing from the man’s back, the blood glistened and bloomed across his jerkin like a flower as the arrows force drove Tom to his knees, Toby remained standing in the stirrups.

‘People,’ he cried pointing at his dead mother and dying father, ‘there yer see me parents, Tom an’ Selda Brewster. Such is the urgency of me mission, I will kill all o’ yer that stand in me way an’ ‘gainst the king. I be trusted with this message from yer benevolent lord. If yer refuse yer