Winter Journey -- Unicorn Short Story Forum

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Date Posted: 11:30:42 10/27/05 Thu
Author: Arthur
Author Host/IP: cache-los-ac04.proxy.aol.com / 195.93.21.68
Subject: Winter Journey

THE JOURNEY
� I am so glad you asked me to come ! I have not left the village since I was a little girl�
You said that to me when we first set off on our journey . A journey that started ten days ago . We gave crossed England on the great Ridgeway . A road that was thousands of years old when the Romans first came here Our journey is almost over.

I am the betrayer and you the betrayed

We are late setting off. I do not help you onto your horse. You do not need my help. You lead off out of the camp and up the hillside. We go in single file up the steep track. We do not speak. The only sounds are the noises of the horses, the creak of harness and clinking of a disturbed stone as it rolls down the hill. There is a little light through the trees. The light comes from a weak crescent moon already setting.
The horns of the moon are wrapped around the earths shadow like those of a lover. Is this an omen ?. Is this thought some message from the Gods ?

�Hells arse �, you curse and I smile. You have forgotten to bend your head and protect your face. A branch has cut across your brow. It bleeds . I do not offer to help or stop. You would not want it. You lean forward in the saddle. Both to protect your face and ease your weight of the horses quarters as we climb .
As we distance ourselves from the camp we start to hear the sounds of the night.
The small owl is calling and a fox is barking miles away. Near by is the startling, so terrible, death shriek of a rabbit. Caught in the open by a stoat.
The trees are becoming more separate. Soon we are out of the wood and climbing onto the High Down to join the Ridgeway .
Arcturos, the bright one, the bear keeper, has already set in the west .The thin crescent moon will soon follow. But we will still have light. It is November and the frosts have come. They are early this year . The stars are bright. Like daggers of bright steel thrust through black velvet .
The horses without urging move off into the canter. We sit deeper . Adjusting our selves to the change of motion and our eyes to a new sense of distance.
You turn and look back at me smiling. It is a wicked smile. I know without seeing that you have let the reins slip through your fingers. Moved your weight forward and questioningly squeezed . I hear your laugh as quickly you out distance me . A dark patch becoming ever smaller .Then you are gone . Your challenging laughter left hanging in the air. My horse needs no aids . Quickly she changes gait into the full gallop . My weight is forward , my eyes seeing the world through her erect ears. Only the pressure of my calves and the strength of my thighs holds me erect.
I have ceased to be. I am a part of some God . A creature of the air with no contact with the ground .I do not feel as though I am moving .It is as though the world is moving swiftly backwards Yet the wind in my face and the rapid and repetitive swish of legs through tall grass tells me I am wrong
A boulder . I did not see it and yet I did . Without awareness we are beyond it . Without knowing how I have sat back as we gathered our strength then I have jumped , throwing myself forward ,lifting us both. How did all this happen in the blink of an eye . I do not know . .
The horses slow down to a canter , blowing and snorting . At the trot and then the walk. . You are so alive . You seem to scintillate in time with the flicker stars. You laugh at the madness of it all .

I am the betrayer and you the betrayed

The horses are tired and so are we . We shall not reach journeys end tonight. I look for a place to rest . Already the frost is heavy . You hobble the horses as I cut fresh sweet smelling bracken to fill the hollow .
We feed the horses . Handfuls of corn placed in our hats . Like votive offerings to these gentle creatures that have shown us , however briefly , what it is to be a God .
You take the blankets from the saddle role and I smile as you place them together .
�It is cold � you say, and smile again
You are close now and I can see you better . A slim , almost boyish figure yet a woman . Or perhaps not quite a woman . I cannot find the words . Girl woman perhaps ?. You are hovering somewhere between child and temptress

We lay together .You fold into my arms. I pull the blanket over us as we fall into the soft bracken bed .
I know that if I ask I could enter you . I can spill my seed and you will accept it . Perhaps start a new life tonight under the uncaring stars . You are pure, and pure you must remain

I am the betrayer and you are the betrayed .

I awake . You are asleep still
I has snowed briefly in the night . The green clock I gave you is decorated with glowing snow crystals. .Decorated like a wedding gown.. The amethyst broach I gave you gleams on your soft white throat .

It is that strange time of stillness. Night is over but day has yet to begin. The night creatures have sped to safety and rest . Those of the day are yet to awake . A few stars still hang petulant, eager to be gone .The world is dead ,waiting to be reborn .
Their are no sounds except those sounds known to horsemen throughout all time . Known to the armies of Alexander and to the recently departed Legions . The soft , so soft , gentle breath of the horses as they wait ,ever patient
Dawn is coming, the dark pales in the east.
You awake, smile and sun like , fill me with a great warmth..
Can I keep you for myself ?. Ride anywhere but to the west .

I am the betrayer and you the betrayed

Your eyes , newly open are almost black . The shinning coal eyes of the old people .. Now driven back into the high mountains and remote barren valleys . Your eyes are not unlike mine . We are of these people ,you and I

There is a mist . It swirls around us .You are startled .Shapes appear and disappear .
Indistinct sounds are heard . You move closer so that I might protect you . You look questioningly up at me
� We are not the only ones on the Ridgeway this morning . Other people are hurrying westwards as well as us . �
�Then let us pack and be gone ,we do not wish to be late � you say with your bright morning face and start preparing the horses for the journey .
You are so eager . There is no hurry.

Do you not know they cannot start without you ?

Overhead , clear of the mist , I can faintly hear the triumphant song of the morning lark . Dear bird if you knew as I know , would you sing so sweetly ? .
The mists are clearing .The sun is burning it away .How dreadful is the heat
The crowds moving westwards can now be seen as individuals . Suddenly you stand in your stirrups and shout with excitement :
�Oh , Hador , look, it is there !.�
Then you sit back in your saddle stunned as are all that see the great Stone Henge for the first time
�Did the Gods truly make that Hador � you almost whisper to me . �Surely no man made it . Only the Gods , great and powerful beyond all understanding could have made it �
You say this quietly ,in your seldom used little girls voice.

We have now entered the broad avenue . Great stones mark it ,on our left and on our right.. The avenue guides the eye and the feet towards the great stone circle .It is crowded here. Crowded , yet we seem to move in an isolated separate space , as if the people were reluctant to draw near. You notice this and look to me excitedly.
�Hador , see how in awe they are of you they are. Your sword and shield clear the way without having to use them . See how they. point and look at us . They are talking about you ,I am sure �.
As you look at me I know. Despite my grey hairs and lined face. You would love me if only I would let you draw near to me .
I try to crush this feeling
�No , it is not me they speak of it is you . They say how pretty you are �
You blush prettily and toss your head and hair as only a young girl can. Certain of your beauty and the power it gives you .
But I know what they are saying . I have travelled this way before with such as you
� Is she the one ?� .they whisper to each other, trying not to catch your eye .
�Is she the one .?�
We are now near to the edge of the outer circle . The crowd makes way and lets us pass. Now they wish to be near to us .Not to miss any of the drama that is about to unfold . So that they can say , over the winter fires , �I was there ! �
We now at the front of the circle . You try and see everything at once. Turning your head in every direction . I look only for what I expect to see.
.
He is here already , the Corn King . Young , tall and two thirds drunk . As well he might be . He cannot complain . He competed with all the other young men for the honour .
He has had his year. A year of feasting drinking and whatever maid he wished for. Most willingly but some brought screaming to his bed .
I wonder what is worse , to know and count the days or to be unknowing and then in a terrifying flash of knowledge , understand everything .
As seen from the heel stone the upper rim of the rising sun has touched under the lintel of the great cross stones . The corn king ,numb with fear and mead , climbs into the wicker cage .It is almost time for it to be hoisted over the great bonfire that waits to be lit .
He will be slowly roasted alive whilst the people riot in an orgy of Bealtine copulation .
It must be so . How else can we ensure that the winter will not be to harsh and the spring come again .
Their is only one last thing that must be done . .To choose a Queen to go with him and greet the Gods . He will take her as the first smoke rises to signal the start of the festivities
She must come pure , without fear, willingly and of her own choice. Dressed all in green .

The swine headed trumpets sound

The Head Druid looks at me and I nod my head.

I am the betrayer and you the betrayed

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