In the Shadow of the Trees (23 page)

…down, down into darkness. Down through the dew, the grass, the black soil, soft as the night.

I am drifting on a tide of earth, as vast and flowing as a sea. Crumbling loam surges against my skin, its dank muskiness flooding my mouth and nose. Roots, ivory coloured and slippery smooth, twist around me like the tentacled arms of creatures risen from the deep. I flounder, then steady, then find a way to be borne on the current.

She is ahead, walking as I had seen her before, her long cloak trailing behind. I follow the tracery of crimson threads that marks her passing. Then I am walking too, a path forming beneath my feet. White roots thrash around me; they snatch at my hands, my legs, and I struggle against their hold. I must reach Anne, I must warn her.

Or maybe the warning is for me?

I see her, there, up ahead, her face silhouetted against a distant glowing greenness. She is close now, her mouth full and strong, eyes wide. She has been beautiful. But, as she turns, I see the other side of her face, the bruised cheek, crushed forehead, jagged splinters of bone matted with hair. I stagger back, repulsed. She raises an arm, pointing the way towards the light.

I move on, I’m not sure how; I could be walking, or floating
or gliding. But I am following the path. It is there, the Watcher, its feather touch on the edge on my mind.

This way,
it says,
this way…

I nearly don’t see her. She is standing to one side, half hidden in a bower of deformed tendrils. Of course I know her from the photograph, the neat button shoes, the long straight skirt and high-necked blouse. As I come nearer, Mary raises a delicate hand and touches the buttons at her throat. The white silk ruffle is pulled to one side and there, above her collarbone, where the skin should be creamy and smooth, is a jagged black hole. She smiles at me softly, wistfully and I want to cry for her.

I stumble on.

This way,
it says,
this way…

And I am drawing nearer to…to the place I have to be. Roots crowd in over the path, barring my way. They snare in my clothes and whip at my ankles. I push and tear at them, snapping and kicking, fighting so frantically that at first I do not feel it.

The steady drip, drip, drip…

On my arm, on my shoulder, a spot of red. And then another.

I look up and there she is. I know her. And she knows I am there, despite her closed eyes, despite her head drooped, unnaturally, onto her shoulder. Her body hangs limply above me, legs and feet bare, arms loose at her sides. Blood oozes from her wrists, pooling in the palms of her hands, then it falls, drip by drip, from the tips of her fingers. I watch each droplet, entranced by the slowness of its falling, by the pearl formed when it touches my skin.

But I must not stop.

This way, this way…

I struggle on until the roots part and I am in a clearing, my eyes flooded with the acid light of a subterranean moon.

Then a silhouette—a shadow—a form. I know the face, I shaped it myself as if it were my own child, cut and carved it from the wood. The face of an angel with dark, hollowed eyes.

T
HE
night was everything.

Then a sound, a repetitive ringing. It grew louder and harsher, pulsating, as if a chainsaw were cutting my head open. I forced my eyelids apart. Lights, faint. They swam and separated, then merged into pinpoints. Stars. I was lying on my back, looking up at the night sky. The noise also lost its sharp edge and centred itself. It was my own blood pumping through my ears. A deep moaning came from the back of my throat, but when I tried to speak my mouth wouldn’t open. I struggled to move and found my arms were trapped.

‘Hush. Everything’s fine. You’ve been asleep, that’s all.’

I knew the voice. If I could remember…

Someone was doing something to my hands.

‘Keep still now. Don’t fight, you’ll only make it harder for us both.’

Jason? What was happening? I was on the ground. There was that awful smell. Did I fall from the truck? Yes, that’s right, because I was still lying next to it, my head against the wheel. But we were at the woolshed then and this was a different place. Trees all around, closing in, small patches of sky between the branches. The grass I was lying in was cold and wet.

Again I fought to move and managed to lift my arms. I saw my hands and wrists were bound together with a cord, as if I were praying. I tried to kick out and yell but my voice still wouldn’t work and there was something heavy on my legs.

‘Now don’t struggle, you’ll hurt yourself.’

Yes, it was Jason. I knew his touch, his smell. He was lying next to me, the weight of his leg across mine, his hand beneath my neck.

‘It’s all right. I’m just lifting you to put this on.’ Something was slipped over my head. ‘There, all done. Now, I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable, so if you promise to be really quiet, I’ll take the tape off your mouth. But you must promise not to make a sound. Will you do that?’

I nodded in compliance. The gag was ripped from my face. Of course I gasped for air then yelled, ‘Liam! Li—’

His fist came from nowhere and struck my jaw like a hammer. Pain shot through my head and down my neck as the world slewed sideways. I thought I was going to pass out again, but Jason’s hand clamped down over my mouth and wrenched my face towards him.

‘Now, that wasn’t very nice of you, Regan.’

He was so close his hair fell into my eyes and I could feel his breath on my skin.

‘I’m sorry I had to do that but it was your own fault, you know. You did promise. It’s absolutely pointless making a fuss. Your bodyguard is way back there—nothing he can do now even if he did know where to find you. Do you understand? OK, we’ll try again.’

He took his hand away. I could taste salt where my lip had split from the blow.

‘Oh, now look, you’ve hurt yourself. That won’t do.’ He took a handkerchief from his pocket and gently dabbed the blood from my chin.

‘That’s better. Are you ready now? I’ve done my best to make
it easy, brought you as far as possible, but you’re going to have to walk the rest of the way by yourself. I’ll have to trust you not to make a sound. And you won’t try to run off, will you? Because if you do, I’ll have to give a little tug on this.’

Something yanked at my throat. I gagged and realised that what he had put round my neck was a rope with a slipknot that would choke me if I pulled against it.

‘But I’m warning you, if you don’t co-operate, well, I’ll simply have to put you back to sleep and next time you may not wake up. Do I make myself clear? It’s very important that we do it like this, that you make your own way there. So, you won’t let me down, will you? Good. Do you think you can stand? Here, let me help you up.’

He grabbed my arm, dragging me to my feet. My vision still swam and my head was pounding.

‘Come on now, you know the way.’

He tugged at the rope and I had no option but to stumble after him, trying to work out how I’d got into this. I knew I had reason to be afraid, more afraid than I’d ever been before, but my confusion took the edge off it. There were the photographs, I remembered, and I knew I’d been waiting for Liam. It was Jason we were running from, and yet Jason was here. The remnant effects of the anaesthetic, combined with the blow from his fist, had left me disorientated. Had I been fully aware of what was going on, I would have been too terrified to move.

The path began to look familiar. Yes, I knew where we were. He must have driven around the lake and up through the old vehicle track. It was only a short walk through the bush to the clearing and the big stone.

The Watcher was there. I could feel it all around us, everywhere and nowhere. It was a separate thing from Jason and yet I sensed them feeding off of each other, a symbiosis of nurture and wanting. At the same time I could feel it probing into my own mind. I didn’t know how to fight it and I knew Jason had
no wish to. Trees pressed in around us like an expectant crowd lining the route of a pageant. Branches swayed and sighed as our small procession passed between them and the full moon leered down at us through the branches.

Whenever I tripped or halted to gain a breath he coaxed me on, his voice patient and encouraging, all the while tugging viciously at the rope until the skin at my throat burned with red weals. Then my foot caught in a tree root and I went sprawling. Jason yanked the rope until I choked and retched.

‘Now, that’s really not good enough, Regan. I know you can do better than this.’

I scrambled to my feet, coughing, my eyes streaming. ‘Why, Jason? Why are you doing this?’

‘But you know why, of course you do. You and your Irish wolfhound have figured it all out between you. You found the press records and the photographs. All those visits to the churchyard and Maggie’s place, to say nothing of your little walks in the moonlight. And my mother, you talked to my dear mother. I know you, Regan, you’re not stupid.’

‘You set me up, didn’t you? Right from the beginning, before I even met you?’

‘Why, of course. This isn’t the sort of choice one makes lightly. I’d been studying you for a long while. And then I needed time to get ready for your arrival.’

‘That’s what you were doing all those times you disappeared?’

‘Yes, the cottage is perfect for you, isn’t it? But then, you see, I know you so very well.’

‘And you moved the mirror down from the house so I’d get trapped in it.’

The trees whispered among themselves as if they had heard and approved.

‘But how did you know I would come here? Oh, my God, of course. Sally! You used Sally. That night I found you with her.
That was all about making me go away, wasn’t it?’

‘I’m surprised it took you so long to work that out. You’re usually very perceptive. I certainly wouldn’t have touched the silly bitch for any other reason.’

‘And you knew about…about…’

‘Oh, that nasty little business at the abortion clinic. Well, of course. Your medical records were easy enough to tap into. You and the professor, eh? That made everything perfect.’

‘And why Badger? It
was
you who shot him, wasn’t it?’

‘Ah, yes, poor Badger. It would have been a small gift, a promise of something greater yet to come. A clean shot would have been quick and painless, but I misfired. I didn’t mean to hurt him. I’d never hurt an animal. Come on, we’re nearly there.’

The Watcher was there, moving with us, invisible, palpable. A sudden gust of wind rattled the branches like a thrill of excitement passing through the waiting crowd and I began to realise that I might not get out of this alive.

We reached the clearing. The trees made way, leaving an arena open to the night sky, the central stone awash with blue-white light. There were dark marks on its surface, no doubt the residue from previous offerings. Jason backed towards it, coaxing me along with gentle tugs on the rope.

‘You see, you came willingly. That’s how it should be. Now, this is the altar stone. But you know that, of course, you’ve lain on it before.’

‘Jason, please no. I can’t.’

He stepped towards me and placed a hand on my shoulder. ‘I can see you need help. Don’t worry. That’s why I’m here.’

Quick as a whip his leg locked around mine, pulling my feet from under me. I went crashing to the ground with his weight on top. With the free end of the rope he bound my ankles tight so that any movement of my legs would choke me. Then he lifted me up and placed me on the stone.

Moonlight touched his hair, his face and the wetness of his
mouth. His hand traced the soft light on my shoulders, and ran down my calf.

‘Perfect,’ he whispered, ‘you’re the perfect gift. A carver of wood. What could be more fitting? A fertile woman who communes with the spirit that guards this land, who can form an image of its likeness. A woman who knows and understands trees, who can recreate their creator.’

‘Isn’t that enough, Jason? You have the carvings. Let me go. Your father let your mother live.’

‘My father’s a loser. Look what he’s done to the land. Let it run to ruin while he drinks himself to death for a crazy wife he’ll never see again. She was flawed, you know that? That’s why she wasn’t taken and why the land lies fallow. Father said it was a curse on our family. But my grandfather, he knew better. He taught me how to tame it. “You must feed it with work and sweat and time,” he’d say. “You must give it your best beloved and then it will serve you well.”’

He stood back and looked around him, surveying the tree tops and the distant hills.

‘All this is my inheritance,’ he bent down and laid a kiss, very gently, on my forehead, ‘and you, my best beloved, are its salvation.’

I was crying silently, partly from fear of what he would do to me, but there were also tears of shame; it was my own blind stupidity that had led me into this.

‘Jason, you said you loved me once. Don’t do this.’

‘Love you? Of course I love you. You
are
my best beloved. That’s why we must be together. I’m not like my father, not weak and sentimental. I am stronger than that, strong enough to make you part of my land. You’ll live with me here, forever. In the earth.’

There was a sound, a metallic click, soft but in the night air it echoed clear and sharp. As we both turned towards it my eyes were dazzled by a light blazing across the clearing.

‘Get away from her, Jason. Leave her be.’

Hope surged through me like a fire.

‘Ah, your Irish friend, come to join us, has he? Well, an unexpected pleasure.’ Jason stepped back from the stone. ‘No doubt you have some notion of rescuing the lady. Well, let me assure you, she came here of her own free will and your assistance isn’t required.’

The torch beam moved over Jason, allowing my eyes to refocus. At first Liam was an outline against the sky. Then, as my vision cleared, I saw he held the gun.

‘I’m not here to listen to your bloody nonsense. I didn’t want to hurt anyone but I’ll use this if I have to.’

‘Shoot me? I don’t think so. It takes a certain refinement to be a hero.’

‘For pity’s sake, man, let her go.’

‘Get away from here, Connors, this is a Sullivan matter.’

Another shadow was moving through the undergrowth. She must have followed him and got delayed by one of her constant diversions. Jason was intent on enjoying this moment and didn’t notice the dog as she sighted Liam and bounded across the open grass towards him. The tension between the two men was electric and neither turned as I called out to her.

‘Bramble! No! This way!’

Too late.

All my senses were at full pitch and I could see exactly what was going to happen. Everything went into slow motion as she lunged at Liam’s back. He staggered under the impact and the light from the torch wavered, allowing Jason to dart forward. He gave a flying kick, spinning the gun from Liam’s hand. Liam went down and I heard the crack as his skull hit the rocks. The torch rolled back and forth on the ground and, in its strobe-like beam, a thin streak of red spread across the earth. My mouth formed his name like a prayer.

‘Hush now, he won’t bother us any more.’

‘No, please, Jason. I’ve got to help him. He’s hurt badly. He might die if we leave him.’

‘Now is as good a time as any. You realise, of course, there was never any question of him leaving here.’

‘This won’t do you any good, Jason. Someone’s bound to come looking for us.’

‘Oh really? Who’s going to come looking for the likes of him? As for you, well you left town suddenly, told no one where you were going. But they all knew about the bust-up with Sally. And then, weeks later, you rang your friends and told them you were OK and needed some time out. Of course, if the police do ask I’ll have to tell them you stayed here. I’ll say you made me promise to keep it secret. Then you ran off with the hired help.’

‘What about the people here? The men at the bar.’

‘Oh, Maggie’s crowd? Yes, but they all know you left this afternoon. Connors told them you were giving him a lift to God knows where. Even arranged for one of the other hands to come by in the morning to do his chores. By then, of course, you’ll have joined my ancestors on the hillside. Liam Connors will be inside your truck, along with all your other worldly goods, at the bottom of the lake.’

Bramble had wandered off on another foray and I was alone. I think at that moment I gave up.

The trees were whispering and waiting in the darkness and the Watcher was all around us. I could feel its intensity and hunger like a thick miasma. Yet I sensed that its awareness was now centred fully on Jason. More than that, it was saturating him as if it were seeping in through the pores of his skin.

Jason smiled and looked towards Liam, who lay motionless.

‘Look at your friend there, see how easy it is to die when you accept it.’

He tugged at my waistband and drew the chain from my pocket with the folding knife, his Christmas gift. ‘Ah, you brought it with you. I knew you would. I had it made especially for this occasion.
See, it has your name on it. You even sharpened it yourself on this very stone.’

He prised the blade open and ran his thumb over the edge.

‘This is all it takes, you know. I’m told it’s a very gentle death, almost painless. I’ll make a little cut to start with, just to prove how easy it is, then you won’t be afraid.’