Red Gold - 2. Chapter 2 - The Meeting

The singing and the dreams continued through the years and were interspersed with new dreams, dreams of a wild haired boy with smiling cat eyes and a leaf bladed knife at his hip.

When she was nineteen she went away and she thought she had left the boy and the dreams far behind. The university she had chosen for her Art degree was close to a large deep wood, reminding her of home and providing her with a refuge for when the strain of being social grew too much.

She had hoped that at university she would make friends but the sense of being different to all those around her remained. She had thought that it was because her school friends were childish and shallow but she soon found that the sense remained with the new people she met who were also interested only in what she considered to be shallow diversions.

Spending more and more time alone in the woods or lost in the intensity of her work she gradually drew away from the others on her course and even her own housemates soon gave up trying to persuade her to go out and have a life.

One day she was walking in the woods, it was dusk and the shadows were long and cold. Never in her life had she ever felt afraid when she was alone in the woods but, for some reason, on this evening something spooked her and she began to hurry through the trees back towards the familiar path. But suddenly nothing was familiar. Panic swept over her as she realised that she was lost, she had no idea where she was.

It was not a good idea to run in a wood, especially when it is getting dark and you don’t know where you are. However, it is not so easy to remember good ideas when you are terrified and cold and lost. The roots rose up and it was only a matter of time before her foot caught in one of them and she fell.

Sobbing she got to her knees and as she looked up she caught a glimpse of something through the trees, a flash of red gold and she called out.

“Wait. Please wait. I’m lost. Help me.”

There was no response and she scrambled quickly to her feet and ran towards where she thought she had seen the flash. Soon she was lost again and the shadows were beginning to blend towards darkness. Turning around staring straining into the trees for something, anything, and there it was again, the flash of red gold, there and gone. She ran towards it.

Over and over she ran towards brief glimpses of…something among the trees. Gradually she began to recognise landmarks and realised she was on a familiar path. Sobbing with relief she ran and shortly burst into a clearing that was very close to the main track and the university building. As she ran across the grass a shadow rose in front of her and she screamed and shrank back, stumbling, and fell backwards.

The shadow loomed over her, black against the dark sky. The glint of metal shone in its hand, a hand raised, flashing in the moonlight.

“No.” It was meant to be a scream but it came out as a whisper. Helplessly she raised her arm, waiting for the blow but it never came. Shockingly and surprisingly the figure grunted and buckled at the knees, falling heavily to lie face down in the grass at her side. Standing in its place was another figure, its head surrounded by a halo of red gold, lit by the last rays of the dying sun. After stooping to carefully wipe the blade of a long knife in the grass he stood and, tucking it carefully into a sheath at his hip he held his hand out to her.

For a moment she was frozen, shocked, then she took the proffered hand and he hauled her to her feet.

“Who are you?”

“Ssh. There may be more of them. I had better see you home.”

“But….”

“When we are safe…”

He took her arm and half dragged her through the trees to the path. Once they were under the lights of the buildings he let go of her arm and was content to walk at her side, his eyes intent, alert, searching everything, everywhere. Her heart slowed and, for some reason she felt safe, only because he was here with her. As they walked she stared at him.

He was older again, his shoulders broader, his hair, for some reason, shorter although still long, cloaking his shoulders, and just as wild, shining red gold in the light. He was dressed in faded jeans and a long coat that hid the knife strapped to his hip and, somehow the very ordinariness of his clothes made him look all the more strange and fey.

When they got to her house it was in darkness. It was early and everyone else was out. Nervously she turned the key in the lock and the boy motioned to her to wait outside while he went in and made sure all was safe. As he passed her, metal glinted in his hand.

It was cold suddenly, standing alone in the darkness. She was standing on her own doorstep but she felt alien, the prickle of fear at the nape of her neck. She shivered and pulled her thin cardigan closer around her.

“Gabrielle.” Her name, whispered out of the darkness and out of her past, a memory long cherished and worn thin with the remembering. “It’s safe Gabrielle.”

“Safe…. Safe from what?” Slamming the door behind her she snapped on the light and strode into the living room. He was sitting on the sofa, as though it had been made for him, smiling up at her in an easy, relaxed way that infuriated her. “Who the hell ARE you?”

“No one.”

“That’s what you said before.”

“Because it’s true.”

“What’s your name? It isn’t fair. You know my name.”

“Fair? I suppose not.”

“So…?”

He flicked the heavy hair out of his face in an unconscious gesture and looked up at her, his face completely open, the sharply slanting eyes captivating her with their intensity of colour and expression. His face had matured, become less angular, less sharp and more…… enchanting. When he smiled his lips parted to show perfectly even white teeth. She had a thing for nice teeth, so few people seemed to care about their teeth and ugly, crooked teeth made her uneasy.

“What have you done, Gabrielle?”

“What do you mean? What have I done?”

“To earn the right.”

“What right?”

“I told you once, that you would have to earn the right…to my name.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake. If you don’t want to tell me your name just don’t. I’m damned if I am going to play this silly game with you.”

“Game?”

Suddenly she was overwhelmed by the whole situation. The frantic race through the woods, the dark figure, its demise and now this….. after all these years, so many dreams, so many memories; to have him here, in her own house. It was all just too much and she sat down suddenly, her head in her hands and her shoulders shaking.

“Gabrielle?”

“Just don’t. I don’t know who you are or what you want with me, why you have been stalking me all my life but tonight… that man…. you killed him.”

“That wasn’t a man.”

“What do you mean?”

“It was a demon. It’s only purpose for existing was to kill you and drag your soul into the void.”

“What? You’re crazy. Demons? You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Why are you angry with me?”

“Because you flick in and out of my life, speaking in riddles that make no sense and because tonight you killed someone.”

“He would have killed you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Yes I do.”

“We should have told the police.”

“If you go back he won’t be there.”

“How do you know that?”

“I know what he is… what he was.”

“I am only going to ask you this one more time, and if you don’t answer me you can get the hell out of here and never, ever come back. Who are you?”

For a long moment he looked at her, a strange, searching look in his eyes and then he smiled a slow sad smile and got to his feet.

“Wait. Where are you going?”

“You told me to ‘get the hell out of here and never, ever come back’”

“No. I mean, I know I did but….. why? Why won’t you tell me who you are?”

“I can’t. I am….your protector. You can believe that, or not, it’s up to you. I have always been here, always watching, always with you. I am…. someone who will never hurt you, who will always take care of you. But…..” he smiled again, gently “I am not like you. I am not….from here. Names are… more important to me.”

“What do you think I am going to do with it?”

“It is not what you will do with it, it is how you will hold it. I can’t explain. Names have power and once given they can never be taken back if trust is betrayed.” He frowned, looking achingly sad. “You will betray me Gabrielle and I am afraid. I am not ready to face that yet.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Do you dream Gabrielle?”

“Sometimes.”

“What do you dream?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Startling her enormously he crouched down next to her chair looking intently into her face. “Do you dream of me?”

The sarcastic retort died on her lips as she looked deeper into his eyes and was caught by something formless and huge which swamped her and she nodded soundlessly. “At least….. I have dreamed of wild red gold hair and cat green eyes but…… not of you. I don’t know you. I don’t know who you are to dream of you.”

“Gabrielle, I am a creature of the wild. I have no skills here; this is not my home. For you I have imprisoned my spirit in a world of iron and stone. For you I have cut off my hair and walked a path of fire. I will be your protector and your guide but before you can know who I am you must first remember who you are. When you do that I will give you my name to do with as you will. My name, my heart, my soul.”

“Woah, this is all getting a little too intense. Maybe it would be better if you left now.”

“As you wish. I am here to serve you.”

And then he was gone. There was a sense of movement and she heard the front door slam behind him and so she knew that he had not simply vanished but he moved too fast for her to be able to follow.

That night, for the first time since leaving home, as she was falling asleep she heard the song and she drifted into sleep with a smile on her lips and the impression of red gold all about her. Of course she dreamed and this time, for the very first time, the dream went on.

This time, when the knife fell it was as though she was jerked out of her body and she watched in horror from above as the priest, or whoever he was cut into the belly of the still living woman and lifted the child whose cries rent the night.

The woman was removed unceremoniously from the altar and lay in a twitching bundle of blood soaked cloth at its base whilst the priest replaced her with her child. Again the knife was raised but this time it did not have a chance to fall. There was a sound like tearing silk and the shaft of an arrow, the feathers white against the black of his robe, appeared sticking out of his chest. He dropped the knife and cried out in rage rather than pain as his followers fell to a shower of white tipped death.

The priest moved to pick up the baby but a man appeared at his side and Gabrielle, even in her dream state gasped aloud. The wild red gold hair was as familiar to her as her own and yet….. and yet…. Before the priest could do anything the man had snatched up the child and handed it to a woman close behind him, and then they were gone.

The spirit that was Gabrielle followed them in wild flight through woods and fields to a place where a lake lay cupped in the hands of two mountains. Here there was a settlement with many heads of red gold. In a pleasant hut made of straw and clay a woman lay in the throes of labour and, as she watched she birthed a child, a son. As she lay with the blood of his birth still wet between her legs a shadow appeared in the doorway, a shadow who carried a baby.

“She is come.”

The mother smiled and held out her arm. Soon two babies suckled at her breast while a third child, a girl of about three years old looked on scowling.

Time speeded up and Gabrielle watched the three children grow together. The two always together, always sharing their toys, their food, their lives, and the third always watching, always scowling.

And then, when they were about four years old the man came again. With tears in her eyes the mother called her children, the one with the hair of fire and the other of light and she kissed them. ‘Be brave’, she said. ‘Be brave and be strong and one day you will come back to me.’

“You know this must be.” the man said, “He is grown strong again and if they stay he will find their names and all will be lost. They must go to the other place where they will be safe. It will be long before his hand can reach them there. They will grow safe and strong and one day they will return and we will be restored.”

“I know. I have always known but they are so young, so little. How can they survive?”

“They will survive,”

“Let me go too.” The older girl with the sour face pushed forward. “I can protect them. See, I have made my own bow already. The babies could never survive alone. I am almost grown. I am already seven, a woman. I am strong and I am brave. I will protect them.”

“Leelany, this is not your fight. Stay safe here with me.”

“No. I will not have my brother go into that place alone when all he can do is dream. I will go with him and I will protect him. Do you not see that the person from whom he most needs protection is her.”

“Leelany, please. You know the way of things. Your brother is to be her protector, this is his purpose, the reason for his life. You cannot deny him this,”

“I do not seek to deny him anything. If he is to be her protector so be it, but I will be his.”

“Leelany, do not do this child.”

“Can you not see mother? It is in her already. She will betray him. And I will be there to save him.”

“So be it.” It was the man who spoke now. “If this is what you wish then it is good. But beware for He will come one day, when she begins to awake and remember He will reach his hand into the other place. You must remain alert, and teach your brother well. Guard your names and you will be safe. That is the only thing that can give Him power over you, so long as he does not have them he will not be able to reach you or to hurt you.”

“Yes father.”

Sadly the woman drew all three of her children to her and kissed them tenderly. “Goodbye Leelany, you have grown so old and so wise in such a short time. I will miss you. Be strong and take care of the little ones.”

“I will mother. Promise you.”

“Goodbye little Sou Shan, you will be great one day. You are our hope, our only hope. Be safe, be well and be happy.” Pulling the boy into her arms she buried her face in his bright hair and tears poured down her face. “Goodbye little one. I will miss you most of all. You are the light of my life. Take care and come home to me whole and strong. Goodbye Ca’el”

And then Gabrielle was flying at great speed, backwards until she landed with a thud in her own bed, shaking and sweating, her eyes wide in the darkness,

“That was me.” she whispered.