Alisaura
Blue Crack Supplier
Disclaimer: All very fictional. Opinions expressed and mistakes made are solely my own.
end of chapter 12:
--------
The Ritemaster stopped to cough again, each one weaker than the one before. Fear gripped my heart.
"Is it ready? My barrow?"
"Yes," I sobbed. She had chosen the place where she would rest, and the men had levered a large slab of stone on top of the two boulders that were already there, their roots in the bedrock. A grave had been dug.
"You will know what to do," she sighed.
And was gone.
The oil lamps flickered in a gust of wind, as if in homage, but my tears blinded me.
-----------
Chapter 13:
-----------
They still blinded me as I woke up, the dawn light making the tent glow. Once again, I was assaulted by grief for someone who had never existed.
Some remnant of my dream-persona protested that, but I reasserted reality firmly. There was no Mag, no Eleri, nothing but my imagination. No reason to be crying like a wretch.
Books and movies make you cry sometimes, that irritatingly perverse corner of my mind noted. Those characters aren't real, either.
Okay, so I had a sad dream about some imaginary people, no doubt triggered by seeing that barrow, and I'm crying. Nothing more.
What more could there be?
--------
A few days after that, I was nearer to the stone circle. I could hardly avoid it, as much as I might want to. I got on with the mapping and tried to ignore it, but the atmosphere around the place seemed far more palpable than I had remembered, even on that first visit. Those dreams were starting to rattle me. My eyes were continually drawn up to the top of that hill... and as I sat eating my lunch at the other end of the valley, I saw a small figure near the stones. I frowned, even as my heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. There was no way I could recognise anyone from that distance, but I knew it was Ed.
No, I couldn't really know, it was impossible to be certain. But I couldn't convince myself that it could be anyone else. There was a horse at the foot of the hill, I saw.
Maybe I would map the neighbouring valley today, instead of this one.
But a few minutes later, my eyes were dragged to the hill again, and I saw Ed, on horseback again, riding down the valley towards me. Ed, or whoever it was. I waited, resigned and conflicted. It seemed nothing I could do or say would deter him from seeking me out.
It turned out to be Ed, of course. He stayed on the horse at first, looking down at me with an expression of mingled apprehension and challenge. I looked up at him, annoyed.
"I could say something about getting off your high horse," I said, packing the remains of my lunch away. I made sure my notebook was stowed in my backpack. My manner was unfriendly, although if I'd thought about it with a clear head, I had no evidence at all that he'd broken into my car and read the notebook. No evidence, except the names he'd spoken that had only ever been in my dreams.
My head had been anything but clear lately, however.
"I feel safer up here," he said, deadpan.
"Look, I apologised several times, and you accepted it! I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me..." That phrase rang uncomfortably loud and true, in the wake of recent events. The dreams had continued after Eleri's death.
"I'm sorry, I did accept your apology. A poor joke, that's all," Ed said, still wary. The thought occurred to me that he might want another apology for accusing him of invading my privacy, but there was no way I was prepared to accept any other explanation. I could only stretch a co-incidence so far.
"What do you want?" I said bluntly, glaring up at him.
"I... Have you ever been up there at dawn?" Ed said, motioning his head behind him, towards the circle.
"No," I said.
"There's no dew. Not inside. Plenty outside, but it's dry inside the circle."
"What?"
"It's true."
"You came all the way out here to tell me that? Do you think that's going to convince me that..."
"That what?" Ed leaned towards me slightly in his saddle. I changed the subject.
"You seem a lot more comfortable on a horse than you did the first time I saw you."
"I've been practising." Ed was not to be distracted. "I just want to find out why all this is happening, you know. And I know none of it makes any sense, and you think I read your diary, but I didn't. I don't even know what your car looks like, or where you're staying exactly..."
"I thought we went over that – I know why it's happening, and it's just random neurons and co-incidence. What on earth does dew have to do with any of it?"
"What on Earth, indeed. I know what you said, and for the most part, I agree. No other explanation makes any sense... but sometimes not everything does make sense. It makes no sense for the grass to be dry inside that circle when there's dew everywhere else, does it?"
"There could be any number of reasons..." I said, and trailed off. I couldn't bring any of them to mind just then, of course. "And I don't believe there's any other way you could have known the names of those people in my dreams. Forget it. No sale."
Ed swung down from the horse, which was showing signs of boredom. He stepped in front of me, and looked me in the face. "Lisa, you kept saying you're a scientist. A scientist should question things, keep an open mind. Isn't that right? I just want you to see this for yourself, and you can make up your own mind. Think of it as simply gathering data."
I stepped back, feeling my personal space being invaded. "What is it with you? Why can't you just get over this whole thing? I don't want to have anything more to do with it, I just want it to be over. I'm sick of you popping up everywhere I go, and I'm sick of these bloody dreams!"
The meaning of his words sunk in then.
"And you must not keep in touch with the scientific community if you believe all that about keeping an open mind. Science is as full of dogmatic belief and clashing worldviews as any other branch of human endeavour. Most researchers will defend their hypothesis or theory until it's hanging in improbable shreds. And some won't let go even then."
"And are you most researchers?" Ed asked.
"I'm not a researcher at all. I do the grunt work; they can write the papers and argue about the results."
"You gather the raw data, then. You see the true state of things, before it's been filtered through the eyes of academia, and all that dogma."
I narrowed my eyes. "That's an odd way of putting it, but I suppose so."
"Then go and see for yourself, tomorrow."
"What's the point? If you're right, it means there's another mystery to try to explain, or leave unexplained, and more headaches. If you're wrong, then you're wrong."
"Aren't you curious?"
"No," I lied.
Ed looked at me for a long moment, green eyes calm and considering, and I wondered if he could see the division in my mind reflected on my face. "It's up to you," he said at last, and swung back into the saddle. Without another word, he rode off.
He can't have been having the same dreams, I thought sourly. He looked much better rested than I felt.
-------------------
end of chapter 12:
--------
The Ritemaster stopped to cough again, each one weaker than the one before. Fear gripped my heart.
"Is it ready? My barrow?"
"Yes," I sobbed. She had chosen the place where she would rest, and the men had levered a large slab of stone on top of the two boulders that were already there, their roots in the bedrock. A grave had been dug.
"You will know what to do," she sighed.
And was gone.
The oil lamps flickered in a gust of wind, as if in homage, but my tears blinded me.
-----------
Chapter 13:
-----------
They still blinded me as I woke up, the dawn light making the tent glow. Once again, I was assaulted by grief for someone who had never existed.
Some remnant of my dream-persona protested that, but I reasserted reality firmly. There was no Mag, no Eleri, nothing but my imagination. No reason to be crying like a wretch.
Books and movies make you cry sometimes, that irritatingly perverse corner of my mind noted. Those characters aren't real, either.
Okay, so I had a sad dream about some imaginary people, no doubt triggered by seeing that barrow, and I'm crying. Nothing more.
What more could there be?
--------
A few days after that, I was nearer to the stone circle. I could hardly avoid it, as much as I might want to. I got on with the mapping and tried to ignore it, but the atmosphere around the place seemed far more palpable than I had remembered, even on that first visit. Those dreams were starting to rattle me. My eyes were continually drawn up to the top of that hill... and as I sat eating my lunch at the other end of the valley, I saw a small figure near the stones. I frowned, even as my heart skipped a beat, and not in a good way. There was no way I could recognise anyone from that distance, but I knew it was Ed.
No, I couldn't really know, it was impossible to be certain. But I couldn't convince myself that it could be anyone else. There was a horse at the foot of the hill, I saw.
Maybe I would map the neighbouring valley today, instead of this one.
But a few minutes later, my eyes were dragged to the hill again, and I saw Ed, on horseback again, riding down the valley towards me. Ed, or whoever it was. I waited, resigned and conflicted. It seemed nothing I could do or say would deter him from seeking me out.
It turned out to be Ed, of course. He stayed on the horse at first, looking down at me with an expression of mingled apprehension and challenge. I looked up at him, annoyed.
"I could say something about getting off your high horse," I said, packing the remains of my lunch away. I made sure my notebook was stowed in my backpack. My manner was unfriendly, although if I'd thought about it with a clear head, I had no evidence at all that he'd broken into my car and read the notebook. No evidence, except the names he'd spoken that had only ever been in my dreams.
My head had been anything but clear lately, however.
"I feel safer up here," he said, deadpan.
"Look, I apologised several times, and you accepted it! I'm sorry! I don't know what came over me..." That phrase rang uncomfortably loud and true, in the wake of recent events. The dreams had continued after Eleri's death.
"I'm sorry, I did accept your apology. A poor joke, that's all," Ed said, still wary. The thought occurred to me that he might want another apology for accusing him of invading my privacy, but there was no way I was prepared to accept any other explanation. I could only stretch a co-incidence so far.
"What do you want?" I said bluntly, glaring up at him.
"I... Have you ever been up there at dawn?" Ed said, motioning his head behind him, towards the circle.
"No," I said.
"There's no dew. Not inside. Plenty outside, but it's dry inside the circle."
"What?"
"It's true."
"You came all the way out here to tell me that? Do you think that's going to convince me that..."
"That what?" Ed leaned towards me slightly in his saddle. I changed the subject.
"You seem a lot more comfortable on a horse than you did the first time I saw you."
"I've been practising." Ed was not to be distracted. "I just want to find out why all this is happening, you know. And I know none of it makes any sense, and you think I read your diary, but I didn't. I don't even know what your car looks like, or where you're staying exactly..."
"I thought we went over that – I know why it's happening, and it's just random neurons and co-incidence. What on earth does dew have to do with any of it?"
"What on Earth, indeed. I know what you said, and for the most part, I agree. No other explanation makes any sense... but sometimes not everything does make sense. It makes no sense for the grass to be dry inside that circle when there's dew everywhere else, does it?"
"There could be any number of reasons..." I said, and trailed off. I couldn't bring any of them to mind just then, of course. "And I don't believe there's any other way you could have known the names of those people in my dreams. Forget it. No sale."
Ed swung down from the horse, which was showing signs of boredom. He stepped in front of me, and looked me in the face. "Lisa, you kept saying you're a scientist. A scientist should question things, keep an open mind. Isn't that right? I just want you to see this for yourself, and you can make up your own mind. Think of it as simply gathering data."
I stepped back, feeling my personal space being invaded. "What is it with you? Why can't you just get over this whole thing? I don't want to have anything more to do with it, I just want it to be over. I'm sick of you popping up everywhere I go, and I'm sick of these bloody dreams!"
The meaning of his words sunk in then.
"And you must not keep in touch with the scientific community if you believe all that about keeping an open mind. Science is as full of dogmatic belief and clashing worldviews as any other branch of human endeavour. Most researchers will defend their hypothesis or theory until it's hanging in improbable shreds. And some won't let go even then."
"And are you most researchers?" Ed asked.
"I'm not a researcher at all. I do the grunt work; they can write the papers and argue about the results."
"You gather the raw data, then. You see the true state of things, before it's been filtered through the eyes of academia, and all that dogma."
I narrowed my eyes. "That's an odd way of putting it, but I suppose so."
"Then go and see for yourself, tomorrow."
"What's the point? If you're right, it means there's another mystery to try to explain, or leave unexplained, and more headaches. If you're wrong, then you're wrong."
"Aren't you curious?"
"No," I lied.
Ed looked at me for a long moment, green eyes calm and considering, and I wondered if he could see the division in my mind reflected on my face. "It's up to you," he said at last, and swung back into the saddle. Without another word, he rode off.
He can't have been having the same dreams, I thought sourly. He looked much better rested than I felt.
-------------------
God help me, I love this story. Better than my own at times.
*awaits the next chapter*
Ed!
