Pagewalker (21 page)

Abe was still looking at me, waiting for me
to say something. I could have said something deep, something
inspiring, something morale building. I Could have…but I
didn’t.

“Fuck sake Abe, what the bloody hell are we
waiting for you numpty! Come on!” Is what I blurted out. On my feet
before the sentence ended. I looked for my makeshift staff but it
was nowhere to be found. I don’t even remember dropping it or
loosing it. I couldn’t remember if I brought it with me after it
was plunged into the eye of the pig faced man. Screw it, who cares.
I have just seen the first actual evidence and lead to where my
wife is. Maybe this nightmare would be over and I could hold her in
my arms. The hope filled me like an injection of adrenaline strait
to my heart. I could feel it beating faster than it had in a long
time. I was getting flashes of her face again. Her red lipstick
from our wedding day, the black cloak she wore down the isle before
the took it off to reveal the most beautiful wedding dress I have
ever seen. My nostrils were now clear from the stench of piss and
instead filled with the hint of her perfume. My fingertips were no
longer dry and dirty, they could almost feel her silky blonde hair
running through them as we lay on the sofa, her head on my chest as
we watched mad men, game of thrones or walking dead. I felt hope
again. It was infectious. Like a viral reaction it spilled from my
insides to the outside. My face was flush with colour, my teeth
showed from within my smile, my eyes wide and my chest out. No more
humped depression and worry. I felt strength, determination and the
blanket that covered all these emotions, Victory. I felt that I was
on the down-hill trek now. The hard part behind me and walking with
arms swinging triumphantly down the mountain of strife towards to
pub of victory. This is not an actual place by the way, but the
anchor in Newcastle county down is a close second.

I had made my way to the middle of the bar.
Abe was scrambling around, collecting things from various chests,
wardrobes, cupboards, under tables and crates. Tessa was chasing
him and sniffing absolutely everything he lifted out. She was
feeling the bleed effect of our excitement. The AOE of hope you
mite say. Well you would only say that if you were an unashamed
geek that played too much Baulder’s Gate or world of Warcraft.

He was finally ready, I started toward the
way I had arrived. Past eh square plunge pool toward the thick
wooden door leading to what seemed like a corridor of nothing, no
light emanated from it, it looked darker than black, like space
without the stars. No need to hold onto the banisters this time. I
felt a new man, on a new day, in a world I was no longer afraid of.
It was a world created by me and I was ready to embrace it now!

I heard a whistle from behind me, Abe stood
where I had left him on the wooden stage on the far side of the
room.

“Uh, and where are you heading son?” He said,
the pint spilling smile still on his face. I said nothing. Feeling
a little embarrassed to be honest . “Its this way, up here.” He
pointed at a ladder behind the bar I had not given two thoughts
about. I assumed it was the way up to another storage room.

How wrong I was, once again. I didn’t let it
deflate me however. I took it in my stride, turned on me heels and
headed toward to ladder. I made my way up the steps and followed
Abe to the ladder, he bounded up it like a child at a play park,
fast and easy. It was only about eight feet high. Too high for me
to jump and grab the ledge but not as high as I had assumed. Abe
made it to the top and turned at the lip. He reached down for me to
lift Tessa up to him. I lifted her by her waist and passed her up
with my foot on the first rung. He grabbed her easy enough by the
scruff on her neck and lifted her to safety. Both of them
disappeared from sight. Then a familiar furry black and white face
emerged with a pink tongue looking down at me. She really was
enjoying it here. I put my hands on the ladder and was just about
to lift my second foot on to begin my decent when a familiar voice
came behind me.

“Good luck Chris, I hope and prey you find
her safe and unharmed.” I turned to see a racoons face blinking at
me. She had her mask back on but I knew who it was. I stepped down
and turned. Taking two large steps in her direction I wrapped my
arms around her and lifted her from the ground.

“Thank you for everything. You truly saved
me. My direction was lost until I followed you. I owe you so much!”
I could not see her eyes clearly because of the mask covering it
but I am certain to this day I heard a sniff. The kind you hear in
the cinema at the end of a late night chick-flick.

She said nothing as I set her down and
stepped back. She simply turned my shoulder around so I was facing
the ladder again and pushed my forward with a hard, but friendly
kick to the back.

I never saw her again. I looked for her many
times as the three of us made our way out of Renir. We passed
through shop fronts while the owners had backs turned. We waited at
building corners as the guards passed, letting us creep the
opposite direction. Tessa stuck tight to my leg as we moved from
street to street. She lay and sat when told to. She could fit under
the cloak Abe had stolen for me at a passing seamstress stall. The
moon was low and light was breaking over the trees on the horizon.
The air was still crisp and cold but a little of the morning warmth
was cutting through the bite of the evening. I knew I should have
been tired once we finally made it through the front gates. Fear
and excitement kept me alert, the alertness kept me awake.

The six guards that should normally patrol
around the gates were not to be seen. Two of them were sleeping,
three were playing cards in the guard tower. We saw through the
little arrow slit as we passed. Abe fought every urge he had to
mess with them but I think he knew better. I would have slowed him
down, if we were to be caught it would most definitely be because
of my many faults. The sixth guard was pissing on the exterior of
the wall outside the gate. His shield and spear lay on the corner
of the wall as we sneaked past it. The Renir Siegel on the shield
had been worn down slightly. There were no definite marks or
splinters in the wood so most likely from being sat on. They all
looked very out of shape. I figured that Renir hadn’t been under
any form of attack or had any trouble worth mentioning is the past
few years. Peace and complacency makes people bored. It also makes
them fat but the look of things.

Tessa eyed the wooden spear for a moment too
long before catching my eye. She knew I would not be throwing that
stick for her. I signalled her to go on ahead. She had been craving
the open spaces and bounded over the road and the grass on either
side. It seemed as though every time I looked up from the ground
the air was brighter. The sun was rising in front of us as we
headed east toward to Rebels rest. It was as thought the early
morning, awakening sun was greeting us like a wave from a relative
when drawing closer to the house.

We walked the right fork on the path away
from the Inn. Much of me would have loved to call in again. Even
just to thank everyone one more time (and savour another fine pint)
but the reason for our fast pace was much more important. We needed
to find Oisin. I Couldn’t shake this feeling of eyes on the back of
my head. Since we left the gate of Renir I felt a presence in my
peripheral. No it was not meant to sound as...well...weird as it
does, I kept getting these flashes of someone following us. A
hulking, great figure stalking us just out of view.

The thought was a constant knock in my head.
Every time I would stop to admire the scenery or saviour the smells
of fields rich in early harvest, I was reminded of Sarah. It is
really true about knowing the thoughts and the heart of your
significant other. Anyone who is married and truly in love will
know what I mean. I got the sense that she was feeling lost and
worried but I knew in my heart she was not fearing for her
life.

For now…

Our journey was long and mostly uneventful. Nothing
that will benefit anyone by its scribing any way. I could tell you
of the extreme beauty of the coastline from the distance. Or the
vision of mountains growing from the ground as we walked further to
the lip of the horizon. Or the song of the many species of birds we
listened to while trenching through forestry. Perhaps I could waste
pages telling you of the feeling you get, walking over the crest of
a hill and descending to a valley full of fields separated by
crumbling stone walls. Patchwork effects created with greens,
yellows and browns or the harvest. I could go on about the signals
made in smoke, unaware to the tenants of the cottages. How the
chimneys seemed to be conversing in the sky over vast distances
apart. The smell of turf and peat that burns from them fills the
air and mixes with the wet grass early in the morning. I could
spend a chapter on the tastes we indulged in. The vegetables that
boiled down into a broth, the rabbit we turned over the fire at
night or the eggs we bought and fried from the farms we travelled
through.

I could describe all of this. If I had the
words. My vocabulary does not extend to the extremes of description
all of these things truly deserve. Justice would be failed if I
were to try. So I will not. I ask you to only imagine the feeling
you have felt when discovering a place of outstanding beauty. Or
the first bite into a meal you did not want to end. A perfume or
after shave of a loved one that triggers emotions beyond your
control. This is how Northland is felt. Extremes of wonder as Abe
so beautifully put it.

Our journey brought us from the forests of
Renir, past battle lake. We stuck close to the side of stream worn
that lead us to the valleys of the central hills. The very heart of
Northland. Abe knew where we were to go and I followed him without
question. He knew his way through the hills and valleys of the
central peaks and we passed many fields of Sheep. Endless hills as
far as you could see all of similar heights, separated by stone
walls and iron gates. There was no order to it was so randomly
cordoned off. Walls went over hills and bridges over the streams in
the dips. Cattle were speckled all over standing out beautifully on
the green with black and whiter glory. We would get milk and
berries from the bushes by the walls on our way through there. I
introduced Abe to the many joys of a smoothie then. Well it was
more of a berry crush in a warm milk but if you imagined it right
you felt as though you were back at Jens on the Lisburn road. Well
if you really stretched you imagination and hypnotised your taste
buds then perhaps you could pretend that.

Our journey then led us north. We clung tight
to the river bank once more. The first joint of River superior that
lead us from the mountains to the coast. Abe was leading us to the
Luchorpán village that Garret had first met Oisin. He was sure that
was where we would find answers. For several more days we travelled
onwards. Keeping true north. I could begin to see mountains ahead
of us. Larger than anything I had ever seen. I have been skiing in
the Alps in Austria but they would only be hills in comparison to
where we were headed. The peaks were breaking through the clouds. I
could not see the top of any of them. Abe told me we were heading
into the forests just east from the mountain range. Most likely
another two days walk if we kept a steady pace. The Rain had
started a few days into our journey and in true Irish fashion, it
did not stop. It was not a heavy downpour however. More of a
constant, relentless, restless, drizzly, light rain. The kind that
just felt like a mist in your face and seemed to blow in every
direction. It didn’t soak the three of us the whole way to our
bones but it kept us in a constant state of moist unpleasantness.
The side of the river was like a deep marsh land or bog. It took me
twice as long to get anywhere as my weight kept sinking me down, I
felt as thought I spent more time trying to free my boots than
actually walk. If your looking for a new workout routine I
recommend the bog walk. Burn two thousand calories in only two
metres. Print that in women’s own magazine!

We kept heading north. The ground hardened as
we continued farther. The land flattened into great plains of
green. Like an ocean of grass as far as you could see. Only
mountains on the horizon broke the green flat surroundings. There
was a very odd shape on ahead of us. It looked like a series of
tents as we approached. Tessa was spending longer and longer away
from us, exploring the vast, endless grass, Even though there was
not a tree in sight, she still managed to bring several sticks of
various shapes and sizes to our feet. Much to our amusement and
amazement.