Ravens Gathering (7 page)

They had left by the kitchen door again, and walked through
the yard.  Beyond the gateway, the track went by at a near right
angle.  If you followed it to the right, after a quarter of a mile you
would reach the village’s main street.  Turning left, you passed between
several old farm buildings – barns and stores.  Once past those, the track
opened out, merging into another yard area that was concreted over.  A
tractor stood idly up against a barn.  Tanya had never seen it used, and
suspected the
Sullivans
had left it behind for the
simple reason that it didn’t work
any more
.  She
had asked Ian about it, but his response had been vague.  She guessed he
didn’t know any better than she did whether it worked or not.

This second yard was bordered by post and rail
fencing.  At a point that was in line with the track, the fence was broken
by a five bar gate, which was secured with a heavy chain and padlock.  At
the side of it was a
stile
.

“Still a public footpath then.”  It was more of an
observation than a question, so Tanya’s response was only a slight nod.

Martin led the way, pausing only to make sure she climbed
over the stile safely.  It wasn’t in bad condition, but he must have
recognised that she was hardly a regular rambler.  Perhaps the
near-pristine condition of her walking boots had been a giveaway, she thought
to herself.  They had only been on her feet once before, when Ian had
insisted on giving her a complete tour of the land they owned.  She’d
sported blisters for several days afterwards, and refused to accompany him
again.

As they made their way up the footpath, she was aware of the
– to her – unnatural sensation of wearing the boots again.  They were
flatter than she was used to, and her feet seemed to move a little more freely
inside them.  She began to wonder whether she would have been better to
let Martin go on his own, and save herself the possibility of further
discomfort.  Especially as he seemed very focused on the walk and his
destination, and not on her company.  At the same time, she didn’t feel
comfortable with the idea of simply telling him she’d changed her mind. 
She didn’t want to seem either indecisive or a wimp.  So she kept up with
him, surprised to find that she was having to take two strides to his one.

In the past, Ian had tried to persuade her to take up
running.  She had responded that she couldn’t see the point. 
Whenever she saw anyone running, they never looked as if they were enjoying
themselves.  Ian had tried to explain that, for him at least, it was the
sense of achievement that created the buzz, not the running itself.  He
had also said that, when he was running long distances, he found it helpful to
have someone with him to talk to.  The conversation took his mind off the
running, and the time passed more rapidly.  The memory of these words gave
her hope.

“So, Martin, would I be right in thinking you’ve been
working abroad?”

“Yes.”

It took a moment for her to realise that was it.  When
she’d met Ian, she had been working in sales.  Using her sales training,
she identified her mistake: she’d asked him a closed question.  She tried
one that was more open.

“Where have you worked, then?”

“Here and there.”  Only marginally more helpful.

“But obviously sunnier climes,” she prompted.

They had covered a couple of hundred yards, and now the path
led into the woods themselves.

“Sunnier than here,” Martin agreed.  His eyes were on
the route ahead.  All of the attention he had paid to her earlier was gone
now.  She was starting to feel as if she had been duped, though what his
game was, she didn’t know.

“Are you trying to be deliberately obtuse?” she asked in
frustration.

He glanced across at her and grinned.  For a moment she
saw the playful flirtatiousness that had attracted her in the first place.

“Not deliberately,” he assured her.  “Just a habit.”

“Why?”

“That’s a long story.”

“It could be a long walk,” she pointed out.

“Not that long.”

As they continued along the path, the trees closed in
overhead, cutting out most of the light.  It was still bright enough for them
to see where they were going, but the relative gloom made her feel a little
more uncomfortable.

“What about you?” he asked suddenly, surprising her.

“Me?”

“Yeah.  What’s your background?  You’re not from
these parts, are you?”

“Hardly,” she said, then realised that she had been too
dismissive.  “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t worry about it.  I’m with you on that.  Why
d’you
think I left?  If I hadn’t, I’d still be
living with my parents, stuck in a dead-end job, and spending my free time
propping up the bar at
The
Oak
.  Everyone in the village
would know everything I’d done since I was a baby.  Every minor
indiscretion used against me at all times.”

“Indiscretions?” Tanya prompted.

“Nothing to get excited about,” he said.  “And that’d
be half the problem.”  She caught a flash of teeth as he grinned
again.  “So don’t think I’ll be offended that you’re glad you’re not from
the village.  You need to get away from your roots and get a life.”

“Is that what you did?”

He hesitated, pondering the question.  “I don’t know. 
Maybe I’ll find out while I’m here.”  Another pause, then he reached out
and touched her arm.  It was a surprisingly gentle gesture.  “But you
were going to tell me about you.”

The path had become an incline now.  It wasn’t steep,
but Tanya was beginning to feel the strain on her thighs.  For the first
time she could recall, it occurred to her that she was unfit.

“What do you want to know?” she asked.

“Let’s start with: ‘What’s a nice girl like you doing in a
place like this?’”

She laughed, both at the question, and her immediate answer:
“Trying like hell to get out of it.”

“I can understand that.  But why come in the first
place?”

“It was Ian’s idea.  He needed something different to
do, and this seemed like a good opportunity.”

“Something different?  Why?”

“I don’t suppose you’ve heard of something called the
Financial Services Act?”

“I’ve been out of the country,” he reminded her.

“It wouldn’t matter.  Most people who’ve been in the
country haven’t heard of it.  The Government decided, in their infinite
wisdom, to regulate the financial services industry.  That was a few years
ago now, so we got some warning.  The regulation itself only came into
being last year.”

“Regulation’s not a bad thing, is it?”

She sighed.  It was an old debate that she’d had with
Ian too many times over the last few years.  “I don’t think so.  But
he’s been worried about it.”

“Why?  Has he got something to hide?”

“Ian?”  She snorted at the idea.  “God, no! 
He’s as straight as a die.  He’s driven, of course.  That’s why he’s
been so successful over the years.  But he’s not the sort of person who’ll
flog anything to a punter just to make some money.”

“So what was he worried about?”

“In all honesty, he’s never said specifically.  I mean,
he’s convinced it’s the thin end of the wedge.  He reckons they’ll make it
compulsory to take exams before long.  I think that’s a concern. 
He’s fifty-three now.”  She watched for a reaction, but it was difficult
to tell in the half-light.  “So I suspect he’s uncomfortable with having
to sit exams at that stage in his life.  I did tell him that I could do
that, if we needed it.”

“You worked in the same business, then?”

“That’s how we met.  I was a rep for an insurance
company.  I used to call on advisers and try to persuade them to use our
products.”

“I doubt you had any problems doing that.”  She was
surprised to feel heat in her cheeks.  His comment had hit home, and she
suddenly felt embarrassed at the memory of the things she had done to get the
business.  Which was strange, because it had never embarrassed her
before.  “So you called on Ian?” he prompted.

Still flustered, she took a moment to regain her
thoughts.  “Yes,” she said at last.  “And after we married I went to
work with him.”

“That’s difficult,” he remarked.  “Working together and
living together.”

You don’t know the half of it.
 She hadn’t
thought that one through at the time.  It seemed like a good idea to allow
her to keep a close eye on Ian’s finances.  But it also meant she was
under his watchful eyes more than she’d expected.  Married or not, she’d
never intended to become a one-man woman.

“It can be difficult,” she agreed.  “But we made it
work.”

“And then he decided he didn’t want to carry on,” Martin
reminded.  “But you don’t know why.”

“Not for sure.  I just think that, after doing things
in a certain way for thirty years or so, he didn’t like the idea of change.”

“So to keep things the same, he got rid of his business,
sold his house and moved a hundred and fifty miles north.”

“It does sound ridiculous when you put it like that.”

“But who knows what makes us do the things we do?”

She knew the question was rhetorical.  They walked in
silence for a while, the path winding through the trees but still rising.

“Why did you come to Ravens Gathering?”

“Ian heard about
Forest Farm
, and thought he could
make a go of it.”

“And what did you think?”

“Honestly?”  Even as she asked the question, she knew
it was redundant.

“You can lie if you want to, or you could even refuse to
answer the question on the grounds you might incriminate yourself.”  She
looked at him and saw the good-natured smile on his lips.

“I thought it was a crap idea.”

“You didn’t think it’d work?”

“No it wasn’t that.  To be fair to Ian, I could see
exactly where he was coming from.  I just thought if he was going to sell
up, he’d be taking the opportunity to retire and move abroad.”

“I have heard that a lot of southerners think the North is a
foreign country.”

“We do,” she laughed.  “And having lived up here for a
couple of years, I can’t say
my
view’s changed.”

“Presumably you were thinking of somewhere more exotic.”

“I had my eye on some villas in the Costa del Sol.”

“I’d have thought you’d prefer the Canaries or the Greek
Islands.”

“Not to mention the Caribbean.  But it seems Ian
couldn’t even afford Spain.  He said if he could have drawn his pension,
it might have been possible, but he can’t touch that until he’s sixty. 
The stupid thing is, because things have gone wrong here, his pension will
barely allow us to exist when he does draw it.”

The trees were closing in on them now, and the woods were
becoming darker.  She guessed it must be around five o’clock.  Still
more than two hours before sunset.  Yet the visibility in here was little
better than she would expect after nightfall.  She stumbled over a tree
root sticking up from the ground.  Martin’s hand shot out and grabbed her
arm just above the elbow, steadying her.  When he released his grip, she
felt him take her hand gently.  It felt safer.

“So, you’re stuck here then?”

“Unless you fancy whisking me away,” she said.

“I don’t think my lifestyle would suit you, Tanya.”

And she knew he was right.  Her attraction to him was
purely physical.  If she was looking for someone to rescue her from the
mess at the farm, it would have to be a man who had his own car and didn’t carry
his belongings around in a rucksack.

Up ahead, she could see a beam of sunlight shining down
through a gap in the wood’s canopy.  Martin had obviously seen it too,
because he suddenly stopped walking.

“We’re here,” he said.

It hadn’t occurred to Tanya that there was a destination in
mind.  Martin had said he wanted to go for a walk in the woods, but he
hadn’t given any indication that there was a specific part of the woods to go
to.  For a brief moment, it occurred to her that he might have remembered
a special place which was good for taking girls to.  Perhaps he’d
considered the pending arrival of her husband might be too much of a
distraction for him, and bringing her here would allow them to take their
pleasures uninterrupted.  But his face suggested that was simply wishful
thinking on her part.

He was wary.  His eyes darted in all directions, taking
in everything that lay before them.   She looked ahead, curious to
see what it was that had attracted him here.

Where the light was brighter, it was apparent that this was
because there was an open space among the trees.  The edge of the clearing
was about a hundred yards away.  It was difficult to tell from this
distance, but she guessed it must be circular in shape.  Possibly an
oval.  Scattered around it was the usual debris you could expect to find
in such a place.  Fallen branches, rotting leaves and a handful of
wildflowers were accompanied by the ashy remains of a camp fire and, hanging
from a branch of one of the sturdier trees, an old car tyre on a rope. 
Local kids, no doubt, making good use of the recent school holidays.  She
momentarily envied them the simplicity of their lives.  Innocent of
danger, free of all cares. 
Enjoy it while you can,
she thought.

The path they were on led up to the clearing, and appeared
to carry on beyond.  Although there were no obvious hazards, Martin
squeezed her hand gently and said: “Stay behind me and only walk where I
walk.”  Before she had a chance to respond, he was moving forward.  He
still kept a grip on her hand, but let his arm fall back so she would follow
him.  Unsettled by his words and manner, she watched his feet, and tried
her best to put hers exactly in his footsteps.

His caution was unnecessary.  They reached the edge of
the clearing without incident.  He stepped aside as he entered it,
allowing her to move next to him.

“Do you want...?” she started, but he raised his free hand
to her face, his expression leaving her in no doubt that she should keep
quiet.  Frustrated, but still unnerved by his sudden seriousness, she
resigned herself to waiting for him to decide when to tell her what was going
on.

Apparently satisfied that there was no immediate danger to
them, he took a tentative step forward.  He was still holding her hand, so
Tanya came with him, feeling as if she was being dragged along.  His next
steps were equally cautious.  Each one was punctuated with a few seconds’
pause, before he moved on.  Tanya found herself searching the trees that
surrounded them, not really knowing what she was looking for.  And that
was the part that was both scary and ridiculous at the same time.  Fear of
the unknown, and the growing suspicion that she was having the piss taken out
of her.  She was even beginning to wonder if this was some elaborate game
that Ian had arranged just to wind her up.  Not that he was that
malicious, and she didn’t think he had the imagination to do it even if he had
been.

Nothing was moving among the trees, either at ground level
or up in the branches.  There was no sign of anyone stalking them, nor of
any wild beast roaming the woods.

The clearing itself was, she guessed, about thirty feet in
diameter.  Now she was in it, she could see that it wasn’t a perfect
circle, but it still seemed more circular than oval.  The trees that bordered
it were evenly spaced, the gaps between them each wide enough for half a dozen
or more people to pass between side-by-side.  She didn’t recognise the
type of tree.  Her interest in the countryside being less than passing,
she couldn’t have told anyone whether they were silver birch,
scots
pine or giant redwoods.  What she did know was
that they were big.  The trunks looked to be about six to eight feet
across, and the lower branches were no lower than head height on any of them.

Apart from the grey dust that took up a square foot or so
near the centre, the floor of the clearing was a carpet of fallen leaves, a
mixture of browns and greens.  Some of the leaves had obviously been there
longer than others.  Occasional sticks of wood and fallen branches were
scattered about.  The tyre swing was over to the left, hanging perfectly
still in the late afternoon air.

They stopped in front of the remains of the fire.  She
looked up at him questioningly.  Without the heels, it was a bit more of a
strain on her neck.

He must have recognised something in her expression,
realised it was time to explain himself.  She saw him open his mouth,
hesitantly, but definitely with some intent.  Behind her she heard
something rustle.

Perhaps it was her nerves, wound up from the tension Martin
had created with his seemingly paranoid approach of the clearing.  Or
maybe it had simply added to the strain she had been feeling lately. 
Whatever the cause, she found herself whirling round like some frightened
kid.  Her eyes were all over, searching for the source of the sound. 
Nothing was obvious to her.  Not in the half-light, at least.

Another noise.  To her left this time.  It wasn’t
quite the same.  The rustling was there, but it was followed by a brief
and barely audible
click-click
.

“What was...?”

Even as she turned, she felt a strong hand cover her mouth,
and a muscular arm cross her upper chest, pulling her back against a firm body.

“Quiet!”  The voice was low, but there was no mistaking
the warning in it.

Her eyes had widened in shock, but she did as she was
told.  What she had felt before was nothing compared to the fear she was
experiencing now.  She could feel her heart pumping, her ears filling with
a dreadful roar that she knew must be coming from inside her.  Ahead of
her, high up in the branches of the tree she was facing, a shadow suddenly
moved.

“
Phhu
....!”  The sound was
involuntary, and distorted by the hand over her mouth.

Against her ear, warm breath and an animal hissing. 
She got the message. 
Shut the fuck up!
  Swallowing hard,
trying to regain some control over her own breathing, she watched the
tree.  She didn’t want to see whatever it was up there, but she knew she
had to.

You’ve nothing to fear but fear itself.

She forced the mantra through her head, not sure where it
was coming from, but grateful for it all the same.  It was true. 
Martin, the sadistic bastard, was doing his damnedest to terrify her. 
That was all.  He’d brought her up here, pretended to be worried about
what he was going to find as they got nearer, and then used the first noise
they’d heard as an opportunity to put the fear of God into her.  Well,
fuck him!  She’d find whatever it was he was trying to frighten her with,
and when she could see it, she’d know there was nothing to be scared of.

Her eyes gradually adjusted to the dull light.  About
half way up the tree, she could see a darker patch against the silhouette of
the branches.  It was difficult to tell from this distance, but it looked
to be a couple of feet high, maybe half a foot or more across, with what looked
like an ‘X’ shape crossing its body.  The top ends of the ‘X’ looked sharp
and stopped several inches above...  A head?  She couldn’t be sure,
couldn’t make it out clearly.  Then it moved, and she saw it for what it
was.

The ‘X’ wasn’t an ‘X’ at all.  The ends she had seen,
both top and bottom hadn’t even been attached to each other.  They were
completely separate branches, two of them, large ones from a tree that stood
further back.  More importantly, the shape of the moving object was easier
to define now.  She had judged the height correctly.  The width was
harder to assess because, as it moved, it raised its wings slightly, which made
it look much wider.  She couldn’t recall seeing a bird this size before –
not outside a zoo anyway.

It had blended into the shadows because it was completely
black.  Even now, it was difficult to make out its features.  In a
way, she was relieved that she couldn’t see its eyes, although she felt sure
they were gazing directly at her.  A silly idea, she thought.  But
she couldn’t get it out of her head.

Very gently, the hand covering her mouth turned her head to
the right.  She kept her eyes on the bird for as long as she could, but
gave up when it became too uncomfortable.  As she did, she became aware of
more movement from her right.  Again, it came from the branches of a
tree.  Because she knew what to expect this time, she was able to see the
bird more readily.  This one was perfectly still, its head facing her.

Apparently satisfied that she had seen what he intended,
Martin used his hand to steer her head back in the other direction.  She
watched the second bird for as long as she could, before turning her attention
back to the first.  Both creatures were fascinating to her.  And,
even though they were strangely creepy, knowing what they were had alleviated
her fears.  They were only birds, after all.

Before Martin had grabbed her, she had heard two noises, and
they had come from the positions of the two birds.  Because of that, she
was expecting the rotation of her head to stop when it was facing the second
bird.  When his hand maintained its momentum, she was puzzled, but not
resistant.  There didn’t seem any point in trying to put up a fight. 
He was clearly much stronger than her, and he was very much in control of the
situation.  It even crossed her mind that this might be some kind of kinky
sex game he liked to play.  If so, she wasn’t interested.  Always
happy to experiment, but not if it meant giving someone else complete control.

The reason for turning her further was quickly
apparent.  A third black bird was perched in the branches of another tree
to her left.  She hadn’t heard that one.

“Can I trust you to stay calm?”  The words were spoken softly,
his mouth still close to her ear.

Very slowly, she nodded.

“I’m sorry if I frightened you.  I just didn’t want you
to panic.”

Well, that worked!

“I’m going to let you go in a moment.  Take your time,
and look around you.”

Again she nodded, letting him know that she
understood.  And she felt his grip loosen as he stepped back from
her.  In spite of her concerns about him trying to scare her, this latest
development gave her cause to re-assess what was happening.  A few minutes
ago, she would probably have stormed off back to the farm.  Even then she
hadn’t felt threatened by him, wasn’t concerned that he’d suddenly attack
her.  She just wanted to let him know that she wasn’t impressed with his
behaviour.  And that he’d be looking for another place to stop tonight.

But now she was curious.  So she did as he asked, and
as she let her gaze drift around her, she saw that there were more birds. 
Perhaps a dozen or so, perched among the trees that stood on the edge of the
clearing.  And yet more were arriving, swooping down through the gap
overhead and landing on branches that overlooked them.

The birds weren’t threatening, yet the sight of them all
coming together in this dark and isolated spot was unnerving.  Tanya
reached a hand out towards Martin, and was relieved to feel him take it. 
She felt him move in behind her.  After the uncertainty she’d experienced
with him in a similar position only a few moments ago, she recognised the irony
of her reaction.  His closeness offered security.

“You know what they are, don’t you?”