Embed Doc
Copy Link
Readcast
Collections

CommentGo Back

Download

Matthew Raven The Magician in the Grove The Magician in the GroveGurja huddled tightly into her furs. She heard the crackle of the logs deep inthe fire and scooted closer to the light. Outside was darkness, the darknessbeyond the grove, stretching deeper and deeper out into the trees and the night.Hurge coughed and shuddered, and then was still again. Hurge was leaving,now. He would soon stop moving like Yahla and Gag had before him; somethinghad happened to him on the last hunt, and he had begun throwing up his food andshivering. Now he was mostly still, making only little shows of resistance, but soonhe would be very still, and then he would not move at all, and Gurja would have toleave him behind.Near her Gurgah shivered in sympathy to Hurge, then scooted over towardsGurja. Gurja smiled sadly without thinking to, and reached out to him. Soon itwould be just them two, the last of their band. Yahla had gone when Gurgah hadcome out of her, and then, though Gag tried hard to raise Gurgah, and keep Hurgeand Gurja safe, the fight was gone from him, and in within two summers, whilehunting the Beast, his timing was wrong. The tusk had stuck in his gut, and theBeast had carried him for many strides before Hurge could bring it down. It hadtaken two days for Gag to lie still. And then Hurge had been their only protector.Who would protect them, now that Hurge was going to lie still as well, when whatmade Hurge Hurge was gone? Then there would be only Gurja and Gurgah, andwhat could they do? Gurja was skinny and weak like Yahla, and Gurgah had seenonly five cycles.Five cycles, each distinct, and yet each different, as they moved across theland. Joining and leaving bands, headed ever towards the setting sun, and when indoubt, to the left. Now here they were in this strange land, gone where the plains,the endless fields of long grass. Now there was the forest and groves and hills andbigger hills of rock that stretched towards the sky. This was world that Yahla had dreamed of, and she had never seen it but inher dreams. Nor had she known why they must head here. But head here, theymust, and she had told Gag this, and he had listened when Gurja was the size of Gurgah, and since then she had known only travel and shifting lands, which was allGurgah had ever known.Gurgah spoke. “We must do something for him.” He looked up at her,nestled against her side. His eyes shone like pools in the firelight. Deep pools, likethose she and Hurge had bathed in, deep in the cave they had lived in, two winterspast. “He is ours,” he said. “We must not leave him.”She rubbed him on the shoulder. “When…if we leave him,” she said, “therewill be nothing worth taking.” They stared at Hurge from across the flames, anddared not go across. He was still.“Perhaps he is asleep,” she said. “Perhaps we should sleep. Things havemore sense in the morning than in night.”“I hope we are not eaten tonight,” whispered Gurgah.“Hush,” she said. “Do not say such things.” She drew him closer andhugged him to her chest, then lay them both down beside the fire, and thought of

Matthew Raven The Magician in the Grovethe warmth coming over them from the fire, and of the warmth coming over herfrom Gurgah.“I wish there was some way not to leave him,” he whispered. “No one shouldbe left.”“Gurja, move.”“What?” Gurja felt herself rocking. “Gurgah, what are you doing?” shewhispered.“I have dreamed something.”“You have…is it still night?” She sat up, or tried. The fire had died down toembers, and cold was everywhere. It was always worse to wake in this time, whenthe fire was gone and there was nothing to know but cold. It was so hard to sleepagain. “Why must you wake me now?”“I must tell you this now, before it goes away, must tell when it is clear asstream water, what I dreamed.”“No. Let me be, I am still tired and may still return to sleep, if I hurry.”“Gurja, in my dream, this is what I did. I woke in this grove, and the fire wasstill burning, and the sky was dark as it is now, but I could see anyways. And I hadpurpose, and so I got up and walked to the edge of the grove, into the darkness,where it is as dark as the darkness is out there, but I could see, and I walked on. Iknow not how far I walked, but I went over many hills in the forest, and steppedover a stream, until I came to a path, a path in the forest. I turned left and walkedalong it, until I came to a split in it, and at this split there was a large stone alongthe right side, and on it sat a man. But he was not like most men, he was not talllike Gag, but small like me. And yet he was like a man full grown. Except he wascovered all over in fur, like a beast. And horns grew from his head, little ones, likeon a young beast. And he turned and looked at me with beast eyes and smiled atme with beast teeth, and both eyes and teeth shined in the light of the moon.”Gurja sat up now.“Now Gurja, this is very important, this is why I needed to wake you, so Icould tell you the words he said. These were the words, and I remember them andI remember them true. ‘How goes it?’ says he . ‘How goes what?’ say I. ‘Oh, youknow, whatever you want. It’s a vague expression, more of a general pleasantrythan necessarily a specific inquiry of some sort. Really I am just curious about thegeneral state of your well-being. However you deign to answer the question is yourown free choice. Although if you must know, The topic upon which I am presentlymost interested in is the topic which, at the moment, most interests you.’ Yousee?”Now Gurja’s eyes were wide. The words that Gurjah had said were new, andstrange. They were not the old words, the known words. They twisted around herhead like snakes, entering places she had not known, and yet she knew theirmeaning, clear as dusk light.“So I say to this small man, ‘I am sad. Hurge will leave us soon.’ ‘Ah, yes,’says he, ‘I had intuited as much. I knew.’ Then he smiles at me. ‘But tell me,’ sayshe ‘this grief you feel, is it for brother Hurge’s sake or for your own?’ I pause andthink, for this is a big question, then say ‘it is for both of us. I do not want to not

Matthew Raven The Magician in the Groveknow Hurge ever more, and I fear what becomes of Hurge, after we must leavehim. Gurja says when we must leave him, there is nothing worth taking. Butbefore that, he is worth taking! What is not there, then, that makes it so he is notworth taking?’ I now want to cry, Gurja, in my dream I want to. The furry man, hesays “Ah, well, that’s the age-old question isn’t it? Well, not that old, not yet, butsit’s sure to bedevil your likes for a very long time. It’s a good question though. Too bad I don’t possess the answer.’ The furry man then, he scratches his back,then he pinches his nose, between his eyes. He looks at me and says ‘But there issomething I could do for you, if you like. I can’t answer the question for you, but Ican make it better. Not for you perhaps, but I can make it so you don’t have toworry so much about Hurge. Would you like that Gurgah, would you like to nothave to worry about Hurge?’ ‘I don’t want to forget Hurge,’ say I. ‘Oh,’ says he, ‘Idon’t intend to change your memory, or alter your aspect in any way. I will justshow you something, and what you will know then will make it so you will not haveto fear for Hurge anymore. And it is a very simple thing to show, too. Would youlike me to show you this thing, Gurgah?’”Gurgah paused then. Gurja felt his eyes staring deep into hers, though shecould not see them now. All she saw was the outline of his hair and his ears, litfrom behind by the last embers.“‘Yes,’ I say. ‘Yes, I want to know.’”“‘Oh, good,’ says he, ‘I was afraid for a moment there you would say “no.”Now, unfortunately, I can’t really show it to you, at least not in this place. So, hereis what you must do. Go back way you came to where you where, then wake upyour sister. Tell her what I have told you, every word, and tell her this: get up, andwalk out from the embers. Tell her not to think about it, but go in whateverdirection she feels is the right one. Tell her to move straight forward, no matterwhat, to not turn or deviate from her path, until she reaches this stone, the one Iam sitting on. Tell her to wait there. While she is doing this, I want you to stayhere, keep your brother company.’ Then he smiled. ‘Now go,’ says he. So I go. Igo back the way I came then back down and went back to sleep. Then I woke up,and I woke up you, and told you this.”Gurgah sighed, and shifted, sitting back down. A wind seemed to pass out of him, and he went limp, the stone in him going outside into the air. “Now, I amdone. Please go find the furry little man, Gurja.”And Gurja stood up then. She felt the snake words coiling in her head, andthe moon seemed to shine only for her. She turned without a thought, and walkedoff into the woods, leaving Gurgah there without goodbye.She walked past the line of trees. She walked over soft short grass, thenhard dirt, then through the crackle of sticks and leaves, then through a bramble of bush. The vines clung and tore at her furs and pricked and her skin underneath,but she walked on. She walked straight and the land fell down in slopes, then up,then down, and she crossed over a stream that she heard trickling in the dark.She knew not how long she walked, but it was not that far. Not as far as shehad imagined it seeming in Gurgah’s dream, when she came to the stone. It roseas high as her knee, and was flat along the top, and as long on one side as herarm. It curved down, like the palm of a hand, and if one side was not lower than all