Nykur, page 7
“No, it’s ok, I think. But I want you to look at this horse.”
“Sure, I want to help. You can use my computer too if you still need to.”
“Thanks.”
A low snorting noise came from the water. Sanna walked towards them, her coat wet and her pace steady; an entirely different creature from the one twelve hours before. Liana’s eyes widened in surprise and she looked to Hugh.
“That’s her. Don’t get too close,” he said.
Sanna stopped, keeping her distance. She turned her head to get a better look at Liana, her forelock draped over her eyes.
“She’s beautiful.” Liana said. “You’re worried about her?”
“I just want to know if she seems normal to you, like other horses.”
Liana reached out her hand and moved towards Sanna. Sanna’s ears instantly pricked forwards in interest.
“Be careful.”
“She’s fine. I’m used to being around horses.”
She held her palm by Sanna’s muzzle. Sanna exhaled in blowing breaths as she took in her smell. Her neck was arched and she kept her head high. Liana studied the thick, dark mane that covered the horse’s broad neck. It had been brushed and plaited in sections. She let out her breath, starting to relax. Sanna watched her with bright curiosity, her body still and tense. Her fingers traced against the wet texture of her shoulder, feeling it stick slightly to her skin.
“She has a strange coat, the texture is different,” she said to Hugh, taking her eyes off Sanna.
Whilst they both locked eyes with each other, Sanna sprung into violent movement. Swinging her head round, she clasped the skin of Liana’s upper arm between her teeth.
“Watch out!” Hugh said. Liana darted out of reach of Sanna, who was threatening to attack again, her ears pinned back flat.
“Are you ok?”
“No, that really hurt, what made her do that? She was ok a minute ago.”
She was inspecting her arm, where a large purple mark now marked her skin. Now that the shock was wearing off, Hugh could see she was struggling with the pain.
“Stay behind me,” he said.
Sanna stepped towards them and Hugh put himself between her and Liana. Sanna dipped her head and nudged his shoulder. When he put out his hand, she rested her head against the flat of his palm, her eyes soft and her ears forward.
Liana kept one hand over her bruised skin as she took a further look at Sanna. She dropped to a crouch, studying where white met grey below the horse’s knee, and smooth coat turned into longer, coarser hair. The hoof caught her attention.
“There’s something wrong with her hooves,” she said, wishing she could get closer to feel. “They’re deformed or something.”
He looked down at Sanna’s hooves.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“They look like they’re backwards. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Sanna picked up the hoof they were studying and stamped it against the ground.
“We better get back, see if there’s anything we can do for your arm,” he said.
Liana nodded. She glanced at Sanna and met her cool stare. She felt discomfort breeding inside her as she met those unnerving black irises that possessed a calm assertiveness. It was not the demeanor usually seen in a flighty, prey animal. It was not equine.
“Please be careful tonight, are you sure it’s safe?” she asked.
“Yeah. Gamel’s my friend he wouldn’t hurt me.”
Liana looked sceptical.
“Have you considered telling your mum?”
“Like I’d tell her about anything.”
They reached the house and Hugh stopped by the door.
“Just come round when you want to use my laptop. I’m free anytime.”
“Sure, thanks.”
He watched her walk away and then entered the house. Dylan and his mother were in the living room. Dylan was in his pyjamas ready for bed, but by the looks of it they had come down for some cartoons and the combination of a dimmed room, background noise and the weight of her son’s body rested on her had sent their mother to sleep. Dylan didn’t notice Hugh peering through the door, he was half asleep himself. He left them undisturbed.
When he woke, the hallway light was on but the house was silent. Dylan was asleep in his bed. He must have taken himself because downstairs the TV was still on, just a blue screen that threw the room in an eerie, blue illumination with the sleeping figure of his mother at its centre.
The track through the garden from the back door to the woods was now visible even in low light, only if you were to look directly down it though. If not, then the long grass surrounding it kept it hidden. The trail through the trees was likewise all too familiar by now, but the night always brought about that primitive alertness to his surroundings, so acute that it was impossible to relax.
When he got to the clearing, Sanna was dozing in the river, the water coming to her knees and her head lowered to just above the surface. A flick of an ear was the only sign that she saw him. He went straight to the fallen tree, placing the cooling bowl in its customary spot on the stump. Hugh knew better than to be fooled by his apparent solitude in the clearing. Gamel always bided his time. Sure enough, after a few minutes, Gamel stepped out of the trees and greeted Hugh with an affable grunt. Hugh waited while Gamel ate his porridge. He ate in huge mouthfuls of food, crouched over the bowl in the same manner of a person who does not see warm food often. He finished with a satisfied smack of the lips.
“So you saw what happened yesterday?” Hugh asked. There was a pause before Gamel replied.
“Yes.”
“My brother could have been seriously hurt. He was terrified, what was wrong with her?”
Gamel sighed and the thick, misshapen fingers of his hands twitched.
“She has not been herself lately. The journey here took so much of her strength and moving has unsettled her. You would be wise to make sure your brother never comes near her again.”
“He won’t be. But what sort of horse attacks someone like that? That’s not normal.”
“She is not just a placid animal that you would find in any field. She is a proud creature who I know very well. She is not suited to living in this way, moving from one unsuitable place to another, and she is not tolerable of young, shrieking children.”
“My brother didn’t deserve that.”
“I didn’t say that he did.” Gamel’s stare was fixed on the ground. “Look, I know that yesterday was unpleasant, but Sanna needs protecting. This is all the more reason I need to find somewhere suitable for us to live, so that everyone is safe.”
“You don’t need to keep things from me. I’m your friend.”
Gamel shifted in his seat, his new blanket draped across his aching knees. The shaky sound of his breathing betrayed his age.
“If I was to tell you about her, I’d be putting a great deal more trust in you than I’d give to anyone.” Hugh nodded, waiting and listening. “Sanna is not simply a horse. You need to understand. She is as old as me, and I have always watched over her.”
“Then what is she?”
“In our native country, she is folklore. She is possibly, now, the last of her kind.” In the water, Sanna had perked up. She was watching them, entirely still. “What she did last night was part of her natural instinct. It didn’t matter that it was your brother; she would have treated anybody the same.”
“So she was trying to hurt him? To get him in the water?” Gamel looked uneasy. “What would have happened if she’d got him in the river?”
“I doubt if the water is deep enough here.”
“And you said she’s sick? Is there anything I can do to help?”
Gamel said nothing for a time. Sanna exited the water, sniffing at the ground before she lay down on the dirt and resumed her resting.
“She just needs to get her strength back,” Gamel said. “The only thing that might help is raw meat. If you were able to get hold of that and bring it to me, it might do something.”
“Ok, I’ll try. There’s something else.”
“Yes?”
“Is there anything different about you?”
“What d’you mean by that?”
“I’m just wandering. You seemed to just disappear last night. You were there one minute then you were gone.”
“I don’t remember doing any such thing.”
“I was standing right next to you.”
“Pah.” The sound was accompanied by a dismissive downwards pat of his hand, as if swatting a particularly incessant, bothersome insect. “Are you calling me a liar?”
“No, but-“
“The less you know about me the better.” Hugh was quiet. He drew his hands into his pockets for warmth. “All I mean by that is there’s nothing much for you to know, even less for you to be concerned about. How are things at home, anyway?”
“Mum had a good day, she made dinner,” he said with a shrug. “My brother’s just happy she’s around for him to talk to but it never lasts long. If anything, a couple of days having her there just makes it harder on him when she’s not.”
“You don’t think she’ll change? Maybe she can get better?”
“Doubt it, unless something happened and made her then probably not. I give it two days tops and she’ll be back to her usual self.”
“She’s not noticed your visits here then.”
“No, she doesn’t care about me.” Hugh kicked the dirt with the toe of his trainers. “You know, I wouldn’t think any differently of you if there was something you wanted to tell me.” He looked at Gamel from underneath his dark eyelashes. “We’d still be friends.”
“I know, lad. It’s for that reason that there’s nothing I need to tell you. “
That settled the matter for Hugh, and as much as he didn’t like it, he wouldn’t press it. He stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked towards home.
“Well, I’m going to head back. I think one of my friend’s dad is a butcher. I might be able to get meat through him.”
“See you tomorrow.”
Hugh took the empty bowl and spoon and made his way home, the night closing in on his tail like a crumbling bridge, quickening his step.
Chapter 9
The next morning, Hugh found both his mother and Dylan in the kitchen. His mother was still in her nightclothes, her long hair disarranged around her shoulders.
“Can we go somewhere? Mum? Please.” Dylan said, dancing between them with an excess of energy.
“I don’t know,” Janet replied. “I need to wake up a bit first, I had next to no sleep last night.”
“To the playground! Please mum, it’s been ages.”
“Well ok. Not for too long though.” Hugh moved around her, trying to get something to eat without having to look at or speak to her. “Would you like to come along Hugh?”
He half heard her question, not taking much notice until Dylan chimed in with a multitude of pleases.
“What?” he replied, finishing a mouthful of food.
“I’m taking Dylan out somewhere, probably that local park he likes. Do you want to join us?” His mother rubbed her head where her headache still resided.
“Why would I want to do that?”
“Because you’re part of this family too.”
“Yeah well I don’t want to play happy families today,” he replied, heading for the door. His mother stopped him.
“Did you hear anything strange last night?”
“No, why?”
“I came down in the middle of the night. I’d been having an awful dream that woke me up. When I walked in here, all the pots and pans were on the side, and not long before that I thought I heard noises. Did you notice anything?”
“I probably left them out. As for the noises, maybe it’s those pills you’ve started.”
Hugh left the kitchen and his mother reached for the packet of antidepressants she’d been depleting. She pulled out the information sheet and began looking for the side effects.
When his mother and Dylan had left, Hugh slipped out of the house. Despite Liana’s insistence that he needn’t give notice, he messaged her to say he would come round. She was waiting by the door.
“My parents are out again so don’t worry about them,” she said, sitting at the desk in her bedroom where her laptop was on. She had set out another chair for Hugh.
“I want to look at Google Maps,” he said. She let him take over, watching as he located his house.
“Are you looking for something?”
“Yeah, I need to find a place not too far, with water and some kind of building or shelter. See if you can see anything.”
He began to search outwards from the general area of the woods, squinting his eyes to scan closely every landmark and natural feature he could make out. Liana leant in close. He could hear her breathing by his cheek.
“I take it this is to do with that man, the one that owns the horse,” she said.
“If I tell you, you need to keep it a secret.” She looked at him and nodded.
“Of course.”
“I’m trying to help him find somewhere to live permanently. He says any kind of shed or outbuilding would be fine.”
“Are you sure that’s the right thing to do? Maybe there’re other options-“
“No. I talked to him about it already. I told him I’d look.”
They found nothing in the immediate area of the woodland or around the housing estate at its rear. Hugh scrolled further.
“Stop,” Liana said. Hugh zoomed in on the body of water that grew to fill the screen. “Look on the bottom right edge. I saw something there.”
“You know this place?”
“It’s the country park. I’ve been there a few times.” She moved her hand to the laptop pad and directed the view. Within minutes she had found the small brown shape that looked to be some kind of building. “It’s well away from the paths and right by the water.”
“It looks great,” Hugh said. “Could we print it? Get the directions?”
“Sure. You want to do it right now?” he thought for a moment. “If you leave it with me, I can draw the route.”
“Ok, yeah. Thanks.
He left Liana’s, pleased with what they’d found. But rather than turn left towards home, he cut right and went to Ben’s. After a short wait on the narrow porch, Ben opened the door, breathless and with flushed cheeks.
“Hugh, how’s it going?”
“You got my message, yeah? Is it ready?”
“Yeah, I’ll go get it for you, got a bag of it. My dad didn’t even ask questions, just said there’s plenty.” Ben turned and began lumbering out of sight. He paused at a doorway to shout out to Hugh. “Come in if you like, Kain’s here.”
“I’ll wait, thanks.”
After a few minutes, Ben reappeared with a blue plastic bag that looked heavy with its contents. Before Hugh could take it, Kain appeared at Ben’s shoulder.
“What’s that you’ve got?” he asked. Ben looked between the two of them.
“Nothing important,” Hugh said.
“Let me see?” Kain pushed forwards and tried to look into the bag, but he moved back. “Is this how it is now? You’re keeping secrets?” Kain switched his gaze to Ben.
“It doesn’t concern you,” Hugh said.
“So it is like that. We’re not friends now?”
“A friend wouldn’t have said what you said the other night.” He looked at Ben. “Thanks, mate.” He gave a nod and turned to leave.
“Guess you can’t take a joke when it’s aimed at you. You know you really need to lighten up.” Kain was out the doorway now, a half-rolled cigarette unravelling in his fingers. “I can find out if I wanted to!” he shouted, but Hugh was beyond listening.
The days began to pass in what was becoming a routine. The cupboards were stocked and there was porridge for Gamel. He took the meat on that first night, leaving it as an offering before slipping back home by himself. It was a few days later, as he and Gamel sat by a well-stoked fire watching the calm pass of water nearby that he felt a surge of affection and attachment for the old man he’d come to know. The moon had come full circle overhead as under the trees Hugh sat sipping from the thermos that they now shared.
“I know that you’re in a bad situation, and I really hope you find somewhere to stay soon. But all the same, I’m glad that I met you and you’re still here.”
Gamel took a turn of the flask and sipped its steaming contents.
“Do you mean that?”
“Yes,” he replied, with no hint of doubt in his voice. “It means a lot to me having someone to talk to. Sometimes when I’m at home all the time, I just feel so trapped. I feel like there’s no one who understands me. Even though I have friends, they’re so wrapped up in their own dramas; It just makes me feel like I’m different sometimes, like I don’t belong. And when I try to make an effort, and try to put it to the back of my mind and be social, it’s like my body works against me. Everything locks up and I get so hung up on doing the right thing, saying the right thing, that I end up doing nothing at all. It beats me. So that’s why I find it easier sometimes to just be alone and stop trying, but since I met you and we’ve been talking, it’s given me something to look forward to. I guess just someone to speak to without having to worry about everything. Do you know what I mean?”
“Yes lad, I do,” Gamel replied with a voice like gravel.
“And with the help you’ve been giving in the house, that’s made a big difference, too. It even seems like my mum might be starting to change for the better.”
“I’m glad to hear it. I would guess that the reason you’re having a hard time is because you have a lot more to worry about than your friends. They don’t have to think about looking after their little brother or making dinner like you do.”
Hugh dropped his head and twisted his hands in his lap.
“I know the easiest thing to do is to avoid it and shut yourself up away from everyone,” Gamel continued. “It might feel like that’s what you want to do, but as I’m sure you know, it doesn’t make you feel good. And it won’t, because it doesn’t make anyone feel good to push everyone away, not in the long term.”
