Roger Taylor - The waking of Orthlund

Not him, he realized on impact; her. But the blow hurt nonetheless and when he turned round, the girl was staggering away gasping in pain.

‘Stay back, all of you,’ he shouted. ‘Listen to me. Remember who I am. Remember who you are. There’s no danger here. You’re not being attacked.’

He linked arms with his neighbours again. A few of them seemed to have been unaffected by whatever had caused the sudden outbreak of violence, and after the first shock he had managed to gather them together in a cleft in the rocks.

With an effort he was maintaining an outward show of calm, but he was nevertheless very frightened. It had been exactly the same on the other exercise. No warning. Just voices raised in a quarrel and then mayhem. People he had known for years suddenly demented with rage. And this time it seemed to be worse than before. Those affected had stopped fighting amongst themselves and were now uniting against the others.

And when was anyone coming? He’d seen the signal-ler sending the news but that was…

He let the thought go. He had no idea how long ago it was. And he mustn’t look towards the end of this or he might not reach it. He must be here, now, deal with attacks as they happened. It would end sooner or later.

The watching attackers were still milling around at the mouth of the cleft, shouting abuse and threats, but they were also hesitating following the rapid dispatch of the first two individuals. As if mimicking them, Tybek’s own thoughts began to combine to assail him. What if they start throwing stones? What if they charge together? What if these here with me are suddenly affected? What if I am affected? Get in among them, Tybek, they’re only young, they don’t stand a chance against you, not with your technique.

He brushed the thoughts aside angrily. Stay calm, he intoned inwardly, followed by, ‘Stay calm,’ out loud to the five standing in line beside him. ‘They’re being controlled by the Alphraan. They don’t mean what they’re doing. Stay calm. They’re your friends and they’re in trouble.’

‘ They’re in trouble?’ said a voice to his left. ‘They should be standing here.’

The small joke produced some nervous laughter and even Tybek was glad of its brief lightening. But the position was serious. Several people had been hurt, though he could not tell how badly, and it would not take much in the way of a change of fortune to ensure that someone would be killed. There was a limit to the care he could exercise in defending himself and the others.

The atmosphere suddenly changed. The attackers had found some courage from somewhere, or lost what was left of their control, and were starting to move forward. Their anger surged ahead of them, almost tangible in its intent, and Tybek felt the arm linking his, trembling.

No, please no, he thought.

The arm tightened. ‘It’s all right,’ he lied, gently loosening the grip and freeing himself for further movement. ‘Stay calm, and follow my lead. Whatever happens, keep together.’

He clenched his fist and then, irrelevantly remem-bering his easily disjointed fingers and Athyr’s injunction, opened it again. Glancing round, he identified various stones that he could scoop up quickly and throw. A few cracked knees would slow them down.

He rejected his idea. Such an action might provoke an identical response and, grouped as they were, they would be defenceless against such an attack. He would have to do what he could without weapons. While he used his superior fighting skills, there was nothing his attackers could imitate.

But in the end…?

No, please no, he thought again.

The attacking group came closer. He scanned the familiar faces now distorted in rage. As he looked each in the eye, they retreated a little, but when the contact was broken, they began to move forward again.

Gradually they began to fill the cleft, breaking their line as they approached down the narrowing gap.

Terrible images began to form in Tybek’s head. A few more paces and he would have no alternative but to take severe action to protect himself and the others.

And what would the consequences of that be? Quite possibly some would be killed. And young and inexperi-enced though they might be, their numbers alone could overwhelm him eventually.

When was someone going to come?

‘No, please no,’ he said out loud. ‘It’s me. Tybek. And your friends. Look what you’re doing.’

But there was no response, his voice seemed to min-gle with that of the mob and make it worse.

One of the leaders bent down to pick up a large stone.

That does it, Tybek thought. No more restraint now. People are going to die, and it’s not going to be me or any of these if I can prevent it. Three quick strides and he could lay that one out and the two either side before they realized what had happened. Then…?

He breathed out and relaxed both his body and his mind for the impending onslaught.

An eerie silence suddenly filled the cleft, then the leader’s eyes signalled his intention to throw the stone.

‘Ho, the camp!’

A cheerful voice rang out powerfully over the shuf-fling silent menace of the two closing groups. The would-be stone thrower faltered.

‘Ho, the camp!’ the voice repeated. ‘Where are your look-outs, Tybek? All asleep again?’

A little ironic cheering floated gently in the wake of this remark.

The attackers began to look at one another uncer-tainly. Tybek craned up to look over their heads. Strolling leisurely between the neat rows of shelters was Loman, smiling broadly. Just behind him was Jenna. Then came a group of men and women laughing and joking as though they were arriving at a Festival Celebration.

Relief flooded through Tybek followed immediately by alarm. If Loman and Jenna were to be affected amp;mdashand all these others…?

A hand opened, and a stone fell to the ground with a soft thud.

It’s going! thought Tybek, his eyes widening. Just like before. Going as it came, no warning, nothing.

Loman caught sight of Tybek. Raising his hand in an airy salute, he strode forwards towards him briskly. The crowd parted silently to let him through.

‘Didn’t see you at first, Tybek,’ he said heartily, placing his powerful arm affectionately about the man’s shoulders. Then, with a monumental smile, he moved him gently but relentlessly back through the uncertain crowd causing it to move backwards and spill out of the narrow cleft. Tybek gaped as he saw that the other arrivals were also singling out friends and acquaintan-ces and greeting them with tremendous warmth. The attackers too were looking increasingly bewildered.

‘Hope we’re not disturbing anything special,’ Loman said loudly and jovially before Tybek could speak. ‘But we were out on an impromptu rock and shadow hunt and as we were passing we thought we’d see how you were getting on. We’ve found some marvellous varie-gated stone just along the valley, ideal for miniatures amp;mdashand the surface fissuring is unbelievable. You’ll… ’

Tybek found his voice. ‘Loman, what are you blath-ering about?’ he said. ‘What do you know about rocks and shadows, you tin beater? And… ’ He stopped, realizing what he was saying. With an effort he pulled his mind away from the wilful momentum of Loman’s enthusiasm and back to reality. ‘What’s happening?’ he asked anxiously. ‘What are you doing, walking into the camp like this? Didn’t you get my message about… ’

‘The fighting?’ Loman said blandly. ‘Oh, yes. That’s why we came.’

‘I don’t understand… ’ Tybek began, but Jenna joined them.

‘It’s worked, Loman,’ she said. ‘Look at them.’

Loman released Tybek and looked around at the dispersing crowd. Shock and confusion dominated.