Escana (10 page)

He
shuddered, sucking in a steadying breath and trying to avoid the
intense throbbing that pounded his head every time he gave his
history any thought. Something wasn't right with his mind and the
searing pain seemed almost a mechanism of control to prevent him from
ruminating further on the matter.

A
sharp stabbing sensation caught his breath and sent him to his knees
as he thought this. He knew that there was something beyond what he
was thinking, something far more important that he needed to recall.
He couldn't do it, it was beyond him.

He
forced his thoughts away from the fragments of this curious past and
pushed himself back to his feet. The pain was receding now, perhaps
through discovering what triggered it further he would understand
what was wrong with him. That or recall whatever past it was he had
missed.

Now was not the time to task his
head any further on the matter, he needed to keep moving forward.

The stranger had said there would
be a clear sign that would guide him upon the right path, that he
would know The Six when he saw them. What was Gooseman then? Was he
one of The Six? Was he an accomplice that needed to be stopped? If he
could somehow divine more information about the man's background he
could know for sure, rather than running blindly and attempting to
kill anything his emotions dictated. What if he was wrong? What if
the murderous feelings he had were caused by something entirely
inconsequential and he killed innocents? How was he supposed to get
away with murder in the first place with all these people in
attendance?

He pushed his knees up into his
chest and rocked back and forth. The rage and sickness he had been
feeling had passed, yet his head felt no clearer as to what to do.

'You can't hide forever you
know.'

Jakob's heart leapt as it sounded
by his ear, tumbling off the pile of hay. The familiar voice
continued talking, seemingly oblivious to his shock.

'I should probably have been more
specific. Those feelings have been placed inside you to guide you on
the correct path. Use them wisely.'

He searched the barn frantically
but the darkness seemed to consume everything around him, he was
definitely alone. Had he heard the voice?

What kind of question was that?
Of course he'd heard the voice, it was either accept that the man who
threw himself off the waterfall had some supernatural ability or
start to question not only his emotional state but his sanity. There
was no doubt in his mind now, the voice had directed him as to the
use of his feelings, Harold Gooseman had to be dealt with eventually.

A creaking noise made him scuttle
behind the hay, either the wind had picked up or someone was opening
the barn door. The continued creak as it swung on its hinges was
followed by a faint set of footsteps and a sniffing sound, someone
had definitely entered the barn.

The hay rustled slightly, Jakob
could hear the intake of breath and the slow shudder of exhalation
choked off by a sob. Whoever this was they were clearly in a great
deal of distress, he was tempted to reveal himself and ask what the
problem was but he doubted his sudden appearance would improve
matters.

All of a sudden Jakob realised
that the breathing had stopped, had he been imagining this too? Was
this whole barn a hallucination of his troubled mind?

'You can come out now, I can
clearly hear you breathing,' a weary female voice said, no more than
a meter from him.

Seeing no reason to continue
hiding, Jakob emerged from the hay and peered into the gloom that no
longer seemed quite as impenetrable.

'Who are you and why are you
hiding in this barn?' Ella asked.

Jakob froze on the spot, a
combination of a surge in his chest and a jolt of anxiety at having
to speak to her. He couldn't think of any plausible excuse that
wouldn't sound like he was stalking her so he went with honesty.
'It's Jakob, I ran away from the party and hid in this barn.'

It
sounded
so
utterly
stupid
as
the
words
came
out
of
his
mouth
that
he
felt
compelled
to
add
more.
'I'm
not
stealing
anything
from
the
barn,
honestly.'
Which
is
exactly
what
she
now
suspects,
idiot
.

Ella kept her distance, he
couldn't see her face properly and had no idea what to expect, she
seemed somewhat eerie as she sat there silently judging him.

'Unless you're in critical need
of hay, I think you might have got the wrong barn.'

In spite of the tension of the
situation, Jakob couldn't help but laugh. How long had it been since
he last laughed? The next thing he knew Ella had joined him in the
brief bout of laughter, between the two of them it was a desperate
sound. An unexpected sole moment of mirth to be pounced upon and
exploited by those who needed it most.

It subsided almost as quickly as
it had come but it was clear now that the absurdity of the situation
wasn't lost upon either of them.

'Jimmy came to your defence,'
Ella finally said, leaning back on the pile of hay. 'I know you meant
what you said to me as a joke, albeit a terribly timed one. If Jimmy
says you're a good person I'm willing to give you another chance.'

Jakob was tentative as he lowered
himself down next to her, as if she were a rare bird he feared to
startle. He felt like they were children then as they dangled their
legs over the edge and both stared at the barn floor. 'Jimmy hasn't
known me long,' he said

Ella shrugged. 'I trust him, he
knows all about people.'

'He doesn't strike you as a
little bit naïve?' Jakob had no idea why he trying to sabotage
himself. She forced her eyes up from the floor of the barn and turned
her head toward him with great deliberation. 'He's naïve about
the world perhaps, not about the people in it.'

Jakob found he had nothing to say
to that, it didn't explain her presence.

'Why is it everywhere I go,
you're there?' he asked.

He thought he caught the glimpse
of a smile then, his eyes had adjusted to the lack of light. 'You're
the big city boy, there are many open spaces in the country but not
many places for people to come together. It's not surprising we've
seen each other a lot over the last two days.'

While her explanation did make
sense it still felt like the wrong answer. Jakob could swear there
was more to it, or was he simply hoping that was the case? There were
certainly strong feelings but he wasn't sure if they guided him or
simply were a part of him.

'It still seems strange that
you're in this barn on this night. Why are you here?'

The sounds of barking gradually
drew closer to the barn, Ella's head jerked toward the door. 'You
need to get out of here, I can't be seen with you,' she said, voice
panicked.

Jakob was inclined to fully agree
but over the last few moments he had felt a strange compulsion take
hold of him, cemented by a new-found belief in his feelings.

It was as if his will to flee had
started running through hardened treacle, his thoughts of staying to
defend Ella seemed less a fleeting fancy and more the correct course
of action. He couldn't think of any explanation for it but then none
of his most powerful thoughts of late seemed based in any rationale.

Ella stared at him in shock and
confusion at his inaction, he didn't mind her gaze right now, he knew
he was doing the right thing. Whoever had come searching with the
dogs was meant to find the two of them alone together in this barn.
He had a good mind as to who would be doing the searching too, let
him come.

'Ella?' Solomon's voice carried
through the wooden walls as if they weren't there.

He felt her pulling on his arm,
frantically trying to drag him out of sight, he stayed anchored to
the spot, facing the door down as if it would strike if he dared to
move.

When it finally started to creak
open she ceased her efforts and resigned herself to her fate with an
unmistakable shudder. It was too late to hide.

A dog's nose pushed it's way
through the barn door, it sniffed briefly and the barking started
again. Footsteps followed, then a thud of a boot as the door swung
wide open, outlining Solomon with a lantern aloft.

His face contorted, turning from
frustration to anger through to fury over the course of a few
seconds. A small voice in the sea of unbidden courage said this
wasn't going to end well for either of them.

He stood there for a moment,
seemingly at a loss for words. Jakob offered him none, simply letting
him drink in the scene and draw his own conclusions. Why did it feel
so right to antagonise this man even further?

It was with a strange detachment
that Jakob watched Solomon's features twitch, the bestial howl the
man let out should have terrified his ancestors yet he felt nothing
but purpose flowing through him.

Solomon rushed forward at him,
arms outstretched as if he planned to rip him limb from limb. Jakob
ducked under his grasp and bolted for the door, everything went hazy
then.

Run.

He had made it outside the barn
somehow, only to hear a growling sound from a grey shadow to his
right.

Run.

Jakob started to back away from
the beast, his eyes locked on those tracking him. He remembered from
the depths of his past some nugget of advice about not staring at
dogs. Then again he didn't think staring would make much difference
given his current situation.

Run
.

The word seemed to bounce around
in his skull, it set his teeth on edge and cut through his remaining
thoughts. Was he meant to leave Ella alone with this man? It wasn't
an instinctive thing he felt, he was being told in no uncertain terms
to flee on foot.

Solomon had left the barn now, he
was staring at Jakob with a calculated expression of hatred in his
eyes. He took one look at the dog and uttered a single word.

'Kill.'

Run
.

The world exploded in brightness
as Jakob finally turned and ran, he didn't know where he was going
but he needed no further convincing.

Having a healthy fear of dogs,
Jakob knew there was no chance of him outrunning a wolfhound. His
nightmares as a child only seemed to reinforce that belief, now the
very substance of those terrors was chasing him. Or it should have
been.

He finally staggered to a halt,
there was no dog on his tail and Solomon was nowhere to be found, all
that remained was the sound of water, crashing down.

T
he
rain hammered down on the trees as if their rustling offered the sky
affront. Laboured breathing and intermittent gasps sounded beneath
their brows. The air felt thick with tension but the night itself
remained indifferent to the cries that pierced it.

He
was growing closer to her, an unfettered fury powering his strides
and eating up the distance with inevitability. There was no escaping
him even without his dogs on her tail, he was just too fast for her.

An
upturned root caught her ankle, sending her sprawling into the
rain-slicked road. Turning in horror she started scrambling back into
the mud, a faint murmur of denial playing across her lips. The ankle
was turned and there was nowhere to hide, there was no time to
escape.

The
heaving breaths of Solomon drew nearer, then she sighted his familiar
figure through the downpour.

His
eyes were lit up with a strange mixture of anger and lust that she
had become intimately familiar with. He paced toward her fallen form
and was shaking with rage. He had realised that she was going nowhere
and slowed with menace, his chest was heaving but not from the
exhaustion of the chase.

'What
was that?' he roared, catching her jaw with the toe of his boot.
'What the fuck was that? What the hell do you think you're doing?' He
swung round and paced past her as she tried to find her bearings, his
anger consuming him bit by bit once again. The dead leaves stuck
beneath his feet as he ground them into the mud, there was no
escaping him.

'
Do
you know how fucking bad
this
looks?' he asked, trying and failing to keep his voice under control.

She
remained silent, staring vacantly past him as if he wasn't there. No
tears streaked her face, all that remained was hollow resignation and
a deadening of purpose amidst the explosion of pain colouring her
head. The blood welled up over her lip and down onto her dress before
the rain could wash clear the evidence. She had been here before, now
it was just a matter of how bad it was going to get.