Time Knot by M. C. Morison

Author:M. C. Morison [Morison, M.C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-78535-491-5
Publisher: John Hunt Publishing
Published: 2017-06-30T04:00:00+00:00

Torsberg

A boy, somewhat older than Håkan, led the way. He wore a jerkin of soft wool, and wide pantaloons of a material Håkan didn’t recognise. Their deep-green colour changed slightly as they moved and caught the light. His feet were bare. The grassy path up from the river had a softness unlike the tracks Håkan knew in the forest. The trees here stood taller than those around Signy’s farm, and their great limbs were thicker. At one point two children, sitting high up in the branches, waved to him. He didn’t wave back as he assumed they were fairies, or worse.

Birdsong surrounded them everywhere. Occasionally other paths gave off from this one, also softly grass-covered. They reached a bridge, and a craft, like the crystal boat that had carried him here, bobbed at the bottom of a few steps. Flowers tumbled down the banks of these waterways, and tiny birds with long sharp beaks flashed between bulrushes.

Over the bridge, the track rose up towards a hilltop. As they reached the crest Håkan studied the rocks that broke through from the rougher grass. They were familiar. Very familiar.

“This is—”

“Yes,” said the boy. “This is Thor’s Hammer as we call it. It is famous for who lived near here once and what took place here once.”

The boy pointed down the hill towards the familiar shape of the stones of the Judge Circle. Nearly all the birch trees had vanished, to be replaced by this huge forest. Within clearings, buildings made of similar crystalline material as the boat glinted in the sunlight. Closer to Håkan and below him, buildings emerged from the hillside with curving walls as clear as spring water and roofing covered with grasses and flowers. Inside these strange homes, made he knew not how, wooden floors caught the warm light of the afternoon sun.

The boy moved in front of Håkan. He placed his hands on the younger boy’s shoulders. His eyes were moist.

“I’m allowed to show you this. I’m not allowed to tell you much though. That’s been made very clear.” He smiled, and went on, “If I did so you wouldn’t be able to live your life in the way you choose and that would be wrong.”

“But everything has changed.”

“Yes. Yes it has, hasn’t it. And the part you are to play in that is not a small one. You have seen why the Great Decision, so long ago for us of course, why it was – and is…” He cleared his throat and looked out across the forest. “Why it’s so important.”

The older boy moved away and started to descend the hill towards the Judge Circle. Håkan looked back to where the distant cliff face should be but could see nothing of it. The landscape, though altered in appearance by the size and colour of the trees, remained similar to what he knew of home.

Running down the hillside, as he often had in the past, the wind caught his hair, and the unfamiliar fragrance of many herbs wafted around him.

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