Tree Slayer

by Harriet Springbett

  He didn’t want her to die too. He didn’t know if there was an evil wind or not, but he did know that he wanted to stay with her. He wanted her to be his new together, and to share her mission. He wanted to protect her with his special skill, blow the storms away, and keep her safe under blue skies. He wanted to be everything she needed, and he would guide her anywhere she wanted to go (within reason), because he was ace with maps and everything would be all right because they’d be together, and she made him feel good.

  “OK,” he said.

  Rainbow was a little disappointed by Eole’s lack of enthusiasm.

  “Cool! Thanks, Eole,” she said. “So, first we should deal with the evil wind. I’ll tell you the details about the rest of the mission later. All I know about this wind is that it kills trees. Amrita called it the Tree Slayer. Do you have any ideas how we could fight it?”

  “I can protect you from all the winds. I can counteract them.”

  “Good. We need to set a trap to attract the Tree Slayer. Then you must blow it into a box or something so it can’t escape. Are you strong enough to control a gale?”

  He nodded.

  “Are you sure? What about the gale last week? Gale Martin. The one that blew the chestnut tree onto Tintin. That was the Tree Slayer. Could you have counteracted it?”

  He looked confused. She calmed Mary’s wish to shake him, and rephrased her question: “Didn’t you say the gale made a chestnut tree fall onto Tintin?”

  “No.”

  “But you said a tree fell on him. The same day. Didn’t you?”

  He nodded, but wouldn’t look up from his feet. There was something he wasn’t telling her. She thought about how she’d accidentally killed Michael when the branch she was shaping fell onto him.

  “Did you blow it down on him by accident?” she said.

  “No!”

  “OK, but I don’t understand. Did the tree fall on him before or after the gale?”

  “Before.” His feet were squirming against each other, and he stood up.

  Her mouth was dry. Mary wanted Eole to explain himself, and Rainbow’s head hurt from the pressure of Mary trying to exert her will.

  “Let me get this straight,” she said. “A tree fell on Tintin. And then a huge gale blew down loads of trees?”

  “Yes.”

  Rainbow swallowed. “Tell me what happened. Tell me everything.”

  “OK. We were in Brittany seeing Aunt Isabelle, because she’s ill, when Brigitte phoned and told us that Tintin had … that an assassin tree had fallen on him. I got itch, shuffle and escape, and the next thing I knew I was on top of a hill and I was shouting his name, his real name and not the nickname I gave him, and I didn’t realise what I was doing, and then I did realise and I didn’t care and then I did care so much, and I wanted all the trees to die, and I blew harder and for longer than I’d ever done in my life, and my breath created a low pressure and the air rushed to fill it, and it was as if the air agreed with me and followed where I’d led, and then I saw the fallen trees from the top of the hill and I stopped but the wind kept going, of course, and I sat on the hill and cried and then Alexandra arrived and told me to come indoors out of the storm, and the next morning we returned home because of my exams.”

  “Jesus, Eole!” she whispered.

  She’d got everything wrong. He wasn’t her soulmate: he was the Tree Slayer.

  And that meant she had to kill him.

  Chapter 14

  If Eole had had a tail, it would now be between his legs, which is where Darwie’s tail went when Eole was cross with him.

  Rainbow was cross. She’d lost her sparkles and hadn’t spoken a word at breakfast this morning, except to say that she’d changed her mind about the shepherds and wanted to see them all before going home. She was much nicer than any other girl, but she was still illogical.

  She was full of questions too. Yesterday evening, after he’d told her about his gale and she’d blasphemed, he’d asked her if she thought he was the Tree Slayer. She hadn’t answered immediately, probably because her face was hidden in her hands. He repeated his question and then she broke a conversation rule because she answered with another question, saying, “Do you think you are?”

  That had thrown him for a while, like an unexpected chess move. So instead of telling her that he wasn’t evil, he answered her question with: “I can’t be, because I’m your soulmate, aren’t I?” But his move hadn’t paid off, because she countered his question with “Are you?”, which was a question, but it felt like an answer, and he was confused. He began to point out the names of the constellations that were becoming visible in the sky instead, and she sighed and didn’t ask any more questions nor give him any answers.

  He heard the tent zip, and then Rainbow appeared in the hut doorway, dressed and ready to set off on another tour of the pastures. He suggested they wait at the hut for the farmers to come up from the village, or go down to meet them in the valley, but she said she needed to walk.

  “Can you stay beside me today, instead of racing ahead?” she asked.

  He agreed, even though it meant that Darwie kept running back to him and winding himself around his legs. It was a sign she still thought he was her soulmate and not the evil Tree Slayer.

  She didn’t stop and look at any flowers or take any photos, even when he pointed out five griffon vultures spiralling down to feed on a corpse.

  “I hope the dead animal isn’t Dizzy,” he added.

  She didn’t answer.

  When they checked his sheep he was relieved to see Dizzy hobbling along in the flock. Rainbow calmed Dizzy so he could spray the wounds, and while she concentrated, Eole studied her face. She had dark rings under her eyes, like Hestia when she’d had a sleepover at Caroline’s house.

  They continued up to the pass, where Rainbow recovered her breath and told him she wanted to walk along the ridge. A cloud shadow hovered over it, darkening it into a menacing cliff.

  “There won’t be anyone up there,” he said. “The sheep are all here.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I want to take a photo.”

  He led the way up the slope and they started along the narrow ridge path in single file. He was about to warn her to concentrate on where she put her feet when she cried out. He spun around. She’d slipped on a tuft of grass and her arms were spiralling like windmills. He stepped between her and the steep slope, and held out his arms so she wouldn’t fall. Darwie barked.

  “You must be careful on this part,” he said. “Do you want to take my arm?”

  She shook her head.

  “Actually, yes,” she said.

  He crooked his elbow like he did with Alexandra. After a second’s hesitation, she put her arm through it. He didn’t mind feeling the soft skin of her arm against his, though her palm was rough and cracked. She wasn’t touching him, he told himself; their skins were simply in contact. And now he was the same height as her, since she was on the ridge path and he was on the tufty grass beside it.

  He had to concentrate on his feet as well as on keeping Rainbow safe. Darwie stayed close behind him, to heel, even though Eole hadn’t whistled him there. He laughed and let Darwie slip his muzzle into his free hand.

  Rainbow stopped. “What’s funny?”

  “It’s Darwie. He’s rounding me up like a sheep to protect me.”

  Rainbow didn’t even smile. It seemed that her sparkles had gone for good.

  Suddenly, she jostled him. She immediately grabbed him again, but he staggered and stepped on Darwie’s paw. Darwie yelped.

  “Hey!” he said, and disengaged his arm.

  “It was a joke,” she said. “Just testing Darwie’s skill.”

  “Well, don’t. It’s dangerous here.”

  She carried on walking and he stayed close beside her. He didn’t want her to trip again. When he was tired he tripped all the time, the toe of his boots catching on raised stones and making him break out in cold sweats.

  Her face was red and her expre
ssions kept changing, like during a conversation. It would be good to understand what each of them meant. He’d like to catalogue them alongside their definitions and make an expressionopedia, now that his mapopedia was almost finished.

  At the highest point of the ridge, she asked him to take a photo of her with the mountains behind. He pointed the camera at her, his eye pressed to the viewfinder. She wasn’t smiling. Alexandra always put on a fake smile for photos, and Hestia made silly faces.

  “You’re too close,” she said. “I’d like the peaks in the photo. Take a step back.”

  He moved back towards the rocky ledge above the precipice. Darwie cowered beside Rainbow with his tail between his legs. Eole framed her once again. She was frowning and biting her lip.

  “Cheese!” he said. “That’s camera language for smile.”

  “Just do it, Eole. Actually, go back a bit further. As far as you can.”

  He did as she said. He was right on the edge now.

  Darwie whined, and Eole told him to be quiet. He raised the camera, closed an eye and squinted through the viewfinder. Her head and shoulders were bang in the middle, which is what made the best photos, though there was too much blue sky and not enough Rainbow for his liking.

  Just as he was about to press the button, she pitched sideways, screamed and disappeared from the frame. He dropped the camera and threw himself into her as she rolled towards the edge. There was a thud of contact, a cry, and then stillness.

  He disentangled himself and stood up. Darwie was on the path where Rainbow had been, his head jutting towards her and his lips drawn back into a snarl. Blood seeped through Rainbow’s trousers below her knee.

  She turned away from him and buried her face in a tuft of grass. Her shoulders heaved and she made little whimpering noises.

  “Darwie! Bad dog,” he said. He crouched down beside Rainbow. “I’m sorry he bit you. It’s because he’s always nervous up here. I’ve got a first aid kit at the hut, so we can go back if you like. Please don’t cry.”

  He knew he wasn’t very good at comforting people, so he wasn’t surprised when her whimpering turned into proper crying. He retrieved the camera and took a photo of the peaks for her.

  Rainbow cursed her weakness. She was a failure. People in films and books did this kind of thing all the time, but it was much harder in real life. The conditions were perfect – they hadn’t seen a single person since she’d been up on the pastures – and yet she’d aborted her mission at the first hurdle.

  Mary was scornful of her half-hearted attempts to vanquish the Tree Slayer. But Rainbow couldn’t bring herself to push him off the mountain. She wasn’t strong enough to be Amrita’s saviour. The problem was that Eole was so trusting. She liked him. Even if he was the Tree Slayer, he didn’t deserve to die. Well, he did, given what he’d done and what he may do in the future, but she couldn’t murder a real person. Not even to save Amrita.

  Darwie’s bite was bloody but not deep. She pressed a tissue to the wound until it stopped bleeding, keeping an eye on Darwie, who crept towards Eole and begged forgiveness with his brown eyes. Eole ordered him to get away.

  “It’s not Darwie’s fault,” she said.

  “Yes, it is.”

  His voice was cold. She hadn’t seen this judgemental side of him up to now, and she felt guilty that Darwie was being punished when, in fact, he’d saved his master’s life.

  Eole stayed close beside her as they backtracked along the ridge, and her resolve gradually filtered back. She’d messed up, but perhaps her true soulmate, once she found him, would deal with Eole. Could she betray Eole, though? She was too pathetic even for that, she was sure. There must be another way to vanquish the Tree Slayer.

  When they reached the safety of the pass, she faced him.

  “About last night: you know, when you told me how you’d killed all those trees?”

  He looked at her and waited, so she continued.

  “Do you feel bad about it?”

  “No.” He kicked a rock.

  Although it was clear he was the cause of the evil, tree-slaying gale, he claimed not to be the Tree Slayer. And she felt no fear of him. Something wasn’t right.

  “If you’re not the Tree Slayer, how do you explain Amrita’s talk of the evil wind during your gale?” she asked.

  “Easy!” he said. “I’m glad you’ve asked. If we assume that your Amrita can be trusted, we know the evil wind killed the trees. I didn’t actually kill any trees. I just blew hard and wished the trees would all die. That doesn’t make me the Tree Slayer. My theory, assuming the evil wind exists, is that it’s a form of energy yet to be proved by science – you would say a kind of spirit, I expect. This energy form is attracted by high winds, so when I created the corridor of low pressure, the energy form rushed in with the winds to fill it. I presume Amrita detects the presence of this ‘spirit’ and blames it for blowing down trees. In any case, whatever the theory, I know I’m not the Tree Slayer. I’m your soulmate, and I’m going to protect you from anything that tries to kill you.”

  “Wow, that’s some theory,” she said. He could be right about the Tree Slayer being a wind spirit. Amrita was a tree spirit, so there could well be a wind spirit too. Rainbow’s whole mission could be part of a spiritual battle beween the trees and the wind. It explained why she didn’t feel threatened by Eole. He wasn’t the Tree Slayer, but the Tree Slayer took advantage of his special skill. He was on the Tree Slayer’s side.

  “So, do you agree with it?” asked Eole.

  “It does make sense.”

  But what the Tree Slayer had done once, it could do again. Whatever the theory, it didn’t change the problem: as soon as Eole created another gale, the Tree Slayer would use it to kill Amrita’s last One Tree. Rainbow still had to vanquish Eole.

  Did vanquishing necessarily mean killing, though? She had an idea, and although she now knew Eole was associated with the Tree Slayer, it wouldn’t do any harm for him to think he was her soulmate. In fact, it might help.

  “You mustn’t make any more gales,” she said. “Then the Tree Slayer can’t take advantage of them, and it won’t kill me. Do you promise never to blow up a storm again?”

  He looked up at the sky, obviously thinking before he made his promise.

  “Can I still do cloud art?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “OK. I promise.”

  “Good.” She smiled and then shivered: she’d almost made him fall off the ridge. Thank goodness she hadn’t succeeded. She hadn’t really meant to kill him. Mary might have been capable of that, but Rainbow wasn’t a murderer. It was one thing to have the idea, another to seriously carry it out.

  She watched Eole tip back his head, take a long, deep breath, and carve a shape from one of the clouds above them. It was a tree.

  “That’s beautiful! Can you sculpt a rose?”

  She watched a flower form above her head and clapped. Her mission was progressing. In her own way, she had neutralised the Tree Slayer even if she hadn’t actually vanquished it. She was glad she hadn’t mentioned Koad to Eole, since he had no further role in her mission. He would stay here, believing he was her soulmate, which should be enough to stop him from breaking his promise.

  Meanwhile she could continue her search for her true soulmate: the shepherd with a golden aura and tree gift; the person she’d be able to share everything with, and who would guide her to Koad. The one who might fill the void Christophe had left.

  They walked down from the pass, Eole studying Rainbow’s face. She looked sparkly again, and as he made her a cloud scallop, a star and a marmot, his chest filled with something lighter and sweeter than air. He was her soulmate, she was his together and they had a mission. He would never let her down.

  Back at the hut, she said she was leaving, and started to pack her rucksack.

  “But why?” he asked. This wasn’t the plan. Itch. He was supposed to guide her.

  “Because I need to talk to the other shepherds. We haven’t
seen any here. It’ll be easier if I go back to the campsite and use it as a base to check the other pastures in the Val d’Azun.”

  His feet relaxed. He could guide her around the pastures. He didn’t know what information she wanted from the shepherds, but she’d said she would explain the mission details later.

  “OK,” he said. “So where shall I meet you tomorrow?”

  She stared at him, and he realised he’d got something wrong. Or she hadn’t understood him properly.

  “To guide you,” he said. “To show you the other pastures and protect you from the Tree Slayer in case there’s another storm and it uses the wind to try to kill you.”

  “Oh. Right. Good idea. But will your sheep be OK? I didn’t think you wanted to leave your pasture.”

  “The sheep will be fine with Patou, and we’re staying in the valley, aren’t we?”

  “Ye-es,” she said, untying a guy line.

  “So I can take you to meet the other farmers.”

  “OK. Yes, why not? I’ll see you at the campsite tomorrow morning at eight,” she said, and continued taking down her camp.

  He was sculpting her a griffon vulture when she called his name. He stopped carving.

  “Are they shepherds?” she asked, pointing to two people coming up the hill.

  It was Hestia and Alexandra. He explained who they were, and the corners of her mouth turned down. He was getting good at reading her expressions. She didn’t want them here, and if she didn’t, he didn’t either.

  When they arrived on the plateau, Darwie – the traitor – wagged his tail and made a fuss of them. Eole stood closer to Rainbow.

  It was too late for Rainbow to escape small talk with Eole’s family. His mum was skinny, only a little taller than Rainbow, and his sister looked nothing like Eole: she was black-haired, like his mum, and petite. The way she walked, with an insouciant swing to her step, gave her the air of an extrovert. She probably had a gang of noisy friends at school. Hestia’s confidence made Rainbow want to hide behind Eole. Mary reminded her that Hestia was only a kid, but Mary’s disdain didn’t help.