Sanguine

by Carolyn Denman

  Published by Odyssey Books in 2017

  www.odysseybooks.com.au

  Copyright © Carolyn Denman 2017

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any person or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under the statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of the publisher.

  A Cataloguing-in-Publication entry is available from the

  National Library of Australia

  ISBN: 978-1-922200-88-4 (pbk)

  ISBN: 978-1-922200-89-1 (ebook)

  Cover design by Elijah Toten

  Also in this series

  Songlines (Book One)

  Sympath (Book Three)

  Shamar (Book Four, coming 2019)

  For Arden

  A wholesome tongue is a tree of life,

  but perverseness in it breaks the spirit.

  Proverbs 15:4 NKJ

  The Sentinels of Eden series is set in a fictional town based on Jardwadjali Country, and I would firstly like to acknowledge the traditional owners of this place. I would also like to express my deepest respect for all Aboriginal Elders, both past and present.

  This novel is a speculative fictional story that draws loosely upon the beliefs of many religions and cultures, including Judeo-Christian and Indigenous traditions. However, I do not purport to represent or detract from either perspective.

  My desire is that this fantasy tale reflects the co-existence and interconnectedness of belief systems and that you enjoy it, always conscious of my deep respect for Aboriginal Country and Society.

  Chapter 1

  Two long forelimbs wobbled like giant knobbly spider’s legs, giving less than satisfactory stability. A long pause helped to establish some sort of a connection with tangled back legs, but they were still stuck on the ground. Unsteady confusion warred with impatience to move.

  I laughed as the newborn zebra foal heaved herself up and staggered once again to all four feet. She looked so unsure of herself, leaning on the tree, her dark coat still damp and crimped. The tired mare stood by, head down and sweat still dripping from her flanks, so I scratched behind her ear and soothed her with my humming. Giving birth looked exhausting, and animals couldn’t even use the juice of the Living Fruit to ease the pain, poor things. I would rub her coat with a hay wisp once she’d rested, she would like that. The newborn filly looked at me with large dark eyes. She was going to be fun to play with over the next few weeks.

  Flopping myself down on the grass, I stretched my legs out in front of me to enjoy watching the foal discover the world. She discovered her mother’s milk first.

  ‘Welcome to Eden, little Hollie,’ I said in a soft voice, as she twisted her neck up to nuzzle her mother’s teat. ‘I’m Lainie, and I will be your host for this introduction to life on planet Earth. Please avail yourself of the refreshments you see before you, and don’t hesitate to ask any questions.’ Hollie ignored me, which I didn’t mind.

  The Garden was becoming cooler at night again as autumn came closer, but late foaling wasn’t a problem in Eden. There was always plenty of food, and even winter here wasn’t particularly cold, unless you went up into the mountains. I’d explored the mountains a few weeks ago now—or was it longer?

  Glancing up towards the majestic peaks, I tried to pinpoint how much time had passed since I’d made the trek. There had been much more snow, so at least as far back as early spring. I remembered wishing for my snow gear, which was unusual. I rarely thought about things I used to own anymore. They were from another life, and the details were hazy. Chocolate I remembered, and Vegemite crumpets. Even though there were even better tastes to be experienced here, I still missed those. I remembered people, too. It made me sad. They were all dead now, except for one.

  Hurried footsteps disturbed the quiet sound of suckling as someone pushed through a thick stand of feather-hedge on the hill behind me. Beltana was laughing, pelting down the slope carrying a large purple fruit in each hand. Two? Why two? She piqued my interest, so I got up and bounced after her, and it only took a few minutes to find what she was planning to use the fruit for. Not far from the base of the cliff, I could see a crumpled heap of sticks and large fronds. Dallmin. Again. Sure enough, tangled in the pile was a sanguine mess of torn flesh, bent limbs and lifeless staring eyes. I shuddered. Even after all this time, my initial reaction was still one of horror. A vague memory of another blood-soaked scene flashed through my mind, but like other nightmares I suppressed it quickly.

  Beltana ripped away the skin of the purple Living Fruit with her teeth and tilted Dallmin’s head back. His neck was broken so his head flopped too far, his pale tongue protruding from his dislocated jaw. She opened his mouth and squeezed some juice into it and within moments his neck jerked straight and I noticed his feet twitching. She arranged his limbs so he looked more comfortable and soon I could see his chest rise as he took a gurgling breath. Beltana laughed and poked in a stub of sharp bone that had broken through the skin on his wrist. She was getting covered in blood, but didn’t seem to care. She squeezed a bit more juice into his mouth then began to rub some of the fruit peel over his wounds. Skin meshed and I could see bruises flower and then fade almost as quickly. Dallmin opened his eyes and sneezed out a spray of blood, which popped his jaw back into place, so then Beltana held the fruit to his lips for him to take a bite. Limbs twitched as his broken bones knitted back together. His hip gave an audible snap as it relocated. Yawning, he sat up, wiped the bloodied dark hair out of his face and reached for the Fruit. She handed him the other one. He bit into it, grinning at us, with bright purple juice running down his chin.

  ‘Awesome!’ he said, laughing.

  Why had I ever taught him that word? A soft growl rumbled under my breath.

  ‘Dallmin,’ I muttered disapprovingly. I don’t know why I bothered; he had no concept of disapproval, but it made me feel better.

  He gestured to the top of the cliff and I nodded.

  How far? I signed.

  Longer this time, still not enough.

  The wings you had were not strong enough. Why do you keep trying?

  Because I haven’t flown yet.

  It was the second time that month he had plummeted over a hundred feet to the ground. Surely he could remember enough pain for it not to seem fun anymore. Stunts like those were usually the domain of the very young. I had been told that the novelty wore off by the time people reached a couple of hundred years old or so. Dallmin was apparently older than that, so why was he so obsessed with flying? It was my fault. Mine and Noah’s. Maybe if we had packed up the hang glider faster, he might not have seen it. My shoulders slumped. It wouldn’t have helped. He’d undoubtedly seen us in the air, which had made him come to investigate when he saw us land. It wasn’t like we’d had any other options. Still, no real harm done. He was having fun.

  Chapter 2

  ‘Theresa Ashbree, get off that step-ladder,’ Noah commanded.

  ‘Seriously? I’m less than two feet off the ground,’ his wife said, turning in his arms to glare at him. ‘And don’t call me Theresa. It makes me sound like a nun.’

  ‘A nun? You mean one of those women God has set apart to serve humanity? Well, we wouldn’t want you to be mistaken for one of them. Your role is much nobler than that, Tess.’

  ‘Shut up, Noah. You are so full of it.’

  ‘Yeah, I know,’ he said, tangling her silky black hair through his fingers. It behaved like a living creature with its own tactics for binding
the two of them together, but Tessa shook it free before he could get properly ensnared. The oriental elegance of her slender frame made him feel like he was holding something far too refined for his calloused farmhands.

  ‘Why don’t you go and take your health and safety audit out to Skinny Paddock instead?’ she said, stepping down from the ladder. ‘There’s a bit of iron sheeting from some old shed sticking out of the ground—’

  He kissed her to stop her talking and she melted into his embrace, dropping the new curtains, forgotten, onto the floor.

  ‘Oh!’ she exclaimed a second later, pulling away.

  He felt the blood drain from his face. It was far, far too early … but she grinned.

  ‘He liked that,’ she said, her face lighting up like sunlight on fresh snow.

  Together they looked down at her growing abdomen, then she took his hand and placed it on the side of her baby bump, and he gasped as he felt something brush against his fingers. A real person. Just there. Moving and alive and made of human.

  ‘No more ladders for you, Tess, seriously,’ he chided, but his attempt at a stern tone was undone by his inability to hide his smile when the baby moved again.

  ‘Now look who’s being overprotective. You’re such a bully,’ she complained, hooking the curtains with her foot and flicking them up to avoid bending over. She dumped them in his waiting arms so he obediently reached up to hang them in the window. He didn’t even need the ladder.

  The last time these curtains had been changed was when he was just a kid. Lainie had nicked the plastic sword he’d been given for Christmas and he’d been trying to steal it back when she’d caught the tip of the blade in her old pink curtains and torn them right down the middle.

  He and Lainie had enjoyed many good childhood adventures in this room, but now it was time to move on. Tessa had redecorated pretty thoroughly. Back when it had been Lainie’s, the walls had been covered with maps of Middle-Earth, Westeros and Skyrim. With a shelf full of show-jumping trophies, a huge bookcase and a generally messy accumulation of Pop Vinyls, it had taken his wife a long time to clear everything out. Lainie had even kept the monster truck he’d made out of Lego. He’d snatched it out of his wife’s hands as she’d started to break it up. Tess had just smiled, put the truck up on the new shelf, and told him he didn’t have to help anymore. Noah had been incredibly relieved. He knew Lainie wouldn’t have cared about the clear out, but it still felt like it was a betrayal. Lainie’s aunt, Lily, who had generously moved into the farmhand’s cottage to give him and Tessa the house, had assured them that Lainie would feel honoured that her room would soon become home to the new baby.

  His eyes lingered on the view from the window where the low hillside blocked his view of the untouched bush beyond. What he had assumed for years was all state park, he now knew was in fact owned by Lily and Lainie Gracewood. The cleared area they farmed was only a small section of the whole property, and the remaining portion would never be cleared if he had any say in it. His name might not be on the title, but he belonged to the land, body and soul. It was his true home, and he was born to serve it. There was a precious secret cradled in the heart of those untamed hills. A dangerously addictive secret. Even now, he yearned to drop everything and go back to Eden and tell Lainie about the baby, and yet knew he wouldn’t. Not now. Eden called to him too strongly. The last time he’d gone to visit her he’d only intended to go for a day or two. It had turned into a week and a half. By the time he’d returned, his mind was so out of sync with the world that he had shown up naked at the door at four am, serenading Tessa at the top of his voice. It had taken a few days for him to adjust before she had let him go into town. Lily hadn’t stopped laughing for a week, but Tess had been very quiet. The sort of quiet that meant she was terrified and didn’t want him to know. When he’d pushed for an explanation, she’d admitted she was worried he would be lost to Eden the same way they had lost Annie and Lainie. And deep down, he knew her fear was not unfounded. How easy it would be to just let this world go. No more chores, no meetings, no struggling to wake up in the cold and dark to start the day’s work … no worrying about whether the next sales would be enough to keep the bank off their backs. Far too tempting. So he had promised himself he wouldn’t leave her again unless it was urgent, especially in her current state.

  The jingling of the front gate chain caught his attention. He craned his neck around the window and caught sight of the corner of Liam’s ute as it pulled into the driveway. He smiled and began fastening the remaining hooks as quickly as he could. He hadn’t seen his brother since the wedding. Both his older twin brothers had finished their university degrees; Caleb had gone to London, while Liam had taken up contract work in the mining industry in Western Australia. He tried not to judge him too harshly for that. It was good work and it paid brilliantly. He’d work ridiculous shifts for several months at a time, and then come home for a few weeks for a break. This was his first trip home for a while.

  Liam let himself in and entered the room just as Noah was finishing up. ‘Nice work, bro. Love the rainbows. Do you wake up every morning with cherubs flying out of your—Oh, hey, Tessa.’

  ‘Baby’s room,’ Noah grumbled, pointing to the bassinet in the corner while Tessa laughed much harder than was necessary.

  Liam seemed chuffed at her reaction, and hugged her. ‘How are you, Tess? How’s my favourite nephew doing?’

  ‘Your favourite? What hasn’t Caleb told us?’ she asked.

  ‘Nothing. I expect many more to come, that’s all. This one will always be my favourite though.’ He smiled at her belly.

  Liam had sung a victory chant when Noah had told him it was a boy—as if it was somehow his doing—but had been a bit miffed that they weren’t expecting twins.

  ‘We’re fine, Liam. When did you get in? And how was the trip?’

  ‘Arrived this morning. Trip was bloody long. Two days to get to Kalgoorlie for a one-day stopover, then another three across the Nullarbor and back to here. I love my ute but I’m thinking it’s finally time to leave her here, buy a new one for WA and fly between like everyone else does. I’ll miss her, though …’

  ‘A shiny new ute, Liam? Careful, you might start developing a taste for chai tea next,’ Tessa laughed.

  ‘Only if it comes with a twist of lemon,’ he replied seamlessly.

  ‘I’ll see what I can find for you,’ Noah said as they all headed to the kitchen, ‘but I think we only have river water.’

  ‘Water? Seriously? What’s happened to you? First you replace your twenty-first birthday party with a wedding, you don’t waste any time starting a family, now you only have water in your fridge? Are you sure you’re an Ashbree?’

  Noah froze, panicked and speechless.

  ‘There’s always a tinny in the fridge for you, Liam, don’t worry,’ Tess interjected, distracting Noah’s older brother from noticing his overreaction.

  Noah hadn’t told his family that Harry was his real father. His mother had kept it secret from them and he’d decided to respect her choice by not revealing the truth after she died. Lily had agreed. His mum, Sarah, was already pregnant with Caleb and Liam when her Guardian traits had become obvious. She had decided to honour her commitment to their father, David Ashbree, despite the powerful bond that she developed with Harry Doolan during the pregnancy. Even Lily had had no idea that Harry was Noah’s real father until the bushfire, when Noah himself had discovered he was a Cherub. Lily had advised Noah to talk to his mum about it, hoping she would admit the truth. Sadly, she’d decided to keep her secret instead. Both Harry and Lily had chosen to respect her decision at the time, but it had led to tragedy. How different would things be now if his mum had told him the truth from the start? Then again, what would the truth have meant for the rest of his family? They could never have been told everything. Even now, he had to keep secrets, and he hated it. He wished he could live like his ancestors did, when
it was accepted that some stories were not to be shared with everyone. Ironically, that would have allowed him to be more honest with his family than he could be now.

  Noah sat down at the kitchen table, content to let the other two bounce around the latest gossip. Tessa caught Liam up on the most recent local footy betting scandal, while his brother told stories of the colourful characters in the mining communities in the Pilbara. The industry was booming, and Liam was reaping the rewards. Noah remained relatively quiet. Eventually Liam left for home, after offering to help around the farm whenever he was needed. Noah was genuinely grateful. He and Tessa were helping Lily to run the farm in return for a share of the profits, but he was still studying Agricultural Science part-time online, and with Tessa now banned from heavy duties, the jobs were beginning to pile up. Any extra help would be welcome.

  After his brother left, Noah helped Tess put the finishing touches on the nursery. They hung a mobile above the bassinet, which had four smiling, fat, winged babies that floated around each other. They glowed in the dark and played a happy tinkling lullaby. Tessa seemed to think they were hilarious.

  Chapter 3

  I was feeling restless again. Perhaps I needed to travel—it had helped in the past. Meeting new people was always wonderful but I still felt so lonely sometimes.

  Morning sun filtered through the glossy leaves and into my sleeping space, creating a warm hazy glow. The branches above me stretched apart a little to let it through. Amongst the leaves, pale mauve flowers yawned at the sun. I loved this tree. Wistfully I traced my finger down the edge of Bane’s face. The photo was beginning to fade, it hadn’t coped well with the damp air. If only I hadn’t let it get so crumpled the first time I had come here. What would I do when it was too damaged to look at? It was already so hard to remember details. I knew I was losing memories of my earlier life far too quickly. Like a bookshelf with open ends, the faster I grabbed at the new experiences that Eden offered and stacked them on the shelf, the faster my memories toppled, unremarked, from the other end in order to accommodate them. Sometimes I tried really hard to remember, but all I had were disjointed bits and pieces from my childhood. Often they didn’t make sense and I would realise I was remembering scenes from a TV show or a book. Even the real memories felt like they weren’t mine. Except for Bane.