by Isobel Bird
At least she was starting to think like a boar. That was some help. At first she had just run blindly, taking whatever turn was available. But that had been a human way of thinking, and the “dogs” had caught on quickly. They’d been able to follow her easily, and once they’d almost gotten her when she’d turned too suddenly and slipped. But at the last moment she’d been able to get to her feet and keep one step ahead of them, narrowly missing being caught by the fingers of a girl who lunged out of nowhere.
Now she was thinking more clearly, trying to devise a strategy. Clearly the point of the game was to not get caught. But there had to be more to it than that. When was it over? Was there some target she was supposed to reach, like the “safe” tree in a game of tag? She didn’t know what the rules of the hunt were, except that she had to stay one step ahead of Spider and the hounds. Until she had a better idea of what she was supposed to do, that’s what she would concentrate on. But she needed a plan. What would a boar do? She had no idea.
You’re thinking too hard, a voice in her head said. Become the creature of the woods. Cooper wanted to scream, “I already am a creature of the woods!” Instead, she tried to do what the voice said. She stopped thinking like herself and tried to become a boar. She imagined that it was all one big meditation exercise, and she allowed the boar’s mind to take over. She could almost feel it happening. It was like a heavy curtain was drawn over the part of her brain that analyzed everything.
At the same time another curtain went up, and she found herself seeing the world around her in a totally new way. Her eyes saw patterns in the forest, and the trees became a maze that she was navigating. Her nose picked up scents she had ignored before, and she knew from smelling the air that there was water to her right. Something told her to stay away from the wet places, and she listened to it, turning left and running into a thick stand of trees.
“This one is smart, my hounds,” she heard Spider cry out as his “dogs” tried to follow her and became caught up in the closely packed trees. “She is giving us more of a chase than I expected.”
Cooper’s human mind heard the hunter’s words and felt a sense of pride. She was making the pack of wild kids look ridiculous. She was beating them at their own game. Then the boar part of her heard them and ran harder, desperate to put more distance between herself and the hounds. The “dogs” would find a way around the trees and be on her trail again soon. She couldn’t rest. She had to keep moving.
“Boar,” she heard someone call out in a loud whisper. “Boar. This way. Come this way.”
Who was talking to her? She wanted to stop and look for the source of the voice, but she was afraid that it was some kind of trick. Probably one of the pursuers was trying to break her concentration and lure her into a trap. Well, she wasn’t going to fall for it. Turning away from the voice, she began to run in a different direction.
“Don’t worry, Boar,” the voice said again. “I am a friend.”
This time Cooper did stop. She was panting from having run so hard and so long, and her sides heaved in and out as she gulped in air. Somehow she had managed to lose the hunters for a moment. She heard them running through the trees some distance off, barking and sometimes laughing as they looked for her.
She looked around to see who had spoken to her and saw someone motioning to her from behind a tree. It was difficult to see who it was, so she crept closer, ready to run if it should be Spider or one of his gang. But it wasn’t any of them—it was Bird.
“What are you doing?” Cooper asked. Of all of them, she was probably most angry at Bird. After all, she would never have been in this situation at all if she hadn’t trusted Bird and gone with her.
“This way,” Bird said.
Bird darted into the trees, her pale skin a ghostly shadow as it dipped beneath the branches. Cooper didn’t know if Bird could be trusted. She’d led Cooper into trouble once already. Why would she want to see Cooper outwit Spider and the others after basically handing Cooper over to them in the first place? Cooper didn’t let people make a fool of her more than once, and Bird had already used up her chance. But what other choice did Cooper have? She could keep running, but she still didn’t know where she was going or what the point of the hunt was. Maybe Bird did. For whatever reason, she seemed to want to help Cooper now. Cooper hated having to depend on someone else to help her, but this time it looked like she didn’t have any other real options. She ran after the other girl, keeping Bird in her sight as she darted along a few paces behind.
Bird seemed to know where she was going, and Cooper was happy to let her lead. The barking of the “dogs” grew more and more faint as they journeyed through the woods, and soon the sound of them faded away altogether. Bird slowed down, and Cooper was able to run a little more slowly. When Bird ducked beneath some trees and seemed to vanish, Cooper followed and found herself in a tiny glade completely ringed by trees and hidden from view.
“They won’t find you here,” Bird said, sitting on the ground. “At least not for some time.”
“Why are they doing this?” asked Cooper, wanting to get as many answers as quickly as she could. She was exhausted, and she collapsed on the soft pine needles that blanketed the floor.
“They think it’s fun,” Bird said, sounding embarrassed. “Every Midsummer the Wild Hunt comes in search of the Midsummer boar. They have to find someone to be that boar. I guess you could say it’s their sport. They don’t mean any harm by it.”
“That’s really twisted,” Cooper said. “They put someone in the woods and then chase them around for fun? What’s the point?”
“It’s a kind of initiation,” Bird said. “If you win, you get to be part of the group.”
“Some prize,” Cooper said. “Who would want to be part of a bunch of crazies like that?”
“I did,” Bird said. “At least once. Now I’m not sure.”
“You were the one who had to find the boar this year, weren’t you?” Cooper said.
Bird nodded. “It’s all part of the ritual,” she said.
Now Cooper was beginning to understand. She still had a lot of unanswered questions that she wanted to put to Bird, but there wasn’t time. Instead, she asked the one big one that was on her mind. “So how do I get out of this?”
“You have to escape the Wild Hunt,” Bird said.
“I sort of got that part,” Cooper asked. “It’s the how I do that part I need to figure out. And what happens if I don’t?”
“If you are captured by the hunt then Herne gains the prize he desires more than any other.”
“Which is?” asked Cooper. She thought it was weird that even Bird referred to Spider by his make-believe name.
“The hand of Maeve, the Faerie Queen,” said Bird.
“You mean, I’m some kind of trophy?” said Cooper. She couldn’t believe that the weird hunt ritual was somehow connected to the larger one. Did the organizers of the event really know that some of their participants were chasing a girl through the woods?
“I guess that’s one way of looking at it,” said Bird.
“How long do I have?” Cooper asked.
“Until midnight,” said Bird. “When the shortest night is over, then the game is ended.”
“You mean, I have to get chased by that pack of freaks until midnight?” said Cooper. She didn’t know if she could do it. She was already exhausted, and surely Spider and the Wild Hunt would track her down sooner or later.
“There is one other way,” said Bird. “The Wild Man has the power to end the game. He has in his possession something that belongs to you—a talisman. It was taken from you when you entered the woods with him. If you find where he has hidden it before you are caught, the magic will be ended.”
“A talisman?” said Cooper. She tried to think what of hers might have been taken. She hadn’t really brought anything with her on her journey except for the clothes she was wearing, and now those were gone. She hadn’t brought anything else.
Except her flute. Wha
t had she done with it? She remembered putting it down when the Wild Man had told her to get into the stream. She remembered laying it on some leaves. He must have taken it when she was looking at her reflection in the water. He’d disappeared shortly after. He must have run away to hide it.
But where was it? That was what she had to figure out. If she could find the Wild Man and figure out what he had done with her flute, she could win the game and the horrible ordeal would be over. Now that she knew there was a way, she was more determined than ever to beat Spider and his friends at their game.
“I need to find my flute,” Cooper told Bird. “That’s what the Wild Man took. How do I find it?”
“To find it you must find him,” Bird explained. “And that will not be easy. He will have hidden himself. But I think I may know where. We must go back into the woods to find him.”
“You’re sure this is the only way?” Cooper asked. “I can’t just sit here and wait for midnight to roll around?”
Bird shook her head. “If midnight comes and neither side has won, the game is considered a draw,” she said.
Cooper thought about that. It was an easy way out. She could just try to stay away from Spider and the others until then. But she didn’t want that. She wanted to win. She wanted to show them that she could beat them.
“Listen,” said Bird. “Already the hounds are coming.”
Cooper perked up her ears and listened. Sure enough, she could hear the “dogs” in the distance. They had picked up her scent and were coming her way.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s go find that flute.”
She and Bird left the hiding place. Bird ran ahead, making sure there were no “dogs” lying in wait for them, and then Cooper followed. She had no idea where to look for the hidden talisman, but Bird seemed to.
Cooper followed Bird as she darted through the forest. It was very dark now, but there were patches of moonshine, and she could see Bird’s shadows from time to time, and this kept her on course.
Unfortunately, the hounds of the Wild Hunt also seemed to be back on course. She heard them coming again, and now they appeared to be on all sides of her. From time to time one of them would let out a howl of excitement, and the sound chilled her blood. She almost forgot that they were just human guys and girls. In her imagination, they were Herne’s hounds, doing his bidding and trying to track her down. They wanted her. Spider wanted her as his prize. What would he do with her if he caught her? she wondered.
“Are we almost there?” she asked Bird, panting with the exertion of trying to run and talk at the same time.
“I believe so,” said Bird. “If I’m right, the hiding place is somewhere up ahead.”
Cooper doubled her efforts, putting all the strength she had into getting away. The hounds were coming. They were running uphill. The ground rose sharply, and Cooper began having trouble keeping up her speed. Her heart was beating wildly, and all she wanted to do was stop. But Bird was moving quickly, and Cooper was determined to stay with her.
“It’s here!” Bird said. “Just ahead. The place of hiding.”
Cooper could hear the panting of the hounds behind her. Then she heard Spider cry out to them. “Now we have her!” She didn’t have a lot of time left.
“Where is it?” she cried out. “Where is the talisman?”
They had reached the top of the hill that they’d been climbing. Cooper could see the line of black sky where the trees ended at the top. They were almost there. But so were the “dogs” and Spider. For a moment she felt the cold grip of fear around her heart. Had Bird tricked her? Was she really in on the game after all? Cooper almost turned and ran away, but the only thing waiting for her in the darkness was the hounds.
Bird was just ahead of her. She had stopped running and was standing still. Was she showing Cooper where the Wild Man had hidden the flute? Cooper raced up to Bird and stopped herself just before she ran headlong over the edge of an embankment. Standing on the edge, she could see the gleam of water below them.
“What is this?” she said, frightened. “You tricked me!”
“No,” said Bird. “The Wild Man has gone down below. There is a deep pool there. And in the pool is where he has hidden your flute.”
“In the water?” Cooper said, dismayed. “How am I supposed to get there?”
“There is only one way,” said Bird. “The pool is ringed on all sides by banks such as these. The only way to reach it from here is to jump.”
“Jump into it?” Cooper said. “Are you crazy?”
“It is the only way,” Bird told her.
Cooper looked down at the pool. It seemed miles away. There was no way she was jumping from the cliff into it. There had to be another way. There just had to.
She heard panting and turned to see the hounds advancing on her. They moved slowly, their wild hair even more tangled than before, their eyes ringed with mud and their clothes torn and covered with leaves. With them came Spider.
“At last,” he said, grinning as he walked toward Cooper. “The Midsummer boar is mine. It looks as if you’ve lost.”
Cooper looked at Spider. He looked so sure of himself. The girls and guys gathered around him smirked at her. They knew they had her. They looked, too, at Bird, and for a moment Cooper wondered what they would do to her for helping Cooper try to outrun them.
“Are you ready to admit your defeat?” Spider asked Cooper.
Cooper looked into his face. She knew that he thought it was all over. He expected her to give in, to admit that she hadn’t been clever enough to figure out the game and win it. That made her furious. No one treated her that way.
She turned and looked once more at the distant waters of the pool. The Wild Man was hidden down there somewhere, and so was her flute. If she retrieved it she would be set free. If she survived the jump. It looked like a long way away, although it was probably only twenty feet or so. Was it worth finding out?
The first hound lunged at her, trying to grab her wrist. She turned away, kicking at the boy with her foot. But she knew she didn’t stand a chance. Her back was to the cliff, and there was no way out.
“You put up a good fight,” Spider said. “But you’re no match for us.”
Cooper fixed him with a glare. “That’s what you think,” she said.
She turned and leapt from the high bank. For a moment she hung in space, the night sky filled with stars above her and blackness below her. Then she was rushing downward, the pool coming closer and closer.
CHAPTER 13
The Holly King walked slowly through the woods, saying very little. He seemed to be looking at everything closely, as if he’d never seen it before.
“It always fascinates me how the woods change from one year to the next,” he said when he and Annie had been walking for five or ten minutes. “These trees have grown quite tall since I was last here.”
Annie made a noncommittal grunting sound. She still wasn’t entirely comfortable about walking with the Holly King. She missed the comforting presence of the Oak King, and the new king’s demeanor puzzled her. How could he act as if nothing had happened? Even in a game of pretend, shouldn’t he at least feel some sadness about his brother’s death, particularly since he himself had caused it? Instead, he was acting as if they were simply taking a walk.
“You are grieving over my brother’s death,” the Holly King said.
“I don’t understand what happened back there,” Annie admitted. “I know this is all part of the Midsummer ritual, but I’ve never seen anything like that. I thought that witchcraft was all about doing good, not about killing. Why do you do such a horrible thing?”
“Our ritual is as old as this forest,” the Holly King answered. “It is as old as the seasons, as old as the world, as old as time. Many, many times my brother the Oak King and I have met on the field of battle and slain one another. It is the way of things.”
“But why?” Annie asked persistently. “What’s the point of it? Why can’t you do some othe
r kind of ritual?” She understood the reasons for performing ceremonies and rituals in general, but this one just didn’t make any sense to her.
“There was a time,” the Holly King explained, “when people offered up other lives to the land. Human lives. They did not fully understand the ways of the earth then, and they believed that only by offering up the blood of the best of them would the land bestow its gifts upon them. So they killed their kings, or others chosen to take the place of the kings.”
Annie shuddered. What the Holly King was saying sounded terrible beyond words. She couldn’t imagine people killing other people as sacrifices to the land. That was barbaric.
“Yes, it was cruel,” the Holly King said. “But as I said, these people did not understand the earth. They still thought that thunder and lightning were caused by the feet of cloud giants, and they believed that the sun was chased through the sky by a great wolf that devoured it every night. To them it made sense that they should give a precious gift to the earth, and what was more precious than the body and blood of their king?”
“What does all of this have to do with the ritual we just did?” asked Annie.
“My brother and I represent those sacrifices,” the king told her. “No longer do people kill one another to appease an earth that doesn’t require appeasing. My brother and I are willing sacrifices, each returning the other to the land and then rising again to rule for a time.”
“Rising again?” Annie said. She still didn’t get what the Holly King was saying to her.
“Tonight my brother was slain by my own hand,” the Holly King said. “But he will rise again at Yule, when the year turns from waning back to waxing, when the sun is reborn of the Mother. On that night, when the night is longest, we will meet again in battle, and I will be the one who is slain. I am the ruler of the waning year, when the light turns to darkness and summer to winter. But he rules over the time when the light grows strong and summer comes to the world.”
